August Wrap Up

Hi,

This month I've read quite a lot of books but most of them were for school therefore the ratings this month have been quite low, which is disappointing but I still had lots of fun reading some books. And had a great month for film and TV.

BOOKS

The Drowned World

I had to read this for school and so far it is the dystopian I have enjoyed the least. It was really hard to push through, I think it didn't help that it was the third dystopian I had read in a row when I started it. I actually took a break from reading this for The Reading Rush and when I came back to it I definitely enjoyed it more. my issue is I don't understand why this book exists. I didn't get the point at all. Honestly this book had such potential and I felt it was too pretentious for it's own good, which was especially disappointing given my English teacher wrote his PHD on J. G. Ballard. I'm giving this 2 stars.

The Hate U Give

I have mixed feelings about this book. Ultimately I don't think it is a good book, I hated some of the attitudes that the book had, for example, in the first page Starr says basically all girls are hoes. I mean are we really still doing that. The plot felt like it dragged or had lots of unnecessary elements and the book could've been more impactful without some elements. However, it dealt perfectly with the topic of police brutality towards black people. While reading it I felt it opened my eyes to some of my ignorance that I now know I need to address and need to learn to use my white privilege to help those of ethnic minorities much better. I'm not sure I enjoyed reading this book but I am glad I read it just so it could challenge me, though I think my further education into race will be non-fiction, not written by Angie Thomas. I'm going to give this book 3 stars.

Mockingbird

This was another book I had to read for school. I read it on audio and really enjoyed it. I think of the books I've read for school this summer, this one was the most enjoyable. It was very character driven and dealt with important issues without seeming preachy or convoluted. The narrator wasn't incredible but it could've been worse and kept my interest while I was doing other things. I'm giving this a solid 3 stars, it wasn't anything mind blowing but if you like the sci-fi/dystopian genre definitely worth the read.

The Demon World

This was basically the only book I was looking forward to this year as I don't really keep up with what is being released. I read the first book last year twice, Sally Green is one of my favourite author and I was so ready for a book I loved but this fell quite flat for me. It definitely suffered middle book syndrome, not a lot happened and the characters weren't strong enough to make that okay. Still enjoyable but I'm giving this 3 stars. I was going to write a full review for this book but I think unless it's a book you really enjoy or really don't they are a bit pointless.

If My Body Could Speak

I've loved her spoken word poetry for years, however I often find poetry books hard to get hold of. This summer I've signed up to scribd which has given me access to so many poetry books though this is the only one I've read so far. I loved this. Quite a few of them fell flat for me because I just didn't relate to them but her eating disorder poetry especially was incredible. I'm pretty harsh when rating poetry books so I'd give this 3 stars but absolutely would recommend it.

Herding Cats

 

This was a 2018 goodreads winner so when I saw it on scribd I figured I should read it. I've no idea how to rate this given there was no continuous plot line so I am not going to. But some of these really made me giggle and it was a fun 15 minutes that it took to read this. However if I'd payed for this I wouldn't be happy with the amount of content. So I'd say worth the read if you can get hold of it for free or a part of a subscription.


Sorcery of Thorns

I read this as an audiobook for 'The Overhyped Book Club'. I've never participated in a booktube book club despite always wanting to so when I saw it I knew I was going to read it. I enjoyed this book so much I was excited all the time to be able to listen to it and purposefully went out my way to do activities that I could listen to this audiobook while do them. There were some issues with it, like Elisabeth's weird relationship with men and how the author seemed to make her boy crazy while also trying to make her a strong woman who doesn't want a man. I found the book quite trope-y and Nathaniel often annoyed me with how cliché he was. On a whole though I would die for Silas, I adored how there was a aromantic character and the plot was thrilling. I'm giving this a 3.5 stars. Definitely worth reading but I don't think it lived up to the hype and think I might have enjoyed it more if there wasn't any hype.

A Hurricane in my Head

Matt Abbott is from near where I live and on a few occasions we have both been at local poetry events. So I have been a great supporter of him for years and to see him finally have a book published was so exciting. This book is filled with children's poetry but that didn't stop me from loving it. I had lots of pages dog eared and lines highlighted. A four star poetry book without a shadow of a doubt, absolutely brilliant for kids.

FILMS & TV


Brooklyn Nine-Nine (season 6)

This season just finished airing in the UK. Obviously this season was a bit different given it was picked up by a different network, I found that the first half of the season wasn't up to the usual standard but the second half definitely was. The final episode was great although I feel the big reveal at the end was predictable and we've done that before. Still there were some incredible this season such as 'gintars', which talked abut adoption in such a beautiful way that I cried. The show is one of my favourites but this season wasn't very consistent in quality therefore I'm going to give it 4 stars because I do still look forward to every episode.

Ted

I started watching this film with my boyfriend but we went out and didn't get time to finish it. It really annoys me when things are on my currently watching so I knew I was going to have to finish it despite not particularly loving it. It was such a big surprise I loved it. The humour wasn't for me and I still thought it was a great movie, the actors were all great but more importantly I loved the plot. The villain genuinely terrified me and I cried at the sad part. This film really got to me. I'm going to have to give it 4 stars because I had a blast watching this film.

Ackley Bridge

Last summer I was absolutely obsessed with this show. It was one of the greatest thing I had ever seen. I was so excited for this season and honestly don't think any show has disappointed me more than season 3 did. If it is renewed for another season I will give it another go, but season 3 was a disaster. The writing was so sloppy and threw away everything that they had built in the previous seasons. Plus the did a whole year in one season which meant storylines where very rushed and I had no sense of time. A 2 star season because there were still moments I enjoyed but bitterly disappointed.

The Muppets

It was a bank holiday in the UK and therefore there were good films on the telly and I watched 'The Muppets' for the first time in years. I have to say I'm not sure I loved all the jokes, I think some of them were inappropriate. But it was a whale of a time. I was obsessed with The Muppets and this reminded me why. A 4 star movie for sure, great fun.

Over The Garden Wall

This is a show that SuperSpaceChick talks about quite a lot and I figured I would give I a go given it was quite short and featured the actor who plays Todd in 'Dirk Gently' which is one of my favourite TV shows ever. It was such a cute show, made me feel so much better as I had been feeling rather sad that day and the final episode even made me tear up. So worth watching when you have some time to kill, maybe on a sick day. It warmed my heart, a solid 4 star show.

The Devil Wears Prada 

This is such an iconic film and again it was just on the telly so I watched it as Anne Hathaway is one of my favourite actresses. I'm not sure I loved this as much as I previously had but it was still fun to watch especially given I'd forgotten what actually happens. The acting is amazing. A 3 star film, definitely still iconic.