Thursday 31 July 2014

July: Monthly Roundup // This Month's Hearts

Helloo. Today is the last day of July so I'm here for my customary monthly roundup, little recap of my month and sharing of the best book I've read. 



Monthly roundup

Art Tuesday: Blood, Sweat, Tears and Victoriana -- I shared a still life I'd done.

September - May: A Bookish Tour (Part 3) -- in which I reviewed The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer, The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry (YOU SHOULD READ IT), Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (you should read it too) and Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff.

Beautiful People -- I participated in this brilliant writing meme, answering questions about my MC Corrie. 

Mid-July Reads -- I reviewed the (strangely enough, exclusively green) books I'd read in the first half of July: Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, The New Policeman by Kate Thompson, Wild Swans by Jung Chang, Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery and '... And Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers' by Louise Rennison.

The Sunshine Award -- thanks to Amy for this award!

Harry Potter by the Numbers -- an HP-themed link-up hosted by The Book Chewers!

Art Tuesday: Scrapbook Love -- a peek inside my scrapbook.

Mid-Year Book Recap -- linking up with Chami and Ely from A Book So Fathomless for a little review of my general reading year so far and a lot of freaking out/fangirling over books I've read/want to read.

Theme of Sacrifice in Harry Potter -- I guest posted for The Book Chewers! :D :D


This Month's Hearts

General life

~ WELL I GOT A PUPPY. She's really annoying and she bites me a lot, but I LOVE HER.

Photo: Puppy has learnt to climb up stairs, but not to climb down them ...
This is lil Tig. She's learnt to climb up stairs but not down them.
~ Went to Portugal! Yay for the sun. 

~ Bought a ridiculous amount of secondhand books (try fifteen)!! :D Book Haul post coming on Monday.

~ I also won a giveaway - I won the Small Blue Thing trilogy by SC Ransom. I do love winning things.

~  Bought some pretty clothes and shoes ^_^

~ I FINALLY WATCHED TANGLED AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF WAITING.

[source]
*cue dramatic sobbing*
Tangled was, I thought, a great film and it had my shipping-self GOING CRAZY. 

~ I actually drew some people. I have long shunned portraiture ... but I drew some people this month. More on them at another point. 

~ Like I said in the Monthly Roundup, I did a guest post for The Book Chewers! It was great fun to write and very interesting for me. You know that I love Harry Potter. See the post here

Music

~ I was watching a film recently with a brilliant montage at the beginning set to She's So Lovely by Scouting for Girls ...



... and I was like "whoa I'd forgotten how much I love this song!" ...

.... and then all of a sudden I was listening to their first album and becoming obsessed!! 

This is my favourite song off the album (apart from She's So Lovely). I love it so much!!! It makes me both happy and sad.

~ I've also gotten very into a band called Hermitage Green, which I found via Marian's blog - she shared them in answer to a question I'd tagged her for! Which makes me happy!

This is the song she shared. Great song.

Love love love this. I'm all for the sad songs, aren't I??

Writing

I have written some stuff, which is exciting. Whoohoo, cake for all, etc. etc.

Posts I've loved

~ Hawwa @ It Was Lovely Reading You discussed judging a book by its cover.

~ Cait and Mime @ The Notebook Sisters answered some bookish questions (and made amusing remarks about cucumbers).

~ Ruby @ Feed Me Books Now discussed character deaths - both painful and necessary.

~ Sophie @ A Day Dreamer's World talked about plotting v pantsing

~ Delvalina @ Falling in love with Jesus shared an adorable story.

~ Marian @ Ivory Clouds shared her favourite places in the world.

~ Nicola @ Nicola's Notebook did a room tour.

~ Ashley @ [insert title here] gave a lot of character insight - I seriously want to read her novel!

~ Amy @ The Blog Hermit gave us a lil tour of London.

~ book haul posts - there've been plenty of these, my favourites being this onethis one and this one. Click on one of those links ... who knows where it will take you! 

~ summer reading lists - again there've been lots of these. I enjoyed this one and this one (because I love hearing about what people are planning to read! Question: what are you planning to read soon?).

~ I also discovered blogs A Splash of InkThe Thousand LivesGingerly Pale and The Daily Prophecy. Yay for finding new blogs!

Best Book of the Month

This is definitely the cruellest part of this feature. I have read nine and a half books this month .... how to pick just one??? However I think the prize has to go to:

This book was beautifully written, with very touching plot and characters. I couldn't stop reading, even though I (vaguely, having not read this since age of eight or so) knew what would happen next. It was the most loveable book I've read in a long time, and that's why it had to take the top spot.
However, an honourable mention must be made for both Wild Swans by Jung Chang and A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin, which tie for a very close second.
Wild Swans was a profoundly affecting, incredibly interesting and frankly world-altering book for me - it's a book I think absolutely everyone should read. Full review here.
A Game of Thrones was just an amazing epic fantasy novel - its scope was stunning and it completely drew me in, so that I was unable to stop reading! Full review coming next week.
Well, it looks like that's all from me. After a very exciting wedding tomorrow, I'm going on camp on Saturday and then straight from camp to an island in the north for two weeks' holiday. I won't be reading or commenting on your lovely blogs, but I will be scheduling some posts for you so I guess I won't disappear completely. I hope you all have a great rest of the summer ... and tell me: what was the best book you read in July??

Emily x 

6 comments:

  1. Love this post - didn't know you did things like this! Mind if I steal the idea? :) :)

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    1. Thanks! I do one every month :)

      Sure, you can use the button if you'd like :)

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    2. Here's my post. :)

      http://catholicteen15.blogspot.ca/2014/08/what-i-did-this-july.html

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    3. Great, I'll be along soon! :D

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  2. Dear Emily,

    You have such a sweet soul :) you always inspiring me to love book.
    congratulation for the new pupy she is adorable! I wish I could play with her too.
    And thank you for sharing the songs I love the hermitage green.
    Have a wonderful week.
    Blessing,
    Delvalina

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Delvalina, you too!
      Haha thanks, she's a lot of work but I love her!
      I love Hermitage Green, how great are they?? I'm glad you like them :D

      Thanks so much for the comment, and sorry for the late reply! <3

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Thanks for commenting! :)