USA Book List!

Right guys, I’m off to the U.S of A in a couple of weeks, and I thought it may be fun if I do my favourite all-American books. Books which really capture my mental vision of America: freedom and sunshine and all that jazz, as well as my heart. So why don’t y’all come along with me with my book-trip across the states? I’ve also picked the bits from the books I would love to take with me.

The Great Gatsby

Do I need to say anything more? To me it showcased the good and bad of America, as well as taking me on an intense ride. This book showed the dark side of the American dream, yet there was something intoxicating about the lavish parties, and wealth and youth. There was something classy and gritty about it all, and I loved every second of it.

Take: Gatsby. Come on, who wouldn’t want him as a road trip companion?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I have a confession: I’ve always wanted to go to an American high-school. Having said that, I have a feeling I would be more like Charlie out of Perks, than Regina George (bonus points to everyone who gets that reference). After spending most of my teens reading and watching sugar-coated American high school dramas, it was refreshing to read a book that resonated true to what could be an actual high-school experience.

Take: That famous “infinite” moment in the car with Charlie, Sam, and Patrick

The Princess Diaries

I’m quite a nostalgic person, and The Princess Diaries was the first American YA I read. It’s the book that caused me to fall in love with New York (despite never have being there), plus it was just so fun! I related to Mia so much (except the whole princess thing), and again it was me secretly living my dream of American high-school through her (I had a small obsession when I was a teen).

Take: Fat Louis. He’s a cool cat. And maybe a tiara…

To Kill a Mockingbird

This was the first American classic I read, and introduced me to the harsh reality of the South in that era. I think as much as I want to think everything is all sunshine and flag-waving, there’s a dark side to everything, and I felt To Kill a Mockingbird’s significance as I was reading it and found it a real eye-opener into racism in the USA.

Take: Atticus Finch (he’s just awesome)

Tell me what are your all-American books in the comments below!

Updates and Monthly Wrap Up

Hey everyone,

You may or may not have noticed that I have been slightly absent from Youtube (or maybe you haven't noticed because it’s only been a week). I’m just going to cut to the point here: I’m writing a book. Even more to the point, I’m writing a book for the Hot Key Young Writers competition, which has a deadline, so I have 3 weeks to get 40000 words done.

Maybe other people can balance writing, reading. blogging, vlogging, and their day-to-day lives, but sadly, I procrastinate too much to be able to cope with all of that. This means until the 22^nd July, there will be no Youtube videos from me. However, I’m still reading, and want to keep discussing books, so I will be putting more up on this blog. I’m also transferring a lot of book reviews from Goodreads to this site, so keep your eyes out for that.

Boring stuff aside, let’s talk about my reading life.

So a while ago I said I would do the 30 Day Reading Challenge. I’m going to hold my hands up here and say: I’ve failed. I don’t know what happened… Well I do know what happened, I didn’t read enough. I blame my art exam. And my laziness.

But let's just skim past over this and move over to my wrap-up.

Reading Recap

• Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams  (I will review the whole Hitchhikers series once I finish it)
• A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin (same as above)
• A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow by George R.R. Martin
• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• The 5^th Wave by Rick Yancey
• Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman
• Introducing Freud by Richard Appignanesi (I have 3 Introducing guides and I’ll review all of them at once)
• The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (review up soon!)

I forgot to add The School of Good and Evil...

I’m quite impressed with myself (if I do say so myself). 8 books, including two Game of Thrones books isn’t bad for me at all.

Film Recap:

I didn’t watch many films this month, but I did see my favourite film of the year (so far), which was Much Ado About Nothing!

• Much Ado About Nothing
• Man of Steel
• The Great Gatsby
• Despicable Me (which I loved and now I have to see Despicable Me 2!)
• What a Girl Wants (don’t judge me, it came on TV)

Monthly Favourites:

Book: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

TV: The White Queen (BBC1) and Nashville (More 4)

Film: Much Ado About Nothing

Music: Gabrielle Aplin - English Rain (Panic Cord)

Also, I would like to know what the best blogger features are, as I would love to join in with that, so I’m open to suggestions! Actually if you have any suggestions for me with what I can do with this blog, please tell me below!

30 Day Book Challenge

So if you watch any Booktube videos, which you totally should, you may have heard of the 30 Day Book Challenge, created by Riquetta at Nerdintransation, which you can watch here.

So a few other booktubers have thought of joining, myself included, but I thought it may be fun to see if any bloggers wanted to do it too. One quick point though, Riquetta said she’ll be reading a book a day, I think that’s a bit of a jump for me, so I am going to be reading 200 pages a day, which is double the amount I normally read. The challenge is running from tomorrow (17^th June) for, wait for it, 30 days. If you are joining in, remember to use the #30dayread on Twitter!

I thought I’d make a quick list of things I want to read over the challenge, which should be around 15 books, but one of them is Game of Thrones, so I’ll list 12.

Middle Grade

• The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Young Adult

• The 5^th Wave by Rick Yancey
• Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman
• Across the Universe by Beth Revis
• The Universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence
• Divergent by Veronica Roth

Adult

• The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson,
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• So Long and Thanks for all the Fish by Douglas Adams
• A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin (1200 pages erm…)

Classics

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Non-Fiction

• Cracked by James Davies

Plays

• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Looking at this list, I’m now feeling unsure, but you know what they say, aim high. I’ll be posting a lot of reviews up here on this blog, and a few on my channel.

Tell me what you’re reading, if you’re thinking of doing the challenge, or if I’m just plain crazy!