Category Archives: Bookish

Visits to book releases, signings and any author or book related event.

The Year in Books

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2015 was a terrible reading year for me! I spent a lot of my commute looking out the window as the city zipped by, instead of reading as I usually do. January started off brilliantly, but then February happened, and it was all downhill from there for a few months. I did pick up in November, but by then it was much too late to do any significant damage to my TBR pile.

Of the ones I read, three good reads (across different genres) were, Defying ISIS – a book about the issues that we’re facing globally, and what Christians can do. A lot has happened since this book published, but it’s still a great read.  Food Rules, for anyone who is interested in overall healthy eating, and, The Day the Crayons Came Home, companion to The Day the Crayons Quit – which I will read out loud to you if I corner you in a bookstore.

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*One book missing from this pile is Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking) by Christian Rudder, which was also an insightful read.

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This Year in Books

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To date I’ve read about 38 books, some were ok, others were great, most were enjoyable. I love receiving books as presents – or gift cards to buy books, or used books, or just take me to a book store on a shopping spree!

I thought I’d share a few books I’ve loved this year.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers – I know you’re an adult and you’re probably thinking, children’s books? Really? But listen, do me a favour and go to a bookstore, pick up this book, read it, and then judge me.

Love and other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan – I really enjoyed the writing style and the protagonists’s mind. I also liked that it dealt more with family relationships.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart – Another brilliant E. Lockhart story. A bit of a mystery and a bit of a suspenseful read, with a lovely little twist in the end.

Conversion by Katherine Howe – Present day and past storied intertwine as Katherine Howe writes about the Salem Witch Trials and a case of – what seems to be – mass hysteria at a girl’s boarding school.

God in my Everything by Ken Shigematsu – This was a good read for me, it’s about building a rule of life in our busy lives and I felt I needed to read some of the things in this book. It’s a super easy read too, and features an adorable story of a chipmunk as an illustration on giving.

What If? by Randall Munroe – You don’t have to love science to read this, or even know much science. This was a super fun and interesting read, and I definitely learnt a thing of two. By the way, it has the bonus of being the book you should probably be reading if you want nerdy guys to talk to you.

I’m in the middle of reading a few more books which I hope to finish by the next month. If so, I’m sure I’ll be adding a few more books to the above list.

 

A Few of My Favourite Things

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It’s December! I can’t believe it but it’s true. It seems that times speeds up, relative to the responsibilities on your plate. So here we are, the first day of December and I had a wacky thought – what if, for every day this month, I write a post about one thing that I love? I don’t know if I can REALLY do 31 posts, but I can try, so here goes!

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Coming off of November the one thing on my mind is NaNoWriMo! I won again this year and I’m SO HAPPY about that! I wasn’t planning on doing it and I didn’t really have an idea, but October came around and I felt like I wanted to try it again, so I took a story that was sort of flowing in my head for a while now, and decided to write it down.

Last year I wrote a little about my process (or lack thereof). A few things remained the same from last year, but this year I realized that I can plot – given the right tools.

In October I bought an app called Index Card. It’s a really great app that lets you brainstorm and plot your ideas on a cork board. It’s very flexible and doesn’t force you to work in a certain template so I was able to create my own flow and stacks without feeling boxed in. The best part was, since it was on my iPad I could carry it around with me and work with it on my commute without carrying around a big bag.

For the actual writing I used Scrivener. I first hear of the app from Justine Larbalestier, who posted about using it to write Liar (a really great book if you love unreliable narrators). Around that time I downloaded a trial version of the program and tried it out, it was a nice app, but I wasn’t writing anything at that moment so I forgot about it. That is, until last year when a friend of mine mentioned Scrivener to me for NaNoWriMo and I decided to give it another go. I bought the full version, imported my Word document and never looked back.

I absolutely LOVE Scrivener. I know that there are other apps out there that work similarly, but I appreciate that Scrivener has a lot of heavy-duty tools but still allows you the simplicity of just writing and ignoring the bells and whistles until you are ready.

I used the Index card as a guideline and then translated those cards to Scrivener where I fleshed out the story. If writing is something you love doing, I strongly suggest checking them out to see if they work for you!

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On repeat: Sleigh Bells by Fun.

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October’s Loot Crate!

Posted in Bookish, Gadgets, Gamer Girl?, Geeky by

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When I was thinking about what sort of boxes I should sign up for, Loot Crate was one of my top picks. My first one came yesterday and it had quite a few great things inside, just in time for Halloween.

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The first thing I pulled out was this skull t-shirt, but look carefully and you’ll see that it’s really a bunch of kittens.

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The next thing I was How to Survive a Sharknado. I haven’t seen this show but this book looks like it contains some funny anecdotes.

Seeing as I just started watching The Walking Dead, I’m curious to see what the comic book is all about.

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Probably my favourite item in the box, this chainsaw/sledge hammer pen will be a great Halloween kind of pen!

There were a few more things but these were all the pictures I took. I’m actually very pleased with this box, looking forward to November’s!

Things I’m Loving

Posted in Bookish, Fashionista, Media, Social Media by

Lately there have been a few things that I was introduced to that I’ve been loving, so I thought I’d share!

modcloth lace hoodie

First, I was YouTube binging and came across a Lauren Fairweather video where she talked about her Etsy shop branding and a giveaway featuring this lovely hoodie. I hopped on to Mod Cloth right away, found it and ordered it. I absolutely love this hoodie! I wish there was a way I could incorporate it into every outfit. I’m seriously considering getting the grey and berry versions of it as well.

During the YouTube bing I found Carrie Hope Fletcher whose videos are both hilarious and thoughtful. Carrie also plays Eponine on West End’s Les Miserables and in a lot of her videos she says things that I’ve been thinking about/saying for a very long time.

After watching Carrie’s videos I saw one with her and her brother Tom, which lead me to his channel and to this video, which is a cover done by him and his wife of Love Is On The Radio a song from Tom’s band McFly – who is now joining with Busted to form a new superband. Busted sang Year 3000, which was covered by The Jonas Brothers and I believed featured in a cartoon movie.

So, basically I’ve been listening to McFly songs, the above included. I love their style, and am definitely curious to see how the McBusted style plays out.

I absolutely loved reading this book. One of my faves of the year so far. I reviewed it over on my book blog so I won’t go into the details but I’d highly recommend it if you want a strong story about life after war and how it affects family. Also Laurie is a great fiction writer.

Well, that’s it for now, my January faves. 🙂

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