Series I Won't Finish

I've decided to make a blog post about all the series I don't plan on finishing at the moment. Recently I went through my book shelves to clear them up a bit and it suddenly hit me that life is too short to waste time on books you're not invested in, and that you shouldn't waste money on book series like that but save it for new authors, ideas and so on instead. It made me feel much better about making the decision not to finish these particular ones. Sorry if some of these are your favourite books, I'm not saying they're totally awful and I'm certainly not trying to put you off buying them, it's just my personal opinion and don't let it affect your own!

Gallagher Girls 

The first series I don't plan on finishing is the Gallagher Girls series - I think I read two and a half of them before deciding that I just wasn't into them. I found myself finding all the characters pretty irritating and the plot dull. Plus, I think my book tastes have changed so I'm not even interested in the concept of these anymore!

If I Stay

I'm not sure if this quite counts as a series seeming as it's only two books long, but I've included it anyway. I found If I Stay way too slow and cliché for my taste, and could guess how it would end from the first chapter. I found the narrator, Mia, way too whiney and weak. I rated it 3 stars on Goodreads but to be honest it's more like a 1 or 2... I just used to be too nice to books.

The Iron Fey

I started the first book so many times, because I could barely get through half of it before giving up. But I pushed myself and eventually finished it, and then hated myself for reading a book I knew I wouldn't like from previous experience instead of finding my next favourite book. The writing was a little bit static for me and there were quite a lot of grammar mistakes - for example missing full stops and stuff, however that could just be the publisher's fault. I don't know about you, but lots of grammar mistakes make the book less enjoyable. I also found the plot a little bit on the ridiculous side, and the protagonist is just exasperating! 

Girl, Missing

Loads of my friends adore this series, and I certainly didn't hate it. In fact, I associate loads of good memories with the first book: one of my best friends invited me to go on holiday with her to England and I had such a great time, and I got this book for only a pound in Waterstones! I read it in less than a day and liked how fast-paced it was, but I just don't think I need to know the rest of the story - I'm fine with just reading the first book - I don't feel the need to read the others.

The Grisha

This one is a bit awkward - I thought I would love Shadow and Bone, as all my favourite Booktubers love it and it was constantly recommended to me by Goodreads. I also fell in love with the concept and the unusual setting - it's quite rare to find contemporary books set in Russia. I feel the same way about this as I do about the Girl, Missing series - I find the first book is enough, and I'm just not invested enough to continue. I know it ends on a cliffhanger, but even so... I was satisfied enough not to continue.

Matched

Matched #1 is probably the first 'proper' book where I remember just going 'nope'. I couldn't even get half way - it was so dull, and I didn't care about anyone or anything this book had to offer. It's a shame because the idea behind it is great, it just wasn't pulled off successfully enough in my opinion. I'm not quite sure why I still have the first book in my book shelves.

That's it for the moment - please tell me if you think it's worth me continuing with any of them, but to be honest the only ones I think I could be swayed to read are the Girl, Missing and The Grisha series. The others I'm just not interested in for the moment, however you never know, my mind could change suddenly!

India x

Films to see in 2015

Hello!

I've decided to do a post about films that I am excited about seeing in 2015. Obviously we're already almost a quarter of the way through 2015 (what?? It's going too fast!) so it's quite late, but I thought I'd do it anyway. Here goes:

I'll start with the most obvious: Mockingjay Part II. Now, a quick confession: I haven't actually managed to make it through the first quarter of the third book. I've read the other two and I thought they were fantastic, but the third isn't quite working for me. I've started it and restarted it at least 4 times. However, I've heard that once you get through the first half or so it really picks up, so I might give it one more go. Unfortunately all of my friends *side glance at all my friends reading this* have spoiled what happens, but I don't really mind that much. But anyway. Mockingjay Part I was much better than I thought it would be, as I thought it would be slow like the book. And, if the second half really is much better, then the film should be bloody fantastic too. Roll on November 2015! 

Another quick confession: I don't love John Green's books that much. I mean, I think they're fine, but I'm not a mega fan or anything. I don't think I appreciate them like others do, however I do love his writing-just not necessarily the actual stories themselves. I've read three of his books: The Fault In Our Stars, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Looking For Alaska (which, John Green has just announced, is also becoming a movie.) Admittedly, I haven't read Paper Towns so I'm not 100% sure what it's about but I'll still see it. I'm actually quite excited about it and will probably but not definitely read the book first. 

Next is the Bond film, Spectre. JAMES BOND!!!! The franchise is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. My dad is a massive fan and used to own all of the films pretty much, and at first, when I was 7 or 8, I didn't like them that much: we watched ones such as Dr. No and Goldfinger and I didn't understand them properly. However when Casino Royale came out I decided to go see it, fell in love with Daniel Craig as Bond and went back and watched a few older ones. Unfortunately Quantum of Solace was a massive disappointment: I can't even remember what the plot was now, possibly because there wasn't one. Then, Skyfall. Wow. I watched it in the big room at UGC De Broukère in Brussels. The room is ornate and (looks like) it's made of beautiful stone carvings. It's massive and lovely and the cinema was packed. I went to watch it the day it came out so there were floods of people. Part of me feels like it did so well because it was about 100x better than Quantum of Solace and as a stand alone film isn't necessarily amazing; but I definitely enjoyed it. I hope Spectre doesn't fail like Quantum of Solace, but I think there are such high expectations for it after Skyfall that it may just fall short of the mark, but we'll see.
A plus is that Andrew Scott is going to be in it. He plays Moriarty in Sherlock. And anyone who knows me knows that I am a massive fan of Sherlock. Exciting times!

Next is one you're less likely to have heard of: Suite Française, based on the book by Irène Némirovsky. I haven't actually read the book yet but I bought it about a month ago at a second hand book shop in Brussels for only 1,50€. Brussels isn't big on second hand stuff et cetera so this was a pretty good find. Anyway, because I haven't read it I'm not entirely sure what it's about, but it's set in France during WWII during the German occupation, and I'm pretty certain it's got romance in it, between a French woman and a German soldier. I can't wait to read it: I do love historical fiction, particularly if it's set during WWI & WWII. Another exciting aspect is that Sam Riley will be in it, who played Ian Curtis (lead singer of Joy Division) in the film Control- which is a beautiful despite slow film about Ian's life before his tragic demise. Ruth Wilson will also be in it- I recognise her from the TV film of Small Island we watched at school. 

Okay, this one I'm quite unsure about. It's called Crimson Peak and it's directed by Guillermo Del Toro (The Orphanage, Biutiful, Pan's Labyrinth), who is famous in the world of dark fantasy and gothic horror. I first heard about it because of Tom Hiddleston, who I adore to pieces. He's just so charming. The latest I've heard is he's doing stuff for Comic Relief, and he does loads of other charity work too. Anyway, I'm going off topic here, but yes, I noticed the film because of him. And yes, I am quite drawn to it, but I'm doubtful as to whether it will be shown in Belgium, and I don't know if anyone I know will want to come and see with me. I don't want to see it alone because it's a horror film and I'm quite bad at dealing with stuff like that. But I do have some- few, admittedly - gothic-like tastes, so I might enjoy it. We'll see.

Finally, the live-action Cinderella film. I was always a massive fan of Disney princesses as a young girl but I can't say that Cinderella was really one of my favourites. However I'm so happy this is coming out! The costumes and sets look so lovely- just look at that blue dress. It's gorgeous. And I do like a bit of romance sometimes, and princes and princesses, and ball gowns and jewellery and glitter and magic. I don't know how magical this will be, but from the trailer it looks beautiful and well-crafted. 

I'm sure there are other films I've missed but these are the main ones I could think of. 

Hope you enjoyed this blog post!

India x

First blog post

Hello!

So this is my first ever blog post. I'm not entirely sure where I want to go with this blog, but I just thought it would give me something a bit productive to do (as well as teaching myself the piano...).

I will mostly use this blog to talk about my favourite things: books, films, music, clothes, piano, Sherlock, make up and nail varnish, as well as the occasional essay (if they're at all interesting...) amongst other things.

So yes! I hope you find this blog interesting, and feel free to add suggestions in the comment section. I will reply to everything and everybody.

India x