Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Holiday Gift Guide - Lauras Choice

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week we are given a different top ten to complete. For more information and a list of past and future topics, go here.

1. Bookish Totes
I love tote bags and especially ones with quirky little book quotes on!

2. Bookish Prints
I have my eye out for one of these to put on my livingroom photo gallery wall, they are so nice.

3. Funko Pops
These are a new obsession for me, they are so cute!

4. Bookish Homeware
Cushions, throws, ornaments etc... Oh it gets me excited just thinking about it.

5. Books Obviously
Everyone knows to buy me books for all occasions and I will never be disappointed with them.
 
6. Bookish Clothing
T-shirts for example that make you instant friends with anyone you see that is wearing a logo/quote from your favourite books and tv shows

7. Bookish Jewellery
I am like a magpie when it comes to sparkly shiny stuff, some of the book related jewellery I have seen is absolutley to die for.

8. Bookmarks
A bookworm can never have enough bookmarks!
 
9. Films Adapted From Books (In Some Cases)
We know the book is always better but sometimes a movie comes along that just gets it!
 
10. More Books
Ok so I might have ran out of ideas for this one but as a fellow bookworm you will know that there is no such thing as too many books!

Thoughts For 50 - Pages 149 - 200 Of The Sudden Appearance Of Hope By Claire North

My name is Hope Arden, and you won't know who I am. We've met before - a thousand times. I am the girl the world forgets.
It started when I was sixteen years old. A slow declining, an isolation, one piece at a time.
A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A teacher who forgets to chase my missing homework. A friend who looks at me and sees a stranger.
No matter what I do, the words I say, the people I hurt, the crimes I commit - you will never remember who I am.
That makes my life difficult. It also makes me dangerous...
THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF HOPE is the tale of a girl no one remembers, yet her story will stay with you forever.

Laura's Thoughts

I am starting to feel as though I am reading a non-fiction book in parts rather than a fiction book. In some parts of this story Claire North can write from a sentence to a page of information based on the cities that Hope is travelling to, to definitions of words we clearly already know otherwise we wouldn't be able to read and understand the book.

I am hoping to be proved wrong as the book draws to an end and achieve the understanding of what is actually going on. The last few pages of this section actually grabbed my attention and made me want to read more, I hope it keeps it up.

 

Jen's Thoughts

Well where do I start? It’s a very confusing book.
It delves into the past of a character we haven’t met yet??? What is going on???
But I think I have worked it out…. or maybe my brain has worked overtime. The whole story of Hope is a metaphor and a statement on society about vanity and the quest for perfection. The personified Hope wants to bring down this ‘Perfection’ app and the reason why she is forgotten, because she is usually denied as people tend to lose hope in various situations.
Whether I am right or not remains to be seen…. I just want to gain some understanding of this book, as every week I feel it’s a chore in reading the next fifty pages. If I am right, could Claire North be in fact a genius?

Laura Predicts

• Parker is on the opposing team and will prevent Hope from completing her mission
• Hope will hand herself in to stop something happening to one of these people she always talks about missing
  

Jen Predicts

What can I possibly predict...

• Hope will kill someone

Attachments - A Review By Laura

What is it about?

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "
Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.
Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.
When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.
By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.
What would he say . . . ? 

Who is it for?

Older teenager onwards

Genre? 

Romance, Chick Lit

Is it any good?

I read this book so long ago... back in 2012 to be precise and i'm afraid to say I can't really remember much of what happened in it, only a summarised version my head decided to keep. 

What I do remember is that it began my love for Rainbow Rowell and here I am 4 years later waiting for her to write another book because i've read them all. At first I remember struggling to get into the book and wondering what it was that made me buy it in the first place, to be honest I still can't remember why I did but I am so glad that I did because once I was into it I absolutely loved the emails that where exchanged between Jen and Beth and remember being able to relate to certain aspects they spoke about. 

Was the ending satisfactory?

I hate when a book ends leaving the reader to guess what happens next, in some cases when this happens I can't help but lower my rating even if I have enjoyed the rest of the book and I am just dissatisfied with the ending.

Would I recommend the book?

I would recommend this book purely on the bases of it being a Rainbow Rowell book although it was one of her early ones and one of my least favourite.

Read it if you like: 

Helen Warner

Rainbow Rowell

Marian Keyes  

Stacking The Shelves - October 2016

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews! It is a list of what books you have received over the previous week or in our case over the previous month. 

This was a bad month for us both for Stacking the shelves, Laura had just moved into her new house and Jen was preparing for a move too... I swear sometimes it is like we are the same person. Jen is still dealing with the move as is Laura but now Laura has a little less stress and a little more time, just a little more time to do such things... This stacking the shelves will only consist of the books that Laura has some how managed to afford this month, Jen will do a double Stacking next month... God help us all with the amount that she buys monthly!

I am surprised I have ended up with this many books this month I was expecting to buy none but you all probably understand how impossible that would be! I miss my old shelf for my photograph this one looks a little rubbish sorry but I am living in chaos right now.

A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

The one below this Once upon a time came in on the delivery a few weeks ago and I instantly needed it in my life, I am a Disney fan through and through and it just didn't make sense not to buy this when I seen it in Tesco a few weeks later, I bought this along with The Beast within as part of the buy two for £7

Once Upon A Time by Liz Braswell

As mentioned above this book came into work on the delivery, I loved the look of the cover and the feel of the book as well as it being Disney related and bought it without hesitation

The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

I have blabbed on and on about this book since I read Me Before You  and After You that Jen so kindly bought me it as a house warming gift when I moved into my new house, what better way to war a house than to fill it with books, books and even more books... Thanks Jen!

Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

When it comes to anything Shiny I am a magpie, if you seen me in the street you would know it was me from the amount of jewellery I have on that is so sparkly... same with books, a little bit of glitter or mirrored front covers and I will buy it no matter what it is about but this one looked pretty as well as sounding really interesting.

Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland

I don't know why all of a sudden I am buying books with fish in the title or on the cover, I don't mean to its a fluke but this month I have managed to buy two that have fish on, This book caught my attention because it was described as John Green meets Rainbow Rowell in this heartbreaking tale of bittersweet first love. John Green... Rainbow Rowell... it had to be a winner and I only have a few pages of it left and I have loved it so much!

The Beast Within By Serena Valentino

Everyone who knows me will know that I love Belle and Beauty and the Beast... I am considering a village Bella tattoo too... At first I thought this book was part of the other two Disney books I have bought this month but now looking at it I can see that it is not... Still cannot wait to read it though!

Silence Is A Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher

My other fish book from this months haul... I pointed this one out to Jen as soon as I spotted it and she had bought it and read it before I got a chance to but i've heard its good so I bought it anyway.

We Are Back!!

Long time no see! As you may know from previous posts I was in the process of buying my first home with my Fiancé and I can happily say that I am now sitting in my very own Living room writing this!

We didn't bother with a hiatus post because I wasn't planning on not having internet for the three weeks I've had to cope without it! I actually set up the broadband plan a week before we moved in and there was problem after problem trying to get internet, we literally got connected just a few hours ago and I am blogging again already! Oh how I have missed this.

Hopefully the worst is out the way now, who knows we may even manage to blog a little more often now, look out for a lot more posts, we have a lot of catching up to do and maybe even some bookish household posts, I have my eye on quite a few place I am going to cosy up and make into blogging/bookish places starting with the gap under the stairs! Oh this home owning is so fun!

See you soon Laura x