Reading Tips

A degree in English Literature brings along with it a heck of a lot of reading and over the past year I have developed a way to make sure that I am reading continuously. I thought today I would share with you my tips.

1. Set goals and deadlines

Even with book I am reading for pleasure I always set a deadline for how long I want the book to take. It helps to keep up the number of books getting read and helps motivate the speed of reading. This stops big gaps of not reading. In terms of uni reading it is good finish reading books in plenty of time for the lecture on them and deadlines mean that I have always read the text that is needed before the lecture.

2. Set a specific time to read each day

This changes depending on whether I am at uni or not. I like to read on my commute as I often cannot get wifi so I can't get distracted as easily. It also helps to pass the time and means that I feel as though I am doing something productive with my time. It's slightly harder for me when I am not at uni and that is why I choose to read at a specific day, which is normally before I go to bed. Again, it helps to keep up the amount I am reading.

3. Split the book equally over days

I choose how long I want the book to take to read and then split the book into an equal number of pages. Normally, depending on the number of pages, I split the book into 3-4 days if I am at home and 5 days if I am at uni.

4. Always read for pleasure

I believe it is important even during the busiest of times to read for pleasure. Even when assignments are on top of me I always find the time on my commute to read a good piece of young adult fiction to take my mind off it. I find that now I read so much for my course, I enjoy reading for pleasure so much more than I use to.

5. Read everything

Although I read a lot of books from the same genre, I try not to limit myself to always reading the same thing. If my degree has taught me anything, it is that I sometimes enjoy the books that I would never normally consider reading and as a result I enjoy them so much more because of that. For example Room by Emma Donoghue is a book with a very disturbing real life story. However, I found it such a fascinating read.

Thanks For Stopping By! :)

Father's Day Cupcakes!

It has become a bit of a tradition for me to bake something for every occasion; birthdays, christmas, holidays etc. So I decided to share the recipe I used to make my dad some cakes for Father's Day.

Ingredients

For cupcakes:

100g butter
100g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
2 medium eggs

For icing:

50g butter
1tsp vanilla extract
125g icing sugar
Food colouring

Step 1

Preheat oven to 190 degrees (170 fan oven) and place cases into cupcake tin.

Step 2

Beat butter and sugar together for around 5 minutes.

Step 3

Gradually add flour and eggs to mixture until fully combined.

Step 4

Spoon the mixture into cake cases and place in oven for 10-12 minutes. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool while you make the icing.

Step 5

For the icing, beat butter and vanilla extract together. Then gradually add the icing sugar and finally add food colouring.

Step 6

Spoon the icing into a piping bag and pipe onto the top of the cakes.

Step 7

Add whatever topping you want. My dad loves snooker so I tried to make something that looks slightly like snooker balls.

Then enjoy!

Thanks For Stopping By! :)

Weekend in Southwold!

A few weeks ago I went with my family to Suffolk for the weekend. While I was there I took some photos of Southwold on my birthday.

We had a lovely walk with Poppy and went down to Gun Hill to have some breakfast. Of course Poppy, the attention seeker that she is, wanted to talk to everybody!

Then we took a walk down by the sea, which was lovely. Then later we went to have some food at the  Red Lion, a lovely pub in the centre of Southwold.

Also you would not believe how long it took to take this photo! Seriously, every time I went to take it, it would suddenly turn its head away!

All in all I had a lovely weekend there and can't wait to go again in the future.

Thanks for Stopping By! :)

May 2016 Books

Hi Guys!

This month I had a long period where I didn't read at all after I finished 1st year of uni, but then towards the end of the month I worked my way through re-reading the Gallagher Girl series by Ally Carter.

Geek Girl Picture Perfect - Holly Smale
2nd May - 4th May

The thing I enjoy about this series is that each book is equally as good as all the others. Also it is a nice easy read during a period where I was busy with assignments.

Insurgent - Veronica Roth
4th May - 8th May

It is the second in the divergent series. Like with the first book it is a lot better than the film as it includes a lot more detail.

Allegiant - Veronica Roth
9th May - 13th May

I enjoyed Insurgent so much that I start reading Allegiant straight after. It was different to the first two books as it alternated between Tris and Tobias's point of view. At times I did feel slightly confused about who was talking, but overall I enjoyed learning what Tobias was thinking. Also the ending shocked me a lot.

Gallagher Girl Series (Books 2-6)
26th May - 31st May

I re-read this series in just under a week and I have to say I think it is still by favourite young adult series that I've read. I missed out the first book in the series though as I don't enjoy it as much and don't think it fits as well with the rest of the series. However, I do still recommend reading it when reading the series the first time through.

Thanks for Stopping By! :)

April 2016 Books

Hi Guys!

This is SO late!

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas - Ursula Le Guin
4th April - 4th April

This was the second of four short stories I had to read for one of my modules. It was really short and a bit of a weird topic, but on the whole it wasn't too bad.

The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe
4th April - 4th April

This is another short story I had to read for uni. It was even weirder than the last one. It basically has a very unstable narrator who is full of guilt.

Trumpet - Jackie Kay
11th April - 15th April

This is the last book I studied in my Gender and Writing module. It is an interest story on the topic of transgender and identity. I really enjoyed reading this and challenged stereotypes very well.

Freakangels - Warren Ellis
18th April- 19th April

This is a webcomic about London in the future. In the end we only had to read volume 1, which I'm quite glad about as I didn't really enjoy it. I just found it a bit boring. I don't know whether it would have improved as it went along.

Geek Girl Model Misfit - Holly Smale
18th April - 26th April

This is the second in the Geek Girl series and it was just as good as the first. It was full of some wonderfully weird facts and a really nerdy narrator.

Divergent - Veronica Roth
19th April - 21st April

I watched the film version and thought it was quite good, so I decided to read the book. It is very different to the film, but in a good way. It was a lot more detailed.

Stay Where You Are & Then Leave - John Boyne
23rd April - 27th April

It is a children's novel by the author that wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It tells the story of Alfie, a young boy who is trying to find out what has happened to his dad who went off to war in World War One. It felt slightly childish at times, but it was ok.

Sonny's Blues - James Baldwin
28th April - 28th April

It was the longest short story of the lot being 29 A4 pages long! It was really strange and the worst thing was that I (along with the rest of my seminar group) read the wrong short story!

Thanks for Stopping By!

March 2016 Books

Sorry this is so late.

All Fall Down – Ally Carter

24^th Feb – 2^nd March

Apparently last month I read a lot of Ally Carter! So much so that I have now read all of her books! I would say that this series is probably my second favourite series of hers – wedged nicely between Gallagher Girls and Heist Society. However, I have to say that I preferred the second book in the series, but I often find this, I did with the Gallagher Girl series.

Bonjour Tristesse – Francoise Sagan

3^rd March – 4^th March

This is the first short story I have to read for one of my module at uni. I enjoyed this more than I expected to and I am using it for my second assignment of the module. I must say that when I saw a quote of the back saying she was the “French version of F. Scott Fitzgerald” I was slightly worried as I really don’t like The Great Gatsby. However, although I can understand where they were coming from, I found Sagan’s novel to be so much more enjoyable.

Double Crossed – Ally Carter

4^th March – 4^th March

This is the first of two short stories that are available on Kindle by Ally Carter. This one is a cross over novel between the Gallagher Girl series and the Heist Society series. I really enjoyed this and I felt it was very cleverly done. In addition, I don’t feel you have to read either series to understand it, although it does help.

Before the Fall – Ally Carter

5^th March – 5^th March

This is a good short story to introduce you to the Embassy Row series. It describes the events leading up to where the first story begins. I think I preferred Double Crossed, but it was still good for extra information about the story.

See How They Run – Ally Carter

5^th March – 7^th March

This is the second book in the embassy row series. I found it an easier read than the first book and it was definitely more interesting to read.

Love Rosie – Cecilia Ahern

7^th March – 11^th March

I love the film adaptation of Love Rosie, but I didn’t enjoy the book as much. There are a lot of differences in terms of the plot. In addition, the entire plot was written in the epistolary form with a series of letters, emails, notes etc.  I would have preferred a normal novel form with other letters interspersed within the story.  

Geek Girl – Holly Smale

11^th March – 15^th March

This is the first book in the series by Holly Smale. I have been wanting to read the series for a while now and have only just got round to it. It was a nice easy read and was quite funny at points.

Paper Towns – John Green

15^th March – 16^th March

I listened to this through an audiobook and really enjoyed it. It was very different to Fault in Our Stars in terms of plot, but in a good way. It’s quite refreshing for an author to write such different things, but to like both of them.

Perfect Scoundrels – Ally Carter

16^th March – 18^th March

It is the final book in the Heist Society series and I feel that it rounded the series off well. The plot was well delivered and all loose ends were tied up properly.

Thanks for Stopping By! :)

Easter Cupcakes!!!

Hi Guys!

Today to get back into blogging, I thought I would share an easter recipe.


Ingredients


For cupcakes:

100g Butter
100g Caster Sugar
100g Self-Raising Flour
2 Medium Eggs











For icing:

50g Butter
125g Icing Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Yellow Food Colouring








Steps:

Step 1

Preheat oven to 190 (170 fan) and place cases in cupcake tray.

Step 2

Beat butter and sugar together for around 5 minutes.

Step 3

Gradually fold in flour and eggs.

Step 4

Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes. Then allow to cool.

Step 5

To make icing beat butter and vanilla extract together. Then gradually beat in the icing sugar. After that add the food colouring.

Step 6

Place the icing in a piping bag with a large round tip nozzle and pipe onto the cupcakes.

Step 7

Grind flakes into small pieces with your hands. Place on top of cupcake and finish with mini eggs.

Thanks For Stopping By! :)