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There’s No Book Like Home

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In the immortal words of Dorothy, there really is no place like home. The smell of cooking, the comfort and warmth, the yells of screaming children. There’s nothing like a wailing child for creating ambiance. But as well as home being a physical place, we all have other things that remind us of home too. For me, I have a weirdly strong association with the smell of Play Doh (Dorh? Dough? I Doh-n’t know). I have since been told that for many a child, Play Doh is a strangely appealing snack. Not sure how I feel about that one.

Anyway, as well as smells, sounds and questionable tastes (those grass-eating kids on the playground, I’m looking at you) that remind us of home, I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that I have a few books that when I read them, I immediately feel comforted. And in the terrifying times we live in, I think that’s a feeling we all need to hold onto.

This is most likely not going to be the most academic book list you’ve ever read. And that’s alright. It’s OK to just read stuff you like without worrying about its cultural importance (something I am working on). So, without further ado, I (the dining room) proudly present *trumpet fanfare* my home comfort books (your dinner). Sorry, I couldn’t resist the Lumiere reference there. Another home comfort right there. I digress. Moving on.

The Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton 

I have very distinct memories of going to the library to borrow a Malory Towers book and literally reading it non-stop until I’d finished it (I’m surprised I never dropped any of those books down the toilet or anything to be honest). This series is one of the series that really ignited my love for reading so it’s got to feature on the list. 

‘Longbourn’ by Jo Baker 

Whenever I don’t know what to read, I always find myself reaching for this book. It’s essentially a reimagining of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ from the perspective of the servants in the Bennet household. As well as loving the original novel it’s based on, I love the characters in this, the plots are really fleshed out, the way Baker references the original novel is really thoughtful and makes you think about how Austen treats social class in her novels. A book that I can read time and time again without ever getting bored. It’s a yes from me.

The 1912 storyline in ‘Honeymoon in Paris’ from ‘Paris for One and Other Stories’ by Jojo Moyes 

OK, this sounds very weirdly specific and that’s because it is very weirdly specific. This story is set in Paris and it has two storylines in it, separated into chapters: one is set in 2002 and the other is set in 1912, but the storylines mirror and interweave with each other. Essentially, when I’m bored, I will just read the 1912 storyline because I love the relationship between Sophie and Edouard and I just never tire of reading about it. Perhaps because it’s everything I would want. Haha, psychoanalysis over. Next.

‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte 

I remember in Year 8, I had the embarrassing moment of confusing Jane Eyre with Jane Austen. Not my finest hour. We’ve come a long way since then. I mean, it’s a classic so you don’t need me to tell you it’s good but still. I’m going to tell you anyway. I love Jane Eyre. I love the gothic genre and in ‘Jane Eyre’, you’ve got the exploration of the madwoman in the attic trope with Bertha Mason and all that symbolises in feminist literature of a woman creatively and socially repressed. It’s a novel that I genuinely love reading about and reading around because I always feel there’s more that can be said about it. Really interesting, really enjoyable, could not recommend more.

‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows 

I read this on holiday last year and I was actually really touched by it. It’s written in epistolary form (in letters, telegrams, notes etc.) and I was amazed by how the authors flesh out the characters so well considering the restrictions of the form. I found it quite emotional to read and I felt very connected to the characters. It also really made me aware of the untold experiences of the world wars, the ones we don’t hear about it mainstream discourses. A book that made me think and feel. Isn’t that what we all want when we read?

Honourable mentions include ‘Finding Sky’ by Joss Stirling and the Divergent series by Veronica Roth – Year 8 me really found comfort in repeatedly reading these ones.

Thank you for reading me waffle on the books that feel like home to me. They’re something I can turn to in harder times and I think that’s important to remember in the times we’re living in. I’m well aware that this may just be a shout into the void, but what are your books that feel like home? Let me know!

 

 

 

 

 

Gifts For Your Friendly Neighbourhood Bibliophile

OK, first things first, before we get into the main body of this bad boy, would really love to address the whole title situation. Not that anyone really cares but I’m going to stop doing the whole ‘Sophie does this’, ‘Sophie does that’ structure for my article titles now. To put it honestly, it comes across a bit arrogant and that’s really not the one, is it? Also, the whole ‘yours in…’ is a bit much I feel so we’re just going to take it down a few notches. All good? Nice. Let’s proceed.

I was looking around my room earlier and I realised that I have a lot of book-themed merchandise. Like, A LOT. And it has very much accumulated without me noticing. With Christmas fast approaching (not really, but I’m trying to add a bit of cohesion to this introduction and why I’m writing this article so bear with me), this is the perfect time to start thinking about the gifts we’re going to give to our loved ones this year. So, today, I thought I would write a short little wish list for the bibliophiles, or, if we’re using the scientific terminology, ‘book lickers’, in your life. Enjoy.

  1. Bookishly

Bookishly is a fab subscription service where, every month, you get sent a book, a cute little notebook/other satisfyingly adorable stationary item and some tea!! Ideal, I know. Go forth and purchase this starter pack for the wildest Saturday night of your life.

2. Any book with a cover illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith

I swear the woman is an actual magician. The covers she draws are literally STUNNING and you know, you really just can’t beat a beautifully illustrated book cover. OK, you can beat it. But book covers, still great, go for it, shove that in your basket.

3. ‘The Book Lover’s Cup of Tea’ tea infuser

I know what you’re thinking. Can it be? And my answer is, yes it can. This is a tea infuser shaped like a book. And like, not to be dramatic, but it’s amazing.

4. Pin badges from Foyle’s

I mean, as soon as I go into Foyle’s, I pretty much just give them my money because all the stuff in there is just so nice. I have this really cute pin badge that says ‘books turn muggles into wizards’. To summarise – cute, book-themed, worth it. Go spend that coin.

5. Go to Waterstones and try and find a signed copy of literally any book

Last summer, I literally had the best day of my life and found a signed copy of a Caitlin Moran book in Waterstones. I didn’t buy it when I first saw it because I’m #dumb so my wonderful mum went and bought it for me. But you might not be as fortunate as I was for it to still be there the next day. These chances don’t come around very often you know.

6. 100 Best Books Poster

OK, I don’t know if that’s actually the name of it but ANYWAY, I’ve seen this poster where there’s the 100 must-read books or books to read before you die, something along those lines, where you scratch off the book once you’ve read it. I’m not explaining this well. Like, on a Lottery ticket or on the scratch and sniff things in the Summer Reading Challenge booklets. I don’t think the poster is scratch and sniff though – they’ve really missed a trick there.

7. Necklace shaped like a book with first name initial on it

I have not made that title catchy at all, wow. This was a gift from my wonderful friends and it’s this adorable necklace in the shape of a book with a little S on it. Cute, classy, can’t think of another adjective beginning with C to finish the alliteration.

And that’s my surprisingly short list of book paraphernalia – normally, I can wax lyrical for at least a couple hundred more words but we’re going to keep it short today. Any gift on this list is statistically guaranteed to make any recipient scream with excitement, so you can’t really beat that can you? Thanks for reading, I’m now off for a cup of tea. With my book shaped tea infuser. Oh yes, ladies and gents, that is the kind of wild life I lead.

Sophie Reads ‘Everything I Know About Love’ by Dolly Alderton

If I had some sort of way of measuring the amount of times I mention Dolly Alderton’s new memoir in my everyday life (a sort of ‘Dolly per capita’ if you will), I would be almost as annoyed by the amount of counting I had to do as everyone else around me is by my constant mentioning of her book. In short, I loved it.

For those of you have not come across this humdinger of a book (weird noun, I know, but I just mentally reached for it and it came to me – you can’t fight nature), I’ll give you a brief introduction, a short Welcome to my Ted Talk, if you will. Dolly Alderton is a journalist, columnist and podcaster and her memoir ‘Everything I Know About Love’ is her first book and it’s a cracking one at that. It gives an account of Alderton’s roaring twenties, with drinking, late-night anecdotes and insightful commentary, all held together by the endurance of her female friendships.

In the Notes section of my phone, I stumbled across a note where I had written down my thoughts about this book whilst I was reading it. Re-reading it in hindsight, I seem to have written it in some sort of crazed fever dream, as there’s really no distinguishable cohesion in anything I have written. At one point I likened my pelvic floor to the Hoover Dam. It was a wild ride from start to finish. I have taken some salvageable sentences and popped them in here but if you come across anything where you’re like, ‘hmm not quite sure about that one’ or ‘is this girl OK’, just know it’s from The Notes Section. Just a bit of a disclaimer from me there. Onto the review.

This book just seems to connect the generations. Although some of Alderton’s hilarious anecdotes are decidedly unique (not naming any names, but she recounts the time she found herself on a long-haul taxi ride up the M1), the things she talks about are so familiar. Reading this book is like coming home and getting a hug from your mum, your best friend, Oprah, a cloud and a packet of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups all at the same time. The perseverance of female friendships throughout the ever-changing backdrop of careers and dating and bereavement and emotional self-discovery is so recognisable. She writes with wit about years well-lived but also writes poignantly about bereavement, mental health, inexpressible feelings about wanting more or feeling stuck. Along with her raucous hilarity and startling relatability, Alderton has such wisdom about love – she tracks her relationship with love throughout her life, explaining encounters, recipes, ideologies that have marked the chronology of her life. If I sat down to write something like this, I feel the frightening emptiness of the blank page would just starve anything I wrote of true feeling or meaning but with Alderton, her writing just overflows with wit, humour and wisdom. It feels so impersonal to refer to her by her surname – Dolly’s memoir makes you feel like you know her. I feel that we can all find a bit of ourselves in this book.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I’m nearly as cool nor as exciting as Dolly Alderton – the most rebellious thing that I do on the regular is to get in the bath without going for a wee first. Where she is streetwise, charming and effervescent, I spend my evenings crying at Queer Eye. But this disparity never made me feel like I’m an other, like I’m not enough. Some other memoirs I have read have made me feel inadequate, like my life is not exciting enough or I am not adventurous enough. Other memoirs have made me compare myself and re-examine every part of myself, trying to be more. But Dolly Alderton somehow has this amazing way of making you feel like you are exactly where you need to be and the future is exciting and things will work out in the end. Her memoir allows me to appreciate her life and her success without ever having to re-evaluate mine. Because success is not finite. We do not all have to fight over one bit of it. Dolly (and a particularly insightful post on her Instagram) reminded me that I can appreciate and support the success of others without having to decrease my self-worth or goals or dreams. And that is so, so valuable.

I strongly recommend you read this. It is a love letter to beautiful female friendships, to self-discovery, to valuing your emotional wellbeing, to getting heartbroken and learning about love, to drunken nights out, to the feeling of ‘is this it’. There’s a line in Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’ (my English Lit pals, you’ll recognise this) where one of the characters remarks that one of the best things about literature is when you’re reading a book, and you see someone express a feeling that you thought was unique to you, it’s as if a hand reaches out to grab yours. That’s what reading this memoir felt like. Get your fondue cos this is about to get cheesy – it almost felt a bit like coming home.

…I mean, at this point, if you’re not convinced, there’s really not that much more I can do. I exposed the cringiness that is The Notes Section of my phone. I made some dubious jokes. I did a cheesy ending. Read it. You won’t regret it.

Yours in cliched endings,

Sophie

Sophie Reads ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ by Jenny Han

Let me give you a little bit of context. It is the beginning of the Easter holidays and let me tell you, I have had a whirlwind term. I feel I have achieved a lot this term and I have had some really great experiences (*thanks agent for helping me win the Oscar*) but it has left me exhausted. Like, the kind of tired where you get actual physical responses from your body that require ibuprofen and Sudocrem. I literally feel like I could go full flamingo and just sleep standing on one leg at this point with how much sleep I need to catch up on. So that’s where we’re at.

I am thus not really in the mood for high literature on this first weekend of the Easter holidays. I need something light, something adorable, something where I love the main character’s aesthetic so much that I fall into a Pinterest void whilst looking at said aesthetic. And for me, this came in the form of ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ by Jenny Han.

For those of you who do not know, ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ is about a teenage girl called Lara Jean who lives with her dad and two sisters and is very much characterised as an endearing, arts and crafts-loving introvert. When she has a crush, of which there have been five, she writes them a love letter, addresses it and puts it in a box – never to be sent but just as a way to let it all out. One day, her love letters get mysteriously sent out and one of the recipients, Josh (the boyfriend of Lara Jean’s older sister Margot – drama I know) goes to approach Lara Jean about it. To avoid the inevitable awkwardness from proclaiming your undying love for your sister’s boyfriend (a relatable circumstance I’m sure), Lara Jean pretends to be in a relationship with another love letter recipient Peter, who wants to make his ex-girlfriend jealous, so it works for him. Not to mention, said ex-girlfriend is Lara Jean’s ex-best friend. Antics ensue.

I have watched the Netflix film version of this book and I very much enjoyed it. The main character aesthetic was FULLY realised and I was HERE FOR IT and also, I don’t mean to objectify him, but Noah Centineo doesn’t exactly make it a difficult film to watch. I like to watch this film when I’m in need of uplifting, as a nice Friday night little comfort blanket (clearly I live a wild and rebellious existence). So I was expecting good things from this book. And I was not disappointed.

This book is very sweet. It’s full of little details, just about Lara Jean and her family baking (which they do a lot, their house must smell really nice) or maybe they’re going on a weekly food shop, but I loved the relationship that Han created between the three sisters. My sister and I, as we have both read the book, have been quite frequently cooing over how sweet their family is and all their arts and crafts and baking and little gestures they do for each other. Something I really picked up on was Lara Jean’s attention to detail – she picks out outfits the night before, her meals are described in infinite, scrumptious detail, she brings people drinks and food and Korean face masks to make them feel better. It was somehow really satisfying and made me want to be detailed and creative or make some kind of beautifully organised, colour-coded, washi-taped list. She was just a character full of little details and I really liked that.

I felt that the characterisation of Lara Jean’s older sister, Margot, was slightly rushed and a little too overt in the film but I thought her organisation and strong sense of responsibility were more subtly characterised in the book. In the film, Margot almost just becomes someone to compare Lara Jean to or someone to advance the plot in terms of Lara Jean’s relationship with their neighbour, letter recipient and Margot’s boyfriend Josh but she was a much more complex character in the book. In the book, there’s this moment where Lara Jean sees Margot cry without her knowing it and Margot is hurt by her sisters doing their Christmas traditions whilst she is away at university – Margot comes across as a little stoic at times in the film but we really see her vulnerabilities in the book, which was nice. Also, as a fellow goody two shoes myself, it was nice to see a character like Margot to not be portrayed like an uptight stereotype and instead, as an actual human being with complexities and emotions.

Also, the whole dead mum plot was much better handled in the book than in the film. Within the first probably 2 minutes of the film, Kitty, Lara Jean’s youngest sister, exclaims something like, “BUT I WAS ONLY A BABY WHEN MOM DIED” and suddenly we have a Tragic Back Story. Admittedly, the film doesn’t suddenly become All Roads Lead To The Loss Of My Mother and it is used as a way for Lara Jean and Peter to bond later on but I thought that could have been embedded slightly better than a hasty announcement and an A1 sized picture of a motherly looking portrait on the wall. I understand the limitations of screen time but there is no need to whack this aspect of the plot on a big old flashing sign and the book does not do this, tending to bring it in in much more subtle ways, such as to explore Margot’s depth of character in her role as a substitute mother and how Lara Jean relates to that. Wow, all roads lead to Margot.

But what carries through both the film and the book is just the genuinely good nature of Peter Kavinsky. In the film, he moves the popcorn responsibly before having a pillow fight with his girlfriend’s younger sister and in the book, he compliments Lara Jean’s Cho Chang costume and just looks at her THE WAY ALL GIRLS WANT TO BE LOOKED AT. The iconic pocket spin moment and the love notes were not there in their exact form in the book but the romantic tone of them were carried through in other ways, making Peter just as loveable as ever. And the hot tub scene did not disappoint. Tastefully written, backed by enough development of their relationship, adorable. Class bit of writing from Jenny Han there.

The one thing I would say is that I was left totally unsatisfied by the ending. SPOILER ALERT but the ending is not wrapped up at all and we do not get the rom-com satisfaction that the film ending gives us. I have now started reading the second book in the trilogy (‘P.S. I Still Love You’) and have found that a lot of stuff that happens at the end of the film of the first book actually happens in the second book – Lara Jean writing her final love letter to Peter, them getting together for real, the whole hot tub sex tape situation (which sounds extremely odd out of context). I was just left unfulfilled by the ending of the first book. I was speeding towards the final few pages, expecting an adorable reunion to light the fire in my rom-com-loving heart but instead it just ends with Lara Jean ADDRESSING her final letter to Peter. ADDRESSING. Not even into the main body paragraph yet, where the good stuff happens and they have a fantastic reunion on a lacrosse field and my heart bursts. I just felt that adding all that stuff from the second book into the first film gave the film a more rounded ending, whereas having it all at the start of the second book felt like we were sort of cleaning up after the events of the first book, rather than beginning a new aspect of the story. Maybe it’s a good thing that the books are sort of subverting a typical ending and it’s true, the second book definitely explores some more sticky parts of Lara Jean and Peter’s relationship, rather than just the picture perfect ending they have at the end of the first film. This approach did work well in some ways but I just wanted more rom-com goodness to it.

I absolutely flew through this book – I started on Friday evening and had finished it by Saturday morning, so it is a very easy read. It was exactly what I needed – light, adorable and somewhat relevant in my own life. For some reason, I sort of felt ashamed, almost guilty, that I was reading it, that I wasn’t reading ‘The Mill on the Floss’, the book waiting for me from my English Literature reading list, or ‘Gone With The Wind’ (which I am literally taking decades to get through). Although I enjoy these kinds of books, it was nice to step back from them and read a good YA rom-com. I carpe-d the hell out of my diem and just read what I felt like reading (*Spice Up Your Life plays in the background*). And that’s what reading should be about – reading the books you feel like reading, balancing school and pleasure reading, finding characters you can truly know and relate to. That’s what it’s all about.

So what I took away from this is that it’s OK to give yourself a break. Not everything I do has to be for school, therefore not everything I read has to be for school. I was at the end of my tether after this term, I was physically and mentally exhausted and I needed a break. This book gave that to me, with its to die for aesthetic, adorable relationships and detailed, relatable characters. Didn’t mean to get that deep but yeah, to summarise – this was a good book that put me in a good mood and it will for you too!

I am going to try not to be ashamed of what I’m reading – I do not have to prove myself by reading certain things and although that English Literature reading list needs to be done (and I know I’ll enjoy doing it), it’s good to recognise when to take a break. Watch your favourite film for the tenth time, read your favourite book until it falls apart, make a disproportionately large amount of baked goods. Who cares? It makes you happy, and that’s all that matters.

Yours in love of rom-coms,

Sophie

 

Sophie Compares The Top 10 Music Charts To Books

My thinking behind this article came from a desire to try something different on this blog. I have already published two book reviews on here and felt that another would be boring and predictable, two things I feel it is important not to be when blogging. So I came up with this. Basically, the idea is that I went onto the Radio 1 website and I looked at the current UK Top 10 songs, did a bit of research about each one, read the lyrics, watched the music video and then matched up each song with a book that I think is similar or consults the same theme. I really don’t know how well it has worked but I hope you find it interesting anyway. Also, that wasn’t a particularly snappy title, was it? Oh well. Enjoy.

  1. ‘Eastside’ (feat. Khalid & Halsey) by Benny Blanco

This track is about young love, with an element of the love being forbidden or not approved of. However, the couple don’t care and just want to run away together to build a new life, away from the growing pressures of reality. The basic choice here would be Romeo and Juliet – forbidden love and all that fun stuff. However, we like to think outside the box here so for this song, I’m going to recommend a TRILOGY. I know, right? Radical. And that trilogy is (drum roll please)… The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare, which follows Emma Carstairs in the Shadowhunter world, in which Cassandra Clare has set two previous series. However, the particular aspect of the story that relates to this song is that Emma and her best friend Julian took the parabatai oath when they were very young, when the Shadowhunter universe was pretty much a hot mess. Sorry that sentence was very jargon-y and probably didn’t sound like English. Let me elaborate. The parabatai oath is taken by two people who are very close (twins, siblings, best friends etc.) and creates an unbreakable bond between them. It signifies their closeness and makes it so that they can sense what the other is doing or when the other feels pain. The only rule for a parabatai pair is that they don’t fall in love. Guess what our resident forbidden lovers did? They only went and fell in love. Shocker. And the Shadow World is a hot mess again. So there’s that too. Rapid search for a loophole in the parabatai thing, raunchy encounters and general panic ensue.

  1. ‘Promises’ by Calvin Harris & Sam Smith

OK, I actually had to stop watching the music video for this one because the whole psychedelic, colour, swirly thing was not doing wonders for my eyes. Eyesight aside, this song is about spending one night with someone without commitment and feeling a magical pull towards someone. #deep. I felt that the book that suited this sort of theme was ‘Me Before You’ by Jojo Moyes, aka the tearjerker of the century. Hear me out, OK. This story follows vivacious Lou, the carer to Will, who was bound to a wheelchair by a traffic accident two years previously, and it’s about how their relationship goes on to develop. My line of thinking was (SPOILERS ARE COMING IN TO LAND) that Will and Lou do have a time pressure on their relationship, the 6 months that Will promised his parents before he considers euthanasia. As a result, Lou puts her all into making those 6 months the best that they can be, organising trips of lifetime and of course, falling madly in love etc. etc. He ‘makes no promises’ but she ‘gives him everything’. See? Clever, right? I used lyrics from the song. I’m not just a pretty face.

  1. ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra

This absolute banger of a song is very summery and youthful, it’s all about going on adventures with your friends, feeling like you know who you are and that you have a place. If one of those inspirational quotes with a sunset background that says ‘Live like there’s no tomorrow’ or something was a song, this would be it. So today on Literary Blind Date, ‘Shotgun’ will be going on a date with ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ by Morgan Matson! The premise of this book is that quiet Emily’s best friend, the outgoing and confident Sloane, has completely disappeared without warning – all she has left behind is a bucket list of things for Emily to do throughout the summer and while completing the list, Emily starts to find her identity as well as trying to find her best friend. I thought both of them had a very light-hearted, summery feel to them, as well as both talking about learning who you are. Aww. I think this book and this song are soulmates.

  1. ‘In My Feelings’ by Drake

First of all this video is 8 minutes long so… there’s that. This song is essentially about, as I understand it, someone telling their girlfriend that they love them and they want to be with them. This was a hard one for me because I genuinely struggled to think of a book that matched it really well. However, I have finally settled on ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte. OK, I know it’s a bit of a stretch but I’m trying my best. It basically just reminded me of that bit near the end of the book where Jane hears Mr Rochester calling over the fields for her and we don’t know if it’s real or if it’s a dream but it’s the man in the relationship needing the woman, which is kind of the feeling I get from this song. And then Jane and Mr Rochester get together because the man expressed how he feels. I know it’s tenuous but I feel like some of the other matches are giving us a high group average so I think we’re doing OK.

  1. ‘Body’ (feat. Brando) by Loud Luxury

Several websites of confusing research later, I have managed to decipher that, according to someone on Lyric Interpretations, this song is about a virgin looking to have his first time with a girl that one of his friends is dating. She just likes the attention and has him wrapped around her finger, hence he is ‘losing all his innocence’ because of the emotional and sexual MINEFIELD presented in this song. It’s just very confusing, for all parties involved. Anyway, a book that links quite well to this song is ‘I Capture the Castle’ by Dodie Smith. In this book, 17 year old Cassandra knows full well that Stephen, a boy her family employs who also lives with them, has this bright-eyed admiration for her (he writes poems for her and saves up all his money to buy her a birthday present, it’s quite sweet) that she doesn’t return. Although she isn’t quite as emotionally manipulative as the girl in the song, she does lead him on a bit, despite her constant self-reminders that she needs to be ‘brisk’ with him. Lovely. Let’s move on.

  1. ‘God Is A Woman’ by Ariana Grande

After a bit of research, it seems that this song is conveying many different themes. There is one of sisterhood – Madonna, a female pop icon, is heard reciting the Bible verse Ezekiel 25:17 in the middle of the song, talking of fighting back against those who attempt to destroy ‘my sisters’, as well as a recreation of ‘The Creation of Adam’ at the end of the video, featuring women instead of men. There is also a bit of a religious theme as well – there are several references to confession and being blessed. Also, just Ariana’s general awesomeness – she is literally sitting on top of the world at one point, showing how she is currently dominating the pop scene despite those who told her she couldn’t. Sorry, that was a bit preachy there. I didn’t come up with all that either – go watch the YouTube video from Genius for more. It’s a very powerful song so needs a powerful book to match. Therefore, I chose ‘How To Be Famous’ by Caitlin Moran. At the end of this book, the main character, Johanna, publicly fights back against the sexual exploitation she experienced from comedian Jerry Sharp. Johanna, like the forces to be reckoned with that are Caitlin Moran and Ariana Grande, continually fights for women and both the song and the book are about strong women and for strong women. An empowering match indeed.

  1. ‘Girls Like You’ (feat. Cardi B) by Maroon 5

Let me say, the whole idea of this song is so clever and well-thought out. At face value, it’s a man showing his appreciation for his girlfriend after overcoming a difficult time in their relationship but when you add that showstopper of a music video, featuring famous women of all different races, careers, walks of life, it makes a complete mockery of the painful saying ‘I’ve never met a girl like you’ or ‘you’re different to other girls’, that undervalues females in general. The song basically celebrates all of these inspirational women for their separate talents which is great to see. And the literary counterpart is… ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children’ by Ransom Riggs. An unorthodox choice, I know. My thinking was that Miss Peregrine’s home, in the book, provides refuge for children with unusual and magical talents, who, because of that, have become outcasts from society. Like ‘Girls Like You’, there’s just a sense of celebrating differences and showing that we are all part of a support system. Both place people who are different in the limelight. Now that’s refreshing.

  1. ‘No Brainer’ (feat. Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper and Quavo) by DJ Khaled

Basically, the core message of this song is about a girl being so amazing in every aspect that it’s a ‘no brainer’ (see what I did there?) to choose her. Also, modestly, JB adds that, likewise, it’s a ‘no brainer’ for her to choose him. For which literary couple was it a ‘no brainer’? For whom was the mutual adoration so much that all else fell away? In short, who do we think of when we think ‘madly in love, monogamous soulmates’? Of course, it has to be the resident controversial couple of the literary universe, Bella and Edward of the Twilight saga. Even in ‘New Moon’, when Bella was in the pits of despair after Edward left and it would have been very cathartic and easy for her to fall into the iron biceps of Jacob, a man with approximately 73 abs who would have been a very hospitable host for Bella and her desperation, she still remained faithful to the one and only Edward. In conclusion, it was a ‘no brainer’. Our 8th literary and musical soulmates fly happily off into the sunset.

  1. Taste (feat. Offset) by Tyga

I mean, if you just listen to the chorus of this song, you can pretty much pick up the meaning. The whole video is basically him driving around, sitting by a pool, roller skating for some random reason, with a lot of girls. Seems like a literary womaniser is what we need. Someone who enjoys a life of luxury. And Mr Wickham of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ seems like a pretty good fit. Side note, Wickham turns out to be a guy who gambles, is careless with money and women, is completely dishonest and appears to have a complete lack of respect for those around him. I would hope that Tyga and Offset aren’t like that but contrary to popular belief, I have never met Tyga or Offset and therefore know nothing about their moral integrity/agenda so I don’t think we can compare them to Mr W in that respect. However, Mr Wickham sure loves money and luxury and in terms of women… well, this isn’t his first rodeo. He’s been around the block a few times, if you catch my drift. I think we’ll leave it at that for this one. Next.

  1. Lucid Dreams by Juice WRLD

This song takes place in the aftermath of a breakup where sleep paralysis is making him hallucinate that his ex is in the room with him. He loves her a lot but also hates her for the torturous way she is making him feel. Juice WRLD said in an interview that lucid dreaming is when you’re dreaming but you’re aware of it. He said that if you feel you have more control over your dreams, you have more control over your own mind, creating the ability to achieve more things in reality. It’s essentially about him regaining control after a catastrophic breakup. A good match for this one is ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness. 12 year old Connor is dealing with a lot and his terminally ill mother and bullies at school are only a few of the challenges he is facing. He is visited by the Monster in the form of a tree who has to tell him three stories to allow Connor to face the truth of what he is feeling. Both the song and the book have this idea of dreams and fantasy intervening in real life to allow us to take control of a situation. Wow, congrats to you if you understood any of that because I was really going for it there.

Well, if you made it to the end of that, I salute you because this article was of an ungodly length. Also, just want to let you know that not all of the explanation of the songs is coming from me, I did a fair amount of research on some of these songs. Alright then, well see you next time. To be quite honest, I’m not sure I can ever listen to the charts again after this. Who knows how many times I’ve heard these ten songs now.

Yours in musicality (I hope that’s a word),

Sophie

Sophie Reads ‘Suddenly At His Residence’ by Christianna Brand

I came across this book because I have amazing friends. For my birthday, they bought me a subscription to Bookishly, a subscription service that delivers you a package of book-related goodies every month. Buried amongst the stationary and teabags (two of the loves of my life), was this book. I hadn’t heard of the author before but I immediately felt intellectual when clutching a second hand Penguin book and therefore delved into the pages of this mysterious novel immediately.

WARNING: If you break into violently itchy hives when you see a book written before the turn of the 21st century, this book is not for you. Or maybe you should give it a go anyway – if you just put a bit of Sudocrem on those hives, you’ll be fine. It was published in 1947 and set during World War Two so it is by no means old but also isn’t exactly as new as The Hunger Games either, so take that as you will. But if you’re not deterred by a bit of ‘oh, darling’ and some slightly hoity toity English people, I think you’ll find this book just as exciting as any book published today.

I am almost certain that, like me about 3 months ago, most of you will not have heard of this book, let alone what it is about, so let me set the scene a little for you. The March family are headed down to their grandfather’s large home of Swanswater for the anniversary of their grandmother’s death when suddenly, their visit is interrupted by two deaths and a murder investigation, whilst knowing that the culprit behind the deaths is among their ranks. And let me tell you, I was not expecting to like it as much as I did.

If you are an Agatha Christie fan, this book is definitely for you. Also, strap yourselves in and prepare yourself for fancy schmancy Sophie because this review is about to get a bit English Literature GCSE. The man assigned to the investigation, Inspector Cockrill or ‘Cockie’, as the characters call him (you have to get over that quickly), was quite Poirot-like, which I loved, and the fact that the whole story is set in one location (like in many of Christie’s murder mysteries) made the whole thing a little claustrophobic and really helped to ramp up the tension towards the end. Seriously, I could not flip the pages over fast enough. I would also recommend trying not to do that thing where you accidentally read the end of the next page (we all do it) because you’re just going to spoil the whole book for yourself if you do that – there is honestly a new revelation on almost every page.

The characters were wonderful. Sweet Edward, bright Peta, serious Philip, witty Ellen, hopeful Claire, longing Bella, even the slightly creepy Mrs Brough were all so well-rounded and all had their own quirks and complexes. You know that feeling when you just want to sort of squeeze some bubble wrap, just because you need to release a bit of energy? That’s kind of what this book is like to read – the interactions between the characters just get really exciting by the end and the way everything interlinks is SO satisfying. Also, once you know who the murderer is and you think about the way they have interacted with the other characters without the book, the whole feel of the book becomes incredibly chilling and unsettling in such a subtle way. You feel like you have to immediately re-read it in order to pick up on all the little details pointing to the murderer that you missed – it’s truly fascinating. I think that’s what got me so excited about ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ last year (yep, I was one of those people who only jumped on the bandwagon after the film adaptation, I know it’s bad) – how the authors use the characters’ stories to explore human nature, stick it in a tense, claustrophobic environment, add a bit of murder and they have us all peeing ourselves with excitement as we read. It’s quite amazing. Sorry, that got a bit intense at points there. I kind of went full-throttle GCSE exam.

However, I have to admit that at first, when I started the book, I found it a bit hard to get off the ground. I wasn’t really feeling it. I’m glad it stuck at it though because the second half was amazing. I don’t even really know why I found it a little slow-going at the start – perhaps once the murders started (I promise, I am much less creepy in real life than this makes me sound), everything just got more exciting and it started to become subtly more and more thrilling to read. I know a bunch of huzzah-saying English people in a manor house doesn’t sound thrilling to some but if you like a good bit of Agatha Christie, it will be Thorpe Park level thrilling, trust me. Or even if you’ve never read any Agatha Christie, give it a whirl. You might surprise yourself.

SPOILER ALERT. Skip this part if you don’t want to know stuff. Death to all ye who enter here who have not read the book.

For those of you who have read it (or maybe you haven’t but you’re just curious – you do you), I would have to say that all of my favourite parts happened in the last 100 pages or so. This next part may not make sense if you haven’t read this but I’ll say it anyway because YOLO. I found that stuff was getting super exciting when Peta accused Claire of being the murderer and I also loved it when they were all sitting on the terrace and Edward completely breaks down because he thinks he’s going mad. I mean I don’t love that someone’s going mad, obviously, but I thought it was a pretty great bit of writing. Ellen was also my favourite character – hilariously witty and sarcastic but she revealed her sensitive side too, with the whole Philip, Claire, Ellen situation which was a little bit incestuous but allowed us to explore Claire’s character and also just human nature in general. When the entire plot unravelled towards the end, I literally could not read fast enough and the ending was just perfect.

NON-SPOILER PEOPLE, YOU CAN COME BACK NOW.

One thing I have been taught by this book is that I need to branch out a bit. I thought this was going to be one of those books that I would just artistically display in my room to make me look like An Intellectual™ but never actually read it. Try not to be that person. I’m having to try really hard not to be that person too. I ended up really admiring this book. I’m aware that I sound a bit up myself at some points when I’m talking about this book but seriously, even if you normally don’t like to read, read it. It’s pretty short so if you hate it, at least you tried something new. Don’t be put off by the publication date, the posh English names or the fact that there’s an extremely dodgy stain in your copy on page 183. This goes for any book. You might have an unexplored bookish opportunity gathering dust on your desk, shelf, bedside table right now. Read it. Because you never know what you might find.

Yours in trying new things,

Sophie

Sophie Reads ‘Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda’ by Becky Albertalli

I don’t know if there are any spoilers in here so I’m just warning you in case there are any, like when on the back of a packet of almonds, they tell you that there might be eggs in there, just so they can cover their backs in case you go into anaphylactic shock after eating them and try to sue M&S for their eggy almonds.

I first heard of this wonderful book quite a while ago, through the book YouTuber Christine Riccio (aka polandbananasBOOKS), a gal who I would highly recommend for those of you who love reading, comedy skits and general, all-round bookish hilarity. If I remember rightly, when she raved enthusiastically about this book on her channel, my mental reaction was something very enthusiastic like: “Ooh, interesting.” I made a mental note to look into it, which was inevitably soon forgotten in the cavernous void that is my long term memory. It was kind of like the reaction you have when your friend texts you and you tell yourself that you’ll reply to it after you’ve finished your 48th episode of Orange is the New Black in two days but then you forget and the text message just disappears into the technological abyss and your friend gets angry. So, to summarise that unnecessarily long-winded explanation, until recently, I had forgotten all about this book.

Enter Nick Robinson. I saw a humungous poster of him at a bus stop advertising ‘Love, Simon’ (the film adaptation of this book) and I simultaneously died, was resurrected and fell madly in love within about 3 seconds. In case you didn’t know, Nick Robinson plays Simon Spier, the protagonist of this story, and he is a rather nice looking young man (aka a god in mortal form) who I have a rather large soft spot for. Obviously, my friends and I had to see the film ASAP because a) I remembered it sounded good when Christine Riccio talked about it on YouTube b) it had Nick Robinson in it and c) I would most likely die if we didn’t see it. So we did. Watched the film, not died, just to clarify. And it was just as good as I had hoped it would be.

For those of you who don’t know, ‘Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda’ or ‘Love, Simon’, as the film is called, is about a closeted high school teenager called Simon who embarks on an anonymous email exchange with another gay kid from his school. For some reason, I really connected with this story. It wasn’t entirely because of the fact that the typical, coming-of-age stereotypes had been taken in a progressive new direction with a gay protagonist, although that was amazing. It wasn’t the adorable, lovable, relatable Simon, who I adore. It wasn’t even the TOP NOTCH soundtrack, which made me want to massively step up my music taste (Les Mis and Moana don’t exactly feature on the playlists of rock gods). It was really just the tone of the story and the relatable emotional core of it, which was figuring out who we are when we are no longer a child. In my opinion, when you have a favourite film, it isn’t necessarily the actual film that you like, it’s how that film represents the way you feel at that point in your life. And I saw myself so perfectly reflected in this story at this moment in time, not in any specific character but just in the tone of self-discovery and uncertainty and friendship that was the whole undercurrent of the film. That’s why I was full of excitement and adrenaline and practically bouncing off the walls when I left the cinema, as if I’d just gone to watch an action film rather than spectate on an awkwardly lovable theatre kid trying to navigate high school.

So after that whirlwind adventure, I just had to read the book. There was no forgetting it this time. I whacked it straight on the top of my birthday list and as soon as the spotty wrapping paper was off, I charged through it in almost one sitting. About 4 cups of tea later, I was sitting on my bed, running solely on Digestives, my cheeks spasming from smiling and laughing at this book so much, my left hip bruised from when I got up to go to the toilet but continued to read and then went on to crash right into the end of my bed. Painful, but worth it for Simon.

One of the details of the book that I loved was when Simon and his theatre friends were singing Disney songs in a stairwell because I HAVE DONE STUFF LIKE THAT TOO and I hate it when the two types of teenagers in a story are nerdy loners and those who live to a soundtrack of beer, slamming aforementioned nerds’ faces into lockers and engaging in other similar laddish antics. The characters were far from being that boring and two-dimensional – there was Leah: a drummer, fan artist, strongly characterised, full of sardonic humour and such a different female character to what I’m used to. I loved Simon’s narrative voice, nerdy and sweet and sarcastic and a little reserved and hilarious. You can just imagine these kids who are different, who are kind of misfits but just breathe life into the story. Simon’s friend Abby, a cheerleader, the typically lusted after pretty girl who moves to a new town, is given a substantial and lovable personality, unlike most cheerleaders in these sorts of stories, who often have fewer distinctive character traits than your typical household saucepan. The characters were so well-rounded and I’m not going to lie, I kind of want them to be my friends.

Simon’s family was wonderful: their funny little traditions were hilarious and it was so great to see a protagonist without a sob story. Although I don’t object to the classic Tragic Back Story™, sometimes they are used to give the character the only depth that they have and it was nice to see a character who had a lot of depth but didn’t have to have a dead parent/dog/goldfish to obtain it. Even though Simon’s family are clearly supportive and loving, this story shows that no matter how amazing the circumstances are for coming out, it’s still hard. It’s an important message to people who may be struggling with the same issues as him – they are validated, supported and not alone and that is very important for readers or viewers, who are in the same situation as Simon, to see. It allows them to live vicariously through him and his story. The media influences our lives and the choices we make so vastly that this story is revolutionary in normalising a storyline that we never normally get to see in mainstream media.

For a long time, I have felt that I am unable to review books or films publicly like this because I am not a critic and I am too young and inexperienced in The Philosophies of Life™ and I tend to just say that everything I ever watch or read is great. And it’s true – I am not a critic. In fact, my fear of my opinions sounding childish or undeveloped sort of held me back from starting this blog in the first place. But I just connected with this book in such a personal way that I haven’t with any book since I came across Hermione Granger that I just had to suggest it to you all.

I often feel like I am not doing what a teenager should be doing. I very frequently worry that I am not who I should be at my age. But if I were to say one thing about this book, it would be that it just takes the word “should”, screws it up, burns it and throws it out the window. You get to see kids who are different and loving and brave and insecure, just like all of us, and that was so refreshing. You just feel like they are your friends and this is your life and it’s happening inside your school and it’s so adorable that it actually makes you just want to burst. If you are tired of the typical high school story formula, this is the one for you.

I must say, the book and the film are quite different – if you’re looking for an exact copy of the book, you will not be fulfilled by the film in this sense. I would say Simon’s general voice as a character is slightly different between the two and in the film, events are reshuffled quite a lot, new motifs are added and characters are slightly altered. It’s never bad though, it’s just different and I like and respect the two versions as much as each other. Also, the film made me laugh out loud, which is always a good sign, mainly because of that SASSY drama teacher who can just adopt me because she is fabulousness personified.

We were actually discussing the film at an English club I go to at school and my teacher pointed out that the kiss at the end of the film was VERY chaste and careful – she suggested that this was perhaps because this story is quite a different take on the classic coming-of-age stereotypes. This made the film feel a little tentative at times and it didn’t have the same freedom of self-expression as the book, especially in the way that it excluded the really adorable scenes at the end between Simon and Blue. However, this book has set the tone for a new generation of stories that celebrate and embrace people’s identities wholeheartedly and help to bring those who have felt rejected or marginalised out of the shadows and into the light. The only way is up.

This book is a definite yes from me. It’s an adorable story that has a new take on entering into adulthood – even if you don’t have the same experiences as Simon, the tone of acceptance will get you hooked and it just affirms that however you are feeling, you are not going it alone. That was really important about this story for me – these relatable, well-rounded and insightful characters told me that I’m not alone. If you haven’t been won over, and don’t want to read the book (which you should), at least go and see the film, even if you are only doing it because Nick Robinson is jaw-droppingly attractive. You never know, you might just see yourself in this story, hidden amongst the theatre productions, email threads and gratuitous Oreo eating. Have fun immersing yourself in this wonderful story – I’ll just be over here, eating Oreos and re-reading this book until I die.

Yours in awe of Becky Albertalli and her words,

Sophie

 

Sophie Tries Blogging For The First Time

Hi. My name is Sophie. And I am just a book-loving, cripplingly nerdy, Hermione Granger wannabe trying something new.

Let me elaborate. Let’s delve into the realms of our imaginations. Let us stroll into our mind’s eye, like a cowboy into a saloon in the Wild West. Sorry. That was a bit much. Picture this. I am sitting at my kitchen table. I am joined by a massive highlighter that I bought on a whim from Tiger and surrounded by the scent of my mum’s cheese omelettes, the heavenly dinner that I just ate, that tastes like it was cooked upon the hob of the gods. Anyway, I feel a bit bored. The only thing that was keeping me going during my recently completed GCSE exams was the blissfully long summer awaiting me after the drudgery and bleak misery of revision. Now that it has arrived, my brain has died, I can pretty much no longer write and I spend an alarming amount of time watching all of Dan and Phil’s YouTube videos. Side note, I have only just discovered them recently but I love them so much – they are so hilariously and painfully relatable and why has the Universe only allowed me to discover them when the only tour dates they have left are so far away that they might as well be happening in Middle Earth? I wish I could make a pun to convey this first world injustice but alas, it is not meant to be. I digress. I am attempting to blog.

There are a few reasons for my venture into the blogging realm – my soul-eating stagnation is far from the only reason why you have happened upon my musings. Oh no. First of all, to put it plainly, I love books. As I came out of the womb, I recited the entirety of the Harry Potter series, with such moving accuracy and expression that the midwives fainted in awe. As I neared my 2nd birthday, I leafed through Jane Austen’s complete works with the same alacrity as a normal 2 year old would charge through the aisles of Toys R Us. As I started school, teachers swooned in amazement when I brought in my Man Booker Prize for show and tell. But seriously, all jokes aside, I once brought in a framed picture of myself for show and tell; my self-esteem was through the roof.

I may be prone to a little hyperbole. Nonetheless, books were a formative part of my life growing up – I always did the Summer Reading Challenges at the library, I had piles of books on the go next to my bed and I distinctly remember borrowing a Malory Towers book from the library and finishing it the same day, being the fun loving, go getting gal that I was. I dressed like there had been an explosion in the Tesco back to school section but I didn’t care one bit because who needs fashion when you have Hermione Granger, am I right? Reading helped me to shape me into the person I am today, the good, the bad and the disastrously and catastrophically ugly when it came to my fashion choices as an 11 year old. It makes me physically want to retch. But in conclusion, I love to read, so inevitably, I want to write about reading here. On this website.

To tell the truth, I have been thinking about starting this blog for a while. For me, the dream is to publish a book in some shape or form – although I would prefer it not to be a cataclysmic failure, I wouldn’t mind all that much if it was, because at least my book would exist and it would be mine. My secondary school English teachers have been great in encouraging me in the literary way of things – they have written undeservingly nice things about my work and in my reports and it has made me believe that perhaps I can do this. This blog is me practising making my written voice not sound idiotic and stupid, if possible. That would be fantastic.

That brings us to the present. In the iconic words of ABBA, ‘what’s the name of the game?’ I hear you cry. What am I really trying to do here? Well, I want to try and create a little internet haven for all my nerdy friends, who, like me, related to Hermione Granger so much as a child that she has sort of become my inner barometer for success. I may as well get ‘What Would Hermione Do’ tattooed on my forehead for the amount I try to emulate her in my daily life. Just me? Alright then. But especially since I’ve grown older, I have started to realise that in real life (which is not like Malory Towers?! Year 7 me was shook) there are unspoken rules, weirdly high social expectations and some frightening rites of passage that I do not know how to navigate. As well as using my blog to improve my writing, I know that there are people out there who feel the same as me (i.e. socially unsteady) so I thought that we could all try and get through this together. Yay, friendship.

As to what you can expect from me… well, there’s a whole of range of surprises awaiting you. I reckon this high-tech WordPress template will be made up of around 200g of bookishness and fangirling, 100g of personal musings/crises, a tablespoon of film and television, a dash of trying to be funny and only a pinch of dignity and self-respect. I hope you’re all wearing your safety helmets, because my insurance doesn’t cover blown minds.

TO SUMMARISE *takes a deep breath* – I am beginning to be excited but a little terrified of the future and I thought that if I started this blog I could help my bored and stagnant mind, somewhat work towards the ambitions I have for the future and find other like-minded people who I can unnecessarily worry about things with. I also think that this is just going to be really fun. Also, as you get to know me more, the gratuitous worrying that typifies my personality will become more and more blatantly obvious so… bet you’re excited for that one.

Yours in Type A, still-waiting-for-my-Hogwarts-letter nerdiness,

Sophie