2011 In Review

First up: HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! 2011 has been a bit of a mixed bag for me, although overall it's been more good than bad, thankfully. Highlights include: an amazing trip to America with the fiance, getting properly started on wedding plans (especially getting a gorgeous dress, woo!), a promotion at work and, of course, starting this blog and discovering so many other book-loving, blogging 

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2011 Challenges Round-up

Yeah. I failed. But it's OK, coz 2012 is going to be epic, and I'm totally going to complete the bajillion challenges I've signed up for (I'm nothing if not optimistic).

In the meantime, here's how I did (or rather, didn't do) in the 2011 challenges I signed up for:


-Books to Movies, created by Two Bibliomaniacs. I aimed for Oscar Buzz, which was to read eight books and watch the movie

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Faves of 2011 Book Awards: The Covers

The Faves of 2011 Book Awards are hosted by Nomes at Ink Crush.
 Day Five: The Covers

TEN favourite covers selected from books you read in 2011
1. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. It's such a beautiful illustration and perfectly captures the feel of the book. 

2. Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. It's pretty, colourful and fun, and a great representation of the glossy, poppy,

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Faves of 2011 Book Awards: The Random

The Faves of 2011 Book Awards are hosted by Nomes at Ink Crush. Day Four: The Random

1. Fave first sentenceA Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was a reread this year, but it's got one of my fave first sentences ever: "Marley was dead, to begin with." Tell me you don't want to keep reading! Bah!


2. Fave book title That'd have to be Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.

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Faves of 2011 Book Awards: The Scenes

The Faves of 2011 Book Awards are hosted by Nomes at Ink Crush.

Day Three: The Scenes

1. Best first chapterThe Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Beagle's beautiful, whimsical prose is evident from the very first line, instantly pulling me in and effectively setting the tone for the rest of the novel: "The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did

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Faves of 2011 Book Awards: The Characters

The Faves of 2011 Book Awards are hosted by Nomes at Ink Crush.

Day Two: The Characters
1. Favourite female main characterI'm going to cheat and say the collective cast of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. They share the spotlight as main characters, and are all so awesome in completely different ways. I loved Tiara for her ditzy wisdom, Taylor for her kick-arse cray cray, Adina for her snarky smarts

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Faves of 2011 Book Awards: The Books

The Faves of 2011 Book Awards are hosted by Nomes at Ink Crush.
Day One: The Books
 1. Favourite book read in 2011It's so hard to pick just one book that is my ultimate favourite from the year, but after giving it some thought I'm going to have to go with Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. More than any other book this year, it's the one I've thought about, raved about, wanted to

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to

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Bookish Buys: So This Is Christmas

Who's ready for Christmas? I'm so not. I don't know if it's because I've been so busy, but I've got more than a touch of the pre-ghost Scrooge to me this year. Usually I'm really into Christmas, but this time 'round I haven't finished getting presents - I haven't even put up my tree! Oh well, I thought I'd virtually decorate the blog by searching out some bookish Christmas buys instead...

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My Book Boyfriend: Cricket Bell

 
My Book Boyfriend is hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader. While I mentioned in my review of Stephanie Perkins' Lola and the Boy Next Door that Cricket Bell was more friend than boyfriend material for me, he's still adorable enough that I had to feature him in MBB anyway. He's tall, with piercing blue eyes and crazy hair, and cares a lot about the way he looks; not in a conceited way, though -

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My 2012 Reading Challenges

Coz I'm not busy enough (*cough*), and I did SO well with the reading challenges I signed up for this year (*cough*cough*), I've decided to not only create my own reading challenge (sign up for the TV Addict challenge here!), but also join a bunch of others. In my defence, I started late with the challenges I attempted this year, so I've got more of a chance of completing them this time 'round.

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Mag Monday: Gosling and Gatsby

I'm itching to get my hands on Entertainment Weekly's 2011 Entertainers of the Year issue. Ryan Gosling, Bridesmaids and Judy Blume, oh my! It looks like so much fun.





This is a tad old, but I just had to post about it: last week's Who featured a spread with the first stills from Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby. It looks ah-mazing. Carey Mulligan is PERFECT as Daisy (adore her accessories -

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Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

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I’ve been putting off writing this review for so long.

I think

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Bookish Buys: Penguin Classics

Penguin has been releasing such amazing editions of their classics lately. The Popular Penguins are fun, but these designs are on a whole 'nother level...

-The Clothbound Classics, designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, are just stunning. I have The Hound of The Baskervilles, but I adore the rest of the collection, too. These are some of my faves:





-There's also a range of Clothbound Children's

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My Book Boyfriend: Adrian Ivashkov

 
My Book Boyfriend is hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader.While Dimitri remains my favourite book boyfriend from The Vampire Academy series, I gotta give Adrian some love too. He's rich, flirtatious, handsome, a tiny bit unstable, but genuinely good and generous. He reminds me a lot of Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl, so naturally I pictured him as Ed Westwick.

Swoon-Worthy Quotes



"Look, Rose.

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Note-worthy: Makeover!

So. You may have noticed the blog looks a bit different. I felt like freshening things up and I think I kind of love it. But it's hard to be objective, so please, all feedback is welcome and encouraged! Tell me if you like it, and especially tell me if you hate it!

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Mag Monday: Triple Threat

I've come across three beautiful women on three gorgeous magazine covers this week. First up, W has created another stunning cover, this time featuring the ever-elegant Carey Mulligan.



Nylon, meanwhile, chose Dianna Agron to represent their '60s issue, making her look a little bit like Twiggy and a lot like perfect.


Finally, Kat Dennings fronts Bust looking more beautiful than ever. Love!

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Reading Icons: James Franco

I love James Franco. I think he was great in Freaks and Geeks. Fabulous in Milk. I even liked him in Tristan and Isolde. As for his whole performance art/Days of Our Lives/author/student/professor/director/every other profession under the sun thing, well, it was amusing at first, but I have to say it's getting a bit ridiculous now. And his writing... I don't know that it was ever good. Admittedly

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My Book Boyfriend: Finnick Odair

 
My Book Boyfriend is hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader. I've featured both Peeta and Gale from Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy in the past, but Finnick is actually one of my favourite characters from the series. I love his sense of humour and cocky bravado - especially because, deep down, he's actually really sensitive, caring and good. His tragic devotion to Annie, the

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Challenge Alert: The 2012 TV Addict Reading Challenge

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I watch a lot of TV. The fiancé and I are big fans of box

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November in Review

Image via We Heart It

I've put off writing this post because I'm kind of in denial that November is over already. The year has gone terrifyingly fast for me. I'm normally really excited for Christmas, and always put the tree up on December 1. But this year I'm just So. Not. Ready. I think time has gone even faster for me lately because I've been crazy-busy. With six months to go 'til my

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Bookish Buys: Let Us Eat Cake

There was a lot of cake talk on Twitter last night, as I'm trying to find someone to make a copy of my gran's wedding cake, and the lovely Stephanie from Read in a Single Sitting and Little Wed Hen kindly helped me out by putting the call out to her followers. All the cake talk got me thinking about the bookish cakes I've seen floating around the interwebz, and I thought they'd make the perfect

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My Book Boyfriend: Daniel Grey

 
My Book Boyfriend is hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader. Daniel Grey, from Ann Brashares' My Name Is Memory, is kind of intense, but you can't really blame the guy when he has more than a thousand years worth of memories rattling around in his head. The strongest of those memories are those that involve the girl he loves. The boy is devoted all right, seeking her out time and

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Mag Monday: Take a Weird Break

I'm doing something a bit different for Mag Monday this week. I'm giving my love to a blog. But it's a blog about a magazine - and not just any magazine. It's Take a Break, which, as far as I can tell, is like the UK version of That's Life or Take 5... only 500 times the crazy. Take a Weird Break, meanwhile, is an amazeballs blog that catalogues all the crazy. And it's pure, rock-solid, shiny,

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Reading Icons: Betty Draper Francis

Poor Betty. There's not much she can control in her life, except her looks, her kids... and her reading habits. And boy, does she control them. My favourite Betty quote was when she told her son, who was complaining about being bored:

"Go bang your head against the wall. Only boring people are bored."
Classic. I hope she doesn't get cut from the Mad Men, as has been rumoured, because I love her

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Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I feel like I'm the last person in the world to have read this book.


I put it off for a long time because (I'm embarrassed to admit) of the size. I love big books, don't get me wrong, but I love new books more, and tend to prefer to speed through three shorter ones in the time it takes to get through one massive tome. You might say I'm a tad impatient. But the other week, when I was trying to

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My Book Boyfriend: Roger Sullivan

 
My Book Boyfriend is hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader. This week I'm a bit obsessed with Roger from Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson, coz:

He's super hot: "The guy coming toward me was shockingly good-looking. He had broad shoulders, light brown hair, dark eyes, and he was already smiling at me." I pictured him as Zac Efron.
He's confident and friendly, never lies

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Mag Monday: Some GIF Equations

Chloe Moretz + Teen Vogue =






Dakota + Elle + W =





Michael Fassbender + GQ =

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On My Wishlist

On My Wishlist, hosted by Book Chick City, is a weekly meme that keeps track of the books we want! Here's what I'm currently coveting...


Summary: Heiress of one empire and prisoner of another, it is up to the daughter of Cleopatra to save her brothers and reclaim what is rightfully hers... 
To Isis worshippers, Princess Selene and her twin brother Helios embody the divine celestial

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Review: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

There are some books that are so lovely, they actually make you do a happy sigh and smile as you close them. This is one of them.


That's not to say it's all fairy floss, sunshine and unicorns. Quite the opposite - Amy and Roger's Epic Detour tackles some pretty serious issues - like heartbreak, death and grief - but it does so in such a tender, realistic way that it's not morbid or depressing

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Bookish Buys: Twilight Edition

As you might expect with the massive Twi fandom, there is a ridonkulous amount of merch out there. Unfortunately, most of it is really daggy/creepy/weird/hilariously lame. But I sifted through all the crapola to find the most unfugly items I could...



Edward necklace by Pretty Little Charms



Twilight pencils by Bouncing Ball Creation



Twilight ornaments by In From The Rains




Team Jacob

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The Movie Was Better: Breaking Dawn Part 1

So. I just got back from watching Breaking Dawn Part 1. As I've mentioned a few times this week, I haven't been that excited about watching it - I especially haven't felt the anxious excitement that I experienced with the first film (and, to a lesser extent, the second and third). Part of this I think is because it's been so long between movies, and my interest has naturally subsided. Another

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My Book Boyfriend: Edward Cullen

 
My Book Boyfriend, hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader, is a weekly meme that allows book bloggers to showcase our fictional crushes (and drool over each other's). I've avoided featuring Edward Cullen for a long time because it seemed like such an obvious choice, and now the time has come when I'd planned to feature him in honour of the release of Breaking Dawn... and I have to

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Bookish Fun: The Hunger Games and Snow White

You've probably seen The Hunger Games trailer a million times by now. I know I have (well, at least 11 times, anyway). How freaking awesome does it look?! Here's what I love about it:
Jennifer Mother Loving Lawrence as Katniss Mother Effing Everdeen. Amazeballs. Perfect in every way. The moment when she volunteers... that is Katniss!
Liam Hemsworth as Gale. He doesn't have to do much other than

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Pash, Pick or Pass: TwiGuys

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass - a game where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.

The Contenders
It's perhaps the most famous love triangle of all (or at least of the past ten years)... yep, I'm talking Twilight. I've been sitting on this one for awhile in anticipation of the release

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Manip Madness: Breaking Dawn

Your regularly scheduled Mag Monday post is interrupted today because a) Nothing in magazines this week particularly caught my fancy, and b) Breaking Dawn Part 1 is released on Thursday, and I thought I should kick off Monday with something Twilight-related to generate some excitement (coz I gotta be honest, I'm weirdly not feeling any). I was going to feature my favourite Twilight magazine

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Top 5: Characters I Love To Hate

For TGIF this week, Ginger at GReads asks: "Love-hate relationships: Which characters do you love to hate?"
 


1. Voldemort from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: Voldemort is one sexy villain. Not literally, of course. He's pretty scary-ugly, in that case. But he's got charm, charisma, intelligence and power that are totally attractive. Shame he's crazy.




2. Soames Forsyte from The

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Bookish Fun: Cubee Craft

I love these pop culture paper figures from Cubee Craft. They're pretty easy to assemble, so even an unco person like me can do it. I made Fezzik from The Princess Bride awhile ago, and he sat on my desk for a long time, until we moved offices and he got crushed in the process (the downside of being made of paper). I need a replacement, I just have to pick which one...

The Princess Bride crew...

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My Book Boyfriend: Luis Fuentes

 
My Book Boyfriend, hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader, is a weekly meme that allows book bloggers to showcase our fictional crushes (and drool over each other's). This week I'm rounding out the Fuentes trifecta with Luis, who follows his brothers Alex and Carlos in Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry series. Luis is the youngest, most sensitive and innocent Fuentes brother, but

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Pash, Pick or Pass: V.C. Andrews, a.k.a. The Best of the Worst

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass - a game where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.


The Contenders
This week, for a bit of craziness fun, I'm going back to my tween reading years and revisiting some of V.C. Andrews' heroes (I use the term loosely). For pictures, I'm using the actors I

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Mag Monday: Much Excitement

I let out a little squee when I saw these shots of The Hunger Games cast on Vanity Fair's website last week. If you haven't checked it out already, the group shot is especially worth a click through - its boring beigeness is jazzed up with profiles of each star that appear as you roll your mouse over them. Fun! I'm still not convinced by Josh Hutcherson as Peeta (is it just me or is he way too

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Reading Icons: Paul Newman

"Every time I get a script it's a matter of trying to know what I could do with it. I see colors, imagery. It has to have a smell. It's like falling in love. You can't give a reason why." - Paul Newman







 

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Top 5: Gateway Books (Plus Follow Friday)

This week for TGIF, Ginger asks "Gateway books: Which particular books opened you up to a new genre?" Here are my top five...

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. My gran gave me a copy of this book when I was little, because I was so obsessed with the musical Oliver! Obviously it went way over my head, but it was the first classic I remember attempting to read. Later, my grandad bought me a

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Bookish Buys: Everything Old Is New Again

I love seeing the creative things people do with old books. But I feel like some of these need to come with the disclaimer; "No books were harmed during the making of this product".



Little Women Sketch Book from Sleepy Mouse Design





Decorative Birdhouse from Domestic Papers



Flower Garland from Dragonflies



Custom Letters from Little White Dog



Paper Flower from Book Craft



Pride

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Review: My Name Is Memory By Ann Brashares

"I have fallen in love, and she is the one who endures. I killed her once and died for her many times and I still have nothing to show for it. I always search for her; I always remember her. I carry the hope that someday she will remember me."

OK, how is that for powerful?! Seeing that quote on the cover, together with the fact that it was written by Ann Brashares, author of the Sisterhood

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My Book Boyfriend: Carlos Fuentes

 
My Book Boyfriend, hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader, is a weekly meme that allows book bloggers to showcase our fictional crushes (and drool over each other's). After giving a lot of love to Alex Fuentes a few weeks ago, I'm now devoting my attention to his younger brother, Carlos (don't worry, Alex is still MINE too). Carlos is one of the main characters in Simone Elkeles'

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Pash, Pick or Pass: The Men of Little Women

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass - a game where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.

The Contenders
From Louisa May Alcott's Little Women...



Jo's husband, Professor Bhaer


Amy's husband, Laurie


Meg's husband, John Brooke
My Choices

Pash: Prof Bhaer. I always got the impression he was

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October in Review

October 31. It marks Halloween for Americans, but for us Aussies? It's the last day we have to do our tax. Fun times. I know what I'd rather be doing right now... Anyhoo, October 31 also means another month is over! While it makes me incredibly anxious to see the year slipping away so quickly, I'm happy to report I had a pretty awesome reading month.



Source
I read and reviewed...
Beauty Queens

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Mag Monday: Oh Haaaaay, Harry Shum Jr

Holy abs, Batman! I'm loving Harry Shum Jr showing off for GQ. The boy's got mooooves.

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Review: Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Chain Reaction is the final installment in Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry series. After following the exploits of his two older brothers, this book focuses on Luis, who we first met in Perfect Chemistry when he was 11. At first I didn't think I'd be that interested in Luis because, well, he was a kid like, five minutes ago, and that is so not hot. But he's all grown up in Chain

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On My Wishlist: A Helluva Lot!

On My Wishlist, hosted by Book Chick City, is a weekly meme that keeps track of the books we want! I'm currently on a self-imposed book buying ban, so my wishlist is growing at a faster rate than ever...



Summary: Helen is a disembodied spirit who "attaches" herself to humans in order to possess their bodies. Unable to remember the circumstances of her death, and with no idea why she's in

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Reading Icons: Rory Gilmore

"Rory never even shoplifted. Not a candy bar, not a lipstick. She forgot to return a library book once. And she was so guilty about it that she grounded herself. I mean, can you imagine? She's just sitting there in her bedroom yelling at me, 'Now no one else got to read The Iliad this week because of me!'" - Lorelai Gilmore

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Top 5: Books I Feel I Should Read

Some books are so hyped-up, even if I have zero interest in the plot, I feel like I should give them a go to see what everyone else is on about. This sometimes works in my favour and the book lives up to the hype (as in the cases of Anna and The French Kiss, If I Stay and The Hunger Games), while other times I still don't get the fuss (like with City of Bones, The Secret History and The Da Vinci

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Review: Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

I have never been so excited to get a book. After finishing Perfect Chemistry, the first in Simone Elkeles' series, I cursed myself for not having ordered the whole thing, and immediately went online to remedy my mistake. Then I waited. And waited. Everyone in my office was on book watch. Each day a book didn't come (or the wrong one did) was a disappointment. Then, when Rules of Attraction

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Bookish Buys: Costume Fun

Man, I wish we celebrated Halloween in Australia. It seems like so much fun. Just look at these costume ideas!



Mad-Eye Moody (in possibly the scariest interpretation of a Harry Potter costume ever)






Sookie Stackhouse Merlotte's Tee



Dread Pirate Roberts Mask



Austen Character Regency Dress (*siiiiiiiigh*)




Queen of Hearts Costume



Robin Hood Pet Costume (Hee!)




Complete Jacob

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My Book Boyfriend: Julian Ascher

 
My Book Boyfriend, hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, is my favourite meme ever, allowing book bloggers to showcase our fictional crushes (and drool over each other's). This week I tried to think of the scariest book boyfriend I could, in honour of Halloween. The problem is, scary books don't generally lend themselves to book boyfriends. The closest I've come to a creepy (but still hot)

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Bookish (Movie) Fun: Young Adult, Snow White and Paradise Lost

I posted a little while ago about how I was cautiously excited about Diablo Cody's upcoming flick Young Adult, because it sounded like an interesting comedy about a YA author, plus it had an awesome poster. Well, the trailer has been released, and I have to say I'm no longer excited at all. I think I'll give this one a miss. It doesn't even look craptastic - it just looks crap.


One movie

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Pash, Pick or Pass: Halloween Edition

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass - a game where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.

The Contenders
In honour of Halloween, we're playing with some of the most famous literary monsters ever. And my, what a pretty bunch they are.



Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula


Frankenstein's Monster

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Mag Monday: Miss Piggy Is In Style + Vintage Cosmo

US In Style have done a fashion shoot with Miss Mother Effing Piggy. LOVE! You can watch an interview with her over at their FB page, in which she discusses her style, crushes and Lady Gaga's infamous faux frog outfit. Love, love, love!

 
 
 


In other fun mag news, a colleague emailed me this link today of the evolution of Cosmo covers. It's pretty hilarious to see how things have changed over

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Review: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children By Ransom Riggs

Every now and then, you come across a book that makes you think, "This is what books are made for. This is why I read." This was one of those books for me.


Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children follows the story of Jacob, a boy who grew up idolising his grandfather and the magical, mystical people who populated the stories of his childhood. When he's 15, a horrific event sends Jacob in

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Reading Icons: James Stewart

"I'd like people to remember me as someone who was good at his job and seemed to mean what he said." - James Stewart

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TGIF: 5 Book Blogs That Make Me Smile

It's Friiiiiday!


Which means it's TGIF at GReads, time to recap the week and answer a question posed by Ginger. This week, she asks: "Book Blogs That Make You Smile: Pick 5 book blogs you visit often & think others should, too." Like most book bloggers, I spend a lot of time reading other book blogs and there are a lot that I really enjoy. But here are five of my faves:


1. ...In The Attic.

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Bookish Buys: Jewellery For Book Nerds

Librarian Necklace from The Reliquary Shop


Recycled Book Earrings from The Lit Botanica


Silver Book Locket from The Enchanted Locket



Book Nerd Necklace from Bookish Charm


Wooden Book Necklace from Bookish Charm


Twilight Earrings from Roundabout


Call of the Wild Earrings from Designs by Annette


A Remarkable Book Pendant from The Little Chickadee


Laser Engraved Wooden Book

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My Book Boyfriend: Alejandro "Alex" Fuentes

 
My Book Boyfriend, hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, is my favourite meme ever, allowing book bloggers to showcase our fictional crushes (and drool over each other's). I've seen my pick this week (from Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry) pop up in My Book Boyfriend a few times in the past, so I'd just like to preface this post by saying:

Yep, y'all can back off Alex Fuentes coz I'm

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Review: Fear Edited By R.L. Stine

I was drawn to this book by nostalgia.


I loved R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series as a kid, so it was his name that initially caught my attention. Then, when I discovered it was a collection of scary short stories, I got even more excited, coz I used to devour these types of books, too.* Fear, a Middle Grade collection of 13 stories linked by the common theme of fear, was an entertaining read but

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Pash, Pick or Pass: The Gatsby Edition

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass - a game where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.

The Contenders
When I heard the news yesterday that Baz Luhrmann's upcoming adaptation of The Great Gatsby would be released at Christmas, I got excited. Until I realised it was Christmas 2012. I can't wait that

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Mag Monday: Swooning Over Felicity Jones and Armie Hammer

I have a massive girl crush on Felicity Jones. I loved her in Northanger Abbey, thought she was brilliant in Chalet Girl, and just watching her performance in the trailer for Like Crazy makes me tear up. I'm so freaking excited for this movie (but also kinda dreading it, coz I know it will break my heart):


The release of the movie means Felicity is doing the promo rounds, which makes me super

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Review: Where Demons Fear To Tread by Stephanie Chong

Where Demons Fear To Tread was a quick, easy read, but I don't think angel books are really my thing.


This is only my second foray into angel-related lit, and I haven't particularly enjoyed either time. My first encounter was with Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series, which I was drawn to because it was supposedly about vampires - but they turned out to be more fallen angels who happened to

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On My Wishlist: Books To Tweet About

On My Wishlist, hosted by Book Chick City, is a weekly meme that keeps track of the books we want! I've had a lot of recommendations via Twitter lately, here's are some I've added to my wishlist...



Summary: All high school freshman Airi Hoshina ever wanted was to someday live in a cozy home with a loving husband and find joy in the little things in life. As a result, she makes it her daily

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Reading Icons: Lisa Simpson

Lisa Simpson: Ms. Rowling, I love your books. You've turned an entire generation on to reading.
J.K. Rowling: Thank you, young Muggle.
Lisa Simpson: Could you tell me what happens at the end of the series?
J.K. Rowling: [exasperated] He grows up and he marries you! Is that what you want to hear?
Lisa Simpson: [dreamily] Yes.












All images via The Lisa Simpson Book Club

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Bookish Buys: Vintage Classics

For a bit of a different Bookish Buys this week I thought I'd focus on actual books. More specifically, the Vintage Classics collection from Random House. There are so many unique covers and even though I've already got a few of the books, I'm tempted to buy doubles just for the design! These are some of my faves...





 


The Vintage Classics are available online from Fishpond, Booktopia and

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Review: Perfect Chemistry By Simone Elkeles

I can't get this book off my mind.





Before reading it, I wasn't sure if it would be my cup of tea. The story of a gang member and a rich girl falling in love didn't really catch my fancy - mainly because it sounded super angsty, and I had my doubts about falling for a gang member. But then the Fuentes brothers kept popping up on My Book Boyfriend posts all over the blogosphere, and Abbey

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My Book Boyfriend: Wesley Rush

It's my favourite time of the week - My Book Boyfriend day! MBB is hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader, and it's all about fictional boys who we want to do bad things with date. This week my book boyfriend is the smart, hot, flirtatious, seemingly-jerky-but-really-vulnerable Wesley Rush from Kody Keplinger's The DUFF. In the book he's described as tall, with dark curly hair and

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Review: The DUFF By Kody Keplinger

In a sentence: A fun read that aims to achieve more than it does.


The DUFF tells the story of 17-year-old Bianca Piper, who is opinionated, snarky and super-close to her two gorgeous best friends. She begins to doubt herself when Wesley Rush, the hottest guy in school and resident man-whore, dubs her "the DUFF" (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). She also has issues at home, and when she's assigned

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Pash, Pick or Pass: The Vampire Diaries

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass - a game where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.

The Contenders
This week I finally caught up on the end of The Vampire Diaries season two (which I missed while we were in America), so I'm currently obsessing over those boys. More so than usual, anyway.

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Mag Monday: My Mind Is Blown

I seriously NEED to get my hands on the new issue of Entertainment Weekly. It's the reunions issue, featuring Back to the Future! Pretty in Pink! Romy and Michelle! The Gilmore Girls! Home Improvement! THE PRINCESS BRIDE!



Source








In other news, Taylor Lautner has officially been admitted into the Handsome Men's Club thanks to his spread in GQ this month.





 

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Note-worthy: TV Shows That Should Have Lasted Longer

While Crystal from The Uniblog completed her series about Batman for this blog, I popped on over to her site to rant/rave about my favourite TV shows that only lasted one season. Check it out, y'know, if you want.

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Guest Post: Batman Primer Part IV - My Favourite Batman Media

Crystal from The Uniblog is back with another guest post to complete her series on all things Batman. You can read Part I here, Part II here and Part III here. Now, on to Part IV...


There are so many iterations of Batman that have been around since his original appearance in Detective Comics, it can be a bit overwhelming to the newbie.  I'm here to tell you about my favorite pieces of

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Reading Icons: Brigitte Bardot

"A photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you." - Brigitte Bardot

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Bookish Buys: Random Geekery

How brilliant are these book frames from Until? You can actually display your fave books like totally legit art. Love.

World of Geekcraft is, as the name suggests, a book full of crafts of a geekish persuasion. Think Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Lost. From Fred Flare.



Noun, from Ippiki Industries, is a mix 'n' match wordplay book that looks like a lot of fun for word nerds (like me).



I

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My Book Boyfriend: Sinjin St. Sinjin

It's my favourite time of the week - My Book Boyfriend day! MBB is hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader, and it's all about fictional boys who we want to do bad things with date. This week I decided I wouldn't mind being stranded on a island with Sinjin St. Sinjin, the British (faux) pirate captain/reality TV star of Libba Bray's Beauty Queens. I love how accepting and open-minded he

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Review: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

I should really know by now not to judge books by their covers.




Take Beauty Queens. Never having read anything by Libba Bray before, I took one glance at this cover and dismissed it as not my thing. Something about the headless girl in a bikini just put me off. Without even reading the blurb, I assumed the book would be nothing more than cheesy, rudimentary fluff. Then I saw Audrey's raving

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Review: I Came To Say Goodbye By Caroline Overington

When I grow up, I want to be Caroline Overington (or something very like her).


She's an Aussie journalist/author/mother who speaks with such poise and intelligence in interviews, and who uses the same poise and intelligence in her writing. In I Came To Say Goodbye, her second novel, she tells the story of Med Atley, whose wife rides the second wave of feminism right out of their small country 

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Reading Icons: Elizabeth Taylor

"When people say, 'She's got everything', I've got one answer - I haven't had tomorrow." - Elizabeth Taylor

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September in Review

I had a pretty good month for reading in September, but I've been a bit slack with blogging! I'm three books behind in my reviews at the moment - I recently read The DUFF by Kody Keplinger, I Came to Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington, and Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, but haven't gotten around to reviewing them yet. Whoops! Here's what I actually did manage to get on the blog...


I reviewed...

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Note-worthy: In The Blogger's Studio

Kelsey from The Lost Book Reports has been lovely enough to have me as a guest for her Q&A feature, In The Blogger's Studio. Head on over to read my thoughts on adaptations, bookish quirks, beautiful cities and other random things! Thanks to Kelsey for having me!

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Bookish Fun: Bookshelf Porn

To get inspiration for my own bookshelves, I've been spending a bit of time on the Bookshelf Porn Tumblr. It is, as the name suggests, totally drool-worthy. These are some of my faves...

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Note-worthy: How Do You Organise Your Books?

Since starting this blog my book collection has kind of exploded. I've become addicted to obtaining books (even more so than I was before - not good!). My one bookshelf, which was already stuffed, is nowhere near adequate any more, and I've been stumbling over massive piles of books scattered around my apartment for months. Which is why I'm so excited to have finally gotten another bookshelf (

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My Book Boyfriend: Mr Nobley

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, all about fictional boys who make us swoon. This week I'm loving Mr Nobley from Austenland by Shannon Hale. As I mentioned in my review of the book, he's very Darcy-esque; coming across as proud and kinda dull at first before slowly revealing the passion, romance and sense of humour that's bubbling underneath. One of my

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Mag Monday: Allure, Neux and Hobo

I've never heard of Hobo magazine before, but I adore this shoot they've done with Michelle Williams.




The same goes for Neux magazine and their Kat Graham spread.



Meanwhile, I'm not a massive fan of Olivia Wilde (I don't dislike her, she's just a bit meh to me), but her Allure photo shoot may just be the prettiest thing I've seen all month.

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Review: Austenland by Shannon Hale

For me, Austenland can be summed up in the wise words of 30 Rock's Liz Lemon: "I want to go to there."


From the beautiful, Regency-style house (fitted out with modern-style conveniences, of course) to the gents in boots and breeches, Pembrook Park, where the book is set, is an Austen fan's wet dream. Which is why Jane, the heroine, ends up there - her great-aunt, aware of her secret obsession

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Reading Icons: Jane Russell

“Publicity can be terrible. But only if you don't have any.” - Jane Russell

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On My Wishlist: Ghosts, Battles and More Darcy

On My Wishlist, hosted by Book Chick City, is a weekly meme that keeps track of the books we want! Here's what I'm currently coveting...

Summary: The year is 1856, and orphan Abigail Tamper lives below stairs in Greave Hall, a crumbling manor house in London. Lord Greave is plagued by madness, and with his son Samuel away fighting in the Crimea, the running of Greave Hall is left to Mrs

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Review: Cargo by Jessica Au

This book is like the ocean; it lures you in with it's beauty and fluidity and knocks you down when you least expect it, leaving you with a raw feeling in your throat.


Set in a small beach town in 1992, Cargo tells three separate but intertwining stories of Gillian, who is vulnerable after losing her leg in an accident; Jacob, who lives in the shadow of his big brother; and Frankie, whose life

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Pash, Pick or Pass: A Mr Darcy Threesome

Here's a peek into my random thought processes (there's a point, I promise): This week I read Austenland (review to come soon), which made me think of Lost in Austen, which made me think of the different Darcy portrayals over the years, which made me want to do something slightly different for Pash, Pick or Pass this week and make it all about Darcy! Yep, rather than characters battling it out

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My Book Boyfriend: Jacob Coote

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, all about fictional boys who make us swoon. This week I'm going back to a book boyfriend who dominated much of my teens: Jacob Coote from Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. As the only Marchetta book available for most of my teen years, I read it approximately 174 times (Saving Francesca came out when I was 17,

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Mag Monday: Snow White And Prince Charming

I am a bit obsessed with Lily Collins right now. She is so beautiful! I'm actually going to see Abduction tonight and I have high hopes. But I really can't wait to see her in Snow White and City of Bones. In the meantime I'm so happy to see her popping up in a few magazines - like Teen Vogue. Love.






Meanwhile, Lily's Prince Charming, Armie Hammer, appears on the cover of this month's Details

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Reading Icons: Don Draper

Earlier this year, my mum and I watched all four seasons of Mad Men back to back. Needless to say, from the first episode I was totally addicted. Which means I'm suffering from serious withdrawals at the moment, and am getting antsy for my next hit of Don Draper. Thanks to drama around contract negotiations, the fifth season only began production last month and it won't hit screens/the interwebs

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On My Wishlist: Cold Kisses, Skinny Dipping And Love At First Sight

On My Wishlist, hosted by Book Chick City, is a weekly meme that keeps track of the books we want! Here's what I'm currently coveting...

Summary: Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire... fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil... until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops.
Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because,

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Bookish Buys: Cut Paper Prints From Roadside Projects

I am loving these "Paper Dahls" prints by artist Jayme McGowan. She creates a 3D scene using cut paper, then photographs it to create the 2D print - and the results are so gorgeous! You can check out more of her work on her blog and website, and purchase the prints from her Etsy shop, Roadside Projects. My favourite is Matilda!



Charlie and the Chocolate Factory



Fantastic Mr. Fox



James

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My Book Boyfriend: Jace Wayland

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, all about fictional boys who make us swoon. This week I've chosen Jace Wayland from The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I was expecting big things from Jace after he amazingly won nearly all the categories and was crowned the ultimate YA Bachelor in the YA Bachelor awards on Amber's blog, Down the Rabbit Hole

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Mag Monday: Hot Legs, Sparkles and Amazingness

The Hot Legs: Reese Witherspoon, who is usually adorable, is looking all sexy in the October issue of US Marie Claire. She is one hot mama.




The Sparkles: I looove this Diane Kruger cover for US In Style. Mainly because I love sparkly things. But I'm also partial to her because she's dating Pacey Witter.



The Amazingness: Seventeen magazine have, for the first time ever, put a reader on the

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Reading Icons: Bette Davis

"It's better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for someone you're not. It's a sign of your worth sometimes, if you're hated by the right people." - Bette Davis

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Top 5: Books I Want To See On The Big Screen (TGIF!)

This is my first time participating in TGIF, a recap/networking meme hosted by Ginger at GReads. I've seen it bouncing around the blogosphere and thought I'd finally join in this week - especially coz it's such a fun question. Ginger asks: Which books would you love to see made into a TV series or movie? As regular readers of my blog would know, I love me an adaptation, so I couldn't not

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The Book Was Better (But The Movie Was Still Great): The Last Unicorn

As I said in my review of the book, I loved The Last Unicorn movie as a kid. I watched it repeatedly, and I remember thinking it was sooo pretty and had a wonderful story, though it was sad and kinda strange in places. Upon rewatching it as an adult, I discovered that not much has changed - it's still pretty, still wonderful, still sad and, yes, still a little strange.


Having read the book

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Bookish Buys: The Right End

I love bookends, but sadly I don't use them - my shelves are so stuffed that any spare room is taken up with, well, more books. Maybe when I get my own library I can get some cute ones...



Princess Emporium



DesignArt Online



Graphic Spaces



Ruby Pickles Handmade



Naked Decor



Urban Baby



Urban Baby



Domayne




Opus Design



Opus Design

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Review: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

I don't quite get the hype with this series.


Given all the love it gets, I was expecting to be blown away, but the first book left me mad while the second left me "meh". I was hoping City of Glass would make me see what was so ah-mazing. Picking up where City of Ashes left off, it sees the Shadowhunters heading "home" to Idris, where the fate of their world is being decided as they try to

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Bookish Fun: Young Adult, The Movie

I don't know how I feel about Diablo Cody. Sometimes I think I love her, other times I want her to crawl back to the stripper hole she bounced from. When she first hit the scene with Juno, I loved her - and the movie - in theory. The concept appealed to me, and some of the lines were hilarious - but the delivery was just so forced and it was so self-consciously clever that, after I got over not

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My Book Boyfriend: Lord Orville

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, all about fictional boys who make us swoon. This week my book boyfriend is very vintage - Lord Orville from Evelina by Frances Burney. He's noble, lively, expressive, kind, caring, affectionate, chivalrous, handsome, rich... y'know, everything a true gentleman should be. He saves Evelina a number of times from iffy

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Pash, Pick or Pass: The Guys Of The Mortal Instruments

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass - a game where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.

The Contenders
Having finally read the first three books in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare in the past week, I thought it was about time I featured the boys from the books. Note: I'm using the

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Mag Monday: Lily, Donald and Ita

I am totally girl crushing on Lily Collins at the moment. She is just so gorgeous, seems really sweet and is making some great choices in her budding film career. I love this photoshoot she's done for ASOS magazine (almost as much as I love ASOS, which is apparently getting an Australian branch soon, woo!). The mag also has profiles on Simon Bird (hilarious) and Jim Sturgess (adorable), but I was

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Review: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

I enjoyed this sequel a lot more than its predecessor, but it still irked me just a little bit.


Picking up about a week after the events of City of Bones, City of Ashes sees Clary and Jace dealing with (or rather, not dealing with) their feelings for each other while trying to figure out what the heck Voldemort Valentine is up to and who is behind the mysterious deaths of Downworlder teens (gee

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On My Wishlist: Remembrance, Chemistry, Perculiar Children And Saltwater Vampires

On My Wishlist, hosted by Book Chick City, is a weekly meme that keeps track of the books we want! Here's what I'm currently coveting...

Summary: When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member

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Reading Icons: Shirley Temple

"When I was 14, I was the oldest I ever was. I've been getting younger ever since." - Shirley Temple

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August in Review

Although the speed with which the year is flying by kinda freaks me out, I can't say I'm sad to see the back of August. It's not my fave month, and of course its end means spring is here! Of course, Mother Nature celebrated by making today even colder than the last few days of winter, but still - it's SPRING!
I read and reviewed...
Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.
The Last Unicorn

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Note-worthy: When I'm Not Reading...

One of my favourite bloggers, Missie at The Unread Reader, invited me to write a guest post for her feature When I'm Not Reading... Check it out to find out some of my non-bookish interests (yes, I have one or two).

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My Book Boyfriend: Jack Force

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, all about fictional boys who make us swoon. This week my book boyfriend is Jack Force from Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series. While I didn't love the books, Jack is definitely worth a swoon or two. 

About Jack
Full name is Benjamin Force, Jack is a nickname. He's blonde, athletic, graceful and "painfully" handsome.

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Note-worthy: Disney Princesses are the Best Role Models (Really!)

 
If you want to read my fangirling about the Disney princesses, head on over to The Uniblog, where I've written a guest post on how awesome they are. Coz, y'know, they're really awesome.

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Guest Post: Batman Primer Part III - Batman's Rogues Gallery

Crystal from pop culture website The Uniblog is back to continue her series on all things Batman. You can read Part I here and Part II here. Over to Crystal... The villains in Batman are what really set his world apart from that of most superheroes. They aren't generally very high-powered, they aren't looking to take over the world, and most of the time they are batshit (pun intended) crazy.

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Mag Monday: Follow The Roses in Fine Taste

This fashion shoot from online magazine, Fine Taste, is just dreamy. I want to live in it.



 

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Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I was surprised at the strong reaction I had to City of Bones, the story of the mysterious underworld of New York City (no, not the mob - the paranormal). You see, it made me freaking mad.


I wasn't mad the whole way through, of course. At first, I felt kinda "meh", and wondered why everyone raves about the book so much - more specifically, the love interest, Jace Wayland (he just wasn't doing

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Reading Icons: Ava Gardner

Apparently, Ava Gardner once met J. R. R. Tolkien and didn't know who he was - but he didn't know who she was, either, so I guess that's fair. One writer she did know really well was Ernest Hemingway, whom she was good friends with. She starred in three movies based on his writing - The Sun Also Rises, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Killers. Oh, and according to Wikipedia she also swam naked in

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Bookish Buys: Wear Your Book On Your Tee

I love novelty tees! If you're not afraid to declare your inner nerd to the world, there might be something here for you, too (BTW, click on the links to buy and/or see a wider selection)...



Lovespace





Dark Cycle Clothing



Out of Print Clothing



Sandra Grafik



Red Bubble



Gold Label (I bought this tee specifically to wear to the gym. Yeah, I'm cool.)

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My Book Boyfriend: Prince Lir

My Book Boyfriend is hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader. It's all about fictional boys who make us swoon. This week my BB is Prince Lir from The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. He starts out as a bit of a "marshmallow" - sweet and soft - but love transforms him into a hero; slaying dragons, defeating dark knights, and sacrificing everything to save his sweetheart. He's pretty lovely. I

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Review: Innocence by Kathleen Tessaro

I was excited to read this book, but sadly it fell a little flat for me.


A friend lent it to me because we share a mutual love of love stories, and after I made her read If I Stay (and she adored it), she insisted I'd love this one. The story definitely intrigued me - switching between timelines, it tells the tale of Evie as she is at 18 and at 33. At 18, she dreams of being an actress, is best

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Pash, Pick or Pass: Sookie Stackhouse's Boy Besties

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass (a.k.a. Date, Do or Ditch) - a weekly game I feature where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.


The Contenders
Sookie Stackhouse's non-vamp friends...



Her brother, Jason


Her crush buddy, Alcide




Her boss, Sam
My Choices

Pash: Jason. The boy is

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Mag Monday: Alexander Skarsgard Covers All The Things

ASkars sure has been getting around lately (I, for one, am not complaining).


First up he's sitting pretty on the cover of GQ Style Germany. I don't understand a word, but somehow that doesn't matter...


Next he's looking like the BAMF he is on BlackBook.


Finally, he's asking me to come play with him on the cover of Wonderland (seriously - me, specifically).


Related: Anybody seen the

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On My Wishlist

On My Wishlist, hosted by Book Chick City, is a weekly meme that keeps track of the books we want! Here's what I'm currently coveting... 
 Summary: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. 
So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his

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Reading Icons: Fred Astaire

"Because we are human, because we are bound by gravity and the limitations of our bodies, because we live in a world where the news is often bad and the prospects disturbing, there is a need for another world somewhere, a world where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers live."- Roger Ebert

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My Book Boyfriend: Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy

My Book Boyfriend is hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader. It's all about fictional boys who make us swoon. This week my book boyfriend is perhaps my greatest fictional love - Mr Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I haven't chosen him in the past because, well, it's just so obvious, but I thought it was about time I devoted a post to him. I know he's a bit of a snob at first, but

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Giveaway: And the winners are...

Thanks to everyone who entered my first ever giveaway, celebrating reaching 200 followers! Chosen at random, the TWO winners are...


Raimy from Readaraptor and Susanna from SusieBookworm! Congrats! Both Raimy and Susanna chose a copy of The Princess Bride by William Goldman as their prize. Here's to True Love...

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Pash, Pick or Pass: Wuthering Heights

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass (a.k.a. Date, Do or Ditch) - a weekly game I feature where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.

The Contenders
From Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights...



The (anti)hero Heathcliff (played by Tom Hardy in 2009)


The nice guy Edgar Linton (played by Andrew

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Mag Monday: Double Shots of Kristen Stewart and Ryan Gosling

This was me when I saw Kristen Stewart on the cover of the September issue of W (minus the blue fur):


I'm not a massive fan of hers - her acting annoys me, and she's uncomfortable to watch in interviews/on the red carpet - but holy smokin' hotness she looks amazing here. Love it.







Kristen is also on the cover of Entertainment Weekly this week with Robert Pattinson, so I guess the hype

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Bookish Buys: Altered Books

I was browsing online today and came across these altered books from Abandoned Attic. They're pretty pricey, but also pretty damn amazing. Like a pop-up book for grown-ups.



Beauty and the Beast



Around the World in 80 Days

I also found this cute 'The Early Bird Catches the Bookworm' artwork from Gathered Together.



In a similar vein, I love these bookish garlands from Bookity.

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My Book Boyfriend: Gale Hawthorne

My Book Boyfriend is hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader. It's all about fictional boys who make us swoon. I've featured Peeta from The Hunger Games as my book boyfriend before, but I'm dedicating this week to Gale. I was pretty angry with him at the end of Mockingjay, but one of my friends is reading the series at the moment, and her swooning over Gale reminded me of how much I loved him in

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Pash, Pick or Pass: The Hardest Week Yet

Time to play Pash, Pick or Pass (a.k.a. Date, Do or Ditch) - a weekly game I feature where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together. I've brought back the linky this week because there was interest in it last week, so feel free to create your own posts and link up!
The ContendersYou guys, I don't know why

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Note-worthy: I don't like sports, but I do love movies...

I've been a fan of Children of the 90s, a fun 90s pop culture/nostalgia blog, since way before I discovered the awesomeness that is the book blogging community, so when an opportunity to guest post there popped up, I jumped at it! I've written all about my fave 90s sports movies (coz while I hate sport, I've always loved sports movies; it may or may not have something to do with the

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Mag Monday: Emma Stone (Again), Paul Rudd and Glee

I feel like this feature is dominated by Emma Stone every second week - I can't help it, she's getting around these days (and that's a good thing)! This is one of my fave Teen Vogue covers in a long time; Emma looks stunning (so healthy! so pretty! so bright!) and I'm super glad she's back to rocking red hair. She says some adorable things in the cover story about her career and working with

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Review: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

This book was so beautiful I wanted to hug it (in fact, I may have).

I looooved The Last Unicorn movie as a kid and watched it repeatedly, but I’m ashamed to say until recently I didn’t even realise it was a book. I ordered it as soon as I discovered it was, and finally got around to reading it this week. From the opening lines (“The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone... she

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On My Wishlist

On My Wishlist, hosted by Book Chick City, is a weekly meme that keeps track of the books we want! I have a serious addiction to buying books, so hopefully by keeping track of what I want without actually purchasing (yet) I'll curtail my problem and see my TBR pile shrink a bit instead of growing faster than I can read. Here's what I'm currently itching to get...


Summary: Raised by an unstable

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Reading Icons: Joan Fontaine

Joan Fontaine played some super famous literary characters during her career - including Jane Eyre opposite Orson Welles' Rochester in the 1943 adaptation of Jane Eyre, and Mrs de Winter opposite Laurence Olivier's Maxim in 1940's Rebecca. I love watching her.

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Top Five: Places to Read

I'm not all that fussy about where I read. If a book is really good, I'll carry it around with me everywhere and read glimpses of it whenever I can. But like most bookish people, I have my favourite reading spots...


1. My parents' backyard. Living in an apartment, a backyard is a little luxury I love to take advantage of when I visit my mum and dad. It's especially good when the the weather is

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Bookish Buys: Spineless Classics

I love these pieces by Spineless Classics. They use the full texts of books in their designs and it's so effective. These are my faves:







See the full collection here.

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Review: Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (a.k.a. The Fug Girls)

This was fun but a little disappointing.


I think it was a case of THE (Too High Expectations). Disappointment was probably inevitable because they were ridonkulously high. Go Fug Yourself is one of my fave blogs; Heather and Jessica are so damn brilliant and their blog posts are hilarious, intelligent and extremely witty. So when I found out they were releasing a YA novel, I was super excited -

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My Book Boyfriend: Edward Rochester

It's My Book Boyfriend time! This is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader, focusing on fictional boys that we wish were not so fictional. This week my book boyfriend is Edward Fairfax Rochester from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I love him for his passion, intelligence and general sexiness as well as the way he respects Jane and treats her like an equal. He's her

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Bookish Fun: Beel's Diareh

This new Tumblr cracks me up - check it out for regular updates on Bill Compton's Beel Cawmptuhn's innermost thoughts. Gold.

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Pash, Pick or Pass: The Princess Bride's Men

The Contenders
This week we're playing with characters from one of the best books ever (and, also, best movies), The Princess Bride. Westley and Inigo were obvious choices, but I had a hard time deciding who should round out the trio. I went with Humperdinck in the end because he's the only other (kinda) contender for Buttercup's heart. So, presenting you with this week's options:



Prince "

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July in Review

Another month gone, eek! Unfortunately I didn't get many reviews done this month, mainly because I spent two weeks trying to slog through A Romanov Fantasy by Frances Welch and didn't do any other reading in that time. It's not a bad book, but pretty slow going, and when I finally made it half way through I decided not to force the rest and instead pick it up here and there while I'm reading

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Note-worthy: So that's why I'm an insomniac...

While Crystal from The Uniblog has been teaching us all about Batman, she let me take over her blog for a post revealing just how much of a loser I am five movies and TV shows that scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid. Hop on over to read it and make me feel better by letting me know I'm not the only one who lost sleep over Drop Dead Fred (What, I am?! Dammit).

PS If you missed my first guest

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Guest Post:: Batman Primer Part II - The Batman Family

Crystal from pop culture website The Uniblog is back to continue her series on all things Batman. You can read Part I here. Over to Crystal...


The Batman Family are the friends of Batman who fight crime with him. One of the more fascinating and contradictory things about Batman are his connections to the people who follow him to a life of crime-fighting.  As broody and solitary as he seems,

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Reading Icons: Belle

I thought it was about time I dedicated one of these posts to the icon who inspired this blog - or the name of it, at least. I'm so jealous of Belle's library. It's just one example of Disney setting me up with unrealistic expectations of men - I mean, who gives a freaking LIBRARY as a gift?! Only the greatest prince ever. Except for, y'know, the whole holding Belle captive thing. But I prefer

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Bookish Fun: Battle of the Snow Whites

It seems that the powers that be in Hollywood have decided vampires are, like, so 2010 and have moved on... to fairy tales. We've already seen new versions of Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast (in the Vanessa Hudgens vehicle Beastly), but it looks as though Snow White is really where it's at. Because they're making not one but TWO versions of it at the moment - and they both look kind of

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Bookish Buys: Pretty in Prints

There is a ridonkulous amount of awesome prints available on Etsy. Here are some of my faves...



Alice in Wonderland by Prrint



As You Wish by Zavalick Designs



Jane Austen quote by Tag Team Tompkins



Mr Darcy card by Little Minnow Designs



A Fairy Tale Ending by Type Posters



Harry Potter typographic print by Balanced Personality



Click Your Heels by Penny Wishes



Make Believe by

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My Book Boyfriend: Cross Sugarman

It's My Book Boyfriend time! This is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader, focusing on fictional boys that we wish were not so fictional. This week I've chosen Cross Sugarman from Prep by Curtis Sittenfield. OK, so he's a D-grade douche, but hey, he's freaking hot.* He's the star basketballer you crush on in high school but never get (except Lee does kinda get him, but

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Giveaway: Celebrating 200 Followers!

I have officially reached 200 followers on my blog, YAAAY! I'm so excited; I was thrilled just to have two followers on my blog and now I have a hundred times that, so my mind is pretty much blown. You guys are the awesomest 200 people EVER.

To say thank you for being so awesome, I'm holding my first-ever giveaway! There will be TWO winners, who'll receive one book each - either The Princess

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Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Well. That was heart-shattering.


I have to admit, I was pretty surprised at the raving praise Forbidden - the story of a brother and sister who fall in love - was receiving around the blogosphere. Sure, growing up on a steady diet of V.C. Andrews, I'm no stranger to incestuous relationships (er, in book form!), but they're not exactly the kind of stories that get resounding love and five-star

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Pash, Pick or Pass: Hot Vamps

The Contenders
Three of my fave vamps - Edward Cullen from The Twilight Saga, Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries and Eric Northman from The Southern Vampire Mysteries.

My Choices 

Pash: Eric. Coz he pulls good string. I lurve him so, but with all the vamp politics, he's not really ideal boyfriend material. I'd sure pash the Viking out of him though.

Pick: Damon. He's a good guy at

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Review: The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock

The Book of Lies was a fascinating read not just for its page-turning story, but also for the themes it explores.
 
One of the themes is, as the title suggests, lies - in particular, the devastating damage they can cause, no matter how small, off-hand or innocent they seem at the time. But what I found most interesting was its exploration of the truth - and, by extension, history - beautifully

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Reading Icons: Natalie Wood

I adore Natalie Wood. She was so beautiful, with such a sad life and such a mysterious death. I love this quote about her, although unfortunately I can't find who said it - just that it was apparently a director: "She was very smart. She read a book a week and had a wicked sense of humor. She was just adorable -- one of the few movie stars I've met who was really worthy of that title."

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Follow Friday: Five Living Authors I'd Love To Meet

Follow Friday is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. This week's topic is about authors we want to meet: "Name three authors you would love to sit down and have a meal with, just talking about either their books or writing advice."

Because I'm a) Mildly OCD and like everything to be in multiples of five, and b) Chronically indecisive, I'm going to cheat and name five

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Search Me: Pantless Alex Pettyfer, Shirtless Ian Somerhalder and, Erm, Hagrid

This is probably a bit sad, but one of the things I love about blogging is seeing what searches people do to find my blog. I don't know why, but it amuses me no end, and makes me feel somewhat better about the random things I type into Google. So when one of my fave blogs, ...in the Attic (check it out for lots of V.C. Andrews awesomeness), recently featured a hilarious post on search term

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Bookish Fun: The Second Quarter Quell

This The Hunger Games fan vid of Haymitch's time in the arena is AMAZING. The production quality is great and the actors do a pretty good job, too. James Gaisford who plays Haymitch is bloody cute (no pun intended).

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My Book Boyfriend: Noah Calhoun

My Book Boyfriend, hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, is an awesome meme highlighting the many fictional boys who make us swoon. This week I'm reliving my love of Noah Calhoun from The Notebook.

Why he's an awesome book boyfriend...
He does everything he can for the woman he loves, and remains devoted to her and her alone his whole life. Even with 14 years apart, Allie apparently ignoring

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Note-worthy: Are You On Tumblr?

I am! Yep, after months of lurking I've finally decided to use the damn thing.


While I have lots of experience admiring other people's Tumblrs, I'm very new to the whole participating thing, so I'm a bit nervous and also slightly concerned it will eat up even more of my time. But I'm mostly excited and keen to start following - so leave your URL in the linky if you've got a Tumblr, and

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Pash, Pick or Pass: Austen Heroes

We're playing with some old-school gentlemen this week - my three fave Jane Austen heroes, Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, Captain Wentworth from Persuasion and Mr Knightley from Emma. 


My Choices
Pash: Captain Wentworth. I adore the fact that he's smart, brave, and a self-made man, but it's his passion that really makes me swoon. If you've read Persuasion and seen Wentworth's letter, you

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Mag Monday: Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in EW

Holy amazeballs, you guys, I am SO excited for The Amazing Spider-Man. When the new film was first announced, I was kinda like, "Already?! Didn't they just make Spider-Man?! I feel so old." But now I'm just excited. I LOVE Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield already, so a movie with both of them in it will pull me in, anyway. But how great do they look together?! And how great does Andrew fill out the

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The Movie Was Wack: The Little Princess

I love this movie. It's really entertaining and fun... but it's not A Little Princess. Literally - notice the The? It's a Shirley Temple film first, and A Little Princess adaptation second. Or maybe even third or fourth. It doesn't have a helluva lot in common with the original text - sure, character names are the same, and the bare bones of the plot are there, but all the muscle has a decidedly

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Bookish Fun: The Mysterious Ticking Noise

Snape, Snape, Se-ver-us Snape... I've had this in my head ALL WEEK with all the Harry Potter talk that's been happening around the blogosphere. So I thought I may as well post it here and get it stuck in everyone else's heads, too. Mwahaha.

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Reading Icons: Judy Garland

"I've always taken The Wizard of Oz very seriously, you know. I believe in the idea of the rainbow. And I've spent my entire life trying to get over it." - Judy Garland
 

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Bookish Buys: Harry Potter Edition

As you can imagine, with the massive fandom out there for Harry Potter, there's a ridonkulous amount (and variety) of merchandise available. Here's some that bewitched me (sorry, had to go there)...



Matryoshka set from Art Matryoshka





Cross-stitch pattern from Wee Little Stitches




Set of five cards (with awesome statements like "I love you like Dobby loves socks", "I love you like

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The Movie Was Better: A Little Princess

The 1995 version of A Little Princess was one of my favourite movies growing up, and I'm happy to say it's stood the test of time and is still lovely to watch now. I got an instant hit of nostalgia as soon as the opening chords of the theme played, and was drawn once again into Sara's story. Yep, I actually liked Sara in the movie (unlike in the book) - she's got a bit of spunk to her in this

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Note-worthy: I learnt everything I know about love from fictional boys

I'm super excited that I've written my first ever guest post, and even more so that it was for one of my fave blogs! In exchange for her awesome post on Batman here, Crystal from The Uniblog let me take over her blog for a post and rave about swoony fictional boys (what else?!). Check it out here!

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Guest Post:: Batman Primer Part I, brought to you by The Uniblogger

I've been curious about comic books for a long time, but have always been too daunted to dive into them. There are SO many and each story seems so complicated that it's hard to know where to start. So I'm very excited that my blogging buddy Crystal (a.k.a. The Uniblogger - check out her blog for lots of pop cultural awesomeness) has put together a crash course in the comics of one of my fave

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My Book Boyfriend: Mr Thornton

My Book Boyfriend, hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, is an awesome meme highlighting the many fictional boys who make us swoon. This week I'm drooling over the dashing Mr Thornton from Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South.

Why Thornton Rocks (My Knickers Socks)
He owns a mill in Milton, a fictionalised version of ye olde Manchester. This means he's rich, but he uses his money to take

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Bookish Fun: He Will Never Have A Girlfriend

This meme cracks me up, and seeing Neville looking a bit spunky recently immediately made me do a Cereal Guy in my head. So I decided to see if anybody had created an actual Neville/Cereal Guy picture, and it turns out they had! I also found some other Harry Potter stars in the mix, plus a couple of fairy tale characters. Check out this site for more.






 

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Pash, Pick or Pass: Hogwarts Edition

In honour of the end of the Harry Potter movies (*tear*), this week's Pash, Pick or Pass is Hogwarts-themed, complete with two rounds of contenders. To play, all you have to do is create your own post (linking back to this one) stating who out of each trio you'd pash, who you'd pick for a relationship and who you'd pass on altogether. Then share your post in the linky and check out how everyone

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Mag Monday: Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake Cover Elle

I have a massive girl crush on Mila Kunis. So, even though Friends with Benefits is basically the same movie as No Strings Attached (and that wasn't particularly good), I'm still kinda excited to see it. Actually, more than kinda excited after seeing Mila and JT in the August issue of Elle.

ELLE:  Playing friends with benefits, what was your costar most self-conscious about while shooting the

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Reading Icons: James Dean

Here's an embarrassing fact: I've never seen a James Dean movie. Not a single one. It's one of those things that I keep meaning to do but somehow haven't gotten around to yet. Still, that doesn't stop me from appreciating his beauty in photographs. The man sure was sexy - especially reading! According to the interwebz, his fave books were Pain, Sex and Time by Gerald Heard and The Little Prince

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Top Five: Secondary Characters in Harry Potter

With the impending end of the Harry Potter film series upon us, I thought it would distract me from my sadness be fun to list my top five characters in the series, not counting the main trio of awesomeness - because, well, their awesomeness goes without saying. One of the wonderful things about Harry Potter is the rich array of characters that J. K. Rowling has created; even the most minor

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Bookish Buys: Bookmark It!

Do you use bookmarks? I've only recently gotten into the habit - for years I've used whatever was available (bus tickets, receipts, etc) or just folded the page over (I KNOW). But there are much prettier ways to mark pages...




Bronze bookmarks from Life in Colors




Bookmark pack from Leeloo



Fingerprint bookmark from Fred Flare



Magnetic pointer from Garden of Goodies



Set of three

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My Book Boyfriend: Etienne St. Clair

My Book Boyfriend is an awesome meme highlighting the many fictional boys who make us swoon. It's hosted by the lovely Missie over at The Unread Reader. It'll come as no surprise to those who know I read Anna and the French Kiss this week that I'm currently in the middle of a full-on, daydream-inducing, life-crippling obsession with Étienne St. Clair.

How do I love him? Let me count the ways...

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Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I am in love with this book.
 

Majorly, totally, butt-crazy in love. I love the story, I love the writing, and I love the setting. I love the secondary characters, I love Anna and I love, love, love, love, LOVE Étienne St. Clair.

There are two things I don't love about it, though: the name and the cover. Unfortunately, those two things made me dismiss it for months. Sure, I had it in my TBR

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Pash, Pick or Pass: Vampire Academy Guys

 Pash, Pick or Pass is a feature/meme I've created that involves choosing, out of a group of three guys, who you'd pash (ie have a one-off, purely physical encounter with); who you'd pick for a long-term relationship; and who you'd pass on altogether. Each week I'll post new contenders, and I'd love it if everybody joins in! If you want to play, you can either state your opinion in the comments

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Mag Monday: Emma Stone Covers Vanity Fair

Words cannot express how much I love Emma Stone. So I'm excited to see her looking lovely on the cover of Vanity Fair this month, and I can't wait to get my mitts on the issue. But even though she looks awesome, I'm still not a fan of the blonde hair on her - so glad she's gone back to rocking ranga red!

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Review: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I hate to say it, but I was disappointed with this book.


I should note before I go any further that my opinion was probably doomed from the outset by high expectations, and it was pretty much impossible for me to be fair. Because, you see, while I never read this book as a child, I watched the 1995 movie adaptation obsessively and also enjoyed the 1939 version, PLUS have a special place in my

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Reading Icons: Grace Kelly

"You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own. No question, I'll miss her, we'll all miss her, God bless you,

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Bookish Buys: True Blood Edition

Yes, I've got True Blood on the brain this week. I still haven't seen the new episode yet and I'm getting seriously twitchy. So I have to get my fix in other ways - like looking at this cool merch.


I actually own this necklace from Corso Studio, and it's like a True Blood fan detection device - when I wear it, I get knowing smiles from those who are fans, and strange looks from those who aren't

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Follow Friday: A Visit From Mr Darcy

Follow Friday is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee's View. This week, her featured blogger is Erika from Let's Talk About Books, who asks: "ACK! Your favorite book/movie character (example Hermione Granger played by the Emma chick) just walked into the room! Who is it and what would be your first reaction? You get extra points if you include visual stimulation."
This is tough, because

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June In Review

I can't believe June is over already! The year is going scary-fast. It's been a whole month since I was in the US, and I've well and truly come down off my holiday high. But I've had a very busy (and fun) time blogging!



I read and reviewed...
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens.
If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman.
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris.
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and

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My Book Boyfriend: Dimitri Belikov

My Book Boyfriend, a meme dedicated to our many fictional loves, is hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader. This week I've chosen my second Russian book boyfriend: Dimitri Belikov from the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead.

About Dimitri He's a 24-year-old from Siberia with a hot Russian accent.
He's a dhampir (half-vampire), meaning he has super-strength and fast reflexes but doesn't need

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Bookish Fun: Dogs Reading Books

The Uniblogger recently posted about this little guy:



Which got me thinking - I wonder if other types of dogs like to read? Apparently they do, because look what I found:



Source


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Pash, Pick or Pass: Sookie's Harem

In honour of True Blood returning to TV this week, the contenders for Pash, Pick or Pass will be selected from amongst Sookie Stackhouse's many admirers:


My Choices

Pash: Alcide. Why? Well...



'Nuff said.



Pick: Eric, because he's sexy, powerful, intelligent, passionate, cheeky, protective, caring and, ahem, good in bed:


Pass: Bill, because I hate him so freaking much. He's manipulative,

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Mag Monday: True Blood Stars Cover EW

FINALLY, season four of True Blood is here! Well, not here here, but there here, as it hit US screens last night. I'm tossing up whether I want to a) stay spoiler-free and wait until I can see all the shows in one go, as I have in past years; b) read spoilers and still wait until I can see all the shows in one hit; or, c) give in to my impatience and watch each ep as it becomes available, so I

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Top 5: Series That Defined My Childhood

When I think about the books that I read as a child, they always seem to be a part of a series or collection. I read individual books, of course, but I guess purely because I read more of them, it's the series that seem to have stuck in my mind the most. Here are the ones that dominated my early years:

1. Little Golden Books (Ages 1-10)


For as long as I can remember, I had a shelf full of

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Bookish Fun: Letters to Dead People

I love this Tumblr - it's so clever, unique and funny. Who knew letters to dead people could make you smile so much? Here are some of my faves:

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