Monday 30 April 2018

Reading wrap-up + Favourites // April 2018



Hello, beautiful people!

I have to say... I am so sad that April is over, because it was one of the best months of the year for me and I was my best self most of the time, I think. April was made of lots of studying, writing my last assignments for uni, attending my last classes, writing so much of my master's thesis (I still have quite a way to go, but still), participating in a 24 hour readathon, figuring out a big piece of myself that had been missing and talking about it, watching Avengers: Infinity War, visiting my boyfriend in Sweden after almost four months of not seeing each other and wandering in Copenhagen and Stockholm together. Oh April, why do you have to go?


W H A T  I  R E A D

I had a great reading month, but if we're being honest, it's mostly due to the 24 hour readathon I participated in, I managed to either read entirely/finish/start four books. Once again, I read from so many different genres and enjoyed all the books that I read, so yay! In total, I also did four buddy reads this month (I'm including my buddy read of Middlemarch in that, even though we're not done yet) and I've been enjoying it more and more.


  • Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux, 3/5 stars
  • Portrait of a Murderer (e-ARC) by Anne Meredith, 3/5 stars
  • The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty, 5/5 stars
  • Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young (e-ARC), 3/5 stars
  • The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo, 4.5/5 stars
  • To Be Read at Dusk by Charles Dickens, 3.5/5 stars
  • Odd & True by Cat Winters, 4/5 stars
  • Warcross by Marie Lu, 4/5 stars
  • Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie 4/5 stars
  • Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli, 4/5 stars
  • The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 4/5 stars

My favourite book of the month was, of course, The City of Brass, which is such an amazing start to a fantasy trilogy. I also adored Leigh Bardugo's The Language of Thorns, it felt so good to be back in the Grishaverse after all this time and her tales were so amazing. For the rest, special mention to Leah on the Offbeat for being the book I needed to read this month and to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for being such a "me" book: I can't wait to watch the adaptation, even though it'll only come out in June here!


F A V O U R I T E  B L O G  P O S T S


Cait @ Paper Fury talked about autism rep and recommended books with good representation.
Kelly @ Another Book in the Wall explained why she believed sequels are typically rated higher than their predecessors.
Elise @ The Bookish Actress talked about why she always likes the middle books more.
Sayantani Dasgupta, author of The Serpent's Secret, guest posted @ Chasing Faerytales about folktales and myths.
Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books asked how the hell do you review a book and it was so relatable. She also wrote an amazing review about To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo and I so want to read this book!!

Resh Susan @ The Book Satchel reviewed both The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller, it was hands down my favourite review I read this month and I'm so motivated to binge-read the both of them as soon as I get my hands on them!



Me in Nyhavn, Copenhagen


F A V O U R I T E S


TRAVEL // Copenhagen, Denmark

Ten days ago, I was in Copenhagen and completely fell in love with this city. I was with my boyfriend and we walked everywhere, visited the city, castles, museums, ate a lot, it was so amazing. From the very first moments we were there, I started feeling that it was the type of city I could live in. Even though it's a capital, it's not as overwhelming than capitals like Paris or London (I love those cities too, though), it's so peaceful, maybe it's due to the way of living in Denmark, I'm not sure. But it's a city near the sea, when I've always been a sea kind of girl, it's a city where you can actually breathe as there are enough parks and let's be real, it's quite stunning. *sigh* I already miss it so much.

MUSIC // The Phantom of the Opera

The first book I read in April was Gaston Leroux's novel, which inspired the musical and while I definitely wasn't impressed by the novel (the narration wasn't great, but the story amazing), I knew I would fall in love with the musical adaptation... and that's definitely what happened. I know some people don't like it, but I watched the 2004 movie and adored it, and am planning to try to watch the musical on stage next time I'll go to London (it might be a long shot, but still). Depending on the time of the day, I have a different song stuck inside my mind*, even though The Music of the Night is my favourite (it is such a Kylo Ren song, by the way). Falling in love with musicals inspired by French novels is quite a trend with me, I don't mind it for one bit.

*if you caught the reference, here are phantom cookies for you!

Camp NaNoWriMo

I'm in the second year of my master's degree, which means I have to write... A master's thesis! To be more precise, it's my second one because we already had to write one last year. *cue intense crying* I'm not going to lie, it's pretty hard, especially considering how much we're supposed to write, so I decided that to motivate myself to write a huge part of it in April, I would do Camp NaNoWriMo. It was such an amazing experience, as you set your own writing goals and while I couldn't write every day because of my last assignments... or life in general, it was a huge success for me, because I love stats and competing with myself. While I'm not anywhere near done, I wrote so much of it that I know I'm on the right path. I got this. If you're in the middle of exams/big assignments/a master's thesis/anything stressful, you got this too.

PS: I won't talk numbers, because I know that seeing people talking about a number of pages stresses me out and it's probably the case for other persons haha.



Now, let's move on to TV shows, I put them all together, 
because once again, I watched a lot of TV shows!




A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)

Finally, after more of a year of waiting, A Series of Unfortunate Events, adapted from Lemony Snicket's series, which was my favourite as a child (I named one of my family's cats after Violet Baudelaire, after all), returned with its second season. I have to confess that I watch it in French (gasp!), because I watch it with my family and it makes the experience all the better, especially when my 10 y.o. brother starts screaming that Sunny wasn't supposed to walk that early (he's so precious). In any case, once again, Netflix did a stellar job at adapting the novels, I was still as scared as I used to be during The Hostile Hospital, they so captured the aesthetic of the series, it makes me feel so nostalgic. I am eagerly waiting for season 3 next year, because The Carnivorous Carnival ends on such a cliffhanger (I knew it, but still) and I need more.

Everything Sucks! (Netflix)

I screamed a lot about it two weeks ago on social media, because I'm still not okay with the fact that Netlix decided to not renew it for a second season when it's been out for... TWO MONTHS. Everything Sucks! is set in 1996 in the town of Boring, it follows high school life, with all its ups and mostly its downs, it has lots of pop culture references, one of the most diverse cast of characters and the representation is amazing. I wrote an entire blog post about it that will describe it so much better, but I watched the entire thing in one evening because I couldn't stop.

Black Lightning (CW and it's on Netflix)

A few months ago, one of my friends recommended me Black Lightning and I finally got around to watch it (I think I finished it before she did in the end, haha). This show airs on the CW and is based on a DC comics character, but hear me out, for once you don't have to be all caught up with four different shows because there is no crossover (so far), FINALLY (I'm so done with their stupid technique to make me watch their superhero shows, I dropped out of half of them at this point lmao). Anyway, Black Lightning follows Jefferson Pierce, who stopped being the vigilante Black Lightning nine years ago, after seeing the effects it had on his family. However, he is forced to become a vigilante once again when a local gang leads to increased crime and corruption in his community of Freeland. 

In many ways, Black Lightning reminds me of Netflix's Daredevil that I adore too. BUT, one of the things that make Black Lightning particularly amazing is the diversity. Not only are all the main characters black, but it's set in a black community (only two significant characters are white, but they're secondary) and has an openly lesbian character*, Anissa Pierce, which is the best character of the show. It also has amazing family dynamics, the plot is brilliant and we binge-watched the entire thing in three days with my boyfriend, when we've barely watched any TV shows for the past year. It's so good.

*I'm highlighting this even more considering Everything Sucks! had a lesbian character too, but got cancelled and there is so little representation that I needed to point this out even more, okay I'm done ranting.


Last but not least,



The second season of Legion (FOX) is currently airing and if you've been following me for a while, you know that I adore this show (and here is why), which was my favourite of 2017. Sadly, I only had time to watch the first two episodes (which means I'm two episodes behind already, I hate life), but I adore it so far and I can't wait to catch up and continue as it airs for the next few weeks! I'm only half-including it in this because I literally watched two episodes, that's so little, but I LOVE IT ANYWAY. Bye.


L O O K I N G  A H E A D

A new category, to focus on what I'm looking forward to for the next month. Not much in my life, because I'll just be writing my master's thesis, but I will need distractions (and reasons to procrastinate it) at times. 

> There are two movies I'm particularly excited about for May, the first one being The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, because Adam Driver is in it and it will be released in France the day it premieres at the Cannes festival (aka May 19th). Solo: a Star Wars story is also coming out this May and I have a complicated relationship with it, because I am terrified I will be disappointed by it, but I'm starting to form hopes... As it's the only Star Wars content I'll get for a while. Oh Episode IX, come faster, you're already driving me crazy.

> For TV shows, I'm just excited about the second season of Dear White People, which will be released on Netflix this Friday! The first season was so amazing, I hope it'll also be the case for the second one. I am in the mood to start so many TV shows though, it's not great for productivity.

> For books, there aren't a lot I'm specifically looking forward to, but We Are Young by Cat Clarke is coming out this week, I adored Girlhood that I read last year by her, so I want more. As I also need to feed my Star Wars addiction, Most Wanted by Rae Carson, a Solo novel by a YA author, is quite an anticipated release for me. It follows Han and Qi'ra and that's all I know. See, that's what I was talking about, I'm starting to have hopes for Solo, it's not good. *cries*


How did April treat you? What were your favourite books of the month? 
Any new favourite things in general?


Lots of love,
Lucie

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Everything Sucks! on Netflix // Currently Watching



Hello, beautiful people!

Yesterday, I started watching Everything Sucks! on Netflix, which is made of ten episodes of about twenty-five minutes. Little did I know I would end up staying up late to binge-watch the whole season, yet, I couldn't stop myself. In the middle of binge-watching it, I learnt that Netflix had announced the show's cancellation last week, when it hadn't even been on their website for two months (I don't get why they did that after two months when they wait forever to renew their shows??). After finishing the first and apparently unique season we'll ever get, I just didn't understand, especially since it was a show so full of hope. Why does Netflix keep cancelling (most of) their diverse shows? *cries forever* Let's hope the social media campain #RenewEverythingSucks will work...


WHAT IS EVERYTHING SUCKS! ABOUT?

It's 1996 in a town called Boring in Oregon (yes, it's a real town), where high school misfits in the AV and drama clubs brave the ups and downs of teenage life in the VHS era. The show mainly follows Luke O'Neil (Jahi Di'Allo Winston), an aspiring filmmaker and Kate Messner (Peyton Kennedy), the principal's daughter figuring out her sexuality, who both come from single-parents households, trying to discover out who they are.




MY THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW

I knew I would end up loving Everything Sucks from the very first minute, when it started talking about the Star Wars prequel movies and how the characters were pretty sure they wouldn't be good. I was born in 1996, so I thought it was a funny reason to watch it: it felt so nostalgic of that time. It was full of pop culture references (from movies to items such as Tamagotchis!) and had an amazing soundtrack (not to be cliché, but Oasis? HELL, YES). It does use '90s clichés, but that's all the fun. Once I finished it, I just wanted to get to the nearest store to dress like the characters (but it might be because I adore Emaline).

It's not the type of show that will necessarily enthral you right in, it took me a couple of episodes for that to actually happen, which is also linked to the fact that there was bullying and homophobic slur (which was the point) at first, it made it a bit hard to watch. Like I've read in some reviews that I agree with on that, the show is a bit all over the place, like teenagers are, so that felt realistic, but because of that, it took me a bit of time. 


THEN
I
FELL
FOR
IT.


Everything Sucks! is a coming-of-age story that felt so authentic: it reminds you how awful high school sometimes was when you weren't popular or things like that, it navigates relationships, heatbreaks, unrequited love, figuring out your sexuality, trying to find your voice and what you love in life. Yes, everything does suck, but that's reality. Yet, it's also so full of hope. It's funny, it's heartfelt, it's relatable. More than that, it has amazing representation and that's why it's even more heartbreaking that it got cancelled.

(Sorry for the shade thrown on 13 Reasons Why with this tweet, even though I 100% agree with it) 

I adored so many of the storylines, and as all the characters came together in the second half of the season, it became better and better. While some of the secondary characters felt two-dimensional in the first half of the season, they all had their own stories in the second half and I came to care for them all. Most of the characters started off a bit two-dimensional because of the '90s clichés, but then the show went way farther than any '90s TV shows would have gotten away with and that's why it's amazing. It also followed some of the characters' parents and while they didn't have a lot of screen time, I came to root for them as much as for the kids. 

My favourite story arc was without a doubt Kate's, who was coming to terms with the fact that she was a lesbian and I can't say anything without spoiling, but the way they did it felt realistic, especially for the 1990s (the concert scene was amazing, I'm still crying). She's the type of character that everyone can relate to, that's supposed to be YOU and it worked. She's such a teen icon and we need more characters like her on television. The award for best character development goes to Emaline, my personal favourite, she goes from being this arrogant theatre teen to a kinder and more romantic young woman, figuring out how to be her own person, because she needs no man (spoiler alert: the type of character I love the most).

I really love Emaline. UGH I miss her so much already.

Overall, Everything Sucks! isn't a perfect TV show, but it deserves so much more publicity than it got for the past two months. It's nostalgic, authentic and has great representation. I truly couldn't stop watching it, because I was holding on to hope that it would go the way I wanted, it more than did, and if Netflix truly doesn't pick it back up again, I'll never get over it (the only show I feel like that about is Agent Carter and I'm still bitter after two years), because I need more, I want to see my favourite characters grow together. Please, Netflix.


Have you watched this show or do you want to?
What's your favourite TV show at the moment?



Lots of love,
Lucie

Tuesday 3 April 2018

Reading wrap-up + Favourites // March 2018


Hello, beautiful people!

I can't believe March is finally over, it was an eventful and tiring month, sometimes amazing, sometimes awful, but that's life, I guess. What I want to remember out of it are moments such as Disneyland Paris, Livre Paris, where I met Victoria Schwab, Marissa Meyer and Diana Gabaldon (!!!), seeing my best friend every week, despite not living in the same city, watching amazing TV shows and helplessly falling in love with books. There were so many positive things happening in March that I hope it will outweight the way I felt most of the time in my future memories.


W H A T  I  R E A D

In March, I decided not to have a monthy TBR anymore and it was such a nice feeling: while I read tons of books during the first ten days of the month, I "only" read four books during the last three weeks of it and I felt so great about it. Reading isn't a competition after all, even though it feels like it at times (I'm mainly the one competing with myself, but still), it was so nice to just take my time with books, for once.

  • Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, 5/5 stars
  • The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, 4/5 stars
  • First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams and Dolley Maddison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role by Jeanne E. Abrams (e-ARC), 3.5/5 stars
  • The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley, 3/5 stars
  • The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher, 4/5 stars
  • Renegades by Marissa Meyer, 5/5 stars
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi by Jason Fry, 4.5/5 stars
  • The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar, 3.5/5 stars
  • Villette by Charlotte Brontë, 2/5 stars
  • Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, 5/5 stars
  • Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie, 4/5 stars

I completely fell in love with three books this month, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Renegades by Marissa Meyer and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, I wouldn't be able to pick a favourite out of these three! I also had my first big disappointment with Villette by Charlotte Brontë, but it was a buddy read and ranting about it to my friend was hilarious and made the experience enjoyable somehow.


F A V O U R I T E  B L O G  P O S T S



Ashleigh @ A Frolic Through Fiction went to Haworth to visit the Brontë Parsonage and she made me want to visit it even more, someday.
Evelina @ Avalinah's Books talked about book smugglers in Lithuania at the end of the 19th century.
Elise @ The Bookish Actress talked about the "not-like-other-girls" trope, and why we need more 'unlikable' heroines (her posts are amazing in general though, I can't believe I just discovered her blog!).

My lockscreen, aka one of my favourite Star Wars fanart. 
I found it there, but I'm not sure who the artist is, sadly.

F A V O U R I T E S

TV SHOW // Jane the Virgin

I watched a lot of TV shows that I adored this month, but Jane the Virgin won everything. If you don't know, this one has been on my favourite shows list for a few years now, but I forbid myself to watch it if the season hasn't finished airing yet. Why, you will ask? Because whenever I watch it, I enter the ultimate stage of binge-watching, aka I won't do anything but watch it and it always ends in cliffhangers, so I can't bear to wait each week. I wasn't supposed to watch season 4 just now because of that, but I obviously did. Oops. 

Season 4 is absolutely amazing so far, it's been delivering so many important messages that matter even more to me on a personal level and that's why the binge-watching was even worse than usual. This show always makes me feel better, makes me smile no matter what, it was no different for season 4. I cannot wait to continue watching it week after week, even though it will mean I'll scream every time it ends on a cliffhanger, but oh well. There is no point in forbidding myself to do things that will make me happy. I also love Petra even more than usual, this season. She's the type of character I can't help but love, I have to say that the Petra we've been seeing lately is the best.



TEA // Empress Grey from Marks & Spencer

I was carburating to Jasmine Tea in February, but considering how winter-y the weather still was in March, I needed to drink a more winter-y tea again. As M&S is a loyal friend of mine, I tried this one out from them and adore it, I've been drinking it during breakfast every morning for the past few weeks (it goes very well with porridge, I have to say!). It makes me feel so warm, more comfortable in my own skin on a daily basis and that's what I need from a good tea.

TV SHOW // The Good Place

I finally watched The Good Place and it was one of the best things ever. The Good Place follows Eleanor Shellstrop, who lands in an idyllic afterlife only to discover that she has been mistaken for a very good person. Certain that she lived a bad life and is destined to be sent to hell if she's discovered, Eleanor tries to keep her presence a secret even though it causes disruption to everyone around her. The Good Place is one of those shows that's weird, in a very good way (like Legion*). It's the kind of show that you binge-watch because you want to understand what's going on. I usually need to have a show where an episode is about 20 minutes long on the go, it's perfect for breakfasts or study breaks, I am so glad I had this one in March. It was absolutely hilarious, had such a diverse cast of characters and I cannot wait to watch season 3!


*can you tell that I was rewatching Legion while I was typing this? 

BEAUTY // Green clay masks

Doing face masks has become a weekly tradition for me lately and after trying out several of them, I have settled on green clay masks this month and I adore them. They always make me feel like my skin is all new and clear whenever I'm done with them. They're perfect in my Sunday self-care routing while I'm watching a TV show now. I've started to use more beauty products lately, so stay tuned, maybe I'll have things to say in the future, even though I have no idea about what I'm doing lmao.

MUSIC // Found/Tonight

I don't listen to a lot of new music each month, but this one song was more than enough. Found/Tonight was the March Hamildrop and oh my, nothing can tops this. N O T H I N G. Found/Tonight is a mash-up between You Will Be Found (Dear Evan Hansen) and The Story of Tonight (Hamilton), performed by Ben Platt (the original Evan Hansen) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (the original Alexander Hamilton). A portion of proceeds from the song are going to the #MarchForOurLives initiative. It's simply everything and to quote Evan Hansen, words fail to tell you how much I adore it and how much I listened to it on repeat this month.

TV SHOW // Star Wars: The Clone Wars & Star Wars: Forces of Destinies

I managed to have daily Star Wars content in March and that's everything I ever needed. I started watching The Clone Wars and adore it. Like many people, I'm not the biggest fan of the prequel trilogy (it has its good parts and its... less good parts, shall we say), so I wasn't intending to watch The Clone Wars any time soon, considering it's set between Episodes II & III, but I had to watch it if I wanted to watch Star Wars Rebels, so. Anyhoo, I actually adore it, it's another 20 minutes long show perfect for short breaks and I even came to like Anakin Skywalker at times, which is an improvement. Let's be real, though, Ahsoka Tano is the best character and I love her to pieces. Thanks to my little brother for telling me the first two seasons were on Netflix France, even though my responsabilities weren't as happy about it.

My fierce baby

On the other hand, I watched Star Wars: Forces of Destinies and it's so cute, it's on Disney's YouTube channel, each episode lasts three minutes and mainly follows the female characters of Star Wars (in season 2 there is an episode only focusing on Luke, which I liked, but why??). I watched the episode of Rey and the Porgs five times because I'm ridiculous and would watch anything Star Wars, even if it's supposed to be for kids or something. I can't wait for May, because we'll get the rest of season 2 (more content from The Last Jedi, YES) and Kylo Ren* will appear at some point!


*Did you really think we would get through a monthly wrap-up without mentionning Kylo? Think again. *evil laughter*

What did you read this month? Any new favourite books?

Lots of love,
Lucie