Reading wrap-up + Favourites | August 2018

Hello, beautiful people!

I am so happy that August is coming to a close, it was such a busy and long month for me, as I spent most of my time at my summer job (but as you're reading this, I'm freeeeeee). It was quite a tough month as well, and I won't go too much in details about that, but can I please stop worrying all the time? UGH. Despite that, there were so many highlights in August, such as my best friend's birthday, watching many, many movies, surprising my boyfriend for his birthday, watching football games, drinking a lot of coffee, starting the great Gilmore Girls rewatch of 2018 and so on. 

W H A T  I  R E A D

Following the great "31 books in 31 days challenge" that I did back in July, I didn't want to read as much, but I still managed to read a lot, and as I participated in a 24h readathon again, it certainly helped. Here are the books that I read:

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 5/5 stars (reread)
• Wait for Me by Caroline Leech, 3.75/5 stars
• Guermantes' Way (Le Côté de Guermantes) by Marcel Proust, 3/5 stars
• Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell, 3.5/5 stars
• Take Courage: Anne Brontë and the Art of Life by Samantha Ellis, 3.5/5 stars
• The Muse by Jessie Burton, 4/5 stars
• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, 4/5 stars
• Pauline by Alexandre Dumas, 3.5/5 stars (reread)
• Peril at End House by Agatha Christie, 4/5 stars
• On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, 4/5 stars
• Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson, 3/5 stars

In August happened the #classicsathon hosted by Lucy @ Lucy The Reader, which I was really excited about, as it motivated me to read some classics I had been meaning to read forever (mainly French ones), so I read four classics! Other than that, I mostly read historical fiction, as it's all I've been in the mood for lately. I don't really want to say it's back to being my favourite genre, but... When I look at my favourite books, 90% of them are either historical fiction or classics. Ahem. I've been in a huge fantasy slump since the beginning of the year, I really need to get out of it soon. Anyhow, August also was the month where I destroyed my TBR once and for all, I'm so happy about that. I'll talk more about why I don't want a TBR anymore in an upcoming blog post, so stay tuned for that!

F A V O U R I T E  B L O G  P O S T S

Fatima @ Screen Queens reviewed the movie adaptation of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and she also talked about the Q&A with the cast that she attended. Special thanks to her for making me read a first draft of it, she's the best and I adore this post!
Shealea @ That Bookshelf Bitch talked about #bookishwish and how it came to be.

Holly @ Nut Free Nerd explained how she came to study English at college (and why she kept it that way).

Jemima @ Be Aware of Books talked about the "right" to be a Shakespeare fan.

Lucy @ Queen of Contemporary shared her views on many book lovers' nightmare: damaging a book.

Lauren @ Bookish Byron talked about her dissertation on the Brontës - more specifically on the relationship between marriage and class in Charlotte’s Shirley, Emily’s Wuthering Heights, and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - which was so interesting, I had been curious about her dissertation for months!

Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books discussed how to support international book bloggers.

F A V O U R I T E S

BEAUTY | (almost) no makeup & dyeing my hair

I'm part of those people who hate their skin. Like, why do I still have to have acne at 22? My skin isn't the worst, I know that, but I've felt self-conscious about it for my entire life and started wearing BB cream, then foundation a year and a half ago. However, with that came the fact that I hated going out without makeup, then for some reason (probably laziness and the heat)... I just stopped everything at the beginning of July. At first, I was just trying to get used to not wearing make up, then decided to drop it for the rest of the summer, and it actually feels great, I'm getting less and less self-conscious every day. There are days where I wear nothing, or lipstick and nothing else (not even mascara), which I used to do all the time three years ago and I've been loving it.

In July, I also dyed my hair for the first time, then did it again in August and got the results I wanted! It's nothing big really: my hair has different shades of blonde, but it's gotten darker in recent years, especially during winter, and I just want to be completely blonde (aka I just wanted the color my top hairlocks have, so it would look more even). So I did that and I feel so much better and it gave me a bit more confidence, so yay!

MISC. | Tottenham Hotspur (Football)

Hear me out: when France won the World Cup... I couldn't let it go. I couldn't, not when watching games made me forget all of my problems and that I realised how much I had missed it. I've been wearing my French bracelet since then and if I have to go outside without it, I actually freak out. As I was saying last month, I used to watch football games when I was younger, then gradually stopped, except for the games with our national team. After the World Cup, I really wanted to start to support a team, and that's how I came to root for Tottenham and to follow what was happening in the Premier League  (lmao, of course, if I had to watch a football league, it'd have to be the English one, what a surprise). 

I'll confess that yes, I did start watching Tottenham's games because of Hugo Lloris, but I've been having so much fun that it's more than that now! It's also very stressful when I have to find livestreams or when it takes us* a long time to score (we've won all out August games, though). Still, I adore it and you can tell that I've turned into a proper supporter when I'm screaming "he does score in August" in front of my laptop like everyone else and it has meaning to me (He did score in August! And twice at thaaaat >> excuse me, my excitement couldn't be contained).

*"us", "we", oh my, I have really turned into a proper supporter who checks everything about her team all. the. time. oops.

MUSIC | Mamma Mia!, Born to Be Yours & Dying in LA

Apart from the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again soundtrack that I'm listening to daily (Andante, Andante is my current favourite), here are the two songs that I've been listening to all the time:

(it's been going on since... mid-July)

(At some point, I realised that I was getting The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo vibes

 from this one, then I was completely lost and couldn't stop listening to it anymore)

Now, moving on to TV shows and movies...

TV SHOW | Land Girls 

I hadn't realised how much I had missed period dramas, until I finished Mr. Selfridge in July and needed to start a new one. On my mom's recommendation, I started Land Girls and flew through it (I was basically watching one season per day, they're quite short, but still). I don't watch a lot of period drama/read a lot of books set during World War II, but I figured out that it was okay for me when it was about what happened to people left behind during the war. Land Girls was so entertaining, full of drama and interesting characters (as the Land Girls didn't always stay from one season to another). I'm a bit sad they didn't renew it for a fourth season, because there are some loose-ends, and that they changed the actor for Henry, but still, it was great!

TV SHOW | The Bold Type

I had already dedicated an entire blog post to it earlier this month, but I adore The Bold Type so much and I devoured the second season of it in a few days in August. I won't dwell on it too much, as I already discussed it at length, but it is such a topical, diverse and needed TV show, which focuses on women and makes me feel so good about myself and my dreams. Kat, Jane and Sutton, I miss you so.

MOVIE | BlacKkKlansman (2018)

I watched quite a few movies this month, but the one that truly stood out was BlacKkKlansman, which isn't very surprising, considering how excited I was about it. If you haven't heard of it, this movie is based on a true story. In 1979, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is hired as the first black cop in his town; he pauses on the phone as a white man to join and infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan, one of his white colleagues, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), pretending to be him during meetings. I attended a premiere of it with my best friend, the room was packed and people even clapped at the end, which rarely ever happens in France*. It is such an important movie, so hard to watch at times because of all the racist remarks/acts, but it was amazingly done. I am so happy it won the Grand Prix during the Cannes Film Festival, it truly deserves it and I hope it'll get many awards during award season! If you can, please go watch it.

*it did happen at the premiere of Love, Simon, but it wasn't the same type of audience at all, that's why it surprised me so much after BlacKkKlansman!

L O O K I N G  A H E A D

I am excited about the month of September, I am terrified of the month of September. I'm about to start my last year at university, doing a master in cultural mediation, heritage and digital technologies, which I'm beyond excited about, as I won't be doing something by default anymore and I'm breathing again. It's going to be quite challenging though, because it's a new field to explore and I'll have to talk to new people, but it will be okay. I'm also really looking forward to living on my own again when I move back to Paris (it's been four months...), it'll take me time to adjust to everything, but it'll be so worth it in the end. Plus, classes only start at the end of the month, so I still have some time to get ready!

I also have some releases to look forward to, not as much as for the last months of the year, but still! In September will finally be released Vengeful by V.E. Schwab, The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton, Wildcard by Marie Lu and Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (I really dislike JKR now, though, so I'll get it from the library, because I need to know what happens after the evil cliffhanger of Career of Evil anyway). I don't think I'm looking forward to any movie releases in September, but Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is going to play in theaters in France again! Can you imagine how excited I am? For TV shows, The Good Place is also coming back for a third season and I am so ready.

How did August treat you? Any new favourite things?

Lots of love,

Lucie