YouTube Giveaway! Smart Pop Books

Hello lovelies!

I just wanted to give you a wee head's up about the giveaway I'm hosting over on my YouTube channel at the moment! I uploaded the video yesterday, but wanted to make sure I shared it with the readers of my blog too.

As a film and television addict, I discovered the Smart Pop books back when I was at uni. These are books of fun, chatty essays on a wide range of films, TV shows, comics and books, and I absolutely love them! I bought the books on Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls years ago, and since then have added books on Lost, 24, The Vampire Diaries and Harry Potter to my collection. Covering everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Hunger Games, to Star Wars and The Simpsons, and everything in between, these books are amazing.

So I got in touch with the folks at Smart Pop to tell them how much I loved their books, and I now have the opportunity to give some away!! I'm giving away a grand prize pack, including six of my favourite titles, and two extra prizes where the winners will receive a Smart Pop title of their choice! I'm so excited about this, and I'm so grateful to Smart Pop for giving me the opportunity to do this!

This is a YouTube giveaway, so head on over to the video linked below for details on entering, and good luck!! To see the full range of Smart Pop books, check out their website here!

Thanks for reading!!

Wishlist Wednesday - Books on my "To Read" List!

Every now and again I get the urge to put together a little wishlist - usually at a time when I'm trying to watch my money, of course!! So I thought I might make it into a little "every now and then" feature here on Allsorts and Anecdotes. This Wednesday I'm listing the books I have my eye on at the moment, which will hopefully find their way onto my kindle/bookshelf and Goodreads list at some point soon!

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are two big heroes of mine - I love strong, smart, funny women and they are two fantastic examples. So that's why I have absolutely no idea why I haven't managed to get my hands on Bossypants yet!! Having read Amy's book Yes Please (a review of which will be going up on here soon!), I'm even more determined to read Tina's book and revel in her wit!

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I'm desperate to get on the bandwagon with this one - I usually try to avoid getting sucked in immediately when people get over-excited about something, and that is usually a mistake! I didn't read Gone Girl until last October, and then devoured it as quickly as possible before I went to see the film. So on this occasion I don't want to be the last to read it. It's currently about £6 on kindle, so if the price comes down a tiny bit soon I'll probably invest in it! Also, Henry Ian Cusick a.k.a love-of-my-TV-life-Desmond-Hume-from-Lost, is in the film version*, so that's an added incentive to to go to see it when it comes out!

*Update - I saw a poster and assumed this was the case. Having now looked into it, it turns out it is, in fact, a totally different film, which came out in 2013 and just happens to have the same name. GUTTED!!!

What Are Universities For? by Stefan Collini

As some of you might know from Twitter/YouTube, I recently started up a new project called The Student Switchboard (more on that coming soon too!). I loved being a student, and the entire university experience, so when I saw this book in Waterstones last week I was instantly intrigued! It's a non-fiction look at the institution of the university, and the place it holds in modern society, and although I don't know much more about it than that, I'm looking forward to reading it at some point!

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

This is another one of those books I've seen talked about here and there on the blogosphere, and an author who people seem to really love. I haven't read any of her books, but this one does sound good! A woman finds a letter in her attic written by her husband, and the envelope reads "to be opened only in the event of my death". I'm guessing she ignores that little instruction, and their lives begin to unravel when she discovers whatever it is that he has been hiding. Even just writing this paragraph makes me want to download it instantly.

Attachment by Rainbow Rowell

I finally got around to reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell last month and I absolutely loved it (you can find my review and fanfiction discussion over on my channel here!). I really enjoyed her writing style, so when I picked up Attachment on that same trip to Waterstones, I fell in love with the idea of it instantly! This book is set in 1999 (back in the days before social media took over our lives!) and follows "a lonely IT guy" who reads the email exchanges of two women who work in the same office as him (which, in theory, makes him sound creepy, but I get the impression that's not where this is going!). He falls in love with one of the women, and then finds himself in an impossible position - how does he go about introducing himself to this woman? I like the "love before first sight" idea of this book, so it's quickly making its way to the top of my to read list!

There are plenty more, but this little selection is nearest the top of my current wishlist!!

What books are currently at the top of your "to read" pile?!

Thanks for reading!

I've Been Reading #1

Hello all! I've decided that in addition to my I've Been Watching posts, I'm going to start doing "I've Been Reading" and "I've Been Listening to" (doesn't have the same ring to it, sadly, but what you gonna do?!) posts too! So welcome to the first I've Been Reading version. I'm going to do blog editions of this series too, letting you know what blogs I've been reading lately, but we'll get started with a good old fashioned book post. Baby steps, so I don't get overexcited...

I've seen the Bridget Jones movies but, despite loving them, I had never gotten around to reading the books. Emma decided the rectify that this summer, and got me the first two books (the only two books as far as I'm concerned, at the moment!) for my birthday.

What can I say - I adored these books. They are smart and funny without being pretentious or OTT-silly. They're clever without trying to be clever, and you cannot help but fall in love with Bridget. These books are so easy to escape into, like a cosy little refuge from normality. You can get lost in them so quickly, but without really having to concentrate on a complicated story. It's just like reading a letter from a particularly nutty and entertaining friend. I sat reading them on the bus into uni and laughed till I cried at some points, particularly in the second book.

If you don't know much about them, the books are (as the title suggests) the diary of Bridget Jones, an unlucky in love thiry-something year old Londoner in the nineties, trying to sort her life out. She's looking for love, a career she might actually enjoy, and balancing her own life with the mad-cap family dramas of her ridiculous mother and put-upon father. Basically, Bridget is the poster girl for every single normal woman, and that's what is so comforting about these books. She is far from perfect, and somehow manages to put her foot in it in most social situations. She and her best friends Jude and Sharon are all panicking about growing old alone, and Bridget's tumultuous career isn't helping her to feel any more confident. They drink too much wine, eat too much food, debate the workings of the male mind and worry about their appearance - they cannot help but remind you of yourself, however old you are! The brilliant thing about the books though is that no matter what trials and tribulations she faces (and believe me, come the second book there are a few), Bridget's unfailing optimism and strong friendships get her through it. Even when she's wallowing in self-pity after romantic disasters or a bad week at work, she picks herself up, drinks a glass of wine (or four) with the girls and never allows these setbacks to change who she is. It's such a refreshing read.

There's romance, there's comedy and there are some genuinely sad moments, all tied up in two of the easiest to read books I've read in a long time. So if like me you've seen the films but haven't bothered to give the books a shot, please do - you won't be sorry!

That's all for now, but I finished Gayle Forman's "If I Stay" a couple of days ago and again cried on the bus, but this time there was nothing funny about it. Seriously. I want to write a post on it before I see the film (which comes out next week I think!) so look out for that soon!

Thanks for reading!

Waiting to be Read...

Over the past couple of weeks, I've accumulated a few new books! Emma got me How to Leave Twitter and The Poison That Fascinates for my birthday, and I picked up the other three in the three for £10 offer in Asda!

Despite adoring the film of The Devil Wears Prada, I've never read the book - perhaps I should do that before I read the sequel?!

I really really want to see The Bling Ring in the cinema (I think it comes out tomorrow?!) but I'm going to try and read the book first. Remember that time I tried that with The Great Gatsby? Yes. Remember that time I succeeded....

Moving swiftly on, Fallen is another YA sort of a book, probably along the Twilight lines. My issue is that while I couldn't get through the first chapter of book one of Twilight, I have read a couple of other YA supernatural themed series and really enjoyed them. This one sounds quite intriguing, so I will be sure to update you with my progress once I start reading it!

At the moment I'm still working my way through The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey - this book is intense!!! But I'm thoroughly enjoying it, so would definitely recommend it! Even if generally, like me, alien themed books are of no interest to you, this one is worth giving a shot!

What's on your current 'to read' list?

ps remember I'm vlogging every day for the whole month of July over on my youtube channel - come over and say hi! :)

My Current 'To Read' List...

Yesterday I popped into Waterstones for a little browse. I love book shops, there's something so relaxing about spending an hour just wandering around the shelves, picking up different books and uncovering new stories that you can't wait to delve into. I found a few this time that I absolutely cannot wait to read, and will probably download on my Kindle for going away to Australia - speaking of which, book recommendations are very welcome here!

For My Kindle...

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

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Any Lost fans in the building? Reading the back of this book instantly reminded me of the Season 6 storyline with Desmond (one of my favourite characters) and Eloise (one of my least favorite characters!)... I won't say any more in case that spoils Lost for anyone who hasn't watched it yet. The reviews I have read so far have all been great, and although I haven't read any of this author's previous books I have a feeling I'm going to really enjoy it:

1Q84 (Books 1&2) by Haruki Murakami

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Since I finished The Hunger Games I've been looking forward to reading another series of books, everything I've read since then has been stand alone. I've heard good things about this series, and about Murakami in general, but I hadn't ever actually read the back of the book - it's safe to say I'm already intrigued.

The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly

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I love Little Women, and although it's been a while since I reread it, I still remember the characters vividly. This book imagines the lives of the great granddaughters of Jo, and how the stories of the original March sisters inspire these modern day girls, and I haven't read a negative review yet. I find this kind of modernisation really interesting - my Advanced Higher English dissertation was a comparison of my favourite play of all time, 'The Crucible' by Arthur Miller and a modern twist on it - Jodi Picoult's 'Salem Falls'.

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

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I don't care what anyone says, I love Cecelia Ahern's books! They are like putting on a pair of cosy old slippers - comforting and so easy to get into. Her characters always really appeal to me (particularly Lucy in 'The Time of My Life' and Joyce in 'Thanks for the Memories'), and I really love the sound of this one:

''Journalist Kitty Logan’s career has been destroyed by scandal, and she now faces losing the woman who guided her and taught her everything she knew. At her mentor’s bedside, Kitty asks her – what is the one story she always wanted to write?

The answer lies in a file buried in Constance’s office: a list of one hundred names. There is no synopsis, no explanation, nothing else to explain what the story is or who these people are. The list is simply a mystery.

But before Kitty can talk to her friend, it is too late.

With everything to prove, Kitty is assigned the most important task of her life – to write the story her mentor never had the opportunity to. Kitty has to not only track down and meet the people on the list, but find out what connects them. And, in the process of hearing ordinary people’s stories, she uncovers Constance’s – and starts to understand her own…''(Description on Amazon)

In Proper Book Form...

I really do need to have these books on my bookshelf eventually. I still can't get over how beautiful the covers are!!

Penguin Deluxe Edition Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

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Penguin Deluxe Edition Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

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Penguin Deluxe Edition Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

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Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov by Robert Chandler

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I love Russian literature - Pushkin's Tales of Belkin, Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, Lermontov's A Hero of our Time and Gogol's The Nose were four of my favourite books/stories from my Comparative Literature course at uni, so I sort of fell in love with that era of writing (well, Bulgakov's a bit later, but his writing style is quite similar). So this book really appeals to me :) Not one for my Kindle, but one that I'd love to own a proper copy of.

I'd love to hear what's on your current 'to read' list! And be sure to give me your book recommendations in the comments for my upcoming travels :)

Lynsey xxx

Some 2012 Favourites...

Hi guys! There are lots of 2012 Favourites tags and posts doing the rounds just now, but as a spur of the moment thing, having glanced around my room (which is in desperate need of a clear out before I head to Australia!) I thought I'd make one of my own simply listing a few of my personal favourite things from last year! I'm a little late on the bandwagon with this one, I know!

Favourite Makeup Product: Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation - I absolutely LOVE this foundation, and considering it is under ten pounds (sometimes only £5 when Rimmel have their special offers on!) it's a total bargain! The only downside for me is that as it is a drug store foundation the colour range isn't quite wide enough, and the palest colour (Ivory) isn't quite pale enough for me! But a bit of Illamasqua white foundation (or Barry M White Cream Foundation for a High Street buy!) sorts it out perfectly!

Favourite Nail Polish: This is a tough one but I've gone for Golden Green from the Models Own Beetle Juice collection. It's such a lovely colour, which isn't bright enough to really clash with anything, and would be equally suitable for daytime/office wear, or for a night out.

Favourite Bath/Shower Product: For the second year running, this goes to the amazing Original Source Raspberry and Vanilla Milk Shower Gel. All I'll say on this one is I'm still amazed I haven't tried to drink it. It honestly smells like some sort of delicious milkshake!

Favourite Film: Again, a tough one, but I've gone for The Artist. Technically I think it actually came out in 2011, but I didn't get to see it till January, and I adored it. It's the first film in ages that I went to see and genuinely though I could go straight back in and watch it again the minute it finished!

Favourite TV Show: I'm going to cheat here and say two different ones, because they are totally different types of show and I've loved both equally. First is Being Erica, which aired it's final episode this year at the end of season 4 *sob*. This is definitely a contender for my all time favourite TV programme (which, coming from a TV Drama obsessed Film and TV Studies Graduate, is saying something!), and if you haven't seen it I highly recommend picking up the dvds when they are cheap on amazon. You won't regret it! The other is The Vampire Diaries, featuring the sexiest cast ever on TV, and gripping storyline after gripping storyline. Need I say more?!

Favourite Book: Like so many others, I got caught up in The Hunger Games fever this year, and I absolutely loved all three of the books. My favourite, however, has to be the first book, The Hunger Games itself (by Suzanne Collins). It is one of the most unbelievably enthralling books I've read in a long time, impossible to put down and definitely one that gets you thinking.

Favourite Album: My favourite album of 2012 goes to Electra Hart by Marina and the Diamonds, who (as I mentioned in my last post) I saw on tour in June! Her lyrics are amazing, the music incredibly catchy and I just love her style. I got Taylor Swift's Red for Christmas though, and it's fantastic, so a special mention must go to it too!

Favourite Gadget: While like most people I can't imagine life without my phone, I have really loved my Kindle this year, which I got for my birthday. I never thought I'd like reading something that isn't an actual book, but I have to say my wee Kindle totally won me over, and within a day or so of having it! It's so convenient and has definitely helped get me back into reading more, which I am so pleased about. It's going to be seriously handy when I go on my travels!

Well, I think I will leave it there! Hope you enjoyed this little favourites post, let me know what some of your favourite things from 2012 were! Have you used/watched/read and loved (or hated!) anything I mentioned in this post?!

Lynsey xxx

Books etc.

Hello hello lovelies! Yes, I have just used the name of a book shop as the title of this blog post because, in a nutshell, that is what this is going to be about!

I was a seriously avid reader as a child. My mum, dad and granny all used to read to me constantly, which led to me reading lots on my own, and I loved books! The later years of high school saw a slight drop in my 'reading for pleasure' what with all the work for my Highers, and then Uni came along and I got completely out of the habit of it. Sadly, I had enough to read for my film and tv course, and even more so for my comparative literature course in first and second year, so at the time of night when I used to read, I started watching youtube videos, and never really looked back!

Now, however, I want to get back into the way of reading, so thought I'd share with you the pile of books I have waiting next to my bed to be read over the coming weeks :) If you have read any of them let me know what you thought (I expect The Hunger Games will be one a lot of people have already read!)...

Top to Bottom - Cecelia Ahern - The Time of My Life, Harlan Coben - Caught, Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games, Steve Hamilton - The Lock Artist, Amanda Hocking - Switched, Craig Ferguson - American on Purpose

Also, I thought I'd tell you a couple of books I have thoroughly enjoyed over the past year or so, and ask for some tips on what to read next!:)

Firmin - Sam Savage

I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. It tells the story of a rat living in a book shop, who eats his way through the novels, literally digesting knowledge, and becoming wonderfully wise, and clued up on all aspects of life. It is lovely.

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The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

This is a much more intellectual kind of read. I read a lot of Russian literature from the late 1800s/early 1900s for my Comparative Lit course, and I really enjoyed it. This one I have only read once and will need to read again to properly understand and appreciate it, but even the first time round it totally captivated me. It explores religion and politics and human behaviour all in a really interesting way.

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Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult

I'm a fan of Jodi Picoult's, I always find myself fascinated by her characters, and she tackles some really serious topics in a totally unpretentious way, which I love. This one, I read on holiday last year, and thought it was brilliant. It hasn't overtaken 19 Minutes as my favourite book of hers, but it's a close second. It explores how religious experience affects the non-religious when a single mum's young daughter starts talking to angels. I thought, even just in terms of exploring what it means to be a parent, this was a really good read.

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Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me - Mindy Kaling

Have you watched the American version of The Office? If so, then you'll recognise the genius that is Mindy Kaling as not only an executive producer, and writer, on the hit show, but also one of it's stars - she plays Kelly Kapoor. Anyway, this is a sort of autobiographical book, compiled of snippets of her life, her work, and her thoughts, and it is absolutely hilarious. She really reminds me of my best friend and me in terms of the things she discusses in this book, and her sarcastic tone, so it got a huge thumbs up from me.

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I'm halfway through Craig Ferguson's autobiography (American on Purpose) at the moment and I'm loving it! He grew up not far from where I live, so it's a really interesting read.

If you guys have any good recommendations (I'm hearing a lot of good things about Game of Thrones?) then let me know in the comments! What you been reading recently? :)

Hope you're all well, and look out for my next favourite youtube channels post, it'll be up later in the week :)

Lynsey xxx