July TBR

 You may or may not know this, but I'm supposed to be on a book ban until I've whittled my TBR list down to only a few books left to read. I can already see a few on my shelf that I just know I'm not that interested in. I was at the time, but they've been sat there for that long, I just can't see me reading them. So without further ado, here is my July TBR!

• Sky on Fire
• City of Bones
• Far From You
• The Sky Is Everywhere
• Shadow and Bone
• If I Stay
• Divergent

I'm really hoping that I will be able to read all of these. Even though I'm on holiday for a week (where I probably won't be reading too much), I'm hoping that I'll be able to fit 2 books in a week this month though, as I've now finished studying and I won't have to start again until the end of July!

Have you read any on my TBR list, or are any of them on yours? What's on your TBR list for July? What books are you excited to read?

June Recap

Via Smashing Magazine

This month has been pretty busy for me. I've had 3 exams for the AAT course I'm currently studying, all which I passed, so I'm very happy. I've also switched to a new job, celebrated my boyfriends birthday, celebrated our 2 year anniversary and have been getting ready for my holiday to Zante next month! In the midst of that, I also had the aim to try to read more books than I read last month. In all fairness, June has been a good month but I'm so excited for July as not only am I going on holiday, but it's also..my birthday which I'm on holiday for! I can't wait! So let's take a look back at June..

So in case you haven't seen my tweets, I've literally become addicted to the TV show Once Upon A Time (this has also contributed to reading less than I aimed for this month) but oh my gosh, IT IS SO GOOD. Also this month, I got a new bookshelf. It's smaller than my old one (boo!) but it looks so cute with all my books on it and I love it!

I also started a new mini series this month called How I Organise.. which I'm really happy about. It should run over the next 10 weeks (well, 8 now as I've already posted two posts of the 10!).

Books I've read this June:
We Were Liars
Since You've Been Gone
Lola and the Boy Next Door
To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Um…oops. June hasn't really been a great reading month for me.. But like I said above, I have been studying for exams and I started a new job, so for most of June I have been studying! I think that's a fair reason for why I haven't read as much. I'm really aiming for July to be a good reading month though. I'm currently reading Under the Never Sky, but I'm getting through it soooo slowly.

Blog Stuff:
This month, I spent a little time updating my blog. I've changed the background, updated the side bar, created a banner, and organised my tabs a little better. I finally feel like everything is coming together a little and my blog is really starting to get somewhere. I also hit 1000 views this month which, for me, is a huge achievement. Sometimes I feel a little disheartened as I don't get that many comments, but seeing the views really makes me happy as I feel that I'm not being completely ignored! You know, I really do blog for myself more than anything, but probably like most people, seeing a comment on a post is so exciting for me!

July:
Now that my exams and college work is out the way for a little bit, I'm aiming to try and read 2 books a week. As my new job states I have an hour for lunch, I'm hoping I can fill it up with lots of reading, plus there are quite a few books I'm excited to read so it should be a good month - stay tuned for my July TBR list tomorrow! 

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme featured over at The Broke and the Bookish.

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday is Top Ten Classics I Want to Read.

I have to admit, I haven't really read any classics other than the ones they make you read in school.  However, there are a few 'classics' that I would like to read. Defining classic books can be quite hard though, because everyone will have a different idea of what a 'classic' book is. For me, I think of the old books written by Charles Dickens and the Bronte sisters, but I know there are people that will count Harry Potter as a classic. 

You know, I'm not the biggest fan of classics (I know, I know) because honestly, and this will sound so silly, but the language is so old and proper and it's because of this that I get bored easily. That's not even to mention that publishers decide to publish classic books with the tiniest writing I have ever seen, which I think is so it looks 'authentic', but it's like you need a magnifying glass to read it. And I've gone off topic..

So without further ado, here are some classics that I would like to read some day..

1. The Great Gatsby
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. To Kill A Mockingbird
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. Little Women
6. The Catcher in the Rye
7. Nineteen Eighty-Four
8. Wuthering Heights
9. A Christmas Carol
10. Lolita

What's your favourite Classic book? Have you read any on my list? What Classics do you want to read?

The View: To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Title: To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Author: Jenny Han
Pages: 355

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Source: Bought

Rating: Amazing

Good Reads // Amazon

Summary (from Good Reads): 
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

First of all, sorry for going off the radar! I had an exam Tuesday and started a new job (which I'm a bit unsure of) so have been quite busy this week!

To All The Boys I've Loved Before is the first Jenny Han book that I have actually ever read, and I was not disappointed at all!

To All the Boys was an exciting book to read. First of all, I was itching to know who had sent the letters out in the first place. I obviously had my suspicions, but this wasn't confirmed till the last couple of pages! I liked this as it meant that the question wasn't answered half way through, plus it made for a good ending. Second of all, I loved seeing Lara Jean's relationships grow with others. I also liked seeing Lara Jean come into her own, without her older sister there to guide her.

You know, there were times when I wanted to slap Lara Jean, and just said in my head 'what are you playing at?', which is good as it meant that I was totally engaged with the story. Honestly, as a main character, Lara Jean was likeable enough and I enjoyed reading from her perspective, but she just seemed so naive and innocent.

I have to say, my two favourite characters were Kitty and Peter. Kitty was a very likeable character, as was Peter. I loved Kitty's want for a dog, and the way she got on with both of the main guy characters in the books. I thought that Kitty was a great character in the book, and I was happy to see that there were plenty of scenes that she was mentioned in. The same goes for Peter. He seemed like such an easy going character, but I loved how the relationship between himself and Lara Jean developed. He just seems like such a sweetheart!

In contrast to the characters I liked mentioned above, one character that annoyed my ever so slightly, was the other main guy character, Josh. Again, he was likeable enough, but there was a time in the book where I just thought 'UGH'! If you've read the book, you probably know what I mean..or I hope so!

One thing I really liked the Jenny Han incorporated was the feature of culture. I loved how, although Lara Jean's mother was gone, her Dad made sure to feature the Korean side of Lara Jean and her sisters. I thought this was a great addition to the story as it wasn't just a book about Lara Jean and her love letters that were sent out, it was also a book that featured heritage. You know what, kudos to Jenny Han for this, because I really liked this little feature. It wasn't overwhelming, but it was just nice to see this little inclusion of culture.

I've heard a few things about how Jenny Han is creating a sequel to this book. I can't even describe my feelings other than saying that I'm so looking forward to reading that one when it comes out - I can't wait to hear more about Lara Jean and what's going on in her life..just hopefully there aren't any more love letters she's written!


Have you read To All The Boys? If so, what did you think? If not, are you hoping to read it soon? Is it sat on your TBR list, or are you currently reading it now? Let me know what you thought of To All The Boys!

How I Organise…My Reviews

How I Organise.. is the weekly feature friday on the blog. It runs over 10 weeks, with this being the second week. 

As a book blogger, one of the main things I do is write reviews and talk about books. So how do I organise myself and know which books I read that I need to write a review for? At the moment, it's not that hard, but my little system, again, involves a good, old spreadsheet!

As you can see above, it is a very small system at the moment. I have the month read, the book title and author, and then my rating (which I think is going to be my new rating system!). I also put next to my rating 'Yes' or 'No', depending on if I've reviewed it or not - this isn't pictured, as you can see. This is actually quite helpful for the Monthly Recap posts as you can clearly see what you've read. It can also be helpful when doing the Yearly Recap!

As you can see, there are colours in the picture above. It sounds bad, but I can't remember why it's blue (I've gone onto the spreadsheet now and updated the blue cells to purple). The purple is for normal, physical books and the mint is for eBooks. I should also mention, if I receive any ARC's, I'll put a *ARC in the cell next to whether it's been rated or not. This could probably be placed better, such as between the Author and the Rating columns, but as it's a very rare occurrence for me to receive ARC's, I'm not too bothered about it at the moment! 

As I have exams at the moment and I'm switching to a new job, it's easy for me to know which books I've read and need to review and which I haven't, as I haven't been reading much, but after my exams I'm hoping to read 2-3 books a week, which means I'll be updating and using this system a whole lot more often. 

I hope this has been helpful, and that it's given some you some ideas as to how you can organise the books that you need to review. I know a lot of people like to use lists, but I like using Excel, plus it means I'm being just a little bit more eco friendly!

How do you organise your review lists? Was this helpful? Let me know!

The View: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Pages: 338

Publisher: Usbourne

Source: Bought

Rating: Amazing

Good Reads // Amazon

Summary (from Good Reads): 
Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

It's been no secret that I absolutely loved Anna and the French Kiss, so it was kind of a given that I had to read Lola and the Boy Next Door. I have to admit, I wasn't as into it as Anna, but that doesn't mean to say that I didn't still enjoy it.

Stephanie Perkins has such a great writing ability, and she really knows how teenagers speak, and think, which is great. I feel that this really enables me to connect to the characters and story as a whole, which I love being able to do with books as then I feel truly invested in the book. Perkins writing is also special to me as I feel like I'm reading the story of a real life person, instead of a fictional character. Perkins just makes everything sound so real.

The story itself was pretty good. The first few chapters, I was itching to know why Lola had such a strong disliking for the Bell twins, but that was revealed pretty quickly, which is good as it really helped the story progress into better things! I liked the feature of Lola having two dads, as I think this really added to the story, especially since having two dads or two mums is not uncommon! I also liked following Lola's story and her relationships with people such as her boyfriend, Cricket, her best friend, her mother and her dads. 

Now let's talk about Cricket..what can I say? Another great boy that Perkins has made us all swoon over! Stephanie Perkins has a seriously good ability to create and build on characters. I just don't know how she does it, but Cricket was honestly so sweet and a quirky character that it was fun to meet. I enjoyed the scenes that Cricket was in, and I feel that he really added something to the book. Plus I loved the connection between him and Lola - their difficult friendship was interesting to see, as at times, it seemed to be a bit come and go!

There were parts of the book that made me cringe a little, but then there were other parts that were so nice that I loved. I liked all the characters within the book, apart from Max. He was just such a douche bag, even from the very start, and I just wanted to slap him in the face. I also wanted to slap Lola a few times, because she just seemed so whiny at small points in the book.

Oh, and can we also mention the inclusion of Anna and St. Clair?! Oh my gosh, how perfect? I was so happy to see that Perkins had connected the two books together the way she did! Great job, Stephanie!

As I said at the start, I didn't like this book as much as Anna. With Anna and the French Kiss, I was constantly trying to sneak in time to read it, and although I did still do this with Lola, I don't feel like I was as attached to it in comparison to how much I was with Anna.

Lola and the Boy Next Door was an enjoyable read for me, and I enjoyed being able to experience Stephanie Perkins writing once again. I couldn't wait for Isla and the Happily Ever After before I read this, but now I'm looking forward to it even more!

How I Organise…My Books

What better way to start off the How I Organise.. series with telling you how I organise my books?! I never really had a set way of organising my books because I don't really have that many on my shelves (surprisingly shocking collection, actually, for someone who blogs about books), but since starting this blog, I've decided to become a bit more organised. 

So to organise my books, I actually use Excel. You'd think I'd want to get away from it since I use it so often in the day due to my job, but it's actually a really good way of keeping up with which books you own. 

In the picture above (sorry if it's too small!), you can see how I organise my books. I organise my books via the last name of an author, as I find that this so much easier for me. 

I then put the title of the book, whether it's part of a series and whether I've read it or not. Across from that, I put my rating, the classification, so whether it's YA, Adult, Children's, etc. and the genre. I also then put what format the book is in and whether it's signed. Then lastly, how the book came into my hands and who the publisher is. 

This is a great way of organising my books as I can see the books I own, and which books I still need to read. It's also important to me that I have this as, although I know which books are on my shelf, it means that just in case I do forget, I can see which books I already own. This means that I won't buy any duplicates! I find that it's also quite helpful for writing reviews, as I've got all the information, such as the publisher and source!

So now you've seen how I manage my books. Next week, I'll be showing you how I organise reviews!

If you've got any questions, please let me know! So how do you organise your books? Do you do the same, or do you do it differently?