May Wrap Up

I haven’t posted in a while and that is mainly as I have been really busy doing real life stuff. I’ve also set this to post come out on the 31st as I’m away in Sydney. I will write up a post about it when I get back. So far this month I have read 5 books. I’m really happy with that and I’m currently reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson and really enjoying it.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

I was reading this last month and just finished it at the beginning on the month. I found this a little slow to get going unlike Vicious. However, it was a really enjoyable read and a great standalone book. I was left feeling happy with the ending but I am looking forward to the next book in the series and ended up giving A Darker Shade of Magic 4/5.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I read this book very quickly as it was super enjoyable. I really loved the story and thought it was really well written. For me it was one of those books which you want to make everyone you know read because it was so amazing.  This was a 5/5 book for me and I highly recommend it to people who like historical fiction.

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

This was another amazing book that I really enjoyed reading. It was super exciting and I hardly put it down the whole time. The characters are really well thought out and developed a lot over the course of the book. The plot was super complex and finished well but left enough unfinished plots to make me want to read the next book the series. This was a solid 5/5 for me and highly recommend it.

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting by Holly Bourne

I saw this at the library and could not resist as it had a pretty red coloured trim on the pages. It was a interesting book that accurately represented what it is like to be a youth today. I just found this book a little hard to connect with as the main character Bree was a very uncaring person initially. However, I did enjoy it and found it a thought provoking book and gave it 3/5.

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

I thought this was a well written standalone fantasy book and I really enjoyed the different point of view on faeries.  I just found while reading it that I didn’t connect with the characters very much. I found it interesting and it got exciting by the end but I didn’t really care what happened to the people. I ended up decided to give the book 3/5.

These are all the book I have read this month. I’m not really sure what I am reading next month. I will update you guys on that once I have had some time to think about it.

Bout of Books – Wrap up

This is just a short post letting you all know how I did for the rest of Bout of Books.
I ended up finishing The Final Empire and starting The Well of Ascension. I read about 150 pages of this.
Over the last four days of the read-a-thon I read about 750 pages. This for me was a huge amount of reading as I normally don’t read 200 pages a day. I was super happy with how I finished up this read-a-thon and not to bothered that I missed some of the read-a-thon from my cold.

One part of the read-a-thon I’m a bit sad about is the challenges and update posts. I really didn’t do many of these as I joined in late due to my cold and couldn’t quiet get settled into a posting routine. I think next time I might try and set some goals relating to my blog posts and the challenges because I feel like I missed out on the community of the read-a-thon. I’m looking forward to the next bout of books which is in August.

Bout of Books – Update Day 4

So you might have been wondering where my Bout of Books posts have been.
I didn’t give up on blogging again but I have had a really bad cold. I haven’t been able to read at all this week.
It has been a bit frustrating but was something that I couldn’t do anything about.
Yesterday was the first day all week where I felt I could read so I started reading The Final Empire as I had planned. I got heaps of reading done too! I’m still resting a lot trying to get over this cold so don’t have much else to do. I read about 140 pages I think and have really started getting into the story. I’m really happy with my progress so far and hope to at least finish that this week. *fingers crossed*

Now the challenge for Day 4 is really cool its called modern to classic and we have to pick a book that we think would  be a classic in the future. It’s hosted by Bec who is a fellow Australian blogger.

One book that instantly came to my mind was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Reason  1: It has a lot of history about our current time as it covers a lot of the technology we had in the 80s and also the things we did for fun as it has a lot of pop culture references. I think people are always interested to know what the past was like and this book gives a good incite into the important things of this time.

Reason 2: Ready Player one is set in the future which gives the reader an idea of what we thought the future might be like. Where we thought our technology would go and the current events and issues that concerned us ie global warming. I think it would be interesting for the reader to compare this idea with what really happened. We all did it with Back to the Future right?

So for those reason I think it would make a really good classic. I also think it is a really enjoyable story and due to its uniqueness most people enjoy it.

Hope everyone is having an awesome time reading during this read-a-thon.

TBR for May

This is just a short post letting you know what I plan on reading this month. I really don’t know if I will get more of this done as it is also the bout of books read-a-thon this month. We will just have to see how my reading goes this month.

The first book I’m going to read after finishing A Darker Shade of Magic is Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I want to read this before my soon to be Mother-in-Law leaves again so I can recommend it to her if I think she will like it. So I really need to finish that this coming week which I should be able to do.

The Mainafesto on How to be Interesting by Holly Bourne is a library book I borrowed a while ago so I need to read this next so I can return the book. I love this book as it has red trimmed pages and just looks so cool. After I finish this book I’m really going to try read all the books I own but haven’t read before borrowing too many library books.

I also want to minimise all my half finished series so I want to read This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner this month. I know the series isn’t finished but this is the only one out that I haven’t read so I want to read it. I’m hoping to read this before the read-a-thon starts on the 17th of May.

If all goes to plan I will only have the Misborn series by Brandon Sanderson left to read during the read-a-thon and for the rest of May. Michael is currently reading it and really wants me to read it also so that we can talk about it. I’m hoping to just read this continuously up to the end of book three. I don’t think I will finish it all this month but we will see how I go.

So this is my reading plan for this month. I think it might be a bit ambitious but hopefully I get it all done. *fingers crossed*

Engagement Present Baking

So Michael and I had an engagement party and spent ages trying to work out an appropriate present. In the end we picked something similar to one of our presents.   For our present we received a three layered glass jar filled with lollies. I decided that it would be nicer to have some home baked goodies in the jars as well.

This is the jar before I filled it with goodies.

I also had to make some food for Michael’s last day at his legal placement so decided to make some quick and easy brownies.

One cooked brownie and the other just before cooking

Recipe:

• 250g of melted butter
• 1 1/3 cups of plain flour
• 2 1/4 cups of sugar
• 3/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

Combine all ingedients in a bowl and mix until smooth. Poor into a 20 cm square cake tin and bake for 50 minutes at 170 C. Allow to cool before cutting.

I made two brownies so Michael had enough and there was also some for the present. It doesn’t take long at all and is super easy and tastes yummy.

Next up I decided to make something else super easy which was caramel slice.

The recipe I used was from taste but slightly modified. Taste is where I love to go to get any recipes I don’t have.

Recipe:

Bottom Layer:

• 125 g of butter
• 80 g of caster sugar
• 190 g of plain flour

Cream the butter and sugar, then add in the flour and combine. Knead until it forms a smooth ball. Spread into a 20 cm cake tin and bake at 160 C for 15 minutes. Remove and cool for 15 minutes.

Middle Layer:

• 395 g of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tablespoons of golden syrup
• 40 g of butter

Heat on medium until the mixture thickens and is a caramel colour. This usually takes about 10 – 15 minutes and needs to be constantly stirred. Pour onto the base layer and bake at 160 C for 12 minutes. Leave to cool for 3 to 4 hours.

Top Layer:

• 150 g of dark chocolate
• 20 g of butter

Combine in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minute at a time. Stir the mixture between every minute and continue heating until smooth. Pour over the middle layer and leave to cool in the fridge.

Cut up and serve once all the layers have set.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get some pictures of this which was sad as it looked really nice.

Finally, David got some chocolate from Haigh’s Chocolates.

Now that I had all the pieces I put everything in the jar and wrapped it up. It looked really cool and I hope they liked all the food inside.

The jar filled with all the goodies

Wrap up for April

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

This book was really interesting and I really enjoyed reading about the idea of curing Cameron. However, I really didn’t enjoy Cameron’s personality and found her a little bit irritating. I also really felt like the book didn’t really end there. It either needed to be a little bit longer and wrap up a bit more or a little bit shorter and more concise. In the end I gave this book 3/5.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

This is a companion novel to the Lunar Chronicles which I recently started reading. This was told from the point of view of the villain in this series, Levana. It was really interesting reading Levana’s back story and learning about how she became so evil. This was a really short quick read and I gave it 4/5.

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were great and so sassy. I enjoyed the three main characters and how they interacted with each other. There were unexpected twists which I did not see coming and the ending finished it of nicely. I really enjoyed this book and will be checking out more of Kiersten White’s books. I gave it 5/5.

All the Light We Cannot See By Anthony Doerr

All the Light we Cannot See is the Goodreads choice winner for Historical Fiction. I started reading this a while ago but didn’t have time to finish before I had to return it to the library. I put another hold on it and have waited ages for it to become available again. I just finished reading it and really enjoyed it. I found that I like how followed two people from both sides of the war. I also really liked how it connected with The Book Thief as it followed a boy who went to one of the Nazi Schools that Rudy didn’t go to in The Book Thief. The only slight downside was I did find it was a bit hard to get into at the start which is why I ran out of time before it had to be returned to the library. However, I still gave the book 5/5.

The Collectors by Philip Pullman

This is a short story set in the same world as His Dark Materials. His Dark Materials is my favourite series as it was really the books that made me love reading. So it goes without saying that I loved this and it was really creepy. I personally cannot wait for The Book of Dust to come out even though it is ages away. I also gave the collectors 5/5.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I read this book as part of Dewey’s 24 hour read-a-thon. It was a really easy and quick read with an easy to follow story line. I really enjoyed the book but found it a little frustrating because the main character seemed to spend more time talking herself up to be awesome instead of being a good fighter. It seemed to be a bit of a tell you how it is not show you book which I didn’t really like. In the end I gave it 4/5 for that reason. I will continue with the series shortly. I have some other books I want to read first though.

So these are all the books I ended up reading this month. I’m currently reading A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. I will probably finish this in the next day or so. I will post my TBR in the next few days. I also have some other posts that aren’t book related to post as well.

Bout-of-Books 13 sign up post

I decided that I will have time again to participate in this week long read-a-thon. I really enjoyed it last year and got heaps of reading done. I’m hoping to do that again this year. I’ll be posting closer to the date with my official reading list.

Here is some info about the read-a-thon:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

If you have ever wanted to try one this is the best one as it is super low key and you set yourself personal reading goals. It is a great read-a-thon to start with and probably my personal favorite.

Dewey’s Read-a-thon Wrap up

For me the read-a-thon started at 9:30 pm on Saturday. Unfortunately, this was also when Michael’s Mum and Brother arrived back for Tasmania so we had to pick them up from the airport. This of course meant that I didn’t get much reading done before I went to bed. I only read about 10% of Throne of Glass.

I was also reasonably busy on Sunday as I had general chores to do as well as a party to go to. It was a going away party for one of my close friends so really unavoidable. I did as much reading as possible though and ended up getting as far as 50% read. I think I might finish the book today if I have time.

I have really enjoyed reading the book though and it was a very good book for a read-a-thon. I don’t know if I will take part in a 24 hour read-a-thon again as I found it difficult to get the reading done but it could just be poor timing. I might do it more casually next time as it did get me reading more than I normally would and it was enjoyable. I will certainly be taking part in the week long read-a-thons again as I really enjoyed the other one of them I did.

Dewey’s Read-a-Thon

I’ve decided to participate in Dewey’s 24 hour read-a-thon this year. I have not taken part before as I normally don’t have very much time but this year I do. I’m very excited to take part and have been spending ages planning my books.
I think I will be able to get a maximum of two books read in this time.

I’m thinking I might read

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I also have the sequels of these two so if I like them a lot I might just read that instead. I also have a lot of other books to read so might read something completely different.

I will do a wrap up of what I read after the read-a-thon and will try to do updates on instagram and on my blog as well.

Easter Long Weekend Holiday

For the Easter long weekend Michael and I headed to Goolwa as his parents have a Farr 7.50 there which we can use. This is the second year we have done this and it is always lovely and relaxing. After heading out at about 11 on Friday we stopped at Currency Creek for a walk. The last time we were at Currency Creek was the day Michael and I got engaged and it was not as enjoyable as we didn’t have proper walking shoes.

 This is the train line which runs over Currency Creek. You walk right under the bridge on this walk. Last time we were here a train went by which was really cool to see. It was also scary though as one of the works on the train was just hanging off the edge of the train. I really couldn’t have done that without freaking out.

After walking along the path further the reeds clear up and you can see the creek. It was a lovely day and it was nice walking along the path listening to the water running down the creek.

There is also this cave here but both times we didn’t have a torch with us to light it up. It looks interesting and I have no idea how far the cave goes.

There was also this really cool burnt tree. It is almost completely burnt out down the bottom but the tree is still alive and growing up the top. The gum trees in Australia have adapted to survive after fires and it is really amazing that they can do this.

After walking along the trail for 20 minutes  it opened up to this view of a waterfall. You can walk all the way down and sit right on top of the waterfall it’s lovely. It would be so nice to spend the day there with a good book.

After the waterfall the creek becomes smaller but is still very pretty. You can walk for ages it seem but we decided to head back as we wanted to eat our lunch.

We arrived at Goolwa a little after 1pm and started to unpack the car. It was a lovely day and this is the view from Dyarchy in the marina. There wasn’t much wind and Michael had some Uni work to do so we set up for staying overnight in the marina.

After we had finsihed setting up and Michael had done some Uni work we headed to the beach for another walk. It was a bit cold but it was a lovely day otherwise. The beach was reasonably busy for Goolwa with lots of cars and people about.

We took a selfie of us at the beach. It was a lovely walk and the beach holds lovely memories for us as this is where we got engaged.

Saturday morning we had some motor troubles and waited for Michael’s parents to help us. It seemed to be fixed after talking to Clive and we decided to go somewhere. It was another lovely day and there was a nice amount of wind so we could sail. I’ve been trying to improve my confidence with steering and ended up doing it a lot of the time.

Here is another picture of us sailing up the river.

In the end we were still having motor troubles and we weren’t sure if it was going to start in the morning so we anchored in Duck Hospital just of Goose Island (near Clayton). Here is the sunset from where we were. It was lovely and so peaceful.

Here is a picture of Goose Island. After the wind stopped it was blissfully quiet and if you weren’t talking you couldn’t hear anything. That is the best part of sailing on the lake although spending a night on Earrame on the sea is also nice listening to the ocean all night.

The next morning we woke up and slowly got ready to leave. There was no wind so we weren’t in a rush to leave as we didn’t have far to go.  We were still having motor troubles but managed to get out and sail home. It was fun trying to get back into the marina with no motor or lots of motor but we got back in safely without any damage to us or the boat.

We decided to head back on the Sunday as Monday was meant to be very windy and also wet. At about 1 in the morning the rain and wind started and did not let up all morning. We decided to leave pretty early as we were stuck on the cramped boat and couldn’t go for walks. We got home about midday and unpacked and enjoyed a relaxing evening at home.

That was the end of our weekend away. I’m going to try post more of these as we want to document our lives a bit more. I also want to post short book reviews and other book related posts. We will see what happens.