Month: August 2016

August in Review (or, what I read, wrote, photographed, and loved this month)

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August Review

Hello lovely readers! Today I’m starting a new segment on my blog (I feel like I’m saying that a lot lately!) where at the end of each month I’ll reflect a bit over everything I’ve read, written, and photographed over the past month. I think this will be more interesting than traditional monthly wrap ups, and I hope that you enjoy it as well. 🙂

The Books I Read in August

All in all, I think I had quite a good reading month in August. I completed a total of of six books, got halfway through one novel and then decided to put it down, and am currently reading three books.My favorite book in August would probably have to be a tie between Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which was a reread for me, and It Ends with Us, which I am planning on writing a review of soon. If I’ve written a review of any of the other books mentioned below, that review will be linked.

  1. The North Water by Ian McGuire 
  2. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
  3. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, and J.K. Rowling
  4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
  5. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover (review to come!)
  6. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (review to come!
  7. Hystopia by David Means (DNF)
  8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (currently reading)
  9. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (currently reading)
  10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (currently reading)

Continue reading “August in Review (or, what I read, wrote, photographed, and loved this month)” →

Pride and Prejudice Reread: Introduction and Chapter One

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Intro and Chap 1

Hello, hello, hello! This is, in my opinion, a very exciting blog post for two reasons: 1) It’s the first post in my Pride and Prejudice reread series and 2) it’s the first proper post on my blog about Pride and Prejudice.

Now, a bit of background – I first read Pride and Prejudice back when I was around twelve years old. It was my first real classic read and I completely fell in love with the story and the characters. Since that time, I have devoured as much Jane Austen as I possibly can, whether it be in the form of books, TV series, movies, or what have you. Unfortunately, none of my love for Austen is documented anywhere on my blog. Part of this is because I first read the Austen novels when I was quite young, back in my pre-blogging days, and part of this is because I took quite a long blog hiatus and have really only been back posting regularly for a couple of months now. Either way, I decided it was about time Miss Austen made an appearance on my blog, and what better way than a reread of my very favorite, my beloved, Pride and Prejudice.

I’ve decided that I have far too much to say about this wonderful book for just one blog post, so I’m going to be writing a series of my posts throughout my P&P reread. This first post, for example, consists of a brief background history of the novel and my thoughts on Chapter One. Other posts may include my thoughts on a couple of chapters or perhaps an in-depth look at one of the characters. I’m not going into this reread with any definite and structured plans, because I know that if I make definite and structured plans I won’t stick to them anyhow, so why bother going to all that effort? Anyhow, I’ll stop rambling and we’ll get onto the book now, shall we? Continue reading “Pride and Prejudice Reread: Introduction and Chapter One” →

Sunday Morning Book Chats Part 8 – Ankita from @thoughts_of_an_insomniac

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Hello! Today is Part 8 of my Sunday Morning Book Chats series, where each week I chat with a different bookstagrammer about their accounts, what they’re reading, and what they’re like outside of the online bookish community. There have been seven other interviews so far in this series, so if you’re interested in checking any of those out you can click the “Sunday Morning Book Chats” tab at the top of the page.

This week I’d like to welcome one of my dearest bookstagram friends to my blog, the ever-lovely Ankita from @thoughts_of_an_insomniac. Ankita is honestly one of the kindest, most beautiful souls I have met through bookstagram, and if you’re not following her you’re completely missing out. 🙂

thoughts_of_an_insomniac

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The Classics Book Tag!

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Classics Book Tag (1)

Hello lovely readers! Today I’m here with a type of blog post that’s a bit new for me – a book tag. I know that book tags are extremely popular and extremely common in the book blogging world, but I personally have never done one here on Reflections of a Reader. There’s a first time for everything, however, and when the lovely Lauren from Where There’s Ink There’s Paper tagged me to do the Classics Book Tag I simply knew I had to do it. You can find the link to Lauren’s post here, and you can find the link to the original post here if you’re interested. 🙂 Continue reading “The Classics Book Tag!” →

14 of the Funniest Quotes from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Bonus -Way Too Many Harry Potter GIFs)

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After finishing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (which you can read my review of here, if you’re interested), I was overwhelmed with the desire to reread the original seven books in the Harry Potter series. I haven’t read the first few books in the series since I was quite young and, while I’ve always loved all of the Harry Potter books, I think I forgot just how funny they are. That’s why today I thought I’d share with you fourteen of my favorite quotes from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I found these hilarious, and I hope you get a good laugh out of them as well. 🙂 Continue reading “14 of the Funniest Quotes from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Bonus -Way Too Many Harry Potter GIFs)” →

Sunday Morning Book Chats Part 7 – Freesia from @bookishreview

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Quick Note: I have updated the schedule for this series all the way through October 9th. If you are interested, you can find the full schedule under the “Sunday Morning Book Chats” tab at the top of my blog.

Hello everybody! This week is the seventh installment of my Sunday Morning Book Chats series, where every Sunday I chat with a different bookstagrammer about life and literature. This week’s guest is Freesia from @bookishreview, who is one of the first bookstagram accounts I discovered when I made my own account. She’s an absolutely lovely person, and her taste in books is wonderful. Without further ado, let’s get to the questions!

@bookishreview

Continue reading “Sunday Morning Book Chats Part 7 – Freesia from @bookishreview” →

Wizarding Whimsy: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

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harry potter and the cursed childTitle: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Parts One and Two)

Authors: J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books

Pages: 327

Summary (from inside flap): It was always difficult being Harry Potter, and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and a father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: Sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places. Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play by Jack Thorne. It is the eighth Harry Potter story and the first to be officially presented on stage. This special rehearsal edition of the script brings the continued journey of Harry Potter and his friends and family to readers everywhere immediately following the play’s world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.

“Those that we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannot touch. Paint…and memory…and love.”

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which was released at the end of July, was quite possibly the most anticipated book in all of 2016. People were thrilled that we were finally getting another installment in the lives of everyone’s favorite witches and wizards, yet their excitement was tinged with disappointment as they learned that a) it would be a play, not a novel, and that b) it wasn’t actually written by J.K. Rowling.

Despite all this, however, Potterheads across the world pulled out their robes and wands once more and lined up all night at midnight release parties. A whopping four million copies were sold the first week alone in the US, UK, and Canada. Hopes were high, and, unfortunately, many people were left disappointed. I, however, was not one of those people, and I thought Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was completely and utterly brilliant. Continue reading “Wizarding Whimsy: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” →

Bookshelf Tour, Part One – Featuring Austen, Dickens, Woolf, and More

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Hello lovely readers! As I’ve spent this morning reorganizing my bookshelves rather than writing blog posts, like I was supposed to do, I thought now would be the perfect time to give you a quick tour of my shelves. 🙂

To give you a bit of overview, I have two bookshelves in my bedroom – a large, pretty white one from Ikea, which is my main bookshelf and the one that gets featured on my Instagram account quite frequently, and a smaller, brown bookshelf that is extremely messy and serves as a place to put all the books that don’t fit on my main shelves. My second bookcase is extremely disorganized, so I’m not going to show you that one, but I am rather proud of my white shelves so that is what you’ll see on this tour today.

My main bookshelf has six shelves, and as I don’t want this post to be massively long I will be breaking my bookshelf tour up into a six part series, one part for each shelf. By breaking it up this way, I can give you an overview of the shelf and talk a bit about all the different books on that shelf without feeling like I’m bombarding you all with information. Without further ado, let’s get to the books!

shelf one

Continue reading “Bookshelf Tour, Part One – Featuring Austen, Dickens, Woolf, and More” →

Sunday Morning Book Chats Part 6 – Minh from @cassandrale179

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Hello, and welcome to Part 6 of my Sunday Morning Book Chats! This week I am very happy to introduce you to one of the loveliest, kindest people I’ve must so far on bookstagram, Minh from @cassandrale179. An Asian international student who is planning on studying law and economics at university, Minh has a gorgeous account where she features loads of classic novels. Without further ado, let’s get started!

cassandrale179

Continue reading “Sunday Morning Book Chats Part 6 – Minh from @cassandrale179” →

Shannon Recommends: Art History Books (Part One)

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shannon recommends art history

Hello everybody! 🙂 I’ve decided to start a new series of posts on my blog called Shannon Recommends, in which I’ll take one category/subcategory of books (i.e. literary historical fiction, 1920s classics) and recommend some books to you that fit in that particular genre. I’m hoping that this series will be a fun way to get some of my favorite books out to you in a shorter, faster format than full-length book reviews (because let’s be real here, full-length book reviews take a long time to write!!).

If you weren’t already aware, one of my biggest interests outside reading is art history. In particular, I love collecting and reading art history books, and I’m always getting requests on my Instagram account to showcase some of my favorite art history books. I have way too many to fit all in one post, so this will be Part One of a two or three part series (I haven’t decided yet) in which I tell you about some of my favorite art history books and what they look like. Without further ado, let’s get to the books! 🙂 Continue reading “Shannon Recommends: Art History Books (Part One)” →