May Reading Wrap Up.

Yes, the books are stacked on top of my pen shoebox and yes that is a rather lot of books behind it. 

*coughs* 

Let's continue. 

"it's not me it's you" by Mhari McFarlane. 

This book, I owe a lot to. Before it, I was in a reading slump. At school, I didn't do much at break and lunches apart from scroll on Facebook on my phone or wander around the corridors so thank you Mhari McFarlane for helping me fall in love with reading all over again. It wasn't the kind of romance comedy like Bridget Jones, which had me in fits of laughter, but it was the kind of book I smiled at and even chuckled occasionally. It was amazing to me how long Delia was in a relationship that wasn't giving her what she wanted and a job she got next to nothing from for so long and had never considered before to go for something new. Despite wanting to hit her at the end, it really was a great book (if you want to know more about it, search for my review).

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde. 

The prime reason as to why I started this book was because it was my A Level English Lit exam book. But, despite having revising this for such a long time, I will probably never stop loving this book. 

"Gone" by Michael Grant. 

Ehhhhhh...YA dystopian really is not my thing, especially to this level of violence and graphic scenes, but I did re-read it for a reason and despite not really wanting to, I will be starting "Hunger" on my third Monday Missions, along with two other book choices. It's not that it's a bad book, it just was not my thing 

"Over You" by Lucy Diamond. 

Predictable as hell but the writing style was heavenly. Something about the way she did it drew me in and kept me wanting more and more. Before I had even finished this book, I went out and got "sweet temptations". Her writing is just so light and beautiful, such a great follow up to such a dark book. 

"You Had Me at Hello" by Mhari McFarlane. 

I think my hopes for this book was much too high as I wasn't so much dissapointed, the book was just really dragging on and I feel like her job as a journalist was there just to add drama and put a wedge between her and other characters'. I haven't much interest in journalism, though, so my opinion may be biased. More to come on that in my review, but it wasn't a half bad book and it was certainly not a waste of money to add this to my shelf. 

"Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging" by Louise Renninson. 

I used to love this book as a kid and, recently, I acquired the rest of the series and I only had this one and the purple book before (both have been read, the rest of the series hasn't been read) so I thought I would give it a read as I'm still in the mood to read something light and casual and funny - it was just as amazing as I remember it. 

"Hatchet" - Gary Paulson. 

Secret - I haven't read this book yet, I just hope that by the time May ends, that will change. Shameless promotion, check out my Goodreads (link in the tabs) if you want to know if that goal has been achieved ;) 

"All I Know Now: Wonderings and Reflections on Growing Up Gracefully" by Carrie Hope Fletcher. 

This book is not written like a book, more like a guidebook, so I have been reading this alongside the books I am already reading and I already can't wait to talk about it in a review/discussion (it's not the kind of book you can spoil, but I won't go into much detail). That is why it's also included in my monday missions, this book is just a book I am reading alongside the one's I plan to read next week. 

Thank you so much for reading, I'll see you all on Monday, toodle pip! 

COMPUTER UPDATE

Hey there computer fans of which I'm sure none of you are but that's okay because I'm writing this for fun and enjoying this run on sentence as well.

As an update to my savage freezing and driver issues, I talked to EVGA support, who are the company that made my GTX 660, and they offered to replace it, completely free of charge. SO, it looks like things are looking up on that front!

Other than that, I will share some other news. I recently picked up "The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft", so you'll be seeing some of that from me as well in the near future! Have a great day, and remember, technology is always temporary, but the connections you can make with it can last a lifetime, so, enjoy it!

New Project and Update!

Basically, this project is going to be a photo project where I take a photo everyday for a whole year. It's taking place on my second blog, themissingpeices , if you want to check it out and find out more information on the project and I can not wait to get started. 

At the end of the month, I'm going to be telling you what my book challenge for myself in June is going to be and I am also going to do a wrap up and an end of the month book haul which is all new to me and I might even get Austin to join in on that if I can get him to finish a book (he likes to read. He just doesn't read a lot) so you can get two different reading and writing styles for June. 

I also no longer have computer access, so sorry for the poor quality blog posts (Austin will do any edits needed because he has a computer but we're long distance, so if anything goes wrong, blame him ;) ) and my final school exam EVER is tomorrow morning, that means I will have so much more time to create more blog posts for the future, I already have so many ideas. 

Thank you for reading, I hope you take part in the photo project and I will see you soon! 

Computer building and you

Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it, and for that I apologize, I've not rightly found the energy or the motivation to make another post (even though I quite like doing it!). I have however, found the motivation shortly after I finished building my new computer, which is what this post will be about! It will be a slightly shorter post, but that's okay since I plan on soon writing another post about my future projects which will likely entail a LOT more typing, if I had to guess.

Well then, now that that's out of the way, let me tell you why and how I did all of this. As of recent, I've noticed my poor old computer was having issues with even not very graphically intensive games, and it's been killing me. I couldn't even play GTA V online on the lowest settings without it killing my frame rate, especially while driving, which is crucial, might I add. Anyways, following some crashes and some lock ups that lasted far too long for my liking, I made the decision it was finally time to put the old thing to rest.

Now, the process in building my computer was a PAIN, getting the money was easy peasy in comparison. I had ordered almost all of it right away. My issue, however was that the motherboard I got with it, HAD A BENT P I N. Just one, and it completely ruined it. So, I had to ship it back for an RMA, (which thankfully was approved, hello 185$) so I easily got a new one that works better. I put it all together after a LOT of troubles, and it's come together wonderfully, I'd have to say. I'll include some basic specs at the end of this post.

Some issues I've noticed have been quite annoying. The only remaining piece of my previous computer is a GTX 660, and that's where I believe my issues remain. My drivers have been crashing quite often. And it causes freezes and lockups. I think... the poor thing may be in for a replacement as well... Rest in Peace, GTX 660, you'll have a month of service left, I imagine, and you'll be replaced by the newer generation, but I shall keep you as a memento.

Memento Mori.

Well, I did promise I'd add some specs, so here you are!

Haswell i7-4790k
MSI-7821
8 Gigs of Sniper Ram
GTX 660
250Gb SSD
2TB HDD

Hope you guys enjoyed! If not, that's cool too, at least you read it, right?

Exam stress? Here's useless advice!

So, the reason why you're stressed is probably this: you procrastinate and therefore you have not done enough work. Actually, right now, I have two essays to write that have to be done by tomorrow evening and instead of working on them, I am writing this. Even if you do a lot of work...do more. 

I know this is boring, but revising (or studying) every single day will help reduce your stress...by quite a lot. Not for long, just one or two hours and try to focus on the things that you don't actually know. The mistake I did an awful lot for my maths exams back in Year Nine/Year Ten (ages 13-16) was revising stuff I knew but didn't know that well and stuff I knew from the back of my hand and that's it. I didn't even bother trying to learn the 3D shape with the X and Y on it and...yeah, I hope you know that one, because I still don't have a clue.

This one is preached an awful lot, but drinking water and snacking on healthy food often will increase your brain's ability to do a better job, put simply. What's the point in revising a lot if you're not going to remember it, or you'll be so tired on the day of your exam that you just want to fall asleep on the desk rather then spend the little hour you have on that essay? Which is another thing, go to bed early and get at least eight hours rest everyday. Finding a place where you feel like you have the most sleep is best, but it's usually about eight. I think, don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure *nervous giggle*. 

I have also developed revision sheets (I may or may not show in a future post) that I find quite helpful. I, for background information, am re-sitting my A Level exams and coursework, and one of them is "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde. The other thing we are doing is poetry by W.B.Yeats, which is...quite a lot of poems, at least ten I think. For poetry, I have created summary sheets quickly explaining what the poem is about, any context that goes with it, important quotes/verse form/words etc that would be useful in the exam, and a quote from another Yeats poem for a quick comparison between them, with the full poem attached to it just in case I want to look over it quickly. For "The Picture of Dorian Gray", I have created very similar profile sheets for each major character in the book, the same goes for themes, and also a couple of sheets each dedicated to critical opinion and context. 

Something I found really useful in my high school exams, too, was printing off past paper questions from online websites and just doing at least three or four per week and continuously improving them and improving them, because not only does this help you practice actual writing but as you do it, all the useful information you need will start to sink into your head. Do it in exam style conditions, which would only take an hour per essay for example if you're doing English Literature like me, or however long you'll think will be given per question if you're doing something like science or geography.

I never had any friends in school, so if you're like me on that front, don't worry about having someone there to ask questions to and have them tell you if you're right or wrong, you can do that yourself with study cards! You can get them in a variety of colours so they're pretty useful. Which reminds me, making things eye catching for you (it doesn't matter if they are to anyone else), that will help you take the information in, especially if you're a visual learner. 

Remember, the more work you do, the less stressed you get, I promise. It'll all be worth it in the end.

With that said, I wish you good luck on your upcoming exams and will see you for my next post!

Book Review: "It's not me, it's you" by Mhairi McFarlane (spoilers)

How do you start again when everything falls apart?

When Delia's life is turned inside out - from a disastrous proposal to resignation-worthy team-building exercises - moving to a new city looks like the answer. But this has its own measure of problems, and Delia finds herself in a distinctly shady job where telling the truth seems to be entirely optional. As an investigative journalist starts digging, Delia must ask herself where her loyalties lie - and if this life is truly better than the one she left behind. 

A moving, hilarious and insightful tale that questions what you do when your life is broken: do you try to put the pieces back where they were, or build something new? 

The first thing I have to say about this book is that it's a romantic comedy - something that I don't usually go for. This book reminded me why, but not entirely in a bad way. You see, I always see romantic comedy's that are just one giant cliche. They're usually about a woman (sometimes attractive, usually they're typically not) in her thirties, mid-thirties, going through some life crisis and talking about how their biological clock is ticking and how they just want to jump right in with someone and make a family - something, of which, I would never relate to so that's one downside. Delia was no exception. It related to Bridget Jones so, so much - they met someone they hated but grew to love, they first had a relationship with an asshole so they could compare the asshole to the nice guy, they for some reason kept going back to said asshole as if nice guy was naturally repelling (as a feminist, this sentence would never usually leave my mouth apart from in this occasion, only because this time, he was actually a nice guy) and that frequent feel of messing up a lot and wanting to have babies before "time went out". 

Also, despite this being listed under "feminist" in the Goodreads section, it didn't have many ideals of feminism in there. The again, I'm eighteen, never had a proper job, and the idea of being a housewife makes me want to run to the nearest, deepest cave and never emerge again - so the connection I will have to a thirty year old woman who is quite the opposite to me was simply not there. 

The relationship between Adam and Delia was not believable to me ... to begin with. It started of as anger, and only when Emma commented on the "sexual tension" that was in the air did I feel like that was what I was supposed to be reading from the pages. It wasn't until the ending that I really loved their relationship, but that connection I didn't feel from them and I don't think they'll last - have a couple kids by accident, marry because of said kids, then divorce because they're not right for each other. Although, of course this is just my personal opinion on that subject. I would comment about her running back to Paul three different occasions but, I mean...I feel there's no need. She was highly stupid at the end but I'm glad she made the right decision eventually. 

Even though in this review I have done nothing but criticize, I actually quite liked the book - Naan (Joe) being my favorite character of all of them. It was funny, and entertaining, and I found myself wanting to pick the book back up in the middle of my English lessons at school to read it some more - it got more gripping the more the book went on (even though it was a really long book) and I think, despite my original rating for this book, I will give it a 3.5 stars.

2015 Reading Challenge!

If you are an active user on Goodreads, you probably take part in or know about the yearly reading challenges you can set yourself. 2013 was to read fifteen books, 2014 was twenty five (which I ending up going over, v.g) so I decided to really push the limits this time and try to read fifty books. Well...it's the 1st May as I write this, so by halfway through the year (End of June, I believe), I should have reached half of my goal, twenty-five. How much have I got to, you may ask? Seven. I've almost finished the book I am on - "It's not me, it's you" by Mhairi McFarlane - so that would make it eight, therefore I am going to need to read about seventeen books by the end of June in two months time. 

Now, my typical reading speed really does depend on the size of the book so let's just say a typical 500 page novel will take me three days, so that's two books per week - I'm going to round it and say there's an average of four weeks per month, so if I really pushed myself I could finish eight books a month and therefore sixteen by the end of the two months - and that's if I really try hard. I'm probably going to end up reading a few more books made for kids/teenagers just to sneakily boost my numbers and be somewhat proud come December, and this time I will try not to get too ahead of myself and set a reasonable and achievable goal - taking in the fact that if I don't want to go to a library for books, I cannot afford to buy them. Which I really didn't take into account four months ago.

Anyway, the point of this ramble-y post being? I want to set myself some upcoming book reading goals (about one goal per week/month, depending on the type of challenge it is) so I get through my TBR books in my bedroom and read a lot more actively. I already have a few small ideas and I haven't even looked for any yet - October is obviously going to be the book of the horror/thriller genre, so I am going to save all my Stephen King books and any books I want to re-read for that month. I'm only going to pick about five books out for that month and I will try to get through them all. I also want to do a Harry Potter read-a-thon, because well I've already read them before so it's pretty boring not being able to write a review or anything on here for quite some time (as it is seven books).

Also, I made this blog to be a book blog and it's swerved more to beauty related topics and random tags then books recently. I really like those kinds of posts so I will still be doing them, but this is the sort of thing I want to do more. 

Thank you for reading this very long post, and I will see you soon!

What's your reading challenge of the year, and how many books can you handle?