Disney's Inside Out Book Tag!

(darn it, I missed my time by thirty minutes but I guess not many people live in the UK time zone so whatever I suppose...enjoy!)

I haven't actually seen Inside Out yet, although I'm really interested to, because as you guys know I have social anxiety and a cinema is the last place I want to be, alone or not. I'm just waiting for it to be super cheap on DVD or something, but I do have some basic idea on what the movie is about thanks to my Facebook friends and introductions to this tag in videos I have watched (which I really enjoyed!). 

It's basically about this one person, with five other characters' who live inside their mind. Which are their emotions. These emotions are joy, fear, disgust, sadness and anger (isn't it odd how only one of those is a positive emotion to have?). 

So, you guessed it, these emotions are what the questions are going to be based from. 

Joy! : What book gives you the most joy?

This one is actually kind of hard to answer, because well all books give me joy, that's why I read. An obvious answer to this question would be the first three books from the Harry Potter series, but I don't want to say that just because it's such a cliche answer, especially for me at this point. From a book picked from my 2015 reading challenge list, I'm going to go with "Eleanor and Park" by Rainbow Rowell. You guys know that I had mixed feelings about that book, it was more a three star for me personally (I have a full book talk on this up on here!), but I felt so happy when I was reading it. The relationship gave me the fuzzies, even though I thought they were best as friends - that book just made me feel good (and also bad), I can't deny that. Even if it wasn't as good as it had been hyped up to be. 

Disgust! : What book grossed you out the most? 

A lot of books, but the one that is really standing out to me right now is one I read back in February of 2014, "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned whatever-is-name-is. The over-sexualisation of the characters in this book - all female - made me want to throw up. Even of a rape victim and his own mother. I hate that book with a passion, even though I am mentally ill with depression/social anxiety. It just didn't do anything for me, and I'm sorry to everyone who loved it, but it was disgusting from my feminist point of view. But, a lot of books pop to mind when I think of disgust. Like the domestic abuse theme in "IT" by Stephen King that was wrote to graphically, I was left shivering days after I had read it. I'm just sensitive. 

Fear! : What book scared you the most? 

I have two options for this one. Firstly, the "Gone" series by Michael Grant. I've only got up to book three in the six-part series, but it mostly scared me due to the fact that it was something that might actually happen. Maybe not to the extent it happened to in the series, I don't think people could be gaining powers because of Darkness, but more along the lines of anarchy and having dumb people like Sam be in charge of things and not letting women still into places of power. Second book that I'm going to mention here is an author I'm really not fond of but I just liked this book, and that is "The Secret of Crickley Hall" by James Herbert. I don't know why, but the whole dark paranormal child abuse aspect of the story really scared me not while I was reading it but when I was alone and it was dark. 

Sadness! : The book that made you cry the hardest?

This one is easy - "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness. I won't talk too much about it here as I do have a book talk published, but I don't cry very often at books, hardly ever. This one, though...I started to read it late in the evening, before bed, just because I like to that sometimes but I never put it down till 4am and tears were falling from my face. My heart felt like it had been ripped out - it was just absolutely crushing to me. I was a mess after reading that book. But, don't let that put you off please. If you're one of the few people who hasn't read that book, I urge you go do so now. 

Anger! : What book made you the most angry?

I don't really get very angry in books (apart from the ones I mentioned in disgust) unless they're very anti-feminist, such as slut-shaming or viewing a woman as a sexual object or a woman treating a man like crap when he has done nothing wrong just because she can, things like that. However, I rarely read a book without doing background research on it first and coming across books like this is pretty rare for me, it usually never happens. But, a book I was pretty mad about was "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" by Helen Fielding. Right, let me tell you a story. I found this book for pretty cheap at my supermarket. but I briefly saw something at the back about Bridget having kids. I disregarded the fact that this book was written in the future, and I went out and got the first two books, £20 in total. At the same supermarket a couple of weeks later, I found these books for £2 each...£4 altogether. To make matters worse, they were the exact editions I wanted which is why I spent so much money on them at the bookstore. Then I found two other versions of these books in a discount book store for even less. It made me so mad, but that's not why I got mad when reading this book. It was cheap, a complete rip-off, a cheat. I believe I also have a review on this book up here somewhere, and I might have deleted it, I hope not. But, Mark's dead, firstly. Secondly, Cleaver hadn't changed at all and you think he would have seeing as he's now a middle-aged man. Thirdly, she never looked after her kids and never did her work but still complained that living a life like she had was hard, and she stayed thin even after eating cheese out the packet almost everyday. She had lost her larger-then-life Bridget Jones quality, it was a huge let down!

Thank you for reading this very long post!
If you could take a second to follow me on whatever is your preference, I would be so grateful, I would really appreciate the motivation right now, I know I usually don't ask for this! 

- Loz x

COQ: Anne Frank: First Glance at Loneliness/the Black Sheep

Puffin Books 2002. 

Page 29. 

"I don't fit in with them, and I've felt that clearly in the last few weeks. They're so sentimental together, but I'd rather be sentimental on my own. They're always saying how nice it is with the four of us, and that we get along so well, without giving a moment's thought to the fact that I don't feel that way...Another thing I can't stand is having them talk about me in front of outsiders, telling them how I cried or how sensibly I'm behaving. It's horrible" 

My comment: 

"Do all of us feel that way, Anne? I wonder if she survived how differently she would have felt about her family. Or, how differently they'd felt about her"  

I think about things like this quite a lot. How everyone seems to be isolated from everyone else and think that everyone else doesn't know it. Well, they might not know it, you might be a really good actor/actress like Anne Frank was - most of the people who lived with her in the annexe believed the fake cheeriness she would put on. And yet, for some reason, even when we are aware of the troubles everybody faces, we believe we are entirely unique in our own problems and that nobody close to us has ever faced the same fate - which is entirely incorrect, in my opinion. 

I think the sooner people started to realize how similar and yet how different we all are, the world will be a better place and people will stop comparing one to another like life itself is a competition in who has it better or worse. 

And as for the second part where Anne speaks of how they talk about her to other people, I believe, is an example of how often parents forget that their kids are people, too. Even though people in general are aware of this, it's like the second they have kids it all goes out the window. It turns into sneaking up on them, reading their diaries, discussing them with other people like they are objects of your own personal success and failures, and embarrassing them online. Everyone has their own methods to parenting, but personally, I would vote putting their rights as humans pretty high up on the list. 

Anyway, thank you for reading! I'll touch more on this subject in later COQ posts. Until next time

- Loz x 

TFW: Books I Love That Everyone Else Hates

Welcome to another Top Five Wednesday! Fun fact, I was having difficulty thinking up things to write about for top five and turns out, Goodreads has a whole group dedicated to this. I knew it was quite a popular thing in the booktube community, but I didn't know it was by that much. 

Anyway, the one that stood out to be the most (mostly because there's so many options to choose from) was the top five books I really liked or loved that everyone else didn't like so much or straight up hated. Let's get started!

(in no particular order)

One. 

It's not a book but a 'series'/trilogy that a lot lot LOT of people really didn't like, and even though I read this when I was about sixteen years old, my memory can't pick up anything I would dislike if I had read it freshly today and that is "The Maze Runner"/"The Scorch Trials"/"The Death Cure" and of course "Kill Order" (even though that is the prequel and technically not part of the trilogy, but I count it because it includes important information on how the Flare virus had come about). It was fast paced, action-packed, little romance, great characters - and the women were portrayed as strong people, even if they didn't show Lana (I think was her name) very much. It was a great series/trilogy from what I can remember, and I wish everyone felt the same way about it as I did. 

Two. 

This wasn't really a hated or strongly disliked book, but the mutual rating among most people for this novel was three stars, and I think I gave it four (the highest rating I could give it, five is reserved for books that really did something for me) , and that is "The Twins" by Saskia Sarginson. This book is about two twins, obviously, one who has anorexia and the other is a successful business woman.  They grew up in the woods with their mother who didn't believe in discipline, but one day something awful happens that they still can't shake of and they want to go back to the past to try and make peace within themselves and to help one of the twins with anorexia. It's kind of slow in parts, but please don't let that put you off!

Three. 

Another series I'm going to go with here. I'm finding more and more people who are a fan of this series by the day who were ashamed of it because of the 'controlling boyfriend' aspect throughout it but I think well, he's a vampire, so the rules are going to be different for him although I can completely see why a teenager would read it and think that was acceptable behaviour for a human boyfriend (it isn't). You've probably already guessed what that series is, and that is indeed the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer. I read them as a kid, loved them. Watched the movies, loved them. They have great memories in them with some old friends I don't talk to anymore. It was just a really good series. 

Four. 

This one only counts for the first book, as the other two books in the series I did not enjoy very well - actually, I didn't even bother trying to get through the last book, I got halfway and DNF'd, but the first book was entertaining and I liked it, I liked it a lot, and that is "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. I found Tris to be the kind of person who would make the decisions I would make in her situation (apart from her acknowledging the people who bully her are in the next room but she walked in their in a towel anyway, now that was stupid, she should have just waited). A lot of teenagers don't make smart decisions. Not a huge fan of Roth's writing style, but I did really enjoy this book at least - I think Veronica Roth is more suited to standalones then she is to series and trilogys, if I'm being honest here.

Five. 

I guess I'm going to pick "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult for this, even though I didn't really love it, I just like it a lot more then most people seem to do (and I can completely understand why, honestly). I don't know, I just really like Anna, I think she's a really cool character.

Thank you ever so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. what are your top five books? See you tomorrow, Loz x 

Review || "Am I Normal Yet?" by Holly Bourne (spoiler free)

(first of, because I think Holly Bourne is really deserving of her support, you can find her help site here and her blog here)

I got this book for free from a Goodreads giveaway, but if you have entered one before and you have already looked up the information on how it works, then you'd know already but if you don't, they don't request anything from you. No honest review, no good review, nothing, you just enter and if you win, they send the book to your chosen address and that's all there is to it. If I had not entered that giveaway, I think I would never have purchased this book, simply because of the reasons I am about to explain. 

This book is about a sixteen-year-old girl, in high school, with OCD. Lord only knows I avoid these books like lung cancer, and that wasn't even the worst part. She has the most stereotypical version of OCD there is - she likes to keep clean. On top of OCD, she also has Generalised Anxiety Disorder, but that wasn't the focus on the book so don't expect to be able to relate much on that area. It also has areas of sexual assault, numerous parties, drunken antics, drugs, you name it, it's in here. It even briefly touches the topic of bullying. 

But it was still brilliant.

This is a feminist book. Not only that, but one of my biggest role models Emma Blackery loved this book too. Which, yes, did manipulate my overall view of this book a little bit but a majority of these opinions are my own, I swear. Evie and her two new close friends join a group called The Spinster Club, where they have topics and do feminist rants (such as why women are not crazy, and that sexism affects both women and men and needs to be stopped). It was pretty insightful. Even though I have been a feminist for months now, I still don't know all there is to know and tumble across new ideas that I didn't know were a thing. This book is aimed towards the younger generation, too, which gets me all giddy inside. Hopefully, this book will give them a boost to joining us and will educate a large amount of people on what feminism really is and not "Women power, men can drown!". These people are NOT FEMINISTS.

It also represented mental illness fantastically. How most people will support you, but when this support does not make you any better and you still relapse, they get fed up and float away. Or, how when you tell people, they will tell you to snap out of it and that it's easy to just not freak out. For them, maybe. The best part is that boys do not make you better. No amount of sex, or love, or crushes, or kisses, will make you any better - something YA romance/mental-illness novel authors haven't seemed to grasp...until my dear Holly Bourne showed up.

I highly, highly recommend this book to all ages, and all genders. It's education, insightful, supportive, funny...it was a charming read, I read it in just a few hours, go read it! (four stars on Goodreads!).

- Loz x 

Monday Missions #10

Hey guys! So, I know I haven't made one of these in a while, I've been in a bit of a reading slump. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to be reading next, but I can give you an idea of the kind of things I want to try to read next (well, I mean, as much as I can!). 

I'm currently reading a book my boyfriend Austin got me for my birthday (because he wants me to get into Stars Wars - and it's working) called "Darth Bane; Path of Destruction" by Drew Karpyshyn, the first book in a trilogy. I don't really know what it's about, still, so here's what's on the blurb: 

On the run from vengeful Republic forces, Dessel, a cortosis miner, vanishes into the ranks of the Sith army and ships out to join the bloody war against the Republic and its Jedi companions. There, Dessel's brutality, cunning and exceptional command of the Force swiftly win him renown as a warrior. But in the eyes of his watchful masters, a far greater destiny awaits him. 

As an acolyte in the Sith academy, studying the secrets and the skills of the dark side. Dessel embraces his new identity: Bane. But the true test is yet to come. In order to gain acceptance into the Brotherhood of Darkness, he must defy the most sacred traditions and reject all he has been taught. It is a trial by fire in which he must surrender fully to the dark side - and forge from the ashes a new era of absolute power. 

It's the story from the perspective of Darth Bane, a 'bad guy' who joins the Dark Side. This is my first little peak into the Star Wars realm and so far, I'm really really enjoying it and I'm kind of sad I never experienced the awesome that is Star Wars throughout my childhood, although I did at least get to experience Star Trek.

Other books I am thinking of trying to get through this week include "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" for my Harry Potter Read-A-Thon (which I haven't been dedicating a large amount of time to, I should work on that) and a random book from my TBR pile. My reading-slump may be over, but only just, and I feel like I can topple back into it at any moment  so I'm taking slow (also, my recent addiction to Pretty Little Liars doesn't help - okay, sorry, I tried to resist, I really did!).

what are you reading this week? I heard it was the month of Stephen King, are you wanting to get through that? Let me know!

See you next time, Loz x 

My 100th Post!

*blows those things that make a lot of noise and sprinkle out confetti*

Hey! So, I made it to 100 posts and didn't delete anything, yeah! I guess blogging everyday for August has really helped speed that along, huh? I'm actually doing a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself, just two weeks left! 

Anyway, I thought I would give you a small, brief background to the birth of AGiantLeapForLozKind, as a sort of celebration for this minor achievement for me. 

Austin, the co-owner of the blog and also my bae, has been a big fan of Star Wars since he was a little-un. I've never really been a Star Wars fan (though, soon, I'm about to read my first Star Wars book) simply because I've never watched the movies and I know little about it apart from all the basic stuff. However, I really love space. Like, really love space. I love learning about it and watching the sky and I'm very into star signs (even if I don't very much believe in it). As you might have noticed from the tabs above, the theme is space but also spaceships, Each tab is named after, with the help of Austin, areas on a spaceship that suit the topic of that tab.

But, I can't really remember the day I started blogging. I do remember that the idea had never really occured to me. I wish I didn't delete, swap and change my blogs so often so I could go back and see what my first ever post was. I've always loved to write from a very young age, even if I lost the drive somewhere in my high school years and went a long time without writing so now the talent I had has drifted away and I'm keen to get it back - it greatly upset me when I failed all three years of my English Literature A Levels and AS Levels. It was like I swallowed pins. I was clearly not meant to be a writer if I was bad at basic English Literature studies? But, I can't let grades stop me. I can't give up without never trying - so AGreatLeapforLozKind was born, and shall live on, even if I ever achieve that dream to publish a book!

And for Austin, he joined because he enjoys to write too. Being a part of a blog or making his own has never really occurred to him before. He will probably never make his own, as if you've noticed, he doesn't post very often at all. I'm going to get him there, though.

I hope this blog can grow into something bigger and better in the future, I look foward to when the blog turns into exactly what I wanted it to be and I've achieved most of my goals.

Thank you for reading, until next time, Loz x 

My Birthday Haul 2015! || Part one: Gifts

Hey! 

So, if you didn't know, my birthday was on the 8th August, where I went to the Milford Perk American Diner and it was so much fun! I think some of you might be interested in what I got for my birthday, right?! Well...I hope so!

Anyway

The first thing I received for my birthday was probably one of the best things, my mother got me a second-hand laptop from her friend and I got it a couple of weeks before my birthday. I remember doing a very exited, short post on here about that and I'm still very exited! It's been great to write to my hearts content and watch videos on the 'big' screen!

Next best thing I got for my birthday was a kitten from my aunt and uncle!

I named her Boo! (although everyone in this house calls her Baby Boo or Boo-Boo). 

I'm not going to talk about her much here because I'm planning to write full posts on her later! 

They also got me these!:

I've wanted that bracelet forever, I've been eying it up on Amazon for quite a while (although, for whatever reason, I never bought it). It's a Harry Potter bracelet, for those unaware, with the Snitch and the Deathly Hallows symptoms. The second one is a RSPCA pet guide on how to care for my kitten, which so far, has come in use! I didn't know kittens needed worm medicine, nor did I know they are lactose intolerant.

My mother also surprised me by getting me some new books! She never usually gets me books because she never knows what to get, I assumed she asked my boyfriend or my sister. It's the first two books in the Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott, "The Alchemyst" and "The Magician". I'm not sure what they're about, I like to go into books blind, but I have been hearing so many wonderful things about these, I rarely hear a bad word! Pretty exited to read them (although I don't know whether to get all the books first?!). 

My sisters' good friend came to my evening dinner to Milford Perk and even came with gifts! The bag is beautiful, pink with birds on and little blossums, my mother said that my sisters' good friends' mother makes these kinds of things...yep, it was made! Awesome, huh?! I also got some toiletries from Sanctuary Spa, and some really pretty earrings! :3 Shame my ears aren't pierced anymore, but I'm thinking of going to a tattoo place to get them done soon!

These actually came today!! These are from my boyfriend. The top if the Ultimate Edition of the Harry Potter movie, "Chamber of Secrets", it has cards and a picture book and four disks, I'm pretty exited to watch them! (and because it's so expensive and it's not something you would buy without thought, or at least it's my version of expensive, I might do a little 'review' type of post!). "Horrorstor" by Grady Hendrix is a horror parody of Ikea, essentially, I hope it's as goofy as it sounds. The next book is a Star Wars book because I watched the movies with my boyfriend once, but I couldn't really get into it as much as I wanted to just because I didn't understand it, so he thought to buy me one of the books, "Darth Bane: Path of Destruction" by Drew Karpyshyn. Again, I have no idea what it's about. 

Lastly, I got a little bit of money from my Grandad, my dad and his girlfriend and my mums' family friend! We're going out shopping on Tuesday of next week (18th!), I'll tell you what we got! 

Thank you for reading, I'll see you next post!