Let's see what happens!

It's a new year and guess what that means I try and keep up on blogging! 

I always start the year with so many good intentions when it comes to this page but they never go anywhere. Like the last few years I wanted to do a new year post so went back and reviewed what I wrote last year only to be confronted with the following,

"I don't need to look back to last years post and realise that I failed each and every single one of them! I didn't reach my book target my fitness fluctuated a lot, it was a bit of a roller coaster but has ended up the same as a year ago and I made even less posts than before.

So this year I have decided that I will make no resolutions I don't want to hold myself up to an image of myself that there's no way that I'm going to realistically achieve them. It will just lead to disappointment when 2018 roles around and I didn't do anything."

Not writing any resolutions was in some way a success. I hit my reading target and have really thrown my self in finding new books and reading as much as possible - so much so that my Instagram is basically a Bookstagram, or is getting there. 

As well as that I lost over two stone. I'll say that again for those in the back I LOST OVER TWO STONE. TWO STONE. Sorry i'll stop that but it really was such a successful year health wise. Not only did I lose weight I got fitter I went from not being able to run for 60 seconds to being able to run 5k.

We won't talk about blogging I think that speaks for itself.

I was on a bit of blog memory lane and found this resolution that I made at the start of 2016,

"My fourth resolution is to make sure I find a job after I finish Uni, I really want to save up enough money to be able to move out of my parents house and live by myself. However I don't want to be stuck in a job that I don't really enjoy."

I kinda sucked with that one it's two years later, I have a job but it doesn't help me getting out on my own two feet, out of my parents house and I also don't really enjoy it AT ALL. I feel frustrated, I turn 23 this year the majority of my friends are either buying houses looking to buy houses or at least have a full time job and are getting somewhere. So this is the year for it to be my turn!

On a lighter note, here are some of my smaller goals;

• I want to get the final bit of chub off I did so well last year but it started to taper off come winter which I'm not too bothered about but I still have a little way to go. 
• I have a book target of 30 which is looking possible it's now the 10th of January and I am already onto book 3. 
• Now onto the resolution I feel like I need to make as it's tradition I want to be creative and by creative I mean blog more. That's the real thing that has been missing from my life I spent 3 years creating something everyday to then doing nothing and I miss it. I would scrap this site and start again but I'm a little attached to the blog name and don't want to give up. 

So here's to 2018 let it be healthier bookier and creativier (I realise I just made up two words there).

Let's see what happens next.

Kate xx

What I've Read: January - June

Initially I was going to do a post a month about what i had read in each month but who am I kidding I won't blog that frequently, and sometimes I will only read one or two books a month which I thought would make for a very boring short blog (in hindsight that would be better than a list of 15 or so books) but oh well there are still 6 months left of the year to change how I blog. So in future there will (hopefully) be a blog a month of what I have read with a mini review of my opinion of the books.

However for today I will just list the books and give a rating out of 10!

So without further a do lets begin!

1. The Death Cure (Maze Runner #3) by James Dashner. The first book of the year started with the last if a series. Yet it was still worth a read if you have read the previous books. I started with the prequel which is still my favourite of the Maze Runner books. Rating: 6/10
2. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. It had a slow start with a new character and a new narrative introduced every chapter, but once you got further into the story and the connections between characters became clearer the book got better and better. Rating: 8/10
3. Girl Online by Zoe Sugg. I'm not going to go into the aspect of the books being ghost-written as I don't have an issue with it. First of all I will say that I am clearly not the targeted age range for the book but I still enjoyed the story even though it is a tad predictable, the characters were likeable and i will probably read her next book. Rating: 7/10
4. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. When I picked up the book I though it would be much more supernatural and spooky, however that does not mean I did not thoroughly enjoyed reading it.  If I had known more of the story before buying I probably wouldn't have gotten it but I am glad I made that mistake as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Rating: 8/10.
5. No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. This is the second book of McCarthy's that I have read and i enjoyed it just as much as The Road. I don't normally go for western stories but I knew I liked McCarthy's style of writing and I wasn't disappointed. Although if you are squeamish then this may not be a good book for you! Rating: 7/10.
6. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It took me a while to read this one and I don't know why. Normally when it takes me a long time to read a book its because I am not enjoying it but All the Light we Cannot See was a beautiful story of two children facing adversity in World War 2. It may just have been the lack of time I had to read the book or it may be the size of the book that took me some time to get through. Rating: 8/10
7. The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom. A generic horror story about a haunted house, this book left no lasting affect on me and at parts the story just got beyond strange. There was never really any suspense and I didn't keep me awake at night like a good horror story should, that's all I really have to say about the book. I don't know how I finished it. Rating: 1/10
8. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. This was possibly one of my favourite reads of the year. I love a good thriller and this was a good thriller. The girl on the train is a real page turner I really wanted to find out what happened next. Although a few months later I can't actually remember what happened at the end. So I don't know what that says about the ending. However at the time of reading I really did enjoy it, especially as I was reading it on a train! Rating: 9/10
9. All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Again like Zoella's book this one isn't really aimed towards my age range, being only a year or so younger than Carrie I read it more as an autobiography than an advice book. Yet I can see how her words would be comforting to a young girl/boy going through adolescence needing some words of comfort from someone who has recently had to struggle through the tough years that are high school. Rating: 7/10
10. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. If you like post-apocalyptic novels then you might just like Station Eleven. To me it was one of those books that you could pick up and read for a long time without realising. Rating: 8/10
11. The Circle by Dave Eggers. The circle was much like Station Eleven in the sense that it was an easy read. What I loved about this book was that it felt like it could happen any day the way that technology is advancing. After finishing the novel whenever I hear about apple buying new companies and expanding I start thinking about this book and how apple are taking over the world (and yes I do own an iPhone). While reading The Circle it felt like it had heavy influences of 1984 but with a bit more modern. Rating: 8/10
12. Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Again one of my favourite books of the year so far. Although this one is completely different to The Girl on the Train as it was emotionally draining to read just how quickly Alzheimer's can affect someone. Yet although hard to read at times it was really interesting to read, I would thoroughly recommend it.  Rating: 9/10
13. Cross Stitch (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon. I started reading this one because my mum wanted to watch the Amazon prime original TV series and I thought I would read the book as we watched the series. I really enjoyed it apart from the almost game of thrones like amount of sex. If you like pretty much anything book genre wise you will like this. however it take me a while to get through.  Rating: 7/10
14. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes. I was quite disappointed by this book and I can't pinpoint why. I thought the premise was brilliant, Hitler waking up in 2010 what could be better! However it all fell rather short of what it promised, it was all rather predictable. I would probably still recommend it as it was an easy read.  Rating: 6/10

If anyone has any good book recommendations I would love to hear them!

New Years Resolutions!

So it's the 13th of January now, traditionally a bit late for making the next years resolutions which I never stick to anyway but this year I am determined to make myself a better person.

However with these resolutions I don't want to beat myself up over not sticking to them. But I am going to try and document my journey on here. Which brings me to the resolutions that I have made:

1) To read more - Although I read a lot of books during the holidays as soon as i get back to university I suddenly stop reading. So to help myself read more I have set myself a reading challenge to read 25 books, so far I have finished three and its only the 13th. I am also going to be commuting from uni to my home town every week which is a three hour train journey so I am hoping to get a lot of reading done then.

2) To make more posts here - I started a blog over on a wordpress blog about 5 months ago and have only written two posts, so I am making a clean start here. I am aiming for one post a week and hopefully I will stick to that, but I'm going to be more lenient with this resolution than the other two.

and finally...

3) Exercise and be healthy - This one is probably on everyone's list as I know I have wanted to do this one for years. I am determined to get healthier this year so I can feel better about myself. This is not to say I wont treat myself to chocolate every now and again ;). I saw a great bit advice somewhere saying that instead of treating yourself to a post work out snack, by a book or some new clothes.

They are my three resolutions for this year and I will most certainty post about how I am getting on with them.

Kate x