Geek Girl signing

We came across a book signing for Holly Smale's Geek Girl at the Birmingham Watersones. I joined the queue as I have wanted to read this book and I thought a signed copy would be even better to own. In the queue there were several book bloggers that I had the pleasure to meet, we chatted for the hour duration that it took to reach the front of the queue. Meeting Holly was great, she comes across as such a lovely and genuine person. We each got given the geek style red glasses for being the last in the queue but I already have my prescription 'geek' glasses so I'm using mine as an ornament.  

I read the book later on that week and I couldn't put the book down. The plot was captivating, I wanted to know what happened to Harriet. I could really empathise with the protagonist as I acted very similarly to her when I was younger (and probably still now!) I would definitely read more of Holly's books and I've got the World Book Day book of hers to read next. 

From a real life Geek Girl, 

Sofiee

First Weekly Wrap up (March)

So I am the type of person to always carry a book around with them. But usually I only read one or two books a week. I've seen weekly wrap ups on YouTube with people reading 5-8 books a week and I thought I would have a go. I managed to read 8 books this week, here are the books...

Although I wouldn't really count Elmer's Parade as a book; it has about the same amount of words as an average leaflet, I did really enjoy it. It was one out of four books that I bought for World Book Day earlier on this week.
I thoroughly enjoyed the books this week but I thought The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making might have been my favourite. Geek Girl was a close second and it was my signed copy from her book signing!
Cinder was the last book I read in The Lunar Chronicles although it's the first in the trilogy (I goofed up) and I thought it was a great beginning to the series. Definitely check them out!

Now to continue working on the dissertation, 

Sofiee

P.S. I will be posting a TBR (To be read) blog really soon :)

Cadbury World

We fancied a day out and chocolate, so combining the two together we went to Cadbury World. The boyfriend booked in the morning for later on that day. We didn't get lost travelling there this time, unlike to trip to Diggerland! Walking from the Bournville Station there are purple signs showing you the way to Cadbury World, it was almost like a treasure hunt! We came across the sign (picture one) and took a photo opportunity. As we entered the building we were greeted by three Cadbury characters. We joined the queue to get into the main attraction and a woman gave us two chocolate bars each... yum. Walking through the history of chocolate was quite interesting but I particularly liked the car ride around Cadbury's version of It's a Small World. Our photo didn't come out very well so the man let us go back on the ride to get a photo where we were looking at the camera. After, we got a pot of hot melted chocolate with any toppings that we desired, I got marshmallows :). 

We decided to get some proper food so we got jacket potatoes in the cafe. Then, with bellies full we went to the new 4D show in the outside play area. We had to queue for half an hour but it was fun, the show was basically a chocolate roller-coaster with 3D glasses and moving seats.  

I still have the chocolate to eat!

Sofiee 

Diggerland for Valentines

My boyfriend and myself went to Diggerland for Valentine's day (we're an unconventional couple ;)). Travelling from Canterbury it took us four trains and a taxi to get there, taking nearly four hours!
When we got there, we were greeted by a young lady in the gift shop. My boyfriend gave me a look that said, "Maybe we're too old for this?". We went outside to the rides and decided to go on the mini games first. I won the knock down pins games, using a mini bulldozer to knock down as many pins as you can but the boyfriend won the grabbing ducks game.

After these we decided to check out the larger diggers, one of rides was to dig a hole (I won) and the other was to drive one around swampy grounds... this was more difficult than expected!
We took a trip on the digger carousel type ride, which went in a circle forwards and backwards. I felt quite sick after.

Leaving Diggerland at the closing time, went to get some lunch at the Medway Leisure Park. We managed to get lost on the way by taking the wrong road and walking for nearly an hour.
Then, we walked back to the station and got lost again!

Hope you all had a good Valentine's day too,
Sofiee

His Dark Materials

Sorry for the lack of blogs, I've been extremely busy with university work!

One of the books I had to read on my course was The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. Classified as YA books, these books actually have some adult and dark undertones. The series are based on Paradise Lost by John Milton and when reading them you can see why. Pullman discusses religion intertwined with the fantasy plot and brings up some interesting points An example would be daemons and what are they? Are they souls? And how the government is run by the church.

I loved the last book in the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass. I thought Will's story worked really well with Lyra's and *spoiler* I was smiling at the romance towards the end of the book.

Generally, I thought these books were easy to read and very entertaining. They are well written and the plot makes you want to keep reading. (I read the second book in the trilogy within three days!)

I would definitely recommend you read them! And I'm going to pick up some more books by Pullman :)
Sofiee

Sorry but I do not like Lord of the Rings...

The first LOTR book is at home, sorry

Okay so let me explain before you all hate me. I had to read The Hobbit and watch at least one Lord of the Rings movies for university. The Hobbit I didn't mind so much, having seen the first and second movies before so I knew the storyline roughly. But why did the eagles always save them?
However (!)
LOTR movies was okay to watch but I do not like the books, sorry all those hardcore LOTR's fans. I wanted to like it, really I did! The started the first book thinking... usually the books are better than the movies so I might enjoy it. I did finish it but I really couldn't tell you all of the story plots. I am now forcing myself to read the second book, reading one chapter a day in order to digest it properly.

Wish me luck...
Sofiee

"Barcelona is not the capital of Spain, that's Madrid!"

Barcelona on a budget: 210 euros for hotel and flights.

It was my first time to Spain and my cousin planned the whole trip. We stayed at Hotel Sant Agusti which is one of the oldest hotels in Barcelona. This hotel is situated just off Las Ramblas where the main shops are and a fantastic food market, La Boqueria. We found this first and had traditional paellas, although I couldn't eat the king prawn sitting on my plate- it's eyes were staring at me...
My cousin decided the best way to really see the city was to go on a (free) walking tour and we saw all the awe-inspiring sights: Royal Square, Placa Nova, Roman tombs, Placa del Peak, he Jewish quarter, Saint Felio Neri (where Vicky Christina Barcelona was filmed), the Government Square and El Born. We gave the tour guide a tip and went to get a snack which of course had to be churros mmm. After this we went back to actually check into our hotel and got ready for dinner. We had been told to go Cometacino restaurant which we did and we ate tapas whilst drinking a whole jug of sangria. Then for some evening entertainment my cousin suggested visiting the Harlem Jazz Club to get another drink and see some 'new age' jazz. It was so good but the stools were very uncomfortable!

We had a list of things that we wanted to do and see. So in order to do everything we woke up early and caught a taxi to La Sangranda Familia as it is famous for the long lines to get inside. We waited an hour to book a ticket for later in the day so we decided to be productive and visit park Guell. The walk was thigh burning up several steep hills but we made it and bought some water ASAP. There wasn't enough time to buy a ticket to go inside so we saw what we could from the surrounding areas which for me was enough. (We pretty much saw everything except Gaudi's house.) Took a taxi back to La Sangranda Familia as time was running out and it was definitely worth the queuing. Although not finished the architecture was just... wow.

Again we had tapas for lunch and then tried some Catalyan ice-cream. After eating we looked around the shops and bought some things in Sephora, I've been waiting for such a long time to visit. Back to the hotel again for a siesta... when in Barcelona(?) and then we got ready for dinner in the urban part. We went to a restaurant called La Reina del Raval which was outside in a square. Then, after eating we fancied a drink (of course) and my cousin suggested going to the oldest cocktail bar in Barcelona. Here they have served Hemingway to Miro and the waiters wore dickie- bows.

On this day we walked to what is left of the Jewish Quarter and found Sinagoga Major. They had all sorts of artefacts dating back to the 1200's. There was a visitors book so we wrote something nice, gave a donation and left (it was a very small museum). Running with a theme of museums we went to the Museum Piscaso next.  As we are both students we got in for free! I bought some postcards of  my favourite work, I really like the obscure paintings.
We then walked to the Port for some lunch and to see the Head of Barcelona statue.  After we walked back to the hotel to collect our things and check out.

We got to the airport and our flight was delayed by two and a half hours... Just our luck.
Sofiee