My Bookish Life in WordsJust a girl who wants to share her love of reading.
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Hey guys and welcome back to another Tag Tuesday! How are you all doing? I hope you are doing well. Today I am going to be doing the Ultimate Book Tag! The original tag was posted way back in 2012 with The Chapter Chicks on YouTube.
Lets get into it! 1. Do you get sick while reading in the car? I travel on the bus mainly to go to college and no, I'm lucky that I don't get motion sickness because travelling is my prime time to actually read. 2. Which authors writing style is completely unique to you and why? Gosh, I'm going to have to say, Rick Riordan on that question. I'm currently making my way through the Son of Neptune in the Heroes of Olympus series. He brings all of his characters to life and their adventures are exhilarating and I enjoy reading them so much but my favourite point of his writing is the humour. All of his books are packed with humour and I can never help but laugh. He is so witty! 3. Harry Potter or the Twilight Saga? (Give three reasons why) I have to say Harry Potter. I mean, I don't think many people would be saying the opposite. I loved Twilight when it was big. Who didn't go through a Twilight phase? But my three reasons are -I like the story line a whole lot more than the Twilight series and the writing is spot on. -I love the world more and can get much more immersed in it. -I think the franchise flows much better. All books and all the movies. I think it's smoother. (Does this make sense?) 4. Do you carry a book bag? (If so, what's in it other than books?) I switch between carrying a school bag and a large handback. I always have books in it, of course. Also, my phone, my purse, pens, a copy of some kind a bottle of water and I've started to bring my laptop to college too. 5. Do you smell your books? Yes... only when they are new. The effect usually wears off quickly. 6.Books with or without illustrations? I'm okay with both and I read both but I would prefer if more books added illustrations because it really does bring the story to life more. It is what makes Miss Peregrines by Ransom Riggs and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness so unique! 7. What book did you love while reading but later find out it wasn't quality writing? This can be many books for me. I have a tendency to just award a five star rating to many books because of the feelings and emotions after finishing it. I look back on things such as Twilight and Divergent and let's be real, the probably weren't the best quality writing in YA. 8. Any funny stories involving books from your childhood? I don't think I have any funny stories, but a cute tradition that myself and two childhood friends had was relating to the House of night. When we started getting into them at first I think there was about 7 or 8 books out and we knew there would be more so we would buy three of the books each and swap them around. This is actually the book series that got me properly into reading. I think we were 11 or 12 when we were reading these books which wasn't exactly suitable. 9. Thinnest book on your bookshelves? I believe this would be my copy of the Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, it is tiny! 10.Thickest book on your bookshelves? I am pretty sure this is my complete works of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I cannot wait to dive into this but it really intimidates me! It's over 1000 pages long as the pages are super thin that you really have to watch incase of paper cuts. 11.Do you write as well as read? Do you see yourself as a future author? Yes, I also write and I really enjoy it but do I see myself as a future author? Well, that's the dream. 12. When did you get into reading? I am pretty sure I started reading actively at the age of 11 or 12. My mom was a huge reader so I definitely got it from her. 13. Favourite classic book? I really need to read more classic books but for childrens classic's it has to be the Alice In Wonderland duology by Lewis Caroll. The world is so fleshed out and whimsical and I could get lost in it but I would not like to be Alice in the story at all as she was treated as a total outcast. As for older classic literature, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I studied this for school and although I thoroughly enjoyed it, I need to read it for myself in my own time as I think I will enjoy it even more then. Studying might have taken something away from the story. 14. In school, was your favourite subject English/Language Arts? Actually, surprisingly no. I did enjoy English a lot but it was not my favourite subject as some of the aspects we have to learn was not in my interest at all and tedious to sit through. My favourite subject in school was Home Economics! 15. If you were given a book as a present that you read before and hated, what would you do? I would smile genuinely to the person who gave me the present and ask if I could return it to pick up something that was more in my style or I would pass it onto someone who I felt was more suited to the book. 16. What is a lesser known series similar to Harry Potter or the Hunger Games that you know? This is a really tough question. Harry potter is such a unique series. I can't think of another serious like it but the published fan fiction Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. The Hunger Games on the other hand, I would highly recommend The Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi! 17.A bad habit you do while filming/writing? Sometimes when I'm writing blog posts and I go into a different tab to do some research or look up an answer to a question I have, I can sometimes get very distracted and 3 hours later I'm deep in YouTube videos! 18. What is your favourite word? I don't know if I have an absolute favourite word but I really like how the words box and fox and words similar sound. 19. Are you a dork, nerd or dweeb? At first look at this question I was going to say they were all branches of the same thing and I was all three but after doing some research, they all had synonyms such as dull, boring, clumsy. I really don't think of myself such as that. I thought they meant those who were passionate about things such as gaming or reading, apparently not. 20. Vampires or fairies? Why? Definitely fairies. they are slightly different with every book and I love learning about their rules and personalities in every books. I find them way more interesting than vampires. 21. Shapeshifters or angels? Why? When I think of angels, I think of the Mortal Instruments and my heart immediately goes to angels. I got an off feeling from Shapeshifters, can you trust them? They seem the most untrustworthy characters in novels! 22. Spirits or werewolves? Why? I really like werewolves. I love wolves anyway in the real world. I would love to be able to transform into a werewolf... I think. I like the idea of having a pack also. 23. Zombies or Vampires? Why? I do not like the idea of the undead coming back to try and eat my brains, no thank you. Vampires, definitely. 24. Love triangles or forbidden love? Why? I think it is very hard to get a love triangle right before it gets that little bit annoying. Forbidden love is a little bit more exciting. Especially if you really want the two characters to be together, following them on their journey to see if they can overcome their obstacle that may be blocking their love. 25. Finally! Full on romance or action packed with a few love scenes? Action packed with a few love scenes, definitely! I love both action and romance novels but with the latter option, you get the best of both worlds! That was a looong tag! I would love to hear some of your answers down below! Do we have any similar? Thank you for reading and I will see you in my next tag! Much love, Megan x
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Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! I have been wanting to do this post for a while now. This is going to be the first top 5 Friday on my blog! I don’t know how it happens but I always fall behind on popular books so this post is almost like a challenge to myself! I’m only going to mention popular books that I own at least the first book to if not the whole series, so I have no real excuse not to read these!
1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkein. Yep! I have not read the Lord of the Rings. I have all the books from the series and I still have not read it. I have no excuse other than it intimidates me because of the hype surrounding it and I have them in a collection so that the three LOTR books are in one book and it is huge! 2. I am probably one of the only YA book lovers that I know who has yet to pick up the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series by Laini Taylor! I have heard so much about this series and I do own the first book in this series too, I even met her and it’s signed. I have heard about her writing style and from the sounds of it, it is the writing style that I absolutely adore and cannot wait to dive right into. 3. The infamous Selection series by Kiera Cass. This one is a tricky one. There are a lot of mixed reviews of this out there but I have always been curious to see what all of the talking is about. I want to read it for the fluffy trilogy it is always described as and you can’t go wrong with a guilty pleasure read every now and then! 4. Everyone and their mothers have read the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. Unfortunately, I missed Maggie Stiefvater when she did an event in Dublin earlier this summer but I vaguely remember reading her Shiver series and really enjoying her writing so of course I am really looking forward to picking up this highly praised series. 5. And to wrap up this short list, I can’t escape from mentioning the Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo. This is also a good time to mention that I also haven’t read the Six of Crows duology for this very reason. I really want to experience the Grisha trilogy before I read the Six of Crows duology even though I know it is not all that necessary! I’ve heard so many amazing things about Leigh Bardugos writing style and I have a feeling I will just eat up her books. Thank you so much for reading and let me know in the comments if there are any books I mentioned that are some of your favourites? Which should I pick up first? Have a great day and I will see you soon with a new post! Much love, Megan. x Hey guys and welcome back to another Tag Tuesday! Happy August! This will be my first post since the LGBTQ+ month I hosted with Ross. How did you find it? Did you enjoy it? How could we improve the next time? Let me know down below! Today I am going to be doing the Disney book tag. I love all things Disney, you can never be too old for Disney, am I right!? I got this tag from Sasha over at Bookutopia on YouTube and the creator of this tag is Kat from Katytastic, also on YouTube. Go check them out if you haven't already.
1. The Little Mermaid - A character that is out of their element, a fish out of water. I'm going to go with Clary from the Mortal Instruments. She was thrust into the Shadow world in an abrupt way and had very little time to adjust to the major differences of her old life and her new life with the events that was happening around her. 2. Cinderella - A character who goes through major development. Juliette from the Shatter Me trilogy by Tahereh Mafi. She goes through major character development from the fragile girl you see in book 1 and the girl she is in the final book. 3. Snow White - A book with an eclectic cast of characters. After looking up the definition of the word eclectic for several minutes, I will have to bring my old favourite in, and that is the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. All of the characters in these books are so different and so unique and the work so well together. 4. Sleeping beauty - A book that put you to sleep. This is a tough question, sometimes I DNF a book or put it on hold for various reasons, this is a big problem of mine. I don't think a lot of books have bored me to the extent of sleep but my answer to this question is Plain Jane by Kim Hood. This was a 3.5 star read for me and it surrounded a case of cancer and it was a really good plot and storyline but I felt as though it could have been a lot shorter and it was kind of slow and dragging a little bit and I had to give myself an extra push to continue on with it and finish it. 5. The Lion King - A character that had something traumatic happen in their childhood. Definitely Sebastian Morgenstern. That boy had serious issues as a child, he went through so much trauma when he was younger. Poor thing. 6. Beauty and the Beast - A book that was a beast (a.k.a a big book that you were intimidated by but in the end found beautiful) There are a lot of books I can use for this. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare is one of them but I also knew that it was gonna be amazing from the beginning but it was 698 pages. If that is not intimidating.. I don't know what is. 7. Aladdin - A character who has their wish granted for better or for worse. I have been thinking about this for so long, I even left the post and came back to it in the hopes that it would come to me and I have come to the conclusion that Clary and Jace of course wished for their relative status to disappear and hey, it did! I think that was definitely a wish granted for the better. 8. Mulan - A character who pretends to be someone or some thing that they are not. I'm going to go with the most obvious answer here and that is Hayden from the Fill In Boyfriend by Kasie West. He is asked by Gia to be her fill-in boyfriend for two hours with no commitments at the end of it. I completely devoured this book, it was the cute and fluffy contempory I needed when I read it. 9. Toy Story - A book with characters who you want to come to life. I would love to meet some of the characters from Geekerella by Ashley Poston. Well, there are certain characters I would rather not meet but all of the characters from this fun novel are so different and have different qualities and they would be a fun group of friends to have! 10. Disney Descendants - Your favourite villain. I think for this I have to go with Voldemort from the Harry Potter series. I think he is such a well crafted villain and everyone, including me, just loves to hate him. I loved learning more about his character while reading the books. This is a tag that has been sitting in my drafts for the longest time! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Disney and book cross over? Who wouldn't love it!? What are your favourite cast of characters from books? Who is your favourite villain? Let me know in the comments below and I will see you in my next post! Have a great day! Much love, Megan. x Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! This is another post that I know will be very hard for me to write I’m going to try and narrow it down to 10 of my favourite LGBTQ+ characters in YA literature! I’m going to try and not overlap to many with my favourite LGBTQ+ novels but it is inevitable.
1 Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green. To me, he is a gay icon. He is absolutely fabulous and adored reading all of his scenes. I don’t know WHY I haven’t read his play yet Hold Me Closer by Tiny Cooper. It has something to do with me not owning it though. I need to fix that. 2 I have to mention without a doubt Magnus Bane from the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. He is yet another fabulous bisexual character and I love how he describes himself as a “freewheeling bisexual” You go Magnus! He loves glitter and interior design as much as I do! He is definitely up there with my favourites. 3 Aaron Soto from More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera. Aaron is after facing a really tough time just before the book opens and we see him dealing with the aftermath of what he has to face and follow him from the minute his world get turned upside down and he embarks on a journey of self-discovery. I loved following Aaron on that journey! 4 How could I forget about Damian Maslin in the House of Night series by P.C and Kristin Cast? You may or may not know that this series got me into reading. I loved it and still do today ad a new release is coming very soon and I cannot wait! Damian has a quote in which I absolutely love. “Actually, since I'm gay I think I should count for two guys instead of just one. I mean, in me you get the male point of view and you don't have to worry about me wanting to touch your boobies.” Damian Maslin in Marked. 5. I absolutely love Aristotle from Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This is another book with a self-discovery aspect to it and I hope you all enjoyed it who read it for the first readathon we hosted! This book brought out lots of emotions in me. Both of these boys are honestly amazing in their own ways. 6. This may be cheating because I haven't finished the book yet but Aki Simon from Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley. Aki is only 15 but has had no experience with girls so far to date but is show she likes girls as well as guys and she has a plan to stop sitting around thinking about it and to finally start doing something about it and I like that drive from her. 7. Hey guys and welcome back to my blog for another exciting LGBTQ+ author interview. I am very excited to share another amazing author with you guys, Lauren James! Lauren James is the author of the Next together and the Last beginning and her newest book, The Loneliest Girl in The Universe just came out on the 9th of this book so I highly recommend you look out for this book! Lauren James had some very interesting answers so let’s get into them!
1.As someone who is bi, would you or have you sought out members from other sides of the community for research for characters who, for example, might be gay? I would research any characters who aren’t within my own experience, such as trans, Muslim, disabled, black – or even anyone who wasn’t from England! I usually research by reading #ownvoices novels, watching youtubers talk about their own experiences, and following people on Tumblr. I’ve not yet hired a sensitivity reader, but I have a few projects coming up where I plan to. I’m going to use this Writing in the Margins resource to find a suitable intersectional editor, I think. 2.Who is your favourite LGBT author? Sarah Waters, Alice Oseman, Cat Clarke, Alex Gino, Meredith Russo and V E Schwab are all amazing examples of how to combine accurate representation with genuinely thrilling and literary writing that will appeal to a broad audience. 3.Do you bring your own experiences surrounding the LGBT community and outside of that into your own works? Absolutely! Everything I do impacts everything I write. I think one of the most important things an #ownvoices writer can bring to fiction isn’t necessarily the big experiences you have as a minority, but the smaller, everyday experiences that straight/white/cis people might not necessarily pick up on. The nuances of being in the LBGT community that aren’t tragic backstory or Pride parades, but everyday domestic life, in all its rainbow colours. That’s the real authenticity that only someone inside the LGBT community can write. 4.What are your thoughts on the mentality of some writers forcing diverse characters into the works to become more appealing and accepted the world of literature. I think social media has done a lot for the diverse fiction movement, both good and bad. It’s brought a lot of attention to the issue, and encouraged publishers to take strides to increase diversity on their list and in their offices, but at times it can feel quite forceful and angry. I can completely understand why some authors have felt the need to include diversity in their fiction for fear of backlash. I’m sure that, on the other side, there are also authors who are afraid to write about minorities because social media is so vocal that they’re worried about the backlash if they got it wrong – or just not-quite-right. I think, ultimately, you have to ignore all the chatter and just focus on what you, personally, think is right. Every book should be written primarily for the author, first and foremost. You have to look at the world around you and try to write about it as realistically as possible – or what’s the point of being a writer? 5.Out of all of your works, which was your favourite to work on and why? Always the last one I finished, I think! When I’ve done all the hard work and can look at a complete, perfect finished book. The one I’m always writing always feels like a terrible disaster while I’m in the process of getting it down on paper. My next release is The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, a psychological thriller set in space, and I’m very proud of it. 6.Do you have an essential LGBT+ literature recommendations? I run an LGBT YA review blog here on Tumblr, and all of my five star reads are here. Some include: L: We Are Okay, The One Hundred Nights of Hero G: Timekeeper, I'll Give You the Sun B: Girlhood, Far From You T: When the Moon Was Ours, George A: Radio Silence, Clariel 8.What is your writing kryptonite? TUMBLR. I always waste forever on Tumblr. Although, to be fair it is a writing tool too. I do a lot of brainstorming on Tumblr, often based on text posts like this, which is the most perfect thing to come across on your dash when you’re struggling for inspiration. I think the online community is a brilliantly creative place. In particular, fanfiction is training a huge generation of writers better than any Creative Writing course could – and it’s all based on enthusiasm and enjoyment, which is just incredible! 9.What do your future plans include? I want to write for as long as possible. I want to be a writer for my whole life, and earn a living wage from it. Everything you read tells you that for a new author in the 21st century, it’s not possible to support yourself by writing. I’m going to fight to prove that’s not the case. I’m doing okay so far; I think… 10.If you could spend a day with any character from one of your works, who would it be and what would you do during that time? Spart! Everyone who reads The Last Beginning loves Spart – he’s had at least 3 declarations of love and/or marriage so far – and I totally agree. He’s an Artificial Intelligence who’s very sassy and wise, and obsessed with trashy tv shows. I could write him into every scene I write in any piece of fiction for the rest of my life, and it would improve it exponentially. I’ll probably miss writing his dialogue the most. I think I would want to go time travelling with him, like Clove! 10.Any advice for aspiring authors? Find out what makes your writing unique and own it. Be completely shameless about it in your query letter. If you love the zombie cats in your novel, make sure they are front and centre in your query. You need to find an agent who loves your book as much as you do, and spending months crafting the perfectly written query letter isn’t going to do that – but maybe persuading them to read the book with the promise of zombie cats might. I hope you enjoyed those answers as much as I did! Thank you so much for reading! What did you pick up from Lauren’s answers? What is your writing kryptonite? I’d love to know so leave your comments below! I’ll see you all tomorrow with a new post! Much Love, Megan. x Lauren James was born in 1992, and graduated in 2014 from the University of Nottingham, UK, where she studied Chemistry and Physics.She started writing during secondary school English classes, because she couldn’t stop thinking about a couple who kept falling in love throughout history. She sold the rights to the novel when she was 21, whilst she was still at university. The Next Together has been translated into five languages worldwide. It was described by The Bookseller as ‘funny, romantic and compulsively readable’ and Kirkus as ‘An ambitious, promising premise . . . James is one to watch’. It was longlisted for the Branford Boase Award, a prize given to recognise an outstanding novel by a first time writer. Her other novels include The Last Beginning, the epic conclusion to The Next Together which was named one of the best LGBT-inclusive works for kids and young adults by the Independent, who called it ‘ideal for teenagers. The Last Beginning is on the ball’. A short story set in the world of The Next Together series, Another Together, is also available. The Loneliest Girl in the Universe was inspired by a Physics calculation she was assigned at university. Lauren is a passionate advocate of STEM further education, and all of her books feature scientists in prominent roles. She lives in the West Midlands and is an Arts Council grant recipient. You can find her on Twitter at @Lauren_E_James, Tumblr at @laurenjames or her website http://www.laurenejames.co.uk. Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! Today we have another exciting interview! (Who am I kidding, they are all exciting) I have heard so much about Meg Grehan! I can’t wait to read The Space Between. I have it on my own personal TBR and I’m very excited! Let’s get into the questions!
1. Is there any particular reason you decided to write The Space Between in verse? I started writing in prose but it didn’t feel right. I was writing a section filled with a lot of panic and I really wanted to capture that feeling but it just wasn’t working. I kept adding more and more words, more description but it started feeling too weighed down with words and eventually ridiculously over-written. So I got to thinking about the nature of mental illness, especially depression and agoraphobia and how isolating they can be and how quiet your world can get when you’re in the depths of them. I realised that at my worst I very rarely spoke. Sometimes my girlfriend would arrive home at 6pm and I would speak for the first time that day. Verse felt like the perfect way to express that because it has no rules, you can use as many or as little words as you want, you can use format and form and shape and punctuation however you like to show how a character feels. It’s such a fun, liberating way to write. But also, I just really, really love it! 2. Have you ever written in prose? If so, how did you find it compared to writing verse? I have! I still do, I’ll usually go with whichever fits the story best but I much prefer verse. Prose is a little harder for me, I tend to stress more about pacing and worry about over-writing. Verse just comes naturally! 3. What's some of your favourite books with LGBTQ characters? Ooh here we go! My very favourite is Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue, it’s a collection of fairytale retellings with a very feminist, queer twist and I could read it over and over and over. I’ll always have a soft spot for Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill since it was the first I’d ever read. Everything Leads to You by Nina Lacour is one of my favourites, it’s gorgeous. The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness is my absolute favourite series. Ash by Malinda Lo is incredible. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, Nina is Not Ok by Shappi Khorsandi, Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler, Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown, Why be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeanette Winterson, Read Me Like a Book by Liz Kessler, George by Alex Gino, Wildthorn by Jane Eagland, The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg, Lumberjanes… I could go on and on! Oh and Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley is a special one for me because it’s also about agoraphobia! 4. Who's your favourite character from The Space Between and why? I’m not sure I could choose! I’m tempted to say Mouse the dog because nothing would have happened without Mouse! I don’t think I could ever choose between Beth and Alice and there’s only one other character, a delivery guy who pops up once in the whole book but so many people have told me they loved him, so we’ll go with the delivery guy! 5. Do you have a writing schedule that you follow? I have a writing schedule that I try to follow! 6. When did you first realise you wanted to be an author? Probably when I read The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton for the first time as a kid. It made me so certain that magic was real, I believed in the Faraway Tree 100%. It made me want to have adventures and go to magical places but I was such a shy, quiet kid so I started writing adventures instead. I was a bookish kid, if I wasn’t reading I was writing. I had a tiny writing desk in my room and I would sit and write ‘books’ and staple them together and draw covers. It was always something I loved, that made me feel calm and happy. 7. How do you select the names of your characters? I kind of wait until a name appears and feels right, if it takes a while I’ll use a stand-in name and replace it later. Beth and Alice actually had very different, very Irish names for the longest time. My emails with my my publishers are full of debates over names! It’s different with each project though; sometimes I start with a name, sometimes I change names a million times, sometimes the perfect one just pops up out of nowhere. A story I’ve been working on recently needed very specific names so I’ve had to do a lot of research to make sure I picked the right ones, that’s been a lot of fun! 8. How long did it take you to write The Space Between? A couple of weeks, it was my Camp Nanowrimo project last April. I wrote it during the first half of the month, spent the second half piecing it all together and sent it off in May. It was all very fast! It had been sitting in my brain for months beforehand though, it had plenty of time to grow before I actually felt I could sit down and write it. 9. Do you have any advice to aspiring writers? Try everything! I had never written verse before and now I love it with my whole heart. Try anything and everything that interests you, write melodramatic poems or noir crime stories or haikus or whatever it is that you have hiding behind that little bit of doubt in your head. Be nice to yourself, being creative can be hard and inconistent so try to be understanding and treat yourself with the patience and kindness you would show anyone else. Take lots of dance breaks. 10. And finally, what are you working on at the moment? Too many things! A verse story, a super exciting project with a friend, a script… Thank you so much for reading! Do you like books in verse? I personally love them which is also why I can’t wait to read The Space Between! Much love, Megan. x Hey guys, and welcome back to another post for our LGBTQ+ month! I hope you are enjoying it as much as we are! Today we are going to be talking about some of our favourite LGBTQ books. We have another post planned for the end of the month on our favourite LGBTQ+ characters
so I will try my best not to overlap them! 1. Any Cassandra Clare book. In particular, City of Lost Souls, Tales from the Shadowhunter Acadamy and The Bane Chronicles. We talked about this in more detail in our very first blog post. If you missed it, I will leave it linked here. 2. History is All you left Me by Adam Silvera. The main focus of the book was not the fact that our main character was gay, it revolved around grief and sorrow and friendship. I loved the way that the main character was gay and that was just a part of who he was but he was so much more than his sexuality. 3. Hold My hand by A.C. Oswald. I loved this book so much. It follows two girls who are ex's and we follow them on their incredibly hard journey and we watch as they rediscover their connection with eachother. 4. Release by Patrick Ness. This book is very relevant in the lives of many LGBTQ+ people who might not be in the most stable relationship to come out in or feel like they can truly be themselves. This books was so quick to read and it had a uniqueness to it. 5. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. I actually really enjoy this book when I look back on it, more than I thought I did, even as a published fan fiction of Harry Potter. This book has the main plot line as a mission than needs to be completed but with the undertone of self discovery with the fear of the thoughts of fellow classmates and friends. 6. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli. As I mentioned in my review of this glorious book, this book is riddled with diversity incorporating many minorities with race and sexuality. The main characters sister is gay and she has two moms and it wasn't the main point of the book at all but there was a realistic point in the book where there was a character who expressed some homophobic traits too which I did appreciate because it is a very relevant trait, still today. 7. Everyday and Another Day by David Levithan. These two companion books were very interesting to read. I'm highly anticipating the sequel that we are promised. "A" wakes up every morning in a different body, male and female, with the same mind. As both male and female, A appreciates the looks and personalities of both men and women, regardless of what body they wake up in. I highly recommend these companions! 8. A Work In Progress by Connor Franta. Here's a non-fiction for you all! You may or may not have heard of the internet sensation that is Connor Franta on YouTube. In this memoir of his life so far he discusses many different things but also his sexuality and I recommend anyone, even if you are not a massive fan of people who create YouTube content or Connor himself, to pick it up and read it. It also has a beautiful aesthetic! Thank you so much for reading! I am always on the hunt for new book recommendations, especially LGBTQ+ ones, so please leave a recommendation down below. I will see you tomorrow with a new post. Much love, Megan. x Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! Today we have our second blogger interview with the incredible Jessi over at bibliojessi.wordpress.com Go check out her blog!
1. What inspired you to start blogging? I started off with booktube, I can't remember exactly how but in May of 2015 I stumbled across booktube and decided I wanted to make one. Since then I have moved over to blogging, and now I love blogging! 2. Do you consider yourself a diverse reader? Yes! Much more so now than even a year ago. I have recently read a vast majority of diverse books and it has improved my quality of reading so much. 3. Who are some of your favourite LGBTQ characters from books? Definitely Grace from How To Make a Wish and Charlie from Queens of Geek. I really saw myself in both of those characters. 4. Would you recommend any LGBTQ authors that you've read? Ashley Herring Blake, Adam Silvera, and M. Hollis! 5. How long does it take you to read books? Usually a few days to a week. 6. Do you write? I do a little. I'm trying to write more and more. :) 7. Do you have an all time favourite novel? It is subject to change, but right now it's How To Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake! I adore that book and saw myself so much in Grace. 8. If you could go to somewhere in the world, where would it be and why? I wish I could go back to Costa Rica. I went there once, and it's the most beautiful place I ever ever seen. Not only that, but the people there were so kind and welcoming, it was an amazing place to be. 9. What are some of your most anticipated books coming in the future? 27 hours by Tristina Wright! I love Tristina and I'm so excited to read her debut novel. 10. Are there any book-to-movie adaptations you're excited for? SIMON VS. THE HOMOSAPIENS AGENDA!! I can't wait to see that! Also The Hate U Give, I don't think they've started filming yet but I know there's plans to make it a movie! I always love reading interviews with fellow bloggers and finding out about fellow bloggers such as Jessi! If you have a blog, leave it down below so I can check it out! I hope you enjoyed this and I will see you in the next post! Much love, Megan. x Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! This is an interview which I have been dying to read. I’ve heard so much about Alice Oseman from Ross! I’m very happy to say that I am finally reading Radio Silence for our second readathon! I know I will love it. Let’s jump to the questions.
1. Do you have a writing schedule? Definitely not! I find schedules and deadlines make me very stressed. I'd probably be a lot more productive if I did have a schedule, though! 2. Out of your own LGBTQ characters in your works, who is your favourite and why? Probably Aled. I see a lot of myself in him. He gets absorbed by his fictional worlds and creations, even sometimes at the expense of real life relationships. 3. What's your most helpful piece of advice for aspiring writers? Write the book you want to read. 4. Do you have an interesting writing quirk? Probably that I always draw my characters. It's so much fun and it genuinely helps me to get to know them better! 5. What was your hardest scene to write? In Radio Silence, it was the final scenes between Frances and Aled. There were a lot of complex emotions to be expressed. 6. Who are some of your favourite LGBTQ characters from books you've read? I really loved Ari from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz and really felt for him in that story. I also loved Clove from Lauren James's The Last Beginning and all her awkward nerdiness. 7. Snog, Marry, Kill! Charlie, Carys or Raine? Oh my gosh! If I have to choose... I'd say snog Raine, marry Charlie, kill Carys (sorry Carys). 8. What's your favourite under-appreciated novel? I'm terrible at choosing favourites! I'm sure there are loads. I recently read Peter Darling by Austin Chant. It was absolutely beautiful and definitely deserves more attention! 9. Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? Not really! I knew it was an option, but I didn't have any need to use a pseudonym. I'm very proud of what I write! 10. Can you tell us anything about the infamous Book 3? One musician, one fangirl, one week... lots of angst. I loved Alice’s short and sweet answers. She gives some good advice too! To all the writers out there, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? Leave a comment and let me know, I know I need the advice! Much love, Megan. x Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! Today we have another exciting author interview with Moïra Fowley-Doyle! I was devastated that I missed her the day she did an event in Dublin but I am so excited that I kept her latest release Spellbook of the Lost and Found for one of our readathon this month! Moïra is also the author of The Accident Season. Lets jump into these questions!
1. Have you any advice for aspiring authors? Write what you love. Write what you’d want to read rather than what you think other people want to read. Fall in love with it hard and fast and when it starts to feel like a chore step back and change direction. You don’t need to write every day or even every week but you do need to finish what you’ve started. First drafts are never perfect – they’re just you telling yourself the story. Everything else happens in the edits. 2. Snog, Marry, Kill: Rose, Rowan or Ivy? Kiss Rowan, marry Rose (because presumably marriage leads to more kissing)… and I suppose that means poor Ivy gets the chop. 3. Who are some of your favourite LGBTQ characters from books? So! I love almost every character in every book by Jeanette Winterson but let’s go especially with Silver in Lighthousekeeping. I also love Nan in Tipping the Velvet and dare anybody not to fall in love with Sue and Maud in Fingersmith, both by Sarah Waters. I love Beth and Nora in The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson Dargatz. I love Clove and Ella in The Last Beginning by Lauren James. I love every messed-up character in A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskovitz and in About a Girl by Sarah McCarry. I also love every character in Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente. I love Dirk and Duck in the Dangerous Angels series by Francesca Lia Block and I love Ronan and Adam in the Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater. I love Noah in I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. I love Cameron in The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth and I love Astrid in Ask the Passengers by A.S. King and I’m happy that I can have such a long list of fantastic, layered and nuanced LGBT+ characters that I know will only keep growing. 4. Do you like to write in cafés? I prefer to write in my office at home because I’m free to move around and stretch when I need to, and the coffee is limitless. I try to write with my whole body - back straight and neck long and wrists bent at the right angle so as to minimise repetitive strain (I’m someone who writes and draws constantly so it’s very easy for me to injure my wrists) - and my office set-up is perfect for long writing sprints and hours at the computer screen. But café writing can be lovely for a little change of scene. 5. Which was more fun to write - Spellbook of the Lost and Found or The Accident Season? The Accident Season was more fun to write for a few different reasons. I wrote it before I had a publisher or even an agent, and I wrote it before I had kids. I fell in love with it straight away and banged it out in one fast dash – the first draft took only six weeks from first words to the end. I dreamed it every night, I ate and breathed it. I could write all night if I wanted to (and sometimes I did) – it was a huge, immersive experience for that month and a half, and each round of edits (with my agent and then later with my editors) was a new excitement. When it came to writing Spellbook, I was already on deadline. I had just come home from a whirlwind pre-publication book tour for The Accident Season and I had a two-year-old child and a two-month-old baby who didn’t like to sleep for more than two hours at a time, day or night. I was sleep-deprived and hormonal and terrified I wouldn’t be able to pull off the whole writing-a-book thing again. The first draft was a bigger mess than a first draft usually is. I second-guessed myself and held back and it was only after a couple of rounds of edits that I could let myself write brave and true and fall in love with my story. It took a while but once it happened, Spellbook was a wild ride. It was tangled and overgrown and challenging and beautiful and I ended up putting even more of myself into it than I did with The Accident Season and despite the difficulty I had writing it at first – or maybe because of it – Spellbook is the thing I have written that I am the most proud of. 6. Have you always wanted to be a writer? Yes. I wanted to be a writer when I wanted to be a ballet dancer as a child and I wanted to be a writer when I wanted to be an artist as a teenager. I didn’t always tell people that I wanted to be a writer, but I’ve always written – I wrote my first novel at the age of eight in one of those wide-ruled Aisling copy books that every Irish child had for school, and one day I’m going to rewrite that story because it actually had a pretty great concept. I’ve kept diaries since I could write full sentences and have two giant crates-full in my attic. The earliest are arguably the funniest because when I was five years old I thought that diaries should be written as a list (1. I wok up. 2. I hab my brekfast. 3. I sed “HALLO” to mammy. 4. I sed “HALLO” to daddy. Et cetera) and also because I was an abysmal speller until well into my late teens. I think part of what attracts me to writing is having had the practice of trying to tell my life like a story for so many years. Keeping diaries makes you see stories everywhere. 7. Do you have a set schedule for writing? I write best in the morning, with a bowl of coffee and my tarot cards beside me. Because I have kids who get up early for preschool I can’t really write into the night anymore. My writing schedule is structured around child minding: I work on weekday mornings until I pick my kids up from school, and two days a week their grandparents take them after school so I can write all day. Although I sometimes miss being able to write whenever and for however long I wanted, I’ve learned that I get focused much faster when I know I only have a few hours to work in – I can’t afford to procrastinate or get distracted so I actually end up diving deeper in. Which means I sometimes get this strange culture shock when I have to resurface and be a human being again. 8. What would you tell your younger self? I’d tell her to keep going and I’d tell her to be brave. I’d tell her to follow her instincts, to take up space, and to not be afraid to make a mess. 9. Do you have any unpublished or half-finished books? If so, would you ever consider returning to them? Well like I said I wrote this pretty great book when I was eight that I totally plan on coming back to… I pilfer thoughts and characters from my younger self all the time. Parts of The Accident Season started life as a (very different) short novel I wrote when I was 16 and two of the characters in Spellbook were plucked from a book I started in my early twenties but never finished. The book I’m working on now grew from a story I wrote when I was ten or eleven which became the beginnings of a novel when I was a teenager which became the roots of this book, now. I should add that to the advice to give to writers: cut ruthlessly but keep everything. You never know where it’ll end up two decades down the line. 10. And finally, what are you working on next? I’m working on a weird, tangled book about a family and a bull and three old witches and the sea but because it’s still at the first draft stage I can’t say very much about it. I like that books are kept secret until they’re announced, though. It’s gestating; it’s still forming. I’m not sure what manner of creature it’ll come out as, but I’m excited to find out. I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I did, especially the examples of the early diaries she kept! Didn't we all have those? Thank you for reading and I will see you in my next post! Much love, Megan. x |
AuthorHi guys! I'm Megan and welcome to my blog! This blog will be all about books mostly with other extra posts now and then. Archives
June 2017
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