Films I Watched in January

I have been keeping a list of films I've watched for several years now. I write down the title and the date, and note whether I've seen it before. I also make a note if it's something I saw at the cinema, although that doesn't happen often as I don't really like the cinema experience! I went maybe three times last year, so definitely not a regular occurrence.

I thought I'd share what I've watched and some brief reviews. I sometimes have terrible taste in films and don't like much that's too highbrow - but I don't care. Lee and I have very different taste in films so we tend to watch stuff that we've both seen before, too.



1) Despicable Me and 2) Despicable Me 2 - my uncle and cousin were watching these while we were away at New Year, and I enjoyed them even though I wouldn't have chosen to watch them
3) Anastasia - I chose this because I'd read The Romanov Prophecy where Anastasia survived the deaths of her family, so I wanted to see this version. It was quite sweet!
4) Animal Farm - again because I'd read the book. I don't think this is great actually - it misses a lot out of what is only a short book anyway



5) Frozen (2005) - this is a creepy film about a woman's dead sister. I really enjoyed it, but I like Shirley Henderson anyway (she played Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter film if you're not familiar with her). It kept me guessing
6) Back to the Future I and 8) Back to the Future II - who doesn't love these films?! I do - I love Michael J Fox SO MUCH. I was so happy when he was in The Good Wife and when they wrote in his disability rather than pretending it wasn't there.
7) Men In Black - again, lots of people love these films. I love the first one especially - it's very clever and the dialogue is slick.



9) The Beach - I first read the book back in high school about fifteen years ago and LOVED it. I recommend it if you've never read it. I have seen the film before but it cuts out a lot of the psychological stuff (which is I guess hard to portray in a film). It is still a pretty good film, and it's VERY pretty, even if I still think Leo was miscast.
10) The Mummy Returns was on over Christmas and I watched it, and liked it, so I decided to watch The Mummy as I've never seen it. I liked it, but I think I preferred the second one.
11) Back to the Future III - well once you've watched the first two you might as well complete the trilogy! It's the weakest of the three in my opinion, but I do like Clara a lot



12) East is East - if you've never seen this I really recommend it. It's set in the 1970s and features a mixed race family trying to fit in. Their dad is Pakistani and their mum is English. It's got a fab soundtrack and a host of great cast. I particularly love Linda Bassett as the mum and Archie Panjabi as the only girl in the family.
13) Kinky Boots - again, one of my favourite British films. It's about a failing shoe company in Northampton who branch out into making boots for drag queens. It's amazing, and Chiwetel Ejiofor and Joel Edgerton are both fantastic
14) GBF - I love teen films (one of my favourites is Mean Girls) but this didn't really cut it. It was very self-aware and clever in parts, so not a total write off, but I didn't love it.

Have you seen any of these? Would you like to disagree with me?

Body Shop nail polish

My friend Sarah bought me two Body Shop nail polishes for Christmas, and a couple of weeks ago was the first chance I had to use one. This shade is, I think, 620 Got The Blues and is available along with a whole host of other delicious colours from here.

In the sun this polish is pure blue, but in the shade it's got a lot of lilac in it. I like it either way though!

Book Reviews for January

I've decided that I'm going to do a monthly round up of what I've read each month. I am concentrating on reading more books this year - last year I only managed 40some which just isn't enough for me. I would like to get to 52 this year. We shall see!

I'm on Goodreads here, feel free to add me and recommend stuff to me! I read in many genres - I love Young Adult as that's my MA specialism, I like crime writing, I like literary fiction, and I like plain easy reads, especially about women and their lives. I like non fiction about people's real lives, too.

I have so many books - in fact one day I might do a post about my bookshelves. I say MY because nearly all our books are mine - Lee doesn't read much. He likes Stephen King and non-fiction, but that's about it. I also have a Kindle with TONS of books on it that I've collected for free over the 3 years that I've had it. I swap between the Kindle and a paper book and have no preference for either - I love them both, for different reasons.

I've kept a list of books read for a few years now, but this year I'm adding whether it's an ebook or a paper book or from the library. I'm adding the date that I finished. I rarely tandem read, so mostly it will show how quickly I've read a book. I'm excited to see what the year brings!

Here's what I've read this month:



1) This is a Dan Brown-esque novel about the Romanov family, saying that Alexei and Anastasia survived the massacre at Yekaterinburg, and that in the present, Russia is trying to elect a new Tsar, and an American lawyer must rush to unravel the truth. I like conspiracy novels like this so I enjoyed it.
2) I read Animal Farm when I was a teenager but hadn't read it since then. I devoured this (it is short) and enjoyed the reread.
3) This was an anthology of new women writers and was a mix of poetry and prose. I really enjoyed all of the stories and a lot of the poetry, and I like to support new writers.



4) I loved the Ramona books when I was small and recently bought them on eBay for less than £10. They're so funny, and clever. I recommend them for small children
5) This has been all over Young adult forums and I got it on Kindle to see what the hype was about. It was interesting. It broke all the rules of YA fiction! I did like it, but with reservations
6) I don't read many classics but I liked this one, it was an interesting story.



7) I got this for free on Kindle and it was a nice enough story. I liked the main character and the setting. We need more boys in YA, so I liked it for that
8) Again I read this when I was small and loved it. I found it while tidying recently and read it. It's one of the better Blytons, I think.
9) I bought this in a charity shop a couple of years ago and picked it up on a mooch around my bookshelves. I've read The Outcast by Sadie Jones and enjoyed it, but this is very different in style. A lot of people hated it - I didn't, but it is a very odd book.

What have you been reading this month?

What I Wore January 24th

On Saturday January 24th Lee and I had a lazy morning, had showers, and then we went out. Our first stop was Frankie & Bennys for lunch, which was delicious, and then we headed to B&Q to order our new kitchen. We had one priced up in November, but over Christmas I changed my mind on both the cupboard doors and the worktops. The assistant in B&Q was very helpful though, and we ordered it.

Then we went to Curry's where we bought me a tablet! It's an Asus MeMoPad, and it is PURPLE. By coincidence my laptop is an Asus too (it is PINK). I'm not too au fait with it yet, but I love it already.

Anyway here's what I wore to go out in. I got this dress in the Asos sale in around October. It's an unusual dress, and the fabric is unusual too, but I do like it. I paired it with this cropped jumper from New Look that I've had for years.