Spring Favourites!

Posted on May 28, 2017 by Eve @ Twist in the Taile

Yes! We are reaching the start of summer which means TIME FOR A SPRING ROUND-UP. Today it has been very warm and I am generally feeling happy, which…well, makes a change. You may notice that I’m missing my usual picture with all my favourites; this is due to a combination of a) I don’t have loads of time now because reVISION *flails arms* and b) I don’t have any physical objects to arrange this time so it would just, be like, photoshopped images. And I’m not good enough to do make all of that work.

1. Twelfth Night I saw this play at the National and WOAH it was so good! The production was honestly stunning — as in, like, the set was beautiful and the live music was beautiful. It was just so pleasing to the senses. Malvolia was…really different to what I was expecting, and two years since reading the play I am still mad at the ending, but overall I loved it a lot.

2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas I couldn’t stop thinking about this book, even once I had put it down. Beautiful, writing, a powerful story — it definitely lived up to the hype, and it’s one of my best reads I can remember.

3. Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg To be honest, I initially downloaded it because it was cheap on Kindle, but I ended up enjoying it a lot! I NEED TO GET THE SEQUEL NOW, GODAMMIT.

4. Dodie Soooo, in March I was lucky enough to be able to see Dodie on her UK tour with my friends, and it was SO FUN. I’d actually never been to a concert before, and it was so lovely to see Dodie just generally being wonderful and great and music. The band, including the warm-up act Rusty Clanton, were also great, and now I’ve been introduced to some new music!

5.The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla I’ve wanted to read this for a while, so I was really excited to see it the school library! Each essay was different, but each one brought something different, and made me think hard.

6. Las Chicas del Cable Both me & my mum are learning Spanish, so we decided to watch this show on Netflix about women in 1920s Madrid. (It is dubbed, but I’m watching in Spanish with English subtitles.) The production is just gorgeous, and although at times it feels a bit melodramatic there is feminism and queer women and so much to love!!

7. Hidden Figures Aaah! This was awesome! It was great to see the stories of these super smart & inspiring black women told, and I also feel like a learnt History Stuff. *nods*

around the internet:

I talked about why I think YA is important, shared some podcasts I’ve been listened to, and wrote about my bullet journalling & revision techniques.
Lia @ Lost in a Story wrote a thoughtful discussion of book adaptations.
Em @ Adventures of a Lost Teen looked at Margaret Thatcher and whether she might be a good role model for girls.
Amber @ The Mile Long Bookshelf wrote an awesome guide for young people voting in the upcoming UK General Election.
Olivia @ Books and Big Ideas wrote a super smart post about 13 Reasons Why, and the Prestige TV audience.

in the diary:

Well, I had a music exam… It didn’t go quite to plan, but I think I still passed, so fingers crossed! I might even get my results by the time this post is actually published. *winces a little at the thought*
We had a big family gathering for my aunt’s 60th birthday over the bank holiday, which was super nice because we rarely ever get together — my mum is one of 7 — and I got to see my super cute little cousins!
Exams are coming up so, erm, I have some fun revision to look forward to. -_-
I managed to survive my overnight walk for cadets at school, which I’m pretty pleased about! I’m rather ache-y now, but we did walk 35k, and our team only got super lost once which I think is impressive haha.
I went to a Witch, Please meetup! *screams a bit* Although I had to leave early, it was SO COOL AND WONDERFUL.
ALSO IT WAS EUROVISION. IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL AND EXCELLENT and basically just a nice thing in the not-great world. Plus, I managed to convince my friends to be Eurovision fans, hehe 😉
Probably some other stuff happened, but quite frankly I can’t remember it at this point. I’m off to see the new Studio Ghibli movie The Red Turtle tomorrow, which I’m rather excited for.

how have you been? seen any good movies recently? are you taking any exams?

Update: Going on Holiday

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Eve @ Twist in the Taile

Hey. It’s me again. I’m going to be going on holiday from Thursday (that’s the 10th July) for two weeks or so. I hope to be able to blog while there, and I’ll have some stuff scheduled, but I don’t know about the connection so sorry if I don’t reply to your comments! 🙂 Are you doing anything for the holidays? Let me know. I like to chat. xx

(also, yay, this is my 100th post! Exciting!)

A New Look for my Blog!

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Eve @ Twist in the Taile

As you might have noticed, I’ve changed the look of my blog! I’ve chosen a new theme, Hexa, to replace my last one, San Kloud. Like it? Love it? Hate it? Any niggling things about it? Let me know. Please be honest, although saying that probably won’t change your mind (though I hope it will).

Also, I’ve got a new avatar-thing. It’s not that detailed or anything but…yeah. It’s more related than my last one, and I think it’s an improvement. You?

I hope you guys are good. I’ve just started my summer holidays, and I’m having a busy social life (which is very unlike me). I just went to my best friend’s birthday party and it was AWESOME. We jumped into her swimming pool (I know, she has a swimming pool) and swam with the ducks/ducklings that have nested in her garden. In our clothes. I came home sopping wet, and my mum was not pleased.

Masks

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Eve @ Twist in the Taile

Okay, so: this post was churned into action by the writings of my friend. It’s not entirely my thoughts, although I wish I could say that it was.

Do you ever feel like you’re wearing a mask, pretending to be something you’re not? When I started this blog, I was wearing a mask. It got a lot easier once I abandoned that mask, but lately I feel like I’ve been wearing one again.

I told myself that I was blogging for me and not for traffic. I pretended not to get excited each time a post got viewed or likes or whatever. I told myself that I wasn’t jealous of other people for their better blogs, when I actually was. In the words of Park:

He’d thought he was over caring what people thought about him. He’d thought that loving Eleanor proved that. But he kept finding new pockets of shallow inside himself.

– Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell

And then I pretend that I am jealous but I don’t care and then it all goes round in circles. But they’re not the only masks I wear, oh no. I wear masks of happiness and sadness and coolness and sometimes I even feel like my name is a mask. It feels like my name, but it doesn’t feel like me. I still haven’t found any name that feels like me.

The problem is, I’m not even sure I’m like without being something I’m not. I’m not feisty or confident or shy. I’m just…me.

If I Could Disappear Into a Book

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Eve @ Twist in the Taile

If I could somehow disappear into a book and become a fictional character, then as sure as anything I would.

Fictional characters have it so much easier. Their story has a clear beginning and end and you know that stuff is just going to keep happening to them because you have another 200 pages to go. If it suddenly becomes to embarrassing to bear you can skip that part. You can read your favourite moments over and over again.

So, really, on reflection, I don’t want to disappear into a book. I want to read the book of my life instead of living it.

Huh.

Update: School Trip

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Eve @ Twist in the Taile

Even as you read this, I’ll probably be getting on a coach in the wee hours of the morning, as virtually every school trip starts.

I’m going on an adventure/teamwork/fun school trio for four days, leaving June 15th (Sunday) and arriving back late on the 18th (Wednesday). I don’t think I’ll be able to post while there but I’ll have loads of stuff to write about when I come back!

It’s raining right now; how about you?
Apple xx

Update: Exams, Exams, Exams

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Eve @ Twist in the Taile

I’ve been spending the last week or so of my half term holiday revising for exams. It’s not fun. Anyway, the exams are in this coming week so I wanted to let you guys know that I might not be as active as usual for this reason.

Despite all of that doom and gloom, school does finish a little early on some days so you ever know, I might be able to get down some stuff. That’s what I’m hoping, anyway!

How about you? Do you have any exams coming up, or have you been doing any? If not, what are your experiences of exams? I hope you all have an amazing start to June – we’re halfway through the year, ahh!

Apple xx