July Favourites

Heyo!

Last month I didn't get to do as much as I had planned as I suffered pretty bad with my EDS, and it unfortunately hindered my plans for the month. I also had to move into a new house for my third and final year of university, so my mum drove us back to Bath and we cleaned, packed, moved, cleaned, and unpacked before my mum drove all the way back (mum, you are the literal best and I have no clue what the heck I would do without you!) Between moving, settling in, debating my letting agents over things they wanted to charge us for which we weren't responsible and suffering with EDS pains really badly, I was able to do a lot. I spent most of my free time reading, TV watching, baking, cooking, crafting, and even occasionally socialising with the few friends I have that were still in Bath for the summer. I've been working on a couple of projects and some gifts for people for birthdays and Christmas (I do this in advance because otherwise it's a mad rush and I get really stressed!) so although it's not a typical 'I bought stuff check it out' (I have little money right now because I am waiting for my deposit still, so I can't buy my course books until next week) it's a post about my favourite things that happened/I did in July, enjoy!

Crafts

I've been crafting a lot lately, even more so over the summer when I've not had much to do. I have been experimenting with crochet, which at first made me nervous because I am so used to knitting. Knitting is with two needles, crochet is only one hook, so the method is different and the speed differs too. I found that I was actually surprisingly good at crochet (not to blow my own trumpet!) and I made a cushion cover in less than a week, and since I've been working on gifts for friends and family. I am working towards potentially selling things to give me a little bit of money, plus any money I make I can use to buy new wools and colours to make even more things!

This was a picture I took of me starting a cushion cover for my mum, if you want to see more crafty things I do I recommend going over to my Instagram where I'll be posting more frequently about my crafts!

Hobbycraft opened a store right near my house, so I headed over and got myself a couple of new crochet hooks and drooled a bit when I saw all of the amazing wools that they stock, and when I get my student loan I will be popping in there and spending some money for sure!

Books

I'm a huge lover of books, which should come as a surprise to literally nobody at this point! I've been able to start reading a few bits related to my course, re-reading other books and tackling my summer reading list which I've managed to do pretty well with thus far. I've been loving the free time I've had to do this, as July and August are the last couple of months where I'll be able to read things for fun for a very long time as I'm going into my third and final year of university and will have little to no free time. I've finished a few, and I've read a couple that weren't on the list too which was nice! I don't want to do reviews for them all as I would be here all day, but I thought I'd do a quick review of the book that stood out to me the most.

Image credit: www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk

The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins

I studied Collins in my second year in my Gothic module, and I was really enjoying The Woman in White and therefore decided to see what other books I could read that would keep me just as entertained and would capture my attention. Although not written in the same way as the scandalous and fantastical novel I had loved, it is every bit as sensational. Collins does such a good job of writing about women as well as men, and is aware that women read his work more than men due to the rise of the sensation novel in the nineteenth century and the introduction of popular literature in periodicals and magazines. If you're not sure what I mean, think about the Sherlock Holmes stories, these were printed in newspapers and you had to buy one to find out what happens next, like soaps before the television!

It's a typical detective story with a clear narrative and complex characters, and unravels slowly, keeping you reading until the very last page. TS Eliot commented that the detective genre was "invented by Collins and not by Poe", declared it to be "the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels". The crime that needs to be solved is the theft of the Tippoo diamond, but it later transpires that there is far more to the large country home and its inhabitants and suspects than meets the eye. The Moonstone is brilliant and I am so glad I read it, and I feel knowing the context in which it was written is vital to understanding Collins' stance as an author, and the actions and consequences the characters face throughout. If you don't fancy reading this, there was a BBC series with the same title around last Christmas I believe (correct me if I am wrong?) and it was really good too, worth a read/watch!

Film

I've watched a few films lately, but I had seen all of them before, except one. I did deliberate discussing the other films and why I love them, but I felt it would be better for me to talk about the film I saw for the first time and give an honest review of that.

Image credit: www.literaryrambilings.com

The Virgin Suicides

The film itself is visually brilliant, the clever use of jump cuts, panoramic shots and the attention to detail made it a film that I couldn't really fault that much. I'm no film critic, but I did study film for a year and media for two years, so I know a bit of terminology. It did follow the plot of the book , and was one of the few book to film adaptations that I really didn't mind. There were problems with the novel, such as the male narrative feeling awkward when telling the story of five young females, but the film was cleverly done and I would say outshone the book. The film follows five sisters who all end up committing suicide, and although this is known from the very beginning, part of you really doesn't want it to be true. However, the way the film (and the book for that matter) dealt with the actual suicides was far better than other adaptations I have seen in recent years (Netflix, I'm talking about a certain show here...) and ensured it was not the main focus for the film. It was a really good watch, and I would recommend to anyone who had read the book, or any fans of Sofia Coppola, as this was her feature film directorial debut (she wrote and directed it) and it is the beginning of her very successful and ongoing career.

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In the words of one of my favourite childhood cartoons, that's all folks! I know this post is a tad later than you and I would have liked, but I've just had a lot of life happening, and life takes priority over sitting in front of a screen and rambling on about things I'm afraid! So although this post is a bit sporadic (much like my uploads at the moment and probably for the next few weeks) please stay with me, I have exciting things coming and I am very excited to share them with everyone. Until then; give me suggestions, give me feedback, and check in regularly. Give me a message and we can go out for food or a drink, because I'm really enjoying doing life at the moment and life is great with people around you and when you're interacting with others. I'll be posting again very soon.

B x