Rainy Day Reads

DIY: TBR Jar Finally my first DIY project is here! And I actually managed to finish it! I have been seeing these TBR jars around Youtube, and I thought it was a fun idea to shake up your reading list. Now, I don’t keep a lot of unread books on my shelves, so instead of only using the books I already own, I have printed off my TBR list on Goodreads and stuck it in there. There are 200 book titles in my jar (and I probably should have picked a bigger jar!), so it should last me a while. I will probably keep adding new books to my TBR list, but then I will just have to make a new jar! The finished jar How to: First gather your supplies. I ended up using a bit of fabric and some different stickers, but I accidentally deleted that picture…So consider this inspiration, rather than actual supplies.  Then I cut my fabric to fit the lid of my jar and stuck it on there with glue. This can get a bit messy, so maybe keep a wet cloth to wipe any spills and your sticky f

This book is from my most recent book haul. I bought it because I have been hearing so many good things about Patrick Ness and his writing on Youtube, that I thought this could only go well. But I must confess I was pretty disappointed in this book. I did not really like the writing style, but I think (hope) that it is unique to this book as it fits the story and the narrator. So I won’t give up on Patrick Ness just yet! But let’s start from the beginning! This book is the first in a trilogy called “Chaos Walking”. I must confess I did not really research what the book was about before I bought it. I had just heard it was some form of fantasy and I figured I would give it a go. It is about settlers from Earth who are now inhabiting a different planet. The narrator is a young boy, Todd, who eagerly awaits his thirteenth birthday when he will become a man. He lives in a town with all men, and he is the last boy left, as all his friends are older than him. In this town there are

I like to do DIY. I have a huge Pinterest board to prove it. But actually not too many finished projects…the reason for this is partly that I am a bit lazy and don’t craft every waking moment and partly because when I do decide to make something, I always pick massive, time-consuming projects. Like bedspreads. Do you know how long it takes to knit/crochet/stitch a bedspread?? LONG! I’m an amateur at best, so my things are usually pretty basic and often flawed. But that’s the charm of homemade, right? I am not very skilled on the sewing machine or with patterns of any kind, so I usually do stuff by hand, like patchwork, and use simple square patterns. I have two (yes, TWO) bedspreads on the go right now, one knitted and one in patchwork. Not one of them close to being finished. But I have decided that in order to achieve the feeling of accomplishment every once in a while, I will try to make some smaller projects, that I have a hope of finishing within a proper time frame (instead

I recently got back from a week long trip to Iceland. If you saw my Iceland packing list that I posted some weeks ago, I have a few comments on that! First of all: skip the dress, the shorts and the skirts! I never used any of it. I probably could have used the dress and the skirts, if I had had enough leggings, leg warmers and cardigans to complement those outfits and keep me warm. But alas, I was sadly delusional about the Icelandic weather. I ended up using a fleecy jumper that I packed last minute the most! All my t-shirts and tank tops were layered to keep me warm and I had to make good use of the few long-sleeved shirts I had brought. To be fair the weather was not SO bad, I had just packed for a holiday in the sun, rather than cloudy with a chance of rain… The Keflavik airport is quite easy to navigate on landing, and there is a bus that will take you to town in about an hour. If you wish you can buy an extra ticket, and they will take you directly to your hotel/hoste

This book was a book I got in a big bag from a friend of mine in a book exchange. So I hadn't heard anything at all about it or the author. I was a bit wary of starting this book, because the synopsis sounds a lot like that of Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, which I really didn't like (review here:  http://makemesmarternow.blogspot.dk/2015/06/review-angelas-ashes-by-frank-mccourt.html ). It is about a young Irish boy, who grows up in the slums of Dublin. His parents don't take care of him, so he takes care of himself until he falls under the guidance of Connolly, a man in the Irish Citizen Army. Henry joins the army, even though he is only 14, and fights for Ireland's freedom. The first few chapters are very similar to Angela's Ashes, but thankfully it quickly gets much better. Not only is there much better plot development in this book, but the writing is beautiful. Henry's voice is poignant without being bitter or self-pitying, even though some of the

I’ve wanted to start this series, or what you would call it, for a while now, but getting books has been a bit slow going. But then this book about India sort of fell into my hands, and I thought it was a sign to get this show on the road. India was also the first “big trip” I did, so it seems fitting that it should kick off the series.   The book I’ve read about India is “Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure” by Sarah MacDonald.  I thought this book was fiction based on a personal experience in India, but it turns out it was actually a non-fiction book about the author’s two year residence in India. In the book she shares her journey towards inner peace, and all the stumbling blocks along the way.  I went to India in 2004, and the book was published in 2002, so our experiences were not that far apart in time. India has probably changed in the 10 years that have passed since I was there, but I suspect the essentials have stayed pretty much the same. And I feel like the book captu

This book is from my most recent book haul. I decided to buy this, because I had seen a lot of good buzz about it on Goodreads and Booktube, and it seemed like an interesting read.   It is about a girl who starts high school as a social pariah, because she called the cops on a party and tons of people got busted for underage drinking. Her friends have all ditched her, and everyone else treats her like a leper.  Beware of spoiler-ey bits below! During the story there are a few hints about what happened at the party, but it is pretty easy to figure out from the beginning. It is confirmed quite late in the book, when Melinda finally allows herself to think about it. She is scared to tell anyone about what happened, and she pretty much stops talking altogether. She manages to get one new friend, Heather, who is the new girl in school and apparently doesn’t know anything about the party. The friendship mostly comes together because of Heather’s tenacity, and it turns out it

I have pretty much equal love for libraries and bookstores. I even considered becoming a librarian for a short amount of time, but I ended up choosing a different path.   Libraries and bookstores both have their pros and cons. In libraries you can browse and pick between endless amounts of books and you don’t have to worry about your budget. However, you do have to worry about getting all the books read before they are due back on the library shelves, and if you are looking for specific books they might no be available from the library. Similarly you often have to wait quite a while for new releases to become available.  In bookstores you can also browse through a good selection and pick whatever suits your fancy. However, here you do have to worry about your budget (I assume you are not a millionaire with endless funds to spend on books). And sometimes you will be disappointed by the book and feel like you have wasted your money. I know I do sometimes, when a book does not

This book has gotten a lot of hype on Booktube, and it has recently been made into a movie. That should mean that it is a good book…But I really didn’t like it. It is written partly as an “ordinary” book and partly as a film manuscript. I feel like the manuscript thing mainly happened in the beginning, but it did continue sporadically throughout the book. And this annoyed me! This changing of genre really frustrated me. Just pick a method and stay with it!  The narrator of the story is a teenage boy, Greg, who tries his hardest to be friendly with everbody and friends with no one. He has one friend though, Earl, who is his film-making partner. They make remakes of relatively unknown films they find in Greg’s father’s collection. I guess the manuscript parts of the book reflects this interest in films and film-making.  Greg’s narration really annoyed me, because he was constantly so self-deprecating, telling the reader that this was a bad book, and he didn’t know why anyone