My Summer Reading List

Saturday, 30 June 2018

books

My Summer Reading List

Every summer when I was younger I managed to work my way through piles of books, granted it was mainly the newest installment of Harry Potter & probably re-reading the ones leading up to the new one, but nonetheless, I basically would spend most of my summers with my head in a book. Nowadays, I'm a terrible reader, my attention span is so poor, I've found that the best place for me to read is when I'm travelling on a train or plane & I literally have nothing else to do.
I genuinely cannot remember the last book I actually finished, and, well, I find that really sad. I love stories in general, I can sit through a whole movie, or binge watch an entire series without an issue, yet I can't finish a book anymore?
So this summer I'll be trying my damnedest to rectify this, I'm actually seeking out time to read, in the garden in the sun, or in bed before I go the sleep. And so, just like the summers when I was younger, I've put together a pile of books that I want to try and get through this summertime.

I thought I might as well start with what I'm reading at the moment, I spoke briefly about The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory in my May Wrap Up. I'm still going with it, still absolutely adoring it, and to be quite honest I don't know how I'm going to not just read this whole series of books before I start anything else!

The Lady of the Rivers & The Last Tudor are the first and last books in Philippa Gregorys' Plantagenet & Tudor historical series, if you're reading them in chronological order.
Now, I'm a self confessed history geek & this time period is one of my favourites, I've been intrigued by the Tudor court since I was a child. And the fact that this book series focuses on the women at court, who, historically are often overlooked or pushed to the side for the men, the kings, the dukes, etc, the ones who wage the wars and make the rules, to make the history. While I know these books are works of fiction, and so not totally accurate, it's actually really refreshing to read about certain historical events from a womans point of view.

You'll most likely will have heard of a few of the other books in this series, though, you may not have been totally aware that they were actually books before they made it onto film. For example, The Other Boleyn Girl, which became a movie with Natalie Portman & Scarlett Johansson or The White Queen which became a BBC tv series.

Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald is a book I've had stashed aways for... years, probably. I think I may have even bought is at the same time I bought The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful & The Damned, both of which I have read & totally loved. I've also read, and loved a few of his short stories, and to be honest I just really enjoy how this man writes. There's something so emotional about his writing.

It tells the story of 18 year old, Rosemary Hoyt, an american actress who is visiting the French Riviera where she meets Dick Diver, a psychiatrist and his beautiful but unstable wife Nicole. Apparently, if you loved The Great Gatsby, you'll adore this one even more.

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History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund is a book that I think I saw someone post about on instagram & was instantly intrigued. Upon googling it, it seems to have had some mixed reviews, but ultimately I decided to give it a go, thinking the story seemed to be a thought provoking and unflinching view of the human condition, that isn't necessarily always as innocent as you think or want it to be.

It tells the coming of age story of the socially awkward 14 year old Madeline, as told by the adult she has become. As an isolated, outsider, deemed a freak by her classmates, she is desperate to find a sense of belonging, which she seems to find in precarious situations, that eventually fall to pieces. As a naive young girl, she ends up in situations she doesn't yet understand & is forced to make decisions that will effect her for the rest of her life.

Who didn't buy into the hype surrounding Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine? It seemed like every blogger I follow was reading & loving this just a few months ago, so of course, while en route to Paris I picked this up in Manchester Airport.
I'm actually about half way through this one, but I was reading it while on places to and from Paris, and then it got unpacked & put on a shelf & forgotten about, as is the fate of most books I buy while on my travels.

But, I was really, really enjoying this, it's funny to the point I was actually laughing to myself on a crowded plane, although I knew I was reaching a bit where I was gonna cry my eyes out. I could just feel it coming, and so, though I might have been wrong, it kinda made me stop reading.

Eleanor Oliphant is a socially clueless young woman, to the point she avoids social interaction as best she can, which has been brought on by past traumatic experiences in her life. It's the story of her coming out of the comfortable isolation she has been living in through a series of friendships she happens to find, though she wasn't quite looking for them.

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As soon as I read the blurb for Circe I was sold, I just know this is gonna be a story I love. 

It's basically a retelling of Homers' The Odyessy from the perspective of a minor character, Circe. I adore mythology & history, but so many of the stories are told from a mans perspective, and the women are often minor characters, or are put into a bad light by being deemed a enchantress or siren or witch, so this being a retelling of an old story, but from the witches point of view, is hugely up my street. 

Circe is the daughter of Helios, the sun god & the most powerful of the Titans. Though the daughter of a god, she doesn't seem to possess any power and is rejected by her kin & so turns to mortals for companionship, where she then discovers her own power of witchcraft, which is a power forbidden to the gods & so Zeus banishes her to the island of of Aiaia where she learns how to use her powers & finds her independence, but of course in a man-made world an independent, powerful woman is a threat to gods & men, and so she brings about the wrath of them both through various meetings with them.

Ill Will by Michael Stewart is another book that I just knew I had to read. It basically fills in the three year gap of when Heathcliff left Wuthering Heights to go to Liverpool, from which he returns with a fortune.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is one of my favourite books, so any addition to that story is very welcome to me. 

After leaving Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff changes his name to William Lee and sets off on a journey to discover his own history, on his way to Liverpool he rescues a highway mans daughter, Emily, from whipping & the two then journey together, making a living from Emilys' supposed ability to communicate with the dead, they lie, cheat & scheme their way across the north of England.

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I always meant to read more Ian McEwan books, I loved Atonement which I made a point of reading before the movie came out, I thought it was an absolutely & epically beautiful story which absolutely broke my heart. And so after seeing an interview with Saoirse Ronan about the movie being made out of his book On Chesil Beach, I knew I had to get it read before seeing the film.

Set in 1962 On Chesil Beach tells the story of a young couple who are spending their wedding night at a small hotel at Chesil Beach in Dorset. The night is a total disaster & reveals, quite painfully, the different complexities & secrets that each of them bring to their marriage. It sounds like another totally heart wrenching story about what gets left unsaid & what could have been. 

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton is a book that really sparked my interest as soon as I read the publishers description.
'It's a book about bad dates, good friends, and - above all else - about recognising that you and you alone are enough.'
Written by a former dating columnist it's a memoir that recounts falling in love, self sabotage, finding jobs, getting dumped & getting drunk. It's personal stories mixed with hilarious satirical observations that promises to strike a chord to any woman of any age.
I'm actually just so excited to read this one as I think it's gonna be one of those books I wished I'd read when I was younger & a book that I'll be recommending to all my girl friends.

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You Play The Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Princesses, Trainwrecks & Other Man Made Women by Carina Chocano, is another one I saw on instagram & instantly I knew I wanted to read it and I just know it's gonna be another book I wish I'd read when I was younger.
It's a collection of essays about how women are portrayed in pop culture, wether it be in movies, tv shows, magazines or adverts, and how it effects us as women as we grow up.
I recently read the introduction & within seconds of starting I wanted to go through highlighting certain paragraphs or quoting them over social media, all I could think was 'Yes. Yes. Yes, this is exactly how I feel.'
I'm so excited to read the rest of it, although I'm trying to finish each book before I move onto the next, I'm actually so desperate to keep reading this one & I'm really excited to talk about it in a post, although it may just turn into a series of quotes.


I've reset up my goodreads account in an attempt to motivate myself to read more, which you can find here. If you want to read more on any of these books, goodreads is a great place to read personal reviews & I've already listed all the above on my profile as To Read.
What's on everyone else's bookshelf at the moment? I like to think I've got a pretty broad range of books to get through this summer, but any recommendations based on these will always be appreciated!

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3 Easy & Delicious Alternatives To A Gin & Tonic

Saturday, 9 June 2018

cocktails!

3 Easy & Delicious Alternatives To A Gin & Tonic

It's no secret that I spend a fair amount of my time working behind a bar, and I've kind of been given free reign when it comes to mixing drinks & ordering new flavours or mixers, and even getting in new styles of glasses. They've actually started calling me 'cocktail monster' or just 'monster' for short because I will quite happily spend my shift making cocktails for people, and inevitably get them totally shit-faced after they've spent an evening on them.

Gin is easily the most popular spirit at the moment & we have several different types & flavours where I work. I was always convinced that I didn't like gin, but as it turns out I actually just dislike tonic & I'm not really big on soda either unless it's with another flavour, so these are all drinks that I'll make for myself instead of a gin & tonic.

E l d e r f l o w e r  C o l l i n s

Start with a glass loaded with ice, pour a double shot (50ml) of the gin of your choosing - I tend to use the Bedrock Gin which is locally distilled at Keswick Distillery.
Then add a dash of lemon juice - I usually use a 15ml measure, but you can add as much or as little as you like.
Follow that with a double shot of Elderflower Cordial - they'll be others out there, but the Bottle Green one is delightful!
Give that a quick mix up with the ice, add a few lemon slices to garnish & then top up with soda, or lemonade if you prefer your drinks to be sweeter. 

M i n t  &  C u c u m b e r  G i n  J u l e p

Traditionally Juleps are served in copper or stainless steal cups with crushed ice, but we may have broken our ice crusher & it really doesn't matter what glass or cup you use so long as the drink is good.
Again start with a glass filled with ice, pour over a single shot (25ml) of Hendricks gin - I'd recommend using Hendricks for this one as it is slightly cucumber flavoured, but again you can do it with whichever gin your prefer.
Follow with a single shot of Creme De Menthe, top up with soda & garnish with mint leaves & cucumber slices.
You can also use a double shot of gin, but just be aware that Creme de menthe is an alcoholic liqueur, not just a flavouring.

R h u b a r b  B r a m b l e

Once again, start with a glass loaded with ice, add a couple of lime wedges & pour in a double shot of rhubarb gin - again use whichever rhubarb gin you prefer, but the Slingsby Rhubarb gin is absolutely beautiful, it's the best one I've tried, I recommend it to everyone in the bar when they're not sure what to have!
Follow with a shot of lime juice & top up with either soda or lemonade depending on how sweet you like it. 

These three cocktails are my absolute go to for myself on warm day when you want something refreshing, also when I'm serving I tend to recommend these three and they've not let me down yet. 

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8 Movies To Watch Before Visiting Paris

Tuesday, 5 June 2018

movies

8 Movies To Watch Before Visiting Paris

Hands up who else binge watches movies about the places they're heading before booking or going on a trip?
I've done this for... ever. I've always been a huge film fan, it's an escape, and when I was younger, before being able or allowed to book trips to where I wanted to go, I'd disappear into a binge of movies set in or about which ever city was taking my fancy at that moment in time.

Paris was always at the top of my travel bucket list, so I've seen all the movies (good & awful) & the following is a list of my favourites that I would recommend to any lover of Paris.

001 - M o u l i n  R o u g e

Who hasn't seen & loved this movie? I mean really, it's beautiful & heartbreaking & fun. (& there's Ewan McGregor, being all cute and in love, so what else could you want?)
Even for someone that isn't usually too big on musicals, this is one of my favourite movies, I will always go back & re-watch this one.
The movie, set within Montmartre, follows Christian a young English writer/poet who moved to Paris to join the bohemian movement who ends up falling head over heels in love with Satine, a cabaret performer & courtesan at the Moulin Rouge.
The whole movie just a feast for the eyes, every shot is just beautiful, the set design, the costumes, the make up, it's all just so rich with sumptuous colour. Baz Luhrmanns' Paris is viewed through the eyes of those belonging to the underworld of Paris, from the rooftops of the Moulin Rouge, it's dream-like with all the colours & twinkling lights, with the Eiffel Tower & Sacré-Coeur in the distance, through the clouds.

002 - F u n n y  F a c e

003 - C h a r a d e

Audrey Hepburn really did get to be in some great movies all set on location, several of which are in Paris. 

Funny Face & Charade just happen to be my favourites, but she also did Paris When It Sizzles - which I'm not so keen on, I like the premise of it, but it just seemed too cheesy for me. How To Steal A Million - with Peter O'Toole, which is a great crime/rom-com movie. And Sabrina, which I also love, but only a small part of it is shot in Paris.

In Funny Face Audrey plays Jo, a really shy, bookshop worker in New York, who is spotted by a high end fashion photographer, played by Fred Astaire, who believes she has what it takes to become a fashion model. And, despite her reluctance at first, she agrees to travel to Paris to pose for photographs of her in beautiful clothes in front of all the famous Parisian landmarks.

Put simply its a bubbly old hollywood musical that won't fail to put a smile on your face. Expect to see all the sights, accompanied with some beautiful 1950s fashion, singing, dancing, & romance.

In Charade, Audrey plays Regina Lampert who returns to Paris after a holiday in the Alps, to find her apartment bare & her husband murdered. Through a series of twists & turns, she, with the help of Cary Grants character finds out why her husband was murdered, and by whom, all while Regina herself avoiding being harmed or murdered by the same people.

It's a super watchable spy-thriller with a hint of rom-com, all shot on location in Paris. 

004 - A m é l i e

Amélie is a french, whimsical, quirky, romantic comedy. It tells the story of Amélie Poulain, played by Audrey Tautou, a a totally offbeat, quirky character, she's a shy waitress from Montmartre, who decides to secretly help change the lives of the people around her for the better, in small, subtle ways.
You see snippets of her unusual childhood, which she spent mostly alone, developing a wild imagination, and learning to love the tiny pleasures in life such as sinking her hand into a sack of seeds or cracking the top of a creme brûlée.
All of the scenes outside of Amélies apartment are shot in Paris, even the café she works in, Café Des Deux Moulins, is a real place which you can visit in Montmartre. Paris through Amélies eyes is almost fairytale like & full of possibility & wonder.

005 - M i d n i g h t  I n  P a r i s

I think this is possibly one of my favourite movies ever made. It focuses on both present day Paris as well as 1920s Paris - which is one of my favourite moments in history, which is probably why I love it so much. 

Owen Wilson plays a hollywood screenwriter, who dreams of being a novelist, called Gil Pender who is visiting Paris with his fiancé, played by Rachel McAdams, and her family.
While on the trip Gil is constantly put down for his romantic, idealistic and nostalgic views by his materialist, and just generally awful, fiancé, her family and her friends.
The one night, at midnight while walking back to his hotel, he is transported back to 1920s Paris & finds himself mingling with the great writers, artists & musicians of the time, all who love Paris as he does & he finds himself connecting with a few of the characters, and thus opening his eyes to the shortcomings in his relationship, and eventually helps him to decide to change his life from something that felt unfulfilling, to living his dream by staying in Paris & working on his novel.

It's basically an ode to Paris, it's nostalgic for the past lives the city has led and has a wonderful romantic view on the city. If you weren't already in love with the idea of Paris, this film surely will leave you infatuated with the city. 

006 - T h e  H u n c h b a c k  O f  N o t r e  D a m e

007 - T h e  A r i s t o c a t s

I blame these two movies for sparking my love of Paris as a tiny wee girl. I re-watched both these movies before writing this post, and all the joy I got from them came flooding back to me.
I feel like everyone has seen these two classic Disney movies at some point in their lifetime. If not, where the hell have you been?! Get them watched immediately. 

Everyone should know these stories, but just incase you don't...

Hunchback is about a deformed boy, Quasimodo whose mother is killed while attempting to claim sanctuary on the steps of Notre Dame, who is then begrudgingly taken in by Frollo the minister of justice of Paris, and all around horrible little man. Honestly, I hate him even more as an adult, he is creepy af with Esmeralda & throughly toxic to poor Quasimodo.
As an adult, and the bell ringer living, hidden away in the lofts of Notre Dame, the story is about Quasimodos fight to be accepted both by himself and the society.
If you were an fan of this as a child, and still are, I'd recommend looking up The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2, it's actually pretty damn good! 

The Aristocats is basically about a family of cats whose owner is an elderly, aristocratic, single woman living alone in Paris, who is planning on leaving her entire estate to her cats in her will, but when her dastardly butler overhears this conversation, he plans to kidnap the cats, so he, instead, can inherit everything from her.
After being kidnapped, Duchess & the kittens are helped by a number of characters to get back to Paris and their home.
It shows you both the upperclass side of Paris and the 'alley-cat' side of Paris. I loved rewatching this, if anything it just make me want to get lost in Paris & start a jazz band.

If you have never seen this movie, at the very least just look up the alley cat Jazz band scene, which, lets face it, is a party we all want to go to.

008 - T h e  R e d  B a l l o o n

The Red Balloon is a french short film made in the 50s, which follows the adventures of a young boy, who befriends a red balloon. It was all filmed on the streets of the Ménilmontant neighbourhood in Paris. 

At the start of the film he mearly notices a balloon tied to a lamppost which he unties and keeps for himself, but as it goes on, he realises the balloon has a mind of it's own and it begins to follow him wherever he goes.
The pair draw a lot of attention from other children, and eventually a gang of older boys attempt to steal and then destroy the balloon, it's then when a whole bunch of other balloons appear from all over the city and come to the boys aid, and then basically take him on a balloon ride over the city - AKA THE childhood dream of being swept up by holding too many balloons. 

It's a simple, yet beautiful film, that can be interpreted in many different ways. You can actually find the whole movie on youtube here.

There are so many movies about Paris and set in Paris, these just happen to be a few of my favourites. Hopefully there might be one or two on this list you haven't seen, and I'd love any recommendations of any I haven't mentioned and may not have seen! 

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