String of Unread University Books

Hey blogosphere! *waves excitedly* Now that my university has broken up for the Christmas break, I've sat down and counted how many of my semester one books I have not read. Guys, it is not pretty...

.... Out of 35 books, I've officially read 23. Read 'em and weep.

Let me just start off saying that as an English Literature student, I study four modules. This means that on average I have to read four separate books a week unless one book is studied for two weeks. I know I should start them one or two weeks earlier - scratch that, I should have started in the summer - but my New Year's Resolution is exactly to do that. It's just that I try to read on the days that I'm not in university but my mum is currently very ill and not having my grandma around anymore means that she's often alone to do things at home. The perks (according to my mum) of living so close to university is that I can help her so that's where most of my free time is dedicated. I Rest My Case!

Since my books for semester two are still in transit, I'm going to try and finish some of the books pictured above.

1) Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte: Part of my Victorian Fictions module but I previously studied this for my A-Level English Literature coursework so I didn't feel like I needed to re-read it. This is an amazing book about poor and plain Jane Eyre's journey from an orphan growing up in a hostile family then later a corrupt boarding school for girls to an independent governess who softens the stoic heart of Mr Rochester. It's a beautiful classic and one to re-read again and again.

2) Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte: Studied this in week 1 of Victorian Fictions and I really wish I had started it before. It was fascinating to explore the relationship between Heathcliffe and Catherine and to see how this isn't just a love story but one with bitterness and greed and jealousy. I will definitely finish this!

3) Bleak House, Charles Dickens: Urgh. Just urgh. 200 pages was the furthest I went into this 740 paged monster. You just read more and more, trying to consume the pages and it becomes even less enjoyable. It's meant to be this huge commentary on the hypocrisy and futility of the Chancery court using the case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce hence why so many characters are introduced but you're just left with a great headache. To this day, I still have no idea what the bloody hell the case is about! That said, I did prefer Esther's narrative over the omniscient third person narrator's but I don't plan on finishing it anytime soon because just imagine trying to write an essay on that?

4) Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie: My baby. I will definitely finish this because it's the first text I've studied in my 'Post Colonial and Global Literature' module based on post-colonial India. Rushdie implements magical realism into this important historical narrative to highlight the difficulty in creating a new identity for India and its neighbours after the British finally leave. It's such a deliciously complex book that's so well written you can't help just pausing and thinking "damn".

5) The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins: This is another one that I am definitely finishing because I LOVE IT. It's a sensational crime mystery about the Koh-I-Noor diamond but what I love about it is the voice of the head butler who narrates the case to the reader. He's really witty, knows which characters to confide in and I can just imagine him hobbling around the house of his mistress's with his walking stick. Cute stuff.

6) Vanity Fair, William Thackeray: I honestly knew I was never going to finish reading this beast even if I studied it for two weeks. I just watched the 2004 movie adaptation. Like Bleak House, this novel is a commentary on society. It follows the journey of clever Becky Sharp in her rise to power and affluence using first, employment and later, marriage. It questions whether you blame the opportunist or the society that makes opportunism necessary. Unlike Bleak House however, Thackeray's writing is SO much more enjoyable and wittier so it'll be one for the summer holidays I think.

***How about you guys? Any books that you couldn't get into or just could not complete? I'd love to know why so I don't feel like the worst example of a literature student.***

Thank you for reading!

Rima

December Book Haul

Ooh look at this! A new blogpost within one week. Maybe I really have matured and started taking up the responsibility of regular posts now that I'm a twenty year old fledgling.

This is my book haul and reading list for December. There was a point during November where I was tired of looking at my university books so I annoyed my dad into buying me books for the Christmas holiday. I plan to wind down with some young adult fiction, romances and medieval epics whilst wrapped in bed and stuffing my face with chocolates from the neighbours.

A quick blurb of each book from Goodreads and why I bought them is below:

1) An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir

"Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

I'll admit with both hands in the air that I bought this for the cover. Isn't it gorgeous?! You're lying if you say no. Anyways, my friend Aleema and I wanted to buddy read something and this book was catapulted to the top of our list based on the hype around it. You should check out Aleema's Instagram: she's based in England like me and her feed is all things jaw-dropping and fluffy. 

2) Me Before You, Jojo Moyes

"Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time."

I've been recommended to read this by several Instagram friends because it's a tear jerker. It's Christmas time. It's cold outside but it's warm inside. I'm totally in the mood for a tear jerker. Being a typical bibliophile, my "to-be-read" is too embarrassing to count but what made me buy this is because the movie adaptation is going to be released in June 2016 starring Hunger Games and Love, Rosie's Sam Claflin and Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke. Yes please.


3) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

"“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”

So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read."

I first saw this book years ago in WHSmith and was shocked that someone would dare parody Jane Austen's classic. Recently I heard that it was adapted for the big screen and is to be released in February 2016 starring BBC's Great Expectations, Romeo and Juliet and Riot Club's Douglas Booth and Downton Abbey and Cinderella's Lily James. Being a sucker for movies with my favourite actors I knew I had to read the book. Noticing a pattern here? The things I do for my baes really belongs in a separate blogpost...

4) The History of the World in Bite-sized Chunks, Emma Marriott

"History is a rich, varied and fascinating subject, so it's rare to find the whole lot in one book...until now. "The History of the World in Bite-Sized Chunks" pulls it all together, from the world's earliest civilizations in 3500 BC to the founding of the United Nations in 1945, passing by the likes of Charlemagne, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean War, to name a few. Here's your chance to introduce yourself to the full spectrum of world history, and discover just how the modern world came to be."

This would have been bought weeks ago when I saw it perched on the counter in Picadilly's Waterstones but it was £15 and I told myself to calm down and to think rationally. The whole time while I was paying for the books in my hand, I was trying to fathom the awesomeness of this book. The whole history of the world written in one tiny book? *Mind blown* Anyways, watching BBC Two's The Last Kingdom has made me wish I knew more of the Viking-Saxon history than my already limited knowledge. This book won't do justice to such a terrifying and inspiring era but it's a start.

5) A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin

"Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.

The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne."

This was previously bought but I'm starting it over the Christmas holidays in preparation of studying it in my Arthurian Literature module. Exciting right? If I had my way, I would have read this popular series alongside the tv show in the summer but my university lecturers have other plans and to be honest, I wouldn't mind being immersed in another medieval world now that The Last Kingdom is over.


That's all from me now. Let's see how many of these I can actually finish in the holidays whilst battling with my university reading list.

What books have you bought recently and what books are you going to be reading during the festive break?

20 Things To Do In My 20s

I've hit the dreaded digits today. I'll admit I wasn't looking forward to turning 20 just because it marked the end of my teenage-hood and the time for me to start adulting. The expectations of responsibility is a horrifying prospect and I basically don't want to grow up. But...some of my friends who have already turned 20 told me that stepping up to the big 2 and 0 is the start of a decade of big desicions, failed interviews, mistakes and adventures. We get busy trying to achieve our biggest ambition that we start forgetting the little dreams so I've decided to make a list of 20 things I want to do in my 20s.

1) Sleep under the stars.

2) Go on a long drive in the country.

3) Complete my first novel and dedicate it to those who believed in me.

4) Take my family on Umrah (minor pilgrimage to Mecca).

5) Cut my hair short and pray my mum doesn't kill me.

6) Visit Scotland, Ireland and Nottingham (Robin Hood, I'm coming!).

7) Stay at a beach overnight.

8) Read all of Shakespeare's plays ad poems.

9) Learn to ride a horse. (I'll need one if I want to live in the country later).

10) Learn to use a sewing machine so I can make my own Inayah dresses. 

11) Be stranded in the middle of nowhere and successfully get myself home. 

12) Meet my Instagram friends in person! 

13) Live in a suburban house. 

14) Go on a hike in the countryside before dawn and watch the sun rise.

15) Watch an oriental film without subtitles.

16) Hand in an essay 24 hours before the deadline (God please! I already know I'm going to procrastinate with my dissertation...).

17) Learn how to jump start a car (just because). 

18) Enrol on an Arabic course to understand the Qur'an better.

19) Go on a hot air balloon ride.

20) Check off this list and come up with 30 things to do in my 30s.

I hope you enjoyed reading my list of dreams at 20. What top 5 things do you want to accomplish in the next 10 years? 

Until next time.

Rima