Summer Reading List & Update

Hello guys,  It seems I'm back from a very long holiday, or so it seems. My personal life as well as college caught up with me and well me being lazy I just didn't bother. It didn't help that I had lost my way with blogging. However I AM BACK! I have returned with a new blog design (which I love) and hopefully a new direction with blogging. I felt as if before I left it was just makeup everything and I was getting bored, I mean I love makeup yet hate reviewing it because I don't wear it every single day. Meaning my direction comes in the form of book posts (which I'm trying to do more of), OOTD posts (as now I have my own place!!) and just normal everyday lifestyle posts. Don't get me wrong, I will still talk about beauty it just won't be all the time as I'm not actually buying that much makeup anymore. 
I have so many posts I want to share with you, including a tour of my very own flat and the weekend I spent away in Peterborough, but for now I'm going to give you a taste of what I'm going to be reading this summer!

Apocalypse Now Now By Charlie Human

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantle

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin

Also including some kindle books I just haven't had chance to read (I'm trying to save up for the HD fire)... I haven't included many on this list as I'm slowly getting myself back into reading as I haven't done very much this year. Hopefully when September rolls around this list will be complete and I'll have had to make a second post for all the other books I've read! As I seem to have tons of spare time and spend most of it in bed... so I may as well start picking up a book again.

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50 Books That Will Change Your Life - I'm Back!

Hello guys & girls, I'm back! So it seems I went missing for quite a few months, it seems college and work got the better of me again! However I'm going up to my A2 exams and in 3 months time college will be over (yay!!). Anyway, I saw this post on Hayley's blog and I though I just had to do it, I always love finding new books to read and I though the best way to restart off 'ellelouisee' was to be with something I love.

(s)

Books that will scare you Wasp Factory by Iain Banks The Rats by James Herbert The Shinning by Stephen King 1984 by George Orwell Lord Loss by Darren Shan
1/5 Wow, that is really bad. I'm not a massive fan of scary books, I'll only read Stephen King however I really do want to give 1984 a try.
Books that will teach you about love Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Forever by Judy Blume Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte  The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Twilight by Stephanie Meyer How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
4/6 I'm pretty impressed with myself on this one woop! I love classics so Jane Eyre and P&P were not a problem for me. I read Twilight when I was about 12(?) and it was terrible. Anne Frank's diary forever to me will be something I can re-read, it really is an amazing piece of literature and history. I don't really care for Judy Blume seeing as she wrote awful children's books!
Books that will make you laugh The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy  by Douglas Adams Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison Geek Girl by Holly Smale The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
2/6 I've read Adrian Mole and also Angus & Thongs (as well as the whole series) both books being brilliant. I've been wanting to read the Hitchhiker's Guide for a while and the other two sound very interesting. However I will not be picking up Diary of a Wimpy Kid - sounds way too childish for me...
Books that will transport you The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald The Life of Pi by Yann Martel Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman Percy Jackson (series) by Rich Riordan  Harry Potter (series) by J.K.Rowling The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
4/6 I've read the Great Gatsby (A2 Lit) and the full Northern Lights series, both of which I fully enjoyed. The Harry Potter series and LOTR books are both at the top of my list which I do re-read probably twice a year (oops), so yeah I really like this category! I really want to read Life of Pi too.
Books that will change the way you think Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman A Streetcat Named Bob by James Bowen Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Wonder by R.J. Palacio The Book Thief by Marcus Zusack
4/7 That isn't too bad, however the books I have read in this one (aside from Perks) I read about 3 years ago, so I can't actually remember them... However Noughts & Crosses is part of a great series. This category also has a few on my to read list which I'm desperate to start which are Wonder and The Book Thief.
Books that will make you cry Before I Die by Jenny Downham The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini War Horse by Micheal Morpurgo The Time Traveler's Wife by Audret Niffengger My Sister's Keeper by Jodie Picoult  Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
3/7 The only book out of these ones that actually made me cry was My Sister's Keeper so yeah... Of Mice & Men (GCSE English) just annoyed me rather than upset me and the Time Traveler's Wife I haven't actually read I've just seen the film did nothing for me either. I can't help but wonder why The Fault in Our Stars isn't here, I cried for the last 2 chapters. 
Books that will help you to understand The Fault in Our Stars by John Green The Outsider's by S.E. Hinton The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger I Captured the Castle by Dodie Smith
1/5 Wow, the section was bad for me... I guess I don't like upsetting books? The only one I've read was the Fault in Our Stars, which I cried buckets at but will always re-read. The others are on my to read list but not near the top. 
Books that will thrill you A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess City of Bones by Cassandra Clare The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier Gone by Micheal Grant Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy Divergent by Veronica Roth 
4/7 This section contains some of my favorites such as The Hunger Games and City of Bones (full series is faaab). I've also read the Skulduggery books, kind of for kids but I still enjoyed them. I've seen the film for Clockwork Orange so that counts right considering it's such a hard book to read. I also want to read the only I haven't so yeah, hello to read list! 
Ultimate Score: 23/30 Wow, that's rather bad considering how much I love books ha! I'm definitely going to make more of an effort this year to read the rest of this list as they all sound rather interesting. Have you guys read any of these books? Tell me your opinions, I love talking books!

January - June Reading Wrap Up!

So I did start to write the books I've current read into blog posts for my Goodread's reading challenge this year but I kept forgetting about them and sometimes I didn't read as much and those posts slowly went out of the window... until now! I've decided to take a different approach - of filming a video! At the end of the month I will gather together the books I have read that month and 'mini review' them all for you on my YouTube, However today i bring you all of the books I've read between January and the end of June. I hope you enjoy this video and massive thanks to Hayley for inspiring me to do this (she's started it herself here!)

the books of 2013

A new year, a new set of books!

Last year I set myself a challenge of reading 50 books in one year which I managed to complete! Goodreads said I didn't but I had a read a few books before I joined Goodreads. However this year I have a new challenge; 70 books in one year! Now I'm an avid reader but for me this is a big challenge so wish me luck. I also told myself when buying new books I need to explore different genres more. So here are some of the books for the new year. (Mostly Christmas presents!)

Most of these I was bought for Christmas but some have been waiting on my shelves to be read. So this year I opted for a more organised reading kind of 'space'. I thought to myself "I really want somewhere I can put all of my unread books so I know I can always find them" and so I bought the gorgeous box from Matalan for £5 (I bought one for all my beauty products this year too!)

Of course I have lots of other books to read and buy but here's just a few on my list. A few I'm looking forward to are the Cassandra Clare books and Crime & Punishment :)

What's on your to-read list this year? 

Book Challenge '12 #2

As you can see by my little widget for Goodreads in my sidebar I am now on 38 books out of 50, so not long to go now! I thought I'd share some of my most current reads with you and a small opinion. Most of my book reviews will be going up on the Bloggers Bookshelf blog (not fully running yet) but it will be soon! My first review is on November 2nd :)
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
This trilogy contains the books; Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife & The Amber Spyglass.
Now I read the first book of this trilogy as a small children of about 10 and never quite got on to reading the next two simply because people said they were 'too complicated' for me and now I do see what they meant. I finished reading these books about a week and a half ago and I literally sped through them. I ate them up rapidly, I absolutely adored these books. They were amazing, full of humour and love, crazy and scary situations and maybe even a 'is all hope lost moment?' and the plot does thicken quite a bit between the second and third book which makes me think, no these definitely aren't for children. The books are wonderfully complicated towards the end which made me enjoy them even more, however there is always a problem and this time it's the overall ending, lets just say I wasn't best pleased. However you could be 30 and love these books or my age 17 and devour them. All I have to say is if you haven't read them yet.. GO AHEAD! Honestly waste no time, they are an excellent read and something fantasy but in a whole new world. 

At the moment I am currently reading  the Artemis Fowl books which yes again are for children but I believe can be enjoyed and loved by people of any age. My auntie is certainly not a teenager and even she rushed out for the supposed last book of this series, this is my second time of reading them and I'm enjoying them even more. Next on my list after this series is the brand spanking new book from JK Rowling which is  Casual Vacancy which I am genuinely so excited to read, I wonder how her writing style will differ with an adults book. I'll just have to wait and see!

What have you been reading recently?

Leave your favorite book reccomendations below! ♡

Book Challenge '12 #1

Now if you have me as a friend on Goodreads or have seen my little widget below on my sidebar you'll know that for this year I've set myself a little challenge of reading 50 books and I'm over half way there with 32 on my 'read list' and I thought I'd share a little update with you all on what I've been reading.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I am a huge fan of classics! But I never really got around to reading this on because I never though much of it. I was so wrong. Now I read this book on my kindle and I absolutely adored it. I first watched the film with Keira Knightley and I absolutely loved it. I loved the fact Mr Darcy chased her yet it didn't seem like it. It was so amazing and I just loved their connection in the book. Despite it taking it's time to get going because I'd watched the film I got to know the characters more in depth when reading the book and also I already knew the characters so it was just lovely to see the full book play out with added bits that wasn't in the film.

By Light Alone by Adam Roberts
This one I didn't set on reading, this one I just picked up out of the library one day needing something to read on the bus home from town. But from chapter one I was hooked, it's set in the future but a very different future to what modern day is. I found it rather peculiar but so interesting  it only came out this year too! The ending was rather abrupt and (thinking it was an older book) I thought it was a bad way to end it, however only being released late this year I am so hoping for a second book!

One Day by David Nicholls

I've heard ton's of reviews about this book, some hated it and some loved it. I however loved it apart from the ending. I'm not going to spoil it for anyone but let me just say, it was heartbreaking. However it was a beautiful love story between two people meant to be together however they take their time about it. It was set between different time periods and you got POV's from both characters which was a lovely mix up. I loved this book I just didn't like the end, I think it spoilt it.

I do tend to ramble on a little bit when talking books so I thought I'd only do three books with their own little reviews. I hope to give you a summary on my recently read books every time I read three new ones or maybe even a few more, depending on how I'm feeling. Currently on my to read list is His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman which I've already started and I'm so excited for, so be on the lookout for my review of those three books!

What have you been reading recently? 

Leave me your favourite book recommendations below!