Of College, East of Eden, and K-Dramas

photograph by me

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved books and tried to blog about them but oh-so-failed at doing so most of the time. That girl is me and I am, at long last, popping back into this neglected corner of the blogosphere to give some semblance of an update. Life has been work and prepping for starting college in August (be quiet. yes, I know it is September— make that October— but it wasn't when I started writing this post), but in my free time I have been keeping a steady diet of books, film, and new TV show discoveries. So here is a mid-year roundup of the year's highlights.

Reading

What three books have been highlights so far? Well, first of all, I finally got around to reading The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Earnest is a delightfully funny play involving mistaken identities, muffins, and black handbags. My first exposure to Wilde's play was back during the YouTube literary web series craze when I stumbled upon my personal favorite of those series, an adaption of the play called In Earnest. I recommend both the play and the web series. Next, would be All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, a beautifully written WWII novel with engaging characters. I was just kind of let down by the ending. But do not let that deter you from checking the book out if WWII fiction is your cup of tea. Lastly, and probably going to end up my favorite read of the year, is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It is one of those books that sort of wallop you over the head and reminds you why stories are such powerful things and why storytelling is so important to you. I am slowly but surely piecing together my thoughts about that book in a semi-coherent manner for another blog post. East of Eden deserves its own post.

Listening

Sedona — Houndsmith. I could launch into an anecdote about all this song's references to John Ford films, the end of the Golden Era of Hollywood, and the Blacklist but I will refrain.
Keeping Your Head Up — Birdy
Saturn — Sleeping At Last
Murder on the Orient Express Soundtrack composed by Patrick Doyle
The Greatest Showman Soundtrack. This music has been playing nearly nonstop since I saw the movie. I love it so much.

Watching

I have been watching more TV shows than films lately it feels like. My siblings and I have all been binge watching Full House for the first time. This show is entertaining. Cute kids, family drama, and 90s nostalgia for the older siblings. But probably one of my new favorite types of television has been K-Dramas. Thanks to Annie Hawthorne on Twitter, I have been working through a list of recommendations. My first show was I Am Not A Robot a rom-com about a millionaire with an allergy to humans and a creative inventor who pretends to be a robot after an accident while the creator repairs the actual robot. I am now five (*cough* make that fourteen) episodes into my second K-Drama, School 2013. Oh my goodness. I am so invested in these characters. AND SOMEBODY PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME TEACHER JUNG'S WARDROBE! Please.

But what about the films I have been watching? Excellent question. I saw Black Panther (2018) in theaters and it was outstanding, even if it did stand on its excellent characters alone and had some of the wackiest story structure I have ever seen in film. I saw the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven and actually enjoyed it. It worked because it wasn't trying to be a remake. It took the premise and became its own take, which works well because the original Magnificent Seven was a remake of a Japanese film Seven Samurai— which I still need to see.

Latest classic cinema watches have been The Snake Pit (1948) starring Olivia de Havilland, groundbreaking sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet (1956), and John Ford's final western film Cheyenne Autumn (1964).

What have you guys been reading? Seen any really good movies or TV shows recently? Anything I should put on my December school break to watch and read list? It's a thing.

Bookstores I Visited In London (& Paris)

In September I went to England, y'all! It was probably the most surreal vacation I have ever taken. I kept turning to my sister and we'd both ask each other: "Are we really here?" I guess that happens when lifelong dreams come true.

We stayed in London and took two day trips, one to Oxford and a second one to Paris. But let's talk about the bookstores I visited.

photographs & collage by me

Daunt Books — https://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/
The first bookstore I visited was Daunt Books near Baker Street and the land where everything is named after Sherlock Holmes. The store specializes in travel books but also has a solid collection of other genres— especially Vintage Classics and a whole shelf of beautifully vintage looking Agatha Christie reprints. If money and suitcase space was no object, I would have had a field day. I resigned myself to just purchasing the Vintage Classics edition of Persuasion by Jane Austen. Though I was sorely tempted by that cover for The Great Gatsby. Be still my cover loving heart.

photographs & collage by me

Shakespeare and Company — https://shakespeareandcompany.com/
During my day trip to Paris, I visited this iconic bookstore that has been on my bucket list ever since I first learned about it in a picture book about Paris when I was little. It is just how you imagine a bookshop in Paris should be. Narrow passages and a winding staircase leading to an upstairs filled with more books. Sadly, photography isn't allowed inside. I did not actually buy a book here (shocking, I know, but I wanted to ensure I had enough money for food), so I bought a tote bag instead. Must say I do not regret buying that tote bag. Best purchase ever. (Side note: London is like California. Grocery stores expect you to bring your own grocery bag.)

photograph & collage by me

Blackwell's Bookshop, Oxford —  http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/bookshop/home
I ended my day trip to Oxford by visiting this massive bookstore and purchasing a Penguin Little Black Classics edition of Lady Susan by Jane Austen. Browsing through all those gloriously gorgeous British covers could very easily have become a new hobby for me. It was such a treat to be able to see them in person instead of browsing through them on Book Depository or Instagram.

photographs & collage by me

Charing Cross Road —
Like every sensible human being who has read 84, Charing Cross Road I made a pilgrimage to that beautiful street— and stumbled my way through London Fashion Week while doing so. While, horror of horrors, I was too pressed for time to find that famed address, I did get to visit two still open secondhand bookstores on the street: Any Amount of Books and Quinto & Francis Edwards Booksellers. I acquired a vintage edition of Georgette Hyer's The Grand Sophy at Any Amount of Books for only a pound! They were having a basement sale where everything was one pound.

Have any of you been to these bookstores or cities? What are some of the bookstores you have visited on your travels?

Bye Bye August, Hello September

photograph by me

Is it really September already? This year has been flying by, my friends, and Real Life has been keeping me on my toes. But hey, I am going to England later this month! *runs about the house freaking out because she still doesn’t quite believe it's true* Yes, I have an impending trip to England coming up this month, autumn is just around the proverbial corner, and I am slowly working on getting my reading life back into shape. So, let’s do a quick round-up of what I have been up to of late.

Reading

I just finished reading Around the World In 80 Days by Jules Verne. I adored the 1956 film starring David Niven. While the novel is very different from the fantastically whimiscal 1950s epic adventure of the film, I still loved it. It helped knowing they were different going into the book. I have picked up reading through my two volume collection of O. Henry’s short stories after a year’s hiatus and hope to tackle A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, Saving Amelie by Cathy Gohlke, and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr this month. We will see how that goes. I just started Saving Amelie and, so far, it is doing a fantastic job of pulling me into the story.

Writing

I finished reading through the first draft of my novel The Letters of Lee Ames with a friend the other week. I have a whole slew of notes of adjustments to make in draft two and just began rewriting the opening scene a couple of nights ago. So excited for this!

Listening

Amelie from Montmartre Soundtrack composed by Yann Tiersen
Born Again - Josh Garrels
The Crown: Season One Soundtrack composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams

Watching

August is TCM’s Summer Under the Stars, where each day is dedicated to showcasing a specific actor or actress’s films, and my DVR has been busy keeping up with all of my recordings. Highlights include:
The Cameraman (1928) a silent comedy starring Buster Keaton
Double Wedding (1938) a romantic comedy starring the team of William Powell and Myrna Loy
Terror on a Train (1953) British made suspense starring Glenn Ford. The British title for this movie, Time Bomb, is a little less melodramatic.

My latest television discovery would have to be the 1970s TV show Laverne & Shirley. It is hysterical.

So, what have you all been up to? Read any great books? Found a new favorite song? Watched any really good films or discovered a new favorite TV show?

In the Works

photograph by me

Happy Belated Saint Patrick's Day, all my fine blog readers! I went out more this year for St. Patrick's Day than I think I ever have before and I am now in a very Irish/Celtic mood. I have brought out all my Irish/Celtic/Scottish music from my obsessed teenage years. (It's not like I ever abandoned it though. Not really. It is a predecessor of the folky-rock-ish sound that is my favorite for music, after all.) Can I just say, Hanna has some of the best music suggestions?

Anyhow, I have been working on plans for future blog posts. I have one in the works about my current Work-In-Progress and then I am looking at my to-read list for books to review here. But I have another much more informal post I would like to do. I would like you to know me better. I am very socially awkward. (Imagine me holding a friend's baby while rambling on about decapitation and being extremely thankful the babe's mother was not there to witness my floundering. I'm also very thankful that the baby had no understanding of what I was going on about and was too young to ask me what it meant. *ahem*) I also have a hard time letting people outside of my immediate family know much about me and what I like. They know I write and I love books, but I never go into details. It's one of my big goals for 2017— to let people get to really know me as I actually am and to get to know other people better instead of shying away from social settings and interactions. So, ask away! Ask me anything you would like to know about me, books, film, music, art, travel, that gluten-free life, or anything else you can think of to ask me and leave the question in the comments of this post! I will make a hopefully long and chatty reply blog post in the next two weeks.

My questions for you: What did you do this Saint Patrick's Day? And what are your favorite Irish songs/singers?

Blog Updates

Please excuse the confusion, I'm currently giving this piece of the blogosphere a renovation.

What was formerly Ain't We Got Fun is now Hanna-col Writes. Welcome!

EDIT: If you follow me using the Google Friends Connect widget in the sidebar, you may need to unfollow and then refollow for the updated feed to start showing up in your Blogger Reading List.

The Return

photograph by me

It's been six months, my friends. Six whole months. How did this happen? Basically, my spring was busy with transitions at work and really hard writing struggles (that I'm still overcoming) and then it became easier just not to blog. I wanted to but with all my writing trouble, I felt guilty blogging if I wasn't really getting anything accomplished with my writing. I was afraid of feeling like a fraud.

But enough of fear. If anything, this year has been about challenging myself to forge beyond fear and know that with God's grace I can just give it my best shot and trust Him for the results.

So let's talk shop. I'm currently about to set forth on an adventure: reading all (well, most) of the books I own before buying more. How will I do this? By not setting foot inside a bookstore and avoiding Amazon like the plague (or a cliche). My personal book collection has exploded in the past year and is now overflowing into stacks throughout my room. This is what regular income does to bibliophiles. (To be honest, though, I do have a list of exceptions in case I do run across books I can't pass up or an indie author releases a new title. #SupportIndieAuthors)

I am hoping this adventure will help give me fuel for future posts and reviews. I want to get myself back into the habit of posting here weekly again. I have plans for this small corner of the blogosphere. Some of these exciting plans include a fresh look and a new name.

Now talk to me, my fellow bibliophiles! What have you been reading? Have you discovered any new favorite bookish treasures? What projects are you working on? Talk my ear off, people, because it has been far too long.