HI I'M BACK!!!
I'm
not sure for how long, because I'm SO BUSY preparing for my exams,
but I've missed blogging so much that I thought even though I'm
drowning under past papers and flashcards, let me make an appearance
so that y'all don't forget me.
SO,
here I am! *appears in a tornado of confetti and glitter*
How
are you guys doing? Have you read any good books? What's been your
favourite? Has anything interesting been happening in your life? LET
ME KNOW. I MISS YOU GUYS.
SO,
this year has been good but busy. I finally have tutors
and they're actually giving me set times to do stuff, which
is weird because I've been in control of all my
schoolwork the past 6 years, so that's different but good.
It
was also my NINETEENTH BIRTHDAY last month! My last year of being a
teenager. Also, I'm like, 3 years older than most of the protagonists
in YA and it's freaking me out. WHEN DID I GET SO OLD?! I
had an amaaaazing birthday, though! My actual birthday was on Sunday
the 11th of February, but I decided to celebrate the Friday and
Saturday as well! IT WAS SO FUN. MUCH CAKE WAS HAD.
On
Friday I went out with my one friend to Nando's; on Saturday I went
out to Nando's (can you tell I love it there?) with a group of my
girl friends and then they came back to mine for cake. THERE WAS SO
MUCH CAKE. There was chocolate brownie cake, chocolate cheesecake,
cupcakes, chocolate buttons, pavlova, ice cream and chocolate mini
eggs. I felt like double the person on Sunday! I had the most amazing
time seeing them all - I'm so grateful to know such lovely people!
Then
on Sunday my mom invited some friends over for tea and cake, and then
I went to church that night. It was a really chilled day, which was
nice, as the other two days were so busy!
I
was SO SPOILED for my birthday! I got a Kawai electric piano!!! IT'S
SO BEAUTIFUL. Of course as soon as I saw it I started crying, because
I'm an emotional peanut. All I've been wanting to do lately is play
piano, so it made me SO TREMENDOUSLY happy to finally be able to do
that! I've been playing so much the last 3 weeks, which is also a
reason for not having as much time to read and blog! I'll try to
insert a video of me playing, but when I've tried to post a video on
my blog before it hasn't worked? I SHALL GOOGLE THOUGH, FEAR NOT.
I've learned Fur Elise by Beethoven in its entirety (it's always been
my goal to learn all of it) - now I just need to get my tempo and
timing right! I've also been practicing Le
Onde by Einaudi, which I could already play but I desperately
needed practice, seeing as I haven't played piano in THREE YEARS. I'm
also finally getting the hang of Comptine
d'un autre ete by Yann Tiersen! YAY! I'd learned a third of it
when I was 16, but the other night I realised I'd misread the notes
in the first few bars. Well done, Kyra.
What
else have I been doing? Mainly school work, Bible study and
volunteering at my church's cafe once a week! I'm probably going to
start volunteering at the infant group they run at my church as well,
AND I might start teaching little ones part-time! I'M SO EXCITED.
I've taken a break from ballet until my exams are over, because
although it's once a week, it's super late and I already have a late
night when I work at the cafe, so I thought I'd take a break from
that for now! If you were wondering about the whole ballet thing,
which you probably weren't, but I like to overshare
pointless stories.
I've
also been journalling again, which I find so therapeutic. Last week I
finished my A4 Nutcracker journal that I've been using from the age
of 17 (it's so great actually filling up an entire notebook, isn't
it?!), so I've started writing in the new one I got for my birthday!
I finished my old journal on the last day of February, so I find it
really satisfying that it starts on the first day of a new month!
These
are the books I've read in January and February! I've only managed
one book a week so far, but at least that means I'm on track for my
Goodreads reading goal!
Wintersong - 💛💛💛💛.5 | Steelheart - 💛💛💛💛💛 | Firefight - 💛💛💛💛.5 | Calamity - 💛💛💛💛💛 | Sweetly - 💛💛💛💛 | English as Global Language - 💛💛💛💛 | Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms - 💛💛💛💛 | Flora & Ulysses - 💛💛💛.5
YAY FOR NO SUCKY READS!!! My 2018 got off to a great start with Wintersong. I absolutely ADORED it. You can read my full thoughts here. I also finally got around to reading the Reckoners trilogy which has been on my TBR pile for ages. I LOVED IT. I fell completely in love with David (the main character); I loved the romance, the dialogue, the humour and, of course, all the plot twists. It was SOOO good!!! YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY READ IT.
I then proceeded to read Sweetly (on Valentine's day, I thought it would be suitable), and I actually really enjoyed it?! I thought it was going to be one of those books that I'd like but not love, but I kind of loved it?! I really liked the main character and her brother; I liked their brother/sister relationship; I liked the setting and the writing; I eventually warmed up to the love interest, and I enjoyed the plot! I'm really looking forward to reading the companion novels. Also, I'm clearly stupid, because I only recently realised there was a face on the cover. I was always like "Aw, look at the pretty house and the scary trees!", but I never noticed the face. 😶
I also read English as a Global Language as research for my English language case studies. It was really good! If you're interested in learning about English as a global language and how it came to be that way, the author does a great job of concisely summarising the information.
I then read two middle-grade novels which were very cute! I picked up Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms because I saw Katherine Rundell's name, and I've been meaning to read more from her! I then immediately decided to take it out after flicking through and seeing the characters say "Ja" (Afrikaans for "yes") a lot. I then actually read the blurb and realised the book was set in Zimbabwe and England. I love reading books set in Africa! I really enjoyed reading it, but it made me SO homesick that I ended up crying. I'm not even from Zimbabwe. I am from South Africa, though, so...there were some things that reminded me of home. Like I said, I'M AN EMOTIONAL PEANUT.
I then decided to read Flora & Ulysses. IT'S GOT PICTURES IN and a cynical middle-grader and her superhero squirrel, who wouldn't want to read that?! It was a very cute story. I liked the character, the pictures and the dialogue. Not a lot happened in terms of plot, which was quite disappointing - still a very cute story regardless!
I don't know why I still bother setting TBR piles (actually I do: because they're fun), as I NEVER stick to them. However, I've always done it and I'm not going to stop now. So! The books I'll (probably not, but hopefully will) be reading this month:
- Seraphina...because DRAGONS.
- All About Mia...I started reading this randomly in the library and I was hooked. So, naturally, I had to take it out.
- All the Crooked Saints...I read a few pages, and I think I'm going to really like it.
- OBSIDIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got sent a review copy! EXCUSE ME WHILE I CRY AND FLAIL AND CRY SOME MORE!
SO, LET'S CHAT! What books are you planning on reading this month? What's been your favourite book that you've read this year? Tell me one interesting thing that's happened to you this year so far!