The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

This book wasn't part of my 50 books challenge; I actually read it sometime last year. However with the trailer (below) being released yesterday I can't stop thinking about it.

The Fault in Our Stars is my favourite book. I've never had a more emotional reaction to any story and I've also never had a story that's meant so much to me. The thing I find strange though is that I have no idea why. I've never had or known anyone with cancer and I've never known someone the same age as me who has died.  I know I'm not the only one as well; the book is adored by many people and I presume a lot of them have been as fortunate as I have in not have experienced most of the things in the book. The only thing about the story I can relate to is falling in love and I think maybe that's why I find the book so emotional. It's so beautiful and so true of what it feels like to be in love at that age. There's no unrealistic romantic gestures and similarly there are cringe-worthy moments between the characters that ring true of my own experiences. I think the book is so emotional because I know how the characters felt and I can't possibly imagine the depth of the pain after a love so real. Because that's the thing, the love isn't perfect and it isn't a fairytale ending by any means. It's just so damned real.

You can see the trailer for the film below. If you haven't read the book the I'd recommend it very much. Prior-warning I've watched the trailer about ten times and wept every single one.

Okay? Okay.

How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran- Review

To kick off my 50 books in 2014 challenge I thought I'd start with a book that had been very much recommended to me. I suppose I should start this by saying that I very much enjoyed reading this book. It's well written, very funny and many of the topics Moran covers ring very true to my own experiences of becoming a woman. 

The blurb on the back of the book describes it as 'Part Memoir, part rant'. This is the truest description of this books you could hope to find. Moran focuses on events that have happened in her life and then relates them to feminism and the modern woman. As I read the book I found myself enjoying the 'rant' parts much more than the 'memoir' parts. Her rants were hilarious and on several occasions I found myself laughing out loud at this book. However sometimes when reading through yet-another-memoir it felt like this book was more about How To Be Caitlin Moran than How To Be a Woman. 

All this said I truly did enjoy this book, and not just for the laughs. It forced me think about my own views and what it is that makes me think that way. Moran covers some very controversial topics in this book, from the Burka to abortion; so if you are easily offended perhaps it's not one for you.However what I loved about Moran's writing was that she never tried to present her opinion as the only one worth considering. Whilst reading the book I felt like I could disagree with what she was saying and still get just as much from the overall reading experience.

I also loved how broad her view of feminism is. She mentions how there is room for all types of women in feminism. I loved this because there seems to be this notion that a feminist is a certain type of woman; when in fact a feminist is any person that believes a man and a woman should have equal rights.

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This is all, 
Gemmm xxx