Kind of a spring book haul

I know it's not even May yet, but I'm still going to call this haul a spring one, partly because I don't think I'm going to buy more books before summer. And partly because it's kind of snowing here in Finland right now. I have bought only four books since my birthday in January, which I'm really happy about actually.

I bought the Fifth Wave and All the Bright Places in March, because I had a couple of gift cards and my local bookstore had 15% off of everything. So yeah, I got books, that I didn't really have to pay for at all. Happy days.

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey is a science fiction novel about Earth after I'd presume aliens have invaded it and killed almost all of humanity. The only way to survive is to trust no one, which is what Cassie is trying to do. Then she meets Evan, and has to decide whether she'll trust him to help her find her lost little brother or not. This is all I really know of this book, in addition to the 4,16 average rating on Goodreads, and was all I really had to know to want to read this. It seems interesting, and it was cheap, so I thought I'd give it a try.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is about a boy called Finch and a girl called Violet, who meet on the ledge of their school's bell tower, and save each other from jumping. This is a love story, but that's all I want to know. I'd rather see for myself what this is about. A lot of people have been buying this book lately, and I really want to read it soon because of that.

And then, today I went to see if I could use the last 6 euros on my gift card and buy perhaps two books. I actually had a different one I was going to buy than those I ended up buying, because when I found George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (or 1984), I had to get it instead. I've tried to find this for a while, not too actively searching, but still searching, because I haven't read it and I really want to. It's about a man who lives in a totalitarian world, where everything you do is controlled and watched, Big Brother style.

Then I also got the Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, which is the reason why I was at the bookstore today. I saw this a while ago when I was just browsing, and went to get it today. It's about a spy, who works for a mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. The main character, Irene, goes to alternative London, but the book she's after has already been stolen, and she has to find it. I don't know, for some reason this seemed really interesting to me. And the cover's really pretty.

And last, do you want an update on how my annotating books has been going? Well, I'm loving it. I'm currently reading the last Harry Potter book and Red Rising, and underlining and commenting has been so much fun. I'd really recommend for everyone to at least give it a try, because it really makes your books your books. With your comments and thoughts. It's amazing. Though, I know it's not for everybody, and if even the thought of writing in your book gives you anxiety, I'm not going to say you have to do it. :)

The pictures will be unedited for a little while, because my laptop is living its last moments and I had to remove everything from it to get it to work, so I don't have an editing program at the moment. I am planning on getting a new one maybe next summer, though, so it won't be like this for too long I hope.

Make them yours

This is a kind of a response post to the video below, so you might want to watch  that first.

I had a bit of an epiphany while watching that video just some minutes ago; why should I not annotate my books while reading? Why shouldn't I, when my philosophy with books is that they can and should look read. I love when my books are not perfect, why couldn't I for example underline my favourite quotes or comment if something is really great or really bad?

I like the idea of annotating, though I wouldn't go as far as Ariel does in that video. She writes over the paragraphs, and dog-ears the pages, which are things I couldn't do. But little comments, underlining? It would make the book personal, and it would make it my version, just like Ariel says. And maybe, some day, someone would be delighted to find out that I had made little comments in a book they have borrowed. I think I would be. It would feel like you weren't reading the book alone, but with someone else.

So maybe from now on, I might annotate some of my books, Maybe. I can't say for sure, but this video really got me thinking about that. Because sometimes I have read a passage so amazing and perfect, that I have had to write it down, when I could have just underlined it. 

Interesting. 

And now I have the urge to read all of my favourite books again as soon as possible and annotate them.

As an end note, though, I would like to say that please do not annotate borrowed books without permission. I wouldn't like it, and I feel I'm in the majority with this one.

Recently watched #1

Recently watched is going to be an on-going series of short reviews and my thoughts on movies I have seen lately, but of which I don't feel like writing longer reviews, a few movies at a time.

The Theory of Everything

There should be no boundaries to human endeavor. We are all different. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.

This movie was really good, and Eddie Redmayne totally deserved his Oscar. He was absolutely brilliant. I find the whole story of Stephen Hawking really inspiring, and it was very interesting to learn more about him. This was a very lovely movie, lovely and a little sad as well. Beautifully made. I wanted to cry a few times, and when the above quote was said, it was almost impossible to not start sobbing. I just really liked this one, that's all I have to say.

The Hunger Games

I wasn't supposed to watch any of the Hunger Games movies until the last one was out, but when I had the chance to borrow the first three from a friend, I decided to watch them. I like the books, and have never really wanted to see the films, based on the trailers and other people's opinions.

The first one was bad. I hated the camera work, especially in the beginning. The second one, Catching Fire, was better, and in fact my favourite of the three. But that isn't really that surprising, as the second book is my favourite as well. The third one, Mockingjay part 1, felt incomplete. Stuff happened, yes, but it just felt like there should have been a little something more. There wasn't one bigger event, just a steady flow of stuff. But, as it is part 1 of 2, I think that can be forgiven.

All in all, these movies were okay. I like the books a lot more, but the movies did have their moments. I still won't be going to the cinema to watch the last one though.

127 hours

I had wanted to see 127 hours since it came out, but never managed to do that for whatever reason. I borrowed this from a friend at the same time as the Hunger Games movies, finally. It was okay. A little weird, with all the cuts and camera work and editing. That actually bothered me a little, and I think the movie would have been better without all those weird psychedelic scenes. But on the other hand, I can totally see why this was nominated for the Best Picture at the Oscars. It's a little strange and different, of course it was nominated.

There is a bit that I just couldn't watch, I had to look away. I'm usually okay with, like, hospital shows and stuff like that, but when you have to do something to yourself... it was too much for me. The whole situation and all, I just couldn't watch. Also I almost cried a few times, and especially in the end. I might have cried if I had watched this alone, but I was watching it with my mother so I tried to hold my tears in a little bit more than usually.