Looking for Alaska

As you all know John Green is one of the most greatest, skilled and absolutely heart-wrenching authors known to the readers of the world. So when I finished The Fault in Our Stars during the summer. I just had to run to the book store and buy as much John Green as I could get. Looking for Alaska is such an incredible book that made me laugh, bawl and hate hate HATE John Green so much more.

Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

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Okay, so, I'm sure most of you have read it and can understand when I say that that book was horribly beautiful and tragically brilliant. John Green did it again. It's been a few months since I've read it, but there are parts that stick out in mind, as if I only read it yesterday. The characters, for one thing, are gorgeously written and they are people you can relate to. Looking for Alaska includes all the elements of a typical teenager life; friends, school, love, smoking, drinking, breaking rules, having fun and the confusion we seem to face daily.

I absolutely loved this books. It's interesting to read from a boy's perspective. Pudge seems to be the only normal and ordinary kid in the books. But travels this journey through life that mainly focuses on the very wild and completely screwed up Alaska Young. She is a character that I would probably hate in real life but when you get to know her and all her craziness you can see that she is her own person. And I respect that.

In the book there is the "before section" and the "after". After what? Well, that's part of the story.When I was reading the after section I could barely see the page as tears streamed down my face. I think I almost cried as much as I did with TFiOS. -well, not quite as much. I mean, I don't think you can get a more heart-strangling book!

I most definitely, absolutely, completely give this book 5 stars!

Happy Reading!

Marian ^_^  x

Teddy Bear Cake



I made a Teddy Bear Cake!!! Isn't he just the cutest thing ever? He is so adorable that it was torture trying to cut a slice. I'm really happy with how it tuned out. I love making themed cakes so I was thinking about valentines when this idea popped into my head. Initially I was going to make a heart cake but that's a bit too cliché. So instead I made a cuddly and incredibly yummy teddy bear.



Ingredients:
~525g soft butter
~525g caster sugar
~9 eggs
~2tsp Vanilla Essence
~670g Plain Flour
~2tsp baking powder
~6 tbsp milk

Method:
1. Cream butter. (yeah there is a lot of butter)
2. Add sugar and cream butter and sugar together.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Add the vanilla essence.
5. Fold in flour.
6. Divide the mixture into 2 sandwich tins, a slightly bigger round cake tin and 6 muffins.
7. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes. Bake the sandwich tins for 30-40 minutes. Bake the cake tin for 40 to 50 minutes. All at 170*C.

Decoration:
Place all the pieces together as in the picture. I cut off the muffin tops to make them flat. Using a piping bag and some chocolate butter cream I filled in the "hairy" bits. With icing sugar, water and yellow food dye I filled in the tummy, mouth and ears. I used buttons and sugar balls for making his face and paws.


So that's my latest baking craze and destruction of the kitchen (sorry dad!). It was really fun but took ages! What do you think of him?

Happy Valentine's!

Marian ^_^  x

January Round up

Hello Everyone,
it's been a while since I've properly immersed myself in the blogging world. So this weekend I've decided to plunge right in. I'm trying to those blogging resolutions - which includes a round up at the end of each month. So I thought skipping January wouldn't be very appropriate. My aunt is visiting in like 15 minutes so I have to type really fast. Or bear the wrath of "WHY ARE YOU NOT STUDYING??!" Does she not have better things to worry about than my leaving cert results?

Anyhoo....

Last month *sucks in deep breath* Ionlygotaroundtowritingtwoposts! *Hides under desk in fear of virtual rotten tomatoes being thrown at me*.
Honestly I don't have much of an excuse. I know only two posts is pretty lame.
The first on was My Humble Abode. Where any nosy people may snoop in my bedroom.... well virtually of course... or else that would be just weird...
The second post was a very rushed review of Midwinterblood. I had started it a month ago so when I tried to finish it on Wednesday I had to rummage through my brain to remember what I really thought of it.

Hopefully next month I'll be more consistant.

January's blogger of the month (yes, a new feature) is....
.....
.....
...*drum roll please!*...
.........................
.......................
....................................... Jessica from Gig Pig!!!!!
Whoooo!
She's a fairly recent blogger who writes amazing posts about music and gigs. Her music taste is pretty cool and a lot of the bands she mentions aren't extremely well known but their songs can be incredible. She has a pretty cool personality and is extremely clever. I should also mention that I go to school with her. So go check out her blog. Maybe follow through bloglovin...?

Until next time!

Marian ^_^  x

Midwinterblood

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I picked up Midwinterblood. Without even reading the synopsis, I launched into it a few days ago. This book is a compelling story about how eternal love between two people can stand the test of time. It kept me up late at night and when I did fall asleep my mind still buzzed with dreams of this chilling tale.

In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a ritual sacrifice takes place.

It echoes a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire, they come close to finding what they've lost. But can love last forever?

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Overall, it is a hugely symbolic book. I wouldn't be surprised if, in time, students were made study it for the Leaving Cert. At first I was lured in by this "tea" that made Eric forget things. I became very curious and ended up carrying the book around school with me, just in case I had  a spare minute that would enable me to answer the enormous amount of questions that kept me up at night. The story travels back in time, so really you're starting at the end. In each tale I found out clues and pieces of the story so that by the end, everything came together. It is beautifully written and definitely not my usual type of book. There is this creepy element that I found very appealing. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a horror book, but that ghost story with the children left me with nightmares!

And I can't let the cover of the book go by without mentioning it. Isn't stunningly beautiful? The colours are gorgeous and borders at the sides give it a nice frame. Of course the hares are not just there for décor. They play another symbolic role in the book.

I would recommend a lot of people read it but I don't think it will suit everyone. The plot isn't fast-paced or gripping. Instead it is the links between tales and the constant need for answers that made me keep turning the page. I would give Midwinterblood four stars. I can't wait to read more of Sedgwick!

Happy Reading!

Marian ^_^  x

My Humble Abode

I've been spending a lot of time snapping photos over the last week with my bran new canon camera *holds up beautiful camera for everyone to see*. I just got it for Christmas. And seeing as it has been ferociously windy and rainy outside most of my pictures are of my bedroom and my cat. So instead of wasting them I thought "hey! Why don't I put them on my blog?"
So, here they are! Welcome to my extremely small and incredibly cluttered humble abode.

You'll notice that I have teddies scattered all over the place. My first teddy sits on "the shelf". Written across his dungarees is "My teddy". I think I called him teddy. How original....



I was running out of space for a books so I made another shelf out of a long piece of card and place it on top of these really pretty boxes that were already on the shelf. So now there are more teddies on that, and my books fit perfectly underneath.

I do most of my reading in bed. The lamp doesn't have the best light so I'm really surprised I haven't needed glasses yet *Don't jinx it Marian!*. And the last picture is my wardrobe. I know it looks fairly big, but at the moment I running out of space.... I guess I need a spring clean.

I can't wait to start using my camera outside in natural light. I'll be snapping lots of flowers that are just beginning to grow. I might even put them on instagram.

 

Did you get anything nice for Christmas?

Marian ^_^  x