My Favourite LGBT Books| Carenza Bramwell

Happy Pride Month!

June is Pride Month, a whole month of celebrating the LGBT+ community. Obviously, the LGBT+ community is celebrated the whole year, but this month is dedicated to them and their achievements. I am proud to be an ally of the LGBT+ community, something I have been for many years. In today's post I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite LBGT+ books and authors. 

Adam Silvera

Obviously, I had to mention Adam Silvera's books. I have been reading them for many years now and with the only exception being his fantasy novel, I have really enjoyed all of his books. They are always guaranteed to hit you right in the feels. Adam himself identifies as a gay man and his books always feature gay characters. They are widely regarded as good books, especially for their featuring of characters from the LGBT community. I will always get whatever book Adam releases as you know you are in safe hands. 

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst 

I still can't believe that I am waiting for the sequel to this book to come out in paperback in the UK. An LGBT fantasy novel about two girls falling in love? Sign me up! I remember really loving this at the time I first read it back in 2017/18. I will have to reread it before I purchase the sequel, but I love fantasy and I love LGBT novels, so it was perfect for me. It also comes with the added bonus of it being an own voices novel, which is always good in my book. 

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

I remember flying through this back in 2018. I had heard nothing but good things about it and it did not disappoint. It is one of the few books I have see deal with LGBT issues and religion. It is a bit predictable and cliched, but it is a solid read. I would highly recommend it if you haven't read it. The edition I have also came with a bunch of LGBT books, music and films recommended in the back.  

Heartstopper Series by Alice Oseman

These are probably some of my favourites on here. The Heartstopper series is an LGBT graphic novel series that started as an online comic. It is also the only entry on this list that is by a British author and set in Britain. It follows Nick and Charlie, a young couple as the fall in love. The art is beautiful and the story is great. Anything Alice Oseman writes is a god send and I can't wait for her other two books coming out this year. 

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

This book took the bookish community by storm last year and rightly so. It is a what if novel about if the son of the United States of America fell in love with the Prince of England. It is NA, New Adult, so it is a bit more explicit than your average YA book. It was another fun and fluffy contemporary. I believe Casey is writing another LGBT book and honestly I can't wait, if it's anywhere as good as RW&RB.

Angles in America by Tony Kushner 

I'm technically cheating with this one as it's a play, but it is my favourite thing in the whole wide world. Angels in America is an LGBT play set in 1985 New York and follows a group of people affected by the AIDs crisis. With elements of Magical Realism thrown in, it takes you on an epic journey. I will never stop talking about this play and what it means to me.

Honourable Mentions

I was unsure if I should include these two on my list, but I decided to include them in this little section. The first is Simon Vs the Homosapiens Agenda, or Love, Simon by Becky Albertalli, as it's now known. It is a well known LGBT novel about a boy called Simon who gets outed as gay at his school. It was turned into a film adptation, which I have yet to see. I was hesitant to include it as it is written by a straight author, however it is an excellent LGBT novel.

The next book I was unsure to include are the Gentlemen's Guide series by Mackenzi Lee. Mackenzi Lee has been revealed to be highly problematic, featuring racist and transphobic content in her novels. That being said, I did really enjoy the first Gentlemen's Guide book and saw it as a solid LGBT novel at the time I read it in 2018. 

Those are some of my favourite LGBT novels. What are some of yours?

Carenza :) x

October 2019 Wrap Up| CarenzaOnBooks

Another month done, another monthly reading wrap up. October was a very stressful and busy month for me, meaning I didn't get as much reading done as I wanted to. I only read 5 books, 2 audiobooks and 3 physical books. I've been a bit under the weather and truthfully, I haven't been reading a lot of books that I've been excited about. I think I might be in a bit of a reading slump but hopefully I'll break it soon and be back to my old reading self. 

Sadie by Courtney Summers

My first audiobook of the month. I had heard nothing but good things about this particular audiobook and it did not disappoint. To read my full review click here. I was hooked from beginning to end and I was so sad when it ended. I think I listened to it in about five days. I would love to read/listen to more books like this as it's like nothing else I've read. 5/5 stars from me.

Let's Call It a Doomsday by Katie Henry

I had read Katie Henry's debut novel earlier this year and I had really enjoyed it. Sadly, the consensus is that her first book is better than her second one. I just found I didn't care for the characters as much as I did in Heretics Anonymous. I also felt that the love story was very forced and came out of the blue. The mental health rep in this book was great and I did enjoy the fact that it was centred around a friendship between two girls. Sadly, the rest of the book just wasn't for me. 3/5 stars.

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

This was a re-read, but I listened to the new audiobook production. If you've been following my blog for a while then you'll know that my favourite play of all time is Angels in America and they recently adapted it for the audiobook format. It was a recording using the Broadway cast, which is predominantly the cast I saw. It was amazing being able to relive the experience over again and it was still as brilliant as when I saw it. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud at certain points. The only thing that made me sad was that they cut one of the best lines in the play for no reason and I was so upset about it. Still gets 5/5 stars.

Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

I wanted to branch out and read something outside of my comfort zone, however this ended up being too far out of my comfort zone and I did not like it. I just couldn't get into it. I honestly don't know why I spent ages reading the whole thing and didn't DNF it. Maybe at some point later in my life I would enjoy this book, but I just didn't like it this time around. 2/5 stars for me.

Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Now we come to one, if not my favourite, book of the year. I adored Serpent and Dove and I am dying while waiting for the sequel. The characters. The story. The setting. Just everything about this book was great. I haven't read a book like that in ages and haven't had an experience where I literally cannot stop thinking about it and am having to stop myself from reading it again straight away. Obviously 5/5 stars from me. It is the best. Please read it.     

Best of Culture 2017| CarenzaOnBooks

Today's post is my final post in my Best Of series. Like last year, I am going to be discussing my cultural favourites for 2017. 2017 was an exceptionally good year for cultural favourites. I honestly have no idea how many plays I saw in 2017, but I saw a lot and I enjoyed the vast majority. I also saw a great selection of movies and tv shows. I got to visit some amazing new places, plus some old favourites and I listened to a lot of new music.

Theatre

Undoubtedly, my favourite play I saw in 2017 was Angles in America. I could rave about this until I turn blue in the face. It is the most epic (and I mean epic in the sense of it being an epic piece of theatre because it is about 8 hours long) piece of theatre I have seen to date. The actors were incredible and I went away feeling inspired to write. If I could, I would see it over and over again, but sadly the UK production has ended and they are currently performing it in the States. If you are a lover of theatre, then I highly recommend reading this. It's something I'm going to treasure for the rest of my life. 

Another favourite play I saw was Snow in Midsummer at the RSC. I saw this three times within the space of a week- I kid you not. In a similar way to Angels in America, Snow in Midsummer is an incredible piece of theatre. The whole production was amazing. I'm genuinely struggling to put into words how much I love these plays as they hold such a special place in my heart.

As a part of my birthday celebration this year, I got to see Hamlet with Andrew Scott. Hamlet has to be my favourite Shakespeare play. I think I've seen it five times (at least) now. But Andrew Scott 's (who plays Moriarty in Sherlock) was my favourite. Many of the productions I have seen depict Hamlet going mad, but this portrayed it as someone who was grieving. I adored this production and am so happy I got to see an incredible actor like Andrew Scott playing Hamlet.

While we are on the subject of Hamlet, I saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which is about Hamlet's best friends. I saw this with Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire as the lead roles. This was a really funny piece of theatre and definitely added to my experience of seeing Hamlet.

I really got into political comedies this year, so when I saw Labour of Love, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was one of the funniest pieces of theatre I have ever seen. Martin Freeman and Tamsin Grieg were hilarious and if you are into political comedies, I highly recommend.

Another favourite was La Ronde. I will be honest and say that I went to see it because it had one of my favourite actors in, Alexander Vlahos. But, the play itself was amazing. They had all of these interlocking plays and I really enjoyed how it performed.

Finally, I finally saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (only part 1). I now understand why everyone sees this a million times. It is incredible. I'm so excited to go and see it again for my 18th birthday later this year. It fulfilled my Harry Potter heart and I'm so happy to see how it branched out into a new performance style.

Film and TV

I saw a lot of amazing films and Tv shows, so here is a list of my favourites from 2017:

• Game of Thrones
• Lucifer (series 3)
• Poldark (series 3)
• Sherlock (series 4)
• Stranger Things
• Beauty and the Beast
• La La Land
• Loving Vincent
• Death of Stalin
• Amazing Spider-Man films
• Breathe
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Travel

2017 was a bit of a slow year for travel. Having moved house, I didn't really travel that much, but the places I did travel to were amazing.
I went to the Harry Potter Studios near London twice in 2017. Once with my college and once for my birthday. I love them so much. To have all the sets and props and be able to explore how one of my all-time favourite film series was made was a magical experience. I felt like a child exploring them and to this day, my friends all maintain that I cried at the studio tour- I didn't, I was just very emotional.

I went to the Edinburgh Fringe and Book Festival in 2017. I've been to the fringe religiously for a few years in a row now, but it was my first time attending the Book Festival. I went so I could meet Cassandra Clare and Holly Black. I was so excited to meet Cassie as I've been a huge fan of her books for years now.

Music

I listened to a lot of new music in 2017 and here are some of my favourites:

• Dear Evan Hansen
• Hamilton
• Movie Soundtracks (Harry Potter, Stranger Things and Amazing Spider-Man)

So that concludes my culture favourites for 2017. I really hope 2018 is as good of a year for culture!

Carenza x

August Wrap Up| CarenzaOnBooks

It's official, we only have a quarter of the year left. Where did the year go? And that means it's time for my monthly wrap up. In August, I read 6 books, which I am happy with. I did reread four books as a part of a reread I'm doing.

The first four books I read where books 2 to 5 in the Harry Potter series. I decided to start rereading the series in July and am currently over halfway through Half-Blood Prince. I am planning on reviewing the series once I've completed my reread and have them posted back to back in one week. Each time I reread this series, I fall a bit more in love. Order of the Phoenix is still my favourite, but Prisoner of Azkaban is still a close second. I did start reading these in the physical format, but I then switched to audiobook. Stephen Fry is the perfect narrator for this series and I could listen to him reading the Harry Potter series back to back.

The other two books I read where scripts. The first being Angels in America by Tony Kushner. I love this play with all my heart and I read this in a day. It made me so inspired to write and I want to go see it again. If you enjoy reading scripts, then you should check this out.

The other script I read was the script for Dear Evan Hansen. I listened to the soundtrack for DEH and it's now one of my go to musicals. It has such a powerful meaning and it was interesting reading the dialogue in between the songs.

And that concludes my August wrap-up. I'm hoping to reach my reading challenge goal by the end of the year and maybe go beyond it.
Carenza x

July Favourites 2017| CarenzaOnBooks

Now that we're safely in August, I can talk about all the things I loved in July. July flew by and it's hard to imagine that we're now in August. I have a favourite book, as well as some favourite cultural things that happened in July to share with you all.

Books

My favourite book of the month was Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. I read this in one day, it's one of my top reads of 2017. If you are looking for some YA feminism, then this is the book for you. It's not out in the UK yet, but you can buy it from WH Smiths as it's part of the Zoella Book Club. I will be writing a review on it very soon and I need to find more people who've read it to fangirl with.

Culture

If you've been following my blog for a while, then you will know I fell in love with a play called Snow in Midsummer that was on at the RSC. Well, I may have found something I love even more. I saw Angels in America (performed at the National Theater, London, but via a NT Live broadcast to cinemas) and I am obsessed. It is a fantastic play, the production was beautiful and the actors in it are exceptionally talented. It's told in two parts and I saw it over two weeks. If it gets broadcast again, I will 100% go and see it again. I've ordered the script and need to get a programme and basically spend the rest of my life talking about how much I love this play.

Something else I did that was pretty cool in July was go to a practice race for Formula One when it came to the UK. It was a amazing experience and something I would do again. The atmosphere was tangible and every time Lewis Hamilton drove past the audience would clap.  

One of my most anticipated TV shows came back this July and I am very happy to be watching it live for the first time. I only recently (end of last year) joined the Game of Thrones fandom, and I'm here to stay. Every week it's exciting to see who lives and who dies (don't worry, this is a spoiler free zone). I can't wait to see how this ends and have to wait a whole year for more Thrones.

A TV show that deserves a honorable mention is Poldark. I love Poldark, I can't believe the final episode of this series is this Sunday. Yet another TV show I'll have to await the return of.

Bits'n'Bobs

I only have one bits'n'bobs favourite and that is that I got some new bedding. I know it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but I'm happy with it. It was from Asda and it's gray with cranes and cherry blossoms on it. I really like and will be looking for simple bedding like it in the future. 

So that concludes my July Favourites, I really enjoy writing these posts as it allows me to reflect back on the month.

Carenza x