September Favourites 2019| CarenzaOnBooks

I thought I'd do a little blast from the past and bring back my favourite posts. I used to love doing these, but then they got a bit repetitive, so I'm going to bring them back on a temporary run. Like always, they're going to include books, culture and bits'n'bobs.

 Books

Hands down my favourite book of September was Radio Silence. I have a review of this book if you are interested in learning my more in-depth thoughts. It's about friendship and fandoms and what life has to offer you. It also features a boy-girl friendship that doesn't develop into a romance and some great LGBT characters. Alice Oseman is an incredibly gifted writer and I'm very excited to see more of what she creates. 

Culture

This is kind of an odd one but I've been listening to a lot more music and I've also started listening to audiobooks when I know I've got a long walk ahead of me. I've got some playlists that I love playing. These include my Mad Musical playlist with all my favourite musicals on (Six, Hamilton and Book of Mormon to name a few) and my Indie Bands- needs a better name, haven't thought of one yet. This playlist currently includes Ezra Furman, Panic! At The Disco and Bastille to also name a few. I finished listening to the audiobook for Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor. I am so happy I have finally read this series and will be listening to more of Laini's books in the near future. I am currently listening to (at the time of writing this) How To Build a Girl by Catlin Moran. Not sure about the story, but it's read by Louise Brealey (she played Molly Hooper in Sherlock) and she's fantastic as a narrator.

I finally watched Call Me By Your Name and it was amazing! It was (almost) everything I wanted in the adaptation. It has made me very excited for the sequel coming out this month. It was beautifully shot, the music was incredible (I need to buy the soundtrack) and the performances were stunning. I loved Elio and Oliver in this adaptation. I just want to watch it again and cry about how amazing it was. Thank God they finally put it on Netflix.  

Bits'n'Bobs 

Quite possibly my favourite "thing" I have acquired recently is my Catbus plush that my parents got me for my birthday last month. I'd only ever seen it available in Japan and was very surprised when they got it for me. To put it simply, I find it cute and to expand, I find it very cute. It made me fall in love with Studio Ghibli all over again. I like waking up every morning and looking at it. It always cheers me up.    

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