2018

I was just looking back through my Insta stories and realising how packed this year has been. I made a pact with myself at the start of the year to do something every month, a show, a concert, a trip or such like. And I did just that. 

As with always, I've set out to do what makes me happy as much as I can. I still don't have the career I want and am still woefully single but I've done what I wanted to do. I read books(107), I went to shows, I reveled in all that London has to offer, and did it with the people I love. 

Concerts: Harry Styles, Gary Barlow x 5, Take That(Hits Radio Live, there were other people there too, I didn't pay them much attention)

Musicals: 42nd Street, Kinky Boots, Aladdin, Hamilton, Heathers, Company, The Band x 5, Chicago x 5

Other events: NTAs, Harry Potter exhibition at the British Library, A Monster Calls play, Spice World in Regents Park, Caroline at Build, Aftersun

The only month which was eventless was March, due to snow(I was meant to to see The Band and Imagine Dragons) but I did meet the boys that month which more than made up for it. 

I also met Caroline quite a few times, Gary by himself in October, the usual spattering of celebs at work, and amazingly Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne at Platform 9 3/4 on September 1st. 

I had the most amazing two week trip to Portugal with my family, and also visited Bristol, Bath, Manchester, Brighton and went home as often as I could(in May I basically lived at the airport). 

The biggest and best thing that happened was that I moved into my own flat, which is an actual life dream, to have my own flat in London. It's filled with books and yellow things and Take That memorabilia and I couldn't love it more. It is the most fantastic feeling in the world having my own space and I cherish it every day. 

Low points of the year: Getting my phone stolen right out of my hand on Regent St just before Christmas, the snow in March, my awful ex-housemates and that time I went into anaphylactic shock due to antibiotics I was taking and ended up in A&E via an ambulance

Highlights: Repealing the eighth(hey to the yes, the north next), moving flat, Portugal, meeting the boys and Caz as Roxie in Chicago. 

Favourite album of the year: Odyssey by Take That, Everlasting being my favourite song

Favourite movie of the year: Honestly can't even remember that many movies but I really enjoyed Mamma Mia 2, The Greatest Showman and Mary Poppins Returns

Favourite telly show of the year: Love Island, of course. I got to watch the final in the cinema and it was ace. Jack and Dani 4evs. I also binged The Good Place which was forking incredible, rewatched the David Tennant era of Doctor Who and weeped quite a bit, rewatched Grey's Anatomy until that episode and rewatched the wholesome Great British Bake Off(the BBC years). Mostly when I should have been watching new shows I stuck on Gilmore Girls instead. 

During my Strictly viewing I fell down a shipper hole and here I am a fully fledged shipper of Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell. I never thought by the start of the year I'd be a Joe Sugg stan but there you go, I am powerless to adorable couples and group chats which aid obsessions. 

Favourite books of the year: Always a toughy. Books I rated 5 stars are 

•  Better Me by Gary Barlow
•  A Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
•  How To Stop Time by Matt Haig
• I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel
• Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend
• Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
• Lethal White by J.K. Rowling
• You, Me, Everything by Catherine Isaac
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
• How To Be Famous by Caitlin Moran
• The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X.R. Pan
• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
• Every Note Played by Lisa Genova
• The Phanthom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon
• Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith
• The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman

I rated a lot of books 4 stars as well but I'll be here all day listing those. A good reading year! It always is. A resolution I'll never need to make is to read more. 

So all in all, 2018, a few dips of horrendousness here and there, was pretty fantastic. Shout out to my incredible friends, for the laughs and the memories and the general putting up with me, and to my wonderful immediate family who are there for me no matter what. Also shout out to Take That and Caroline Flack, my fandom loves, for giving me much entertainment and happiness throughout the year. 2019 is gonna be a good one, bring it on! Over and out, 2018, you've been a wild ride. 

Book love

Books. They’re an escape. They’re magic. They’re suffering. They’re heartbreak. They’re friendship. They’re love. They’re stories. They’re that feeling when you love a book so much that you clutch it to your chest and wonder: how can people not love reading?

Me, I’m a fiction girl. I’ve been reading since before I can remember doing it. I grew up on Winnie the Pooh and Roald Dahl and The Babysitter’s Club and Jacqueline Wilson. I grew up loving reading, having books read to me when I couldn’t read myself, Kipper and The Very Hungry Caterpillar and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt( a bear hunt, a bear hunt) and every fairy tale under the sun and the sky and the stars.

I was dubbed ‘Best Reader’ at primary school and always received books at Christmas and birthdays (I still do). Reading is integral to my existence, I couldn’t live without reading and I wouldn’t ever want to. And I never know how to put into words how good it is when people say they don’t read. When they said they’ve never read a book in their life or that they’ve never seen Harry Potter (‘They’re books!’ I always retort).

And of course I understand that people love different things. I will never understand the fascination over sport for example. But I feel like saying you don’t read at all is like saying you don’t watch movies at all or watch telly at all. It’s a cornerstone of entertainment, before moving pictures on a screen were even a thing. There has always been stories, fables passed down through generations.

There’s always been magic and make believe and words trussed up together so beautifully that you take a moment to pause over the magnificence of phrasing. And it’s all sitting right there, contained within a few hundred pages, a paper tome of goodness just waiting for your perusal.

There’s just so many to choose from, so many genres, so many talented authors, so many books. You can sink into history or fly into the future, you can stroll through the present or zoom amongst the heavens. You can go to Hogwarts or Narnia or Mordor, or you can be right in your own city, in someone else’s version of the world.

I’ve never been in love but I’ve fallen in love with stories over and over again throughout the years. When people ask me for recommendations I need them to refine, so I can to go through the lexicon I have of the books I’ve read, to even know where to start. But then there are the books which I recommend to whomever I can, the ones that own my heart and stayed around in my memory. I’ve read hundreds of books over the years (for certain over a thousand), you forget the name and plot of most but the majestic, wondrous ones stick around.

So if you’ve not begun yet down the path of reading or you just want something new (for real, ask me for recommendations of anything I have endless lists to throw around), here are just some of the books I love more than most:

Harry Potter

This one is a no-brainer. The most popular book series of all time and for good reason. Most people have read this but if you haven’t, go forth and read! Still my most favourite books of all time.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Written by a neurosurgeon who receives the diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer, this is beautifully written, thought provoking and heart-wrenching. I wept. A lot.

 The One Plus One by JoJo Moyes

Moyes is mostly known for Me Before You(also a magnificent book) but I’ve always preferred it’s successor. The One Plus One is a story of how single mum Jess and her kids go on a road trip to get her daughter to a math’s contest. It’s simple but glorious. It’s so easy to read, in a way that makes you feel like you aren’t reading at all. It’s full of sunshine and gives you hope and I love it.

The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Just a really really brilliant book. Original and compelling and rich.

The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me by Lucy Robinson

This needs more recognition. A story of Sally, who made a promise to her cousin to pursue her dream of being an opera singer. A great heroine, a marvellous love story with the pinch of allure that music brings.

So there you go, just a selection before I give you a Top 100 best reads of my life. Books, they’re the best, you should read them.