Hello!
So I know I said I was doing a cool, deep post today, but I've postponed that because I've just changed my URL *squeals* Everything is so fresh and new - I can't wait for the new design!
The wonderful Mahnoor created another blog for me with my old URL so you lovely chums can see my new URL. Eventually, she will create a redirect for me - like "Redirecting to Fiction and Tea in 5...4...3...2...1" Ya know the type ;)
BUT FIRST.
You all need to UNFOLLOW my blog and then FOLLOW ME AGAIN if you wish to get updates from my blog from my new URL.
UNFOLLOW ME AND THEN FOLLOW ME AGAIN. :)
Do you guys like where my blog is going? I'm excited. It seems more professional and fresh and aahh exciting stuff!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if you've refollowed me. :)
I'll post again soon - probably this weekend, but it could be early next week.
Love you all
- B
xxxxx
Friday, 27 February 2015
Saturday, 21 February 2015
a change & an urgent thought
Hola.
Now, I know I posted yesterday, but this couldn't wait. I have two things to say, the first is short, the second is the basis of this post.
1st thing: I emailed Tane from Fifth Out Of Ten about a new blog design a while ago. She's quite busy at the moment, so I don't think I'll have the new design for a while, but I've been deleting unnecesary things from my sidebar and simplifying my blog. I want my new design to be clean and simple. :)
Now, the big thing about the 1st point *deep breath* I'm thinking about changing my blog name. When I named this blog, it was The Teenager's Bookshelf. A few days later, I stumbled across my lovely friend Kenzie's blog, think. eat. write. read. And I loved her blog name. LOVED. And I still do. It's a gorgeous name. Me being me back then, I loved it so much that I decided to change my blog name to something similar. I wanted my blog name to reflect what my blog was about - thoughts, books, writing and ambitions. So I changed my blog name to what it is now - think. read. write. dream.
But now, I'm thinking I need a change. A clean slate, if you will. New design. New name. New me. I have changed a lot and I think my blog should reflect how I have changed as a person. I was thinking, seeing how my bookstagram account is so successful, changing my blog name to my Instagram username, Fiction and Tea. It's nice and simple. What do you guys think? Please comment below with your thoughts :)
EDIT: I have decided to change my name. As you can see, I've created a simple header with the new name, just so that Tane knows my name has changed and so that everyone else knows my name has changed. The lovely Mahnoor has offered to do a redirect for me so I'll eventually be changing my URL, probably to fictionandtea.blogspot.com. But this will all change in due time. Thank you all. :)
2nd thing, and the basis of this post: I went into town this morning - got some lovely new tea-for-one teapots - and on my way home, with a Greggs pasta pot in my lap, we stopped at a red light. I gazed out the window as I so often do, and saw a homeless man sat with his back against the wall - not an uncommon sight in a town centre. It's a big city, so there are lots of homeless people on the streets.
But this man was sat on the outskirts, not begging, not seeking attention. He was staring at his legs, wrapped up in a blanket that looked like it had seen better days and he just looked so sad. I continued looking out the window and just before the red turned to green, he looked up at me. In the half a second that we had eye contact, his eyes looked so....desperate. And then I turned away, ashamed.
But ashamed of what?
As soon as the car pulled away, I was so close to crying. I did cry when we got home. But as soon as we drove off, I stared at my barely-touched pasta pot and wished I'd done something. I pictured myself opening the car door, running over and handing him my pasta pot. I know I couldn't have done that - it's dangerous and the light could have turned green at any moment. But I just felt deflated.
And I think it's because I looked away.
Why is it that we do that? Why do we look away when something is too hard to look at? When something is too awful and uncomfortable? The house is dark, the murderer is about to appear and we look away from the screen for that split second before we hear the screams.
I could have kept eye contact, poured sympathy and sadness into my eyes and said everything there is to say with no words. But I turned away because what is there to say? Everything and nothing. But really, what would keeping eye contact have achieved? Would he have felt sympathy or like a zoo animal? He might have misinterpreted my sympathetic gaze for a patronising stare.
How many people turn away whenever something slightly real intrudes on their life filled with useless objects that we take for granted? How many people ignore anything terrible that goes on in the world? How many people pretend that these awful things - homelessness, terrorism, discrimination - are not happening, or do not read into them in any serious detail to prevent the burden of knowledge settling over their lives? How many people try to live in ignorance?
I think I turned away, not because I'm one of the pretenders, not because I wish to live in ignorance, but because I was ashamed of looking and not helping.
I was ashamed of noticing and doing nothing.
I think we're all guilty of that.
- B
xxxx
Now, I know I posted yesterday, but this couldn't wait. I have two things to say, the first is short, the second is the basis of this post.
1st thing: I emailed Tane from Fifth Out Of Ten about a new blog design a while ago. She's quite busy at the moment, so I don't think I'll have the new design for a while, but I've been deleting unnecesary things from my sidebar and simplifying my blog. I want my new design to be clean and simple. :)
Now, the big thing about the 1st point *deep breath* I'm thinking about changing my blog name. When I named this blog, it was The Teenager's Bookshelf. A few days later, I stumbled across my lovely friend Kenzie's blog, think. eat. write. read. And I loved her blog name. LOVED. And I still do. It's a gorgeous name. Me being me back then, I loved it so much that I decided to change my blog name to something similar. I wanted my blog name to reflect what my blog was about - thoughts, books, writing and ambitions. So I changed my blog name to what it is now - think. read. write. dream.
But now, I'm thinking I need a change. A clean slate, if you will. New design. New name. New me. I have changed a lot and I think my blog should reflect how I have changed as a person. I was thinking, seeing how my bookstagram account is so successful, changing my blog name to my Instagram username, Fiction and Tea. It's nice and simple. What do you guys think? Please comment below with your thoughts :)
EDIT: I have decided to change my name. As you can see, I've created a simple header with the new name, just so that Tane knows my name has changed and so that everyone else knows my name has changed. The lovely Mahnoor has offered to do a redirect for me so I'll eventually be changing my URL, probably to fictionandtea.blogspot.com. But this will all change in due time. Thank you all. :)
2nd thing, and the basis of this post: I went into town this morning - got some lovely new tea-for-one teapots - and on my way home, with a Greggs pasta pot in my lap, we stopped at a red light. I gazed out the window as I so often do, and saw a homeless man sat with his back against the wall - not an uncommon sight in a town centre. It's a big city, so there are lots of homeless people on the streets.
But this man was sat on the outskirts, not begging, not seeking attention. He was staring at his legs, wrapped up in a blanket that looked like it had seen better days and he just looked so sad. I continued looking out the window and just before the red turned to green, he looked up at me. In the half a second that we had eye contact, his eyes looked so....desperate. And then I turned away, ashamed.
But ashamed of what?
As soon as the car pulled away, I was so close to crying. I did cry when we got home. But as soon as we drove off, I stared at my barely-touched pasta pot and wished I'd done something. I pictured myself opening the car door, running over and handing him my pasta pot. I know I couldn't have done that - it's dangerous and the light could have turned green at any moment. But I just felt deflated.
And I think it's because I looked away.
Why is it that we do that? Why do we look away when something is too hard to look at? When something is too awful and uncomfortable? The house is dark, the murderer is about to appear and we look away from the screen for that split second before we hear the screams.
I could have kept eye contact, poured sympathy and sadness into my eyes and said everything there is to say with no words. But I turned away because what is there to say? Everything and nothing. But really, what would keeping eye contact have achieved? Would he have felt sympathy or like a zoo animal? He might have misinterpreted my sympathetic gaze for a patronising stare.
How many people turn away whenever something slightly real intrudes on their life filled with useless objects that we take for granted? How many people ignore anything terrible that goes on in the world? How many people pretend that these awful things - homelessness, terrorism, discrimination - are not happening, or do not read into them in any serious detail to prevent the burden of knowledge settling over their lives? How many people try to live in ignorance?
I think I turned away, not because I'm one of the pretenders, not because I wish to live in ignorance, but because I was ashamed of looking and not helping.
I was ashamed of noticing and doing nothing.
I think we're all guilty of that.
- B
xxxx
Friday, 20 February 2015
Currently in the jumble that is my life...
Actually in love with this song at the moment - it's from the Never Let Me Go movie adaptation and is the main character, Kathy's, favourite song. I love it so much and it makes me cry a little bit (a lot...)
I've just finished painting this little poster thing, based around one of my favourite quotes.
"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." C.S. Lewis
I'm quite proud of it. :) I might put it on my bedroom wall!
Since I turned 15 last year, I just haven't gotten round to watching all of the films rated 15 (I think it's R rated in America?) that came out and that I wanted to watch. So this break, I've been catching up. :)
I watched Chronicle a few days ago, which is now one of my favourite films. So dark and twisted! Love it so much! I then watched Silver Linings Playbook - again, a new favourite - and have just finished Looper. All of them were AMAZING! Definitely check them out if you're old enough. :)
I have recently rediscovered my love for Earl Grey tea. I'm having around 5 mugs a day haha! So nice ^.^
I hope you all have a lovely week! Look out for my post on Friday. :)
Love you all
Bethan
xxxxxx
Sunday, 15 February 2015
Happy Valentine's Day!
Hello my lovelies. :)
I realise this is two days late of my Friday posting and a day late of Valentine's Day, but Friday I got home and slept for 3 hours, ate, then slept again - school exhausts me - and then yeserday I had a hot date ;) (I'm joking, I went over my friend Sophie's house. We made pom poms and cake >.<)
I hope you all had a lovely day, whether it was spent on your own, with friends, family, or your significant other. I usually spend Valentine's Day alone, so it was nice to have a friend to wallow in self pity with hahaha!
I'm currently reading Never Let Me Go by Kashuo Iziguro, as I am meeting him at the Hay book festival this year (which is where I met Cassie Clare) I'm only about halfway through but so far, it's AMAZING and SUPER DARK. :0 Once I've finished it, I'm going to watch the film (with Andrew Garfield in *swoons*)
Not really sure what else to talk about, but I wanted to post. I'll edit if I think of something ;)
Love you guys <3 p="">
Bethan
xxxxx
I realise this is two days late of my Friday posting and a day late of Valentine's Day, but Friday I got home and slept for 3 hours, ate, then slept again - school exhausts me - and then yeserday I had a hot date ;) (I'm joking, I went over my friend Sophie's house. We made pom poms and cake >.<)
I hope you all had a lovely day, whether it was spent on your own, with friends, family, or your significant other. I usually spend Valentine's Day alone, so it was nice to have a friend to wallow in self pity with hahaha!
I'm currently reading Never Let Me Go by Kashuo Iziguro, as I am meeting him at the Hay book festival this year (which is where I met Cassie Clare) I'm only about halfway through but so far, it's AMAZING and SUPER DARK. :0 Once I've finished it, I'm going to watch the film (with Andrew Garfield in *swoons*)
Not really sure what else to talk about, but I wanted to post. I'll edit if I think of something ;)
Love you guys <3 p="">
Bethan
xxxxx
Saturday, 7 February 2015
Randomness & Sacrificing Books
Hellooooo my beauties! Sorry for this post being a day late - it was my brother's birthday yesterday :)
My wrists smell really nice because I used some of my friend's Lady Gaga Black Fluid perfume and it smells AMAZING.
That was completely random, I just thought I'd let you know haha! XD
I'm not really too sure what to post but I don't want to ruin my good streak!
Ummm...
I got my mock results back! They were the reason for my absence - working hard - and I did really well!
English Literature - A*
English Language - A*
Maths - A*
Chemistry - A*
Biology - A*
Physics - C (I'm rubbish at Physics... think I'm going to get a tutor)
French - A
History - A
Religious Studies - A*
So I'm really happy :D School has calmed down now, so I've had more time to read but still not as much as I'd like, which is annoying. Currently Reading Shatter Me, and really enjoying it! Why are the bad guys so attractive?
I saw Big Hero 6 on Wednesday! It was reeaaalllyyyy good. :) I cried a lil bit... I was the oldest person there that wasn't a parent and the only one crying.... so emotional :'(
I really have no idea what to talk about, so I'm going to do the Book Sacrifice Tag from YouTube because it looks really fun!
1. You're in a book shop and suddenly there's a zombie apocalypse. It's announced over the speakers that the only way to kill the zombies is to throw an over-hyped book at them. Which book do you choose?
Definitely the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver. So many people adore this trilogy and I just URGH. Lena annoyed me, Alex annoyed me, Hannah confused me, the romance was annoying. Just everything was frustrating, did not enjoy it at all. :/
2. You've just got a beautiful new hair-do at the hairdresser's when you look outside and it's pouring with rain. Which sequel do you sacrifice to use as an umbrella?
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld. I loved Uglies - such an amazing premise and I found the writing and plot really interesting and yeah, just great. And then Pretties was just like a repeat. As was Specials.
Pretties was just so bleh and bleak - was not a fan.
3. Your English teacher is going on and on about how this one classic is amazing and revolutionised literature. You hated this classic and end up throwing it at your teacher. Which classic do you choose?
This is quite hard because I haven't read many classics, and the ones I have, I've loved. Does Romeo and Juliet count as a classic? Because I despise that play. They've literally known each other for a few hours, and then sUDDENLY THEY'RE MARRIED AND COMMITTING SUICIDE FOR THEIR PASSIONATE LOVE WOAH HOLD UP WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?! So stupid.
4. You're in a library and then global warming strikes. It's freezing outside so you have to stay indoors and burn books to stay warm. Which book do you run to first to burn?
Either Gone Girl or the Beautiful Creatures series. Either way - DESPISE THEM. Gone Girl was so hyped and I got 30 pages in and was like "I can't" The writing was awful, the characters were horrible and I just wasn't interested. So I Googled the ending.... And Beautiful Creatures.... The first book was okay.. and then the rest of them..... *shudders* never again.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. Have a lovely, week, I love you all ♥
Bethan
xxxxxx
My wrists smell really nice because I used some of my friend's Lady Gaga Black Fluid perfume and it smells AMAZING.
That was completely random, I just thought I'd let you know haha! XD
I'm not really too sure what to post but I don't want to ruin my good streak!
Ummm...
I got my mock results back! They were the reason for my absence - working hard - and I did really well!
English Literature - A*
English Language - A*
Maths - A*
Chemistry - A*
Biology - A*
Physics - C (I'm rubbish at Physics... think I'm going to get a tutor)
French - A
History - A
Religious Studies - A*
So I'm really happy :D School has calmed down now, so I've had more time to read but still not as much as I'd like, which is annoying. Currently Reading Shatter Me, and really enjoying it! Why are the bad guys so attractive?
I saw Big Hero 6 on Wednesday! It was reeaaalllyyyy good. :) I cried a lil bit... I was the oldest person there that wasn't a parent and the only one crying.... so emotional :'(
I really have no idea what to talk about, so I'm going to do the Book Sacrifice Tag from YouTube because it looks really fun!
1. You're in a book shop and suddenly there's a zombie apocalypse. It's announced over the speakers that the only way to kill the zombies is to throw an over-hyped book at them. Which book do you choose?
Definitely the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver. So many people adore this trilogy and I just URGH. Lena annoyed me, Alex annoyed me, Hannah confused me, the romance was annoying. Just everything was frustrating, did not enjoy it at all. :/
2. You've just got a beautiful new hair-do at the hairdresser's when you look outside and it's pouring with rain. Which sequel do you sacrifice to use as an umbrella?
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld. I loved Uglies - such an amazing premise and I found the writing and plot really interesting and yeah, just great. And then Pretties was just like a repeat. As was Specials.
Pretties was just so bleh and bleak - was not a fan.
3. Your English teacher is going on and on about how this one classic is amazing and revolutionised literature. You hated this classic and end up throwing it at your teacher. Which classic do you choose?
This is quite hard because I haven't read many classics, and the ones I have, I've loved. Does Romeo and Juliet count as a classic? Because I despise that play. They've literally known each other for a few hours, and then sUDDENLY THEY'RE MARRIED AND COMMITTING SUICIDE FOR THEIR PASSIONATE LOVE WOAH HOLD UP WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?! So stupid.
4. You're in a library and then global warming strikes. It's freezing outside so you have to stay indoors and burn books to stay warm. Which book do you run to first to burn?
Either Gone Girl or the Beautiful Creatures series. Either way - DESPISE THEM. Gone Girl was so hyped and I got 30 pages in and was like "I can't" The writing was awful, the characters were horrible and I just wasn't interested. So I Googled the ending.... And Beautiful Creatures.... The first book was okay.. and then the rest of them..... *shudders* never again.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. Have a lovely, week, I love you all ♥
Bethan
xxxxxx
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Go, Set A Watchman
Hello wonderful people!
So, I know it's not a Friday. And I know I'm not scheduled to post. But I just had to blog about this exciting news!
One of my all time favourite books is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I adore this book (and the film) and I think its messages are ones that will stay with me for life. I think this book will stay with me for life.
Harper Lee has never written another book after To Kill A Mockingbird.
UNTIL NOW!!!!!
She has just announced that on July 14th, her second book will be published!!!! 'Go, Set A Watchman' is a sequel, of sorts, to TKAM, and tells the story of a grown up Scout. Harper Lee originally wrote this sequel from the POV of grown up Scout, with flashbacks. But her publisher said she preferred the flashbacks and so Lee wrote a book entirely about Scout's childhood - et voila, To Kill A Mockingbird. But today/recently, a friend of Harper Lee found the original script and it is now being published!
I'M SO EXCITED YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND OH MY GOOOOSSSHHHHH.
*fangirl moment over* (kinda)
Anyway, that's all for now. I just wanted to share that EXCTING news with you.
I hope you all have a lovely week. Love you!
Bethan
xxxxxx
So, I know it's not a Friday. And I know I'm not scheduled to post. But I just had to blog about this exciting news!
One of my all time favourite books is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I adore this book (and the film) and I think its messages are ones that will stay with me for life. I think this book will stay with me for life.
Harper Lee has never written another book after To Kill A Mockingbird.
UNTIL NOW!!!!!
She has just announced that on July 14th, her second book will be published!!!! 'Go, Set A Watchman' is a sequel, of sorts, to TKAM, and tells the story of a grown up Scout. Harper Lee originally wrote this sequel from the POV of grown up Scout, with flashbacks. But her publisher said she preferred the flashbacks and so Lee wrote a book entirely about Scout's childhood - et voila, To Kill A Mockingbird. But today/recently, a friend of Harper Lee found the original script and it is now being published!
I'M SO EXCITED YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND OH MY GOOOOSSSHHHHH.
*fangirl moment over* (kinda)
Anyway, that's all for now. I just wanted to share that EXCTING news with you.
I hope you all have a lovely week. Love you!
Bethan
xxxxxx
"For thus the Lord said to me; "God, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.""
Isiah 21
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