Cosy Time In: Winter

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” ~  Edith Sitwell

As I previously shared with you how I like to spend my October Sundays, I thought it would be a good idea if I turned this into a series of posts. Personally, I do consider winter time as the cosiest time of the year, so I really hope you enjoy this cosiest of posts.

Pampering

No Sunday post of mine would be complete without a bit of pampering. Certainly not one that is dedicated to cosy winter days in. This January I have chosen to rely on the Body Shop - this rich Vanilla Brulee shower gel from their Christmas collection is simply divine. I am a huge fan of vanilla scents, plus I happen to love Crème brûlée, making this one the perfect shower gel for me (the only downside being it makes me very hungry for a dessert). Add to that a Peach Vineyard body scrub and a delicious chocolate lip butter, and my day is totally made!

The Food

Speaking of sweets, I definitely indulged into this sweetest part of life over the Holidays...When desserts talk, words are unnecessary. So, here is what I enjoyed most...

Some lovely herb tea with lemon and a homemade cake (my grandma spoiled us as always!).

Homemade 'peaches', courtesy to my other grandma (the honey and lemons in the background prove we did, indeed, have lots of tea).

The first dessert I had in 2015 is officially this lovely biscuit cake - I am sure you do understand that sugar was much needed after the heavy celebrations?

The Drinks

 To me, winter just screams wine and hot chocolate...sometimes both at the same time.

Also, I got to try this lovely hot chocolate+biscuits concoction...

The Book(s)

Ah, the scent of new books on a Sunday morning! As I was shopping the other day, I picked up those two beauties: Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist and Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret. Both books turned into bestsellers, both were really hyped about last year, both are into my hands now. Naturally, reviews coming up as soon as I finish them...

The View

As me and my boyfriend were back at mine for the holidays, we got to experience both the warmth of the sun and the coldness of the snow. Here is what Bulgaria looked like, when we went there over Christmas:

So, what about you? Do tell me how you like to spend your cosy winter Sundays in (or out?).

P.S. Yes, this post made me hungry.

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Gone Girl Review

Author: Gillian Flynn

Genre: Thriller

Originally Published in: 2012

Pages: 463

Surprise, surprise! Guess who read Gone Girl and loved it. You might be tired of hearing how good that book is, but truth is stuff like that should not remain a secret. So, here I am joining the massive fan base that Gone Girl is enjoying today…

Important Note One: Usually, I am one of those snobs who prefer to read the book before they watch the movie. You know the ones: we prefer to be a step in front of everyone else so we can point and laugh at them. So that when we walk into the cinema, we know what we are getting ourselves into. And, of course, we are, thus, able to criticize the film adaptation on a whole more knowledgeable level – you know, we have read the book, and this entitles us of a certain opinion. However, in this case I watched the film first. That is due to the fact that I didn’t even intend to read the book – truth is, the moment I first watched the trailer, I was immediately hooked and could barely wait till the release date. Add to that David Fincher, Rosamund Pike, and a better-than-usually Ben Affleck, and my excitement was getting out of hand. Once I saw the movie…a different story.

Important Note Two: You read a book you love from start to finish. You:

       a)      Immediately write a review on it for your blog

       b)      Take a few days to carefully write a very honest and informative review, full of quotes and witty remarks

       c)      Rave about it for ages, keep postponing reviewing it, finally doing it in a month.

Answer: C, definitely C.

First things first, reviewing books like Gone Girl is a bit tricky since it is pretty easy to spoil them. That is, when there is a twist after twist, you can’t just go and talk about it with people who haven’t yet read it, because you will ruin the whole experience for them. So, I will keep this short.

It is the morning of the fifth anniversary of Nick and Amy Dunne’s wedding, when Amy suddenly disappears. The police’s prime suspect is Nick as everything points to the fact that his wife was growing scared of him. Although he denies it, his charming smile when posing next to the poster of his beautiful, missing wife, is not helping him. So, what really happened? Where is Amy?

The story is gripping – there is a reason I keep seeing people on the underground reading it. Once you start it, you just cannot put it down. What makes it so addictive is not just the mystery element to it, but the characters themselves – they feel real and utterly believable. What Gillian Flynn does in this book is a very honest portrayal of marriage and human nature. It is easy to put yourself on the place of these characters and ask yourself how you would act in such a messed up situation. Would you even put yourself in such a situation? Nick and Amy eventually fall in the traps of daily life – they turn into clichés, into stereotypes – but is that all they are? Sometimes turning into a cliché is what scares us the most and drives us into doing things we wouldn’t believe we would normally do.

“I was the embodiment of every writer's worst fear: a cliché.”

At the end of the book, I find myself understanding all of the characters involved – especially Nick and Amy. You get the feeling that everything comes into place, and even if you didn’t expect such an end – it somehow feels like the only real ending to their story.

Apart from the brilliant psychological side to the book and the very serious matters it reflects on, the story, as a whole, is entertaining. I found myself laugh on more than a few occasions – especially at Amy’s witty remarks. The book definitely did not make me cry, but it made me laugh. A lot. And it made me think about characters. Take the idea of the Cool Girl, for instance. I would not say this is just a description created purely for fictional reasons – the idea of a Cool Girl very much exists in our society. Here are just a few lines from her descriptions and tell me she does not sound familiar: “Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding.”

Another major issue in the book, is the media. In Gone Girl, the outcome of Amy’s disappearance hugely relies on the way the media portrays her, her husband, her parents, her friends and neighbourhood. During the course of the book, you can see both people and police falling in and out of love with Nick, hating him, then admiring him – all depending on the way he is represented in the news. Now, this is what makes the story even more believable and causes you to think about the media age we live in today. For is that not the way we shape our opinions nowadays? Especially when it comes to huge criminal cases: what you see on the news, is what you usually end up thinking.

I recommend Gone Girl to anyone who loves a good thriller, or just a good modern book in general. If you need a break from reading the classics – read Gone Girl. If you need a break from your marriage – read Gone Girl. I am not saying that everyone will love it. What I am saying is this: the book works on many levels and gives a very poignant portrayal of society today, of men and women, and their roles in it. I am pretty sure you will find something for yourself. I do not promise you will like that something.

Did you see my top 5 quotes from Gone Girl? Also, if you have read the book, let me know what you think of it and let's get this discussion going...

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Happiness through Books

There are a lot of things that can make people happy - a hug from a loved one, listening to a favourite piece of music, getting the keys to a new house...the list is endless. But then there is those of us that can find happiness just as easily in the smell of a new book...or of an old favourite.

“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy."

The perfect morning: The Great Gatsby and a cup of hot coffee

I can find happiness in reading The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald's classic story of the man who wants to relive the past, can be considered quite a sad read, but there is a beauty in those kind of books that cannot be conveyed in other types of literature. I am utterly in love with Jay Gatsby, I feel his longing for the past, and I want to go back in time and live in the roaring twenties. However, although this read always brings me some nostalgic feelings (and quite a lot of anger during the end of it), I also feel happy. And this is the kind of happiness that only a great book can bring you - for as sad as it may be, it still makes you read it again and again, and again.

“Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” 

Another American classic, The Catcher in the Rye, is one more book that makes me happy. The humour, Holden Caufield, the language - there is nothing not to make you smile. This, of course, does not mean that this is the most cheerful book - truth is, in the right hands, it could be quite thought-provoking. Salinger is an author with such a unique style, he makes Holden sound not only believable, but as if everything he thinks, comes from the reader himself. Definitely a book, every young person should read at least once. And then re-read when they are older, for suddenly, the book has a new meaning, that you did not quite grasp the first time round. And it is a different meaning to every one.

So, what about you? Which books make you happy?

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A Date with The Wolf of Wall Street

Author: Jordan Belfort
Type: Autobiography
Publisher: Two Roads
Pages: 518
Originally published in: 2007

Back in December/January when everyone was off to the cinema to see The Wolf of Wall Street, I was one of the most excited moviegoers. Having in my mind that I am a big cinema buff, whose favourite actor is Leonardo diCaprio and who puts Scorsese among her most favourite directors – this was obviously the film for me. Needless to say I loved it! But while other people’s reactions is usually to get the DVD as soon as it is out, my initial response was to go to my favourite Waterstones and buy the book!

By twelve o’clock I was dizzy, and I was starving. In fact, I was dizzy and starving and sweating profusely. But, most of all, I was hooked. The mighty roar was surging through my very innards and resonating with every fiber of my being. I knew I could do this job. I knew I could do it just like Mark Hanna did it, probably even better. I knew I could be smooth as silk.

Let me just say, usually I need a few pages to really get into a book, and after that I keep reading until I finish it, the same way an alcoholic cannot drop the bottle before he has every last drop of it. This was not the case. From the very first paragraph I was in, fully and consciously, Jordan Belfort had me around his finger, and I was hungrily taking in every single sentence he had for me. For yes, just like in the film, Jordan has this amazing persona that attracts people and makes them listen. This becomes plainly obvious in the book – on those pages you do not get diCaprio’s magnetism to lead you on; you do not get his seducing voice or flirty stare – it is plain words and they still get you. That is, the film does not exaggerate Jordan’s way with words.

Back in February: enjoying a chai latte and Mr Belfort's stories on the life of the rich and dysfunctional 

Now, the Wolf has not turned into my personal hero just because I admire his intelligence, wit and charisma. Unlike those fanboys, who suddenly decided that ‘this is the life’ and ‘he is the man’, just after seeing the film, the readers of the book will get an even deeper insight into Belfort’s life and internal struggles. Yes, he is a billionaire and he did cheat the system and whatnot, but do not think that there were not consequences in his life, or that he does not come in terms with his drug addiction. What may surprise you is that, generally, The Wolf of Wall Street is a story of a man, who has to face his drug abuse in order to save his marriage, his job, and even his personality, which is being completely altered by the non-stopping use of Quaaludes, cocaine… actually, frankly, whatever drug you can think of, he has probably taken it.

The book is a page turner. It is going to make you laugh more than a few times; will make you cringe a couple of more; will disgust you and make you seriously question Jordan’s decisions at other points. All in all, you are either going to love it or hate it, for the book has a character – Jordan’s character. And just as you have a strong opinion on him, you are going to have one on his book because he is not the kind of a man, or an author, that will leave you somewhere in the middle, with mixed feelings. No, it is going to be either one or the other. Personally, I loved it.

As for a comparison to the film – something inevitable when there is a book adaptation – the book gives a lot more detail (unsurprisingly). The best thing is, a good part of the book has found its way to the big screen – some of your favourite movie scenes are coming word for word from the pages. Even the unbelievable ones have actually happened (according to Jordan’s autobiography at least). But then after that, you get even more: you see what happens at the end, when he has to leave Stratton Oakmont; you witness the hell he goes through when he almost loses his new-born boy; you are there when he has to go to a rehab.

Nonetheless, it is a book on excess. On the overindulgence. On the constant hunger for more money, more drugs, more alcohol, more cars, more sex, more everything and anything. You are not going to like the young Strattonites, or the culture they are a symbol of; you might even be sicken by the way of living Jordan promoted, but if you want to know everything about it (and be able to criticize it) – this is the read for you.

“They were drunk on youth, fueled by greed, and higher than kites.”

Final verdict: if you are interested in these kind of stories – the poor boy who becomes a billionaire con-man and then loses it all – then chances are you are going to enjoy this one a lot. But it is not for the faint-minded – there is a lot of strong language and graphic content –proper 18+ material. Also, at 518 pages, it is quite a long read. Then again, as soon as I finished it, I started looking around for Catching the Wolf of Wall Street….

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