What's Occurring? February Round Up

I don't usually do a monthly round-up but thought I'd give it a go.

The Pages

I read a couple of good books this month. A quick fire summary:

• Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang - Very sad but well written although I had to Google the bit about the narrator. 
• To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han - Loved it! I really like Jenny Han's writing style - it reminds me of those 50s diners in shopping malls. You're still in the present day but there's a real nostalgic feel to her work. Lara Jean was a lovely main character - so sweet and young, which makes for a nice change! 
• All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner - I liked this book. It was very funny in parts but generally quite sad. I did end up speaking like ELOISE a little bit after READING it though. Then I realised I think I speak like her anyway so...never mind!
• I Was Here by Gayle Forman - Excellent stuff. I didn't like Just One Day etc. but was a big fan of If I Stay and Where She Went. This latest offering, to me, felt like a return to form. A difficult topic really well done. 
• Kaleidoscope Hearts by Claire Contreras - Hmm...not my kind of book really. I liked the setting though. I'll make it to SoCal one of these days!
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - Not my cup of tea unfortunately. There were numerous comparisons to Gone Girl but I didn't take to it at all. 
• Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake - I need the next instalment NOW! I'm really enjoying this series. 

The Soundtrack

[I'll always include a Spotify playlist of everything I'm listening to at the bottom if you care to have a browse]

• This month I listened to First Light by Django Djnago about a million times. I'm still annoyed I've never seen them live. Same goes for Alt-J and Everything Everything. Perhaps, if I can get over my new aversion to festivals, I might try and catch one of them in the summer. 
• After that contestant sang a countrified version of Como La Flor to J-Lo on American Idol, I started listening to Selena again. 
• I also listened to a lot of Missy Elliott after she saved Katy Perry at the Super Bowl. 
• Listened to Drake's album - SNOOZEFEST. I'm not the biggest Drake fan but I quite liked some of the tracks on his last album (most notable From Time) but this new one is so droney and boring. 
• I LOVE Purity Ring! Like Taylor Swift but a bit cooler (and that's nothing against Taylor Swift as I'm a fan but she is known for her squareness, isn't she?) Ok, they're like Taylor Swift meets MS MR. 
• Finally, I've been listening to Alabama Shakes again. I just want to live somewhere that sounds like them if that makes sense. 

The Words

• I wrote something! So far I have written 7338 words, which for me, in a non NaNo/Camp NaNo kind of situation, is beyond amazing. Something I haven't done since I was about 18 on my lonesome so...YAAAAY!

On Screen

• Indian Summers on Channel 4 is amazing and so beautifully shot. The music is brilliant too. I didn't watch The Casual Vacancy mostly because of the time clash but also because I never read the book. 
• I still love American Idol. I know people have moved on to The Voice and whatever but I'm AI for life. I really love the judges at the moment too - they seem to truely love music - not just the music industry- and know a lot about it. 
• The Short Game, We Are King, and The Director - all great documentaries on UK Netflix at the moment. Speaking of Netflix, I've just started House of Cards season 3. The music is everything.
• Awards Season is over. It wasn't very fun this year. The films weren't 'must-see' for me - I've just been catching them as the DVDs are released- and the fashion was predictable and boring. Also, what with the whole racism situation and all the drama of the Sony hack meant we were all just a bit tired of Hollywood, right? I didn't even watch the BAFTA's. I turned it on, looked on as the camera scanned the crowd and couldn't see any brown faces, so switched it off. Usually, I wouldn't go as far as turning it off, which is a problem in itself because vote with your feet and all that, but I've just had enough, you know? Same with the Brit Awards (why did it take an American artist to highlight our under appreciated Grime artists at our biggest music awards show? Ridiculous.) We have our own race and class issues over here in the UK and maybe it's an age thing (it was my birthday this month hooray) but it's bugging me more than ever. It's a very quiet kind of racism that to me is just as dangerous as your problems in the USA. 

So, what have you been up to?