nuggets of niamh

I had a wonderful Christmas, thank you for asking, and I hope you did, too! I was well and truly spoilt by my family with lots of lovely gifts (including a few books!) and we had an absolutely amazing Christmas lunch! I'm honestly still a bit full from all the food I've eaten over the past few days... But now that Christmas has been and gone, we've come to the end of December, and with it, the end of the year. Can you believe that 2018 is over?! For many, now is the time to reflect on the year that was and look ahead to the next. Personally, though, I need a little more time to come to grips with it all, so today, I'll just be looking back at what happened during the month of December. 

Merry Christmas, everyone!  By the time you're reading this, Christmas Day will be in full swing in my house! We will likely be beginning to prepare lunch ahead of the arrival of our guests and I definitely will have already opened all of my presents! Fingers crossed that at least a few of them will be books! This is the wish list that I gave my family this year (complete with specific editions as well, of course!), so I hope that I'll have found a few of them under the Christmas tree this morning! Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl , with a new topic to respond to every week.

With Christmas now only a few days away, what could be more appropriate than a fun, festive-filled tag?! The Twelve Days of Christmas Book Tag is based on the song of the same name and the aim is to select a book that fits the theme of each line of the song. So without further ado (and with very little context), let's commence!  The Twelve Days of Christmas Book Tag was originally created by Ashley @ Falling Down the Book Hole  and I was tagged by  Dinara  @ Dinara Tengri .

I swear no matter how many books I read, my TBR pile never shrinks. It just continues to grow and grow until it becomes multiple piles and, oh no, now it's a sea of books and I can't see the floor anymore. But that's not what this post is about. Not really. Although my TBR "pile" does somewhat resemble a small ocean, today I am discussing just ten (well, eleven) books that I'm hoping to read this summer. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I tend to gravitate towards contemporaries in the summer months, however, I've since realised that I have A LOT of fantasies to catch up on. So it looks like some of those contemporaries may have to take a backseat. Nevertheless, I'm excited to read each and every one of the following books so if that's any indication, then it's going to be a great summer!  Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl , with a new topic to respond to every week.

2018 has been THE year for YA adaptations, with films such as A Wrinkle in Time  and  Ready Player One  finding huge success at the box office and Netflix's  To All the Boys I've Loved Before  and Dumplin'  also extremely popular with audiences. I myself absolutely loved TATBILB and watched it multiple times shortly after it was released! I was also lucky enough to see an advanced screening of Love, Simon  earlier in the year, which I adored! Both films received critical acclaim for the performances of their lead actors and actresses and were also lauded for their diversity – something not often accurately represented in blockbuster films. Unfortunately, apart from TATBILB, Love, Simon  and Maze Runner: The Death Cure  (which we won't talk about), I haven't had the chance to watch any other 2018 YA adaptations yet. But I'm hoping next year will be a different story! Because there are some seriously amazing YA adaptations schedule...

I love a good series – the longer the better! But with all the enticing shiny new releases that just keep popping up on Goodreads and Bookstagram, it can be hard to keep up with sequels to that series you first started reading five years ago.  Especially if you're like me and are TERRIBLE at remembering what happened in the first two or five or TEN books.  Because then you need to reread. And as enjoyable as it can be to revisit the first few books in one of your favourite series, it takes sooo long . And who has time for that with all the shiny new releases?!  Over the past year or two, I've made a concentrated effort to try and finish part-read series. In fact, just the other day I finally caught up on  Brotherband  by John Flanagan and am now continuing the Monster Blood Tattoo  trilogy by D. M. Cornish – a series I started in PRIMARY SCHOOL but never completed. Whoops.  But of course, I also read multiple *new* books this year, so, ...

Bridge of Clay  by Markus Zusak Published: 9th October 2018 by Picador Australia Format: Paperback Pages: 592 ISBN: 9781760559922 RRP: $32.99 ★ ★  ★  ★  Bridge of Clay is about a boy who is caught in the current - of destroying everything he has, to become all he needs to be. He's a boy in search of greatness, as a cure for memory and tragedy. He builds a bridge to save his family, but also to save himself. It's an attempt to transcend humanness, to make a single, glorious moment: A miracle and nothing less.

Summer has well and truly arrived here in Australia. At least where I live. We've already had multiple days of 35°C+ weather and it's only the start of December. All I can say is thank goodness for air conditioning! During the warmer months, I tend to read a lot more contemporaries. I couldn't tell you why, but they're just not something I reach for in winter. As a result, I have a bit of a backlog of contemporaries on my TBR at the moment (more on that in a few weeks!). And today I thought it would be a great idea to add EVEN MORE to that list! So for this post about the perfect summery books, I'll be discussing five that I've read and loved, and five that I've yet to read but think would be ideal for this season! Spoiler alert: Despite only last week raving about how much I like platonic relationships in books , I can't look past a cute summer romance!  Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl , featuring a new top...

Um, did I blink and miss November? Or maybe I took a nap one day and woke up a whole month later? Seriously, where did this month (and the rest of this year!) go?! The first two weeks of November were super busy for me: I was in charge of planning and organising a two-night camp for the Girl Guide unit that I run. This was the first time I've ever done anything like this and it was all just a little bit stressful. And A LOT of work! But, thankfully, everything went really well (minus a small hiccup involving a possum and a fuse box) and it ended up being a great weekend! Although, I was completely exhausted by the end of it! The last two weeks have been a little more relaxing. In the lead up to the holiday season, I've been catching up with friends and also starting to prepare a few things for Christmas. It's never too early to start brainstorming gift ideas, after all! But I've also been allowing plenty of time for myself – keeping up with my reading, obviou...

Let's face it, book friendships are often better than book romances. I'll choose a story with a well-developed, beautiful friendship over one with a sappy, romance-heavy plot any day. Plus, non-romance books aren't plagued by annoying, overused tropes like the brooding-bad-boy-with-a-dark-secret or insta-love. I mean, who ever heard of insta-friendship?! Platonic relationships are as diverse as the fish in the ocean: every friendship, every family is unique. So there's really no limit to the kinds of platonic relationships you can encounter in novels. Some of my favourites make me so happy (or sad), even now just thinking about them! Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl , with a new topic to respond to every week.