The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle opens with the narrator waking up in the forest, covered in blood, in a different body and no idea what is going on. He makes it front door of a large country house and from there he discovers that's he's Aiden Bishop and that he has 8 chances to stop the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. Each day he will wake in a different host body and have the chance to relive the day and hopefully stop the murder. He has some advantages (he remembers his memories from the previous days and which host he is so he can set up and change scenarios) and disadvantages (He's hindered by his hosts' physical attributes, like being overweight or old as well as the hosts' personalities like their temper or impulsivity). Plus there's other obstacles in his way to further complicate things. Can he solve the puzzle on time? And what will happen if he doesn't?

I loved this book! It sucked me right in. It's like Gosford Park and Agatha Christie meets Inception and Groundhog Day. A murder mystery with a twist. It was really atmospheric and descriptive, I loved finding out who the new hosts were and was constantly guessing what was going on and how things would work out. Of course I wasn't anywhere close to getting it right! Complex and thrilling, I'll definitely reach for it again in the future to reread as I’d love to see if there’s anything new I pick up on.

Autumnal Jelly Nail Look

Years ago I saw a nail look on Pinterest and wanted to try it. If you look for nail looks on Pinterest then you’ve probably come across it. It’s with an orange jelly polish with leaves stamped in between layers. It took a while for me to source out the original link but I think it was from SaltyStyle Nails. I tried to recreate it last year stamping but I’m rubbish at it. I also tried punching out leaf shapes from strips of dried nail polish but it was a mess.

This year I decided to try again but this time with nail stickers from Ali Express! I’m happy with how it turned out, it’s not the same as the original but it’s still pretty.

The polish I used was Maybelline Color Show in Edgy Tangy, with the nail stickers between layers of polish. I’ll definitely try it again next year, I think it’ll be a staple autumn look for me every year.

Nonfiction November 2018

I like reading nonfiction but sometimes I’m a bit slower at reading it and that makes me hesitant at picking it up. Two years ago I did Nonfiction November and I found it did help me reach for nonfiction books more so when I saw this year’s video by abookolive on my YouTube sidebar, I decided to watch it and it inspired me to take part. Especially as I’m hoping knock out a few of my remaining Book Riot Read Harder 2018 challenges (as per usual, I’m slacking on that!)

The aim of Nonfiction November is just to get people reading nonfiction, even if it’s just one book. But there’s also 4 challenges that you can try complete, for you to interpreter whatever you want.

1. Past time/ Pastime

2. Self/Shelf

3. Wander/Wonder

4. Micro/Macro

Here are my picks for each challenge

1. Past time/ Pastime

I know past time is probably more to do with history but I decided to pick My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen which I guess you could twist to say it’s about her life and anything to do with memoirs is technically past time. If that’s too much of a reach, then one of my pastimes is listening to music and I loved Lily Allen’s first album Alright, Still when it came out, it was the soundtrack to my summer in 2006. I got the book on Audible as I thought it would be interesting to listen to Lily narrate it.

2. Self/Shelf

A relatively new addition to my shelf, as I only got it last month, but I thought Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies curated by Scarlett Curtis would be a good pick for this challenge as I do consider myself a feminist. And it’ll help me finish the complete the Read an Essay Anthology challenge for Read Harder.

3. Wander/Wonder

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald was one of my choices for the previous Nonfiction November but I never got around to it then. I’m hoping I will this year, especially as I need to Read a Book about Nature for Read Harder.

4. Micro/Macro

Dent’s Modern Tribes by Susie Dent is all about slang used by different professions and groups and I thought it fit in with a micro as it focuses on smaller groups of people. It will also help me complete the Read Harder challenge of Read a Book on Social Science.

I’m also currently listening to the latest book by No Such Thing as Fish called The Book of the Year 2018 and I’m reading Timekeepers by Simon Garfield. There’s a new Simon Garfield book out called In Miniature which would be perfect for the Micro/Macro challenge but I didn’t want to start a new Garfield book without finished the current one! I think the books suit the challenges well, they might even fit some of the other challenges as well (H is for Hawk could be in Pastime as it’s about falconry and Lily Allen’s book could be in wonder about a celebrities life). I’m not sure I’ll get to read them all in November but if not I’ll continue into December to get them finished.

If you have any nonfiction recommendations let me know below in the comments or on Twitter.