A Book Review: First on the List: Out of the Easy By Ruta Sepetys

A Book Review on 

'Out of the Easy' By Ruta Sepetys

I recently finished this book and I've read another by the same author and they're both honestly just brilliant for a number of reasons. They're both very, very down to earth and they capture a reality many of us would never be able to dream of, first and foremost because both of her books are set in the past. Here's the blurb of this one, so you can get a feel for what I mean :)

'It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. 

She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.'

 (Sourced from x)

I found this book especially poignant because it didn't try to disguise the truth of the matter, it didn't try to create a reality that would never have come about, it told it how it would've been and in many ways that honesty is what brings that flair and enjoyment in a book. 

It also flowed incredibly well and by that I mean that though things happened that you may not have expected to happen, they didn't happy awkwardly or completely out of the blue. They integrated into the plot wonderfully and you didn't feel like you were being lurched along whatever way the author wanted the story to go. There were some parts that I wasn't sure about but they still worked well with the book and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants a good read at the weekend :)

In summary, the book encapsulates what it's like for a girl of lower class to try and make something of herself and it's endearing to us as the reader because it makes you realise what life was like back then I guess. The funny thing is, we'll never really know what life was really like at all seeing as though it's set 60 years ago but the way it's written works very well indeed.

I hope that you guys enjoyed my review, I know it wasn't particularly detailed on characters or whatever but I was mesmerised by the book as a whole and I would love to hear your thoughts on any details if any of you guys have read the book yourselves :)

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good day!

Unrequited Kindness

As the title suggests, unrequited kindness is something that's been playing on my mind of late.

There are many times and many people to whom we don't give what they deserve, whether that be members of our family, typically our parents, or whether that be our close friends and even more so the kind stranger who you may never ever speak to again.

It can sometimes be a case of karma and therefore, by showing love and kindness to other people without the promise of them doing something in return, perhaps we can get some more goodness circulating around society :) Sometimes it does feel like there is an awful lot of hate in the world that can sometimes drown out the small kindnesses that people to do to us on a daily basis and I personally feel uncomfortable with that fact.

One person who clearly demonstrated to me something that you can do to someone kindly, was Carrie Hope Fletcher who makes YouTube videos, for all of those of you who aren't familiar with Carrie. That isn't her primary profession as she's also a Broadway singer and is currently playing Eponine in Les Mis which is absolutely phenomenal and a dream come true for her. Little biography over, she suggested to her viewers a wonderful idea called the Hopeful Notes. These would involve writing a kind word on a piece of paper, a post-it note if you liked, and just leaving it in a public place for someone to find. It was wonderful because it was a simple idea and yet you could completely change someone's outlook on the day by doing so.

Despite the fact the idea may not be for many of us, it just goes to show that though there is a lot of bad in the world, good still has it's rightful place and small kindnesses can still go a long way, even if it feels insignificant at the time.

For those of you who'd like to find out more about Carrie, her blog is here (x) and her YouTube channel is here (x) :)

Thank you ever so much for reading and I hope that you have a wonderful day! :)

Nominated for the Liebster Award by Will Hunt

So today, I got nominated for the Liebster Award by an awesome blogger I follow, Will Hunt
His link is here :D http://www.willdhunt.blogspot.co.uk/

The rules of the Liebster Award are as follows:

1 - Thank/link the blogger who nominated you.

2 - Answer the 10 questions that they have written for you.

3 - Give 11 random facts about yourself.

4 - Nominate other bloggers with under 200 followers who you believe deserve the award.

5 - Post 11 questions for your nominees to answer & be sure to let them know that they have been selected.

So, without further ado, thank you so much Will for nominating me for the Liebster Award! It's a grand ole honour and as I do enjoy reading your posts, it's great to find out that someone thinks something at all, let alone something as awesome as this, about my blog :D

Now for the ten questions Will has set for me to answer :D

1. What is your favourite food?

I would have to say, without a shadow of a doubt, pasta. It's a favourite of many but I have to say that it's probably the one food that I could eat whenever and whoever made it for me, it never fails to make me happy :D

2. If you won the lottery and could only keep the money for a week, what would you do with it?

Quite honestly, I think I would try and make as many people happy as possible, whether that be by giving money to charity or buying the people close to me a wonderful gift and just watching them become all happy and delighted by it, I think that would be the best thing ever :D

3. Who is your favourite YouTuber?

One word Will; Why? ;)

One thing you should know about me is the fact I admire a lot of youtubers and I'm quite obsessed according to those around me ;D

So, instead of picking one, I'll name a few people who kind of link together so perhaps it'll end up being the quality I like in a youtuber :D

The youtubers are: JacksGap, Louis Cole, Steve Booker and Nick Miller. These all have that uniqueness in their videos and it's so clear that they have a purpose on the impact that they want their videos to have. JacksGap did a lot of charity work with the Rickshaw Run which was inspirational and Louis is constantly getting involved with different projects, to name a different one Sure 24 in Kenya which he visited before he went to Australia, using his platform to spread the message of good deeds was just awesome. Steve uses his channel uniquely, not posting very often but constantly seeking a vibe that he wants to share or a story that needs telling like his most recent video talking about a barrista in Australia, it's the sort of thing that's educating and not just sitting in front of the camera style and it's awesome. Finally, Nick Miller's a new one but his dream is wonderful and the style of his videos are just that tad different and yeah aha, I could ramble all day! To find out about his dream, check him out on youtube, his channel's Nick Miller :)

4. If you had to choose a job for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I think I can successfully avoid this cheeky question with a job role that isn't really set at all; I would love to be stuck in a job where my main goal is to make other people happy. Then, when are you never successful? If you're doing your job then you'll be constantly making other people happy and if I could do that, well I'd happily stay put for the rest of my life :D

5. What is your favourite TV Show?

I don't watch a tremendous amount of TV but I have recently gotten into Game of Thrones which is renowned for its gore and its general extremity and violence. Yes, I would say that if you're faint hearted then it may not be for you but in a way, me being one of those people who isn't really a fan of violence, it's good to see the reality of how battles would actually happen. Once you see Game of Thrones, it makes everything else seem slightly  nicer ;) That aside, the plot is brilliant and the character development is to die for though if you are considering starting, do heed my warning and forward any scenes that make you uncomfortable :) I won't take up any more of your time on the subject but do look it up!

6. If you could go back in time, what would you change and why?

This one bugger of a question but I'll give it my best shot! I think if I ever could, I would try and go and find the most horrible and racist people who caused others to hate innocent people for something they couldn't control and I would try and do something about it, that way less people in history would be harmed for something that doesn't make the slightest amount of difference, as we now know today!

7. If you had the chance to go 40 years into the future, would you?

Yes, for the pure reason that I would love to see how things pan out; what could I go back into time and make sure I try and rally to do right in the world, what could I try and stop from happening? As the question doesn't say into my future (I don't have much interest there, I'll look forward to just living it out thank you!) I would love to see where us as a race end up :)

8. What advice would you give to your 12-year-old self?

All that glitters is not gold. Simply because it's easy to think that everything that looks glamourous and is made out to be perfect, even in your own mind, often isn't and it's not worth feeling like you're less than anybody else because of the way you perceive them. Often, this is not the reality of who they are in the bigger picture.

9. What is your favourite thing to do?

I would say, make friends on the internet. I find it a lot easier to do the right thing and be a better version (by that I mean a nicer, more fluent version, not a 'different' version necessarily) of myself. It's also easier to make friends who have similar interests and that's why it's awesome, because you can go about your life and find people away from your normal life to get along with, even if your everyday life isn't going smoothly, you still have them and it's an awesome feeling.

10. What is your favourite quality in yourself?

This is definitely hard because I don't really think many of my qualities are to a standard where they deserve to be given that much recognition as something good to have. One thing I would say that I was told by a friend is that I 'wouldn't harm a fly' and that's a good quality I think because it shows that I care about the impact I have on other people and therefore, am less likely to hurt people which I think is quite nice :)

Now for the 11 random facts about myself :D

1. Sometimes, I have two showers a day (not two days in a row though).

2. I found youtube by accident two days after my birthday in 2013.

3. I daily blog on my side tumblr zaithinksoutloud.tumblr.com

4. My daily blog is the most successful diary I've ever written in my life, I've actually managed to keep it going for three months now!

5. I'm asian but my family is from Africa, so technically, I was born in England, look asian and am 100% African. Wonderful :D

6. I love to read books but I don't like reading book reviews of books I haven't read.

7. I love the film Inception because I love the concept and the way the entire plot works out.

8. I'm 16 years old and I left highschool officially, last Thursday.

9. I hope to become a doctor when I grow up but that's an ambition because it's incredibly hard!

10. I've never had a pet animal before.

11. My patronus according to an online quiz, would be an eagle.

The People I would like to nominate!

1. The Mandeville Sisters! mandevillesisters.blogspot.com

2. Alice! alicesantics.blogspot.com

(As I don't personally read that many small blogs, that's all I have to offer!)

The 10 questions I would love them to answer in their post:

1. What is your favourite childhood memory?

2. What is the moment you've dreamed about the most/did you dream about when you were younger? (e.g. your wedding)

3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you want to live and why!

4. What's your favourite flavour of icecream?

5. What would you say is one of your biggest achievements?

6. Who do you look up to and why :)

7. What is your favourite social media website and why

8. Why did you start blogging?

9. What is a personal goal that you'd like to achieve?

10. What new year's resolution do you always make but always fail?

11. What's the one quality you admire in a person?

Thank you so much to Will for nominating me and I do look forward to seeing the two bloggers (hopefully) do a post answering these questions!

Visiting old people

Old people are full of knowledge and today I went to visit an old lady who's written a ton of recipes.
She was such a lovely old lady and wasn't intrusive and the conversation wasn't really that awkward at all.
It made me realise that I should try and visit the elderly more, they've lived their lives and are leaving their legacy but are too often forgotten or stereotyped.

Love you all always,
Zainab
<3

Family Friends

I went to a wedding today, the wedding of a family friend who I admire, the bride. She's just amazingly kind.
The only thing I wish is that I could be closer to her, I don't see her much but I felt bad not being able to congratulate her more personally.
I hope that with other people in the future, I can make more of an effort and really try and make the most of the existing friendship between our families.

That's all :D
Love you all!
I hope you have a good day :) :) :)

Bitching About People

So bitching is one of my pet hates.
I find it horrible and vile and disgusting, especially if it's for no reason other than to hate on someone.
If you're not trying to help the person or if you know there's not a big chance that telling someone about a problem you have with someone is going to help anything, please don't!
Just remember what goes around comes around.
Karma.
Whatever name you want to give to it.
You make yourself such a bad person, whatever you say about that person isn't a reflection of them, it's a reflection of you.
If your friends can bitch about other people what's going to stop them bitching about you?
You lose people's trust if they know you complain about other people's flaws. You could quite easily turn against them.

So please, keep your bad thoughts to yourself, give people a second chance, give them excuses, remember that you wouldn't want to be defined by your flaws, so give that to other people too.

Have a great week!
<3

Valuing yourself - Louis Cole

I found this video of Louis' very inspiring and thought provoking.
However it got me thinking about how hard it is to remember that even if it is beauty that attracts, personality makes people stay :)
I wear a headscarf and I'm not popular at school and sometimes I feel like a failure at being a social person and a person who's actually there for her friends and not just cowering in a corner, too quiet to ask how her friends are faring. I wish I was more daring with people I don't know as well, I think it would help me become the helpful, kind person I wish to be :)
I feel so invisible to the world sometimes and I wish I didn't feel like I have to dress better or talk to the right people to be noticed and to be talked to.
We all say it's society but if we made a choice to accept people and not judge, who's going to stop us?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmrGwxsT0J0&feature=youtube_gdata_player