May book reviews.

Okay so I only read three books this month but one of them was a collection of plays and I read four of those plays so I'm going to go ahead and say that I actually read six books this month and no one can stop me!

1. The Methuen Book of Modern Drama: Plays of the '80s and '90s

This is actually a book left over from my dramatic writing module in my second year of university, when we used it to study Top Girls and The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and it's kind of a mixed bag in my opinion. I really didn't like The Beauty Queen of Leenane when I read it for uni so didn't re-read that this month but I did re-read Top Girls. There were parts of Top Girls that I liked but overall I'm not sure it's really my thing and Blasted and Shopping and Fucking are both really very much not my thing. Honestly, the only play in this collection that I actually liked was Hysteria by Terry Johnson and even that was a little hard to read in places. This book might end up in the cardboard box at the bottom of the stairs with all the other uni books I don't want but haven't found homes for yet.

Why were plays of the '80s and '90s so bloody horrible and depressing??

2. The Tempest by William Shakespeare

I think probably a lot of people who like Shakespeare would agree with me that although his work is wonderful to see performed it's often quite difficult to read. It makes sense, obviously, they're plays not books and they're really only going to make perfect sense when performed anyway, but this Penguin version of The Tempest has a few chapters of introduction before the play that actually made it much easier for me to understand and envision The Tempest while I was reading it. I did see an amateur production of The Tempest years ago when I was in school but I don't quite remember that version being as funny as the actual script is...

If you've been wanting to read any of Shakespeare's plays then I'd really recommend checking out this particular series from Penguin because of those introductory chapters and I'd definitely recommend The Tempest if you're a fan of magic or drunkards stumbling around desert islands (I am definitely a fan of both).

3. Heist Society by Ally Carter - 4/5 stars.

I was a little apprehensive going into this book because I read Ally Carter's I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You a few years ago and found it quite disappointing, but I couldn't resist this story about a teenage con artist and her teenage con artist friends. I'm really glad I gave Heist Society a try because I ended up really enjoying it. It's a lot of fun and really what more do you want from a book about a teenaged professional thief? If you're into contemporary YA with a fun adventure plot then I whole heartedly recommend Heist Society. I might even end up reading the two sequels during Read Women Month.

Have you read any of these books? If you have then let me know what you thought of them in the comments.

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May mix.

May Mix from stasialikescakes on 8tracks Radio.

Track list

Scream (Funk My Life Up) - Paolo Nutini

Chocolate - The 1975

Crash Land - Twin Atlantic

Voulez-Vous - ABBA

American Boy - Estelle

Calm After the Storm - The Common Linnets

The Mother We Share - Chvrches

Rise Like a Phoenix - Conchita Wurst

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What I've been doing this weekend.

Hanging out in Padstow again and buying lots of gorgeous local spice mixes.

Burning garlic and rosemary focaccia bread.

And eating it for lunch dipped in olive oil and fajita spices.

Trying desperately to bring my basil back to life after letting it get dehydrated! And hoping that the chives and parsley might come to life one of these days.

Listening to the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire audiobook in the garden and wishing this sun would stick around.

Planning posts for #ReadWomenMonth in June.

What have you been doing this weekend?

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Read Women Month 2014!

For the whole of June I have decided to only read books written by female authors and I'd like you to join me!

I think it's pretty common knowledge that female writers get a bad deal. Books written by women are often described as 'light' or 'fun' or, my personal least favourite, 'chicklit', whereas books written by men about the same themes are rarely spoken of in these terms. When was the last time you heard a book by a male writer described as 'light'? Nicholas Sparks is very successful for writing romance novels and yet his books are never deemed 'chicklit'. Why is that? I think you can guess.

So for the month of June I want to encourage you to only read books written by women! That's literally the only rule. You don't even have to have a blog.

If you want to talk about Read Women Month on twitter, instagram, facebook, tumblr, your blog, or anywhere else then you can use the tag #readwomenmonth and if you'd like to use the header image I've used in this post then feel free (although, of course, you don't have to at all. I won't mind, I promise.)

I'm also planning to post a few blog posts linked to #readwomenmonth throughout June so keep an eye out for those. ;) (emoticons? I know. I'm sorry. I'm just very excited about the whole thing.)

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments if you're planning on taking part and if you do mention it on your blog or anywhere else then I'd love it if you'd leave me a link so I can check it out!

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The most delicious chocolate chip cookies.

I've never had much luck with chocolate chip cookies. They're probably one of the easiest things to make but I've never been able to find a recipe I really liked. Every recipe I've tried has always been a little too greasy or a little too crunchy or the flavours just haven't been exactly how I like them. But now my search might just be over!

My aunt sent me this recipe a few months ago for cookies that are apparently supposed to taste like Millie's Cookies. I've never actually tried Millie's Cookies so I can't say anything about that but I can tell you that these only came out of the oven a few hours ago and half of them have already been eaten!

Baked goods do not last long in this house.

As well as probably being the tastiest cookies I've ever made these are definitely the most attractive. Look at those things! That's what a real cookie looks like right there. The flavour is, of course, the most important thing though, and these really are so delicious. They're crunchy around the edges and soft in the middle and they aren't horribly greasy like so many recipes I've tried in the past.

This might just be my holy grail cookie recipe (Is that a thing? I'm making it a thing), and I will definitely be making them again very soon!

Ingredients

125g butter, softened

100g light brown soft sugar

125g caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

225g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

200g chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4, and line two or three trays with greaseproof paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugars together. Once creamed, add the egg and vanilla extract and combine.

3. Sift in the flour and salt and mix again. Then add in the chocolate chips and give it another gentle mix to combine the chips into the mixture.

4. Roll into twelve walnut sized balls and place on the lined trays. I chose to use three trays with four cookies on each because they really do spread as they cook!

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes. 7 minutes if you want them to be very soft and gooey in the middle, 10 minutes if you want your cookies to be a little more crunchy around the edges. I cooked all of mine for 10 minutes, until the edges were just turning golden.

6. Remove the cookies from the oven and leave them on the trays to harden for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a wire wrack to cool completely.

7. Eat as many cookies as you can before your parents come home at the end of the day and start eating them all!

Let me know if you try out this recipe yourself or if you have any other suggestions for great cookie recipes. I'm always on the lookout for delicious recipes!

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My top 5 favourite book covers.

You know that saying 'you should never judge a book by its cover'? Pure tosh. I mean, I agree with the sentiment of not judging people by the way they look but books? People don't spend their entire careers designing book covers so that we won't judge the books by them!

Maybe the phrase made more sense back when all books had those leather covers with the gold embossing, but there are whole teams behind a cover now and although they don't always get it right (my copy of I Capture the Castle, possibly my favourite book ever, has a shockingly bad cover) I thought I'd share with you five covers that definitely did get it very right.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - St. Martin's Griffin

I love the colours and the typefaces used here and I think, given the subject of the book, the decision to use an illustration by Noelle Stevenson (aka tumblr artist fave gingerhaze) was just perfect. This is really just one of those occasions when I think the cover perfectly reflects the story inside.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - Penguin Essentials

I'm not entirely sure what the skeleton is about (I assume it's some symbolism I'm missing) but it certainly is the right kind of twisted and creepy for A Clockwork Orange. Again, I love the colours on this and the way that the black background makes it look a little bit like a drawing on a chalkboard.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple - Phoenix

The colours! Again! I love the way that the yellow, teal, and red all work together on this cover but really I just love that stylised drawing of Bernadette. The title sitting in those massive sunglasses is great and having her biting her bottom lip is a gorgeous little detail. Beautiful!

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - Penguin Books

Penguin have released all of the Sherlock Holmes books in covers similar to this and although I only have the first two right now, I'm definitely on the look out for the others! The covers on these editions are reminiscent of the covers from old pulp magazines and as well as looking fantastic I think the style suits the stories within wonderfully.

Every Day by David Levithan - Electric Monkey

When I first got Every Day I was a little unsure about the bright orange cover but I actually really like the way that it draws your eye on the shelf and I think it makes the already lovely front cover design stand out and look even better. And, again, I love the typeface used for the title and the author's name on the front.

So, that's it! Those are my top five favourite book covers. What are your favourite book covers? Let me know in the comments.

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Paddling in Padstow!

Today I went for a walk around Padstow with my parents and Jess, who I've known since we were 2 and who I lived with for the three years of university and who is essentially my soul mate. Jess and I went paddling in the ocean and I threw seaweed at her and we saw the cutest pug I've ever seen (and that cool knight some kid had drawn in the sand) and it was just a really nice day. Now I'm tired so I'm going to lounge around on the sofa and watch the BAFTAs with mum.

I hope you've had a nice Sunday!

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