World Book Day

Since today is World Book Day, I thought I'd share with you some my favourite all time books..

(I'm not really going to write reviews on them, just get them from the library and check them out yourselves!)

A Song Of Ice And Fire - George R.R. Martin

The A Song of Ice and Fire books are the basis of HBO's the Game of Thrones tv series. They're fantasy books that really capture the imagination. I am currently the book A Feast for Crows. So far my favourite is A Storm of Swords.

Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling

Yes this was inevitable.. but the Harry Potter books came out when I was roughly the same age as Harry in the first books and so it was fantasy life that ever Potter reader (including myself) wished they were part of. This is cliché but,  my generation grew up alongside Harry. My favourite book of these is The Order of the Phoenix. The excitement of Dumbledore's Army and the heartbreak when Sirius died always get me!

Kevin and Sadie, Across the Barricades - Joan Lingard

This book is part of a series following the relationship of Kevin (a Catholic) and Sadie (a Protestant) in Belfast during the Troubles. Originally I read this for my Junior Cert. but afterwards I read all the Kevin and Sadie novels. Across the Barricades remained my favourite.

Pillow Talk - Freya North

I usually don't go for romantic novels but I picked this book up one day to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised. You get to know Petra and her history with guys at first. You feel for her and then you're brought on her romantic escapades throughout the book. Worth picking up..

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

I will admit, I only picked up this book after seeing the film. It is such an intriguing story and so well written (as you would expect from Oscar Wilde!)

Northern Lights - Philip Pullman 

I read this book when I was around 8. Once I read it, I put it down and day dreamed of what it would be like to be Lyra. Then I picked it up and read it again and again..

Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

This was my favourite book in primary school!

Anyways, that's all for now! There's loads of others, but these are the ones that popped into my head! :) 

2012

The Highlights

On the 4th of July, a huge scientific breakthrough was made. After 40 years of trying to create this particle to prove it's existence and function, it finally happened in Geneva. The Higgs Boson was momentarily recreated using CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Basically the Higgs Boson is the particle that gives matter mass. Without mass the universe, including us, would not exist. Nicknaming the Higgs Boson 'The God particle' was a bit of a jibe at the religious folk... it was the God particle that created the world :P 

Katie Taylor winning gold at the Summer Olympics held in London this year. She was just amazing... don't get me wrong, the rest of the Olympic squad were great too... but Katie was just unforgettable!

Barack Obama won a second term in The White House... to be fair, America would have been the biggest laughing stock if they voted Mitt Romney (a fricking MORMON!) in as president. Voting for someone like that would be anything but progressive.

My personal highlight was finishing college... I'm a chemical & biopharmaceutical engineer bitches!

The Lowlights

Aurora.. the mind-boggling mass shooting in a cinema in America. In Aurora, Colorado, James Holmes opened fire at the opening night of The Dark Knight Rises killing 12 people and wounded 58 people.. it can be a really crazy world sometimes!

Sandy Hook Elementary school.. another crazy gunman shot up an American primary school killing even little  school kids!

My personal lowlight was the passing of my Dad, Alfie, on 3rd December.

Dad holding his grandson Sean.

Before & After 

Christmas 2011 - Christmas 2012