Friday, 4 August 2017

Haul of the Holiday: Geeking Out in Greece


Welcome to a new post!

While you're reading this, I should hopefully be sitting on a beautiful, sunny beach in the gorgeous country that is Greece. I've been looking forward to this trip for a while, as I have never been to Greece before. But as I love reading, and I also can't just spent the whole time on the beach by sleeping, because I hate being unproductive, I thought I would at least treat myself to a few new books for the beach times. Yes, that's not technically being productive, but at least I feel like I'm doing something haha. Let's hope I'll kind of find a way of actually relaxing by reading. Usually that works...at least for a little while.

I picked up three books, which might be a little over ambitious for such a short amount of time and depending on how much time we'll actually spend at the beach, but I like to be prepared. If I only end up finishing one of these, because we're having so much fun that's fine too. I'm not there just to read after all. At least I am hoping that I can persuade my fam to do a little bit of exploring around the area we're staying in. 😊


Dunkirk: The History Behind The Major Motion Picture - Joshua Levine

You might have seen the trailer and adverts for the new Christopher Nolan film named 'Dunkirk' (featuring the gorgeous Mr. Harry Styles). I really want to go and see the film, but before that, I really want to learn something about the actual historic events that the movie talks about. If, like me before I heard about the film, don't know what Dunkirk is about (we don't learn about that in school over here), here's a small summary from the back of the book. I'm really exited to find out more about what happened back then.

" The Battle of Dunkirk, in May/June 1940, is remembered as a stunning defeat, yet a major victory as well. The Nazis had beaten back the Allies and pushed them across France to the northern port of Dunkirk. In the ultimate race against time, more than 300,000 Allied soldiers were daringly evacuated across the Channel. This moment of German aggression was used by Winston Churchill as a call to Franklin Roosevelt to enter the war. Now, historian Joshua Levine explores the real lives of those soldiers, bombed and strafed on the beaches for days on end, without food or ammunition; the civilians whose boats were overloaded; the airmen who risked their lives to buy their companions on the ground precious time; and those who did not escape."


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Joanne K. Rowling

Why the hell is she buying a Harry Potter book, shouldn't she already own one if she's a Potterhead? Well, yes she does own this book already but she has never read the whole series in English, although many many MANY times in German. Don't know why the hell I was talking about myself in third person there haha.
Basically, I feel like it's finally time to re-read the whole series again, after not having re-read it completely in about three years, which is a long time for me not to re-read Harry Potter, let me tell you. And this time I'm finally doing it in English.

I just finished re-reading the Philosopher's Stone again, so now it's time to explore the Chamber of Secrets again...although, to be fair, it's my least favourite book of the series...Sorry, if that sentence just broke any hearts, it's just the truth. 🙈😃


Unfiltered - Lily Collins

Finally I got this book in my hands. I've been exited to read Lily's book, basically since the day she announced that she was writing one. (Can we also please talk about her gorgeous British accent in "Love, Rosie"?) I don't know exactly what she is talking about, apart from the fact that it has some autobiographical bits and life tips included, but otherwise it's going to be a complete surprise. But as Dunkirk is quite the heavy book, I felt like it would be perfect to take this one with me as well, as it's a much lighter and easier read. I mean, it's all about balance, isn't it?


If I somehow manage to actually get through all three of these books, which I don't think I am, I have also got the book "The Circle" waiting for me on my Kindle, just in case. I really want to read that one since I saw the trailer for the film with Emma Watson and thought it sounded awesome, so that's definitely on my TBR list, whether it's for Greece or later in the year.

Do you have any recommendations on things to do or places to go in Crete? Definitely share them with us in comments below. I'm open to any suggestions, because I really want to do some exploring  whilst we're over there (my mum will hate me for this haha).
Also, any other book recommendations - just leave them below, if you like. :)

Have a gorgeous week! ♥

Love, Jacqueline Xx