The Land of Laura

For Christmas, I received the Paula Hawkins book 'The Girl on the Train'. Having recently finished it, I thought I'd give you a review and let you know my honest opinion on it.

Generally, the feedback around this book is incredible, everybody is raving about it! So, maybe it's just me? While I cannot deny that Paula Hawkins is an incredibly talented author with a beautiful writing style, something about the Girl on the Train fell a little flat for me. I'll try and explain the best way  can without giving away any spoilers.

Hawkins writes the book from the viewpoint of three different characters, each chapter alternating between these characters. By doing this, we learn so much about so many characters and really build up and bond with them, so props to her for doing that. It's just a shame that these characters, and their stories, become sort of irrelevant by the end. The book is certainly packed full of twist, which normally has me hooked on a book, but for some reason I often struggled to find the motivation to pick the book up, I think to me the pace became a little slow in the middle and I became so fed up of not knowing what was going on and "filler storytelling" (those bits of the book that add nothing, they're just there). Some people really love the fact that the story is dragged out and keeps you questioning and in suspense for so long, but this just wasn't for me. Furthermore, for it to be dragged out that long and for the ending to be what it was? Not a fan. I haven't yet seen the movie and I normally always prefer books to movies, but in this case i actually think the book would work better as a movie. The "filler" storytelling wouldn't occupy as much time and you'd get to the end of the movie not feeling pissed off that you'd spent a week and half reading it. With the movie, its only an hour and a half of your time gone, no biggy.

I am fully aware that I am in the minority, so it is probably just down to my personal taste, since everyone I know LOVES this book. The high reviews around it are a testament to Paula Hawkins, but this one just wasn't for me - sorry !

Always Read,

Laura xoxo

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Hi Guys,

Welcome to the first official post in my new series "Lets Talk About:"! To see what this series is all about check out my previous post (although, its fairly self explanatory). To kick things off I wanted to talk about something that I've wanted to do a post on for ages - university! I kept putting off writing about university because I wanted to wait until I was close to my graduation (which I now am, go me!), so that I could truly impart some proper wisdom, rather than just saying "jaegerbombs are grim after the second one", which is truly the only advice I could have offered as a fresher. I've broken it down into categories and given you my top 3 pieces of advice for each topic, although not necessarily in the right order! I decided to focus on advice for when you're actually at University, if you'd like a post offering advice on the application process and choosing where to go, let me know!  So here it is....

Books
 - don't go nuts buying loads, they cost a bomb and you most likely won't need half of them ! Try taking them out of the library and see which ones are worth getting first !
- for books you do need to buy, try getting second hand ones, university forums and social media pages are great for this, there is bound to be people in the year above you that don't need their anymore.
- for books you need from the library, get in there early! The library will only have a limited number of books and if it's a core text book for the course, they will run out !

Accommodation
- stay in halls in your first year (if possible), it's a great way to meet new people and make friends. Be careful about what accommodation you use though, look at what you can realistically afford. For example, my student loan wouldn't cover me having an en suite room, so take this into consideration!
- if you choose to move into a student house, NEVER GET 12 MONTH CONTRACTS. They seem great at first because you don't have to move all your stuff home at summer, but if your in my position (I.e you get basically the minimum loan) you won't be able to afford rent over the summer. Look at the cost of renting and see if you can afford it, but realistically, most people don't stay at uni over the summer, so it becomes a waste of money anyway.
- If you do live in a student house there will sometimes be a downstairs bedroom, if this is the case, avoid it like the plague! You'll be woken up constantly!

Work
- get a part time job (even if you don't need one), it looks great on your CV and it's a good way to meet new people.
- get into a habit of starting your uni work early. Getting into a good habit with this will make your life much easier later on ( I didn't do this, and boy do I wish I had)
- any extra things you can do such as volunteering will look all go on your academic record and look great on your CV, anything extra you can do makes you more employable when you graduate.

Social
- be yourself, literally anything goes at uni and you're pretty much guaranteed to find someone who likes the same stuff you do, so there is no need to pretend to be into stuff you're not.
- depending on where you go, there is a pretty big 'drinking culture' at University and it is ABSOLUTELY FINE to not be in it. If your not a big drinker (or you don't drink at all) do not feel pressured, you can still go on nights out if you want to and people will like you just as much!
- Join a society. Societies are massive at university and they range from the academic (such as the medical society) to the down right wacky (my university has a Quiddich Society!). There's bound to be something for you and they're a fantastic way to meet people and escape from work every now and again.

Graduating
- If you're not graduating until June, start applying for graduate job before Christmas, since this is when a lot of the application deadlines are for graduate schemes.
- Even if a company isn't advertising a job, drop them an email and your CV anyway, it shows passion and initiative - I got an interview from doing this!
- Don't promise loads of people that they can come to your graduation, there is normally a two person ticket limit!

Money
- Live within your means. It may be nice to have an en-suite bathroom but if you cant afford it you will begin to resent that bathroom more than anything. Nothing stresses you out more than not being able to afford your rent - shared bathrooms honestly aren't that bad! (depending on how many people you're sharing with).
- Food shopping is extortionate. Make a rough meal plan and a list before you go shopping, try to buy things that can be used for a lot meals (chicken breasts for example) and buy things that can easily be frozen. Its horrible spending a fortune on food and having to throw it away because it's gone out of date.
- When choosing where to bank, don't be drawn in my by the massive overdraft limits and freebies. I went with Santander for the big overdraft and free railcard. BIGGEST. REGRET. EVER. Setting up their online banking is a nightmare and their mobile app is shit. Mobile/Online banking is fantastic at uni for when you inevitably have to pay your housemate for your share of the Dominoes.



There is probably a million things I've missed but these were all the main things I wanted to cover! I hope if you're thinking of going to University or are at University already you found at least some of these useful! I had a fun time writing this, laughing to myself about all the stories that inspired each piece of advise. I'll be back on Sunday with another post and next Thursday  with another "Lets Talk About:". What would you like me to cover next?! Leave a comment or tweet me @LauraCharlotteG!

Until next time loves,

Laura xoxo