Friday Link Dump: GIFs, The Princess Bride and Pretty Little Liars

-Because I totally don't spend enough time online (ahem), I went and started a new Tumblr. Full of GIFs! For all your GIF reaction needs. (Tumblr)

-I used to think my uni was pretty. Then I saw these Harry Potter-esque campuses. They shit all over the Duckpond Lawn at UOW. (BuzzFeed)

-I wish I could go to an awesome event like The Princess Bride with live commentary. At least I have bloggers to fill me in. (EW)

-The problem with "strong" female characters. Very thought-provoking. (New Statesmen)

-Some inside info on the big twist in Pretty Little Liars. I'm still thinking about it. (TV Line)

-John Green's latest vlog gave a sneaky look on the The Fault in Our Stars movie set. I still need to read that book. (YouTube)

-I kinda want these Lego libraries. (Book Riot)

-So John Stamos has a new web series in which he interviews celebs... about how they lost their virginity. Weird. But I will watch the shit out of it. (Junkee)

-Creative things you can do with your Instagram photos. If only mine were good enough to actually print. (BuzzFeed)

-This BuzzFeed list is me. It's scary but also kinda reassuring. (BuzzFeed)

-Animals jumping on trampolines. You're welcome. (BuzzFeed)

Bookish Buys: Pretty Little Liars

This week's Bookish Buys is all about Pretty Little Liars, in honour of the show's summer finale and massive twist (which, if anyone watches it, can we please discuss?!).

Bracelet 

Charm bracelet

Tee

Emily nail polish

Aria's necklace

Hanna nail polish

Keyring

Aria nail polish

Necklace

Aria's necklace 

Notebook

Notebook

Onesie

Spencer nail polish

Sweatshirt

Tank

Top

Shirt

Bag

Tote

Tote

Review: Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

I've been putting off writing this review for so long because, goddamn, I hated this book. I don't have many nice things to say about it. And you know what they say...

I was really surprised at just how intensely I disliked Pretty Little Liars. I'm completely obsessed with the TV show, and I was expecting the book to have a similar appeal: four pretty friends are tormented by the mysterious 'A', who somehow knows all their secrets and manipulates events to create juicy twists at every turn. But while the basic plot is the same, the book just fell totally flat for me.

Perhaps I would've liked it better if I hadn't seen the TV show first and had nothing to compare it to. But somehow I don't think so. There were so many problems. The pacing felt unbearably slow, and while a lot of stuff happened, it actually felt like not much did. The threats from 'A' were few and way too far between, and the four main characters barely spoke to each other for the majority of the book, creating a sense of disconnection that extended to me as a reader.

This was reinforced by the fact that the girls are all so freaking unlikable. In the show, they're nice girls who sometimes do questionable things, but you root for them because, hey, they're pretty cool. But in the book I just wanted to punch them all in the face. And I'm not generally a violent person.

The access to each of their inner selves through the third person narration does them zero favours. They all come across as superficial, selfish and downright mean. Hanna and Aria were particularly infuriating. If you played a drinking game and took a sip for every time they admired their own looks, you'd get drunk pretty damn fast. This was not only annoying, it was also extremely unrealistic - especially in Hanna's case, since she's supposedly recovering from an eating disorder.

I also didn't like any of the girls' parents. They were shallow, nasty and/or bigotted. There pretty much wasn't a likable character in the whole book. This might have been OK had the plot been more interesting. It's only a short book, but it took me forever to get through because I just wasn't interested.

I'll give the next book a go, as I've been told it gets better. And I still really, really want to know who A is. But I don't know that I can sit through 10 more books of this.

Rating: 2/5

Reading Icons: Pretty Little Liars

I've been reading Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard, which makes me want to throw things - but that's a whole 'nother post. The reason I'm bringing it up now is because it got me searching for pretty photos of the TV show cast, and I discovered a surprising amount of the girls (and guys) reading - and not just text messages, but books! Actual books! See...