You know what? I'm just going to stop pretending that a book buying ban is going to happen any time soon. I enjoy buying books, I like collecting pretty editions and relishing in the possibility of new books to read. As long as it doesn't totally bankrupt me I figure I'm okay. So here's to future book hauls, and to the doozy that was July's...

Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton - £2 second-hand book stall and £1 Asda
After seeing Jurassic World in June, I was desperate to read the original books that inspired the film series. I actually actively hunted these down, I looked in independent bookshops and many charity shops before coming across them separately for incredibly low prices. I don't know when I'll get to these but maybe soon! I'm just glad to have them.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling - £8.99 each, Stray's Bookshop, Newark
If you've seen my previous hauls then you'll know that I've been gradually collecting these editions over time. I bought these two from my local independent bookshop and I'm really happy now that I have the full set. These editions are just so beautiful and look amazing all together.

Instagram: @sarahschapter

How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran - 50p, charity shop
I came across this in a charity shop and for 50p I couldn't leave it behind. It's been on my radar for a while now and I really want to read some more feminist non-fiction so I think this will be a great one.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman - £3.99, independent bookshop in York.
My mum actually picked this up for me when she was on a trip to York as she knows that I've been wanting to read some Neil Gaiman (I've never actually read anything from him before, I know I'm a bad book blogger!). It's a collection of short stories so I think it'll be a good way to introduce myself to his writing.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Grahame - £2 each, Sainsbury's
I spotted this whilst food shopping in Sainsbury's and couldn't resist at just £2 each. They're such beautiful children's classics and they have that wonderfully satisfying floppy quality to them meaning that you won't crack the spine whilst reading, love it!

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult - £2, second-hand bookstall
I picked this up from the same second-hand bookstall as Jurassic Park as the blurb piqued my interest and I haven't read a whole lot by Jodi Picoult before. I figure this will be good when I fancy picking up a contemporary.

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover - £1, charity shop
If it wasn't for booktube then I probably wouldn't have picked this up, new adult is kind of out of my comfort zone, but everyone and their dog seems to be raving about Colleen Hoover so when I spotted this in a charity shop I decided to just give it a go. I've already read this and let's just say I'm sort of undecided, but you can hear more of my thoughts about it in my monthly wrap up.

Instagram: @sarahschapter

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson - £2, second-hand bookstall
This is another I picked up at the second-hand bookstall in Wales. One of my favourite books ever is Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson but I haven't read much else from her. This one is a crime thriller, which is sort of out of my comfort zone but I think it'll be interesting nonetheless.

Not that Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham - £3.99, Sainsbury's
This was another that I spotted in Sainsbury's and couldn't leave it behind, it's a different cover from the original and I actually prefer this one. This has been on my radar since it came out but I never got around to picking it up. I've already read it and I loved it! So much so that a review and discussion might be coming your way soon, so watch this space.

Instagram: @sarahschapter

Those are all the books I bought in July, my biggest book haul on the blog thus far! So far in August I haven't bought as many but the months only half over so we'll see how that goes haha!

Have you read any of these books? What have you been buying lately?

Top Five Wednesdays is hosted by Lainey over at GingerReadsLainey and you can see the complete list of Wednesday-ers here. This week's topic is 'favourite required reading', meaning the books you were required to read for school or university. As an English Literature graduate, I've had to read a lot of books for my education, some I loved and would re-read today, and some I absolutely hated at the time (though I'd be interested to see if that was because I didn't necessarily read them by choice.)

For this particular topic, I chose just five books that stood out in my memory as having some kind of impact on me; whether it was just that I enjoyed reading it or that it impacted my view of the world somehow and made me think more complexly about things. So here is my list of top five required reading, in no particular order...

01. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I imagine that this will appear on most people's lists. I won't give a summary as I'm sure you're already familiar with it. I read this for the first time at age 15, preparing to study it for my English Literature GCSE. My class read the book together, a chapter or two at a time, but I had already read the whole thing as soon as it was assigned to us. I fell in love with Lee's warm, rich prose and the deceptively slow pace of life in the town of Macomb. I related to Scout's chronicles of growing up and was introduced for one of the first times to racial issues being confronted in a novel. I had always been an avid reader, but I had never thought too deeply about the books I read. It was in those GCSE English classes and with this book that I learnt to think carefully about what I was reading, to be able to make analyses and discuss wider issues that the novel brought to light. I loved the book but I also found that I loved studying novels and more than that, that I wasn't terrible at it. So I probably have this book to thank for a lot that has happened since in terms of my literary development. Thank you, Harper Lee.

02. Lunch Poems by Frank O'Hara
As a young child I did enjoy poetry, I had a book called Read Me: A Poem A Day and I took intense delight in reading out each day's poem loudly and obnoxiously to my parents. But over the years that love for poetry faded in favour of the latest Jacqueline Wilson and by the time I came to study poetry at school, I was convinced that I didn't enjoy it at all and that I wasn't very good at studying it. I remained this way until university, when we read a few poems by Frank O'Hara, a poet of the New York School whose poetry was personal, observational, light-heartedly emotional and witty. As soon as I read 'Having a Coke with You', I knew this wasn't like the poetry I'd encountered in the past, and when I decided to write an essay on that and a few other of his poems I fell in love with them even more. I gradually learnt to enjoy and respect poetry more over the years and sometimes find more of a true solace in a few lines than a hefty novel. In particular, O'Hara's reading of 'Having a Coke with You' is beautiful and excellent in a way that I find hard to describe so you should just watch it for yourself:

03. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
The funny thing is, I didn't actually like this first book in the Chaos Walking trilogy very much when I first read it for the Children's Literature module of my English Literature course, this was one of the only YA books we read and at the time I wasn't extremely familiar with YA, which seems crazy to me now. I found the way it was written quite strange and hard to get into, but at the end found myself wanting more. But the further two books in the trilogy weren't on the university reading list and I had too many other books to read so didn't continue with the series until this year. It has now become one of my favourite series and I'm so glad I had to read it for university as I may never have got into it otherwise.

04. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
As part of my English Literature A-Level we were required to study a classic for the exam portion and I, being 16 and a crowd-follower, moaned along with the rest of the class. I was under the very misguided impression that classics were boring and I also knew that this was my mum's favourite book so as a bratty, ungrateful teenager I was automatically averse to liking anything that she did. I mean no offense to teenagers in saying this, I'm aware that many teenagers are thoughtful and intelligent and proud of their interests but I was barely any of those things, determined to be 'cool' and failing miserably, I don't know why I bothered. Anyway, I actually found that Austen's writing wasn't boring, it was - shock horror! - funny and interesting and I completely fell in love with it. This book is important to me as it opened my eyes to the (now completely obvious) fact that it classic literature can be *gasp* extremely enjoyable. *rolls eyes at teenage self*

05. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
The Colour Purple focuses on the lives of African-American women in rural 1930s Georgia, it is an epistolary novel from the perspective of Celie, a fourteen year old girl, and follows her for over thirty years through her struggles with abuse, sexism, racism, love and illness. It is an extremely important book which I might not have read without it being assigned to me at school. Celie's story is complexly layered and deals with so many issues and I got so much out of it that what was supposed to be a 2500 word essay turned into an over 6000 one that I was devastated to have to cut down as I felt that I was exploring something that was so important and meant so much to me. Looking back on that essay now, it wasn't very good and it was definitely overwritten but it was filled with heart and my love for the book was undeniable, IS undeniable. I hope to re-read it soon and find new things to anguish over and cherish.

So that was my top five required reading books! Phew, that was a long one! I'd love to know what your favourite book you read for school was and if you've done a top five wednesday post please link to it in the comments below!

I've seen quite a lot of booktubers doing this so I thought I'd give it a go here, and seeing as it's half way through the year (over half way but who's counting?) I thought it'd be a great time to see how my reading for the year has been going. So let's get onto the questions...

It's time to share with you what I plan to read in August! I'm haven't got too much planned for this month apart from going away a couple of times so I should hopefully be able to get a lot of reading done. I am struggling quite a lot healthwise though and I have good and bad days so I'm going to try and take it easy and not pressure myself too much. I've picked out a few books I hope to get to though so let's talk about those...

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
I'm continuing with my planned TBR for TBR Takedown so will be reading the last two books from that list which includes Ugly Love. I've actually already finished it as the other day I found I just couldn't put it down. This was my first experience of Colleen Hoover and although I did find it to be quite a compulsive read I'm not 100% sure about it. I'll go into further detail in my wrap up but I do want to pick up some more Colleen Hoover in the future.

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
This was the last book on my TBR for TBR Takedown and it fitted into the challenge of 'book from your most recent haul.' This book has been on my radar ever since it came out and I bought it from my local supermarket recently. I haven't read any non-fiction in a while and I think Lena Dunham is incredibly intelligent, thoughtful and hilarious so I'm looking forward to getting into this.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
This is my TBR jar pick for this month and I'm super excited about it! It's one of Rainbow Rowell's adult contemporaries and follows office worker Beth and the office's 'internet security officer' Lincoln, whose job it is to read everyone's emails. Beth and her co-worker Jennifer are constantly exchanging emails detailing their personal lives and Lincoln knows he should report this but finds himself compelled by their conversations and slowly finds himself falling for Beth. It sounds like it's going to be really sweet and funny and anything by Rainbow Rowell gets a big tick from me.

Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld
This is the second book in the Midnighters trilogy, the first of which I read last month and really enjoyed so I'm eager to carry on with the series. It's quite difficult to explain the concept of these books but they basically revolve around a secret hour which happens every midnight, where the world freezes in a single moment for everyone except for a chosen few who use this silent hour to explore their powers. It's really interesting and I'm really looking forward to carrying on with the series.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
This is my classic pick for the month and after two months of Jane Austen I think it'll be nice to change things up a bit with some children's literature. I loved the film of this book when I was younger and I'm really excited to see how the book compares. The Secret Garden follows Mary, a spoiled orphan who is sent to live with relatives at Misselthwaite Manor. She is determined to hate it there until she discovers a secret garden which has been locked up since the death of her aunt ten years earlier. I have a feeling that the book will be even more beautiful and mysterious than the film and I'm looking forward to exploring it's world.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
If I have time towards the end of the month, I'd like to continue with my Harry Potter re-read. Half Blood Prince was initially my favourite book and I'd like to see if I still feel the same. There isn't really much to say about this except that I'm obviously going to love it and I'm looking forward to getting back into the world I love so much. Also it was recently J.K. Rowling's 50th birthday and the wonderful Jim from YA Yeah Yeah asked 50 people to share their favourite moments from the series and I was one of the lucky people to be involved. You can read the post here!

So those are the books I'll be probably be reading this month. If you're reading this I hope you have a wonderful August and happy reading!

What will you be reading this month?

01. Wales
As I posted about last month, I went on holiday to Wales with my parents and boyfriend. Although a week in a fairly small caravan in the unpredictable Welsh weather isn't most people's idea of a great time, it was honestly the happiest and most relaxed I'd been in ages. I found that I had a lot more energy than usual and just felt so content and refreshed the whole time. I think that might've had something to do with the lack of internet connection and screen time but it was also the beautiful places, the wonderful company and the amazing food. I'm counting down the days until my next little trip away later this month!

02. Bourbons
Whilst away on the aforementioned holiday, I rediscovered a childhood favourite in the world's best biscuit - bourbons. I don't even want to tell you how many packets we got through, but I'll just say it was lucky there was a shop nearby to stock up! These are now a staple in my life again, for better or for worse...

03. No make-up days
As you'll notice there aren't any make-up favourites included here, and that's partly because I've been wearing the same products every time but also because most of the month was spent make-up free. For the days where I'm not really going anywhere and also pretty much every day on holiday, I haven't been wearing make-up and it's felt amazing. I do love make-up and I really enjoy dressing up my face but it's just so nice to feel nothing sitting on my skin and not to have to take it off at the end of the day. And believe me, although I used to be worried about it, I quickly found that no one screamed 'look at that ugly monster!' when I left the house. People just don't really care what other people look like, and you know what. neither do I.

04. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
This was definitely my favourite read of the month. I don't want to say too much here as I'll talk more about it in Monday's wrap up post, but I enjoyed every second of it, couldn't put it down and it's now one of my favourite books ever.

05. Dainty necklaces
For the last few months I've been forgoing my statement necklaces for more subtle, dainty pieces like the above feather necklace from Orelia at ASOS (sold out but similar here). I have a couple of different ones that I like to layer up or interchange; including the very special tiny Tiffany heart pendant my boyfriend bought me three years ago (which I'm always terrified of losing). They're just so easy to pair with anything and I seem to get more compliments about them than more obvious jewellery.

06. Instagram
I made it my mission last month to post every day on my Instagram, which you can check out by clicking here. I really enjoyed the challenge of coming up with things to post every day and pushing myself to create photos that I'm really proud of. I mostly post bookish things but there's a little bit of lifestyle bits thrown in too. I hope to continue this coming month and keep on improving the quality of my photos so it would mean a lot to me if you followed me @sarahschapter.

What was your favourite thing in July?