Comics Wrap-Up - Tell Me I Can Have It All

Film Trailers

Yet more Thor: Ragnarok trailers!!!

Honestly, I can't blame them - this film rocks!

Month in Review(s) - October 2017

October was fun, yes?*

*I mean if you ignore the news and the garbage pile that is the world's current affairs. *desperate laughter* 😅

Nerd Church - Rinse, Repeat

I know I've said this more than once, but I'll say it again and again: hatred is poison.

Trump's hatred, ISIS' hatred, anyone's hatred.

I don't understand why human beings still cling to it.

3 Lessons From 3 Years of Blogging

Happy Halloween!

31st October is uber-special here on Dora Reads, because it's blog anniversary time!

Yup, 3 years ago today I started this blog - which was then called Diary of a Reading Addict - and started myself on this slightly bizarre (but awesomely fun!) path.








And since the long-off days of 2014, I've learnt a thing or two.

Some of those things are more weird than practical - but there's also come good blog/life lessons  along the way.

Nerd Church - The Book Eater

Confession time: to me the term 'book eater' isn't exactly a metaphor.

Don't panic! I do not, in fact, actually chew, swallow, and consume books. There is no paper in my stomach (as far as I'm aware!)

But I taste books.

Not just books - words, sentences, paragraphs. All of them roll around on my tongue with their various flavours.

And for a long time, I figured everyone else was the same. It's only in recent years that the sneaking suspicion has crept in - other people don't taste words.

Nerd Church - Recovery...?

(Warning: this post discusses mental health problems, especially depression and anxiety)



I've struggled with depression and anxiety for several years now.

I was ill for quite a while before I started this blog, and Dora Reads has been running, in one form or another, for nearly three years.

Comics Wrap-Up - Just Imitating Yesterday

Film Trailers

New Justice League trailers and mini-trailers! This is not a drill!

(Warning: flashing images in all)

Nerd Church - Kids and Gender Equality

Recently I've seen two TV programmes which really hammered home how much we still need to improve on gender equality in the 21st Century.

The first was the BBC's 'No More Boys and Girls' where plans were put in place to counteract negative gender stereotyping in a class of seven and eight-ish year-olds*



*yes, 'ish' because I really can't remember. They were smol, ok?

Month in Review(s) - September 2017

September was a mixed bag.

But then, that's life I suppose! Still, it was my birthday month, so there's that at least ;)

(I ate soooo much pizza and chocolate cake!!!! 🎂🎂🎂🍕🍕🍕😁)

Nerd Church - Dreamers, BE YOU!

This one's for the dreamers; for the writers, the bloggers, the vloggers, the artists, the entrepreneurs.

(This one's for all you rock and rollers, all you crash queens and motor babies... 😉😎)

#BannedBooksWeek | Nerd Church - On Censorship

24th-30th September 2017 is Banned Books Week, as set up by the American Library Association (ALA.)



I'm all for intellectual freedom my nerdlets; I'm against censorship in general.

Nerd Church - A Letter To My Younger Self

(Warning: this post contains references to suicidal thoughts and feelings, as well as brief references to grief, depression, abusive/toxic friendships, and the general randomness of my life.)



I'd been thinking of doing one of these things for a while - y'know the 'Hi little 15-year-old Cee, this is the advice I'd give you!' kind of things.

Then, between my birthday on Friday (no, I'm not telling you how old I am - it ain't happening,) and reading blogpost ideas by Jemma @ Dorkface, which suggested writing a letter to your younger self, I was like - IT'S A SIGN!!!!!!!!!*



*Yes, there was coffee. Also, my parents are hippies.

Month in Review(s) - August 2017

August. Yeah, August...

August, for me, was stressful.

My 88-year-old grandfather was very unwell and ended up in hospital, he's better now but we still have to do a lot to make sure he and my grandmother are safe, happy, and as healthy as they can be.

Nerd Church - An Edumacation

Education is not the same as grades.

There! I said it! (...Please don't yell at me!)

Nerd Church - 6 Tips For Staying Productive While Feeling Cruddy

It's always the same.

You've got a deadline; work to do; bills to pay. And you've managed to catch a cold or some other annoying buggle* at the exact wrong moment.

This week I have a pretty awful virus of some type. And I feel like crud. But I work for myself and money doesn't grow on trees (...or so they tell me; I'm gonna find that money tree one day dammit!)



*yes, I refer to viruses as 'buggles.' Blame my mother. Honestly.

Month in Review(s) - July 2017

July was a big month for this little book nerd's blog!

This was the month that Diary of a Reading Addict (DORA) became Dora Reads - with a custom URL to match.

It's something that'd been on my mind for a while, and I'm so glad I did it!

Nerd Church - Winter Is Here

'You know nothing, Jon Snow.'

(Don't panic: this is a spoiler-free zone.)

The Real Neat Blog Award

The Rules: 

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to them.

The lovely Emily @ The Paperback Princess tagged me to do this post waaaaay back in September 2016, because I'm woefully behind on tag posts.

*shrugs* Meh. I'll get to 'em when I get to 'em!

Thanks Em! :)

(Also, expect much question-dodging - if I was a politician and/or not so inclined to give the frank and brutal truth, I'd be dangerous.)

Nerd Church - Redefine Success

What do you call success? Millions of pounds/dollars/insert-currency-here? A sports car? A mansion? Fame and fortune?

Welp, f**k that!

No. I mean it.

You can take your f**king drafty mansions and your privacy-violating levels of fame, and stick them where the ever-loving sun is hesitant to shine.*

*I haven't even had coffee. I don't even. Just go with it.

Friday Fics Fix - Fanfiction in Koru Mag

Do you want to read a whooooole magazine issue inspired by fanfiction and fan art and all that jazz, including a fic by your dear darling book nerd (i.e. me)?

Of course you do! Why in hell's name wouldn't you?!*

*Don't answer that.