Book survey

I might have a little bit stolen this quiz thingy from hayleyghoover's blog (http://hayleyghoover.blogspot.com as if you didn't know). Feel free to fill one in yourself.

1. What author do you own the most books by?
I’d love to say JK Rowling or John Green or someone else that I’m equally as obsessed with, but I’ve just checked my shelves and it goes: Enid Blyton (24), Jacqueline Wilson (23), Meg Cabot (14), Lemony Snicket (13). They have all been my favourite author at some point in the past.

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
Again, I’d like to say that I have multiple copies of all my favourite books, but I’m poor and can’t afford them. With the little money I have, I tend to buy books I don’t already own.

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not at all. It’s how people speak…you get used to it.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?Who said anything about a secret?
Oh dear, this list could stretch on and on…both Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, Pudge Halter, Loren Blake, Eric Night, Peter Coleridge…and there’s more that I can’t name off the top of my head. Every (good) book I read, I fall a little in love with the characters.

5. What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume – I used to love that book, but I don’t actually own it. Or Looking For Alaska…not sure which comes out top.

6. What was your favourite book when you were ten years old?
Little Women, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret or something by Jacqueline Wilson. I used to be obsessed with her. I still have like all her old books. I don’t have many of her latest ones, although when I see them in shops, I am tempted to buy them out of habit.

7. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
I was one of the few who didn’t mind Breaking Dawn, so it’s:
Ugh, Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. Awful, awful book. Or Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux – it wasn’t that bad, it was just really hard-going and I didn’t feel like I got a lot out of it. I’d rather watch the film.

8. What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Either What I Saw And How I Lied by Judy Blundell (which I reviewed in an earlier blog post) or The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffennegger. Ooh and the House of Night series by PC and Kristen Cast

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Looking For Alaska, because not enough people have read it.

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Hmm…this is a tough question, because most film adaptations ruin the books they’re based on. So no. Just no. I will not answer this.

11. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
The Time Traveler’s Wife, for sure. Oh wait, they already wrecked that for me. Bitches…I refuse to go and see that film.

12. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I once dreamed that I discovered this amazing book and it was pretty much the best book I had ever read. I read it like, six times in a few days and then I passed it around to all my friends to read and they all loved it too. But then I found a warning on the Internet that that particular book was like that tape in the Ring, and you have to pass it on or you die. So I was trying to contact all my friends to make them buy their own copies of the book and pass them on so they wouldn’t die. It was a stressful dream.

13. What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I’m not actually an adult, so I don’t have to answer that. But I do have a bit of a shameful habit of reading really trashy chick-lit – the kind with the pink and purple covers which contain stories of women in their early thirties worrying about work and everyone around them having babies and then they find the man of their dreams, but not before going through a stream of suitors, all of whom are wrong in one way of another…you know the ones. Please don’t let that lower your opinion of me. I do have a brain, I swear.

14. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Phantom of the Opera, without a doubt. The book is so different from the musical film and it’s just so difficult to get into.

15. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I’ve only seen the obvious ones – Much Ado, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet…the list goes on.

16. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
I’m not aware of having read any Russian literature, although I have a couple of books somewhere that I borrowed off a friend who is obsessed with Russia. I’m going to say French, but only because both Les Mis and Phantom are based on French literature. I really need to read more widely.

17. Roth or Updike?
Ohh I fail…I’ve never read either.

18. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
See above. (How am I ever going to survive doing English Lit at uni? Maybe I should give up on that dream and become a cheese farmer instead. Is a cheese farmer a thing?)

19. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare! Why even bother asking? It’s obvious!

20. Austen or Eliot?
Austen, all the way.

21. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Don’t questions 16 – 18 answer this already?

22. What is your favourite novel?
I won’t choose. It’s like asking me to choose between my children.

23. Play?
I haven’t really read enough plays to give a real answer to this. I could say A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney but that play caused me so much stress last year, that any merit it might have is no longer comprehensible in my brain.

24. Poem?
Anything from The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy or Shakespeare’s 116th sonnet.

25. Essay?
The only essays I’ve read are the ones in the Red anthology and I thoroughly enjoyed pretty much all of them.

26. Work of nonfiction?
I’ve never been a huge fan of non-fiction. I imagine that it will be Harry: A History when I actually get round to reading it.

27. Who is your favourite writer?
Again I won’t choose. But I can probably get a top 3? No, 5. Top ten? No, I just won’t answer this one.

28. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyer. Even though I enjoyed the Twilight series and might have even been a little obsessed when I first started them. But she has been blown way out of proportion.

29. What is your desert island book?
Aargh this is another tough one. Do I say something that I’ve already read and loved? Or something that I know I should read but would never get round to unless I was on a desert island with no choice?

30. And... what are you reading right now?
The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks (I’ve started reading only one book at a time and although it takes a little longer to get through a pile, it makes for a better reading experience).

If you actually read all the way to the end, let me know in the comments and I will award you with a (metaphorical) gold star.

Proper blog soon.

Bye

<3

Unnecessary Nostalgia

What is wrong with me? Recently, I've started thinking of things in terms of, "When I go off to uni, I will miss this." This is stupid. I have another year before I leave home for uni, assuming I get the grades I need in the first place. But I've had so many amazing moments with my friends this summer and I just keep thinking, "This isn't going to last..."

I know many people who are leaving for uni this year. But none of my bestest best friends are...someone who used to be one of my best friends is, but I haven't seen her properly in ages. And now I won't get the chance to. This is why Facebook was invented...when she wanders off to wherever she's going, I can still talk to her. Probably more than I did when she was here.

One of my best friends is two years older than me, and I didn't even get this nostalgic when he was meant to go to uni (he didn't get the grades in the end, and then he had to resit his exams and now he's decided to audition for drama schools instead, so he'll be starting uni at the same time as me). It's really weird.

But yeah...I have one year left. I'm going to make it count. But I am also going to work very hard so as not to fail my exams and therefore fail at life. That is not fun.

In case you can't tell, I am quite tired and should be sleeping, not writing blogs that probably won't even make sense in the morning.

Bye

<3

I am very proud of myself.

Yesterday, I went to IKEA. That is not the reason I'm proud, although my self-restraint when faced with so much cheap furniture is really to be admired. I love IKEA. I love the stuff it sells. I love the food. Goodness, I love the smell. If that's what Sweden smells like, I'm getting myself there.

But no, I am proud of what happened after I got home from IKEA. I assembled a desk. And not just a desk, but a desk that has extra bits that slide out and stuff, so it was quite a complex procedure. And I did it all by myself. It took all afternoon and my hands were raw by the end of it, but it's done. In fact, it is so done that I am currently using it to rest my laptop on. And as I found out yesterday, it can even take my weight so it's all good. And then I assembled a desk lamp which didn't take anywhere near as long, but I did it.

Just call me 'DIY Goddess'.

Bye

<3

Two blogs in one day...lucky you!

I have just been for the most amazing walk ever.

It might've been the combination of Taylor Swift and sunset but New Brighton has never looked more beautiful. And trust me, that is NOT something I say very often. I'm generally quite scathing about the area I live in, what with it being full of people who think they're Scousers and like to drink in parks, but it can be really lovely as well. Like tonight, I stood and looked out over the sea (not the Mersey bit, the actual sea) and watched the sun set and saw the light reflecting off the tide as it was going out and it was amazing.

I know I sound really mawkish and soppy, but I got back with the hugest smile on my face and that is not something that normally happens I walk places.

It was a nice feeling.

Bye

<3

I haven't blogged in ages.

Well, not that long but it feels like ages.

Since my last post I have had my AS-level results (AABCC - very happy with those) and got Twitter:

http://twitter.com/proudveggie

If you enjoy being bombarded with meaningless rubbish, follow that.

I would also like to say hi to my new blog followers - HI GUYS! I'll try to make this experience as interesting for you as possible...but I can't promise anything. I'm back at school in another couple of weeks and I've promised myself that this year I'm actually going to do some work. However, I do have a few things lined up which should be fun.

And...yeah...I went to a party last night to celebrate Results Day (everyone there had either got their AS results and are now going into our last year of school, or got their A2 results and are going onto university) and it was fun. I learned that I can't use a barbecue, but it doesn't really matter because you can't get food poisoning from undercooked Quorn. I also learned that all parties should end with a group of your closest friends (after everyone else had left to go onto bars in Liverpool which I could neither afford nor even get into to, considering I look like a fifteen-year-old), lying with your heads together in the grass like they do on TV, looking for shooting stars and singing. It was beautiful. Then I walked home in bare feet, pretending to be on the phone so I wouldn't get raped (though I don't know why that would stop a potential rapist...it just makes me feel safer) but actually just listening to the Speaking Clock for eight minutes and forty seconds...fun times.

Sorry, this has been long-awaited and probably not worth it.

Bye

<3

Dear fricking Lord

I am disturbed to my very core.

I have just finished watching a Channel 4 documentary called 'My Monkey Baby'. It was about strange American people who adopt monkeys and raise them as their children. Monkeys. As their children. It was just wrong on so many different levels. I didn't want to watch, but it was so morbidly fascinating, I couldn't turn it off. Before I knew it, the credits were rolling and I'd just wasted an hour of my life.

The documentary was focused on three families: an older couple whose names I've forgotten; an older woman called Mary-Lou...something like that...she was from Tennessee, it's all the same; and a young couple called Carmen and 'Hey-Zeus', but clearly his name was just Jesus.

Essentially, it was an hour about terribly disturbed people who adopt monkeys in order to make up for deeply-rooted emotional problems. Nameless Couple had six kids who all grew up and left home, so they got a monkey to deal with empty nest issues. Mary-Lou couldn't have children, but had two step-daughters who I think grew up (I was too busy mocking the programme to listen properly) and ended up with about five monkeys. Carmen and Jesus didn't want kids, so much so that he had had a vasectomy at 22. And the logical answer to all their problems is clearly - get a monkey. A monkey won't grow up and leave home. A monkey will give you an outlet for your maternal nurturing instinct. A monkey requires even more attention than a baby and isn't going to grow up eventually...so it is clearly the ideal for a couple who both said that they absolutely and categorically do not want children.

It was just so odd. These monkeys were wearing clothes and eating human food and sleeping in the same bed as their 'parents'. They were having birthday parties and going to ice cream parlours and being asked to leave diners. Mary-Lou even phoned an animal psychic whilst she was driving her big hillbilly pickup truck along a road to ask her monkey if he had eaten some of her hormone pills. The psychic was all, "He says he didn't eat any...he says he wants you to know that" and rather than question this woman's sanity or integrity at scamming innocent morons, Mary-Lou just went "Oh thank you so much". I'm surprised she didn't die considering the fact that she was driving a truck and on the phone and had a monkey wrapped around her arm all at the same time. Maybe she was more intelligent than I had given her credit for. Somehow, though, I doubt it.

Seriously, these programmes make me lose my faith in humanity, they really do.

And don't even get me started on 'Sex Change: Him to Her' - another real programme, I swear to God.

Bye

<3

We're all going on a summer holiday...la la la...

To lovely, exotic and thrilling...Kent. Fun, fun, fun....*sarcasm*

No, I'm joking. The south east has been very nice so far, and I'm sure it will only get nicer.

Yesterday we set off from home and drove all the way down to Windsor, with only a few stops. Trust me, that is one hell of a long journey. But we got out eventually and had a wander around Windsor and Eton. We got to have a look at Eton College, which I now want to go to, even though we would have to sell our house and we could still only afford it for about three days. All the way up the main street towards the school, there are shops where you can buy top hats and tailcoats and all those fun things that are included in the Eton uniform. Also, on the walk up to the college, we saw someone who used to be in Coronation Street walking back down towards Windsor, where he's in a play with Michelle Collins. That was very exciting.

Then we went back to Windsor and went to Pizza Express, where we had to wait for over half an hour for a table. But it was worth it...even though the menu is pretty much the same at all the branches of Pizza Express, the food was particularly nice at this one. Then we hopped back in the car and zoom-zoomed (when we weren't getting lost) all the way to the Travelodge at Heathrow Terminal 5. Again, it was a very nice Travelodge and...yeah...it was good...

Today we had a huge breakfast at the Travelodge (during which time, I had to be fifteen because kids under 16 got a free breakfast) then drove down to Brighton. I love Brighton. With a passion. It was just awesome in every single way.

Now we're at this absolutely gorgeous cottage/house thing...I don't actually know where it is, but it's lovely. The couple who own it, James and Roy, are adorable and the whole atmosphere is just...comfortable. Like, sometimes you go somewhere and it takes a while to settle in. But here, me and my brother were running up and down the stairs, contemplating using the fire escape to get onto the roof, fighting over rooms and failing at golf on the Wii as if it was what we did every day at home. I actually quite enjoy family holidays, unlike most people my age. No one cares what you look like, you can act like a big kid and no one will judge you, and chances are that you won't see any of the people you come across again, so it doesn't matter how embarassing your family are.

Right, I'm off to experiment with the bath and shower facilities. I'm going to film a video at some point to show people the house and stuff.

Bye

<3

UK Nerdfighters - do your bit.

I know it's been a while since I've blogged and this post will probably be of little interest to some of you, but it needs to be said. Now, onto the important bit of the blog:

I am sending out a message to all UK Nerdfighters.

It has come to my attention that John Green's books are not widely stocked in UK bookshops. There used to be one copy of Alaska in my local Borders, but they don't even have that any more. Waterstones don't have anything. And don't even get me started on WHSmiths...worst bookshop ever. I know that John Green could be really really popular in the UK, if bookshops would give him a chance to be. And I think he totally deserves to be.

So if you are a nerdfighter and you live in the UK, or anywhere that you feel John Green should be more widely known than he is, why not write a letter to your nearest bookshop requesting that they add John Green's books to their stock?

If we can get just one more John Green into a bookshop and therefore make one more person's life a little more awesome, we can be pleased with ourselves. And think of it this way - this is the first step towards getting John Green himself to come to the UK...if that doesn't entice you, I don't know what will.

There's a Facebook group which you can join to show your support: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/group.php?gid=109003938809&ref=nf

Tell your friends, blog/vlog/whatever it is you people do about it, join the Facebook group, spread the word! Let's make this campaign work and help decrease world suck!

...

And now we can commence the normal programming of rambling nonsense and vaguely amusing anecdotes that no one really cares about.

Bye

<3