Book list.

I'm a bit bored so I thought I'd write a list of all the books I've read so far this year.

As some of you may know/remember, I'm a big reader, I always have been. I basically stopped reading so much for a while last year, but I've definitely got back into it recently.

So yeah, I decided to write a list of the books I've read so far this year, in order.

The last half of last year I spent reading the Wheel of Time series, hence the first lot of books of the year;

2010 so far;

Wheel of Time 9; Winters Heart. - Robert Jordan

Wheel of Time 10; Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan

Wheel of Time 11; Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan

Skins; The Novel - Ali Cronin

The Left Hand of God - Paul Hoffman

Across the Nightingale Floor - Lian Hearn

Wheel of Time 12; The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan

Echo Park - Michael Connelly

Homicide - David Simon

Break No Bones - Kathy Reichs

The Men Who Stare At Goats - Jon Ronson

The Lazarus Project - Aleksander Hemon

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson

The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart

Boy A - Jonathan Trigell

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest - Stieg Larsson

Dead Tomorrow - Peter James

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

Currently reading;

Altas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

Monday Mourning - Kathy Reichs

So there you go, those are the books I've read so far this year. I think I might actually be forgetting a couple if I'm honest... I dunno.

Tell me, what books have you read so far this year?

LEATHER BAG!!! :D

Oh today is a happy happy day.

I awoke today to a voicemail from Mr Henry Tompkins of HTLeather, telling me my bag was ready for collection. I literally jumped out of bed, rang my dad and told him we'd HAVE to go and get it today as he doesn't work weekends and there was no way I could wait another weekend.

Originally we were going to go and get it at lunch time but then dad got called into a meeting, so at 3pm we left and headed to his workshop. Oh it's oh so glorious.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, the lighting is a bit shit in my house. It smells lovely, a proper leather smell, and the feel of it is amazing. Smooth yet very sturdy. I was most nervous about the colour if I'm honest, as he had lots of different colours of leather, and even though I picked what colour I wanted I was still nervous, as even the same colour leather can look different from piece to piece. But fortunately, its gorgeous. And if I want it lighter or darker at all at any point, I can always polish it or leave it in the sun for a little while. But I see no need for that right now at all.

As for the interior, its so roomy!

I don't think the photo really shows just how much room is in there, but I'm seriously excited about how much I should be able to fit in there! The thinner pocket towards the back is for a laptop, or iPad, and maybe an A4 notepad/sketchbook. The two pockets on the front of the divider are great for smaller gadgets or notebooks, and you cant really see, but on the front of those pockets there are some pen slip thingys too. The main front section is huge. It extends under the two pockets really, and is so, so roomy. I can fit some books, spare clothes for the flights, my camera, and all the other gadgets etc in there easily and still have room left over.

The buckles seem really nice and sturdy, as does the strap, though I havent yet figured out how to lengthen it.

I am SO happy. This is basically my 18th birthday present, just a few months early, and I couldn't have asked for anything better. I'm so excited to use it in Australia too. No doubt tonight after badminton I'll simply be found sitting on the floor putting all the gadgets I've already got for the trip in there, just to see what they look like in their home :) I'll probably take some pictures then too, and whack them up on here.

As for the weight of it, its perfect. It's heavy enough to not feel flimsy, but light enough that it wont weigh me down before I put anything in it.

Basically, its perfect, and I love it.

Australia wantings - the leather bag.

Ok so I made a list of all the things I want for Oz, and despite all my plans (which I still haven't posted yet) I now can't stop myself from looking into things in more detail as if I have all the money in the world.

Most importantly, the bag. The Saddleback Leather Company's Dark Tobacco Briefcase, to be more precise. There are reviews here and here, and despite the drawbacks, I've fallen in love. Check out the Saddleback Leather Company site to bask in the full leathery glory, but this is the one I've fallen in love with:


The pictures on the first link of the interior show just the kind of thing I'd be using it for.
But yes, the drawbacks are the price and the weight. Part of me thinks that $530/roughly£320, while steep anyway, might actually indeed be a fair price for something of apparent quality and durability, that will last, that I can consider as more of an investment... but then I think of the weight. The size I like weighs 6.5lbs with nothing in it! Can I physically even carry that? And with things in? As I grow up will I become strong enough to carry it?!?
But it's SOOOOOOO gorgeous, and although some of the pockets might not be 100% what I had in mind, they're 90% there. Another option would be to actually buy some thinner, lighter leather and make one myself, but I wouldn't really have a clue what I'm doing.
When it looks THAT gorgeous, can you blame me for wanting one? I could always sell a kidney I suppose...

And as for the travel journal and stationary... As I say, the trip is 6 months away, and I have vastly more important thins to be thinking about between now and then, but did you really think that logic was going to stop me from looking? No, of course not. So I did. The notebook I thought would be perfect, isn't, and I have currently not found the perfect one

I know I'm just being typical stupid impatient me, but hell, I'm excited!!!

H.x

Plans.

So now I have plans.
After 3 hours in a cafe with my mother, I have plans.
I have plans and a more regimented time table, if you will, in which to do things.
I have goals, and aims. Clear ones.
They

First off: Weight.
I need to start losing on average between 5-7lbs every week for the next 20 weeks for me to feel happy and comfortable, to get back down to my happiest weight.
We're going to plan weekly menus that I will stick to, as well as a slow-but-steadily-increasing exercise plan. I'm starting with 10-15mins every day on our cool little stepper machine thing, (not just a step) then working my way to more time on it per day, as well as weekly badminton with the parent again.

Secondly: Money.
Basically I have a fair sized list of things I want to get/take with me to Australia, as you've seen, and in order to do that, I need money. As I said in my last post, I do have some things I can sell; 2 guitars (NOT my baby though, my electro-acoustic), a keyboard, CD's, a huge box of PC software worth £200 upwards from my uncle (long story - not stolen or pirated though, the real deal) and my old camcorder. But I cant rely on selling things as a source of income, so I need a job. Mum and I worked out that, on the basis of my old job (though obviously anything I earn will be dependant on whatever shifts are available in a new job), if I work 3x a 3hr shift a week (could easily do more) for the next 20 weeks, I can earn £900. Which is for me, a starting point, an aim in terms of income.

Thirdly: College.
In the next 6 months I will have to sit 3 exams, 2 of which are resits. I have a lot of revision to do. For English Literature, I have an essay to write, as well as poetry and drama text revision to do for the exam. As I started a lot of that when I was actually at college full time, I have a lot of notes to draw from.
Politics and Drama are a slightly different matter though as I wasnt at college when the work was being done in preparation for the exams. The politics exam though basically require me to read through the text book, and I have a friend who did the AS last year too that I will soon be asking if she has any notes or practice exam questions etc, especially ones she got marked and did well on so I know what I'm supposed to be doing.
The drama exam is going to be slightly more difficult to prepare for, as I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. Again, I will be calling on the assistance of two friends who were in my tutor group to ask them for any notes and exemplar essays they have from last year.
Once I have assembled as much help as possible, the leg work is down to me.

In general, what I need is structure. I need something more regimented to help me get back control of my life, something I've simply not had for the last year. We're planning a weekly menu each week (starting Wednesdays, our 'weigh day') and sticking to it in the form of a laminated sheet on the fridge, and I have a daily plan of activities on another laminate sheet on the fridge too. This all means I have much more structure to my days :)

So yes, this means good news I'm hoping :)

H.x

Off to see the wizard...

Been out today in the ole' wagon :)

Did I mention I've passed my driving test?

It went pretty well so I'm pleased, although I cannot possibly imagine driving on my own just yet...the thought terrifies me if I'm honest! But I'm sure I'll steel myself and manage to at some point.

Decided to change the blog theme, no idea why really, just felt like a change.

In other news, still feeling a bit under the weather. Been feeling a bit rough for the last 3-4 weeks, and the other night I was up shivering like a vibrating thing (behave), coughing and spluttering and trying not to be sick, and I'm still getting over that now.
It's annoying that I'm a bit ill AGAIN, but what can you do?

The diet starts properly this week. I wont lie, some of you reading this and who know me on twitter might possibly have an image of you in your mind; it'll be wrong. I dont really like talking about my body because I'm not exactly proud of said body, but the next few months I'm going to be getting myself to the gym a bit more (something I HATE), eating more wisely, and the parents and I are going to resurrect our weekly badminton hour.

Why? Well, aside from the fact I need to because I dont like my body, I need to because I'm going to Australia in 6 months!

That's right, after 3 hours in a travel agent yesterday, we have indeed booked flights and stuff for our trip to Australia in July. My sister moved out to Oz about a year and a half ago to do her PHD so we're going out to visit her and see a bit of the country. I say a bit of the country, look at this map to get an idea of just how big Oz is; IMAGE Anyway, so we've booked our flights out there, some of the internal flights, our trip on the Ghan and flights home. We fly out to Sydney, then fly to Melbourne, then drive up to Adelaide, take the Ghan train to Alice Springs, then fly to Perth, and home via Singapore. My sister will probably join up with us in Adelaide, and when we're out in Perth her and I are going to rent a camper and go off for a few days.

I'm already dead excited, even though its so long away, but also nervous. We'll be away for 7 weeks, and none of us have ever been away for that long. I'm gonna miss my baby bunnies!!!! I'll come home and they'll have forgotten who I am!
We've by no means booked up everything; the only confirmed accomodation is in Alice Springs, and theres still some internal flights and car hire stuff to sort out, not to mention travel insurance, money to take with us etc etc, but I dont care; IM EXCTIED! :D

Not much else going on in this Finch's tree, sooner or later I'll get round to doing some more college work and playing on Assassin's Creed 2, when I can put down any of the gazillion books I'm reading.

Beep beep!

H.x

Happy New year!

I've just realised I haven't made a new years post yet, so Happy New year everyone!
As you will know, I went away this NY to Looe in Cornwall with mum and dad, for a few days away. I have to say, I did enjoy myself. The cottage was lovely, and on new years night, we had a few drinks, watched a bit of Jools Holland, and then wrapped up warm to go stand outside with a drink to toast and watch the fire works.
We all got a little emotional I think, finally saying goodbye to 2009 and hoping 2010 treats us kinder. I know I did.

Other than that, I have been very, VERY happy recently. The reason? I FINALLY PASSED MY DRIVING TEST!!!!!!! :D Yes, finally, I dont know whether its third time lucky or new year lucky or both, but it happened :) I can finally cut up my L plates. Although not just yet actually. Because of the snow. Now I love snow and am very happy that Exeter has finally got it, seeing as for the last few weeks I've had to sit and watch the news and listen to people on twitter moaning/rejoicing about the snow in equal measure while I've been wishing for it, I dont really have any desire to drive in it just yet. Besides, I couldnt if I wanted to, as my doors are frozen shut, and the locks are buggered with it. Yay. So now I'm waiting for the temperature to warm up a bit so I can get into my car, and then I'll think about driving it. On my own. Oh god.

Other than that, things are definately good. I am LOVING Assassin's Creed II on the Xbox, and all my other games (not that I've played many of them since I got AC2).
I'm now on book 10, Crossroads of Twilight, of the Wheel of Time series, and I'm loving that too. Robert Jordan was a literary marvel, and I've only got a few more of his books left to read 'for the first time' as I have no doubt I'll be reading this series again. I've heard that Brandon Sanderson has indeed done a good job of book 12, and I cant wait to get there!

Anyway, I'm off to play more AC2 now, but happy new year and love to you all!

H.x

Well apparently fucking not.

RE; Last post. Fucking failed. You saw my tweets about it. Monday is nearly here which means viewing my evidence, something I'm obviously not looking forwards to. Then on Tuesday I meet with my barrister and then Wednesday strikes. Oh deepest joy. Sensing sarcasm? Good.

For now, I'm feeling pretty crap after Friday's failure. Basically my driving test was going really quite well, and I came up to the last roundabout before the test center thinking "Oh my god, I'm actually going to do this." And then some git of a van driver decided that it would be fun to get in the wrong lane and then pull out in front of me as I moved because the way looked clear. The examiner had to slam on the brakes and that was it. "Shit. Fuck. Well thats me failed." And it was. Oh well. I had my period of shut down when I got home, then I had a cry, and now I'm feeling a bit better about it. Still feeling shit about it, but slowly realising that although its just one more thing in my life thats gone wrong, it might not actually be the end of the world. My driving instructor texted me today to say that he has booked me another test for the beginning of November, and I text back thanking him but also adding that if there was any chance of a cancellation before then, as long as its not this week obviously, then I'm free for that so it'd be much appreciated. No reply so far.

Apart from that I'm just doing the usual and bumming around, eating and smoking too much and doing too little. My progress in terms of reading is still increasing though, I've read quite a few books and got a few more sitting waiting to be read. I have thus far read and enjoyed; The Twilight series/saga and The Host (Stephanie Meyer), War Horse (Micheal Morpurgo) and... Suddenly I cant for the life of me remember what other ones I've read are and I'll be buggered if I'm going upstairs to check. My 'To Read' list is a little longer; Time Travellers Wife, Altas Shrugged, The God Delusion, The Dice Man, Million Little Pieces, My Friend Leonard, Picture of Dorian Gray, The Great Gatsby and quite a few more. And the book of Let The Right One In and another by the same guy that're on their way to me. So plenty to get through methinks.

Onwards and upwards hey?
I'll try to be on twitter etc as much as I can over the next week, but as I'm sure you can understand things wont exactly be much fun for me so chances are I'll be curled up in a ball somewhere. But I know there's a fair few of you who'll be thinking of me and whose support I can count on, and for that I thank you, more than you will ever now.

Stay safe, play nice, and sleep tight.

H.x

Synapse.

This is where I wish I'm not as tired as I am. Sitting in the car on the way to London via Longleat, and my synapses are firing. Ideas and images and words and conversations being flung around. This is where I wish I hadn't put my laptops in the boot rather than in the back with me. Hundreds of ideas, for books, stories. Just words, phrases, snippets. All like gold dust to me.

Books.

Just thought I'd talk about books today.
I've always been quite a big reader ever since I was little, since I learnt to read I couldn't stop basically. Apart from writing my own stories, reading stories was my big love. As I progressed through first, middle and high school I ended up reading a bit less as I had a bit less time to read, and the free time that I did have gradually got filled with more...illegal activities shall we say, and for a while reading took a bit of a back seat.

The first books I can remember reading are The Hungry Caterpillar (obviously, I mean who doesn't love that book?) and Cuddly Dudley. Cuddly Dudley was a penguin who liked cuddles, and that's about all I can remember about the story. But I loved it.
Then I moved onto things like Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton things like that, and loved them! Roald Dahl's stories really did used lighten up my days, my favourites being Fantastic Mr Fox (which is being made into a mo-cap film with George Clooney's voice!!!) and Willy Wonka's stories. By the way, on that note I have to say that the original version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is clearly king. So there.

Now I'm not bragging, but I've always been a good reader, fairly mature and ahead of my peers. By this I mean that my friends were usually reading books like Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging etc while I was having my first crack at the LotR's trilogy after reading the Hobbit and loving it. It's not arrogance I don't think. I've always loved words and so devoured them. A love and a passion for something is always going to come in handy regarding you skill for it. I can't sail for shit but that's because quite frankly, and nothing against sailors here, I don't give a shit about sailing. Sterling example there I think you'll agree.
So yes, I'd say I'm good at reading, and always have been, because of my love for it. I'm one of those people who is always reading at least two books at the same time, ( not literally, I'm not a spidery multiple eyed version of Lakshmi or whichever one it is that's got too many arms) but usually 3 or upwards. My parents have never been able to understand that, and to be honest I don't either. It's not that I get confused with the stories or anything, I'm not that thick contrary to popular belief :) I do sometimes wish I could just concentrate on one book at a time. The only books that seem to be the exception are Harry Potter :) but that's only because I usually finish them in one sitting. To date, I have read HP's 1, 2, 3 and 4 all 8 times, HP 5 7 times I think, and 6 & 7 a measly 3 or 4 times. That's mainly because I was a lot younger when the first four came out and I devoured them, and then as there was such a long wait for the 5th book I just redevoured them while I waited :)

Then came what happened in January. On top of everything else, it kind of threw my reading out the window to say the least.
But now I'm kind of getting back into the swing of things. I've been reading a lot more again, actually more so than while I was at high school really, probably because I've actually got a lot of spare time on my hands to put it lightly! It started with Watership Down, yes partly prompted by all the bunny love in my heart :)
Then recently I've read a few books I've already forgotten so they obviously weren't that good, as well as a few biography type books. I can't remember who the first one was by, but I finished Chris Moyles' Difficult Second Book last nigh after I found it for £2 in Fopp, and now I'm reading Jonathon Ross' Why Do I Say These Things. I'm also sort of reading Dear Fatty by Dawn French too.
As well as Moyles' book Fopp also had Twilight for £2 and two books by James Frey. I've been intrigued by the furore around the Twilight saga, and while I don't really want to buy the film unless I reeeeeeeeeally have to, I didn't want to do that at all until I'd read the book, which I also didn't want to spend £7.99 on. Yes I'm a cheapskate. So when I saw it for £2 I thought hey here's my chance :)
So far I've only read the first chapter, because I want to finish Wossy's book first. That's right, I'm trying to be a one book woman. I know what you're thinking. "It'll never last." You're probably right but I'm giving it a go. But it's frustrating cos I really want to read Twilight!!!

So books. I love em. Just never ask me what my single favourite book is. I might implode.
But I'm going to he a hypocrite and ask you all, what's your favourite book? Or one of them at least? Recommend me some some books, please. I'm getting my reading mojo back but it's no good if I've got nothing to read!

H. X