Something Exciting Is Happening! & 2011 Reading List, Update Number Zwei

Hello! I'm sorry it's been a while. Here's some books I've been reading...

"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman
The story of a fairly average sort of guy being thrown into a situation where he has to change - after one night he takes in an injured girl in a battered leather jacket, it isn't his own decision when Richard is dragged off on a quest through Neverwhere, a fantasy kingdom underneath the city of London, for those who've slipped through the cracks.
My trouble with fantasy sometimes is that I have problems keeping up with the "rules", but this was so wonderfully out of the ordinary that there were barely restrictions - our main characters rode the London Underground, slipped through paintings, drank wine from Atlantis with the Angel Islington. The main characters are lively and developed and real, Lady Door and Richard and Hunter and especially the Marquis de Carabas are unforgetable, and best of all, they weren't perfect and heroic, they were human.
I'll blame the fact I couldn't keep up with it sometimes on myself, and that's not because Neil Gaiman's one of my heroes and I'm defending him but just because I have trouble, for some reason, fully conjuring up parts of fantasy or sci-fi novels in my brain.
8/10

"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
In the 1960s, South Carolina, 14 year old Lily runs away from her father's peach plantation with her only friend, black servant Rosaleen. Inspired only by a photograph with her late mother's belongings, Lily hikes towards Tiburon to locate the Boatwright sisters, who make and sell honey, wrapped in a picture of the black Madonna.
This was brilliant, and although I've read a lot of novels with romance in them, watched a lot of shows, and I don't think I've ever wanted anyone to be together as much as Lily and Zach. That's probably wrong - there's been Callum and Sephy, Ron and Hermione, Mickey and Stacie, Brittany and Santana, but still this came close.
It's about love, the romantic kind between teenagers, unconditional love between sisters, biological and otherwise, and the love between Lily and the mother she can't quite remember. It's also about music, and honey, and bees and it made me happy.
9/10

"Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen
I finished this in the bath just now, and woah. One of the reasons I wanted to read "Water For Elephants" is that it was initially somebody's NaNoWriMo novel. Events like this I always leave behind the product of, instead of attempting to do anything with them, like edit, or ever touch again - except for maybe what I wrote last November. I liked the idea that what was just someone's NaNoWriMo story is now a bestseller which is being made into a film with Robert Pattinson in it. But I loved "Water For Elephants" much, much more than I expected. I wanted it to inspire me, but I got caught in the story and spent the last few nights staying up late, just to read one more chapter, then another one, then another one. When Jacob Jankowski is called out of his final exam before becoming a qualified vetenarian, he's informed that both of his parents have died in a car accident and everything falls apart. With no money, and no family to go to, he finds work with the Benzini Brothers' Greatest Show on Earth, working under equestrian director, the charming and brutal August. But when Jacob falls for Marlena, August's wife, it causes nothing but trouble.
This story is so lovely. It's powerful, exciting and intense and at times I seriously couldn't put it down. I have a feeling I'll read something over and over again. 9.5/10

Also, I'm working towards a sort of challenge with my friends Beth Holmes and Kathryn Stant to raise money, and it's to do with those with loss of senses. Beth explains it much better here, but basically, I'll be spending a day blindfolded to experience the day to day struggles of being blind. We're each raising money for a charity, obviously to do with our "theme", if you like, and I haven't found a blind charity yet but I'll update you as soon as I do. I'm also looking into setting up an online sponsorships page.

I apologize I haven't been hanging round much recently, I think I'm slightly tired after February or just sick of listening to myself. Things should be back to normal soon. Though I should warn you, if I'm not back this time next week it's because I've run off to elope, and I'm not sure how much of that was a joke. I'm going to get in trouble for writing that now.

See you soon, hope you're doin' well!

Love,

Lizzie xxx

Happy Valentine's Day! (caution: a little fluffy)

Happy Valentine's Day, internet! :)










Valentine's Day hasn't really been a big deal for me yet, though this year I did consider leaving an anonymous giant, fluffy dinosaur toy on someone's doorstep, though weighing out the pros and cons I feel like he'd probably have felt a little creeped out.

I spent tonight being moany with a friend, whilst she text-flirted with a boy named Kingsley, and then bought a large box of strawberry-mango tea from Asda which should make up for whatever I'm feeling. I don't want to moan too much about being single on Valentine's Day - I'm fourteen, not thirty, and it's a long time before I should start feeling hopeless, but I'd be lying if I didn't feel like there's something missing.
But I don't want to blubber on about this today, because I've ranted about my thoughts on love and stuffs enough in the past. Instead, because music is the food of love, I made you a list.
(I know I may be going into a teeny tiny list obsession again...)
When I thought about it, going with "love songs" as a theme I could go one of two different ways - there are some beautiful, amazing songs which are sad and melancholy, of loss and longings then there is the sort which is optimistic and full of hope.
I went for the latter, and I don't know why.


FIVE LOVE SONGS FOR VALENTINE'S DAY


"You and I" - Ingrid Michaelson
I only discovered Ingrid Michaelson about a week ago, and she's amazing. I also found out that she originally wrote a well-known British pop song, but I'll talk about this another time.


"Marry Me" - BackTedNTed
I got Ryan Breen's album a few weeks ago and it's, as one of my friends put it, sonic joy. His music, this song in particular, is more electronic than what I normally listen to but I don't care, it's happy and it's catchy and that night I sat on my bed and danced to this.


"The One You Say Goodnight To" - Kina Grannis
This song hasn't been released yet as far as I know, but it's pretty and catchy and also full of hope. Long after it's over, I'm still clapping along in my head.


"Spit It Out" - IAMX
Sort of an odd one out I know, because it's much less light, but from what I can tell this song is about love and devotion. It's probably one of my favourite songs in the world.


"Five Years Time" - Noah and the Whale
Couldn't help myself. Thoughtful, cheerful, doesn't take itself too seriously, and mainly just plain awesome.


"Valentine" - Kina Grannis
Yes, of course I can have two songs by the same artist, because as far as happy, lighthearted, simple love songs go, Kina is queen. Also this song is always up for free download this time of year, so there's no reason why you shouldn't download it because it's magical.


"Swoon" - Imogen Heap
I saved the best till last :) I am so, so in love with this song. It's catchy and it's full of hope and it makes me want to dance around my bedroom in the darkest times. There have been so many moments over the last year or so, when I've just stood in the shower singing "LET ME BE THE GREAT SCOTT, TIP TOP, PIT STOP IN YOUR OCEAN!" Eeeeeee.


I'll go now. I have homework I've ignored too long and such things, and sleeping to do. I hope you had a happy Valentine's day, wherever you are. And I apologize if this post was slushy at all.

love, Lizzie xx

(sorry about lack of spacing, that happens when I post numerous pictures sometimes. One day, I'll figure it out and we will all be saved.) EDIT: Never mind, sorted it I think

I lost control. (sorry, contains talking about myself)

You've got me all mixed up inside,
These thoughts keep entering my mind,
I know these struggles all too well,
Guess I'm just one to kiss and tell
-Back Ted N-Ted, "The Mirror"

So. I did something stupid the other day.
If you’ve read this closely, or maybe even at all, you might have tried to guess but I haven’t done what you think. That would be more stupid. The other ironic thing would be that not even someone that read my blog would have thought of what I was thinking of then at all. Anyways.
A while ago, I went through an odd stage where I thought I was in love and around four months later, meaning now, I reached the point where I decided I’d tell my friends, or maybe just one of them, because it’s what teenage girls do. I’m not the sort of person that tells my friends everything I feel, just everything but this.

The situation it came out wasn’t really ideal, my friend and I were in a crowded place outside the canteen when she exclaimed, “Oh my God, it’s -insertnamehere-!”.
Her sister, Jemima, two years younger than us, had no idea what was going on but was passing and yelled, "-insertnamehere-!"
Rosie looked at me and her eyes lit up a little. "Wait, I know who -insertnamehere- is! Omigosh, what happened?!"
And then various more complex rumours began to circulate round the group of about ten of us, like gossip does. It's the kind I'd never been the subject of before, and I probably should have known it would happen. It was an experiment, and I didn't like it much. Lucky, none of them will have an oppurtunity to tell -insertnamehere-.
Now things are a mess. Over the last two days, it's developed and no-one understands, several people are mad at me because they feel like I owe them some kind of explanation for things that aren't to do with them. But I know how they feel.

I didn't think I'd feel like this. I thought I'd maybe just tell my best friend, who I should tell if anyone, and have time and space to explain it thoroughly and maybe cry a little and I'd feel better. That's not how it worked out. Suddenly everyone thinks things are a lot bigger than they area. My friendship group is dealing with bulimia and light sexual harrassment at the moment; it seemed like the time to tell someone my big thing. Now people think I'm pregnant and all sorts of things.

That's the only time I'll involve myself with teenagegirlytype behavior. I've learnt my lesson now, and I definitely won't use song lyrics to talk about my feelings because it's super-lame. There won't be blog posts like this again. Or situations I hope.

Goodnight xx

Love, and sandwiches (turkey breast, light mayonaise and cucumber on toasted hearty Italian, please)

One of the hundreds of things that annoys me about people my age (and there's lots, I'll write a list of them one day) is the way they use the world "love". Two of my friends are in relationships, as of recently, both with people they only met about a week before they started going out and already, apparently, they are in love. They all are.
Within hours, second only to changing their Facebook relationship status, it's screamed over their walls, latched onto their MSN name and at the end of every text. And yes, I'm inexperienced and my opinions are supported only by music and semi-famous people I don't know for real, but clearly they don't actually love this person? It's hard for me to understand how someone that's been in a relationship for an afternoon can believe they love someone, that they matter to them as much as their parents and siblings, and very close friends.
Recently, I battled inside my head with the feelings I had with someone and whether it was being in love. And I remembered an internet forum discussion about a similar thing, and someone saying something like "True love is like believeing you can find all your happiness in one person". And I thought, where is all my happiness? The answer was in writing, in hope that I'll do something useful one day and people will need me for something, and that I know on November 5th this year my best friend and I will go to London and see Imogen Heap.
The question came down to, would I rather the Imogen Heap tickets or a relationship with *insertnamehere*. I honestly had no idea. And that made me realise that if I had really been in love, it would be no contest.
That's what they all need to do.

Another thing that occured to me is that one of the main things I don't like about myself is that I don't really care what a stranger that stumbles on my blog thinks about me, but I care a lot what people at my school do. Recently, twice, I blurted out things I wished I could tell my friends about to two of my email penpals, both who live in America. Neither have replied yet.
Yesterday, I went to see a movie with my friends. I got the bus too early and had some time to kill, so got myself a Costa iced tea and a sandwich from Subway. Walking to the cinema with my sandwich, I saw some people I know, girls from my school that would be cheerleaders if we were American, and felt a sudden urge to hide my sandwich fast.
Why? I want to kick myself now. I care way too much what people think of me. I'm only painfully shy around people my own age that aren't my friends. Did I feel like I was a loser then because of my sandwich, or because I wasn't wearing half as much make-up then, or because I was alone?

I'm going to go now. But I'll come back soon, sooner than I did last time, with some more naked thinking and pointless theories about the world.
If you actually read this, I love you. (just realised that was really ironic). G'night.

Lizzie