Post Script

I forgot to mention all the amazing sweets I bought! Unfortunately, I couldn't find Red Vines, so I had to buy Twizzlers instead :( but I did find Candy Corn and I really wanted to try that! It was pretty good, better than the Hersheys chocolate in my opinion. For some reason about half of the people who have tried Hersheys thinks it tastes like sick, while the other half don't. I'm part of the half that thinks it tastes like sick... I bought a variety pack though and the peanut and crispy rice ones do taste a lot better :). I also bought some pretzel M&Ms but I haven't tried those yet, can't wait to eat everything ^.^

I also bought some glittery nail varnish in Forever 21. The bottles it came in were really big and they say 'One Size' which is a bit strange. And when I was in the queue to buy them the people there said 'Following Guest' instead of 'Next'. They were too nice.

When I got back from my trip I found this waiting for me:

Woah, so chunky! I accidentally dropped it and nearly broke the floor :/

I've already read 'A Study In Scarlet' and it is really good. It's actually incredibly similar to the Sherlock series on TV and it's not hard to read or very long so it's a perfect book.

I went to go see The Woman in Black the other day. It was the first horror/thriller (?) film i've been to see in the cinema so I was pretty excited about going but only about 10 minutes into the film I realised this was probably a mistake... Everything is so much louder in the cinema than at home and it's so much harder to get away from it. There was one scene, I don't even know what happened exactly, I had my eyes closed, and the music and effects were so loud and there was the woman (maybe) and it felt like she was behind me and I was so scared. And some of my friends were screaming! I don't even think it was that scary, I slept as good as usual the night after and I was about one hundred times more scared after watching Paranormal Activity at home, I think the atmosphere of the cinema just amplified everything... I don't think i'll go to see a scary film in the cinema any time soon. I think it was a good film though.

The Mortal Instruments

I recently read The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare in the The Mortal Instruments series. It was really good. The book I read before was The Power of Six, which has such big spacious text that the text in this book seemed tiny! It was very good though, kind of like Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick because of the bad boy in it.

I definitely recommend reading it. Unfortunately the library didn't have the sequel, and neither did any of the other libraries in my borough, so I may have to ask for the set for Christmas. Because of this dilemma I chose to read a book I already had read, Anne Franks diary. I think I read it a few years ago so I couldn't really remember much, but it is absolutely amazing. I think I appreciate it now that I'm older how she was such a normal person (and teenager). I'm glad I chose this over I Am Number Four.
There are so many versions of her diary, one was the one Anne had edited herself when she heard publishers would be looking for documents, like diaries, to publish after the war to tell the story of the Jews from someone who went through it, one which Otto Frank edited from the original and Anne's version and one that is the original which has had bits from Anne's edited version added. I think I have the last version, I'm not sure, I was kind of confused when reading about it...
Whoever hasn't read this definitely should, especially if you love history and this time period, and just so you can get an idea of how she felt and how many other people must have felt during that time.

I can't remember if I've mentioned this before but I can't be bothered to check all my other posts, but a few years ago I read Witch Child, which is another diary by a young girl. I'm not 100% sure if it is a real diary account because it is set up realistically in the 17th Century and I once found a website dedicated to it and to finding more information about it as the diary was found in an old mattress, but there is an author and it's called a novel but that might be because they had to adapt it and guess some information like dates...

But it doesn't matter, you should read it anyway! I thought the cover and name made the story look like it was going to be scary but it is very good and amazing :).

                                               

Alex Pettyfer

So if you didn't already know I love Alex Pettyfer. But thats not the point. My friends lent me the sequel to I Am Number Four, called The Power of Six and it was really good! The ending had a cliffhanger, which totally means there's got to be a new book.

I also found this video on Youtube, if you're a Harry Potter fan you will love this (i think). I nearly died of laughter witching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZW_dwd_WJY . Sorry it's so random but everyone needs to see this!
Yeah, so school started, and I'm so tired all day everyday. I don't know if i'll be able to stay up watching Big Brother for much longer, but it's just so funny. Can't wait to watch it tonight!
Peace out!

Reading and Stuff

Guess what i'm reading?
Harry Potter!
I'm finally reading the books, I feel really crazy for not starting before, but I have tried. When I got Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, when I was eight, I tried so many times to read it but never got past the first chapter. Now I can kind of proudly say i've finished it and I've started the second book :). The films are very close to the first couple books but there are little extra magic bits in the book that don't happen in the film, like an extra room to reach Voldemort and the Philosopher's Stone and Garden Gnomes in the Weasley's Garden. It's really fun.
I have seen all the films though, I watched the final part of the Deathly Hallows yesterday and it was really good, much better than I thought it would be. For the past four Harry Potter films I've never really understood what has been going on, but I actually enjoyed the last one! That's another reason why I want to read the books, the films are exciting and I'm pretty sure the books will be better and make the films easier to understand...

This is the only book in the series I own,  my Physics buddy
has kindly lent me the next two ;).

So, it's the summer holidays now. I think i'm too tired and worn out to appreciate it but hopefully after a little break I'll be so happy and desperate to never go to school again!
As well as reading the Harry Potter books over the holiday I've got to read some Biology books. I've just finished Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, it was interesting because it went against a lot of stuff that has been in the media, and has revealed shocking stuff about how scientists have manipulated data to get a positive result to support their ideas, when there obviously wasn't. I'm glad to have finally finished it though, it took a lot of concentration, like Bill Brysons book, but I can actually say i've finished this one :). I've got to read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond now, which looks the same size as Bad Science but it's so much heavier, i'm scared to start it!

Did ya miss me?

I've been away a long long time, mainly because of exams, and who would want to read a blog all about me complaining about my Psychology exam? Even though it's so hard! 
Its half term now and I've got 10 exams down and 3 to go, so exciting. And after all mine and my friends exams we are going to Thorpe Park, which shall be so relaxing, unless we go on the really scary rides, like the Saw Maze, I hope to never have to go on that again! We've already had an 'end of exams' party, which wasn't really celebrating the end of exams, but I wasn't revising at the time so it totally counts!
Also while I've been away I've been able to cross off three books from my reading list: Pretties and Specials by Scott Westerfield and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. The books in the Uglies series were so good, the third was definitely my favourite, it has so much action compared with the others! I hope Extras which is the fourth in the series will be just as good, but it doesn't actually follow the same character as the one that was in the other three, so I have no idea what it will be like... The Lovely Bones was also very good, I liked the way she was in heaven, I just like the depiction of it (if that's the right word).
I read The Shadow of Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón a while ago, turns out it had a sequel, which was actually a prequel to the first called The Angel's Game. Its so good, the writer is just brilliant, I have no idea how he comes up with the some of the things in the book, Carlos Ruiz Zafón really is an awesome writer.

So did anyone watch Eurovision? I absolutely loved the song New Tomorrow by A Friend in London who did the song for Denmark (the singer had Jedward-like hair).Oh, and Jedward were pretty good too! 
Recently I've been watching, well waiting, for the Pirates of the Caribbean films. I had totally forgotten how awesome they were. I watched the third and had no idea what was going on so I made a pledge to find the rest of the films on tv. And guess what. They were on that week! I love it when things go to plan :). So i've got the second one recorded and I'm going to persuade my family that we should watch that, instead of Britain's got Talent, even though Simon does look so good in those V-neck shirts ;).
I should probably get back to revising for Psychology now, even though writing a blog post is way more interesting.
P.s. You remember Charlie? I totally failed at buying tickets to go see him. My Physics Friend and I were heartbroken! Hopefully we'll see him around sometime somewhere else </3

Haha, this photo made me laugh ^.^
I totally wasn't searching through Google for images of him

The Shadow of the Wind

I've just finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and it was amazing, and i'm sure it's no coincidence that the author has a beard! It was lent to me by the one and only Physics friend, and I think it was even more mysterious than she said!

It's a story set in Barcelona in the mid 1900s and is about a boy, called Daniel Sempere, who is brought up around books. One night his father takes him to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which is where he finds the book that has been waiting for him since he has been born: The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. After staying up all night reading it, he wants to find more of this authors work so consults Barceló, an influential man in the city's second hand book trade. He is willing to buy the book for a very substantial price, as there have been mysterious disappearances of collections of Carax's books, due to a man called Laín Coubert who, in Carax's book, is the Devil. 
As Daniel gets older he befriends a man called Fermín Romero de Torres and begins to search for answers to the disappearance of Carax and his books, and for the reason why people are trying to stop him, are following him and lying to him.
It is an incredibly well written book. There were some very scary parts in the book and I felt how the characters were feeling at those points. At times I thought I knew what going to happen, I was sure of it, but then I would turn out to be completely wrong. It's a really good book, filled with twists and turns and answers and more questions and I would definitely recommend reading this!
Thank you for the recommendation Physics friend :).


I've also read a book called Fallen by Lauren Kate. It was about angels, like Hush Hush and Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. It was good, and I really liked the ending. I was worried it wasn't going to be very good because the book wasn't as good as I had thought it would have been but the ending made up for it. This book was also filled with mystery but it was much easier to guess what was going to happen than in The Shadow of the Wind but not because it wasn't written well, it was because  The Shadow of the Wind was just written too well!

I have been reading a lot of books recently. I think it's due to the fact it's the Easter holidays, and I have a lot of work and revision to do and I don't want to do it. So I just spend my days reading and/or eating. I still have a whole list of books to read though:

1. Pretties by Scott Westerfield (sequel to Uglies) then the third book: Specials, then the forth: Extras.
2. Torment by Lauren Kate (sequel to Fallen, and there's a third book, Passion, coming out soon).
3. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (also recommended by the Physics Friend).
4. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (which is a four part series and Alex Pettyfer is going to play one of the characters in the film ^.^).
5. Lies by Michael Grant (sequel to Gone and Hunger, and then the forth book, Plague).

So altogether that is 12 books to read! I've never had to do so much before, hopefully they'll all be good! It may take a couple years to get through all of this though, I do sometimes have a life ;).

Oh, another thing I wanted to mention was that I was listening to Katy Perry's album, lent to me by Lauren (thanks) and E.T. came on, and for some reason i've only just discovered it and it is amazing So check it out if you have the time :).

P.S. during the Summer Holidays and I don't have any work to do i'm hoping my blog will become a little more exciting than me just talking about books all the time. So be prepared for awesome ;).

It's Time To Party.

But not really because although it is the Easter Holidays I have exams in around a month and I need to revise everything! I am so very worried about these exams. GCSE's feel like a breeze compared to these. Oh no, i'm rhyming, I really am nervous :|.

I've decided to do work this holiday. And I actually mean work! My Lent promise totally failed and I really hope I can get some stuff done now, away from school.
Today is Saturday. Day 1 of the Easter Holidays. And I have already done quite a lot of work, but it always starts like this. I have done so many Biology revision posters, which were actually fun to do, I don't usually get to do a lot of arty work so it was fun. And I have also done 3 or 4 Maths papers but there were quite a few questions I couldn't do which is scary but I have a revision session on Wednesday at school so hopefully i'll solve those problems. I have to do another 12 papers for then! I really shouldn't have left them all till this week. I actually did two of those Maths papers last night. That's what happens when you drink a lot (and I mean a lot!) of Pepsi late.
I did try to take a break and play Just Dance but it was so hot, I had to lie down for 15 minutes!

Recently, I read this book called Hunger by Michael Grant. It's very good. And second in a series of (woah, just Googled it) six books. I had no idea there were that many. The first is called Gone and basically what happens is that all the adults and teenagers over the age of 15 vanish. And those who turn 15, then vanish. The children left in Perdido Beach are in a state of panic and Sam Temple is, kind of, voted in to become Mayor or President. And some children develop powers. So the book is about the struggle for the kids to keep control and to fight against rivals from Coates, whose leader is Caine. It's an amazing book and I know the series will be too. I totally recommend it! But just to warn you it is a bit gruesome and cruel in some places.

I wish I could have found a picture showing the side of the book. Its bright neon yellow. The other books have neon colours appropriate to the colour of their title. It's pretty awesome.

So, like i've said before, its the Easter Holidays and I broke up yesterday (after a three hour Critical Thinking exam - which surprisingly was better than I thought - and i'm hoping I did okay). Me and my friend went to go and get ice cream at this ice cream shop that opened up recently. The prices seemed a bit high, but you should have seen the size of the scoops! And there were so many flavours, we were in there deciding what to get for at least 10 minutes, probably more. I settled on Hokey Pokey (of course.) and Cholcolate with Honeycomb. It was so so good. People in the street were totally jealous. And then I had more ice cream after dinner! Well, I did need something to wash the pizza down. I have an addiction. Oh, you should definitely try Ben and Jerry's Phish Food Frozen Yoghurt. Its delicious, and because its sort of healthier than ice cream, you can eat twice as much!

Thank you for reading this far, if you have. Those were my ramblings for today :).

Uglies

I recently borrowed this book from the library, I've found it hard to find a good book since The Hunger Games, apart from I am Number Four and Crescendo of course ;). But Uglies by Scott Westerfield was really good. It's set in the future and the little freedom the people have is astounding, somehow they have less freedom than we do now... They have to wear an interface ring, are not allowed outside the city limits and all the machinery they own is tracked. So they can never truly be alone. They aren't even taught to write any more. Everything, including diaries, are kept on computers.

*Spoiler Alert ;)*

In this city once you turn 16 you become a 'Pretty'. You have an operation where they change your bone structure and make you beautiful, with perfect check bones, big eyes and full lips. The operation is suppose to make everyone equal so there will never be another catastrophic event (that they never describe) that will almost destroy them, like how it destroyed the Rusties, that's us.

Tally's friend Shay runs away to the Smoke, where all those who go against the rules of the city have started their own city,  which is full of the Uglies who never wanted to be Pretty. Tally is forced to go and find the Smoke by Special Forces who want to shut the place down. But the only instructions she has is a cryptic message written by her friend just before she left.

She arrives at the Smoke and falls in love with place, she also learns the secret of the operation: small lesions are placed in the brain in all of those turned pretty, unless they work for the Government/Special Forces which change the personality of the person which stops any non-conformity to the people in charge of the city. So she destroys the transmitter she is supposed to activate when she arrives at the Smoke, without realising that when it is destroyed it activates itself. So the Smoke is under siege.

She manages to escape and travels to the city with David, the person who usually recruits the Uglies, and tries to free her friends. Shay, who most hated the idea of becoming Pretty, is turned Pretty. And David's father is killed. Tally has to try and save the day, and the book ends with her handing herself in so she can become Pretty, in a plot to save Shay from the lesions.

I hadn't actually heard of this book until seeing it in the library, but it turns out there is a whole series. The next book is Pretties (which I will hopefully be getting tonight) and then Specials and then Extras, and I hope I wrote those in the right order... It was quite a good book, and was similar to The Hunger Games in the way it was set in the future and the place was run by evil people. I can't wait to read some more!

Rolling in the Deep

I have finally finished I Am Number Four. It was a really good book. I think it took me so long to read because I only had time to read it late so only read a couple chapters a night and the pages had a lot of words on them! It was much easier seeing the film and then reading the book because my imagination is absolutely terrible so I didn't have to make up what the characters looked like. Yay! This also worked well for Twilight.

My brain is lazy...

In the film there's this great song by Adele called Rolling In The Deep, which is also my blog title for today. It's very good so you should definitely check it out.

So thank you Sam for telling me about that book and film and song. They're all great! :)

I decided my Lent thing will be to do more work. And if I don't do any work for a whole day I will donate £1 to charity. Lent has lasted 5 days and I already owe £2 but those days off were totally worth it ;)! But I caught up on all my work today. And i've been doing ict coursework in the mornings so the usage of my time has been a lot better. I really need to start my biology flash cards again, but i'm still slightly heartbroken after losing my last lot of flash cards so re-writing them is physically and emotionally challenging.

Here's a pretty picture for today (and also what I had for lunch yesterday <3 ):

Walking is my favourite sport

I'm doing a sponsored walk in a couple of days. And I have been pretty competitive about how much money i've been raising. I didn't realise I could be this competitive but I suppose I should admit I have a problem and get that sorted, but maybe after i've raised the mostest money ever! I've got £34.50 so far and i'm hoping my mum will be able to get some aunts and uncles to sponsor me. Would it be wrong to get her to ask a friend she's meeting, who she hasn't seen since secondary school? Maybe i'll just stick to family... My brother offered 2p per step. This seems like a small amount but we're walking about 3 miles, and 1 mile = 2000 steps so i'll do around 6000 steps which equals £120! I doubt i'll actually get that though, my mum will intervene and offer me £5 but hopefully i'll get £10. My brother is a fool.

I've been pretty lazy recently with homework and coursework. I wish I had the motivation to do it and I plan to do so much at school but when I get home my plans just fly out the window! I spend my time watching television and tumblring. I really really really need to find some way to get into the habit of homework before it's too late. However, i've been okay with revision things, like my psychology booklet and biology flashcards, hopefully i'll be able to keep that up. I've planned to do some over the weekend but who knows how that'll go.

I'm going to see I Am Number Four on Saturday. It's going to be great! Well, I hope it will. I can only be certain of Alex Pettyfer being great. I'm not even halfway through the book but apparently the book is better than the film so maybe it'll be good to see the film before I read the book. The books been good so far so I hope the film will have the same level of goodness.

Also, I got my Red Nose! It's a pirate one. Yeah, my coolness points are through the roof:

Crescendo

Last Wednesday I bought Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick and I have already finished it!
It was just too good to put down. I have wanted to read this book for a while, ever since I read Hush, hush which is the first book in the series. It was so good, and not like other books i'd read. At a time where vampires are everywhere, a book about angels is a breath of fresh air. It's hard to describe what the story is about without giving too much away so i'm just going to recommend that you read them both. It will totally be worth your time :)

I quite like the designs of the covers. And I really liked the way the name of the author and the book was written on the side, once the cover was removed.

I think the first couple of chapters in Crescendo are bit slow and boring, and just less intense and mysterious than in Hush, hush. But once you get into the book it definitely improved. Because of the high quality of the first book I think this book had a lot to live up to but it did well. I didn't think it was going to be as good as Hush, hush but it is, and it is possibly even slightly better.

There better be another sequel. The cliffhanger at the end of this book was worse than the one at the end of the first!

Also, thank you to Chenna who introduced me to the books ;).

My Eventful Day at Lakeside

So, it was recently pointed out by a friend that I was a shopping addict. I didn’t even notice, but I’ve been shopping everyday this week and I’m planning to go either tomorrow or Friday. But, I’ve been shopping for a good cause. Clothes and doughnuts :).

Today I went to Lakeside with my family. It started like a pretty normal boring shopping trip. My mum convincing my dad he needs more shirts, a pointless trip to Robert Dyas and then to Waterstones.

But then, as soon as I walked into Waterstones, I saw it. Or should I say him? Alex Pettyfer. A book called I Am Number Four is being turned into a film with Alex Pettyfer cast as the main character so he was on the front of the book. There was a deal on so I also had the opportunity to get another book I’ve wanted for a while, Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. Anyway, back to Alex. There were two versions of the cover, the original or the one with Alex. My brother said to get the original because it was ‘better’ but my dad preferred the other, and so did I, so that helped solve my problem. I cannot wait to read it! But this story gets better. As my mum was paying I was hanging round one of the aisles, cos I’m cool like that, and I saw they were giving away free book marks... With Alex Pettyfer on it! It matches the book. And I now own two things with his face on ;) :

We went to Game a while after. I was looking at the pre-owned PS2 games to see if I could find some my brother had broken and I found both! Well, my mum found both. I also got Spyro because I like Spyro and it was 3 for 2. Then in WHSmiths I bought some awesome wrapping paper. It was only 50p, probably because Christmas is 10 months away. Then in this American candy store they were selling Coca-Cola with Vanilla. I really miss it, but it was £1.55 for a can and that is just too much. I’ll just get it if and when I go to America myself. I walked past a men’s clothes store and the mannequins had these incredibly strange poses, their fists were clenched, it was so strange.

We had dinner and went to the pet store after to look at the redonkulously cute animals. Just as we were about to leave a fight started outside between about 10 guys. It was crazy! They were grabbing each others hoodies and one took his belt off and started using it as a whip! They started grabbing stools from the cafe next door and were using those to beat each other up. I was slightly scared for my life. Then one ran into the pet store to grab a weapon. What did he think he was going to get? A hamster... But it was okay; a tall man with a piercing kept him out. It was quite funny now that I think about it. By the time the fight was over and they had gone all that was left was a couple over turned stools and a mannequins hand in the middle of the floor. Sad really...

The Hunger Games!

My very amazing friend has lent me some amazing books. All three of The Hunger Games!

I think I am almost the last person on Earth to have not read these books. I truly had no idea what this book was about, which surprised me because the hunger games are actually quite serious! The concept of what the author has written about is... well, i'm speechless. It's very strange to imagine this story being real, but it is so good. It really is one of those books you can not put down. I haven't found a book like that for a while! Definitely beats Bill Bryson! Sorry Bill...
At the moment, i've just started the second book. I'm still struggling to put it down, even though i'm only at the beginning!
These books are really affecting my revision! Not.

My Love-Hate Relationship With Bill Bryson

So a couple months ago I borrowed a very large chunky book from the library that my biology teacher recommended reading. Although it's full of great facts, like how the universe is full of WIMPs, MACHOs, and DUNNOS,  it takes every ounce of my concentration skills to read it!

So this is it. Although it's annoying me, I really can't bring myself to stop reading it or take it back to the library to never renew it again. Maybe its the jokes, after reading page after page of science the little jokes at the end of the chapters really make up for it. And so I read on for more jokes.

I don't think my friends are really appreciating the little factoids I throw into conversations. But my physics friend is happy, there is much more in this book about physics than biology which I think is a little win for her against me.

I would definitely recommend this to people who take chemistry or physics because my non-stop fact giving to my friends actually helped them somehow. There isn't so much biology in it, but don't let that stop you. It is a good read and maybe i'll do it again sometime. Preferably after my brain stops hurting...

So until I finish this book, me and Bill Bryson shall remain Frenemys.