Sale Shopping!

Today I actually left the house to hit the sales with my two little sisters. Starting at Bluewater then onto high street Dartford and ending in Bexleyheath. Quite a day and not a bad haul. Lets see what did I get?

• Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (book)
• The world according to by Jeremy Clarkson (book)
• House of Wax (DVD)
• White Noise (DVD)
• The Hunted (DVD)
• Autobiography - Ashlee Simpson (CD)
• CAT boots
• Black and Grey stripy sweater
• Black and white stripy vest
• Most Haunted Calendar
• The Ring Two (DVD)

I think that was all. Nevermind, I feel much better now! My sisters did pick up The Grudge on DVD, an Usher cd, a hat and a sleep e-z pillow.

Happy Sale Shopping to Y'all

XXx

MERRY CHRISTMAS

So how was everyone's christmas? Well mine was rather sedate. I did cook christmas dinner on christmas day which no one ate becuase they were too excited and had been picking at nibbles throughout the day. I knew i wasnt getting much because i had alot of it before as it was for my bike. Though i did get gift vouchers, a book, a cd and a nice ring. Now all im doing is lazing around and relaxing. The best idea ive had all day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO Y'ALL

My Addiction Rears Its Head Again!

What do most people do the day before Christmas Eve? Something sedate and cheap maybe, as they've spent all their money on the presents that they will give out in a days time. Well not me! I go out and spend more money on me! Knowing full well that no one had bought me any of my list of christmas books, i decided to treat myself ... to 25 books! Yes i did say that many and all in under an hour. Not bad, eh? But the best thing is that all 25 only cost me £7.90! Fabulous! Check out my stash below! (And yes I do realise that a good few are teen horror, but ive collected them for, like, ever!)

1. Its what he would have wanted - Sean Hughes
2. Everyday life in early America - David Freeman Hawke
3. Namma - Kate Karko
4. Sophies Bakery for the Broken Hearted - Lolly Winston
5. The Blue Tango - Eoin McNamee
6. The Dark Room - Rachel Seiffert
7. Places in the Dark - Thomas H Cook
8. Rose Madder - Stephen King (HB)
9. Affinity - Sarah Waters
10. Crazy - Benjamin Lebert
11. Small Island - Andrea Levy
12. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
13. Growing Up Twice - Rowan Coleman
14. The Bookseller of Kabul - Asne Seierstad
15. Rules of the Road - Joan Bauer
16. Nightmare Hall: Scream Team - Diana Hoh
17. Nightmare Hall: Deadly Attraction - Diane Hoh
18. Nightmare Hall: Last Date - Diane Hoh
19. Nightmare Hall: Guilty - Diane Hoh
20. Nightmare Hall: Sorority Sister - Diane Hoh
21. Nightmare Hall: The Wish - Diane Hoh
22. Nightmare Hall: Truth or Dare - Diane Hoh
23. Nightmare Hall: Pretty Please - Diane Hoh
24. Nightmare Hall: Initiation - Diane Hoh
25. Nightmare Hall: The Nightwalker - Diane Hoh

I did get one book for christmas though, which i'm totally looking forward to reading -

True Believer - Nicholas Sparks.

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL

XXXXX

Ian Sansom's 'The Case of the Missing Books' - Preview

I've just finished reading Ian Sansom's 'The Case of the Missing Books' and thought it was rather good and quite hilarious at times. Its not actually out til feb 2006 (preorder it now at amazon) but i picked up a preview copy somehow.
Its about this guy from London who is sent to Ireland to be a librarian for some small town, only to get there and find that the library has shut and the books have been stolen. So backed into a corner he has to take charge of a hijacked battered mobile library and hunt for the books in order to go home. He meets a variety of people, all of them extremely different and rather backwards. He doesnt seem to get close ever to finding out who did it (until the end!) but its really funny reading about the mishaps he gets himself into along the way.
Characterizations are good though the plot is a bit weak, but they come together to make this hilariously readable book.
XXX

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

Well, i keep getting these emails that keep asking me what i like and dont like so that members of bookgroups that i am a member of can get to know me a little better. As i am bored to the back teeth with constantly answering the same bloody questions over and over, i am going to put down whatever they want to know and redirect them to here. Much easier! Here's what people have been wanting to know about me:

1. Food: Mini Cheddars and Thornton's Toffee Cakes
2. Drink: Malibu
3. Fruit: Watermelon
4. Vegetable: Potato
5. Color: Green
6. Cologne/perfume: Tommy Girl by Ralph Lauren
7. Part of the body: Collarbones
8. Stuffed animal: Bernard, my stuffed mouse that has a bell inside
9. Mall: Lakeside, Thurrock, Essex, England
10. Candle scent: Vanilla or lavender
11. Store: Waterstones
12. Current song: Westlife's 'you raise me up'
13. Older song: Copacabana by Barry Manilow
14. Movie: Ghostbusters 2
15. Actor: Johnny Depp
16. Actress: Angelina Jolie
17. Animal: Sheep
18. TV channel: E!
19. TV show: Gilmore Girls
20. Radio station: Magic 105.4
21. Rapper: I HATE RAP MUSIC!
22. Soundtrack: Summer Holiday
23. Boy name: Vincent
24. Girl name: Indiana
25. Flower: Yellow Rose
26. Holiday: Christmas
27. Day of the week: Sunday
28. Month: December
29. Season: Winter
30. City: Paris, France
31. State: Maine
32. Vacation spot: Hastings, Sussex, England
33. Age to be: 20
34. Football team: Indianapolis Colts (I dont like British football)
35. Jeans brand: Replay
36. Cartoon: Johnny Bravo
37. Place to drive around: Anywhere along the Kent countryside
38. Blanket: A green and red plaid one
39. Car: 1957/8 Plymouth Fury
40. Eye color: Brown
41. Hair color: Brown
42. Pen ink color: Green or Black
43. Shoes that you own: My Black cowboy boots
44. Computer game: Tomb Raider (any one)
45. Quote: "Books are a delightful society. If you go into a room filled with books, without even taking them down from the shelves, they seem to speak to you, to welcome you" – William Gladstone(1809 – 98)
46. Favourite Book: "The Secret History' - Donna Tartt
47. Number: 7
48. Website: http://www.yahoo.com
49. Gift to receive: My Wanted books in a big bundle
50. Thing to wear: jeans and a vest with cowboy boots

Well thats me! XXXx

Christmas Booklist

Today i had to compile a list of books that i wanted for Christmas and i had to admit that i found it rather difficult. I never realised how many books i actually wanted! Here's the list (and if you know me - heres the hint that you wanted of what to get me!)

1. The World according to Jeremy Clarkson - jeremy Clarkson
2. The It Girl - Cecily Von Ziegesar
3. Hover Car Racer - Matthew Reilly
4. The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
5. Codex - Lev Grossman
6. Clique (bk1) - Lisi Harrison
7. Adept - Robert Finn
8. The Dumas Club - Arturo Perez Reverte
9. The Athenian Murders - Jose Carlos Samoza
10. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories - Washington Irving

-------------------------------------------------------------

Update - 1/1/2006

I bought The world according to Clarkson in a bookstore and managed to get codex in a charity store. Just ordered The Athenian Murders through Ebay. Will get the rest eventually and update you when I do!

Animal Farm - Orwell

I've just finished reading George Orwell's Animal Farm and thought it was really rather good. It was short and i finished it in a few hours. Heres a litlle about it George Orwell's Animal Farm is a short, easily readable story with valuable lessons about how political and governmental organizations often work. Orwell wrote it as a parable about the Russian Revolution, as an example of how a revolutionary government could be worse than its monarchist predecessor, but it also could apply to many political organizations, labor unions, and the like. The key lesson is that the organization's bosses often manipulate the organization for their own benefit, and end up being as bad, if not worse, than the real or imaginary evils from which they are protecting their followers. I'd totally recommend it to you, if you havent already read it. Xxx

Marian's Gold Medal Triumph

I dont know if any of you checked out the men's gymnastics in Melbourne last weekend but I'd like to point out that hottie Romanian gymnast Marian Dragulescu took gold in the men's vault. Well done! Shame about his floor routine where he came 7th but we will let him off as he's so yummy! Can't wait to see what he's made of at the Commonwealth games in the new year. XXX

Freud's Psychosexual Stages

I had to give a presentation at uni today which totally scared the shit outta me. Im not a very bug public speaker but i think i did rather well. I was nervous and didnt know what to do with my hands but i totally aced it. No one noticed that i was nervous which was great and it was worth 35% of my module grade, so it was pretty important. There's nothing like talking about castration, penis envy and anal/oral fixation at 10am! Im not shy so it didnt bother me, though a few members of the audience looked a little shocked! Nevermind! Dont you just love Freud! (If you wanna check out what the hell im talking about, click link). XxX

My Bike!

Yay! Ive bought my motorbike! Its a Moto Roma 125 virage in black. Its soooooo HOT! Find a picture attached. I love it and hope to have it in my possession by next weekend! YAY! Finally, so independance, but at what price? XXX

Book Addict

Well today has been rather eventful. Though i have been avoiding the compilation of my oral presentation that i need to give at uni tomorrow morning. I know i should have compiled and practised numerous times already but i just cant be bothered.

Well Im a complete bibliophile and yesturday was perusing my list of books ive read since april 1st 2005. I usually set myself a goal of 50 books a year (which translates to a reasonable book a week) and was surprised to find that i have yet to reach the 20 books mark in 8 months. Thats not even halfway towards my goal. Then while logging into a few online book groups i came across another bibliophiles list of reads. Since the 1st of jan 2005 she has read 250 books! She sets herself a goal of 300 books a year. thats practically a book a day! Thats amazing but made me feel a bit of a failure considering my pitiful effort. This year i have obviously been too busy to read, as the year before i read 44 books.

The books that i hav read since april 1st are:
1 - The devil wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
2 - Shopaholic and sister - Sophie Kinsella
3 - Think Pink - Georgina Newberry
4 - Message in a bottle - Nicholas Sparks
5 - From a buick 8 - Stephen King
6 - Teach yourself advanced: a clockwork orange - sean sheehan
7 - the rule of four - ian caldwell
8 - strange meeting - susan hill
9 - regeneration - pat barker
10 - birdsong - sebastian faulks
11 - knocked out by my nunga nungas - louise rennison
12 - The mist in the mirror - susan hill
13 - death by hollywood - steven bochco
14 - the coma - alex garland
15 - it makes sense - stephen gaukroger
16 - gossip girl 7 - cecily von ziegersar
17 - gossip girl 8 - cecily von ziegersar
18 - diary of a nobody - george and weedon grossmith

and i am currently reading animal farm by orwell.

Though my book addiction spreads further than reading alone. You see i cannot read a book unless i own a copy and refuse to use lending libraries as i find i love a book and never want to give it back. Maybe thats why i pay so much in overdue library fines! Today alone i purchased 15 books, though one was for my father (the science of the discworld by Terry Pratchett). The books i bought today are:
1 - a royal duty - paul burrell
2 - blackwater - kerstin ekman
3 - to kill a mockingbird - harper lee
4 - the united states of anger - gavin esler
5 - hawksmoor - peter ackroyd
6 - a portrait of an artist as a young man - james joyce
7 - the buccaneers - edith wharton
8 - april lady - georgette heyer
9 - 6 days - brendan dubois
10 - murder on the leviathan - boris akumin
11 - the devil and miss prym - paulo coehlo
12 - hobsons choice - harold brighouse
13 - collected ghost stories - mr james
14 - the warlock of strathearn - christopher whyte

If i add these to my previous list, i find that i have purchased 200 books since the first of febuary 2005. My aim is 250 so i am clearly on track. Now i probably own a good 2000 or more books! Quite a library if i do say so myself.

Well, i better go and do my oral presentation though i fear that i will be distracted by my purchases! XxX