What I read in January

I never do read very many books throughout a month because lesson preparation takes up a lot of my free time. However, here's what I did read in January.

1. Code Name Verity



I started this book sometime in October and couldn't for the life of me get into it. I read small portions of it, then finally relented and started another book. I went back to it New Years Eve to try and reach my Goodreads Challenge goal. That was when something clicked and I couldn't put it down.

A very good book I just wish that I'd clicked with the book earlier to allow myself to enjoy it in one lump rather than spread out thinly over months.

There are some definite surprises in this book that I didn't see coming and it has a wonderful reveal that pieces everything together, including some things that only the most perceptive will have picked up on earlier in the book.





2. Throne Of Glass



This series has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while now. It's been floating around the blogosphere for what feels like forever but I only just got around to picking it up.

I cannot remember the last time a book hooked me quite so well. I was really into it from the very beginning and read it in a few days, which for term time, and a book of 400+ pages, of relatively small print, was really impressive for me.

The characters are all very rounded and interesting and there are some real twists and turns. The fantasy element of it is a slow burn, which I'm all for!

My one concern was the threat of a love triangle that leered it's ugly face over the second half of this book. I know why triangles exist but I just have yet to see one done particularly well. I will be delving into the next book in this series quite soon to see what becomes of this intriguing world and it's inhabitants.


Still reading: Outlander (Audiobook), Lord of the Flies, The Mysterious Affair at Styles

What did you read this month?

Sarah

Prompt #2 - Money Money Money

Another prompt because I'm running out of ideas for blogs already. How is this possible? It's only January!

This time I picked out from my prompt jar an opening sentence. It was "What do you mean you lost the lottery ticket?"

"What do you mean you lost the lottery ticket?"

Katie huddled in the darkness at the top of the stairs, watching the light spill out from the kitchen. Mom and Dad were in there, arguing again. 

"I didn't lose it," Dad replied with a sigh. "I tacked it to the fridge and now it's gone."

Katie wasn't sure what a lottery was, but she knew it had something to do with money and numbers. It was a stable feature of their Saturday nights, all huddled around the television with anticipation. She didn't really like the lottery on TV. Once the last number came up the feeling in the room always changed. Dad would become sullen and a dark shadow would fall over his face, like the light was afraid to touch him anymore. Mom would just look sad. 

"I'm sorry Matt, that's the definition of lost to me. Could it have slipped underneath?"

"Sure, Alice, why didn't I think of that?" Dad replied harshly, "Of course I checked underneath, I'm not quite the moron you seem to think I am."

Money was supposed to be a good thing. Money meant she could get sweets from the shop, or a new car to add to the collection on her shelf. But any mention of it always seemed to make Mom and Dad cross. 

"Don't take it out on me. It can't have just vanished. As usual you're just not looking hard enough."

"By all means, do it yourself. You always do. Nothing I do is ever good enough anyway."

"You're overreacting."

But this was worse than any other Saturday that Mom and Dad shouted at each other. Boots the cat crossed the landing towards Katie, sat down, and meowed. Katie shushed him and scratched behind his ears. Loud scrapes issued from the kitchen, and Katie watched the shadows move as furniture was moved carelessly out of place.

"See? I'm not actually blind, Alice."

"Well it didn't hurt to check."

More scraping.

"Careful, you'll damage the tiles."

"I know what I'm doing."

Katie looked down at the piece of paper in her hand with the printed numbers. She had been sure that if she took it away then Mom and Dad would have nothing to be cross about. In reality, she'd just made things worse. Her heart began to beat hard against her chest. Should she give it back, or just keep pretending that it was lost?

Boots ran past her down the stairs and into the light of the kitchen. That's when Dad said one of the forbidden words that Jamie had once told her in school. 

"Matt, keep your voice down, the kids might still be awake."

Katie swallowed and got to her feet. Slowly, she descended the stairs. The wood was cold on her bare feet as she crossed the hall and into the kitchen. The bright light hurt her eyes as she turned to look up at her parents. Mom glared at Dad, who looked a bit sheepish after having used the bad word.

"What is it, darling?" Mom crouched down and put her hand on Katie's arm. Katie didn't reply, instead she proffered the slip of paper out towards Dad. The older man's eyes went wide as he took it from her.

"I'm sorry." Katie said as tears threatened. 

Dad looked down at the paper, then at his daughter. "Did you take this?" He wasn't angry like she'd been expecting. She nodded. "Why?"

"It always makes you sad. The lottery. I thought if I took it away you wouldn't be sad anymore."

Mom and Dad exchanged a look of guilt. Mom picked up Katie in her arms. 

"Don't you worry about Mommy and Daddy being sad. We'll be okay."

She turned to Dad and spoke directly. "Matt, that's the last lottery ticket we're ever buying."

Dad nodded, studied the numbers, and then scrunched the paper up. "Nothing." He tossed it into the trash can. He closed the space between them and kissed both girls on the forehead in turn. "I'm sorry."

It was unclear if he was speaking to one, or both of the other people in the room. The cat, oblivious to everything, meowed at the cupboard door for his supper. 

January Haul

It was to be expected that I would partake of the January sales. Especially when it come to books.

For those of you in the UK there is a wonderful book shop online called the Book People. They never have a huge range of titles, but the saving are always incredible and there is free postage on any order over £25.

So I decided to help myself to some of the clearance books and this is what I bought.

Important to note; there was an extra book here, a large textbook that I've brought into my classroom already so couldn't be photographed. 

I am excited to get to all of these at some point throughout the year. The ones that stand out here are Rose Under Fire. It took me a good while to get into Code Name Verity, but when it kicked off the book was amazing and I have really high hopes for Rose. I'm also going to marathon the Chaos Walking trilogy now that I have the final book. I'll probably take one of my holidays to do that one. 

I also bought some really good books on the Kindle that were on offer or that I used vouchers for. I have Amazon Prime, and I really like the feature they offer that if you don't want the next day delivery you can opt for a normal delivery and get £1 of Kindle credit.

                                        

Given how much I read in a year, this will keep me going until the summer knowing me. I need to stop buying so many before I read them.

What did you buy in January?

Sarah x

Bookshelf Update

I moved last year. I don't know if I've talked about it yet or not... 

(Protip, that's sarcasm. You'll see a lot of it here. You can take the girl out of Ireland but you can't take the Ireland out of the girl.)

Although I lived in other houses while at Uni, my main port of call was still my bedroom in my parents house. As far as I can recall this is the most recent picture of my bookshelves before I started packing most of them away into boxes.

That bookshelf is the main reason that I needed two cars to move my stuff from Ireland to England. I don't envy book bloggers, who generally have twice or three times the books that I have, who have to move house. There were some notable books that I left, like the Twilight series. As I've said before, it was probably what got me into reading big time when I was a teenager, but I honestly can't see myself re-reading the series anytime soon, if ever. There are also some pretty large books that I decided to leave at the parents house. But I'm confident they will make their way over at some point.

Having my own place, with multiple rooms has allowed me to make more of a display out of my books. So off to IKEA I went with mother and picked up two of their cheapest bookcases. It worked out quite well that the colour of wood throughout my apartment is the same as the cheapest bookcase (£15) that IKEA had. I later went back for a third when it transpired that I needed extra shelves for the miscellaneous items and work for school.

Here is the result:

My bookcase is the centrepiece of my living room. You can see my TV and printer just out of shot to the right. I really enjoy having a large bookcase and I really enjoy having a large amount of books. Even though I didn't take every book with me, the collection has grown somewhat since leaving Ireland. What can I say? I have a problem with buying books. 

It's always brings me joy every morning when I walk into my living room with my bowl of cereal and my cup of tea to be greeted with this sight. Though, I am anxious that I will soon run out of room... again. I'll have to start giving some books away if that happens, though I find that very difficult as there is a part of me that just likes owning books.

What is your bookshelf arrangement?

Sarah x

Prompt #1 - The Sun

I'm going to start a new series on this blog because, for a blog that's supposed to be about writing, not much actual writing goes on.

I've gotten myself a little tub, and put some slips of paper with prompts on it into said jar. When I can't think of a blog post to write, I'm going to do one of the prompts. This is the first one.

Prompt: Write about the sun as you love it, then as you hate it.

From the moment I wake up I'm bathed in the glorious glow. I lay there for a while, basking like a cat and watching the flecks of dust dancing as they rise and fall through the air. I always wake with the sun. It's not a choice, or a requirement, it just sort of... happens. Not wanting to waste any more of the daylight I dress quickly in shorts and a tank top and grab my iPod from the dock in the kitchen. For the next three hours I walk with no real direction or purpose, I just want to be outdoors. The sun kisses my skin with her delicate touch. I make my way into town and buy a bacon and egg baguette and a bottle of water. I take up my usual perch on the green in front of the Town Hall. Under the dome of almost perfect of blue, disturbed infrequently by streaks of white, I eat my sandwich. I stay there for a while more, listening to music and watching the people go about their business, sharing in the delights of the suns goodness. I lie back and stare up through the summer leaves at the sky. The sun shines through, directly down,  leaving a dappled display of light and shadow over my body. I buy a paper from the vendor and read it cover to cover until the unwelcome chill of a disappearing day washes over me. With a sigh, I return home and watch from the window, bidding the sun farewell as she dips below the horizon.

From the moment I wake I can feel its hateful heat. The brightness stings my eyes as I slowly open them against the glare. Every morning it's the same horror that shines through my window. No matter how hard I try to shield it with blinds and curtains, the monster manages to find each crack and crevice to creep through. I know with dreaded certainty that within the next hour the apartment will be unbearably hot if I don't open the window. But with that comes further unnecessary exposure to the giant fireball in the sky. I choose my spot carefully and thrust my hands through the gap in the curtain, forcing my way through the Venetian slats. My skin burns from the moment that I'm exposed. I make short work of the window latch, push the pane open and retreat into the safety of the shielded room. If I'm thankful for one thing, it is that in a few hours, it will be gone taking with it that vile dome of unnatural blue that seems to follow it wherever it goes. I'm told that it didn't used to be this bad, the sun could actually be something that was enjoyed. But that was before the war, and the bombs, and the burning. We used to be shielded from it by something called the ozone layer. It's gone now. Has been for decades. Everything dies now, sooner rather than later. The only water we have left is underground and it won't last more than a few generations. Everything is so dry, burnt to a crisp by the merciless orb in the sky. Mother Nature is taking her revenge on us for destroying her planet and she's hired the sun to be her hit man. She couldn't have chosen a better champion. We won't outlast this century.

Top 5 TV shows I watched in 2014

Working full time has drastically reduced the amount of free time that I have, so I've had to re-evaluate how much TV that I watch. Mediocre shows that I was just watching because I could have been thrown away in favour of TV that I actually enjoy.

That being said, I've got a list of the top 5 TV shows that I watched in 2014.

1. Game Of Thrones

This one always has a special place in my heart because most of it is filmed in Northern Ireland, and I know people who are in it! But as a show in itself it is an amazing epic feat. The actors are all, for the most part, extremely talented people and the show is portraying George R.R. Martins fantasy world brilliantly. The story may be divulging from the books somewhat, but I'm still excited to see where it's going in the future. The cinematography never fails, and it has some wonderful CGI. 

2. Outlander 

The first of three new additions to my watch list is Outlander, based on the book by Diana Gabaldon. It's a wonderful show with powerful acting. The premise and romance are a little convenient at times, but it is none the less a really wonderful show with a very powerful lead female and a lead male that is very easy on the eyes. It also had one of the most natural and organic sex scenes that I've seen portrayed on screen.

3. The 100

I'd avoided this for a while. I knew that it was around and made the mistake of thinking that because it was a 'Teen' show that I would tire of it as I have of others. However, this show, after a few episodes really gets going. It doesn't hold punches and is a very gritty post-apocalyptic portrayal of human nature. It also has a phenomenal and diverse cast of really good actors. 

4. Orange Is The New Black

I don't know how I managed to avoid this show until the middle of 2014 seeing as it was literally everywhere on the internet. I can vividly remember when I started to watch it. It was at about 5am after a night that I hadn't slept at all. Its a wonderful show, full of complex characters. I've never seen so many women share the screen at one time and is absolutely wonderful. Since watching this show I've been paying a little more attention to representation on TV and that in itself is a really positive thing that I've taken away from this show. Everyone should see this show. You literally cannot compare it to anything out there right now, or anything that's come before. 

5. Teen Wolf

This show continues to be one of my favourite things to watch. The plots are so good and the characters even better. It's got such a powerful underlying theme of friendship and looking out for one another. I've said it before that I love the world that Teen Wolf creates where homophobia and stereotypes are just not a thing whatsoever! It also has the addition of Dylan O'Brien who is one of the most talented young actors in Hollywood right now. It also has an amazing soundtrack that has introduced me to a lot of new artists to listen to whilst writing. One of which being the amazing Hozier. 

What were you watching in 2014? What are you excited for in 2015?

Sarah x

Never Say Never

All throughout my secondary education, when the dreaded question of, "so, what are you going to do when you leave school?" popped up I was never 100% confident in my answer. For a while I wanted to be an advertising copywriter, long before Mad Men graced our TV screens. Then I looked into Science careers, and doggedly stuck to wanting to be a Haematologist for a number of years. But the thing I was most confident in, were these two statements:

"I am never going to be a teacher" and "I am never going to leave Ireland"

For those of you who know me, you'll have smiled by now. For those of you who might be new; Hi, I'm Sarah and I'm a Biology teacher living in England.

Life has this funny way of turning everything you think you know about yourself upside down because I was so sure that I would never do either of those things. The second statement even led to my breaking up with a boyfriend (I say 'a' boyfriend like there are multiples. One and only to date. Insert: forever alone meme) who went off to University in Bath, keen to get away from Ireland at the first opportunity.

If nothing else it's taught me something really important and that is, to never say never. If the internet is to be believed (after sorting through a frankly worrying number of references to that Canadian atrocity, Justin Beiber) then Charles Dickens was the first person to actually coin this phrase. And he was right. To completely rule something out of your life, especially when you haven't tried it, closes so many doors. I love teaching, and I love living in England. In fact, after my first week working at my school I cried with happiness on the way home because I finally felt as though something in my life was going right after a rather stressful few years at Uni. Although content, it would have been quite a stretch to say that I was 'happy' while at University. I also have found a lovely set of friends, an old internet friend and some of their extended circle, and have been more social than I can remember in a long time.

But it's important for me to note that I wouldn't go back and change anything. It's taken me a while to abandon those two statements since they were embedded into me so deeply. If I hadn't come around to giving up on them organically I wouldn't be the person I am today.

So my point is that when it comes to reading and writing, never say never.
"I'll never write middle grade" I could write the next big thing in Middle grade and never know it if I didn't give it a shot.
"I'll never read Urban Fantasy" There's so much to learn about writing when you read outside the genres that you're comfortable in.

What about you? Is there something that you said, once upon a time, that you'd never do but have done so since?

Sarah x