Making Resolutions Is So Uncool

...But that's never stopped me before!

Anyway. I've never seriously made resolutions before. Last year I had the Apostrophe Rules, but two days after making them I got rid of them because they were too... well, ruley. Year before that I had that dreamboard that was just an excuse for some cutting and pasting fun. But this year is going to be different!

• Get a bank account. But this is so grown-up! And yet, I really should do this.
• Read one book every month. Yes, I know twelve books in one year is extremely pathetic, but I've just joined a book club, so I have to read a book every month anyway. And that isn't the max.
• Write a letter/email to someone I admire every month. I'm terrified of this one. But I'm going to do it anyway. You never know, I might get a reply. Now, for some internet stalking.
• Go to the cinema any time I want. Yes, I know this is pathetic. But it is something I genuinely find quite hard to do. But not anymore!
• Finish my super-secret play. You know you have to stick something out when you've bought it a necklace that you happened to spot in Claire's one day and is somehow related to a play you're writing.
• Start researching the Art Movements of the 19th and 20th Century that are on the poster I have in my room. Because I really want to know what Bauhaus is. It's so fun to say.
• Write at least one blog post a week. Look! I'm doing it! This is my second of the week!
• Read more plays. Because, as great as books are, plays are just that easier to get into. Somehow, you can imagine things better. Or maybe this is just me. Also, I like plays.
• Go swimming. This is one of my mother's resolutions, and I thought I might join her in completing it. No harm sure.

Have you made resolutions this year, or are you into that sort of thing?

Eleanor Roscuro

Read-O-Rama - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

I have a little unwritten rule. (We all have our little rules, don't we?) One of my rules is:

You always read the book before you watch the movie. Always!

Do any of you have that rule? It gets a little inconvenient at times though. I have Strumpet City, City of Ember and Breakfast at Tiffany's on DVD staring at me from the corner, but I haven't watched them because I haven't read them! Granted, it wouldn't really take that long to read them, but there's ALL THE OTHER BOOIKS. I HAVE TO READ THOSE TOO YOU KNOW. ALL THE BOOKS.

Or maybe I'm just a little too strict with myself.

Anyways.

I saw the trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, this is it -

And it looks so good! And if this was going to come out in Spring, and if I was planning on going to see it, I had to read the book then didn't I?

Well, yeah. It's a rule. An Apostrophe rule! AHAHAHAHAHA

It's about a nine year old boy called Oskar who lives in New York City. After the death of his father in the 9/11 attacks, he finds a key in a vase in his father's cupboard, and sets off on a quest to find the lock that fits the key. The book also tells the story of Oskar's paternal grandparents through letters which they each wrote to Oskar and to Oskar's father.

The book feels nice to read. I'm not just saying that. Even if you read just a few sentences, you're immediately drawn into this world of inventions and heavy boots and Nothing and Something and daybooks and letters. I think everyone wishes they knew Oskar in real life, I know I do. You can learn so much from him, even if he doesn't share interesting facts with you. (Unlikely.)

So go read the book, and then come back here and we can hope that they do Oskar's grandparents right in the film, because I swear if they mess this up I'll be really annoyed and I won't buy the DVD and then where will they be?

Eleanor Roscuro

P.S. This review of the book is much better than mine, so you can read that too if you wish - http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com/2011/01/extremely-loud-and-incredbily-close.html

Fred The Friend

Hey guys, do you ever think what might happen if there were special robots, that looked exactly like teenage humans apart from all the computery stuff inside, that were designed to help people form relationships? A survey from a while ago showed an increase in depression in Irish teenagers, and what if these robots could be sent out so these teenagers can learn how to connect with people, to make friends, rebuild confidence and self-esteem? Although while you were making friends with the robot, it would feel sort of fake, because you'd know that the robot is supposed to like you, that's the mission, the name of the game. And what would happen once the person has learned all it can from the robot? Let's call the robot... Fred, for now. As time goes on, Fred and the person they've been assigned to would get to know each other a lot, and then Fred would have to start again with a completely different person. I suppose he would have to be reset. But that wouldn't be very nice for the reformed young person, would it?. Their new best friend has been spirited away in a blink of an eye, someone you had become attached to, confided in, and then some guy in a lab coat pressed a button and it's all gone, ready for someone else. Ready for someone else to exploit? No, I don't think it would be exploitation, because Fred is only doing his job, what he was made for. (He? Hmm...) But still, that still means Fred keeps being reset and passed around to all sorts of people, until he crashes, and they make Fred 2.0.

So I now conclude: Fred is a whore. No, that's mean. It's not his fault.

You should all read Girl Parts by John M. Cusack, that's what got me thinking about Fred - here's the book's trailer:



Apparently they make trailers for books now! Well, LA DI DA! Next thing you know, you'll be able to download entire books from the internet... Oh.

Seriously though, he makes some very good points about the way we interact with each other nowadays. You won't forget Girl Parts in a hurry. Also, Rose is a darling, although one of my favourite characters is the renegade... No, I can't give it away!

Eleanor Roscuro

HELLO EVERYONE LOOK OVER HERE

Hey everyone! I want to tell you something.

Books are great, I mean really great. There's a book I just finished reading, Prim Improper by Deirdre Sullivan. It has a pretty cover:

...and is very good and you should read it.

Things I Am Doing This Week:


~ Watching Horrible Histories, on Tuesday and Sunday. Because it's the best television show for ever and ever.
~ Going to the National Festival of Youth Theatres, run by NAYD. I am extremely excited.
~ Seeing Lovers by Brian Friel, directed by Geoff Rose in the Watergate Theatre.
~ Falling in love with Special Benny.

I'm sorry this isn't longer, but this post will act as a sneak peek of future topics, because I intend to elaborate on all the above items. But I can't now, because in twenty minutes I have to go to the above Festival of Youth Theatres, I'm representing Kilkenny Youth Theatre at it with six others. It's going to be brilliant.

RANDOM PICTURE TIME!

Bye!

Let's Talk About Our Feelings

Let's have a chat over a nice cup of tea. Well, you can have coffee if you want. I've never liked coffee, but I'll be having some of that rainbow sugar if you don't mind. With my tea. I take milk.

Hi there.

Sorry about my absence. I feel like we never chat anymore, you and me. We should do that now! OK, I'll start. This is my blog after all.

1. So a few days ago at rehearsals, we were having a short break and I was playing with one of the juggling balls and trying to keep it up with my hands and moving around and eventually I found myself standing in the middle of the room and facing the back door and outside John and Ross were talking and on my left Alan and Geoff were talking about playing the guitar and someone was rattling around with mugs in the kitchen and behind me Angela was doing something and on my left down the ramp Jess was playing the guitar and singing with Connie and I was just standing there and staring at the ball, tapping it with the palms of my hands and humming the song DFTBA by Hank Green in my head and under my breath, and while I was standing there I realised how utterly amazing my brain was to take all of that in and think about all of those people at the same time and what they were doing and why and reprimanding myself at the same time because it was really none of my business what they were doing, and also thinking about things I needed to get in Educational Supplies for school and then thinking about school on Monday and if I needed to do any homework and thinking about
what I was going to eat later and also thinking about the ball I was trying to keep up with my hands and how amazing my brain was for being able to think all of those things at the same time and trying to decide if my brain was simply a brilliant organ or if I was too scatterbrained and flighty to concentrate on one thing at a time. And then I dropped the ball.

2. WAIT A SECOND!!! I haven't told you anything about any rehearsals yet! Um... Can you wait, just for a few days? Before I tell you, I'd like to have something to tell you. Know what I mean? Oh, never mind.

3. This year, both Barack Obama and the Queen of England will be visiting Ireland, within fourteen hours of each other! That's nice of them. Apparently Obama's oldest living relative lives somewhere near where I live, so he might pop over. Princess Margaret, the Queen's sister, once visited the town where my mother grew up when she was a little girl, and I still have one of the dresses Lady de Vesci used to wear. It's gorgeous. Anyway, the visits will be great for the economy. That's good.

4. Bo Burnham will be coming to Kilkenny in June, as part of the Cat Laughs festival. I'm not really a big fan, but I'm glad people on YouTube and the Internet are being seen by IRL people as real entertainers, not just teenage crushes. Not that I'll be able to go, the Cat Laughs is strictly over eighteens. Still, it brings €8 million into Kilkenny!



5. I read an amazing book recently, called The Queen Must Die by K.A.S. Quinn. I think I'll write y'all a review! But not in this post. You might have noticed the new Reading List over at the left there. Thing is, I keep buying books, but I never have the time for reading them anymore. So I've decided to be very strict with  myself and I am not allowed to buy anymore books (sob) until all the books in this list have been read. Every single one of them. I've just finished To Miss With Love by Katharine Birbalsingh, which is a MUST if you go to, or have ever gone to, secondary school. No matter where you live. Go read it.

Goodbye...

Oh, and thank you all for your kind, supreme patience.

Eleanor Roscuro...

STUFF I BE DOIN WI ME LIFE WOT

Yeah... I'm hungry.

Hello.

You may not have realised this yet, but I don't spend all my time on the internet with you. This is what I've been doing with myself this past while. Don't worry, it's all terribly interesting.

1. Being Nostalgic And Kicking Myself: A few weeks ago, I re-read the Roald Dahl books, all of them. I used to read them all the time when I was younger - Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox... But as I was re-reading them recently, I started to notice... things. Things like all the alliteration Dahl used. All the time, with every single character in every single book, everyone is crying 'Great galumphing galizzers!' and it gets very repetitive. And the heroes and heroines, the children, THEY'RE ALL THE SAME. Seriously, there's nothing to distinguish them from each other, which is annoying. And I was reading and noticing these things, and other things too, but I didn't want to notice them. I am older now, and I ruined the Roald Dahl books for me, and it's all my fault. And after realising this I went off and sulked, like the baby I am.

2. Addiction #56: So Tom Milsom joined Tumblr. Yes, you read me correctly. Tom Milsom is now on Tumblr. Amazing, isn't it? Go and join him on his odyssey! (Yes. I did just make a terrible pun, or whatever that was. You're welcome.)

3. Becoming Trendy - Part #375: So a few days ago I came across a new post by Miss Vintage Vixen who I secretly but not very secretly adore, and it was a post about this band. This wonderful band. Sleigh Bells - Infinity Guitars. It's just...



You know? And the song is relatively simple, almost the same thing over and over again, but when that thing is so good, it doesn't really matter.

4. J'adore l'animation! This film probably won't be screening in my local omniplex, but it will stand the test of time better than whatever CGI 2011 is going to give us. It's called Le Vie un Chat. It's so pretty, and it's a shame that people here aren't buzzing about it. But still. Plus, I want to know more about the life of the cat.




5. Embracing the Force: So yesterday I was drinking some tea and I was shown this ad. There's not really much I can say that hasn't already been said (but still, that could be applied to almost everything, couldn't it? Why am I saying it?) Anyway, this is one of the best examples of child acting I've ever seen. Whatever he does again, his face should not be shown. It just makes it that much better.



Also - what's the Superbowl?

Eleanor Roscuro

Quote of The Week #38

I’m fascinated by the way the contemporary world has constructed this manic pixie dream girl (to use a term coined by Nathan Rabin) who flutters into the lives of men and changes them forever with her moodiness and mystery. This idea has become the kind of female Edward Cullen, and I am of course drawn to it myself but also really troubled by it, because I think it’s just a new kind of objectification of women. So I think I wrote about that in Paper Towns not because I saw it in my own life but because I saw it in my first novel, Looking for Alaska, and because in the years after writing that story, I became more and more troubled by the book’s failure to point out that, like, the idea of the manic pixie dream girl is not just a lie but a dangerous one that does disservice both to the person doing the imagining and the person being imagined.

John Green.

Quote Of The Week #34

Ah chose not to choose life. Ah chose something else.


Mark Renton - Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.

WTF - In The Confession Box

Me Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It's been a while since my last confession.

Father McRosca And what would you like to confess, my child?

Me Well, you see Father... You might have to put the kettle on for this, it's going to take a while. And you might want a cushion.

Father McRosca Please, get to the point.

Me The thing is, I read the book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll last year, because I've heard so much good things about it. It's a classic and everything, you know?

Father McRosca And whatever's wrong with that?

Me I didn't like it. At all. I mean, it's just Alice popping down the hole, then shrinking and growing, talking to weird creatures, eating strange things, it just doesn't make sense! There's no beginning, middle and end, no real plot or storyline, it's as if I wrote a book which described me walking to the shop to get a carton of milk, then going home. No, my book would be BETTER than Alice in Wonderland, because mine actually has a plot even if it is a little mundane, and it would make sense. People buy milk all the time. This may sound like I don't like fantasy books, but around half of my favourite books are in the fantasy genre.

Father McRosca And what's wrong with not liking that book?

Me Father, I'm supposed to like it. I'm supposed to like it because it's so flyaway, and iconic, and hipster. I'm supposed to quote it on Tumblr, and wear the t-shirts, and dislike the Tim Burton movie, when in fact I really like that movie. I'm being told to like things like leather couches all the time. But why do I like leather couches? And why am I supposed to like leather couches and Alice in Wonderland? I can't answer the first one, but Alice in Wonderland is supposed to be cherished by kids from the Nineties, with Twitter, Tumblr, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, daisies, Friends, We Heart It, and all the rest. And I shouldn't be bothered that I don't like Alice in Wonderland, but it kind of unsettles me. And what does that say about me? You see, there's the thing, the thing that I can't shake off. But I don't like it. I read it, I gave it a fair shot, and I didn't like it, and that's all that matters. Right?

Father McRosca This just gets curiouser and curiouser...

Me Father, are you quoting it? So you've read it then? What did you think?

Father McRosca Why Alice, I haven't the faintest idea.

Me God no. This can't be happening.

Father McRosca Oh, we're all mad here. All mad here.

Alternative Blogging Week - The Book Blog

Good day everyone, and welcome to Thursday! Today, Musings will become a book blog. Books are one of my favourite things, but I really don't blog about them that much. This ends TODAY!

Today, in the words of Lemony Snicket, I will 'Think of that secret favorite book of yours - not the one you tell people you like best, but that book so good that you refuse to share it with people because they'd never understand it. Perhaps it's not even a whole book, just a tiny portion that you'll never forget as long as you live' and show you my utmost favourite books. Although, if they are my secret favourite books, I shouldn't be talking about them. Damn it! This is my effing blog!

Harry and the Wrinklies - Alan Temperley

In Harry and the Wrinklies, Harry lives in a fine London house with his nanny, whom he calls Gestapo Lil, while his rich parents gallivant all across the world. One day, he is left orphaned and sent to live with his great-aunts Bridget and Florrie, who he soon finds out are the leaders of a gang of geriatric master criminals, robbing banks to give money to charity. But Gestapo Lil soon returns into Harry's life, threatening his life and the lives of his new family... DOT DOT DOT
This book is an excellent adventure story, and the Wrinklies are so kind, so criminally talented and so funny that you wish they were real. Harry is a wonderful hero, clever and quick-witted, and he is a good person, most of all. This book is so, so much fun to read!

Muddle Earth - Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

I hate the Lord of the Rings series. I read the Hobbit, and it was so boring. Muddle Earth is, well, it is based on the Lord of the Rings, but it's so funny, and so good you'd never notice the similarities. Joe, a boy from ordinary Earth, is accidentally summoned to Muddle Earth with his dog Henry by the wizard Randalf, the only wizard left in Muddle Earth after the others 'went on holiday'... Randalf tells Joe he must fight evil on behalf of the Horned Baron, who has problems even Randalf can't fix - his wife, Ingrid, is incredibly demanding, which the evil villain Doctor Cuddles uses to his advantages... DOT DOT DOT
This book, like the Lord of the Rings, is divided into three parts - Engelbert the Enormous, Here Be Dragons and Doctor Cuddles of Giggle Glade. Chris Riddell is also one of my favourite illustrators, but don't let that fool you into thinking this book's just for little kids. Seriously, don't. Please.

Blart: The Boy Who Didn't Want To Save The World - Dominic Barker

When the old and wise wizard Capablanca visits Blart and tells him he has to save the world from the evil Zoltab, Blart refuses to go. He doesn't want to leave his beloved pigs. But Capablanca drags him along anyway, and they set off on an epic quest, with Beowulf, the warrior who loves killing and whose greatest ambition is to be a knight, the obnoxious Princess Lois who loves slamming doors, and Pig the flying horse (who was named by Blart!)
Blart is one of the funniest books I have ever read in my entire life. Even now, years after I first read it, it still cracks me up every page or so. (By the way, has anyone else noticed that these books are all adventure stories? Well, except for the next one... DOT DOT DOT)

Gingersnaps - Cathy Cassidy

The book starts with an eight year old girl called Ginger, who is bullied for being overweight and having red hair. Four years later, Ginger has reinvented herself and is best friends with the cool, confident Shannon. On the first day of Year Eight, Ginger catches the eye of the weird and wonderful Sam, who plays the saxophone (and we all know the saxophone is one of the coolest instruments) and seems to like Ginger more than Shannon. The two start dating secretly but Ginger must decide where her loyalties lie... DOT DOT DOT
Yes, this book is Pink Lit. But unlike many books for the teenage girl group, with style but no substance, Gingersnaps is finely balanced between an excellent storyline, memorable and well-written characters, a wise message and a glossy cover (which is of course the most important thing to judge about a book. Seriously, it's very nice.) Shannon is so delectably... frenemial (I've made a new word!) and Sam is one of those characters that you wish were real people, just so you could be friends with in real life.

And that's it for Thursday! Don't forget, tomorrow is the last day of Alternative Blogging Week, and Musings will become a cooking blog!

Eleanor Roscuro

Seven Things In My Room

Blogging on my birthday? I know. I'm the best.

Quote Of The Week #27

...So, like, imagine some girl who writes in her little unread blog, right? She writes, and no one comments, and she wonders if anyone reads it... This girl, she can make her voice hearable, but cannot make it heard. This sweet, little girl - who has friends, who harbors crushes, who worries about homework, who knows that talking without being heard is sadder and more poignant than silence.

John Green

Quote Of The Week #26

If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice, "Well, this isn't too bad. I don't have my arm anymore, but at least nobody will ever ask me if I am right-handed or left-handed", but most of us would say something more along the lines of "Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!

Lemony Snicket - A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill

If you want to read my Derek Landy interview, you can do so here.

That is all.

Things I Really Must Do Over The Summer - Revisited #2!

I know I'm a little late with this, seeing as it's August 12th, but by doing this I want to prove a point. I have two weeks left in this summer. This is what I planned to do to fill the last three months:

• Finish Fresia I'm on the third draft, but all the plays I've seen with the Red Square Kibosh have influenced my ideas...
• Try to go to beach - often ...Ah. That. Well, I'm going on holiday next week, so maybe... 
• Go for picnics in Castle Park I've spent most of last month and this month inside the castle, and I have lunch there, with my friends, so can I pass? Hang on, this is my list! Of course I can!
• Go to Holidays premiere Still waiting for details...
• Read 100 books Ugh. I have failed miserably. I bow down to you Ariella!
• Write list of 100 books to be read See 'Read 100 books'.
• Write at least three articles for PunchTheSphinx 1 more to go...
• Don't stay up and sleep all day, such a waste. (This blog post is being written at 00:52. I love burning the midnight oil, but it's really difficult because I can't wake the rest of the house, and they can't know I'm up... Why did I have to get the creaky door? I haven't done that since June! And I really want to. I had to get up early every day for the past month, thank you Red Square Kibosh and I'm relying on my last week to try to go to bed earlier, get in the habit for school. Wah!
• Get new clothes. The Urlingford Package! Every year, my twenty-four year old cousin sends me all her old clothes, although she is very small, and her trousers are getting short in the leg... My cousin will be getting the Bennettsbridge Package soon. Then she'll pass the clothes on to another cousin. Who will pass the clothes on to her sister. Who will then get some new patches!
• Watch three Audrey Hepburn movies. Ah.
• Get new Converse. Remember the Stars and Stripes Converse I got? Well, they don't fit me anymore, so I got some new ones, (PRODUCT) Red for €14 euros in TK Maxx! My mum thinks they're too big for me, but Size 8 fits perfectly!
• Dye hair bright red. I will be getting the ends of my hair dyed blue soon, and that'll be it. I was thinking about getting a pixie cut a la Emma Watson/Carey Mulligan, but I decided against it. For now...

When I was writing that, I got really annoyed, because from that list, you wouldn't think I've done much this summer at all. But I have! I have... (Bullet point time!)

• Been an art critic
• Cleared out my books (You'll find out about that in a post...)
• Gave Kilkenny Some Loving
• Learnt how to make coffee (Not for me, yuck!)
• Took part in Life in a Day
• Started video blogging
• Learnt how to make podcasts (Should I make podcasts for you, my dears? Oh! I could do radio plays! That would be so cool!)
• Been offered a once-in-a-lifetime interview opportunity which I will tell you about at the end of this post... (This is me, building up the suspense... Ooh...)
• Learnt how to make animations (I'm in the middle of making one now, so keep your eyes peeled!)

I am so proud of myself! Everyone should do this, even if you think that you've done nothing this summer. Yes you have. And now, I have two things to tell you about! (Including the absolutely amazing interview that I am doing...Ooh...)

Second biggest but still important news first... I told you all that I was an author on PunchTheSphinx? Well, I've written this post on how to write a kick-ass blog, and I'd love it if you would give it a little read! I think it's my best post for PunchTheSphinx yet. Give it a read, and then check out some of the other articles! They're class like. (I've never typed that before. Wow.)

And now, on to my other news...

Remember the Red Square Kibosh? Of course you do! *ruffles hair fondly* Well, I have been given an ultra-exclusive opportunity...

To interview...

One-on-one...

DEREK LANDY!!!!!!

I'M GOING TO INTERVIEW DEREK LANDY THIS SATURDAY!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!

ME! DEREK LANDY! INTERVIEW!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those who are not fans of the Skulduggery Pleasant books, that's the author. I'm going to get an exclusive interview with him on Saturday. Two days time. *faints*

So, everybody, if you have any questions for Derek, put them in the comments, and they shall be asked! (Well, you know, the sensible ones. Nothing offensive, don't try that.) Remember, give them to me by Saturday!

Trying to come up with a new sign-off thingy,

Eleanor Roscuro

Quote Of The Week #15

I am at the age where my friends are suddenly having children. I have even been asked to be a godfather, although I am still learning the rules of what you can and can't say. Recently my friend was telling me about his new baby boy.
'He's got a new sound that he does,' he said, looking pale and tired. 'He just sits there and goes NYUP. NYUP. NYUP. For hours and hours. He was making it all last night. NYUP. NYUP. NYUP.'
He smiled weakly, in a 'What can you do?' kind of way. I tried to sympathise.
'He sounds like a dick,' I said.
My friend just looked at me.
'But he did,' I said to my wife, as she silently collected our things.

Awkward Situations For Men - Danny Wallace

The Radleys

I have now read the best vampire book EVER.

OK, so I know I'm not Little Miss Vampire Book Expert Of The World here, since the only vampire books I've read so far (SO FAR!!) are the Twilight Saga and the Darren Shan saga. (Why are they sagas?) But in my opinion, this book is now ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME.

Yes. I went there.

It is called The Radleys, and it is written by Matt Haig.

I love the name Radley. It's so... mysteriously notorious. Kind of. Anyway, the book is about a family by the name of Radley, living in North Yorkshire. Rowan Radley, the eldest son, wears Factor 60 sun cream everyday and is always dead tired (see what I did there?) at daytime and wide awake at night, but doesn't know why. Clara, Rowan's little sister, has turned vegan, but the lack of meat is making her really ill. Peter, the dad, is getting thirstier than normal, and can't stop thinking about haemoglobin, and it's not just because he's a doctor. Helen, the mum, is trying to help her family appear normal to everyone else, but cracks are starting to show. Then, a week into her new vegan diet, Clara kills somebody and sucks their blood, and finds she and the rest of her family have a devastating secret... Yup, they're vampires. Enter cool uncle Will, Peter's brother, who seems to nurture a soft spot for Helen... Oh, and there's blood. Lots of it.

This book is funny, daring, and not afraid to push boundaries of normal vampire canon. And these vampires kill, so all you Twilight-haters can't claim they're not vicious vampires, and all the Twilight-lovers will love the drama! And it's written so well, it'd make you wish you had a vial of blood to gorge on every once in a while. Yep, I said it.

Go forth, my loyal readers, and read this book! You won't be disappointed.

High-Fives,

EleanorLight

Quote Of The Week #11

Sam takes the bike and starts to wheel it towards the narrowbotat, and I have no choice but to follow along. 'People do hassle you when you don't fit in,' he says. 'It doesn't really bother me, and once they suss that they usually leave me alone.' I frown. 'Don't you want to fit in, though?'
Sam considers. 'Not especially. Why would I? I don't want to follow their rules and regulations, I just want to be me.'

Gingersnaps, Cathy Cassidy

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach Us Something Please!

Like anyone else, I've been obsessed with Harry Potter ever since I read the Philosopher's Stone when I was eight years old. Back then, in the Mists Of Time, the Harry Potter books were seen as an endurance test - Read the Harry Potters, and you had ultimate bragging rights. But we were eight then. Plus, there was only six people in my class at school, so I didn't have much of a challenge. But, as Dumbledore met McGonagall in Privet Drive, and as Dudley Dursley learned a new word (Shan't!), I fell in love.

Oh no. This is so cliche! I hate being cliche or mushy, as you might know. Especially when it's on paper, or HTML in this case, and you can't see me saying it. But I'm going to try to avoid it. I have to get my message across!

Anyway, I soon won my bragging rights within a month or so, even though Half-Blood Prince wasn't published yet. And I loved the books, just like them everyone else. But then Deathly Hallows came, and I stood in line and bought it at midnight in my local Dubray's, and then, seven hours later, it was over.

The ending is fantastic. I don't care what anyone says, if Voldemort and his Death Eaters had won the Battle of Hogwarts, everyone would send Rowling all the Howlers they could find. Did I mention I read Deathly Hallows in seven hours? I like to brag about that to people.

Since then, I've been re-reading a couple of times a year, but it was only when I was reading them again last week, when everything hit me. The pure love drenched into the books, for Harry, Ron and Hermione, for the drama, the danger, the romance, the wit, the mystery Hogwarts and Company brings to your life. I know I'm reading way too much into this, but it's not like I'm going to start writing for the Leaky Cauldron soon. I'm not that obsessive, but I have to give credit to those guys, they are fantastic! Hooray!

And do you remember the National Movie Awards last week? National as in Britain, I mean. I was watching it too, and remember how the Harry Potter movies won the Special Recognition award, because they had done so much for promoting the British film industry and giving work to almost all Britain and Ireland's great actors, as well as being great films? (And no, I don't care what anyone says - I LIKE THE HARRY POTTER FILMS!) They made a fifteen minute video featuring clips from the films and people saying how brilliant they were, and they were quite right. So right, I cried watching it.

Oh no! I can't believe I typed that! But it's true. I did cry. And then I read a bit of Order of the Phoenix.

So, what am I trying to say? ...Now that I think about it, I'm not sure. This was just such a revelation for me, and nobody else I know reads the Harry Potters, which is amazing I know, but it's true. One thing I do know is that there'll probably be some HP themed posts up here soon...

High-Fives,

EleanorLight

P.S. Isn't that picture up there so CUTE!

My Worst Best Friend

I read this brilliant book recently and just had to recommend it to somebody, so I thought, Why not the lovely people who read my blog?

My Worst Best Friend, by Dyan Sheldon, author of Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, is about two teenage girls named Gracie and Savannah. Savannah Zinkle is glamourous, turns heads everywhere she goes and can twist people around her little finger, while Gracie Mooney is too worried about the state of the planet to care about the latest fashions. Nevertheless, opposites attracted in this case and the two girls have been BFFs for years, until Gracie realises that Savannah is very good at lying and manipulating to get what she wants. And when this involves a boy Gracie likes, things get ugly...

This book is witty, fun and completely engrosses you, while at the same time being enjoyable to read. And we can identify with at least one of the characters in this novel, because they are so true to real life. And that's what makes a book a hit, characters that reflect humanity. Isn't it?