The Last Eight Weeks

Technically this is about the last ten weeks, since the last decent post about this was before  Fresher's week and we're also one week into the holiday, but uni term length has already got me seeing life in eight week blocks. My first time at university has been a hectic couple of months, but something I want to share.

University life

It's brilliant. The texts we're doing (read about them here)  have all gotten better with studying, and all my tutors this term have been helpful.  There's been a lot of socials and chances to meet some lovely people. My college full of people who are extremely friendly, and we have some beautiful surroundings- just look at my library!

Theatre

Oxford has a lot happening on stage,, way more than I could ever fit in! But the shows that I've been to see (The Nether, the Queer Cabaret, Much Ado About Nothing, Jealous of Herself, The Last Five Years, Trojan Women) have all been high quality, that I liked for different reasons. Also, I'm writing for the Cherwell from time to time- it's exciting to be writing for more of a community (I still love this little blog though!)

Reading

I took eight books up for fun with me thinking I could do one a week. Hahaha. I got about halfway through The Republic of Thieves, and a little way in to Frangine. The thing is, when most of your time is spent reading, the last thing for relaxing is more reading, especially when there's shows to go see and people to be around and  the chance to not be solitary for once. So not much reading for the blog happened.   Now it's the holidays, there is much more time for reading. So this will  stay a book blog. Just not a busy one (though it hasn't been such for a long time).

Dancing

You may have noticed from my twitter that I really enjoy swing dance, and I knew when I went to uni I wanted to carry that on and maybe take up another style. Well, I trialled for the dancesport team which would do ballroom and latin, but I didn't get in. I also trialled for the rock and roll team, and I did get in! It's more energetic than I thought it'd be, and different in style, but there's also the chance to do acrobatics, which are a lot of fun, and competitions, which will happen in February.  Me on an official sports team... never thought that would happen!

YA Salon - 7th December

I had a day in London last week, where I got to catch up with a lot of friends- two hadn't seen since starting university, and then, later in the evening, many bloggers and authors I hadn't seen in some time. It was my first time at a YA Salon, and at this one, the focus was the book I'll Be Home For Christmas, an anthology where £1 of each sale goes to Crisis. It was a fun evening, with a fiendish Christmas in literature quiz, and the trial of  book blind dating, where a panel of authors answer questions, the person asking chooses one of them, and that author  gets to tell us about their story). The addition of mince pies and mulled wine made the night even better.

What next?

Well, now it's the Christmas holidays. I have catching up to do with my school friends, a trip to Devon with my dad's side of the family, a Christmas day with my mum's side, a lot of reading for both Latin and French before next term starts, and also need time to myself.  But I'm still enjoying the little blogging I'm able to do, so I'll try and keep that up. If you particularly want to see my life and books and happenings, you'll find me on Twitter or Instagram though. Until then, enjoy the holidays, let's hope for a new year bringing good news for a change, and goodbye for now.  

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What I'm Taking to Uni

So this past few months, many exciting things have been happening for me, which have been better documented on instagram and twitter. I had another packed Edinburgh Fringe, full of brilliant comedians, poets, and theatre pieces. I've had some great times with my friends, which is just as well because we're now scattered across the country and the continent,  because we're all off to uni! I can't believe I was in Year 8 when I started this blog and I now I've got a place at my first choice university to study Classics and French, but hey, time flies!

Along the many bags of clothes and equipment I have packed before I move into the college tomorrow, obviously, I have books, and I thought I'd share what I'm taking. But first, exciting news... 

I got nominated, alongside Sally of The Dark Dictator, and Andrew of The Pewter Wolf, in the UKYA Blogger Awards for Champion of Diversity! Thank you for everyone who nominated me, in despite of the fact that my championing of diverse books, at least this past couple of years, hasn't really been via my blog, more in person- see my TEDx Talk on why you should read diversely, which I might vlog some day seeing as I'm not sure what happened to the footage, the We Need Diverse Books board we put up at my school that stayed in a main corridor for over a year, and anyone who has read Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda because they asked me for a recommendation and that's been my go to book to pass on. I hope to be able to step up both my blog and my promotion of a range of books in the future, and it's nice to have a little spur to do so. And congrats to everyone else who got nominated, in all categories! You can find a list of all categories and nominees here (until it gets buried when they tweet other things).


The main post is under the cut- the books I'm  taking-and hopefully keeping up there, if they fit on whatever shelving they give me!

My Course Books

The books that I'll be studying. I've read all the required bits, so here's a summary of what they're about  and what I thought of them.

• The Poems of Catullus, translated by James Minchie. My copy of this is falling apart, so I put it in a binder ring. I love most of Catullus' works-it's often funny or emotional or both- he crosses the line a lot though!
• Juvenal's Satires, translated by Peter Green. Using anecdotes, it reads like a long list of complaints about Roman society, pointing out all the various moral failings that have come through.
• En Attendant Godot (Waiting For Godot) by Samuel Beckett. It's a play of two men who are waiting for Godot. They contemplate life, meet a handful other people, and wonder why they do so. It feels like Rosencrantz and Guildernstern, a lot of talk, less things happening, good to study, probably boring to watch.
• Supplement au Voyage de Bouganville (Supplement to Bougainville's Journey) by Denis Diderot, I liked the depiction of Tahitan society, and also the way it contrast Tahitian and European society and ideals.
• The Poems of Propertius, translated by H. E. Butler, of which I read Book 1. Mostly love poetry, describing his relationship with Cynthia, but there's a couple of poems for friends too.  
• Essais (Essays), of which I read Des Cannibales by Michel de Montaigne, Again contrasting  European society with another. I liked the challenge of reading the 16th century French.
• The Satyricon by Petronius. A pair of lovers go wandering around the continent, meeting the weirdest of society. Ends abruptly, though probably due to losing the text, but the various episodes, satirising different figures in society, are...interesting.
• Cicero's Defence Speeches, of which I read Pro Caelio. Here Cicero is trying to defend Caelius against charges of violence andmurder, which he does by presenting Caelius as a young man of outstanding virtue, even if he has made some mistakes, and by presenting Clodia Metelli, whose evidence would be important to the case, as a whore. It's funny in some places, misogynistic in many more, and is basically blaming a woman for anything a man does wrong.
• The Aeneid by Virgil. Following Aeneas, a Trojan noble who flees Troy after its defeat, as he wanders, searching for a new place for his people to settle down. A fair bit of travelling gives way to some really graphically battles. I have a lot of love for Camilla, the warrior woman who's featured in book 11.
• Phedre by Jean Racine. The mythological story of a queen who falls in love with her stepson and the husband/father's rashness is presented here in a play. I enjoyed the rhythm of this as I read this aloud, and I liked how it didn't completely villainise Phedre (ok, the blame all shifts on to the Nurse but I feel Phedre gets presented in a worse light in Euripedes' and Seneca's versions so it's nice she gets a little more sympathy here)

Supplementary Books 

Books kind of relating to Classics and French, but not directly relevant (this term)- intended for when I want to do something different but also feel productive! 

• Les Femmes Savantes by Moliere
• Les  Fleurs de Mal by Charles Baudelaire
• Les Mains Sales by Jean Paul Sartre
• World Mythology by Mark Daniels
• Bisexuality in the Ancient World by Eve Cantarella
• The Latin Love Poets by R.O.A.M. Lyne
• Frangine by Marion Brunet (and then I can finally give this back to Caroline- sorry for keeping this so long!)
• Goddesses, Whores, Wives, & Slaves by Sarah Pomeroy

Fun Books

The ones that will be for pleasure, for review, and for hopeful enjoyment!

• The Hypnotist by Laurence Anholt. Set in 1960s America, this historical thriller plus hypnotism looks intriguing.
• Life: A User's Manuel by Georges Perec. I picked this up for the title. I'm hoping for good things from the many many characters.
• The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. I haven't read Everything, Everything yet either, but I've heard lots of people enjoyed it.
• Girl Trouble by Carol Dyhouse. A looking at how society perceives women and what they do throughout the 20th century.
• Daughters of Time - A History Girls Anthology. I love how there's a range of time periods the women at the centre of each story is drawn from, and a range of things they do. 
• The Genius and the Goddess by Alduous Huxley. I got this as a surprise gift, so I don't know what to expect. I didn't mind Brave New World, and I'm hoping i like this as much as I did that, or more.
• As I Descended by Robin Talley. This is the one book I've been waiting for all year, and I'm slightly scared to read it with such high expectations (lesbian contemporary Macbeth!). I'll get to it soon though.
• Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Between Shades of Grey was such a beautiful book, I have high hopes for this one as well.
• Unspeakable by Abbie Rushton. A mute girl falls for the new girl. I remember getting excited for this, but never getting round to it.
• The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. I love this fantasy series with the detailed world building and the clever characters (especially the ship of lady pirates introduced in book 2). I also hear we get to meet the main character's lost love in this book, something I've been waiting for.

I know I'm being very overoptimistic with my for fun books here, considering I have eight weeks and a lot more reading I'll get once I'm there, but at least I won't be running out of things to get through!  What books would you suggest I get through first? And what would you take from a packed to-read shelf to last you for a couple of months?

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Blog Awards + News

Hey! Things are kind of getting sorted in my life right now.

News! 

There's going to be a chat tomorrow (19 January) on twitter about  teenage mental health at 7pm GMT. The hashtag is #gdnbluemonday. Go join in.
Also, Tom Pollock wrote an incredibly brave and powerful post. Go read it. 

I'm really glad that mental health is something that's being talked about more. It might feature a bit more on this blog, I don't know yet. But, like many other things that we need to talk about, it is being talked about more, and maybe slowly society can do the same.

Happier news! I discovered Judd Books, and independent store in London, because I saw Stacey (The Pretty Books) and Jim (YaYeahYeah) by chance while trying to visit the Gothic exhibition in the British Library (I failed. Why did my teachers, who knew we'd be studying  Frankenstein all year, only tell us that it was on and it would be highly useful the week before it closed?)  Anyway, I got two non fiction books because non-ficion second hand books tend to be rarer so I got a book on the history behind the Trojan War and on LGBTQ rights in the Middle East.

Also, I'm thinking of attempting to do fortnightly vlogs. Would anyone be interested?

Main post time! I got nominated for two blog awards over the past few weeks- the Liebster award from Jo, who writes the Eclectic Feel Blog, and the Infinity Dreams award from Holly, who writes Holly Quills and Ivy. Thank you, guys!

From Eclectic Feel Blog. wordpress.com

• Describe your blog in 3 words. So much work.
• What’s your favourite smell and why? Rum and vanilla tea because good memories of times when it was there- see birthday party involving tea duelling
• Name an unusual skill/talent you have.  Less a talent, more proof of my brain being a jumbled mess- randomly slipping correctly conjugated/declined Latin into French lessons or mostly incorrectly conjugated French into Latin
• If you could only choose one – books, music, art, craft or photography? This is evil. Book s or music... books. Just. Evil.
• Oranges or lemons? Organes.
• Your top 3 ambitions for 2015? Sort out my physical health and mental health and sleep pattern. Get decent grades.  Not mess up too badly.
• What was your last holiday destination and what’s (hopefully) your next? Edinburgh  (Fringe festival!!) and Spain (not sure where).
• Trilby or fedora? Fedora
• What was the last book you read/album you listened to (and rate it out of 10)? Last book completed- Love, Sex, and Tragedy- 7.75 out of 10. Last album listened to: Spring Awakening Original Cast- 7 out of 10
• What’s your favourite cheese? Whatever it is that goes on dominoes pizza
• Will you be rocking Pantone’s colour of the year “Marsala” in 2015? No, since I have no idea what it is.

From HollyQuillsand Ivy

Required 11 facts

• I can’t stick to plans about what to read next
• I love my Latin lessons excessively
• I have illustrated my Latin workbooks with daleks, corsets, and a graphic body count of Titus Andronicus
• Underneath my bed is a lot of food
• Current teas on the go: Russian Morning Kusmi 24, and Lapsang Souchong.
• I can’t drink lapsang souchong at night or the caffeine keeps me awake
• I have no idea where I want to start writing my TEDx talk
• My to-review box is overflowing badly
• I keep random bits and bobs in pretty teacups
• Miscast cabaret/backwards broadway nights on youtube make my life complete
• I really want to become fluent in at least two more languages.

And questions...  

• In your opinion, what book has the most beautiful cover ? Current favourite, liable to change: This Book is Gay just because its cover fits it perfectly.
• What is your favourite song? Another current favourite , liable to change, is Touch Me from Spring Awakening.
• Why did you start blogging? Stephanie said she did it and she loved it. I decided to go.
• Would you rather be in The Hunger Games arena or in a zombie apocalypse? Zombie apocalypse
• If you travel anywhere where would you like to go? A tour of all the capital cities.
• What celebrity would you fangirl over most? Hmm...... there’s many..... I have love for Haylee Atwell, Kat Dennings, Colbie Smoulders, Scarlett Johanson.... all the ladies of Marvel really... and Sebastian Stan.... and James Dawson.... and Kim Curran... and Patrick Ness.... and Tom Pollock.... and Laura Lam... and Rainbow Rowell.... I don’t know!
• What is one skill you wish you had? Apart from languages, consistently decent violin skills.
• Narnia or Neverland? Neverland
• Is there one film you can quote word for word? Repo! The Genetic Opera. And the play version of Rent (not a film, but I can do that as well)
• What was your worst read of 2014?  I can’t think of an absolute worst, but I couldn't deal with Game of Thrones.
• What was your best read of 2014? Probably A Kiss in the Dark.

OK, I’m sorry I don’t have time to nominate people or write questions, because I can’t deal with going and seeing who’s won it already and such right now and my interview conducting skills are zero,  but if anyone wants to  tell us a bit about themselves, please do! 

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Things I would like to do this year

I have plans for this year. Some are definite, some are hopeful. All have a slightly higher chance of being achieved if I make my intentions public and there’s  people who can shout at me if I don’t do them. Normal blogging service will resume next week. As for my goals for this year, here you are!

• Blog  at least twice a week. I think this will have to be a case of “schedule things so you don’t get a full week of posts then radio silence” thing,  but you should start seeing regular content from now on
• Be involved in at least two theatre projects. I know there are two theatre projects I’d like to be involved in because one  (Spring Awakening with the fabulous Renegade Theatre Company) is auditioning on Monday and the other is one I’ll be doing myself (see next point).
• Do a Latin play! I have this all planned in my head. There’s a play called Menaechmi, which is like The Comedy of Errors but marginally simpler. I have the Latin text and an English translation. I need to edit it down so it’s shorter. We rehearse the play and produce as normal. We perform it, speaking Latin and having a PowerPoint in the background surtitling the English like an opera. This is ambitious, but it should work!
• Do TEDx! I’m a confirmed speaker at my school’s TEDx Youth Conference, which came about because one of my friends is just brilliant and decided to hold one and so we’re having one. I’ll almost certainly be speaking about diversity in teen fiction, because that is what I somewhat know about. And there’s some bloggers who’ll be coming for a bloggers’ alley and an author will be speaking too(probably)! It’s exciting, it’s happening in July, and you can find more information on Twitter and Facebook.
• Read at least 52 books and review them. Without letting them pile up.I'm setting targets low, because this will be a busy year. Hopefully I'll do more. But low targets to start with are good. 
• Keep on top of emails.  Not just read them, say "I'll reply later" and look back a month later and think "Would it be awkward to reply now?"
• Connect with bloggers even more. I’ll make buttons to find me elsewhere in the coming weeks, but connect on the blogs as well. I’m terrible at commenting, both because of time and because of lack of knowing what to say, but I’ll try. Also,  I should be going to the Fire Sermon Blogger event later on in the month, so anyone going should say hi. 
• Survive the year without doing anything permanently stupid.
• Sort out my sleep pattern. I try and get off screens by 10 and be asleep by 11, to wake up at 6.25, but it's not working to a ridiculous extent and it's messing with my life too much. Any tips would be appreciated!
• Become somewhat healthier, both physically and mentally. 
• Decide on a uni course! I think want to go into law. So do I do a law degree, or go  do classics and a conversion course after? Because classics would be awesome, and I love classics, but then that’s another year of my life in training and who knows what’ll happen to training fees? But then, coming out of a classics course, I have few more options if I decide not to do law. Choices!! Anyway, this decision WILL be made by October, because I’m applying for Oxford if I get the grades and early applications must be made by then and so yay UCAS?
• Connect more with writers. I like the idea of maybe going into editing (writing’s hard. Improving it is something I’m much better at) and I’d be happy to help anyone with any writing that they want going.
• Get good grades on my AS levels, but also not stress out over them excessively! French, Latin, Government and Politics, English Literature, and Critical Thinking. Exam time gets nearer and nearer and I do not feel prepared. Yay!
• Have a good year! I know it won’t be all brilliant, but hopefully the good times will outweigh the bad ones. 

These aren't resolutions, because if they were, they would not happen. Just things I shall be attempting to do. Anyone who also has things they would like to do this year, I wish you success. Happy New Year, everyone! 

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