xNatx

My dad used to read the odd crime book about horse racing when I was younger, but he tends to stick to newspapers now. My older brother and sister have been reading Sci-fi and fantasy books for as long as I can remember and they are probably the ones who got me into reading when I was younger. My younger sister has started reading books now but I suspect that has more to do with her A-levels then anything else, although she will give a book a go if you recommend it to her.

Almost finished reading Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. Unsure of what to read next, either The Passage by Justin Cronin or Oliver Twist.

Unloveable - The Smiths

I think it just goes to show how good an actor/actress they are if people see them as the character they most famously played. For example my younger sister was suprised to find out that David Threlfall who plays Frank Gallagher in Shamless is also a Shakespearean actor. She just couldn't picture him in a different role. Plus it can never be a bad thing if it encourages more people (who generally wouldn't go) to go to the theatre, and they get a nice suprise when they find out that said actor or actress can actually play more than one role.

When I first read the poem I didn't know who it was about, but it was obvious that he cared greatly for them and so openly. It was the first thing I looked up when I finished reading. Their frienship must have been very close and I find it sad that he left for Italy without telling her and that it ended up being detrimental to the bond between them.

Don't worry it's not just you who thinks that Hamlet is moving. Many emotions are stirred up during the play, predominantly for me when Ophelia is rejected by Hamlet, when she kills herself and her brother Laertes finds out, and also when Hamlet confronts his mother about her marriage to Claudius. I find that the comedy was needed to offset the drama in the play otherwise I would have ended up depressed when it came to an end. One of my friends went to see the Hamlet production with Tennant in (which I was very jealous about)and she spent the entire week beforehand planning ways to steal him.

I Have never seen or read Othello, although it does look good. According to my dad we have the complete works of Shakespeare hiding somewhere in the house. I have been searching through the many boxes that we we keep under the stairs that still haven't unpacked from our move a couple of years ago with no success. I may have to send him up to the loft one day soon to have a scout around for them. I bought The Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint in the Penguin clothbound format. It was too pretty to pass up and I'm a sucker for the pretty covers.

I have horrid memories of an english teacher jumping up on desks and grinding up against doors as he tried to act out the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet. Luckily I had less crazy english teachers as I got older and I was able to explore The Tempest, Macbeth and Hamlet without the fear of being scarred for life! I have been fortunate enough to seen a beautiful performance of hamlet at the Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol. It is a small studio theatre and so the experience was made more personal. I have also seen The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. I had an amazing time despite the man a few seats in front of us who snored for the entire production. Sir Patrick Stewart was mind blowing as Prospero, and the rest of the cast were definitely on par with him. Although I did find it funny that Caliban, who is supposed to be a disfigured monster of some sort, was in fact played by a man who we all thought was kind of gorgeous. I hope that I will be able to see more performances in the future as I really enjoyed the experiences.

One of the many about Charlotte von Stein by Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Gewiß, ich wäre schon so ferne, ferne, So weit die Welt nur offen liegt, gegangen, Bezwängen mich nicht übermächtge Sterne, Die mein Geschick an deines angehangen, Daß ich in dir nur erst mich kennen lerne. Mein Dichten, Trachten, Hoffen und Verlangen Allein nach dir und deinem Wesen drängt, Mein Leben nur an deinem Leben hängt. Which roughly translates to: Surely, I would be so very far away, as far as the world before me would allow me to go astray, would I not be overpowered by stars so bright, that bind my fate to yours so tight, so that I only through you got to know me. My verses, aspiration, hopes and desire, only strive after you and your nature, my life only attached to yours so pure.

I first read Fight Club a few years ago and it definitely struck a chord with me. I find myself continually going back to it, and I enjoy it each time and there are always new things that spring up at you that you might not have noticed previously. I read Choke last year and that to is stunning piece of work. Even though I have only read those two books he is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I was recommended Lullaby by one of the sales assistants at Waterstones when I bought Choke, he said that it is his favourite out of all Palahnuiks books so it will be joining my ever increasing wish list (the rest will probably be joining it!).

I read Watchmen before I watched the film and the book is far better. I only just watched V for vendetta for the first time a couple of months ago and as soon as I saw it was based on Alan Moore's work I went to buy a copy. Having to wait the few weeks for it to arrive from the publishers has only built up my eagerness to read it.

I loved His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman and have just finished reading it again. Malorie Blackmans Noughts & Crosses series is also another favourite of mine and I find myself recommending it to people whenever possible. I think it shows just how good a book is if it is accessible to all ages and isn't confined to a niche market. A book that I read as a child and still hold dear to me is Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse. I just have to look at the cover and it transports me back to my childhood days it's a sweet story and definitely one that needs to be oassed onto the future generations.

I have recently bought a copy of V for Vendetta by Alan Moore as I really enjoyed the film and was told the novel was better. I have read Watchmen by Moore and the story telling was amazing as was the artwork that accompanied it. If V for Vendetta is as good as people say it is I will get From Hell next as I loved the film (although that may be because Johnny Depp stared in it). My older sister has a copy of Maus somewhere so I may have to have a rummage around for that sometime and give it a read. Although knowing her it's probably shoved under her bed and I will have to rescue it.

The first fantasy book that I read was the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny when I was about 9 and I've recently had to get a new copy as my old one was falling apart from overuse. I then read the Harry Potter books because my sisters kept telling me how good they were but in my opinion although they are good for childrens books they didn't grip me as much as Zelazny's world was able to. The first horror book that I read was The Tell Tale Heart by Poe. This was one of the books that we were required to read for GCSE english. I didn't really enjoy it at the time but this was probably due to the fact that we were being made to read it, and we had to read it as a class so I was unable to read at my own pace. My younger sister has just had to read some of Poe's short stories for her A-Level english language class and I have found my self stealing her books whenever possible so that I could read more of his work. When she no longer needed the books for her work she was glad to unload them on me saying that she never wanted to see them again! However I predict that she will come to regret that in a couple of years when she has gotten over the forced reading experiance like I did.