28 Before 29

Oh hey, so I guess I had a birthday recently* which obviously means it's time for a list that nobody asked to see and that I actually kind of struggled to make this year, cause 28 is many many things. Before I show you this years list though, shall we quickly review last year's and see what I actually got done?

Don't care, we're doing it anyway. I shall cross out the ones I've done, italicise the ones I've at least partially done, and laugh at the ones I haven't even nearly done...

27 before 28

1. Give blood regularly
2. Go to the dentist
3. Keep saving monies
4. Learn the Japanese
5. Do the Race for Life
6. Redo couch to 5k- I started but my womb wouldn't really let meeee
7. Surpass 500km in Nike Running
8. Don't buy ANY new books (kind of)
9. Continue being less sentimental about books
10. Read War and Peace
11. Read all the Stephen King- I made a REALLY big dent in it.
12. Blog at least twice a week
13. Do NaNoWriMo again

14. Make at least 10 beautiful things

15. Try one new Lush bath bomb a month

16. Have a Hummingbird Bakery Afternoon Tea

17. Go to Bristol Zoo- But I did go to London Zoo!

18. Go to the beach this summer 

19. Have many picnics this summer

20. Go somewhere new

21. Explore the Natural History Museum

22. Go to a Butterfly House

23. Go to the Shakespeare Exhibition at the British Library

24. See Titus Andronicus somewhere

25. Make Frances see Les Mis with me- tickets are booked for October, so kinda!

26. Go Vegan for a Month

27. Harbour Positivity and Expel Negativity- I mean, it's a work in progress but my main point was to not complain anymore that I don't have a boyfriend and I literally can't even do that anymore, so yeah.

So I completed 11/27, and half completed 3 more... I guess that puts me at about 50%? And I'm ok with that.

As I mentioned, I kind of struggled making a list this year, and it wasn't just because 28 things is a lot of things, but also because, not to sound smug or annoying or anything like that, but I feel like my life is in a place that I'm actually really happy with, so I'm slightly loathe to change it. 28 things IS a lot of things though, and I think next year's list (29 before 30!!!) is probably going to be my last one, both because 30 things will really be many many things, but also because I'm not sure how useful these lists are to my life now. They once used to be a sort of lifeline for me, making sure that I at least achieved some things, and even just had things to do, but I can really do that for myself in my everyday life now, and so yeah.

That being said, I kind of just enjoy these lists, and also I have made one and I will bloody share it with you YES I WILL. This year is all about me trying to form good habits, even though I am already  6 days into being 28 and I haven't reaaaally done any of the good habits... But there's still time! There's still hope! *dramatic arms*

28 Before 29

1. Read 75 books (that I already own)

2. Finish all the Stephen King (preferably by 21/9, aka his birthdayyyy)

3. Read (at least) 5 classics

4. Give blood

5. Get another tattoo

6. Leave the country

7. Blog (at least) once a week

8. Study Japanese at least one (extra) evening a week

9. Stop drinking Diet Coke for a month

10. Do some kind of exercise (at least) twice a week

11. Aim for 10,000 steps (at least) five times a week

12. Do the Race for Life again

13. Start saving monies again

14. Have a proper skincare routine

15. Read outside A LOT this summer

16. Don't buy ANY books (except on super special occasions, e.g. bookshop crawls)

17. Go to Marwell Zoo

18. Do a 24 Hour Readalong

19. Wear my unicorn shoes more (at all)

20. Go to Southampton IKEA

21. Go to the London Aquarium

22. Do a monthly blog post about movies

23. Go to Kew Gardens this summer

24. Dye my hair a ridiculous colour

25. Try to write letters to people in a more timely manner!

26. Actually read some Kindle books/start thinking of them as real books

27. Cook more and eat out less

28. Always be looking for ways to minimise my possessions

And there you have it! I am pleasantly surprised by this list (yes, I know I wrote it...) in that when I wrote it I thought that a lot of the things on there were kind of lame, but actually now that I have typed it I realise that these are all things I genuinely want to try and do, and so I shall! Self improvement, wut wuttttttt!

*It was the warmest day of the year so far, I had a beautiful picnic with my family and boyfriend, and I alternately wore a flower crown and a unicorn horn on my head. It was a good, good birthday.

Sunday Sundries: Worries and Books

I really dropped the ball on last week's Sunday Sundries, huh? No excuses, just, you know, I watched Orange is the New Black all day Saturday and hung out with my family all day Sunday and weekends. You know how it is.

I didn't really have much to report anyway, (see: Watching Netflix all day Saturday) so I probably saved you a dull post, you lucky things! This week is much the same- I worked a lot at the start of the week, and then towards the end of the week I worked less but it was sunny so I made friends with my back garden* and also built a clothes rail for mine broke (SOB) which has turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for my new one has SHELVES, and I now have a shelf for running clothes, and yesssss this is great.

So this past week wasn't much, but this week coming has a few things. Firstly, I'm working three full days instead of 5 half ones, which sounds like I'm totally being lazy (I have 2 days off in the week! YAY!) but actually works out to more hours, and hopefully to more hours spent doing productive stuff on non-working days (but don't count on it). I'm quite excited, or maybe just optimistic about the change, so we'll see how well it works out.

The other big thing for this week coming is that my cousin's baby is having an operation. I say baby, he's 4 and a half, but he's still OUR baby, at least until my other cousin has her's later on this summer. I can't remember how much I've talked about him on here, because it's kind of not my story to tell, but he had brain cancer when he was tiny, his first operation when he was 1, tons of chemo, proton treatment... the whole kaboodle. When they operated on him before, they had to take away a big chunk of his skull, so he's been wearing a helmet for the past three years, and now this operation is to close up his skull again. Which, in one way is a really good thing, because it kind of feels like a proper ending to everything, but at the same time it's just really scary and awful and I can't really think about it without being kind of upset.

So. That's happening on Wednesday, so if you just keep him in your thoughts and, if you're so inclined, your prayers, that would be awesome. I know that's all I'll be thinking about all day, so.

And now, for the slightly less heavy topic of the books.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic was the top ten books you've read so far this year. Now, I've pretty much retired from Top Ten Tuesdays, mostly because I rarely remember when it is Tuesday, and also because eh, lazy. However- I thought this week's topic was really good, and it seems like a lot of people agree with me, because I've seen people still doing the list after Tuesday, which is practically unheard of. So, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. Here they are:

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year

1. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt- Still so so so incredible that I can hardly stand it. Would re-read again in a heartbeat. Review here.

2. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion- So good that I've even forgiven it for making me cry on public transport. Was exactly the book I needed to read, at exactly the right time, showing how even though grief is always different, it's still universal. Review here.

3. NOS4R2 by Joe Hill- The second book on this list that I actually started last year, this was both so much fun and made my skin crawl- although with me, those two things aren't always separable. Easily as good as some of daddy Hill's (Stephen King's) good stuff, and way better than his bad stuff. Review here.

4. Bleak House by Charles Dickens- The first readalong of the year of my very first Dickens. It's difficult to say if I liked this better because I got to discuss it weekly, but Lady Audley's Secret is not making it to this list, so this really must have been good. I don't know if I can say I'm not scared of Dickens anymore, but I definitely luxuriated in his writing in this, so that's not nothing.

5. Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger- Franny and Zooey is the reason I won't be saying mean things about Salinger anymore. I really liked this, it reminded me a bit of Sylvia Plath (totally a good thing) and a bit of something awesome. It's pretty great. Review here.

6. World War Z by Max Brooks- Everything about this book is perfect. I'm still surprised by just how much I liked it, but I probably shouldn't be considering it's that rare and beautiful blend of good writing AND pure entertainment. It's probably up there with The Goldfinch for best best book of the year so far. Review here.

7. The Housekeeper And The Professor by Yoko Ogawa- Japan strikes again, with this beautiful and quiet novella that I still can't quite get out of my mind. Highly recommended. Review here.

8. Running Like A Girl by Alexandra Heminsley- Encouraging a new love for running with books about running, I didn't necessarily expect to love them, but it turns out I really did. This was especially great, running from a female perspective (rarer than you'd think) with bonus history of women's struggle to even be allowed to compete in marathons. Great fun, and weirdly emotional (another one where I cried on public transport). Review here.

9. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami- I may like this one less for its running stories than for its memoir-qualities, but either way, it proved to me that Murakami can write non-fiction just as well as fiction, and I guess you can take that any way you want to! Review here.

10. Chicken With Plums by Marjane Satrapi- A bit of a left field decision here, and apologies to some of the great non-fiction reads I could have chosen instead, but this graphic novel completely sucked me in, and I really feel like it left me with a better understanding of people, even though that's such a hyperbolic thing to say. Shut up, it was good. Review here.

And there you have it. As a slight mid-year (ish...) update, I'm going to say that I've been reading books that I've pretty much universally liked, but not that many that I think are going to be lifelong favourites. I'm reading a pretty even male/female split, and although the women were winning a week ago, I've managed to finish 3 books by dudes in a week, so I'm now on 15/14 male/female. Which is fine, because I'm in the middle of 3 books by women, so it's all good. I'm still reading too many white people, and I'm reading more on my kindle which is great in terms of validating its existence, but not so great at reading the books I have in physical form. But never mind, it's all just good fun, right? Right.

And now I shall leave you to your lives, and your days. Have good ones!
*Not a euphemism

End of Year Book Survey

Guys! It's the end of the year! Even though I sort of disapprove of the furore over there being a new year, and the pressure to make it the best one ever ever ever, I have absolutely no problem with looking back over the books I've read this year and remembering how awesome they were. That's just me.

I'm in what I think is a unique position for me for the first time in three years, in that, I'm writing this on the 27th December (not at all unique) and I MIGHT FINISH A BOOK BEFORE THE 31st AND OMG. I wouldn't even care about this SO much, but said book is The Goldfinch and I already love it so so much and I don't want to miss it out of anything but it's also 700-something pages long and, realistically I'm probably not going to finish it.

So, actually, I'll just tell you now: The Goldfinch is really good and I love it. You'll see when I write a million word review of it when it's finally done.

ONTO THE SURVEY:

1. Best book you read in 2013?
This question is completely brutal. Let's see. Excluding re-reads (HARRY POTTER), I would say...
Tell The Wolves I'm Home- Carol Rifka Brunt
Ready Player One- Ernest Cline
Wild- Cheryl Strayed
Kitchen- Banana Yoshimoto
My Life in France- Julia Child
Fangirl- Rainbow Rowell
I don't even... I LOVE ALL THE BOOKS.

2. Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more, but didn't?
I thought I'd like The Newlyweds more than I did (based on nothing but the cover) and I also thought Tolstoy and the Purple Chair would be my jam, but it kind of... wasn't. Bad books.

3. Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2013?
I'm going to say The Outsider by Camus- because I was kind of expecting it to go over my head, but I turned out actually being sort of riveted by/agreeing emphatically with it. It was awesome, anyway.

4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?
This is going to have to be Ready Player One (which, by the way, I can't even believe I read this year, it seems like forever ago) because I've literally shoved my copy into people's hands because it NEEDS TO BE READ. So awesome.

5. Best series you discovered in 2013?
Um... I think the only series other than Harry Potter I read in 2013 was The Girl Who Had Stuff And Did Stuff Trilogy, and I wouldn't really describe that as the best anything. So, um, Harry Potter?

6. Favourite new author you discovered in 2013?
I actually read a lot of new-to-me authors this year, but I think I'm going to have to say that my favourite is Banana Yoshimoto, purely because Kitchen was SO amazing, and I love her so much that I've been hoarding her books to read 'later' because I don't want to gobble them all up at once.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or a new genre for you?
Ehrrrrrm... I always want to say that graphic novels are out of my comfort zone, so in that case, Persepolis would be the best of that (SO good). But, I usually read a couple of graphic novels a year so it's not really true, even. So, let's say True Grit because Westerns? WUT?

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?
Dare I say Ready Player One again? I do dare, but I also had a hard time putting down Where'd You Go Bernadette and Rosemary's Baby because they were AWESOME.

9. Book you read in 2013 that you're most likely to re-read next year?
This isn't going to happen, obviously, but if anything I'd re-read Ready Player One (YAWN) and also probably parts of Tiny Beautiful Things because daaaaaamn, that's some moving advice.

10. Favourite cover of a book you read in 2013?
Can I say Fangirl even though I read it on the Kindle? I'm going to say Fangirl.

11. Most memorable character in 2013?
I seem to have forgotten all the names of all the characters in the books I've read this year, but thingy from Tell The Wolves I'm Home was pretty memorable (apart from her name, apparently. Wait! June! That's it) oh oh and Mattie Ross from True Grit OF COURSE. - Genuinely just had to come back to this question because MY GOD I love Levi in Fangirl so incredibly much. Like, I would MARRY him, much. He's the best character.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?
This one's tricky because I almost want to say The Goldfinch, but as mentioned above, totally haven't finished it. So, let's say Kitchen OR possibly Tiny Beautiful Things, because MY GOD it's beautiful. Hey, why haven't you read it yet, again?

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?
I think On Writing might have a future-y knock on impact on me, but I'm going to say Tell The Wolves I'm Home for right now because my GOD the crying. Endless.

14. Book you can't believe you waited until 2013 to read?
Hmmm, this is a tricky one because, looking back at what I've read this year, I've leaned heavily towards fairly new books (I can't even believe this!) and re-reads, which means that books that have been on my shelves for ages haven't really had a look-in. Regardless, I'm going to say The Little Prince,  because it seems like I should have definitely read that years ago.

15. Favourite passage/quote from a book you read in 2013?

16. Shortest and Longest book you read in 2013?(finally, my book spreadsheet comes into play!)
Shortest: Cymbeline by William Shakespeare (76 pages in my complete works)
Longest: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (1201 pages. OF COURSE THIS WAS THE LONGEST)

17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it?
This isn't really a thing that happens with the kinds of books I read (do I sound like a book snob? Shit.) but, just to borrow Alley's answer, I was VERY upset/alarmed by certain parts of Harry Potter and had to sometimes demand hugs from twitter because OMG. The crying.

18. Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2013 (be it friendship, romantic, etc)
I'm going to have to say Levi and Cath in Fangirl, aren't I? Although actually I wanted Levi to be MY boyfriend instead so... yeah. Instead, let's say Melly and Scarlett in Gone With The Wind because THAT deserves a mention and who knows when I'm going to read GWTW again and write about it here?

19. Favourite book you read in 2013 from an author you've read previously.
Oh, do I read by author more than by book description? I do? Well, shit, how am I supposed to answer this one? Let's say Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King, because maaaaan, I really enjoyed that. (Although did I enjoy On Writing more? Difficult to say...)

20. Best book you read in 2013 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from someone else?
Um, um, um, tie between Tell The Wolves I'm Home and Ready Player One? Yeah, that.

21. Genre you read most from in 2013? 
My spreadsheet (yay, spreadsheet!) tells me it was... Non Fiction. Which is mental and has only happened because I lumped memoirs/food/travel non fiction all together. But non-fiction it is, apparently. Which isn't even really a genre, is it?

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?
DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE LEVI?

23. Best debut book you read.
Tell The Wolves I'm Home or Ready Player One? Where'd You Go Bernadette wasn't half bad, either.

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?
Ready Player One was wonderfully vivid, but it has to be Harry Potter, definitely. Just... there's a reason I can't watch the films, you know!

25. Book that was the most fun to read in 2013?
Who's going to smack me if I say Ready Player One again? *ducks*

26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2013?
I'm just going to give you them in order... Harry Potter (most of them), Desperation, Eleanor and Park, Wild, Les Miserables, Gone With The Wind, Bag of Bones, Tiny Beautiful Things, Tell The Wolves I'm Home. Damn.

27. Book you read in 2013 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out?
*shrug* I don't really know how to answer this one. I read a couple that I think should have been overlooked but weren't! (The Millennium Trilogy, The Fault In Our Stars).

28. Did you complete any reading challenges you set for yourself at the beginning of the year?
I quite deliberately didn't set any reading challenges at the start of this year, because they stressed me out too much last year! I've been plugging away at reading Stephen King, though, so there's that. (Don't talk to me about The Classics Club. The classics and I haven't really been friends this year.)

29. Bookish events on your blog in 2013?
I'm just thinking and I didn't actually host anything this year, did I? Well, I suck! But, the most important thing that happened was the HARRY POTTER READALONG (I will never get over how amazing that was) and also there was The Corrections readalong, which involved a lot more complaining than the HP one. Because we're awesome.

30. One book you didn't get to in 2013 but will be your top priority in 2014?
I actually don't have an answer to this- I'm a bit all over the place with what I'm reading/want to read at the moment, and I think a shelf-reorganisation needs to happen early in the new year so I can actually see the books I haven't read a lot better. Oh, but I know I want to re-read I Capture The Castle soon-ish. There you go.

31. Book you are most anticipating in 2014?
Um. There are new books coming out that I have to think about? I don't know, let's just go with Landline (Rainbow Rowell) and be done with this question.

32. One thing you hope to accomplish in your reading/blogging in 2014?
Like I said above, I want to reorganise my shelves properly, and just generally have a more solid reading plan. Ever since I've moved, I've kind of just been grabbing the nearest/newest book, and I don't want to forget, you know, ALL THE BOOKS I own. I'm on it, though, it's fine.

Extra bits because this post wasn't long enough already

• So this year, I had not one, but two outings with people from the internet and it was the BEST THING EVER. I am absolutely like a broken record when I say this, but I honestly never imagined in the slightest that when I started writing down the things I thought about books, I would end up meeting other human people in the flesh to talk with our mouths and I've just ruined this by making it sound really weird. But it's still true and it's amazing and many more meet-ups to come, I hope.
• I did some readathons this year and they only drove home to me how much I bloody love just laying down and reading and whatnot. I'm going to try and make this happen more in the next year because ever since I moved, I haven't really set aside enough time to read at all. 
• I'm sure there were more, extremely important things I wanted to say, but who can remember things? Not me! Finally, some stats:

Books Read: 75

Fiction/Non-Fiction Books Read: 58/17

Male/Female Authors Read: 35/40 (yaaaaaaaay, I won with the wimmins!) 

Rereads/New Reads: 15/60

Translated/Not Translated: 11/64 (I kept track of which books were translated cause there was a translation challenge of some sort happening and I was curious about how many translated books I read. Not that many, was the answer!)

Books read that I actually owned before this year: 42

Total Page Count: 27,965 (not including bits of other books)

Ah, stats. You were worth tracking my reading completely for a whole year. And I'll be doing the same again next year!

Sunday Sundries: Where I've Been, and Where I Am Now

GUYS, I'm not dead!

Completely just assuming you're all celebrating about this.

I have also not been NaNoWriMo-ing, but I feel like it was fortunate that I said I was going to be this month so, you know, you didn't worry and all. Did you worry? You shouldn't have been worried. But I apologise all the same, and hey! I'm back! Or that, at least, is the plan. 

I don't even have tons to report from my time away, if I'm honest. Well, I have one MEGA thing to report, but other than that... Work got kind of crazy at the end of last week (and I was still doing NaNoWriMo at that point), then I went to London with Frances on Saturday, and I've been vaguely ill (bit of a cold) for the last week. So, excuses excuses, I know, but all of that happens to be true!

But the mega thing... BLOGGER MEET UP IN LEEDS! So, the Tuesday just gone, at a strange and mythical hour, I met Bex at Kings Cross Station (yes, we geeked out at Harry Potter a bit. Yes, it was awesome.) and we took a stupidly long day trip to Leeds. The train took about two and a half hours, but get this- Bex and I talked the whole time and it felt like it took about twenty minutes, so that was awesome. Tired and disheveled, we valiantly walked through the ticket barriers, and who did our eyes behold? Why, it was Ellie, Hanna and Charlotte, of course!

So, we were all together and it was SO EXCITING because I had totally met Bex and Hanna before, but Ellie and Charlotte! NEW bloggers! Plus, Ellie is my blog wife (which is totally a thing- we got married in the comments on one of my posts once, I think) so that was pretty special and miraculous. Plus, Charlotte is notorious in my brain for being a person on the internet WITHOUT A FACE, so seeing that she had one was preeeeetty cool. 

Anyway. So we were in Leeds! The people were just better than the people down south (i.e. they weren't all dicks), the air was slightly chillier, I was back in Yorkshire and everything was great. We went to have lunch in the Trinity Centre, which is VERY COOL and also I would probably totally live there and stuff. While we were eating, Hanna and Charlotte devised a plan to maximise our book shopping and IT TOTALLY WORKED. We made our way round all the bookshops of Leeds, with minimal fuss, but maximal book buying. It. Was. Awesome. 

Book bloggers in their natural habitat.

You can get a more detailed route of our book shopping from Ellie's post, if you so desire, but suffice to say, we bought a LOT of books (at last count, I believe it was 64. Between FIVE of us. Yeah, you do that maths.) and we talked a lot and just generally it was awesome and fun and the best. I've said it before, and I'll say it every time I meet a new one of you people, but meeting people you know on the internet is kind of the best thing ever- you've laid all the foundations for everything, you already know each other so well, it's just the meeting each other's faces that's the thing. It's at once the most exciting thing, and also kind of no-big-deal, because it's almost like we see each other nearly daily. Just not in person.

And here are our faces all together in one photo! We had to have a coffee (hot chocolate) in Waterstones because OMG exhausted. These ladies know how to book shop.

But anyway, the point is BOOKS! (That is so not the point, but it's what I'm going to talk about next, so there). I know you want to see what I bought, and I want to show you, so this is all working out swimmingly.

TA-DA! So I've just realised that these are really incorrectly in order compared to where/when I bought them, but NEVER MIND. So the top three are Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond (have you read her blog? I sort of love her blog), Harbour by John Ajvide Lindqvist, and Memento Mori by Muriel Spark. I got these in a 3 for £5 deal in The Works, and really I just wanted Harbour, but then I saw the Pioneer Woman book and was like YEAH, so Memento Mori is a bit of a wildcard. So basically, if anyone wants to tell me that it's fabulous, that would be ok. The next two are Generation of Swine by Hunter S Thompson and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, both of which I got at HMV, and both of which I'm pretty excited about- I feel like Alice said Fried Green Tomatoes is really good, and I know that Kayleigh loves Thompson, and I'm excited to read more by him. See, guys? I took ALL of you with me to Leeds!

And then, in Waterstones, I got a teeny bit carried away and sort of bought 4 books. Which I know, I know, isn't that many, but I basically never buy new books, and if I do it's one at a time, so this was like a big deal for me! But I'm pretty pleased with what I got. *clears throat importantly* So, there's World War Z by Max Brooks because Alley apparently reads it ALL THE TIME, so it must be good. And then I got Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence because Penguin English Libraryyyy, and The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter because beautiful Virago editiooooon, and, finally, Nos4r2 by Joe Hill because I am fully caving to the Joe Hill peer pressure even if it does put me even further behind at reading Papa King's stuff. Plus, Nos4r2 is apparently a CHRISTMAS horror story, so it'll totally make me feel festive, right? (Probably not.)

So all of that happened, then after our coffee, we headed back to Leeds Station, triumphant but sad to leave each other, excited to read our books, but sad that the day was over (this might have just been me, wouldn't like to speak for everyone!). The Northern lasses got their trains/went to meet their manfriends, and Bex and I decided to get a bit of dinner before our two and a bit hour journey back to London. So we did that, and I got her to pose with all our books

Yeah, those are just the books TWO of us bought. It was mega.

And we leisurely strolled to get our train. Which was delayed. By about an hour. Now, Leeds Station is nice and everything, but there isn't really enough to keep you occupied in it for an hour, but somehow, SOMEHOW we valiantly struggled on, looking in two separate WHSmiths and generally keeping ourselves occupied. One of us might have moaned a bit, but the other one of us might have a one year old child so I think she was ok with it. Probably... But anyway! Finally we left Leeds and its wonders behind, spent another two and a bit hours having a giant chat, and said our goodbyes on the tube (I HATE doing that. So rush-y) and went back to our separate homes. It was magnificent. 

I realise that this post in obnoxiously long already, so I shan't labour any more anythings, but (BUT!) I have promised a tour of my new room, and that, my pretties, is what you shall get, in the form of four pictures. Minimal words, I swear.

Bookcase, recipe books at the end of my bed, mirror. The door to my room is there, and it opens on to the mirror. My hope is that I won't accidentally smash it one day, but the chances are I will.

Bed, glorious bed. Also my IKEA chest of drawers that I BUILT MYSELF and a heater because shit, attics are cold. Not pictured- my laundry basket. Which is pretty full, tbh.

Bookcases of JOYYYY. Except when I was building them, they were bookcases of horror, but NEVER MIND THAT. To the side there are basically all my clothes, on a rail, which I love.

This is my sewing/booze/work table. My library books are on one end, my laptop theoretically lives there, and all my TV DVDs are under it. We can totally pretend that it looks like this all the time, but realistically, I tidied that shit WAY up before I took this. That's how I roll.

See! My room! I'm especially happy I did this because now my room is HELLA tidy and that's just the best. I mean, it'll last for about a day or something, but right now I'm really happy with it! I don't feel like the pictures really do the room justice size-wise, because it's kind of huge. Or at least huge compared to what I'm used to. Typing huge a lot has made me feel really uncomfortable, so I'm going to stop now. Huge.

Now tell me what you've been doing and make your comments so so long, I have MISSED this!

Devouring Books: Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

"'Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is.'"

I've said this before when I've read giant books, and doubtless I'll say it again and again, but I don't know if it'll ever be truer than it is now: There's so much to say about Gone With The Wind that I don't even know where to begin. My history with the book and (especially) the film is long and filled with love and hate and over-analysis, and frankly there's too much of it for just one blog post. So, instead, I'll try and keep it (sort of) brief and hopefully get across just how truly excellent this book is.

First, my history- I first watched Gone With The Wind with Frances at Christmas 2007- it was the night before we were going home for the holidays and, logically, why wouldn't we watch a four hour long epic movie until 2am when I was being picked up at about 8.30am? Exactly. So we did and it was SO EXCELLENT (and I nearly smacked my mum for calling Melly a drip during the ride home. I mean, REALLY). Then, in the summer of 2008* I read Gone With The Wind and it is by far the best reading experience I can remember- AMAZING book, long warm days, with nothing to do but read and nowhere to go but my nan's garden to read in. It was something like this experience I was hoping to recapture by re-reading it this summer.

I think it's important for you to know that I both love and hate Scarlett O'Hara. This isn't the kind of thing where I can't make up my mind about her, it's that it's impossible to love her wholly when she's such a bitch, but it's also impossible to hate her because she's so bloody awesome. She's so tiny minded and unanalytical, shallow and often vapid and yet. She's also brave, pragmatic, strong and straightforward, and essentially the opposite of everything that she, as a 'Southern Lady', is supposed to be. In other words, she constantly challenges the conventions of the society in which she's been raised, and is capable of doing anything that a man can do, only usually she does it better. Do I almost want to call her a feminist icon? I almost do, you guys, I almost do.

"There was no one to tell Scarlett that her own personality, frighteningly vital though it was, was more attractive than any masquerade she might adopt. Had she been told, she would have been pleased but unbelieving. And the civilisation of which she was a part would have been unbelieving too, for at no time, before or since, had so low a premium been placed on feminine naturalness."

Alongside Scarlett, almost constantly, is her sister-in-law and secret enemy, Melanie Wilkes, who is married to Ashley, the man Scarlett thinks she's in love with because, um, he's really pretty? Oh, an rich and stuff too. Scarlett has good reasoning skills. Anyway, the point is that, although the relationship between Scarlett and Rhett is kind of seen as the big draw for Gone With The Wind (and kind of 1) The only thing I knew about it before I saw the film, and 2) The most misunderstood element of Gone With The Wind because this is love? REALLY?) maybe the most rewarding relationship for the reader is the one between Scarlett and Melly- a female friendship of necessity, at first, and constantly beset by jealousy on Scarlett's part, but one of unending loyalty and even, in the end, love.

"She had relied on Melanie, even as she had relied on herself, and she had never known it... She knew that Melanie had been her sword and her shield, her comfort and her strength."

But it's possible I just think that because I love Melly- I always place her in my brain right next to Beth from Little Women (Little Women being, of course, almost the other side of the civil war story of Gone With The Wind) as one of those female characters who are shy and quiet, weak in body but so incredibly strong in spirit and in love- both the love they give and how loved they are. Melanie is just so wonderful- just as Scarlett never lets anything beat her, Melly doesn't either but she manages to also retain her ability to be nice and giving to others, mainly because she actually does care about other people. She's essentially the kind of person who you know doesn't think much of themselves even though they're extraordinary, and as a result, people think all the more of her. Especially, I guess, me.

"Melanie had the face of a sheltered child who had never known anything but simplicity and kindness, truth and love, a child who had never looked upon hardness and evil and would not recognise them if she saw them. Because she had always been happy, she wanted everyone around her to be happy, or, at least, pleased with themselves. To this end, she always saw the best in everyone and remarked kindly upon it."

The fact that Rhett Butler refers to her as 'A great lady' doesn't hurt either, because if Melly isn't my favourite character (she definitely is) then Rhett is. And it's not just because he's incredibly handsome (he is) and it's not just because he sweeps Scarlett off her feet with a passion she has never known (he does, but only once and way later in the book than you'd expect but MY GOD it is totally hot) but because he's incredibly interesting as a character. A lot of what's interesting about him happens before the book, when he made the decision not to die in a duel to defend a lady's honour (she had to be defended against him, of course) because, in his words, 'I like to live.'

And in that, I decided that I understood his character better than anything because, having realised that he likes to live, and living according to the conventions of Southern society would have meant that he didn't get to do that anymore, he makes the logical decision not to give a shit about what anyone expects of him as a gentleman and I respect that so hard. This willingness to break with convention is also a big part of what makes him so perfect for Scarlett, even though she often tries to cling to the old conventions because they're what she knows and have always worked out well for her. And so she consistently and foolishly refuses to see how perfect he is for her because, like I said, she's not a deep thinker.

And those are basically the main characters (apart from Ashley, but we shan't talk about him because I hate him. Just picture him as someone who, like Rhett, also thinks Southern conventions are sort of stupid, but he still chooses to live by them because something something honour something) but fortunately for us all, the minor characters in Gone With The Wind? So awesome. Given that this is an epic novel in all the ways a novel can be epic, it leaves room for a vast array of characters, but that doesn't mean they have to be as well drawn and engaging as they really and truly are. Every single one of them feels like a real person, with a real history and a real life outside of the book, which I think is really a stunning achievement. My personal favourites are Mammy and Grandma Fontaine, but there's no one like Suellen when you need a character to hate. But seriously- the characters are SO good, and even when they're terrible they're good, and a lot of them are terrible a lot of the time.

Because, also, there's the slavery. Slavery is something it's impossible to ignore when you're reading Gone With The Wind, especially when the majority of characters hold alarming views on the subject. When you read Part One, it's difficult not to be aware that the whole party at Twelve Oaks can only happen because of the hard work of slaves (not that Mitchell makes you aware of this) and while the war is going on, it's difficult to grasp that they're fighting for the continuation of slavery. And then, once the war is lost (oops, SPOILER The South loses) and these characters we sort of like start joining the KKK it's like WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING and WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS and it's difficult to even like them, let alone love them.

And yet, somehow I still do. Not all the time, but most of it, and I guess that's because you can love people even when some of their beliefs are kind of disgusting, especially when those people are also characters in a book and it's easier to compartmentalise the things they say and do. And the thing is, what Mitchell also does is set up her book so that she has characters who are slaves (and some of them are fully realised characters, not just stereotypes, particularly Mammy) who argue amongst themselves about whether freedom is a blessing or an insult. Because, in spite of the fact that slavery is so so SO wrong (seriously, I don't like slavery)** it's definitely an interesting perspective that, when a certain (evil) system has been in place for so long, people who are the most disadvantaged by that system want to keep it in place because it's what they've always known and, what's more, for some slaves, I guess being set free would have been like being kicked out of their family. Of COURSE they shouldn't have been there in the first place, but they are now and have been for all their lives, and they truly are loved. In her darkest hour, Scarlett wants to go home to Mammy, and that's sort of all you need to know about how much she values her.***

I don't know if all of that was just to justify my love for Gone With The Wind to myself or what, but either way, you know what? I love this book. I love it so hard and I love pretty much everything about it (questionable morals aside). I would probably go as far as to say that it's nearly a perfect book, because you know what? It makes me laugh and it makes me cry, I've been angry, frustrated, joyous, horrified and, um, passionate towards it. In common internet parlance, it made me feel all the feels, and I can't imagine a time when it won't do that to me. I know that I'll read it again and again in my life, and I urge you to do the same.

Now let us take to the comments and discuss all the things I missed out! Are you a secret Ashley lover? Do YOU think Melly is a drip? There's practically no end to the things I could discuss about this book, so let's DO THIS.

*A summer where I also read Harry Potter and Bag of Bones, making that 9 rereads this year so far from 2008 and apparently I read in 5 year cycles?

**Really and truly. And if any of this sounds like I am for slavery then I really need to change that because oh my GOD that is so not how I feel. 

***Values, I guess being the operative word because she did LITERALLY own her. Ugh, this is such a difficult thing to talk about. And I guess it always should be.

Devouring Books: What Maisie Knew by Henry James

"What was clear to any spectator was that the only link binding her to either parent was this lamentable fact of her being a ready vessel for bitterness, a deep little porcelain cup in which biting acids could be mixed. They had wanted her not for any good they could do her, but for the harm they could, with her unconscious aid, do each other."

Before I tell you all about What Maisie Knew, I have to tell you What Laura Knew- namely that a movie version is coming out in August (a mere month away!) starring the rather dashing Alexander Skarsgard (and there are probably some other people in it too, I don't know) that I've known I wanted to see for about a year. So, when Penguin did one of their 50% off sale things at Christmastime last year, I snapped up a copy of What Maisie Knew and intended to read it straight away.

Six months later, I finally picked it up, and now I have read it! *Pauses for applause* And a whole month before the movie comes out, too. I'm calling that a win! I've read some Henry James before (The Europeans, The Turn of the Screw) and I liked them fine, but both of those are shorter than What Maisie Knew, so I didn't really know what to expect. Actually, that's not true- I thought I did know what to expect, but what I got was something else entirely and it maybe wasn't as... Good as I thought it was going to be.

Ok, here's what I'm really dancing around- I don't really like James's writing style. His sentences are never ending and sometimes seem to have  overused the Thesaurus function in Word (just like 'Baby Kangaroo' Tribbiani*) even if Word didn't exist until about 100 years after Maisie was written. I could feel myself rushing through sentences and paragraphs because there were just. So many. Unecessary words. I don't like to rush through books in such a way so DAMMIT JAMES, no. And I don't know if this is just a personal 'Laura can't read big words' thing, or if this is a legitimate criticism of James's work, but if it's how I feel then it IS legitimate so there.

Let's put the actual writing aside for juuuust a minute, because there were things about the book that I actually did like. I liked how modern the story felt- parents getting divorced and using their child as ammunition feels like something that maybe didn't happen so much in 1897, but I'm willing to bet it happens a lot more now OR, at least, there are more opportunities for it to happen now. I also liked (and this is kind of the selling point of the whole selling point of the book) how the story is told through Maisie's eyes, which doesn't mean we get a childlike rendition of events, but more that 'What Maisie Knew' is ALL we know. It's clear that many, many things are happening when she's not there, but it's pretty much up to the reader to decide on the exact nature of said things, which means you keep thinking beyond the lines of the narrative. Which I like. Obviously. 

And then, there's Sir Claude. Can we just pause for a moment and appreciate this description of him:

"She felt the moment she looked at him that he was by far the most radiant person with whom she had yet been concerned."

Oh, RADIANT, you say?

 Ok, bad example. But YES Sir Claude's modern equivalent is Skarsgard and it seems sooort of like perfect casting. But anyway- I don't love Sir Claude because of his radiance OR the fact that I pictured him as tall, blonde and hot as fuck, but because, of all the adults in Maisie's life, he seems to be the one who is best for her, and who does the most for her. And this doesn't mean that he denies all his own urges for Maisie's sake (because he doesn't) but just that he loves her the best/at all, and that's really what she needs. And, as her stepfather, he's not even obligated to do anything for her, really, and yet he still manages to give her more positive attention than her mother and father combined.

We shan't talk about the part where he sort of takes her to France without her parents' permission because I'm sure that was way less classified as kidnapping 100+ years ago. And besides, I don't think her parents cared where she was...

Ahem. But anyway, Maisie and Sir Claude really seem like two good eggs (well- it remains to be seen even by the end of the book whether or not Maisie has been ruined by her parents' shenanigans, and I'm inclined to think she might have been...) in a sea of selfish and/or hateful characters. Even the nannies Maisie has with her respective parents are locked in a ridiculous feud that seems to only increase the damage to Maisie, and is just another reason that Sir Claude seems to be the best for her. Plus, there's his damn radiance, and everything...

Aside: On how excited I am for the movie- I'm really excited. And NO, not just for Skarsgard, you perverts. Nope, when I was reading, I was excited because I could see exactly how this could be adapted for a modern situation, mostly because it's already a modern situation, and kind of fits today's time better than its own. And I know that I potentially love a lot of the changes the film has made- like how Maisie's parents are both people with Big Careers, which is why they hardly ever see her, and how Sir Claude (who, we assume, marries Maisie's mother for her money) is a bartender who her mother pays to look after her and HEY see how that works? Also, he's still radiant. So there's that.

So. There's no ignoring the fact that I don't like James's style *nervously eyes The Portrait of a Lady and The Bostonians and why do I have so many books by Henry James, again?* BUT in this case I'm willing to overlook that because I do really like the story that I had to speed read to get through. If a different writer had been involved, I might have LOVED it, but they weren't so I'll take what I can get. Maybe most importantly, it's gotten me all excited for the movie, which was my main reason for reading it in the first place and I can't really ask for anything more than that, can I?

*Don't even TELL me that you don't come here to read Henry James being compared with Friends because I KNOW YOU DO

"'Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?'"

Oh my gosh, you guys. I can't even begin to process the fact that THERE IS NO MORE HARRY POTTER TO READ, and also THIS IS BASICALLY THE LAST HARRY POTTER DAY, and other sad things like that, so INSTEAD let's just talk about the book and weep.

There is SO MUCH to talk about in this last section, I think (I have, like, 18 pages of notes, mostly because I'm INSANE but also because I copied out whole CHUNKS of text, but anyway) and I'm going to try and restrain myself and only say the very most important things, mostly because I have a time limit (places to go etc etc) but also because, what is there to say? This section is both wonderful and horrible at the same time, and pretty much all of it makes me want to weep but let's just talk about the things that actually did, shall we?

• Percy comes back!- I don't even remember if I was expecting this to happen, or if it was just a wonderful surprise, but every time it gets me because OMG all Molly wants is for all her children to be together and he comes back and ADMITS HE WAS WRONG and it's lovely. 

• BUT THEN- Fred dies- And how cruel is that, JK? Firstly it always gets me when ONE twin is killed off because THEY ARE TWINS AND ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TOGETHER ALWAYS, but this is Fred! We know Fred! We love him! And also it feels like Ron might be dead for a minute and that is terrifying, but then Fred is ACTUALLY dead and it's not a relief! Nothing about this is good!

• And then Lupin and Tonks- This is a cruel and horrible thing to do to her readers, but it sure is moving (and awful)- Not only do they now have an orphaned child, Harry's just lost the last living (close) link to his parents and also remember how much I fancied Lupin in PoA? It was a LOT.

• Snape.- I am physically unable to cope with how much Snape loved Lily, and for how long, and how he really was protecting Harry for all those years and oh, Snape. I was of course weeping throughout all of his memories, but I also just think... How amazing that this one chapter can change your entire view of a character because seriously? I hated Snape so much. HATED him. Was absolutely willing to be convinced that he was evil because I hated him, but then, new information emerged and suddenly everything I thought about him was turned into this deep sympathy for him and that is why I've been defending him for this whoooole readalong. Oh Snape. You deserved better than being eaten by a snake.

• Then Harry accepts that he's going to have to die- And I know! I know he isn't going to die! But still it's terrifying being inside his brain when HE thinks he's going to have to die, and it's so beautiful that he doesn't even question the reality of this- not that he's not scared but that he's brave enough not to run away from death because he believes it's the thing to do to save everyone he cares about. God, I love him.

• The Resurrection Stone- I LITERALLY CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS BIT. All the crying. All of it. Ever. "'You'll stay with me?' 'Until the very end,' said James. 'They won't be able to see you?' asked Harry. 'We are part of you' said Sirius. 'Invisible to anyone else.' Harry looked at his mother. 'Stay close to me,' he said quietly." (I'm not kidding, I am crying right now from typing that. DESTROYS me.)

• The Headmasters' Office- I'm pretty much ok once Harry doesn't die (although I am still a bit sniffly when he meets Dumbledore in Purgatory or wherever) and then Voldy dies and whathaveyou and Harry, Ron and Hermoine go up to Dumbledore's office and the portraits all give him a standing ovation? And in Dumbledore's portrait "tears were sliding down from behind the half-moon spectacles into the long silver beard, and the pride and gratitude emanating from him filled Harry with the same balm as phoenix song"? Yeah, that gets to me. Right in the heart.

So what can I say? There was a lot of crying. And also, a few other things:

• It's so perfect that the last quarter of the book happens in Hogwarts. It's kind of one of those things where I didn't realise how much I missed it until we got back there, and even with all these bad things going on, it's still so. good. to be back there even under so much trauma. "But he was home. Hogwarts was the first and best home he had ever known." Perfect.
• I know we've been doing the whole Draco-Harry thing (Harry saved his life! TWICE!) But what about Luna and Harry? She's there with Dean and Ernie and their Patronuses, urging Harry to think of happy things, and she's there when it's all over, knowing just what Harry needs. Or... Maybe I just want to marry Luna?
• Ok, so what is that gross thing in the bundle at Kings Cross/Purgatory? Is it the part of Voldemort's soul that was attached to Harry, or... Something else? And in other questions I want answered, does anyone really care about the Deathly Hallows at this point? Are they really just there to make the point that we shouldn't be afraid of death? Cause that's cool.
• Neville is a fucking badass. Also, fun snake fact- Nagini is a sanskrit word for an deity that takes the form of a snake, so REALLY we should have known she was holding a bit of Voldy from day 1 (or book 4. Whenever she appears.)
• "'NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH.'" Best thing ever. 
• In the end, Voldy is killed by his own rebounding curse. I feel like it's a very superhero-ish thing for Harry never to have to kill anyone, and in the end for evil to end up being it's own foil, and then at the same time, I'm not sure if I feel like it's a bit of a cop-out? I could go either way on this, folks.

AND I'M DONE! As is Harry Potter. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW? 

Devouring Books: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

"Nothing can be sadder or more profound than to see a thousand things for the first and last time. To journey is to be born and die each minute."

You might have noticed if you've spent any time around my blog for, oh, all of this year, that I've become sort of... Ok, yeah, obsessed with Les Miserables. What started with the movie (I saw it TWICE at the cinema, which I basically never do with films anymore because dude, the cinema is expensive) culminated (NOT ended) a couple of weeks ago in seeing the musical in London, and in between the two was an epic, four month long battle with the book.

That's right, I said battle. This is not an easy book to read both in terms of there just being SO much in it that's good that you kind of don't want to miss anything, but then also there being so much in it that's irrelevant to the main story that I might have spent a lot of time reading at it SCREAMING at Hugo in my brain to just GET BACK TO THE STORY DAMMIT. I feel like this might be a hazard of having watched the film first, in that I cared so much about the characters that I wanted the whole book to just be about them (which, to be fair, isn't an unreasonable ask!) but then the flipside of that is, if I hadn't seen the film first, I'm not sure if I would even have finished the book. It's a harsh but true reality that, every time I picked the book back up after weeks away from it, it was with the knowledge that the movie wasn't out on DVD yet, and I was too poor to see the show.

Now. This doesn't mean that the movie/musical is the only good form of Les Miserables, and so you should just skip the book. No, on the whole I'm going to have to say that the rewards of Les Miserables are infinitely greater than having to skim read a MILLION pages about the Battle of Waterloo, or the Parisian sewer system (!). Although the book would be far far better if Hugo had allowed it to be edited properly (I think then, I could have called it one of my favourite books), the things it has added to my overall idea-in-my-brain of Les Miserables I wouldn't be without. But I give you permission to skip anything you think is irrelevant, because *whispers* it probably is.

See, see how long this is getting already? I don't even know where to go from here, because this book is EPIC, you guys, not just in, you know, length, but also in the number of Things it covers. Just off the top of my head, I'm thinking history, politics, religion, social issues, love, hate, justice (or the lack thereof), youth, morality- almost everything you can think of is right there in it, and that's just for starters, because what it also has are characters that are so complex that I'm still trying to figure them out now, and stuff that happens that is engaging and exciting and that I have Feelings about. So let me just... I'm going to say some things and they'll hopefully make sense and if not then I still need to say them, apparently. So yeah.

Firstly- Even though the massive rambling story deviations were pretty awful, there were extra things about the book that I did love, which were, basically, anything that was directly to do with the actual story. Reading the book means that you find out more about the kindly Priest (he's really awesome, by the way), little Gavroche! (ditto) and, possibly the thing I was most interested in reading about, how Fantine got into her, y'know, situation. Also, there were things that happened that the musical just really doesn't have time for, and they're still exciting- for example, at one point Jean Valjean is almost buried alive and my heart was in my throat the whole time. If I'm honest, I really just used the book to enhance the musical and the way I think about the characters in it, and... It really lived up to that task.

Nextly- I know I've mentioned already that I'm still trying to figure out the characters, but the book makes me feel like I'm nearly there. I got so much more from it than the musical shows, character-wise (as is natural) and I feel like I'm that much closer to understanding Javert and his INSANE conformity to The Law and to just how well that contrasts with Jean Valjean and his sense of justice having to fit appropriately to the situation, otherwise it really isn't justice at all. These two men, in fact, are probably the two most interesting characters to me, possibly because they contrast so well with each other.

Also notable- I feel like it's really natural to find Marius and Cosette kind of annoying because they're the only characters who kind of get everything they ever wanted (each other) and, in fact, the whole of Part Three ('Marius') feels kind of like a deviation from the story because it moves things on about one song's worth. But the thing about the two of them is that if they weren't in the story then it would pretty much make you want to kill yourself, and without them and their love, Hugo wouldn't be able to say things like this:

"There is no joy outside the ecstasy of love. The rest is tears. To love or have loved is all-sufficing. We must not ask for more."

 And- In spite of my frequent frustration towards Hugo, I feel like I also kind of love him? From a view of religion that isn't overly strict and is more based on kindness, and not even that, just the situation instead of some pre-ordained rules, than any religion that actually exists, to lamenting the fate of women who are forced into prostitution (FANTINE! Dear God, Fantine) and so so so many more progressive social views that make me want to give him a hug. If I'm allowed to see all the goodness that exists in Jean Valjean's actions as telling me something about Hugo, then I'm pretty much going to say

LET ME EDIT YOUR BOOK.

Slight backtracking- I know that I've said that the deviations are what stop this book from going from a good book to a GREAT one, but there are some exceptions to this. There were parts in the deviations that made me sit up and feel all shocked, and also made me feel vaguely sorry for not reading all of them properly, because what if the really really good bits were tucked up inside of them? Like this stunning piece of optimism:

"Our nineteenth century is great, but the twentieth century will be happy. Nothing in it will resemble ancient history. Today's fears will all have been abolished- war and conquest, the clash of armed nations... the birth of hereditary tyrannies, nations partitioned by a congress or the collapse of a dynasty, religions beating their heads together like rams in the wilderness of the infinite...One might almost say, indeed, that there will be no more events. Men will be happy."

I like to picture Hugo writing this and truly believing it, and it makes me kind of glad that he never lived in the twentieth century. No more wars? No religious conflict? Happiness?! He couldn't have been more wrong about the twentieth century, but it's nice to know that there existed in him, as I think exists in all of us, the belief that things can be better in the future- otherwise, I guess, what's the point in living at all?

My love- is reserved for Enjolras specifically, and the revolutionaries in general. Had I been a male in Paris at the time of the June Revolution, I'd like to think I'd have been one of them, and if I'd been a woman I'm sure I'd have been hopelessly in love with a revolutionary. The musical makes it clear that Enjolras is not interested in love at all, but the book cements that with the information that he only bestows two kisses in his life, both on the body of a fallen comrade. Hot.

And finally- in my extensive research for this extensive post, I found out that, re: the musical, "Literary scholars condemned the project for converting classic literature into a musical." And I'm just... I mean, I'm assuming that's before they saw the musical, because I can't even stand the thought that anyone who's read Les Miserables could watch that and go 'yeah, but they missed out the SEWER EXPLANATION.' But even so, that still doesn't give any credit to the incredible emotional power that music has, and how well it can be used especially in this book, to pick out its tragedies and triumphs and really make you feel things about stuff. Because that's entirely what the musical does and it's fucking magical and literary scholars can just shut up if they think that it doesn't.

I realise that this post is a hot mess, and makes absolutely no sense if you're not at all familiar with Les Miserables, but this was really the only way I could write it- I don't know how to talk about things I love so much in any kind of sane way, so this is all I have (well, not all, but I don't like to GO ON, or anything). And I wish I was sorry, but I'm kind of not because this was the thing I wanted to write about it, and now I have and that's good enough for me! And I included gifs to try and keep you entertained, so pretend that worked, ok?! And go and experience Les Mis in some way, yes? It's kind of my favourite thing.