Saturday 28 June 2008

My Stories

I don't seem to have given an update on them in a while. The ticker at the top of the page still shows last months, because I'm hopelessly behind this month, but oh well. I don't think I'm even going to make 50000, because I've done so much reading. Anyway. I've done a fair bit of work on Two For Joy, some planning to add to Sky Dancer because I decided that I couldn't just leave it where it was, and I couldn't have World War Three told from just one side, needed some more characters. Therefore I think it could wind up quite long. At the moment, most of my effort is going into To Steal Faith, which is the fifth book in my angel series, although it's the second I'm working on.

Raise the Titanic

Yet another in the Dirk Pitt series. This one was a little far-fetched perhaps, but I still enjoyed it. Surprising how accurate his ideas about how the Titanic would eventually be found were (at the time it was written, the location of the Titanic was still a mystery). Despite being far-fetched, the characters were interesting and believable. I know the series has been criticised for being unrealistic, and for Dirk Pitt being too indestructable, too much of a hero, but who cares? I think the individual books are each plausible, it's just that when taken as a whole you think no person could really live that adventurous a life. Still. It's a shame NUMA doesn't actually exist, I'd love to work for it.

Pacific Vortex

Another book in the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler. It's the first one, and I thought it was fantastic. Quite realistic, and I do like Summer. I wish she hadn't stayed with her dad at the end, it would've been nice for him to have a girlfriend. Still. Worth reading for sure.

Thursday 26 June 2008

Hell Island

The only quick read I have ever read. And I love it, so this was actually the fourth or fifth time I've read it. Very good for a long bus journey, finishable in about half an hour, depending on how fast you read of course. Anyway. It really is something of an outlandish plot, but the action is very, very good. I love the Scarecrow. Hope Matthew Reilly does a new one about him, he's one of my all time favourite characters, along with Jack West Jr (the main character of Matthew Reilly's other series, Seven Ancient (or Deadly, depending on whether you're in England/Australia or America) Wonders and Six Sacred Stones. Who is also a fantastic character.

Drat. My internet crashed. Party.

Well. I did post a nice little piece about my party, which was today. Two months early, seeing as I didn't think everyone would be around when it was my actual birthday. Twas great fun. We went bowling in Blackburn. I got lost on the way home, wound up outside school instead of at the bus station. Still, it didn't really matter, I can get home just as easily from there as I can from the bus station. It was absolutely throwing it down though, and unfortunately the stop outside school doesn't have a shelter. I guess they're worried about it getting vandalised, seeing as it's right outside the school. I'm really behind with the whole book reviewing thing. Never mind. Tomorrow's another day.

Dragonsinger: Harper of Pern

Well, it was the first book of Anne McCaffrey's I've read. People keep recomending htem to me, saying they're a lot like Eragon and Eldest. From this one, I really can't see the connection. I was very fond of the way the fire lizards were. Nine of them. Though perhaps they were a little underdeveloped as characters, bar Beauty. I don't see how there could be books about Menolly that came before though, there didn't seem much to tell. I don't know. Maybe. Still, it was good. Worth reading for sure, even if I didn't think it at all like Eragon and Eldest, bar the fact that there were people who rode on dragons, even if they weren't the main focus of the story.

Tuesday 24 June 2008

Amtrak Wars book 1 - Cloud Warrior

So, I decided to read a little sci-fi. And this was well worth reading. I now need to find the other books in the series. I'm very fond of the main characters, especially Steve. Definitely support the Mutes in favour of the Amtrak administration. Requires a little background knowledge of US geography for you to get the most out of the book I think, and maybe a little about the history, but even without, it's very, very good. It looks to be quite old, about thirty years or so ago when it was first published, but I really enjoyed it all the same. It's set far enough in the future that it doesn't really matter. It's basically the story of a world war type thing, between the mutes (mutated humans who live on the surface) and the Amtrak Federation, which is a huge, communist-type dictatorship that lives below ground but wants to move back to the surface.

Biggles in the South Seas

Nearly forgot about reading this one. Pretty good, maybe not quite as exciting as the world war ones, but still worth getting. I did like how Ginger played a bit more of a part, as did the native people, who were really quite sweet. Well, the good ones were at any rate. So, if you like Biggles, which I do, it's worth reading this one. Not my favourite, but certainly not disappointing or my least favourite (probably Biggles and the Rescue Flight).

Lydia's Sleepover

Just realised I haven't actually posted about this. We had a great time. We went bobbing for apples and Laura got soaked, because she kind of got the whole bucket of water chucked over her... We had a barbecue, and had toasted marshmellows, which are absolutely delicious. We went on Singstar for a while, played the chocolate game (putting on hat, scarf and gloves and trying to cut off a square of chocolate before someone else rolls a 6 and takes them off you to try get the chocolate themselves), and also another game where you get a bowl full of icing sugar, hide sweets in it, are blindfolded, and have to find the sweets without using your hands. Very sticky fun. And watched Big Brother, of course. It's actually a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, but not interesting enough that I'll stay up late to watch it. What else? Talked until three in the morning. I slept on a giant heffalump. Got woken up by Lydia's dog a couple of times, but dozed off again. We got up about nineish and went downstairs to watch PS I Love You. I was told it wasn't that sad. Sobbed the whole way through. Really good film, just made me cry a lot. So yeh, it was a good sleepover, had a lot of fun.

Meh

My dad's being threatened with redundancy. As if we need that on top of everything else. He's been working for that company for ages, 24 years my mum said. We've moved to America and back for his job, and now they're threatening to make him redundant. Humph.

Monday 23 June 2008

Battlestar Glatica

I think the one I read was called the Return of the Cylons, and it's back at the library now so I can't tell you who the author was. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the book was. I decided I'd read a little sci-fi, just for a change, and it was very, very interesting. I particularly liked the characters, as they all seemed quite realistic, especially the Companions. Made me think though--why is sci-fi never told from the machine's point of view, always ours, making us out to be in the right and the machines or whatever to be evil?

Sunday 22 June 2008

Blackburn, and why I hate it...

I hate Blackburn. It's got hardly any good shops, apart from Mercers, which is a really good shop where I can get models and paints and stuff like that, but the mall is really hard to find your way around and I hate it because I always get lost and disorientated. I went on Monday, to get James a new blazer because that's where the only shops you can get uniform for his school (it's not really my school any more) from are. I got stuck there, and managed to get a manky pasty for lunch that I really regretted eating, and I felt ill when I got home.

Holiday

Well, my holiday was fairly good fun. Hebdon Bridge is a really pretty site. We parked the caravan by a stream, so we could hear it all the time, which was nice. Friday, before James came, we went to a clog factory, which was basically a clog shop and that was about it, and then we went to Hebdon Bridge, but Mum got tired so we came back to the caravan. James came by train on Friday after school, and then Saturday we went to Halifax. Had dinner at a Chinese buffet and saw a parade go past, but Mum got tired then as well, so we went back to the van. I read two hugely fat books, one six-hundred page one and one seven-hundred-and-fifty page one, the Dirk Pitt ones I mentioned in the last post, or maybe the post before last, I forget. Anyway, we came home Sunday, went to church in the evening and we were in our new location across the road from before and Dad couldn't get the projecter working properly to do the song words. Oh well. He managed it this morning anyway.

Dan and Kat's wedding

It was a really nice service yesterday. I actually knew all the songs we did. And the reception was pretty good fun. Everyone was given a pea shooter, so I spent most of the evening trying to get the Best Man, who just so happens to be my brother's RE teacher. :D Anyhow, it was really sweet, even though it was raining.

Dirk Pitt Series by Clive Cussler

Right, I said I'd reveiw all the books I read this summer. So far this summer, I've read four Dirk Pitt books, which are absolutely fantastic. I've read Atlantis Found, Iceberg, and I can't remember which two others I've read. Anyway, if you like adventure books, they're well worth a read.

Ooops...

Yeh, well I've not posted for a while because I've been lazy and just haven't bothered, so now I'm really behind and will now have to spend about a month trying to get back up to date again...

Well, it was St Catherine's Garden Fete today, so I went to that with my parents--my brother's gone to a friend's house--and had a fairly good time. Had an owl on my arm, a really tiny one. I forget what sort it was, but it was cute. They didn't have many books, so I was a little miffed, but oh well.

Thursday 12 June 2008

Puppet on a Chain by Alaistair MacLean

So. I'm figuring I'm well into this whole book reviewing lark now, so I may as well continue and talk about all the books I've read recently. And I'm going to try and post some sort of review for every book I read over the summer, just so I have a record of what I actually read and how much I manage to read.
Anyway, it was a real Alaistair MacLean style story. Lots and lots of action, plenty of twists, and I really liked the main character in this one. An interesting person. I would've liked to know a little more about his background in the drug tracking business, and the scars on his face being explained by a simple aircraft crash without any real cause were annoying. It would've been better if they were from some past incident with someone. Because of the kind of life he leads, it seemed odd that they weren't from anything like that.

Artemis Fowl 6 - The Time Paradox

So. I've read it now. And it is absolutely brilliant. I mean, the time-travel in The Lost Colony was impressive, as were the battles and the plot, but this just topped it. I love the lemur, though I'm not sure he should seem quite so sentient. And surely the drop would've hurt Artemis and the creatures a little. The time-travel thing is well resolved, very cleverly done. The person who read it before me translated the code at the bottom. Apparently it's amusing and worth reading. However, it does need another book. He just cannot end the series like that though. There's the unresolved villain thing floating around. So in a way, he has left a bit of a paradox to puzzle over. I can see the set up for real villainy though, and it's just perfect for another book. I love how Holly gets to talk to Root again too and say goodbye. I still think Holly and Artemis belong together though. Somehow. It's a shame Artemis... Well, I'd probably better not say about that, but it is a shame. It's one of the great unanswered questions you see, and I'd feel rotten spoiling it for someone even if it does happen somewhere pretty early on in the book. The Kraken are awesome, though not nearly as important to the overall plot and such forth as the Unofficial Fan Site made out. I would've liked to see them feature a little more. And the same with Minerva. I was half-expecting Artemis and Minerva to get together, even if I do think Holly and Artemis would make a better match, but she wasn't mentioned at all. I had this fear that Holly was going to die and that was why it was the last book. She's my absolute favourite character. I think that's about it. There was an instance of Mulch burping, which dwarves are supposedly unable to do because of the way they're anatomically structured. Plus I love the way he blasts himself around, he's a pretty great character too. Great villain too by the way. I'm sure you'll love/hate her just as much as you're supposed to...

Dreams

They're weird things. So, I figured I'd best post them up here like a good girl, seeing as I couldn't be bothered recently.
The first one was just before my Textiles exam. I had a nightmare, where I left school a bit late to come home to have my hair cut (ludicrous, I wasn't even going to school the next morning before I got my hair cut) and then realised as I was on the bus that it was about twenty past one and I was supposed to be in the exam. Had a slight panic and woke myself up at five to six.
The other one was the night before last, where I dreamed about having a baby. Yeh, odd. I was screaming, there were pen drives involved, and it was really, really weird, not how it should be at all. Anyway...
At least the Textiles one didn't come true. My third exam nightmare. None of them came true thankfully. Textiles exam wasn't too hard at all. Coloured my design in scrappily, just enough so you could tell what was what, like your supposed to, worked through the rest of the test, and found myself with an hour to colour in the remainder of the design. I mean, I know I finish early, but that really is ludicrous. I had a whole hour that I didn't particularly need at all. So I coloured in the design very neatly indeed, which took me half an hour, then just sat there and vegetated.

Whoo!! I finished school!!

I'm done with school. No more must I enter that accursed exam hall and sit in silence. Sure, there're more exams to come next year, but let's not think of that for now. All that really matters is that I'm done, on holiday for the summer, and amazingly it isn't raining, although it is rather cold and cloudy. Going away tomorrow for the weekend. Not going to choir. I probably should, but I've just finished, I think I deserve a lie in tomorrow. I'll be back for choir after tomorrow though. After all, I am the narrator in The Reluctant Dragon.

Monday 9 June 2008

Hayfever, meh.

I have hayfever. Right now, there's a very high pollen count. Enough said.

Sunday 8 June 2008

Artemis Fowl 6 - The Time Paradox

I can't believe it! The librarian who runs the teenage book club has got hold of an advance reading copy of the new Artemis Fowl book. There were three of us who want to read it, so I'm getting it on Thursday to read. Can't wait! It's only due to be released in August. I'll definitely get the proper copy, but a chance to read a sneak preview beforehand... I can't wait! I'll put a bit of a review up here, but obviously I don't want to say too much about what happens and spoil it.

Mr Clarinet

Well this book by Nick Stone was absolutely brilliant. It's well worth reading if you have the time (it's about 560 pages). I love the main character, he's brill, and the plot was amazing, with a very unexpected turn of events towards the end. I picked it up because I play the clarinet, read the blurb and decided to get it from the guy at the market. Started reading it, and found it very, very difficult to stop and deal with such things as guinea pigs and food and revision and sleep. Actually, I wound up not going to sleep until I'd finished it. It's a crime/thriller thing, and the characters are all believable and good, solid, 3D affairs. Not really any obvious stereotypes. The main character is an ex-cop, ex-convict, kind of ex-PI, who is pretty down on his luck what with just losing his wife in a road accident. He gets offered a fortune by a wealthy man to find his missing son, Charlie, and after hesitation as it's in Haiti, agrees to take it.

Saturday 7 June 2008

More characters...



Ok, so I made a couple more. Here they are:
The one on the left is Ash, the one on the right is Sky. Ash is probably one of my favourite ever characters. he's a strange one, hard to understand. I'm quite fond of Sky too, she's an intrigueing proposition. Not really sure what to think of her. She's got almost as conflicting a personality as Ash. Ash isn't a demon, despite him having black wings and all. He's in a different series to Sky, who is an angel. He's a Birdie, and I'm quite fond on him, even if he is rather unpredictable and can be quite vicious and violent. I don't know how to get rid of the random bubbles, and his hair should perhaps be a little more curly, but that was the best I could manage with what I had. Anyway, he's a pretty awesome character. I'm going to write Two For Joy over the holidays I think. It's the second book about him, the first being One For Sorrow. I'm going to have to start Two For Joy again though, because I'm not happy about where the current version is going. Not enough police stuff in the first bit, takes too long to properly get started, but I don't know how to cut back on it. Easiest thing is to just rewrite it completely from scratch, although it won't really be from scratch since I already have Ash, even if he's something of an enigma to me. No matter. He's great, I like him, and he's got a very interesting story coming up.

Friday 6 June 2008

Double Cross

Well. I wasn't so impressed with the most recent Maximum Ride book--The Final Warning--by James Patterson, and 6th Target wasn't quite as good as the other Women's Murder Club books either, but Double Cross was absolutely brilliant. I love Dr Cross' girlfriend, Detective Stone, and the story was just awesome. It had a lot of pace. Not that many twists, but plenty of good plain action. So it's definitely worth reading. Don't write James Patterson off yet. I nearly didn't read it because I was quite disappointed by Cross, but Double Cross was fantastic. Finished it in English today after starting last night, forcing myself (somehow or other) to stop and go to bed whilst part way through, reading some more after waking up at 6:20, and then more on the bus. I was really peeved when it ended, can't wait for the next one, Cross Country. Hope it comes out soon.

English and Chemistry

Well, chemistry yesterday was pretty hard. I just could not do the empirical formula question. It was impossible. Don't think anyone else could either. Still. Only exam so far that's taken me the full time. English could've been worse, but the article just completely slagged off teenagers and the first two questions were virtually identical. The writing part was ok though. About how to survive teenagers and the smoking ban. Pretended I was an old lady for the letter about the smoking ban since it gave me an excuse to use loads of nice long words.

I'm Alive!

Eight exams in a week, and I'm here to tell the tale. RE today wasn't too bad. Two of the three eight mark questions we'd gone over in class because they were on last years paper. The first one I wasn't too sure on, but I just made it up and hoped for the best. You can do that with RE though.

Wednesday 4 June 2008

Mad guinea pig...

I think someone gave next door's guinea pigs a large quantity of sugar. Rachel was hyper. She was just everywhere, scrambling up me, even leaping across from James onto me at one point, and absolutely desperate for grass. They're normally so placid and just eat the grass you stick in front of them without any trouble. James was screaming like crazy, which may have made matters worse by scaring them or something, but still...

Some stuff I want to do

Yeh, I thought I'd make a list of what I want to do before I die... So, here it is:
* Appear on the radio
* Get published
* Do a parachute jump
* Fly a biplane
* Go hang-gliding
* Learn some HTML, to make games and stuff
* Go rock-climbing
* Do silver and gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards (though I don't know if I'll manage gold, it's quite hard)
* Eat snails
* Visit Hawaii and wear a grass skirt
* Visit Canada/Alaska and go dog-sledding
* Go to China and Japan
* Live in a canal boat
* Dye my hair an unnatural colour
* Work with London City Mission
* Some other stuff, but I can't be bothered writing any more down right now. This is probably an awful lot of ambitions for one person, but I'll just have to see how many get ticked off.

Over half way through!

Well, I got to come home early today, despite having two afternoon exams. Got home about an hour earlier than usual and so played scrabble.

Officially, I should go in next Tuesday afternoon, for my history lesson. Unofficially, nobody particularly minds, provided I'm sensible. Unofficially, I can also leave early after my last exam. So, I'm thinking that's what I'm doing. Seven exams left to go.

French wasn't too hard, apart from the answer in English bit, which was about smoking and stuff, which was a little tricky, so I just wrote randomness. Bear in mind though, everyone will have found it hard, not just me and my set. Mrs Wilkinson's back. Having a party on Friday, a large portion of which I will miss thanks to RE exam, but I should get the last part. I'll miss most of the next lesson on Wednesday though, so I guess she only really came back for part lessons as far as I'm concerned.

IT was pretty straight forward. Any idea what the layout of a formal letter has to do with IT? There was a question which asked what standard thing was missing from a letter. It was the date, if you were interested. Seemed a little odd though.

Monday 2 June 2008

Pink Party!

Whoo!
Rhea's Pink Party was such good fun! Had a fab time, danced loads, came home shattered, and slept through till half eight on Sunday morning, which is pretty much a record for me at the moment.

Ten (fiction) books you all should read

I've been thinking about this, what my list of books everyone should read would contain. So, in no particular order of preference, here it is:
* Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly
* Taggerung by Brian Jacques
* Maximum Ride, the Angel Experiment by James Patterson
* Prayer for the Dying by Jack Higgins
* Atlantis by David Gibbins
* Eragon by Christopher Paolini
* Memorial Day by Vince Flynn
* The Burning Blue by James Holland
* The Sleepwalker by Robert Muchamore
* When the Wind Blows by James Patterson (although the sequel is nowhere near as good)
So, I think you should read all of these, and then you'll probably want to read others by the same author, which is why I've tried not to put more than one from each author on. However, Clive Cussler is also definitely worth reading, I just couldn't pick out one in particular since he's written a lot and I haven't read anything like all of them. I've only read the Dirk Pitt ones so far.

Stuff is happening

Just thought you might like to know. Stuff is happening. There's going to be a huge outpouring of the holy spirit in the Preston area soon. There've been loads of visions about it at my church, and stuff is definitely happening there. Didn't have a sermon again on Sunday night, we were just worshipping. It was amazing. I want to do something. I don't know what, but I want to do something, to be involved. I don't particularly care what. Even if it's only taking tea to the healing team that's going to be be starting up soon on the flag market, I've forgotten what day, think it's going to be a Saturday, I want to be involved.

Bouncy

I feel really energetic and wired right now. Need to go do something. Maths exam was boring. Was very hyper just before, and am feeling hyper again now. Shall go bounce on trampoline/go for a walk/go cycling. I shall do something. Or I may explode. Bye.