The Book Vine

These are my feet. I come from the south coast of England and I have been alive for twenty four years. 

My favourite books of all time are: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, Shogun by James Clavell, Howls Moving Castle and Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones, The American Boy and The Roth trilogy by Andrew Taylor, The Otori series by Lian Hearn, The Loop by Nicholas Evans and many many more but these are the books I would recommend without hesitation.

Like Becky, I have a compulsion for excessive book buying. Only yesterday did I pick up three new books (The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry, The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch and The Colour by Rose Tremain) which brings me up to a total of 365 unread books all stuffed into my bookshelf.

 This is my bookshelf - showing my to-be-read shelves. It's quite and old picture now as it has since been rearranged and made untidy by every time I have to dig through it to get to the book I want.

It is a constant battle to keep my bookshelf in some semblance of order and it is so jam-packed that the back is bulging outwards and some of the nails are falling out. At least I know that if there is a nuclear war I will have a good supply of books to keep me going.

The Book Vine has not helped at all with curbing my book addiction, if anything we just end up persuading each other to come into possession of even more books. (You guys are fantastic!)

Other then books, I enjoy cross stitching so maybe I will share with you my creations (or destructions as they may turn out to be!) I enjoy nature and natural things - the beauty of wildlife never ceases to fascinate me. I would love to go exploring the British countryside one of these days - to take my book into a field, lay down and just read. I am of course imagining that the sun is out but most likely it will turn grey and rain knowing my lucky rain cloud that follows me about.

I also love old things - castles, ruins of castles, stately homes, history that you can see and touch and feel and be a part of. I want to read more history books, biographies and all that but to me history is so much more about being there and trying to imagine it. I would love to see all the cathedrals and castles in Europe and the world. 

Cities fascinate me also, I would love to move to London, Bristol or somewhere where there is LIFE which I know is completely contrary to what I have just been saying about the countryside - considering one is full of fresh air and the other pollution and the ugliness of humans. But I like the ugliness  and the beauty of people, I like observing people especially in train stations and the like wondering what they get up to when they are at home.

I love the theatre and my dream would be to be able to go to the West End  in London, but then saying that some of the best times I have had, the best plays have just been in the library who have hosted quite a few plays costing no more then a fiver to get in. I love how they make you feel - how you can lose yourself there and just believe and become a part of the story. 

Other then that, I of course like watching films - such as Gosford Park, Inside I'm Dancing, Lawless Heart and many more. My favourite music artists are Regina Spektor, Mumford and Son, Bat for Lashes, Muse  (and yes, Lady Gaga too!) but my main musical love is soundtracks. Anything by Hans Zimmer and John Williams are winners for me. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Vivaldi are my favourite classical composers and I also love the modern 'neo' classical artists such as Arvo Part, Gorecki and Karl Jenkins.

In the past I have also enjoyed writing but I am so out of practise, though maybe one day - who knows. If I can master the art of writing something without boring the pants off everyone maybe I will get back into it all.

Other then my interests, I also spend my time volunteering in a hospital which I have done in various forms over quite a few years now - and also in an environmental charity too. I love volunteering and think I would like to continue doing so in some shape or form long in the future.

And well, that is me - all figured out.