My Welcome Back Foyles Book Haul

Soooooo…since I lasted posted in August about my sailing course, a number of things have happened: I went to Scotland and avoided spontaneously combusting (read the last post if you don't get that), started school again, realised that despite the hype Year 8 is really not that different to Year 7, turned thirteen and went up the Shard (for all you non-Londoners, this is a skyscraper and one of the tallest buildings in Europe) to celebrate, also went to India in October (and unfortunately had to do holiday homework there so couldn't blog) to revel in tuk-tuks and ancient forts, and also spent a lot of potential blogging time on either Instagram or writing/practising songs for my YouTube channel (I don't mean to be a billboard in disguise of a blog but do take the time to look at that.). Sorry about that, I'll try to divide time more equally in the future. But anyway, those are all tales I'll probably fondly recap in the future because they'll bear an inch or two of relevance to the post I'll be writing. Now though, I'll celebrate my return with a post theme we all love in the blogging circles: a book haul.

My mum and I were Christmas shopping in the Covent Garden/Tottenham Court Road area today, a place which automatically drags me to the Foyles book store. Handy, especially when you have nearly £50 worth of book tokens like me. And no, I'm not a book hoarder who actually buys book tokens FOR THEIR OWN USE. I actually acquired that many as prizes for being in the winning team of the UK National Final of the Kids' Lit Quiz. Those of you who've followed my blog for a long time will also know that my school and I did this international quiz on childrens' books last year, were North London champions but failed at the national hurdle. 

But enough rambling, onto the books I bought…

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Yay, I got a signed first edition! When and if this book becomes famous in fifty years time, I can show off that I have a first edition! But about the actual book, Ness's award-winning last book A Monster Calls about a boy haunted by a monster while his mother dies of cancer, was both haunting and moving without being overloaded on either, not to mention the equally amazing, roughly sketched illustrations, so I don't need to spell out why I wanted to read this one. Also, this book is based around a recently dead boy exploring life after death, and seems as I enjoy similarly themed books such as White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick, this appealed.

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

As with Patrick Ness, I'd previously been slightly obsessed by Rebecca Stead's previous book When You Reach Me, so much that just the author's name now jumps out to me as an essential buy. And with the unique premise of a spy organisation made up of two twelve-year-olds, and if it weren't for my school's Christmas reading challenge of five dull books of the school's choosing, this would be high on my holiday reading list.

A World Between Us by Lydia Syson

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this vintage-style cover is beautiful and will draw any book store browser immediately in. Aside from that, while I haven't heardof this book or author before, and while the love-in-wartime theme seems clichéd, the Spanish Civil War is a period relatively undocumented in YA literature, so I'd be willing to give this a go.

Ink by Amanda Sun

Another beautiful cover here. As the style of the cover might suggest, this book is set in Japan, more specifically about a girl moving there and befriending a tough and aloof artist. All sounds fairly unoriginal, until his drawings come to life. A premise which I think could make a very visually attractive film, but I suppose all those thoughts depend on whether I like the book…

Dash & Lily's Book Of Dares by Rachael Cohn & David Levithan

I know what you're thinking. More than one author = trashy. And quite possibly this book is, but again I was hopelessly intrigued by a premise. Girl leaves notebook full of dares in a book store, boy finds it and participates in the dares, each time he does one the girl refreshes the notebook with a new one, they fall in love in this bizarre, old-fashioned form of communication. The kind of flukey situation everyone dreams of, and I'm sure I'll soon be looking in every book store for a dare notebook.

Every Day by David Levithan

Another book by one half of the above writing duo, and I bet you also assume this book will be trashy too. But I still think looks can be deceiving, and this in fact seems to have quite a unique premise: a boy wakes up as a different person every morning, an arrangement he is fine with, until he falls in love with a girl he will never see again from the next morning on. One of those bizarre ideas us normal people would never think up, but I'm interested to see how the author writes this without it seeming fantastical.

Once I read these (which probably won't be for a while thanks to that irritating reading challenge), I'll review them as soon as I can. It should be interesting comparing what I think when I read them to what I thought when I wrote this post. But for now, sorry for the long posting break, and thanks to all of you for not giving up on me returning! 

-DP :)

Pigs, Peanuts And Pretty Pointless Movies: What You Can Find At A Car Boot Sale

It's May Day bank holiday everyone! Well, to be honest, I'm not as excited as I sound, because my bank holidays are less holidays than extensions to the weekend, which basically means slightly more time to finish homework projects/mess around on my iPad. So nothing particularly special. The only thing that really set this one apart was the sudden increase in temperature (it was significantly sunnier than when I posted about spring a few weeks ago), which I guess gave me some opportunity to sit or walk around in the garden, even if it was doing homework.

However, perhaps it's a reckless exaggeration that all I did was work and do everyday things this May Day. Because we did just go to a car boot sale yesterday! Yay! I never used to treat car boot sales with so much enthusiasm, thinking they were just another pointless thing my mum likes, but lately – I don't know if it's the new pig collection, more excitement in searching for new books and movies, a stronger interest in shopping or just a broadening of horizons since I started secondary school last September – I've sort of enjoyed searching around for little gems there a whole lot more, with their non-brand-new look and cheap prices.

So the one we went to was in a town near the country house, but I'll quit talking (only for a bit, though) and show you the haul, starting with the new inductees of my pig collection...

I was taken aback at the amount of pigs on sale, as I was only expecting one or two, or maybe none at all.  But car boot sales have surprised me again, and I came home with this load! The pink and brown pair at the front have a delightful homemade look, with their pathetic expressions, dot eyes and imperfect paint, and they're great as a combination together. The two plastic pigs next to them are a bit conventional pale-pink-pig, but I probably wouldn't have bought them if they hadn't been such a cute mother and piglet pair.

And then we get to the back row and the piggy banks. I don't intend to use these to store money, because I don't really get pocket money, I just ask my parents if I can have money to buy something or I get money from the bank on debit card. When I was younger, I used to use a red piggy bank (this will soon be in my collection, along with another wooden pig I found in my bedroom) and then a cute Japanese waving cat bank, but those days are far behind us.

But anyway, more about these piggy banks. While the turquoise one on the left has a cute unhappy face and interesting colouring, it's the one on the left I really love. Its cheeky expression, especially when viewed from the side, is a masterpiece of paintwork and the purple fish on the side is a unique touch (the pig is from Malta, if you were wondering). All in all, a great pig haul (Haha, that rhymes)!

 Note: If you've never read Peanuts or Calvin & Hobbes, you probably won't get any of the references in this passage. Just to warn you.

I'd never really read much Peanuts before now, although I am a huge and slightly obsessive fan of Calvin & Hobbes, the cartoonist of which cites Peanuts as a major influence, which is what drew me to them. When I first picked one of these up at the sale table, I thought "No. This isn't like any of Calvin & Hobbes, this is way too babyish. There's no hidden meaning behind these strips." But then I realised, that's sort of the point. The simplicity of the drawings provides immense charisma with just a circle and two dots, and the simple speech and jokes of Charlie Brown and the others are in some ways a lot more readable and charming than the philosophical points and often pretentiousness of Calvin's discussions with Hobbes, his parents and his teacher.

Also, I guess they're both very synonymous with other cartoons of their times: Peanuts has the innocent humour I've seen in books of 60s comics, and Calvin & Hobbes has the same cultural references and artistic criticism of other 80s and 90s cartoons and kids shows. Overall, I probably prefer the cynical yet amusing rants of Calvin, but that doesn't make Peanuts not enjoyable for a lighter read. And it definitely didn't stop me reading one and a half of the five books we bought (for £1!) on the car ride home and later placing it on my toilet reading pile :) (which used to include Calvin & Hobbes, but I've read and reread them too many times, apparently :()

Ah, now the movies. We bought many more than this, but these are the ones that really interested me: A Handful Of Dust, a historicy-romancey thingy; Along Came Polly, which is quite a famous rom-com, which I've heard lots about but somehow avoided seeing; and a totally random film I know nothing about, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The only one I've seen so far is the latter, but I think the review will need a post for itself, as will the other movie reviews. I guess that's why I've just described it as "totally random" – I don't want to give so much away that I can't write the review! Anyway, reviews of all three coming soon!

And, finally, the bench on which I photographed them all! This will probably be used for drinks, food, outdoor decorations, maybe a seat and, of course, a photography pedestal on our country house patio, which is where all the photos are taken. I think it's quite a unique turquoisey-blue on here, sort of teal blue, it reminds me a bit of my Scout shirt :). But I think it's a nice blue that goes tastefully with the sparse red decoration. Also the star cut-out with the red inside is an interesting touch: it's not as brash as having a painted red star would be, but it's still a unique, eyecatching addition and sets the bench apart from all the rustic-style furniture that's popular right now.

What do you think of my haul? Do you ever go to car boot sales? If so, what do you buy? Don't hesitate to comment!

-DP :)

A Pretty Respectable Clothes Haul

Hello! Since this is my first post in the second year of The DP, I thought I'd post about something I've never broached before on this site: fashion. I do like looking at clothes on the Internet, in magazines and shops but I'm not somebody who will specifically go somewhere just to buy clothes. Usually, it'll be to buy or do other things as well. And I'm also not somebody who remembers the exact label of all the outfits they own or who buys clothes just for their brand. I mostly rely on simply how nice they look.

But I try to be as versatile as I can when I write this blog, and that means blogging about a variety of topics and not just sticking to one isolated theme or to my prime circle of interests.  And my latest show of blog versatility is me writing about my small but though-I-say-so-myself impressive haul of a V-neck jumper and a summer dress/tunicy thing. I got them on Thursday at a little second-hand sale selling pretty much anything from short shorts and Abercrombie & Fitch hoodies to label-less and in my opinion nicer-looking pieces (me buying the latter). You're probably dying to see the photographs of said items that I bought, so I won't hestitate to show them to you.

I love the colour of this thin little tunic! It's lilac but still dark enough to avoid wimpy light purples, and purple but still light enough to not be synonymous with black. I also love the summery feel, and I think it'll be great to wear over maybe black or dark-coloured leggings when the weather gets warmer. It's from American Apparel, which I'd heard of but didn't know much about, so I Googled them and came up with this image (NB: this picture isn't mine), which I thought was just as cool as the purple dress. My favourite outfit is the pale green dress with the gold leggings. I think those two colours work really well together, especially in this context.

This one's more for warmth than fashion, as it's just a simple v-neck. But - and this is a big but - it's CASHMERE!!! It's so warm, thick and fluffy, and I'm sure it will serve me well in future winter nights. It's also a very pretty colour, which is what attracted me to it, a bit darker than the picture because the flash was being funny, more of a turquoise. And it's also from a hilariously named label called - wait for it - CUSS! I can't find it anywhere on the Internet, but my Mum says it's Italian. But despite the unfortunate name, it's a fantastic jumper.

I am pretty impressed with these new purchases, and I hope all of you guys are with yours, if you've made any. Happy shopping!

-DP :)

PS School broke up yesterday for half term, so I hope to be able to post LOADS!!