Top Ten Childhood Faves

This sounds like a very good one, but I kind of thinking that I wasn't a huge reader as a child, so I only read a handful of books. It all kicked out in about 2005/2006. So I'm going to say pre-12 years is child. From around 12-14 it's tween or pre-teen, I think.

1. Russell Troy, Monster Boy This is the book I remember as my favourite for many, many years. I can only vaguely remember the story, but I do still own it. I guess this influenced my interest in fantasy!
2. My Tiny Treasury Now this is really old. It's full of little stories and poems and is something I can't get rid of because I've had it as long as I remember.
3. Harry Potter This was, as I have said many times, the beginning of reading for me. I owe JK so much, in so many ways. I'm hoping she doesn't ask me to pay back for this debt I am convinced I owe her.
4. Encyclopaedia of Dinosaurs and other Prehistoric Creatures I think every boy has a dinosaur phase at some point in their childhood, some even go on to do it for a career! For me, it was just an interest, a hobby. But, as always, I wanted to know everything about dinosaurs that I could, and I read this Encyclopaedia thrice through, and read sections every few months.
5. Anything by Roahl Dahl Mostly Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I loved the rhymes!) but I think I read quite a bit of his stuff. Not as much as I'd like, but a lot indeed.
6. Eragon This was the borderline child-reading for me. It was a much more grown-up book, so I didn't completely understand it, but it was something I remember reading in '05 or so. Now, I don't think I'd really recommend it to a child!
7. Role-Playing Books These are those books were you play a character and role dice to have your own written adventure. Apparently my dad used to like these too, so I had some very old ones a few new ones too. They're not really proper books, but I'm running out of things I read now!
8. Because of how my school worked (as with many English schools and perhaps many international schools) there were always 'set reading books' that people could read and if you read enough, you advanced a reading level. When this first started, I'd consume a book a night so I did rather well in this aspect. The day I made it past levels onto 'library' was an important day for me. It meant I could read anything I wanted.
9. The Dictionary....

Okay, I'm out of ideas. I did warn you that I wasn't the most...reader-some child, but I think I found it difficult to sit still for a long period of time and concentrated on a book. When I did read books they were (a) short, (b) funny, (c) something I was really interested in or (d) something that I could help but love and that I can't pigeon hole as anything really. I was also a much more avid re-reader since I had books that I knew I liked and read on repeat annually.

Anyway, happy reading, hopefully with better success than my childhood self!

Friday Hop Sept

Q: It’s Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. so we want to know what you are Thankful for – blogging related of course! Who has helped you out along the way? What books are you thankful for reading?

I hate these questions. I ain't too great at being thankful and heartfelt. I'm just not generally good at emotion full stop. So when I hear this, I think of everyone who might expect me to mention them. But I don't wnat to do that, I want to try and be honest. So I decided I'd go for the one person I'm most thankful for in the blogosphere.

Karen. At For What It's Worth or @teamsheltie on Twitter.

I have bloggers I like, respect, read and feel I owe some of my tact and blogging ways to (I really do. If I haven't mentioned anyone and they feel left out, know that I you are all the jam on my bread. You make blogging this sweet experience), but that fine lady above encouraged me to go one step further and actually do a blog. You may all laugh and guffaw whilst reading, and tell your loved ones over dinner how monumentally bad this blog is, but I don't mind. Karen encouraged me to do this, and I love the dimension it adds to my life and outlook. Joining the blogging universe in the concrete way of starting a blog is like buying a house in the nieghbourhood you've always wanted to live in. The people are better than expected, it's comfortable and you don't need to worry about how things are going because this such a big change that you know things will work out as they're supposed to.

Part of doing this meant getting over that original fear and idea about blogging. It was scary. It was constant judgement, perhaps ridicule, in an environment that the whole 7 billion people of the world could potentially see. How do I overcome that? Stepping stones. Karen let me guest post and it sort of chased away my lingering demons. It was nice and even though I cannot physically keep guest posting for her, she can quite easily claim any of my post as her own, any book or any statement, since I owe her a whole bunch.

And she sent me Enclave. Winning a book makes me love anyone, but I adored that it led to conversations and surpassed the simple "Thansk for the book I won". I'm eternally grateful.

When You're Not Reading: What occupies your time 

when your nose isn't stuck in a book?

Just to get the obvious out of the way: school. I spend probably a third (if not more) of my week doing school related things. Homework, going to school, extra-ciricular or revision.

But if I get the time, I am- like many teenagers- quite a keen gamer. I haven't done a great deal recently, but I do do it in spurts when I have a particular game I like. I don't like shooters- the ones you hear about all the time- rather I like RPGs (Role Playing Games). I have the belief that a good RPG is like a good book. It completely immerses you in an alternate reality where you can do and experience the impossible. It's not for everyone, but I can personally see the parallels. Also, it's nice to be able to have something I love on multiple levels (Re: fantasy).

I also try and do exercise. Mostly it's just personal cardio, but I'm thinking about running properly. I started a while ago but gave up because of time constraints. It won't come about in the near furture but I hope it does soon. And I'm not fitness-mad. It's just that I like to graze on food while doing things and grazing is kind of a bad habit that I can't break. Instead, I just try to stay ahead of it.

My more interesting hobbies include:

- Taekwondo (I tell you, I'm not fitness-mad!) but not as much as I used to. My club closed down so it's mostly just a bit of practise every now and then.

- I write a little. I'm not a great writer; I'm more a good ideas person. Still, I don't have a creative outlet so I need something. I avoid poetry like the plague, but a bit of fiction never hurt anybody! Also, I can't draw. My 10 year old cousin draws better than I can ever hope to. I'm also in the school newspaper, but it's early days.

-  Probably my most unique thing is that I study Ancient Greek Classics (the language), and I don't even go to public school! It's so hard, and I tweet about it and complain, but's it's something I'm proud of for its innate quirkiness. And I can say things in Greek that are stupid, but sound impressive!

- I also really like casual learning. (Goodness I'm boring). It just means I try to learn a new concept (science, philosophy, psychology, writing, you name it!) each week and then test myself on them at the end of the month. I enjoy the challenge.

Besides other things like shopping, film and (obviously) blogging, there's not much else. Reading is kind of a dominant feature in my life.