sohardtobeoriginal

After all this time? Always.

After all this time, indeed. Every time I think I’m over HP, I come back and read some and remember why it was I used to spend a week every summer reading all of them one after the other.

I may not be rushing out to buy HP and the Cursed Child; but I have no doubt I will read it and be ensnared by JK’s magic once again. Because, wizards and witches aside, that’s what these books – and good…

Last week I was visiting some friends and their dog.

Now, whenever they ask the dog something, he cocks his head to the side like he is listening, and trying to understand what it is he is being asked.

Not only is it incredibly cute, but, as someone studying interactions between humans and other animals, I found it particularly interesting.

It reminded me of a book I quoted to you last week,…

In the Mesopotamian tale of Gilgamesh, our earliest heroic epic, the Bull of Heaven represented a terrible drought, which came early in the second millennium and may have destroyed the mighty Akkadian empire. The Bull was sent down to earth as a punishment because Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu had cut down the cedar forests of Lebanon and killed its guardian, Humbaba. The animal immediately…

What kind of country do you want?

I will be frank, this isn’t a myth-busting piece, or a reasoned argument taking points from both sides (although just for the record disliking the EU because it is “undemocratic” is a terrible reason. Have you been campaigning for the reform of the House of Lords lately?).

This is also not a piece telling you which way you should vote: that is a decision only you can make: but please think carefu…

What’s your favourite scary movie?

This morning I’ve been thinking a lot about nightmares.

Last night I had a rubbish dream, in which I became rather good at rugby, and then got upset because all the kids in my gym class started being mean to me for it.

Yes, it was quite ridiculous, but as horrible dreams go, it was fairly harmless.

Likewise, I often have dreams about being late for something and going over and over the scenario…

What does love have to do with anything?

So today, as I was supposed to be finishing a draft of a thesis-chapter, I was instead scrolling through Twitter.

I came across a link to this post: “I’m 15-Years-Old And This Is What Love Feels Like“. 

Yes, I’m 25 and a grown-up (supposedly) and I found 15 year old girls possibly one of the most annoying creatures on the planet when I was 15, so I don’t know why I clicked on it.

But, what can I…

Today in class we were talking about translation. So I thought I’d give it a go: here are my own version of lines 107-122 of Beowulf. At first I had intended to do a prose translation, nice and wordy and really emphasising the creepy aspects, especially the fire on the water and the ancient trees. Then this sort of happened:

They inhabit there a secret land, a wolf-infested slope whipped round…

What better way to procrastinate than by designing your own characters as miniatures on HeroForge?

It’s a cool website.

This is Xochitl, once she’s realised she’s a bad-ass. 

If you could ask God one question, what would it be?

In my last two hours in Glasgow, I was hi-jacked by two missionaries so young I first thought they were two school sixth-formers doing a school project. “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?” one of them asked me. To be honest, I would have probably waved them off with a flustered I-need-to-catch-a-train gesture and thought nothing of it, except the guy who asked me was from Hong…

My favourite places…

The little village of Kalami in Corfu is one of my favourite places in the world. As a family we spent multiple holidays there, and one day I hope to return – although I know it won’t be the same without the rose-tinted glasses of carefree childhood and adolescence.

And no doubt the “pink monstrosity” is no longer the only hotel in the area.

So, way back in 2011 I wrote a little post about Joe Abercrombie, and especially this book. I’m going to blame life for getting in the way of my reading it until now.

In truth, several things had put me off starting this. Firstly, while I loved The first Law trilogy, I was worried that The Heroes might be dealing with similar sorts of characters and not offer anything particularly new or…

This summer has been ridiculous.

In the best way, of course, but just ridiculous.

First I was off to Iceland for ten days, networking and learning alongside students and professors from all over the globe in the name of Environmental approaches to our respective disciplines.

Then I was back in the UK to sleep and try and put the multitude of ideas swarming round my brain to work on my thesis.…

I don’t often think / talk / write about appearances. I am not a lifestyle blogger, and no do I wish to be (unless by “lifestyle” you mean writing about reading and learning stuff, which I suppose wouldn’t be too far off… Wait. Maybe I am a “lifestyle” blogger? Anyway…)

However, one thing I have realised over the last two weeks, is how much make-up some other people wear – and how much I really…

Is there a collective noun for a group of books? If not, there should be!

I spent a fair portion of today looking at books and agonising at which one to buy (I had to buy one, you understand, right?).

In the end I decided on The Fire-Prince by Emily Gee, mainly because I enjoyed The Sentinel Mage fairly recently, but it was tough call!

So to make up for it, I made sure to photograph the covers of…

Why are rogues so irresistible?

I can’t get enough of the morally-ambiguous, always has an answer for everything, resourceful pieces of sh*t. Whether it’s in books or games, they’re always my favourite person to work with – regardless of whether there’s anything likeable about them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about the *really* morally reprehensible characters (call me ‘inauthentic’, but…

We all love a terrible conspiracy thriller, right?

Well, back in the day this was my concept for one. I came across this while sorting out some files and thought I might as well share: if only for the rather splendid background picture.

Who knows, maybe someday I’ll get around to finishing it.

Why only review fiction?

This 2004 publication by Chris Fowler is a short (but far from shallow) review of the ways archaeology can interact with concepts of ‘personhood’ in past societies.

I found it immensely readable (unlike a certain other archaeological text I attempted last week *cough* Ian Hodder *cough*), and personally felt it did a very good job of introducing approaches and concepts…