This post has been a long time coming...

At least once I week I end up typing the phrase 'literaty tattoos' into google, more often than not I end up on contrariwise (which you should all go look at after reading this post!) I can't believe it has taken me over a year to get round to doing a tattoo post!

That being said, if I'd done this a year ago I might not have had quite so much to share...

Shakespeare

Hamlet

 

1

 

2

 

3

4

 Henry VIII

 

5

 

The Tempest

 

6



Neil Gaiman - Sandman

7

8

9

 

10

11

Harry Potter

12

13

14a

14b

15

 

16

Lemony Snicket

17

18

19

20

So what's with the numbers? Ah well, four of these tats are not from contariwise, but are my very own skin and ink!

Prizes to those who guess which four are mine*!


*Prizes may be virtual

Happy Birthday!

This weekend marked this blog’s first birthday! Hurrah!

Have cake.

Due to an accidental spike in popularity I have now passed 3000 hits! Hurrah again!

Which prompted me to have a look through the rest of my stats…

Most popular posts have been…

5) I’m Going to Hogwarts!

4)  Race For Life

3) I Was a Teenage Book Thief

2)  Pensives and Post-it notes

And in the number one spot?

1)  2000 Hits This is simultaneously funny and tragic! Seriously, a fluke takes the top spot? Gah! I have got to sort this blog out!!!

Top searches that cause google to spit out this blog are:

2000, Post-its (ha ha ha!) Hogwarts (but of course) and my personal favourite ‘Giant Ursula’

Naturally.

Outside of the bloggersphere, other things that have happened in the past year include me moving house, losing a cat, and doubling the number of tattoos I have (four new ones this year! Four! And all of them literary references… hmmm, I think I have a theme for my next post…)

And more importantly, after various mishaps, re-writes, playlists, paintings, mud pies and writing in the bath... I am about to start on my fourth (how near is this to being the final?) draft of this blasted book! Which I love really, and am very excited to finish.

So there you have it. What I did this year!

More soon...

Laura

I was a Teenage Book Thief

Okay let’s clarify that before I have the police knocking on my door. I didn’t actually steal any books. Nor do I have any unreturned library books collecting dust and fines alike (I hope?) 

But I did steal words.

I never had a diary, but what I did have was a notebook (or several) that I would fill with favourite lines from books, songs, and what appears to be several quotes from Buffy The Vampire Slayer (hey, she had some good advice!)

As I got older the lyrics and Buffy quotes were dropped and more and more pages from books found their way into my notebooks.

Whilst unpacking (yet more boxes!) I re-discovered some of these books, and thought I’d share some of the things I considered important enough to copy out for myself.

 

Wolf Brother - Michelle Paver

‘We…we could be friends, you know’ said Coraline

‘We could be rare specimens of an exotic breed of African dancing elephant’ said the cat ‘but we’re not. At least’ it added cattily, after darting a look at Coraline, ‘I’m not.’

Coraline - Neil Gaiman

'Devil’s Snare, Devil’s Snare… What did professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp– ’

‘So light a fire!’ Harry choked

‘Yes of course – but there’s no wood! Hermione cried wringing her hands.

‘HAVE YOU GONE MAD? Ron bellowed ‘ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?’

The Philosophers Stone – JK Rowling

‘If you have ever lost someone very important to you, then you already know how it feels, and if you haven’t, you cannot possibly imagine it.’

The Bad Beginning – Lemony Snicket

‘The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted. Trisha Mcfarland discovered this when she was nine years old. Lost in the woods.’

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – Stephen King

‘Not all those who wander are lost’

Lord of The Rings - JRR Tolkein

‘It didn’t matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn’t heard us calling, still do not hear us…calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time…and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.’

The Virgin Suicides – Jeffry Eugenides

‘There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve foot mountain Troll is one of them’

The Philosopher’s Stone – JK Rowling

‘…that’s what Hermione does,’ said Ron shrugging ‘When in doubt, go to the library’

The Philosopher’s Stone – JK Rowling

I haven’t added to this book in about eight years or so, but the impulse to carry words with me hasn’t gone away. No, I’ve just discovered a different art form, that’s all…

Have a good weekend folks!