The 102 books of 2015: my year in reading

For the first time since I started counting how many books I read in a year (not including picturebooks, anything read for PhD work, book apps, cookbooks, or coffee table books, but yes to poetry and short story collections, and any genre of fiction or non-fiction) I have finally read over 100 books, smashing that barrier to read 102 books this year. As a massive geek who likes breaking down the stats and learning from them, here we go with some hard hitting numbers:

• 24 books (so pretty much a quarter) were re-reads - mostly old favourites (the Abhorsen series, the Daine and Alanna quartets from Tamora Pierce, a couple of the Tiffany Aching books and Northern Lights). These were either books I simply couldn't resist re-reading when I happened across them in the library, or ones that I actively sought out to re-read as I feel like I didn't appreciate them the first time (as in the case of Pullman). The Abhorsen series is like a comfort blanket to me and I definitely reached for it this year when I was desperately unhappy. If I could take this down to maybe 10-15% of my reading being re-reads then I'd be happy.
• I actually read much more in the second half of the year than in the first half. I read 13 books between January-April, and then powered through 30 during May and June (I blame the Vampire Academy series, and the fact that I did have a week on holiday in Scotland), and then a fairly steady 59 between July-December. I do remember being particularly focussed on work during May and June, and I tend to read as a form of productive procrastination, using books to bribe myself to work and alternating between typing and reading to give myself a break from the screen light.
• Unsurprisingly, only 6 of the books I read for fun were non-fiction, and 3 of those were memoirs/essay collections from my favourite female comedians. 2 others were memoirs from Roald Dahl, and only one was straight non-fiction - 'Feet in the Clouds', which I loved, cried over, and would thoroughly recommend to anyone who enjoys sports and definitely anyone who enjoys running. This is definitely something I'll be looking to change in 2016.
• There is no poetry on there at all, and only three short story collections. All 3 were bought because I especially wanted to read the Abhorsen and Tortall stories included within them, and although I did enjoy some of the other stories, it reminded me how much pot-luck collections can be, and how they should be dipped in and out of rather than powering through. A different style of reading, and one I'd like to embrace in 2016.
• I would classify a mere 15 of the books read as being intended for the adult market, and only 2 of those I would classify as being literary fiction. The others were crime capers or chick lit. So my knowledge in a pub quiz will highly tend towards...
• Children's literature. This isn't exactly a shocker, but almost all of the books I read in 2015 were to be found in the children's/YA section of the bookshop. I would say that 16 were for a more middle-grade or younger audience, and 66 were for the teen or YA reader. Oh dear, that's really quite biased. In my defence, I read a fair few YA series which really ratchets up the numbers (3 in the Abhorsen series, 4 each for Alanna and Daine, 6 in the Vampire Academy...that's 17 already) but still, that's a fair bias and something easily correctable to broaden what I'm reading.
• Only 24 of the books I read had male authors, and of those, 2 were co-authored (Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg). This is probably a side-effect of reading so much children's and YA literature, given the general biases of the publishing industry.
• However I wouldn't exactly say that just because I'm reading books by women, I'm reading very diverse material by exciting authors with characters more representative of the world around us. I'll do a little round up of my best books later but I didn't exactly make the effort to read lots pushing boundaries or with a very diverse cast of characters. This is laziness on my part, just buying things based on what publicity pushes me towards, and I'd like to make a change to try and encounter different and better YA especially. 

If you want to keep up with what I'm reading, you can find me on the 50 Book Pledge website. I'm not sure why I use this rather than Goodreads, but I quite like the badges, and the different recommendations that often appear, as it's largely slanted towards a Canadian audience. This year I'll be aiming towards 100 books again, with a larger proportion of non-fiction, literary fiction, short stories and new reads - this year maybe I'll focus on quality over quantity. Good luck for your own reading and writing resolutions, there are some good ideas over here at the Grauniad. The blog is undergoing a major revamp and will soon feature reviews of all the books I've read over the past three years instead of the previous haphazard review system which I have removed, as well as bits of writing, race reports from any running/swimming I've done, and some more general posts. I am also always open to reading recommendations and would love some nudges in the right direction towards those genres which I'd love to explore more.

Happy New Year!

Thirteen Thing Thursday #1

Welcome one and all to the inaugural Thirteen Thing Thursday...sort of shamelessly pilfered from  inspired by Cely at Running off the Reeses' 'Fifteen Thing Friday' and Janae at HungryRunnerGirl's 'Tangent Tuesday'.

1. I signed up for the Cambridge Half Marathon! The last half marathon I did was very hilly so I am excited for a fast, flat course...

2. Quinoa and oats porridge is my jam. I used the recipe from Thug Kitchen for my breakfasts all of this week - cooked on Sunday and reheated all week - and it has been deeeeeeeeeeeelicious. Some frozen raspberries and blueberries on top and a tiny smidge of sugar and BAM. Happiness in a bowl.

3. I'm really excited for the next episode of TREAT YO SHELF. This week I'll be talking about sports in children's books and while I still need to plan the show, I'm feeling increasingly confident about the technical side of it and about enjoying myself on air and running a fairly decent show.

4. Not enough Mindy in Mindy Project this week. 

Exactly. How could you not write in more of her gloriousness. My Minday was ever so slightly disappointing as a result.

5. My Wednesday nights still feel empty without Bake Off...

6. ...but my Saturdays are filled with the shining light that is Strictly!

7. My mum just texted me and said she booked tickets for the new Star Wars film at Christmas. Exciting!

8. I'm reading Terrier by Tamora Pierce at the minute, and whilst I'm not loving it like the Alanna, Daine and Kel series (which I suppose I have quite a lot of nostalgia and emotion for), it is good...review coming soon! I'll probably review the whole trilogy at once when I finish reading them all.

9. I wish it were easier to help your friends be happy. When I see friends breaking up, making tough decisions, standing strong for their family amongst issues, I just want to give them a hug and support them. But not being able to actively do anything to improve these situations does fully suck.

10. I'm going to attempt to use November this year to do NaNoWriMo as well as catch up on a lot of PhD work. My wordcount per day will be 1,667 fiction and 1,667 academic. I know it sounds crazy but the trouble I have getting words on the page is not to be underestimated. Getting down to some planning next week to make sure it all goes as smoothly as it possibly can...

11. On top of NaNo and my academic writing I'm also going to be writing some features for one of the student newspapers here, the Blue Bird. I'm hoping to kick it all off by writing a weekly feature on how top student athletes fare after they leave Cambridge. Watch this space!

12. Speaking of student athletes, it's the yearly sporting alumni reunion of my college this weekend...Old Boys. There are rugby, football, hockey and netball matches with a rowing outing for good measure and then a big dinner in the evening. I'm sort of looking forward to it, but not, because it makes me feel old, and not a lot of my friends are coming back for it, but there will be people there who I only see once a year, and that is quite fun.

13. But regardless of what happens with Old Boys at the weekend, it doesn't matter because my family are in town! My parents and brother are coming to visit me and my sister because my brother was meant to be graduating but forgot to register in time (classic Bruce). Anyway they'll be here and that makes me happy. Here's to more pictures like this (and I can't seem to find one with all of us in. Note to self: that is a task for the weekend):

Exciting news!

So much excitement that it merited a quick post - I just heard that I'll be getting my own show on Cam FM (97.2) this Michaelmas term!

I applied last week and found out today!

The show will be called 'Treat Yo Shelf' and it will feature:

- me (obviously)

- lots of talking about children's books with some wonderful guests

- tangentially related music (there will always be a connection to either the theme of the show or the texts that we are talking about - it just might not be super obvious!)





It starts on 11th October at 11am and the theme for the first show will be:

MAGIC!

I'm so excited and I hope I'll have at least one listener who is not my family. You can listen on the radio (obviously) if you live locally in the Cambridge area and you can also listen online at www.camfm.co.uk!

Pullups - prepare to be decimated

One of the things that I try to include in my exercise ~*~*~philosophy~*~*~ is that you should do stuff you don't like because you are probably bad at it. Yep, I'm all about stating the obvious here.

That's why I like CrossFit and have a super love/hate relationship with Wodify (which tells you the workout before you arrive at the box). In one way I quite like it, because I can look up the exercises while I'm having breakfast and go through everything and make sure I mainly understand things by watching tutorials on YouTube (the at-home learner's friend for everything) but I do frequently see things in the WOD that I just think, 'nahhhhh I don't like that' and/or 'nahhhhh I'm rubbish at that'. Frequently those things coincide. The list of things I dislike most:

Hollow body rocks
Anything involving an overhead squat (I just can't do all the things)
Anything involving my weaselly insectlike upper limbs having to do anything (my upper body strength is <0)

That's actually quite a lot of stuff when I think about it.

Today however I managed to thoroughly embarrass myself in a workout that involved pullups. I have hated pullups for years as APPARENTLY all swimmers and rowers should be able to do them. I am the only swimmer and rower that can't, according to various strength coaches over the years. I had to have two bands on the rig that I could stand on and lovely Coach Lee had to boost me up too.

Isn't it, Chris Pratt. Isn't it just.

So from now on every time I go to CrossFit I'm going to make the effort after the class to do some pullup drills because I'll be damned if I'll be so embarrassed again by my weakness.* And I'll be keeping a record on here, so I can track if I'm getting any better...

*NB reserve me a space in hell, because I embarrass myself all the time and I definitely will embarrass myself at CrossFit again because of my insect limbs.

The Book That Made My Babysitting Job Seem Incredibly Easy In Comparison

Sometimes I babysit for two kids who live down the road from me. They are incredibly lovely and sweet but boy do they have some energy. I think that I race around and have high energy but I am as nothing compared to small children. Such running! Such giggling! Such shouting!

But at least there aren't six of them. They're not identical. And King Alaspooryorick of Daneland has never once tried to invade anywhere in Cambridge, to my knowledge.

'I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW HARD BABYSITTING IS!' EXCLAIMED HOLLY. 'IT'S THE LAST TIME I LET MY SISTER PICK A SUMMER JOB FOR US.'

Not being funny but I wouldn't let my sister pick me ANY job. 

Holly and Anna are desperate to go on their dream holiday, but the only way they can is to babysit for six identical toddler Princes and their older brother Prince Pepino, all in the middle of an invasion by King Alaspooryorick. I knew it would be good since I've read Clementine's 'Sesame Seade' series and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I took this along to babysitting to garner some good favour. They loved the Cow, the porcupine grenade, and the Robotic Mermaids (not to give too much away), so at least we agree on some things, and they were so enthralled it was almost easy to get them to go to sleep afterwards. 

Shamefully, this has been sitting on my TBR pile since it made its way into my basket at Sainsbury's last November. Clementine's in-jokes and bright writing, alongside Becka Moor's really amazing illustrations - she completely communicates the sense of the book, and makes it so fun!- made it a slice of sun and good cheer in the middle of March - enough to make me willing to take on some more babysitting to provide for my own summer holidays.

'CAMBRIDGIA AND OXFORTH? NOTHING EVER HAPPENS THERE; THEY'RE THE MOST BORINGLY PEACEFUL PLACES IN BRITLAND.'

The Book That I Can't Stop Coming Back To

'THE CLAYR SAW ME, THE WALLMAKER MADE ME, THE KING QUENCHED ME, THE ABHORSEN WIELDS ME SO THAT NO DEAD SHALL WALK IN LIFE. FOR THIS IS NOT THEIR PATH'

I first read 'Sabriel' when I was about 12. I could say about it that Garth Nix is an engaging writer, the story rolls along, the characters are fascinating (especially Mogget) and the world in which it is set is drawn well, all of which I believe to be true.

It doesn't explain why I've come back to this book so many times. My mum has been known to describe it as my comfort blanket and I would go so far as to say I've read it more times than any other book (excluding Harry Potter texts).

I smuggled it to Cambridge after a term of my undergraduate. I read it brazenly in the car when I moved to Edinburgh, and kept it with me for reassurance. I delighted when it was finally put on kindle. And today I took it on the train with me as I came back from Manchester to Cambridge, and cried and cried as I left the hills and Sabriel received the bells and the bandoleer from her father.

There are two main reasons I love it so much.

One has to be Sabriel and her dad. We never know his name - he's always just the Abhorsen. But his love for Sabriel is true and kind, and even to the end, they're a team. To my dad, as well, who always has my back.

'They turned together and plunged out into Life'

The second reason must be the quote below. For someone who rarely knows what they want to do, whether in the big or the little decisions, these words consistently remind me, when I think on them, of the choices that we can make and the actions we can take to run our own lives, but also of the external factors which often force us to take a different direction. My life isn't settled yet, and in and of itself, it's comforting to remember that no-one knows anything for sure.

DOES THE WALKER CHOOSE THE PATH, OR THE PATH THE WALKER?

The Blue Bird Column: Week 3

Original to be found here: http://www.bluebirdnews.co.uk/sophie-clarke-week-3/

Can you get used to losing? Can you get used to winning? What does it take to drop a game when you’re winning – or start winning when you’re already some goals behind?

To be honest, I don’t know. It’s very well to say that it’s the will to win – that if you want it enough, it will happen. There’s an element of truth to that – if you want it, you work for it, and that often tips the balance in your favour. But I’ve played on teams and rowed in boats and run races in which wanting and working was just not enough.

As much as people say that it’s just about digging deep when you’re behind and you need to come back for the win, there’s also an element of viciousness about when you’re leading – about being almost cruel in continuing to put away the tries and goals and the distance between you. If you get cocky, if you sit back on your laurels, it’s easy to see that get snatched away from you. It’s difficult, too, to keep your head up if the flow of play is in your favour – and then all too soon it turns against you.

I’ve been thinking about this because over the weekend my team lost a match on Friday and then won on Sunday. We haven’t won a match since 14th November (beat Oxford 4-3) so it was long overdue. We’re not a bad team, far from it, but for some reason when we play, we haven’t managed to grasp that higher element, where training and hard work and team spirit all comes together and you trounce whoever you’re playing against. I read about the fantastic work of CUWLC and CULNC and remembered how good it feels to win consistently. It’s difficult to stay peppy and positive if you’re losing all the time – and people forget how great it feels to triumph. You start believing that maybe you are second best – how do you fix what’s wrong? What even is wrong? Why are we losing? Maybe you should be losing if you can’t even figure it out and make it better.

As the women’s water polo finally won after many months, the men’s water polo suffered some unfortunate losses – in one, going from a 3-1 lead to losing 6-3 after conceding 3 goals in 1.5 minutes. I feel their pain as in our BUCS matches this year that is how a few of our games have panned out – the momentum is with you, you go out hard, in control of the play, and then inexplicably everything is slipping from your grasp and the more you work to scramble back, the more everything goes wrong. When you’re on a winning streak and you’ve got all the confidence behind you, the fall is harder when an inevitable loss comes – and it’s tricky then to pick it all back up and make it all seem right.

Now that we’re back on the win train though, we remember how it feels when everything clicks. After the night of RAG Blind Date it feels important to acknowledge that when you play as a real team there’s an element of chemistry there, something more than just working hard and fighting to be the best. I play for my girls and I play for CUSWPC and I play for the sport, because I love it even when I hate the losing. That’s how you come back from losing – whether stopping a bad run of form or suddenly bringing the field level again in the third quarter – when instead of gritting your teeth singularly and trying to do it alone, the whole team digs in and refuses to let it happen that way any more, and you pull up to that higher level of play, where everything works and you can’t be beaten.

So I’ll be closely following the water polo men on Twitter tomorrow as they fight to turn around some tough results – and I’ll be looking to see my girls fight our way up the league on Sunday when we take on Birmingham and the Other Place in our final BUCS matches before the knockout round. Work hard, play hard, fight together as a team – Light Blue victories all the way. Simple.

The Blue Bird Column: Week 2

Original to be found here: http://www.bluebirdnews.co.uk/sophie-clarke-week-2/

I had such plans for this week’s column, such plans. First I sat through a Women’s Blues Committee meeting, and was going to write about Korfball, parity in and between sports, and the half blue divide, but the Tab got there first. Then I had the bright idea to write about Heather Watson’s comments regarding menstruation and sport but quite a few people discussed that better than I ever could. By Thursday I was trying to write a column based on the phrase ‘summer bodies are made in the winter’ but my disgust made every piece I wrote very short, because it turns out bodies are bodies, our bodies, and I don’t much care what season they are ‘suited’ for as long as it does what I need it to do (push people under water, throw weights around, run marathons) and I take care of it (should probably leave off the sugar, it does nothing for recovery time).

So now I’m stuck. I could recourse back to some old favourite topics: why doesn’t Cambridge University have a swimming pool? Why don’t Ryder and Amies stock women’s Blues blazers? Why can’t I resist Reese’s Pieces? (It was the saddest day of my life on Sunday when I saw they’d replaced Reese’s with mini eggs in the plastic bowl halfway down the self service queue in Sainsbury’s.)

But the best laid plans ‘aft gang agley’ so:

TOP THINGS I HEAR ON SWAPS I’d like to publicly call out the boy from horse polo who was meant to turn up dressed as Wooster to last week’s swap. My Jeeves outfit was amazing and you really missed out. Super poor form.

1. ‘So what do you do?’

2. ‘Wait, so you’re how old?’

3. ‘No, really, how old?’

4. ‘So you’re actually a real Blue?’

You would not believe the amount of times, especially later in the night at dinners and things, people just assume you’ve nicked the blazer. Yeh, I know it looks boxy, and on swimmers shoulders it’s a genuine issue. Where’s the petition for getting it cut differently if you want already?

5. ‘Is [NAME A SPORT] really so difficult?’

Let’s have you try it, and we’ll see.

6. ‘Are all your team lesbians?’

Why is this a question? Genuinely why are you asking me this?

7. ‘How often do you train?’

The worst bit is when you answer, and get a sort of pitying head shake in return. Oh, poor girls. Can’t handle any more. See above: why doesn’t Cambridge have its own pool?

8. ‘Why don’t you shave your legs/your pits/your bikini line? Do you do it to scare the opposition?’

Ok this is actually a question I get asked at matches rather than swaps – no, I’m not even lying. Manners truly are dead. Oh. My. God. I’ve played in mixed matches where a boy has genuinely recoiled in horror at grasping my leg and finding it not smooth. I’ve also had my fair share of see through swim costumes, especially a couple of years ago when we dealt with a couple of fairly rogue comments about ‘new hairstyles’ from several of the men’s team. Urgh, grow up. Have you ever thought about how much effort remaining hairless is, and combined with the fact that you’re always showering at the pool/the gym/the boyf’s it’s a nightmare. Maybe it does have the fortunate effect of scaring the opposition. Or maybe I’m just super lazy. Maybe it’s Maybelline.

9. ‘Could you beat me in an arm wrestle?’

No, but Rosanna O’Keeffe probably would.

10. ‘Do you want a drink?’

Oh, go on. Twist my arm, I’ll have a tequila – here’s some cash.

The Blue Bird Column: Week 1

Original to be found here: http://www.bluebirdnews.co.uk/sophie-clarke-week-1/

Last week, I lost my voice. If you no longer had ‘loud’ as one of three words to describe me I think you’d be struggling, so this was a bit of an issue, especially with 5 more training sessions to run.

I ended up mute because my team had two matches two nights in a row on our training camp in Edinburgh. I was in goal because that is a captain’s sacrifice when your normal goalie is not present and others would rather contract smallpox than end up between the sticks. Being in goal offered the unusual advantage that I was no longer too out of breath from playing to shout at people properly – so shout I did, encouraging on the ladies of Cambridge’s water polo team.

Sport grabs us because it makes us passionate about it – about watching, about playing, about becoming part of it. In this case I was so involved I shouted myself hoarse trying to get the team to play better, to score more goals, to put up a fight and ultimately to at least try and win (even though that aim, when playing against teams with several national players, was always a pipe dream).

I’ve always been caught up in the dramas of our play – I’ve always been one of the more easily heard members of the team, right from the start of my water polo career – but increasingly I find myself ever more tied up with the team’s fortunes, which is not least because this year I am the captain. I thought, before I took up the mantle, that I knew what it would be to lead, having been a senior member of the team (read: old, been around for ages) for a while, and having been close friends with several CUSWPC captains over the years.

However I have found that to captain is to invest in each player not just for this game but for the next; not just this season but those to come. When mistakes are made, as they always are, I see the potential and hard work behind the decision and the unfortunate turn of events which swings it in some unforeseen direction. I worry about all my players, think deeply about team lists when previously I would have dashed off my preferred thirteen without hesitation, and look to build a strong base for next season even as it means shelving dreams of repeating last year’s success. These may seem like obvious lessons but I feel like I’ve always been caught up in obsessing about my own performance and contribution to the team in the past to worry about anyone else’s.

I’m not sure I’m a particularly good captain – I’ve been told I’m too harsh, too caught up in wanting to win – and I’m constantly seeking feedback from my team so I can improve, or at least pass on some tips to my successor. Yet I feel like the ultimate judgement of my captaincy is if in five years, at least a few of the girls who turned up in October having never even tried water polo before are still training, still playing, still competing. I never found a sport I loved until I came to Cambridge – and even then, it took me until my third year to find water polo. To love a sport and dedicate your time to it is to let loose your passion – and sometimes the only way to do that is to sit in goal, and shout, and shout, and shout.

It's 2015!

Bizarre. Someone told me that 1998 is as far away as 2030 now - in 2030 I'll be 40! In my mind that's basically decrepit, but something tells me I should adjust that way of thinking.

I have a few resolutions - they're nothing big, really.

1. Make steady progress on my PhD.

Self-explanatory really - I just want to keep plodding along, doing the reading, the writing, the papers, the research - and just make progress with which both my supervisor and I are happy.

2. Develop a strong core.

My core is terrible and I am so lazy that I often don't work on this. It's something that would help my running and the water polo and everything really so my aim is to strengthen my core. More Pilates! More yoga! More planking!

3. Make 2015 the year of finishing off.

Scrapbooks, novels, academic papers, other non-academic bits of writing, books, fixing my typewriter - I have so many projects which require a bit of work and application to finish them. So 2015 is the year for new ideas to be put down the order of priority and for me to finish those things which are cluttering up my academic and personal life (as well as physically cluttering my room!)

4. De-stuffocate

'Stuffocation' became known to me as a term through this Telegraph article  and when I moved over the summer I had a ridiculous amount of stuff - not including books - most of which I don't use within a 3 month period, so it's time to stop that right now and clear out some clothes and belongings.

5. Read more books!

This is always on there - I'm aiming for 122 and also aiming to include this list. It's a bit lame but I always like a challenge and there are several books on there I would not push myself to read normally.