Self-Image 2013

I am Verity. My name means truth. I took that very literally as a child, but not so much anymore.

I am paradoxically both independent and dependent.I am daughter and a sister, a girlfriend, a friend, a niece and an auntie. One day I'll be wife and a mother, but not for many years.
I am tactile and affectionate. If I love you, I love you with all my heart. I am desperate to be around you. I am needy. I am touchy feely. I love hugs.

I am an actress and a writer and a linguist. I am an employee. I teach children theatre; confidence, acting, devising, working with scripts. I read and write poetry. It makes me feel individual. I read trashy romance novels, because I find them relaxing and I think they're cute. I turn to bath bombs and lobster-boiling hot baths if I'm having a bad day. I read books of literary worth and enjoy discussing them with others. I have performed in 15 plays over the course of my short life so far. I've been doing drama for 9 years. It's a huge part of who I am, and the green room in my local theatre is like a second home.

I want to travel. I've not travelled much so far, definitely not as much as I'd like to. I've visited France and Spain and two areas of Germany. I've been to Köln's Christmas market and Paris and La Sagrada Familia. I want to visit every continent, but unfortunately I'm no good at saving money. I fritter it away on pretty books, pretty jewellery, pretty tea pots. Sometimes clothes, shoes or food. Mostly chocolate.

I rarely wear make up, except for special occasions. My hair is the longest it has every been, but tomorrow I'm having 10 inches cut off. I'm scared and excited. It's a permanent state. I like to paint my nails, but I bite them when I'm nervous, bored or hungry. I'm not photogenic, but I like to take photos. I like to wear nice clothes and I love earrings. Buying pretty underwear cheers me up on a rough day. I like nice notebooks, pens, any stationary. My favourite books are the old orange editions of penguin. But I don't own any.

I appreciate art, but not canvases painted white.

I love to love and hate to fight.

I like bad tele and bad films and bad books.

I know one day I will be something to be proud of. I am going to be a Cambridge graduate and a translator and I'll have a masters degree. I might not be famous and I might not achieve everything I want to, but I'll be happy.

I have been stressed and down and struggled, but 2013 is the year where things will turn around.

This is me.

BBC's The Big Read: 100 Greatest Books of All-Time

Update [4.V.15] : 26/100

 1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie 

Enlightenment of 2012

Books

The Man of Mode
The Fault in Our Stars
As You Like It
The Knowledge
How Not to Talk Like an Arse
Room
The Lovely Bones
Pride and Prejudice
The Taming of the Shrew
Lighthousekeeping
History of a Pleasure Seeker
Love Letters of Great Men
Twenties Girl
A Murder is Announced (play)
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Fifty Shades of Grey
Love Hina Volumes 1-8
Fahrenheit 451
Imadoki (Nowadays)
The Lady of Rivers
A Murder is Announced (book)
Fifty Shames of Earl Grey
Ouran High School Host Club
French Letters and the English Canon
Macbett
Thérèse Raquin
Playhouse Creatures
100
A Christmas Carol
Bad Behaviour

Total: 37

Films

 Carnage
American Pie 1-4
American Pie Presents Beta House
Water for Elephants
The Help
War Horse
The Muppers
The Woman in Black
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
21 Jump Street
The Room
Cool As Ice
Surburban Commando
The Apple
Double Dragon
Fat Slags
Mirror Mirror
Avengers Assemble
Mona Lisa Smile
The Edge of Love
Atonement
Hamlet
(500) Days of Summer
50/50
The Boat That Rocked
The Little Mermaid
Down With Love
The Duchess
The Notebook
My Sister's Keeper
The Time Traveller's Wife
Knocked Up
The 40 Year Old Virgin
10 Things I Hate About You
Music and Lyrics
Toy Story 3
Midnight in Paris
Over the Hedge
Wild Child
Lolita
P.S. I Love You
Tangled
The Ugly Truth
Bolt
No Strings Attached
The Libertine
I Love You, Man
The Princess and the Frog
Jane Eyre
Kung Fu Panda
Limitless
An Education
A Dangerous Method
Easy A
Hairspray
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
The Five-Year Engagement
The Change-Up
Ted
Wanderlust
Potiche
Brave
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Role Models
Back to the Future 1-3
Three Men and a Baby
La Vie en Rose
The Producers
The Princess Bride
Some Like it Hot
Atlantis
Anna Karenina
Glorious 39
One Day
Going the Distance
Horrible Bosses
Eat, Pray, Love
Looper
Liberal Arts
Skyfall
Dr Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog
Mulan
Groundhog Day
Rust and Bone
The Artist
My Fake Fiancé
My Year Without Sex
The Back-Up Plan
Love Actually
Secretary
Silver Linings Playbook
Jesus Christ Superstar 2012 Tour
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Total: 98

Plays
Blue Remembered Hills
Twelfth Night
Letter of Intent
Faustus
Spring Awakening
Company Along the Mile
Holmes and the Ripper
The Winter's Tale
Henry V
Brighton Beach Memoirs
We Happy Few
She Stoops to Conquer
The Alchemist
When We Are Married
The Comedy of Errors
Daisy Pulls It Off
Railway Children
 
Total: 17