There is this magical scene in Almost Famous where the band in the movie, alongside their crew, are lounging on their tour bus. Elton John's Tiny Dancer is playing and one by one, they all starting singing along. Throughout this Patrick Fugit's Character, William Miller turns to Kate Hudson's character, the mysterious Penny, and tells her ''I have to go home.'' She then replies, ''You are home.''
As Penny implies, home does not just mean your house. It also means the abstract too. Your friends, your memories, your laughter, they are your home, too.
Home to me, when it comes down to the abstract - is going to my local supermarket, which I have lived next door to all my life, and recognizing the staff. Sitting outside the Leeds canal watching the water slowly fold into waves, constantly pondering why they don't just put benches there. Home is being awake at four AM listening to Belle & Sebastian. Home is not brushing my hair ever and wearing clunky too-big-for-me blue docs. Home is writing terribly, but not caring because that's what makes me happy. Home is sitting on trains from London to Leeds and planning the times I will get off at the stations I don't usually. Home is watching you tube videos and learning from them. Home is going to gigs, getting extremely sweaty, but not giving a fuck about it. Home is in a cup of tea. Home is woven into the Yorkshire accent. Home is lots of things.
And, although home is not limited to your house - my house is still very much home for me; the little old brick house I've lived in for 17 years, in my small box room which has pink and black walls because my 12 year old sister designed it. This is home. I very much fear the day we will have to sell it, which is silly because I don't just want to live here forever. I just don't want anyone else to own it. The idea of the house I've come to know so well being changed my strangers is awful - Hopefully I'll be rich enough to buy them out and change it back.One of my friends from school actually moved into our family friends old house, and when I walked past and looked in last year - I noticed they had redecorated EVERYTHING. Stripped down the wall, changed the door, the garden, everything was (and is now) different. I paused looking solemnly at it until my friend's mother came out to the driveaway. I must have looked like a really melancholy burglar to her.
As much as I complain that I am bound to the small city life - and that I wish to seek the great perhaps and travel the vast world as a ambitiously hungry adventurer, there will always be a part of me which will never leave small city life and will never want to leave small city life. Even when faced with the most exciting of places, they don't provide the warmth I get from being in Small Town Leeds. It's the familiarity, the fact I can practically go anywhere and know it off the back of my hand, whilst also knowing the history and the in-jokes hidden in every street corner. It's something which I will always be grateful to be apart of.
Music for this blogpost
Home - Edward Sharp And The Magnetic Zeroes
Disenchanted - My Chemical Romance
You Know Where To Find Me - Imogen Heap
Leeds United - Amanda Palmer
Showing posts with label leeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leeds. Show all posts
Monday, 10 June 2013
Monday, 13 August 2012
Leeds Teen Book Club ( tfios review)
I was in Waterstones the other week when I saw a leaflet about a online book review club for nerdfighter teens in Leeds, and the first book was The Fault In Our Stars. Obviously, I am not going to pass that opportunity. I didn't mention alot incase people haven't read it yet, but here's what I posted. If you're from Leeds, I recommend checking it out!
I have read all his books, and enjoyed each one, but for a lot of separate and different ways. I admire John as an author for maintaining such a unique relationship with his audience – No doubt the most unique level of reader/author contact I have ever seen. I love learning through the vlogbrothers, and also through websites like ”http://onlyifyoufinishedtfios.tumblr.com/” about the process of making the novels, and the meaning/intent behind them. A process which is usually never given to a reader, but is so incredibly craved. But I often find fault in his actually writing. A lot of John Green’s characters annoy me. I feel as if they are so idealistic and their voice in the novels just don’t feel like teenagers. John’s ideas and prose are so striking, but they don’t feel like the characters striking ideas – just his own that he’s thrown into the character. I feel this distances me from truly relating to the characters.
I did not, however, feel this way in The Fault In Our Stars.
The Fault In Our stars, or abbreviated, ”Tfios” is a young adult novel following the main character Hazel, and her journey with cancer. We learn about her struggle with this disease, but also the relationships she gains because of it.
But this is not just a book about cancer. This is a book that highlights unique teenage life which is post-normalcy due to tragedy. So many people suffer in their youth, but we rarely even think about it. We consider youth to be a time of angst and rebellion, we seldom think of this being a time of real struggle. And when we do think about teenagers with cancer, all we really do is pity or assume their life is dead. John Green reminds us that, cancer or no cancer, your youth is still a time of rebellion and angst and hope and sadness. Hazel embodies so much charm and humor about her situation, so much intelligence about the world, but she also has crushes on attractive boys and likes America’s Next Top Model. Its the most honest portrayal of a teenager I have ever read.
Tfios made me think about a lot of things. How great it was that I wasn’t in that situation. How fortunate that my lungs worked. How lucky I am that the person I love isn’t dying and neither am I. But it is also helped to capture my own personal sadness or struggle. Every time I turned a page, most of the words really reached out to me. It broke my heart, but it also mended it. I loved the character of Augustus and I particularly loved his boyish charm that could turn into the most beautiful thinking. I won’t reveal to much about him, or any other of the characters, because I truly think you should discover them for yourself.
Its a beautiful book, with a beautiful story, and beautiful characters.
I have read all his books, and enjoyed each one, but for a lot of separate and different ways. I admire John as an author for maintaining such a unique relationship with his audience – No doubt the most unique level of reader/author contact I have ever seen. I love learning through the vlogbrothers, and also through websites like ”http://onlyifyoufinishedtfios.tumblr.com/” about the process of making the novels, and the meaning/intent behind them. A process which is usually never given to a reader, but is so incredibly craved. But I often find fault in his actually writing. A lot of John Green’s characters annoy me. I feel as if they are so idealistic and their voice in the novels just don’t feel like teenagers. John’s ideas and prose are so striking, but they don’t feel like the characters striking ideas – just his own that he’s thrown into the character. I feel this distances me from truly relating to the characters.
I did not, however, feel this way in The Fault In Our Stars.
The Fault In Our stars, or abbreviated, ”Tfios” is a young adult novel following the main character Hazel, and her journey with cancer. We learn about her struggle with this disease, but also the relationships she gains because of it.
But this is not just a book about cancer. This is a book that highlights unique teenage life which is post-normalcy due to tragedy. So many people suffer in their youth, but we rarely even think about it. We consider youth to be a time of angst and rebellion, we seldom think of this being a time of real struggle. And when we do think about teenagers with cancer, all we really do is pity or assume their life is dead. John Green reminds us that, cancer or no cancer, your youth is still a time of rebellion and angst and hope and sadness. Hazel embodies so much charm and humor about her situation, so much intelligence about the world, but she also has crushes on attractive boys and likes America’s Next Top Model. Its the most honest portrayal of a teenager I have ever read.
Tfios made me think about a lot of things. How great it was that I wasn’t in that situation. How fortunate that my lungs worked. How lucky I am that the person I love isn’t dying and neither am I. But it is also helped to capture my own personal sadness or struggle. Every time I turned a page, most of the words really reached out to me. It broke my heart, but it also mended it. I loved the character of Augustus and I particularly loved his boyish charm that could turn into the most beautiful thinking. I won’t reveal to much about him, or any other of the characters, because I truly think you should discover them for yourself.
Its a beautiful book, with a beautiful story, and beautiful characters.
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