What Sophie Said

Are you a Kindle or a physical book person? I absolutely love my Kindle for the tube, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to let go of physical books entirely… Maybe it’s the ex-English Literature student in me! Here’s my latest round-up of mini-reviews:- Pompeii, Robert Harris This novel starts a few days before the eruption of Vesuvius and tells the story from four different perspectives: an engineer, a young girl, a corrupt millionaire and an elderly scientist. I absolutely loved this book. It reminded the geeky side of me of studying for my Latin GCSE, and I found it interesting reading more about such a fascinating and heart-breaking event in history. I really liked the way it brought in the scientific, the geographic and the personal, and entwined in a beautiful narrative. This one is well worth a read. The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes Starting in the 1930s, Harper Curtis selects and kills his ‘shining girls’, believing he is unstoppable. In 1992 Ki...

Do you remember that rhyme from the playground, which said ‘words will never hurt me’. It’s not always true. Words have such incredible power, and there’s one comment which was made to me which has stuck with me more powerfully than any physical ‘injury’ I’ve ever had. Sometimes it’s the words that are said, sometimes it’s where the words come from. And sometimes it’s a combination of the two. Words have immense power, and they can be used to inspire every emotion under the sun. There are times when one nice comment can lift your mood after a terrible week. There are comments from friends which make you laugh until you cry. There are words that remind you of treasured moments. There are novels which people re-read again and again to be whisked away to another world. There are non-fiction books to educate, to teach and to inspire. But there are words which hurt. They cause a pain that feels almost physical. And sometimes we say words which ha...

If you love West End theatre, you won't want to miss the current exhibition in the 'Theatre and Performance' section of the V & A. I went with my mum on Saturday to Curtain Up! and it's a complete visual treat. Telling the West End and Broadway story, mainly over the last 40 years, the exhibition features costumes, designs, set models, scripts, budget sheets and programmes / playbills from shows like The Lion King, Matilda, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, and The Producers. I'd say the more shows you've seen, the more you'll love it as it's amazing to see up close what went into the shows you've loved. There were sketches of Roxie's costumes in Chicago, and of the costumes of each lead adult in Matilda, along with one of Helen Mirren's outfits as the Queen and one worn by Judi Dench as Cleopatra. The space dedicated to the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime reminded me just what a feast ...

Last week, I spoke to Felicity at BBC Newsbeat on the topic of mental health and social media. Her post (which is fantastic and can be read HERE ) got me thinking on the topic and my story a little more. The article summarised my own experience: when I first started to see the symptoms of my anxiety when I was at university, I had no idea what it was. It was through reading blogs and reading what people were saying on social media what I learned more about it, got the courage to see my GP, and learned it was ok to talk to my friends and family about it. I learned it was ok to talk, and ok to need some help. Since speaking to Felicity, this idea has been stuck in my head so I thought I’d write a bit of a follow-up on exactly how social media helped me. As I said, it was at university that my anxiety began to take on a big role in my life, and began to have a big effect. It was also during university that I completely fell for the world of blogging and social media. I was qu...

You’ve come round quickly. January seemed to last for weeks on end, but February crept by without me really even noticing. I’ve had a fairly quiet month, mainly working then relaxing in good company. March is a busy one, this year. I’ve filled up my weekends with things I’m really looking forward to. There’s the day my mum is coming to London for food and museums and exhibitions. There are two shows in my diary. There’s an overnight stay in a place which looks beautiful and calm. We have a big event at work mid-month which I know will be a long day, but I’m interested to see how it all runs, as I hadn’t joined the company yet when it ran last year. I’ve started seeing a new counsellor. More to come on that soon, but those sessions will be another key feature of the month. We had our first appointment last week and I’m feeling good about it. Apart from that, there are catch-ups with friends lined up, and a couple of my favourite people have birthdays...