Chapter One, Section Three

For many years I have kept a journal hidden away full of my thoughts and the continuing drama of my life. It is private to me and no one is allowed to read it. This is not that kind of journal.

Now I have moved thousands of miles away from my home and my friends. I can't keep up a regular dialogue with all of the people I love. And I would like to share my life with them even though I'm no longer present.

Actually I haven't told anyone about this as of yet. This is only my third entry. I think I'll wait to see if I keep it up before I actually share it. But this is my goal. To set down what I'm thinking of, what I'd like to talk about with my friends and family if I were actually with them, what I'm doing in my life right now.

I just read a fantastic book called Dark Quartet by Lynne Reid Banks. I picked it up at a charity shop for 10p (about 18 cents USD). I recall having read some children's books by the same author, but this was an adult book and completely blew me away. It is about the four famous Brontes: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell. There are times when I love a good tragedy and this was one. When I say famous, I guess Branwell isn't very. But he appeared in the three sisters works in some form or other and definitely helped shape their literary talents. I have read books by Charlotte and Emily and both are powerful and tragic and terrible to actually learn they are based on their own lives.

For a period of several years I stopped reading mostly, maybe picking up a book a month. Now I'm constantly in the middle of a book again; I read one every four days or so. At the present I'm going through an old favorite, Watership Down. Some recent reads of mine:

Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Dracula by Bram Stoker