I'm over halfway through with year 12 and have only recently discovered an interest chemistry and realised that I would like to study chemistry further. But because I only recently found this out I feel like I'm at a bit of a disadvantage as I haven't done anything particularly interesting or related to chemistry before that would sound pretty good and convincing in my personal statement...
I know that I should invest some time in reading around the subject but I have no clue what to read. I asked my chemistry teacher and he said it would be good to read magazines... but which ones? He also gave me a massive list of books but a lot of them were actually just general science and history of science books. I recently just read "Stuff Matters" which was quite good and easy to understand. I was wondering if there are any good chemistry that would help broaden my understanding and at the same time be worth mentioning in my application but without confusing me too much with what I learn now (if that makes sense, lol). I specifically like organic chemistry (but all chemistry is wonderful so i don't really mind!)
And because I only discovered my recent interest in chemistry (i wanted to do medicine initially), what else should I do to stand out? If it helps, I am thinking of applying to Nottingham, Imperial/Durham, and possibly Oxford just as an attempt (although I probably don't have much of a chance)