LIKE THAT. Exactly.

“Kumiko and I felt something for each other from the beginning. It was not one of those strong, impulsive feelings that can hit two people like an electric shock, but something quieter and gentler, like two tiny lights traveling in tandem through a vast darkness and drawing imperceptibly closer to each other as they go. As our meetings grew more frequent, I felt not so much that I had met someone new as that I had chanced upon a dear old friend.”

— Haruki Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

invisible monsters

I had just finished Hunger Games and the two other books in the trilogy.  The first was a quick and easy read, it was entertaining too--I do enjoy young adult books every now and then.

The second book was not as good.  I forgave the author thinking that middle books are quite tricky because the story needs to develop, but really it is there to set the stage for the final book.

The third book, that was the problem.  It was quite a task to finish.  I couldn't wait for it to be over.  Twists just came one after the other--in a licorice kind of way.  It just felt fickle.  Too fickle--even for a book for an adolescent.

Katniss, I think is a better Bella.  But still a Bella.  I'm sure you get what I'm trying to say.

Can you blame me for expecting more?  Maybe. 

---

Like a bad taste in my mouth, I wanted something sweet so I scanned my ebooks for my next read.

It took a while for me to decide as it is quite a long list. 

Chuck Palahniuk. He is the writer behind the book that brought about of one of my favorite movies of all time, Fight Club.

While I haven't read Fight Club but given its storyline, I felt reading the other books has a low risk of being total waste of time.

I stopped myself from googling the chosen book--because I hate accidentally reading wrong reviews.  As in, not a wrong--not right review.  But reviews that give too much away.  Because I want to make up my mind about it before taking in what others think.  I told myself I'd do that after I'm done reading. 

---

I read Invisible Monsters. 

I love how the book read.  Perhaps Fight Club was written this way as well.

I can almost imagine watching it.  I could see every frame.  It was, in my head a screenplay.

The book debuts with the main characters in a curious scene and then moves back and forth and back and forth revealing what happened that lead to the the opening scene.  It does eventually catch up with the opening scene then moves forward.

If you're familiar with Fight Club, you'd probably know that there would be a twist.  Maybe a few.  But not in a Mocking Jay kind of way.

That is not a spoiler.  I don't think.

---

(Okay, I literally googled just now.  It looks like the movie is coming up in 2013.  There is not much info available to non Pro IMBD users.  I am giddy.  Too excited.  I WANT TO SEE IT.  NOW.)

---

Currently halfway through Choke. 

Maybe after that I'd do Fight Club.  The book.  Not the act.

Philip Roth

I had randomly picked one of Roth's when I was combing through the books that a certain library was selling a few months back. It was not until two weeks ago that I had started to reading it.

Wow. His main character, Mickey sure has character!

I am a few pages short of finishing Sabbath's Theater. If I get one word to describe it, that would be...piercing. It has that quality that affects your mood (perhaps even YOU) when you read.

I can't help but view this particular book as a satire.

It is the ordinary that escapes us.

I was surprised when I found out that a moving movie that I once saw Elegy was a translation of his book The Dying Animal.

I'd definitely keep Roth in mind the next time I go book shopping.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can I just say that this book is quite dirty and there is that piece towards the end that still makes me cringe. That being said, I don't recommend it to everyone.

I think the thing about Roth's style, based on this one book is that he allows you to get close to such an extreme character that you can taste the filth. It is not easy to take in, but it draws you in. You find yourself curious. I won't go as far as saying guilty, but maybe indulgent, if you like.

Juliet, Naked

I haven't read Nick Hornby in a long time. I'm glad I picked up one of his books two weeks back.

He had never once felt itchy, in the way that two connecting pieces of a jigsaw never felt itchy, as far as one could tell. If one were to imagine, for the sake of argument, that jigsaw pieces had thoughts and feelings, then it was possible to imagine them saying to themselves, I'm going to stay here. Where else would I go?. And if another jigsaw pieces came along, offering its tabs and blanks enticingly in an attempt to lure one of the pieces away, it would be easy to resist temptation. Look, the object of the seducer's admiration would say You're a bit of a telephone box, and I'm the face of Mary, Queen of Scots. We just won't look right together. And that would be that.

millennium trilogy

I am halfway through book three of the Millennium Trilogy and I am kicking myself for waiting this long to read it. I remember my brother coming home with book two telling me I should pick up book one.

Oh well, all is not lost.

I bought a few books over the weekend. I decided to make time to read again. I got distracted the last two years. With what? Don't ask. But whatever reason, I'm back.

way back to (an old) love

I haven't been reading lately, I am unsure how I stopped going to bookstores.

I picked up a copy of La Vie En Rose--no, not the one about the french singer but a refreshing read about English people aspiring to sell rosé in France.

I'm almost through, but rushing through it seems wrong. Even if it means that I would watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in the cinema before reading the book--not really ideal. I'm a bit of a book dork that way.

The Millennium Trilogy had been sitting in our bookshelf since last year and somehow I feel like kicking myself for not making time to read it before.

angel time

I was very excited to open this present, primarily because it felt like a hardbound book. Imagine my utter joy, when I opened it to find an Anne Rice book that I had never read before. I'm blessed.

kissed by fire

In one of my favorite books, there is also a wall and that wall separates the others from the rest of the world. Maybe you can argue that it separates the world from the others. My favorite character watches over that wall, so that no one and nothing crosses over.

I have a wall too. While I don't have a direwolf and am not responsible for it, I was always cautious that nothing crossed over.

One day, something did.

And then there were crows laughing, waiting to take a piece of the casualty.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I passed the wall again today. It is very much different from how I remembered.

It was not a dark place. There was even, you won't believe this...a mother and child.There was a brother tending to it.And another making sure the rubbish is in the right place.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Will my wall, ever not be my wall? Ygritte is dead.

valentine

I guess I had been so busy juggling so many things that was sort of, well...out of it. Someone significant is here, or was here. Maybe. And I didn't even know.

that is a hat

In the few days that I was away sick, a few individuals to be seconded to the Laguna Love office arrived. There was much buzz about one. I'm not too sure why. Maybe because he is (too) young and single. And that always excites matchmakers.

I met him today. When I saw him. I froze.

He was...delicate.

Petite. Very petite. Blond. Very blond. Blue eyed. Very blue. Big hair. Ringlets. Very.

He was...is...looks like the little prince.

Seriously.

Goosebumps. Creepy even. Goosebumps.

(I hope I can keep myself from asking if he has a pet fox.)

Second photo is irrelevant to this entry. But what can I say? I love blurting out that is a hat :)

Image from peakoil.

glow

Why is it that no matter how many times I read the book or see the movie, I always catch myself smiling?

Image from here.

as a lady would say

I received a package with this book today. It is a late birthday present. I am so excited to start reading. This should be hilarious. I'm sure that I would at some point, write an entry quoting (or bashing? <-- I hope not) this.

Oh, and as a lady would say, Thanks for the gift, it is very, very well appreciated.

Image from Amazon.

numb3rs

(I enjoy the show, but this isn't about that. And also not about typing "tH1S wAy".)

I reread a Haruki Murakami quote today:

Numbers aren’t the important thing...what matters is deciding in your heart to accept another person completely. When you do that, it is always the first time and the last.

I am not romantic and as much as I love Haruki, I do not get life lessons from his work.

In no way did this quote change, or remotely affect my life and the decisions that I made. It however, made me say to myself "Haruki, you got a point there".

Once upon a time, it had been brought to my attention by a certain couple that I have had (based on some standard) too many boyfriends.

When I think about it now, I have not gone past one hand's count. But taking the typical (what is typical?) number of relationships my contemporaries have had, it would likely fall above average. Maybe like Haruki, the couple had a point too.

I however, expect that people who know me get it.

The couple's opinion doesn't upset me. Or make me reconsider my decisions in case I am able to go back in time. Apologies are out of the question.

I guess some people fail to see beyond numbers and rules that the paths taken by their lives are sometimes based on trivialities.

Engaging in relationships does not make you a loose woman. Engaging in meaningless relationships does.

you had me at hilo

I'm home this Monday afternoon as I had another dizzy spell. There was some relief from the meds and a nap, I then picked up on some work I needed to complete today. When all was done, I rewarded myself with some tikoy. I have mastered the art of cooking tikoy, crunchy outside and gooey inside. Perfect. Of course I found myself dizzy again after cooking.

After recovering again from the post tikoy cooking dizzy spell, I noticed the book I was using as a mousepad, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, I flipped through the page where there were some text that I liked. Don't ask why I like it, my answer would be a whole different entry altogether.

"I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."

what you reckon, ma'am?

I've started reading To Kill a Mockingbird and for some reason, in my head, I'm reading with a twang.

new moon

I just finished reading the sequel of Twilight. The book is predictable, even the title by itself will tell you what it is about. And even if the title was Twilight II, the author did more than hint on what was coming in the succeeding book anyways.

There were less of the kilig moments. Hahahaha. Did I just type that?

I am still not convinced that she is a genius, but I would go as far as saying that I would be on with the third book soon.

twilight, the book

I just finished reading the book, and I can totally understand the reason behind the bestseller.

I will still not put it in the list of my favorite books, but I would say that it has an appeal.

I'm not sure if men and boys will enjoy this as much as girls. I wrote girls, with this I mean, young women as I am sure that it was the young woman in me who enjoyed the book.

It had a formula plot. The most good looking guy in school notices a clumsy, helpless--but very brave and supposedly unique individual who doesn't realize that she is special. She is oblivious to her appeal to the opposite sex and insists on selflessness (of course I would be the first to say that there is no such thing and that I could back that up with specific sections of the book, but as this is a book for young adults, and this is not the time to debate over technicalities, I will put a halt to that trail of thought). No serious creativity, but it had moments.

Overall, I'd say that it's not bad, I however want to point out that this is a mood book, I don't know if there is such a term. What I mean simply is that, you have to be in a certain mood to like this book. There would be books that you can't put down--even when you have to, this isn't--unless, as suggested by the term, you are in a certain mood.

(If you still can't get it, it is like the movie Sideways. The first time I saw it, I fell asleep, on my second attempt, I realized that I actually love it. Mood movie.)

what do you know, jon snow?

I've had a copy of the Jon chapter that George RR Martin released a few months back, a teaser for A Dance with Dragons. This is the second, the first released chapter was Tyrion's. For some reason, I never got into reading it until today.

"Do not be so certain." The ruby at Melisandre's throat gleamed redly. "It is not the foes who curse you to your face that you must fear, but those who smile when you are looking and sharpen their knives when you turn your back. You would do well to keep your wolf close beside you. Ice, I see, and daggers in the dark. Blood frozen red and hard, and naked steel. It was very cold."

"It is always cold on the Wall."

"You think so?"

"I know so, my lady."

"Then you know nothing, Jon Snow," she whispered.

The last line gave me goosebumps. And just like that, I'm back anticipating the next book.

twilight

I haven't read the book.

I just saw the movie, and I wish I spent my time watching Nadal instead--even if it is not against Federer.

Robert Pattinson has lost whatever charm he had as Cedric Diggory. One can argue that maybe it is the make up, my answer? Interview with a Vampire. I rest my case. Good looks can't hurt when you act like him.

Kristen Stewart is pretty. That is the most that I could say about her.

I feel indifferent about the movie. It didn't suck, but it also didn't stir any kind of emotion--not even a reaction from me. It just failed to make an impression. It is like reading the words but not understanding the content.

(I know the entry should have ended with the previous paragraph, but I'd just like to say that I hope the script, editing, fight scene, special effects and make-up are better in the next installment.)

he's just not that into you

So I finally read the book.

I came across a forum for this book and admittedly, the excerpts were interesting--some were downright hilarious. So I jumped at the chance of borrowing a copy when my friend told me that she has one.

I flipped through the foreword.

I would not comment on the message the book is putting out there. Although I'm sure that there would be women thanking the authors for pointing out the obvious (and changing their lives), if you read it with the intention of amusing yourself, it won't happen.

I would say that reading the forum trail was more enjoyable. While the text is good when taken as a page, when pasted together, it just becomes annoying--for me at least. Think movie trailers. Sometimes all the good parts had been shown in the trailer that when you watch the movie, you're like okay, I've seen all that already.

It is like the show Sex and the City (and the authors are actually associated with the show), I immensely enjoy watching it, but only one episode at a time. The minute I watched episodes back to back, I realize that the dialog was predictable--trite.

Don't get me wrong, I am not bitching about reading the book. Besides, it is a quick read, two hours tops. I guess this is me saying, I didn't mind reading it but I'm sure glad it was a borrowed book.