Books – July 2010
Audrey Niffenegger – Her Fearful Symmetry
Victoria Forester – The Girl Who Could Fly
Mechner, Sina, Pham, Puvilland – Prince of Persia
Mary Ann Winkowski & Maureen Foley – The Book of Illumination
Marion Zimmer Bradley – Ghostlight
Mia Thermopolis with Meg Cabot – Ransom My Heart
Belle de Jour – Guide to Men
Book purchase have been a little more indulgent this month. I bought half of it early on in the month, and the other half a few days ago.
Off the top of my head, I’m gonna recommend ‘Ransom My Heart’, especially if you’re a fan of the Princess Diaries series or a fan of bodice rippers in general. I’ve not read such a fun (and slightly cliché) period romance in a long time. When I say “fan of Princess Diaries”, I mean those of you who are actually of a legal age.
Speaking of being of a legal age, Belle de Jour’s ‘Guide To Men’ was quite an entertain, laugh-out-loud read as well. Relationship advice from a former call girl? Well, she gets to meet a lot of men.
The book that made a great impact on me was month wasn’t something I bought, although I may change that when a nice edition comes along – Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Eat, Pray, Love’. Admittedly, I didn’t want to run out and buy it when it peaked in popularity. A colleague lent it to me last week, and I couldn’t put it down.
Liz Gilbert have never been alone, moving in and out of relationships her entire life. After hitting her break point, she makes a pilgrimage to discover herself by way of pleasure in Italy, spirituality in India and balance in Bali. I know that the spirituality part will turn some people off. If it’s not your cup of tea, it’s not your cup of tea. Heck, it isn’t usually my cup of tea either, but we’re all looking for something to validate our own existence and find balance in life. I’m big on balance. I’m a Libra.
Currently reading ‘Her Fearful Symmetry’, which is finally out in mass paperback!
Books – June 2010
June is only halfway through so I may be jumping the gun by posting my book list so soon. But I have sooo many books to read this month!
Patrick Suskind – Perfume
Vladimir Nabokov – Lolita
Yoko Ogawa have two other books translated into English, The Housekeeper + The Professor and The Diving Pool. TH+TP was a beautiful book. TDP was slightly disturbing, but in a way that I enjoyed. This new book? An absorbing read but quite R rated. Don’t buy this based on your evaluation of TH+TP. Hotel Iris has the same writing style but takes it to a whole different place.
The other two books are titles I’ve been wanting to own and read, and Popular had a sales.
The next part of this post is on books I borrowed:
Malcolm Gladwell – What The Dog Saw
Robert Harris – The Ghost Writer
Murakami – Kafka on the Shore
John Gorgan – Marley & Me
Mitch Albom – The Five People You Meet In Heaven
I’m not sure if I’ll finish most of these before I have to give them back. I picked most of these title with two things in mind: (a) books/authors I’m not sure of and want to try; (b) books I’ll only read once. The only exception is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I’m dying to read since Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter but cannot find.
The Last Song is supposed to be Miley Cyrus’ vehicle to Hollywood stardom, but I don’t know if it worked. I’ll not likely watch the movie, but I liked the book. Sparks always makes me cry like hell.
Robert Harris always catches my eye in the book store because I love Thomas Harris (of The Hannibal Trilogy). Turns out that I like his style as well and won’t mind picking up some of his novels in the future. Just not this month.
Am currently reading Malcolm Gladwell. This breakout book Blink didn’t impress me very much, but this one is a compilation of his well-researched articles on various topics.
Wish me luck in trying not to pick up a new book before next month!
ETA, 14 June:
I forgot. I called dibs on some second hand books a week or so ago. Here they are:
Sarah Dessen – This Lullaby
Susanna Kaysen – Girl, Interrupted
Books – March-May 2010
Jennifer Weiner – Certain Girls
Chris Priestley – Tales of Terror from The Black Ship
Seth Godin – Tribes
Call it an average of two books a month, which is moderate and gives in the the occasional itch to pick up a new book and be reading it on the way out of the store.
The Jennifer Weiner books were a fairly early buy, not too long after Abraham Lincoln. I’ve always more or less liked Weiner’s books. Her first, Good In Bed, was fairly ground-breaking with a fat protagonist struggling with all the problems of being a fat woman, something I can totally relate to.
Weiner have diverted to other issues, like sibling rivalry in In Her Shoes or estranged best friends in Best Friends Forever, both quite enjoyable. But Certain Girls, which is a sequel to her first book, didn’t hold me for very long. The alternating first person POVs/chapters lost me rather quickly, especially when I found the younger protagonist rather annoying.
Abraham Lincoln was awesome! Maybe it’s because he’s killing vampires, creatures which are overpopulating the fiction shelves following the popularity of Twilight, Vampire Diaries and True Blood, and generally annoying the heck out of me when I browse the YA shelves. But I’ve always liked it when some creative writer puts a twist into a familiar tale, real or not.
I picked up The Black Ship because the illustrations reminded me strongly of Edward Gorey’s work and the first few pages were not too bad. It turned out to be a rather interesting collection of short spooky tales, part of a series of spooky books. Of course, I didn’t see any of the other books when I bought this one. Sigh.
The Toymaker had a prologue that would make you go WOW and buy the book to find out what happens. Finding a way to transplant a real heart into a wooden toy and make it come to life? Yes, please. It was not too bad in all, but could have spent less of the book approaching the ideas in the prologue from a completely roundabout tangent.
I picked up Tribes in KL after pushing myself past the introduction chapters of Linchpin and and finding Seth Godin really, really good. This is what I’m reading now.
Another recently consumed book not pictured here (coz Shin Yi took off with it yesterday) is Gary Chapman’s The Five Languages of Love, given to me by Albert and Serina when all I did was ask to borrow it. (Thanks, guys.) The book is aimed at married couples, but it does provide some useful insight for everyone else and can be applied to the people you hang out with a lot.
Usually I’ll end a post with some idea of what I’ll blog about next, but who am I kidding. I might not be compelled to blog again for another two months.
So this post ends here.
