A random Monday memory

Years and year ago, my dad went away somewhere and brought back a big notebook for me. It was covered in Looney Tunes characters on the outside, and the edges of the pages were gold. Dad told me that not only could I write in it like I was apt to do as a voracious reader and writer for my age, but I could also use the cartoons on the outside to trace and draw into my own artwork. What kid gets excited over a book with blank pages to write in? I did. 

Losing my head over losing a head

A little while ago, Malcolm and I had dinner with another couple of friends of ours and at the end of the night when the guys went downstairs to look at gadgets, I had a drool over the wife's library.  We talked books and guilty pleasures and at the end she suggested I give Philippa Gregory a try.  I borrowed The Other Boelyn Girl and was on my way. 

Thank god it's over. 

For the last week or so that I'd had the book in my possession, I had not been able to put it down whenever I had a spare moment - even when I DIDN'T have a spare moment.  And the facts that it was a historical fiction and that I'd seen the movie before reading the book didn't have any effect on my need to read.  If anything, I think it enhanced it.  Because I basically knew what was supposed to happen at one point or another, I was EAGER for it to happen because I wanted to see how or why it happened. 

When are they going to chop her head off?!

In short.  I'm glad that I'm finished with it and can get on with my life...even if it's only on 3 hours of sleep today. 

By the books

Ever since I was a kid, I've always kept a book in tow when I knew I was going anywhere that might afford me a chance to snatch a few sentences.  When I travelled to Japan, I settled on the biggest books I could take for fear of running out of things to do.  Probably not the greatest idea when travelling from city to city, but I was a novice back then.  This time around.  I took one long book and made the most of it.  In fairness, it lasted through 4 countries before I had to go and find a new read.

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

It was a gift given to me last Christmas from one of my volleyball teammates who also reads.  I was glad for it because while I'm always on the hunt for good books, I never write down the good recommendations when I'm given them and then I forget what I was told by the time I get to the bookstore.  However, in this case, when I got the book, I remembered it as being on "the list" and was happy to have received it.  

For another little while, the book was put to the side due to me being too busy to finish the current behemoth I was working on (I'm pretty sure it was the SUPER BIASED biography of Mao Tse-Tung) and therefore not yet ready to move onto something else.  Finally, it was departure time for us to traverse the world.  I scooted into our library and scoured the shelves - I needed something long, substantial, but GOOD to read and shortly my eyes landed on this gifted book. 

And then I was in.  At first you have no idea who's going to be your hero or where the book is leading you.  But page after page you soon get wrapped up in the story that doesn't really have a hero, only a whole score of villains who plague the lives of the characters you follow.  Everyone that I met who learned I was reading A Fine Balance and who'd read it themselves were all concerned about how heavy the story was that I had chosen for a travel companion.  But I thought through and through that it was a good choice.  I was looking for a good story - a great read - and sometimes those stories are not always the happy ones.  

While I never claim that novels (especially works of fiction) to be great records of history (heck, the Mao bio I read was sooooo biased it was hard to believe fact was fact at all), my favourite part of reading anything at all is the glimpse that it affords you into the life and/or time of someone else that you would otherwise never knew existed.  The poverty, the slums, the jobs, the people, the food, the ways of life - without reading this novel, I never would have guessed.  Call me ignorant, but now I'm a little less so.  

Mao: The Untold Story - Jung Chang & Jon Holliday

This is the super biased biography of Mao - not that I know any better.  But you can't help but hear the scathingly accusatory tone that Chang takes through the entire novel.  I was originally interested in reading this behemoth of a bio after I finish Chang's previous work, Wild Swans, a memoir of the lives of her, her mother and her grandmother spanning the distance from Revolutionary China to North American San Fransisco.  Wild Swans was riveting--especially to me as the North American daughter that knows so little of where she came from or what made her grandmother and mother who they were.  After devouring the novel,  I made that infamously forgettable mental note to try to pick up her next book, Mao to see what other glimpses it offered into the life I never knew and the past that my grandmother never spoke about.  Thank goodness I happened upon Malcolm's copy of it when unpacking our new house.

While in the novel, Chang offered reasons as to why Mao's policies were so effective and how the brainwashed mindset of the people may have been so susceptible to them, in the biography she gets wrapped up in the numbers and discrepancies of Mao's government that she forgets to tell a story at all.  I could probably just scan the whole book into MS Excel and it'll pop out pretty charts and graphs as a response.  You get to hear about what he does, the [supposed] reason he does it, and the consequences of his actions, but you don't hear about what others think about it or about how the general public acts.

Maybe that's what makes up a good biography - what do I know, I just read fiction and memoirs - but it was a chore to complete the book.  And interesting to note was while I lugged the book around, more than one person touched by Mao's governance themselves commented positively that they were pleased I was reading it (though they had no idea how scathing the words were about him).  As one of them said after I told them about all the bad things I was being told by the biography,

   "Well that's just her opinion.  He did a lot of good too. He must have - otherwise they would have ousted him long ago."

True...unfortunately, though, due to Chang's tedious paperweight, I was not inspired to go out to learn more...not even via Wiki.


Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume 1 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I needed a break from the serious and what better way than to delve into the stories behind the latest movie that I wanted to see but was denied the opportunity to due to the short running period in the theatres?

First of all, I learned something just from making my decision to find this book to read: the author's name is First Name "Arthur", Last Name "Conan Doyle," NOT just "Doyle.  For the first 10 minutes of my search through the bookstore (in Malaysia) I could not find any Sherlock Holmes under "Doyle."  It was only by accident that I made the "Conan Doyle" discovery.  Anyhow, I digress.

So Sherlock did not fail to entertain.  It was fun to read and then try to beat the famed, arrogant, drug-addicted detective at his own game - which I have to say IS possible, but there's always something to mix things up.

And now, currently, I'm riveted by a new read...something non-fiction and an award winner, and one that I'd committed to the infamous mental list, but that became reality really fast when Malcolm needed to buy a second book to get an awesome discount.  But I'll tell you about it when I'm done.

Consciousness Slipping In (and out)

I don't get it. I sleep kinda late, I wake up kinda late. I sleep really late, I wake up really early. I'm tired.
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I've been ODing on CSI lately. I have to say, I'm enjoying the addition of Laurence Fishburne as Ray Langston. I can't seem to get enough of this show--it just gets my nerdy bone in the right spot. That and Hodges and Sims make the ultimate beauty and the geek with emotional angst ever.
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Last night (before AND after my attempts at sleeping), I cast out a LOT of lines. I'm hoping at least a few of them hit. It's always nice to know people care about you.
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My pre-bedtime ritual is to delve into a book to get my eyes all sleepy. I finished my current read last night--The Book Thief--on recommendation from ehbaba. Good. Book. I almost cried. Almost. But really. It was a great read. I probably finished it in 4 sincere sittings.
...

Okay, yet another CSI marathon to go with my knitting...for as long as I can stay conscious that is.

Bewitched

    "It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked."
    --Khalil Gibran
...

I would like to have been able to say: "Go away. Get out of my life. Ever since I first met you, everything has been a hell. All I want is for you to come here, put your arms around me and kiss me, and say you want to stay with me forever, but that never happens.
--page 252

    That was the only time I dared to ask her: "Why do you love me?"
    She replied: "I don't know and I don't care."
    Now, as I put the finishing touches to these pages, I believe I may have found the answer in her last conversation with the journalist.
    Love simply is.
--page 268

"The Witch of Portobello" by Paulo Coelho

...

It wasn't until halfway through the book that I realized "oh, that Portobello. Hey, I was there!"

Dork.

Weighted words

He wouldn't bend, so she had to break.
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I just finished a really heavy book. It wasn't so much the 700+ pages that gave it its weight, but more so all the trauma it held in the pages that Mr. Lamb made your own to hold onto. It also could have been so heavy because I was trying to escape a labyrinth of my own, trying to find my centre amidst all the twists and turns and dead ends. Have I mentioned I've been emotionally strung lately? Nearly cried into the pages while on the subway this morning.
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The quote on my Starbucks cup today was the same one from almost a year ago that nearly cost me my job because I ponderously mused about the benefits of never settling for less than the best. That and because people can't be adult about matters of the heart.

Passed me by

I had to do a double-take and actually visit my own site before I could believe that this was my first post of this year. Though I don't apologize, I do miss it. I was too preoccupied--and not--to write. I seem to have (re)learned what a joy it is to do absolutely nothing. However, doing nothing for too long gets me antsy to the point I panic and become quickly irritable until I do something.

Video games don't count.


If they counted, then I could consider myself as having been well-accomplished over the past few weeks. But no; like watching TV for a marathon stretch of time, video games are the worst. If I sit there long enough, I get cold sweats and lose circulation to my extremities. I shit you not. TV only kind of counts when I come out of the boob-tube coma having completed knitting a scarf or something. Video games only count when there is usually more than one player, and all players, as well as passers-by, get a huge hoot out of watching the goings-on. Though, as much as I am against those marathons stretches of solo TV-watching or video game playing, I have to confess, I am more than a little in love with my new PS3 game...


I haven't even been able to do many casual chores around the house because apparently I'm not the only one with too much time on my hands. My laundry's been folded for me more than once; my cooking catastrophes have been tackled before I could finish my creations. Most people would feel grateful, and while I do, I also feel more than useless.

However, I've had a chance to rediscover (as I do every little while) how much I love to read. Having traveled the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that I've always told myself I would (though arguably, not ALL those 20,000 leagues were under the sea), I have now built myself up to The Glass Castle--a trip that started in Japan and took two years to actually happen. All of my shelves are littered with so many books that I've either read, want to read, or am meaning to re-read. One of these days my floor's going to fall through to the basement.


Something I miss more than I care to admit though, is my volleyball. I haven't played in weeks, and due to a hesitation, I missed my chance to break the streak this past weekend. But, I DO get to give it another go on Thursday. I remember the days when it fit so easily in to my life. It wasn't an addiction though, it was a passion. Always was, always will be. I'll be honest, it's been hard cutting back the way I have, but I guess we all have to make sacrifices in life; it was only going to be a matter of when I would do it.

Finally, there's some drama amongst the trinity. I was beginning to think it'd become complacent and boring and was slowly fading. Thank goodness I was wrong.

The Unquenchable Thirst

In less than a week, I've managed to plow through the first 2 books of the Twilight series and have already made a huge dent in the third. This is while traveling cross-country and while organizing and running major events throughout the week.

I. can't. stop.

The only reason I ever stop reading is because I have to, never because I want to. I caught myself still reading this morning sometime after 5am. I was scheduled to leave for the airport at 11am.

Vampire stories have always been my reading-list weakness.

Love stories get me every time.

I have been bitten and I can't stop the venom from spreading...what they have feels so familiar.

(Box-set...here I come!)

Definitely makes the list

Ahhh...lunch break. These are totally, retardedly, me.

And while I'm sharing, here's the 100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library. Funny enough, I own and have read about a third of all of these already...I think I'll chalk it up to wanting to know more about rare species. :)

Randominity V (...mmm..."V"...)

For the record, I am not a lush.

Also for the record:
hy·per·bo·le n. A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.

Sorry to have worried you, DD. ;)
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I am currently reading The Da Vinci Code (Illustrated) for the umpteenth time. Why? Not necessarily because it was a good book--it was--but because I wanted to remind myself of all the storylines the movie missed. My official verdict: the movie was good (not GREAT, but good) as long as it is viewed as a TOTALLY separate entity from the book it was based on. However, I cannot get past the fact that Tom Hanks was awful as Robert Langdon. ANYBODY else would have been a better cast--except for Nicholas Cage; he might have been just as bad, if not worse--and what were they thinking, giving him that hair?!

X-Men: The Last Stand on the other hand, was GREAT. I mean, you're not going to go watch that movie looking for an intricate plotline with multileveled meanings intertwined into it to make you think for hours on after the movie is over, so having everything sink into chaos and then blowing everything up to make it better was GREAT to watch. And short of ruining the movie for those of you who haven't seen it, things happened in the movie that turned out real consequences. Yay. Some days, I wish I were a mutant. Oh, who am I kidding? EVERYDAY I wish I were a mutant!

The last movie that I watched and actually genuinely liked both the characters and the plotline and all was V for Vendetta. I went into that movie not knowing at all what it was about except for the fact that Natalie Portman had shaved her head for the role. I came out in love.
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My favourite line from the WHOLE trip to New York with the Boos:
    "Go fish, bitch."

And then I had to pick up a card from the pile.
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I just recently quit my job working at the breatfast restaurant. There were no hard feelings there, it was just time to move on, and if I didn't quit first I never would have begun to make any further progress. And so the job hunt begins. The only catch is that I either need an amazingly flexible job in regards to hours and time off, or I need temporary after temporary after temporary job. There's just too much to do in life to have to be tied down to a single place day in and day out. However, unfortunately there's just too much to do in life to not have a job to pay for it.
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What with no school books to read anymore, I've gone back to my gluttonous pace of DEVOURING books. Since April 23rd (the day we left for DisneyWorld) I've read:

• Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
• Pure - Rebecca Ray
• JPod - Douglas Coupland

And by the end of tonight...
• The Da Vinci Code (again) - Dan Brown

And that's just within the last month...even despite the fact I've been working and travelling and volleyballing. Books are yum.
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There's been construction going on in and around my neighbourhood for the past month and more. They're digging up the lawns and the streets to redo our watermain system. I usually don't mind because I'm away for most of the day. But today, having no job to be at and no volleyball to play until 6:30 tonight, I minded at 8:30 this morning. Then, come 1:30pm, everything stopped and I found them taking their lunch break lounging in the shade of my front porch. So what did I do? I marched right out there to give them a piece of my mind. With a smile. Wearing only boxers and a little white tank-top. And wielding a plate of freshly cut pineapple. I think we're friends now. :)
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I went to two weddings just last weekend. The first was for Sherman's cousin, and the whole ceremony and reception was carried out in two languages: English, and Sign-language. That was so cool. Walking into the reception hall, (we'd had to miss the ceremony) I thought that Sherman and I had arrived too early because there wasn't a peep coming from inside. But then I walked in and realized that everyone was signing to each other--I failed to remember that this particular cousin of his was deaf.

On the flipside, the second wedding I went to was a volleyball wedding and it was loud as hell. Congrats to both parties!
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I'd originally thought that today might be yet another volleyball kind of day, but what with it being SWELTERING out, I think I might be changing my schedule to make today an ICE CREAM kind of day. Tummy grumbles, here I come!

It's still reading, right?

Take it away! I'm so in trouble. Señorita just brought over a copy of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons for me. Upon first inspection, it looks a lot shorter than my illustrated copy of The DaVinci Code and that only took me about 2 days to get through, and I DO have the weekend here...but it's too risky. I have a HOARDE of other things I have to get through first. I think the best bet would be to give the book to Shmelly so that he can hide it on me until I've got all my important reading out of the way. But then Shmelly won't get here for another few hours since he's got errands to run and people to see...maybe a few hours of personal reading won't hurt...