Linda Wisdom, the author of 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover, guest blogged on my bookblog on Monday. It was a very inspiring post, especially for writers, but I believe that the advice can be applied to anyone in any aspect of their lives.

Click here to read her post.

As for me, I have to admit that I have certain comfort zones that I may be too afraid to get out of, but at the same time I know that if I don't come out of my comfort zone, I won't achieve anything of value.

I have big dreams, I have big ideas, and none of them will come true if I stay in my comfort zone. I am not content to just dream about them, I will not be satisfied with a life half-lived. So it's time for me to be brave, and live the life I was born to live.

Glory, Fame, and Fortune! Here I come!

Linda Wisdom, the author of the new paranormal romance, 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover, will be guest blogging in my bookblog about her deliciously entertaining book this Monday, the 21st of April, so make sure you visit my bookblog to see what she has to say.

50 Ways to Hex Your Lover features sassy witch Jazz Tremaine, her on-again, off-again sexy vampire lover, Nikolai Gregorivich, and of course, her always-hungry bunny slippers, Fluff and Puff, who are seriously adorable but dangerously quick to chomp on anything within the grasp of their sharp teeth.

The chemistry between Jazz and Nikolai sizzles throughout the book as they are forced to work together to stop a diabolical psycho who uses his powerful dark magick to steal vampires' and other magickal creatures' life forces.

Linda will blog more about the book on Monday, but I just want to say that it was one of the best and most entertaining paranormal romances I have ever read. All the characters are interesting and truly memorable, especially the annoying ghost Irma, Jazz's greedy employer Dweezil, and the truly foul Tyge Foulshadow. Nikolai is one vampire whose fangs I'd like to get on me, except that Jazz would kill me if I touched him, and I honestly wouldn't want her on my bad side.

Linda Wisdom's 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover is a real treat for witch and vampire lovers and it is full of fun and excitement on every single page. Read more about it this Monday when Linda guest blogs here.

I'm happy again! =)

Guess why?!

Can't guess? Come on, I know you know!

You know it!!

I'll give you a hint:
What do I love most in the world?!

Come on, you know the answer!

What is it?!

Come on....

Alright, I'll tell you...

.

.

.

.

.

Books!!!!

And guess what I bought myself from Amazon?!!

Books!!!!

And guess what?!!

They've arrived!!

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! *skippity-skip* =D

Joy to the World! etc!

I got my books, don't need nothing else, lalalala......

It's a testament of how much books mean to me when I remember any little detail I ever learnt that has to do with books.

Lone was testing my Chinese knowledge a few days ago, asking me about the 'penjodoh bilangan', you know, like, a loaf of bread, a pack of wolves, and etc.

So he asked me, what 'penjodoh bilangan' do you use for a person?

一 (blank) 人?

I said I didn't know. He asked me to guess. I couldn't, coz it wasn't something I studied recently, he asked just to see how much I knew.

He ended up telling me, 一个人, yi ge ren.

What about for fish? 一 (blank) 鱼?

I didn't know. He answered, 一条鱼， yi tiao yu.

So far so good, I'm learning new words.

Then he asked. What about books?

And I surprised both of us by jumping up and saying, "I know, I know!!"

"一本书！！" yi ben shu!

I replied so fast that I startled the both of us, and he laughed at me because he found it hilarious that I knew the answer to this particular one.

What does that say about me? That I don't remember the 'penjodoh bilangan' for everything else, but I remember the one for books!

In fact, the main reason I'm even trying to learn Chinese now, after all these years, is just so I can read Chinese history books in their original language! I didn't want to read the English translations of Chinese history because too many things get lost in translation, and there are many imbedded meanings in the Chinese language that can be stories in and of itself.

And god help me if I don't love stories.

The things I do for my books...

I recently reviewed a book, A Secret of the Universe by Stephen L. Gibson, which made me curious about the Bible.

I'm not a Christian, and I've never actually read the Bible, but I do know about the stories of the Bible. You know, like Noah's ark, Adam and Eve, Moses' 10 Commandments, etc. And I enjoy those stories, it's just that I've never read the Bible to see what the Bible actually says.

I've known for a while that the Bible contradicts itself many times. What else can you expect from a book which was written by dozens of different people and translated from dozens of different languages? Something was bound to get lost in translation somewhere.

I meant to read the Bible for myself one day, so I could read the stories, and the contradictions, for myself (better to argue theology when you know about the other's points), but I wasn't interested enough to do it.

Stephen L. Gibson's novel A Secret of the Universe has made me so interested that I have now started reading a chapter of the Bible a day, starting from the book of Genesis.

Already I've found something which many Christians conveniently ignore;

If Adam and Eve were the first people, and they gave birth to Cain, Abel, and Seth, then who was it that Cain took as a wife? Where did she come from? And why was he so afraid that other men might judge him for killing his brother? Where did those other men come from?

It's just the first in a long long list of questionable statements in the Bible. This is why, though I enjoy the Bible stories, I would never really believe them. I take them the way I would take any other fantasy story.

Even with fictional books, readers question certain things that don't make sense in the story, why should we do any less with the Bible? Especially with the Bible, in fact. If it doesn't make sense, I'll pick at it. It's fun! =P

But it's really interesting too, you know.

Taj: The Woman and the Wonder is the fictional account of the very true story behind the building of one of the Seven Wonders, the Taj Mahal. Although it's fiction, Sandra Wilson keeps the facts real, and all I can say is, if all my history textbooks read like this, I would've aced all my exams.

We all know about the Taj Mahal as one of the most famous monuments in history. It is beautiful, enchanting, and ever changing. Just like a woman. I've never had the opportunity to see the Taj Mahal in person, but those who are lucky enough to have seen it and be enchanted by it, will be just as enchanted by Wilson's Taj.

Wilson brings history to life with her book Taj. The descriptions are so vivid and colourful, I felt as if I traveled back in time and was actually there. When Shah Jahan was betrayed by his scheming stepmother and lost his father's favour, I was so frustrated I wished I could've beheaded his stepmother or at least tell his father that it was all a misunderstanding so that he would behead her. When Shah Jahan's beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, passed away and he was so heartbroken and distraught, I felt my heart break too for the loss of such a wonderful woman. Wilson's portrayal of Shah Jahan and his wife were brilliantly written, and it showed how true the saying was, that 'behind every great man there is a great woman.'

Mumtaz Mahal stood by her husband through everything, even when he was forced to go to war with his father, because her aunt, Shah Jahan's stepmother, was power-hungry and wanted to rule the empire. Her devotion to her husband never wavered, although she was forced to be on opposing sides with her own father, who was brother to Shah Jahan's stepmother.

There is so much to the story behind the Taj Mahal. Before I read Taj, all I knew about the Taj Mahal is that it is one of the Seven Wonders, and that it was built by an emperor for his wife whom he loved very much. A touching story in itself.

Now that I've read the book, I see that there's so much more to it than that. The Taj Mahal is a testament of an emperor's love for his wife, yes, but it is also the testament of her devotion to him, his struggle to regain what was rightfully his against all odds, and the power of a love that transcends time and death. I understand more clearly now this love between an ordinary man who was emperor, and his exceptional wife who was completely devoted to him and stood by him through all the best and the worst of times, that led to the building of one of the Seven Wonders of the world.

Kudos to Sandra Wilson, for writing such a compelling story about Taj; the woman, and the wonder.

Hey guys!

My review for Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist was posted up on his blog!

Check it out here!

This is sooooo cool! =)

I don't get it.

I really don't get it.

How on earth did Harry Potter get so overhyped?

It's a great book, no doubt. It's creative and imaginative and exciting and interesting and fun, and all of that.

But so are a whole damn lot of other books!

And many of which that are much much much better than Harry Potter.

So what is it about Harry Potter which warrants the long queues and midnight camping and overpricing?

I mean, seriously, the book isn't that good. I can think of a few thousand other books which are much better, and none of them even got as much hype as this one.

Why?

I really, really just don't get it!

I liked the first three books, but I didn't love them. And from the fourth book onwards I thought that Rowling was starting to overdo things a little, but I still enjoyed the books.

I didn't buy the books, by the way, I didn't like them enough to spend money on them, not even on the first three books, which hadn't had their prices jacked up yet. My brother bought them, and I just borrowed them to read when I had nothing else better to read. My brother was way more into them than I was.

And yet he stopped buying them. He didn't buy the sixth book(I don't remember the suffixes, was it Harry Potter and the...oh, whatever) and the Deathly Hallows isn't on the shopping list either.

The prices are just ridiculous! Like I said, it's not that great of a book, and even if it is, why does it warrant a RM100 ++ price tag? It can't be because of the paper or the cost of printing, because I know the price of books, and since these books are in such demand, printing more of them should have brought the cost of printing down!

So the price must have been jacked up for Rowling's sheer genius in writing them, except, seriously... they aren't that great!

I'm really shaking my head in disbelief at this.

I'm glad for the hype of Harry Potter causing so many non-readers to start reading, and I'm glad at least, that it's one about wizards and witches and dragons.

Sighz...

I guess I'm kinda glad for the hype, but for the life of me, I just can't understand it.

Alex was sweet enough to loan me this book, since I've always wanted to read it. I've heard so much about it that I was actually prepared to dislike it. I thought that maybe it was all just hype and that when I finally read it, I'd see that it was all overrated. But I loved it.

The Alchemist is a wonderfully simple story of a young shepherd who follows his dreams of treasure and encounters many experiences and people, learning wisdom and life lessons along the way. Paulo Coelho has skillfully woven many bits of truth and wisdom about life into this masterpiece, and it is a true delight to read. Just like it teaches, it is not the destination, but the journey with this book, that counts.

It doesn't matter if you're searching for buried treasure, or for love, or for the secret of turning lead into gold. It doesn't matter if you die trying, never reaching your goal. It doesn't matter if you don't find what you're looking for, once you get there. What matters is what you've brought with you on the way, and what you've learned along the way. The people you meet, the hardships and heartaches you go through, the lessons your experiences has taught you.



The Alchemist tells you how to turn lead into gold. It tells you of the wonder and the uncertainty of change and evolution, the secret of enjoying the beauty of life without becoming hardened by the harshness of reality, the art of living in the moment without worrying about the past or the future, and most importantly, the ultimate secret of the universe, that we are all interconnected. We are all one.

It has been compared to Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince and Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. I have read both, and while they both have their own beauty and teach their own wisdom, The Alchemist touches people in its own quiet way.

What I like about the book is that it teaches you to live your life well. Live every moment in the moment. Let go of anything that is an encumberance. Follow your dreams. Have fun and enjoy everything life has to offer, but don't forget the things that really matter. Let go of things that are not within your control. Live your life and let others live theirs, what works for you may not work for them and vice versa. There is something to be learnt in everything.

There is so much wisdom contained within the pages of this little book, but for me, the most important one, is to enjoy every minute of your life. We all have goals in life, we have dreams to fulfill and successes to achieve. We need to remember to stop once in a while, and smell each rose and count each star in the sky. It is not the destination, but the journey, that counts.

Laurel Dewey's debut novel, Protector, is an exciting crime thriller that has a hint of the sixth sense. Detective Jane Perry is a disturbed individual who is struggling with demons from the past, and more recently the loss of the family she and her partner were protecting. Jane tends to take her job too seriously, and it hits her hard when the family dies in front of her eyes.

Spiraling slowly out of control, she is saved when nine-year-old Emily Lawrence enters her life. The child is put under Jane's protective care after both her parents were found brutally murdered in their home. Believed to have witnessed her parents' murders, Emily is in danger when the killer makes another attempt on her life.

What follows is an excellent tale of suspense that intensifies as the bond between Jane and Emily grows stronger and the killer takes more and more desperate measures. You can watch the trailer at Laurel Dewey’s website.

Protector seems to be almost too intense for a debut novel, but it is surprisingly realistic in depicting the darkness of the human psyche. Dewey captures the flawed personalities of the characters really well, especially that of the heroine, Detective Jane Perry.

Jane Perry is not your average likable heroine, in fact Dewey's personification of Jane's bad attitude is so realistic that there were many times when you just want to slap that sarcastic mouth of hers and make her show a little respect to her superiors and colleagues.

However, you realize that Jane is a troubled human being just like anyone of us, and is in the process of healing from her past. Jane's and Emily's journey through helping and healing one another in the midst of danger is a touching and emotional process.

There were a few things which bothered me though, among them Dewey’s tendency to be too obvious and repetitive when describing reading people from their body language, I believe that subtlety might have worked better in this case. There were also a few other details which didn’t exactly make sense to me and seemed unrealistic and unlikely.

It may be that Dewey is used to writing non-fiction, having written two non-fiction books, a variety of investigative reporting, celebrity journalism and alternative health research, but she has a knack for storytelling and was nominated for a Silver Spur Award for her western novella, In the Name of the Land. I enjoyed her debut novel immensely and I believe that with time and a sequel to Protector on the way, Dewey can only get better.

I just finished reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and his son Thomas M. Campbell II. I've gotten so much out of it and learned so much mind-boggling information about nutrition from this book, that it's hard to believe I finished it in 14 days.

Every chapter, every sentence of the book, I learnt something new. This book makes me want to change my diet and lifestyle, which no other book or experience or case have ever succeeded in doing before.

I feel like I've grown so much in just these two weeks of reading this book. It's really amazing to finish the book today and realize that I only started reading it two weeks ago. So much has changed.

I really recommend anyone who's even the least remotely interested in nutrition and/or even the least serious about their own or their loved ones' health, to read this book. What you decide to do with the information is up to you, but at least you know what the truth is and what your real options are.

It's amazing how much I learnt from just this one book. Seriously, read the book!

------

Anyway, I know I said I'm gonna be missing the internet the next few days because I'll be at a seminar, but I'm also really excited about it.

My brother's taken the seminar, and he had nothing but good things to say about. He won't tell me what's going to happen because he says that would take the effectiveness out of it for me, but the way he's been going on about it makes me really curious and impatient to find out. LOL!

There seems to be a lot of mystery these days, isn't it? My brother's mysterious hints about the seminar... My mysterious comment about something happening soon... *wink*

I'm still not telling. But I will soon! So be patient k!

Tata for the next four days!

Sighz...=( I'll miss y'all!

Stole this from Synical's blog. Fun!!


INSTRUCTIONS:

Bold the ones you’ve read,
Italicize the ones you want to read,
Cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole,
Put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and
Asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

+2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

+3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

+4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) - and the sequel too!

+5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) - I don't plan to read the LOTR series, but I *would* touch them with a 10 foot pole...

+6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)

+7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)

+8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) - and all the sequels!

9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)

*10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)

+11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K Rowling)

12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)

13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)

14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)

15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)

+16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)

*17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)

18. The Stand (Stephen King)

+19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling) - stop it with the Harry Potter already! Just becoz I read them doesn't mean I loved them.

+20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)

+21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)

22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)

+23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) - I read it and I had the book, but I didn't like it, so I gave it away.

25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)

+27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) - read it twice already, but don't remember it. I was very young when I read it.

+28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)

29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)

30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) - I read this, but it didn't impress me and I wouldn't read any of his other books ever.

+31. Dune (Frank Herbert)

32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)

*33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)

34. 1984 (George Orwell)

+35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) - read it twice and loved it so much I went and got two copies! (by mistake =P)

36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)

*37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)

+38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) - really intense, not an easy book to read emotionally.

+39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)

40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

+41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) - and the sequels too!

42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)

43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) - I like her other books, but I won't read the shopaholic series.

44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) - Never ever ever!

45. The Bible - I want to read it just to know what's so powerful about it to Christians.

46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)

+47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) - I love it! One of the best books ever!

48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)

49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)

+50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) - another really intense book.

+51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)

53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)

+54. Great Expectations (Dickens)

+55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)

*56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)

+57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)

58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)

+59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) - really good book, food for thought.

+60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)

61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

*62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)

63. War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)

64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)

*65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)

66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)

68. Catch–22 (Joseph Heller)

69. Les Miserables (Hugo)

+70. The Little Prince [Le Petit Prince] (Antoine de Saint–Exupery)

+71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)

72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)

+73. Shogun (James Clavell)

74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)

+75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

*76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)

77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)

*79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)

+80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)

*81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)

82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)

+83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)

+85. Emma (Jane Austen)

86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)

87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)

*88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)

*89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)

90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)

*91. In The Skin Of a Lion (Ondaatje)

+92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)

+93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)

+94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)

95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)

96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

+97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)

+98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) - don't remember it though

99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)

100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Guess what I've been reading?

I've just been introduced to Holly's Inbox by a fellow bookcrosser, and now I'm hooked!

If you like chic lit, and if you're a fan of Bridget Jones' Diary and other such books, you'll love this too.

This is a book told in the form of emails, which might have already been done, but not the way they're doing it. Go take a look for yourself and see. It's available online at Holly's Inbox and it looks just like an actual outlook inbox!

I started late last week, so I had time to go through the previous four weeks' emails during the weekend. I finished it on Saturday, and waited so impatiently for this week's emails that I kept refreshing the page every few hours! Blek...=P

What can I say? I'm a geek?

I went to work early yesterday to get some stuff done. Got an ang pow from the boss. =) Stayed until lunch, then went home and spent most of the day letting time get away from me. It felt kinda nice to be so relaxed, but at the same time I felt a little guilty for being so unproductive.

There wasn't anything much to do today, so all I did was play some card games with mum, read a book, lie in bed talking on the phone, and all sorts of other unproductive activities. =P

It's a little bit boring during the day, but I'm hoping tonight will be a little more happening. I know for sure tomorrow night will be fun. =D Because everyone's coming over to my place tomorrow! At about 8, ok? =)

As mentioned, cover charge is losing money to me at the blackjack table. If you don't lose money to me, I won't invite you back next year. =P

LOL! Just joking.

Well, anyway, I had some time to read while I was at my hometown, since there was nothing else to do... I'm in the middle of Stephen King's IT, and it's a huge book, over a thousand pages, but it's great so far. I'm witholding judgement of the book/writing until after I'm done, but it did get me thinking...

The difference between being a child and being an adult...

In the book, horrible haunted things happen to these seven kids, and they could face it and they could conquer it. But 27 years later, when they had all become adults, they are ten times as terrified as they used to be when they were kids.

It's weird coz I thought adults would have a better grip on themselves, they'd be older, stronger, wiser, smarter. Yet they are more terrified than they were as kids.

Which got me thinking.

As kids, we worry about monsters in the closet and under the bed, and ghosts and stuff like that, and our parents had to console us whenever we woke up from a bad dream.

As adults, we no longer have nightmares about monsters and ghosts and stuff like that, coz we're more concerned about the 'real world'.

But what happens if the 'real world' consists of *real* monsters and ghosts. What if these were very real problems? How do you think you'd have handled it as a child, and how would you handle it as an adult?

I think I'd be terrified too. As an adult.

If a monster came to get me when I was a kid, all I'd have to do is scream for mummy and daddy, and they'd come and save me. As a kid, I'd think "no one will be able to get me when I'm bigger, monsters don't eat adults, they only eat kids, like me. I'll be fine when I'm bigger, like mummy. When I'm as big as mummy, the monsters won't dare to eat me, coz I'd be an adult!"

And then I become an adult, and the monsters come after me. I'd be bewildered! I thought adults wouldn't have to worry about monsters. I thought monsters were afraid of adults. I thought when I become an adult, monsters didn't exist anymore. And now I find out, they're invincible! Gasp! Shock! Faint!

Don't you think?

You realize that it wasn't the imagination of your overactive brain when you were a child, you realize monsters are real, and being an adult won't save you from them. Nothing can save you from them. Wouldn't you have a nervous breakdown?

I would.

But fortunately for me, *real* monsters don't exist.

Or do they? =/

I finally updated my bookblog! After three months of problems with the internet, busy end-of-year festivities, hectic new work-schedule and all that, I finally sat down and reviewed the last seven books I've read. Go visit my bookblog to read about them, I'm not going to write another post about them here! LOL!

Here's the direct link to the post!

I'm happy! =D As if it's such an accomplishment! *grin*

Hey, loyal fans of mine, sorry for not blogging for so long! *giggles* I remember when 'not blogging for so long' meant that I haven't blogged in months. Now it's only been what, four days? And already my *ahem* fans are complaining!

LOL! Just joking! So far it's only been one person complaining. Hmm...I wonder if I don't blog for a couple more weeks, will my other fans start complaining too? ;P

Anyway, on a serious note, I've been reading a lot the last couple of days, both my birthday presents from Lone and some of my old writing books. And enjoying it a whole lot too! =D

Monday was a lazy day, coz I didn't sleep the whole night before that.
Tuesday and Wednesday I spent reading The Eyre Affair.
Wednesday night I would've posted up a review of the book, except that I had to prepare the contracts for my client the next day.
Yesterday was busy, busy, busy. Went to see my client in the morning and got stuck in the craziest jam. Traffic has been really unpredictable the last couple of days, coz of the upcoming festivals and holidays. So I finished at around noon, and had to go back to the office to notarize and submit the contracts. Had a meeting with my manager, and only finished at about 4 plus. Traffic on the way back was terrible too.

But I went to Mid Valley first, because I had a 'craving' for books. *big big smile* And let me tell you how happy I was that I went. I finally, finally, finally!! Found the book I had been waiting for, for three whole years!!

A Feast for Crows by George R R Martin!

I waited sooooo long, and finally the paperback is out! The first two years I waited for him to finish writing the book, it was finished last year, but was only out in hardcover and too expensive for me to get. Besides, a hardcover wouldn't match the other books I already had in the series. So I continued being patient for another year. I knew the paperback was coming out this year, I just thought it might be much later, maybe in November or December, but I found it yesterday and I am SO HAPPY!

I would've rushed back home and stuck my butt to the chair and started reading the book straightaway, except that I had to go for another round of futsal with my colleagues.

Yup, I played futsal again. =P

It wasn't as much fun this time around, because only 7 of us showed up, the rest were still stuck in the crazy-assed jam in KL, so they ended up not being able to make it. There were supposedly 15 of us coming, and only 7 showed up, and I was the only girl. It was sad. =( And damned exhausting!

I'm sure you know, less people means more running, and less guys to back me(the girl) up. So I was soon wheezing like a 70 year old climbing up a few flights of stairs, and no match at all for the other guys. Nope, not fun at all. =(

Well, nevermind, I got through the night thinking, I'd soon be home, and I'd be able to start reading A Feast for Crows! Yayy!!

I took a shower as soon as a got home, washed up, prepared myself for bed, and settled down and got comfy in my bed, all ready to read the book. And you'd never guess...

Five pages into the book, my eyes got too heavy to keep open any longer. And I fell asleep.

*grin*

Yup! Last night was the best sleep I had in ages! LOL!

As for the book, I'm now 82 pages in, and continuing again after I post this. =D Don't worry if I don't post for another few days, k. It's a 900+ paged book, and it'll take a while to digest, so I'm getting back to it now. Ta! =D

I finished reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde yesterday, and I was gonna blog about it but couldn't coz I had to prepare some contracts for my client today. So I thought I'd blog about it today, but... I went to MPH earlier today, and...

I FOUND GEORGE R R MARTIN'S A FEAST FOR CROWS IN PAPERBACK!

Finally! Yayyyy!! OMG! I am sooooo happy! I waited three whole years for the book ok! I finished book 3 long time ago, and I was waiting for him to finish this book, book 4 of the series, A Song of Ice and Fire. So he finished it about a year ago, finally! But still I didn't get the book, because it was only out in hardcover and it's too damn expensive for me.

I can be a patient person, so I decided to wait. Since I have other books to keep me distracted in the meantime, right? =D So I waited, and one year has gone by, and it's finally out in paperback!!

And of course I bought it! I practically grabbed it off the shelf! LOL!

So originally, I was going to say The Eyre Affair was the best book I've read this year, (Really, it's damn good! And I loved it!) but seeing as how I'm going to be reading A Feast for Crows I think The Eyre Affair will only be coming in second. =D

And also, I'll post my review of The Eyre Affair much much later! Probably when I've finished A Feast for Crows. =D I am sooo going to enjoy it! I deserve it! After being patient for so long!

I got two new books for my birthday from Lone! Yayyy!! =D


The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel! Two books I've been wanting for a very long time! Thank you so much, Lone dearest! You're the best! Muah! =D

I took an off day from work today coz I was feeling a little sick, what with the haze and not getting enough rest during the weekend too. =(

But it was great lying back and reading the whole day today. I haven't had many chances to relax and enjoy a whole day of quiet reading for so long now, and oh, it was wonderful!

I finished reading Agatha Christie's The Clocks, which by the way, adds to my blissfulness today. I haven't read Agatha Christie's works since I was 13! Oh my gosh, that's like more than 10 years ago! I'm so glad I found her again.

You can go to my bookblog to see my review about it. =D I'm now on a mystery phase. I have to go back to work tomorrow though, and there's so much to do this week, so I'll just have to read in bits and pieces again.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some. LOL!

Having a lot to do at work means a big fat paycheck for me, so I don't mind reading a little at a time. What to do... We all have to work to earn the money to support our passions. ;D

The Clocks by Agatha Christie (246 pages)

Date Started: 8th Oct 2006

Date Finished: 9th Oct 2006

Rating:

This is an oldie but goodie. I remember spending days in the library when I was in Secondary 1 reading all the Agatha Christie's books I could get my hands on. That was my first introduction to Agatha Christie, and surprisingly, when I switched schools after Secondary 1, I haven't read another Christie mystery until now.

I remember loving all of her mystery novels and devouring handfuls of them at a time, but unfortunately, I must have been spoiled by more modern mystery novels, because there seemed to be a lot which lost me in this book.

The book and the plot was still masterfully woven, and it was amazing how everything tied up and made sense at the end. It's the classic mystery novel in which the atmosphere and writing style really appeals to me. You really never know who did it until the end, and then you think, wow...how did I miss it?

Mysteries nowadays are more engaging, with more characterization, and many of them give you false leads and red herrings, making you suspect one and then another person, which is of course, enjoyable reading in their own right too. But it was such a treat reading a classic mystery written by one of the best mystery writers of all time again.

I so wanna get my hands on more of her books now. =D

P.S. By the way, I'm still in the middle of reading Waterbabies, which I will put aside for now because I suddenly realized that with all my variety of books, I hadn't read a single mystery novel. So I picked this book up, and suddenly I'm on my mystery phase. LOL! More to come soon!