Other Books I Read in 2005

I know it's terrible how I stop putting down the books that I've read. Ok, so the the utmost lazy fashion, I will try to recall and list the books that I read in the second half of 2005.

1. Fingersmith (Sarah Waters)
   
2. Spalding's Writing Road to Reading
3. Kira-kira (Cynthia Kadohata)
4. The Nightwatch (Sarah Waters)
5. The Perfect Hamburger (Alexander McCall Smith)
   
6. Goggle-eyes (Anne Fines)
   
7. Flour Babies (Anne Fines)

I can't seem to recall anymore... I'm sure I read more than these. Half of the above books are kids books, that I read because I wanted to read some parts to the students in school...

And I also have a list of half-read books.

1. The Accidental (Ali Smith)
2. Maximum Ride (James Patterson)
3. Emotionally Weird (Kate Atkinson)
4. Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)
5. The Bible

Jeez. My new year's resolution is to read more.

Safe From Harm

Got this book as a Christmas gift. It's supposed to be a kid's book. Story about a boy who decided to run away from home. The author, Rollo Armstrong sprinkled famous quotations (that were not part of the story but had slight relevance to) throughout the book. My favourite part of the story and quote is on the first page. The quote is "Children have little moments of very great power" and in the page directly opposite is the picture of an angry, small boy with the beginning of the story, "Jack, aged nearly ten, decided he was never going to eat again."

Neil Gaiman in Kino and Borders

It's confirmed. The man himself is going to be in Singapore.
He's going to do book signings in a couple of the bookshops. 5 July at Kino (the Orchard one), after which he's going to have a reading/talk in the National Library upstairs. And on 6 July, about 4 pm or 5pm Gaiman is going to be at Borders signing away. Woo Hoo!!!

And if you want to have lunch with the man himself, there's a promotion going on. Buy his latest book, Mirrormask (Dave McKean illustrated this film script for the motion picture) and you may get to chill with Gaiman over coffee and chilli crabs...

Good grief, what would i say to him when he autographs my book....

Neil Gaiman In Singapore!

I was browsing blogsites today and came across a book Exchange site in livejournal. Was reminded that Neil Gaiman was coming to town. I read that in the papers the other day but didn't know if it was confirmed. Anyway, this author is only one of the most intense writers around. When I first read the Sandman series, I was intrigued by Death and thought that she was super cool and wanted to be like her. Ha! Back in my earlier younger days.

Strangers In Paradise

I've been absolutely lazy and stop recording the books that I've been reading. Not have I haven't been reading. Okay, I've just reread Volumes 1,2 and 3 of Strangers In Paradise.The very real comic written by Terry Moore. About these 2 girls and their buddy.The girls apppear to have a little love interest in each other...all the more yummier to read.But, as comics goes, these are quick easy reads. Nothing serious to ponder over.
Here's the link:
http://www.strangersinparadise.com/sipindex.html

The Complete Bible Handbook

The love of my life is so in love with God, I needed to understand why. So I started reading the bible. Afterall, it's the bestseller of all time. Surely I couldn't give it a miss. Taking advice, I started reading from the new testament onwards. I've actually started with Genesis a couple of times over the years but never made it past.

To date, I've read the synoptics, kindda skimmed through John and did Acts. I'm moving on the more draggy letters from Paul. A good handbook that I have with me is the DK Complete Bible Handbook. It not only gives me a good overview with maps and cross referencing, it also contains details and explanations of the history of that time. Really helps a novice.

The Bible is a really interesting book. Lots of stories and parables which I have heard before. As I haven't read the letters, it's been kindda like a history lesson with morals and lessons. Jesus so far strikes me as a rather arrogant chap. But I guess He has every right to be, afterall, He's God. He has risen from the dead and he is Lord... every knee shall bow every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Haha. That's the other problem with reading the bible and being brought up in a Catholic school. Whenever, I read a familiar line or phrase, my mind would burst into song. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your might and love for all mankind as you would love yourself....that and apparently loving your neighbours is the way to go.

The Song Reader

The song reader started off really promising. A plot about 2 sisters who lost their mom. Dad left them when they were very young. The elder sis in order to support the family tells people their fortunes and feelings just through the songs that ring in their minds. I initially like the song reading idea. How the lines of the songs that stick with us actually reflected the events in our lives.
But half way through, the story kindda took a turn for the stale. It was the usual unresolved issues that the kids had with their parents. It was getting boring reading about these tyrpes of dsyfunctional families that I cannot identify with. It could be too small town American for my liking. Even the ending was sheepishly put together and I didn't feel it was worth it thronging through the book.
There was an interview at the end about how people read the book and felt that it give them courage. Pooh pooh. Perhaps I'm reading this book too closely after the History of Tractors (must read!) and I enjoyed that a tad bit too much.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian : A Novel
by Marina Lewycka

Hilarious book about two sisters having to discourage their elderly dad from marrying a big-breasted young Ukrainian divorcee- Valentina with a kid in tow.
It is obvious to everyone but the father that Valentina is only in this relationship for money and citizenship. She makes the poor dad buy her cars, expensive unneccessary household items and even her breast enhancements surgery (though i think he didn't mind paying for that).
The straighforward way Lewycka describes the characters, situations and conversations makes the read very funny. I can't help but repeat the phrases that the dad says or nasty names that Valentia called him out aloud because they are so quirky and Lewycka even sometimes provides the pronouciations next to the words.
Certain key phrases stuck to my head, like Superior Bottecellian Breasts. When I was breakfasting in
Panthuwan Princess, Bangkok, I saw this woman who had overflowing breasts and immediately, SBB came to mind. I then, went up to her and asked if she was from Ukraine. Alas, she wasn't even European.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I really like the books by this Jonathan Safran guy. He's the same chap who wrote Everything is Illuminated. The guy's a genius to make me laugh and cry over the same part of the book.

It usually takes me a while to warm up to a book. But the hilarious first page got me hooked immediately. It's about this boy's search for something his father, who died in the Sept 11 attack, left behind. We see how the family deals with his death. We're shown how war/tragedy affects people for the rest of their lives. Their futures are infused with the details of earlier trauma.

Once again, Jonathan Safran Foer's narration brings us back and forth in time, spanned over three generations through a series of unposted letters. We can compare how people will still have to pick up post war pieces, be it child, lover or wife. It never ends, there's no closure. All sorts of depresssing.

I hate anything, books, movies about dying fathers, but I'm glad I didn't skip this one.

12 Days of Christmas

Completed reading 12 Days of Christmas post Christmas. The short stories made everything feel nice, warm and fuzzy on the insides. As I mentioned previously, the stories are inspired by the song the 12 days of Chirstmas. The first story is based on a patridge in a pear tree, the second on two turtle doves and so on and so forth. It' nice to see how the authors weaved their story around those titles. After the first two stories, I started looking forward to the next one, and wondered how the author was going to fit three french hens in.

I especially liked two turtle doves. It was surprisingly sweet. The story was about a couple about to split up, undergoing their last session of marriage counselling. Another favourite was a fairy tale towards the end, love fairy tale romances. Kindda surreal.

But don't go on thinking that the stories are all the same. I just happen to like the lovey dovey ones.

The Character of Rain

This is a strange little book. The narrator is this 2-3 year old kid living in Japan. The entire books seems rather abstract. There's a heavy water, drowning imagery/theme throughout. Took me quite some time to read this skinny book because I didn't think that it was engaging.

Parallel Lies

Stella Duffy is at her best writing about murder mysteries. A easy, fast-paced read about a gorgeous Russian actress, her live-in pseudo boyfriend and her attractive British PA lover living in a lovely house in Beverly Hills. Duffy spends long paragraphs describing the Hollywood lifestyle and truths behind the public images that celebrities have. It's like reading some tabloid and gaining access to her hidden life. Or course, it's double plus points for the book that the secret involves keeping her lover girlfriend under wraps. Sure beats her last book with a hetrosexual couple and somebody dying. I'll recommend this book for a fun weekend read. Don't need to think very hard kind.