Bookworming v2011

The man who does not read good books has
no advantage over the man who can’t read them.

–  Mark Twain

Absolutely true.  I hold the above quote close to my heart and it is mostly upon a loose sort of conviction that I choose my reads.  This post will be continuously updated right up till the last day of 2011.  I am hoping my 2011 list will look much healthier than 2010′s.

The list of books read in 2011 are:

1. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
2. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer
3. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer
5. The Faraway Tree series, Enid Blyton
6. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
7. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
8. Heaven is for Real, Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent
9. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
10. Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
11. The Missing Rose, Serdar Ozkan
12. Be the Pack Leader, Cesar Millan
13. Poirot Four Classic Cases, Agatha Christie
14. The Gift of Fear, Gavin de Becker
15. Cinderella, Henry W. Hewet
16. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón (reading)
17. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth (reading)
18. The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger (reading)
19. Light of the World, Pope Benedict XVI (reading)
20. The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas (reading)
21. Dream Psychology Psychoanaysis for Beginners, Sigmund Freud (reading)
22. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo – planned
23. Twenty Years After, Alexander Dumas – planned
24. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Peter Hedges – planned
25. The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald – planned
26. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie – planned
27. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens – planned
28. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll – planned
29. Belief in God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, T.J. Mawson – planned

Need to bring this post up before it gets buried.  I am making terrible progress and I am re-reading some children’s classics on my kindle, for example Cinderella.  Time to catch up, and hopefully the kindle will help!

Moving Along

… with the times, that is.

I’m not a typical representation of my gender in that I don’t care very much for apparel, accessories, shoes or make-up.  The only typical characteristic and stereotype I possess is probably my weakness for bags.

XX exclaimed that I should be able to save a lot of money since I don’t spend on the typical stuff women my age spend on.  And I shook my head.  In place of these, I have much more expensive indulgences since I’m a technophile and a hobby photographer.  She didn’t quite grasp what I meant until we walked into an Apple store.  Later on as we walked out of the store, she told me she finally understood what I was trying to tell her because my eyes lit up the moment we walked the store, akin to a child walking into Toys”R”Us.

But I digress, for this post should be along the line of moving along with times in terms of an e-reader.  In principle, I oppose to e-readers because I am a bibliophile more than simply a bookworm, except that the books that I collect are the ones I enjoy reading but not necessarily expensive, rare first print editions.  Yet in my heart, I understand why the bulk of us should move on to e-readers: saving the trees, cheaper, lighter in load etc.  It’s a natural progression.

I started seriously considering converting to an e-reader partially when the hubby returned from the States with a brand new kindle for a fellow colleague and suggested that I should look into it, especially the Nook.  The decision not to settle on my good old iPad for reading was quickly arrived at, because it really hurt my eyes to read off the iPad.  I have perfect eyesight by the way, and I’m not about to allow myself to become short-sighted at this age.

I did my own research on the differences between a Nook and a Kindle, and I’ve decided that if I’m to get an e-reader, it would have to be a white Kindle because it is the kindest on the eyes.

Up till this point, I am still undecided because it gets a little tricky to buy books off Kindle if one is an international buyer.  And most of the free books available are the classics as they are the ones with expired copyrights.  Part of the reason why I wish to convert to an e-reader is so that I could get rid of some of the contemporary books I have.  I still wish to keep all the hard copy classics I possess.  In this respect, I have not worked out if the Kindle could aid in my quest to declutter my bookshelves.

However, as the exasperated hubby rightfully pointed out (after being the one who planted the idea in my head!), things will get a little crazy when we pack for travel, because it meant that I have to bring along an iPhone (for communication), an iPad (for watching videos, listening to music and referring to the itinerary and maps), a netbook (to download the photographs taken and to blog) and a Kindle (to read).  On top of that, I have my cameras and lenses.  Now, how on earth are we ever going to find space for the more essential items like clothes?

A valid point.  Which is why I am still contemplating.

My Literature Texts

Still on the topic of books.  Because I climbed up the ladder to reach for the books for yesterday’s post, I decided to bring down all my Literature textbooks for a shot.

Yup.  I kept all the Literature textbooks and supplementary books I read from Secondary 1 to JC 2.  Some of them could still be at my parents’ home, because I vaguely remember a book on ‘Lady Precious Stream’, which was my very first Literature textbook.

These books are really old… some as old as 22 years-old, but I can’t bear to throw them out.  Well, now that I have taken a picture of them as keepsake, it might be easier to dispose of them the next time I need to make space in my bookshelves for other acquisitions.

I wonder if any of my friends kept all their Literature textbooks…

The 5 Most Important Books I’ve Read

A post inspired by The Daily Post.  We were told not to think too much into it and just go into listing 5 books.  Here’s my list, in order of importance:

1. The Bible – Need I even justify this, I was wondering to myself?  I started rather young, being exposed to reading a children’s Bible at the age of 5 or so.  I don’t always enjoy reading the Bible, but it is no doubt a very important book.  And the more I read, the more I comprehend.  Little by little.  Perhaps by the time I die, God’s mysteries would be revealed to me.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee – This book changed my life in so many ways.  I didn’t pick it up by choice then – it was my school Literature textbook back in Secondary 3.  And I am so glad the school chose this book.  It opened my eyes to how real racism and the KKK activities were in South.  More importantly, it taught me the meaning of true courage and that it could come masked in many forms.  And I idolise Atticus Finch!
3. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho – I received this book as a birthday gift from a good friend (whom I look up to in terms of depth of thinking) about a decade ago when our friendship was a little… antagonistic?  The book came at a time when I was at the crossroads of my relationship with the then-boyfriend-now-husband.  Although from Day 1 when I plunged into a relationship with him, I was certain he was going to be the man I would marry.  But when the time came for me to really make the decision, I hesitated, not knowing if that was what I wanted to accomplish in life.  This book helped put some things into perspective, so to speak.
4. Animal Farm, George Orwell – Oh, who could forget how the ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ became ‘Four legs good, two legs better’ chants in this classic satirical novella.  This book, too, was introduced by the school in Secondary 2.  Why?  I don’t remember if it was an assigned Literature textbook or recommended as supplemental reading to the History lessons.  I enjoyed the book very much.  It was my Communism & Stalinism 101.
5. Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White – A very simple and endearing story of friendship and loyalty.  I love this book for its simplicity in narration.  Oh well, it’s a children’s book.  Nevertheless this book never fails to touch me whenever I pick it up again to read it.

None of my favourite author’s – Jane Austen – books made it to the list.  I really enjoyed reading them, but they impacted me a lot lesser than the 5 listed above.

Beginning of an End

Two significant events just took place within the last 6 hours – I watched the final installment of Harry Potter film series, and I got myself an iPhone.  Sounds ordinary enough and trust me to make a mountain out of a molehill eh?  Yea, that sounds like me all right.

I started reading the Harry Potter novels back in 2000 when the 4th book was still not released and never looked back since.  I also got the hubby, who was then the boyfriend, hooked on the books as well.  Naturally we were looking forward to the first of the film series which premiered in 2001.  And every time a new installment was about to premiere, I would assiduously read all the books again from Book 1 to that installment.  Gosh, I must have read Harrry Potter and The Philospher’s Stone at least 10 times!

A decade and 8 movies later, I’ve finally closed a chapter on this aspect of my life.  (By the way, I’ve always knew that Severus Snape is a good guy and Neville Longbottom has always been my favourite character.)  There’s a sense of… loss?  I can’t quite place it, but it’s strange that there isn’t another Harry Potter book or movie to look forward to next summer.  After all, it has been such a large part of our lives in the past decade.

All I have to do now is to wait for the DVD series to be released.  But, life will never be the same again.

And on top of that, I decided to make yesterday even more memorable with the acquisition of my first iPhone.  It’s not a happy decision but my Blackberry Bold has been failing me repeatedly of late.  The problem all started when I was ‘forced’ to update the operating software on my ‘Whiteberry’ when I sync-ed with my iMac.  Then the phone started behaving real wonky – WhatsApp stopped working properly, I kept getting the alert that the phone is running short on memory whenever I updated application software, I missed many calls because no one could reach me, and the phone was getting sluggish because it was low on memory.  And I abhor the new Calendar display.  I think the people at RIM forgot that not everyone with a BB have a full screen display.

As a consequence, I deleted some applications including WordPress, Universal Converter and Player for YouTube.  And the performance only improved slightly.  It doesn’t make any sense to me at all – I updated the OS and the BB started mal-functioning?!  Sure, I could always revert to the older version of the OS, but I’m not going to risk losing all my information and be at the mercy of SingTel’s BB technical support.

Deciding to acquire the iPhone was a momentous decision for me, especially when I have been holding out for so long and I still detest typing on a touchscreen very much.  I vacillated numerous times but the constant lagging from my ‘Whiteberry’ was getting to me.  There are other cell phones out there including Androids and the good old Nokias, but if I need to move away from BB, the clear choice for me is an iPhone.

I have a thing for white cell phones – my past 4 cell phones are all white.  I know the iPhone doesn’t look white but that’s because I chose the privacy film so it turned out looking black – might change it back to the normal kind since the sales assistant didn’t do a good job applying it on anyway.  Now I need to decide whether to retire my NEC N08A or my Whiteberry.  Ya, with just two cell phone numbers, I really don’t need 3 active cell phones.

With the collection of an iPod, iPod Mini, iPod Touch, MacBook Pro, iMac, iPad and iPhone (all still fully functional, by the way), my iFamily is now truly complete.  Now, I just need to concentrate on growing 3 more pairs of ears and 2 more pairs of hands.

Utopia

Literature is my Utopia.
Here I am not disenfranchised.
No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the
sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends.
They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.

Helen Keller

I love getting lost in my books.  I know like my dogs,  my books don’t judge me, and tell me I’m living my life all wrong.  They don’t tell me that I’m letting my imagination run wild, and that I need to find a job like another other adult in the world.

My Utopia…

The Missing Rose

And I don’t even fancy roses much in the first place.  What prompted me to pick this book up from Kinokuniya during their 20%-Off-All-Books Summer Sale was the bookstore’s recommendation which came to me by means of a monthly email newsletter.  The book sounded interesting enough, but what really caught my eye was the little introduction to the book:

This is the story of Diana, a young woman whose desire for the approval and praise of others has made her let go of her own dreams and values.  Her mother’s deathbed confession that Diana has a twin sister takes her on a mysterious journey – a journey to a wondrous rose garden to Istanbul where she will be invited to converse with roses and learn much about herself along the way.

The Missing Rose has been placed on the pedestal alongside Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist by several renown reviewers. I love these two books and if the reviews are to be believed, I knew I would love The Missing Rose too.

Let me lift off the first chaper of the Prologue:

Ephesus!  City of duality.  Home to both the Temple of Artemis and the holy House of Mother Mary.  The city which embodies both the ego and the soul.  The epitome of both vanity and humility, the personification of enslavement and freedom.  Ephesus!  The city in which opposites intertwine.  The city that is as human as every living soul.

The last sentence is about as astute an observation as one could get.  I have been to both places mentioned.  And the familiarity with the geographical locations of the places helped a little in appreciating the novel more.  A pity I’d never been to Rio de Janeiro, the city where Diana had stayed almost all her life.

At first glance, it looks like this story is about Diana, a rich heiress who seems to possess everything, but in fact has nothing.  In retrospect, Diana represents all of us in one way or another.  How many of us live our lives the way others think is best for us just to gain acceptance so much so that we have lost ourselves?  Do we live for ourselves, or for others?

There are many quotable quotes in the novel, but my favourite must be – As long as time flows forward, the future which we are so mesmerised by is nothing but an untouched past.

Well-said.  Many amongst us are obsessed with the future, while even more like myself still live in the past.  Just exactly how many of us are relishing in the present?

Summing it up, this is a very good book worth reading at least once in your life.  The author writes simply in words easily understood by a 10-year old child.  In this respect, this book reminds me a lot of The Little Prince - read it at when one is at 10, 20, 30 and so one… and the experience is different every single time.

Tell me how you feel about this book if you have read it, or is intending to pick up the book.

Faith and Heaven

One might ask, what is the relationship between faith and Heaven?  A great deal, if you ask me.  In the Bible, it is written that

Faith is the assurance of what we hope for,
being certain of what we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1

That’s such a difficult verse to comprehend.  Put simply, I think faith is having the belief, despite having doubts.  To quote one of the catechist who lectured us during my RCIA, do we need faith to believe that the sun rises from the east and sets in the west?  Of course not.  That is a universal truth, and we do not need faith for that.

Now, let’s bring on some harder questions.  How do we know there is a God?  And how do we know that the Bible is the Word of God, and not some fictitious piece of literature written by someone really brilliant?

Faith.  Well… some people would argue that there is substantial evidence in history to prove that God exists, and the Bible is indeed written by prophets, inspired by the Holy Spirit.  The point here is, it is arguable, unlike the sun rising from the east.  Now that is a fact.

I find the hardest hurdle to clear during my RCIA journey is this elusive thing called ‘faith’.  Having faith is one thing, while sustaining the faith is another ball game altogether.  It’s hard work maintaining a relationship with God; nobody ever said it’s easy.

I am reaching the end of my RCIA journey; next week is the last session.  For me to have reached this far on this journey is no mean feat.  You see, I’m known to have no perseverance (the hubby can attest to that).  To make matters worse, my faith fluctuated from ecstatic highs to rock bottoms in matter of hours.  My group spent a lot of effort keeping me on track and rendering support when I needed it.  I wanted to leave them with something meaningful to celebrate our 10-month journey together.

And so I decided to get them books.  To be exact, ‘Heaven is for Real’ was the book I wanted to share with them.

This is not a post on a review of the book, so I’ll summarise the contents of the book –  a young boy had a near-death experience and it was revealed to his parents several years later (when he could verbalise what he saw) that he actually travelled to Heaven during the time when he was slipping in and out of consciousness.  I read this book one Saturday afternoon when I was feeling confused about whether I should go ahead with my Rite of Election.  Suffice it to say that I felt regenerated and inspired enough after completing the book to forge ahead.

Do I believe every single word written in the book?  Can I believe what the little boy professed to have experienced?  I don’t know, but I choose to have faith that every word and every single experience is true.  If it isn’t, that’s between the author and God – he answers to God and not to anyone of us.

In more ways than one, this book provided a sort of closure for me when I was most confused on this faith journey.  Of course I did not bank my entire decision (to go ahead with Baptism or not) on this book, but I admit it was a contributing factor which I took into consideration.  I did say that I was looking for signs from the Almighty, and I would view this book landing on my lap (not quite so literally though) as part of His plan.

Hello from Cape Cod

The study has been re-arranged since the last post.  So yes, 3 things have happened since – I found my Ikea membership card, we bought a new bookshelf, and to accommodate the shelf we had to do some re-arrangement to the existing furniture.  In fact, the hubby pointed out that he has plans for ‘future expansion’ should I run out of space again.

The study is neat and tidy again!  Well… almost.

Some work is still needed here and there but we are on our way to an organised life again!  And I am very glad that my baking books are reunited with the rest of my collection.  Prior to the new addition of a bookshelf, my poor baking books were residing in another corner of the study, all by themselves.

And say hi to Eli and Faith, my Duffy and Shellie May bears from Tokyo DisneySea.  They are dressed in the 5th release of “Hello from Cape Cod” because it has been getting a little chilly in the nights here in Singapore.  So chilly that I have been getting frequent asthma attacks in my sleep as a result.

My furkids have shown a lot of interest in Eli and Faith, especially #3 the puppy.  I must never forget to place them beyond her reach.

Project: Make Do with Space

I have never thrown a single book away in my entire life.  I find it a blasphemy to do so.  If I did, it was because I was forced to, by my mum, to de-clutter.  If I had things my way, I would have kept all my textbooks from primary school right up till college.  On hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t.  As it is, we are already having space issues without having the textbooks in the picture.

I hardly borrow from the library as well, although I now work in a building with a very well-equiped library.  The only books I borrow from the library are limited to travel guides.  Again, another habit cultivated when young.  I out-read all the books available at a community library near home and my parents had no choice but to start buying books in order to feed my ever-growing reading appetite.

In some way, I suspect my compulsion for buying and collecting books goes beyond what a normal bibliophile would do.  It resembles OCD behaviour more.

The study – where I keep my books on shelves – is messy and cluttered recently because I acquired several books recently through Books Kinokuniya and Book Depository and I don’t know where to place them.  Oh, you should check out Book Depository because they offer free worldwide shipping and I find their prices quite competitive.

In short, I am out of space.  But I am adamant about not throwing out any of my books.  Anything but my books.

The hubby noted my crabbiness recently and attributed it to the messy study.  Which is quite an astute observation, I must say.  I cannot function in a messy study and there are tasks I need to complete in that room including work.  So, he described what he thought was a good solution to my problem.  It requires some manoeuvring of the furniture we have in the study at present to accommodate one more two more book shelves from Ikea.  And it also involves completely removing his already meagre claim of the room in the form of a small study table.

‘We’re removing your study table?  But… but… I’ll feel bad,’ I exclaimed.

Silence.

‘You will feel bad one meh*?  I’m… speechless.  I don’t know what to say to that,’ he laughed.  ’In any case, I don’t need a study table.  I can get a mobile table instead, or I can work anywhere – on the sofa, the dining table or even your study table when you are not seated there.  You are the problematic child, not me.’

And I buried my face in the cushion on my lap in shame.

I am quite the bully at home.

* just some colloquial English aka Singlish.  Not much meaning to it.