The Twilight Saga

Finally finished reading the whole saga: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Actually, the whole saga is just one long romance. The plot in Breaking Dawn is a bit far fetched. Perhaps Stephenie Meyer wants a happy ending for all. i prefer Harry Potter. JK Rowling writes better i think.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

***

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

“Why?” asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

“I’m a panda,” he says, at the door. “Look it up.”

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

“Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”

So, punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death.

***

This appears on the back cover of Eats, Shoots & Leaves : The zero tolerance approach to punctuation by Lynne Truss. Just finished reading over span of 2 library loan periods. Yay for free library renewals! Had wanted to get hold of this book when it was published way back in 2003/4 cos i'm trickled by the oh-so smart title; and i think i'm a stickler in grammar at heart. However, the modern world has diminished my competency in it... (Oh oh! Did you know that these 3 dots ... are called ellipses?!) i'm just so pleasantly surprised by the books i find in the library nowadays. Just today, i saw this children's book written by Madonna : The English Roses. But i think it is more for tweens than for kids. lol.

Train Man 「電車男」 (The Book)

Didn't realise that the library's gotten hip now. Well, it's keeping up to date with "fashion". Borrowed this from the library too. I've seen the drama so i was kinda comparing it with the book... The book's quite entertaining too. Those commuters must have thought that i'm crazy when i'm reading this on the train cos half the time i was smiling to myself. (^3^)

He's Just Not That Into You (The Book)

Someone told me there's this book so i went to search for it in the library. Quite entertaining. It's fashioned like a self-help cum Aunt Agony kind-of book. (or Uncle Agony rather!) Cos the book's co-written by a guy and he tried to injet the rational view of point dishing advice to the helpless damsels in distress. Quite a good read for boring train rides.

Oh better still, there's a "He Just Thinks He's Not That Into You"! LOL! Glanced a few pages and that is an even trashier (drop-dead hilarious) book than the former! i think i might just borrow it the next time round! :p

Did you know that? You can now renew your book once for FREE!! Isn't that nice!? :p

for one more day

Finished reading this book yesterday when i should be revising for today's Jap test. Another sentimental tale from Mitch Albom somewhat pertaining to life and death. Reminded me to treat mummy better and not take my parents for granted. Not everyone could have one more day everyday!

[Sidenote] No guesses to what happened to today's jap test! :(

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

This is one of the fastest book i had read other than those containing a certain Harry Potter. i had heard (or rather known) of this book for some time but i did not want to pick it up as i was repelled by the title. i thought this was some kind of religion book. i'm not religious nor a religon holder so why do i need to know who would i meet in Heaven? Most importantly, i fear death. Even the mere thought of death and the afterlife can make me freeze in fear; literally, my temperature would drop, my brain would freeze and i would break out in cold sweat. So this is not a topic that i'm really prepared to think (read) about.

So what made me buy this book now? Truthfully, the fact that it had remained a bestseller for quite a while and largely, the 20% discount at Kinokuniya. This is one of my favourite places in town and i would never fail to bring something home during its sales. Also, in the last month of 2007, a number of people i know or someone related to people i know had passed on. My uncle had a near scare too.

i had read the book during 4 train rides. This book is unlike any other book i had read. Well, it begins at the end, with Eddie (the protagonist) dying in the sun. It would have to, wouldn't it? So that he could go on to meet the five people in heaven. It figures. Well, i'm not sure am i fortunate that i read the book on the train cos many a times, i had caught myself tearing. i would have cried unreservedly if i were not on the train. i shared my thoughts with a friend and she said she cried while reading it at home in the deep of the night. So i'm not the odd one. Many emotions and reflections appeared before me while reading it. This afternoon, i overhead this mummy sitting beside me telling her boy who caught me reading that this is a sad book. Sad? i'm not sure if it is the right adjective.

On a sidenote, i saw something interesting on tv news tonight. Apparently people in Ghana treat funerals as celebrations instead of the solemn and sombre functions most civilisations have. They have really fun and colourful coffins, replicas of beer bottles, chicken, aeroplane, etc. You name it, you have it. Though sad, perhaps we should really see funerals as celebrations of a person's life, rather than mourning and harping over what has already gone. All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time. Me? i still cry at funerals. and i think i always will.

If you want to read the book, let me know. It's open for lending.

Deathly Hallows continued...

I had finished reading the book at 230am this morning after 12 hours of non-stop reading. This finale to the series is far better than the Order of Phoenix and the Half Blood Prince. More intense. More action packed. And of course, Voldemort is finally dead...... And it does help that JK Rowling did not kill off the 3 main characters. Sort of a happy ending ba....... (^^,)

Would have to catch up on my sleep tonight! Turning into panda le..... lol.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

He's back! I collected my Book 7 yesterday! (Ha! In the end I did not join the queue at 7.01am....) Only read a few chapters so far but there is already one casualty! Whoa! Wonder who is going to be killed off next......... This book certainly looks more promising than the Half Blood Prince. Shall be updating soon. Till then, it's back to The Deathly Hallows!

Commitment.....

I had finally given my commitment to...................................... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! :P

I had wanted to adopt a sit-and-wait attitude towards this Book 7 but today I could not resist the temptation anymore... or rather a good bargain! Haha. Was attracted by the lucky dip that Popular is offering so I decided to preorder the book! Can't rem the top prize but someone apparently won a laptop at that Popular last week so I thought I'll try my luck as well. Alas, I only got a $5 cash voucher. Well then, it can help to pay for part of the $48.05 cost. (^*,)

This means that I am going to join the queue at 7.01am on saturday morning! Going to wake up even earlier than a normal working day. lol.

[Edited] The $5 voucher cannot be used to pay for the book. Looks like I would have to spend it on something else before end of this month! :gasp: