This is for the Parents

I am so going to buy this one for myself!!!!!!!!!!!! Hilarious!

One for the Parents

I love books, and I love buying books for The Little One. Well, partly for myself sometimes. The beautiful illustrations, the innocence of the story, the simplicity. They can be quite good de-stressers. I came across this book that looks like a children's book but for tired parents who have problems putting their children to bed. I can totally relate to that! I feel like buying it, but of course I got it hide it well away from little little hands, until they are old enough to understand the humour in that 4 letter word.

A sample verse..
The cats nestled close to their kittens now.

The lambs have laid down with the sheep.

You're cozy and warm in your bed my dear.

Please go the fuck to sleep.

This is so rude I love it! I am so tempted to buy this, should I should I????????????? Am I a bad mother for liking this?

Books List

These are the books that I really need to buy. I do not know why it too me so long to want to get The Cake Bible. The recipes are really good and most times, I get the recipes from friends who have the book. I am being really cheap, and I thought I really should get the book already and stop being a cheapo.

I love making bread, the kneading is really therapeutic, and the kitchen smells wonderful when you are baking bread. I might just get the Bread Bible too. Heavenly Cakes is the new book. I saw it in Kinokuniya few days ago, retailing at 70 bucks! ARGH. I think that one can wait.



Not a lot of fiction books that I really want to buy. The one fiction that I will get is the new book titled Nocturnes by Kasuo Ishiguro. Nothing on the Booker Prize shortlist this year appeals to me. I think I just need 2 hours to browse the fiction section and I will be able to find books that I want to read.

Do you think Kinokuniya will laugh at me if I call up and ask when their next sale will be?

The Call of the Weird

I promise I will not start to read this book, however tempting it is, until I start gettting contractions and into labour.

We attended a antenatal class and it is said that it is good to have something to distract you from the pain, and this book is hilarious! 2 more months more, I hope I can keep it unread. I just hope I remember to bring it along with me to the hospital!

Kindle

My mum was telling me about the Kindle some months ago, I think it was around Christmas. She thought - my guess is that she still thinks - that it was a great thing for me to have.

"Imagine all the space I can save!" she said.

I told her that the Kindle cost about few hundred USD and that is just for the Kindle, without any books. An e-book (or whatever you call it) costs about $10USD. It isn't exactly the cheapest thing in the world. To me, reading isn't just reading. I love books. I love the way they feel, the way they smell and the way they look. Sure, they do take up a lot of shelf space, but I love them. Sometimes, I will be in my study, going through my books and smiling to myself, when I think about the times I read them. I still have some books my mum bought me when I was really young. Looking at those books make me especially happy. I don't just love to read, I love books.

That is why I thought the Kindle isn't really for me. I don't think I will fancy pretend flipping a book on a Kindle. Does a Kindle smell like a book? What if something goes wrong and all my e-books disappear? What if I spill coffee, tea or iced Milo - things that I often have with my reading - on my Kindle? Will it die on me? Plus, I can't pass on the books to a friend or family can I? Books are for sharing! I can't really transfer my books from one book reader to another can I? The computer challenged me may find it a hassle of learning to use the Kindle and downloading books when I can just pop into a bookstore, browse until I siao then just sit back and start flipping and skip all the fiddling! Will I still have all my 500 books with me in the Kindle in 20 years time?

That, and the fact that I hoard books. A Kindle doesn't allow that.

But if one day I decide that I want to be a book slut, it will be perfect for me. Imagine reading a few chapters on this book, gets boring, hop onto another until I am in the mood for something else, hop again. Then I will go back to the first one again. Plus, it is great when travelling! It is a nice good to have if you are rich. Like Oprah. She totally endorses the Kindle. I think the audience who attended that particular show were all given a Kindle. I wish I am on that show!

I will not buy a Kindle for now, with a rather hefty price tag. But the inner gearhead that I never knew existed is thinking about it. It will be great if I receive it as a Christmas present!

Reading

When I showed The Husband the books I bought for The Little One, he proclaimed that those fabric flip things are not books. I thought it was more visual than anything else, plus flipping will get her to love books. The Husband mentioned too that he will give me a $200 allowance on books for The Little One in the future. How come The Wife doesn't get that kind of allowance????????????

Of course, I didn't wait for the future to come to start with the book allowance. I went yesterday and bought a few books already. Kinokuniya has a 20 percent leh, must buy! I bought The Gruffalo, which is really really cute with ryhmes that are well written. I bought a few Eric Carle books too, because I love the illustrations. By experience, I know kids are always quite interested when I whip out a Eric Carle book. I bought a Dr Suess as well. The Husband doesn't really dig Dr Seuss, saying the characters are freaky. I do agree, some of the characters are a little scary but I like the ryhmes!

I bought a book for The Husband too. He was interested in this particular George Orwell book we saw in Kino the other day, but I didn't bring out my Kino card. It is nice that he is finally showing some kind of interest in wanting to read books again. :) He isn't too into my books, which are mostly fiction. He likes to read about stuff like ideas and thoughts. Maybe he would find Nietzsche interesting. I've been wanting to read Charles Darwin, but have been putting it off, for fear that I will be totally clueless what he was writing about.

It is nice if he keeps up this reading habit. It will be fun to shop for books for the whole family instead of just myself!

Just for your information, on top of all the books for The Little One, a book for The Husband and a book for myself, I still have 50 bucks left over from the allowance!

Reads

I have this book sitting on my shelf for a while now. I always choose my books according to moods. I am in the mood for some adventure and hence this book. I love train rides, and I do feel that it is the most romantic way to travel. Sitting by the window, looking out at the the changing landscapes, if it gets boring I will read and read some more. I would have done the Trans Siberian Rail from Beijing all the way to Russia this year, if I was more fit and not in the condition that I am in now... I like short rides and I like long rides, I like those old trains and I like those super fast ones.

I had this train set when I was really young, think I shared it with my brother, and I would spend hours with it. Building the rail tracks and see the train go round and round. It smoked too! I didn't know how to make it smoke, I needed my mum to help me with that.

I am almost halfway through the book, so far I like it. Paul Theroux can be pretty funny and sometimes he come across as a little intolerant. He wrote mainly about what happened on the trains, and touched very little of the places he went through or visited, so if you are looking for something like a travelogue, this isn't really for you.

I suppose this book is for trainspotters.

Jamie has a Mag too

Even Jamie has his own magazine now! I flipped it a little, isn't too bad, with nice layouts and photos. This is the second issue, and it is a bimonthly magazine.

I have limit myself to 3 magazines a month, up from 2 a month from last year, before I discovered Monocle.

Sorry Jamie, as much as I like you, I am sticking to my mag quota for now.

The Pastry Chef

There isn't much food porn in this book. There aren't a lot of glossy pages. You need to approach this book not too much like a recipe book or everyday cookbook. Not like a I am hungrywhattocooknow book. It is more of a reference book.

I need to prepare myself to read it. It is pretty text heavy, and can get a little dry, if looking at nice photos of food is what you want. It explains how some food works together that way, and how some react the way they react. why you need this in this pastry and why you don't. What is this and what is that. Once you get into the groove of the book, it is pretty interesting.

Don't be mistaken, it has a lot of recipes. I tried the short crust pastry, it is pretty good, albeit a little on the rich side. But was the best among 3 that I tested.

Reads

I have finally decided!

After mulling over a few books on the shortlist for a week or two, I have decided! I am bringing Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda with me on the next trip. It was a toss between 3 books - the other two being The Great Railway Baazar and Love in the Time of Cholera. I have been itching to read Oscar and Lucinda for a long time already. I just finished Middlemarch, so I am not exactly eager to plunge into another epic love story, although O&L is romantic, it is a more unusual. The Great Railway Bazaar must be great to read when travelling, just like On the Road, somehow, I am not in the mood for that now.

I AM SO DYING TO START ON THE BOOK!

The More Loving One

I love this poem by W H Auden. It spoke to me so clearly the first time I read it I can't help myself but cry. I was going through a bad, no not bad, rather, a relationship that wasn't going anywhere. Til this day, everytime I come across this poem, I will feel a tinge of sadness. Not that sadness is a bad thing totally. I always feel that we need sadness, or any other kinds of emotion for that matter, in our lives to really fully appreciate happiness. Then again, someone once told me that I liked indulging in sadness or misery. Anyway, here is the poem

The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time

Current Read

Who says I do not read chick lit?

Bookwormy kinda sale

Kinokuniya is having a 20 percent discount for members! I have a whole list of books I want to buy! I can spend hours just browsing the fiction shelves.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I have been meaning to read Oscar Wilde, so I might just get The Picture Dorian Gray this time.
Perhaps a book of WH Auden's poems?

The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux - Essential traveller's read! Plus I adore train rides, the most romantic way to travel. Not talking about your local subway trains!

I would love to own Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland that comes with the great illustrations and a handsome looking hard cover.

I have been always thinking of getting the complete set of Calvin and Hobbes comics!

I read Remains of the Day and like it enough to read another Kazuo Ishiguro book. The next book might be Never Let Me Go.

Disgrace by J.M Coetzee

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Love in the Time of Cholera and A Hundred Years in Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marques.

I really have to start to seriously think about my shelf space for my books. I might have to get shelves for the living room soon just for books and magazines. I have given a lot away already!

Books

Most of my best friends will know that I love books. I spend hours on end in Kinokuniya and Borders just walking through the aisles. I will not be caught dead in the cheap paperback section or with a fluffy chick lit in my hands though. I am such a snob! I am stuck with George Elliot's Middlemarch. Somehow, it is hard to get into that book. After reading What a Carve Up!, I should have selected something that is er, lighter. Sherlock Holmes perhaps?

I remember going to the this small little library in Whampoa drive when I was young. It is situated just below a block. It was tiny, but more than enough for me to keep going back every few days or so. Sigh, I had so many books back then. I regretted giving away my Enid Blytons, I loved them to bits. My mum sometimes will surprise me with one of those Enid Blyton books. I think I never stop liking fairies, gnomes and elves and all things magical. In primary school, I subscribed to Bookworm Club, and had 2 magazines sent monthly. One was Bookworm Digest, and the other, which title I have unfortunately forgotten. I thumbed through the Straits Times too. We didn't used to have newspaper subscriptions, sometimes Mum would send me down to the mamak store to get a copy it. I might not read any of it really, but I love just flipping through. I can't do without the papers now. Even when the writing's pretty bad at times. At least, my thumbs and fingers are not blackened by the papers now.

Reading was something that I never got tired of. I read vivaciously when I was younger, I would read even during lessons. I think that explains my dismal results in all subjects except English. Reading transports me to another place and I will be in a whole different world on my own. Once I get absorbed into a book, I will be lost in it for hours and sometimes through the night. I get happy, I get sad, I laughed and I cried. It is hard for others to completely understand the joy of reading.

I used to just read fiction. Starting with teen fiction and then bestsellers. Soon I got bored with trashy novels and bestsellers are not entirely all to my taste. I started reading the classics. I started with the "easier" ones like Sherlock Holmes and Dracula and proceed to the "tougher" ones. As I got older, I included non fiction too. One of my firsts was How to be Happy by Andrew Matthews. That book was hilarious. Most of my non fiction books are recipe books, travel guides and a couple of biographies here and there. I have one of Margaret Thatcher somewhere. Now I can see my history books collection getting bigger. History can be interesting and less daunting outside the classroom!

My new love for now are hobby books! I love love sewing books, they are so pretty! I love Japanese ones, really really nice, but ALAS, I can't understand. I almost bought one, but luckily my good sense took over. If not, I might end up buying a few. So irresistible! Recipe books are so yummy looking. Makes me hungry every time I look at one that has gorgeous photographs. I detest cook books with minimal or no photos.


I am still deciding if I should buy this Martha Stewart book. Okay, I know that this is not a hobby book per se, but I love cleaning! Hard to believe that, but I do! I am born to be a housekeeper, though not exactly a very good one. It is ginormous, with a ginormous price tag to boot. Does Amazon ship to Singapore? I should check that out, might turn out cheaper that way. I believe that this book will serve me well in my quest for domestic goddess-ness. But, really, $80 is so so dear for a book on housekeeping! I should go through it one more time and see if I really really really need the book . I know it is Martha Stewart, and I hate to admit this, but I love her! Hee hee!


I have Sew U, a book on sewing (stating the obvious here) for beginners, complete with a couple of sewing patterns. Everytime I try to read the book, I get sleepy, like it is some kind of antidote for insomnia. All that technical talk is getting to me. Maybe getting sewing lessons will be easier. I shoud have more faith in myself, I can do this! I do in fact have another book on sewing. Tis called Simple Sewing, and really, it is simple. I have done a few projects already, and that has been pretty encouraging. I just, well need to learn how to sew in a straighter line, all my lines seem so crooked!

Lastly, a book from the domestic goddess herself, Nigella Lawson. Recently I borrowed one of her books, aptly titled How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I tried out one of the recipes, and it turned out well! She makes baking a lot less tedious too. I will try another recipe and if it turns out great, I will get my hands on that book. Her new book looks good too, Nigella Express. Fast, simple, no sweat recipes.

Somehow, I think I am just buying because they are books, with gorgeous pictures. I still have space on my shelves left to buy books! So why not? It is an addiction that I am proud to say, is under control. The last new book was a month ago! I haven't been to a book warehouse sale for a while now. I can't go to one alone. I need to go with my husband. This is the way I buy books during a warehouse sale: First, look for a basket, if there are no baskets, grab a box. First section will be the Cook book section. Crossing my fingers, I hope to find something great. I found a Gordon Ramsey book once going for just seven dollars! I will then hop over to non fiction, then to Travel, lastly to fiction. The box will then be pushed with my feet as I go along. The husband will probably be in some cafe having coffee, wishing that his wife will be done soon.

It is terrible I know, but at least it is a somewhat healthy addiction.

Reader's Block

Recently, I developed Reader's Block. It has been a frustrating few months. I would normally just pick up the book that I want to read and dive right in, no problems. Well, maybe struggling to get through the first bits sometimes when it is a little boring and when the build up is slow, but generally, it is always a stroll in the park. I could not seem to get completely into a book now. I find it so hard to concentrate, reading a chapter and not knowing what I really read. It seems that the more I try to concentrate, the harder reading seemed.
It is fucking pissing me off seriously.

I did the sensible thing, and leave the reading for a while. I thought I have lost the joy of reading. Then, a few days ago, I picked up The Remains of the Day went through the first few pages, then the chapter, and I knew I had it in me again!

Fennilina has gotten her groove back!