Year's Resolution In Review: 2010 Edition

Ok, so it's closing in on the end of 2010 and here I would like to reflect on how my reading and writing have gone this year. I look back at what these were in my past posts Resolution 2010 and Mid Year Resolution. Well, I reckon I've read about 30 books at least this year. I guess that's pretty alright.

And I have also written a bunch of short stories and poems. Two good things happening was having my poem Shapes being published in a Drop of Ink which is not really anything because that's a web publication and they published all submissions anyways. Also, the website now seems pretty much dead. Secondly I got my short story Peculiarity published on Receipt Stories which was encouraging.

But I wasn't able to complete the book-length story I was working on. Just thinking of this year makes me wonder where reading and writing is in my list of priorities. I should probably stop watching so much mindless television and read and write more. But it is strenuous to the brain to have to think of things to write after working, and I just feel so tired most days to muster up the energy to do it. Moreover, approaching December when I had my research conference, I absolutely did not write anything at all. It must be months since I last wrote something. I must reignite my flame for it, I feel very dead inside from not expressing anything creatively for too long. Feels like my soul is rotting.

All I can say about the new year is that I will try my best to write more stories and poetry. I will only publish flash fiction on this site from now on, and keep the short stories and longer stories for actual publication. The flash fiction and poems can act as catalyst to the longer stories. I hope next year is good, because this year I do not feel I have done sufficient at all in the upkeep of this website and in my reading and writing in general. Hope everything works out in the coming year. 2011, I shall enter it with some apprehension.

Furnace

by Muriel Gray

I'll just come right out and say that this book was horrible. I bought it from the bargains section in the from the local bookstore and decided to bring this one along on my trip to Shanghai, China to kill some time in between traveling. What a bad choice of book that was and no wonder it was in the bargain bin. One might discount that as being the point, it's in the bargain bin after all. I have however found some gems from the bargain bin like Sheldon's and Katzenbach's, so I usually take a chance on some books. But again, this choice was badly warranted.

I will get into the book good and proper. The plot is simple. Josh Spiller, truck driver goes to some Utopian town in the middle of nowhere and 'accidentally' kills a baby. Actually the mother purposely pushed the baby in the pram onto the road and Josh squashed baby. After that, weird things happen to Josh. People start avoiding him, his phone calls to other people turn out to be just static, during a hot shower there is something moving in the mist behind him, etc etc, regular run-of-the-mill horror elements.

To be perfectly honest here, I only read half the book. It's about 400 pages, and I did 200 pages. And that was a very painful 200 to do. And I'll take a shot at guessing the rest of the story to be the following. Demon that requires some sort of human sacrifice every now and then somehow latched onto Josh because he killed the baby. Then in the end either he dies, consumed by the fires of hell, or he lives happily ever after. Well, one way or the other I don't really care. I hope he dies, I hope the demon murders everyone. That would at least be a refreshing twist to what is an absolutely ridiculous book. I will now dissect.

From the format of the book one can tell something is wrong. Each chapter is about 10 pages. The 200 pages I read, I was up to chapter 23. That tells me one thing in that it is amateurish, like an unfit runner that requires to stop every other minute of running. The writing structure is also horrible. At one point, Gray commits the cardinal sin of actually changing character perspectives in the middle of a section. 

One of the characters which is Korean is described to be pouring tea with movements that are 'Geisha-like'. Get your cultural references right! Geishas are Japanese, not freaking Korean, which just goes to sthe how cultural ignorance. At the very least, it is showing a lazy writer who does not do proper research.

I had the idea that reading some mediocre books would help me spot the mistakes in my own writing. Now I realize I can spot mistakes just fine if I analyze my own work critically. There is no need to subject myself to endure this gruesome experience of reading such a badly-written book.

In essence, this book is a wasted of paper. One of the worst books I have ever read. You do not know how many times I wanted to fling it against the wall, or into the Furnace as the title suggests so fittingly.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

by Stieg Larsson

This is the 2nd book in the Millennium trilogy. The second book follows on where the first book ended with Lisbeth Salander disappearing from Sweden and spending time abroad. She has broken all contact with all her contacts in Sweden including Mikael Blomkvist and Armansky. Though they both still were looking for her for she left without any notice at all, and with no provocation. Lisbeth then returns to Sweden about a year later and is caught up in an entangled mess. A researcher and a journalist investigating the sex trade in Sweden is murdered in a very gruesome manner and the prime suspect is somehow Lisbeth. And the manhunt for her heightens when the police find a third body of Nils Bjurman, her social officer because she was deemed incompetent. So Blomkvist now has to find Lisbeth to figure out what is going on, and furthermore the journalist killed was working with Millennium magazine where Blomkvist is one of the editors. So it really is the perfect storm and from start to finish the book does not halt. Even up to the last word of the story.

I watched the Swedish version of this movie with English subtitles first before reading the book. Watching this movie, I felt the movie was quite a letdown, the story was very simple, so I was hesitant to read the book. But the book really is something else altogether. As movies always do, they take some liberty and changing the plot slightly to make it more understandable but it really took out what I felt was important from the book and took out the intricate plot weaving created by Larsson. It was no longer a wonderful web of suspense and intrigue, but what was left in the movie was singular plot direction. But the book is absolutely wonderful has the same high standard as the first. I cannot wait to read the last book in the series.

Tales of Love & Loss

by Knut Hamsun (translated by Robert Ferguson)

I got this collection of short stories from the library and honestly I have never heard of Knut Hamsun before. I read several of the stories and felt the stories were really weird. It threw me to a time and place that was very unfamiliar and I did not know how to make heads or tails of the story. But after reading several more, the stories really were amazing, the characters vivid and the stories really stretch emotions.

The stories felt like the prelude to something bigger and greater, and I think the stories really were just that to his novel. I am looking forward to reading more of Hamsun's work to find out. Absolutely wonderful writing. I do not know this different style of writing is due to the time period, the place he comes from or just simply what a wonderful writer he is. Most probably all three and I am so glad I stumbled upon this book in the library, opens a whole new way of writing for me.

The Good Soldiers

by David Finkel

This book is about the surge in Iraq from 2007-2008 and is an insider's look at the life and challenges faced by the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich. It looks at the personal experiences of the men on the ground, unbiased by political rhetoric.

Reading through the news, one can see soldier casualties as of perhaps one soldier KIA and may regard this as a low number. This book puts a face of that one soldier who died in the war is not just a statistic but a real person. It is someone's father, mother, brother, sister, best friend.

One of the most interesting part of this book is on a very disturbing video called Collateral Murder from Wikileaks. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that the army was unethical and the soldiers were trigger-happy. After reading The Good Soldiers, I see another perspective. That the soldiers are so disillusioned by the war and are trying to help people and a certain section of these group of this people are trying to kill them for it. The soldiers themselves fear for their lives every single day, their nerves strained to such a degree that although they do not wish to kill anyone, the mentality is that of to pull the trigger before the trigger is pulled on you.

Last but also the most important, are the civilians.They are the victims in this as they always are in wars. To support the Americans means to betray your country and you may be killed by the insurgent militia. But to not help the Americans would mean when the Americans leave, they would be under the power of the insurgent militia which would likely be ruthless seeing even now they have no regard for them. The common Iraqi is caught between two evils and all they can do is just to keep quiet and hope for the best which is nowhere in sight.

This book is really an eye-opener of what the Iraqi war means and how it is really more of a war of winning hearts and minds but the payment are people laying their lives down for that cause. At the end of the day one has to ask is it really worth the lives given for this win and a more important question of what it really means to win?

A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens

This is a musical adaptation of the wonderful book by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. The story of Christmas Carol is of Ebeneezer Scrooge, an old crooked rich man who is too selfish and cold-hearted to embrace the spirit of Christmas. During the night he is visited by his old partner Jacob Marley who have suffered in death because of how he lived his life as Ebeneezer is living now. To help Ebeneezer before it is too late, Marley says three ghosts will visit Ebeneezer and show him the errors of his ways. Through the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, Ebeneezer goes on an amazing journey through his entire life and understand what Christmas really means.

But now to the play. It was horrible. First the music arrangements are bad, there are moments where the actors are just waiting for the music to come in for them to carry on the song and this just made it really drag on needlessly. The acting too was poor. It felt like they were just reading their lines. The singing was very bad as well, there was no energy and charisma from any of the main actors. At one point I actually wanted to sing along because I felt I could have sung louder than that and made it more lively. The only redeeming factor was the acting by the many children. The children actors were actually better than the grown ups. They sang, dance and acted quite well. Other than that everything was downhill from the get go. There was no climax in any of the singing and it was very difficult to get into the wonderful story that is A Christmas Carol.

It was just very painful to watch. I spent most of the play shaking my head and thought that this does not do the story justice at all. I considered walking out after giving the play 15 minutes. At the intermission I really wanted to leave but stayed on anyways in hope of giving it a chance to improve. But it did very little to redeem itself. All in all, this musical really sucked the Christmas spirit right out of me. I shall need to read Dicken's book to redeem it.

Maya

by Jostein Gaarder

This is the first book I have read in ages! The story is quite convoluted, as always with Jostein Gaarder, stories within stories. Story synopsis from Amazon because I'm lazy. Don't read the synopsis (in italics) if you are to read this book.

A chance meeting on the Fijian island of Taveuni is the trigger for a fascinating and mysterious novel that intertwines the stories of John Spooke, an English author who is grieving for his dead wife; Frank Andersen, a Norwegian evolutionary biologist estranged from his wife Vera; and an enigmatic Spanish couple, Ana and Jose, who are absorbed in their love for each other. Why does Ana bear such a close resemblance to the model for Goya's famous Maja paintings? What is the significance of the Joker as he steps out of his pack of cards? As the action moves from Fiji to Spain, from the present to the past, unfolding further stories within the stories, the novel reveals an astonishing richness and complexity. As bold and imaginative in its sweep as Sophie's World, it shows again that Jostein Gaarder's unique and special gift is to make us wonder at the awe-inspiring mystery of the universe. 

Here are my thoughts. I actually did not like this book very much, the story was labored at times. It was like I wanted to see the ending and that is all. The journey was not really that enticing. Perhaps that is a personal perspective. It had its moments and one realization by the character John Spooke made me quite affected. But the writing was a bit hard to digest at times. It was also written mostly in first person, so it was very difficult to read. Almost the whole book was internal monologue. But the content in itself is pretty inspiring, Jostein Gaarder always has a theme of writing about philosophy and in this case, it was on evolution theory and the meaning of life. It is quite intricate at times the concepts introduced, but again at times, this felt a lot like a lecture in evolution rather than a story. It really was bordering on being a evolution textbook bounded together as a piece of fiction.

As a whole, it is an alright read, though I still prefer Sophie's World and the Solitaire Mystery. But Jostein Gaarder's writing is unique and I aspire only to be half as good in evoking thought and emotion as his writing does.

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

                                                                                                                     photograph by gacek

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,   

And sorry I could not travel both   

And be one traveler, long I stood   

And looked down one as far as I could   

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,   

And having perhaps the better claim,   

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;   

Though as for that the passing there   

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay   

In leaves no step had trodden black.   

Oh, I kept the first for another day!   

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,   

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh   

Somewhere ages and ages hence:   

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—   

I took the one less traveled by,   

And that has made all the difference.

Reefer Madness

by Paul Franklin (BlakYak Theatre Production at the Phoenix Theatre)

The play description from the BlakYak website.

Reefer Madness the musical – Inspired by the original 1936 film of the same name, this raucous musical comedy takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the hysteria caused when clean-cut kids fall prey to marijuana, leading them on a hysterical downward spiral filled with evil jazz music, sex and violence. You won’t be able to resist the spoofy fun of Reefer Madness. The addictive and clever musical numbers range from big Broadway-style showstoppers to swing tunes like “Down at the Ol’ Five and Dime” and the Vegas-style “Listen to Jesus, Jimmy,” featuring J.C. Himself leading a chorus of showgirl angels. This dynamic show will go straight to your head!

One of the most wonderful musicals I have seen this year! I at first just thought it would be a brainless sort of play like the one I watched last week, The Sorting Room. But this play was in a class of its own. Firstly all the actors were wonderful and sang absolutely beautifully. They were also faithful to the time period, and the characters spoke with American accents of the period, that of the mid 20th century. The props though very little, were more than compensated for with the great costumes and the charisma and talent of the actors and actresses. The only fault I have is with ending, which I felt with a bit rushed and wrapper up haphazardly. But then again the story is what it is, and the quality of performance makes up for this. Overall, the journey was just so much fun and entertaining that at the end you did not really care where it ended.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll (Illustration by Camille Rose Garcia)

This is of course the classic story of Alice's Adventure in Wonderland...down the rabbit hole...the growing and the shrinking...meeting the white rabbit...the mad hatter. the duchess...the Cheshire cat...the Queen of Hearts (Off with her head!)...and the Mock Turtle and Gryphon.

I just read the story again because I got the new version with illustrations from Camille Rose Garcia. Well, firstly the book itself is like Mr. Carroll was on some hallucinatory substances. It reads like it's written by someone high whilst still maintaining some semblance of sanity, a 19th century stoner if you will.

Well, to add to the effect the new Garcia illustrations are just very very strange and add to this weird world that Carroll has created, though Garcia's illustrations have a more modern and dark undertone to it. See the cover there, you would wonder if Alice is a suicidal, pill-popping alcoholic who really is just tripping on too much medication. I always pictured it to be a colourful world, sort of like when the kids from That 70's Show smoke too much weed. That said, Garcia's is still a beautiful set of illustrations. Great book for any collector of classic fiction, updated with lovely modern artwork.

The Sorting Room

by Fred Petersen

I went to the world premiere of this play. Details below of the play from ASN website.

Fred Petersen is a Life Member of Garrick Theatre. He is a multi-award winning Director who in recent years has added Playwright to his long list of achievements. Fred has a huge following amongst our patrons and he knows what they like. We recommend that you book for this show as soon as possible.

When Mr. Sterner, manager of a charity clothing collection company, decides to employ a voluptuous lady with a predilection for fishnets and revealing clothing, in the sorting room, the well ordered working relationships and the happy dispositions of the other ladies fly out the window.

Throw in an innocent young truck driver, a drunken vagrant, a frustrated social organizer and a not too worldly Pastor, maintaining some semblance of order becomes a mammoth task for Mr. Sterner.

I found this play quite entertaining but not as intellectually satisfying as I would have liked. The humor was predictable and you sort of could have guessed what was going to happen next. The dialogue was also very ordinary where I would have preferred more wit. The emotions and tensions and humor could have been more intertwined and voluminous for it to be of more substance.

The acting was acceptable, thought I am not very sure what accent they were going with. It felt like it was interchanging between English and Australian accents. Some characters were better than others, but overall the plot carried through, but was a bit bordering on the feeling that they were reading from script. At least they did not stumble too much through their lines, only on one or two occasions did this happen.

I found it just alright. My sister enjoyed this play, whereas I perhaps enjoyed The Woman In Black better. So I guess not every one's cup of tea but it is still worth watching if you just want something not too heavy, not too immersive.

Eat Pray Love

by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book I guess pretty much everyone have heard about it now, seeing the movie version of it came out starring Julia Roberts. Only picked up the book again after the hype about the movie after I read about a quarter of the book when I first bought it a year or two ago. Well, I have not watched the movie and do not have much inclination to actually watch it. I don't know how it would translate well into a movie because what made it special was most of it was monologue of her experiences and speaking out all the lines or conveying it through action would be quite difficult to do. Everyone interprets images differently from their mind and the past experiences they have.

Here is the synopsis from the back of the book.

Elizabeth is in her thirties, settled in a large house with a husband who wants to start a family. But she doesn't want any of it. A bitter divorce and a rebound fling later, Elizabeth emerges battered yet determined to find  what she's been missing.

So begins her quest. In Rome, she indulges herself and gains nearly two stone. In India, she find enlightenment through scrubbing temple floors. Finally in Bali, a toothless medicine man reveals a new path to peace, leaving her ready to love again.

I liked the first two parts of the book of life in Italy and India. Perhaps these world are foreign to me and thus mystifying and unique. Indonesia is closer to to my sort of upbringing so I can understand what she says but it just brings out disillusionment. Or perhaps I was just in a bad mood while reading it. The writing is witty and smart. Her views are practical and easy to relate to. And she writes without pretensions, like a person now comfortable of explaining how she was uncomfortable in her own skin.

It is an encouraging story of an amazing journey. It gives one inspiration to stop, remove oneself from the pressures and white noise from day to day life, and be more rigorous in the pursuit of peace, contentment, love and happiness.

Writing Dialogue

by Tom Chiarella

This is a book on writing dialogue as the title suggests. It talks of the idea generation process of dialogue, creating distinct voices to you characters, how to infuse emotions within dialogue (tension, nonchalance, anger, joy, etc), and when to or not to use dialogue.

I read the first 2 chapters and read parts of the other chapters. I did not find this book useful. The intention is there, but I felt it is more of how the author would go about doing such things but my processes for creating dialogue ( be it good or bad) are quite difficult. And some parts of them are instances of what can be done. I guess it is very limited to the perspective of the author (of how dialogue should be structured) which are not as widely applicable than what I would have hope for.

My dialogue at the moment is not perhaps as good as it can be, but I did not see how this book helped in making it better. Even Stephen King's On Writing book was more insightful than this. Overall, I think this book would be helpful for people who would like to see another perspective on dialogue writing but this book did not appeal to my idea generation process and writing sensibility.

The Woman In Black

by Stephen Mallatratt

I watched this play just now at Stirling Players, which was directed by Dannielle Ashton. I actually was keeping my hopes up because the last play I watched there was not very good. But this is in a different class altogether. First the plot, as described on The Woman in Black site.

Eel Marsh House stands tall, gaunt and isolated, surveying the endless flat saltmarshes beyond the Nine Lives Causeway, somewhere on England's bleak East Coast. Here Mrs Alice Drablow lived - and died - alone. Young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is ordered by his firm's senior partner to travel up from London to attend her funeral and then sort out all her papers. His task is a lonely one, and at first Kipps is quite unaware of the tragic secrets which lie behind the house's shuttered windows. He only has a terrible sense of unease. And then, he glimpses a young woman with a wasted face, dressed all in black, at the back of the church during Mrs Drablow's funeral, and later, in the graveyard to one side of Eel Marsh House. Who is she? Why is she there? He asks questions, but the locals not only cannot or will not give him answers - they refuse to talk about the woman in black, or even to acknowledge her existence, at all. So, Arthur Kipps has to wait until he sees her again, and she slowly reveals her identity to him - and her terrible purpose. 

The Woman In Black treads in the footsteps of the classic ghost story, following the tradition of Charles Dickens and M.R James, of Henry James and Edith Wharton. It is not a horror story or a tale of terror, yet the events build up to a horrifying climax and instil a sense of horror. It relies on atmosphere, a vivid sense of place, on hints and glimpses and suggestions, on what is shadowy, heard and sometimes only half-seen, to chill the reader's blood to the marrow and make reading the book alone at night inadvisable for the faint-hearted. 

Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation for the stage remains entirely true to the book itself and uses much of Susan Hill's own descriptive writing and dialogue, while transforming the novel into a totally gripping piece of theatre. 

This is a wonderful play, the words in it so beautiful. And what is powerful is there are only 3 actors in the play, yet it is so gripping. In this particular production, the actors were all fantastic and I could not find fault at all. I were at times lost in their world and had forgotten I was sitting in a theater. The power of imagination is amazing, and in this play you are pushed to every faculty of your imagination effortlessly to dream this world that is dark and eerie. And you will be afraid, in the dark, it is scary. you feel alone, and a deep tingle down your spine. I love it and could not stop smiling at how wonderful this play is. If it comes along in your town, do give it a chance. You will not regret it, or maybe you would, depending on how much you like horror.

Absurdistan

by Eric Campbell

Eric Campbel is a foreign correspondent for the ABC. He started out as TV presenter for travel shows promoting places around Australia. But he then found that absolutely boring and wanted to do reporting that actually mattered. So he applied relentlessly to be an international journalist. He finally got his break. This book is about a section of Eric Campbell's life as a foreign correspondent spanning 7 years. These included his time in Russia, war torn regions of Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, China and also Iraq.

This book has a different tone that Sebastian Junger's writing. Well, I do not know what makes good journalistic writing. But both their styles are different. Junger's style is more immediate and direct. Eric Campbell is more modulated, so you may not get the full emotional impact. But as a collective, Campbell's writing really highlights the absurdity of what goes on in this country by his quiet honesty and fairness of describing the situation. In all his lack of melodrama, you get the full impact of what he is saying. As if speaking to genocidal leaders is what he does before breakfast. And Campell just takes it all in stride and reports. Amazing person and an amazing time. A really absurd real life story.

The Black Cat

                                          acacello

Once there was a black cat. He did not care much for superstition. So one day just to prove it to himself, he walked across the road, up the road, down the road and in all other directions he could think of, crossing his own path over and over.
He had nine lives.

The next morning he went down to have breakfast. A bowl of milk with colourful treats in it. He finished the lot in one gulp. The cat overdosed on Froot Loops.
So he had eight lives.

Fearing of milk and food in the bowl now, the cat tried to catch a mouse. But the mouse was mightily hungry, and the cat ended up being mauled by its meal.
Then it had seven lives.

Then to clear his head, he went out and climbed atop a tree. A plane fell out of the sky and hit smack right into the branch he was on.
Down to six lives.

He pulled himself out of the wreckage and tried to lick himself clean. He choked on his own fur.
Five lives left.

He coughed out the clump of fur and at that moment the door from the crashed plane flew open and landed on him.
Arriving at four lives.

He stretched himself out from under the door and saw who it was that blew the plane door out. Chuck Norris. The cat had a heart attack. When he came to moments later, Chuck Norris was in front of him, staring at him. Chuck Norris walked past the cat. The cat dropped dead, because Chuck Norris did not get bad luck when black cats cross his path, black cats get bad luck crossing Chuck Norris' path.
Lives three and two gone.

He woke up and thought of his miserable day. What a horrible day. One life left. He stood still and waited. He waited for an hour. Two hours. Three hours. Six hours. Nothing else happened. He was safe. He took a step forward, stumbled on his own leg, and broke his neck.
Black cat dead.

Moral of the story: Do not cross a black cat's path, even if you are a black cat.....unless you are Chuck Norris.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

by Stieg Larsson

I thought this book was crap because on one of the book covers there was a picture of a young punk goth looking girl with a middle-ages guy. I thought it was one of those guy falls in love with girl half his age kind of story.

 So goes the saying, Don't judge a book by its cover. And indeed that's true for this. Ok, I bought the book with this cover which looks better than the other cover anyways. And I bought it only after my sister told me it was a good read.

Well, it does not disappoint. it follows the life of Mikael Blomkvist, an economic journalist. He is convicted of libel case for writing things that did not have sufficient proof to back it up. And so his reputation and career was going down the drain. Then came the retired business mogul, Henrik Vanger with a very interesting proposition. He wanted Mikael to investigate the death of his niece who died almost 2 decades ago. Mikael was reluctant but agreed after Henrik convinced him by providing him with a significant financial compensation. Henrik also promised he would deliver him with a story to destroy the company that originally charged him with libel. So there begins the fun.

Parallel to this story is that of Lisbeth Salander, who is a anti social computer genius. The story gets interesting when Mikael and Lisbeth's paths intersect and they work together to solve the mystery of Henrik Vanger's niece, Harriet Vanger.

This is such a wonderful book. You get a feel that the characters are real people and multi dimensional. Sometimes reading books like Sheldon, thought the pace is riveting, the characters can seem to serve the purpose too well. But with this book, their development seem very true to their own personality and it really is a clash of all these personalities that bring about a truly remarkable story.

I love this book and can't wait to read the other 2 in the series. Rest in peace Stieg Larsson, I wish you had more time to write more wonderful stuff.

Book Reviews

I am now branching out to reading a lot of non fictions these days and well, for some books it is very difficult to read cover to cover. So I shall from now also include books that I have read sufficiently much for me to form some opinion on it for a review. Like I've been reading lots of philosophy books. Reading the whole of these books, I might as well go get myself a philosophy degree also. Not happening, I'm reading just for the interest of it.

Also, there are books of poetry I'm reading, like Paulo Neruda. Those books you would not read cover to cover also, they are not really ordered that you need to read the whole book anyways. Maybe a few poems together but certainly not the whole book. 

That said I should probably include genres and type of books I'm reading from now on in my blogpost tags, the range is getting quite vast for me to just tag the authors I think. Better way of ordering is required.

Another thing is I'm making up a full list of books I am to read, books I have and book wishlist. Probably going up on my blog soon. That is to track the books I have and the books I want! And which I have. That's because I actually 2 of some books. I have 2 Vampire Armands and 2 Witch of Portobello's. Giving it to my sister or something...So yeah, I'm not that rich to  buy multiple versions of books.

War

by Sebastian Junger

I have been waiting to read this for a long time. I finally got it from my sister and finished it in 2 days. Great book.

It's written in a pretty professional, journalistic sort of way, with references and fact checks etc. It is a sort of journal by Sebastian Junger during his attachment in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan with Battle Company during their deployment there.

He talks of the psychology and life of what the men go through, what life means and how they cope with all the crazy shit that goes on up there.

It is such an insightful look into all the things that happen there and what things are of value and realize what things are not important.

Also, you better understand the mechanics and motivations of the men going to war, be it agreeable or not to your beliefs, it is certainly not what I actually expected. But after reading it it made perfect sense. For instance, Junger said men on the ground did no really care for the moral implications and ideological beliefs as much as they just wanted to stay alive and do their jobs the best they can, and not let the their brothers. Everyone's lives is dependent on each other and if you screw up it really is due to the weakest link. A split second decision could be the difference between a total loss to a resounding win. And luck plays a huge part even in this day where technology is so far advanced.

As a whole, this is a great book of insight to humanize the battle and the very real, practical issued of war in Afghanistan with not much discussion behind motivation and the ideological (spread of democracy) battles. It is very humanizing look at the people on both sides and the very practical problems that they face.

Any Other Wednesday Morning

                                                                               photograph by FillyBlynn

He walked into the cafe and scouted the joint. Not too many broads. At the corner he spotted a decent looking bird, a blond in a cute blue dress. He walked over to her table.

"This seat taken doll?," he asked.

"Umm...." the girl said.

"It is now," he said again. He slid himself to the seat opposite and made himself comfortable. He leaned forward and held both of the girl's arms.

"The name's Harry. What's your name doll?"

"Mary...Clark."

"Mary. Mary. Sweet name. Look into my eyes, Mary. Aren't they the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen? You're just falling in love now, aren't ya."

"Err...," she said, not sure what else to say.

Mary looked around to see anyone was looking at their table. Everyone seemed to be carrying on with their business.

"Tell me, Mary. How would you like to be my date today?" Harry asked.

She shifted in her chair and did not know what to say to him. She steadied herself.

"No...no. I can't. I have something to do," she said.

"Come on, now. Surely you have time for ol'Harry. It ain't everyday you meet a handsome stranger in a joint like this is it. Come one now. Come with ol'Harry, he'll show u grand time."

"But I..."

"No. I won't take no for an answer now. Let's go."

He flashed her a wide grin and a wink and led her by the arm outside. Mary grabbed her handbag just in time with a swipe at the table.

---

Mary swung once around the table, then slumped back into her seat. She looked at the other people again. They were all still chattering away. She let out a deep sigh. Nobody even bothered that she was talking to herself, no one noticed her friend Harry. What a boring bunch.

The Pomodoro Technique

by Francesco Cirillo

I read this by recommendation of one of the other PhD guys. You can get this book in pdf form for free here. It's a book on how to manage time, what time means and how you can use it in a way to do work effectively. The main point is not to only get the most out of your time but also remove the anxiety and stress associated with time. It gives very simple and easy to use techniques that seriously would not add to the amount of work you need to do to begin with. It rather allows you to focus and prioritize on what is important and what is not.

I have tried using the technique throughout the day and early signs seem to be encouraging. I felt absolutely stress-free, and for today out of all days that was odd given that I was given news that I have even more work now over the next 2 months. But the Pomodoro technique gives the task perspective and breaks it down into manageable activities. Also I was focused throughout the day and was not fatigued at the end of the day. Till now after hitting the gym for an hour I still feel pretty well vital. The technique removed a lot of the negative energy generated through the constant criticism and doubt in my internal dialogue. 

highly recommend this to anyone who like me find it difficult to work for long periods with high levels of concentration. If you are the type of person that when reading halfway through something, then find something you don't understand goes and Google it, which leads to checking football news, which leads to Facebook, which leads to checking the email and leads to IM'ing several people, and when you look at the time an hour has passed and you wonder what you were doing and where the time has gone; if you are that sort of person, you really need this technique.

Meeting the quota & Expectations

related repost from other blog.

I have for the past few months tried to read about a book a week, and well, although I enjoy it, I have been reading books that are fast-paced and thrilling. But I have been neglecting the more substantial, meaty books. So I think I shall give up on the 1 book a week and go with whatever books is beautiful. I mean there is no meaning to pressure myself to finish reading quick if I don't enjoy it. Say like eating, some foods you just need to eat slowly and savour. So reading Tess of D'Ubervilles and Dante's Divine Comedy, I will read this very very slowly to get the full effect of the beautiful words. And be totally immerse in that world. I mean, the important thing is not the amount I read but the quality of transportation to that dimension and how it is there. Reading fast will make it a horrible experience.

I guess the same goes for my story writing. Stop with the expectation on myself. I should just stop thinking of what I think people will accept and what is nice, what is cliche what is not. If my story is cliche so be it, but I need to have it be totally organic to me and be acceptable to me to be a story that I myself would read again without the apprehension that this story is pretentious, not genuine. There needs to be my heart, soul and honesty of my writing. Be it twisted or horrible, it is still my story. If I am happy with it, all I can do is hope other people appreciate it. I rather have fewer people appreciate my work than be a sellout.

The Cooks' Book: For the Cook Who's Best at Everything

by Louise Dixon

Read this book on Sunday. Well, it's not fiction obviously. It's a good book for understanding the basics of how to use ingredients, cuts of meats, how to prepare seafood etc. It gave me ideas of how to cook better with minimal amount of effort. I'm trying to move away from processed foods. And this book really helps in that. For instance things like sour cream, Hollandaise and mayonnaise are so easy to make, I think I'll just make my own next time.Anyways, it's better to do the processed yourself, ensures the nutrients are kept and have higher content in the food eaten.

Also teaches how to decrease the waste that would be generated from produce. Like for instance the leftover from 1 recipe can be used for another recipe. And if some fresh herbs are going bad what you can do. Also the tips for preserving produce. For example, I did not know some produce cannot be placed with some others, because they make them go bad faster. Also, some should be put in the fridge, some should not, and ways to preserve freshness in your ingredients.

Overall, a good guide for cookins basics. It's probably a sort of Cooking for Idiots kind of book, but for me, very informative.

Windmills of the Gods

by Sidney Sheldon

This story is about Mary Ashley, a university professor who is selected by the newly-elected president of the United States to be the ambassador to communist-ruled Romania. This is during the time of the Eastern and Western blocs, when the Iron Curtain was a massive issue. Book 1 follows the story of Mary Ashley's journey from being a university professor to becoming the ambassador. Book two goes to her life in Romania, the challenges she face and the dangers that ensue. There are many political enemies to the US, and also more specifically to the new administration who do not want to see Mary succeed in opening Romania to the world. Some would even go to murder to achieve this end.

This book is as always thrilling. But in book one I really did not like the feeling of the book. Mary Ashley is portrayed as quite dumb and arrogant at times. I do believe she could be more independent and a stronger character. She is a university professor and would be more suited to be a stronger woman. Also her reason for selection did not seem to be carried through to her job role much. I get the feeling the reason she was chosen, because she was an expert in Eastern European politics did not play into the considerations and actions she made later on. This is sort of an overall criticism.

In book 2 the pace picks up more and all those criticisms though I think valid, I simply did not care anymore. The pace was thrilling and the action was wonderful. I love the political issues she were faced with and how she overcame them. At moments, they seem a bit self-serving, the issue and solution format but I do not really care. And of course the ending has a wonderful twist. So overall a lovely book.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

I've gotten some freebies this year. Like the tickets to Eros and Psyche and tickets to Splice. Well, they were both pretty crap but this one really was quite amazing. So the story is boy has prophecy to fulfill and is trained by a wise teacher etc. Well, it's all in the execution isn't it. I mean the plot is pretty standard fare, like a Percy Jackson or Eragon. But this one was really good, I was admittedly pleased with how good the movies is. Well, this year has been good with movies. I loved Prince of Persia, A Team and How To Train Your Dragon. Yay for freebies and Reading Cinema is awesome.

3 Idiots

This movie is about 3 friends studying engineering at university and their lives during and after they graduate. There are undertones of social expectation and also every person's journey through life. What experiences we have, what our backgrounds are, the decisions we make and how they impact our future. And the main message is be brave and go with your heart.

This is such a wonderful movie! Actually I have not watched a Hindi movie in ages. Which makes me recall my childhood. I actually never liked watching them, but then my grandma had to watch it every Friday afternoon and Hindi movie beats the hell out of homework so...little by little, I started to love them. Then I don't know, I just stopped watching them again. Because they always had the same story line and the stupid dancing around trees.

Well, this movie is different, surprisingly so for me. The plots were excellent, the dialogue was smart, and the comedy was not overly cheesy. The different stories moving were well-paced, and each intertwining with the other smoothly like a velvety twirl of caramel, wrapped in fluffy creamy chocolate. Okay, maybe I just drifted to thinking of a Cadbury commercial. I digress. This movie is wonderful and I would definitely watch it again. Lovely. Certainly rekindled my love affair with Bollywood.

Bricks of Void

Opulence dims and withers. It has no meaning. What meaning does anything have when there is no value. Things are things, they only fill space. In the moment of heightened senses, everything means nothing and nothing means everything. So trapped inside these four walls, I begin to think.

These four walls., they do not falter. They are strong to protect me, to give me security. But it also holds me in, keep me comfortable. I dare not venture outside, what is out there. I am comfortable here so just leave me be. Outside it may be better but do I dare risk, for I am in no need of anything more.

I am closed in but what is holding me in. Nothing. Only the cages in my mind which I cannot break. They are more impenetrable than the solid walls enclosing me. It is that I do not believe, trapped in self-imposed boundaries. The room seems tiny that it suffocates me. I cannot breathe. I cannot move. I am fixed in place, I stare at the closed space and just see limitations. I see no possibilities. With the compression, I am tiny. I am insignificant.

Crushed to nothingness now, the same room then seems so large, so vast, so empty. I am alone in this great big nothingness. I reach out for the ceiling, it is too high to touch. I touch the ground, it is cold and foreboding. I touch the walls, they are unyielding.

I am lost...miniscule in infinite space....clumsy and tangled in a complex web of my own weaving. I am forever looping in a broken track droning the message, these four walls which I will never fill and I will never be free of. In the end, all there is, the space I cannot fill.

Bloodline

by Sidney Sheldon

This is a story about the Roffe family, a wealthy family who owns a large pharmaceutical company. Their annual profit is more than that of several countries combined. Sam Roffe, president of the company has died in an accident while climbing Mont Blanc and the whole Roffe empire is now left to his only daughter, Elizabeth Roffe. There is increasing pressure on all the other Roffes to make the company go public. The other Roffes are desperate and would go to any length to make this happen...even murder.

So I just picked to read this now because felt like something pacey. And yes, it really was! I started reading Monday evening and finished Thursday. Actually i finished the last 200 pages in about 2-3 hours. So that's how riveting it was. It is typical Sheldon but I wanted much more from some of the characters, because they were such wonderful characters. And the ending could have been a bit more conclusive. Nonetheless, it was quite good.

One side note, I just realize that Sheldon novels are a lot like soap operas. I would say like novelas, because those are always so much more intriguing and the people are hotter. So I guess Sheldon's books are sort of like soap books. But I still like them.

by the river piedra i sat down and wept

by Paulo Coelho

Read this over the weekend. I actually read it about a quarter way before and just did not get through it. Then re read it from the start again this time.

This book is about a girl who like the title says, sat by the River Piedra and wept. The book went back to the start where of how this event culminated. She received a letter from a childhood friend who had now dedicated his life to the church. He was having a conference in Madrid and asked her to meet her there. She did meet him, even though the trip was 4 hours away because he was the first boy he had fallen in love with. After meeting each other, they found their feelings rekindled. It was a difficult situation due to her commitments in her studies and her life, and his commitments to his life and the church. And what ensues is the remarkable journey they go through.

Well, overall this book was good but at times found it a bit preachy. Not that is did not make good sense what it was saying, but just too much preaching for me. But the story is a good one and quite touching at times. It says a lot about taking a leap of faith and opening life to possibilities. And it does not focus too much on that of just love and relationships, but also on life in general. How to be open to new life and not to live every day like it is a repetition of yesterday. Also to invest yourself wholly into something and not worry about success or failure. All in all, it is a good read. And the ending is wonderful, so that's always a plus.

Ring Ring

I called the psychologist's office to make an appointment and the lady on the line asked would 4 pm that afternoon be alright. To which I replied that would be too late. And she nervously inquired if this was an emergency. I did not quite get what she meant at first and said no. So I arranged to see the psychologist the next day. After hanging up the phone I thought about the conversation and chuckled. She thought I was probably going to kill myself right that moment. What a misunderstanding. I was only thinking of doing it next week.

Sophie's World

by Jostein Gaarder

This book is about Sophie a 14 year old girl. Several week before turning 15, she received mysterious letters that introduces her to the wonders of philosophy. In this book she learns everything from the teachings of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, through to Descartes, Locke, Marx, Darwin and of course many more in between. She also feels the strange presence of a shady major of the UN army and her correspondence with her daughter Hilde. She received letter between the major and her daughter which were mailed through Sophie. And through this, Sophie's life is threatened by these strange string of events.

This is the most wonderful book I have ever read. It is very well-written and the story is beautiful. If you were to ask me the books that were tipping points of my life, this would be one of them. It could be the most significant book I will ever have read because it has opened my eyes, my mind. It has revealed to me the wonders of philosophy.

*As this is a book review, more of my thoughts here.

I'm just saying

absolutely nothing and everything at the same time

Nothing can be everything

Everything is something

Something can be anything

And anything is nothing

Thinking you know something

Of what it means to know

Means understanding nothing

Of what you thought was known

Thinking you understand nothing

Of what it means to know

Means understanding something

Of what you thought unknown

But be sure of a certain thing

That you don't know everything

Though still know more than nothing

So surely you must know something

Therefore this is the way of being

That from learning something

Leads to knowing everything

And dissolves to nothing

Through understanding and learning

Comes some-every-any-no-thing

Which brings more questioning

And in the end still wondering...

Bulldog Drummond

by Sapper

Firstly I will talk a bit about this book. The first Bulldog Drummond book was published in 1920 and several subsequent books were published as well as movies made of it. The protagonist is Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, a WWI veteran. The author of the book was also a WWI veteran.

This book is about Drummond who puts an ad in the paper because he had nothing to do and was seeking someone to call for him if they had any problems or something that needs solving or investigating. So a woman replies and from there the story starts. I will just break down the plot. Carl Peterson has hatched up a dastardly plan to overthrow England and revolutionize it into a Bolshevic republic. But this was just Peterson's cover plan. He really did not care anything about England for better or worse, he was just in in for the money, and with his right hand man Henry Lakington, they would toy with the fate of an entire nation to achieve this end.

I read this book, and it took me several weeks. I bought it with a set of 6 other classic books. To be honest, I really did not like it much. It seemed like a piece of the most corny things I have ever read. All the characters seem to stereotypes. For instance, the woman Phylis, would swoon at the site of Drummond and say the most typical things ever. And Drummond is really a man's man, he seem to be the ultimate man ever. He learnt a whole bunch of fighting skills from all his buddies, the could wrestle a gorilla, he had the most deft of instincts and reactions. He is basically indestructible.

There are also question marks with the plot. Say one part where Drummond is tied up. He tricks the guard buy saying he has money in his pocket. And he can only get to it if he unties it. Then this guard, a German, unties Drummond and tried to get to it. And of course, how surprising, Drummond knocks him out. Come on! If the guard had any sense, he would knock Drummond out cold THEN get the money. And this is another form of English idolization, showing the Germans as stupid. It is not realistic.

The plot itself was meant to be very grand with the revolution of all of England. But it did not feel grand at all, it felt like a bunch of thugs going at each other. Like I will go to this house and beat up this bloke, then because the other group of guys are pissed, they hatch a clever plan and beat up those other guys. Ridiculous. It is trying to portray something intricate and complex into a brash and brutish approach to problems. Even the attempt at intricacy can be seen through as having little substance.

I can go on and on about how bad this is but what is the point. I got to thinking that maybe it was written at that period of time where things were simpler, that the capacity of imagination of human behavior was perhaps not as complex. But then again I think, there are so many better book written before that time. This book seems like a cheap imitation of Sherlock Holmes, there is no cunning at all. And where there is some semblance of wit and devise, it is absolutely ridiculous that one can see clearly through it for the absurdity. I feel it was written very mechanically, like the author was saying "now there needs to be some clever ploy here" and so "insert clever ploy". It is a collective of cliche moments strung together by paper thin story. Utter waste of my time.

Bone-Chiller

at the Garrick Theatre

Following description from ASN website.

This is a murder mystery with a touch of farce, will have you scratching your heads to solve the mystery and point the finger at the culprit. Thirteen people gather (no mean feat on Garrick's stage) for the reading of the late Josiah Travers will. Just who will be killed? Who did it? Who inherits the money?

I did not bother reading the synopsis for this when I went for it. I just seen the word murder and I was sold. And it really did not disappoint. It was wonderful, with light touches of funny between the episodes of serious scariness. The flow was perfect when moments of fear is dissipated gradually with humor, and halfway through that, it draws you straight in stark contrast back to the reality that there is murder going on. Also the pacing when things are to be revealed but then again, they drag it on a bit, really builds the tension and I in the audience really felt like going up to the stage and shaking the guy to ask him to just spill it already also. I think that's a sign of how involving it is.

It was a really nice story. And also the puzzles in the play were quite nicely done. The acting was also quite well-executed. All the characters did their American accents decently and their characters were quite believable. As a whole, I loved it start to finish and any unpolished point in the play can be overlooked because it was such a lovely experience.

 

 

Ageless Body, Timeless Mind

by Deepak Chopra

I actually started reading this several months back but have only finished it now. It is a spiritual book and with that, I guess you cannot read it like a fiction. Really had to read it slowly and savour the advice.

This book in its essence, teaches one how to stay young and vibrant. He says a lot of things. And they are all very sensible. But I cannot remember all the things. I just remember three main things. Be in the present, love more, and meditate more. He lays out some very simple things that you can do. The things he says to do are not weird at all, and even if you do not believe in all this ageless body, timeless mind stuff, I think doing them served you well in your day to day things. Such as meditating everyday. Just taking maybe several minutes from each day and just calm yourself and empty your mind and breathe.

I got this book from the library. Now I'm thinking of buying it because it's the sort of stuff you can't really get from reading it just once. You just need to read it over and over till it sticks, and also not force it to stick in the meantime. When you have embodied the lessons here, I believe your life would be one that is richer and more fulfilling.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More

by Roald Dahl

This is a book with several short stories by Roald Dahl. These are probably more aimed at grown ups, not for kids.

The Boy Who Talked With Animals

This story starts with a man who stays at a hotel in Jamaica. On the beach there was a turtle caught and a boy who wanted the turtle released as he was a special boy and he could understand the thoughts and feelings of animals. This story at the start, when he described Jamaican voodoo, really struck a nerve. I could really feel the spirit of it and the fear.

The Hitch-hiker

 Story of a guy who picks up a stranger and the adventures that followed along that car ride. This is one of my favourite stories. It shows how simplicity of plot and story can bring so much more to what a story can be. I love this story very much.

The Mildenhall Treasure

A true story of a labourer called Gordon Butcher who found ancient Roman artifacts while plowing some farmland. It just goes to show even some really exciting things can happen in real life, and when it does, it really is a story worth telling.

The Swan

This story is about some nasty redneck kids who tortured a poor boy who was their own age. And I thought this story was set in America by how it was written, but from the locations in the story, it was in the UK. Well it was still a very well-written story. And you really feel for the boy. So stories, even without some elaborate plot, when written so beautifully, you really still want to go on the journey.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

This of course is the crown jewel of the book. It is a very lovely story about a man, Henry Sugar, who while staying with a friend, finds a journal describing a great power by a man in India. The man, through intense meditation was able to see without his eyes. And with this journal, Henry Sugar wanted the same powers and so he entered in to a great dedication into meditation as well. From this experience he was successful and his life was never the same again.  This story has a lovely twist, deep and insightful I find of the human soul. And really what is important in life.

Lucky Break
A short autobiography by Roald Dahl of how he came about to writing. He actually never thought of writing and it was a pure accident when he returned from was with sever injuries and could no longer serve the British Airforce. He was then posted to work in America and was asked by a famous writer to talk about his experiences in the war. This was to encourage people to have support for their troops in the war. They discussed it through lunch and found it hard to be taking notes while eating at the same time. So Roald Dahl  promised to write down some notes so the author could write it down properly later. After finishing it, Roald Dahl sent it to the author and several weeks later got a reply. The author said he asked Dahl to write notes, not write the whole story! The author commended Dahl's work and sent it to the publishers without even any alterations and said to Dahl he was a very gifted writer, a gift very rare and should be appreciated. This was how Dahl began writing, by pure accident.

A Piece of Cake
This is the story Dahl ever written as was described in Lucky Break. It is about his experiences while posted in Greece and fighting against the Germans and Italians during WWII. Indeed it was very befitting the title, where his plane was shot down and he endured quite a lot of hardships, but his descriptions of them seem very matter-of-fact, and how could it be any other way. And so everything seemed to be 'a piece of cake' even though what he went through was quite dreadful. He had severe burns form crashing and had lost his nose. It did not particularly highlight any act of heroism but it really gave people a sense of what sort of experience being in a war was. Even from this first story, reading his latter work, you get a sense of his style of writing and how beautiful it is.

All this stories are wonderful, all different and special in their own way. Roald Dahl is one of my favourite writers. I could read his books over and over and still be mesmerized.

Intersection

                                                photograph by the-good-fella

Dots etched in time
Marking physical existence

Birth into white pearls
Iridescent and pure
Then change as quickly
Coloured by life and lesson

Dots shrink and wither
At times blur and dim
Others bright and glowing
Always changing
Never constant

Trailing dots traversing
A rippling wake follows
Touching those around
Recording memories

Dots crossing a million others
Their lines weave intricacies
Magnificent intertwining
Learning and teaching
Affecting and effecting

Circumstances permitting
Two dots intersect
Exact moment exact place
Kindred souls collide and amalgamate

Their lines entwine and fold
A thick slurry of hue
Most marvelous and bewitching
There they remain forever