Update A Bit?

I am so busy. I want to stop saying that!!! When will this end. Well, anyways. I'm still not going to start writing that much on this blog but I have read some books lately, so worth a mention.

Read Esio Trot by Roald Dahl, it was alright. Other books by Roald Dahl were actually better. Then I read Around the World in 80 Days, because my dear is going to teach it at school this year. I just thought I never read it before, so worth a read. Any I loved it, very good. Then I read Bourne Identity. It was quite good. Did not know the movie was quite different then the book, then read wiki and found that the movie was just loosely based on the book. So yeah, I sort of like the book better after reading it. But I started reading the second book. Bourne Supremacy I think it was. Don't really like the start of it, so still a bit stuck there. Finding something else nice to read....

But like I said, very stupidly paralyzed by all the work and research I need to do. I'm not saying I'm being super productive. But all I can think about is work. Even sitting in front of the IDIOT BOX and at the back of my head is work. I need to learn to switch off. Getting quite stressed out over everything...

The Adventures of Pinochio

by Carlo Collodi

I read this during my recent holidays. Oh, what a wonderful book. And who does not know the story of Pinochio. Well, actually me. Not like how it is written originally. I have seen numerous cartoons of course when I was a child. I have however never read the original version by Collodi. Of course I did not read the Italian version but the English translated one (as I know not how to read Italian yet!!!).

Anyways, this book is about a wooden puppet who dreams of being a boy. He has many adventures where his naughty ways lead him to troubles. Pinochio must learn to be a good son and student, and learn all the good values of being a good boy. Only then will he be granted to be a real, living boy. But as Pinochio is Pinochio, his mischief leads him into a lot of trying situations from which he is slow to learn. But he does learn eventually and make good on being a good son and person. With that, he is eventually turned into a living boy.

Wonderful book, wonderful pacing. Its originality makes it to this day still a wonderful read (it was written in 1883!). Beautiful, worth reading again.

With the Old Breed

at Peleliu and Okinawa

by E.B. Sledge

Been so busy, with so many things going on in my life right now. I do not wish to be swept up and wake up one day and realize I'm 50, without doing anything that I had set out in life to do. Thus to maintain some sanity, here is a book review. I read this several months ago.

This book was written by E.B. Sledge who was a marine in WWII, in the Pacific campaign. I only found out about this book after watching the HBO series called The Pacific. It tells the WWII Pacific campaign through the experiences of mainly 2 individuals. This book is one 1 of the 2 individuals (Sledge), the other being Robert Leckie. This is a great book that looks at the campaign through the experiences of ground troops, rather than high level strategy. It tells war in more human terms, rather than intellectual terms. It tells of the bravery and endurance of these men, and also the horrors and hardship they have to face. People would be well-served to read books like this to understand that we should not go into war on a whim. It describes well what the military personnel go through, as well as how people are affected in the cross-hairs of war. It is definitely a classic, and very well-written with no biased language, but still maintains a strong emotional connection with the reader.