My Life is Short of Chaos...

I started my current job about seven months ago and I got engaged in January. With the amount of work I have going on at the office and the planning for my wedding in October, my days are so busy it’s not even funny anymore. So whilst I sort out my plans for work and the wedding, I’m taking a step back from reading and blogging so that I could concentrate more on these pressing matters. The only reason why I’m able to blog so much this weekend is because:

1. I don’t need to go into the office and am doing work at home instead

2. My fiancé has gone to Singapore which gives me some 'me' time

3. My wedding planner had a family emergency and was unable to meet up with me this week

4. My parents have other appointments to attend to (which means they won’t hassle me about the wedding plans until next week) phew!

It’s really sad that I won’t be able to participate actively in the blogosphere with my newly found friends who love reading as much as I do but I think I’ll be able to kick back into action once the chaos is over. Anyway till then, I’ll read when I can and blog when I can. I’m gonna miss reading everybody else’s book review blogs but honestly, I just don’t have the time to spare anymore. I had so much activities planned for my blog for the upcoming Merdeka Celebrations in August (Merdeka is Malaysia’s Independence Day) but looks like I’ll have to put this on hold and run it next year instead.

My busy schedule also means that I have to give up on a number of reading challenges that I signed up for this year. The ones that I don’t think I’ll be able to finish will be:

The 2009- 100+ Reading Challenge: Ends in December (I think I’m only up to 38 books so far)

To Be Read (TBR) Challenge 2009: Ends in December

Themed Reading Challenge 2009: Ended.

1% Well Read Challenge: Ends December.

Anyway, whilst I’m stressing out over work and the wedding, I found that retail therapy really helps and for a bookworm it ain’t shopping for fashion baby, its books! I recently went to Kinokuniya in KLCC and went crazy (...no idea when I’m able to read any of these) and honestly it really took the stress of my shoulders. Two hours at Kinokuniya and my credit card was all I needed to revive my energy and restore my sanity... Check out what I bought:

My Sookie Stackhouse book set finally arrived... Woo Hoo...

Till next time, Happy Reading y'all...

A Game of Thrones

I’ve never really been a big fan of fantasy genres purely because the books that I’ve selected in the past had been bulky reads with confusing plots that require a lot of focus...I’m a lazy reader what can I say. A Game of Thrones was something which my friends (Jacques and Remona, names MUST be mentioned as I truly credit them for introducing me to this book) were raving about and I thought that I’d give a shot at reading it and I’m so glad I did.

George R.R Martin’s A Game of Thrones is the first of seven novels in the award winning A Song of Ice and Fire series. The book is very character driven and is told from the perspective of each individual character featured mainly from the Stark family. The pacing is impressive and despite having many characters and multiple plots from different continents all happening at the same time, each new element was introduced well enough without confusion and definitely got me glued to its pages to find out what’s next.

My favourite character in the book is definitely Tyrion Lannister hands down; intelligent, sarcastic and funny with a psychical disability that adds more interest to his personality. I also love Jon’s character, Eddard Stark’s bastard son as well as his daughter Arya. The character I really dislike the most is Sansa, Eddard’s other daughter who has her head up in the clouds most of the time.

The epic fantasy is filled with political drama with a storyline filled with ill-suited kings, honourable knights, bad and deceitful advisors. It is a gripping and original read that kept me wanting to read all 800 pages of the book every minute of my waking hour (unfortunately I couldn’t because I DO have to work for a living damnit!)

I started the first 200 pages going back and forth in the book trying to remember who’s who but the introduction of characters and plots were smooth enough to understand and follow once you get further into the book. I have the second book A Clash of Kings on my TBR pile and hope to pick it up soon before I forget the storyline from A Game of Thrones, which is by the way an absolute MUST READ!

Rod Sterling's The Twilight Zone

I recently stumbled upon an illustrated series based on Rod Sterling’s The Twilight Zone. I grew up watching the Twilight Zone and decided to buy two of the Graphic Novel titles; The Odyssey of Flight 33 and The After Hours. Here’s a quick view of what each title is about:

The Odyssey of Flight 33

The graphic novel is set on a jet liner en route from London to New York. Just fifty minutes away from its destination, something happens and they are unable to communicate with air traffic control in JFK. They soon realize that they have been thrown back in time and thus stuck in the Twilight Zone.

The After Hours

Marsha White is browsing in a departmental store to purchase a gift for her mother. She is taken to the 18^thth floor at the store. Distraught, Marsha faints and finds herself trapped in the departmental store after hours and the rest of the story could only be explained as the Twilight Zone experience... floor where she is attended by a sales woman who clearly knows who she is. After she purchased the gift, she realizes the gift is defected and complains to the management only to be informed that there is no 18.

The graphic novels are an adaptation from the original Twilight Zone TV series. Targeted to young adults, the novels are quite easy to read. The illustrations are kept simple and clean and have a good flow to it. Between the two titles, I preferred The After Hours, it had a bit more excitement, mystery and suspense to it.

I absolutely love this series of graphic novels and intend to collect the rest of the titles.

Coraline

A couple of weeks back, I managed to catch the trailer for Coraline the movie (believe it or not, they haven’t released the movie in Malaysia yet). The trailer looked so good that I decided to read the book first before catching the movie and I'm so glad I've read it.

I won’t go into too much detail about the book since I’m sure almost everyone has heard or read it already. Reading Coraline was definitely an experience. It is a beautifully written, dark fairy tale that was simply unputdownable. The creepy settings and the scary plot held my attention till the last page. I also absolutely loved Coraline’s character; she was smart, resourceful and brave. An excellent book filled with dark adventure. Can’t wait to watch the movie.

PS- To eager Malaysians who await the release, news is Coraline will be showing in September... woo hoo!

Reading Break and Book Shopping

I’ve been going through a bit of a reading slump these past few weeks. I can’t seem to concentrate or focus on any of the books that I picked up, not sure whether its because I've been really busy at work or I'm just being plain lazy. I recently had to quit People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, it’s a great book but I just couldn’t focus enough to really get into the storyline and the characters. I was stuck on page 90 for about three days!

So because of this little setback, I’ve decided to take a break from reading but will be carrying around George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones with me wherever I go. At least if I get my Mojo back, I’ll have something that I can read immediately. :)

Anyway, just because I’m taking a break from reading doesn’t mean that I can’t go book shopping...right??? Look at the goodies I bought today at Times Bookstore in Pavilion:

I grew up watching the Twilight Zone and when I saw the illustrated version adapted from the series I thought 'why not?', I think I'll definitely enjoy reading this. Kenny & the Dragon was more of an impulse buy plus they had a 20% off for Times Bookstore members. As for the fourth purchase, well I read the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid sometime back and loved it and have been meaning to get myself a copy of the second book.

If you've read any of these books and would like to share your views, do drop me a note. Happy Reading!