Dils Stop .

This is a hard one for me because, I don't really care much about the male characters. This is weird because I like to read chic lit and romance and there'll plenty of Prince Charming in the mix to make even an ice queen drool. However I don't care much of them. The men in the books are just there for my favorite women characters to grow, in my thoughts.  I can name a lot of the male characters that make my blood boils. Let's not forget the lord who just about rape Whitney in Something Wonderful. Oh please, (I considered it as rape because 1. she have no idea what he is going to do 2. his intention is to hurt) and the way she "I am asking for it" just make me wanna stomp the book. Oh the Duke in Julia Quinn, The Duke & I where the Duke is being obstinately insane in the book. If it was a woman, she would be a villain, but because he is a man, have money and title it is considered hero material.  (Tapi mengapakaahhh aku maseh membaca buku sebegini wehhh)....

I have to say Neverwhere. It is the first book I read by him and I am hooked. The book was so imaginative, fun, genius that I can't put it down. What is it about? Here is the Plot I taken from Goodreads (which I have not update forever): When Richard Mayhew stops one day to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk, his life is forever altered, for he finds himself propelled into an alternate reality that exists in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere. Why is it my favorite? Because the adventure seems real to me, all of the characters are mysterious, multi layered. I like the way he turned London into an alternate reality that ordinary people don't know about. Where Harrod's can be both a posh shopping venue for the rich to the ordinary or a magical night market to the non-ordinary. Where 'Mind the Gap' is no...

I am taking the easy way out by just naming Neil Gaiman. I got several of course, and I can name L.M Montgomery or Crichton or Reilly, but thinking back I'd read almost all of Gaiman's work and like most of it which is why I chose him. Pic credit: neilgaiman.com (taken by Kimberly Butler) Why? He is quite a handsome chap He tweets a lot, but not too much Most of his books are awesome, ( tho sorry Neil, I am not too in love with your short stories) I am always looking forward to his next novel ( can it be the sequel to Good Omens? OMG) His characters are wondrous, his fairytale have a gritty realistic appeal to it, his horror stories are haunting. 

This is a hard one, but then I will changed this title to suit my needs, so what I am gonna mention on books I used to love but not anymore will be the Shopaholic series. I love the first book. It was really funny.  I won't deny it.  However as the series spawned more books, I begin to detest Becky. What is wrong with her that she can't seems to see that her habit is terrible? Why does she takes the meeting (shopaholic anonymous) as something frivolous ? How she had still not learned that because of her shopping, she lands in trouble? And the solution to a shopaholic is to marry a really rich guy so he can support her habit?  I beginnning to detest the books and Becky because while I don't think that it is anything wrong that people should aspire to be a fictional character, many people seems to think that 'being Becky' is a good thing. I won't deny that sometimes the compulsion to shop is irresistible. It does not happened to just women. Men too (oh please ...

I had blogged about this book, but I can't find the post. This is way before Blogger start having tags in their options.  Plot wise, can't remember, you can google it if you want,but I think it is about a woman grappling about post-birth, babies and so forth.  Why I hate it?  I can't remember the story but I remembered how after I put it down, I felt like I had waste a few hours of my life that I can never get back. And I never felt this before with a book.  I hate the characters, I hate the writing, I hate the story ( like I i said I can't remember the story but I remember I hate the story).  And for a book I hated, I don't think so I will dwell much more on it than the above. 

Hello all. I guess some of you who're not bookworm are all sick n tired of the book meme updates. Too bad. Been enjoying doing it in fact. Not gonna talk much about that but instead I am gonna whine on how ronery I am. Which is a lie. Because I am waiting for my friend to pick me up anytime now. However because I don't enjoy being stuck in a jam and driving around looking for parking spots I chose to go early ( like several hours early) and basically walk alone. There are times when I enjoy it but not so much today because today is my husband birthday. Happy birthday! Now resuming back to complaining. Well it gets kinda boring especially walking around in ikea alone. I think we can dine alone, watch movie alone, shop alone. But window shop in ikea alone is not so awesome which goes hand in hand with eating buffet alone. However that is slightly better than playing bowling alone. Because I had once played bowling next lane to a man who are playing alone and man did we sp...

This is one of the easiest one. Without a doubt is : Pride and Prejudice is deservedly lauded as one of Austen best work (some people may argue and will cite Emma or Sense or Sensibility, but I personally think Austen is at her best here). I think at the time she is writing this she is still young so dreams are sweeter thus the book have a certain evergreen feeling of optimism, hopefulness with a side commentary on the social life she was used to. I think I had mentioned before that my love for this book and the author start from the excellent BBC miniseries. I can't say enough how I love that series (please the movie is nothing, compare to the series. Mary is incredibly beautiful in the movie, while she is suppose to be plain and which is why she resorted to be an insufferable know it all to stop people comparing her between her beautiful sisters, poor thing. ). This is Colin Firth at the heigh of his yummyliciousness. At the time of filming both of the actor and actress h...

Well, not exactly 'love' but like it immensely, I did. The book is Collected Short Stories Vol. 2 by W. Somerset Maugham. Yes it is a collection of short stories and I like it immensely and I don't really prefer short stories.  I bought this book on the first ever BBW sale. (Sobs. Kalau ade book sale di obscure places and En. Shamani tiada untuk jadi driver, terpaksa la aku terkulat-kulat GPS-ing the location, walaupon my ability to read map is slightly better than my ability to read Mandarin). I have no idea why I bought it, but I was intrigued by the picture of the Malay guy in front. I like reading about British life, and more intrigued to know about the British colonial life. Saying that, after I picked it up, I felt the book is going to be a bore. I mean 19th century writer usually used long winding words and were frightfully bored eh.  Therefore imagine my surprise on the first story I was completely engrossed and laughing out loud. I did not expect it, but it i...

There were several books that came to mind, but I think this one is my personal favorite of "I don't know why people said it is so funny" I bought and read the book due to: 1. Zombies 2. Many people favorable reviews While the book does not sucks, it does not leave me clutching at my side holding my stomach from laughter. Most of the times I am just 'meh'. It got some pretty amusing moments and some of the ending for the characters end more satisfactorily than the original book. Also I found Elizabeth as annoying and wishing she would just shut up which I never thought of in the original book; as haughty as she was. Perhaps my expectation was high due to many favorable reviews or maybe my funny bone just work differently but I can't help thinking that people are loving this because it spins something new ( there are now countless other reimagining of classic and monsters) but I can't seem to muster a laugh or interest in this particular reimaginings ...

This is one of the hardest topic for me. I almost want to skip this but that would be cheating. I can't think of any book that can be called as underrated. Some are obscure, yes, but it is deserving of being obscure. I am not involved enough in the book community to know if a book is well-received or not.  Then I suddenly thought of Georgette Heyer, A Civil Contract. An author and the book that I kinda love but I rarely heard people gushing/talking about.  The synopsis are: The romantic plot centers on a viscount who reluctantly enters a marriage of convenience with a wealthy commoner's daughter. While I used to love Georgette Heyer books due to the predictable romantic formula rich guy meet not so rich girl, not exactly love at first sight but fall in love madly. This story is more realistic. The guy marry a rich girl to save his family. The girl is not a great beauty. In fact she is very plain and in the chubby side.  It deals with what to do when our dre...

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.                                           Why I chose this book? I'll just take an excerpt from my review of the book (which you can read if you are ever so curious)  that I did few years back.   This book gave me nightmare. It sucked you in, make you feel hopeless and the world is empty and devoid of humanity when time get desperate. There are time, when I have to literally put the book down because I feel suffocated reading it. Maybe it is my overactive imagination. But I tell you, I find it rare that a book can evoke so much hopelessness when reading it. It is not just sadness, but overbearing sadness. I can't stand reading the book, but I'll still continue on to see if they make it. There is nothing happy in the book, but I don't regret reading it either.

Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding. From the start of the page when Bridget list down her resolutions for the new year, it reeled you in, hooked you and by 10 pages within leave you howling with laughter. Which is why I chose it as the book that makes me happy. Bridget is neurotic, self absorbed but totally lovable because she really wants to do good but ended up totally goofing it off. That is basically the premise of the book. Of a charming, klutzy 30+ years old grappling with singlehood where neither love nor career seems to be working out.  If I feel like I need a pick-me-up book, this is the book I'll take down from the shelf, curl up on a sofa with food in hand and read. It always make me laugh. I'll finished the book feeling refreshed and awesome because that's how it is. My sister love the book too and we had spent a night just talking and laughing on ridiculous things that Bridget had done. Not many book can make you do that I gathered. Sometimes I can sudd...

Anne of the Island. Another owned books that looked like dire and old, but well beloved.  I have a hard time choosing which Anne books I love more. I chose this because this is one of my most beloved story in the series.  The reason is simple enough, the romance.  This is the book Anne struggles on her feelings for Gilbert and her life at college. Reading on her life at college it seems like living the college life in the 1800s is not much difference from living the college life in 2000s. They still suffered through the stresses of boys, friendships, exams, professors. Only we don't have balls. Why we don't have balls???  I love her friendships with the other girls and I love the idyllic settings Kingsport that'd been described by Montgomery. Also this is the book where Anne finally grow up and become a woman. When I read this book, I feel like there is a blush creeping up in my cheeks. This book brings to mind, pure, true love and great friendships. That is a...

This does not need much thinking. My most beloved series and possession of books are: My sister who are the one who gave me Anne of Green Gables when I was in primary. She said she knows I would love it. I read it fall headlong in love with Anne. I love Anne, I want to be Anne and I wish she was my friend. Then there was the Canadian series I think, which if any one of you who love Anne as much as I do, should try to look for. It was wonderful and after watching it I wanted to know more! I never knew Anne was a series of books when I was small, I thought there is only Anne of Green Gables and that's it. Then during raya I went to a relative house and my eyes caught on a the tv table a book titled " Anne of Avonlea." My mom and the makciks are eating and chatting the delicious kuih raya (that particular house have the most delicious home made raya cookies ever. They have like 10 raya cookies and all are home made even til now), but all I could think of as " I wa...

There are a lot of books that I read and reread and some I even had lost count on how many times I had read it. However I opt not to mention those books since I'll be mentioning some of them later on. And I opt for this because I want to include some chic lits in the mix. The book is : The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. I honestly can't remembered if I read the book first or watch the movie, however I know that I prefer the book more.  Minor spoilers ahead (to those who have not watch the movie or read the book) I read and re-read it during my first years of working. My first few years of working had been, torturous and full of uncertainties. This book seems to speak to me and comforted me in thinking that even working in a glamourous place, your work can sucks. I like Andy journey into her career and reading it amused me, frustrates me and all in all entertains me. Why I like to reread it? Like I said, it entertains me but also frustrates me. I am not exactly i...

2010 was not really a good year for me in term of reading books. I have no idea why, but perhaps the books that I chose was mostly mediocre. It was mostly chic lits and books that do not meet my expectations. Also, I have a hard time remembering most of the books I read. So if you can't remember the book you read, it does not make much of an impact right? So choosing the best book I read last year, I come up with the Golden Compass trilogies by Phillip Pullman.   am not sure when did I actually start reading it, but I finished it around January or February 2010. And I'll just encompass the whole 3 books into one, because really it is one continuous story.  Why I choose it as the best? I think the reason is easily done in point form The characters are complex, deeply flawed and marvelously human.  I like Lyra. She is manipulative, deceptive but have a clear sense of right and wrong, though the way that she does things is not exactly a do gooder would do.  The ...

I want to do this. I looked at other people meme and many of them are so so good. And some I completely agree with and I can't continue reading the other memes until I'll finish or at least halfway finish with mine without agreeing and putting the same book on the list which defeats the fun fun fun part of it. So Adek, Sue, Jane and whoever on here who still read my blog and love books, jom buattttt. I would love to read yours. ( I think Effi turned up his nose on meme. ).  The only thing left is, whether to do it on Tumblr or Blogger. And I'll think I'll start on Monday for easier counting! And I am raking my brains on the Day 1: Best book you read last year. For the simple reason of I can't remember what books I read last year.  Hence the importance of reviewing books after I finish em because my memory is like a leaky cauldron.  I also think I need to put separate tags on books review. And by Monday I'd looked through my books to ascertain which one I...