10 posts tagged “books”
I finished two books just recently; Eat Cake and How to Marry a Duke. The latter is a compilation of three semi-erotic short stories on romance, and the former is a novel. Frankly, I've always enjoyed novels like Eat Cake, where the mood is light but the philosophical reflections are more realistic but not as heavy.
And on to my brief rant on censorship. I wish Vox would automatically censor items of an adult nature. I hate clicking 'Explore Vox' then getting horribly surprised when I see uploads by other people of an adult nature. For example, I just got another surprise when I scrolled down and saw videos of a woman giving a blowjob. EW. I don't think these people would voluntary click the 'exclude from public explore pages' checkbox. I guess they don't think it's offensive. x_x
At this rate, I have probably read almost all of the books in my sister's shelf. The rest I do not find that interesting.
I find it more interesting reading about the love lives of other people, for lack of one. Maybe someday I will have a boyfriend, or even a husband and a family, but it will never be as glamorous as book romances. Because book romances aren't real, at least in my point of view. Marriage in real life is boring, and you get to hate each other once you've been together long enough. You also don't get to have as much sex as when you were newlyweds. Maybe that's why so many people are into pre-marital sex. By the time the children are old enough and leave home, you two are just old and don't have the energy to go at it. Besides, who'd want to look at each other's sagging, naked flesh?
How to be Good is a story about a married couple, and it's not at all an exciting story about them. In fact, they are tired of each other but soon realize that they would be worse off if they divorce, so they don't. Instead, the husband finds a renewed spiritual purpose in life, and the wife puts up with it. The ending is anti-climatic, but it is so very reminiscent of real life.
Well, so for last weekend I read more books! That's right, I went sneaking into my eldest sister's bookshelf and found some books I haven't read yet, specifically the last two installments of the Shopaholic series (don't remember if I've already read Shopaholic & Sister, but who cares) , so I decided to read it, and after that, I decided to re-read the first three books in the series as well.
I honestly love the author's male lead character, which is Luke Brandon. Very masculine.
I also really much wanted to bash Venetia Carter's face on the wall after all her antics.
But of course, it all ended well, much to my relief and expectation.
And then I got a bit sad after, just because I always get that way after finishing a series of books or a very long book. By the time I'm finished, I'm already very much connected to the characters, and in a way, finishing reading them means that that is the extent of their life span between the covers.
So I re-read and read more books. The list is below, though not in any chronological order. Besides, it's nice to see the covers as well.
Yes, it's shaping up to be a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and I've just finished reading the book I started last night. After some suspense and nail-biting, it was a nicely put-together novel. Of course, the fact that I've peeked at later chapters once in a while did help to ease the tension.
Yes, I've also changed my layout again. I might change it again soon. There are too many nice ones, and I can't be bothered to make a personalized banner. ;)
Yep, the new layout is Victorian Lace. It kind of reflects this mood I'm in lately, and that is a reading mood. I immediately go through my eldest sister's bookshelf and see if she has anything good and light (=shallow). I breezed through a couple just today. Wow, really productive! Considering my light schedule this term and that the term has just begun (meaning I'm not obligated yet to work on the next and last parts of my thesis), it means that I have time to read.
Right now I have started on The Debutant Divorcee. I am not scared to admit that I am an ordinary person. *grin*
And yes, I enjoy chick-lit and some other forms of literature that "real" writers might shudder at.
It's been a while since I posted anything about music on here. I still enjoy Jrock, but not the new, young bands that come up from time to time. I'm a sucker for the oldies, like Lareine. Kamijo is HOT. I don't care how old he is. He's my shameful dream of a guy, which of course is stupid because he is an idea of someone's perfect man. So I'm not dwelling on that, though it does make for good conversational material with other people like me.
Anyway, my tastes have evolved to include British bands, just because some of their music evokes nostalgia in me (it's the tone of the song and the voice!). I love breathy voices. It's like really, really good food.
Case in point: Human by The Killers.
We set up our Christmas tree last night, amidst jokes and celebrations of today's no-classes announcement, due to a heavy storm heading our way. My parents even rescheduled their flight booking to my dad's province. We just found out earlier that the storm was heading north and wouldn't be hitting Manila. That's somewhat of a relief, I guess. The term is about to end, and I hope finals won't be delayed any more than necessary. I'll possibly try to get a picture of the Christmas tree soon. :3
Hm, I also got the books I had my uncle order for me from Amazon, along with other purchases my family made. I began "Half life" last night and finished it this morning. For a homosexual-themed novel, it was pretty nice. I thought it also was in-depth in the minds of American teens, and though I thought it was also a bit too descriptive to the point that some parts were boring. The action between the couples also weren't enough. XD
Of course, I need to stop reading my leisure books and start studying. ._.
My sister and I went shopping today at Tutuban, although we did make several other trips before we actually reached our destination. By the time we did, I was so tired, my legs ached, and so did my head. So I only made one purchase: a skirt; I'll try and post a pic of it by tomorrow. I saw a lot of other clothes I'd have liked to buy, but my head was aching so much, I didn't want to try it on to see. I'll just go back when my mother will venture there sometime. There's a jacket I really want to have. :D
Hrm...there are also a lot of books I have my eye on, yet for the lack of money, am unable to buy. I'm also excited for other things... *sephy-things :D*.
Well, Christmas is coming soon~~~ I need to earn money to buy gifts for everyone. x3
So yes, I think I may need to do my own list of things to do to keep me organized. But first! My mother and sister came home from Singapore two days ago. They were there visiting my eldest sister who is currently pursuing her MBA in the National University of Singapore on a partial scholarship. I had wanted to go as well, but I have school, damnit. While the books I asked for were bought for me, my sister bought a bunch of dresses and skirts which were really very pretty. I'm envious she bought one for her best friend but not for me ;_;!
In any case, the books I got:
- Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz
- From Eroica with Love 3 (english translated)
- 八月の路上に捨てる (Hachigatsu no rojou ni suteru - Throwing Stuff Away on a Road in August) by Takami Itou
- 介護入門 (Kaigo nyuumon - Introduction to Nursing Care) by Mobu Norio
Thus, I can then make a list of the books I need to read for school. This includes two books for Japanese History that is included in the list below.
- The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Thomas L. Friedman
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz
- Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
- Factories of Death by Sheldon H. Harris
- Japan: Past and Present by Edwin Reischauer
*shot*
What a day; that's all I can really say. We went to different bookstores, different branches, just to get the books I need for my classes this term. In the end, I bought more books for pleasure reading and only two out of the four or so books I actually need, or was it five? I also tried to look for Lolita, but the hardbound version was either sold out or out of stock, and in one branch, both the paperback and hardbound version was sold out. I'm so tired.
Here's the list of the books I bought for today:
