Anna Karenin(a)

I spent a little of the day before and the whole of yesterday (reading til 11plus) reading Anna Karenina. I always thought it was Karenina, but apparently that's the feminine form. Karenin is what's on my book title. But I still like Karenina more because... I guess because it's feels nicer to say.

The story, like War and Peace, doesn't have much of a plot. Actually, it has more of a plot than War and Peace, but the main point is that the story follows the lives of the characters rather than just making the characters follow the plot. And that's kinda like the taiwanese dramas, the really long winded, last-three-or-four years kind. Like Ai or Yi Nang Wang.

The novel is, in my opinion, misleadingly titled. That's because Anna (and her husband, and her lover) aren't the only main characters; there's also Kitty and Levin's romance. At first, I heard them referred to as a "subplot", but they're so much more than that. They're story takes up half the book, and provides the sense of hope; most likely to counterbalance the tradgedy and despair of Anna's life. All characters are well crafted (which means believable), although it took me some time before I could differentiate between characters (bad at names, and Russian names have 3 names, which make it worse).

For some reason, this book reminds me of Esther. It's not a very save-the-Jews story, or with any heavy moral overtones (and the only character that 'comes to Christ', so to speak, is Levin, and that is only in the last part - i.e. part 8 of the book). But the common characteristics are that God is not shown, but in a way, you can feel him. Ok, bad explanation, but its the best I can do. And you do know that Tolstoy was Christian right?

The Madalen (without the 'e')

This book was so hard to find on amazon (cause I didn't want to go all the way to the bookshelf to get the title), but in the end, still had to. And then I found out it's not Magdalene, which is the conventional way of spelling, but Magaden =.=

This isn't the usual type of book I read, but it's quite interesting. It's basically about an unmarried mom in the life of a Magadalene shelter, which is a shelter for unmarried mothers, but treats them like slaves in the washing room.

What's interesting about this book are the characters. The protagonist is really predictable, but her family and friend's aren't. Well, one brother is, but the rest are different. The most unpredictable character would be the mother, because her actions were very unexpected. It actually borders on the edge of unbelievable, because the personality is a complete opposite. But I suppose that when you take time and the society into context, her actions make sense.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the priest. At first, he came across as a whiny character, the typical hypocritical priest. While this book does criticise nuns (especially in the Magdalene house) and priests (in Dublin), the author's hometown priest is surprisingly .... compasionate. He actually refused to marry the guy who ditched the girl (because the other lady is richer). I was shocked; but since this was done quite naturally, it was believable.

The nice thing about this book is that it has a mix of characters, no one order (or religion) is seen as wholly good or wholly bad. And that, I think, makes the difference in a novel. The only "fault" I find with the book (if it can be called a fault) is that the Esther (the protagonist) didn't get together with Jim at the end (Jim's some nice guy). There were hints, but nothing. Still, it's not a big issue, since it doesn't affect the main theme at all. Still, I wish that one lose end gets tied up, it reminds me of Studio Ghibli fims, where I always wait for a sequel (that never comes) because the main characters never get together (like Spirited away, Howl's Moving Castle - in which we never find out what happens between Sophie, Prince Justin and Howl, etc)

Ah, I rambled and digressed so much I completely forgot to paste the Amazon link. So, here it is: http://www.amazon.com/Magdalen-Marita-Conlon-McKenna/dp/081257768X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288781631&sr=1-1

Bird by Bird

Today, I finished Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It's one of those great books that is so hard to classify. Ostensibly, it's a guide on writing, but since art imitates life (or is it the other way round?) a lot of what she says are actually observations on life. And one of the things she said, (and was stuck in my head), was that the first draft is always, in her words "shitty". And that it's fine.

The weird thing, is that this applies to a lot more than writing. One example I could think of was piano. Lots of times (all the time), the first time I try to play the piano, what comes out has no resemblence to the song. But after lots of practicing and refining, what I get is closer to what the songwriter intended; in other words, the 'better' second draft. And in the case of my exam pieces, I hope the "second draft" is good enough to get me to pass (I habour no illusions about my music/creative abilities).

Another time(s) I could see this first/second draft example would be, most obviously, in writing. In secondary school (sec 3, sec 4), Ms Tan always made us write first and second draft for our essays. And the difference is remarkable, sometimes, the difference in marks is as much as five to seven (out of thirty). And today, was Chinese exam, and one of the papers was an essay. Normally, I just write out of my head, and then score really low. But since it's the IB exam, I was naturally very very nervous. So after I wrote my essay (actually, it was near the end of the essay), I started editing (adding sentences and such). And I decided to re-write the essay after I realised I needed to swap the order of two paragraphs. During the second re-write, I managed (I hope) to make the sentences sound a lot smoother. It's not perfect, but I'm happier with the second attempt. And of course, I spent the rest of the time worrying that I'd accidentally hand in the first version. (:

Meant to be read.

The last two days (yesterday and today), I managed to finish two books, two very different books. One of them is called Practical Marketing; and asian perspective and the other is called When teens Pray.

I spent Sunday really happily, (you can say satisfactorily, like those Dickens books). After service, I realised that the Sunday school was making cookies, in ovens~ The third floor never smelt more yummy. And of course, I took a few. And the recipe, to make with didi tan. And that's all because I had choir practice (which was why I was at the English service). Choir was really fun, but for some reason, I can no longer hit the high F note. ):

After Choir, I met Nic, and we went for lunch at Flor (really nice pudding), and then, to my new favourite bookstore: Littered with books. Nic, found out where all the Sunny bookstore people went ^_^ (And then punched me cause I didn't tell her, and made her worry that one of the salespeople was her ex-lecturer). And even though it was only my second visit, they remembered me~~ So, I bought a puffin copy of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (awesome writer), for only $4.50 (: Can't wait to read it.

And during the whole of Sunday (including Japanese class), I was reading Practical marketing. Even though the final year exams are over, it is kinda interesting. Although a little bit outdated. It's written by the same guy who wrote Sun Tsu's Art of War and Business management; and has loads of relevant examples.

And today, I meant to read Sex and the City, but then, the book was not to my taste (too crude and didn't make sense), so I gave it away and found.... When teens Pray, which was a birthday present from Fong. And it was just what I needed!! It gave me the encouragement I needed for the Chinese paper tomorrow. Praise God. (: