T for.....

I was going to title this post Tough Customer (by Sandra Brown), but then I remembered that I also read two Terry Pratchet books, so the common denominator is the letter "T".

Lemme see... Tough Customer is one of those Thriller/Detective/Romance novels, which I suppose is fairly typical. It's not a bad story line, although the twist in the plot is really unbelievable, and feels like a cop-out by the author. I suppose this will be one of the books that you only need to read once.

On the other hand, Terry Pratchet books can be read over and over again. (: Today, Mong lent me (and I finished) The Light Fantastic (A reference to the phrase Tripping the Light Fantastic) and The Colour of Magic, which were both hilarious. They're both easy reads and really lots of fun. So I'd reccomend them to anyone and everyone with a sense of humour.

This two books talks about the the wizard Rincewind (which is the first time I'm reading the part of the series about him). I find the books very interesting, although I'd still prefer the Night Watch series to this (which Mong has agreed to lend me more of). That's probably because there are more diverse characters/protagonist in the Night Watch, with really really amusing villians (Like the Assassins Guild).

And I guess, I like satire about city life best of all(:

Debbie Macomber

I was reading some Chic-lit that Aunty Florence lent me, which were Sisters-in-law by Nina Bell and Reluctant Cinderella by uh.... I forgot *sheepishsmile*. Both of them were fairly interesting, all though a bit generic, but what I didn't like was that it had uh.... graphic descriptions in them.

But the third book I read, which was The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber totally blew me away, it was that good. For one thing, the plot was really interesting, and second, there wasn't any graphic stuff inside. It's basically about 4 ladies who became friends through a knitting group at a knitting shop called A Good Yarn. And for some reason, I like knitting too, although I can only do the knit stich and nothing else >.<

Although the book was outwardly secular, I kept getting the niggling feeling that Debbie Macomber was a Christian, I guess from the passing (but respectful) references to God. But I wasn't sure, so at that time, I was just very happy that I found a book series (the Blossom Shop Street) that didn't have nudity or anything else.

But the next day (which is today), I read One Simple Act, which took me a few chapters to read before I realised that it was by Debbie Macomber, and *shout and flourish* she IS a Christian. Praise God! One Simple Act (subtittled Discovering the Power of Generosity), is about incorporating thankfulness in our lives, and allowing God to use that to work through us. The book is very inspirational, and I really really love it.

Although, like the old me, I didn't put it into practice straightaway. I woke up almost 40 minutes late today, which wrecked my schedule, so I was a little upset when I was leaving the house. But on the MRT there, I read (and finished) One Simple Act, and on the MRT back, I was thinking about being thankful. I guess that to be thankful for that would be I got more sleep (always a good thing) and I probably set my record of getting out of bed, folding my blankets, eating breakfast, changing into uniform, eating medicine and leaving the house in 15 minutes flat. (:

But during the day, I was still upset at little things, such as when almost all the group members (6 out of 10) people, left during lunch and didn't come back til the end of the session (during tea break). And since they came back late, they asked me to help "cover" them, which was getting hard because the organisers started taking attendence. But thankfully, I didn't have do anything, because they got booked, so I didn't have to falsify anything (ok, this is really weird, and probably a little mean to be thankful for - I guess my real intention is to say that I'm glad I didn't have to lie or anything).

And on the way back, I was even more upset, because I went to Popular at Brash Pasah to buy the 50th anniversary edition of To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) and Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro) since I'm a Popular Member (mostly for the Harris Bookstore in Johor) and got a $20 voucher (though I'll infinitely prefer one by Kinokuniya, Borders or Littered with books! (But I don't think Littered With Books have them)). But when I get there, To Kill A Mockingbird was completely sold out, even though I saw it 2 days ago! And this was the main branch! But it didn't make sense to just buy a $17 book (cause TKAM is only $9+ so the $10 voucher won't cover it); so I more or less left in a huff. But after thinking it over, the good thing about this is that I have an excuse to buy more books from Popular and that I can probably find TKAM cheaper from Littered With Books, which I will be going to anyway on Friday to return Aunty Florence's book.

But on the MRT home, I started thinking about my attitude, and realised that it was very wrong, and is also very disrespectful to God. So from now on, I want to try and change my attitude, to incorporate a heart of thankfulness and generosity.

Wow! I spent more than half this post not-talking about books, although I suppose that really good books will impact your life. ^_^

Austen~

I spent the past few days reading lots of Jane Austen books (well... 3). And that was because I bought this book called Jane Austen for dummies. While I don't normally like the "For Dummies" book (like the one for learning Japanese, because it has romaji all the way, and it's not very helpful to me), this one was really marvelous. It had lots of information (probably because the author is the President of the North American Jane Austen Society, and teaches college courses about her!). It provides the socio-economic-political-religious background of Austen's books, her life and other relevant information, which got me to read her books with a whole new perspective.

And because of that, I went on to read Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion. All three books were really really good, like I remembered, and I really enjoyed reading it. These books are different from my Green Covered Puffin Pride and Prejudice, with beige covers and pictures.

And this got me wondering, would I buy different copies of the same book? After all, I'm going to buy the 50th anniversary edition of To Kill A Mockingbird (although it's because I don't have the book now, it's either with some one else, or I borrowed it when I needed to study it). I suppose, if it's a particularly beautiful cover, and maybe something I want for sentimental reason's, I'll probably buy it, although I'm sure my parent's will think it's a waste. But I suppose, the books that I want more copies of, should be really good, and I'll be lending them out a lot (To friends and family, in my bid to get more people to read). And in that case, there can't be too many copies(:

But I suppose that for now, I'll have to focus on building a great variety of books rather than multiple (but all beautiful and different) copies of the same books. And since I'm on a budget, I'll stick to buying the cheaper books first (the Puffin Orange or Green ones, that cost $4.50 - but that is only for classics) before I "move on" to other editions/those with different covers/hardbacks.

Shhh!

I re-read Silence by Shusaku Endo, and once again, I'm blown away. He is, in my opinion, one of the finest writers, who is able to vividly portray Japan and it's people. For those that don't know, Silence follows a Portuguese Priest, called Roderigues, as he struggles to keep his faith, sadly, he succumbs to "the swamp of Japan" and apostatises. However, the main thrust of this book, and of Endo's books in general, is to show and emphasize the 'mother love' of Christ, rather than the 'father love' as he feels that it is the 'mother love' that the Japanese lack and need.

This time, as I read through the book, I took special note of the word "silence", as advised by my supervisor. It really opened my eyes as to the different dimensions of silence, and its different purposes, to protect, when in doubt. Of course, the most obvious connotation would be the silence of God (which is referred too repeatedly), and ties in to the book of Job. However, unlike Job, there is no happy ending, except perhaps, the continual existence of the secret Christians.

Even though at times, Endo makes statements which seem heretical (causing him to be condemned by some Japanese Christians - I did say he was controversial right?) I think that overall, he manages to capture the essence, perhaps his version of the essence of Christ's love.

And while I'm on the topic of silence, I might as well take the chance to talk about the latest issue of Creation magazine, which arrived in the mail yesterday. It was, as usual, very interesting and very informative. One (relatively funny, at least to me) argument is that: sponges have DNA that is 70% similar to human DNA, does that mean sponges are 70% human? The absurdity of the argument just cracks me up! Yet some people will argue likewise for monkeys. And as the evolutionists yell their arguments (no matter how absurd) louder and louder, the dissenting Christian voices are pushed further into silence.