Candles on the Sand by Katie Stephens

I don't know why, but the cover
looks extremely pixelated, here
and in real life.

Candles on the Sand by Katie Stephens has a really interesting premise: Anna, discovering that her fiancee is cheating on her, impulsively walks out on their wedding and head to Italy, and predictably, finds happiness and belonging by the end of the novel.

I liked the plot of the novel, but for some reason, the conversations felt very stilted to me. I'm not sure if it was the pacing of the conversations, but it seems like, well, something that I write. The conversations can turn into two-sided rants and made me generally uncomfortable with the novel. Because this impression was made very early in the novel I(before the Italian English appears), I fully suspend my disbelief and remained distant to the characters.

Now, it's not that I cannot take long (paragraph-long), monologues when two people speak and have that called a conversation. I have read Huck Finn and Siddhartha too many times to count and they have very very long conversations monologues (have you heard Siddhartha expound his theories to Govinda/Kamala/etc? Or listened to the Duke and the King? Actually, the whole of Huck Finn can be said to be a monologue, since it's a recount. But the thing is that it's a conversational and believable recount). Yet, it doesn't feel as stilted as Candles on the Sand does.

The ending of the novel also felt a little rushed, especially the reconciliation section. Plus, there seemed to be no resolution with regards to her fiancee, especially since she seemed to just ignore the problem.

But all this being said, the novel was very effective in evoking Italy, and now, I really feel like going there. I'm not much of a Europe kind of traveller (mostly because I have no funds, but partly because I'm still trying to visit the different places in Asia (Taiwan, Japan and Korea mostly).

Bottom line: this is a pretty good first-novel. Not excellent but more than satisfactory, especially in terms of plot. But it could have done with much better editing (I saw some grammar and maybe spelling mistakes), as well as a not insubstantial dialogue re-write to make it much more believable.

Teaser Tuesday - A Minor Indiscretion

After missing several Teaser Tuesdays (due mainly to the lack of Internet), I'm finally back on track(: Today's Teaser Tuesday book is A Minor Indiscretion by Carole Matthews. I'm really lucky that Aunty Florence lent me more Carole Matthews so, here's a teaser for you:

" 'Yeeeeeesssssss!' he shouts as he passes us. The ride seems endless and just as I think I can bear it no longer, the lights cease flickering madly, the insane rattling slows to a series of worrying clonks and the cars instead of whirling like dervishes, spin as gracefully as ballerinas to a halt" (Page 287)

And before I forget (again!), Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should be Reading, so all credit goes to her for coming up with this fun meme(:

Merely Mystery Reading Challenge - Detective Conan

From Left to Right: Kaito Kid (who has his own manga), Heiji, Conan

To prove how "serious" I am about the challenges, I'm participating in it in my first official review post of the year. (Plus, I more or less finished it first).

Detective Conan (Meitantei Conan) is a wonderful manga written by Gosho Aoyama, and if you read my Matantei Loki review, you'll know I called it "deceptively cute", because behind the (relatively) cute graphics are some seriously brutal murders.

Although the manga is mostly episodic in nature, it's held together by one overarching plot: Shinichi Kudo, having been turned into a small child (now called Edogawa Conan, after Arthur Conan Doyle), is after those who responsible - The Black Organisation. In order to track them, he has to help his crush/girlfriend's father Kogoro Mouri's detective agency, in hope of gathering relevant information.

After reading all 802 chapters of the manga currently out (it's still a work-in-progress), I guess I've learnt some very morbid stuff, mainly to do with how people die. Hmm... and the other huge fans I know are my brother (that's my fault), and two little girls at Church (I had nothing to do with this). But I guess it just turns you into a detective-otaku, rather than a wannabe murderer, unless you have the inclination. I think.

But seriously speaking, this very long read has very lovable characters. Many many lovable characters. Although to me, the most notable thing is how likable the girl characters are. Because I don't read many shoujou manga, I tend to dislike the Mary-Sue-esque girls found in the manga/anime, like Sakuno in Prince of Tennis (A Mary-Sue, incidentally, is one of those annoyingly perfect girls).

If you're a newbie to the series (as I was about one month ago), the many characters are daunting. But no worries, the best resource is Detective Conan World Wiki. It's also a measure of how fanatical fans are. This wiki (which is far Superior to the wiki page), details the character histories, manga histories and even has the different theories about the Black Organisation (there are some larger, unsolved mysteries). And they notice every detail, to quote:

"It is unclear at this point if Scar Akai is the real Shuichi Akai or an imposter. So far, the commentary in the manga sidebars assumes Scar Akai is the real Shuichi Akai; however, the commentary has been purposefully misleading in past arcs."

I don't know about your fandom, but this one (Proud member of the Conan fandom here), will look at clues outside the manga-universe into the non-canon clues.

So yes, this is (to me), one of the best detective manga's ever. The 800+ chapters flew past, and I didn't really notice the passage of time (I average about 50-100 chapters a day). In the Merely Mystery Reading Challenge, I would put this as a Locked Room Mystery, since many of the mysteries appear impossible to the police/reader, although a second reading reveals clues that substantiate the logical explanations.

Notable Quotes:

"One Truth Prevails" (Conan/Shinichi)

Need more? A very entertaining fanfiction: It's Raining Men, Hallelujah can tide you over till the next chapter appears.

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

I couldn't find a new year-sy photo, but here's
a small wish for you: I wish that you'll be like a flower, or to
be specific, morning glory, blooming in the new year.

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! (Happy New Year). It's a brand new year and gosh, time really passed by quickly. It seems like I just entered IB and now, I'll be getting my results in 5 days time! But sadly, time is too kind to me and I still look like a 13 year old.

I actually have only one, maybe two resolutions for the new year:

1. Make a Blog Button. I actually have a design and a picture ready, I just have to put it together. And figure out how to do that. Hmm... I suppose I should set a deadline of End of March.

2. Write more. Reading more isn't much of a problem, but I'd like to write more. Even if I don't show anyone what I write, this is still a good way to improve my writing and grammar skills.

The rest of the non-blog related resolutions... are not in existence yet. I'm not very big on resolutions, because I tend to forget this kind of things, so...

Let's start the year with good news: Today, one of the uncles in Church (he takes care of the Church bookshop)gave me a bag with 20+ books, definitely enough to last at least a month. Since I probably won't be able to keep all of them, I'll most likely be giving them away when I'm done (sorry, only to people in Singapore and surrounding).
Well, have fun in the new year everyone!