25.Jan.2009 Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
It took me a damn long time to read this book. I started it some time in November last year, and I finished it 10 other books later. And I’m not sure if I even liked the book. It wasn’t painful to go through, but it was all kinda meaningless. I didn’t quite connect with [...]
02.Dec.2008 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
A conversation with a friend a while back: Me: I try to read more classics, but some classics I would just never read. Friend: Like what for example? M: Ooh.. Like Moby Dick.. F: Why? (He read Moby Dick at school and although it’s probably something he wouldn’t have picked up by himself, it wasn’t [...]
10.Sep.2008 Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
Another classic on the line, but it’s a lot easier than Wuthering Heights, because the setting and language are in 1900s. It took me a loooong time to finish the book. One reason is I think because I read the book in snippets and not in a big chunk. I had little time to just [...]
09.Sep.2008 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
“I cannot live without my heart. I cannot live without my soul.” I finally read the book (took me around 5-6 weeks), watched the movie (the 1993 one with Ralph Fiennes) and now writing the review. I knew of Wuthering Heights a long while ago, interestingly, from a manga called The Glass Mask. It was [...]
06.Jul.2008 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
The Reader tells a story about Michael Berg, who is helped by Hanna Schmitz when he falls ill on his way home from school. That time he’s 15 and she’s 36. In time they become lovers. The book is divided into 3 parts. First, the time Michael and Hanna spend together before Hanna goes missing. [...]
04.Jul.2008 The Updated 1001 Books
So apparently they changed the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. They took out and added not only a few books, but 284 books! That’s a whole lot of changes! Almost a third? So now we have the 2006 version and 2008 version. I wonder if they will change the list every [...]
01.Jul.2008 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
I read this book from beginning to end on Sunday during the 24 hour read-a-thon. I think I roughly spent about 8 hours for all 272 pages (yea I’m a slow reader). Funny, I got 3 copies of the book. I got one as a surprise RABCK (Random Act of Bookcrossing Kindness) – free, one [...]
12.May.2008 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
This book is the second of Ishiguro that I read (first was When We Were Orphans). The style is a bit different. Easier to digest I’d say, a page turner. The author is good at giving hints to something in the past or the future, and makes me wanting more throughout the entire book. I [...]
27.Apr.2008 10 out 100 out of 1001 Books YMRBYD Challenge
Update 2 Nov 2008 See the wrap-up post here. ************************* If you’re like me, and you haven’t read many of the books in the 1001 Books YMRBYD list, the list could become overwhelming to you and you’re not sure how to “conquer” it, then you may want to join me in this challenge. I have [...]
17.Feb.2008 Atonement by Ian McEwan
The setting of Atonement is Talli’s family house in 1935. A 13 years old girl with strong imagination, Briony, had witnessed a series of events between her sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the family’s childhood friend. At the end of the day, Briony made a mistake that affects the lives of all three, a crime [...]