Reading during the Covid-19 Pandemic

For one thing, I was super glad that the national library extended the loan period to 6 weeks for the remainder of 2020, since I am always notorious for reading and then chucking the book somewhere and forgetting to return on time. 

Woman's weekly (UK version, the Singapore version is lame and the US version sucks) was always a favorite of mine and it became even more so during the pandemic. I had started reading the magazine way before, back in 2012 when I discovered it in the library. For me, I loved the short stories, gardening tips and the puzzles, in that order. I even loved to look at what people were wearing (I did notice that the ladies they photographed tended to meet the demographic of their readers. No bare midriffs and short shorts!). But during the pandemic, the puzzles became my top favorite because they kept my mind active and away from thinking about all the terrible things they keep reporting on the news about Covid-19. The editors probably realized that as well, since the number of puzzles increased following the British waves and lockdowns.

Truthfully I thought that the crossword puzzles were very difficult. The codeword puzzles were more my tea because it tapped on my knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar without need for contextual knowledge. Word search was fun and no brainers. They also had sudoku too, which I then shared with my mom and aunts.

Lisa Beazley - Keep me Posted

Title	Keep Me Posted
Author	Lisa Beazley
Publisher	April 5th 2016 by NAL
Genre	Chick Lit
ISBN	1101989866 (ISBN13: 9781101989869)
Length	320 pages

Two sisters separated by oceans started writing to each other after being inspired by their grandparents during Christmas reunion. Each sister encountered family life problems, one self inflicted by her own unhappiness and low self-esteem, the other by her husband's infidelity.

The book is written from Cassie's perspective, so we only hear about the other Sid from her letters. Sid is definitely the more lovable and zen character, reminded me of my own aunt, than her sister who is hung up about her own regrets to a point where she neglects her wonderful husband (he splurged his life savings so that she could have IVF treatment to have their beloved twins, ceded to her when she wanted to stay in their beautiful apartment which became too tiny to contain the same boisterous twins and didn't even complain when she spent nearly 4K on clothes), preferring to get excited about meeting an ex who treated her badly.

I thought it was an easy read for a dull afternoon, though the happy ending had me rolling my eyes a bit lot. Oh come on, it's a little too good to be true.. [spoiler in white: Cassie gets to share a beautiful new compound with her beloved sister and their families]. I kinda want to slap Cassie, I thought her husband and her sister gave in a little too easily. I mean her sister spurns social media and her idiotic little sister accidentally posted their letter exchange online with "Slow News Sisters" blog that goes viral. I WOULD HAVE PLACED HER BETWEEN MY THIGHS IN A MOUNTAIN POSE AND SLOWLY CONTORT THE BREATH OUT OF HER. I am not convinced that Sid loves her husband, it felt a little as if she just went with the flow since she is so zen. And the husband character just existed so that he can pay up for the expensive alimony at the end.

It was like the author gave up towards the end, and like "fuck it, lets give a nice ending so that I can stop writing."

3 out of 5 stars (because of the ending).

Susan Mallery - The Friends we keep

Title	The Friends We Keep
Author	Susan Mallery
Publisher	Mira, 2016
Genre	Romance
ISBN	0778318729 (ISBN13: 9780778318729)
Length	402 pages

Edit: I mistook the writer as Jill Mansell (another of my favorite authors. Ah, the errors when reviewing via phone. Sorry Jill!

Susan Mallery's books usually revolve two or three women who are related to one another. In "The friends we keep", three friends who know one another from "Supper's in the bag" face their own life challenges as they prepped their meals three hours a week. Interesting business concept, I must say.

Gabby Schaefer, the law graduate turned second wife/stepmother, is readying her twins for kindergarten so that she can return to part time work. She doesn't really have to work because her hubby's quite well to do. But she is dying to find herself after being a hausfrau for five years. Ah first world problem, as compared to her friend Hayley Batchelor who is shortchanging her and her hubby's life in her desire to have her own child. Never mind that she had five miscarriages and her husband's desperate pleas for her to have a hysterectomy to save her from hemorrhaging. 

Nicole Lord, the only person in this story who i find is the protagonist of the love story, is the last friend who makes up the trio. Her ex was just the sperm donor to her lovely son Tyler, so much so that her son no longer cares whether the man shows up to see him. Instead he latches onto the author of his favorite book series, Brad the Dragon. Too bad mommy had a bad impression of Jairus after he mistook her for a hooker. Interesting friends he has but too bad, the book focuses on her friends instead and we never get to see his friends. Would have been interesting to meet the kind of people who might get their friend a hooker after he complains of a dry spell.

All three stories are engaging, sad and touching all at the same time.  Nicole's story was romantic but very run of the mill.  Could have predicted that she would fall in love with Brad the Dragon's author. Boring. Hayley's story was a bit whiney, not about her not having kids but her emo baggage from being an adopted daughter. Gabby's a great mom and I liked her story the most because it showed the progress of her relationship with her step daughter strengthening through adversity.

Fairly interesting read. 3.5 out of 5 stars

Robin Kaye - A little on the Wild Side

Title	A little on the wild side
Author	Robin Kaye
Publisher	Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2015 (first print 2013)
Genre	Romance
ISBN	1492608564 (ISBN13: 9781492608561)
Length	387 pages

I can understand why romance authors like to write serials. They are usually set at the same location with the same family and friends, so basically they only need to explain a place and characters once, and keep regurgitating the material over and over again in the subsequent books. This way they don't have to create a new setting with new characters every time.

This book is about Bianca Ferrari who appeared in an earlier book about the same Kincaid family, which I didn't read, did not know the back story and became lost at some parts. E. g. Why is Grandpa joe their grandfather even though he is not blood kin? Who are Ben and Gina? The book assumes you read the earlier book so it picks up from where Trapper (cute, three brothers, Hunter, Fisher and Trapper. Why not a Gatherer while you are at it?) last fucked Bianca. We are told that they did the dirty in three or four time zones, and somewhere along there, they became pregnant.

So its a pregnancy book, and even though Trapper found Bianca's black book (ah yes, the notorious little black book, when Bianca has a cell which can also store a contact list?) full of eligible men's names with little stars and his name was not even inside,  he was able to conclude he was THE baby daddy. This when he has a back story of a cheating fiancee who became preggie with the senior partner's baby despite being in an ongoing live-in relationship with him for 3 years?

Wow, no emo trauma from being conned the first time. This is how we know it is true love because he never asks for a paternity test. And how loving and accepting the family becomes after they learn that Bianca is pregnant? Even though they apparently did not like her earlier (in the earlier book).

Luckily Trapper's faith is absolute and proven when the twins are born and they look like their Auntie Karma. If not, wouldn't he be like trapped? 

Would have been a more fun ending. I mean he loves her right... so he should be down with raising her two babies. Lol.

Rating: 3 out of 5. If you like to read about pregnant emotional women.

Believability - 3/5 (if not for their terrible childhoods, it is very irritating to accept these two very intelligent and goodlooking people meeting each other and procreate without knowing basic protection); Romance factor - 3/5; Readability - 3.5/5 ; Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - 4 (can stand up to abuse well)

Sophia Nash - The Once and Future Duchess

Title	The Once and Future Duchess
Author	Sophia Nash
Publisher	Avon, 2014
Genre	Romance
ISBN	0062273639 (ISBN13: 9780062273635)
Length	384 pages

This book is one in a series of books about dukes being forced to marry by the Crown Prince after they had too memorable a bachelor party before the Duke of Candover's wedding. So memorable that someone died and the is public outcry on the state of the monarchy.

So the Duke of Candover, James Fritzroy, is anal and rigid, and not very well liked by the other dukes. But because he is a premier duke (not all dukes are equal, it seems) , he has many women still wanting to marry him, most of all, the super desperado Duchess of March, Isabelle Tremont. I cannot understand the fascination on her part, other than she may have 恋父情结. Her dead daddy is his godfather/friend, and she transfers her desire for daddy's approval onto his friend. Otherwise please explain to me why she likes much older, very zzz man?

And because James is anal and rigid, he and the determined Isabelle spent a lot of time discussing what is marriage, passion, love. So boring. Luckily distraction comes in the more exciting shapes of the Duke of Sussex and his Scottish bride. Their story is more exciting but unfortunately spans across this and an earlier book so basically we get a summary and then randomly inserted slices of a conclusion. Somehow Sussex realized what his bride did for him and all was forgiven. He was suddenly down with marrying the poor governess. 

This book was pretty haphazard with the various characters appearing in the book. Like why does Mary of Kent like the Duke of Barry? Well because suddenly they did, thats why Mary, unlucky in love is upset by Barry wanting to marry March. *roll eyes* 

Rating: 2 out of 5. 

Believability - 0/5 (right, because the elite can readily accept a governess as a fellow peer); Romance factor - 2/5; Readability - 2/5 ; Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - big fat 0.

The men I didn't marry by Janice Kaplan & Lynn Schnurnberger

Title	The men I didn't marry
Author	Janice Kaplan & Lynn Schnurnberger
Publisher	Ballantine Books , 2006
Genre	Chicklit
ISBN	978-0-345-49070-4
Length	285 pages

Hallie had planned how she and her husband would spend their empty nester existence, starting with a romantic weekend and those dratted Knicks tickets. Too bad her husband was so eager to start his new independence with Ashlee with 2 Es, that he dumped Hallie after leaving their youngest at Yale. 

What an asshole...

So Hallie spent a whole week gorging on Oreos, until her daughter challenged her to go hiking. Bizarre she would do that when she didn't even go hiking with the hubby and kids back in the day... Alone and out of town, she got lost on the trail only to be rescued by a handsome doctor (seriously... this book's unbelievable quotient is out there in the stratosphere).

That's not all, the doctor was oh so coincidentally good friends with her ex boyfriend, Eric. So Eric, reminded by said doctor, called Hallie up for dinner and so began a journey of "eat drink woman" for Hallie except that she did not have to travel out of the country to realize that she was right in not settling with any of her exes then.

She had sex with one ex, found out that the other was a "ohm"ing gay and forgave the last one. The forgiving part was very rushed, and I felt like the side story of her sister was thrown in at random pages so that she could quickly forgive the ex. It was as if the book had 3 planned exes and they decided to add one last minute.

As part of her journey through the exes, Hallie was rewarded with realizing that she was better off without her stingy ex who halfway through the book decided that he wanted to come home to the familiar after breaking up with Ashlee with 2 Es. She was rewarded for said epiphany with a new romance.

what the hell.  funny but convoluted book. 3 out of 5.

Follow my lead by Kate Noble

Title	Follow My Lead
Author	Kate Noble
Publisher	Berkley Publishing Group, 2011
Genre	Romance
ISBN	978-0-425-24151-6
Length	355 pages

His Grace Jason Cummings, Duke of Rayne, is seeking a wife. Tried when he was 29 years old, was almost compromised by three raving virgins. Second attempt was when he was a wiser 30 year old man, only to be bored to death at a garden party by same three raving virgins. So being a 19th century nerd, the red-haired he went to the Historical Society where he encountered a brown-haired she with a humongous cousin. Cousin George was determined to make Winnifred Crane his bride, incest and possible genetic disorder be damned. Luckily Jason was there to help her pass the hallowed doors, where she failed to prove to Lord Forrester (head of said sexist Society, her father's friend) that she was the famed historical writer, C. W. Marks. Why? Because her cousin claimed to be him already, in order to become a member.

Since the cousin was the villain and all the men in the Historical Society misogynists, the determined 30 year old Winn decided to take up the challenge issued by Lord Forrester to prove that the Adam & Eve painting given by her father to the Society was not painted by Dürer. Unlike the Duke who already saw the Continent and wanted to settle down, Winn wanted to enjoy the adventure of finding the evidence and checking out Europe.

Lord Forrester being naive or stupid, requested Jason escort Winn, George and their relative Totty to the port, even though Jason was interested in his daughter. Then Jason, being the busybody that he was, decided to follow Winn when she did not board the same ship as her family. 

Blah blah, they suffered poverty and misadventures in Europe as they tried to dodge George, but managed to find time to have sex a couple of times. If not for the sex, would have thought that it was Bert and Ernie running riot over Europe. Fairly engaging read.

Of course he ended up with Winn, even though he managed to propose to Lord Forrester's daughter when he returned to the UK, aged 31 years old.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. The parts where they dodged George were entertaining.

Believability - 3/5; Romance factor - 2.5/5; Readability - 3.5/5 ; Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - 1/5.

Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Title	Kiss an Angel
Author	Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Edition	reprint
Publisher	Piatkus, 2006
Genre	Romance
ISBN	0749937092, 9780749937096
Length	384 pages

Ratings
Unbelievable ?  EXTREMELY. 5/5. Just look at the protagonists' names, Theodosia (Daisy) Devreaux and Alexander Romanov Markov.

Alex is a descendant of the Romanov dynasty (yes, and from Tsar Nicholas II's fragile son's line) and a known circus folk. Daisy remained a 26 yo virgin while her mother was a frivolous nymphomaniac who was already bedding guys younger than her daughter before she died.

Problem with some of the famous romance authors is that they tend to stick to a certain formula that they become known for (other than the known requisite that all male protagonists are damaged in one way or another/ inscrutable, charismatic characters/ handsome weirdos).

For Susan Elizabeth Phillips, the female protagonist tends to be a pretty lady who is misunderstood by the people around her, especially the guy who she will fall in love with. But don't worry by the end of the book, everyone will love her. Always. And the guy would be very emotionally damaged but becomes cured by her love, though SEP outdid herself this time with one who is more damaged than the usual. (1) his parents died in a train accident when he was 2 years old, (2) he was raised by an uncle who camouflaged his pedophilia by whipping his nephew, (3) rescued by Daisy's father  when he was 8 yo. Daisy's dad was conveniently a diplomat to Russia who has a weird obsession with Russians and of course, this guy, to a point he makes him marry his daughter to continue the Romanov line. this despite he does not think much of her than as a brood mare. Give the man Father of the Year award!(4) Alex is now a professor of art at a college, but he is fantastically rich due to his own Russian art collection and consultancy work with biggest museums in the country, and he is helping his other benefactor by running his circus for 6 months after the latter died. WTF?

So he drags Daisy after their impromptu marriage to the circus, where of course she had to suffer a lot of trials and tribulations ala SEP style, e.g. being framed as a thief, being tortured by sundry circus animals, being burnt by stupid Alex, getting knocked up by stupid Alex who realized that he really loved her after he burnt her (S&M). And even though she doesn't like animals, and they her, somehow she developed a rapport with a tiger, a gorilla and a baby elephant who has weird olfactory fetish. Villains other than Alex, are a misguided teenage girl who has a crush on Alex, and the sexy circus owner's widow who has an obsession with Alex's circusfolk lineage and his sexual prowess, so much so that she turned from love to hatred when he denied her.

The main point is... don't think too hard when reading this book (especially TRY NOT to draw comparisons with SEP's other book "call me irresistible"), just appreciate the span of SEP's imagination when writing this book. I spent quite a lot of time rolling my eyes, but I have to admit it was an entertaining read. I also think the book should be renamed as "obsession" given the number of strange obsessive characters there are in this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Believability - 0/5 (see above); Romance factor - 3/5; Readability - 4/5 (fairly entertaining, too much about animals and annoying side characters); Yummyness of male protagonist (YMP) - 3/5 (handsome art professor who is a descendant of Russian royalty with amber eyes like a freaking tiger. Unbelievable!!! Dislike MCPs).

Blood Group Compatibility (according to the Japanese)

Blood Group A
Perfectionist, punctual, shy, intellectual, patient, pigheaded

Blood Group B
Does everything in a practical way, great capacity for concentration , individualist, thoughts above feelings

Blood Group O
Energetic, social, extroverted, leader, arrogant

Blood Group AB
Mixes characteristics from all groups, plus a cool person

Compatibilities
A is compatible with another A and with AB.
B is compatible with B and AB
AB is compatible with AB, B, A and O
O is compatible with O and AB.

[Book Review] The Perfect Retreat

The Perfect Retreat was a pretty good chick lit. I liked all the characters in that they were not all totally cookie-cutter stereotypes, other than the raging bitch ex-wife. 

There were one or two GLARING booboos though, and I personally feel that the editor needs a swift kick to the butt for them. E.g. page 125. Small, large breasts...????? I envisoned a lop sided Kitty. Hahaha.

Second case was that Ivo's dad was the Earl of Casselton on Page 360, then on page 382 when Evelyn, Ivo's mother explained that when Ivo's dad Perry "pops his clogs then Ivo inherits" as the future Marquess and Marchioness of Casselton.

I may not be well-versed in the English aristocracy and their lineage, but from what I read of historical novels I formed the impression that Earls are not the same as Marquesses. When eldest sons of Earls inherit, they become Earls. And Marquesses will inherit from Dukes. So if Ivo's dad is Duke of Casselton, it makes sense if Ivo is Marquess of Casselton. YKWIM?

Back to the characters. Like I said earlier, I liked the characters in that the author put in some effort for forming their personalities. However I found that the adults are a bit strange and unbelievable. As in why would a renowned director treat a dyslexic young woman as a daughter after hearing her practise reading? A bit too whimsical. The author expedited the last part of the story very quickly with the husband being an arschloch through almost 3/4 of the book and suddenly becoming very conciliatory and apologetic. The author did explain the reason for the transition, but I found the transition a bit too fast and somewhat miraculous. I mean the wife couldn't change him, parenthood couldn't change him but a girlfriend of some months could change his thinking overnight?

Ivo is a very delicious character of course. I think he is probably the reason to read the book. Merritt and Willow are flawed but nice and believable. Kitty falls under the unbelievable category. She is supposed to be retiring and shy but she goes ballistic on a guy who she loves and makes his life totally miserable when he rescued her? And yet she could forgive her boss so readily. I mean yes, it was her fault for losing the kid, but to forgive her so readily and then blaming it all on Ivo is like very bipolar behavior. Lucy is a good character but doesn't do much other than perform a secondary supporting role. 

I loved the bromance between the dudes in the later part of the story, and I enjoyed the part about the paintings hiding in plain sight. This plot was also done in the first season of Motive (Canadian drama).

[Book Review] Pretty in Plaid

This book was quite an awesome read. Jennifer Lancaster is both snarky and witty between the sheets, even though I felt that the book came to a abrupt ending in the epilogue. Probably it's because I liked what I was reading and wanted the fun to continue. I especially liked the part where she wrote about her "rush" days at Purdue, and how various fashion pieces symbolized the various episodes in her life. Then there was the part about her mother drinking a blow job cocktail, to the amusement of Jennifer's friends and colleagues at the restaurant where she spent her college days serving disgruntled customers and getting into trouble for not giving a shit about their lives. 

"Just when I think the evening can't get any more mortifying, my mother leans in and conspiratorially whispers, "But I've had the real thing." Were I to even contemplate what she may have meant by this statement, I'd curl up in the fetal position and rock back and forth for the remainder of my life. As it is, I spend the rest of my graduation night suffering from hysterical deafness." Jennifer does have a love for footnotes (amusing as they are, give me a terrible work-based flashbacks), which would have made our お母さん proud. Still, it was a funny read, though I might have underestimated the calculating, cunning mind of a young girl, despite having been one myself.

German books at Kinokuniya

Just now I popped by Kinokuniya after going to Art Friend to buy a canvas, and am somewhat pissed to find out that the German books seemed to have dropped in price across the board. Unfortunately the DVDs have gone up in price. Sh*t.

There is also a 20% sale for all Kinokuniya card members from now till 23rd April, because of World Book Day (there is such a thing?)

I am hunting for DVDs that have German sprache und untertitel. Best way to understand. Otherwise they talk too fast for me!

Fuck - Helmet for my pillow by Robert Leckie

"Always there was that word. Always there was that four-letter ugly sound that men in uniform have expanded into the single substance of the linguistic world. It was a handle, a hyphen, a hyperbole; verb, noun, modifier; yes, even conjunction. It described food, fatigue, metaphysics. It stood for everything and meant nothing; an insulting word, it was never used to insult; crudely descriptive of the sexual act, it was never used to describe it; base, it meant the best; ugly, it modified beauty; it was the name and the nomenclature of the voice of emptiness, but one heard it from the chaplains and captains, from Pfc.'s and Ph.D.'s until, finally, one could only surmise that if a visitor unacquainted with English were to overhear our conversations he would, in the way of the Higher Criticisms, demonstrate by measurement and numerical incidence that this little word must assuredly be the thing for which we were fighting."

This paragraph reflects the book in its entirety. A lot of bombs and fighting, a lot of bombastic words.

Mom, will this chicken give me man boobs?

[image source:robynharding.com] (Yes, it is the author's webpage)

First of all, what's up with this book cover? I swear it is as embarrassing as having a blog called "My life as a Tiny Plasticine Penis"!

I passed this book to Bär, who started reading like 6 weeks ago, and still wasn't done by yesterday (book is due today, and I hadn't read it yet). And we both concluded it is very embarrassing to be caught reading this in public. So he ended up reading it during lunchtime, I read the book from my lap and we both used brochures to cover the book when out in public.

Robyn Harding, author of other creatively named tomes like "The Journal of Mortifying Moments" and "My Parents are Sex Maniacs" writes about how she tries to raise an environmentally conscious family. The book is full of oxymorons, as Robyn points out in the case of buying greens. Is it right to buy an apple from New Zealand (the family is in British Columbia, Canada) because Down Under has more prime growing conditions and harness better renewable energy? Or better to be a locavore (buy and eat local)? Or how they went to EPIC Vancouver, ostensibly to learn about sustainable living, but ended up buying healthful food that they don't need and bringing back lots of brochures.

Robyn also points out her own "green" failings in a hilarious manner. She calls herself "light green" in how she tries to be environmentally conscious, and reminds others to do the same, yet delighting in long baths and long distance flights while hating public transport.

Confessions of a Carb Eater

I  was attracted by the pretty cover of the book and of course the doughnut. The title looked intriguing enough. Must be a memoir on how to lose weight, I thought to myself, tossing the book into the pile I was going to borrow.

Started reading. I must say this is bloody hard core, it is the first book that makes my skin crawl like that. I like books that describe food vividly, but this author made me feel like puking after she talked about how she would drive down a road filled with drive-bythru (sorry played too much GTA in the past) fast-food restaurants and go in each of them buying loads of food. And how she went on about how she loved bread, somehow made me feel ill instead. 

She could even get wet fantasizing about food, then while she was buck naked beneath the sheets, she couldn't get up to run when an intruder broke into her apartment because she was at least 400 pounds (~180kg). He was fortunately very wasted so he didn't manage to rape her and she could call 911 to come save her. The police arrested him while 4 burly firemen tried to eject her from her bed with much difficulty. And all throughout the episode she was humiliated, hysterical and motified. But not enough that she went on another eating binge immediately after that...

I don't think I can describe adequately how horrible that scene was. I think you got to read it yourself.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to go on a diet. You will feel sick and freaked out enough after reading it.

The Re-readable list

I came across this article at the Atlantic Wire about the re-readable list, i.e. books you will read over and over again because they are that good to read. So I thought, why not come up with my own? I must note that my book choices are largely skewed towards romances and children books. Why? Because children books are good for you, especially when you are stressed and romances, well, every woman has those days where she wishes a handsome rich man (not knight) will drive by in his Audi Spyder and sweep her off her feet. Haha.(just realized no romance novel made this list)

Here is my re-readable list (not really in order of preference):

1. Laura Ingalls Wilder series. Favorite was Farmer Boy, and its endless descriptions of food. Nuff said. I still haven't forgiven her for the buttermilch yet. 

2. Anne of Green Gables series. My favorites were actually Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Windy Poplars. Ok, make that almost every book ever written by L M Montgomery, except for the Emily series. They were a snoozefest.

3. The Family from One End Street, though I preferred the second book, The Further adventures of the Family from One End Street.

Damn, I want to get my hands on the Holiday at Dew Drop Inn, the third book in the One End Street series. I did not realize that there was a third and final book until I was trying to write this entry. *^%$

4. All Creatures Great and Small (Omnibus collection from James Herriot)

5. Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl books are full of whimsical, faulty characters.

6. Cheaper by the Dozen by Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Frank Gilbreth Jr

7. Fifteen by Beverly Cleary. Her coming-of-age books, which I like more than her kid books, tap on her actual life.

8. The Faraway tree series by Enid Blyton

9. Two for three Farthings by Mary Jane Staples (a bit unbelievable in this times)

10. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

11.  The Railway Children by Edith Nesbitt.

12. An Old fashioned girl by Louisa May Alcott (the only other book I like is Little Men. Little Women made me feel like slapping all the girls, especially Amy)

Fairly good books that I'd read if I can't find the above.

1. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone by J K Rowling (the only book I maintain as readable out of the whole set)

男人不坏女人不爱 My Haul of books from Germany

I am ashamed to say I did not buy much souvenirs back this year. First thing, no matter how much that bloody euro has dropped, it will still be stronger than the Singapore dollar for the foreseeable future. I will upload a pic on how much crazy ass euros we changed for the trip. I also realized that German books are also very expensive in Germany, and they seem remarkably fond of hard covers for books.

Das Geschenk meinem Geburtstag von Schnappi

Second thing... I didn't dare to risk the luggage limit. When we went to Germany, our combined luggage weight was 29kg, when we came back it was 42kg (limit turned out to be 23kg each, so 46kg total)...thanks to the books I bought myself as well as those Schnappi gave me + lots of sausages.

I didn't even dare to buy another bottle of the St Peter's wine back for myself. I had bought two, one for HM and the other for Schnappi from Salzburg's St Peter's monastery. Hauling them back to Germany in my backpack was no joke, I'd tell you. 

As you can see, Schnappi went for a smorgasbord of German books, of varying difficulties. I think I am going to have a super fun time reading the whole pile. I already had difficulty unwinding the metal wire that he wound around the books. Very eco, but I poked myself a few times. To tell you the truth, the best present was the German flag. I am contemplating sewing it on my backpack (the one I used for my travel).

As for me, I know my limits, so I chose all my usual favorite kindergarten books and comic books. The only book I didn't buy was Heidi, which was what I really wanted anyway. Did you know the first English book I read was Heidi, which was ironically translated from German?

My Souvenirs for myself

I am glad I listened to HM and did not buy the Struwwelpeter, and Max and Moritz books at the souvenir books (they cost 6.99 euros each anyway). He said I could buy them cheaper at ordinary book shops, and on my last day in Frankfurt, I walked past a bookshop which had some bookshelves outside. They were selling books on WWII weaponry (B1 was mourning he could not understand German so he reasoned that he could not buy them) and specifically... Struwwelpeter and Max and Moritz.

The book seller was highly amused. He said, "you like naughty boys?"

Yup. =D

Doesn't he know? 男人不坏女人不爱?

Marzi - A Memoir

I am Marzi, born in 1979, ten years before the end of communism in Poland.

[img source: poptheology.com]

Marzi is a graphical depiction of Marzena Sowa's life as a child growing up in Communist Poland. Most of Marzi's young life revolves around how much she loves her idealistic father and her overbearing mother whom she could not please. As an only child, Marzi made much of running wild with the neighboring children and eventually growing older with her new best friend, Gosia, the girl living upstairs, after her original best friend moved away. 

The harsh reality of life behind the Iron Curtain featured a lot in the novel from the child's perspective; queuing long hours and not getting any fruit, fallout from Chernobyl, having to grow and sell stuff from their own country garden and operate a "black market" out of their apartment, and her father disappearing to strike at the factory. Being poor and having to chew window putty in lieu of actual chewing gum is really sad, though Marzi's adding of color pencils to enliven the color of the putty is yewwww.

As someone who has not experienced Communist rule, I can only appreciate and vaguely grasp how terrible it must have been.

Alligators Old Mink and New Money

[image source: nikolii.wordpress.com]

Alligators, Old Mink & New Money is an interesting look into Alison Houtte's foray into vintage clothing. It starts with how a love of vintage clothing has been instilled in her and her sisters by the older women in her family, her being talent-spotted to be a model in the 1980s, and how she eventually went into vintage clothing as a result. The later half of the book was all her misadventures and adventures as an entrepreneur, like setting up the new shop after the previous landlord kicked her to the curb, selling Bonnie Cashin at a very cheap US$150 instead of its true value US$600 because she was still evolving her knowledge. This book is like an literal advertisement for her business Hooti Couture. The back of the book even teaches how to identify and restore old pieces when doing hunts at auctions and garage sales yourself.

Kissing is the most intimate act

But my favorite kisses,

are the ones you give me

when we make up.

Because each time we argue

I'm scared that you will never ever kiss me again.

Reading this, I am reminded of how intimate kissing is between two persons. Not sure if it is because of the exchange of bodily fluids (now it sounds gross), or the excitement when your lips touch, but there is something intimate and precise about kissing. Not sure if it is because you can kiss the person you love anytime but you cannot have sex anytime =D. Even when I am writing my you-know-what, I am conscientious of how a relationship can jump to a whole new plateau when two strangers kiss.

What's your favorite kind of kiss? Mine is kissing in the lift as it is going up =D (dunno why). And B1 hugging and kissing me from behind when I am doing something.

Have you kissed your loved one today?