Ada Exhibition

I'm nervous. Butterflies in the stomach and tingling crawling skin kinda nervous.

Nope, not coz I spot any hot guys but we're doing an exhibition. Finally. We've gotten a confirmation that we'll be holding an advertising/graphic design exhibition. Though unlike what I've always imagined doing this with the whole of BPD8, it's still pretty awesome.

There's so much uncertainties involved. We'll have to push, kick, crawl etc into completion. Only six weeks left. We have to pull this thing off in six weeks. So scared. So nervous.

What I really do like about this is getting to work with half of the rest of the class. These are people I have never been in a group with. Though we had only two meetings so far, I am optimistic we can all come together to get this done. After all, this exhibition is for all of us.

On a side note, I've completed 25 books in nine months. Not optimistic at all that I'm gonna hit fifty by the end of the year, but o well. Never knew I read so little. I actually thought fifty books in a year's easy!

When our exhibition's on, will you come? Please? =)

edit: I know why I'm truly nervous. I had yin yong, which means coffee, thus quickening my heart beat to resemble signs of being nervous. =.=

Book Quote

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it."

Oscar Wilde

A hopeless romantic?

Love for Books

I've finally went to the Bookfest held in KLCC. Twice. Once with my cousin, to first scout things out, then just now with friends, to finally buy some books. I admire my control this time around for I've only spent RM60 to buy three books. Last year, I spent about RM250 buying stacks of books plus CDs. Gah... luckily there weren't any old Eason Chan CDs.

These are the books I spent my good money on: Eat Pray Love, Empress Orchid and The Blood of Flowers.

Fictions are probably the only thing I read. When I buy during book fest, I try my best to get a variety of books eg. different genre and country. I like reading about different cultures, countries and equip myself with some historical knowledge. It is only with fiction that I will engross in reading. Give me a history book I'll probably doze off halfway.

My Books Read 2010 has reached #22. To reach my target of 50 seemed kinda far fetched now. Bah, never mind.

So many book sales going on! There's the BookXcess Raya sales and maybe a Borders sales. Mom's coming to visit this weekend. Maybe I can bring her to the bookfest? And buy more? *evil laughter*

Got yourself some books? Happy reading!

A Fraction of the Whole: Steve Toltz

I would never buy this book if it's not for the pretty cover, I don't even know the author. Other than the attractive retro looking design, the pink blob and spots are all embossed. It's very appealing to touch.

The basis of the story is this:

Meet Martin Dean: the man his country loves to hate, and his son hates to love. He spent his life analysing anything and everything, and imparting his self-garnered wisdom to his only son, Jasper. Only now that his father is dead can Jasper fully reflect on the man who raised him in his own extraordinary style, and realise that, for all its unstoppable lunacy, theirs was a great adventure.

This was the longest time I've spent reading any book, one month. I started before Chinese New Year and I've only finished it now. I am amazed I didn't give up on it. The reason I took such a long time reading this book was I have become a lazy reader. I read only before sleeping, thus managing at the most a couple of chapters every night.

Other than taking an abnormally long time to read and buying just because of its pretty cover, this book was amazing. Really.

Toltz has a completely different writing style from authors I'm familiar with. His writing was very opinionated, philosophical and highly sarcastic to the point of being refreshing. Every page contains quotes that inspired thought provoking insights. My personal favourite was this:

... you need to think yourself into the open, and the only way to do that is to enjoy not knowing whether you're right or wrong, play the game of life without trying to work out the rules. Stop judging the living, enjoy futility, don't be disillusioned with murder, remember that fasting men survive while starving men die, laugh as your illusions collapse, and above all, always bless every single minute of this silly season in hell.

This is a thick book, seven hundred pages containing crazy over-the-top characters that I'm not sure whether to like or not and an intricate plot with some of the most outrageous ideas plus some twists and ironies thrown in.

If you wanna read this book, try not to google it or find out about it on amazon.com. Read this without expectations and unprepared. Then it'll be like going on a roller coaster without any safety barriers. It's a deliciously wild ride.

DIY Book Cover

Second day back and I have just finished clearing up my old clothes yesterday. It's always a good idea to create space for new stock (yet to arrive).

I used to keep those T-shirts that I know I will never wear again coz they are just too old, but have too much sentimental value to just throw away. I got this idea to turn an old fav shirt into book covers from some design book. I got one of my old top with this really pretty shiny graphic (which will seem like such a waste to just chuck out) and tried carrying out this lil' project.


Wee... my Starbucks 2010 planner. The embossed effect looked kinda nice at first, but the more I look at it, the duller it became. So, I've decided to make the cover for this planner. (sigh... I really really liked the leather cover for 2009 tho..)



My old Samuel&Kevin top with the pretty graphic.


Butchered off the neckline and hood with a scissors. I only needed the body portion to make the cover.

Positioned the planner just right over the cloth, with the graphics properly aligned. The coin box was needed to weigh down the cover.

After sewing up the sides, this is how the planner looked like from the inside.


From the back. Notice my horrible sewing skills? O well.. it'll contribute nicely to the raw-hand-made style I was striving for. (yea rite..)

From the front. The cloth's a little bit wrinkled. I will have to iron it, I think. The cloth cover is perfectly detachable from the planner.

Excuse my crappy image quality from my crappy camera phone. Maybe better pictures tomorrow when there's more light.

Book Fest @ Malaysia 2009

Tonight was the night I fulfilled my annual fantasy. This only happened once a year, a ritual that I have started from last year. After tonight, it was still as satisfying, still as glorifying as ever.

It was the annual Malaysian Book Fest at KLCC!

Well, friends who knew me, would know that I have no qualms buying novels from time to time. But those times when I did buy, I would only buy authors that I liked and was confident that their books were good. I rarely steer away from those few good ones that I like.

One of the reasons I like going to book fairs was because of the discounted price. Besides saving money, I would also dare try some other authors that I have never read before. This was coz if the book turned out to be bad, at least I didn't pay the full price!

On the way to the book fest, I have already calculated mentally how much I could spend. I still need to save up some of my cash this month for utilities. Okay, I told myself, just RMxxx. No more. Self restrain, I must practice.

But within a few feet of the entrance, I could literally SMELL the books. The smell of new books chilled in air-con. There was an extra skip in my step as I entered the realm of my fantasy. The moment I began putting the second book on top of the first book I took, I knew that my budget of RMxxx was not realistic at all. Ah, money, small detail when it came to fulfilling my destiny tonight. Buahahah~

Check out my loot!!

1. 2 Eason Chan CDs at RM9.90 each!!! (like hello, how to resist??!)
2. Live 3-CD of various Hong Kong singers at a concert, RM9.90
3. A Fraction of the Whole, a novel, Steve Toltz
4. By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Paulo Coelho
5. The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
6. Keeping Faith, Jodi Picoult
7. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffennegger
8. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, John Gray
9. Turn Left, Turn Right, Ji Mi (not sure if the pinyin is right tho)

I am so in love with the idea of so many different books from various genre. Keeping Faith and Time Traveler's Wife were two books that I have been wanting to buy since forever. I intend to read the Time Traveler's Wife before going for the movie version. I do have to admit, Eric Bana's good looks in the trailer did give me the very much needed last prompt to get the book. Good bargain, therefore good buy!

I got myself two 'self-help' books. Zilch told me that Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus was really good. I came across that book at the MPH sales in One U. Stood there for a while reading the first two pages. Immediately I was drawn into the narration. I kept myself from buying then, so I bought it at the book fest. The Last Lecture could be something like Tuesdays with Morrie. I think it was David that told me it was good, and an inspirational read is always a welcome.

25% rebate is definitely better than the usual 20% or 10%.

Bought the second book by Paulo Coelho at 50%. He's a popular author, and I wanted to try one of his books for a long time. But it seemed like such a rip off to get one of his thiner-than-usual-paperback at the normal price. This 50% thing came at a good time.

I have never heard of this author. Never heard of the book. Worst of all, it's from Penguin. Could mean that it's a classic, thus synonymous with *YAWN*... I bought if for the pretty cover! And the first paragraph was not bad. During fairs like this, I'd normally chuck in one completely foreign author. Let's see if the content will live up to the cover.

My CDs, not even exceeding RM30, all three added together.

I pre-ordered their first comic book. KK and Luke are my fav DJs from 988.

It seemed that by pre-ordering, I became their club member by default. I am member #0053. Woohoo~

Ahhh... another huge chunk off my wallet. But no worries, it's month end already. That huge chunck will grow back in no time! Yes, life should be lived always, in the light of optimism.

Ta-da, so long~ Good night!


Could barely keep my eyes open already... *yawn*

Chick Lit VS Romance

Since I have posted a review on a chick flick, I'd say it'll be fun to do something about the four chick lits that I have read. I started reading the works from this author, Dorothy Koomson, when I bought "The Chocolate Run". There was nothing special when I read it the first time. In fact, I regretted my choice in purchasing the book for it was no where near interesting. However, about a month back, my reservoir of books had run dry. I got nothing better to do so I was rereading past books. I picked this one up again to reread it. This time around, I appreciated the plot, humour and characters more. Maybe it was due to me not expecting anything much that the book finally managed to charm me. So much so that I looked forward to reading other books from the same author.

There is to me, and generally, I think, a difference between chick lit and romance. The stories and characters in chick lits are usually bolder and closer to reality. Think authors like Marian Keyes and the one who wrote "P.S. I Love You", her name slipped my mind. It doesn't really follow a standard plot evolvement like romance do. Normally, in romance, man meets woman, conflict, realizes they love one another, and then happy ending. You can bet your life that the main characters will definitely fall in love and be with each other by the end of the book. The only thing you can be sure of of chick lit is that the main female character stays constant. You won't know until the end if she's going to end up with her boss or the guy she loved in the past. Better yet, she might even choose to remain single in the end.

Anyway, my lenthy explanation above sort of also described Koomson's books. You really won't know what is going to happen to her main character. In her first book, "The Cupid Effect", there were a lot of potential players around. You tried matching her lead with every other guy that cropped up but sometimes you will just have to read on to find out. This is another major difference between chick lit and romance. In romance, you can be sure of the chemistry between the two main leads. Even if there's another guy with better qualities than the hero, the heroine will ultimately choose the hero. But this is different in chick lit. The girl might think the guy's just a friend and have no feelings for him, but in the end, she might realized that she has been heal over heels since chapter one. Either that or there's great chemistry between man and woman, and in the end they won't be together due to stupid reasons like logistics. I mean, how can problems like this occur in fiction??

My point is that I hate and love Koomson's books. I like how she has good foundation for her plots. The back cover always read interestingly. This made me purchase her books full with anticipation. There are also characters you can love easily for everything they do have reasons to support. The changes the characters go through from the beginning when everything is lost until the end when they managed to recover who they really are, were very real. It's not rushed so that a happy ending can be achieved. It was paced properly to keep you reading.

What I hate about her book is that I cannot figure out the ending. And a lot of times it ended in disappoinment. What's the point of the book if everything's back to square one by the end??

Anyway, below are her books that I have read. She's still new so there are only five books to her name. I read four. I have had enough of her. No way am I buying the fifth one. I have set my eyes on other books. Books I am only going to read after finishing all those crappy assignments.



By far the best I have read from her. Plot was awesome, with the revelations in the end, plus a wholesome ending. It felt that my time reading this was worth it.

This was one book that left me with a "What the.. huh???" expression by the end of the book. It just didn't live up to its top billing. In fact, it felt like a waste of time.

This is one book where I have no idea who she is going to end up with in the end. Also the one I hinted at when I referred to square one. Hah.

Apparently this was one of her more successful books. Why, I have no idea. This book is supposed to talk about the love between a single woman who is suddenly burdened by a dead friend's child. The story didn't focus so much on developing this relationship. Instead, it steered to a direction which left me sort of baffled.

Oh, and something else too. All these are British books. Meaning it's set in London. So, it uses a lot of British phrases that I was not familiar with. It was a refreshing change from all those American reads. Example, knackered means tired. And I am so knackered right about now.

So long.

Book Review: The Face of Death

I have just finished a thriller that really shook me.

For friends who knew me, you read it right here. Yes, thriller. Not romance. I read romances so much that there was one time I blurted out loud, "Ugh, I'm sick of reading romance!" Rui within hearing distance exclaimed, "Ah, finally!"

Well, romance is still my favourite genre. Anyway, the reason I deterred from my preferred genre is because I ran out of books and am low in cash. Xiao Lu er bought this thriller together with me but didn't managed to read it yet. The reason is simply she doesn't read. Hah!

This thriller I read is actually just the second from the author, Cody McFadyen. I have no idea how to pronounce the last name. The title of the book is "The Face of Death". There were a few complaints I have for the book after reading it and one if it is how run-of-the-mill the title is.

To start things off, I don't read a lot of thrillers. The last one I read was my first real taste of Stephen King, "The Dead Zone". Though King's style of writing is undoubtedly more refined than McFadyen, I had trouble picking up the momentum reading King's.

Anyway, as I said, "The Face of Death" is a stand alone book though it featured the same protagonist from his first book, "The Shadowman." The main character is a female FBI agent, Smoky Barrett. The first few chapters touched on her background story. The thing that struck me here was how McFadyen didn't show any hesitation in making his protagonist's life miserable. You know how in most books the main character didn't suffer as thoroughly as some side characters. Here, Smoky Barrett's life was so messed up that I couldn't help but cringe at how anyone could have overcome it.

This book is about a team of FBI agents hunting down a serial killer named, "The Stranger". "The Stranger" has been tormenting this 16 year old girl since she was six, first killing her family and then anyone whom she has loved. She was kept alive by this killer but nobody believed her story that the killer existed. When "The Stranger" killed her latest foster family, the girl held a gun to her head, threatening to blow her head off unless Smoky Barrett met her. Being not really good in supplying a short recap, I have copied below a description of the book"

“I want to talk to Smoky Barrett or I’ll kill myself.”

The girl is sixteen, at the scene of a grisly triple homicide, and has a gun to her head. She claims “The Stranger” killed her adoptive family, that he’s been following her all her life, killing everyone she ever loved, and that no one believes her.

No one has. Until now.

Special Agent Smoky Barrett is head of the violent crimes unit in Los Angeles, the part of the FBI reserved for tracking down the worst of the worst. Her team has been handpicked from among the nation’s elite law enforcement specialists and they are as obsessed and relentless as the psychos they hunt; they’ll have to be to deal with this case.

For another vicious double homicide reveals a killer embarked on a dark crusade of trauma and death: an “artist” who’s molding sixteen-year-old Sarah into the perfect victim -- and the ultimate weapon. But Smoky Barrett has another, more personal reason for catching The Stranger -- an adopted daughter and a new life that are worth protecting at any cost.

This time Smoky is going to have to put it all on the line. Because The Stranger is all too real, all too close, and all too relentless. And when he finally shows his face, if she’s not ready to confront her worst fear, Smoky won’t have time to do anything but die.

The book is filled with gore. Very graphic details on how the murder took place. It is like the writer's head is filled with too much sick stuff and he doesn't hesitate at all to make any character of his choosing suffer.

I'm not so infused with romantic plots that I do not know what to expect from a thriller. Though I know the victims are going to die a horrible death, I couldn't help but dread the outcome. It was such a roller coaster ride in some scenes that I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I cried and snivelled through them. His writings of gore simply touched me.

However, there are some parts that seemed a bit too good to be true. I guess the contrast between this and what is bad is too stark that some times I have a hard time buying it.

The ending was a bit of a let down for its predictability. It was as though he ran out of energy at the end after writing so exhilaritingly.

Anyways, I love this book. I'm thinking of buying it from Xiao Lu er at a highly discounted price and have my mom take a go at it. Hehe, it makes me happy to provide my mom with a good read.

Oh yeah, if you're interested in what I have said, do check out his website: www.codymcfadyen.com