Luna Park 单身日记

I was looking for a light read at the library when I came across a shelf at the library, for Chinese books. I seldom go to the Chinese section as I detest reading Chinese words (and am very slow at reading them). The shelve was for comic/illustrated books. For adults of course. This book was pretty cute and the illustrations were really cute too. It did help that there wasn’t a vomit of Chinese words.

Mostly, this is an illustrated diary of Luna Park, where she draws her thoughts or happenings. She’s a very normal girl in her twenties. Shy, timid, hardworking, loves shopping, wants to learn how to makeup yet failing badly at lining her eyes. I might not know her, but her thoughts are very close to heart. I can relate to many, or rather, most of her thoughts and worries. Maybe it’s because of our similar age.

I totally feel her pain in learning to make up too. Haha. I took a good year and lots of money (think hundreds) before I was finally able to

• find a way to line my eyes decently
• discover what type of false lashes looks good on me
• find a mascara and powder foundation that worked for me
• find the most suitable tool and method for apply powder foundation
• mix a suitable lip colour (I have yet to find a single lipstick that has a shade I like on its own)
• find blusher colour that doesn’t look horrendous on me
• learn how to apply blusher nicely without looking like a baboon’s ass

All these, yet I have yet to come across a concealer that works for me, and neither have I learnt how best to apply concealer on myself. The saying “There are no ugly women, only lazy women.” cannot be further from the truth. It doesn’t help that most men don’t understand these pains. They only appreciate the end product… on OTHER women. For you, they think you’re taking a ridiculous amount of time to get ready. *rolls eye and kicks a random male in the nuts*

Back to the topic, this book is not overly entertaining or funny. It’s a simple read, funny at times but not consistently so. While it didn’t blow me away, I am considering whether I should buy this book. All because I can relate too well to this. It’s good to know that I am not the only person who thinks and act the way I do. =)

A particular day’s entry was the most amusing and (surprise!) related very well to my feelings. It was about her accidentally printing too many pages at work, then feeling like the entire universe was blaming her for it. Complete with wild animals staring down at her and demanding she return them the forest. XD I do get mental images of the amount of trees I kill when I stare at a stack of paper in my hands, all wasted because of my carelessness (and printed in duplex, so I can’t re-use them). I’m sorry, Mother Earth!

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July 5, 2010

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Reckless, Andrew Gross

The senseless slaughter of a family.

A financier’s tragic suicide.

A simple phone call with terrible consequences.

Three seemingly separate events – that may be linked. From small-town America, through Wall Street to Central Europe and London, the threads of evidence can be followed – if you’re good enough. Fortunately, Ty Huack is. Ty – a former police detective uncomfortable with his new status as a ‘security consultant’ – also has a powerful personal motive: a promise to one of the dead, April Glassman.

Joining forces with Naomi Blum, a beautiful, ambitious US Treasury trouble-shooter, they dig deep into the dark heart of what might be one of the cleverest -  and most dangerous – conspiracies the world has ever seen…

Summary from the back of the book that I painstakingly copied, typing word for word.

…I hope this doesn’t constitute infringement of copyright.

So, I was at the library looking for books to borrow, browsing randomly because I didn’t have any books in mind. I know I’m not alone in this bad habit  – a tendency to borrow books because they’re new.  Lo and behold, I found a spanking new novel was sitting on the shelves! It was Reckless by Andrew Gross.

I leafed through a few pages and realised the book looked very untouched. A check on the book spine showed that it was free from creases. Another check on the ‘info’ page shows that the book was published in 2010 – this year! Excited that I would probably be the first to read this book, I borrowed it… even though the summary warns me that it’s not the kind of book I usually read.

When I got home, I found a receipt stuck in the first few pages of the book. =_= So I wasn’t the first one who borrowed the book. I’m guessing the person didn’t finish the book though. Either that or I am the violent few who leaves deep creases in the book spine when reading.

The book keeps you on the edge of your seat, in suspense of what is about to happen next. At the end of the book, more people than expected died. For the 6 hours I spent reading this, I was in suspense and self-induced paranoia of the world around me thanks to the book. What was thought as a terrorist attack on the financial economy of America turned out to be an entirely different conspiracy. A conspiracy so real and believable, you’d be scared for real that it would happen in reality.

The book was very well written. I was amazed at all the details the author was capable of. All the financial events and impact on economy had me confused, I didn’t really understand them (I wasn’t the most hardworking student back in school during finance lectures). That’s ok though, for I had no problems understanding the plot.

This is the 4th book in a series featuring Ty but I’ve never read the previous 3. Tempted as I am to borrow them, I probably won’t be doing so any time in the near future. I hate action movies/thrillers. My weak heart suffers through the 90 or 120 minutes of suspense/violence/horror. These movies always leave me limp in my seat, tired from all the torture my poor heart had to go through. Reading this book gave me a new revelation – movies are better than book. At least they’re shorter. Reckless tortured me for the whole 6 hours I spent reading it. The scene where Ty had a life and death fight with someone sent to kill him was disgustingly visual in the description. It stuck in my head even after I was chapters away from it. I don’t think I am ready to undergo everything all over again for Gross’s previous 3 books, even if they turn out to be good too.

I guess I’ll be sticking to chick lit and other light-hearted readings for a while.

Book Reviews

July 5, 2010

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Austenland, Shannon Hale

Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.

Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen—or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It’s all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

-Summary from Wikipedia

It’s obvious that I’ve yet to leave the world of Pride and Prejudice. This time, I borrowed a book about a woman obsessed with the P&P movie. I have never watched the movie, so I can’t really understand her problems.

Jane has an obsession. It’s an obsession she is embarassed to admit. Guilt has her hiding her Pride and Prejudice DVD in the house plant. Greed has her mother bringing her Great-Aunt, Carolyn, to her apartment hoping that upon seeing her living conditions, the old woman without much time left but with great fortune, would include Jane’s name in her will. Coincidence has Carolyn stumbling across Jane’s obsession which fell out of the house plant.

Six months later, Carolyn passes away. To the delight of her mother, Jane was included in her will. It seems that Carolyn wants to help Jane with her obsession. What she left her wasn’t a fortune, it was a three week vacation at Pembrook Park.

At Pembrook Park, you dress up like they do in 1816. It’s a place where other people obsessed with Jane Austen’s books go to, to have their obsession come to life (for a high price). You meet people during the three weeks, hired actors, who pretend they exist in 1816. They speak old English, pass time like people in 1816 do. And fall in love like people in Austen’s books do. Actors are paid to have an obsessed woman fall in love with them to satisfy their Austen obsession.

Jane decides to go on that vacation with a plan different from the other women there. She wanted to rid herself of her Darcy obsession. Her name was changed to Jane Erstwhile, to suit the times. Aunt Safronnia (hired actress) was to take care of her ‘nieces’ and introduce them to the gentlemen. There was Colony Andrews, Mr Nobley and Captain East, all of them charming and good looking.

She has a hard time there, trying her best to pretend she really was in 1816. It didn’t work very well. She found her escape to all the craziness in the gardener, Theodore. He was a servant, not allowed to speak to the guests there as back in 1816, there was a vast difference in their status. Events led to Jane meeting him and finding him at his servant quarters. She finds it comforting there, she was away from the crazy world where men were in breeches and women in regency dresses. He wears jeans in the quarters and watches basketball in TV. They flirt, they kiss, but eventually stopped seeing each other when Theodore’s afraid of losing his job if people find out the servant has been in close contact with the guetss.

Mr Nobley kept to himself most of the times and seemed to be Austenland’s solution for a Darcy replica. Jane may find him attractive, but Mr Nobley found himself falling for Jane. Jane Hayes, not his client Jane Erstwhile. He isn’t pleased when he finds out what Jane has been doing with the gardener…….

I give up. I’m trying to summarise the story myself, to give me something to look back at and remind me of what I read. It’s ridiculously hard trying to make everything seem coherent without typing the entire book out, word for word. It’s particularly important for me. This, is the book that made me want to set up this blog. I want to remember all the magic of Austenland. It’s been years since I last found a book that really brought me to a different world. Chick lits usually don’t have that effect (I don’t really think this counts as chick lit?). It’s so well written, the description of the imagery, of what everyone wore, of all the emotions of all the characters. It transported me to a world only possible with imagination and the help of the words.

I never had a Darcy obsession (I’m intending to watch the movie soon, though) but this book left wishing for a Mr Nobley of my own. He’s so sweet, I’m finding hard to describe him. When I got to the end of the book, I wished the book was longer and didn’t have to end so soon. I didn’t really want to leave Austenland. I seriously considered buying the book, and am still thinking over it. I’m not sure if I’ll read it again when I buy it, but the read will for sure be extremely pleasant if it happens.

Book Reviews

May 17, 2010

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Animal Instincts, Nell Dixon

Clodagh Martin have not dated ever since her first and last relationship that ended up horribly. A miscarriage and panic attacks later, she bought over an animal sanctuary with the money her father who passed away from cancer left her. She loved animals, and they would never betray her (and marry someone else).

Seven years later, Rainbow Ridge is in financial troubles that could result in the closure of the sanctuary. The volunteers at the sanctuary, Jade and Susie knows about the problems but had no idea how bad it was. The bank isn’t going to grant Clodagh an extention to her loan, much less increase it. The sanctuary only had enough to keep it going for another three months.

Jack Tatcher has been showing interest in Clodagh recently. Jack is tall, dark and handsome. The problem? He’s a property developer. The volunteers are convinced that his interest in Clodagh was just a cover for his interest in the plot of land the animal sanctuary was on. The volunteers’ suspicions rub off Clodagh and has her paranoid about Jack too. Nevermind him being hot. Nevermind that they kissed. Nevermind the fact that Clodagh’s feet turning into jelly. Jack is dangerous and for the sake of the sanctuary, she shouldn’t be near him. It doesn’t help when the dark past of the previous relationship haunts her all the time. It’s hard for her to trust him. She doesn’t know yet, but he has trust issues too.

At the same time, Rainbow Ridge seems to be at the receiving end of foul play. It starts with vandalism, then it moves on to a fire burning all the animal feeds. The vandalism gets worse, and it seems someone have been tampering with the fences. Then arson happened to the shed where admission money was collected, animal feeds were sold and refreshments were available. Barely some time later, Jack gets knocked out cold in the dark when he went to check out what was causing the dog to bark and howl at the back door. Turns out two people dressed in black were in the midst of tampering the fance when he got to them. Days later, someone put fireworks to Clodagh’s house with the intent of setting fire to her house. Exactly who was behind all these?

I borrowed this book only because it was from the Little Black Dress publishers. I’m a sucker for pretty covers and chick lits. I like to turn to chick lits when I want something fun and easy to read. From the start, it was obvious Clodagh would end up with Jack. Halfway through the book, it was obvious who was behind the vandalism. I just carried on reading for the fun of it, wanting to see how the story would unfold. The thing about books is, there is no fast-forward button that lets you stop at the exciting part.

The book is shallow, like the usual chick lits. Little Black Dress books are really good for passing time. They’re all of the ideal size and thickness, which make them easy to carry around and without adding much weight to the bag. And when I just want a short read, they only take 2 to 3 hours to get through the whole thing. The pretty covers and low prices make them all the more pleasant. I have quite a few of them sitting on my shelf, all bought when there were 20% discounts going on. Heh. Whoever who’s in charge of the Little Black Dress series is doing a damn good job of the synopses, the titling, choosing the books… basically everything.

Book Reviews

May 17, 2010

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Mr. Darcy’s Diary, Amanda Grange

The first time I read Pride and Prejudice (P&P), it was from the 100 Classic Books Collection on my Nintendo DS Lite. It was painful, to say the least. The screens were small, long paragraphs spanned across the two screens with no end in sight. It didn’t help that the old English was making it hard to understand. I couldn’t remember all the names too. Bennet, Bingley, Darcy, Wickham confused me. When I was halfway through the book, I picked up Mr Darcy’s Diary at the library. I thought it was pretty interesting to read about things from his view.

When I first started reading it on a hideously hot Saturday afternoon, I thought the Darcy sounded suspiciously Singaporean. It’s not that he spoke Singlish (oh, the horror), but there were certain sentences where the grammar sounded awkwardly Singaporean. Things in the book started out fairly boring too, it was mostly Darcy worrying over his sister, Georgiana. That continued for a fair bit throughout the book (which was understandable, considering this being his diary).

When it eventually came to Darcy meeting Elizabeth, Darcy’s thought seemed fairly shallow to me. Maybe I was used to reading from Elizabeth’s point of view, maybe I was used to the old English that Austen used. It wasn’t bad, but it was vastly different.

The book was still enjoyable. I was only halfway through P&P so I didn’t know the ending. This book made it a lot easier to understand whatever that was going on. I had no problems remembering names and differentiating between characters. There wasn’t much old English used, it made getting to the end more pleasant.

It’s nice reading this, it’s like reading P&P again. Basically it was P&P from another perpective, same story, same ending. Good read if you cannot get enough of the Darcy & Elizabeth romance.

Book Reviews

May 16, 2010

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