excessive book rant

Forget about the third day's pictures of the KL trip. Nothing exciting. If you wanna see pictures of the same big toy soldier repeated ad infinitum... You're not gonna find it here.

Actually it's because I'm really tired of putting up so many pictures. And also because I have other more fulfilling activities to occupy my time. Such as reading! I have been reading and reading. In fact, I spent the last two days reading novels. I can never understand why people don't like to read, and prefer to play computer games or watch TV. I mean, I do other things too, but my main form of leisure is reading. Reading is the best form of relaxation, ever. I was so pleased when the signs for doubling of loan quota was put up at all the libraries. I have been maxing my loan ever since. Haha.

Anyway, I've been reading lots of Margaret Atwood, a Canadian author/poet. I'm still wary of wading into her novels. I bought one of her novels, cheap - The Blind Assassin. It'll take a while for me to build up the courage to read it. Yep, it takes courage to tackle a book that's probably filled with so many images that it'll take ages to seive through. Her short stories are enough to make one swoon with the rich descriptions.

I've been reading Neil Gaiman (yes, of Stardust and Sandman comics fame) as well. Actually, I was pretty lucky to get hold of a copy of American Gods the last time I was at the National Library. I don't really go there often, so it was quite a decent haul. I feel like rereading Anansi Boys just so I can link some of the back stories. Because of the deluge of Gaiman writing, I am suddenly quite interested in Northic mythology. I have a weakness for myths. It's like, how I like to read alternative versions of fairy tales (think: Gregory Maguire's Wicked, or Donna Jo Napoli if you read YA fiction). I even bought a book on Greek mythology. I just haven't opened it to read yet. It's been about two or three years since I bought it. Oops? But I like the fact that I have a book on Greek mythology on hand, so that I can refer to it when possible. Another nice one on Greek myth that I've read is Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad, which is a very short book on Penelope's side of the story when Odysseus goes on his decade long journey after the Trojan War.

Currently, I'm reading Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch. It's good! I mean, it's translated, which means some things were lost in translation. The essence of some things will always be lost when translated, but there's no way in hell I will ever be able to master enough Russian to read the original text. Just like how I'll never master Spanish and read Love in the Time of Cholera. Maybe there's a reason why some books, while widely acclaimed, don't really resonate with us. It's because the original intention and meaning has been lost due to translation. Don't you agree with me that sometimes English is a poor substitute for some words in Chinese? Like, I still don't really know how to translate 幸福 into English. Any suggestions?

So yeah, Night Watch is better than I expected, so tmr I'm going to go to the library and borrow the other two books in the trilogy. Actually, I really shouldn't be reading so much. I still need to prepare lessons. It'll take me probably two or three days? (I'm just being really really optimistic here.) But I think most of my lesson planning will be done during school time. I only can get to work when I'm in school. Which is why I don't really bring work back home. Can't really concentrate at home, actually. But now with a nice new clean table, that might just change. Haha. As though I'm not working from 7 to 7 every day already!

I have waxed lyrical about books for far too long.

What could you possibly want for your birthday? It's in four days.