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Status Update

At the exact moment of this blog posting I turn 41 years old.

To celebrate this occasion, I've decided to close this blog and continue my writing exploration on my Facebook page (so no more anonymity *gasp*). I only accept Friend Requests from people that I've met. So, maybe we have met and maybe we are already FB friends, thus no need for the anonymity. But if you still wish to follow my public postings, look for Zahirah Amoi.

If you found this blog via my FB page, welcome to my inner thoughts circa 2004 - 2010 (age 28 to 36), and that sprinkle of hope in 2013 and 2014. Please forgive me if  I've wrote something wrong. I was young back then. If the posting really offends you, I will gladly take it down.

Here's to 2018 and to new adventures! Don't let age stops you from doing what you like.

A revival?

Posting from the blogger app. Does this mean this blog will lose its cobwebs soon? *scratch head and chin*

OMG

I can't believe it's been so long.

But the dream is still there.

That's why, I'm still keeping this alive.

Let's see if I can post something new soon.

Soon, like in 3 to 4 months. Maybe.

A New Era

I am now blogging, after almost a year, on my new Sony Vaio EA36G, my very first laptop (happy birthday to me!)

Here's to the start of a new relationship. May it be free from hitch, kinks and defects.

Remaining Unread: Every booklovers' lament

Inspired by Remaining Unread: The Top Ten Reasons We Don’t Get to Certain Books

Beth Carswell from Abebooks.com thinks these are the reasons why some books in our collection just don't get read.

1. It's a book I feel like I should read
Agatha Christie comes to mind. I bought 4 of her books way back when (at least 3 years ago) and so far I've read only one (1). I bought it when Popular was selling all these paperbacks at a cheap price. I think I got it for 2 for RM5.90 or something. I just couldn't resist. (See also point No. 7).

2. It's part of a series, and I haven't read the earlier ones, yet.
Tales of the Otori series. This one is the call of the warehouse sale. I was working at a children's section of a bookstore and I feel like I should expand my knowledge in the said genre. Lo and behold, 2 1/2 years after my resignation, I still haven't started on the trilogy. The books are now inside the "to give away" bin.

3. Everyone I know is recommending it.
I'm not much to listening to recommendations or looking at bestseller's list. So I'm quite safe in this area.

4. It's intimidatingly enormous.
Don Quixote.

5. It's a classic.
All Dickens. After reading The Pickwick Papers, I just fell in love. After that I've been buying all the titles that I could find. Again, courtesy of the warehouse sales. I have almost all of his books, including the obscure titles, about 7 titles I think and so far I think I've read 2. (See also point no. 9.)

6. My reading stacks get wildly out of control.
It used to be out of control. But I like to think that I have it under control even if just a tad since a got a bookshelf. Now, all my "too read" stacks are put on the shelf. While the rest (read and those that didn't quite make it on the list yet) are neatly packed inside boxes.

Some of the books on the "to read" shelf:
First row:
Kinfolk (Pearl S. Buck)
The World of Jeeves (PG Wodehouse)
The House of the Seven Gables (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey)
Second row:
1001 Books to Read Before You Die (Note the irony. Talk about pressure.)
Collapse (Jared Diamond)
Banker to the Poor (Muhammad Yunus) - this book is still plastic wrapped.
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)
Third row:
Dictionaries and Thesaurus (doesn't count)
Cartoon History of the Modern World
Complete Collection of Winnie the Pooh
100 Most Influential Persons in History

When I say just a little bit, sometimes it happens that books that I've always wanted to read will be taken out and then for various reasons that heaven only knows, it's put back on the shelf again. Good examples are Bruce Courtenay's The Power of One and Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.

7. The siren call of the bargain bin.
See point 1, 2, 4, 5.

8. The author wrote something else we like.
Amy Tan's something about drowning fish, saving a fish from drowning. God, I can't even remember the freakin' title, that's how bad I am. I've read all of her books. She's the only modern asian author that still interests me. (I know she would have to something to say about me calling her "asian author" but I don't know how else to categorize her unless I say "author that writes about chinese people" but that doesn't sound too intellectual now, does it?)

9. It's a textbook or an assignment.
The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby. Didn't finish when I took the class, still haven't finish now. To make matter's worse, I sold the copy that I used for class and a few years later, I bought another copy, thinking that I should read it till the end, them being classics and all. Well, no prizes to guess what happens next.

10. We have a friend/crush who works at the bookshop, or in my case…
"books ordered as a direct result of work-related book exposure."
Lots of children and young adult books. But I've read almost all of it by the way so it's not much of a problem. But thank God for public libraries. They do have some nice young adult titles. So I don't have to buy much.

I should say that most of the book that has been piling into my collection came from my bookstore career age (4 years). Staff discount and looking at books everyday helped fuel that itchiness to buy something. Most of my coffee table books came from this era. But then coffee table books are not meant to be read, right?
--------------------------------------------------

I think this list can be a 'meme'. Remember those? But I won't tag anybody. Maybe Eyeris if he's still reading this. But anyone who likes to give their take on this topic, do so and post me the link. I'm interested to know what titles that's been the bane of their existence as a booklover.

Interesting....

Came across an interesting article about books and love....

Check it out!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/05/books-date-impress

81st Annual Academy Awards - A so-called review

This is a so-called review of the 81st Annual Academy Awards. want to elaborate further but no time. so here goes....

I love the format for presenting acting awards. Having 5 past winners honoring 5 nominees could be very rewarding. Can you imagine Shirley Maclaine singing your praises in front millions of people. Even if you didn't win you still return as a winner. I wonder if the presenter wrote the speeches themselves? It would be great if that's true.

For the writing awards, they use the format that they used a few years back which I love. the presenter read a snippet of the screenplay, continued with the movie.

Things I don't like:
1) No Peter Gabriel :( John Legend singing Down to Earth? What the heck?
2) Why the stars of Slumdog Millionaire sit at the back?
3) Hugh Jackman and Beyonce do not go together. The performance looked forced. With the addition of High School Musical and Mamma Mia stars, the whole thing look gimmicky.
4) No speech by the Academy Director, I like his speeches. Maybe because they want to make time for the acting awards. that process take some time.

Not to be missed:
1) A clip by Seth Rogen & James Franco from Pineapple Express honoring (sort-of) the year in movies.
2) Tine Fey and Steve Martin as presenters.

NTV7 is showing the award show at 10 Friday morning.

A short post

There's something wrong when you don't have the time to do the things you love the most.

I went through 17 years of school and this is what i got

The one on the right was not even meant for me. It was supposed to be a token for judges but I took it because I want a souvenir for that event - College Open Day. Hey, give me a break. I was a bit of a nerd back then.

The one on the left is the one and only trophy I got throughout my entire school career. I got second place for a Scrabble tournament among librarians. Seriuosly, I'm not kidding.

I don't need anyone to tell me how pathetic my school life was. I was so average. I don't hold any position in class, not even AJK Kebersihan Kelas. I was not active in anything. I wasn't athletic and I wasn't brainy. I wasn't on the debate team, the choral speaking team and nobody knows about cheerleading those days. Even if we have a cheerleading team, I wouldn't be on it anyway.

The only position I hold at the time was librarian from Form 2 and stopped when I was in Form 4 because I went to boarding school. (I'm still puzzled how as mediocre as I am, I still get to go to boarding school.) I applied for the position in boarding school but I didn't get it. It was quite a relief though because they have to wear green uniform and we call them Katak (frogs).

I'd like to think myself as a late bloomer. When I was in primary school, I was a nobody and my teacher hated me. She didn't believe me when I said I got 3As for the main subjects (Malay, English, Math) and eligible to apply for boarding school. However, socialwise I was OK. I have friends and I was never alone during lunch.

Jump to secondary school. I still didn't hold any position but I join as many clubs as I can. I also became a librarian which was really fun. Still no problem in the social scene but still not one of the popular girls or the smartest student.

Form 4, I went to boarding school. I remember I made a conscious choice to improve myself and be more assertive. It's a new environment, lots of new people, a new beginning! Suffice it to say, those 2 years were the best years of my life. I learned a lot, made a lot of great friends who I still keep in touch with until today, hold a few 'important' positions (if you think AJK Biro Kaunseling and Secretary for the choir club as important), had a lot of fun. I was quite popular but I think it was only because I mix with the right people and I was in a gang (that story needs another post altogether). Oh yeah, I also won a couple of prizes for short-story writing, something that I'm really proud of, even though on hindsight the stories sucks big time. I also did volunteer work for a closed netball tournament, that was fun too.

That was my school life in a nutshell. A bit bland but I think I turned out OK. I don't do drugs, never got arrested or ended up in a back alley of a sleazy area. I have a pretty good job, pretty much well-liked by my friends (as far as I know) and so far all my bosses loved me (I guess). As far as life in general, I still think I'm not fulfilling my full potential yet but I'm working on it. In the meantime, I have these tokens to remind me of who I was before.

Guess which one is going to the bin....

Complementing Pictures with Melodies

I love songs with great lyrics. After watching WALL-E, I found a great song which I downloaded as soon as I got back and has been in my "Favourites" list ever since. The song is great in itself, very meaningful with nice melodies. But it becomes even greater because it complements the film WALL-E.

Did you think that your feet had been bound
By what gravity brings to the ground?
Did you feel you were tricked
By the future you picked?
Well, come on down

All those rules don't apply
When youre high in the sky
So, come on down
Come on down

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

Did you think you'd escaped from routine
By changing the script and the scene?
Despite all you made of it
You're always afraid of the change

You've got a lot on your chest
Well, you can come as my guest
So come on down
Come on down

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

[This is my favourite part]
Like the fish in the ocean
We felt at home in the sea
We learned to live off the good land
Learned to climb up a tree
Then we got up on two legs
But we wanted to fly
When we messed up our homeland
We set sail for the sky

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

We're coming down
Coming down to Earth
Like babies at birth
Coming down to Earth
Were gonna find new priorities
These are extraordinary qualities

Peter Gabriel is a lyrical genius. If you don't believe me also check out Don't Give Up (used for another movie, The Bone Collector) and In Your Eyes (also a soundtrack for Say Anything). Don't forget Big Time, Mercy Street (I think this been used in a movie also) and the 80s classic Sledgehammer.

And you must see the movie. It will certanly makes you want to jump on that dusty treadmill.

This song reminded me of another soundtrack. This song played during the credits of Kate & Leopold. It's by Sting and titled Until. The movie is so-so but the song is great. One of the most romantic song I've heard.

If you've never heard the song before, just read the lyrics. While you're reading imagine this, a dashing and intelligent Duke unexpectedly travelled 100 years into the future where he meets a lovely but insecure girl. They fell in love but have to surrender to love's worst enemy, time. For the melody, imagine Sting during Ten Summoner's Tale's era, imagine Fields of Gold and the tick-ticking of a clock throughout the song. Genius.

If I caught the world in a bottle
And everything was still beneath the moon
Without your love would it shine for me?
If I was smart as Aristotle
And understood the rings around the moon
What would it all matter if you loved me?

Here in your arms where the world is impossibly still
With a million dreams to fulfill
And a matter of moments until the dancing ends
Here in your arms when everything seems to be clear
Not a solitary thing would I fear
Except when this moment comes near the dancing's end

If I caught the world in an hourglass
Saddled up the moon so we could ride
Until the stars grew dim, Until...

One day you’ll meet a stranger
And all the noise is silenced in the room
You’ll feel that you're close to some mystery
In the moonlight and everything shatters
You feel as if you’ve known her all your life
The world’s oldest lesson in history

Here in your arms where the world is impossibly still
With a million dreams to fulfill
And a matter of moments until the dancing ends
Here in your arms when everything seems to be clear
Not a solitary thing do I fear
Except when this moment comes near the dancing’s end

Oh, if I caught the world in an hourglass
Saddled up the moon and we would ride
Until the stars grew dim
Until the time that time stands still,
Until...

Isn't it great? Isn't it romantic?

Shanta...ummm?

Intro:
Actually, I started this post in March. I finally got the urge to write because I hated this book so much. Isn't that so human? I still haven't started a review for The Book Thief, a book that I love but I already posted a review about a book that I hated. That's mankind for you, driven by hate...


The review:
I stopped reading halfway through the book. And I assure you this is quite a feat considering it has 900++ pages in it. So, page-wise you can say I read a whole book.

Shantaram is about an Australian who after escaping prison ran to India and settled there. He befriended a local man who started out as his guide but in time became the most trusted friend. Along the way he met other colourful and shady characters, and embarked on various jobs which include trading in the black market and a doctor. Yep, a doctor. And this is based on a true story. To me, right of the bat, it's like The City of Joy meet The Beach. A white man searching for salvation found it in a distant country in Asia, learn the culture, accepted as one of their own and became a doctor to them. I've also come to the conclusion that merging 2 great books DO NOT yield one great novel.

After 200++ pages I was already tired with his philosophical mumbo-jumbo. Actually, 10 pages in I got a bad feeling already. I just think he's trying too hard. And the philosophy he presented in the book, to me it's more like The 70's Show 20 years later than anything else. It's like a bunch of stoned dudes sitting around the table and discussing about stuff, which I can imagine since he's probably high most of the time when he was in India. Clearly a first novel, a novice attempt. But I kept reading because I have the habit of reading the book before watching the movie and I rarely drop a book.

Halfway in, I just can't stand it. The simile! It's just too much! "the forest of her brow", "lavishly perfumed with rain", "the monsoon was probing the village", yadayadayada... It's kind of cheezy after a while. and i thought a good piece of writing is one that holds back on the similes. I think it's like the first rule of writing. I'm sure Strunk and White mentioned it. Sure enough, Section 4. No. 18, "Use figures of speech sparingly." Not exactly first but still important enough to be written down. Heck, I learned that in Writing 101. But then, I gotta give him some slack. Maybe he didn't take any writing class back the, being busy with robbing banks and treating the poor etc. But then, his editor must have, right? God, somebody should fire him/her.

And the plot? What plot? The only continous theme throughout the book (at least the first half) is his obsession with this girl. I thought things would get interesting with the introduction of Khader Bhai, but no luck there. After a short introduction and a loooong discussion about the 'philosophy of pain', I never saw him again.

Another thing that I can't stand is those great reviews he's been getting. Check out Amazon.com. One person even said he should get a Pulitzer!

[imagine a smiley face puking here]

I don't know what those people are thinking nowadays. Pulitzer is Euginides' Middlesex, or Walker's The Color Purple, not a bunch of random thoughts.

Sideline:
A tip when choosing a book, if you see that the cover features any quotes commenting about the book, check who they are quoting. If it's by reknown journals (NY Times, New Yorker), you're okay. BUT if it by some magazine you never heard of or "other authors" no matter how famous they are, you gotta be careful. You've been duly warned.

I'm looking forward to the movie though. The book is way too long so maybe the movie can give it justice since most of the time the book got cut in the adaptation process. I also love Johnny Depp. The book kinda remind me of Sideways, average book, great movie. I hope it's the same with Shantaram. Anyway, I think Roberts should write screenplays IF he can 'reign in the multiplicity of his simile' (haha, had fun with that one. goes to show anyone can write cheezy prose).

If anyone wants to read about the slum/lepers life in India, read City of Joy. It's way better.

B Gone Mister, B Gone!

I am a fan of Clive Barker, that’s for sure. I like his books, I like his art. But his latest work really disappoints.

Behold Mister B. Gone. The book supposedly contains the soul of a demon from the Ninth Circle of Hell, the lowest level in the worst place you ever want to be. When he was young, he was an abused child (if you can believe it) and forced into this world by ‘Fishermen’, people who purposefully went out to find creatures like demons, trolls and such. So, he was caught by one these people around the 15th century, I think and thus began the journey of Jakobok Botch aka Mister B.

Oh yeah, I forgot to explain my previous statement. When I said “contains the soul of a demon”, I meant what I said. When you read it, Mister B is actually telling you the story from within the pages. He lives inside the pages and at every moment begging you to stop reading and burn the book. It was kind of creepy and after a while I was tempted to burn the book but for different reasons.

For someone who has interest in good and evil, angel and demons etc, what could be better than having a demon reside in a book. However, I’m not really sure about Clive Barker’s execution for this one. The setting is very interesting. After he was caught (and escaped) he quickly found another demon who was travelling the world looking for great inventions that might/will change the world. Until finally they heard a man called Gutenberg of Mainz.

Everytime the story gets interesting, Mister B, the narrator and resident demon, would try to convince, scare or threaten me to burn the book. And he would just go on and on and on and believe me I almost obliged his request just to make him shut up.

All in all, this is a disappointment. But then, I’m not swearing off Clive Barker yet. I’m waiting for the continuation of Abarat. I just wished he would concentrate on that after this.

A sad year

Review: 6 Dec 2017
Something drew me to open up this post again. 10 years later. I don't know why. I knew it happened right after Nurin Jazlin died a gruesome death.
Where was I 10 years ago? Baru start keja Media Prima
"First, my friend's father" - My friend Peoih.
"Another friend's mother" - ??
"Father of my ex-boss" - ex-boss Sulaiman
September 2007 - who died? A guy close to my age? around 30 years old. fara's classmate - Tangkak

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I remember 2004 being a year of weddings.

And now I will remember 2007 as a sad year.

There were so many deaths this year. Not particularly close to me but I still feel the pain.

First was my friend's father. I knew him when I had a sleepover at her house. Then it was another friend's mother. Then, it was the father of my ex-boss.

Last month, a school friend died suddenly. It was really hard when someone close to your age pass away. I didn't know him that well. He was in the class next to mine so I saw him occasionally. My close friend was very close to him. So me being the very empathatic person that I am can't help but feel the loss. He had 3 kids.

One day, I was visiting all the blogs that I haven't visited for a long time. I was so shocked when I visited Along's Blog. She had another miscarriage, this is the second time this year. It's like once was not bad enough. But she's a strong person.

Then there was this heart-breaking, never-should-have-happened tragedy with Nurin. I think everyone of us is asking the same thing...

How could anyone do this to a child?

We can't even do it to an adult, let alone a child.

I guess humans ARE capable of doing ANYTHING. We are the only creature on earth who could kill each other for sport. Even the most ferocious animal wouldn't do that to their own kind. They only kill to survive. But we...

I am this close to losing my faith in mankind. Watching Criminal Minds every week does not help either. But I still believe.

Help me believe

and remember...

Another update!

Another step up in the world of Kampung Gal!

I've updated my blogroll. (What did you think? I'm taking it one step at a time.)

I have to delete a few, add some. Have to delete those that doesn't exist anymore. I found blogs of people that I know, so I added those.

Not being in the blog for a long time has its setback. One of it is missing other blogs that you like to read. I like reading Social Cafe. They're a bunch of crass guys but they do have a point sometimes. I kind of miss them. I don't know if they stopped or moved. So if anyone know if they have a new site, let me know.

I gues it's not too late to say Happy Halloween!

New Layout

HA! HA! HA!

Behold! The new blogspot layout feature!

It took a lot of tweaking but it's worth it. I love the archive setting. Very easy. Now I can delete that sorry archive post. Also added Shelfari. Very cool application. Now I don't have to find picture and change the template manually everytime I read a new book. I wonder if there's a way I can put a song in there...

I finished The Book Thief, still planning to write a review but not at the moment. No mood.

Now I'm reading the Gorillaz autobiography. Wasn't such a huge fan. I mean I don't buy every single CD, DVD, merchandise from them (not that I can if I want to. One setback of living in Malaysia. Nothing cool is available here!) I bought the book it was on discount and I love to see the artwork, every page is illustrated. It also features a discography page and every cover that they've been on. Pretty cool to see.

But now after I read the book, I appreciate the band, the music, and the idea behind their concept. Now I can say I am a fan of Gorillaz.

And yes... I've downloaded the smiley program...

Smile away!!!

Quick update

So!

My friend already make noise that my blog sudah "bersawang" already. Aiya... So hard to please everyone nowadays.

So!

I'll just make a quick post, record what's going on since I last blog, anything I forgot to mention, etc, etc...

First up!

I quit my job at the bookstore. Frankly, I like the job, I don't mind the workload (which is a lot!), I don't mind the hours (in fact I enjoyed it) BUT... I just can't stand the people.

I have to admit it, I'm not a people person. If someone were to come up to me with a stupid question, I get annoyed. If someone were to come up to me making unreasonable requests, I get annoyed, if someone get offended with something I said when I didn't mean to offend them, I get offended, if I pick up the phone and someone starts yelling for no reason, I WILL GET SUPER ANNOYED AND OFFENDED!!! I will also get super-duper annoyed if that caller started title-dropping, "Do you know who I am? I am Datuk *tttuuuuutttt*! I'm a professor!"

F*** you la, Datuk! I guess your 'profesor' and 'datuk' school didn't teach you any manners!

Ok .... ok.... deep breaths...

But...

That's all in the past now. I'm thinking I can still enjoy books without working at a bookstore. It's better for my mental and physical health anyway.

So!

Now I'm working at that TV station, doing translation or subtitles whatever you want to call it. Previously I was a part-time employee but they offered me a full-time position. It didn't come at a better time. I was so ready to blah....

Before, I may have dropped excuses that since I'm working 7 days a week, I don't have time to blog. But now... hehehe I still don't have to blog because.... because... because... okay just give me a day or two to give a good excuse. I need time to adjust. Yeah... that's my excuse. I need time to adjust my body clock to 9to5, 2 off days working mode. Ha ha ha... (bear with me, I haven't installed any smiley applications yet).

In the meantime, I also bought a new car, a Kelisa, black which I dubbed "The Grim Reaper". And since I got it on 30 Dec 2006, the poor thing got hit by a motorcycle when he was 3 months old. uhuk...uhuk... another sad thing is that I still haven't fix it.

I'm also a proud owner of an iPod video now. That thing is so great only those who have one know what it's like. I wonder what Pak Lah and Datuk Najib did with their iPods?

Coming up!

I'm hoping to update my photoblog with photos from my recent trip to Pulau Perhentian (We had so much fun) and maybe some photos from my upcoming trip to Singapore in November to visit that noisy friend of mine (I hope you're satisfied Nora Sakura!)

I may want to talk about a book that I recently entered into my favourite book list, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It was also the reason why I named my car "Grim Reaper". It is so wonderful, the best book I've ever read for such a long time. I can't stop talking and thinking about it. That's why I think the best way to let go of all this emotions is through blogging. If I've somehow incite your interest, you can go ahead and read it. I'm reading it for the 2nd time now. You can get the book at Kinokuniya for 25% until end of this month.

Lastly, you may know more about me in the future. I've registered to facebookand it's quite cool. I 'may' put a link to my facebook here. We'll see. I'm still shy la...

So that's it for now. See you in another... 6 months!

Just kidding or am I? (Shucks... there should be a smiley here)

Mission: Possible?

I'm on a mission!

For those who don't know already, my name is Kampung Gal and I am a book-shopaholic-maniac.

I'm buying books faster than I can read them. (Buying that speed-reading book didn't help either.) And now (surprise, surprise) I don't have the space to stash them all. I'm short of stacking them on the floor. And I would've done it if I'm not living with my parents.

I was one of those people that won't get rid of the books after reading them. A lot of people has told me to give it away, sell it, throw it, do whatever but I still can't see the meaning of it. I bought the books with my hard-earned money. I'm not gonna throw it away, mom!

But now after some thought I finally understand. I can even pinpoint the exact moment when I change my stand on book-collecting. It was when I was browsing The Book Addict's Treasury about a month ago and I came across this quote,

I houseclean my books every spring and throw out those I'm never going to read again like I throw out clothes I'm never going to wear again. My friends are peculiar about books. They read all the best sellers, they get through them as fast as possible, I think they skip a lot. And they NEVER read anything a second time so they don't remember a word of it a year later. But they are profoundly shocked to see me drop a book in the wastebasket or give it away. They way they look at it, you buy a book, you read it, you put in on the shelf, you never open it again for the rest of your life but YOU DON'T THROW IT OUT! NOT IF IT HAS A HARD COVER ON IT! Why not! I personally can't think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.

Helene Hanff, letter to Frank Doel, 18 September 1952

I think this is taken from the book 84, Charing Cross Road.

After reading that I thought, God, I'm just like her friends. I read the book, I keep it and probably will never open it for the rest of my life. And then I bought the book, the Book Addict's that is.

But I'm not as drastic as her. I'm not about to throw anything away. I guess the most comfortable way for me to let them go is sell them.

My friend suggested we join a flea market but that was about 3 years ago. So... suffice to say I'm still stuck with the books.

I tried the various used bookstores around town. I think it won't even cover my transportation expenses. Anyway, some of the titles are quite unconventional so I don't think they want them anyway.

I tried e-bay one time. No luck.

So now I want to try this. I will advertise on my blog because I think blog readers are more diverse than e-bay visitors. Who am I kidding, I think blog readers are more sophisticated too. I'll figure out the logistic of it later. I just want to know if this can work.

I will start of with these first.




Title: The Art of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
ISBN: 0786862084
Format: Hardcover
Condition: Quite good. A bit 'kedut' at the jacket edges. But content still OK. No holes. Bought this during my Hunchback-crazed days.
Price: Selling price is US50 but just for you, I'm selling at RM50.









Title: Secrets
Author/Artist: Luis Royo
ISBN: 1561631620
Format: Paperback
Condition: Very good. Pristine. Like New. I can't remember how, when or why I bought this book.
Price: I know this guy is some famous artist and this book is still good so RM65.




And these....

1) Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl, 0679729895, PB, RM25
2) Books of Blood Vol 1-3 by Clive Barker, 075151022X , PB, RM25
3) Winnie the Pooh Collection by AA Milne, 0603560792, HC BOX SET, RM40

All in good condition.
Hey, I take care of my books very well tau....

I also have textbooks.

1) INTERNATIONAL MARKETING (10TH ED), PHILIP R CATOERA, 0071156739, HC
2) CALCULUS (5TH ED), HOWARD ANTON, 0471594954, HC
3) DISCRETE MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS (2ND ED), KENNETH H. ROSEN, 0070537445, PB
4) ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE FOR THE IBM-PC (2ND ED), KIP R IRVINE, 0023596511, HC
5) CONCEPTS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES (2ND ED), ROBERT W SEBESTA, 0805371303, HC
6) DATA STRUCTURES AND ALGORITHM ANALYSIS IN C++, MARK ALLEN WEISS, 0805354433, HC
7) PLUG N PLAY JAVA SCRIPTS, KEVIN READY, 1562056743, PB
8) MARKETING MANAGEMENT: AN ASIAN PERSPECTIVE (2ND ED), PHILIP KOTLER ETC, 0130109800, PB

E-mail me if you're interested. We'll discuss delivery, payment etc later.

*sigh*

Muahaahahahahaha! (Devil laugh)

So, I guess I've given up trying to update my blog regularly. Too many things to do! Books to read, shows to see, DVDs to see, games to play and then there's work.

I haven't put up any of my 'Current Updates' too. I can still do it but what's the point.

I'm using the beta blogger but so what *sigh*

I still haven't installed any of my 'smiley' program since I got the new PC *sigh*

There were so many things I could blog about: The Amazing Race, Amazing Race Asia! And now American Idol has started again *sigh*

But I will prevail. This blog will not go anywhere (unless blogspot decided it's not worth it and delete it in time.)

Until that happens 'Kampung Gal in the City' is not going anywhere *fingers crossed*

Current Update - 30/10/06

Read: We Wish to Inform You...-Paul Gourevitch, *Sideways-Rex Pickett, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton & To Sir Phillip With Love-Julia Quinn, The Bear Nobody Wanted-Allan Ahlberg, *The View From Saturday-E.L. Konigsburg, *Clive Barker's A to Z of Horror, *Johnny Depp: Illustrated Biography
(*means I enjoyed reading them)
Reading: The Crimson Petal and the White-Michel Faber
CD: none (I'm collecting The West Wing so no budget for anything else)
Favorite song: When You Were Young-The Killers
Played: Diner Dash, Cake Mania
Playing: Aloha Solitaire
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, 2 and a Half Men, Medium, America's Next Top Model, Amazing Race 10, Apprentice
No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 8
No. of times asked when I will get married: 25
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 3