Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Orange Girl. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Orange Girl. Sort by date Show all posts
Melody
ISBN-13: 9780753819920
Publisher: Phoenix
Published: 2005
151 pgs
Translator: James Anderson



Georg Reed does not really know his father, after all he died when little Georg was four. Now after eleven years, Georg discovers a letter addressing to him. Intrigued by the mystery and wanting to know more about his father, Georg began reading his letter, which comes in the form of a story.

The opening of the letter is intriguing enough, for Georg's father wrote the letter the way he knew he was going to die and would be read by Georg in the future. Georg is captivated by his father's story and about the Orange Girl, a girl whom his father met on a tram when he was just nineteen. He named her the Orange Girl because she was seen carrying a bag full of oranges, but he made a fool of himself of the girl while trying to save her bag of oranges when they threatened to fall off from the bag. Georg's father could not forget the Orange Girl from then onwards, and he tried to find her again by chance on several occasions. He succeeded, and their friendship began.

There is much intrigue and mystery surrounding the Orange Girl when I began to read about this story. It is a love story between the Orange Girl and Georg's father (the identity of the Orange Girl remains a mystery until it struck me who she is towards the middle of the story). Besides love, it is also a book about kinship, as Georg's father communicated his feelings and thoughts through a long letter after he had passed away. He told his story about how he had met the Orange Girl, and how his choice on their fairytale-like relationship had in turn started or changed everything. Besides telling Georg his story, he also had a question to Georg which I find is a thought-provoking one for all.

“Imagine that you were on the threshold of this fairytale, sometime billions of years ago when everything was created. And you were able to choose whether you wanted to be born to a life on this planet at some point. You wouldn't know when you were going to be born, nor how long you'd live for, but at any event it wouldn't be more than a few years. All you'd know was that, if you chose to come into the world at some point, you'd also have to leave it again one day and go away from everything. What would you have chosen if you'd had the chance? Would you have elected to live a short span on earth only to be wrenched away from it all, never ever to return? Or would you have said no, thank you?”

The story is written in two POVs - Georg being the narrator, and Georg's father through the letter. I really liked Jostein Gaarder's style of portraying this story in a magical way, starting from Georg's father's encounter with the Orange Girl till the end when he asked Georg the above question. I marvel at Jostein Gaarder's creativity of weaving this magical story from the ordinary, everyday's life issues without making it dull or depressing at all, no matter how close they are to reality that is. I would say it is a powerful book; one remarkable story that led me into thinking of the meaning of life and death, and how life could be appreciated even in small, simple ways. It is truly a wonderful story that will not only enthrall the younger readers but to the adults as well.

Melody

Friday Finds

It is no wonder I cannot catch up on my reading pile because with all the recommendations from fellow book blogger friends and the unresistable visits to the bookstores (never mind if they are online or any other physical bookstores), I will always end up bringing home several books (and not to mention burning a big hole in my purse).

Here are my latest finds:

  • The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder
    (Synopsis: At fifteen, Georg comes upon a letter written to him by his dying father, to be read when he comes of age. Their two voices make a fascinating dialogue as Georg comes to know the father he can barely remember, then is challenged by him to answer some profound questions. The central mystery of The Orange Girl is the story of an elusive young woman for whom Georg's father searches in Oslo and Seville--and whom Georg finally realizes is his mother. A thought-provoking fairy-tale romance imbued with the sense of awe and wonder that is Jostein Gaarder's hallmark.)

  • Out Backward by Ross Raisin
    (Synopsis: Sam Marsdyke is a lonely young man, dogged by an incident in his past and forced to work his family farm instead of attending school in his Yorkshire village. He methodically fills his life with daily routines and adheres to strict boundaries that keep him at a remove from the townspeople. But one day he spies Josephine, his new neighbor from London. From that moment on, Sam's carefully constructed protections begin to crumble—and what starts off as a harmless friendship between an isolated loner and a defiant teenage girl takes a most disturbing turn.)
  • Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe by Jennie Shortridge
    (Synopsis: When she learns that her college sweetheart husband has been seeing another woman, Mira Serafino's perfect world is shattered and she wants no one, least of all her big Italian family, to know. She heads north—with no destination and little money— stopping only when her car breaks down in Seattle. She takes a job at the offbeat Coffee Shop at the Center of the Universe, where she'll experience a terrifying but invigorating freedom, and meet someone she'll come to love: the new Mira.)

  • What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
    (Synopsis: A lost little girl with a notebook and toy monkey appears on the CCTV screen of the Green Oaks shopping centre, evoking memories of junior detective, Kate Meaney, missing for twenty years. Kurt, a security guard with a sleep disorder and Lisa, a disenchanted deputy manager at Your Music, together become entranced by the little girl they keep glimpsing on the security cameras. As Kurt and Lisa’s after-hours friendship grows in intensity, it brings new loss and new longing to light.)

  • The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
    (Synopsis: The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.

    A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished.)

  • Tumbling Through Time by Gwyn Cready
    (Synopsis: In her sparkling and hilarious debut, author Gwyn Cready introduces Persephone "Seph" Pyle, a total control freak who plans for everything -- until a pair of killer heels sends her back in time and into the arms of a ruggedly handsome sea captain straight from the pages of a romance novel.)



    Melody
    Happy New Year, everyone! Another year has gone, and looking back though I read only a total of 86 books (2 books lesser as compared to last year), I still considered it another great reading year. Most of the books came from my personal library, and 13 of them are review copies sent by the authors and/or the publicists.

    Here is the list of books I read in 2009:

    January
    1. Private by Kate Brian
    2. Her Real-Life Hero by Trish Wylie
    3. Ritual by Mo Hayder
    4. Fallen Skies by Philippa Gregory
    5. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
    6. The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder

    February
    7. Gossamer by Lois Lowry
    8. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
    9. South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
    10. No Escape by Shannon K. Butcher
    11. Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
    12. 圈套 – 湛清著
    13. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
    14. The Love Letter by Cathleen Schine
    15. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

    March
    16. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee
    17. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
    18. Evermore by Alyson Noel
    19. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
    20. Tangled Lies by Anne Stuart
    21. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

    April
    22. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
    23. Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto
    24. The Lost Hours by Karen White (review copy)
    25. Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman
    26. Godmother : The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon
    27. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
    28. Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson

    May
    29. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
    30. Death Angel by Linda Howard
    31. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
    32. The Billionaire's Bride of Vengeance by Miranda Lee
    33. 征服 - 单飞雪著
    34. The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax (review copy)
    35. Skin by Mo Hayder
    36. Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd

    June
    37. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
    38. Bloody Good by Georgia Evans (review copy)
    39. Persuasion by Jane Austen
    40. The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes (review copy)
    41. Wings by Aprilynne Pike
    42. Silver Falls by Anne Stuart
    43. Stolen by Lucy Christopher

    July
    44. Song of Renewal by Emily Sue Harvey (review copy)
    45. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (review copy)
    46. The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale (review copy)
    47. Airhead by Meg Cabot
    48. Eve of Darkness by SJ Day
    49. No One You Know by Michelle Richmond
    50. Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop

    August
    51. Looking for Alaska by John Green
    52. The Heights by Brian James
    53. The Ghost Writer by John Harwood
    54. Dancing With Ana by Nicole Barker (review copy)
    55. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

    September
    56. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
    57. Ash by Malinda Lo
    58. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
    59. The Sweet Life of Stella Madison by Lara M. Zeises
    60. Wait Until Twilight by Sang Pak (review copy)
    61. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

    October
    62. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
    63. 就愛剋你!- 夙雲著
    64. Thanksgiving at the Inn by Tim Whitney (review copy)
    65. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
    66. Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi
    67. Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

    November
    68. Momoko Typhoon #1 by Fujita Kazuko
    69. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
    70. The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
    71. Strobe Edge #1 by Io Sakisaka
    72. Strobe Edge #2 & #3 by Io Sakisaka

    December
    74. The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White (review copy)
    75. Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson & Lauren Myracle
    76. Strobe Edge #4, #5 & #6 by Io Sakisaka
    79. 见证奇迹的人生 -刘谦著
    80. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
    81. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
    82. Miracle in Sumatra: The Story of Gutsy Gus by Jeanne McNaney (review copy)
    83. Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti
    84. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
    85. Love in Translation by Wendy Nelson Tokunaga
    86. Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo (review copy)


    Like the past few years, I will have a post on the favourite books I read for that year as well as my own Book(s) of the Year, so do look out for that post next week.

    As always, I want to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my blog, and let's hope this year will be a even better reading year for all of us!
    Melody
    I have seen a lot of fellow bookbloggers posted their mid-year reviews lately and decided to jump on the bandwagon. To be honest, I do not read as many books as compared to last year at this point of time, but then again I would choose quality over quantity any time so I am quite satisfied with my reading so far!

    Here is the list of books I read:


    * Favourite reads

    January
    1. Private by Kate Brian
    2. Her Real-Life Hero by Trish Wylie
    3. Ritual by Mo Hayder *
    4. Fallen Skies by Philippa Gregory *
    5. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto *
    6. The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder

    February
    7. Gossamer by Lois Lowry
    8. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne *
    9. South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
    10. No Escape by Shannon K. Butcher
    11. Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
    12. 圈套 – 湛清著 (A Chinese romance novel)
    13. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
    14. The Love Letter by Cathleen Schine
    15. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett *

    March
    16. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee
    17. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
    18. Evermore by Alyson Noel *
    19. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister *
    20. Tangled Lies by Anne Stuart
    21. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *

    April
    22. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris *
    23. Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto
    24. The Lost Hours by Karen White * (Review copy)
    25. Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman *
    26. Godmother : The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon *
    27. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr *
    28. Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson

    May
    29. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
    30. Death Angel by Linda Howard
    31. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
    32. The Billionaire's Bride of Vengeance by Miranda Lee
    33. 征服 - 单飞雪著 (A Chinese romance novel)
    34. The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax * (Review copy)
    35. Skin by Mo Hayder *
    36. Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd

    June
    37. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher *
    38. Bloody Good by Georgia Evans (Review copy)
    39. Persuasion by Jane Austen
    40. The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes (Review copy)
    41. Wings by Aprilynne Pike
    42. Silver Falls by Anne Stuart
    43. Stolen by Lucy Christopher *

    I read a total of 44 books to-date, counting of a book I had recently read but did not list it down since it is considered a July read. I am definitely hoping the remaining year will be better!

    Happy reading to all!

    Edited to Add:

    After I posted this, I then realized I had missed out the reading challenges! Here they are:

    First completed challenge:

    Follow up next:

    Yet to be completed:
    YA Challenge (11/12)
    Buy One Book and Read It Challenge (2) - Buy and read as many books as you can before Dec 31
    Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge (1) - Read Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010
    Melody
    I am happy to say I have completed another reading challenge - YA Book Challenge which is hosted by J. Kaye's Books Blog!

    Here is a list of 12 books I read for the challenge:

    I enjoyed reading all these books, but those that marked with an asterisk are my favourites!
    Melody
    Is the Lunar New Year holidays over already? Traditionally, it is not yet over until the fifteenth day, but since we are only given two working days off, so it seems like it is to me.

    My family and I had enjoyed ourselves, especially my eldest daughter who gets to eat all the new year goodies and receive Ang Pows (red packets consist of money) from the elderly, but most of all she does not have to attend school (which is actually a childcare centre). However, My 4-month-old baby also gets some attention for herself as all of my relatives were delighted to see her and all seemed so excited carrying her around and cuddling her that we forgot to wish one another and exchange mandarin oranges. Taking pictures are out of the question because we were too busy playing catch-up with one another, after all it is not often we get to see one another given everyone have their own busy schedules to attend to. I did manage to take one or two pictures though before I was 'ushered' back to our conversations again.

    So how is everyone doing? I hope you all had a wonderful time reading! I did not read for the past few days, so I am hoping to catch up on my reading soon (and not to mention that I need to catch-up on reading your blogs too).

    I hope everyone has a great week!


    Wordless Wednesday




    Teaser Tuesdays

    TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

    • Grab your current read.
    • Let the book fall open to a random page.
    • Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
    • You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
    • Please avoid spoilers!

    My teaser sentences for today [The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder (Pg 1)]:



    My dad died eleven years ago. I was only four then. I never thought I'd hear from him again, but now we're writing a book together.

    These are the very first lines of this book, and I'm the one doing the writing, but my dad will get his chance a bit later. He is the one with most to tell.






    Musing Mondays

    Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about lending books...

    A few weeks back we had a question about borrowing books, this week I was wondering what your policy was on lending books. Do you lend books to anyone? Just friends? Only big readers? How long are they allowed to have them?

    Most of my friends are non-readers, so no matter how much I gush about a book or tell them that they are more than welcome to borrow my books, they will only smile politely and decline my offer. Thus, I know what not to discuss whenever I am with them. (And that explains why I am so happy to start this blog because I am free to rave or rant about without anyone rolling their eyes on me, haha. Well, except my fellow bookbloggers friends of course!)

    So, that answers the above question. No, I do not lend books to anyone. And I could never lend a book to someone whom I barely know and trust he/she will take good care of my book(s) and return them on time. I treat my books with care, so I would expect anyone who borrow my books would do the same.

    How about you? Do you lend books to anyone?

    Melody
    (Continued from Part 1 and 2.)

    We woke up to a sunny morning the next day. And looked at what we had for breakfast! The staff packed us a basket of assorted jams and butter, bottled orange juice, milk, cereals, some slices of bread and yes, they even had a small tupperware of coffee powder!

    So after our breakfast, we figure it would be nice to take a walk around the farm before the activities began. It was a warm morning indeed, but not humid which is so unlike Singapore. Anyway, we applied some suntan lotion to prevent ourselves sunburnt, although I have to say we had already got some tan due to the activities the previous day. Nevertheless, the activities began at 9a.m. where a staff showed us a tour around the farm and fed the animals.

    I find feeding the animals to be quite fun, after all I was brought up and lived in a city since I was a baby so I find this experience is so new and refreshing! We visited the poultry, fed the chickens and ducks (there were also a few ostrich-like birds but I do not know what they are called), and snapping away with the camera as we went along.


    The staff also showed us the way of cooling and bathing the pig after he had fed it with a bowl of oats. A girl volunteered to try it while we looked on. The pig looked quite satisfied as it sat there quietly and enjoyed the cooling water sprayed on its back. A few of the girls shrieked in shock when the pig stood up and shook its body, sending some droplets of muddy water flying. Luckily, most of us stood within a distance so we were not being 'hit' by them, haha.


    After feeding the farm animals (I did not post a picture of the goats feeding though), it was back to our own leisure time. We took a little walk around the farm some more and found this place full of gum trees! It is situated near to the place where we had our campfire the last evening. We were hoping to find some wild kangaroos around but unfortunately, we had no such luck.

    After the walk, it was near to noon so we had a barbecued lunch at their recreation room where they had set up the table and the dishes ready for the three of us. We had salads, barbecued sausages and chicken, french fries and some iced water. We checked out from the cottage after lunch and a coach brought us back to Perth city.

    So when we were back to Perth city and checked into the hotel where we stayed earlier, we were out exploring again on our own. We visited Hay Street again and then, to Murray Street (I could not get enough of these shopping areas!) And of course, I had to stop by Borders and came out with four books. They had "3 for the price of 2" promotions and I was extremely thrilled to find a copy of Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (which I read and reviewed here) since I had a hard time looking for it at the local bookstores.

    Next we went on our way to this place where Corica's apple strudels are sold. Our local travel agent had highly recommended this bakery to us before the trip so we were very much looking forward to it. However, the staff told us that the apple strudels have to be ordered in advance so we had no choice but to collect it the next day.

    And this is how it looked like...


    The pastry is soft and flaky, with an abundance of sweetened custard lined with soft, sweetened apples. Yum!

    And guess what I found besides the 'yummy-licious' 'apple strudels? The library! I know I just could not resist taking a picture of this. Heck, I would be so happy if I were to stay around that area - nice pastry and good books! I could not ask for more, could I?

    The next day was a half-day city tour (I was glad we did not have to visit these places all on our own!). Our first stop - Kings Park and Botanic Garden. A place for nature lovers.



    As for the above two pictures, I know they must be some kind of a memorial thing but unfortunately I have no idea about the event or the history. There was no guide for our city tour (and the coach captain had drove off and would pick us up at a specific time) so we (as well as the other tourists) were pretty clueless but we were happy enough to just take a walk and snapping pictures along the way.

    A view of Perth city - taken from the Kings Park.

    Wittenwoom Floral Clock (I loved this little garden with the cottage in it.)

    Our next stop was to Fremantle Markets. The coach picked us up on time and off we go, out of Perth. At this point, we did not really enjoy the trip because my dear husband realized that he had left our passports in our hotel room!! We prayed and hoped that whoever cleans our room would not take away our pouch (which also contained some cash and was hidden underneath my husband's pillow).

    There was no way we could make our own way to Perth city without getting lost (It is a distance between Perth and Fremantle). Needless to say, we were all feeling very grumpy and had no mood to enjoy our sightseeing (I still took a few pictures of the market though). Anyway, Fremantle Markets reminds me of our local markets where we could buy fresh vegetables and fruits and shop other individual shops (e.g. clothings, shoes, bags etc) all under one roof.

    The coach drove us back to Perth city during noon and you can imagine how anxious we were when we got back to our hotel room. So did we find our precious pouch? What do you think? Lady Luck must be smiling at us on that day because the housekeeping staff did not clear our room until later in the afternoon! We were so happy (and not to mention relieved) that we murmured our thanks. What a thrilling morning for us all!

    Later in the afternoon, we went to Hay Street and Murray Street to shop for some souvenirs for our family and friends since we were back on our own again. We had apple strudels for lunch, can you believe it? (Not that we were complaining though. Moreover, we saved the time and trouble of looking out for food.)

    So after all the shopping and we put all our shopping bags back to our hotel room, it was nearing to six o'clock so we had a Chinese dinner nearby the hotel and took a walk further to this park. At this time, there were not many people around except a few natives jogging. I felt so peaceful and relaxed there! I wish I had brought along a book and sat on a bench to read (just like the lady in the pic).

    We waited for the sun to set before we made our move. This was the last evening we spent in Perth as we were to depart the following day.

    As we only had to reach Perth International Airport by noon, we had the whole morning to explore around so we visited the Perth Mint (which is situated near to the hotel we stayed). The above picture is the entrance to the Perth Mint and it is the only picture I could share with you since they do not allow phototaking inside. We returned to the hotel right after this and waited for the coach to bring us to the airport. And that marked the end of our Perth trip; so sad yet it brought us wonderful memories (except the hoo-ha in Fremantle).

    I want to thank you all for being so patient and for taking the time to read my posts. I hope you have enjoyed them.