Today, I'm going to talk about music for my second Nostalgic Moments post. I'm sure everyone must have at least one favourite band or artiste whereby their songs will forever live in your heart (mind) no matter how long it has been or whether or not if they are still performing today. Music plays a huge role in my life, both present or past. I listen to music whenever I'm happy, and I listen to music whenever I'm feeling down too. And music is definitely my best companion during those school examinations days as I find it to be one of the most wonderful methods to de-stress.

My mom had a song that made her cry whenever she listened to it, as she could relate to every word of the lyrics. I don't think I have a song that would make me feel strongly that way, yet, but I've to admit whenever I listen to that song, it makes me think of her (she passed away four years ago for your information).

Anyway, back to the topic. I think my first favourite band is a British female pop group called Bananarama. They are quite famous during the early 80s. "I Heard a Rumour", "Love in the First Degree" and "Venus" are just a few of my favourite songs by them.

(L to R: Siobhan Fahey, Keren Woodward and Sara Dallin)

Besides Bananarama, I have a few favourite pop groups/artistes from my teenage days but instead of giving them a full introduction I shall leave you with the pictures of their albums so I won't bore you to tears (in case you aren't into 80s music).

(You may wish to click onto the image for more information.)

Debbie Gibson (My top favourites: "Foolish Beat", "Lost in Your Eyes", "Out of the Blue")

Tiffany (top favourites: "All This Time", "Oh Jackie", "Hold an Old Friend's Hand", "Radio Romance", "Drop That Bomb")

Kylie Minogue (top favourites: "I Should Be So Lucky", "It's No Secret", "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi")

New Kids on the Block (top favourites: "Please Don't Go Girl", "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)", "Cover Girl", "Baby, I Believe in You")

Depeche Mode (top favourites: "World in My Eyes", "Policy of Truth")

Johnny Hates Jazz (top favourites: "Shattered Dreams", "Turn Back the Clock")

If you are into 80s music, who is your favourite bands/artistes?

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (国立中正纪念堂) is erected in memory of Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China in Taiwan.

The Memorial Hall

Martyrs Shrine (忠烈祠) - Heroes who sacrificed their lives to the revolution before the establishment of the Republic of China and who fell during the Sino-Japanese war and the Chinese Civil war are worshipped here. As a respect, hats and/or sandals are not allowed to be worn here.

Last year, I participated in the Green Books Campaign hosted by Eco-Libris and I am glad to say that I will be participating again this year (a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices in the industry, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books). I will be reviewing For the Love of Strangers by Jacqueline Horsfall so be sure to check out my review on November 10th.

I read about FreeRice.com from a magazine and would like to share this great site with you. This is a non-profit website run by the UN World Food Programme and their goals are to provide education to everyone as well as to help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free, and this is made possible by the generosity of the sponsors who advertise on this site.

And how do we help and make a difference? Playing the vocabulary game (there are other subjects as well) at FreeRice not only allows us in learning new vocabulary but most importantly FreeRice will donate 10 grains of rice for each correct answer. FreeRice also has a custom database containing knowledge questions at varying levels of difficulty so this can be played by everyone! (Read more.)

So what are we waiting for? Go green and help others now!

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.
• 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!

First, they couldn't prove something had happened if it hadn't happened. And second, I hadn't killed anybody.

Not in their town, and not for a long time, anyway.

(Pg 5, Killing Floor by Lee Child)

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page where readers get to share the books that came into their house last week; the host for this month's Mailbox Monday is Kathy of Bermudaonion's Weblog.

Bought the following book from The Book Depository:

1) Halo by Alexandra Adornetto (Don't you love the cover?)

What books came into your house last week?

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Marg and Claire that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

ISBN-13: 9789868635425
Publisher: Motif Press Co., Ltd
Published: August 2010
285 pgs
Source: Personal Library

当爱重返身边, 才发现,
你, 一直都在。

好久, 好久没好好地坐下来享受读着张小娴的书了。每一回读她的书籍, 都会被她细腻的文笔深深感动着。 那种感觉, 久久都会停留在我的脑海里, 挥之不去。她的文笔, 象施了魔法般把我带进她的故事世界里, 让我觉得故事里的人、事、物仿佛都在我的身边。我想，这就是张小娴的魅力吧。她的故事总能触动着我的心。

在〈我的爱如此麻辣〉中，她以一贯细腻、流畅的文笔，再一次把读者带进她的爱情世界里。故事中的女主角叫夏如星；她的生活本来过得无忧无虑，但自从父亲得了血管瘤离开人世后，她的人生开始起了变化，从此也改变了她对所有人世间的看法。因为父亲是开麻辣火鍋店的，本来对烹饪一窍不通的她，为了保留父亲所留下的麻辣火鍋店，决定下定决心要把麻辣火鍋店的生意做好，而另一个原因就是麻辣火鍋曾给父亲留下美好的儿时回忆。为了这些，她不想辜负他。

为了找寻麻辣火鍋的秘方，夏如星竟无意中发现爸爸藏了大半輩子的秘密。原来除了她，夏如星发现父亲在另外兩個相隔萬里另有两个女兒！这个突如其来的发现简直是晴天霹雳，令夏如星不知所措。但夏如日和夏如月毕竟是她的姐姐，夏如星没有理由不把父亲的死讯告诉她们。就因这事故把夏家三姐妹相聚在一起；她们的共同点就是经营父亲的麻辣火鍋店，使它起死回生 （父亲在世时，生意本来一落千丈，负债累累）。

除了夏家三姐妹的故事，〈我的爱如此麻辣〉其实是记载了夏如星和青梅竹马李浩山信件交换的种种心情。夏如星透过这些信件，与浩山分享着她生活上的所有点滴，包括她和姐姐们如何相遇和在一起的心得。虽然隔著萬水千山（浩山在马拉威当义工，夏如星则在香港），但浩山的信总为她带来温柔的慰藉，更让她领悟到人生其实可以很简单，只看个人如何对待各自的生活与目标。浩山曾对夏如星说，人与人的相识相遇，都是因缘聚合，而缘分是永不流逝的餐宴。他的这番话不止深深地烙印在夏如星的心里，更深深地感动了我。没错，如果我与你没有因缘，我们如何在这茫茫人海中相遇又相知呢？

It's been a while since I have read a Chinese novel; and even if I do read them I don't do a review on them because my main focus is on English novels. However I have to make an exception here simply because I loved this book so much! (Correction: I love all Amy Cheung's books because her writing is beautiful and poetic; and her stories always touches my heart.) For this English review, I will take a different approach from the Chinese in including the spoilers.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who commented on my posts lately (especially the BBAW week). I just want to let you know that I read every of your comments, but just did not have the time in replying to every one of them (however I'm trying my best to visit and comment on your blog whenever I can). Work has been extra busy recently, especially with the news that we will be moving office in another few months or so. I can foresee that there will be much changes in regards to the work on top of the new environment, but then I am sure I will get used to everything given some time. After all, isn't there a saying that nothing is permanent?

I am currently reading Gone by Kathleen Johnson. Don't you think the cover makes you think of a romance novel? Well let me tell you it is much more than that; this is a story about a teacher-student affair. I will let you know what I think of the book in my forthcoming review.

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.
• 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!

He remembered his first day in class last January, when her eyes had flickered over him the way a teacher's eyes will. But then hers had come back to rest. Before flitting away again.

(Pg 31, Gone by Kathleen Johnson)

Today, BBAW asked if we have a book which we wish would get more attention by book bloggers. I have a few in mind but instead I am going to focus on one of my favourite authors of all time - Mo Hayder, since I rarely see her books being mentioned around the blogosphere so I would like to take this opportunity to highlight them. For those who are not familiar with Mo Hayder, she is a British author and she writes mainly crime and thriller fiction.

I was first introduced to her books by a colleague, and I remember very well she wanted me to read Tokyo (aka The Devil of Nanking) since she enjoyed reading it so much. Needless to say, I searched for the book during my next visit to the bookstore and devoured it on the very same day! I enjoyed it so much that I looked out for her other books. Birdman is the next book I read by her and it is through this book that I got to know the lead character, DI Jack Caffery. I have to say Jack Caffery is unlike any heroes I read from other crime thriller fiction. There is no doubt that he is tough, driven and is capable of solving complicated cases, but like any other human beings he too has issues (he is tormented by his personal demons as he cannot escape the memories of his younger brother's murder which happened many years ago) and vulnerable and this is probably one reason why I am intrigued by him, for I don't think I have ever came across a hero like him. If anyone ask me if I have any literary crush, DI Jack Caffery will be the one who first comes to mind.

Here are some of Mo Hayder's books if you are interested:

Standalone
Tokyo (aka The Devil of Nanking) - Nominated for three CWA dagger awards (here's my thoughts)
Pig Island (here's my review)

Jack Caffery Series
Birdman
The Treatment (here's my review)
Ritual (here's my review)
Skin (here's my review)
Gone

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.
• 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!

He moves close to me but does not touch me. He seems afraid to. Like he knows that that's the reason Griffin is so upset. He whispers, "If you ever see him in your dreams, you must do everything you can to awaken. Do you understand?"

(Pg 180, Sleepless by Cyn Balog)

Can you feel the excitement in the air? I definitely can, because today begins the Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW)! If you have been blogging for the past two years, you should have been aware of this great event started by Amy of My Friend Amy. The main purpose of this event is to recognize the hard work and contribution of book bloggers to the promotion and preservation of a literate culture actively engaged in discussing books, authors, and a lifestyle of reading. This year, BBAW starts from 13 September and ends on 17 September and for a week it will spotlight and celebrates the work of bookbloggers through guest posts, interview swaps, awards, giveaways and other community activities.

The theme for this year is "A Treasure Chest of Infinite Books and Infinite Blogs" and everyday starting from today, there is a list of topics for the bookbloggers to participate and today's topic: "First Treasure" is to share a great new book blog you have discovered since BBAW last year.

Well, I had added quite a number of book blogs to my Google Reader through BBAW last year, and among them is Tasha of Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Books. What makes her blog stands out from among the rest is because she was my interview swap partner for last year's BBAW. I remember when I first discovered Tasha is an art historian, I was in awe! How cool is that?! And not only that, she also has experience in curating, teaching, researching, and writing academic articles and essays! Tasha also loves reading romance, mysteries and many others so if you haven't visit her blog, you should!

I am happy to note that Tasha's blog is being nominated for BBAW's 2010 "Best Eclectic Book Blog" and I would like to take this opportunity to wish her all the best!

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page where readers get to share the books that came into their house last week; and the host for this month's Mailbox Monday is Kathy of Bermudaonion's Weblog.

I received the following book from Sourcebooks which I won from their giveaway:

1) The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice by Abigail Reynolds

What books came into your house last week?

ISBN-13: 9780439023511
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Published: August 2010
390 pgs
Source: Personal Library


With much success to the first two instalments, it is no surprise that there would be a lot of hype and speculations surrounding Mockingjay, the final instalment of the Hunger Games trilogy, which I think is expected and well-deserved since I enjoyed Hunger Games and Catching Fire so much. However when there are much anticipation, naturally there comes with high expectations in which explains the mixed reviews I have seen around the blogosphere lately. That said, please note that the following are simply my thoughts of the book and that it contains spoilers (because it is hard not to do so).

I have to confess that I did not know what to think after reading the book. The plot has totally blown me away. The characters I thought I knew before were not what I expected from this instalment, because most of the time they were either being hijacked or drugged. I have to admit I was Team Katniss since the beginning of the trilogy; she has totally wowed me with her determination and her fighting spirit and not to mention her sense of responsibility she had for her family. Then again, she is also simply a girl who wanted nothing but to safeguard her family members from any danger. Nevertheless, I was disappointed that she did not take on an active role in this instalment in spite of her drugged condition, and that she was part of a game of President Coin’s plan; it was as if her fighting spirit has been drained out of her here and that saddened me.

And then, there is the issue of her relationship between Gale and Peeta. I can understand how hard it is for Katniss to choose between them, after all one is her best friend whom she knew from childhood, while the other she had battled hand in hand with during the Hunger Games. I liked Gale and Peeta during the last two instalments; I think each of them has their own qualities. Honestly speaking, I thought Gale would understand more of Katniss since he was her childhood friend, but in this instalment I was disappointed to say I have knew nothing about him at all. It was as if he was a changed person. And what happened to Peeta? I was saddened to see him being tortured and brainwashed until he couldn’t recognise Katniss anymore. It was as if all the characteristics of these characters have been wiped off and replaced with another personality. There was a moment where I wondered if he would ever recover.

As much as I had anticipated that there might be a death of a major character(s), I did not expect it would be Prim. I was prepared to accept that Gale or Peeta might not survived in this instalment, but to have Prim taken away seemed somewhat out of the situation to me. How ironic it is that Prim’s life was lost when she is the reason why Katniss was in the Hunger Games from the beginning. But that is the sad reality of life isn’t it, since one could not predict what would happen next. Still, I could not grasp the total turn of event of this one, and I have to admit it totally boggles my mind why Prim was at the scene when the bombing happened. How could this happen to her?

As for the ending, I accepted that Katniss and Peeta being together. I think Katniss does have some feelings for him after all. As I mentioned before, I was neither Team Gale nor Team Peeta, but I think there should be a closure for Gale, considering he was Katniss’ best friend. How could he simply disappear without any explanation? I still could not fathom the reason behind this. I have to say I quite liked the epilogue however, at least in my opinion it tells me that there is much hope after all what they have gone through; Katniss’ and Peeta’s decision to have children and Katniss’ book where she recorded her thoughts and pictures and hopefully to share with their children when that day comes serves a reminder about the cruelty and violence of the Hunger Games (or wars) and that they shouldn’t take anything for granted.

***Spoilers End***