Musing Mondays - Bookmarks
Melody

Musing Mondays

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about bookmarks…

What do you use to mark your place while reading? Do you have a definite preference? Do you use bookmarks, paper, or (gasp) turn down the pages? If you use bookmarks, do you have a favourite one?

Bookmarks comes in various forms to me. They can be a piece of rough paper, a post-it tag or a pocket-size calendar in namecard form, etc. Whatever they are and as long as they fit between the pages, I use them as bookmarks. But of course, my favourite bookmark will be... well, a bookmark. I am especially fond of bookmarks that have a ribbon or colourful threads attached to it.

Ever since I received a bookmark from Marny (I won a book from her), I have been using it for marking my books because it is so useful! It comes with an elastic band so I can just place the bookmark between the designated page and then slip the elastic band over the cover. I do not have to worry about the bookmark slipping out of its place or lost it at all. (Thanks again, Marny!)

So, what do you use as bookmarks? And what's your favourite bookmark?

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Weekly Geeks - Judge a Book By Its Cover!
Melody
This week it's all about judging books by their covers!

Pick a book--any book, really--and search out multiple book cover images for that book. They could span a decade or two (or more)...Or they could span several countries. Which cover is your favorite? Which one is your least favorite? Which one best 'captures' what the book is about?




There are a few reasons why I chose Pride and Prejudice, though the main reason is I simply loved the story. Everything in this story captivated me: the plot, the characters and of course, Jane Austen's style of writing.

Every time I see a Jane Austen's book, I am drawn into it because of the various versions and different covers. Most often, I do not judge a book by its cover but it does influence me to pick up the book if the cover is interesting and attractive, especially the title or the name of the author I am not familiar with or have not heard of.

Another thing I like about Jane Austen's books is it often portrays young women of that era. I am attracted to the charm and grace these women portrayed and not to mention the kind of dresses they wore really intrigued me too. For this assignment, I only chose a few covers because there are just too many of them out there. I have to say each cover is unique on its own but my favourite will be the second left of the last row. Honestly, I have no idea which cover best captures the story because most of them look kind of similiar to me.

So tell me, which is your favourite and least favourite cover?

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Melody
ISBN-13: 9780385751896
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: October 2008
Edition Description: Media Tie-in
216 pgs



With the movie scheduled to be released here next week, I figure this is a good time for me to pick up this book before watching it.

Told from a nine-year-old's perspective, this is a story about the Holocaust. Then again, it is also a story about misunderstandings and misconceptions.

Bruno's world is turned upside down when he knew he has to move out of Berlin together with his family one day. Bruno has no idea what his father is actually doing, except that he wear a uniform and that he looked very handsome and smart in it. Bruno is sad about leaving Berlin, but mostly importantly he misses his three good friends and his grandparents. After all, he stayed in Berlin all his life and to him a comfort zone. His elder sister, Gretel, who is twelve, is not thrilled about the move either but it seems it is not a choice for all of them.

When they arrived at their new house, Bruno is dismayed to find that there is absolutely nothing there as compared to their house in Berlin. Already feeling sad without any friends in the new place, he is also not pleased to find that the house is smaller and there is nothing except a fence surrounding the area if he walk a little further away.

He did not think about the fence until boredom and curiosity probe him into doing so. He met a boy named Shmuel who is his age and coincidentally, they shared the same birthday. They became friends quickly. Bruno never understand the story behind Shmuel whenever he told him so (as well as why he and the others are wearing the striped pajamas), but he continues to be a good friend and bring Shmuel food almost everyday without fail. To him, companionship and friendship is enough for him but of course he could never understand Shmuel's situation until a harmless decision lead to a drastic end.

Now where shall I begin? There are so many things I want to say about this book. I am sure how I felt about this book may have already been said by many readers/reviewers.

As a start, I totally believed in Bruno's naivety and innocence for someone his age. After all, he has been living a sheltered life and he has no idea what the world is going on out there. He is overly protective by his parents, and in his eyes the world is a comfort place to live in, with good food and a happy life with his family and friends. He could not understand the harshness and the cruelty of war because he has never encountered them before.

I think Bruno has found true friendship through Shmuel. They may live in a completely different world, but one could tell their friendship is genuine through their acts and conversations. Whenever I read about Shmuel's unfortunate situations, they made me want to cry.

I simply could not describe my feelings towards the ending. It is so powerful and this leads me into thinking how the younger readers will feel and whether or not if they understand the meaning behind this story. Nevertheless, it is a good story; one that will remain in my mind for some time. I can not wait to watch the movie.


Other blog reviews:
A Guy's Moleskin Notebook
(Let me know if I've missed yours.)
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Friday Fill-Ins
Melody

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1. Please don't tell me lies.

2. Can you wake up at the sound of the alarm clock ringing in the morning?

3. The color red and pink makes me want to think of roses and tulips!

4. I have a craving for a cup of steaming hot tea and a book right now.

5. If my life had a pause button, I'd pause it whenever I am in need of a break.

6. Eyes are the first thing I notice when I look at a person.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to eating out with my husband, tomorrow my plans include household chores and catching up on my reading and Sunday, I want to spend more time with my family!

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A Trip to Perth, Australia - Part 2
Melody
(Continued from Part 1.)

So the next day after having our breakfast at the hotel, we packed and left one of our luggage with the hotel concierge since we were to stay at The River Retreat farmstay in Swan Valley. But before that, we had some free time before meeting up with the other tourists for the local tour at 1p.m. so we visited these places.

The Swan River

Landscapes in Perth City

The Bell Tower
(Unfortunately, due to time constraint, we did not take a tour of The Bell Tower)

We had such a fun time exploring these places that we lost count of the time and nearly could not make it timely for the local tour. Needless to say, we could not afford to spend more time at some eating outlet to have our lunch so we stopped by a McDonald's outlet for a takeaway.

Fortunately, we were five minutes early before we reached the entrance of the hotel where the coach was supposed to pick us up (along with the other tourists) and then that began our journey out of Perth. We filled our empty stomachs with the McDonald's meal in the coach, careful not to spill anything and were very grateful that no one had lodged a complaint on us after the trip. We were also thankful that our groups are small and thus, make it a more enjoyable trip as I feel bigger groups are harder to manage.

Anyway, we passed by the historical town of Guildford and made a stop at the States oldest and best-known vineyard, Sandalford Wines for a wine tasting session. They have an extensive cellar and wine emporium gift store featuring stunning wine accessories and also works by local artists. Not a wine person myself, I too was captivated by the rows of various bottled wines on display and tasted two kinds of wine (one white and one red, although I could not remember their names!).

We then visited the vineyard on our own, while the others were still inside the shop tasting the wines. I have a thing for fruits so I was especially happy to have the opportunity to visit the vineyard and viewing those luscious-looking grapes.


My four-year-old daughter loves grapes so after seeing them, she innocently asked me if she could pick them for consumption. My husband and I couldn't help chuckling after hearing her remark, and so we had to tell her no and further explained to her what these grapes are for. (I have to admit I felt the urge to pick them myself upon seeing them the first time; don't you think they looked delicious?)

Our next stop was at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Now did I pique your interest at the mention of chocolates? It was a wonderful experience and an eye-opener trip for us. Being a chocolate lover, this place seems like paradise because we got the opportunity to try out two types of chocolates (the regular chocolate and the white chocolate. They were in small bits and were served in a big bowl and the visitors are free to help themselves with them).



Rows of chocolates on display

We then proceeded to watch the staff on preparing and making the chocolates through a glass window and this had also attracted a lot of other tourists (besides the chocolates that is) as I am sure most of us are very curious how our chocolates are made. I admired the staff for their nonchalance and seemed not to be bothered by the attention we showered on them during their work, because I know I probably could not concentrate having so many eyes on me.

Our next stop was at Caversham Wildlife Park, where we had a close up experience with native Australian animals and had the opportunity to feed kangaroos and take photos of the adorable koalas. This was another wonderful experience for us, and I know my daughter had enjoyed herself immensely. She was really excited seeing those kangaroos hopping around and was curious about the koalas when she had the chance to take a close up picture with them.


The kangaroos resting under the shades

Don't you think the koalas are adorable?

I just love the name of this little guy - Tasmania Devil

Emu, which I had mistaken as an ostrich initially

A beautiful peacock which shy away from my camera when I tried to follow it around.

Our final stop was at The River Retreat in Swan Valley and this is where our farmstay is. We were the only family among the group who had opted to stay overnight at this place so the coach left for the Perth city after leaving us here.

I just loved the feeling that I was being so close to nature.

We were assigned to a cottage which is fully self-contained with cooking facilities. It has a huge living room with dining area (with air-conditioner), and two bedrooms and a bathroom. There are two double-decker beds in a room, and a queen-sized bed in another. It reminds me of a chalet but this is definitely much bigger and better! When we opened the back door, we could see nothing but the wonderful greenery as shown below. It was such a quiet and peaceful place for relaxation. If you step out from the back door and walk further, you could see a playground and some farm animals lazing around at their designated premises.




After our dinner, we had an outdoor activitity where we had a little bush camp and had fun watching a native representative making billy tea. First, he set up the fire with sticks and placed a billy can of water with tea leaves sprinkled into it. When the water has boiled, he used a towel to hold the handle and then he lifted the can and swirled it round and round in circles. The purpose of doing so is to allow all the tea leaves to settle down to the bottom of the can without filling your cup with leaves. I did capture a shot of the man swirling the can at a distance (I was so afraid the tea would spill but funny enough, it didn't. I suppose one required skills and experience for doing so) but I will not post it as it is not a good shot.

After hearing him sing and taking some pictures with him, we bade each other goodbye and we returned to our cottage. It was really a fun day and we looked forward to the next day as we would get the chance to feed the animals.

[To be continued...]
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Gossamer
Melody
ISBN-13: 9780385734165
Publisher: Random House Childrens Books
Published: January 2008
154 pgs


We are such stuff
As dreams are made on;
and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

~ William Shakespeare,
The Tempest, act 4, scene 1




You know, I have often wonder about dreams. What are they? And why do we have them? A scientific view reveals that dreams are sequence images, sounds and feelings experienced while sleeping, strongly associated with rapid eye movement sleep. In Gossamer, Lois Lowry tells her story about dream-givers and how dreams are casted upon humans (or even animals) by them.

These dream-givers have the ability of dissolving and what they do is they gather memories, colours, words once spoken, hints of scents and any tiniest fragments of forgotten sound through touching. They collect pieces of the present and the past; and with these things they create dreams to people who need a good and happy dream.

However, not all people received pleasant dreams as there are the dark and fearsome creatures known as the Sinisteeds that plague their victims with nightmares.

Now there is a little new dream-giver called Littlest One who is slowly learning her job of bestowing dreams. Together with her mentor, Thin Elderly, they visit an old woman's house each night to gather fragments and memories about her. The old woman has a dog named Toby and she is also looking after a troubled boy who is staying with her temporarily. John is a very unhappy boy because he has an abusive father and a mother who is frightened of him but still struggles to put life together.

When John came into the old woman's house, he is always angry and rude but the old woman is kind and always patient. When John became the victim of the Sinisteeds, the old woman will come to him and comfort him whenever he has nightmares. Now Littlest One, with the assistance from Thin Elderly, will have to try their best to gather all the happy things to bestow pleasant dreams to John before the Sinisteeds beat them to it.

Gossamer is a quick and entertaining read, and one that leaves a warm feeling in my heart after I closed the book and with the story still lingers in my mind. Littlest One is one extraordinary dream-giver. Though young and inexperienced, she already possess the quality of compassion and what most impressed me is her positive attitude and her interest in learning. I especially loved her insights on the sad parts of life:

“... I get a lot of sad fragments from photograph of the soldier - feelings of never-coming-back feelings of now I'm-all-alone. But the kiss is there, too, in that photograph, so I always collect there, just to keep that kiss fragment for her. And you know what, Thin Elderly? Sad parts are important. If I ever get to train a new young dream-giver, that's one of the things I'll teach: that you must include the sad parts, because they are part of the story, and they have to be part of the dreams.”

It is so true. Who said the sad parts have to be all bad? Sometimes, we have to have some sad parts in our life to remind us and be appreciative of the good ones we have.

Can you tell that I really enjoyed reading this story? I seriously do. I can not wait to read more Lois Lowry books in future.

PS: Alice, thank you so much for sending this book to me! I really appreciate it!

Other blog reviews:
Back to Books
Becky's Book Reviews
Hello, My Name is Alice
Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
The Hidden Side of a Leaf
Things Mean a Lot
(Let me know if I've missed yours.)

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Wordless Wednesday
Melody
A fruit stall in Taipei
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Teaser Tuesdays
Melody

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 [Gossamer by Lois Lowry (Pg 13)]:

Their task is both simple and at the same time immensely difficult.

Through touching, they gather material: memories, colors, words once spoken, hints of scents and the tiniest fragments of forgotten sound. They collect pieces of the past, of long ago and of yesterday. They combine these things carefully, creating dreams. Then they insert the dreams as the humans (and sometimes animals, for occasionally they give dreams to pets, as well) sleep.

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The Orange Girl
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.

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Musing Mondays - Bookstores
Melody

Musing Mondays

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about book stores…

How do you choose what to buy from your local bookstore? Do you have a list, or just browse? What is the selection in your book store like? Do you find what you're looking for? Do you feel pressured to buy the kind of books the store makes prominent? (question courtesy of MizB)

Being a booklover, bookstores is one of my favourite shopping places besides the malls. I visit the bookstore at least once a week, thanks to the place where I work because there is a bookstore which is just a five-minute walk from my office building.

Most of the times, I do not have a list when visiting the bookstores. I just love to browse and look around, and I especially love the feeling of finding a book which I have been waiting for unexpectedly. The bookstore which I patronize has a wide variety. Apart from the English section, it also has a Chinese and Japanese section and a stationery section that mainly carries stationery imported from Japan. Although I love visiting this branch, I would still prefer to visit the main branch as it is bigger and offers a much wider variety. I do not feel pressured to buy any books on display, but I do feel something is amiss if I walk out of the bookstore empty-handed.

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A Trip to Perth, Australia - Part 1
Melody
First and foremost, I apologize for this late post. (Especially to Jennifer: Sorry! My bad!) Anyway, here is the post of our first day of the trip. I hope you enjoy the pictures if not my writing!


When my husband asked me one day if I wanted to go on a trip, I said, "Why not?" Who wouldn't want to go on a trip, right? I love travelling. I love seeing new things and experiencing other cultures. So after calling several travel agents about their packages and making comparisons, we finally decided on Perth, Australia (initially we had thought of going to Pennsylvania or Japan, but that is a long story!) since we heard it is a nice and relaxing place to visit. Moreover, my husband and my eldest daughter have not been to Australia before (I had been to Gold Coast several years back with my mother and my youngest sister).

At first, we had wanted to join a tour package but the travel agent said there wasn't any at that moment due to low demand and that the school holidays were already over. He suggested a two-to-go package, which is actually similiar with a free-and-easy package and to join the local tour when we are there. So we decided on a 5 days 4 nights stay in Perth, with a half-day city tour in Fremantle and a one-night farmstay in Swan Valley. The day arrived on 13 January, and we bade goodbye to the in-laws and our baby (who agreed to take care of her) before we lugged our luggage and began our journey.

Everything seemed to be in a rush after we arrived in Perth International Airport. It was nearing to mid afternoon and there was no time for photo taking as we were arranged to pick up by a coach captain (through a local agent) to fetch us to the hotel. We checked into the hotel ourselves and after dumping our lugguage in our designated room, with a map in hand we are free to explore around. At that time, it was towards five o'clock and most of the shops are about to close so we had a simple dinner (Chicken Kebabs and Fish and Chips) and walk around the area.

Here are a few places we stopped by. We did not explore much since night was falling and it was funny that the weather was getting colder even though it is summer (however, the subsequent nights were extremely warm though).

(In chronological order.
You may wish to click onto the pictures for a larger image.)











I simply like the structures of some of these buildings. I especially like the London Court in Hay Street (Pic 3 - 8); there are a lot of shops there and I am sure anyone who love to shop would be thrilled with this place. As you can see, the shops were already closed by the time we reached there. I whipped out our camera to take a few pictures, enjoying the peace and freedom since there were not many people around. Being a shopaholic, I told my husband that I wanted to come here again. Of course, he had said, it is not like we are following any tour groups.

Yes! That is it. We are in total control of the schedule and time and we could go anywhere we like (given that we are not lost!). Anyway, we decided to call it a day (or night) and walked all the way back to our hotel (it was a distance but we are not complaining). We had to wake up early the next day to join a local tour to visit to more places. With this in mind, we slumbered into dreamland.

[To be continued...]
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Friday Fill-Ins
Melody

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1. I'd really like to read right now.

2. "Ouch!" is the word you'd most often hear me say if I stubbed my toe.

3. Possession is considered an unhealthy trait, but not when it comes to my books.

4. Johnny Depp is Captain Jack Sparrow.

5. Marshmallows and fire go together like ice cubes and water (they tend to melt quickly!).

6. Life goes on and on.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up on my reading (I'm hoping to finish the book which I'm currently reading), tomorrow my plans include laundry and doing the rest of the household chores and Sunday, I want to rest and relax (and not to mention to spend time with my family)!

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6 Happy Things Meme
Melody
I was tagged by Sandy for this Six Happy Things Meme. (Thanks, Sandy! This is fun and not to mention an easy one to play.)

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. List 6 things that make you happy.
3. Post the rules and tag six more people.
4. Let your tagger know when you have completed your mission.

So here are a few things that make me a very happy person:

  • Spending time with my family
  • Travelling
  • Reading
  • Blogging/Writing
  • Shopping and visiting bookstores
  • Getting mails from my best friend (or better still, to see her in person again! After all, she is living in PA! Too far away from Singapore!)
Now my turn to tag six more people (I am tagging the following friends who have not played this yet):

... and anyone who is interested to play! Leave me a comment so I will come visit and read your answers! :-)

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Playing Catch-up
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?

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