Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Oh my, how time flies! The year has almost comes to an end, and honestly I am not even sure if I am ready for 2008. New Year usually means a new beginning to me, this is the time where I will set my resolutions and although I don't always follow them, I make sure I will do my best in whatever things I do.

Anyway, I try not to get too sentimental on this day especially since it brings back too many wonderful memories to me. When I was a teenager, my parents would celebrate this day by buying a cake and giving me an Ang Pow, which is actually a red packet where you can put some money inside and is usually given on occasions such as the Chinese New Year or during the Chinese wedding receptions, and of course not to mention on birthdays. It is a symbol of good luck.

I had my first big party the year I turned 21. I remember a lot of my friends did the same thing too; I suppose it is kind of a celebration of a new journey for us and that was when we were truly treated as an adult.

Looking back now, I am amazed at how fast the time has gone by just like that. It is as if all the things had happened just only yesterday. I will treasure today, as well as the days that comes. Happy Birthday to me! :)

Booking Through Thursday

1. What fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best new book published in 2007?(Older books that you read for the first time in 2007 don’t count.)
2. What non-fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best new book published in 2007?(Older books that you read for the first time in 2007 don’t count.)
3. And, do “best of” lists influence your reading?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

If you see on my right side of my blog, you would notice that I have a column titled 'Books Read in 2007'. There are several titles that I marked with an asterisk that I enjoyed greatly and those are to be shortlisted for my 'Book of the Year' this year. (I will choose a book amongst the shortlisted pile towards end of the year, so do look out for it if you are interested. ;P)

As for non-fiction books, I don't read as much as I do with fiction books but I will make it a point to read more next year. Hey, wait a minute, perhaps I should put Life's Golden Ticket onto this list since it is more like an inspirational book to me although it is written in story form.

Here's a list of my best fiction books published this year:

1. Pig Island by Mo Hayder

2. Dangerous Games by Lora Leigh

3. Ice Blue by Anne Stuart

4. Life's Golden Ticket by Brendon Burchard

5. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

6. Ice Storm by Anne Stuart

As to whether or not do "best of" lists influence my reading, I will say although I do check them out, but ultimately it is the story plot that makes me to pick up the books.

Isobel Lambert was used to giving orders. But after having lost her capable operatives to their loved ones and fearing she would complicate things with their new lives by assigning them dangerous tasks, thus she had no one but herself when a next assignment was called for. However, it didn't make things any easier for her either as she was about to meet the dangerous Josef Serafin, an assassin and also a terrorist threat and later found out he was once the man she loved and had killed seventeen years ago.

Randomness

Week of December 16: Happy Holidays Random Word Association

I say, you think:

1. santa claus
2. holiday carols sing
3. snow white
4. mistletoe plant
5. season greetings
6. candy cane peppermint
7. eggnog drink
8. presents gifts

Booking Through Thursday

Do you use any of the online book-cataloguing sites, like Library Thing or Shelfari? Why or why not? (Or . . . do you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking to?? (grin))

If not an online catalog, do you use any other method to catalog your book collection? Excel spreadsheets, index cards, a notebook, anything?

Yes, I'm a user of Library Thing and Shelfari. I like them because I think they helps me in keeping track of my expanding book collection. Another great thing about Shelfari is, I get notifications via email whenever someone added a book review which it happens to be on my bookshelf, and on top of that you are also notified whenever your friends have added any books on their shelves. It's fun to see what everyone is reading. Other than that, I don't have a habit of cataloguing my books but I do make a list of the books I read on my blog as a reference.

Camille Preaker had a troubled past and a history of self-mutilation, but she had put that behind her and gets on with her life working as a reporter for a second-rate Chicago newspapers. Everything seems normal but bland for her until her editor, Frank Curry hands her an assignment at her old hometown, Wind Gap whereby two young girls were murdered. But she has her qualms as she has not returned in eight years but Frank wants her to cover the story, thinking this would help in boosting the readership as well.

She meets up her estranged neurotic mother and a half-sister she barely knows yet intrigues her. In a way, she is grateful that her mother had let her stay at her house, although it is an icy welcome. She interviews the victims' families but couldn't get any clues from them, and the hometown police didn't offer any much help either. So she snoops around but as she digs deeper into the story and the case, she can't help feelling she is reliving her childhood trauma again, and the scariest thing is things aren't what they appear to be.

Sharp Objects is a page-turner, both intriguing and thrilling. Gillian Flynn's sharp writing style has hooked me starting with her great opening line and it continues to keep my attention till the last chapter and she doesn't reveals the murderer until towards the ending. Although I have somehow guessed who the murderer was, the truth behind it still blown me away.

Gillian Flynn has written a great debut with this book. It is no wonder this is a winner of the CWA New Blood Fiction Dagger; and Stephen King also quoted this 'A terrific debut, relentlessly creepy' on the cover as shown on the right.

Thank you so much, Alice! You are one of the sweetest friends I met at bloggieland.

And I would like to share this award with my fellow bloggie friends, and they are:

• Jennifer of From My Corner (Well, she's more than a blog buddy to me. She's my best friend!)
• Julia of Julia's Books Corner
• Wendy of Musings of a Bookish Kitty
• Kathy of *RittyRats*

This movie is about the battle of Thermopylae, led by King Leonidas with his small force of 300 Spartans against Persia's King Xerxes and his huge armies. Though the size of King Leonidas' armies was pathetic as compared to Xerxes', but all of his men were chosen and well trained from young to be the best warriors. They had nothing to fear, and they would continue to fight until their last breath was drawn.

This movie is rated 'R' for graphic violence and some nudity scenes. Frankly speaking, I didn't know about the rating since the hubs and I watched it on DVD, so I was both taken aback and put off by the violence scenes. Thinking that the movie would be somewhat boring (i.e. fighting and more fighting), I stopped watching and did a little reading while the hubs continued to watch. And it was until when one of King Leonidas' warriors was killed and his father went ballistic that I decided to focus my attention back to the movie. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sadistic, but that was because King Leonidas' warriors were supposed to be 'un-beatables', and the plot thickens when King Leonidas was asked to kneel before Xerxes and the consequences that follows when he said no.

Overall, I think this is a good action and war movies if you don't mind the gross scenes (although I understand this is essential to the movie but I'm a coward when it comes to this). The computer effect is great. And though this might sounds a little silly, I quite like the movie title as I find it very appropriate. After all, this is mostly about King Leonidas' and his brave 300 Spartans.

Booking Through Thursday

This week’s question is suggested by Island Editions:
Do you have a favourite book, now out of print, that you would like to see become available again? (I have several…)

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

I'm glad to say most of my favourite books are available, except the following:

Now can you tell I'm a huge fan of Anne Stuart? :-)

(Note: I'm fortunate to have a best friend who's living in the U.S. who managed to find Nightfall and Into the Fire for me. Thank you so much, Jennifer!)

A fellow participant reading out his NaNoWriMo excerpt.

What's a party without a cake?! And don't you think this cake is lovely?

Our Municipal Liaisons (Rozen and Sarahcoldheart) blowing off the candles on the cake.

Rozen (first left) and Sarahcoldheart cutting the cake while we looked on.

I was so thrilled that I won a prize for the "Opening Lines Competition"! I was shocked when Rozen called out my name. I love my prize, especially the $10 Kinokuniya book voucher, hehe.

Goodbye, NaNoWriMo 2007! By the way, the total wordcount for this year is 1098,496,066!