tug of war

I read books so much this past months because I always lose the battle for the remote control. As my lil tyke gets older he hogs the tv all the time driving me crazy! I'm partly to blame for his obsession with the Disney Junior Channel because I introduced him to it when he's not yet 1 year old. Huh..look he slobbers on the remote when he's younger. And now that he's 2 he actually keep it hidden somewhere so his mama cannot change the channel. How could you? I gave birth to you..you know..I'm the one paying for that Astro subscription every month..

my amazonian adventure

Yay..I'm so happy today because finally I've received the books that I ordered through amazon.com. Here's the package.

After some freaking weeks, waiting, wondering, worrying, obsessing,lounging around for it to arrive it's already here! Through the amazon website the estimated date is tomorrow but it's already here!
I ordered it last 30th July. And it's so new I cannot find it in any bookstores here. Well that's only for Supernaturally not Hex Hall. The prices are ok but shipping costs USD 14..equivalent to MYR 44.45 ..duh..

my favourite place

Initially I wanted to go on a ala jalan-jalan perpustakaan but the idea of dragging a 2 year old screaming and kicking into a library is a bad idea. So instead we venture through the bookshops around Klang Valley trying to find the nicest one. MPH Mid Valley used to be my favourite because it's so big and imposing but there's hardly any chairs and my kid could get lost in the maze of bookshelves. Kinokuniya KLCC is also not bad but still lack of chairs. Borders is the best. With an abundance of plush sofas, wooden chairs and even a spacious children's corner where my angel/monster can do his thing. Which is rolling on the floor. Take a look.

Making friends or flirting? Oy..she's too big for you..

Yes he's the only one who does it.

Story time or bedtime? You tell me..

Well that concludes our tour for now, unless we have nothing else to do on raya we might be going on another jalan-jalan. Since we're celebrating raya in KL it might be boring anyway..hehe

nyum nyum

Salam ramadhan! I hope it's not too late to wish everyone a blessed Ramadhan. After some unsuccessful attempts at performing terawih with my lil monster nearby, I decided to wait until he fell asleep to pray.

I don't know why but fasting month always made me think about food. Particularly raya food. All those rendang,ketupat, sambal goreng and masak lodeh..is just heaven! Seriously..but in my dad's sense it's unhealthy as he will always come down with gout later on..uh oh..

This year I became so lazy which is kind of ironic since I'm at home full time. Last year I went cookie crazy and baked half a dozen different biskut raya that nobody ate and most of it ended up in the dustbin by raya haji. So this year I decided just to make only two types of biskut which is my favourite almond london and chocolate chip n pecan cookie. And since I won't be having any open house (except for people who really wants to come) then I'll just have to finish up by myself..haha..

But this year I have a hankering for all these traditional delicacies especially kuih rempeyek, kuih ros and kuih siput. Takut nak try buat sebab nampak macam susah je. Sampai tengok youtube macam mana nak buat. Lecehnye kuih lama ni yek? Sungguh kagum dengan mak mak kita yang rajin buat kuih sampai bertin-tin. Tengokla nanti macam mana jadi ke eksperimen rempeyek hehe..

quiet heaven

Being a bookworm..i do love libraries...don't you? It's nice and quiet all the time and some libraries offered free Wi Fi which is a big hit among the Y generation like me. I've been to many libraries..Perpustakaan Negara, Shah Alam, Bangi, Kota Kinabalu, UKM, UM, UPM, UIA. Even not so public libaries in government agencies..like SUK Selangor, Attorney's General, INTAN, INSTUN, Jabatan Perdana Menteri, MAMPU. I even went so far as to the Arkib Negara..huhu..

But surprisingly my favourite library is in Yayasan Sabah. The place is so..i don't know..old..empty and comfortable. The first time I went there was when I was in Form 5 which was like ages ago. I was selected to represent my school in some competition which I hardly remember but the trip to the library still stuck with me until this day. I don't know why..maybe I was so amazed at that time to see a library so damn big or the interior is so not like any library I've ever been to..

Mental note to oneself..if I ever had the chance to go overseas after this I would really like to make a trip to a library or any nice big bookstore for that matter. Maybe I should made a trip instead to visit all the libraries in Malaysia. Wouldn't that be interesting? Jalan-jalan perpustakaan..hehe..by the way this is a picture of my beloved law library which I spent hours on end..writing,dozing off, surfing, and ehem reading.

Mini review: YA fantasy book bug

Since I'm back from Sabah, I caught a very serious bug. Book bug that is. Surrounded by my sister's vast collection of books, I decided to challenged myself to read 100 books this year and joined the Goodreads website that I check religiously every day now instead of Facebook. My sister has tonnes of books. Really.. tons. Bucketful. Boxes. And currently most of her books are YA books. YA is young adult which literally means teen stuff.

Apparently in the US the reading trend right now is YA paranormal romance ala Twilight. If I was living there I'd probably be a writer already as writing such story is much more my alley than writing romance novels which I was trying to do for years. (Without success..) Love story with magic and fantasy seems a lot more interesting than just love story. Hehehe..

But some of these YA fantasy is such a bore. Really..I hate it when the character get all mopey and depressed and all that matters in her life is the strange mysterious guy who suddenly turn up in her life who happens to be a fallen angel (gasp) fairy prince (ooooh) or a vampire (damn!). And some of these books are best sellers in the US which made me go..damn..I wish I can write stuff like that and be rich!

For example Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely is just plain stupid. A girl being stalked by a fairy prince who's obsessed with making her his Summer Court Queen. Duh... The series is such a hit but I just don't have the heart to follow the other books in the series let alone finish this one. It was a struggle really.
Verdict: 1 star

Then what about Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush a girl who fell in love with a scary fallen angel? This guy is not even nice or rich or smart. Cue Edward Cullen. At least he's ridiculously rich and nice. It's just a case of teenage hormones going overdrive and being attracted to the brooding, bad boy in the school. Yawn..get a life..will you? Don't these kids have SAT's to study for?
Verdict: 2 stars

Fortunately there are some good ones..like Unearthly a girl who's part angel with powers who's obsessed with this cute guy who supposedly she have to save in the future but instead fell in love with another not so cute guy. The not so cute guy is so into her that he'll do anything. Poor guy. I felt sorry for him. He's a bit of a hillbilly.
Verdict: 4 stars

Haha..and what about a boy falling in love with a girl who came from a long generation of powerful witches and warlocks? That's kind of interesting considering that the boy gets zapped by electric everytime they kissed. She's not your average Beautiful Creatures, I mean she can make rain fall down when she's pissed.. now you're talking. And it is indeed a nice change to read a book from a male POV. Although I do think Ethan is a big softie.
Verdict: 4 stars

But my current favourite is of course Kirsten White's Paranormalcy in which the main character is a actually a normal human girl who hunts paranormals for a living. Evie is a refreshing change from all the other boring, sad characters of the YA paranormal romance. She's witty, funny, loves pink and very normal. And she actually electrocuted the hero when they first met. Ooooh so not love at first!
Verdict: 5 stars

Maybe I can write something like that. How hard can it be to write such slush..once upon a time..there was a girl with eyes like fire who like to kill beings. Supernatural beings that is..after all she was one herself...and on the story goes...