Sunday Star

Sunday Star is where I highlighted a character from a book that I absolutely, positively love. So my first tribute is to the character:

*Lady Katsa* from:

Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

Published October 1st 2008.

Okay, so I now this one's an oldie (well, sort of) since it was published way back on 2008. But I have a soft sport for strong female heroines. And Katsa is a sword welding girl with the Grace of killing. She's a kick-ass assassin for hire until she decided to rebel against her boss who is her uncle. Way cool! She's strong, smart, and I guess beautiful no? Love her. Love the book! And she fell in love with a prince no less.

So what character do you love?

In My Mailbox

IMM is a meme that can be found in thestorysiren.

I was jumping up and down yesterday because I got a new book in my mailbox. That hardly ever happen to lil old me.

• How to Survive a Killer Seance by Penny Warner

I won this in a giveaway at BookChickCity. It was sent and signed by the author! Now you know why I'm jumping like crazy.

• Chronicle Gincu 4 Amigos by Farihah Iskandar, Norashikin Wahid, Areeya Zahra and Anis Adlyana.

I know I promised myself no more books this month but I can't help it. Bought this yesterday. Fell in love with the cover! I think it's the Malaysian equivalent of Sex and the City but with no sex! LOL.

Freebies Friday #1

I'm starting a new giveaway. It's called Freebies Friday in which I give away a book to one lucky follower every friday. I've been meaning to do this for some time after receiving books from other nice bloggers. Such nice things are to be shared, right? So this week I'm giving away (drumroll please):

Siren by Tricia Rayburn
Published July 13th, 2010.

Summary:
Vacationing in Winter Harbor, Maine, is a tradition for Vanessa and Justine Sands, and that means spending time with the Carmichael boys. This summer, Vanessa is determined to channel some of her older sister’s boldness, get over her fear of the ocean, and maybe turn her friendship with Simon Carmichael into something much more.

But when Justine goes cliff-diving after a big family argument, and her body washes ashore the next day, Vanessa is sure that it was more than an accident. She is more certain of this, when she discovers that her sister was keeping some big secrets and Caleb Carmichael’s gone missing. Suddenly, the entire oceanfront town is abuzz when a series of grim, water-related accidents occur, with the male victims washed ashore grinning from ear to ear.


Vanessa and Simon team up to figure out if these creepy deaths have anything to do with Justine and Caleb. But will what Vanessa discovers mean the end of her summer romance, or even life as she knows it?

So what are you guys waiting for? It is International and anyone can join! To enter just be my follower and leave a comment in this post with your name and e-mail and tell me why do you want to read this book. Contest ends on 31st October 2011. Good luck!

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly/monthly event hosted by Jenny at Take Me Away . It debuted on July 2, 2009. The purpose is to highlight a "throwback" or an older book that deserves some recognition.


Throwbacks can be:

•a book you've read and loved, or a book you've always wanted to read

•a book that brings back memories for you

•from as far back as your childhood, or just from last year

•a classic or a hidden gem

My first Throwback Thursday is:

Libyrinth by Pearl North.
Published July 7th 2009.

Summary:
In her debut novel, Pearl North takes readers centuries into the future, to a forgotten colony of Earth where technology masquerades as magic and wars are fought over books.

Haly is a Libyrarian, one of a group of people dedicated to preserving and protecting the knowledge passed down from the Ancients and stored in the endless maze of books known as the Libyrinth. But Haly has a secret: the books speak to her.


When an attack by the hostile Eradicants drives her from her home, Haly learns that things are not at all what she thinks they are. Taken prisoner by the Eradicants, who believe the written word to be evil, she sees the world through their eyes and comes to understand that they are not the book-burning monsters that she has known her entire life.

The words of a young girl hiding in an Amsterdam attic and written hundreds of years before Haly’s birth will spark the interest of her captors and begin the change necessary to end the conflict between the Eradicants and Libyrarians. With the help of her loyal companion Nod, a creature of the Libyrinth, Haly must mend the rift between the two groups before their war for knowledge destroys them all. In doing so, Haly’s life—and the lives of everyone she knows—will never be the same.

A powerful adventure that unites the present and future, Libyrinth is a fresh, magical novel that will draw in young readers of all genres.
 
Thoughts:
I absolutely freaking love this book! To be surrounded by thousands upon thousands of books every day is any book lover's dream. And to have Haly's ability to listen to books without even so much as look at them is very useful, don't you think? We could eavesdrop on other people's journals, letters, memos..oooh.
 
Surprisingly, I think I rooted for Haly's best friend; Clauda the kitchen servant more. She's very kick-ass in her own way. This book leaned more to the feminist side with three strong girls; Clauda. Haly and Selene as it's main characters and might be somewhat controversial to some for it's weird religious innuendos and a few awkward lesbian moments. But other than that, it's quite a thoughtful and thrilling read with lots of excerpts from famous books in between.
 
Verdict: 4 stars.

Wishing on Wednesday

There's a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine called Waiting On Wednesday in which we highlight an upcoming book release we're eagerly awaiting but since there's so many already published books that I want to get my hands on, I decided to hold my own Wishing on Wednesday.

This week, I'm wishing on Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. This is the third book in the Caster Chronicles. I've read the first two; Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness and fell in love with the whole mysterious Southern setting.

What sets this paranormal romance apart from all the rest I guess is the male POV of the book. The character I love most from the first two books is of course Ethan's houskeeper; Amma. The book is published on the 18th and I can't wait for it to arrive here in Malaysia.

pretty in pink :)

So..I haven't read a Malay book for the longest time. I don't know why..maybe I've been too caught up with the YA fantasy trend that is going on across the globe right now. Seriously, I'm all for Made in Malaysia things so while I was reading the newspaper today, I stumble upon the teaser cover for Ain Maisarah's new book and I decided to dug up her old books.

Who's Ain Maisarah? She's a 29 year old TESL grad from Johor who can be considered as one of the successful teen novelist in Malaysia. I think of her as a Malaysian Meg Cabot. Because her books are funny, chic, sassy and she absolutely loves pink. Most of her book covers are in that colour.

It was reported that she generated RM 5 million for her book sales. My..my..(and I'm one of those who contribute to that vast wealth). In my defence, I just can't help it. Her books are such a guilty pleasure.. you know. Wish there was a writer like her when I was a teen. Check out her blog to see the pinkness of it. :)
http://ainmaisarah.blogspot.com/

Mini revew: 'tis the season

It's Halloween and although I'm not celebrating it, I decided to review books which features witches and wizards just for fun. This is the season to be spooky, right?

Once A Witch by Carrolyn MacCullogh
Published September 14th 2009

Thoughts:
Tamsin was born in a family of powerful witches but the downside of it is that she doesn't have any magical powers of her own unlike her super powerful and beautiful sister. So one day, a stranger comes to her grandmother's shop and just to prove her worth she decided to help the guy find a mysterious clock. Only it's not what it seems. The guy turns out to be another warlock, wizard, magician who is enemies with Tamsin's family for generations.
Oh dear..and Tamsin's power is actually to render other magicians powers useless, meaning other people's power cannot work on her. How cool!
I simply pity Tamsin in the first few chapters but cannot help but feel annoyed when she help the bad guy through sheer ignorance.

Verdict: 4 stars.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Published August 11th 2009

Thoughts:
There should be a warning with this book. 18SX or something because this is definitely not for the young or the young at heart like me. My instant dislike comes from all the booze and sex that certainly is not important to the main storyline.
This reminds me a lot of Harry Potter and Narnia. I'm not sure this is a parody but it's certainly close to that. Quentin; a 16 year old kid gets accepted into a prestigious magical college. Sounds familiar?
There  instead of becoming a nice magician like Harry, he befriended a group of the most obnoxious magician wannabes ever. So he fell in love with a brilliant but introvert witch named Alice. Graduate and become losers without a job until a secret button found by his arch nemesis; Penny transported them into a fantasy world called Fillory. Thus the story gets weirder and weirder up to the point that I'm completely baffled by it.
Since the book is divided into three parts, I found myself only liking the first part during which Quentin is still studying in Bakersbill.Other than that..well. It's more of a book for our male counterpart.

Verdict: 2 stars.

Both series have their latest book published this year and I'm still on the hunt for it. Wish me luck!

a very, very bad book sale

No, it's not what you think. The book sale is wonderfully awesome! I overheard my honourable PHD sisters (I called them sisters because all of them are much older than me and most of them are lecturers) gushing about it in the middle of our annual law research colloquium.
" Ah..what's that you say? A very very bad book sale?"
"No-lah. It's the Big Bad Wolf Sale."
How come someone who's living way over in Kelantan knows about this but not lil ol me?
So here I am, in the middle of a very hot Sunday afternoon with my loyal sidekick; Miz Wanie heading over to MAEPS at Serdang to check things out.

And gosh..we went crazy! Hardcover books at RM8 only! Dear me..dear me..

Yes..fortunately I bring my own bag otherwise I have to lugged the books around..hehe what you don't see is people carrying boxes of books..yes..boxes..it's that crazy cheap! With a tight budget (I'm always on a budget) I still managed to buy a dozen of that nice hardcover YA fantasy  and a Toy Story book for that lil tyke. I felt guilty because he was crying his eyes out when I left the house. Check out the sale pronto because it'll end on 16th!http://www.bigbadwolfbooks.com/

P.S: You know sis wish you were here!

freaky friday

"So what's up with you?" someone ask me recently.
"Nothings up..same old same old."
"Why are you so quiet now?" another person ask me on my FB.
Em..how should I answer to that one?

It's just that after months of sleeping, reading, shopping, travelling and slacking off..I finally received the letter saying that my theses supervisor is appointed and in other words get your lazy ass of that bed and start working on your Master's degree. Ooooohhh..

Okay, so I really should be thankful to be given the opportunity to pursue my Masters by my employer (which would remain anonymous..yeah right) and a scholarship to go with it and leave with full salary.

Being a weird freak of nature, I opted to do my postgraduate full time doing theses. What? Some people say I'm crazy.Honestly sometimes I think I am, it's just that I hate learning about stuff that I know I'm not going to use it in the future. I love writing and doing research, so immersing myself in something I'm interested in is more like it eventhough it will take longer than the people doing coursework. Whatever..

Actually I receive 3 free digital copies of books that I have yet to read and review. I promise I'll do that soon or else I won't get free stuff anymore..huhu. So let me doze off a bit..tata!