Last time on the swings

Currently The Wishsong of Shannara (The Sword of Shannara) By Terry Brooks see related

My sensitivity to caffeine has been taken to a whole new level. I am not immune even to chocolate cake. Yes, chocolate cake has the power to limit me to four hours of sleep. Anyway, book talk:

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

A retelling of Sleeping Beauty, only Beauty is a victim of the Holocaust, which I absolutely loved. It's one of those the-war-took-everything-from-me-and-all-I-have-left-is-my-fantasy-to-escape-to Pan's Labyrinth-ian stories, which I'm a sucker for.

Briar Rose here has red hair too. Figures. If I ever do finish a book, this is what my biography will say:

"Sharon grew up on endless re-runs of Peter Pan, Parent Trap and Free Willy. She lives and writes in Hong Kong, where she continues to do her part to decrease worldsuck, one piece of paper for recycling at a time. One of her missions in life is to collect a list of every red-haired fictional heroine there has ever been in the world."

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

I only bought the book for two things - the New York City skyline etched across the cover, and the fact it's about beautiful, glamourous people... because beautiful, glamourous people fascinate me. Three, if you include its <$100 price - that's as inexpensive as a book can get in PageOne. These are all I had to expect from the book, really, and it did nothing more than that.

Hmm, I have no idea why beautiful, glamourous people fascinate me. It's like how my mum and I can watch The Devil Wears Prada over and over again, even though all I do is make snide comments about Miranda Priestly.

Note: it's fascinating how everything happens in New York City, isn't it? The two things I'm after in New York City are the food and anything related to books. Now, if I want to kill two birds with one stone, this is all I have to do: impersonate J.K. Rowling and climb into Maureen Johnson's flat by a water pipe and raid her fridge. As a bonus, she'll write about me on her blog, and I'll have my 1325 words of fame.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

A mixture of Stephanie Plum and Philip Reeve. FUNNY. Yet to be finished.

Joan and I will be seeing We Will Rock You on 5th June. I can't wait! I have to start listening to Queen.

Currently Reading The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel By Jasper Fforde see related

Shhh, I'm hiding from my music assignment in the World Wide Web right now. It's really big, covered in black and white, and it can even breathe fire. (The music assignment, I mean, not the World Wide Web. even though it's also really big and can breathe fire, depending on whether you're technophobic or not.)(That said, it doesn't have to be covered in black and white.)(The World Wide Web, I mean, not the music assignment.) If you see it, tell it I'm off looking for my Irish Peacocks and Scarlet Marquess. That should put it off from sniffing me out for a while. Just... don't... tell it I'm here.

First thing: I'm probably one of the very few people to get their hands on the first batch of City of Ashes. I strode into PageOne one Sunday afternoon, feeling in my bones that something special was going to happen. I was wearing my jingle shoes. They jingle when I walk, and they make me feel cool and powerful and able to feel in my bones whether something special is going to happen or not.

Anyway, I strode into PageOne, and there they were, staring at me in the face.

You know that feeling when you walk into a room, your heart pounding because you know a crush of yours is there, and for some reason, time stands still, you can hardly breathe and it's like you're the only two people in the room?

That's me with City of Ashes. I stood there looking down at it with my hands on my hips for five minutes. Nothing else mattered. It was chanting a hynoptic tune, putting me under its spell. It was taunting me with its $161.20 price tag. Here it is with one of my jingle shoes rooted to the spot (not so powerful after all, were they?):

I iz lying @ ur feet, messin wif ur brane

Of course I bought the book in the end. Clary's red hair was just too much for me to take.

Second thing: I was disappointed when I heard Robert Pattison will be playing Edward in the Twilight movie. But then I did some more research and found this - a picture of the Cullens. Now I'm willing to give Twilight the benefit of the doubt. I've made a very important discovery this week - stick a bunch of people in front of a camera and have them walking towards it in attack formation. It suddenly makes them 10 times cooler.

In other news, I'll be Nerdfighting this Saturday! Yippee!

Currently Reading City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments) By Cassandra Clare see related

I've always known NYC is home to possibly the hugest bookstore in history, I just never knew it's called the Strand, and that it's 18 miles long.

18 beautiful, beautiful miles of books...

Why did I not appreciate NYC more when I was there?

Okay, not all those miles are beautiful. Unless you don't count the books on the occult, new age therapy, Eastern philosophy... and Gossip Girl.

Currently Reading The Sweet Far Thing (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy) By Libba Bray see related