Darkschunt 
Thursday, April 27, 2006
It's been quite a while since I last blogged, due to the fact that I've been over at the Gutter Philosopher's house for most of the Easter two-week break. That place is like my summer home or something, lol. Pharrell and the Gutter Philosopher joke that people don't come over to their house, they live over. Hotel Gutter Pharrell.
Most of my time over there was spent watching DVDs from Blockbuster. Ah, there's nothing better then sitting mindlessly in front of the TV watching movie after movie! In the space of about a week and a half, I watched the movies Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, Domino, The Odd Couple II (Pharrell's choice), Sexy Beast (finally!), The Constant Gardener, State Property (no one in the movie was a nice guy! they were all meanies!), and Demon Hunter (gawd, what a terrible B-grade movie! The soundtrack was all over the place, as if someone had just decided to randomly fit it in between scenes, and, um, it was just not impressive at all. Bit of movie goof-ups trivia: in one scene, Sean Patrick Flannery is talking to the nun in the graveyard. the camera moves between shots of the nun's back as she faces SPF, and shots of the nun from the front. In certain shots of the nun's face, you can see that her hair has been brushed back over her shoulder, and in other shots you can see that her hair has fallen over her shoulder to the front).
Also watched Narnia for the fourth time, and My Name is Modesty, which is based on the comic series about Modesty Blaise. I was kind of disappointed watching the movie, after having read the comics every Sunday over the past years. But, to be fair, I didn't manage to finish the movie, falling sick with the flu halfway through, and spending one miserable day and night sick in bed and, according to the Gutter Philosopher, being very demanding.
Yup, everyone's coming down with a touch of the flu. It doesn't help that some days and nights are chilly, and others are a little more warm. Darwin up north has been hit by a cyclone, they say on the news, and the past couple of days have been rainy and chilly here because of it. Richard got some flu and cold medicine, and when we got home, he found out that it was made of natural herbs. Apparently, when you're sick, it's best to have a handful of dried elderberries and white willow bark to make you feel better.
The Swedish guys have made it back home from camping. Their car had broken down in the first few days of their trip, and they had to spend the next five days sitting around in small town pubs waiting for it to be fixed. The cars are falling apart around us. The Gutter Philosopher's car has also broken down, and is in the mechanic's right now as I type. Poor little Tina!
Today, I went to the city with the Duchess. We walked and walked and walked like Amish people walking over fields. My feet are tired. Bought a lovely soft green sweater for the coming winter days and got a new battery for my phone (the old one had conked out on me, leaving me phoneless for the past four or five days). It was actually awesome, being out of the phone circuit for a while. No phone ringing, no messages demanding your attention. Only the occasional panic anxiety moments where you go, "I know someone's trying to call me now! I just know it!" and the annoying prospect of being unable to make phone calls when you want to.
All right, 'tis late and tomorrow is another big day, running around getting a police clearance! Luckily for me, I know I have no police record. Or do I?!? We'll find that one out tomorrow!
(0) comments
Most of my time over there was spent watching DVDs from Blockbuster. Ah, there's nothing better then sitting mindlessly in front of the TV watching movie after movie! In the space of about a week and a half, I watched the movies Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, Domino, The Odd Couple II (Pharrell's choice), Sexy Beast (finally!), The Constant Gardener, State Property (no one in the movie was a nice guy! they were all meanies!), and Demon Hunter (gawd, what a terrible B-grade movie! The soundtrack was all over the place, as if someone had just decided to randomly fit it in between scenes, and, um, it was just not impressive at all. Bit of movie goof-ups trivia: in one scene, Sean Patrick Flannery is talking to the nun in the graveyard. the camera moves between shots of the nun's back as she faces SPF, and shots of the nun from the front. In certain shots of the nun's face, you can see that her hair has been brushed back over her shoulder, and in other shots you can see that her hair has fallen over her shoulder to the front).
Also watched Narnia for the fourth time, and My Name is Modesty, which is based on the comic series about Modesty Blaise. I was kind of disappointed watching the movie, after having read the comics every Sunday over the past years. But, to be fair, I didn't manage to finish the movie, falling sick with the flu halfway through, and spending one miserable day and night sick in bed and, according to the Gutter Philosopher, being very demanding.
Yup, everyone's coming down with a touch of the flu. It doesn't help that some days and nights are chilly, and others are a little more warm. Darwin up north has been hit by a cyclone, they say on the news, and the past couple of days have been rainy and chilly here because of it. Richard got some flu and cold medicine, and when we got home, he found out that it was made of natural herbs. Apparently, when you're sick, it's best to have a handful of dried elderberries and white willow bark to make you feel better.
The Swedish guys have made it back home from camping. Their car had broken down in the first few days of their trip, and they had to spend the next five days sitting around in small town pubs waiting for it to be fixed. The cars are falling apart around us. The Gutter Philosopher's car has also broken down, and is in the mechanic's right now as I type. Poor little Tina!
Today, I went to the city with the Duchess. We walked and walked and walked like Amish people walking over fields. My feet are tired. Bought a lovely soft green sweater for the coming winter days and got a new battery for my phone (the old one had conked out on me, leaving me phoneless for the past four or five days). It was actually awesome, being out of the phone circuit for a while. No phone ringing, no messages demanding your attention. Only the occasional panic anxiety moments where you go, "I know someone's trying to call me now! I just know it!" and the annoying prospect of being unable to make phone calls when you want to.
All right, 'tis late and tomorrow is another big day, running around getting a police clearance! Luckily for me, I know I have no police record. Or do I?!? We'll find that one out tomorrow!
(0) comments
I hate my flatmate's bathmat.
See, it's like this. There's this white mat which one of my flatmates placed on the floor of the bathroom. Naturally, because water from the shower compartment constantly sloshes over onto the bathroom floor, the mat gets wet. So my flatmate eventually puts the mat in the middle of the bathroom floor, instead of next to the shower compartment where it originally was. She also leaves a note, telling us in no uncertain terms that she had placed the mat in the middle of the floor to prevent it from constantly getting drowned.
So far, all this is fine with me. But the very next day, I get home late night from clubbing and go to take a shower, accidentally spilling some stuff on the mat. Damn it! I hurry to wash out the mat, then squeeze it as dry as I can and leave it on the floor to dry up. But I kind of figured out my flatmate probably found it still wet the next day and was probably pretty pissed to find that it's still wet, despite the fact that she put it in the middle of the bathroom.
So I spend a few days at the Gutter Philosopher's house. Next time I come back, I take a shower and come out to find a corner of the mat is still wet. Let's face it, the bathroom is tiny. There is no way you can keep from causing that mat to be wet while taking a shower.
Anyway, off I go to the Gutter Philosopher's again for another few days. Today, I come back, and to prevent from wetting the mat, I shove it clear to the other side of the bathroom, scrunching it up against the wall, then take my shower. Success, the mat is dry. Triumphant, I head off to my room to do a quick facial.
Suddenly, I hear my flatmate coming home and going into the bathroom to take a shower. Horrors! I forgot to put the mat back where it was! It was still scrunched up against the wall! I go back after she's done with her shower; she's put it back in its proper place.
I imagine that she probably knows I'm the one who's doing all these things to her mat. I try, damnit, I try my darnedest to be kind to that mat and keep it clean and dry and in its place but damnit, nothing ever seems to work. Pah!
Anyway, any mat that lives in the bathroom is bound to more or less fall damp every now and then. I rest my case. That mat is evil!
(0) comments
See, it's like this. There's this white mat which one of my flatmates placed on the floor of the bathroom. Naturally, because water from the shower compartment constantly sloshes over onto the bathroom floor, the mat gets wet. So my flatmate eventually puts the mat in the middle of the bathroom floor, instead of next to the shower compartment where it originally was. She also leaves a note, telling us in no uncertain terms that she had placed the mat in the middle of the floor to prevent it from constantly getting drowned.
So far, all this is fine with me. But the very next day, I get home late night from clubbing and go to take a shower, accidentally spilling some stuff on the mat. Damn it! I hurry to wash out the mat, then squeeze it as dry as I can and leave it on the floor to dry up. But I kind of figured out my flatmate probably found it still wet the next day and was probably pretty pissed to find that it's still wet, despite the fact that she put it in the middle of the bathroom.
So I spend a few days at the Gutter Philosopher's house. Next time I come back, I take a shower and come out to find a corner of the mat is still wet. Let's face it, the bathroom is tiny. There is no way you can keep from causing that mat to be wet while taking a shower.
Anyway, off I go to the Gutter Philosopher's again for another few days. Today, I come back, and to prevent from wetting the mat, I shove it clear to the other side of the bathroom, scrunching it up against the wall, then take my shower. Success, the mat is dry. Triumphant, I head off to my room to do a quick facial.
Suddenly, I hear my flatmate coming home and going into the bathroom to take a shower. Horrors! I forgot to put the mat back where it was! It was still scrunched up against the wall! I go back after she's done with her shower; she's put it back in its proper place.
I imagine that she probably knows I'm the one who's doing all these things to her mat. I try, damnit, I try my darnedest to be kind to that mat and keep it clean and dry and in its place but damnit, nothing ever seems to work. Pah!
Anyway, any mat that lives in the bathroom is bound to more or less fall damp every now and then. I rest my case. That mat is evil!
(0) comments
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Last night was spent drinking a carton of Cintra beer with the Lost Smoker and playing blackjack and...um...something else that I can't remember which is sort of like Uno with both the Lost Smoker and Phil. Phil kept winning because he was the only sober one.
Anyway, at the end of the night, I made the Lost Smoker walk me home, then went straight to bed. Woke up around fourish in the morning, utterly and out-of-my-mind thirsty. Also was feeling very bad. "Never again," I swore to myself as I got out of bed and went into the dark kitchen to fill up a bottle of water. "Never again will I drink so much and inflict this unnecessary pain on myself!" Yes, of course, story of my life.
Anyway, I got back into bed, drank about half the bottle of water, then, because I couldn't sleep and because I was still feeling bad, opened Douglas Adam's The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, which the Lost Smoker had lent me along with Graham Greene's Quiet American. Oooh, British classics. I had just about reached the part where this woman is walking down a street at night, and all the street lamps are being extinguished one by one as she passes them by, and naturally have worked myself up in a very frightened state, when I suddenly heard a thump down the hallway outside my room.
Pause.
Another thump. Followed by another. Immediately, because of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, I start imagining green-skinned goblins and giant green-eyed figures with scythes lurking outside my bedroom in the darkened hallway and lounge. I freeze immediately. There's something out there! What should I do? My room light was the only one turned on which makes it an instant attraction for whatever supernatural creature out there! I consider locking my door but the click might attract the creature. I consider turning off my light but that might attract it as well! But what should I do? What if it can come through walls? What should I do if something tries to open my door? I sit there in a half-frightened state for several minutes before just going back to my book, with one eye on my door, ready to shriek if the doorknob so much as moves a centimetre. I turn each page very quietly and slowly in case the faintest rustle reaches the ears of that horrible creature lurking outside. I barely dare to move, nestled in my bed as I was. Nothing would make me get out of bed and leave the safety of my room to look outside in that dark hallway. Finally, I got tired and fell asleep. When I woke up, it was daylight and all my other flatmates had probably already gotten up. What relief. I made it through another night.
A thought has just occured me. What should I do about tonight?!?
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Anyway, at the end of the night, I made the Lost Smoker walk me home, then went straight to bed. Woke up around fourish in the morning, utterly and out-of-my-mind thirsty. Also was feeling very bad. "Never again," I swore to myself as I got out of bed and went into the dark kitchen to fill up a bottle of water. "Never again will I drink so much and inflict this unnecessary pain on myself!" Yes, of course, story of my life.
Anyway, I got back into bed, drank about half the bottle of water, then, because I couldn't sleep and because I was still feeling bad, opened Douglas Adam's The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, which the Lost Smoker had lent me along with Graham Greene's Quiet American. Oooh, British classics. I had just about reached the part where this woman is walking down a street at night, and all the street lamps are being extinguished one by one as she passes them by, and naturally have worked myself up in a very frightened state, when I suddenly heard a thump down the hallway outside my room.
Pause.
Another thump. Followed by another. Immediately, because of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, I start imagining green-skinned goblins and giant green-eyed figures with scythes lurking outside my bedroom in the darkened hallway and lounge. I freeze immediately. There's something out there! What should I do? My room light was the only one turned on which makes it an instant attraction for whatever supernatural creature out there! I consider locking my door but the click might attract the creature. I consider turning off my light but that might attract it as well! But what should I do? What if it can come through walls? What should I do if something tries to open my door? I sit there in a half-frightened state for several minutes before just going back to my book, with one eye on my door, ready to shriek if the doorknob so much as moves a centimetre. I turn each page very quietly and slowly in case the faintest rustle reaches the ears of that horrible creature lurking outside. I barely dare to move, nestled in my bed as I was. Nothing would make me get out of bed and leave the safety of my room to look outside in that dark hallway. Finally, I got tired and fell asleep. When I woke up, it was daylight and all my other flatmates had probably already gotten up. What relief. I made it through another night.
A thought has just occured me. What should I do about tonight?!?
(0) comments
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
It's a gorgeous day! There was a DJ playing on the lawn outside the library on campus, the market stalls are up, and the fat pigeons are roosting on the ivy-covered walls...
I've just decided I'm going to give top ten lists on my blog. Darkschunt's Top Ten. The first being... my top ten list of books to recommend! Bearing in mind that there is probably going to be more than just ten books being recommended here (they don't go in any order, but they're all fab):
1) Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.
I love all her books so it was hard figuring out which one I preferred. They all give you such a nice feel-good feeling at the end, like how chick flicks do. My favourite used to be Northanger Abbey, with Emma coming in a strong second, but when I finally got around to reading Pride and Prejudice, it just toppled the rest. All I can say is...a good love story always wins the day! Hehe. Read it, then read the rest of the books, then read The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler.
2) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson.
This book is so crazy, it's awesome. Read it, then watch the movie. It's all about Thompson as a journalist named Raoul Duke, who takes a trip to Las Vegas with his Samoan lawyer in a fire-red convertible with a trunkful of drugs to cover the fabulous Mint 400 biker race for Sports Illustrated, and end up rampaging through Vegas in a completely drug-addled state, and ending up in all kinds of places such as a police drug convention and various hotel rooms, bars, casinos and diners in Vegas. It's excessive drugs, wild happenings, terrifying the hotel help, all kinds of crazy things, and a fab read.
3) The Chalice & The Blade by Glenna McReynolds
This is a romance/fantasy book and it's actually part of a trilogy. I actually like the second book, Dreamstone, best. The story takes place in the late 1100s, in Wales, about Ceridwen and Mychael, twins and the children of a woman, Rhiannon, the last of the Magus Druid Priestesses. Their home is destroyed and their parents murdered. The first book, the Chalice and the Blade is about Ceridwen and a Danish sorcerer named Dain. The second is about Mychael and an aetheling named Llynya, while the third leaps waaay to the future, and is about a Welsh prince named Morgan, who also appeared in the first book as a friend of Dain's and a cousin of Ceridwen's, and a woman named Avalynn. The story combines magic, dragons, priestesses, lords and ladies, grove priests, and elves as well, and they're very beautiful stories. I love the way she writes, how her words flow, the way she describes events and places, and it's obvious that she did a great deal of research while writing these books, which makes them even more enjoyable to read.
4) The Skull Mantra by Elliot Pattison.
I actually prefer the second book, Water Touching Stone, which I had read first, but it's probably better to read The Skull Mantra first, if you want to go in order. But both are fantastic, anyhow. These two books are about Shan, a former investigator for the Chinese government, who got too close to the truth and was sent to a labour camp in Tibet. In the first book, he is taken out of the camp and forced to become a detective once more when a headless corpse is found on the mountainside where the labourers in his camp break rock to build a road. In the second, his detective skills are put to used once more to find out what the Chinese government is looking for. Both stories are set in Tibet and are filled with Tibetan and Buddhist myths and lore. They are really great mysteries to read, as Shan encounters more and more questions and uncover conspiracies and leaves you guessing at who the killer really is, what they really want to accomplish, all set against the background of Tibet, which is absolutely beautiful. Also, the novels really highlight the injustices which the Chinese government has committed in Tibet with their political policies. Pattison has also written other books where Shan continues to solve other cases in Tibet, and I can't wait to get my hands on those books as well. He won the Edgar award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America for Skull Mantra as well.
5) Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery.
These are actually more like children's books. Remember Anne of Green Gables? L.M. Montgomery is the very same author. But I would recommend Montgomery's books to any age group because they're such sweet, beautiful books. Mark Twain once called Anne of Green Gables "the sweetest creation of child life yet written".
I love all her books but my favourite is Pat of Silver Bush and the sequel, Mistress Pat. As with all her other books, Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat is set on Prince Edward Island, where Montgomery herself grew up, and of which she describes its beauty in haunting, memorable words. Pat of Silver Bush chronicles the life of a little girl named Pat who loves her home and family and P.E. Island greatly and could never imagine leaving it. She especially loves the farm on which she grows up, Silver Bush, the one place where that horrible, fearful thing "change" seems never to occur. But change does happen, from her first day in school to the arrival of a new baby sister, and keeps coming as she grows up, but with change there is also beauty and new people to love. I found Pat's story moving and beautiful and so sweet, the two books about her life are definitely two of the books in life which I can never get tired of reading over and over again.
6) Belgarath the Sorcerer by David and Leigh Eddings.
This is actually the follow-up to the Belgariad and Malloreon trilogies. It's a huge thick block of a book(which is good! because that means: more to read!), and chronicles the life of the immortal sorcerer Belgarath. It's terribly funny, at times I was just hooting and rolling with laughter, and there are some sad bits in it too, but sad bits are what makes a good story good, you know ;)
I prefer Belgarath the Sorcerer to the follow-up, Polgara the Sorceress, the second thick book which is about his daughter, the sorceress Polgara. Don't get me wrong, I love Polgara, she's really cool, but Belgarath's story is so much more compelling, probably because a lot of Polgara's story had also already been told in Belgarath's book. You should read the trilogies first, to make some sense out of some of the bits in the Belgarad, but that should be no problem at all because those other books are really good as well. :)
7) Geisha by Liza Dalby.
This is a kind of anthropological autobiography written by Liza Dalby, the only American woman ever to become a geisha. Back in the 1970s, Dalby had lived in Kyoto in the Pontocho geisha quarters while she studied geisha as part of her college thesis. The geisha had then invited Dalby to be a geisha as well to really get into the geisha experience for her thesis. This book covers a great deal on geishas, such as their history, the different kinds of geishas such as country geisha and city geisha, their rituals and ceremonies, their relationships with each other, men, and wives, and so on, which makes a really interesting read for anyone who wants to know all about geisha. I also like several of the evocative descriptions of Japan and the places that Dalby has written. Some of the reviewers on amazon.com said they found Dalby to be a little self-centred and too full of herself. Well, perhaps, but I found the book to be a really satisfyingly good read. Another reader said she found Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha struck her as a far more truer experience of a geisha's. I wonder how she figured that out, when Dalby's book was based on true experiences while Golden's was based on interviews with a geisha who later sued him for dishonesty. Maybe because it suited the reader (who probably has never met a geisha in her life)'s sense of what a geisha should be? Anyway, I've read Golden's book and it's a nice book too, but I prefer Dalby's. The book also gives you a view on traditional Japanese cultures and traditions and some of the country's history as well.
8) The Stone of Heaven by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark.
This is a sort of historical book in which journalists Levy and Scott-Clark trace the history of the jade. The amount of research which they have compiled for this book is amazing, with richly-woven, life-compelling stories of the rich, famous people in history who are obsessed with the jade stone (including millionaires like Sir Victor Sassoon, heiress Barbara Hutton, the Dowager Empress Cixi of China, and heiress Madame Wellington Koo), the stories of great excess and of love lost in which jade played a great role, the topple of kings and great dynasties and the sufferings of millions because of the beautiful green stone known as jade are amazing to read about. The tale takes place everywhere, from the imperial courts of China to Shanghai's 1930s gangster-land to London auction houses to the desperate jade-mining town of Hpakant that is filled with dying drug addicts. It's a great story and I definitely recommend it to everyone.
9) The Famished Road by Ben Okri.
This is one hell of an awesome book. As those of you who have been following this blog knows, it was the Porn Star recommended it to me. The story is a bit hard to get into at the beginning, but as you continue reading, you get drawn in further and further into the story. It's a story about Azaro, a spirit child. Spirit children are not supposed to live long in this world but Azaro decides to stay "to make happy the bruised face of the woman who would become my mother." But life isn't easy for Azaro and his parents, who are poor and live in a ghetto, especially with Azaro's spirit companions attempting to trick him into dying so he would return to the afterlife with them. There are all sorts of other characters, including a photographer and a captivating woman in charge of a palm-wine bar named Madame Koto. Because Azaro is a spirit child, he sees many things which other people cannot see, and so encounters and sees some of the most extraordinary things ever. In the middle of his wanderings and his visions, there are also occurences from the real world - the poverty which his mother and father are struggling to get through, the influence of politics in their lives, especially from the Party of the Rich who bully where they cannot influence, and their greedy landlord. It's a very beautiful book. At the back of the book is a line that says something like "Ben Okri is incapable of writing a single boring sentence" and I have to agree with that. Okri also won the 1991 Booker Prize for fiction for this book.
10) Timeline by Michael Crichton.
The same guy who wrote Jurassic Park and Congo. Congo was great, and his other book, The Great Train Robbery, was also fab. Timeline is one of my favourites though. It's about a group of historians working on a ruined French castle who are sent back in time to the very same spot they were excavating. There's a boy who turns out to be a girl, the usual bad guy, as well as the fact that they have a time limit to getting back and the quantum machine which transported them all to 17th century France has also been blown up. It's a fast-paced good adventure read.
There are tons of other good books that I can think of, but I'll save them all for more top ten book lists. In the meantime, happy reading!
(0) comments
I've just decided I'm going to give top ten lists on my blog. Darkschunt's Top Ten. The first being... my top ten list of books to recommend! Bearing in mind that there is probably going to be more than just ten books being recommended here (they don't go in any order, but they're all fab):
1) Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.
I love all her books so it was hard figuring out which one I preferred. They all give you such a nice feel-good feeling at the end, like how chick flicks do. My favourite used to be Northanger Abbey, with Emma coming in a strong second, but when I finally got around to reading Pride and Prejudice, it just toppled the rest. All I can say is...a good love story always wins the day! Hehe. Read it, then read the rest of the books, then read The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler.
2) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson.
This book is so crazy, it's awesome. Read it, then watch the movie. It's all about Thompson as a journalist named Raoul Duke, who takes a trip to Las Vegas with his Samoan lawyer in a fire-red convertible with a trunkful of drugs to cover the fabulous Mint 400 biker race for Sports Illustrated, and end up rampaging through Vegas in a completely drug-addled state, and ending up in all kinds of places such as a police drug convention and various hotel rooms, bars, casinos and diners in Vegas. It's excessive drugs, wild happenings, terrifying the hotel help, all kinds of crazy things, and a fab read.
3) The Chalice & The Blade by Glenna McReynolds
This is a romance/fantasy book and it's actually part of a trilogy. I actually like the second book, Dreamstone, best. The story takes place in the late 1100s, in Wales, about Ceridwen and Mychael, twins and the children of a woman, Rhiannon, the last of the Magus Druid Priestesses. Their home is destroyed and their parents murdered. The first book, the Chalice and the Blade is about Ceridwen and a Danish sorcerer named Dain. The second is about Mychael and an aetheling named Llynya, while the third leaps waaay to the future, and is about a Welsh prince named Morgan, who also appeared in the first book as a friend of Dain's and a cousin of Ceridwen's, and a woman named Avalynn. The story combines magic, dragons, priestesses, lords and ladies, grove priests, and elves as well, and they're very beautiful stories. I love the way she writes, how her words flow, the way she describes events and places, and it's obvious that she did a great deal of research while writing these books, which makes them even more enjoyable to read.
4) The Skull Mantra by Elliot Pattison.
I actually prefer the second book, Water Touching Stone, which I had read first, but it's probably better to read The Skull Mantra first, if you want to go in order. But both are fantastic, anyhow. These two books are about Shan, a former investigator for the Chinese government, who got too close to the truth and was sent to a labour camp in Tibet. In the first book, he is taken out of the camp and forced to become a detective once more when a headless corpse is found on the mountainside where the labourers in his camp break rock to build a road. In the second, his detective skills are put to used once more to find out what the Chinese government is looking for. Both stories are set in Tibet and are filled with Tibetan and Buddhist myths and lore. They are really great mysteries to read, as Shan encounters more and more questions and uncover conspiracies and leaves you guessing at who the killer really is, what they really want to accomplish, all set against the background of Tibet, which is absolutely beautiful. Also, the novels really highlight the injustices which the Chinese government has committed in Tibet with their political policies. Pattison has also written other books where Shan continues to solve other cases in Tibet, and I can't wait to get my hands on those books as well. He won the Edgar award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America for Skull Mantra as well.
5) Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery.
These are actually more like children's books. Remember Anne of Green Gables? L.M. Montgomery is the very same author. But I would recommend Montgomery's books to any age group because they're such sweet, beautiful books. Mark Twain once called Anne of Green Gables "the sweetest creation of child life yet written".
I love all her books but my favourite is Pat of Silver Bush and the sequel, Mistress Pat. As with all her other books, Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat is set on Prince Edward Island, where Montgomery herself grew up, and of which she describes its beauty in haunting, memorable words. Pat of Silver Bush chronicles the life of a little girl named Pat who loves her home and family and P.E. Island greatly and could never imagine leaving it. She especially loves the farm on which she grows up, Silver Bush, the one place where that horrible, fearful thing "change" seems never to occur. But change does happen, from her first day in school to the arrival of a new baby sister, and keeps coming as she grows up, but with change there is also beauty and new people to love. I found Pat's story moving and beautiful and so sweet, the two books about her life are definitely two of the books in life which I can never get tired of reading over and over again.
6) Belgarath the Sorcerer by David and Leigh Eddings.
This is actually the follow-up to the Belgariad and Malloreon trilogies. It's a huge thick block of a book(which is good! because that means: more to read!), and chronicles the life of the immortal sorcerer Belgarath. It's terribly funny, at times I was just hooting and rolling with laughter, and there are some sad bits in it too, but sad bits are what makes a good story good, you know ;)
I prefer Belgarath the Sorcerer to the follow-up, Polgara the Sorceress, the second thick book which is about his daughter, the sorceress Polgara. Don't get me wrong, I love Polgara, she's really cool, but Belgarath's story is so much more compelling, probably because a lot of Polgara's story had also already been told in Belgarath's book. You should read the trilogies first, to make some sense out of some of the bits in the Belgarad, but that should be no problem at all because those other books are really good as well. :)
7) Geisha by Liza Dalby.
This is a kind of anthropological autobiography written by Liza Dalby, the only American woman ever to become a geisha. Back in the 1970s, Dalby had lived in Kyoto in the Pontocho geisha quarters while she studied geisha as part of her college thesis. The geisha had then invited Dalby to be a geisha as well to really get into the geisha experience for her thesis. This book covers a great deal on geishas, such as their history, the different kinds of geishas such as country geisha and city geisha, their rituals and ceremonies, their relationships with each other, men, and wives, and so on, which makes a really interesting read for anyone who wants to know all about geisha. I also like several of the evocative descriptions of Japan and the places that Dalby has written. Some of the reviewers on amazon.com said they found Dalby to be a little self-centred and too full of herself. Well, perhaps, but I found the book to be a really satisfyingly good read. Another reader said she found Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha struck her as a far more truer experience of a geisha's. I wonder how she figured that out, when Dalby's book was based on true experiences while Golden's was based on interviews with a geisha who later sued him for dishonesty. Maybe because it suited the reader (who probably has never met a geisha in her life)'s sense of what a geisha should be? Anyway, I've read Golden's book and it's a nice book too, but I prefer Dalby's. The book also gives you a view on traditional Japanese cultures and traditions and some of the country's history as well.
8) The Stone of Heaven by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark.
This is a sort of historical book in which journalists Levy and Scott-Clark trace the history of the jade. The amount of research which they have compiled for this book is amazing, with richly-woven, life-compelling stories of the rich, famous people in history who are obsessed with the jade stone (including millionaires like Sir Victor Sassoon, heiress Barbara Hutton, the Dowager Empress Cixi of China, and heiress Madame Wellington Koo), the stories of great excess and of love lost in which jade played a great role, the topple of kings and great dynasties and the sufferings of millions because of the beautiful green stone known as jade are amazing to read about. The tale takes place everywhere, from the imperial courts of China to Shanghai's 1930s gangster-land to London auction houses to the desperate jade-mining town of Hpakant that is filled with dying drug addicts. It's a great story and I definitely recommend it to everyone.
9) The Famished Road by Ben Okri.
This is one hell of an awesome book. As those of you who have been following this blog knows, it was the Porn Star recommended it to me. The story is a bit hard to get into at the beginning, but as you continue reading, you get drawn in further and further into the story. It's a story about Azaro, a spirit child. Spirit children are not supposed to live long in this world but Azaro decides to stay "to make happy the bruised face of the woman who would become my mother." But life isn't easy for Azaro and his parents, who are poor and live in a ghetto, especially with Azaro's spirit companions attempting to trick him into dying so he would return to the afterlife with them. There are all sorts of other characters, including a photographer and a captivating woman in charge of a palm-wine bar named Madame Koto. Because Azaro is a spirit child, he sees many things which other people cannot see, and so encounters and sees some of the most extraordinary things ever. In the middle of his wanderings and his visions, there are also occurences from the real world - the poverty which his mother and father are struggling to get through, the influence of politics in their lives, especially from the Party of the Rich who bully where they cannot influence, and their greedy landlord. It's a very beautiful book. At the back of the book is a line that says something like "Ben Okri is incapable of writing a single boring sentence" and I have to agree with that. Okri also won the 1991 Booker Prize for fiction for this book.
10) Timeline by Michael Crichton.
The same guy who wrote Jurassic Park and Congo. Congo was great, and his other book, The Great Train Robbery, was also fab. Timeline is one of my favourites though. It's about a group of historians working on a ruined French castle who are sent back in time to the very same spot they were excavating. There's a boy who turns out to be a girl, the usual bad guy, as well as the fact that they have a time limit to getting back and the quantum machine which transported them all to 17th century France has also been blown up. It's a fast-paced good adventure read.
There are tons of other good books that I can think of, but I'll save them all for more top ten book lists. In the meantime, happy reading!
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Oh, I totally forgot to add! After that huge chicken pox scare with my flatmate, I had to go to the uni medical centre to get a check-up and they did a blood test on me to see if I had the virus. Well, I didn't, hooray, but the needle left a huge, painful bruise in my arm...it's gigantic and dark blue and green and purple and red...all very violent colours, and everyone that I've shown it to has reacted with horror and gone "Man, they fucked it up!"
So today, I'm going down again to subject myself to a vaccine for chicken pox and to demand of the nurse, "What the hell did you do to me?!?" I mean, I've heard it's normal to get bruises when you've been given a shot, but honestly, this is one huge scary bruise. It's worse than some hickies I've seen. And it makes me wonder, do I honestly want the medical centre to give me another two shots (for the chicken pox vaccine) after that first horrific shot with its subsequent horrific bruise? Do I honestly want two more horrific bruises? That hurt like hell?
Oh, and another thing I forgot! I played the best-ever prank upon the Gutter Philosopher last week! On Friday, as I was walking across the uni parking lot, I spotted his car and, mischevious idea brewing, raced over and scribbled a hasty love note from a "secret admirer". It went something like this: "My dearest ---, You don't know me, but I've loved you since the first day I set eyes on you in the pub ---. I love your beautiful green eyes, your voice like thunder. I hope this doesn't freak you out but I just had to tell you how I feel. Someday, perhaps, we can be together. I know you have a beautiful girlfriend - " *ahem* "- but it's okay, we can kill her. Ever Lovingly Yours, Your Secret Admirer."
Ignoring the weird looks I was getting from some of the other people in the parking lot, I did my best to disguise my handwriting, then folded the note and stuck it in his windshield, then made a quick escape!
And, would you believe it, the idiot got into his car, drove all the way home, and didn't see the note until the next morning.
And the next day, as I was walking home from uni, again I caught sight of his car! Obviously, I had to leave a second note from his secret admirer. About twenty minutes later, I get a call from him, going "Have you been leaving weird notes on my car?!?"
Me (in my most innocent voice): "Weird notes? On your car? What are you talking about?"
And he's going on and on about some psycho who's been leaving notes for him on his car, talking about how she wants to kill me, and how she knows where he lives (because the idiot thought the "psycho" had left the first note on his car in the middle of the night because he didn't see it until the next morning) and as I pretend shock and innocence, I did my best not to collapse laughing in the middle of the Duchess's flat.
Anyway, I had to finally let him know it was me and he goes "Oh, I knew it was you all along!" What a liar!!! You were freaked out, GP, you know you were!!!
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So today, I'm going down again to subject myself to a vaccine for chicken pox and to demand of the nurse, "What the hell did you do to me?!?" I mean, I've heard it's normal to get bruises when you've been given a shot, but honestly, this is one huge scary bruise. It's worse than some hickies I've seen. And it makes me wonder, do I honestly want the medical centre to give me another two shots (for the chicken pox vaccine) after that first horrific shot with its subsequent horrific bruise? Do I honestly want two more horrific bruises? That hurt like hell?
Oh, and another thing I forgot! I played the best-ever prank upon the Gutter Philosopher last week! On Friday, as I was walking across the uni parking lot, I spotted his car and, mischevious idea brewing, raced over and scribbled a hasty love note from a "secret admirer". It went something like this: "My dearest ---, You don't know me, but I've loved you since the first day I set eyes on you in the pub ---. I love your beautiful green eyes, your voice like thunder. I hope this doesn't freak you out but I just had to tell you how I feel. Someday, perhaps, we can be together. I know you have a beautiful girlfriend - " *ahem* "- but it's okay, we can kill her. Ever Lovingly Yours, Your Secret Admirer."
Ignoring the weird looks I was getting from some of the other people in the parking lot, I did my best to disguise my handwriting, then folded the note and stuck it in his windshield, then made a quick escape!
And, would you believe it, the idiot got into his car, drove all the way home, and didn't see the note until the next morning.
And the next day, as I was walking home from uni, again I caught sight of his car! Obviously, I had to leave a second note from his secret admirer. About twenty minutes later, I get a call from him, going "Have you been leaving weird notes on my car?!?"
Me (in my most innocent voice): "Weird notes? On your car? What are you talking about?"
And he's going on and on about some psycho who's been leaving notes for him on his car, talking about how she wants to kill me, and how she knows where he lives (because the idiot thought the "psycho" had left the first note on his car in the middle of the night because he didn't see it until the next morning) and as I pretend shock and innocence, I did my best not to collapse laughing in the middle of the Duchess's flat.
Anyway, I had to finally let him know it was me and he goes "Oh, I knew it was you all along!" What a liar!!! You were freaked out, GP, you know you were!!!
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I've just been about exhausted this weekend...with Friday and Saturday nights being *birthday nights* and then Saturday and Sunday being spent working on production for the uni newspaper... but now I've just been about done, done, done, and it's the beginning of the 2-week break... well, for me anyway!!! *BEAMS*
Well, more of a three-week break because I'm done so early. Hehehe. Other people like Pharrell and the Gutter Philosopher and my flatmates are still working hard for finals and assignments. SUCKERS!!!
Well, after the 2-week break, I'd be pretty busy too, because I just got the role of...features editor!!! For the next production of the paper! Hooray...
Anyway, weekend recap! Friday was spent organising a surprise birthday party for the Duchess who turns...23!!! She was well and properly surprised :) and nearly fell backwards over Mystery Wolf when we shouted "SURPRISE!" at her. And we got her *kind of drunk* but not satisfactorily drunk, so we'll do that another time, so the Duchess, you had better watch out!!!
We also have loads of great videos of the party with the Duchess being drunk and us waking Pastel Boxers up and all kinds of other rubbish. *beams*
Then it was Saturday and work all day before heading to a joint birthday party for Nanny Bones and Shuddup. As usual with those kind of parties, it would never be complete with someone getting into a fight, in this case, the Coloured Fringe and some random guy whose name I do not know. What happened was: Random Guy entered the bathroom with a girl, Colored Fringe and the Dancer started pounding on the door and yelling raucously and the next time I turned around, Random Guy came racing out of the bathroom and started fighting with the Coloured Fringe. All very interesting. What I wanted to know was, why, with three or four bedrooms available in the house, couldn't Random Guy and his girl use one of the bedrooms instead of using the tiny bathroom?!?
Anyway, I didn't get home till almost three and had to get up at ten the next day for more work on the production and by the time I got home, I was so tired and grumpy and urgh...the weather pretty much sucked too. And I was getting to the end of The Magus, which so bloody hell depressed me...but everyone, it's a good book! Yay for the Lost Smoker for recommending it to me! But anyway, the weather is still cold, but I'm no longer tired and I have no more work to do and the break is here so things are looking up! :)
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Well, more of a three-week break because I'm done so early. Hehehe. Other people like Pharrell and the Gutter Philosopher and my flatmates are still working hard for finals and assignments. SUCKERS!!!
Well, after the 2-week break, I'd be pretty busy too, because I just got the role of...features editor!!! For the next production of the paper! Hooray...
Anyway, weekend recap! Friday was spent organising a surprise birthday party for the Duchess who turns...23!!! She was well and properly surprised :) and nearly fell backwards over Mystery Wolf when we shouted "SURPRISE!" at her. And we got her *kind of drunk* but not satisfactorily drunk, so we'll do that another time, so the Duchess, you had better watch out!!!
We also have loads of great videos of the party with the Duchess being drunk and us waking Pastel Boxers up and all kinds of other rubbish. *beams*
Then it was Saturday and work all day before heading to a joint birthday party for Nanny Bones and Shuddup. As usual with those kind of parties, it would never be complete with someone getting into a fight, in this case, the Coloured Fringe and some random guy whose name I do not know. What happened was: Random Guy entered the bathroom with a girl, Colored Fringe and the Dancer started pounding on the door and yelling raucously and the next time I turned around, Random Guy came racing out of the bathroom and started fighting with the Coloured Fringe. All very interesting. What I wanted to know was, why, with three or four bedrooms available in the house, couldn't Random Guy and his girl use one of the bedrooms instead of using the tiny bathroom?!?
Anyway, I didn't get home till almost three and had to get up at ten the next day for more work on the production and by the time I got home, I was so tired and grumpy and urgh...the weather pretty much sucked too. And I was getting to the end of The Magus, which so bloody hell depressed me...but everyone, it's a good book! Yay for the Lost Smoker for recommending it to me! But anyway, the weather is still cold, but I'm no longer tired and I have no more work to do and the break is here so things are looking up! :)
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