Read Much?

Music: If I'm Saying Nothing by Landon Pigg

Night shift blearghh. Its been a while since I last wrote about books. Haven't had the chance to read that many lately, compared to last year. And surprisingly, I've only bought less than 5 books this year, which is a feat, considering I've been buying on average 2 books a month in 2008 and 2009. Today I wanted to buy 2 books but couldn't find both of them at both Borders and MPH. I was at Midvalley for 7 hrs and all I got was this really cheap bag that cost less than RM40. Some unknown force wants me to save my money!

Earlier this year, I managed to finish 3 books out of 6 from the Tudor series by Philippa Gregory - The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance. The first 2 books are really really good..the 3rd one is a little bland by comparison, but interesting nonetheless. I've been a little obsessed with the Tudors dynasty.. I watched the tv series (JRM and Henry Cavill are wonderful eye candies), and I wanted more doses of the Tudor world so I bought all 6 books but the last 3 books are not about Henry VIII anymore but his daughters etc so I stopped for a while. I want to know more about his era before I start on Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I. The Tudors last episode final season just finished recently, hungry for more, so now I'm currently reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which centers around the life of Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's chief ministers. Only 2 chapters in, and already I'm taken, should be a good book. It also won the 2009 Man Booker Prize. I have no idea that award is prestigious to what extent, I guess its a pretty significant one kot.

After the 3 books, I wanted to read something short and light, so I picked up Chuck Pahlaniuk's Fight Club.. I've watched the movie many years ago when I was in Form3 ke 4 tak ingat.. I remembered quite a bit about the movie.. except the ending! It turned out to be a really good read, Pahlaniuk is very funny and witty in a twisted kind of way. And it was awesome that I could imagine Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as the characters.

Then I read Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire, sequel to Wicked, which I'm also crazy about. The storyline is darker than I expected, definitely not a children's book, do not be fooled. But it was more like a drifting story rather than a focused one. In the end, I had no idea what the author was trying to say. I don't dislike the book though, it was just ok. I was humored by some of the words that Maguire used, coz some of them are weird sounding words that I'm pretty sure do not exist in the English vocab, but understandable nonetheless. Anyway, I've memorized almost all the songs and lyrics from the broadway Wicked. Its my dream to go watch the show, I probably won't have to wait too long I hope. Next on the series is A Lion Among Men, have yet to read that one.

During my trip to Singapore last month, I decided to read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, breaking from the usual fiction fix. I bought it only because coz its so huge in the US. It's the third book by the author, who scored big with his first book Tipping Point. In essence, Gladwell explained how and why all the successful and rich people in the world are, well, successful. Mainly, it can be boiled down to being at the right place at the right time, and a whole lot of luck. I couldn't draw anything useful out of the book, Gladwell simply painted a picture of reality to the usual rags-to-riches story that we usually hear by taking on a different angle. In conclusion, it didn't impress me at all and I don't understand why the Americans are crazy about this guy. Its a good thing I only spent RM20 on the book at a Popular warehouse sale. Serves me right for trying to read a non-fiction book hahahahh.. Just not my thing. But I really liked Bill Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything.. that was a really good one!

So I'm only on to reading my 7th book this year.. I guess its not that bad, a book a month... 600 more pages to go.. I now transport myself to 16th century England..