tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40574242011-07-29T13:00:39.504+08:00the diet of a bookloverolduvainoreply@blogger.comBlogger461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-2985922763126422722009-03-03T00:44:00.014+08:002009-10-29T00:17:34.553+08:00

September 2009 Fiction (8) The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (RIP IV) The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (RIP IV) The Collector of Hearts by Joyce Carol Oates (RIP IV) Breath by Tim Winton Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (RIP IV) Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (Sci-fi Challenge) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

olduvainoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-81187944915420018552008-11-30T10:19:00.001+08:002009-01-16T00:38:33.966+08:00

December 2008How the Mind Works - Steven PinkerHenry and Cato - Iris MurdochLunar Park - Bret Easton EllisThe Book Thief - Markus ZusakThe Death of Artemio Cruz - Carlos FuentesLove - Toni MorrisonThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel SparkThe Tenderness of Wolves - Stef PenneyThe Diving Pool - Yoko OgawaThe Debt to Pleasure - John LanchesterDaphne - Justine PicardieOffbeat bride - Ariel

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-79702147250667817912008-11-30T09:43:00.000+08:002008-11-30T21:52:19.123+08:00

And all of you so beautifulI want to bring you home with meto sit close on the couch.My invitation inserted in six billion bottles,corked with bark from the final forestand dropped in the ocean of my longing.We would speak the language of no words,pass the jug of our drunken joyat being babies growing into death.Sometimes, I know, life is stupid, pointless,beside the point, but here's the point —

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-16550536269207098932008-09-09T15:04:00.000+08:002008-10-09T15:09:57.926+08:00

Packing up. The nagging worry of departure. Lost keys, unwritten labels, tissue paper lying on the floor. I hate it all. Even now, when I have done so much of it, when I live, as the saying goes, in my boxes. Even today, when shutting drawers and flinging wide an hotel wardrobe, or the impersonal shelves of a furnished villa, is a methodical matter of routine, I am aware of sadness, of a sense of

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-21896022316077406232007-12-31T13:33:00.000+08:002008-01-28T22:22:34.397+08:00

December 2007Pankaj Mishra – The RomanticsKeith Donohue – The Stolen ChildMary Gaitskill – VeronicaAnthony Bourdain – The Nasty BitsLeiths Baking BibleHeather McGowan - SchoolingAlberto Fuguet - Bad VibesAlice Munro - The View from Castle RockHella S. Haasse – Forever A Stranger and Other StoriesNovember 2007Gertrude Stein – The Autobiography of Alice B. ToklasAlain de Botton – How Proust Can

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1125977374965568652006-12-31T00:59:00.000+08:002007-12-30T14:44:40.651+08:00

December 2006Hilary Mantel – Learning to TalkJeremy Mercer – Time was Soft ThereAlice Sebold – LuckyMike Dash – ThugKevin Rushby – Children of KaliNovember 2006Rudyard Kipling – Something of MyselfBarbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild – Global WomanDeclan Quigley – Interpretation of CasteMarjane Satrapi – PersepolisE.M. Forster – A Passage to IndiaLionel Shrive – We Need To Talk About

olduvainoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1139974351058941572006-02-15T11:30:00.000+08:002006-02-15T11:32:31.060+08:00

I was a bit early for my lunch with a friend at Bugis Junction so I took a slow walk through the mall, noticing several men in the perfume section buying last-minute Valentine's Day gifts. The store was abuzz with life, despite it being a Tuesday early afternoon. Couples gazed adoringly into each others' eyes over $22 VDay set lunches, young couples strolled hand in hand, the girl often cradling

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-89066628990507384022005-12-31T14:44:00.000+08:002007-12-30T15:07:10.081+08:00

December 2005Rick Moody - The Black VeilJoan Didion - Where I Was FromJohn Irving - Until I Find YouKazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me GoWilliam S Burroughs - JunkyCharlotte Moore - George And SamZZ Packer - Drinking Coffee ElsewhereSiri Hustevdt - What I LovedPaul Auster - TimbuktuStephen Chbosky - Perks Of Being A WallflowerNovember 2005Ruth Reichl Comfort Me With ApplesRichard Perez The Losers

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1127130621172365322005-09-05T19:49:00.000+08:002005-11-21T12:22:09.703+08:00

Just got started on this book.Am already captured by this second paragraph of the first chapter. It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you. People's failings, even major ones such as when they make you wear short trousers to school, fall into insignificance as your teeth break through the rough, toasted crust and sink into the doughy cushion of white bread underneath. Once the

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1122383547906313662005-07-26T21:12:00.000+08:002005-07-26T21:12:27.923+08:00

I picked up this book on a whim, while browsingat Orchard Library last week.I'd never heard of it, nor of Sutton, but thecover attracted (how horribly superficial),although it was a simple one, of one of the wingsof a plane.Gave a cursory glance at the back blurb and readthe first few pages which described someone'snervousness about flying - the vibration in theseat, the 'seemingly electrically

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1122273353725864372005-07-25T14:35:00.000+08:002005-07-25T14:35:53.726+08:00

olduvainoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1076718940976717232004-02-14T08:35:00.000+08:002004-02-14T08:38:11.106+08:00

So I picked up Nick Hornby's 31 Songs as a gift for a friend. But decided that since I wasn't gonna give it away just yet, I'd read it first. Hornby's somewhat famous for his hits About A Boy and High Fidelity, which were turned into pretty successful films, and many people I know are serious fans of High Fidelity, them music freaks. Anyway, 31 songs is another book for the music freak I figure

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1076248539780923682004-02-08T21:55:00.000+08:002004-02-08T21:58:02.450+08:00

Will Self is a bit of controversial journalist as journalists come. He was the restaurant critic for The Observer for 2 years in the 1990s and wrote for several other British papers like The Independent. Self's also an author. Apparently he got fired from The Observer after admitting to have taken heroin while onboard then-Prime Minister John Major's plane while covering the campaign.' More

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1071306531219541152003-12-13T17:08:00.000+08:002003-12-13T17:15:20.576+08:00

Martin Amis' Yellow Dog Amy Tan's The Opposite Of Fate Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake Charles Baxter's SAul And Patsy Paul Auster's The Book Of Illusions Dave Egger's You Shall Know Our Velocity JM Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello DBC PIerre's Vernon God Little Salman Rushdie's Step Across This Line

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1071105968511170372003-12-11T09:26:00.000+08:002003-12-11T09:41:33.576+08:00

The year is coming to a close (unfortunately!!) and here's the list of books i've read this year. For some reason, my list only starts in February and for the life of me I can't remember why that's so! Some, like the Bridget Jones series, were read for a second time. Looking through the list I realise it's a more varied listing than in previous years. There are more non-fiction books, more

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1070851706718238852003-12-08T10:48:00.000+08:002003-12-11T09:23:40.483+08:00

The Boston Globe's top picks The Village Voice's best of 2003 The Sydney Morning Herald's list of best books of 2003. The Boston Globe's best books The New York Times' list

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1067174794709629602003-10-26T21:26:00.000+08:002003-10-26T21:26:38.496+08:00

I've heard of this book, well the title at least, for quite a while now but never was interested enough to pick it up. I dont know what made me pick it up at the library last week but i'm glad i did. it was a good read. kinda expected it to be the usual ''in my days' type of chinese novel. which i am frankly very sick of. but it wasn't . it was interestingly abt a chinese prostitute in san

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1066870301933390442003-10-23T08:51:00.000+08:002003-10-23T08:51:41.420+08:00

I am a big fan of libraries - after all, where else can u read books for free? And I do want to applaud the National Library Board for extending their reach. I mean, libraries in shopping malls? That's a brilliant idea! However, I do have something to complain about. Just how is it that the library will only stock certain books in certain libraries? And in some cases, a library will only

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1066350857709484112003-10-17T08:29:00.000+08:002003-10-17T08:34:17.430+08:00

The Guardian has a list of the top 100 novels of all time. Not everyone agrees with them I'm sure. how many have you read? Find out here My count's 22. but then i can't remember whether i've read a few of them. i guess then i can't count them if i can't remember them!!

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1066093499005142852003-10-14T09:04:00.000+08:002003-10-14T09:04:59.140+08:00

of remarkable things isn't that a gorgeous title? I think i'd heard of it somewher else before and it caught my eye at the library. I'm just starting on it but I do like the way he opens the book. With sound. To further illustrate what i mean here's a sentence from the second paragraph of the book. 'The low soothing hum of air-conditioners, fanning out the heat and the smells of shops and

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1065279726051227352003-10-04T22:33:00.000+08:002003-10-04T23:02:06.206+08:00

I figured it's about time I posted something to this blog, this poor neglected blog. So let me tell you what I've been reading. All about it. In the morning I get up and read the newspapers -- the Straits Times (skimming thru really cos i already know what's in the papers the night before), Streats and Today. On Wednesdays I also do a quick flip of the computer times. I have been trying to

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1062633699995481502003-09-04T08:01:00.000+08:002003-09-04T08:02:59.463+08:00

Reading Different Seasons for the umpteenth time. It's Stephen King's most brilliant book. A collection of 4 novella (they're really too long to be called short stories so i think novella is the right word? but please correct me if i'm wrong) My favourite of the four is the Shawshank Redemption. It's a well-crafted story, narrated by Red, who's Shawshank's get-man. He gets whatever the inmates

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1062224055055295862003-08-30T14:14:00.000+08:002003-08-30T14:14:15.050+08:00

am abt half way thru margaret atwood's latest boo - courtesy o me sis who bought it 4 me bday pressie. Oryx And Crake is its name - havent heard muchgood abt it tho so bit apprehensive but quite like it. i guess it cld b called sci-fi somewat. it's set in the future n has a lot 2 do with cloning n stuff. short post. hand still hurts

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1061253911250940462003-08-19T08:45:00.000+08:002003-08-19T08:45:11.170+08:00

weird questions

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1060677364497426232003-08-12T16:36:00.000+08:002003-08-12T16:36:04.390+08:00

a colleague recently loaned me a whole stack of books. written by various asian writers. the one i'm reading now is The Girl From Purple Mountain by May-lee Chai and Winberg Chai it's your typical chinese-american exploration of family ancestry and in turn, learning more about oneself tale. similar perhaps to the most famous of all chinese-american authors, amy tan. but barely half as

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1059879587040797392003-08-03T10:59:00.000+08:002003-08-03T10:59:47.013+08:00

Here's a great link to free books. might get tiring, after all, who's got the patience to read a whole book on the computer? But here it is anyway, Bibliomania

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1059707641625836842003-08-01T11:14:00.000+08:002003-08-01T11:14:01.606+08:00

Another attempt at reading an autobiography. The other more recent one was the Katharine Graham book. which gave an interesting insight into the world of newspaper publishing. and that she was acquainted with Truman Capote. I did pick up a book yesterday in the library that mentioned that some author had Capote as a neighbour when she was young. He appears everywhere! anyhoo...In Retrospect is

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1059707384916913102003-08-01T11:09:00.000+08:002003-08-01T11:09:44.910+08:00

I picked up this book at the SPH sale for charity. i think it cost $5. It was an intriguing blurb at the back which reads: 'If you have a vagina you know that most of hte time it is without sensation...how do your kidneys feel? How does your pancreas feel? Luckily we have no idea how these things feel. The vagina is mostly like a pancreas and feels nothing. If it feels something, it is either

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-1059706940379417662003-08-01T11:02:00.000+08:002003-08-01T11:02:20.236+08:00

Here's my first attempt at a book review. Be nice. The Dive From Clausen’s Pier My library copy of The Dive From Clausen’s Pier came with a bright sticker stamped loudly with ‘Good Morning America’and ‘Read This!’. Ouch. Carrie Bell, recently out of college, needs to grow up faster than she can imagine. Her relationship with high school sweetheart Mike Mayer (the Mr Congeniality type) is

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-953497842003-06-06T08:57:00.000+08:002003-06-06T08:57:09.153+08:00

Oh man wld u believe. someonés compiled a list of BOOK REVIEW sites.

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-949315052003-05-27T16:25:00.000+08:002003-05-27T16:25:30.866+08:00

great list no 1 great list no 2

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-946061002003-05-20T08:12:00.000+08:002003-05-27T16:27:57.000+08:00

New York Book Review

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-944741522003-05-17T06:50:00.000+08:002003-05-17T06:50:35.070+08:00

Michael Ruhlman. The Soul of a Chef English 641.50922 RUH -[COO] (orch, cck, jw)

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-944211402003-05-16T08:57:00.000+08:002003-05-16T08:58:26.000+08:00

some reading suggestions The Sea, The Sea, by Iris Murdoch. Virginia Woolf-- The Voyage Out Non-fiction: Nickle and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenbach Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities 19th century: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins Graham Swift: Last Orders. Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex Tim O'Brian: July, July Leif Enger: Peace Like a River Sebastian Faulkes: Birdsong Margaret Drabble: Seven

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-941335662003-05-11T12:18:00.000+08:002003-05-11T12:18:08.576+08:00

currently reading: The Emperor Of Ocean Park. just finished with Dave Eggers' Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius. i will have to disput e the 'staggering genius' bit. i think he did a good job and it was an interesting work but staggering genius. ha.

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-918954222003-04-03T13:49:00.000+08:002003-04-03T13:49:59.890+08:00

had to return the books so was only about 3/4 of the way thru Sophie's Choice and about 1/4 thru The Invisible Man (The Wells' one) and then had to say goodbye. when they were returned, discovered to my horror that The Trial was still sitting on my table, looking all forlorn by its lonesome self. so i dashed to the PC, got onto the Internet and clicked on the RENEW slot, suffering a 50cent fine

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-904224852003-03-10T07:30:00.000+08:002003-03-10T07:30:40.170+08:00

Ok finished that lot of books! (except the John Cheever) he's got a heap of stories in there and almost all of them are brilliant so i'm just taking my time to finish it. heck even if it means paying the 50cent renewal fee at the library! also just picked up The Music Room by Dennis Macfarland. haven't really begun it yet but it seems to open with the suicide of the main character's brother.

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-899732372003-03-02T07:49:00.000+08:002003-03-02T07:52:48.000+08:00

it's not as if i haven't been reading. i just haven't been posting. currently attacking three books and wondering if i can get them back to the library on time! Stories Of John Cheever, COme And Go Molly Snow, The Fourth Hand Definitely relishing the John Cheever. He is so brilliant! I savour each word, each description that i'm reading so slowly. And it is quite a thick book. I guess it's good

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-895352332003-02-22T12:22:00.000+08:002003-02-22T12:22:12.030+08:00

read Kelly Gang. now why did i hesitate to read this book for so long? it's excellent. i took only 2 days to read this. i would rate it a 9er! now gettin to work on John Cheever's short stories. the first i read so far is good. he's got this way of describing things, people, places that i admire. nothing too long-winded or confusing. his choice of words is simple yet very pleasing. i wish i could

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-894029812003-02-20T09:56:00.000+08:002003-02-20T09:56:42.470+08:00

took my books in and took another five out. Finally readin: Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang Mary-Ann Taylor Hall's Come and go Molly Snow Stories of JOhn Cheever JOanne Harris' Blackberry Wine JOhn Irving's The Fourth Hand (one of my fave authors but doesn't look as interesting as his other books - but then again what could beat The World According To Garp?)

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-892892512003-02-18T14:09:00.000+08:002003-02-18T14:09:47.020+08:00

alrighty! books due tomoro. luckily i've got almost everything read. yah managed to finish Brothers K. mazing story. that's unfortunately all i can say about it. also managed to finish Happenstance by Carol Shields. Fell in love with her Stone Diaries ages ago when it was done in my practical criticism class in jc. this novel was vastly different less rich description-wise but also pretty good.

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-888361702003-02-10T14:05:00.000+08:002003-02-10T14:05:53.200+08:00

CR: the Brothers K i didn't expect it to be that long, and it is pretty long. yet i've managed to stay with it so far, being about halfway through at the moment. unfortunately, i don't understand some parts of it, those that refer to baseball (and that's a whole lot). i'm from a non-baseball nation. i've never played it, never seen it bein played. (also cos i don't have cable) so it's kinda

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-870867382003-01-08T09:10:00.000+08:002003-01-08T09:16:49.000+08:00

Have decided to be lame and post the books i read in 2002. long list. well not that long. could be much longer, if i wasn't glued to the TV/Computer! January/02 A. S. Byatt - The Biographer's Tale (Unfinished) January/02 Charles Dickens - A Tale of 2 Cities (Unfinished) January/02 Garrison Keillor - Lake Woebegone Days (7) January/02 Haruki Murakami - south of the border, West of the Sun (

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-869611112003-01-05T21:57:00.000+08:002003-01-05T22:08:24.000+08:00

Currently reading: Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee by Meera Syal. Her name might sound familiar to non-readers...but probably only if you are a fan of Goodness Gracious Me. I do believe she plays the wonderfully catty Smita Smitten.... the woman with the means to get into celebrity circles, or so she'd have us believe. Delightful story bout 3 Asian women in the UK. her characters are funny and quite

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-866976952002-12-30T22:29:00.000+08:002002-12-30T22:29:11.860+08:00

Susan Orlean's The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup - a great collection of feature stories she's written and had published in various magazines. She tells true tales of several varied characters. From a female toreador, to a grown-up girl band that never quite made it, to a champion dogshow dog. She observes and brings us into their lives but never intrudes on their privacy. Also the author of The

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057424.post-866571202002-12-29T20:37:00.000+08:002002-12-29T20:45:36.000+08:00

it's the last few days of the year. goodbye 2002, hello 2003! Currently reading: The Two Towers, second in the Lord of the Rings series, but of course you knew that. And I have learnt that Peter Jackson has taken matters into his own hands and made quite a few changes! Eowyn (the fair-haired maiden in lust with Aragorn in the movie) is not such a prominent character. In fact, she doesn''t even

olduvainoreply@blogger.com0