30 day book meme - catching up, 5 to 10.
I've been either too busy or too tired for LJ. My new job keeps me really busy - I work five to six days a week, either 9.30AM to 6.45PM or 12.45PM to 10PM (10.30 on Saturdays), and then there's travelling time, so generally by the time I get home it's late, I'm tired, and I just want to curl up and read, or chat with friends on AIM, or watch Supernatural or The Mentalist or Justice League Unlimited, or one of the Ancient Egypt documentaries if I'm not too braindead.
Also, I recently bought and read the John Constantine graphic novel Hellblazer: Pandemonium and it was AWESOME. It has ancient Sumerian ruins and the goddesh Ishtar and Christian demons who were once worshipped as gods in the Middle East and ruined temples and a poker game with the gods and of course John himself... basically, almost everything I love. ♥ And there was this awesome bit on the last page that really resonated with me (Singapore just had an election, and I am disappointed, although proud of some areas). Here's the quote:
Blame the gods' cold machinations, or the fundamental violence of human nature; but which of us with the privilege to vote can claim innocence for the filthy crime of war? We have the choice who leads us, apathetic, into pandemonium." - John Constantine in Hellblazer: Pandemonium.
Awesome, isn't it?
Also, the 7th of May was Free Comic Book Day! :D We celebrated it at Kinokuniya by giving away free comics, giving away little Green Lantern figurines with every purchase, giving members a 20% discount on all comics, and having Stormtroopers and Darth Vader himself turn up for photos. :D
I also took advantage of that discount (I don't have a staff discount) to get myself the tenth Lucifer volume, Lucifer: Morningstar, and the Absolute Death volume! EEEEE. :D
Okay, so I could not resist. That's me in a black tank top and an ankh pendant, with my Absolute Death volume. ♥ In retrospect, I should have let my hair down, it's wild enough that if I ever did dress as Death properly, I wouldn't need a wig. The book is GORGEOUS, isn't it? As befits a beautiful character, say I. I wish my Mac camera hadn't laterally inverted everything though. ;_;
Now, on to the book meme. Since I haven't been online for so many days, I'm going to cheat by answering questions 5 to 10 in one post. XD
5. A book you acquired in some interesting way.
In this short post, I mentioned the Borders shopping trip with my mother. In actuality, I only had a Borders gift card of $20, and a little over $50 in cash. We ran into a young woman who said she'd got a lot of Borders gift cards and was selling them - $20 for a $20 gift card, etc. I was highly tempted, but in the end I said no. I'd been wondering whether to get Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches or Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: A Game of You and then I was sorely tempted by a lovely verse translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. I remember jokingly asking for some sort of sign from Above. Then my mother... found a blank $100 gift card on the floor. Seriously.
I knew that if I'd lost a bookstore gift card I'd be heartbroken, so we waited for a while, but saw noone walking around looking for anything. Taking it to the information counter revealed that no-one had come to report a lost gift card, and also that $30 of the card's value had already been used, so it only had seventy dollars left. I felt really guilty and we dithered for the longest time, but eventually we decided to use it. So I got all three books and my mother also chose a book. XD
6. A book with a story for you, that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time).
Most of my books, really. XD Although the Sandman comics signify an entire new era for me. I started reading them at the beginning of 2009, which was also a time of lots of new beginnings for me. I'd just started at junior college, and was still adjusting to the new school, new people, new subjects, the sheer difference from secondary school, and some other huge changes in my personal life. Also, I had only just begun roleplaying as Gabriel at lt_safe_house . To this day, I remember finding the Sandman volumes in the library, gleefully borrowing them, and being blown away as I began to read Preludes & Nocturnes. I remember all the dreams I had featuring Morpheus. I remember walking around with my nose in Sandman on the way to classes, at the lunch table with my classmates, in class when the teacher was late, and even on the bus home sometimes. I normally never read in buses or cars but I couldn't put those slim volumes down. I remember the music I was listening to at the time, and sitting by the window on the 853 (with its chilly air-conditioning) home, watching the sun begin to set over a reservoir as Leave Out All The Rest played on my old Creative MP4. I remember sitting in the library and making my first LTSH post, and replying to Ishtar, who'd responded to that post. I remember sobbing as I read The Kindly Ones and The Wake in one night, and then going to bed and dreaming I too was at the Wake. I remember those first conversations with_silverfox and apocryphal_muse and kunenk and everyone at LTSH and the OOC comm, mad_prophecies , and via e-mails and AIM. At that time my brother usually bought dinner for us from a specific place on the way home if he was working late, so I remember sitting in the hall, eating that distinctive-tasting masala thosai with one hand and propping up a Sandman volume with the other.
So, yes, those books remind me of many people and places, of songs and food, of feelings, and of a time of new beginnings. ♥
7. What fictional character are you (secretly) in love with?
This is an easy one, and not secret at ALL, considering my username. XDDD Sirius Black from Harry Potter, of course! He has been my dream man since I was 12 and remains my dream man, literally.
However, I also have a thing for Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson from Discworld, Remus Lupin from HP, Aragorn from LotR, Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens... this list is going to go on forever, so I'll shut up now.
8. The last book you acquired, and how (begged, bought, borrowed?)
I already mentioned this earlier. XD Lucifer: Morningstar and Absolute Death! 8D *bounces in glee*
Just remembered that I can flip them the right way on Photoshop. I should have remembered that for the Death photos. -_-
9. Your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next.
Um, I just finished reading The Dresden Files: Storm Front. It was really good, I think I may have discovered a new fandom, hence the new tag. XD I blame sunflower_mynah for tempting me. XD I'm planning to start the next book in the series, Fool Moon, tomorrow. (Today I will be blogging, Photoshopping, writing, and later watching Supernatural with Mum, hopefully).
10. What author do you own the most books by and why?
Sigh, once upon a time I'd have said Enid Blyton. I owned the ENTIRE Famous Five series, most of the Secret Seven books, the entire Riddle series, the entire Malory Towers series, a few books of the St.Clare and Naughtiest Girl series (I borrowed and read the others), The Enchanted Wood and The Folk of The Faraway Tree, the entire Amelia Jane and Mr Pink-Whistle series, several books of the Adventure series (is that what it was called? The one with the four kids and Prince Paul of Bavaria?), most of the Five Find-Outers and Dog series, this collection about this family on a farm and their city cousins who come to live with them (I can't recall the titles, but IIRC the farm family siblings were John, Jane and Susan and the city cousins were Cyril, Melanie and Roderick), and SO MANY of the Rewards short story collections. And probably a few more I can't recall.
Sadly, as I grew and my tastes grew with me and I needed more shelf space, I was forced by my parents to give away most of them though I still loved rereading them. ;_; *sobs*
These days... *goes to look at bookshelves* Right now, it's Terry Pratchett. I own about nineteen or twenty of his books (and the Bromeliad volume is a collection of three books, too). I do have the entire Discworld collection as e-books but I prefer actual books, so I'm not counting the e-books.
Why? Why NOT? He's an amazing, witty, talented author. I can never put his books down once started (they're responsible for so many of my sleepless nights), I love his plots and characters and places, and I really have learnt a lot. His writing is both hilarious and thought-provoking. And the author himself is made of awesomeness - after being knighted by the Queen, he FORGED HIS OWN SWORD out of iron from a meteorite. How epically cool is that?
My brother has over twenty, probably thirty, of his books, so between us we almost have the entire collection with lots of double copies. I need a bookcase made of sapient pearwood just for the Discworld books. XD
There. :D Off to spend some quality time with my new comics and wrap them in plastic.