Friday Finds - Moments (Jan 27, 2012)

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading

What great books did you hear about or discover this past week?

I was at work when I noticed that my colleague owned a copy of the Paulo Coelho Moments 2012 Day Planner. I've never seen it before but seems that it was sold at the Borders bookstore.

What a pretty, eye-catching cover! I definitely would not mind looking at it every day. It looks like it has some Indian elements of decoration as well as an other-worldly feel to it.

Book description from Amazon:

Journey through the year with a selection of quotes from Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho has inspired millions with bestselling classics like The Alchemist and The Pilgrimage. Now, with this 2012 daily planner, the same wisdom that draws readers to his books can serve as a source of daily inspiration year round. Begin each day with an inspiring quote from some of Coelho’s most celebrated works as you plan your daily tasks, travels, and personal journeys.

Featuring:
• Vibrant color ilustrations by Colombian artist Catalina Estrada
• Weekly format with plenty of writing space
• Lightweight, easy to carry size (5-3/16 x 8)
• Yearly planner to help keep important dates at a glance

Would you like to get a copy of it? The year's still early. It's still January! :)

BTT: Writing Or Riveting? (Jan 26, 2012)

This week's Booking Through Thursday question:

What’s more important: Good writing? Or a good story?
(Of course, a book should have BOTH, but…)

My answer:

Hmm, tricky question. I do enjoy reading good writing and also a good story at the same time. I guess when reading a good story, one might tend to forget about the writing altogether. However, if the writing is really bad, the story would be spoilt for the reader. So, for me, good writing is important. :)

Teaser Tuesdays (Jan 17, 2012)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Current read: Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Page 95

I'm already making good progress with this party - in fact, I'm quite proud of myself, bearing in mind I'm not a professional party planner or anything. I've bought a special notebook, which I've disguised by writing High-heeled boots - possible options on the front.

Merry Christmas 2011!

Hi everybody! Here's wishing you guys a Merry Christmas! :) I know I've not updated this blog for several months now. I hope to try writing more here, and reading books too of course, soon.

Happy Holidays!

Day 4 - 30-Day Book Meme

This is the fourth post for the 30-Day Book Meme.

Day 04 – Favourite book of your favourite series

In Day 3's post, I picked the Harry Potter books as my favourite series. So I'll now pick Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as my favourite book of my favourite series.

Why this book? I guess it's because of the affectionate bond and relationship between Harry and his godfather, Sirius. In the beginning, Harry thought Sirius murdered his parents but realised after that that his allegations were wrong. It turned out that Sirius was Harry's godfather, making him the only other friendly 'relative' that Harry ever had. I guess that's about it about why I liked the book. I haven't read it in years so I can't elaborate more on it. :/

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Previous questions and answers:

Day 01 - The best book you read last year
Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times
Day 03 – Your favourite series

Book Review: The Cardturner by Louis Sachar

I finished reading The Cardturner by Louis Sachar last week. I enjoyed reading it although the story revolves around the card of bridge, a game that I'm not familiar with at all! Even so, I give the book four out of five stars! :) Read my full review here on my book review blog.

Now reading: The Cardturner

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Book Journey.

Now reading: The Cardturner by Louis Sachar

Last read book: Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont

What I plan to read next: I have no idea! Any recommendations?

My trip to Logos Hope - floating book fair!

This afternoon, my mom and I made our way to go onboard the ship, Logos Hope, 'venue' to the world's largest floating book fair.

It's the second time that I visited a floating book fair. The last time was around 10 years ago when the Doulos ship (with books for sale!) came to Penang, Malaysia. I'm not sure what happened to Doulos but its sister ship, Logos Hope, is here in Penang right now.

It arrived at Swettenham Pier at Weld Quay on August 19 but opened its doors to the public on Aug 25.

According to news reports, there are over 5,000 book titles for sale on the ship, with prices ranging from RM8 to RM16 for paperbacks.

Sure, there might be lots of books because I wished there had been more space to move around on the ship!

Before going up the ship, we already had to queue up in a long line to register our names and Identity Card number. It is a Sunday today but I certainly did not expect a crowd to throng the fair. Well, it's not everyday that anyone can go onboard a ship at only RM1 for an adult and free for kids below age 12. Of course, shutterbugs took the opportunity to snap pictures away.

Once up the ship, I knew it was going to be hard to be able to check out every book displayed there. So I just inched and wormed my way around to check out the various titles.

There weren't that many fiction titles. Most of them I haven't heard of. But there were shelves dedicated only for Narnia books and those by Enid Blyton. There were Christian fiction and thrillers by David Baldacci.

Other general titles were also available such as cooking, gardening, health, family, spiritual, devotion, etc. Lots of books for kids too.

I finally bought The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer. It's a mystery/thriller sort of book about the murder weapon which Cain used to kill Abel and somehow Superman is also involved in it.

So I paid the cashier and walked my way out while following the journey of The Prodigal Son. It was a series of cartoon pictures of a young man who squandered all the money his father gave him.

Anyway, we could not leave the ship immediately as it was raining cats and dogs. We decided to stop by the International Cafe and ordered a pie, cake and drinks. And yes, it was crowded there too.

I think it'd be better to visit the ship on weekdays when it wouldn't be so packed.

Details to remember!
Logos Hope @ Swettenham Pier, Weld Quay, Penang
Open to the public until Sept 25
Time: 10am - 10pm (Tue - Sat) and 1pm - 10pm (Sun). Closed on Mondays.

Good news! Logos Hope will also make its way to other states in Malaysia:

Port Klang (Sept 29 - Oct 23)
Kuching (Oct 28 - Nov 14)
Kota Kinabalu (Nov 18 - Dec 4)

Enjoy your trip there!