Book find: Gatsby's Girl

Whenever I'm at Booksale, I get lost in my own little world.

The place is like a treasure trove full of books. The thrill of not knowing what you'll find, the calming effect of aimlessly reading titles after titles, the feel of books, the simple pleasure of unearthing a book you never thought you'd wanted or find. I could go on and on for days just tasting unfamiliar titles on my lips. I'd read every last one, row after row, and tuck them back in place. I blame a minor OCD to leave no book unturned though it's also sort of a craving you just have to satisfy.

I picked up four good books (based on my hunch, and okay, the synopsis) before deciding to get Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston.

Though I don't get lucky every time I visit. But it's been a long time so I think the book gods put the odds in my favor.

Sad the long weekend's over.. but we'll be having another holiday next week. And it's my birthday!!!

M-day Wish List

I'm fond of making wish lists that I don't, in some weird way, stick to. I always end up getting things not on my list - afters hours of wandering in bookstores, some books just show themselves to me at the last minute - that I never tick off anything. These few books (from a three page-list) are way up on my list! Thinking which one I should get for myself (IF I have moolah).

The Time in Between by Maria Duenas
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston
The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer
The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
The Elements of Style by William Strunk & E.B. White
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

It's a long weekend at MNL. Catching up on my reading. Will visit Booksale soon!

Stuck

When writers can't write it's called writer's block. But when a reader just can't turn the page..

I've been putting off reading for weeks. I have excuses: work, sleep, things. There so much going on in my mind that I'm living in it - I'm putting everything real on hold. You know that feeling of not wanting to read on just because you don't have the energy to let it sink in? The book is a world of its own but whenever I open it I absorb it, instead of the other way around. Isn't it supposed to be an escape? You get sucked in, free falling. I don't want to put the blame on the book, it's not fair. I want to read. I need to read. Reading is a part of me, creeping into my fingertips until the words blink up at me. I breathe in words so I can breathe them back to the world.

Where's my lust for reading?

Can't help but wonder whether this has something to do with my tensed neck/shoulder/back muscles - not knowing why I don't read is so bothersome it's taking a toll on my body.

PS. I'm currently "reading" 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson

Best YA Novels

NPR announced the winners of the 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels last August 7. See the full list of finalists here.

Find out if you've read enough and update your to-read list!
Bold ones, I've read.
Underlined, added to my reading list.

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
5. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
7. The Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
9. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
10. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
11. The Giver (series), by Lois Lowry
12. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (series), by Douglas Adams
13. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
14. Anne of Green Gables (series), by Lucy Maud Montgomery
15. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
16. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
17. The Princess Bride, by William Golding
18. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
19. Divergent (series), by Veronica Roth
20. Paper Towns, by John Green
21. The Mortal Instruments (series), by Cassandra Clare
22. An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
23. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
24. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
25. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
26. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
27. Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
28. Uglies (series), by Scott Westerfeld
29. The Infernal Devices (series), by Cassandra Clare
30. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
31. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
32. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (series), by Anne Brashares
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
34. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green, David Levithan
35. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
36. Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
37. Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli
38. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles3
9. Vampire Academy (series), by Richelle Mead
40. Abhorsen Trilogy / Old Kingdom Trilogy (series), by Garth Nix
41. Dune, by Frank Herbert
42. Discworld / Tiffany Aching (series), by Terry Pratchett
43. My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
44. The Dark is Rising (series), by Susan Cooper
45. Graceling (series), Kristin Cashore
46. Forever..., by Judy Blume
47. Earthsea (series), by Ursula K. Le Guin
48. Inheritance Cycle (series), by Christopher Paolini
49. The Princess Diaries (series), by Meg Cabot
50. The Song of the Lioness (series), by Tamora Pierce
51. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
52. Delirium (series), by Lauren Oliver
53. Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins
54. Hush, Hush Saga (series), by Becca Fitzpatrick
55. 13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson
56. It's Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini
57. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy (series), by Libba Bray
58. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
59. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
60. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
61. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
62. Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen
63. A Ring of Endless Light, by Madeleine L'Engle
64. The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen
65. The Bartimaeus Trilogy (series), by Jonathan Stroud
66. Bloodlines (series), by Richelle Mead
67. Fallen (series), by Lauren Kate
68. House of Night (series), by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast
69. I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
70. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlsit, by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
71. Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
72. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman
73. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
74. The Maze Runner Trilogy (series), by James Dashner
75. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
76. The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley
77. Crank (series), by Ellen Hopkins
78. Matched (series), by Allie Condie
79. Gallagher Girls (series), by Ally Carter
80. The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale
81. Daughter of the Lioness / Tricksters (series), by Tamora Pierce
82. I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
83. The Immortals (series), by Tamora Pierce
84. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (series), by Patricia C. Wrede
85. Chaos Walking (series), by Patrick Ness
86. Circle of Magic (series), by Tamora Pierce
87. Daughter of Smoke & Bone, by Laini Taylor
88. Feed, by M.T. Anderson
89. Weetzie Bat (series), by Francesca Lia Block
90. Along for the Ride, by Sarah Dessen
91. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (series), by Louise Rennison
92. Leviathan (series), by Scott Westerfeld
93. The House of the Scorpion, by Scott Westerfeld
94. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci (series), by Diana Wynne Jones
95. The Lullaby, by Sarah Dessen
96. Gone (series), by Michael Grant
97. The Shiver Trilogy (series), by Maggie Stiefvater
98. The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley
99. Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson
100. Betsy-Tacy Books (series), by Maud Hart Lovelace 

Excuse my 'Rules of Civility' withdrawals

Grand Central Station circa 1935-1941/Courtesy NYC Municipal Archives

“In our twenties, when there is still so much time ahead of us, time that seems ample for a hundred indecisions, for a hundred visions and revisions—we draw a card, and we must decide right then and there whether to keep that card and discard the next, or discard the first card and keep the second. And before we know it, the deck has been played out and the decisions we have just made will shape our lives for decades to come.”

“It is a lovely oddity of human nature that a person is more inclined to interrupt two people in conversation than one person alone with a book.”

“If we only fell in love with people who were perfect for us...then there wouldn't be so much fuss about love in the first place.”

“Anyone who has ridden the subway twice a day to earn their bread knows how it goes: When you board, you exhibit the same persona you use with your colleagues and acquaintances. You've carried it through the turnstile and past the sliding doors, so that your fellow passengers can tell who you are - cocky or cautious, amorous or indifferent, loaded or on the dole. But you find yourself a seat and the train gets under way; it comes to one station and then another; people get off and others get on. And under the influence of the cradlelike rocking of the train, your carefully crafted persona begins to slip away. The super-ego dissolves as your mind begins to wander aimlessly over your cares and your dreams; or better yet, it drifts into ambient hypnosis, where even cares and dreams recede and the peaceful silence of the cosmos pervades.”

“I've come to realize that however blue my circumstances, if after finishing a chapter of a Dickens novel I feel a miss-my-stop-on-the-train sort of compulsion to read on, then everything is probably going to be just fine.”

“Whatever setbacks he had faced in his life, he said, however daunting or dispiriting the unfolding of events, he always knew that he would make it through, as long as when he woke in the morning he was looking forward to his first cup of coffee."

“That's the problem with living in New York. You've got no New York to run away to.”

Inspiring. Gad, I adore Amor Towles.

Monday Read Lusts

Sorry for going haywire all of a sudden. The past days has been a whirlwind of work, a pseudo-typhoon that submerged MNL making me work at home for two days, distractions (my resurrected Tumblr), hanging out with friends - glad to be back on the outside world, and my stint at the emergency room yesterday because of my swollen, irritated eyes.

I just had to whip up something good for ya, like these interesting things from around the web (not the usual "links only"):

Is it just me or is RPattz becoming more boy toy material since she left KStew? Extra points for this quote.

I wanna be Molly Mahoney and this will be Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium! Ahhhh!

11 Books You Should Read If You're A Woman In Your 20s - What would you read from this list? I'd probably go for Garden of Eden, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and The Edible Woman.

This item tipped the scale to "buy a Kindle ASAP". Pretty nifty!

Gives me hella good laughs and a glimpse of the world of writers. Cos writers can joke too!

Hit me up on Tumblr.
Happy reading/watching :)

Writing & work

The faster I write the better my output. If I'm going slow, I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing the words instead of being pulled by them. - Raymond Chandler

When we read we start at the beginning and continue until we reach the end. When we write, we start in the middle and fight our way out. - Vickie Karp

Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes, you're doing good work when it fells like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position. - Stephen King

All the words I use in my stories can be found in the dictionary - it's just a matter of arranging them into the right sentences. - Somerset Maugham

The secret of becoming a writer is to write, write and keep on writing. - Ken MacLeod

One hasn't become a writer until one has distilled writing into a habit, and that habit has been forced into an obsession. Writing has to be an obsession. It has to be something as organic, physiological and psychological as speaking or sleeping or eating. - Niyi Osundare

I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write. - P.G. Wodehouse

Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet. - Anonymous

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write. - Stephen King

If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you. - Natalie Goldberg

You are what you read. - Esko Valtaoja

PS. Having too much fun on Tumblr lately but I promise not to abandon Blogger!

Crave

Letting you slip away is such a terrible waste, it’s consuming me.
I could’ve had you for a couple of touches and it will be the world for me.

They stare at me while I crave you.

A reminder

For several weeks I felt like a speeding train with no brakes - a machine, nothing more. Something stopped me in my tracks just when I thought I was going straight for the cliffs. And I breathed, I was human after all with dreams as scary as this. Thank you Anon, for pulling me back a step just so I could see how far I've come - not that far yet. It was the best prologue for my birthday month!

"Sometimes, you need to step outside, get some air, and remind yourself of who you are and who you want to be."


Why hello, August!