The Spies of Warsaw

"Sip the wine, taste the food, find everyone fascinating - a good motto for diplomacy."

"I guess that's one way to save the world."

Alan Furst's novel is a glimpse on the dreary and sophisticated diplomatic life. Espionage isn't always thrilling. Spies in World War II dealt with obtaining intelligence rather than battling goons or thugs Salt-esque (Angelina Jolie), but equally dangerous. But diplomats live a double life. While they're not prying on their enemies' secrets, they show up at parties just to conspire against each other. Scandalous in their uniforms, waistcoats, and beautiful women in their arms. 

Covers and titles

I took my little brother to see The Avengers yesterday (watched it for the 2nd time) but were an hour and a half early so we made a badly needed trip to the bookstore! We're the two bookworms of the family.

A few covers and titles caught my lustful eye.

1. Chopsticks

I read from reviews that this novel comes with photos and illustrations, more like a raw scrapbook. The plot is intriguing, "it's up to the reader to decide what is real, what is imagined, and what has been madness all along." It has an artsy feel combined with music, the "The Sky Is Everywhere" kind. Reminds me of the movie Crazy/Beautiful, one of my favorites! 

Fashion and Guantanamo

I came across this article during work (I got the job! W/c explains why I'm MIA lately. Squeezing a post in before I go home). Alex Gilvarry writes about Filipinos in his debut novel with two completely different subjects - fashion and Guantanamo, the most notorious prison. I'm really curious how that'll turn out.

Book intuition

I miss walking on aisles lined with bookshelves, spending hours - but it never feels that way - reading title after title, going nowhere exactly but every step has a purpose that leads me to that one book. Then I just know. Magical.

I dream of entering a bookstore, covered with spines from ceiling to floor, light seeping through cracks on the spaces between books. It's the only maze I'd never wanna get out of.

The feeling of letting time slip away, no worries, because time seem to slow when I'm surrounded with books.

Hello, May!

A lot of things to look forward to in May!

- I turned my shoe shelf into a bookshelf because my desk can't hold everything any longer. Loved the result. Though I still need to find more space for new books.

- Work! Words, words, words, because I'll be writing for a living! And a notebook so I can write random or work related stuff.

- Dad's arriving from London via HK tonight.

- More books! First up in my list: George Martin or John Greene

- A cup of coffee every morning to wake me up for work :)

- Summer rain, I hope! The heat's becoming unbearable. It rained a while ago, though it only lasted 5 minutes.

- To write more.

- An adventure!