Princess Lilue

Me and Mr Darcy by Alexandra Potter

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
The story revolved around Emily Albright, a 20-something bookstore manager, who after a series of bad relationship, signed up for a Jane Austen literature tour over the holidays.

During the tour, Emily finds herself in a group of older women & one reluctant journalist assigned to write about why women loved Mr Darcy. Being a huge Mr Darcy-fan, Emily was estatic to find herself face-to-face with Mr Darcy himself. But is it a dream come true after all?

I was a little skeptical about the book at first, but find that i liked it. It's cute & funny at times, an overall easy reading. Plus loved the cover.. hehe..

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MUSING MONDAY is hosted by Rebecca from Just One More Page. Today's musing is about early reading…

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading? Was it from a particular person, or person(s)? Do you remember any books that you read, or were read to you, as a young child?

I dont exactly remember how i developed a love for reading, but my mum used to read to me back when we were in the States. I was about 2 then & my mum stayed home while my dad finishes his Masters. She'd read all the fairytales to me - Cinderella, Snow White etc.. & i'd start it off for her with the phrase "Once upon a time" even though i cant even read then.. (note: i dont remember this period but have been told about it by my parents for the umpteenth time, so most likely to be true..)

The love of reading could also have been passed on to me since before i was born.. haha.. well, my parents, both teachers, were doing lots of extra grading while my mum was pregnant (& throughout my younger years - therefore means no school-holiday-trips for me back then ;p), so i was literally born around books & exam papers.. & with my dad continuing his Masters, also involving lots of required reading. Guess seeing both my parents reading all the time when i was young triggered the interest, although nowadays even my parents are surprised with the amount of reading that i do.. hehe..

Some of the first books that i read was of course, the Peter & Jane books...
This is Peter.
This is Jane.
This is Peter & Jane.
Haha.. dont think i can forget those line.. But at the same time, i dont think i was formally taught to read.. In fact, my mum swears that it was The Sesame Street who taught me how to read.. it could be that my first teachers was my mum & Big Bird.. haha..

Lilue

Found a very interesting blog: http://yourshelves.com/ showing glimpse of various home libraries around the world..

Here's mine.. well the start of it anyway.. the rest of my books are still back at my parent's place.

My catch of the day from the Big Bad Wolf booksale.. i'm so happy but so very broke.. heheh.. but then, what else is new.. however, the good thing was i managed to get my partner-in-crime to buy some of the books i wanted to read.. haha.. well, not exactly that, just that we happen to have the same taste in books & she in fact selected quite a few of the same books that i did.. so decided to split it up & swap later..

Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?

Haha.. interesting question.. When i'm in a book store, i'd usually able to find at least a couple of new books that i'm tempted to buy.. however, what i end up buying would depends on whether how desperate i was (ie i've totally run out of things to read).. how badly i wanted that book (eg i've been searching for it for a while).. and how much i've already spend that week/month.. but dont congratulate me yet - even if i have not run out of things to read and have spend way too much on books already but still have the itch to get new materials - i'd go to the 2nd-hand bookstore & stock up from there..

however with the booksale-craze that's been going on for the last few mths, plus my recent interactions with GR folks, any control that i have managed to placed upon myself on book-buying has gone out the window.. ;p and i have my empty purse to prove it.. (and i still want to go to that big bad wolf booksale to check out more books.. *shame*)

One thing for sure.. it truly is difficult to remember to control yourself when it come to buying books.. if only books are not that expensive or that i have un-limited budget (& space).. sigh.. so wishful thinking, i know.... hehe..

Lilue

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
The story revolved around Charles "Chick" Benetto, who tried to kill himself after giving up on life. However, he gets "one more day" with his mother, who passed away years ago which turned his life around.

The book is written as a story told by Chick to a third person (writer), supported by the writer's research on Chick & what happened that fateful day.

I liked the underlying message of the power of Mother's love in this book. However, something is missing from this story - there's no "a-ha moments" in this story that could have made this a great one.

All in all, i still prefer Tuesday with Morrie to this.

View all my reviews.

Lilue

· Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
· Memorize your favorite poem.
· Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
· When you say, “I love you”, mean it.
· When you say, “I’m sorry”, look the person in the eye.

· Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
· Believe in love at first sight.
· Never laugh at anyone’s dreams.
· Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
· In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

· Don’t judge people by their relatives.
· Talk slowly but think quickly.
· When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, “Why do you want to know?”
· Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
· Call your mom.

· Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.
· When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
· Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
· Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
· When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

· Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
· Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
· Spend some time alone.
· Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
· Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

· Read more books and watch less TV.
· Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll get to enjoy it a second time.
· Trust in God but lock your car.
· A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home.
· In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

· Read between the lines.
· Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
· Be gentle with the earth.
· Pray. There’s immeasurable power in it.
· Never interrupt when you are being flattered.

· Mind your own business.
· Don’t trust a man/woman who doesn’t close his/her eyes when you kiss.
· At least once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
· If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth’s greatest satisfaction.
· Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.

· Learn the rules then break some.
· Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.
· Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
· Remember that your character is your destiny.
· Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
~ Words by Dalai Lama ~

Sometimes i get worried with all these responsibilities that i have.. who am i to shoulder them ? what makes You think i know what to do ? or that i can do it well ? who's to say i wont make a mess of thing ? half of the time i'm so way over my head that i almost forgot what is it that i'm doing... is this how it's supposed to be? hmmmm........ ;p

"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." — Mother Teresa

"Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them." — Jodi Picoult (My Sister's Keeper)

"She told the audience that one of the best things about books is that they are an interactive art form: that while the author may describe in some detail how a character looks, it is the reader's imagination that completes the image, making it his or her own....She talked about the tactile joys of reading, the feel of a page beneath one's fingers; the elegance of typeface on a page. She talked about how people complain that they don't have time to read, and reminded them that if they gave up half an hour of television a day in favor of reading, they could finish twenty-five books a year." - Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg

I dont know how other people reads, but i do agree that when i read, i would imagine how the character would look like, especially when it was well-written. So imagine how dissapointed i'd be if the books-made-into-movie are not able to translate that charactor for me. For example, i've read Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, and Tom Hanks sooooo do not fit the description of Robert Langdon. I imagined him to look more like a younger version of Harisson Ford. Well, i guess they couldnt find one who looked like that.. hehe..

Anyway, my reading has hit a wall these days.. a little too busy with work, plus been fiddling waaay too much with my new phone & goodreads, instead of reading.. hehe.. can i reach the target of 50 per year..? I'm already at 18, since a week ago...

I should add this book to my goodreads TBR list.. man, if only getting hold of these books are as easy as listing them out.. hehe.. there are loads of items out there that i would like to read, but time & money are my enemies..

"The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person." — Chuck Palahniuk (Invisible Monsters)

"Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form."
— Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi (El Masnavi)

1. Edward Cullen - do i need to say more? hehe...