A Journey Of Book Purchasing......

This is quite a belated post. I’ve been sooo pre-occupied with my work, till I almost forget about it.

23 April 2008 is the World Book Day.

In conjunction with the World Book Day, MPH Bookstore giving out 20% discounts for members & 10% discounts for non-member on selected titles nationwide.

Err, I can’t remember when the promotion starts, but it ends on 4th May 2008.

I just can’t resist the visit to the bookstore on top of it I’ll get 20% discount.

However, 1st I have to face my mom. My mom thinks I’m spending quite lot on books these days, so every time before going out shopping she reminds me not to go near the bookstores.

Even a peek is not allowed. Sigh!!!!

Of course, I have my own ways to pacify my mom ;)

Once we are done with shopping, I pleaded to my mom to allow me just to have a look around for 10 minutes. My mom can’t stand me pleading, so eventually she agreed, but strictly telling me ONLY 10 MINUTES no more than that & no spending more than RM100 (but mom, that’s my salary, isk..isk, yet not complaing abt. it. My mom very good with finance)

So there I go happily ever after…….errr, not ever after….but happily…

Thank god, all the titles entitle for discount has been arranged right at the front section of the store. That’ll make my job easier, or so I thought, but it turns outs to be a nightmare.

They have piled up lots of books there. Most of them are the titles, which I’m looking forward to get my hands on.

It’s like one of those TV competitions where they give you a limited time & a budget to meet. They’ll dump you in a grocery store & you have to pick items, which you think will meet the budget.

With RM100 budget & 10 minutes, I quickly pick up the titles & start analyzing them.

After much consideration, I make up my mind & pick 3 books out of 11 books that I took.

Mind you, I did all this in 9 minutes. Oh yes, I do keep counting every minute. Till the Chinese uncle beside me thought I’m counting countdown.

Anyway, I put back the remaining books in its place (hate it when people don’t put things where they belong, feels like giving this kind of people couple of knocks on their head) & walks to the counter to pay for my books.

The queue at the counter quite long but luckily they opened the second counter. I produce the books with my member card & pay the cash. All together, I’m done with the book purchasing in whopping 20 minutes (the last time I went book purchasing I spent almost 2 hours).

Phew! Mom was not mad as I expected. She is enjoying a little chitchat with some makcik-makcik when I reached her.

We bid goodbye to them & drove off to home.

Now that’s a happily ever after………atleast, for the day ………and it’ll be continue…..

The books, which I purchased:-

1) Honk! If You're Malaysian by Lydia The

2) The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny by Robin S.Sharma

3) A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern
There you go, 2 non-fictions and 1 fiction.

p/s: i've decided to stop purchasing books for a moment. i think i'll just wait till the warehouse sales kick-in ;)

Sri Rama Navami

Today is Sri Rama Navami. Incarnation of Lord Vishnu as a human on this earth as Sri Rama. A day celebrated with joy by all the Sri Rama worshippers all around the world. In Ayodhya, the birthplace of Sri Rama, the day will be celebrated in grand scale.

My family usually celebrates this auspicious day at home. We will offer neivedyam and perform a small pooja. The following picture is the neivedyam of this year’s Sri Rama Navami. We just made some vaadai and panakam.

Panakam is a beverage also known as sweet drink in Sanskrit. The drink deems to be a very important neivedyam during Sri Rama Navami, thus it’s a main prasadam in almost all the temple and home on Sri Rama Navami. This is a very delicious drink which best served on a hot days (for me any time will do, cos it’s sooo yummy) as it contains cooling properties. Perhaps we should call it Indian Lemonade.

I’ll skip the recipe for the Vaadai, as it has become an International Recipe by now.

How to make a delicious Panakam?

Jaggery / Vellam – 1/2 cup
Water - 2 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper Crushed - 1 tsp
Ginger Grated - 1 tsp
Lemon / Lime Juice - 1 Squeeze (optional) – I don’t add the lemon juice to my
panakam, but some people prefers to add it.

1) Powder the Jaggery and mix with water. Make sure the Jaggery fully dissolved in the water. Then filter the water into a new container.
2) Add cardamom powder, black pepper, grated ginger and lemon juice.
3) Give it a stir and refrigerate.
4) Serve cool or skip the third method and serve it at room temperature.

There you have a DELCIOUS Panakam to drink.

I would suggest trying the recipe before the day one plans to offer the drink as neivedyam. Why? At my home we won’t taste the food cooked for prasadam / neivedyam till it offered to God, so we must follow our instincts when cooking. Of course it would not be too hard if we have tried the recipes beforehand. By trying the recipes beforehand we can adjust the ingredients to soothe our taste & take note of the changes. It’ll be helpful when cooking the same foods for neivedyam.

I would like to wish Inniya Sarvathari Puthandu Vaalthukkal to all my hindu friends who celebrate Chithirai Puthandu. May everyone blessed with prosperity, health, wealth & peace.

BIRTHDAY WISHES!

NITHIYA!!!

WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY . . . AND MANY MORE!

MAY TODAY AND EVERDAY BE FILLED WITH SUNSHINE AND SMILES,

LAUGHTER AND LOVE.

Talking about being WeIRd!!!

On Sharon Bakar’s blog Bibliobiluli, she has posted about an article from New York Times.

I find it really funny. We can’t even judge a book by it’s cover, so how do you judge a person by the book he/she reads?

Myself I don’t keep up with one genre of books. I read from romance, mystery, legal fictions, general fictions, spirituality, non-fictions, & so forth.

So how do you judge me?

Breaking up with someone just because he/she never heard about one’s favourite author. I think this is quite too much lahh. Definetly I won’t do that though I love books sooo much.

Geez!!! I thought I’m weird, looks like there are people weirder than me…..hahahaa that’s really nice to know :-)

Rain...Rain Please Come Again!

Another rainy day in K.L. (sigh!!!)

No, no I’m not complaining about the rain.

But the weather was sooooooooooo nice, which is sooooo perfect to cuddle up with a book or just watch the rain dropping while listening to Colonial Cousin’s Indian Rain perhaps :D

I know, I know……….i’m becoming weirder this days. Probably not enough caffeine this mornig.

Hmmmmmm…..

WAHHHH!!!! CURTIS STONE IN KL LIAO!!!!!

I just saw the ad on astro......CURTIS STONE will be in KL Hilton on 22nd April 2008, 7 p.m.

I almost scream when saw the ad, mom got really shocked seeing me like tat.

Neway for those who don't know who Curtis Stone is, he is the good looking guy in 'Take Home Chef' which air on Travel & Living Astro Channel 707. Usually i catch it on Saturday 11am :)

He is not only good looking but his cooking also very good. Unfortunatley he cooks only non-veg, but i'm vegetarian, yet i do watch the showlah :D

Astro having a contest now so the 50 winners can dine with him and the food will be prepared by him also. Waaaahhhh!!!! still haven't come out from the shock laah.

C isn't he good looking? eh too much of drooling for 1 day...hahahahhahaha..

Neway for those who don't mind different taste bud do take part in the contest.

I'll try to helplah if they ask q's regarding his show or anything (aiyo ylah me soooo goood 1)

Ugadi Subhakankshalu

HAPPY UGADI SUBHAKANSHALU TO ALL MY TELUGU FRIENDS!!!!!

WISH EVERYONE A PROSPEROUS TELUGU NEW YEAR!!!!

To celebrate the Telugu New Year I want to dedicate a song for everyone.
Thought of dedicating a song from my personal favorites. Hehehehe thought to post Prince’s song.

Ok gals no drools here. I do not want my blog to get wet :D

But when speaking about personal-favorite-close-to heart-song, I pick the song from Bommarillu movie, the song title: Bommani Geesthe. (Man!!!!! how could they let Jayam Ravi play Sidhu’s role, Sidhu was sooooo cute in that movie, SIGH!!!! Errrr sorry can’t help it. Sidhu really good, I feel even in something something JR not as good as Sidhu. if you have watched something something telugu version, you will understand wat I’m talking about)

So enjoy the song…………………. :D

Judith McNaughts Books!!!

Okays, this will be my first review, which I have mentioned, in my earlier post. I have chosen Judith McNaught’s books. As I have read five books of Judith, I’ll do her books first.

Judith McNaught is a romance book author. She has authored both regency or historic romance novels and present time romance novels. I have read the earlier category, which is the historic romance. In fact, all the five books of hers, which I read are all historic romance. Total of her historic romance books will be 7, I still have not read Whitney, My Love & A Holiday of Love (also authored by Jude Deveraux & Jill Barnett)

What is so great about her writing? I believe when reading a fiction you must be able to live through every page (almost) to enjoy the book. Pretty dramatic, huh!!! Well that’s me, I think that’s the reason why we are reading fictions. To escape totally into something else, am I right? Anyway in my opinion Judith McNaught have done a terrific job in the details of describing the regency era. She have pin down quite well not only about the architectures, of those days, but also the clothing.

The common things in her books. Heroes will be rich, very very rich, have prestigious titles added to their name, dangerously good looking ;D, arrogant and have cynical sense of humor. They will be living their life to their hearts content (err… all in the negative way of course), do not believe in women. They think all the women are after their titles and wealth. Nevertheless, they have a heart of gold, which need to be discovered by our heroines :D

The heroines on the other hand will be young, well trained in riding horses, using weapons, well educated yet they will be naïve. Oh! They will also have a tragic past. Are they pretty? Well at first, they will be ugly duckling then they’ll turn into a beautiful swan. Got it?

Ok why do I read up to five books, which contains common traits among the heroes & heroines? The main things which set the difference among the books are, the situation the heroes & heroines meet, fall in love and get together after many crisis and living happily ever after :p Of course we have the supporting characters who try their level best to unite the couples and a fair share of villain/villains try to separate them.

Right for those who have not start reading Judith’s books I would recommend them to start on the following order: Kingdom of Dreams, Once & Always, Something Wonderful, Almost Heaven, Whitney, My Love, Until You, and finally A Holiday of Love.

However, I myself started on Until You first, but I think if you read in the orders given you will enjoy her books more, why? Because the supporting characters in one book are the hero & heroines in another book. For example, in Until You the main characters are Stephen & Sheridan. The supporting characters are:
> Clay & Whitney, hero & heroine of Whitney, My Love.
> Jordan & Alex, hero & heroine of Almost Heaven
> Jason & Victoria, hero & heroine of Once & Always.

If anyone wondering whether not all this books are a sequel, no not at all. You can start from any title & still enjoy the books. They are real page-turners, with good suspense (but not to the extreme of biting your nails off), some mystery, funny and of course lots of LOVE :D (hey, that’s what romantic novels all about!!!). Anyway, in short it makes great reading material.

Let’s see what each book offers.

Kingdom of Dreams – this particular story set in 15th century. It has the lush background of Scotland highlands, England countryside, and England courts. Hero is the fearsome knight Royce Westmoreland also known as ‘The Wolf’, has won many battles, & terrorized his enemies in sheer mentioning his name. The heroine is the daughter of Scot clan’s head Merrick, Jennifer. Now the hero & heroine meet in the battleground & the story work from there. Many politics involved in this particular book, because the story plotted during the battle between England & Scotland. What really makes the book a page-turner is the emotional roller coaster of the characters, it makes you laugh one moment and feel sad another moment. The highlight of course the climax of the story. I personally love the climax as it shows how much a tough guy like The Wolf will bend his will for the women he loves. That is really touching. Therefore, if you are looking for funny, good dose of history, romance, and touching story, this is one of it.


- I’ll update the rest of the books from time to time –