sleeping-awake.net

Eep. I once again did poorly last month. I only finished Superstitious by R. L. Stine and started The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis.

Previously:
January
February
March

Wasn’t able to keep up last month, I only finished Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis and started Superstitious by R. L. Stine. Meh.

Previously:
January
February

Since January of this year I have been reading (an average of) one book per week. Here is the list for last month:

• The Reunion by Ljane Smith
• The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis
• The New Becoming Vegetarian* by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
• The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
• Prince Caspian* by C. S. Lewis

*Not yet done reading.

Yep, I’m currently going through The Chronicles of Narnia. I bought the collector’s edition box set a while ago but have only read the first two books before I left the whole thing to collect dust in a corner of my room. Tsk.

If you’d like to see January’s list, click here.

Ze books I’ve ordered from Amazon.com at the beginning of the month have arrived yesterday. Yippee! I’ve already started reading the first one. I must say, shipping costs and customs duties are a huuuge pain in the ass. Yes, they cost me more than the books did. But I really really really wanted those books and they’re not available here - I’ve looked and I’ve asked.

I didn’t really mind paying extra for shipping - I opted for a courier service because our local post office really puts the snail in snail mail, and I wanted to receive my order ASAP. But come on! The customs duties made me want to cry. Well, not really. I was more annoyed.

If only ordering stuff from other countries weren’t so costly. And if only we had a local Amazon site like China and Japan do. I’d be ordering stuff online all the time. Oh well.

If you have any online shopping experiences that you’d like to share, I’d very much like to hear them. =]

Oh by the way, I’ve updated the site a bit, particularly the sidebar and the About section.

Sometime late last year I came across this post by Steve Pavlina. I got inspired by it, so I decided to start reading a book a week beginning this year. I used to be a real bookworm when I was younger but stopped devouring books sometime in uni. Anyway, I missed the first two weeks of January, but I’ve made up for that. Here are what I’ve read last month:

Week 3 - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Week 4 - The Awakening and The Struggle by L. J. Smith/Ljane Smith
Week 5 - The Fury and The Reunion by L. J. Smith/Ljane Smith

I’m not yet done with The Reunion, though. But there. I’m pleased with how I’m doing so far.

The Lensbaby 3G that I ordered last December finally arrived last week, and I went to the ancient, crumbling post office to pick up my parcel. Geez, they really put the snail in snail mail. Anyway, my new lens is a beaut. My fingers found it awkward to handle at first, what with its unconventional form, but I’m getting the hang of it. I’d post some sample pictures, but they’re all still in my camera.

Oh, any fellow L. J. Smith fans out there? She’s now back as Ljane Smith, and she’s got a brand spankin’ new website up. I’m so pleased! She’s working on Strange Fate and Vampire Diaries V: Damon. Yay!

My inner bookworm has been revived!! I haven’t felt this strongly for reading since high school, I think. It’s a rather nice feeling.

Last week, I was looking at my old books and suddenly missed them, so I picked one up (Heaven Can’t Wait by Cherie Bennett) and started reading it. After I finished it, I moved on to Night World by L. J. Smith. It was one of my favorite series back then. It still is!

I have only two books out of nine; my friends and I bought different ones and just borrowed from and lent to each other. But since I don’t see those friends very often anymore, I decided to search me some e-books online. That was last week. And to my pleasant surprise I found them.

I’m now on the third book, Spellbinder. I’m going through one book in two days. And though I have the e-books, I feel that something is missing. It’s true what my lit professor used to say, it’s really different leafing through the pages of an actual book, feeling its texture, smelling the parchment…

So now I’m on a mission to collect the entire series… Today after work I went to a mall and browsed through two bookstores and one secondhand book shop. Not much luck - I was able to get a copy of L. J. Smith’s The Vampire Diaries Volumes I and II, but no Night World. I’m not really surprised though, the series was first published over ten years ago, and there hasn’t been any recent reprints, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve seen some Night World books for sale online, but that will be my last resort. International shipping and handling costs are a pain in the arse. For now, I’ll just paw through the local bookstores.

Hmm, relatively longer entry. I’m really reverting to my old bookworm self. And my Night World obsession is back after so many years. I’ve been thinking about the stories and the characters a lot - they give me a break from an oftentimes dull reality. So yeah, I’m determined to complete the series. Wish me luck!!