Friday, May 28, 2010

must care and not care

The sleeper, safe and dreaming, was his true purpose and also his only hope of redemption. For that, he must care and not care; he must be still.

-- Velocity by Dean Koontz

Monday, May 24, 2010

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

A very easy book to read, with many nuggets scattered throughout - some grand nuggets, some less so. Morrie has wise things to say about how we should live our lives, but if collected and sold without decoration, I feel the aphorisms wouldn't be as valued. What makes them valuable here is the story behind them. The story Albom has told about reconnecting with a former professor is one that readers can take great joy in as they remember past professors of their own.

Tuesdays with Morrie on BookCrossing.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

More is good. More is good.

"We've got a form of brainwashing going on in our country," Morrie sighed. "Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it - and have it repeated it to us - over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what's really important anymore."

-- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Saturday, May 15, 2010

BookCrossing: The Awakening

I was in Vancouver last Sunday morning having a Mother's Day brunch with my mama and my bro and my bro's girlfriend. We went to a cool new place on the corner of Dunbar Street and West 18th Ave. The name escapes me, but it's on the SE corner and had very good food, and very healthy portions. As I made my way back home with a full belly I stopped at two parks to release some books. It's fitting that of the four books I released on Mother's Day, the one that first received a journal entry was the one registered by my mother. It garnered a new member too. Here's the catch for The Awakening, which I released at Trout Lake:
fist book I have read this year^_^ and it was great!

Monday, May 10, 2010

we're half-asleep

"Because," Morrie continued, "most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do."

And facing death changes all that?

"Oh, yes. You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. When you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently."

He sighed. "Learn how to die, and you learn how to live."

-- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

The reason I chose this passage to share as an excerpt is that I like the message.  Now it's time for me to go outside and enjoy the sun by going for a run with the doggies.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee

This is a book given to me by Betty (I want her template) shortly before the Biscot and I left Malaysia. The start was slow, but gradually picked up and by the time I reached the halfway mark it was full speed ahead. A wonderful assortment of characters who change - I mean really change - and grow and break free. Lee's style of writing is enjoyable and is matched by the quality of the story that, although slow at the start, was descriptive and fun throughout. I would not have read this book if Betty hadn't gifted it to me, so terima kasih, ooma.

Drinking Sapphire Wine on BookCrossing.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

a coward like me being a heroine

You don't get a coward like me being a heroine with a real dragon about. I hang my sword on the wall, and get under the float-bed, ooma.

-- Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee

Give me a no-lose situation with all variables accounted for and I'll be the biggest, baddest mofo you've ever seen.