The Graveyard Book...

...is a ghastly good read.

I read it all through one sitting. It took me just 4.5 hours to finish the book--an action which Terence thinks "a waste of S$20". But I really couldn't make the book last any longer than that. I just couldn't put it down.

Written by Neil Gaiman (standing applause please) for young adults, i.e. children, it's about a little boy who's parents and sister were killed by the man Jack. He was subsequently brought up in a graveyard, and whose guardian--though hinted, never spoken--might be a vampire.

Isn't it disgustingly macabre a setting for a children's book? Yes! But the fantastical setting just pulls the reader through the pages like magic. And magic was what Gaiman wanted to give his readers, and magic was just what the readers received.

Mind your language, young man

Terence reading "Spider School" to Kai (A blur picture taken with my Moto Q 9h)

Kai has been practising his vocabulary, and so not a day goes by without him say some words that he's learnt. "Trucks" is one of his favourite words, and the other day I heard "push" which originated from Gordon's--an engine from the Thomas collection--story.

Then one day, it was "shit".

That raised an eyebrow.

Can I blame the influence of tv on young kids? Or was it me? Did he overhear, *gasp* god forbid, me cursing in his presence. Have I contaminated his innocent mind?

One day, as he cuddled up on my lap, listening to the Gruffolo's story (again), I pointed to the snake in the picture and asked: "What's this?"

"Shit."

A few days later, I dragged out "Spider School", pointed to the snake in the picture and asked: "What's this?"

"Shit."

*sigh of relieve* It's just his still-developing-tongue trying to wrap around the dastardly complex word: "Snake".

See, one must be very careful the type of literature you expose your kids to.
# # #

Then today as I was listening to the Thomas song (again), a sentence jumped out at me: "...shunting trucks and hauling freight".

Or does he mean "shunt"?

Guess I'd never really know.

Fire

Campfire's burning. Draw nearer.

To the warmth? Together with my friends. Draw nearer. Is it too warm for comfort?

You see the wood burning. Pretty colours. Red, orange, yellow.

Sparks fly. Heat in your face. Look up and see the faces around you. Are they friendly, happy, soulful, sad.

What about the shadows that dance around them. Are they friendly, frightful, fearful.

Now look at the faces again.
Am I with friends?

Written during the "Getting beyond the editor within" workshop conducted by Jacqueline Le Sueur at the Singapore Sun Festival.

# # #

It's essentially a creative writing workshop. In the first writing exercise, Jacqueline gave us each a word and we had three minutes to write something, anything, about the word we were given. I got the word "fire". Some other words received by others include "water", "earth", "rabbit".

I learnt that the technique that I applied during this exercise is what writers call "free writing". Free writing is an exercise in which you write quickly off the top of your head with no judgment intended. It is useful, on occasion, for getting a writing project started, but it is also the most common warm up exercise used by professional writers.

Books I never finished reading

Now that all my books are neatly displayed in a highly accessible bookshelf, I actually found books I never read or never completed:
1. The Sparrow Intriguing. I think I read it half way. Did I borrow this from someone? (Corinne???)
2. The Cat from Hue: A Vietnam War Story It got repetitive after a while. But you can literally smell the gun fire just by reading the book, and it's from a journalist's perspective.
3. Crytonomicon Read the first page, and got hit by the Z-monster immediately. It's got high ratings on Amazon though.

I think I'll discover more unread books along the way. Let me know if you want to borrow anything on this list (or not)... at least it'd get read! :-|

My books! MUACK! MUACK!

I love my husband. He spent his leave day training the new maid, and unpacking boxes in the storeroom. He found my shoes and got the maid to place all our books in our new Ikea bookshelf. I must say, some of the Ikea stuff are quite decent in terms of price, quality, and aesthetics. Here's our new reading area, which has to share a space with the cat condo and their bowls.

Neil Gaiman anyone?

Chien Way sent a blog--http://community.livejournal.com/lifeafterharry/--that gives hope to people suffering from the Harry-Potter-withdrawal-symptoms.

So I picked "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman, a title suggested on the blog. The starting reminds me of the children/adult fiction you expect from "Narnia", "Out of the silent planet", and "Perelandra"--all by CS Lewis. I didn't expect to find it in San Bookshop in United Square, but I did.

Another reason why I picked the Neil Gaiman title was out of curiosity since Resse is a big fan of his comic series "The Sandman". She read them all in Borders, UK!

Life after Harry Potter

So it's bye bye Harry Potter and hello:
1. Shoes. Where art thou in the storeroom of mine? Find you, I shall.
2. My Gym. Great exercise for Kai and mummy.

Hmm... there's very little to go by...

Wail!