The window to the world

What is any life without the pursuit of a dream?

In the failure of which, you can try to find it from books. Here are some for you to seek what you maybe missing from your life. Let your imagination run wild and forget how messy my house is.

Here is part of my book  collection. The other part is back in Klang. See anything you like? They are all available for the right price. Some of them are my precious. Some of them would be better suited to start a fire (literally).

 Most of these books are the result of my obsession and preference for something tangible. Call me old school but yes, I do prefer to read in this manner, thank you.

During my younger poor(er) days, trips to bookshops or even passing by book fairs can be quite damaging. If there's one thing I don't mind, it'll be spending on books. Before earning my own moolah, it was my dad who felt the pinch of my hobby. So much so that he had to pull me away from book stores. Worse still, never to set foot in one.

You'd think that parents would be happy their kid is reading but not mine. However, they did end up subscribing Reader's Digest. This is back in the day when Internet was non-existent and I was still a happy little critter. These are the ones that I have already read. Is it impressive enough? :D

Now that I could easily buy my own books, space has become an issue. Over the years, the number of books accumulated could easily go from floor to ceiling. It all started with Enid Blyton (don't we all initiate the reading passage from there) but never got to Nancy Drew or the likes. The family doesn't read as much unless you count my father's collection of cook books as reading. Even that, the books serve more as a bleak reminder of why we shouldn't eat so much.

With the Internet and pirates helpful Samaritans, any book could be almost easily found if you know where and what to look for. Still, PDFs are just not my thang. Why?

• It doesn't feel the same 
• There isn't the knowing of how long it'll take to finish just by looking at the thickness of the book. Sure, I could easily look at the table of contents to see the number of pages but how thick is 500pages? Heck, I don't even know how many pages most of my books are. 
• Can't tell when it's coming to an end because no effin flipping to the end. Very painful when you really just want to finish the goddamn book without ripping your eyeballs out or bawl your heart out for starting that damn book and your obsessive compulsive nature won't let you stop midway. 
• It's nice to let the world know "hey, look at me! I am reading some good shit!" unless if that shit is erotica. Then you probably should get the ebook or wrap your book up

But having said that, I do admit their shortcomings too:

• it's more likely that you don't bring the book than your phone out. Thus, reading expeditions would require a fair bit of planning. 
• not all places offer bright lighting and you don't want to stand out like a sore thumb (than you already are toting a physical book) using those portable lights 
• paper cut though thankfully, none of my books are new enough to give me such an issue 
• lugging a book around. God forbid if it's a big one. Like Tolstoy's.  That is almost lethal. Especially with my 10" tab. And camera. 

Anyway, both have their own pros and cons. Just a matter of what you can take.
Let me introduce you to the titles in my repertoire.

This is my current to-read list. One of them (the bonfire candidate) is here. Can you guess which? If you can get it right, we'll go on a date to do just that ;)
Also, once we are done UFO hunting, suggest me the next title for April 2016. Yes, I am attempting to finish one book a month.

Doable? Yes. Unless if the books are thicker than the length of my index finger. Goes to show how much of a life I have. Sigh.

My read list ^_^ Yes, this is a blatant show-off post.
If you notice, there is a pattern here:

• Haruki Murakami 
• John Irving 

 Both of them have similar styles. While Murakami is a master in evoking the human loneliness with simplicity that anyone could easily identify with, Irving is able to weave sexuality into his stories without turning the plot cheesy. However, both of their works can be particularly heavy that I don't recommend reading their works one after another. Particularly with Murakami who has the habit of taking his readers on a merry-go-round that leaves you in no man's land, a consequence that my brother-in-law, a fellow Murakami reader concurs.

Thus, out of these, which would be my pick?

• Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino - Not a Murakami work but the book spoke to me as it reminded me of a guy I was dating then. Like life imitating art. Or vice versa. How does it feel to be so beautiful that the world stops at the very sight of you? 
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - An old man's obsession with a girl who could be his daughter, there is nothing remotely cheesy on the story. If anything, it passes off as a book of a man's longing for something he couldn't have and how it proved to be his downfall. 
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - Any misunderstood, tortured artist would certainly identify with Plath who stuck her head in the oven in the name of suicide. The circumstances surrounding her death raised few questions but the book certainly doesn't. As someone who went through something similar, I found this book so insanely... sane despite how society would see us as otherwise. 
• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - An incestuous story that is so rich in tapestry that it's like going on an acid trip. In words. 
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates - Where do you draw the line between what you want and what is right? The pulling factor of this book is how it ended, no pretense that there is no happy ending at all times. 
• A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - my very first Irving title, it was an eye opener. It taught me that things may sometimes happen for a reason despite how random they are initially. 

Wait, where is Murakami in the list? It's hard for me to pick one because I like them all. With the exception of Sputnik Sweetheart and Norwegian Wood. The rest are gems for phrases e.g.:

• Hatred is like a long, dark shadow. Not even the person it falls upon knows where it comes from, in most cases. It is like a two-edged sword. When you cut the other person, you cut yourself.
  The more violently you hack at the other person, the more violently you hack at yourself. It can often be fatal. But it is not easy to dispose of.
  Please be careful, Mr.Okada. It is very dangerous. Once it has taken root in your heart, hatred is the most difficult think in the world to shake off.
  ~The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle  
• Why do people have to be this lonely? What's the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?
  ~Sputnik Sweetheart 
• Here she is, all mine, trying her best to give me all she can. How could I ever hurt her? But I didn’t understand then. That I could hurt somebody so badly she would never recover. That a person can, just by living, damage another human being beyond repair.
  ~South of the Border, West of the Sun 
• But even so, every now and then I would feel a violent stab of loneliness. The very water I drink, the very air I breathe, would feel like long, sharp needles. The pages of a book in my hands would take on the threatening metallic gleam of razor blades. I could hear the roots of loneliness creeping through me when the world was hushed at four o'clock in the morning.
  ~The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 

So there you have it.  If you want more, head over to here. However, do be warned that it may not leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside. If anything, the void in you will only grow bigger for a good(?) reason. Sorry if you ended up (like me) listening to sappy (unrequited) love songs such as:


 Three books have been crossed off this list. So many more to go but I am highly doubtful of myself.

 At the rate I am going, I just may finish 12books before the end of the year :")