Not that anyone but me cares, but i now have the entire Bardic Voices Series!!! Including, A Cast of Corbies from the Bardic Choices Series!!! thanx to Jerainne who gave me the first book... i went and bought all the rest.... :P Oh ya. Finished reading the whole series btw, else i wont even be posting this. Will be reading still. :P
Wren, Lark, Robin, Heron, Magpie, Nightingale, Kestral, Linnet, Blackbird, Gannet, Thrush.... So many bird names.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Bardic Voices
Currenlty I have the first bk, borrowed from Cui. I oso have the third and fourth, which i rented from the sans bkshop at jurong pt. Where is the 2nd book!?! *sobs* but I have already decided not to buy, tho it is nice. I'll just borrow or rent in order to finish reading the series.
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Borders Temptation
Forgot today is Hari Raya Haji and happily went library only to find it closed. Dots. Oh well, Happy Hari Rara Haji to Muslims frens. Sorry I cant seem to muster more enthuism for it.
Anyway, since I couldnt go library, I went shopping at Parkway Parade which was just a short walk away. And idling browse thru watever caught my fancy, including the Borders Bookshop. And there I found the 3 for 2 Borders "temptation", or more accurately, promotion. I think i'm very lucky, that tho plenty of the books caught my fancy, none of those that were part of the promotion were ones I really wanted to buy. If Mecerdes Lackey's Bardic Voices Series were among those books, I prob wont be blogging right now, I would have given in to temptation and bought them i think.
Still, I couldnt resist coping down a few titles and authors to add to my Read List (the to borrow one, of course). Think I will spend the rest of today, sorting out a book lists before I go library tmr. Am planning to go Jurong library tmr b4 I go back to NTU. The main purpose is to support othello team for comps, but since i'm not playing, am considering going late. So library 1st, then NIE to return the library bks I borrowed on dad's behalf, then to hall 8 to watch the hall games and support my team.
K, shd really get to work now sorting out that book list.
Hm.... An extra note to do with the weekend before this: Congrats on your Wedding, Kor Iceman. May you and wife have a happy honeymoon ahead. Was really touched by everything, but most especially by the effort u put into ur own wedding. Can really feel how much you love and treasure your wife and I am certain the two of you will have a happy and blissful marriage. :)
Anyway, since I couldnt go library, I went shopping at Parkway Parade which was just a short walk away. And idling browse thru watever caught my fancy, including the Borders Bookshop. And there I found the 3 for 2 Borders "temptation", or more accurately, promotion. I think i'm very lucky, that tho plenty of the books caught my fancy, none of those that were part of the promotion were ones I really wanted to buy. If Mecerdes Lackey's Bardic Voices Series were among those books, I prob wont be blogging right now, I would have given in to temptation and bought them i think.
Still, I couldnt resist coping down a few titles and authors to add to my Read List (the to borrow one, of course). Think I will spend the rest of today, sorting out a book lists before I go library tmr. Am planning to go Jurong library tmr b4 I go back to NTU. The main purpose is to support othello team for comps, but since i'm not playing, am considering going late. So library 1st, then NIE to return the library bks I borrowed on dad's behalf, then to hall 8 to watch the hall games and support my team.
K, shd really get to work now sorting out that book list.
Hm.... An extra note to do with the weekend before this: Congrats on your Wedding, Kor Iceman. May you and wife have a happy honeymoon ahead. Was really touched by everything, but most especially by the effort u put into ur own wedding. Can really feel how much you love and treasure your wife and I am certain the two of you will have a happy and blissful marriage. :)
Friday, December 5, 2008
NEW BOOKS!
I found both The Fire Rose and Reserved for the Cat yesterday at tampines' San's Bookshop! So happy. I immediately finished reading The Fire Rose, even tho it cas me to stay up till 3:30am. hehe..... Havent read Reserved for the Cat yet. Am putting off reading it a little. Cause worried it might be the last bk of the series. >.<>
The Fire Rose is a story modeled after beauty and the beast. Where a young and beautiful girl was forced by circumstances to go to a large lonely mansion, and discovers that the master of the place is not exactly human! But that's abt where the similarities end.
This book is part of the collection of The Elemental Masters series by Mecerdes Lackey. Based on Magic which has purely European roots, mainly those of the British. The four Elements are Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Elementals are mythical creatures that are of a particular element and the Masters work magic by learning how to control them.
In The Fire Rose, the Beast is a Fire Master (meaning a magician with mastery over the Fire elementals) who accidentally hybrid himself with a wolf, when he sought the power to transform from men to wolf and back again at will. Slightly different from a werewolf where one is constrained by the power of the moon and has no control over the transformation, nor ability to retain human mind after transformation to wolf. In any case it failed, and he was stuck in a half-man, half wolf form.
With hands turned into paws, there was no way he could flip thru books and conduct the research he needed to turn himself back to human again and therefore seek the aid of a scholar and translator to be his hands and eyes and help him conduct the research.
The scholar he found was a young woman named Rosalind Hawkins, whose father has recenlty passed away and left her a mountain of debts. Therefore, like the scenario in Beauty and the Beast, it was the doting but usless father that cas his daughter to have no choice but to go to the beast. Who had offered high pay for a job as a tutor or governess who noes Latin, Greek and Medival French. Of course the whole thing sounds fishy but Rosalind was in debt, with no place to stay, and needed a means to survive. So she went and then discovered there were no children in the house, and her job was to read and translate ancient scripts into a speaking tube, to an owner who claims to have been disfigured in an accident. And from there the romance unfolds...
I believe it was bcas this book is successful that she decide to write the Elemental Masters Series. The story has many bits that does not quite fit in with the series and the Elementals that appear have much more of a character and intelligence than those in the series. This particular book also tried to insert a bit of chinese magic into the story and forcefully overlap it with Western magic. She must have regreted it for I think she did a better job incorporating Indian Magic in The Serpent's Shadow, which is officially the first book in the series.
In any case, it is totally wrong to say the chinese equivalent of the Master of Earth is the Master of the Dragon, cas according to Chinese lengends and myths, Chinese Dragons are essentially creatures with powers over water, controling the seas and the rains. It would have been more accurate to style them as the equivalent of the Master of Water or of Air (seeing that dragons control weather like Masters of Air do, tho Masters of Air mainly control the Winds and not the Rains, they both can cause storms). It is only in the West that dragons are a creature of mainly Earth and Fire, the Chinese view happens to be opposite.
But then again, the story is based in the West (San Franciso to be exact), and therefore one can hardly expect to find Chinese dragons there, even in the chinatown quarter. So I supposed one can say that the Chinese Magicians in the story are trying to explain theirs titles in a way Westerners could understand. Tho I still refuse to agree that they will proclaim that their rightful title is the Master of Dragon, especially when he claims that his roots in Magic are styled after Chinese customs.
Hmmm....... Personally, I think it would be more accurate to name dragon as the symbol of water, the phoenix for fire (which she also selected), the crane for air (she picked eagle) and maybe the unicorn for earth. Earth is the hardest to pick when I considered, cas lion, tiger, the bull and horse could fit in too. But I personally think the Unicorn would be a stronger symbol of power. The alternative would be to style them after the 四神兽 (four god beasts) in chinese legend, which guards the four pts of North, South, East and West. Which in turn should then make it easier to overlap with the Western idea of magic circle, with the power of each element guarding a certain direction (or shd i say area or land?).
Oh well, this are more or less useless musings since i'm not studying myths and legends for a degree. And if i really were to do so i would starve to death. Why do i only have useless interests and at most average ability and talent in them anyway. Oh well.... watever. Shall just not think too much and read my books.
The Fire Rose is a story modeled after beauty and the beast. Where a young and beautiful girl was forced by circumstances to go to a large lonely mansion, and discovers that the master of the place is not exactly human! But that's abt where the similarities end.
This book is part of the collection of The Elemental Masters series by Mecerdes Lackey. Based on Magic which has purely European roots, mainly those of the British. The four Elements are Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Elementals are mythical creatures that are of a particular element and the Masters work magic by learning how to control them.
In The Fire Rose, the Beast is a Fire Master (meaning a magician with mastery over the Fire elementals) who accidentally hybrid himself with a wolf, when he sought the power to transform from men to wolf and back again at will. Slightly different from a werewolf where one is constrained by the power of the moon and has no control over the transformation, nor ability to retain human mind after transformation to wolf. In any case it failed, and he was stuck in a half-man, half wolf form.
With hands turned into paws, there was no way he could flip thru books and conduct the research he needed to turn himself back to human again and therefore seek the aid of a scholar and translator to be his hands and eyes and help him conduct the research.
The scholar he found was a young woman named Rosalind Hawkins, whose father has recenlty passed away and left her a mountain of debts. Therefore, like the scenario in Beauty and the Beast, it was the doting but usless father that cas his daughter to have no choice but to go to the beast. Who had offered high pay for a job as a tutor or governess who noes Latin, Greek and Medival French. Of course the whole thing sounds fishy but Rosalind was in debt, with no place to stay, and needed a means to survive. So she went and then discovered there were no children in the house, and her job was to read and translate ancient scripts into a speaking tube, to an owner who claims to have been disfigured in an accident. And from there the romance unfolds...
I believe it was bcas this book is successful that she decide to write the Elemental Masters Series. The story has many bits that does not quite fit in with the series and the Elementals that appear have much more of a character and intelligence than those in the series. This particular book also tried to insert a bit of chinese magic into the story and forcefully overlap it with Western magic. She must have regreted it for I think she did a better job incorporating Indian Magic in The Serpent's Shadow, which is officially the first book in the series.
In any case, it is totally wrong to say the chinese equivalent of the Master of Earth is the Master of the Dragon, cas according to Chinese lengends and myths, Chinese Dragons are essentially creatures with powers over water, controling the seas and the rains. It would have been more accurate to style them as the equivalent of the Master of Water or of Air (seeing that dragons control weather like Masters of Air do, tho Masters of Air mainly control the Winds and not the Rains, they both can cause storms). It is only in the West that dragons are a creature of mainly Earth and Fire, the Chinese view happens to be opposite.
But then again, the story is based in the West (San Franciso to be exact), and therefore one can hardly expect to find Chinese dragons there, even in the chinatown quarter. So I supposed one can say that the Chinese Magicians in the story are trying to explain theirs titles in a way Westerners could understand. Tho I still refuse to agree that they will proclaim that their rightful title is the Master of Dragon, especially when he claims that his roots in Magic are styled after Chinese customs.
Hmmm....... Personally, I think it would be more accurate to name dragon as the symbol of water, the phoenix for fire (which she also selected), the crane for air (she picked eagle) and maybe the unicorn for earth. Earth is the hardest to pick when I considered, cas lion, tiger, the bull and horse could fit in too. But I personally think the Unicorn would be a stronger symbol of power. The alternative would be to style them after the 四神兽 (four god beasts) in chinese legend, which guards the four pts of North, South, East and West. Which in turn should then make it easier to overlap with the Western idea of magic circle, with the power of each element guarding a certain direction (or shd i say area or land?).
Oh well, this are more or less useless musings since i'm not studying myths and legends for a degree. And if i really were to do so i would starve to death. Why do i only have useless interests and at most average ability and talent in them anyway. Oh well.... watever. Shall just not think too much and read my books.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Romeo no Aoi Sora
Just finished watching this anime. Sigh, despite all the work I need to do, I still keep doing other stuff. Loved the anime, makes me want to read the book. However, it apparently it has no English translation. Such a pity.
The original title is Fratelli Neri, which means 'black brothers'. Its a story set in Milan, Italy, about the lives of boys who had to work as chimney sweeps. Apparently, they had a system there where boys from poor villages were bought to work as chimney sweeps in Milan for a year. The story follows one such boy, Romeo, from his village till he returns. The focus is how all the chimney sweeps that year grouped themselves together into the 'black brothers' and work together to help each other to survive the year. They were known as the 'black brothers' because due to the nature of the jobs, they spend most of their time blacken by soot.
Wish I can read the novel. Sigh.
The original title is Fratelli Neri, which means 'black brothers'. Its a story set in Milan, Italy, about the lives of boys who had to work as chimney sweeps. Apparently, they had a system there where boys from poor villages were bought to work as chimney sweeps in Milan for a year. The story follows one such boy, Romeo, from his village till he returns. The focus is how all the chimney sweeps that year grouped themselves together into the 'black brothers' and work together to help each other to survive the year. They were known as the 'black brothers' because due to the nature of the jobs, they spend most of their time blacken by soot.
Wish I can read the novel. Sigh.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
An unexpected find
I usually go on crunchyroll to look for anime to watch. I know there are tv dramas and a lot of other things available, tho I seldom bother to search for then or try to look for other things that interest me, say movie, musicals and such.
Today, was trying to search for the drama or movie for 《红楼梦》, since I have to read the text and watching helps understanding it better if nothing else. Since the search there cant read chinese, am having a hard time searching using english (got lots of rubbish and nothing close). But surprisingly, among the rubbish I found a bookworm group page with some great reading recommendations!
My list of new to find:
1) Tamora Pierce books - another fantasy author to take note of. I read some of her books before I think, but not too sure.
2)Frances Hodgson Burnett books - author of the secret garden. Never thot of searching to see if she wrote others, the review for "the little princess" interested me.
3) Jane Austen's Emma - I already read (and own) pride and prejudice as well as sense and sensibility.
In case you were wondering: Nope, I didn't find Dream of the Red Chamber (or Mansion). The only thing even remotely related is a song based on one of the characters, and I can't understand a word of it. Don't know any dialect and there are no subtitles. Think is in Cantonese. Its called 黛玉笑了。
Today, was trying to search for the drama or movie for 《红楼梦》, since I have to read the text and watching helps understanding it better if nothing else. Since the search there cant read chinese, am having a hard time searching using english (got lots of rubbish and nothing close). But surprisingly, among the rubbish I found a bookworm group page with some great reading recommendations!
My list of new to find:
1) Tamora Pierce books - another fantasy author to take note of. I read some of her books before I think, but not too sure.
2)Frances Hodgson Burnett books - author of the secret garden. Never thot of searching to see if she wrote others, the review for "the little princess" interested me.
3) Jane Austen's Emma - I already read (and own) pride and prejudice as well as sense and sensibility.
In case you were wondering: Nope, I didn't find Dream of the Red Chamber (or Mansion). The only thing even remotely related is a song based on one of the characters, and I can't understand a word of it. Don't know any dialect and there are no subtitles. Think is in Cantonese. Its called 黛玉笑了。
Friday, August 15, 2008
bookworm, bookwyrm
Should have known better than to let a bookworm like me go study in the library alone. Like I can resist the bookshelves. Especially when I left home in such a bad mood. Books, especially my favourite fantasy novels with romance thrown in, are like a tranquilizer for me. So I picked are a novel and WHAM that's it, I ended up borrowing it home and not doing anything til i finish reading. Worse, its a book that I already read before and I still couldn't help myself.
Love Mercedes Lackey's novels. They are the absolute best. The Five Hundred Kingdoms is a relatively new series to me, and I have only read A Good Knight. Still, I love the story. It sastifies a lot of girlish notions and preferences. :P The bookwyrm bit entertained me quite a bit. Imagine a dragon that loves to read, is peace loving and consider books as a great treasure. And the idea of the dragon having a library...... Well, I believe I need not elaborate on that.
If there is a way to turn into one, I probably wouldn't have minded that much. Except my boyfriend would never agree to join me. Sadly, he doesnt like books as much as I do. And he is too down to earth to enjoy fantasy and fantasizing. Really, Andie and Peri are just too lucky. But then again, storybook heros and heroine always get their perfect ending. Especially in a novel like this which is modelled after a fairytale.
Ohh... I really want to get my hands on the first book in the series but I don't have the time to hunt through libraries. I really don't want to start collecting another series until I finish collecting the Elemental Master series as well. Most importantly, there is no place for me to keep my books at home anymore. :( When I get my own house, I would really like to have a study that looks like a mini library (filled with shelves :P). Don't I wish.
Love Mercedes Lackey's novels. They are the absolute best. The Five Hundred Kingdoms is a relatively new series to me, and I have only read A Good Knight. Still, I love the story. It sastifies a lot of girlish notions and preferences. :P The bookwyrm bit entertained me quite a bit. Imagine a dragon that loves to read, is peace loving and consider books as a great treasure. And the idea of the dragon having a library...... Well, I believe I need not elaborate on that.
If there is a way to turn into one, I probably wouldn't have minded that much. Except my boyfriend would never agree to join me. Sadly, he doesnt like books as much as I do. And he is too down to earth to enjoy fantasy and fantasizing. Really, Andie and Peri are just too lucky. But then again, storybook heros and heroine always get their perfect ending. Especially in a novel like this which is modelled after a fairytale.
Ohh... I really want to get my hands on the first book in the series but I don't have the time to hunt through libraries. I really don't want to start collecting another series until I finish collecting the Elemental Master series as well. Most importantly, there is no place for me to keep my books at home anymore. :( When I get my own house, I would really like to have a study that looks like a mini library (filled with shelves :P). Don't I wish.
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