Top Ten Tuesday: Holy Duos, Batman!

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic at The Broke and the Bookish is Top Ten Fictional Duos.  I'm guess that we will see a lot of Holmes and Watson and Potter/Granger/Weasley on this week's entries, so I am going to try and skip the more obvious...well, except for...

1.  Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, LOTR-I can't NOT mention this duo.  Because honestly, if I needed a friend to support me on some life-threatening quest filled with danger, Orcs, and mind and soul-killing drudgery, I'd want Sam...

2.  Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis, Alex Delaware series-If you are not a fan of psychological mysteries, you may have missed out on these two.  But in Alex and Milo, Jonathan Kellerman created a duo that complements each other perfectly, and that basically defines the phrase "opposites attract".

3.  Pete and Rina Decker, The Decker/Lazarus series-The song "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" must have been playing in the Kellerman household.  Faye Kellerman, wife of the aforementioned Jonathan Kellerman and mystery writer, created another unique, complementary duo.  Peter Decker meets and fall in love with orthodox Jew Rina Lazarus, and thus starts a series of books that examine what it means to live a religious life and be a cop-oh, while solving really interesting mysteries along the way.

4.  Lenny and George, Of Mice and Men-OK, so it ends all tragic and stuff, but if there was ever a pair that loved and cared for each other, it was George and Lenny.

5.  Henry and Claire, The Time Traveler's Wife-I love this book so much I am going to make every effort to include it in as many Top Tens as I can.  Some weeks that will likely be a stretch, but this week it actually fits!

6.  Celie and Shug Avery, The Color Purple-Though Shug ended up being too flighty to be much of a partner to Celie, if it weren't for her Celie never would have had the nerve to leave Mr.

7. Temperance Brennan and Andrew Ryan, from Kathy Reichs-While I like the show Bones, it really doesn't do justice to the mystery/thrillers by Kathy Reichs.  In her novels, Tempe is not nearly so socially awkward, and her on-again-off-again romance with Andrew Ryan is engaging.

8.  Jekyl and Hyde-I know, I know, technically the same person...but come on, don't you think that Jekyl would be boring and stodgy without Hyde to spice things up?

9.  Katniss and Peeta, The Hunger Games-There is no way that either of them would have made it out of the first Hunger Games if they didn't have each other-even if some of it was just for show.  Rocky relationships are often the stuff of great fiction, after all.

10.  Frog and Toad-OK, this is here mostly because I couldn't think of a tenth entry that I didn't get from looking at someone else's blog, but hey...they are friends despite their differences (I mean, a frog and a toad being friends-who'd have thought we'd see the day!?!)

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you'd know that Mo Hayder is one of my favourite authors. In fact, I'd be the first to buy her books once they hit the shelves, no matter if they are hardcover, tradesize or paperback. Yes, her books just have this kind of effect on me. Anyway, I should've read this book long time ago when it was released last year in February under the UK edition (US edition was released last month with a different cover) but I figured since it takes a while to see a new Mo Hayder book, I'd take my time to devour this little gem but alas, that little time has now turned into a year. With her next release, Hanging Hill, to be released in April (UK), I figured it is about time I read Gone and here it is.

Oh, if you haven't read her books yet, I think Hanging Hill would be a great one to start with since it is not part of her Jack Caffery series and is a stand-alone. As like last week, I decided to share not two sentences but the whole paragraph from a page. Happy Tuesday, and happy reading!

~*~*~*~*~*

No one spoke. She took a few steps forward. The torch beam danced in nothingness, picking up dripping walls and the odd hunched shapes of fallen earth like the humped back of an animal protruding out of the water. She stopped, turned sideways in the tunnel and put her head back as if she was trying to open her ears. Wellard left the boat and came slowly through the water, going carefully so his boots didn't make a noise. 'What is it?' he mouthed. 'Did you hear something?'

(Pg 119, Gone by Mo Hayder)

Cross-Blog Pollination

While taking a childrens' and young adult literature class this summer, I decided to move most of my reviews of young adult books to a new blog, Second Childhood Reviews.  Unlike many bloggers who focus on young adult books, mine is dirently aimed at teachers and parents who want to read high-quality literature with their students/children.  That said, occasionally there will be a book that I think deserves a wider audience than my second blog, a book that has merit not just as a good read for young adults but as a good read for anyone.  The Hunger Games trilogy is probably the best example of this.

In this case, it is not so much that I think that the book I am going to mention is such a great adult read (though I enjoyed it very much-it's laugh-out-loud funny in multiple spots), but that the message of the book is one that adults need to hear.  The book is The Misfits, by James Howe.  Howe wrote the very popular Bunnicula series-he also came out as a gay man in the early part of the new century.  In The Misfits, and it's companion book Totally Joe, Howe highlights the problem of name-calling and bullying in middle school.  While the theme itself may not be groundbreaking, his inclusion of an openly gay character is, especially in a book aimed at children aged 10 to 13.  After researching queer themes in children's and young adult literature for a project for the above-mentioned children's/young adult lit class, I can tell you that while there are several good picture books for young children about families with same-sex parents, and there are more and more young adult novels for high schoolers on issues of sexual orientation, coming out, and first love with gay characters, there is almost nothing for students in the middle grades.  So here I am, on my "grown-up" blog, strongly urging anyone who has, knows, works with, or cares about kids in the middle grades to read and share this book!  And here is the link to my review of The Misfits, along with a list of online resources for teaching about the book.

You Against Me by Jenny Downham

ISBN-13: 9780385613507
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Published: December 2010
416 pgs
Source: Personal Library

Before I start off with the review, I have to thank Kristy for recommending this book to me. Kristy is not a fellow bookblogger, but a staff (who is also a friend to me) working at a bookstore which I used to patronise frequently until my office relocated. Anyway, I was on leave from work the other day to collect some books from her when she shoved this book, You Against Me by Jenny Downham to me. "I think you might love this," that's what she said. I took the book from her, thinking it is a contemporary YA romance based on the cover. However, there isn't a blurb behind the cover except one short sentence printed on it: "You want this to be a love story?" Of course my curiosity was piqued.

Seeing my perplexed look, Kristy plucked the book out of my hands and began to tear off the plastic sheets that wrapped the book neatly and securely. "There, now you can find out how you like it." I flipped the cover and I read the blurb on the bookjacket. And I liked what I read, so I bought it together with those books she had reserved for me. I read this book the following day, and couldn't put it down. Are you still with me? I'm sorry I rambled, but I just want to share with you how this book came to me, and that I owed Kristy for recommending such a great book to me.

The story begins with Mikey McKenzie's family crumbling down when his younger sister, Karyn, being sexually assaulted by a guy named Tom Parker; a guy whom most of her school mates knew she had had a crush on him. The thing is, they were drunk with their friends at a party at his house and no one knew what happened except his younger sister, Ellie Parker. Though Tom is being charged, there are also some speculations surrounding Karyn though it is minimal. Just when you already felt the tension there, the momentum shifted when Mikey and Ellie met each other. Mikey wanted revenge for his sister, so he thought Ellie would be a good target to start with. However, the more Mikey knows Ellie, his feelings start to change.

Ellie, on the other hand, is a lonely girl who doesn't has many friends in school. To make things worse, her life has became a scrutiny to others in school now that her brother is charged for sexual assault. However, her world changes after she befriended with Mikey and she felt he is the only person who could understand her. For the first time in her life, she felt loved until she began to realise who he is.

You Against Me is a terrific contemporary YA novel that touches on family, loyalty, choice and of course, love. However this book is not suitable for younger readers for its topic, plus it has themes on alcohol and drugs. What I loved about this story is aside from the story is told, the characterisations are great and though Mikey and Ellie have their flaws and all, the way they are portrayed are real and honest. I felt for them, and I sympathised with them for the situation they were in. And then of course, I didn't know who I was angry with most. Mikey for his revenge plan, Ellie for her lies (I wouldn't want to say more to avoid spoilers), or Tom being the one who has started it all? I could only describe my reading experience is equivalent to riding a roller coaster ride, because I just don't know where it would take me and how far/steep the fall would go.

I have to applaud author, Jenny Downham, for writing such a sensitive, difficult yet a thought-provoking topic and though this book has the potential of a mystery, instead she has focused on the characterisations and the emotional ground which I think is a much more difficult feat and a far more rewarding reading experience. I totally enjoyed reading this book despite the heavy subject, and though I know no matter what happened to the ending, there is always this part where no one's life is ever be the same again and also that sometimes life doesn't have all the answers; still for my own selfish reason I gave this book a 4.75-stars instead of a 5-stars rating because I really want to know what happened to Tom Parker, even though I know this story is more of Mikey and Ellie. And needless to say, I will definitely be checking out Jenny Downham's books in the near future.

Literary Blog Hop-How Seriously We Take Ourselves!

Welcome Literary Blog Hoppers!  The Literary Blog Hop is hosted every other week by The Blue Bookcase.  If you're interested in participating, check out their very smart blog!

This week's question is "Can literature be funny? What's your favorite humorous literature?"  While my answer is a resounding YES, which I will get to in a minute, I'm more curious at the moment about the question, because I think that at the heart of it lies the reason that many people are turned off by literary works and find the people who read and talk about them pretentious.  Do we really take ourselves so seriously as a community that we have to ask whether it is OK to laugh at what we read?  Must we be immersed in grave, serious subject matter all the time for it to be worthwhile?  If one aspect of literary merit is the use of language, doesn't it take just as much skill to write a witty turn of phrase as a serious one?  And if another aspect of literary merit is what the work says about the human condition, then sometimes laughing at ourselves is the best way to do that.

From the above mini-rant you can probably guess that I believe that literary works can be humorous.  As for examples, let me start with William Shakespeare.  Even in his tragedies he often had humorous characters.  Then there is Pride and Prejudice and Emma, by literary darling Jane Austen.   Mark Twain also used humor to his advantage, not just in his books but in the way he talked about his life and his writing.  Considering that my definition of literary includes some genre fiction, I'd also include Douglas Addams of the Hitchhikers Guide series and Neil Gaiman examples of literary authors using humor.  Roald Dahl is hilarious!

Lighten up, people!

Not So Wordless Wednesday (iPhone Edition)

Happy Wednesday! Wow, is it March already? It just seems like yesterday we had just celebrated our Lunar New Year. Anyway, my "Not So Wordless Wednesday (iPhone Edition)" post for this month will be focused mainly on places. I have also included a few random pictures out of fun and I hope you will enjoy them as well.

Rice Paper Maki. We had this at a Japanese restaurant and it was great!

Garrett Popcorn! I took this with my iPhone inside the paperbag so that explains the odd angle. But oh my, their cheese and caramel popcorn just taste heavenly!

I took this picture while I was waiting for my daughter's queue at the clinic. We walked out of the clinic since it was crowded (and not wanting to catch those bugs as well) and we were greeted by this lovely sight.

Don't you love those colourful windows? It was too bad that I didn't take a better view of the building (it's the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts).

St. Andrew's Cathedral. The sky was gloomy that day but still I loved how it looks on the screen.

Clarke Quay. Over here you will be able to find a variety of restaurants, wine bars and entertainment spots. On the left is a shopping mall.

G-Max Reverse Bungy (Do you dare to take a ride? I know I wouldn't!)

Finally, I included a picture of my youngest daughter doing colouring on her activity book. She's the only one who's left-handed in the family (though she hasn't learned how to write yet; she will be turning three in September).

Top Ten Tuesday: Must Haves, Just Not Must Reads

This week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the blogging team at The Broke and the Bookish, is asking me and my fellow bloggers to bust ourselves out about those books we just had to have, but that have been sittig on our shelves gathering dust ever since.  Well, I can't possibly make a list, because that compulsion has never happened to me!  I am frugal and circumspect in my book buying choices.  I don't ever walk into a bookstore and come out with a few extra impulse buys, like they are so many candy bars at the check out stand!  I never...

OK, who am I kidding?  Of course I have succumbed to the temptation to pick up a book in a whim which then serves as a shelf decoration for some period of time.  Sometimes I even pick up a book that I just can't wait to read, I need it NOW-except apparently I can wait to read it, because there it still sits, on my shelf.  Anyone who loves books-not just stories, but the actual physical thing-has probably got at least a couple of these squirreled away.  Please note that I WILL in fact read this books at some point, but with 350-400 books in my house I have yet to read I'm just not sure when I will read them!  Here's my list of the 10 most wanted (but not read):

1.  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Graham Smith:  I love the irreverence of this idea-to take a beloved work of classic fiction and create a mash-up with something so absurd as a zombie story.  Can't tell you if I actually love the execution of it, because I still haven't read it.

2.  Life Mask, Emma Donoghue:  This is one of several titles that was on the long list for the Orange Prize for Fiction last year.  I vowed to read as many of them as I could by the time the prize was announced in June.  I bought about six of them-I read two.  This wasn't one of them.

3.  The Road, Cormac McCarthy:  What's puzzling about this one is that I bought the book specifically so that I could read it before watching the movie.  I'm still waiting to watch the movie because I haven't read the book.  Seems stupid, no?

4.  Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie:  This book has been sitting on my shelf for at least two years.  I've been telling myself ever since that whole fatwa business that I wanted to read it.  It took 15 hears for me to even buy it.  I kept putting it off last year because it is lengthy and I was trying to reach 100 books.  What's my excuse now?  Yeah, don't really have one...

5.  You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know, Heather Sellers:  First I read about this book on a blog, then I heard and interview with the author on NPR.  It's a fascinating topic-face blindness.  Imagine going through life not being able to recognize faces!  Well, I'll have to keep imagining, because it's still warming the shelf.

6.  Love, Toni Morrison:  I don't just love Toni Morrison-I worship at the alter of her fabulosity.  So why I've had this book on my shelf for literally years and have yet to read the slim volume is a mystery to me.

7.  A Mercy, Toni Morrison:  See above

8.  Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, Susanna Clarke:   This kind of fantasy story set as historical fiction sounded like and intriguing mix to me, so I bought it.  Then it came, and it's HUGE.  Not that I'm intimidated, mind you, but I am inpatient...I'll get to it, maybe this summer, when I can spend more time reading for me and less time reading for class.

9.  The Bookseller of Kabul, Asne Seierstad:  Unlike much of America, I knew well before 9-11 what was happening to women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule.  That's what originally drew me to this book.  Apparently it didn't draw me enough to actually read it, just enough to purchase it and let it have a place of honor on my to-be-read shelf for years.

10.  Amazing Grace, Jonathan Kozol:  Kozol's book Savage Inequalities complete changed the way I think about equity in public education, so when I saw his book about the effects of living in poverty on America's children I had to have it.  Have it, mind, not read it...