Hazel Ceej

A BBC meme asks how many of the 100 books of a list they published have you read.  Library Thing comments that "the BBC apparently believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books."  It's probably true to me. While I read two Harry Potter books and Da Vinci Code twice, I managed only parts of numbers 7-13 on my list: (Library Thing link has the complete list; see how many have you read) 1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 3. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 4. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens 6. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 7. Adventures of Sherlocke Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 8. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott 9. Anne Shirley of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery 10.  The Bible 11.  The Complete Works of Shakespeare 12.  Moby Dick - Herman Melville 13. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens Megan and Janet host Thursday Thirteen

N ever Let Me Go   Kazuo Ishiguro - a novel I am reading for a book club meeting I am attending on the last week of this month. Being 'pop sci-fi thriller' it's not what I normally read but exploring new nooks of genre is nifty.   Characters of this novel (2005) are children raised in a boarding school in East Sussex, England as clones intended to provide organs for non-clones. A film adaptation of the same title was released in 2010. Never Let Me Go Hazel, Delineating Des   Baby, never let me go Kathy sings as she hugs her pillow Madame watches her and cries Kathy later asks her why And Madame replies: because I see this little girl A new world she is facing An efficient but cruel world But it is emerging Never let me go To the old world The little girl is asking. This post is linked with ABC Wednesday .

Thirteen things I remember from reading experiences as a kid: 1. A rhinoceros having his first birthday party - the main character of my first animal book. I remember my parents taking me to the city, we came back with loads of books. 2. Tell It Again Series - books that my mother read to me. I remember images of papyrus, the Nile River, an ark, a sling shot, a taskmaster beating a slave, an ark. If you haven't guessed it yet these are illustrated Bible stories. 2. Clue in the Crumbling Wall , NDM. This book ignited my love for mystery 3. High Road to China - could not finish it so my father told me the rest on the staircase of our rented Spanish house. 4. The Aeneid by Virgil. Even in English I didn't understand it. I lasted til the end of the first page which was about half A4 5. Bible . It's not an ordinary book at home. My mother made sure I understood it was a holy book and was treated with utmost respect. I read it without understanding it. 6. Violet Winspear . ...

Lazaruz Vault by Tom Harper tells of knights and castles; a 12th century poem kept deep in a Scottish forest. The star character, a gradschool student lured by old world affluence, is wondering about what lies on the 6th floor of her employer's headquarters as much as I furrowed my brow over some words in the story. There could be more as I haven't touched chapters 20 - 53 yet. I make each vocabulary simple with just the obvious term of the definition and reminders intended to warn my mind against wandering off. 1. hauberk is a shirt not a partner in crime 2. bittern is a bird not a betel nut 3. fascia is tissue not a hue 4. vavasour is a tenant not a sour guava 5. breton is a horse not a variant spelling of briton 6. brigand is an outlaw not a brigadier 7. declension is an inflection not necessarily a decline 8. donjon is a keep not a dungeon 9. seneschal is a butler not Senegal in the 2000 FIFA World Cup 10. fewter is a holder not Harry Potter's cauldron 11. ...

... observes the Duke of Edinburgh. Someone from Cambridge University Press came to speak to us. He gave away Cambridge: 800th Anniversary Portrait to a Thai teacher, who handed the book to me as if she was glad to get rid of it. (It's ok. She doesn't read, nor speak English) Into my lap a treasure fell. Some days must be bright and cheery :-) 1. "As an undergraduate I was persuaded that the Dons were a wholly unnecessary part of the university. I derived no benefits from lectures, and I made a vow to myself that when in due course I became a lecturer I would not suppose that lecturing did any good. I have kept this vow." Bertrand Russell , The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell , 1967 (p.53) 2. "Cambridge, wet, cold, abstract, formal as it is, is an excellent place to write, read and work." Sylvia Plath , writing to her mother, 1956, from Letters Home , 1975 (p. 17) 3. "Dear Sir, I will be obliged to you to order me down 4 Dozen of Wine, Port, Sherry- ...

This is a 2-in-1 post today. I sort of incorporated the contents as they are related and fall into similar concepts for both memes which are equally significant to me. If you are dropping by from Mommy Moments, please scroll down. Thanks. Friday's Fave Five , hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is right next - It's probably a matter of orientation: I am used to uneventful birthdays. What I'm not used to is missing a few things. But I didn't and this week's faves are about what I'm thankful for the most: 1. Monday which was the day came and went peacefully. No issues at work, I ate what I wanted to eat, did a little shopping and I easily found the 'celebration' restaurant for tomorrow. I'm excited. 2. Greetings from good friends. I didn't expect anyone to call or email but they did and I appreciate that. 3. A promise in the sky, woot! See heaven's kiss on earth to boot. 4. Ticket to David Foster and Friends concert in October pu...

It's Friday and time to identify highlights of the week: A young reader to nurture After getting over a bill fright when an expensive overseas call had gone on for almost an hour, I rang cousin Vi to see when can we have another slumber party (read: splurge on food and talk all night). Vi described her 8-year old son's developing love for reading and knack for observing things. My ears perked up. It's my kind of news! Then Vi said, "I hope he'll be like you..." She didn't have to say that to make me look up my bookcase and check what could I give the boy. I'm inspired already. Jesus in Blue Jeans and Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex These are the only books so far available in my stack most likely suitable for Kakoy (Vi's blossoming bookworm) and I'm reviewing them for him. I'm delighted anew at the gems on the pages, and having a grand time thinking of what else to send him. Welcome surprise from the author I included these tit...

One thing I'm trying to control about my reading habit is succumbing to the temptation of buying more books than I can carry in my luggage when it's time to move to a permanent place. The bookcase I got is space-limited, city-ish. My hoarder instinct makes it a major object in my daydreams: ship the contents home when I'm finally through with Bangkok. header by Samulli ; click here for more lists These are book(s) in my bookcase I read: ...devour more like 1. Harry Potter 1-7 by JK Rowling passage by passage 2. A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren in less than 4 hours 3. Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown to satisfy my curiosity 4. Empty Promises Vol. 7 and other true cases by Ann Rule to pass the time away 5. Prince Charming: The John F. Kennedy Story by Wendy Leigh for entertainment 6. The Complete Neurotic by Charles A. Monagan 7. You Don't Say I forgot the author but it's about identifying people who should be credited for famous quotations we know, like...

Two weeks ago I wrote an essay in a bid for a PhD slot in a university in the southwestern pacific. Just when I was about to send it over, I realized that if I were offered a place, the very topic I built a case on would send me back to Thailand for data-gathering. I didn't fancy that and decided to work on something that will keep me afloat should I face drudgery at some point in the research. Since I have always been a fan of a rector's daughter who was a writing machine at a time when a king's son ruled England, I happily spent hours breezing through massive literature on her. Jane Austen, the name that could launch a thousand nights of delightful observations. Except for the titles in bold font, I listed them according to how they appear on Literary History . They should help me nail an idea on how to proceed with brainstorming later. If I ever change my mind about the unfinished essay yet again or even abandon PhD for some reason, I know I won't regret the pleasur...

At night when work is done, two old maids chat. These are random snippets from their late night cyber tete-a-tete, which no longer is in this case. This is six weeks worth of observations of the state of things about and around them. Besides disclosures that one is a mama, and the other a medical doctor, most likely you can easily spot giveaways to infer their general philosophy and theorize their old maid status . Header by Samulli . Megan and Janet have more lists here . 1. My stuttering fingers... 2. I dive feet first... Australia in October ... after suffering and embarrasing myself doing PhD I'd like something lighter like learn how to fly a helicopter and before the luggage joins the cobwebs - PEI: Anne Shirley of Green Gables; Chawton: Jane Austen 3. Happy sabbath, mareng (mareng is slang for matron) ... he probably doesn't know how patrician National Trust staff are 4. You? cry over a guy? no way!... 007 as in James Bond?... and you thought he's in touch with reali...

Friday's Fave Five: Pack Rat Please scroll down for Friday Photo Flashback Time piece I woke up on Wednesday morning to find my alarm clock registering 8.10 a.m. "Since I'm already late," I acknowledged the verdict as I yawned my way to the shower, "I might as well prepare Cj's breakfast and eat with him before I go." When I arrived in the computer room at work, I got a happy surprise: the time was 7.55, not 8.55. Yes! I wasn't late after all. My clock has served me quite well for more than 7 years, and even in its old and malfunctioning age has done so to my advantage. This must be why sometimes I am a pack rat. Restaurants With Mommyhood, a full-time job and work on PhD applications going full-blast, whatever little time I have left for cooking is all wiped out and I raise my hands up in surrender. I am thankful that restaurants are readily available which means Cj and I do not go hungry. We've been having dinners out the entire week and I...