Santa’s little helper

Crissy’s got a Santa hat of her own, too.

ex-Bates141 hangout last Friday

animal cruelty

What the fuck, man. Bottled-up real life kittens in fancy shaped bottles with tubes attached for air, food and excrement. The kittens can’t move or anything. And people buy these for what the hell? For the sake of fun????!!!!!! To hell with them!

The Kite Runner (part ii)

This book tells an epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy during the 1970’s to the atrocities of the present.

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner tells a sweeping story of family, love, and friendship against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, bringing to mind the large canvases of the Russian writers of the nineteenth century. But just as it is old-fashioned in its narration, it is contemporary in its subject—the devastating history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years. As emotionally gripping as it is tender, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful debut.

Moving and gripping. I dare say this is the best book I’ve read all my life. It touches emotions like no other.

The Kite Runner: The movie

I just found out the book I’m currently reading has been made into a motion picture already! Due release this month. Yahoo!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Christopher Boone is a 15-year old autistic savant living with his Dad in Swindon, England. He hates being touched, pathologically unable to tell lies or understand metaphors or jokes. He is a whiz at maths and enjoys difficult puzzles. One might take him as a weirdo-loner. He enjoys being alone and goes cuckoo and screams/groans when he’s in a crowded place. He doesn’t understand human emotions but seems to connect well with animals. He has a pet rat, called Toby. When the neighbour’s dog is killed with a pitchfork, he seizes upon it as a puzzle and maths problem in hopes of understanding something that makes no sense to him. He goes investigating the murder like his idol, Sherlock Holmes. This begins a journey for Christopher that takes him places he never imagined, both physically and emotionally. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is very funny as it is narrated by the protagonist and being an autistic savant, he takes great effort in narrating his thoughts and feelings and emotions, like hating the colours yellow and brown, and not eating food that touches other food on his plate.

The Kite Runner

I have not finished reading this book. Only half-way through it.

Honestly, this is the first book I read that I cried like nobody’s business. Extremely touching and engaging, this is a fictional story about friendship, love and betrayal by an Afghan-American writer, Khaled Hosseini. It’s the first book ever written in English by an Afghan writer.

I’ll review it soon.

Stick Boy’s Festive Season

Stick Boy noticed that his Christmas tree looked healthier than he did.

Water for Elephants

Ever since I found this book rental shop near my workplace, I’ve been reading two books in a week. Best is, the lady in the shop is a very well-read person and boy, does she know her books well. I’ve been reading a few of her recommendations and it’s all very good books, indeed. The latest to my ‘I’ve Read’ Collection: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

I’ve always been fascinated with the freak shows / sideshows like The P.T. Barnum Freak Show. This book is not about freak shows, per say, but about a traveling circus during the Great Depression, circa 1930s, in The U.S.A. This is a story of star-crossed lovers in a world that even love is a luxury a few can afford.

The protagonist, narrator of the story, is a 93-year-old man, in an old-folks’ home, with nothing left to hope for but the inevitable. The story is told through his reminiscence of his youth in his heydays in a traveling circus called The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety-three, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie (animals like big cats, monkeys, horses, etc.).

It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. One would love Rosie the Elephant. An adorable character.

Most of the events in this book are based on true stories, as the author made extensive research on traveling circuses during the 1920s and 30s.

Beautifully written, moving back and forth from the present and the past, while reading it, I can almost imagine watching it in a movie. I nominate this book to be made into a feature film!