Celebration.
22 June 2008 @ 13:13 ; 0 CommentsI find it mildly irritating after awhile when, the first question that people would, more often than not, ask you when they see you after having not seen you in awhile is- "So what are you doing now?" Sometimes I would give short, curt replies, pending on the persons who asked. Most of the time I would always go for the standard answer that never fails to steer them off course and not broach the topic again... until at least five minutes later. Yes, yes, as of this moment I am doing nothing but expanding my stretch marks infested ass and eating to my heart's content. Well, perhaps not so much the latter seeing as how much I eat, I still would not expand. It's either a blessing or a curse. How do you see it?
Well, ultimately besides doing those two, there's also the catching up on sleep game. And the odd timings I get up and retire to bed. Being a nocturnal being is never new to me. So the fact that you see me every late night on MSN should not in the least bit bother you at all. What time is sleep time then? Well, most of the time, I would try to hit the sack before The Old Man gets up. Because after that, within half an hour, the electricity supply for the air conditioning would mysteriously get cut off (yes, there is a ghost tampering with our electricity). For the most part, it's nice to just sleep and wake up, eat, rot, and then get online till the wee hours of the day. But then it's getting to be a bit too routine for me. Yes, even slacking is becoming a bore! I wonder what's going on with me.
Lest you think I am wasting brain power just doing mindless stuff... well, I couldn't care less, really. Of course in my free time (before I start looking for that dreaded J-O-B) I am doing my bid to clear all the literature that I have accumulated over the months and never found the right time to do so. So yes, I am finally able to escape into my books and rejoice as the real world melts away, and the world of fiction takes over. As a matter of fact, I have just completed reading Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. Which took me three days. I swear, my mind is slipping.
Three Bags Full, by Leonie Swann, is a murder mystery mayhem that tries to not take itself too seriously. First of all, it has sheep as its crime solving team. Yes, right now you may be thinking, "Oh, but sheep are adorable! And I am hungry." But I swear, after reading this book you will never look at sheep the same way again. Or eat lamb chops. Of course I am not contemplating heading the vegan way- god forbid! It's bad enough I'm as skinny as a pole. If I start consuming vegetables only from now on who knows. You might never see me again. Ever.
The book deals with the startling murder of the flock's shepherd, George Glenn. Now George is unlike any other shepherd. He names his sheep (I wonder how in the world he is able to name each and every one of them and still remember what they look like every single day) and reads them stories. Most of the time it's all those trashy romance novels ala Danielle Steel and Sidney Sheldon; once he deviated from such stuff by narrating a detective story before abruptly ending it by tossing the book. And then there was the time where he made (a perhaps unknowing) mistake of telling them tales about sheep diseases. Oops. From there, the story gradually builds up with the flock finding out ways and clues to the crime.
The biggest mistake that Swann did with the book was instantaneously introducing most of the flock at once from the first chapter. This, undoubtedly, brought about some slight confusion for me as I try to keep up with the sheep and figure out which is which. Of course, there were predominantly some characters that have been set up to take center stage. But perhaps it would have been better if they were introduced gradually, the main characters and then slowly the rest.
Three Bags Full also suffers from the meandering way the story moves in the initial stages. At a snail's pace, coupled with trying to keep up with the characters and following the plot, at times I got lost, became confused and slightly frustrated. However as the book progressed it got better, the writing became sharper and it became a joy to read, as we follow the flock in their quest to uncover the truth. There's even a hilarious chapter that got me chuckling to myself.
Overall, the book can somewhat be compared to an Irish accent (the book is set in Ireland, by the way)- you won't understand a word of it in the beginning, but in due time, you will be able to make out what has been said. Perhaps, with some assistance. This still does not mean that I won't be sinking my teeth into lamb chops. Because I will, though not till in the distant future.
So that is about one book down, a few more to go. And a couple of them are hard covers too. Bye bye permanent job, see you in the next month or so. Hello, mini library.
