Of Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax

I did the weekend family thing. I came back with my eyes red, brain fried, back strained and I would do it again in a second. I got to do the female thing which I don’t get to do too much, being a socially inept loner with a gender unspecific brain.

I went to Villa Moda for the first time this week. Me mater got me there under false pretenses, and let me tell you all the funny stories you hear about women going at it over a bag during sales are all dirty lies. I was unimpressed, probably because I’m not into the designer label thing. Not against it, but I can take it or leave it. Didn’t think Dubai was that hot either. Also probable is that it was because most of their clothes were made for anorexic 12 year olds.

I love music. I love it in many forms. I was going through my old CDs and I found a couple of Pearl Jam Live Concert ones. I like Pearl Jam a lot. I don’t really keep up with any kind of ‘scene’ so I don’t really know what they’re up to, but man, they used to rock. Last Kiss? The apex of pathos when you’re a high school student trying to pose as independent, and not bad these days either. Wishlist, because hey tis the season. Black, see Pathos.

I found American Gods last Wednesday at Virgin. I tried to stretch it out, but I am not a junkie for nothing. Wound up sitting down with it on the ride back and resurfacing sometime before dawn with it lying decimated in my hands. So much for that. I liked it for a lot of reasons that I may or may not get into later.

Meanwhile, these were my favorite two lines.

Chicago happened slowly, like a migrane. -Page 79, First Sentence.

It says so much. How the city blends into the surrounding area, sure, but also exactly how you’re supposed to feel about it, the moment you set eyes on it. That line hits you right between the eyes.

I effin forgot the second line. I remember that it grabbed me, and I looked around in vain forsomething to use as a book mark. I almost regretted that I have too much respect for books to dog-ear and underline. I remember it hit me somewhere below my solar plexus. Ah well, it’s be something to find next time I read the book.

Meme Madness

I have so much Water Works trying to scratch its way out but the extraction process is stalled. I bomb Marzouq’s blog with talky comments and refresh Krispy’s, futilely, until now. I got tagged. A book meme.

It goes like this:

• Go to the closest book.
• Open it to page 123.
• Go to the fifth sentence.
• Post the next 3 sentences.
• Post the book’s name and author.
• Tag 3 more people.

Here it goes.

“He turned away from the body and looked for Fiver among the rabbits behind him. But Fiver was nowhere to be seen and Hazel was afraid to ask for him, in case to do so would seem like weakness and a need for comfort.
‘Pipkin,’ he snapped, ‘why don’t you clean up you face and stop the bleeding?’”

From Watership Down by Richard Adams

I was reading it a few months ago in an attempt to recapture childhood and hadn’t yet had the heart to stick it back on the shelf.

I tag:
Kwtia
Boojam
Mel

My kingdom for a book...

Bookstores in Kuwait need to do something about their nearly non-existent sci-fi/fantasy section. I'd kill for a halfway decent book in that genre right now. I mean what kind of bookstore employee has never heard of Neil Gaiman? It's FRICKIN NEIL GAIMAN man! No graphic novels, no Discworld, no Lloyd Alexander, not even Dune! What the hell kind of bookstore doesn't carry Brave New World, or even 1984?! Don't even get me started on their ignorance of Kurt Vonnegut.

Excuse me for a second y'all, I just need a moment. ::Goes off to yell and rip up stuff::

Ok, so anyone know a bookstore that can help me not go stark raving mad? Please. For the sake of my sanity? What's left of it?

On a less manic and desperate note, is anyone here a sci-fi/fantasy fan? If so, who's your favorite author? What books do you recommend? If anyone is interested, I could do a couple of recs/reviews of some of the ones I like.