Review : The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

Title : The Ghost Bride

Author : Yangsze Choo

Publication date : August 6th 2013 by William Morrow

I bet you also find the title intriguing. Well, how common it is for a ghost to get married? Ah! And the cover, people! Look at it! It's clearly for us to admire. Intriguing title and a pretty cover is a combo for a high expectation for me and I kind of believe this was going to be a lovely read.

Set in the 1800s of Malaya (now Malaysia) Li Lan was a girl from a quite rich family, but her family fell apart because her father's love of opium. So he told her, that there was this silly offer from a rich family that wanted her to be a ghost bride to their deceased son, Lim Tian Ching.

Just like any book with cliche, Lim Tian Chin was portrayed as a spoiler brat that even after his death, he still pestered the livings. He haunted Li Lan in her dreams, intimidating her to become his bride and he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. So, Li Lan looked for help, and this one witch doctor gave her a potion which induced her suspended animation thus led her spirit the into the ghost world. I forgot what it was called, but you get the idea.

World's Book Day Mini Book Haul

As a bookworm, I consider myself lucky because my birthday is on the World's Book Day (April 23). How neat can that be? Now you can ignore those sentences because who cares about my birthday, anyway. I am not talking about it, so let's talk about books instead as we usually do.

That morning, I got this email from Scoop (an app where you can buy books, newspaper, magazines) offering for discounts to celebrate World's Book Day. I love discounts and what I love the most about it is many the books become dirt cheap. At least the ones I selected were. And gosh, the books which I have been coveted for years were available too!

So, I bought a half dozen of them. They're not my typical go-to books, but I lately I crave for something different. It has been a long time since I last read Indonesian literary fiction and I am so ready to have a happy reunion with it. Here they are, don't ask me what they're about because I haven't read them yet *scoffs*

Seperti Dendam, Rindu Harus Dibayar Tuntas (Eka Kurniawan)

Currently reading it. I fell in love with Eka Kurniawan's Cantik Itu Luka and I want to read all of his works. His witty and often vulgar writing style was a little unusual for Indonesian literature but, yeah, I am an offical fan. Let's see if I am still a fan-girl after I read this one.

Western Movies I Watched During Reading Slump

To be completely honest, I am not really familiar with western movies despite of being the daughter of a lady who is a cowboy movie maniac. They're not my type of go-to movies, well if it weren't for my mom, I couldn't care less about them. It's not that I think they're not good enough, but to me, they are a bit dated compared to action-packed superhero movies I love so much. I mean, look at the special effects they make these days and try compare it with cowboys and their guns and horses. The western movie simply doesn't stand a chance.

Or so I thought.

I believe it runs in the family, because I noticed my uncle (my mom's brother) was also into it as well. You know, when we still meet regularly, she would ask me if there's new cowboy movie coming out. I simply said:

"No, Ma. They don't make that kind of movie anymore nowadays."

"Why not?" I would try to made things up, something that hopefully make sense. 

"Well, because the horses, you know, it's hard to find trained horses that are not afraid of the sound of the guns." I shrugged and she'd just nod.

See, how annoyingly ignorant I was! It is only recently that I realized that the movie makers are still producing western movie. I was living under a rock and as a movie lover I am, this is shameful. It stayed that way until this movie came along and rescue my stupid self:

The Revenant

The reason why I watched this is because of the hype. This is also the movie that convinced me to be an official fan of DiCaprio. Even though The Revenant doesn't really have much dialogue but this movie speaks volume. This is one of the the best western movies I've ever watched (says a person who've watched only a handful of cowboys on screen).

Review : Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Title : Burial Rites

Author : Hannah Kent

Publication date : September 10th 2013 by Little, Brown and Company

It might sounds a bit weird but I came to this book because of a movie. I was exhausted at work and even convinced that I hate it, so I approached Google, our good friend and searched for "movies to watch if you hate your job". 

And I watched this: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and magically. I felt so much better. Maybe it is because I actually made time to laugh at myself, I don't know but that movie was good for my mind.

And some of the scenes were set in Iceland. As a tropical gal, I always admire Iceland. It's a totally different world compared to where I live. You know, when you're used to having the sun all year, you're bound to admire the snow, or the fjords or the northern light. We don't have 'em here.

Freebies Time : Printable Bookmarks with Quotes

What's up, people? I hope you guys are doing great. Gosh, it has been a long time since I posted anything. I miss blogging so much and the last two months were a new beginning for me. Well, I was transferred to a another office and I am still adapting. Everything is new to me and I have to learn everyday. It's not easy because I am not as sharp as I used to be, blame it on my age. Thankfully, my new co-workers are nice and they help me patiently. 

 

I really hope I can start blogging regularly again. All I have to do now is to figure out how to shove it into my new daily routine. Nevermind that, I am not writing this post to complain. In fact, I have freebies to share with you guys!

Available for download are three printable bookmarks and since I love pretty words, I added some quotes on them, too. I love flowers, so you'll see that they're sprinkled with floral images as well. They're in standard bookmark size, you can use regular cardboard to print them on. 

Review : Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

Title : Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Harry Potter #8)

Author: John Tiffany, Jack Thorne

Publication date: July 31st 2016 by Arthur A. Levine Books

Raise your hand if this book seemed too good to be true to you! Well, in my case it did. At first, I was almost sure that it was a hoax made by the lunatic fan people. But heck, here it is. A book about characters that I miss oh so much.

I have to admit that even though Harry Potter doesn't belong in my childhood (because I read it when I'm an adult) nor I think that it's the best series ever (err.. I prefer ASOIAF but alright... alright, it's an idiotic comparison!) but somehow there's something (that I cannot pinpoint) in it that makes me miss it everyday. I wish I know about Harry's family, or whether Neville gets to reunite with his parents after all this years, yeah. Something like that.

The first thing I did when I started reading Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is to lower my expectation. Why? Because, it's a play, people. I am a novel kind of gal and I know nothing about a play. It's too fancy for me and I didn't expect myself to totally understand it. And yet, it amazed me. I enjoyed reading this book very much and I cannot describe how satisfied I am to finally get some news from those characters that I really miss.