Booklist

I go through a lot of books in a year because I buy at least one book every 3 weeks. The unfortunate part is that I have trouble remembering the books I read, especially if they don't leave much of an impression on me. So when friends ask me to recommend books, sometimes my mind goes blank. As such, I'm resorting to jotting down the title and author of every single books I've read, starting from today!

Off the top of my head, here's what I've been reading the past couple of months. I'm sure there's heaps more but as usual, my brain fails me.

The curious incident of the dog in the night time – Mark Haddon
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Cairo Trilogy - Naguib Mahfouz
Marley & Me – John Grogan
The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga
Losing My Virginity – Richard Branson
After Dark – Haruki Murakami
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
Leave Me Alone – Nurong

I'm still gnawing at the book, Lolita. From the title itself, one can guess that the content would somewhat controversial. I picked it up because it was listed as one of the Border's staff current favourites. I'm always slightly hesitant to trust the taste of bookshop staff. The last time I asked for a recommendation, I was refered to a book that had the crown jewel's of the protagonist chained to the floor of a dark dungeon. In short, heavy heavy S&M. Not my kinda thing. Surprisingly, this book Lolita wasn't as bad as I thought. I would have imagined that there will be more controversial details regarding certain explicit sexual acts but the author did not dwell too much on those aspects. Instead, he focused his writings on the complicated mind of the protagonist.

....

On a short note, today a stranger was very kind to me. I was looking for a spot at the cafe in Borders. Most of the tables were occupied. A stranger then walked up to me, from the other end of the cafe, and said that I could take his seat as he was leaving. What a kind act, I thought. He took so much effort just to tell that to a stranger.

I relayed the story to J later on. He said in response that the stranger perform that kind gesture because I was female. I was appalled and I said that I would like to believe he did that because he was kind. He wasn't even hitting on me. J asked me whether I thought the stranger would have done the same for him, a male. I said, yes, just to pissed J off.

I guess, being female helped but still, it was a very kind act all the same.


Post-edit: I read this post out to J and he said, "Haven't you thought about why most kind acts done to you are made by men?" I said, "Maybe because men are kinder!!!" Can't people be nice for the sake of being nice??? Surely there are such people out there, otherwise our world is doomed.