A list of good books to read
kimmysphere

A new year means new beginnings, new resolutions to make and break. I was lying in bed one idyllic morning, too restless to fall back asleep, and too lethargic to get out of bed. So I laid there, admiring my little comprehensive book shelf. It appears that my over-abundance books have incapacitated the bookshelf and has overflowed onto my desk. There are no surprises when I say that I love to read, but it appears that my passion for buying books has surely surpassed my passion for reading them. I get giddy at the thought of my very own library in my new house, I will have abundant shelf space to house all my treasured books! But for now, my beloved little birthday present bookshelf will just have to suffice.


It did however bring me to the sad realization that I’ve neglected my reading duties of late. Granted that some books have been picked up, chapters have been read and enjoyed, but none that has been read to its final conclusions. I’ve started and stopped numerous books, the reason: I drive into work. This translates into less valuable time spent enjoying the books on the trains. This lead me to think, all these marvelous books sitting here in disregardance, feeling absolutely no love from me; it’s high time that I changed my phase and pick up reading once again.
It really saddens me to even think that my books could be metamorphosing themselves, right before my very eyes, into (god forbid) ordinary house-hold ornaments *gulp!* >.<’
I’ve always loved to read, since I was a child. My dad use to take me to the library once a week and I would bring back various books to occupy myself for that week. My taste in books and its contents may have evolved throughout the years, but the same passion still burns inside me. I love immersing myself in literacy greatness, to be transported to a fictitious world which was far greater than mine. My first resolution which I will try and accomplish this year: READ MORE of my books!! I will try to reinstate my original passion of reading to overthrow my passion of purchasing books.

Below is a list of SOME of the unread books which I own and treasure. I've been meaning to read these books but simply haven't had the chance to. Once I’ve read them, I will highlight them in red and write a book review on it. My aim is to read as many of the books on this list as I can this year. For those who enjoy reading, you should join me in this crusade and try and read these books also. These books all come highly recommended by others, they are either best-sellers, cult fiction, or literacy winning novels in their respective genres. Therefore, I’m sure they will be both enjoyable and extremely well written.

In no particular order:
Catch 22 : Joseph Heller
The memory keepers daughter : Kim Edwards
Nineteen Eighty-Four : George Orwell
The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas : John Boyne
Extremely Loud & Incredibly close : Jon Safan Foer
The God of Small things : Arundhati Roy
The Grapes of Wrath : John Steinbeck
Year of Wonders : Geraldine Brooks
The Book Thief : Markus Zusak
Shantaram : Gregory David Roberts
Rebecca : Daphne Du Maurier
White Oleander : Janet Fitch
A Tale of two cities : Charles Dickens
We need to talk about Kevin : Lionel Shriver
The Unbearable Lightness of Being : Milan Kundera
Vermon God Little : DBC Pierre
The Pact: Jodi Picoult
Life of Pi : Yann Martel
A Confederacy of Dunces : John Kennedy Toole
The Secret History : Donna Tartt
Love in the Time of Cholera : Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Princess Bride : William Goldman
Everything is Illuminated : Jon Safran Foer
Water for Elephants : Sara Gruen

There are 24 books here which I will try my darn hardest to read, at least some of them this year. Wish me luck!! Let me know if you're reading any of these books and what your thoughts were on them.
Labels: 13 comments | | edit post
How to catch lobsters at Port Mac (the Asian way!)
kimmysphere
Lobsters, here we come. It was Australia day on Tuesday which translated to an extra long weekend!! And what’s more patriotic than making use of that long weekend and trying our luck at catching lobsters. With 10 ¾ adults (10 adults, 1 child and 1 baby), we packed our 3 cars with a boat on tow and set our sat-nav sights on Port MacDonnell. Port Mac is a thriving little fishing town in SA, about 5 hours drive west out of Melbourne. A planned holiday which has been in the making for months, what jubilations did we feel when finally we were able to live it. Four days off work, amongst great company, and the expectations of a seafood smorgasbord, our heighten exhilaration was thick in the air.

We hired out a seafront house for 3 nights, with all the inclinations of bringing back a lavish bundle of loot home, and a bundle we did bring! 6 hours later when we finally arrived at our destination, I was quick to take out my Canon dslr and capture our beautiful surroundings. The boys were eager to scope out the beach to learn the locations of people who were diving for lobsters, I took this as the perfect opportunity to further experiment with my dslr and gather as much experience as I can. The scenery around Port Mac was quite interesting, the contrast between the poluted (by humans), repugnant smelling marina and the beautifully fresh, ruggered, rough shorelines of the beach did not go unnoticed by me. This however did set up a good opportunity for me to take some photos.


While near the rocks, which is on the edge of the water, I came across this cute bike. The child had put all his fishing gear in the little carriage at the back of his bike! Back to basics with the locals. I couldnt help but take a photo.


We had just arrived at the house after 6 hours stuck in the car, we need to do something to release all the energy we had coped up. This was the result lol


Some of the crabs which we catch. That together with the alco and it was a great night! I know its mean to say, but crabs are incredibly stupid! We lured them out easily with our bait, and they didnt put up much of a struggle when we netted them out of the water. They are extremely easy to catch. Our process: bait was tied to a string, we dangle that bait in the water near the rocks. Slowly but surely, we spot their claws coming from underneath the rocks. They try to snatch the bait while still trying to hide, so I would slowly pull the bait away from them, trying to lure them from their hiding spots. Like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey!! As expected, they crept out from the rocks and WHOOSP, we got them!! As simple as tying your shoelaces

Someone wants to be Australia's next top model...

The coastlines around Port Mac were nothing short of spectacular. The water and rocks are ruggered but crystal clear on a good weathered day. We wanted to spend at least a day down by the beach, fishing and catching crabs. However, a few of us had the terrible fortune of catching a gastro bug that was going around our group over the entire course of our trip. Regrettably, I was one of those poor suckers!! Instead of enjoying the picturesque scenery and tranquility, I was in a nauseated state of mind.


One Nan's friend was diving for lobster, and came back up with a MASSIVE abalone! I was so amazed by the size that I couldnt help but take a pic. Nana and me, as a married couple, cue the 'aaawwww'

This is how to catch lobsters, while in Port Mac. All you need to do is tie bait to a string, dangle it infront of them, and wait for them to come out from the rocks. Sound easy? It actually isnt!! You need to research before taking action, you need to be aware of what time of day is best to lure them out. And they are fast little suckers!

One of the numerous fish which the boys caught over the course of the weekend. Also, that's Kai, my little nephew. He's adorable

Both Diva and I couldnt resist a photo op with the line that caught two fish at once!
The first two snappers which KimmieLim caught.

Muy and I thought it would be a great photo to have the two snappers kiss as we kissed! lol

Striking poses (who said fishing was boring?)...

So I thought I would go all out and do a few of my poses also. Supermodel? I think not! Carefree=hellyea!!

Kai my beautiful nephew, he is but a mere 4 months old and already he has the capacity to draw your utter and entire attention simply by smiling. Why is it, that the older you get, the less enchantment your smile has on others. It appears the more you know, the older you get, the less attention you can receive from others. No wonder there are tryhards/wannabes in the world, they obviously didnt grow out of that stage of wanting attentin from others.
It was Kai's first adventure out of Melbourne. He seemed to really enjoy himself, altho I'm not sure how happy he was to be bathed in a container, considering his mother didnt think it was important enough to bring his bath tub lol! There were alot of firsts for Kai over that weekend, his first road trip, his first time out of Melbourne, his first time to the beach, his first time setting foot on Aussie sand, it was truly a weekend of firsts. How lucky is he that aunty Kimmy was there to take photos and visually documentate it all for his 21st! Dont answer that, it was a rhetorical question


Those were all the lobsters which we caught for the whole weekend, pretty good


This is the few snappers which we caught, I regret not taking photos of all the fishes/crabs/lobsters which we caught



Happy family. Kai's first time at the beach. He step foot for the first time on sand also.


Happy Australia Day!!

Below is one of my fav shots of the weekend! I just love the colours of the sky and water!! How often do you see beautiful nature coasts with colours like that around metro Melbourne?


Sorry about all the photos, i just couldnt decide which photos to take out. Happy viewing.
Labels: 10 comments | | edit post
Happy Australia Day
kimmysphere
I wanted to wish everyone an early Australia day for Tuesday 26th! I hope everyone carried on the Aussie tradition by having a BBQ.


10 comments | | edit post
Hello Cyber World !!
kimmysphere
Hallelujah, I’ve arrived!!

Woah, who would have thought this day would come?! Well, probably a few in fact. Bearing in mind I like to talk/write, I’m constantly online, I’ve got abundance of spare time (well not in actual fact, but I make time lol!), and I like to squander that time with useless occupations, it was inevitable that all these factors would amalgamate together to give birth to THIS BLOG! The catalyst for this new venture: Exhibit A: One of my oldest friend, Eng. She planted the seed, suggested that I should start a blog. To cut a not so long story even shorter, HERE I AM.

The first and most important question I asked myself: what will I blog about?? I def don’t have any amazing, original ideas which might catapult me to celebrity status, or earn me mega riches (altho I wished I did!). This got me contemplating the fate of my yet to even be published blog. This train of thought brought me to the sad conclusion that the only thing I could blog about was my life, as uninteresting as it may be. But then I thought why not, this could be my vessel to chronicling a period of my life. A period where I’m still considerably young(I’m using these words lightly as I’m not ‘technically’ young anymore!), just entering the real world, but mature enough to make exciting decision that will shape my future.

This will be a very exciting time for me, freshly married to my gorgeous husband Nan, building our first home, the pitter patter of little feet in the very near future, what better time than now to express all that I see and feel and lock it away on file?! Added to this recipe a splash of my passion for books, a dash of my new venture into amateur photography, a pinch of interesting info about my intimate circle of friends, I’m bound to always having something to blog about. In the future, I could reminisce back to this blog and show my future grandkids what quality of life people lived in the early noughties era, lol probably NOT. Consider this my time capsule for future generations to appreciate!

Now that I’ve made justifications for this blog, I shall proceed…

21 comments | | edit post