This book was recommended by Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, who sees St. Therese as her spiritual master. I reckon that since she was not a Catholic and is a regular Protestant Christian like me, if she can enjoy reading it, I can probably do that too. But I must admit, this is one of the hardest book to read, the language is unlike modern novel, there are many terms relating to Catholic practices which I’m not familiar, and it is more like her diary than a biography. She pours out her innermost thoughts and longings and I must say, it is incredible to read the heart of a little girl so young and yet so filled with such deep love for God. She knew her life, her mission, and she displayed her obedience and love in the little ways. I must admit I only read 3/4 of the books as it got a little too hard to read towards the end. But I was greatly humbled after reading it. It is a must for all Catholics and all God loving people!

Aside from that, focusing our attention back onto the topic of online books shopping, we shall see which website is the most reliable! I will update again when all the books arrive but meanwhile here are the books I bought.

Amazon.com

Bought: Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, Third Edition , Therese de Lisieux (Author), John Clarke (Translator)

Good: Amazon is best for out of print books or hard to find books. This book was recommended by Gretchen Rubin in her The Happiness Project book and I so wanted to get my hands on it which is of this edition and by this translator! Having searched many other websites (both local and overseas) to no avail, I turned to Amazon! The good thing about Amazon is that, you can buy both new or used books from their seller! Which is awesome to save some money and reuse, reduce, recycle! I bought it on 12 April 12 and received it in my mailbox on 20 April 12! Efficient! Almost 3 weeks ahead of the estimated delivery date.

Bad: Amazon’s price is quoted in US dollars and their delivery charges can costs more than the books itself. Though reliable, unless it is a hard to find book, I won’t recommend using this because of the price.

Book Depository.co.uk

Bought: Two books, Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Good: The prices are quoted in Singapore dollars and they provide free worldwide delivery (at least to most countries, and yes Singapore is part of it!). The price is slightly lower than Amazon (but much lower if you include delivery charges of Amazon) and definitely lower than local bookstore. I bought it today on the 22 April 12 and we shall see when it will arrive.

Fishpond.com.sg

Bought: Two books, Baby proof by Emily Giffin and When I fell from the sky by Juliane Keopcke

Good: This website was originally created for the Australia and New Zealand markets with book sellers in UK and USA. The prices are also quoted in Singapore dollars and they too provide free worldwide delivery. The price is lower than Amazon but at times comparable to Book Depository. I bought this two books on 11 April 12 and this two books are from two different sources so my guess is that they might arrive on different days. We shall see, the estimated arrival date is between 24/04/12 and 30/04/12 for one book and between 25/04/12 and 01/05/12 for the other. I shall update again when it arrives!

//23/04/12: One of my books arrived 1 day earlier than expected in good condition! Yay!

//25/04/12: The other book arrived! Well on time!

Gosh. I’m such a addicted nerd! But I’m glad and am looking forward to receiving and reading these books!

“Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games.” The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat’s sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place. “ – Amazon.com

I am sure many of you have either read this book or seen the movie and gosh I love this book! I never expect myself to enjoy reading this genre of books, after all, I didn’t read any of the Harry Potter or Twilight series but this book was awesome. I just can’t put it down and when I did, I wish I don’t have to work or do other things but just hole up in a corner to quickly finish the book! The main character Katniss is easy to love and though it is set in a tragic plot where young children have to kill each other to survive just for pure entertainment, it is chillingly sick yet exciting. It made me root for Katniss throughout the book as thought I came from the same district of Panem too.

]]> http://somethingboutrenes.com/2012/04/22/the-hunger-games-suzanne-collins/feed/ 0 http://somethingboutrenes.com/2012/04/22/the-happiness-project-gretchen-rubin/ http://somethingboutrenes.com/2012/04/22/the-happiness-project-gretchen-rubin/#comments Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:55:56 +0000 somethingboutrenes http://somethingboutrenes.com/?p=7964

Everyone wants to be happy and everyone does things hoping that we will be happier when we achieve them and that’s why we work harder, buy more things and jump into any chance just to do that.

I’m not having a depression nor am I unhappy with my life, but I picked up this book at Ubud, Bali airport because I think I can be happier than my current state of mind.

This book is another take on our New Years Resolutions which are centered around activities and changes that we think will make us happier. Gretchen chronicled her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Unlike Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love, Gretchen didn’t have the option to uproot herself and abandon her family, instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions and test out principles by experts from Thoreau to Oprah to Dalai Lama.

This book has inspired many to start their own 12 months Happiness Project but not me. I find it a chore to list down 12 areas of my life which I want to improve and using resolution charts to track my progress. However, I realized in many instances when I read her book, she is very similar to me and I am glad, I agree with many of her resolutions and outcomes after she tested them!

Here are some of my favorites resolutions of Gretchen.

• January – Boost Energy, Vitality: Exercise better & Toss, Restore, organize
• February – Remember Love: Marriage: Quit nagging, Don’t expect praise or appreciation, Fight right, Give proofs of love [This is my favorite chapter!]
• March – Aim higher, Work: Enjoy now
• April – Lighten Up, Parenthood: Acknowledge the reality of people’s feelings & Take time for projects [Even though I'm not a parent just yet, but if I have a child, I would love to buy the book "How to talk so Kids will listen and listen so Kids will talk" which Gretchen recommended.]
• May – Be serious about play, Leisure: Find more fun & Go off the path
• June – Make time for friends, Friendship: Be generous & Show up [I am guilty of not putting in effort in maintaining friendships]
• July – Buy some happiness, Money: Indulge in modest splurge and buy needful things
• August – Contemplate the Heavens, Eternity: Read memoirs of catastrophe [I bought 2 books where one is recommended by her and another which I came across while reading a news article.]
• September – Pursue a passion, Books: Make time
• October – Pay attention, Mindfulness
• November – Keep a contented heart, Attitude: Laugh out loud & give positive reviews
• December – Boot camp perfect, Happiness

Something Borrowed is written as the voice of Rachel. The good girl, a hard-working attorney and a faithful friend who is her charmed but self centered best friend Darcy’s maid of honor. Rachel has always taken the backstage, accepting her sidekick role and allowing Darcy to shine. But all that changed on the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel confessed her feelings to Darcy’s fiancé and discovered that he feels the same way too. Something Borrowed makes me want to beat up Darcy and cheer for Rachel during their roller coaster love triangle ride! It is a book with an exciting start and an exhilarating reading experience with a slight disappointing ending which left me satisfied but not pleased.

The second book, Something Blue was written from Darcy’s side of the story. The beginning was painful to read because I dislike Darcy. Darcy was a pain and I can’t stand her nonsense. But I am glad I pressed on. This story is about the transformation of Darcy. It paints the journey of Darcy maturing and moving on with her life and I love the ending. I am certainly pleased with the ending. I love happy ending.

If you love reading chick flick, you must read this. You must. It is that good. I am now curious about the other books written by Emily Giffin.

I recently discovered a local online secondhand bookstore which we can buy and sell used books! I have just uploaded some books in my “bookstore” so do visit! Even if you aren’t keen in any of my books, I thought it is a good site to grab some good reads at a really affordable price! Happy shopping and happy reading!

But I am still determined (at least for a short while) to try my hands on baking again!

After a quick research online through various forums and top cake recipe authors, I’ve a list of authors who are popular among cake bakers. The “+” means the number of people who said it is good in a forum I read. After I read the reviews in eBay, Amazon and a few others, these authors are mostly good. If there is 1 person who said it is bad, I will strike it off my list. So what’s left is here, some of them gave a specific book title that is good some just listed that the author is good.

I have top 4 books which I am really interested (which I have included the pictures) but I should check it out at Kino before buying them, some of the books are really old so I got to see if the language is easy to understand. Haha.

Nick Malgieri – Perfect Cakes (+ 5) Someone called him King of Cakes

Tish Boyle – The Cake Book (+ 4)

Dorie Greenspan (+3)

Carole Walter – Great cakes / Perfect cakes (+ 3)

Marcel Desaulniers – Desserts to Die for / Death by Chocolate (+ 2)

Maida Haetter (+ 2) The someone also called her the queen of cakes

James Mcnair (+ 1)

Rose Levy Beranbaum (+ 1) She wrote The Cake Bible which is well received by experience cake baker.

Anyone tried their recipes? Any other recommendations?

We went shopping today and bought a couple of stuffs!

(1) A book on making artisan breads in five minutes. No prize for guessing who the book is for. I prefer my sweet treats! Haha.

(2) An English teapot. We are both tea lovers and we were using our wedding teapot previously which was tiny! Now with this huge English teapot we should be able to serve up tea for four!

(3) A fondue set. Always wanted a fondue set for our guests! Won’t it be nice to have a sweet wine with some chocolate fondue strawberry at our mini alfresco dining space. Haha.

The best guidebook probably in Italy or Europe. If you spot anyone carrying a guidebook in Italy, they are probably holding a Rick Steves. It is that popular especially among Americans and Asians. Rick Steves’s guide book is best for their audio guides which can be downloaded for free using an iPhone app. I enjoyed his humour unlike most of the guides which are written in an informative but boring way. We also found some of his tips (e.g buying Roma Pass in Rome) and food recommendations useful! Some tourists insist on not eating at any of the restaurants that Rick Steves recommended mostly because the restaurants will ended up being filled with tourists once it is listed in the book! But we found it useful and it sure is better than Lonely Planet.

You may want to get your hand on one if you are traveling to Italy! We got ours from the library and speaking of which, these books are still lying around with it being overdue! SHIT.