Updates

Wow I haven't updated in forever.

I have been reading (you can see my 2014 list here). I'd been busy with work and family still, and this year my guilty pleasure had been novels written in Chinese (as opposed to YA in the past), mostly by the same author who wrote about relationships. I don't know if there is any point in doing reviews of them since her books aren't translated.

Most of the English books were just average. There were some fun reads, but none of them made me felt like shouting "GO READ THIS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" so I didn't feel motivated to blog.

So I am wondering what I should do with my blog... only blog when I found something that falls into the "recommend to everyone" category? Just blog random thoughts? Is there anyone who is even interested in reading my boring random thoughts - I don't even have a twitter account because well, my life isn't that interest to update every 2 minutes.

Any "GO READ THIS NOW" books you've come across lately?! I'm so out of the whole new books world...



All reviews and posts are copyrighted by Christa @ Mental Foodie. Please do not use or reprint them without written permission.

Hellooooo....

I am once again behind on my reviews...  (7 finished an 1 DNF). Work has been keeping me rather busy, plus the toddler (!) is almost sick every other week (nothing serious, just colds... but he's still cranky) and then of course we'd get sick the week after...

So don't be surprised if you see a few catch up posts in the next few days as I try to finish them before the year end!

Where did the year go... though at the same time it felt like it was a long year... strange.


All reviews and posts are copyrighted by Christa @ Mental Foodie. Please do not use or reprint them without written permission.

ONE!

July had been an extremely busy month, especially with work! So much so that I totally forgot I had a blog tour on 8/6! This hadn't happened before... but luckily the tour organizer was very understanding, and let me finish the tour later this month instead... so now I'll have 2 blog tours at the end of August, and then 2 in Sept!

I used to read all the time, but now, I usually on read when I am on the bus to/from work... when I get home I am usually so tired that I'd been fallen asleep at my desk while checking facebook etc. I suppose I could read more instead of spending time online... but so far I haven't really found many books that made me want to do that you know?!

And, if you could believe it or not, my boy turned one recently. ONE!!!

I hope he'd enjoy reading - he does like me reading to him, but he still is only interested in very short books with very few words, so I can't wait when he actually understands the stories and wants to lose himself in the magical world of books.

I have also hardly visited any of your blogs! Also not up to date with all the new releases. Tell me what I have missed! Any books I must read? Any of your posts I should read?!



All reviews and posts are copyrighted by Christa @ Mental Foodie. Please do not use or reprint them without written permission.

Updates

Still here.

Still reading very slow - especially since I have 4 non-fiction to read this month (1 late blog tour, 2 blog tours in April, and 1 for April book club) and it's taking me much, much longer to read, due to lack of energy, and also spending time reading on baby stuff instead (much to learn!!)

Sorry if I haven't visited your blog for a while :( It's tiring for me to read online so I can only read so much everyday... especially since at work I am in front of the computer most of the time.

The exciting news is that we found out that the baby is healthy so far, and that it's a boy :)

For some reasons I thought it'd be a girl. I did a bunch of those gender prediction tests, but the results were half-and-half... but now we know for certain!

Now onto thinking of baby names... it took us forever to come up with our cat names... so we need to start early!










All reviews and posts are copyrighted by Christa @ Mental Foodie. Please do not use or reprint them without written permission.

Updates

I am once again behind on my reviews. But I guess I do have an excuse this time.

I have been feeling very tired, and just had no energy to read, let alone blog.

Because I am with child :) Due in mid-August.

I shouldn't complain too much as I don't have much morning sickness. Apart from fatigue, I just have hunger attacks (first time it happened, I was sweating, shaking and almost passed out). We were going to go out for dinner at 7pm, and it happened at 6pm. I told husband to just get me some food so I ate some leftovers quickly. Needless to say, we didn't end up going out since I was full.

I am also getting forgetful... I forgot to renew a library book oops. Luckily the fine is only 75 cents. Usually I am on top of this since it's all done online and they send you reminder! I don't even recall seeing the reminder...

Something book related - I was reading 1222 by Anne Holt, a locked-room Scandinavian mystery/thriller. In the middle of this book, I was enjoying this sub-genre (locked-room) I went to search for other books. I found a few classics that had been voted as the best in this category. My library doesn't have them, so I am having other libraries in the network to send them over! For those of you who have read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, that's an example of this sub-genre. I like that you have to use logic to deduce who the killer is.

So these are the ones I am going to read (hopefully I'd have more energy soon!)

The Three Coffins / The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr, 1935 (supposedly the best there is)
The Judas Window by Carter Dickson, 1938 (aka John Dickson Carr)

Rim of the Pit by Henning Nelms, 1944
The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux, 1907 (John Dickson Carr's favorite)

These are all old books, and I usually prefer contemporary books (after 2000?) so we'll see how I like them!

Has anyone read any of them?





All reviews and posts are copyrighted by Christa @ Mental Foodie. Please do not use or reprint them without written permission.

Updates

Yay I am only 13 books behind in my review (9 fiction and 4 non-fiction). Well for the 2011 books I read anyway. I have another 4 (including 1 NDF) to review yet for 2012. But at least I am catching up, as it had been over 20 books behind for a long time!

Part of the reason was probably because I am reading rather slow this year, so I am not as many books behind. So far in January, I'd only finished 3 books, and had another 2 DNF. I am about half way through my current book, A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan. So I will finish at least 4 books this month (and if I read something fast/short after that, I may be able to squeeze in another one). This is far less than my usual 8 books on average. Ah well, quality over quantity.

It's also Chinese New Year today! Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it! There is not much atmosphere here though. I do miss the food... maybe next year I'd make more of an effort to celebrate it. I was thinking of going to the Asian grocery store for something, but it had been cold / road conditions hadn't been the best, so we abandoned that idea.

Kitties are doing well. Sometimes I wondered if Sesame should have been called Sesa-you instead of Sesa-me since he is quite "me-centered" :) He doesn't like you petting him if he doesn't want you to, but you'd better pet him when he wants it! Though I should learn from him - everything is a toy to him. The whole house is like Disneyland according to him. Empty boxes? Yay! Plastic pen? Yay! Toilet paper roll? Yay! If we could only have such an optimistic outlook and find fun in everything.



All reviews and posts are copyrighted by Christa @ Mental Foodie. Please do not use or reprint them without written permission.

Happenings...

I am in a reading slump AND blogging slump.

I am still reading, but very slowly. Only read when I am multi-tasking, e.g. when I am eating lunch, or feeding the cats (I have to sit there to watch them eat to make sure they only eat out from their own plate), or on the bus. Well I am reading Steve Jobs with my husband, but since I am reading it out loud to him, the speed is much slower (and boy, is my husband an Apple nerd or what? He knows a lot of the stuff already... so much so that he could finish the NEXT sentence before I even started at times...). I think my mind has just been preoccupied with other stuff, like watching TV series or movies, doing some online research about something (which could lead to something exciting if it came true)... There are lots of books I want to read, but have been holding off on reading them as I don't want to start and not be able to finish because of my slump (rather than not really liking the books.)

I took a week of work for a mental break earlier, and was really in a blogging mood. But after I got back to work, I got too busy again to blog...

Plus I have started a photography project with a friend, so will have to work on editing the photos, which takes a lot more time than shooting the photos. But it is something I am very excited about, as it is about giving back.

As for NaNoWriMo - I started a story (adult dystopian), but that's all I had done. Well, that's more than I'd ever written I suppose! I stopped because I am not ready to write this story yet - I guess I had wondered why some writers had said that (not ready to write a particular story) when I read about their writing processes, and never understood it until now. I have another story in mind though, so I'd start that sometime later, even if NaNoWriMo is coming to a close.

So I guess this November I'd just been "resting". But I guess we all need that sometime! And I am glad I have the luxury to rest.

What's been happening...

I took last week off work - I needed to use up some vacation time, but I also was ready for a break (an extended mental health day... I guess that'd be a mental health week?) I wasn't overly stressed, just that I'd been working hard without much of a break for a while. I had plans to clean up the house, or just sit around to read, or maybe work on my NaNoWriMo story.

I ended up doing absolutely nothing. Well that's a lie, I actually ended up catching up on book reviews/blogging. That's why you saw so many posts from me in the past few days because I was in the mood to write (but not in the mood for NaNoWriMo). I posted 15 reviews this week, have 4 scheduled to go in the next few days, and I still have 20 to do yet (5 DNF, 4 Non-Fiction, and 11 Fiction). But at least I am half way there! For a while I thought I won't be able to catch up by the end of the year, but I think I might just be able to. Now if I'd continue to write at least 1-2 per day I should be able to catch up in no time!

I wasn't in the mood to read at all... so far in November I'd finished 2 books only and we're almost half way through the month. To date, I'd read 84 books (62 fiction, 22 non-fiction, and 14 DNF). I doubt I can make it to 100 as I'd done in the past few years. Unless I read a lot of YA or graphic novels... but I am not going to do that just to reach a number. If I am in the mood to read a YA, I will(I do have one that I want to read, but not sure if I'd read it this year or next.) I did read 4 graphic novels already (3 were in a series) and that's enough for me for now. So I will just read what strikes my mood, and if I don't want to read, then so be it. There are times I wish I could just sit and read all week long, but I guess this week I really just wanted a break, and be lazy. I know it's a luxury. But I needed it.

Now I am ready to go back to work tomorrow!

The Heart Knows

My mum lives in a different country, so I haven't been able to celebrate mother's day with her in person in the past 7 years. Of course, you don't just appreciate your mum on this particular day only, but it also doesn't seem right to not celebrate it either (especially when all the other mums get acknowledged!)

I did call her already though since the time zone she lives in is half a day ahead of us. Now, I know I should call more often... I just never really like talking on the phone - if you call me, I'd happy to talk to you, but I hardly ever initiate a call because I don't like to intrude. My mum doesn't email or uses the internet, which is my preferred communication tool, so that lives the phone. Well I suppose I could write her the traditional pen-and-paper letter, or fax, or have the pigeon passes on the message. Yeah, excuses.

I know that she knows that I think about her though. We have a good relationship (not like a tiger mum!) so I do feel guilty being so far away. Since I left for the US 7 years ago, I only got to see my mum (and the rest of my immediate family) last year when my youngest sister got married. It's just a long and expansive trip to travel half the way around the world... modern technology definitely helps some, but still, it's not quite the same.

My mum's mum died when she was only 19 years old. I am very lucky I still have her. I miss her cooking. I miss her sewing (she's a great seamstress and made a lot of our clothes, or alternated them. Now - if my pants are too long? Wear high heels! If the length is just right? Wear flats!). I just miss her period.

I need to tell her that more often. Being a product of eastern and western cultures, I'm so Chinese in that way - not expressing our feelings. There is a Chinese saying, "the heart knows." I probably take it too heart a bit too closely.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. Maybe one day I will understand what it means to be a mother, and would appreciate what my mum does for me even more.

I love you mum.

(I took this picture of my mum probably about 10 years ago now, not long after I got my first SLR camera. FILM camera, remember those?)

PS - I guess I get a dose of what it is like to be a mum when it comes to our 3 cats, I mean, I even speak "Catonese" with them (Cantonese is my first language) - all in their own 3 different dialects too mind you since they all meow differently! I never thought I'd carry on a conversation with my cats. They don't even meow to each other (apart from the occasional hiss)! I hope when I meow I am not promising them something I can't keep!

Updates...

• Work is keeping me busy once again. I still manage to read about 2 books a week, but was behind with blogging (finally caught up with reviews today). Thus having much time to visit your blogs either, and I am hopelessly behind on replying on comments (THANKS for commenting on my posts by the way! It's exciting to see comments!)

• Also meant to do a Book Vs Movie post, will do that later... (watched My Sister's Keeper and The Girl Who Played with Fire).

• Haven't much luck with fiction this year... only one stood out so far (Matched), and others were just okay or worse (see what fiction and non-fiction I'd read so far this year here)

• Want to read 50-50 fiction and non-fiction this year, but looks like I'm doing 2:1 so far. Perhaps reading more non-fiction will help with my dissatisfaction with fiction. But with work being easy, it's easier to read fiction as I don't have to think as much...

• Sometimes I wonder if my expectations with fiction is set too high? I suppose this year I am trying to read genre I am generally not into, and there's probably a reason I wasn't into the in the first place... but I won't know for sure till I try.
• One of my goals this year is to have a read-along with my husband - since he prefers audio books and I prefer print, we'd choose 5 books together and I'd read to him instead. We started with Unbroken, which is very interesting so far. But we won't be able to finish it before the due date (we don't get to read every night due to my work). It also takes longer to read the book this way - it took me an hour to read 20 pages aloud (it is about 400 pages, with quite a lot of lines on each page... unlike some books with more white space). So will have to return it to the library and borrow it again later. Meanwhile, will choose something else to read - probably something not so new and popular so we can renew it! Thinking of My Life in France by Julia Child. Then after that maybe The Lost City of Z. Want to choose some fiction too - thinking of Shantaram and Cutting for Stone, but both are long books! 

• Sometimes, Sesame (youngest kitty) just doesn't want me to read! He'd curl up at the crook of my arm, and push my book away with his paws, so I could pay full attention to holding him instead... it wasn't so difficult before to hold him and read at the same time as he was just 3.5 lb and I could hardly feel him, now he is probably close to 7lb if not more! Maybe I am just a wuss and need to lift weight :) He also loves to push the stacks of books I borrow from the library off from the top of my cabinet or desk to the floor... maybe I need to read fairy tales to him instead.

• I can't wait till spring gets here... I know other parts of the country are enjoying spring break. Definitely not us. 

Updates

• Even though I hadn't been posting (busy at work, then got a cold), I'd been reading. Read a couple of good ones too so I'm glad!

• Argh I'm sick of the cold and snow already... already have 2 feet of snow and expecting 5-7" today/tomorrow.... Last week it was -30F with windchill... It's nice to have a white Christmas when you get to be inside by a fire with a hot chocolate (or your choice of drink) - but more than one day of it is enough :) Have just watched New In Town with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. Gotta laugh (supposedly set in a small town in MN, not the one I live in though but we went there last year during Oktoberfest.) They filed in Winnipeg, Canada though at -57F, so I shouldn't complain too much!

• Anyway, here's a list of reviews coming up!

• Not by Chance Alone: My Life as a Social Psychologist by Elliot Aronson - love this! May not appeal to others though
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - disappointed
• Semper Cool: One Marine's Fond Memories of Vietnam by Marry Fixler - interesting
• Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls - really enjoyed this!
• Simply from Scratch by Alicia Bessette - eh.

• Reading now: PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern (no haven't watched the movie). 1/3 to go... okay so far but already wish it's shorter. Since I don't usually read chicklit, I thought I'd at least give it a couple of try this year (this one and Simply from Scratch - both with similar themes - widows at an early age (30/early 30's). 

• Hopefully I can have the reviews up by this weekend... we're not hosting anything so should give me some time! 

• Stay warm!

Updates

• Reading is a bit slow, but hopefully work will be slightly slower in December, so I'll have more time to read! Actually reading multiple books at the moment for different purposes (all non-fiction, some ARC, some work related, some for husband and I to read together like books on cooking and finance). I'm definitely in a fiction mode, which doesn't help... So many books, so little time!

• We still have a month to go till the end of the year (which will mark my 1 year anniversary as I started on Jan 1, 2010!) - already thinking about my favorite books this year, most disappointment books, what I plan to do for next year... 

• All 3 kitties are doing great, getting along very well. Phew! Hopefully will have some pictures soon...

• Don't forget to enter the Girard's Salad Dressings Giveaway! It ends on 11/30!!!

Updates

• Wow, finally caught up with all the reviews! Probably because my reading had slowed down too...

• Felt like I'm in a reading runt. Everything seemed not good enough :p I think that's probably because I'd been really busy with work with new projects and deadlines, so had less time to read. Thus when I do get to read, I want to read something good, so that I'm not wasting my precious little time that I get to read!

• I am also sorry that I hadn't visited anyone's blogs for weeks... now that it's getting colder, we probably will stay home more often on the weekends, then perhaps I'll have more time to catch up on everyone's blogs...

• I will be having a yummy give away on Monday, 10/25/10, so what out for it!

• Another reason I was busy was... we adopted a 3rd cat! Yes I went from petless to 3 in 3 months... we have a good reason though. While the first 2 cats get along fine, Kunik really wants to wrestle and chase, while Tallulah doesn't.  Tallulah is fine living with other cats, and doesn't mind Kunik grooming her sometime, but she's just not into playing with him that much (she'd play with interactive toys like Da Bird and Panic Cat). Kunik just seems sad and bored. We looked at the local rescue / shelters for a few weeks - while the other cats were cute, none of them stood out to us, until we met this little guy!

• We got him a few days ago, and are still thinking of a name for him. His left eye looked a little funny in the photo as he was recovering from a cold. He's a Siamese-Mix, about 3.5 months old.

• He's in an isolated room right now, but had let him out a couple of times for a supervised visit. Boy, he and Kunik started wrestling and chasing almost straight away! When we first got Tallulah, Kunik would follow her, but didn't really try to wrestle her until much later. I don't know why, but Kunik decided to start early this time! And luckily the little guy was up for it even though he's probably less than half of Kunik's size. He was a little scared a first but he got over it. His foster mum rescued him from the side of the road, or he'd have been euthanize. The foster mum didn't have any cats, but had 5 dogs, including a greyhound! So this little kitten is a little fearless. We really hope that once he's out of his "jail", he'd get along with the other 2 cats fine!

• Tallulah and the little kitten had sniffed each other, and then went their way. I think Tallulah is just happen that Kunik has someone else to wrestle with, and will leave her alone! As long as she has food and gets petted, she's happy.

• So far, no hissing or growling from anybody, so fingers crossed! 

• And this is it - 3 cats, no more! :)  

Updates

Wow, can't believe I'm almost caught up with reviews! Did 9 in the past couple of days, with 2 more to go!

So coming up reviews:

• The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
• Room by Emily Donoghue
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (reading now)

Give Away:

• a Non-book, yummy give away! Watch out for it soon!

Finally finished editing the little kittens pictures. Here are a few favorite. They were about 10 days on in the pictures. I heard they'd been growing fast!! Will be up for adoption once they'd been spayed/neutered. Aren't they precious!

Update

Argh, I am NINE reviews behind... but have a few other things I need to do first:

• Book club is this Tuesday - The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride - I just started reading it yesterday because I had other books to read first... so I want to finish it in time for the discussion. Can I do it???

• Husband and I are going through Dave Ramsey Peace University (personal financial management class) - so have to do some readings and homework. We aren't even half way through yet, but so far I'm enjoying it and I hope we'll apply what we've learned. 

• The house is still a mess... we are hoping to get it all painted and clean up by Thanksgiving or Christmas this year, so families/friends can visit. We'll see about that...

• 2 weeks ago, I took some pictures of some 10 days old kitties for the local rescue. I hadn't had time to edit yet so need to get them done ASAP, especially since the kitties are growing FAST!!  Will post a teaser! Will post more when I'm done with them.

CSN Stores

I kept seeing CSN Stores reviews or giveaway on other book blogs, so I was pleasantly surprised when CSN contacted me to see if I want to do a review!

I wish I had known about their site earlier - last year we were doing bathroom remodels, while the bathrooms were not totally gutted, it'd have been nice to have a site to browse for vanity, or faucets! I particularly like this Stein World 40" Vanity Desk and Stool Set in Soft Green:

If you have a chance, go to their website to take a look!

Gosh they have so many items on their site, I really need to spend some time to decide what to chose to review. Will definitely post an update once I have decided on the product and post the review!

Another Blog for Food / Cooking

I have decided to have another blog to talk about food, and my attempt to cook, and leave this site for books instead. I think I'll post cookbooks on the food blog, since I am not really reviewing them like I do for the books I really read.

Here's the new blog:

Mental Foodie Tries to Cook

http://mentalfoodiecook.blogspot.com/

Welcome any cooking tips and good food recommendation! :)

Funny - Author & Pet Pairings

Saw this on abebooks.com blog - go take a quick look! :)

Author and Pet Pairings (1)

Author and Pet Pairings (2)