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Conrad

Posted in: 2022 posts | Reading

Finished reading "Conrad's Fate", as planned(?). Probably will finish "The Man Who Fell to Earth" next. I have always liked "Conrad's Fate" so nothing much changed this time. I did give a higher rating. And I'm loving and appreciating Conrad's character more than before... (saw a comment online that said he's an INTP so maybe that's why? XD). I think this book will be great as a dark comedy movie.. the chaos in the end was so fun to read XD

Won't be starting "The Pinhoe Egg" yet. I thought of re-reading "Charmed Life" again but decided not to in the end lol...

Still thinking about e-readers (of course XD) and even with my not-really-strong motive of getting one... I think I might do it this time. My birthday is near after all. Which doesn't really make it okay to get one but hmmmmm... I'm tired of going on and off about getting one for more than a year so I think I'm just going to get one and... start from there. Might still change my mind later though.

Time: 2022-08-04T23:08:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , Reading

Expectations

Posted in: 2022 posts | Reading | The Weather Looks...

Good news. I've finished "The Left Hand of Darkness". I gave it 2.5 stars. I enjoyed some parts of it but not most of it. A bit of a drag for my taste. I wouldn't say it's as bad as [my experiences with] Wells and Conrad (maybe leaning a bit towards Conrad, but not as long-winded... but still info-dumpish) because I will still read her other books. Especially the other five unread books (of which one is an omnibus of four books) of hers that I currently have in possession.

I think I kind of had my expectations high with this one...? It's not high high expectations, but high enough(?). Maybe I should just have low expectations with all new books I encounter from the start. Then I might have better reading experiences with them...

Haaaah... at least I can finally make that post, I guess...? Maybe tomorrow.

P/s: The weather was a bit better today so we got dry laundry by the end of the day. But that also means I have to wake up early tomorrow to deal with the latest laundry backlog *loooong sigh*

Time: 2022-12-27T22:51:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , Reading , The Weather Looks...

It's Me

Posted in: 2022 posts | Reading | Weekend Musings

I guess this is the "real" 800th post if you only count published ones XD

I don't think I'm a fan of H. G. Wells' writing style...

It's not like I just realised it this week. Had a feeling when I started the book back in January. Yesterday, I took a look at the "If you like..." section on LibraryThing and found Jules Verne on the top. Yeah... read two of Verne's books before, also not a fan.

I'm aware. It's totally me, it's my problem. It occurred to me today that you have to take time reading Wells.. like you have to read slowly, which apparently I don't always do. Caught myself reading the book out loud several times. Probably will benefit from reading through an audiobook version or... read the book while listening the audiobook. That would help in "slowing down" my reading speed.. I guess?

Oh and I keep forgetting who is who lol... I know I'm not good with names but usually it's good enough. This one.. I just don't care anymore, unfortunately. Going from this book to Conrad's book was.. an experience. Conrad's isn't that easy to read either but I can picture their stories better in my head (still bad with names though oops).

Time: 2022-02-11T13:57:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , Reading , Weekend Musings

230 Days

Posted in: 2022 posts | blog images | Reading

"The Rover" is no more - I have finished it!

It took me 230 days to finish Joseph Conrad's "Selected Short Stories & The Rover". *BIG SIGH OF RELIEF*

Who thought it was a good idea to add a novel to these short story collections? Should've left them separated (like the version on GR). What were you thinking???

Anyway, it's not something worth celebrating or congratulating really (referring to me finishing it) because I surely half-arsed my reading until the end. The amount of time my mind kept wandering while I read this... oh gosh. I had to read some parts over and over again because my brain refused to register what I just read.

Also, reading "The Rover" has made me a strong advocate for reader-friendly paragraphs. Short, readable paragraphs - yes, yes, love those. Long, wall-of-text paragraphs - NOPE!

(Oooh, I probably should go check my old posts later...)

Why not DNF this book, you ask? I like to think that by finishing this stubbornly, I have avoided at least three DNFs (for his books) in the future. Conrad is very hard to read. Any attempt to read him can't be taken lightly. You might need to prepare ~~a will (both ways? XD),~~ a large amount of comfort food/drink and any "bribes" (or rewards) for yourself for going through a reading session of his book. Using a reading schedule is very much recommended. Or just DNF when it gets difficult, that's probably the best thing to do.

...I might still check out his more famous works in the future (I'm thinking of "Heart of Darkness" and "The Secret Agent") but for now, let's not read anymore of his works... for the sake of my sanity.

If you ask how I feel about his writing, other than it being hard and difficult, I will say I love and hate it. At this moment, it's both of those.

BONUS

I just checked this book's page on LibraryThing. LT has this "Will you like it?" feature and this is what mine is for this book:

Such a useful feature XD

(oh but it might have been influenced by my 2.5 stars rating since I only checked this after I did the rating lol)

Time: 2022-07-21T18:51:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , blog images , Reading

Wednesday Woes...?

Posted in: 2022 posts | Reading

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday: I finished playing "Murdered: Soul Suspect" XD... Also did (drew) my Tsugaru bookmark last week but haven't painted it yet.

I have some ideas already for my big goal this month. Still thinking about what I'll do for small goal...hmm. Will update again later.

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Among the books I'm reading now, there are two books that I'm having a hard time reading because of their writing styles. Both books I've chosen from the jar. "Selected Short Stories & The Rover" & "Orlando". I'm powering through "Orlando" but I'm this close to not finishing Conrad's book. I've practically finished that book since I'm reading "The Rover" now. A novel they added in a newer edition of the book. Most probably will just continue reading *sigh*

...let it be known that on Sunday, if I get another classic novel, I'm going to throw that back into the jar instantly (>.<)

Time: 2022-03-02T22:04:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , Reading

Whatever Saturday

Posted in: 2021 posts | Pick-A-New-Book Jar

It's a nice sunny morning and... I think I'm going use the jar today, instead of tomorrow.

Just feeling like doing it today. ...Yes, I haven't finished the four books from this challenge. I can't estimate when I'll finish them. But I'm still doing it! I want to get mentally-prepared for it or something.

Okay, wishes... I wish... erm... Why do I think it will not be something I'm in favour with? What if it's a collection of short stories again? Hmmm. Oh well. I wish for something easy to read. And short. Something less than 200 pages.

*shakes*

*more shaking*

...so another book I purchased in September. In fact, it's in the same batch with "Lust".

It's Joseph Conrad's "Selected Short Stories & The Rover".

*3-minute silence*

I'll just go get my mental prepared for this...

Time: 2021-11-27T11:08:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2021 posts , Pick-A-New-Book Jar

Lazy Sunday

Posted in: 2022 posts | Reading

This is the day.

The day I'll throw that New Year resolution out of the window... if I have one of course.

Fortunately(?), I'm not doing a yearly one so this is just a day where I feel very, very lazy... and I don't want to do anything.

"Isn't that just the usual thing?" you say. Oh no no. The laziness is strong and stubborn today. I can feel it.

Anyway.. since I'm not doing the jar today, I'll just talk about my progress on this month's big goal. Which is related to the jar.

I want to finish these books this month:

~~Miss Darcy Falls in Love~~ Done!
Sophie's World - Hmmm.. this one is like over 400 pages so it's kind of scary reading it. Like there's no progress happening.
Selected Short Stories and The Rover - Oh boy. I'm focusing on finishing this one currently and I'll be honest, it's not easy to read Joseph Conrad's writing style. The weird thing is, at the same time, I still want to read the story. And it's maddening because the beginning is always hard to go through...
Hocus Pocus - This one was done in short paragraphs style. Should be easy to read but it somewhat gave me "Something Happened" vibes so... let's hope it doesn't go that way.
~~Agent of Chaos~~ Done!

Time: 2022-01-23T18:56:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , Reading

おつかれさま~

Posted in: 2021 posts | blog images | Books | Online Shopping Bag | Youtube

Otsukare (although it's not the end of the day yet lol) and big thanks to people who make deliveries today on Malaysia Day

I thought there weren't going to be any PosLaju deliveries today since it's public holiday but I was proven wrong...

These arrived today. I actually purchased these the day after 9.9 sale, all because of this:

BBW on Shopee

They don't even include books I want to read but I couldn't resist. So, let me present to you.. Part 2 of my risky batch. I did choose some of these based on what I saw on Goodreads so erm.. I don't know what to expect really.

Roald Dahl's "Lust: Tales of Craving and Desire"・Amanda Lees' "Kumari: Goddess of Secrets"・Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"・Fiona Gibson's "The Mum Who'd Had Enough"・Edward St Aubyn's "Lost for Words"

I can't wait to add these to the jar :P

Also added these three which were in my wishlist.

Joseph Conrad's "Selected Short Stories & The Rover"・Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's "Monday Starts on Saturday"・Joanna Russ' "The Female Man"

The version of "Selected Short Stories" I got included the "The Rover" in the title, which was different from what I see on Goodreads.

And this random looks-fun poker set thing. It's a small tin box with a thin book inside. Also included the things mentioned on box:

Bwahaha

Honestly though, I do want to learn to play so I'm fine with this. It's fine that I don't have anyone I can play with lol... Sometimes it gets mentioned in books, games, movies, TV shows etc so I think it's helpful to at least know the basics.

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I think I had a better sleep last night (or early morning). Which is a surprise that I shouldn't be surprised at... it's all in the cycle. I knew it will turn out like this but I still get amazed every time it happens.

Anyway, I finished watching PockySweet's playthrough of "Twelve Minutes" today and I think the game's story was really good. So layered, so many twists! His playthrough was fun too of course (as usual). I usually don't talk about these things in this blog but I really want to today because I was surprised to see famous names in the credits. James McAvoy! I totally didn't recognise him lol

I love playing "Guess the seiyuu" with anime that I randomly decide to watch so this kinda makes me a bit sad that I didn't ~~see~~ hear that XD... but I don't usually pay attention to non-japanese voice acting world (except those I'm familiar with) so it's a given, I guess.

Time: 2021-09-16T15:44:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2021 posts , blog images , Books , Online Shopping Bag , Youtube

I have books

Posted in: 2024 posts | blog images | Books | Online Shopping Bag | Reading

These two got delivered today~

"Gold Boy, Emerald Girl" - It's not exactly the reason I got this but I really like the shape of gingko leaves (and maidenhair fern!) :P... Anyway, it's another short story collection *long sigh*... what am I even thinking when I don't like short story collections, right? Well... I do want to try reading something written by the author so when I saw this sold under RM5, I couldn't resist.

"Queen of the Tiles" - I finally read "The Weight of Our Sky" last year and I liked the way it's written. I do need to read more from the author though (to make sure it's not a one time thing). I did around on Shopee for this book early this year and only recently found this hardback version priced under RM40.

As to when I'm reading these... I most probably will read "Queen of the Tiles" this year. Not sure about the other book because I always dread reading short stories (I mean... - not really the best examples but - especially after my experience with Conrad and Le Guin). I should do away with the expectation that it's faster to read short stories because that's definitely rarely it in my case. I need to like switch gears every time I start a new short story (it's mentally exhausting) --- so yeah, best would be read one story at a time (read one short story, walk away, read next story another day--- kind of thing).

Time: 2024-02-12T17:09:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2024 posts , blog images , Books , Online Shopping Bag , Reading

Distracted Again

Sunny Saturday. Which means it should have been a good day... but why do I feel kind of mean today?

Since Thursday's post, I...

Found two more anime I enjoy watching (one more than the other):

"Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill" -
*the title is so long!!!* wholesome isekai-themed anime!
"Sugar Apple Fairy Tale" - the MC can be annoying sometimes but she hasn't annoy me enough to DNF it

Want to start drawing Pakho Chau but since I can't find my art stuff, (it's there somewhere, I just need to organise my room *sigh*) I've been procrastinating...
Have continued reading "The Unreal & The Real" - very slow progress. The font size is so small and the paragraphs look so dense because of that... it takes more effort than usual to read the book. It is easy to read though so far (I don't know why I keep expecting it to be like Conrad's book :/...). I don't think I'll be able to finish this in two weeks... which means... I might not pick a new book this month. I think doing so will be better for me, mentally :)
Want to sing...? - when was the last time I sing?
Think losing trust on someone can be freeing and calming. Sometimes, you have to take that away from those who don't deserve it to move forward.
Still get easily distracted
Want to have a good laugh

Took me almost two hours to publish this because I kept getting distracted lol

Time: 2023-02-11T23:22:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2023 posts , Anime , Art Stuff , Reading , The Weather Looks... , Utterly Distracted , Weekend Musings

Q1 of 2022

Decided to make this into a three months per post thing.

JANUARY

1/3

...still not going back to disqus.

1/5

Oohh... haven't been reading blogs like that recently. It's kind of hard to do that when I didn't have access to a computer (since I like multitasking through many tabs).

1/8

Oh gosh... My daily 1-hour piano practice thing! LOL.. I think it lasted less than two months...? I really want to get back to that but... the thing is, I'm faced with a somewhat complicated situation. End of 2019 and early 2020, I started teaching piano and since it seems like it has "calmed down" (??? BTW I'm in the doubtful, pessimist camp) I was asked about it again some time ago. The thing is... I have trust issues. PLEASE... JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!! :(

1/19

I actually got e-mailed about my expiring ATM debit card from CIMB last month. I asked for home delivery and I already got it (very fast! As expected of PosLaju lol). It seems bothersome though that you can only activate it through ATM. I don't know about Maybank though... I'll check Maybank2u on desktop later. Anyway so the answer to my own question... they'll inform you as early as 3 months before the expiry month, I guess??? [...Checked, done. Apparently, you can do it within a year before the expiry date...???]

1/22

Haaaah... been re-reading "Leftover Princess" recently. ...And searching for them on Amazon JP, Kinokuniya etc hurts my heart. Seems like they're out of stock everywhere. I wish I can get the ebook version (legally) but I don't feel like making the effort to do that... can totally see me succumbing to do this anyway in the future, especially when I'm feeling super desperate XD [after I typed this part out, I spent like 0.5-1 hour looking for place to buy the ebooks... *already got distracted lol* *yay, priorities!*]

1/23

Those books... Really glad I already finished all of them! Especially Joseph Conrad's book *SIGH*

1/26

Speaking of soups... I think I'm craving for them again lol

1/29

Haven't been playing Wordle daily recently... Some time after the post, I also started playing the Malay version one but, that has also been abandoned by me haha

FEBRUARY

2/1

Typical me... I haven't finished watching Nobuta on Netflix yet. Not in the mood.

2/7

Unfortunately, haven't returned(?) to this book yet. Maybe I'll try to squeeze this in later after I finish some of the books I'm currently reading...

2/9

Ah, the reading schedule generator. This has helped me finish several books this year. It works! You don't even need to print it out really, just write down the schedule somewhere. And remember, it only works if you follow the schedule closely (obviously). Here's a tip, don't be too ambitious. If you can't finish in one week, make it longer. You'll finish a book even if you only read one page everyday... so make it a month or several months (or years!) if that makes it easier to read a book. It will work. You just have to do it daily.

2/10

Post mentioning 800th post. If I'm not mistaken, this post is my 1000th published post in this blog... so yay to more in the future!

2/15

Still shredding papers today. Mostly with the help of a shredding machine (yes, it was purchased months ago). On the papers I can re-use: totally getting out of hand because I have more now, I haven't even use them much XD (should I start doing Math problems again? lol)

2/17

I never restart that knitted blanket project after that...

2/19

Lol... I haven't finished watching these. I think I'm still stuck in "Jurassic World"...? I'm not even sure if they are still available to stream/on-demand anymore *sigh*

2/23

Again stating it here, I'm sooooo glad I finished "The Rover"...!

MARCH

3/11

Predictably, I have more [new] bookmarks now :P... I might update the post later when I organise them again. It's not really necessary but it's fun to look back at the post in future... so the update is for me lol

3/12

Oooh so I did finish watching Toby Stephen's version... kind of liked it, but maybe not as much as Leonardo DiCaprio's version (you can really see the budget difference there). I would still recommend watching it if you're a fan of the book... just for the sake of watching an adaptation. There's a different vibe (more low-key) there as it's not as showy and grand as the 2013 version.

3/16-17?

Ah.. the first time I didn't post anything this year lol

3/24

Which is... reading a book from the family bookshelf~!

That was in March??? Barely read anything from the family bookshelf (ah.. but I did read that self-help book...). Not brave enough for this one yet. Honestly.

3/30

As of August 26th, my longest book read this year is now the Inkheart trilogy. I think this will stay that way for the rest of the year... I don't really have that many over-1000-pages books. Probably there are some in the other jar, but let's not think about that yet.

Time: 2022-09-07T13:14:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , About Blogging , Digest Post , Interest: TV , Life: Anecdotes , Online Shopping , Piano , Reading , Youtube

Excuse you

Posted in: 2022 posts | Interest: TV | Need to Get This Out of My Chest | Netflix | Reading

Didn't plan to post anything today lol but I recalled there was something I forgot to mention in yesterday's post. Nothing really worthwhile though... just about a new horror movie on Netflix that I watched with my sister yesterday. It was terrible. Halfway through I got mean and repeatedly asked the annoying main character on TV why she isn't dead yet. Like what's special about her that she doesn't need to die like the people around her? She was also disrespectful at that one village they went to for some supposedly ghost-busting activities. So annoying. It reminded me of "Kong: Skull Island". There's an annoying character there that wanted to avenge for his dead teammates because they got killed on that island & I was like "Excuse you sir what do you expect when you enter a place that you don't belong to?" Acting rude and entitled like that...

........ end of rant. Phew. Didn't mean to make it that long but it has been on my mind since yesterday.

Anyway. Probably will finish "Conrad's Fate" tomorrow. I'm slowly getting back to reading by focusing on one book for now...

Time: 2022-08-03T23:45:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , Interest: TV , Need to Get This Out of My Chest , Netflix , Reading

The Magicians of Caprona

Posted in: 2022 posts | Diana Wynne Jones | Reading

Finished "The Magicians of Caprona" early morning (midnight?) today. To answer my own question few posts ago, last time I read this was in August 2010. Just short a month to 12 years.

Again, similar to "Witch Week", I had fun rereading this. Really. I'm even surprised by myself. I used to feel that the book was too long but today I stand corrected (It's actually under 300 pages!). The beginning still felt long to me but since I already know the main spoilers, it wasn't much trouble. Still think that it has too many characters but I figured that you just have to remember the main ones and their direct family (I guess). Doesn't matter if I don't remember the names of their uncles, aunties and cousins etc, you won't get lost in the names. Just focus on the story.

I can even imagine this being adapted into movie (a long one, hopefully lol) or TV series (best). Maybe even a play or musical, since it involves singing.

...oh gosh, I never thought I'll say this but... I love this book. Thinking about it brings joy. Of course, it's not an absolute favourite but I guess I don't mind doing a regular reread of it in the future...?

Next to read from the Chrestomanci series: "Conrad's Fate" and "Mixed Magics". Yes, two of them... together XD. I don't know why but it felt lonely when I read "Mixed Magics" in the past so I'm going to pair it with a longer story. "The Pinhoe Egg" will be last.

Time: 2022-07-12T23:39:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , Diana Wynne Jones , Reading

Last Title

Posted in: 2022 posts | Interest: TV | Netflix | Pick-A-New-Book Jar | Reading

Was watching the season 2 of "Hotaru no Hikari" last night and the internet connection just died. Looking at people's tweets on Twitter, seems like it continued to be unstable (on and off) today. Which is not fun :\

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I finished "Miss Darcy Falls in Love" today... [I might regret this later... XD] so I decided to use the jar today...! Last time for January~!

The book was another example of a case where if only I decide to read it continually, I would have finished it much earlier. Instead of 3 months, I could've finished this in 3 hours. I'm blaming my procrastinating and escapist self for this. As for the book... definitely prefer "Old Friends & New Fancies" to this. It's unfortunate that I already had my fill of Miss Darcy fanfic from that. "Miss Darcy Falls in Love" reads like a slow-burn fanfic where you will shout, "Oh, just kiss already!" at them. We have a new male lead and characters here but I kept thinking I already like the pairing in "Old Friends" so... you see how hesitant I am in reading this?

One would suggest to DNF it earlier but.. yeah about this. I think it's okay if I don't DNF books that much. I already DNF so many things (like anime, TV shows, Youtube videos... I've made peace with this last year), I'll be fine reading books until the end even if I don't enjoy it. Unless when it really makes me uncomfortable, of course.

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That aside... time to *shake* *shake* and pull out a title from the jar~!

Okay... I got "Kumari: Goddess of Secrets" by Amanda Lees.

A random book purchased in September last year. Same batch with "Lust" & Joseph Conrad's short stories book. Lol this also felt so random, for today. This looks like an easy read... so I'm glad for that.

Time: 2022-01-16T17:00:00+08:00
Posted by RuYanda
Labels: 2022 posts , Interest: TV , Netflix , Pick-A-New-Book Jar , Reading

Fighting for Life

About Me

I'm predictably unpredictable, inconsistent, random & eccentric. Sometimes arrogant and silly. Always curious. Read that again without the snobbish tone.

「　Fighting For Life　」
Blogging since February 2005
RuYanda @ Ruth

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おつかれさま~

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Distracted Again

Q1 of 2022

Excuse you

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Last Title

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