The trouble with bibliophiles is that when they are not reading books, they are reading about books. So, the Broke and Bookish’s Tuesday meme was rather difficult for me: Top 10 Blogs/ Sites that Are NOT About Books. I had to go and check up all my bookmarks on delicious, and handpick ten, and I, er, apologize for being two days too late. Here’s the list:

10. The National Geographic

What better way to keep up with news, than these yellow-tipped journals full of lovely snaps! One of my school libraries used to subscribe to NGP, and I used to spend hours cooped up with them. The high definition pictures on all those glossy pages made me want to become a nature photographer.

9. Deviant Art

I am not much of an artist (though I do have a creative streak now and then), and the first time I came across Deviant Art was when I was hunting for Harry Potter Fanart.  I had no idea what a beautiful world exists out there, with so many talented painters (both traditional art and digital art) that it amazes me and also makes me green with envy. Check out my favourite pieces, and make sure to look at the Daily Deviant as well. The Daily Deviant is a daily selection of the favourite submissions as voted by DA users.

Cordelia’s Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold is like stepping into the Star Wars world again. And I don’t mean Star Wars I-III, but the Star Wars with Harrison Ford in Episodes IV-VI.  

Cordelia’s Honor is a 1999 omnibus edition of two books: Shards of Honor (1991) and Barrayar, which won the Hugo and the Locus Awards for best novel in 1992, and is the beginning of the Vorkosigan saga within the science-fiction genre. It is available as a free read at Baen Books.

Ten Books I’d Like to See Made into MovieS

Some books are just dying to be made into movies, and I thought that maybe I should make a list of my own recommendations, as urged by The Broke and the Bookish (the ones in bold are my special selections). Most books in this list belong to the fantasy genre, and I apologize for not putting in more of mystery or contemporary fiction!

1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Every law student is made to read the case of R versus Dudley and Stephens, in which three sailors were accused and convicted for eating the flesh of a human co-passenger when stranded in the sea for months without food. Being a law student myself, this book shook me when I first read it, because the Life of Pi brings in this conflict in one of its climax scenes.

The Life of Pi is about this young devout zookeeper’s son from India, who is stranded at sea for years with a ferocious tiger, and the challenges he faces during this time, one of them being the temptation of cannibalism when starved for food. The book won the Booker Prize, and is also one of my top ten books. The movie would be a lot like Tom Hanks’ Cast Away, methinks.

2. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Clarke took ten years to write this tome, and my review here is the mad rave of a diehard fan. Two men investigating the disappearance of magic from England, the tragic rift between them, the ominous Raven King as the villain, and the hero’s wife being betwitched and kidnapped… all the plot elements of a major fantasy movie! If you liked The Prestige or The Illusionist, you would positively lurve this movie on screen, especially with the huge capacity for special effects that this one has.

I reached out my hand; thought and memory flew out of my enemies' heads like a flock of starlings;
My enemies crumpled like empty sacks.
I came to them out of mists and rain;
I came to them in dreams at midnight;
I came to them in a flock of ravens that filled a northern sky at dawn;
When they thought themselves safe I came to them in a cry that broke the silence of a winter wood . . 

Top 10 Spring Books To Play Hooky With

First, the acknowledgments. I got the idea for this post from The Broke and the Bookish, who hosts the Top Ten Tuesday meme, and really, I recommend everyone to try it out; it really gets the creative juices flowing.

To be honest, I would not play hooky at work for a book. The last book I shirked school for was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I can stay up all night if I have to, though. Making this list was exceptionally difficult, because lately I have also been going through a reading slump. I am hoping that if I play hooky at work with these books, I might just be able to overcome that slump:

Well, I have long tried to evade Kim Harrison's The Hollows series, which are already way past the 10-book mark. I don't know why I have tried to avoid them, they are a dark urban fantasy series, the kind I like the best. Maybe I thought they would be too much like Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, which are well-plotted but far too cutesy for me.

Kim Harrison's series revolves around Rachel Morgan, a witch who's a runner (or police officer) for Inderland Security (IS). The IS is the police for the paranormal species of societty, like weres, vampires, banshees, pixies, witches, demons, etc. The IS was established some 40 years ago, when humankind mutated into paranormal creatures due to a virus in bio-engineered tomatoes. Anyone who's seen the movie Contagion can tell that viruses spread like zatt! through innocent-looking food and cause much epidemics.

In book 1, Dead Witch Walking, Rachel's not happy with the kind of chores she's getting as a runner. She's being treated badly, not being paid well, given shoddy jobs-- and she's just about had it. She quits her job. Unfortunately (ha!), the IS doesn't let anyone quit their job so easily. Rachel is now being hunted down by the IS, which is why she is 'dead witch walking'.