No matter, I've gotten a new pair of glasses for myself now. Took a while to pick out the perfect pair, and a while more for my eye check-up, but now all I have to do is collect them when they're ready, which may be some time next week. Can't wait! I don't mind laying it down low with the contact lens for now :)
So there's the Time and Place Book Tag all over Booktube now, which I've seen Ariel from ArielBissett do. I guess this one is somewhat similar, just that I renamed it to books with memories? Sort of?
In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been tagged to do any of these. I'm invisible to this society for now (I hope) so it's okay, I'll just flow along :)
For this tag, I'm going to pick out 5 books with strong memories attached to them. Unfortunately for me my stories won't go further than 2013, because I only started collecting books from then. Most of the books I read during secondary school days were from the library, and it's not like they had memorable attachments to them either, so... nevermind, let's get right into it.
1. The Language Of Flowers / Vanessa Diffenbaugh
If you know me now, you'd probably be aware that I am completely in love with MRTs. I love anything to do with trains, and I love staring at them whenever they pass by. I never get sick of it, and you'd think I was from a rural country, never having seen a train before.
Believe it or not, I wasn't very fond of taking MRTs back in the day. I didn't even know how to go Orchard, just because it was on the North South Line and I was from Pasir Ris, the East West Line. Anything beyond Paya Lebar was strange to me back then.
I got this book on my first ever solitary trip to the city in 2012. One of Popular's more high-class siblings still existed, {prologue} at Ion Orchard. It was also the time I didn't really read Young Adult, only reading Adult Fiction, so that was where I mostly browsed at.
This was also the book that got me obsessed with the Victorian Flower Language once. I read this in early 2013, which was the courting days with the love of my life, and I remember how I was always naming him flowers and their meanings randomly.
I also used to think the girl on the cover looked like me, because I had my hair covering one eye back then too. Oh the memories.
The leaf post-it says I read this book from 03/02/13 to 20/02/13. What I'd do to relive those days again.
2. We Were Liars / E. Lockhart
When I first saw this book, I wasn't really interested enough to buy it on the spot. There was water on the cover which turned me off because I have a strange fear of the blues.
But when I saw it swirling around Booktube, I thought I'd give it a try. It was the Booksplosion Book of the Month for May or June last year, can't recall, so I decided to join in. I'm not sure where I heard it was a fantasy, but that was indeed what I thought it was... Only when I heard the Booktubers talking about it did I know it was a contemporary.
We all have that habit of buying lots of books and never really starting on any of them until some time later, because we have so many others at home we need to read first.
We Were Liars wasn't the case, because I started reading it the instant I got it. I read it down the escalators of Junction 8, at Bishan MRT station, even while walking towards Nanyang Poly. While people used their phones to avoid awkward moments while walking, I read my book.
I read the first half at Nanyang Poly, (don't ask me why I was there... it's embarrassing) and finished it at Ngee Ann, my own school, during my 3-hours lunch break. I remember the emotional breakdown I went through that day... Yes, it's embarrassing. But it was also what made We Were Liars my favourite book of 2014.
3. The Evolution of Mara Dyer / Michelle Hodkin
This was the book that I'd brought along when I was admitted to hospital this June. I thought it could kill my boredom, but I didn't expect that there was no time to be bored at all. Nurses were checking my blood pressure and forcing me to eat every 15 minutes or so, and I was in more pain than I was bored.
So there the book sat, in my bag, gone unread my whole 3 days there. And it was quite ironic, considering how Mara Dyer herself went through a lot of shit at the hospitals like I did, up to the point where she developed a fear of needles.
4. Grasshopper Jungle / Andrew Smith
This book is about a boy who is confused about his sexuality. While I didn't exactly love the plot and all, I thought the main character and his best friend reminded me of my two most favourite boys in the world: the love of my life, and his best friend.
Even though he's more of a bitch than any other girl out there, he's one of my very good friends too, and it was really entertaining to picture Austin and Robby as my boyfriend and best friend. I remember how I actually chuckled to myself while reading this, just because I had them in my mind the whole time.
The love of my life on the right, his best friend on the left. They are okay separate, but morons together.
5. Fangirl / Rainbow Rowell
Another hospital story attached to this one. I remember waking up to my dad telling me my mom had a fall at work and was going to the hospital. When I saw her, she said so forlornly, "I had a great fall..." and I couldn't help but think of Humpty Dumpty, which is what my dad secretly refers to my mom as. Needless to say I giggled during that serious situation.
I'd brought this book with me to kill my boredom, and it did wonders. Not many YA books focus on a college life, which was what Fangirl did. I read this while eating, while feeding the fish at the pond by the kopitiam, all under the roof of Changi General Hospital.
My personal blog post on that day: A day at the hospital :)
I guess that's it for now. I am going to try posting every night, though I may or may not be tired after a long day at work. I've been lucky for my first 4 posts because I had 2 days off and 2 days on MC, but we shall see ^_^
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