Hello. I just made a few, quick changes on my second sidebar. I joined the Amazon Associate Program so anytime someone purchases something from Amazon through my site, I get a little something something hehehe. So if you’re feeling generous…

I also added my wishlist. Wala lang.

I don’t really expect to earn a lot here. I’m just a big fan of Amazon.

Fountainhead, Ayn Rand, page 261 of Centennial Edition -

Keating to Roark:
“It’s a secret, Howard. A rare one. I’ll give it to you free of charge with my compliments: always be what people want you to be. Then you’ve got them where you want them. I’m giving it free because you’ll never make use of it. You’ll never know how. You’re brilliant in some respects, Howard, I’ve always said that — and terribly stupid in others.”

Terrible advice.

I love technology but…

Amazon’s Kindle makes me sad. I know it’s convenient and the e-books are cheaper but I’m not convinced, yet, that this cold device can give me the same satisfaction that books can provide.

Just to be fair, here are features of Kindle that makes it attractive…somewhat:
- Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
- Wireless connectivity to Amazon store without subscription.
- Long battery life. With wireless on, recharge is approximately every other day. With wireless off, more than a week.
- Your purchases are delivered in less than a minute.
- You can download newspaper or magazine subscriptions to the device.
- Access to blogs, Wikipedia, and a dictionary.
- Did I say cheaper books?

Naisip ko pa kung lahat ng tao gagamit ng ganito, masisave ang paper therefore masisave ang trees hehehe. It’s pretty convincing from a technical point of view but…nah…because I love:
- the smell of new and old books.
- the weight of a book in my hand.
- the excitement or suspense of the turn of a page.
- beautiful, scary, even embarrassing book covers and book art.
- looking at my cluttered room and bookshelf.

Call me old-fashioned. I’ll pick the stack of books over Kindle anytime.

…is short for Catherine Halsey, a character from the book The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

But it seemed quite normal to her; she did not appear to know that they had been parted.
He was first to ask finally:
“Did you get my wire?”
“Oh, yes. Thanks.”
“Don’t you want to know how I’m getting along in the city?”
“Sure. How are you getting along in the city?”
“Look here, you’re not terribly interested.”
“Oh, but I am! I want to know everything about you.”
“Why don’t you ask?”
“You’ll tell me when you want to.”
“It doesn’t matter much to you, does it?”
“What?”
“What I’ve been doing.”
“Oh … Yes, it does, Peter. No, not too much.”
“That’s sweet of you!”
“But, you see, it’s not what you do that matters really. It’s only you.”
“Me what?”
“Just you here. Or you in the city. Or you somewhere in the world. I don’t know. Just that.”
“You know, you’re a fool, Katie. Your technique is something awful.”
“My what?”
“Your technique. You can’t tell a man so shamelessly, like that, that you’re practically crazy about him.”
“But I am.”
“But you can’t say so. Men won’t care for you.”
“But I don’t want men to care for me.”
“You want me to, don’t you?”
“But you do, don’t you?”
“I do,” he said, his arms tightening about her. “Damnably. I’m a bigger fool than you are.”
“Well, then it’s perfectly all right,” she said, her fingers in his hair, “isn’t it?”

One of my favorite parts of the book (I have a lot!) and, so far, Katie is still my 2nd favorite character. Too bad she’s in love with such a poor excuse for a human being (nilait na). The favorite, of course, is Roark and talking about him deserves a separate post. This conversation stuck to me because it gave me a realization about a personal situation. I wish to stop explaining why I feel how I feel and why I do what I do. There only exist the fact that I feel this way, and it doesn’t necessarily require action from him or myself. I’m contented to be in this place right now.

I will be sure to get my own copy of The Fountainhead. Mostly, I read for entertainment but with this one reading is also self-discovery. Ang galing talaga. I’ll write more about Fountainhead and its wonderful characters as I go along, I’ve only read about 1/4 of the book.

Since we’re on the subject…They finally published the Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling. It’s available in two editions: collector’s and standard. The collector’s edition has a nice book case, cover, velvet bag, the works. Don’t be too surprised that it will set you back at $100. Since I’m only after the stories, I’m getting the standard edition, which costs $7.59. Oooh I have a $25 Amazon gift certificate waiting to be spent hehehe. This is still pre-order, the book is available on Dec 4. I will forget about it and I will have a nice surprise come December.

My book list is completely updated. I still have 50 books to read so I should stop buying more. Some women are compulsive shopper of clothes, bags, shoes; I’m a compulsive shopper of books. Every time I enter Borders I couldn’t leave without a purchase, or when I buy something from Amazon.com I also have to include books with the order. They also have that buy 3 books and get 1 free promo and I always go, “Oy sayang naman dagdagan ko na lang.” Kaya yun. There’s hardly space in my room before I started nursing school and now with the addition of textbooks…

Aside from the small fairy tale books that I used to read when I was very young, the first full novel I read was Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Secret Garden when I was in the fifth grade. I loved it and since then I’ve been reading and all my savings would go to books. Favorite store - National Bookstore hehehe. I had more than 100 books before I moved to Jersey for good and I had to give them away so this is already my 2nd collection. I did keep some of my favorites - Secret Garden, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables series, Fear Street books, and other mystery/suspense/horror books.

I’d like to think that my taste in books is maturing. I used to be obsessed with Sweet Valley series and murder/mystery books. Now, I’m branching out to…hmmm…I’m not sure what genre, but books you’ll find in the literature or bestseller section of the bookstore. I even have a few romance books for the sake of variety hehehe. What I will always love and will never outgrow are children’s books and fantasy. I’m a very imaginative person and these kinds of books bring wonderful escapism. The “Once upon a time, in a faraway land…” has an unexplainable appeal to me hehehe. I recently finished Howl’s Moving Castle and it was great. It was completely different from the movie, which I also loved, but I wouldn’t talk about it now. It deserves a whole another post.

Anyway, I’m not finished editing the pages for the Now Reading plugin. I’ll do it little by little, same as the rest of my website.