Spreading My Wings

I just finished reading Orlando by Virginia Woolf a few hours ago, and it was a new experience. Besides it being the first book I've read for Woolf, it was just surprisingly thought provoking and it's really a rich novel, I really liked. The little details, and the writing style, it's all brilliant.

So, here are a few quotes that I liked:

"Sunk for a long time in profound thoughts as to the value of obscurity, and the delight of having no name, but being like a wave which returns to the deep body of the sea... for, he thought Shakespeare must have written like that, and the church builders like that, anonymously needing no thanking or naming, but only their work in the day time, and a little ale perhaps at night...
Better it was to go unknown and leave behind you an arch, a potting shed, a wall where peaches ripen, than to burn like a meteor and leave no dust"
Pages 50, 51

"they will yet endure ridicule and misunderstanding than keep any experience to themselves"
Page 70
(they as in human beings, and I think this is the best quote ever, I just love it because I can easily relate to it, it's kind of the reason why I talk a lot, and she just puts it sooo well! Beautiful...)

I have to thank Mohammed for recommending this book, so thanks a lot!!!

F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night is a good read, his descriptions are brilliant which is what kept me interested.

Here are a couple of quotes that I found interesting:
"His nose was somewhat pointed and there was never any doubt at whom he was looking or talking - and this is a flattering attention, for who looks at us? - glances fall upon us, curious or disinterested, nothing more." (I simply loved this one, it just feels so true!!)
Page 17

"He tried breaking into other dialogues, but it was like continually shaking hands with a glove from which the hand had been withdrawn."
Page 29

Tender is the Night
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Wordsworth Classics

This is a story about how I stormed out of dinner, and The lost Banana. To see how it fits, read on...

This post was written on the 18th of March this year, I was just browsing through my posts, and I came across it realizing that I never got to finish it, so it remained unpublished. However, I feel it deserves publishing, so I'll simply publish what was finished of it... :)

Special occasions are better appreciated with no expectations. I think I'm convinced with that fact, because of the many special days that much was supposed to happen. However when such things don't happen, you end up frustrated with how the day turned out to be.

I'm not speaking of codes. Lets say for an example when it's your birthday (yes, it's this occasion that made me post this). When it was my birthday, I didn't expect much and I wasn't in the jolliest spirit either. I wasn't feeling down or anything, but I wasn't expecting anything. I found out that it was better, I appreciated how many people wished me a Happy Birthday and was even surprised when I expected a regular day.
It was wonderful, because I appreciated -or I think I did- what happened and how the day turned out to be. I think when we expect it to be "all that", we end up feeling let down because the day didn't live up to our expectations, so instead of feeling happy because of your birthday or whatever it is your celebrating, you'd be sad at how it should be more.

I kept remembering what I was told, "Don't let anything get you down." It's surprising that I actually remembered it, I get so easily caught up in the moment. I get so easily distracted, and so easily too caught up with my work. It annoys me sometimes that I let myself be so easily caught up with life, and forget to appreciate it. I may be philosophizing what is happening, and I think upon re-reading this post I may not even understand what I was aiming at from the beginning but it just feels good to let it out loud and shout: "I'M HAPPY, ALTHOUGH I DON'T ALWAYS SHOW IT"

Amazon books have arrived!!!! I was so happy when my dad came into the house carrying them. I AM SO EXCITED TO READ THEM!!! :) Although there's still one that hasn't arrived, but it will... Here's what I got so far:
- The Book Theif - Markus Zusak (Too excited about this one!)
- New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
- Breakfast at Tiffany's - Trueman Capote
- The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck (Excited about this one as well, Ashok recommended it, and he recommends good stuff!!)
- The Complete novels and stories (volume 1) - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

:D :D :D!

It's been a while since I've done tags, this one is about telling 7 things about yourself. I can talk about anything really, but don't ask me to talk about myself, I'd just pick 7 random things that are simply the silliest things, but it's my blog so I guess I'm entitled to some silliness here, right?
Tagged by Nema: http://nee-din-isolation.blogspot.com/
So here we go:

1. I love to read. (Obvious, no?) That's what I enjoy doing, but lately it's been that and just staring at my little nephew sleep, because he's the cutest little thing ever!!!!!!!
2. I'm a self-centered person. I know it, and I admit it.
3. I'm an optimist! I have a big goofy smile that's on my face for pretty much most of the time. I love to sing out loud, watch corny chick-flicks, and I easily find things to obsess about.
4. I'm still undecided about what I wanna be in the future (I know I've said that a bizillion times in my blog, but people don't seem to stop asking that question!!! It just bugs me how some people seem to be like "Oh my God, you haven't decided yet??!!)
5. I don't like sports; watching them, or exercising! My idea of an exercise is to just stand up, which I do a lot that I can watch TV while standing up, maybe a lame information, but it's true!
6. I want to go back to Istanbul!!! It was the best vacation I've had last Summer, and I'm finding myself this Summer wishing to go back there and to just live there, reading in parks, enjoying good food, and nice weather!!!
7. I talk a lot! I can tell you something more than once thinking I didn't before, it's partly because I talk a lot, and partly because I live inside of my head for most of the time....

Hmm that wasn't as tough as I thought it would be, although it took like a couple of days to finish it up, because I get distracted easily.
Anways! That's me in 7 random things, but don't think it covers it, it won't since everything else that I am won't fit in a list, since it's probably the day-to-day things that make a person.

I'm supposed to tag people, but I usually tag people and only a few answer the tag, so please feel free to feel tagged and answer it, I'd love to read it!! :)

So Summer is going well. I just finished reading Foundation by Iscaac Asimov, and it was a great read. I loved the book, and I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest of the Foundation books. I have to thank ViCtoria for recommending it, I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't for her, so thank you Vic!!!

We've also been watching some movies lately, some good ones I may add. I didn't think I'd like He's Just Not That Into You, but it was a really good movie as a matter of fact, they had a brilliant cast, and you're never bored because the relationships the movie is based on are very real.
We also watched The Proposal, which was also a good movie, and it was hilarious. You have to looove Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. They're great together.
And we finally got around to watch Ratatouille, it was a really nice movie. I liked it!!!

This week mom's been out of town, still is actually. So the cooking is left to us. We're not so bad, we're pretty good really. I can cook rice!! Finally! I've been wanting to learn ages ago, so I finally learned a few months back and it's nothing to it really. We also made some macaroni last night, which was yummy. Yes, we can be counted on to make lunch or dinner now, which feels awesome really.
And what else? I just keep wishing that I was sitting on a beach-chair on the beach, with an umbrella over my head, a juice on the table beside me, and of course a book in my hands, and I'd just spend the day this way. That image has been stuck in my head for a while, so I just had to let it out. It's hard to actually do that since the beach is way too hot in the afternoon, and these days everybody seems to be occupied with something, which is understandable. That's why I'm not complaining, I'm simply voicing my thoughts out loud. Next time I'm reading, I'll just imagine that I am there, and yeah.

Rock on!

That's pretty much really, I'm hoping everyone's having a nice Summer.

Here are the books that are waiting to be read by me:



If I finished half of them during this Summer, I'd be happy. I've never had this amount of books unread, I usually get three or two, finish them and then get some :)

Here's what I'm reading nowadays:

I finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy a few days ago. It's a great read that I would recommend to anyone. I'd like to share a couple of quotes that I loved when I read them:

-"You forget somethings, don't you?"
-"Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget."
Page 11

"Ever is a long time."
But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all.
Page 28


(The Road
Cormac McCarthy
Picador)

It was 1.20am. She wanted to read, so she left the bed. She didn't want to disturb anyone, so she decided to go to the deserted room, she turns the light on, and sits on the floor. She starts reading, and she wasn't sleepy yet.
After a while, she felt she read a lot, and she knew she couldn't finish the book that night, so she decided to go back to bed, feeling all thrilled of her little adventure. She thought it was 3 or 4 am, which made her excited.
Before she closes her eyes, she takes a look at her mobile phone to see what time it really was.




2.00 am.
Are you kidding me??!!! How depressing, as I tried to sleep, I felt how disheartening that was, I wanted it to be later so that I could've felt like I actually did something.


Photo Courtesy: http://www.patriciascott.org/winding/