Top 5 Quotes of the Year

Again, Fanda's Kaleidoscope. Quotes are my favourite. In fact, I tried to write down a quote every single week (which failed). Choosing just 5 favourite quotes from massive piles of pages is not an easy task. I have forgotten many of the quotes I found beautiful. So, in order to get those quotes, I consult my weekly meme "Weekend Quote" and my little phone where I read my books.

Here they are:

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

Who else has the right to talk about love more than our beloved Will, who speaks of so many kinds of affection? The pain of despair and hope in love, and generally in life, is summed up in these 3 lines.

“Despair and hope make thee ridiculous
The one doth flatter thee in thoughts unlikely,
In likely thoughts the other kills thee quickly”

Defoe's Robinson Crusoe

“All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”

Being cast out alone in the middle of nowhere, Robinson Crusoe found that life does not depend on riches, luxury, or comfort. In his island, he found a lot of things to be thankful of, and he realised that when we are thankful for what we have, we will be content, and that makes us happier, despite our circumstances.

Spenser's Faerie Qveene

“And later times things more vnknowne shall show.
Why then should witlesse man so much misweene
That nothing is, but that which he hath seene?
What if within the Moones faire shining spheare?
What if in euery other starre vnseene
Of other worldes he happily should heare?”

Grand things, again. Reading this, I remember that I started to sigh and imagine a vast unknown universe. I started to imagine what the world would be in years to come, what wonders, what miracles could happen. We know so little things that we need forever to discover the world we live in - and even that wouldn't be enough.

Thoreau's Walden

This is the quote I've always wanted to put on my Weekend Quote but always forgot to since I began to read the book a month ago (yes, and I haven't finished it).

"For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of men?"

Really, as I classic lover, I can't help but nodding to that remark. It doesn't mean that non-classics are rubbish. It's just that when a book is classic, it passes the test of time, so it can't be rubbish - at least probably not.

Tolkien's The Hobbit

"This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down."

If there's anything that the poets talk more of than Love and Death, it is Time. I wrote in my diary once that poets seem to hate time so much because time is the symbol of decay, of change, of uncertainty. Ah, goodness, now it reminds me of one of my poems.

So let's end it all. Those above are five quotes I choose for this year. I think those are big. What did I read during the year? I promise I will put down some lighter ones next year. I hope I will manage to find them.

Top 5 Book Boyfriends 2013

Hosted by Fanda, this is one event that I've been waiting for. It has been a year since I last participated, but a year seems so short a time compared to the list of books I want to read. Let's begin.

Don Pedro from Much Ado About Nothing

Adam James as Don Pedro

Sorry, Benedick, you didn't win. I love Benedick, I really do. But there's some cute element in the Prince's personality that I really love: he doesn't feel like a prince at all. I mean, look at the way Ben talks to him. He's full of authority, and yet everybody feels comfortable to speak their minds in his presence. Also his witty comments and his great heart add to his much adored personality. He is loyal to his subordinates. He kindly forgives his brother. Whilst it is a sad thing to 'look into happiness through another man's eyes,' he tries to be happy for his friends although he himself is not a part of that happiness. One special thing, he's still a bachelor. ;)

Arsene Lupin from... well, his series

Apart from the obvious fact that I hate the author for his constant effort to beat Sherlock Holmes, I love Lupin. This gentleman thief has been the model of all name-that-robbery-story. Besides, I can't miss a sweet romantic bad boy, can I? They are just too amazing.

Tom Hagen from The Godfather

Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen

I'm usually attracted to the name Michael. No, not this time. As much as I love Michael in the book, I love Tom Hagen better still. Why? I believe that the old Godfather loved him better than his own sons. Tom Hagen was loyal, trustworthy, and calm. Being the advisor and the right hand of the Don, he held a great deal of power. But he stayed low, and helped the family lovingly, as if they were indeed his family. Even when Michael hid things from him (which I believe with good intention – Michael want Hagen to be part of his 'clean' family, while arranging things to shut down the darker part of it) he stuck with him. He had a great role in reuniting Michael's family by convincing his wife that Michael loved her and his children better than anything in the world. There.

Bard from The Hobbit

Never thought he would be this messy, Luke Evans as Bard

Goodness! Bard! I almost missed that name! I am not going to write down any spoiler here, at least I try not to, but Bard is just amazing. Imagine Legolas, then clone him. Adds a little bit more majesty in it, and there you are, you have Bard. Unlike Thorin with all his grumpiness and selfishness, Bard wants the best for everyone – for Men, Elves, and Dwarves. That's why I love him so much. Just like Aragorn, he stays low and humble after the downfall of his people, but his august and kingly heart is still inside him. His 'crown is in his heart, not on his head' after all.

Robinson Crusoe from Robinson Crusoe

I just can't miss him. The journey through Robinson Crusoe is a journey to our inner self. What I love about him is his resignation to his condition, which is not a passive submission to fate or paralysing despair, but his acceptance of his new life and his effort to make the best of it. Robinson Crusoe teaches us all about what is really important to sustain our lives. Although I cannot say that I love the man or I'd take him as my boyfriend, he is worthy to be on the list.

Done. Those are five book boyfriends of mine this year. If my choice were not limited, Captain Blood would be on the list as well, along with Clarence from Shakespeare's Richard III. But I'm happy with those five, and I can't wait to read about many other men (*clears throat*) next year.  

Book Kaleidoscope 2012: Day 3, Top Five Most Favourite Book

I skip the second day, since I read mostly ebook, and I didn't really choose the covers well, so just forget that. Now the third day theme is more interesting for me, since there are books that I really love from my reading this year. I will pick only 5 of them, and I hope this will be easier than picking up 5 boyfriends out of countless amazing men in the books I read.

Let's start!

5. Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Ramin Karimloo as Phantom

I actually read it! It's a wonderful story about a genius whose physical qualities are not as good as the quality of his brain. It's touching and a bit scary, but overall, I'm in love with the air that dominates the novel: the air of music and the air of darkness.

4. Odyssey by Homer

Odysseus and Penelope by Primaticcio

Again, it's amazing. Actually I was a bit scared by Homer and other Greek authors since they are so old. But thanks to the brilliant translation and also to my lecturer and my friends from mythology class, I can enjoy the book. Odyssey is actually quite an adventure. Besides, I love the lady Penelope, who shows both loyalty and intelligence, thus proving herself worthy of being the wife of Odysseus.

3. Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

Pompeo Batoni's painting depicting Antony's death

Anything featuring Antony must be in the list. I don't put Julius Caesar because this year I was merely re-reading the play, but Antony and Cleopatra is something very new to me. I was surprised to read how stupid people can be when they are in love. Yet Antony is still charming with his qualities as military general, and also as a loyal friend. Cleopatra's character is a little bit shocking, though.

2. The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

The Four Musketeers in 2011 Film

The four musketeers are amazing. They are utterly amazing. These books must be in the list of 'best adventure books ever' or something like that. When you read the book, you forget all the problems in the world and you just read. You imagine doing and seeing things and being part of the book yourself. I experienced express-reading when reading these two novels.

1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Les Miserables 2000 mini-series

You know it must be here. It must get the first place. Les Miserables is a masterpiece. I've been talking about Les Mis everywhere since the day I started reading it. The book invites all kind of emotion from the readers. It demands the reader to feel agony, pain, disappointment, love, loneliness, treachery, anger, enthusiasm, and hope. Reading once is not enough. I will read it again one day.

So, these are the books I love the most from this year's reading. Can't wait to read yours.  

Book Kaleidoscope 2012: Day 1, Top Five Book Boyfriends

Now, Fanda's BookKaleidoscope forces me to write some fangirling materials in this blog. Ehm, I usually choose Tumblr to fangirl, or at least Twitter. But this post is an exception.

Top five book boyfriends sounds tempting enough. I've read not very much this year, but at least I can say that I have more than 5 boys to like, and at least 5 to love. Choosing favourite characters is a hard job, really. You start to feel like a judge in heart-stealing contest of some sort. But here we are.

Athos a.k.a Comte de la Fere

If I have to choose between the musketeers, I'd choose him. He dashingly appears in the novel, and stays so during the two novels that I have read. He outsmarts his friends and opponents, he is a good general and also a desperate lover at the same time. He's loving and loyal, with huge sense of honour, that sometimes costs him much.

Edmond Dantes a.k.a Monte Cristo

Need I say more? I have loved him for several years now. He's a naïve fellow who turns into a charming angel for his friends and terrible demon for his enemies. He's a genius, a proud genius, who once “like Satan thought himself for an instant equal to God”. His life is an adventure, a war, and a game, but he is given happiness in the end.

Mark Antony

If there's anyone I like in Julius Caesar, it is Antony. If there's anyone I like in Antony and Cleopatra, it is Antony. The reason I love him in Julius Caesar is his renown speech. It's a wonderful work of art. The reason why I love him in Antony and Cleopatra is his kindness towards Pompey and Enobarbus. There's something in him that is grander than Octavius or even Julius. He remains a great figure for me.

Enjolras

For those who wonder who he is, well, read Les Miserables. I don't even understand what makes me love him this much. He's not even a major character. But I like his dedication for what he believes in. He has his mind so focused on a goal that he hardly cares about anything else. He is described not as “Cherubino,” a lovey-dovey kid in Marriage of Figaro, but rather as the “angel of Ezekiel,” a mighty angel blazing as fire. His death is sad but beautiful. He dies for what he believes in. (And then I care no more about Marius.)

King Richard the Lion-Hearted

This king from Walter Scott's Ivanhoe really get into my heart since the first time I read the book. Come on, who wouldn't like a knight in black armour, winning each tournament he runs into, and turns out to be the first man in the country? I am actually torn between this king and the other unofficial king, Robin Hood, that is. But I don't really like the version of Robin I read this year so, let's stick to Richard.

The next guy is special, because he is not a boyfriend to me. No, no. This guy is older and more mature, and I think I will have him as something else. This way, I still don't break the rule and only take 5 to be my boyfriends. :p

Jean Valjean

Can I have him as my grandpa? He's such a nice man. Despite what he has done in the past, he changes. He tries hard to be a better man. He learns through his life the most important things. He shows love, mercy, kindness, and forgiveness. He's a man with a big heart. His death dries out my eyes.

So, to sum up: this year I've been in love with mostly Frenchmen! Don't understand how such thing could happen. Four out of six are French, one is Roman, the other British (sort of). Five of six are old, one is quite my age. Four of five have experience of killing somebody, one doesn't. Three of them have bad experience with a lover, three don't even have any girlfriend. Well, I can't even figure out their similarities.

I hope I will be able to find people like them next year.