Well, following Rachel’s title on this particular post:

Warning: The following does NOT bring any meaning to you whatsoever. NOTHING. In fact, watching your cacti grow at the window sill bears more significant meaning than this (be there for its first prick!). In an event where you actually found the following actually MEANT something to you, you should 1) Call an ambulance, 2) Down a bottleful of aspirin while waiting and 3) Watch the entire set of Dr. Hibbert’s Psychological Miracle! Healing Your Mental Trauma in 10 DVDs after you’re discharged. Remember, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Read with caution.

Okay, now to the subject at hand:

This post is a book survey, which had been tagged to me by mon belle ami and delightfully fascinating junior Rachel (sorry for taking so long to get it up). May I first point out that despite having a liking for reading, I’ve not exactly read a lot.

1) What is your favourite genre?

- Fantasy with a dash of Sci-fi

2) Name some of your favourite books and give some explanation as to why they are your favourites.

- The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman. While the previous books in Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy are great, The Amber Spyglass is simply phenomenal. What I feel about it is ineffable… I just simply love it. At the end of it I was shouting WTF!?, and was deluged in a flood of certain wanting which could only be vaguely subdued by mindlessly surfing the net for everything about it (even fanarts). This book is classic.

- Artemis Fowl and The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer. The newest book I’ve read in this list, possibly. I only finished it a week back or so. It has everything the previous books in the Artemis Fowl series bear: an intensely paced plot, cheeky humour and dialog, great characters and the winning mix of fantasy elements and high-tech gadgetry (all of this great enough already). What made it better was how much darker it the story got, and the plot is simply amazing IMO. And a possible love interest for our juvenile criminal mastermind? Whoa yeah!

- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K Rowling. I don’t know why I actually preferred it over the others. Perhaps because it has more action, and the tournament thing got me pretty excited. Or maybe because it seriously marked the series’ transcend into the dark territory. I don’t know.

- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I have only one word for this novel: Genius. Everything, from the cover to the narrative utterly brims with it. Very well written in the perspective of an autistic boy, and the book is filled with interesting stuff like chapters in odd-numbers, puzzles and maths solutions that I understand nothing of and pictures that are just plain odd. One of the non-fantasy books that completely drew me into its world, and so funny yet scarily true.

- The Green Mile by Stephen King. I don’t know how to explain it, but this book left me shivering for a moment. Not out of fear, no (just to clarify things up, cause King’s name is more widely associated to the horror genre), but everything is just so powerful about this book. How it deals about life and death, and how it gets by with its characters and plot… I don’t think I’ll ever know why, but this book is simply amazing.

3) List 10 of your favourite authors. (I don’t think I have ten…)

- Philip Pullman.

- Neil Gaiman

- J.K Rowling

- Eoin Colfer

- Stephen King (though only 2 of his books)

- Tom Holt

- Mark Haddon

- Dan Brown

- Diana Wynne Jones (erm yeah, only 2 books as well)

- Roald Dahl (I haven’t exactly read something from him, but I know I’ll love him. I’m SURE)

(Okay there’s ten XD)

4) There's always that one book that you could never finish... what's that one book for you?

- The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw. I guess people should this book as the one written by a Malaysian and it sold pretty well. It’s a good book, mind, but I’ve tried 3 times now to finish it and never got pass the first 5 chapters. It’s not bad, but after a while I found myself with a fresh fantasy book off the college library. I fear I may never finish it.

5) What book did you hate the first time you read it, but grew to love as you read on?

- The Land of the Blind (cripes I forgot the author). NOT related to an upcoming movie of the same title. I got the novel during a stock clearance at some mall, and it was RM6 for a novel (pretty damn cheap if you asked me). I didn’t read it until I went up to Genting Highlands with my uncle to help him with his shooting. At first the book was pretty darn boring, and the plot isn’t getting anywhere. And then the first funny part came, and I was laughing myself silly. Then the plot thickened into something interesting. For some particular reason the humour got me, often sarcastic, vulgar and crude, but I was sniggering off when everyone was working late into the night (they though I was reading a comedy novel, and were shocked to see that it’s a crime thriller). It didn’t end as well as I hoped it’ll be, but overall it’s good and I liked it since.

6) Which type of character appeals to you the most?

- Characters that contradict what they seem to be… how do I put it? It’s like they in one way are portrayed to be villains and evil but in another is revealed to be kind and respected all the same. Like Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter in the His Dark Materials trilogy, or Artemis Fowl. Lady Eboshi in Princess Mononoke would be the best example, but it’s not a novel…

7) Which book completely changed your point of view? Why?

- Shite I don’t think I have one that gave such an impact… let’s see… well The Amber Spyglass changed my view on how a great story should be; memorable characters that you care about, a complex and epic plot that deals with many other perspectives… how death could be viewed, about religion, or what is indeed the true good and what is true evil. My copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray taught me how words could be played, and how beautiful a sentence could be if you use the right words and the right angle. I have yet to read one that’ll change the very way I live and think.

8) Which book did you read as a child that made you fall in love with the literary world?

- I don’t think I can quite remember, but the book that got me into reading was a toned down version of The Swiss Family Robinson which my mom got for me when I was in primary 3 or so (one of those with illustrations in it, and revamped so that children can read with ease). I think it’s the first ever English novel I read, and I’ve been reading anything since.

9) Who is your favourite character of all time?

- Erm… I think I have the tendency to like every main characters from their respective novels, like Harry, Hermione, all the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin from Harry Potter… Artemis, Butler and Holly from Artemis Fowl… Lyra and Iorek from His Dark Materials… but I think my favourite is William Parry from His Dark Materials. I like his determination, his maturity when facing situations, and also his will to protect the ones he loves. Most importantly is his selfishness; that form of selfishness where he sets everything aside to save the ones he care, and also to achieve his goals.

10) Finally, who is your least favourite?

- Eh… Delores Umbridge from Harry Potter. For some reason she reminds me of my Form 5 chemistry teacher, and boy do I want to bitch slap her.

Haha, here comes the fun part where I tag the poor unfortunate souls…

1) Amanda Lee! (Roll out the Stephen Kings!)

2) Ma Dearie Diane

3) Pei Ling

4) Wai Y33