Save My Soul Tonight

I love books.

Weird, I think, that people do not have the patience to sit down and finish a book. If it's not a picture book, then of course it'll be fraught with words, and if you're lucky, some pictures. How could you be bored by reading?

Reading is so much better than watching a movie. In a movie everything is arranged. The faces of the characters, the accent they speak in, the setting. There's no room for imagination anymore!

Most girls love guys who read. Makes you look smart. 'Cause you can look like dumb ass even if you're in coat and tie.

Some books I recommend:

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Originally written in Swedish, made into a Swedish movie and an English remake is coming out in 2010. I would say this book is for those 16 and above.

A vampire novel, but no Edward Cullen here. I'm tired of gorgeous and 'vegetarian' vampires, they're too good, and so fake. I like the way Lindqvist portrays the vampire Eli in this novel. Eli is afraid of sunlight and feeds on fresh blood, but insists that she is not a vampire, she is just sick.

The main character is a boy named Oskar who befriends Eli. They don't fall in love (sorry 'Twilight' fans) but they are the best of friends, in an eerie way. Predator and prey, young and old, human and immortal, love and hate. The novel explores these themes of strong contrast and exposes the darker side of humans.

I love this book because, despite the gory and violent plot, it tells of a beautiful friendship amidst the murders and absence of morality.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This book is so good it should be a classic. I will keep this book and force my children to read it if they refuse to. It's a bildungsroman, a German literature term which describes the plot, the story revolves around the main character from infancy till adolescence.

Nobody 'Bod' Owens' family is killed by the man Jack when he was a baby. He escaped by crawling all the way to the graveyard and was raised by the souls and Silas. Since the man Jack is still hunting him down, Bod is not allowed out of the graveyard, where his ghost friends cannot keep him safe. Why does the man Jack want to kill an orphan? What is Bod's true identity?

Gaiman said that the book was inspired by Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book'. I think people from all walks of life and every age group will love this book, those 10+ especially.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

My favourite contemporary writer. Writers are supposed to be observant, to create stories and all. Picoult discusses even the most obscure things that we don't notice. The words a person uses, the clothes, the way their eyes move...

The novel is not only about school shooting, it's like a guide of how to create a monster from scratch. Even when a friend neglects you, there is potential that the disappointment can make you into someone even you yourself fear. It talks about the various identities a person has, what is inside and what is outside, what was and what is.

Peter went into the school one day and killed 10 students and wounded many in 19 minutes. What drove him to do it? And what part does his ex-best-friend, Josie, play in this tragedy where her own boyfriend was killed too?

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Historical novel is my favourite genre, a re-telling of a story which we already know the ending in part-fiction, part-factual form. Gregory is the master in adding a tinge of romance into her novels. Not too much, not too little.

We all know Anne Boleyn, but do we know Mary Boleyn? Even historians don't know whether is she the older sister or the younger sister of the famous Boleyn. Anyway, she's the younger sibling here. Mary is the tool of a political ploy, for her family to gain importance in the court of Henry VIII in Tudorian England.

Sibling rivalry is blatant in the novel, something most of us deal with. Although Mary and Anne often compete with each other in almost everything (ranks, marriage, even sex), there is still the natural love and affection between the sisters.

The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

Ever since Jer gave me the 'Artemis Fowl' on my 17th birthday, I was hooked. It's about fairies and elves but it's not a simple fairytale. In your Grimm's fairytale, fairies don't have mega-advanced computers and killer weapons.

Artemis is a teenage criminal mastermind, a genius. Reading the books makes you think you're a complete idiot. But every adventure is so intriguing you just can't stop. Ask Adeline, she's crazier than I am. For now, there are only 6 books.

The Abbey series by Cherith Baldry

So far the best re-telling of the Arthurian cycle I've read. Fans of the Arthurian legend should read this. Set in 12th century Glastonbury, England, the time when the Glastonbury Abbey monks announced that they found King Arthur and Queen Guinevere's bones in the abbey grounds.

Glastonbury is said to be the Isle of Avalon, the final resting place of King Arthur, by many scholars. The incident did occur, but the bones vanished mysteriously afterwards. The novel mainly tells about the mystery, focusing on 2 normal children, Gwyneth and her brother Hereward.

Above is the first book, there are 4 books in total.