Alif The Unseen - End, Beni Hep Sev

Last evening I have finished Alif The Unseen. It ended up being one of those books that I didn't want to finish. It is the type of book written by a caucasian but about an eastern country. And the lead character is a native of the county. It reminded me of John Burdett's Bangkok books (which I love and think give a good idea of a Thailand of a foreigner).
G.Willow Wilson did a good job and I'll look forward for her next novel.

Last I finally wised up and went to bed early. And I have started the third and last of the blog writer Pinkfreud's triology:

So this time she is back with her ex bf who cheated on her, broke up with her with a mobile phone message and got married a few months later. She loves him but she also met another man who makes her feel good. Anyway this is not bad but not terribly good either. It was a mistake to purchase all three books at once solely based on her blog (which is about fashion!) but at least I'm not bored.

Failed Attempt: Alien 3

Yes I have fallen asleep during this one too :(

Failed Attempt:The Mirror Cracked

Ok last night I have attempted to watch this film I have recorded. It is one of BBC's (?) Agatha Christie series. This one was Ms.Marple and I have simply fallen asleep throughout and was only awake at the beginning and at the end. Seriously I think that I'd love this sort of thing. I'm a fan of Christie and read I think all of her Poirot novels and I love BBC period dramas and then how come every single time I'm trying to watch one of these (whether Poirot or one of the Marple's - there are two different actors for Marple) I manage to fall asleep??? It is Criminal Minds all over again (yes, whenever I try to watch a Criminal Minds episode I fall asleep about 10 minutes in)

Thank God that Alif The Unseen is going great. I actually had to stop myself from reading it last night since I don't want to finish it too soon. 

Sorun Bendeymiş - End, True Blood Season 5 - End, Alif The Unseen

 Sorun Bendeymiş ended on a high note (unpredictably) and she has already written another book about what happens after. Well I have already bought it so may as well read it in near future (probably while I'm fasting and don't need my brain cells).


So I have started a new book:

Now I need to admit that the main reason I chose it is that Alif is my name. To be honest I'm not normally interested in stories in Middle East. But I'm still experiencing the book draught and this one seemed interesting. It is about a hacker/web site body guard and so far I'm loving it. Simply loving it. I hope I continue to!

And True Blood Season Five ended with a bang

I know that it is not cool to like this show anymore (as it is not cool to like Grey's Anatomy) but I like it even better with each season. And Êric is turning out to be such a good guy.

Hawaii, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Private Benjamin, True Blood Season Five only two episodes left

 Hawaii this one interested me due to its title. I love Hawaii. And I like Max Von Sydow and Julie Christie. It ended up one of those epic book adaptations. These usually do not work well unless they are TV series. Now I wouldn't call this a good film but I watched it till the end and even got quite emotional. I think I would have liked the book version better though since compressing a story does not work well and this one obviously needed to be compressed.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist This one was an OK rom com.

Private Benjamin  Goldie Hawn is adorable. I seriously like her a lot on screen. And I liked this film better in second viewing. Its message is very good too.

I also watched a film my sister recorded before she went on vacation but it was on national tv and dubbed and I can't remember its name or anything like that. In the film a married couple found themselves as text subjects. Is their love true or not? Well they are put in two different rooms and asked questions etc. Well it was not good but I watched it to the end for some reason.

I forgot to take a pic but I have been watching True Blood Season Five all weekend and I'm loving it.
Eric is my character and man of choice in the show and they make him better and better with each episode. Of course Alexander Skarsgaard is so tall that it must be hard for the cinematographer to place him in the frame. So most of the time he bends his head. And this season his scenes are mostly with Bill and Stephen Moyer is a lot shorter so his head is down with his face looking at the camera which is an awkward position to watch and I can't even imagine how uncomfortable it must be to do it. Anyway there are only two episodes left and I feel sad.

Through The Looking Glass - End, Majou no Jouken - End, Sorun Bendeymiş

Sorun Bendeymiş Follow up of Sorun Bende Değil Sende ( I think this is best translated as "It's Not Me It's You) and it can be best translated as It Was Me Afterall. In the first book Pelin was devastated after her boyfriend of 4 years dumped her and got married in less than 6 months. The book was a sort of analysis of men a late 20s early 30s career woman may come across in the search of 'the one' (end result - no successful, in the last chapter her ex called just as she was ready to live without a man). In this one Pelin takes us how she met with her ex (maybe soon to be non ex) and goes through the relationship in all its stages. I like this girl's fashion blog where she snarks at the international celebs, and that is the reason I got these books but even though I like her prose it doesn't have a distinctive tone. And I'm kind of over this sort of thing after going through all of these with PuCCa (who is a much better writer). But I'm also entertained by this book and think it better than the first one (while with PuCCa I think the first was the best of the three).

And I have stayed up and finally finished Majou no Jouken, otherwise it will get stuck there and I'd never be able to watch anything new. It is not so bad as to make me completely abandon it (like did Celebrity Sweetheart - I can't believe I feel guilty over this) but it is not something I'm attached to either. I guess finally I didn't understand the leads. I get their love and at one point felt for them since they were being pressured from all over and tried to survive. But as the show progressed I felt that all of their problems would be solved if they only wait for one year. Anyway, this, sadly was not a good purchase.

Through The Looking Glass ended without a bang and I think Alice was much better in the first book. The explanations in the end was half as thick as Through the Looking Glass.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - End, Through the Looking Glass

Same picture again since both novels are in the same book.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was a surprisingly good read. I say surprising because it is not the type of book I like. There are too much clutter (and it is bad that I can't seem to explain it better) but at the same it is very English and I like English. So there.

And right after finishing it, I have started

Through the Looking Glass which was not as good as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -imho-. The clutter increased and I don't feel as interested.


Last night I have fallen asleep at about 21:00 p:m and I need to stay awake tonight. I'm having either too much sleep or too little. 

Küçük Prens - End

Well once again real life interfered with my fiction fest. Last night I met a friend and we chatted for more than four hours!!!!

I have finished Küçük Prens and it did the trick. Surprisingly I'm rather enjoying Alice too. 

Sorun Bende Değil Sende - End, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Little Prince

Well last night I kind of crashed into sleep. Maybe this is some sort of coping mechanism for what's happening around me (things are not very well in my country right now) so last night was sleep sleep sleep. I have finished Sorun Bende Değil Sende and liked it better towards the end. It is just that these books are for mid twenties early thirties career girls who look for love. It was entertaining though and now that I have purchased the other two books, it looks like I'll continue to be informed about the quest for love :)


Meanwhile I have started reading two books :

Küçük Prens (I think everyone knows this and if they don't they should)  This is one of the times I need the comfort of a special book and Little Prince comes to assistance. We need to understand eachother and respect our life choices.

At the same time I have started

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland well I have read it when I was a kid (probably too young to understand it) but never felt much of an Alice fan. This seemed to be a good time to give this one another chance in this small fiction draught of mine. I like English books so there is no need to be afraid I guess. I'm scared that I'm not going to like it.

Majou no Jouken Eps 6-7, Total Recall (Remake), It Could Happen to You, The Birds - End, Sorun Bende Değil Sende

Ok I have finally given in and started to root for our taboo couple. They seem to love eachother very much and the teacher is simly not mature enough to be able to think clearly. I was pretty immature at her age too (thank God it didn't manifest itself as anything drastic as the one in the show) this is the side effect of a spoiled childhood where you are loved well and a lot :)
And they are good people too. They both wanted to help the abused girl and if they had not interfered she may have committed suicide (yeah that got me into their corner pretty fast). Also his uncle didn't judge them and helped them out, who am I to do otherwise?

This weekend was again more social than I care for. So I only watched two films

Total Recall (Remake): It just was not good. I mean everything was there but somehow the whole thing lacked something (such as good acting maybe, the only good actor in the cast showed up and died in less than one minute and the second best stood only for maybe 5 min total) The leading ladies are both pretty and fit but you can't get a good performance out of them even if you add them together. Colin Farell in my case is someone I can't easily sympathise with since he looks very much like a guy who has given me troubles in the past. Maybe I should watch the original since the story could have been interesting.

It Could Happen to You This is a very good rom com and warmed the heart as it was supposed to do (I don't know how many times I have watched it but I still cry at the scenes I have cried the first time I saw it.

Meanwhile I have finished The Birds and the Other Stories, and a delightful surprise was The Little Photographer; a story I have read when I was in elementary school (secretly reading my mother's womanly magazines) and even though it was way above my age at the time, remember liking a lot. And it was even better in English (although the Turkish translation at the magazine was not half bad). All in all I love Ms. Du Maurier.

Now my book stock is dangerously low (two books remained only) so I did some shopping  and purchased three books of a blog writer (internet phenomenon, as they are known in Turkey) pinkfreud, and it is not really bad but not what I have expected. Her blog is a bit like what Joan Rivers does but done way way better.
The name of the book is Sorun Bende Değil Sende (I think the best translation would be "It is not Me It's You") I read it and don't dislike it but don't like the format (a new guy in every chapter with some pop sociology scattered through).

Majou No Jouken - Eps. 4-5

Ok not only the teacher has slept with the student, but also she announced her love in front of the whole school. Now everyone is trying to break them up  - except her bf (who btw is in love with the teacher's now ex fiancé). Now her mom is a cool woman but her reasoning is that she should break up with the kid because she is damaging him. Not one single person says that a 17 year old kid is too young to have an affair with his teacher. You know what, I wouldn't mind that much if she was not her teacher, because she obviously loves him and is good for him. But being in a position of power over him, she should have a conscience. But the all consuming love conquered I suppose.

Majou no Jouken Eps 3, The Midnight Tour - End, The Birds and Other Stories

Well Michi has officially gone to the dark side in Majou no Jouken. She kissed the poor kid. This drama is kind of an exercise for me. I have to stop judging people and I'm trying very hard not to judge this woman. She has encouraged the kid and I don't know how they will continue to - yeah I'm having difficulty in saying this but- date. Seriously woman how could you???? (Have to stop judging).

The Midnight Tour has ended and it was not necessarily a happy one. It is kind of sad to know that Mr.Laymon will not be writing another beast novel. Rest in peace man.

Now I have started

And it is fantastic so far (well I have only read about 10 pages or so).


Now the serious problem is that my book stocks have dwindled to one unread book and it is another Laymon so I need to do some serious book shopping. I wish I was able to go to a decent bookstore and browse (like Remzi Kitabevi). 

Majou No Jouken Eps 1-2

Hmmmm it was on an impulse buy I purchased this. The story is about the romantic love between a teacher and her student. She is very young and pretty (well off and well connected parents, a decent fiance) and he is a teen full of angst (rich, dad passed away, mom is sleeping with a subordinate). They are attracted to each other and he has no problem admitting it but she is trying very hard not to give in. And she should you know, she is his teacher!!!!! But then again who am I to judge? And they don't make it easy by making the kid a capable adultish mature person, he is troubled, very young and looks like he just graduated from elementary school. So far I'm interested, watching the teacher struggle with her desire (and to be fair I think they are soul mates or something and both actors are capable enough to make me think it the first time they met) and the way she wants things. The woman has everything, loving parents who spoil her, a nice job she likes where she is doing ok (not very well mind you but ok), a decent fiancé who likes her and is eager and ready to live a life with her -he is a bit of an oaf loud and not with very good manners but he is a happy person who trusts her and wants her to keep working after marriage because -wait for it-  one of the things he likes about her is how passionate she is about her job.
So it seems like everything is going for her but she is not happy. She doesn't want to get married to this man but at the same time she is not ready to confront the obvious truth. She wants to be the good daughter, wonderful fiancé, cool teacher and is not ready to give up those for the thing she really wants. Spending time with her student and get to know him that way.

He on the other hand is a troubled kid. His father passed away and his mother took over the hospital he owned. The kid is groomed to be the heir. On the other hand there is an ambitious doctor in the hospital who has an affair with the kid's mom and wants the hospital for himself. The kid's mom is under his thumb. And the kid actually witness them make love in her office. That one was even more traumatic because now he thinks of his mom as a woman and his hormones kick in everytime he sees the teacher (who is a bit younger than his mom but they look similar in some ways).

I don't happiness for these two but the conflicts are interesting.

The Lone Star, Blade Trinity, Friends With Money, The Tower

This weekend was a social activity filled one and I was not able to watch a lot of films and they were all from Digiturk or other.

Here they are:

The Lone Star I enjoyed this one. There is a particular visual style accompanied by a great script and a soundtrack which went well the with the whole thing. Now I don't know if I'd keep seeking John Sayles' other films but  again, I had a good time with this one.

Blade Trinity it was not bad but I actually fell asleep towards the end and had to rewind twice(!).

Friends With Money Here is where I stand with Jennifer Anniston. In the entertainment gossip side of things, I'm with team Angelina. In the acting side of things, I don't think she is a good actor but is harmless in a few films (I LOVED her in 'Just Go With It' though. And this is one of the films I really like for some reason. It is not a special film, your usual U.S.A Indie, decent performances, generic cinematography with lots of talking. But I love it and loved it again in this viewing (and I didn't fall asleep).

The Tower This S.Korean disaster film had great special affects and stunts but a lousy script and all the usually good actors somehow managed to ham their performances up. We constantly snarked throughout the film but of course I cried at the end (I succumb easily to Korean melodrama).

Meanhile I'm still reading The Midnight Tour and it is I think the most violent among the three books and the beast had only a cameo (as a baby at that) so far.

The Tied Man - End

The Tied Man I have been following Danger Mousie's tumblr and she was so enamoured with this book that I had to give it a try. The only problem is that I don't have a Kindle (on principle since amazon doesn't legally sells one in Turkey) and this book is only on Kindle and nowhere else. So thanks to a nice colleague, I was able to borrow his and read it. To be honest I don't see what the big deal about this book is. Just a little role reversal, our protagonist is a female and our damsel in stress is a male. All in all it was a nice and easy read but it was nothing special as far as I'm concerned.

Stranger In My Arms - End, The Midnight Tour

Well Stranger in my Arms ended rather nicely (I even cried a bit - shame on me!) and I have decided to complete the Beast House triology and started,

The Midnight Tour which started very nicely and it is promising. There seem to be a lot characters.

Meanwhile last night I remembered I never wrote what I watched on weekend.

The Amazing Spiderman well, it is not as good as Raimi's Spiderman but I had a good time with it.

Wrong Turn 5 The make up was not very good and if you are making a gory slasher than you need to do a good make up job. You don't spend money on much else. And I didn't like it when the bad guys emerged victorious in the end.

Beethoven Virus - End, Cehennem Öyküleri - End, Stranger in My Arms

Last night against logic, I have stayed up late and finished the last remaining four episodes of Beethoven Virus. And I loved it right to the end. Kim Myung Min, you rock!!! :)

Cehennem Öyküleri is also finished (it was a small book) and I liked it very much too. And now on a totally different note, I have started yet another romance novel, what can I do? I love them.

This one is called Stranger In My Arms and is written by Lisa Kleypas, a well liked romance novelist and I can see why. I'm already much into it despite the obvious lack of adult scenes - and is it just me or romance novels are getting tamer? Maybe I should look into adult novels... Anyway, this one introduces us to our kind hearted heroine whose husband has died at a ship wreck, and she never liked him anyway since he was a selfish man who didn't give her pleasure in bed. She sort of swore off sex because of her husband's attitude. Well surprise surprise he shows up after two years and even though he looks like him (only thinner), he doesn't act anything like him. And her body seems to be telling her that. So far they have been very chaste.

Beethoven Virus Eps. 13-14, The Beast House - End, Cehennem Öyküleri

Beethoven Virus keeps getting better and better (despite playing with the same plot over and over again) and I love the clash of the master and the apprentice and the woman they both love who chose to be with the master (and is going deaf). I just love the rag tag orchestra has to prove themselves over and over again. But most of all I love the soundtrack and Kim Myung Min. The man is so good. Maybe I'll look into Bad Family and I'll look whether he was in any sageuks or not. Jang Geun Seok is adorable and I love him and his lovely speaking voice but he doesn't stand a chance against Kim.

I have finished The Beast House and pleasantly surprised that it ended relatively happily for the good guys. I'm looking forward reading The Midnight Tour (even though I think I have read it before years ago). Richard Laymon is the man.

And while I was browsing at the supermarket, I was inevitably drawn into the books bargain bin (and had to force myself away from dvd bargain bin but that is a different topic) and have found a small book of short stories that got me interested.

Cehennem Öyküleri (lit. translation: Hell Stories) This one doesn't have anything to do with the macabre but the hell in questions is more of Satre's hell, existentialist. I do like the ideas of the writer Süleyman A.Örnek, someone I have never heard before. It is a tiny book but gave me a few things to think about this morning on the shuttle bus and during my lunch break.


Meanwhile the city I live in (even though I actually live in the suburbs) is going through tough time. Environmentalist protestors were subjected to police brutality and this caused a more general protest. It has been going on for more than 5 days now and people are getting harmed every day (one person died). I feel kind of ashamed not be there but not enough to take a few days off and join them I suppose.