Beyond...

I'm fascinated with sci-fi and fantasy novel nowadays. This started when I read Twilight Series more than five times last year concurrent to watching the movies first time. Wasn't that convinced then but when I started viewing the first film, the Cullens have dragged me to my world of reverie. I also browsed other creation of Stephenie Meyer and cried with The Host.
The reader in me was awakened. The dreamer was unleashed. Started with Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist but got tired of the journey and the novel was left bookmarked. Plenty of ebooks waiting to be flipped.

Was walking around best seller section in National Bookstore and my eyes were fixed to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins in paper back. Grabbed and without thinking lined at the cashier and paid. Browsed the pages. Tossed the book the back to flipping again. Then, the battle with sleep began. Before I tore on the last page, my husband, Jay, bought me the next 2 books in hard bound, Catching Fire and The Mocking Jay. Whew!

Then sleep evaded me for hours until I succumbed to slumber.
Bought complete set of Steig Larsson's crime trilogy. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It laid on the floor for 1 year before I grabbed it just to escape reality. Reading books engulfed me and take me some place where I don't think of what morrows bring.

It bridged me to sanity and beyond when the news of my father's illness slammed at our faces. The plot and characters were really something that will nibble and drag you from sleep. There were names I need to memorize to bridge me to the next scenes. The setting brought me to place I have not been. Russia and the neighboring countries and the reliving of Nazis.
When I was done. Stress creeps back. I thought of everything there is to think. I over analyzed. Anxiety attacked.
Then, a friend suggested Khaled Hosseini's novels. Someone lend me The Kite Runner. My tear ducts seemed like dike had collapsed. Afterwhich, I sought for the second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Both talked fictionally of the war torn Afghanistan. It brought me to tears some more. I tried to understand and see the famine and war in that country though from a fiction novel but it suggested vivid sufferings of the people. Must read book. The author has remarkably delivered his message that the country should be revived (though it's really happening nowadays).
You should see me how I rummaged to book sales to have a good find. Bought Marianne Williamson's and other books to my liking but until now, they lay untouched in the shelf.
I remembered a friend telling me about Mitch Albom and his Five People You Meet in Heaven. Bought a copy and buried myself during idle but have not finished. It's a bit sentimental and it breaks my heart some more and led me back to what I was escaping from.
I was restless then, I have to put my mind into something that will drown me some place. I visited several bookstores to find Suzanne Collin's Underland Chronicle. Took me 1-2 weeks before I finally got it. A day before my birthday! What a present. Read the 1st book already. The chronicle is comprised of five Prophecies to be unravel by an eleven year old boy with his  2 year old sister. 5 books. Now, I'm on my 4th. It is a fantasy novel. A boy who's family lived in the heart of New York City. A sudden disappearance of his father and left their mother to work full time to put some food on their table. The boy is Gregor. I'm not going to review the book here but maybe one day when I can finally convince myself, yes I can! There's this place beneath way way down the earth's surface where all other creations like Rats, roaches, spiders, bats, ants etc are bigger than men. And human with translucent skin and purple eyes exist. And the neverending solving of prophecies authored by Bartolomew of Sandwich leader of humans from 1600s who managed to go underground and built an inhabitant at the bottom of the Earth. It keeps me awake til 3 until my eyes droop and surrender to sleep. (By the way, these are the first books of Collins before The Hunger Games, she didn't expect it'll give a blast not even when her first Publisher didn't give a damn with fantasy books but she really is extraordinary--the blend of wit and adventure)
In the fantasy or sci-fi books, I encountered talking insects and animals.I was always afraid of roaches and hate rats. But whenever I remember how they defended humans in the story makes me flinch. When I saw roaches, as much as I want to step on them. I'd rather have insecticide to kill them. Just the same.
I'm considering now to make a story about a talking bug or something. Every insect was already included in animation movies and books. I just wanted to be unique. I want to create a short story on caterpillars. The short interval of being a worm to a fancy colored butterflies. How they cope with insecurities since they are yet crawlers and not flyers and not even part of procreation but bring havoc at times. Well, we all play part in the balance of our ecosystem..
Lame but who knows I can come up with something mirage and will play up with your dreams.

Pop!