Tuesday's Taste: A Girl Made of Dust + Guest Post on Justine Larbalestier's blog and other announcements

(Meme from Taste Life Twice)

lawl, I haven't done this in ages. But A Girl Made of Dust is turning out to be one of those books I keep reading over and over because the words are so deliciously beautiful. And I didn't get to shove in all the quotes I wanted to show in my review, so I thought I'd take advantage of this time to feature a nice select quote here in hopes of converting new readers.

I lay there listening to her. The brushing slowed to the speed of her song and blended into it. In the high parts, her voice was clear and wavered, but when she sang low, it came out rough and grainy as sand. It was a beautiful voice, and she was like a princess going round and round sweeping - round and round until one day something wonderful would happen, and then she'd sing all the time. (pg. 21-22)

GO. READ IT. I COMMAND YOU TO.

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I didn't mention this before but the most esteemed Justine Larbalestier invited me to guest post on her blog. I wrote about The Importance of Diversity, and I put my heart out to write this particular post. Do consider checking it out, and I'd love to hear any and all commentary you wish to make on it.

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Er, another thing I just realized I didn't mention on this blog. Susan, the mastermind behind Color Online has invited me to be CORA girl, aka a part of that blogging team! So I'll be there, posting stuff. Don't worry though, GAL Novelty is my baby and I won't consider abandoning this blog any time soon. Do check it out, and as today is Susan's bday, do considering going over here and wish her a good one! =D

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According to my follower widget I now have 50+ followers!!! *throws confetti everywhere* I was thinking of ways to celebrate and then thought of a book giveaway contest that I'm really excited about hosting. Said contest will be up sometime this week, I promise.

Tuesday's Taste: Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan

In which I will quote a passage I find particularly striking in a book I'm reading. (Idea from Taste Life Twice)

Here be opening paragraph to Samarasan's debut novel of epic:

There is, stretching delicate as a bird’s head from the thin neck of the Kra Isthmus, a land that makes up half of the country called Malaysia. Where it dips its break into the South China Sea, Singapore hovers like a bubble escaped from its throat. This bird’s head is a springless summerless autumnless winterless land. One day might be a drop wetter or a mite drier than the last, but almost all are hot, damp, bright, bursting with lazy tropical life, conducive to endless tea breaks and mad, jostling, honking rushes through town to get home before the afternoon downpour. These are the most familiar rains, the violent silver ropes that flood the playing fields and force office workers to wade to bus stops in shoes that fill like buckets. Blustering and melodramatic, the afternoon rains cause traffic jams at once terrible—choked with the black smoke of lorries and the screeching brakes of schoolbuses—and beautiful: aglow with winding lines of watery yellow headlights that go on forever, with blue streetlamps reflected in burgeoning puddles, with the fluorescent melancholy of empty roadside stalls. Every day appears to begin with a blaze and end with this deluge, so that past and present and future run together in an infinite, steaming river.

I love it, though some may accuse this love as being biased if you know me and no spoilers if you've read this book! I'm still not done yet. xD;;