DELIVERIES THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

I received a surprise delivery about ten minutes ago from a good friend. Nothing brightens a day so much as knowing someone is thinking of you.

Thanks AW!


Smiley cupcakes!



Cheery sunflowers!

I am also preparing my entertainment material for my long convalescence. This is but a quarter of my prepared reading material.



And more are on the way! Speaking of deliveries, I discovered OpenTrolley.com while I was searching for other online book sources other than Amazon. The great thing about OpenTrolley is that they are based in Singapore, so delivery in Singapore is dirt cheap. I paid about SGD 5.00 for SingPost delivery to doorstep for about ten paperbacks. The prices of recent releases are also cheaper than places like Borders and Kinokuniya. A typical paperback romance novel which costs me SGD 16 to 18 in bookstores is retailed at SGD 12 to 14. For those without credit cards, they accept local bank transfers too. Delivery time takes about seven to ten days, and my books are delivered in perfect condition. The selection is decent enough, and should be able to satisfy most people, unless you are a voracious back-list stalker like I am.

There is room for improvement, of course. The search engine could use some refinement. And the system is not set up for browsing, since many of the books had no product description and/or reviews. I had to get the feedback from other sources like Amazon, and then place the order with OpenTrolley. I also wish they had sources for used books too. But they are pretty new, so I guess it only remains to give them time and room for further improvement. I am very happy with them at this point, and plan to make the most of their cheap delivery service when I am laid up at home.

In between preparations for the operation, I found time to do quite a bit of reading. I have ditched my romance novels for the time being and delved into classics. Or more accurately, classic romance, for there is something in me that can never get away from romance no matter where I am and what I am doing. So I have been busy with the likes of Jane Austen, E.M Hull, Elinor Glyn, E.M. Dell, Anthony Trollope, Louisa May Alcott, L.M Montgomery, the Bronte sisters etc on the internet. There are many, many sites which provides free reads of these authors. I struggled quite a bit with my conscience regarding intellectual property rights etc, but then I figured that for these authors at least, the public copyrights have already expired (I think).

In particular I have been also re-reading my own Alcott collection. This is one author that always make me cry, no matter how many times I read her books. I was reading "Rose in Bloom" in the hospital waiting room the other day, and was at the exact place where Charlie died. I had a little weep and I received many symphathetic looks; people probably thought I had received extremely dire news. I only wished she had been more prolific with her children/teenage classics. Her adult novels are too gothic and dark, and morbid for me.

This space will be somewhat boring (if it isn't already) in the coming days, as I will probably end up discussing my reading material, since all I will be doing is going through my pile of books. I cannot ask for better pleasure than that, but I guess not everyone will agree.