snail mail and reads…

Since the emergence of e-mail in the 90's, you don't get much of the snail mail these days in your real mailbox. The only snail mail you'll get are bills and those stupid flyers from real estate agents, companies trying to sell their products and people offering tutoring services and what nots. But on a rare occasion, in between those bills and flyers, you'll find a postcard, a letter, an envelope with a greeting card or a small package. Those really put a smile on my face! What really put a smile on my face would be receiving a package. It may not be a surprise package but still.

Last Saturday, I received a package containing 3 small books. They were from Cyrille. Two of the books are bilingual i.e. a page in English and the facing page in French. I have asked Cyrille for a favour a few weeks ago to buy for me a bilingual book. These sorts of books are for the Frenchs learning English but I think it will also work for me to read in French with the English translation for me to refer to on the facing page. I have tried reading a French book, with difficulty before as I had to refer to the dictionary quite a lot. I was not aware about this bilingual book until Pierre's friend, Olivier, told me about it. I have tried searching for one at the local bookstores but I have yet to find one. So, I asked Cyrille for a small favour.

What I didn’t expect was 3 books (I would have been happy with one). Two of which are bilingual and Cyrille threw in the package an English book called The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. It is a science fiction book, which I have never actually read one before, so this will be a first ever in my entire life (Science fiction isn’t really my cup of tea but there’s always the first time for everything).

At the moment, I am at the tail end of reading Freakonomics. I should be done with that soon but next in line will be Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. I know I said that I will not read another Dan Brown after The Da Vinci Code but Kevin bought for me Angels and Demons after a literary discussion while he was here in August. He said that it is the best after Da Vinci Code. So, that book is in the queue and I will see if the read backs his views on it. Hence, the three books from Cyrille will be read after I am done with Dan Brown's. I have been quite good with the reading in recent months – except that my magazines are now taking a backseat… they're piling up on the bedroom floor, waiting to be read. Well, at least my spare time is now occupied with things to do.

Merci encore, Cyrille pour les livres! Je te dirais s'il sont bons!