of toys and books

i've never been an ambitious person and from the looks of things, don't think i ever will. the hub sometimes laments that i don't seem to have the drive to make more money even though i don't need much encouragement to spend them on my toys and books.

to me, i work because i enjoy having a purpose in life. and that doesn't necessarily equate to earning a $120k annual salary (i can't even sniff half of that amount). but even if i did have my money, i'm quite sure i'll still only splurge on 2 things: toys and books.

when i was a child, i collected strawberry shortcake (now called "vintage") and smurf miniature figurines - of course now they're all packed in boxes as i don't have anywhere to display them since i've outgrown the cute little figurines and moved on to the awesome LOTR ones by toybiz.

my other treasure is my collection of books. growing up, times and mph bookshops were my regular haunts. (i even wanted to work in bookshops so that i'd have free books to read.) i still do keep all my enid blyton and sweet valley high (yes, to my great embarrassment i used to read the latter) books. my shelves are stocked with various authors - it shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone since i was an english literature major and had tonnes of reading to do. acquiring the skill to read/analyse/dissect 1 novel a week was crucial in order to keep pace with the professors.

these days, i lurk around the passages of kinokuniya, borders and sometimes popular book store for new gems, and lately http://www.acmamall.com/. my current obsession is dr seuss books and i'm trying to create my own dr seuss library for the kids (and myself). here's what i have so far...

Dr Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) books:

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
*The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
*The King's Stilts
*The Seven Lady Godivas
Horton Hatches the Egg
McElligot's Pool
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
If I Ran the Zoo
Scrambled Eggs Super!
Horton Hears a Who!
On Beyond Zebra!
If I Ran the Circus
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
Happy Birthday to You!
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Green Eggs and Ham
The Sneetches and Other Stories
Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book
Dr. Seuss's ABC
Hop on Pop
Fox in Socks
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew
*The Cat in the Hat Song Book
The Foot Book
*I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories
*My Book about ME
*I Can Draw It Myself
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?: Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises!
The Lorax
Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
The Shape of Me and Other Stuff
There's a Wocket in My Pocket!
Great Day for Up!
*Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!
*The Cat's Quizzer
I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!
Oh Say Can You Say?
*Hunches in Bunches
The Butter Battle Book
*You're Only Old Once! : A Book for Obsolete Children .
I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!
Oh, the Places You'll Go!
*Daisy-Head Mayzie
*Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!
*My Many Colored Days
*Gerald McBoing-Boing

Dr Seuss Books writing as Theo. LeSieg (that's Geisel spelt backwards):

Ten Apples up on Top!
*Come over to My House
*In a People House
Wacky Wednesday
*Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog?
Hooper Humperdink...? Not Him!
*Maybe You Should Fly A Jet! Maybe You Should Be A Vet!
The Tooth Book
The Eye Book
I Wish that I Had Duck Feet
Please Try to Remember the First of Octember!
*The Many Mice of Mr. Brice.
*I Can Write

*denotes the books i haven't gotten yet!

yup, nearly there in completing the dr seuss collection.

and just yesterday, i signed up for a borders' preferred card which entitles me to 10% off purchases. woooo-hooooo!!! it also means i'll have more reason to get comfy and cosy at borders. plus they've got a wonderful area for young kiddies too so i can my rascals along and read to them as well!

one other weird fact: i'm extremely fussy about my books - they've got to be from the same publisher with the same themed design cover. this adds a bit of thrill, and at times frustration, when i'm missing a title from the series and it's available only in a different edition that's available at the store. then it becomes a great adventure for me while i browse through all the various bookshops in search of that one particular edition...it may take me weeks, even months or years to get hold of it. but i'd rather bide for time.

just like how i'll (im)patiently wait for the soft cover version of the new harry potter book, knowing that it'll only appear in stores a year after they publish the hard cover version. that will probably be in 2008.

BAH! i'm eccentric.

i know. :P