Ana is in the house! Ola Amigas!!!!

Ok, so I completely forgot I was supposed to be doing this today so I am having a mild panic attack. *breath in, breath out* It’s alright though - I had sort of planned what I wanted to do so I will just follow the original plan! For my first two days I will be boring as hell- I will talk today about the books I picked and why I picked them. Tomorrow, it will be my heroes. But on Wednesday, oh on Wednesday, I will have a MAJOR Announcement to make that will rock this island and quite possibly stun everybody out of their bikinis. Whatever that means. Muwahahahahahaha.

OK, so books. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOKS. I looooooove books. Every since I was little, I was always the dork with the books. I was called once by the school psychologist into her office because she was worried I was reading too much. Seriously. I just looked at the woman like she was crazy whilst she looked at me like I was crazy because I was 15 and I was reading a book about Egyptian archeology. Pfffft Whatever.

Ok so the books I chose to take with me to a desert island are (please note, I was under pressure when I chose these – if I were to pick again, I would probably change a couple. Maybe 3. or not. )

1 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

This book is so hilarious and so quintessentially English I had to take it with me. I figure if I am to be stuck on an island , even if I have my men with me, I will need to have a reason to laugh. Plus, the books has some seriously good advice on survival. First there is the essential DON’T PANIC. Then there are the towels. This is really really good advice people. Believe me, I KNOW.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear,
space suit etc, etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

2 - Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

I know, I know, someone else is already taking this. But this is one of the best romance novels out there so I figure one copy only will not do. Actually this is my top 1 romance novel – it has everything , fantastic dialogues, an amazing, strong, quick-ass heroine and a hero that melts my heart every single time. I love this book, mostly because of Loretta Chase’s writing. How can one not love a hero that shakes every time he suspects the heroine is actually interested in him? One that is scared of having sex with her because she is so small he thinks he will hurt her? And this is the greatest whoremonger of Europe! I love this bit here:

With the world securely in order, Dain was able to devote the leisurely bath time to editing his mental dictionary. He removed his wife from the general category labeled "Females" and gave her a section of her own. He made a note that she didn't find him revolting, and proposed several explanations: (a) bad eyesight and faulty hearing, (b)a defect in a portion of her otherwise sound intellect, (c) an inherited Trent eccentricity, or (d) an act of God. Since the Almighty had not done him a single act of kindness in at least twenty-five years, Dain thought it was about bloody time, but he thanked his Heavenly Father all the same, and promised to be as good as he was capable of being.

3 - The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn

This spot belonged originally to the Dalai Lama with his Art of Happiness because the book is amazing and it really helped me when I need most. Then I read The Lost Duke of Wyndham a couple of months ago and fell in love with it. Julia Quinn is awesome and this book made me laugh, made me cry and every time I think about it , I get a huge smile on my face. So yeah, the Happiness is sometimes in a piece of art of that makes you smile. And go awwwwww like in here:

He was always hoping for a glimpse of Grace, no matter where he was. Just the sight of her made something tickle and fizz within his chest. Half the time she did not even see him, which he did not mind. He rather enjoyed watching her go about her duties. But if he stared long enough and he always did; there was never any good reason to place his eyes anywhere else – she always sensed him.
Eventually, even if he was at an odd angle, or obscured in shadows, she felt his presence, and she’d turn. He always tried to play the seducer then, to gaze at her with smoldering intensity, to see if she’d melt in a pool of whimpering desire.
But he never did. Because all he could do, whenever she looked back at him, was smile like a lovesick fool. He would have been disgusted with himself, expect that she always smiled in return, which never failed to turn the tickle and fizz into something even more bubbly and carefree.

4 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling

Do you want to know how much of a dork I am? Here it goes: on the morning of July 21st 2007, release date of the final book of the Harry Potter saga, The Deathly Hallows, I woke up at 6am to wait for the postman. I sat by the window. I was anxious. I had pre-ordered the book from Amazon ages before that. I had coffee made and Dear Partner out of the house. The book arrived at exactly 8:43. I Know that because I kept a log book in the forum I used to frequent. LOL. I started crying on page 16 (also recorded in the log). At 3:30 I made a pit stop to get some Chinese food. I cried a lot more until I was done with the book at 11:07 pm having read the entire book in one day non –spot. My first post was: “It is quite possibly, one of the best books ever.” Oh the Harry Potter madness. How I miss thee. And do you want to know which character's death made me cry the most? IN ALL of the series? CRAP, I SPOILED THE FREAKING BOOK. I AM SUCH AN IDIOT! SO BEWARE SPOILERS - MOVE THE MOUSE OVER THE NEXT LINE TO READ. Not Sirius, or Dumbledore. It was Dobby's. The House Elf.

5 - Lady of Light and Shadows by C.L. Wilson

I discovered the Tairen Soul books earlier this year. And I love them to bits. These books have the best combination of Romance and Fantasy and Lady is my favorite so far. I think. It is just heartwarming – all characters are fantastic and the world building is incredible. In Lady, Rain the hero, finally realizes he is in love with Ellie :

(…)’I only just realised something I should have known all along.’ He carried her hands to his chest, then cupped her face with one hand while wrapping the other around her waist. He held her close, skin to skin, so that with her shei’dalin senses she would feel for herself the wonder that bloomed within him.
“From this day forward, no matter what happens between us – even if we never complete our bond, even if we cannot save the tairen or the Fey – I want you to know this one thing, Ellysetta Baristini” He smiled into her eyes and gave her the words.
“My heart has followed where my soul has led. Ke vo san, Ellysetta. I love you”.

6 - The Sandman, Volume 9 The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman

I saved the best for last. If the Hitchhiker’s Guide and The Lost Duke of Wyndham are here because they are light and funny, the Kindly Ones are here because they are not. Quite the opposite.

The Sandman graphic novels are very possibly my favorite books. They are veritable works of art. Pure and simply. The Kindly Ones marks the end of the series which lasted 10 years. It is drastic, dramatic, dark with the culmination of a decade of writing all leading to only one possible outcome and yet I did not see it coming. I did not see it coming. And I nearly had a heart attack. Perfection. I could not be stranded in a desert island without taking my Dream with me.

This will be felt across worlds and days as a reality storm; and, as it plays its course, conflicting realities will fall and spin and shatter across time and existence.

And so chicas, these are my booksies! And before I leave you until tomorrow, I will just present you with some pictures of the most handsome man in the world: the actor and model Reynaldo Gianecchini – he is Brazilian, just like me!