Huggles!

"Dear friend, when was the last time you hugged someone?"

A parents' love is when they buy you books in languages you don't know, and then they translate and read it to you afterwards. It's not an easy thing to do, but that's love. And that is apparently how far my parents love can extend.

Even without anyone translating for me, I'm quite content to just admire the pictures, because Jimmy Liao is amazing ^O^.

So his new book (40th in the series of books) is called Hug, and it's about a sleepy lion with a red mane. Much huggles is given out in this book, involving a great variety of animals, from a pink elephant to a starfish. I've gone through half of the book so far (courtesy of my dad the translator of course), and I'm enjoying it. I want to know what happens to the lion in the end, though right now I can only guess what will happen.

I find it peculiar though. Somehow, the structure of the book reminds me of the fictional book in the book 'I Capture The Castle' (confused yet? =P); the one that Cassandra's father wrote: Jacob Wrestling. Hugs is oddly cryptic- or maybe I am thinking too much, haha. There are little twists to the story; not in plot, but in the way the words are presented. One page is written in the form of a song, and in another the sentences are arranged to form an 'X' shape. And some characters are not typed, but 'written', not sure if just a stylized whim or it has some sort of meaning to it. But anyhow, it all seems to set the mood just right, and the result is a pretty, colourful book that is just brimming with Jimmy Liao's amazing style and characters! I especially love the pastel mint and pink of the front cover. So so pretty ^O^.

Popular bookstores always has a promotion whenever a new Jimmy Liao book comes in. This is the only book of Jimmy's that I got in hardcover, because!! It comes in this gorgeous plastic folder with all the huggable characters on it! Also, inside is a detachable poster with said characters and a printed autograph. So happy ^_^. If ever I have kids, I'm going to read Jimmy's books to them. Of course that means my dad has a serious translating job to do =P. That or my husband has to be proficient in reading and translating Mandarin, lol.

The holidays are almost coming to a close! I hope everyone's been enjoying themselves. I've been watching a hell-load of movies. The Princess and The Frog was really good! My sister and I howled in laughter almost all of the time- the other times were just wowing over Disney's classic ingenuity and creativity. I am very much looking forward to the Dark Knight Rises. It's probably the only movie I've urged and pestered my sister to go watch (usually it's the other way XD).

It's the weekend again! TGIF everybody! Go hug someone! Your parents, your dog, the person sitting across you beating yo ass out at chess- anyone! Have fun ^O^.