To cite some of Christopher Boone's idiosyncrasies: he likes things in order, hates the colour yellow, and is callous to human emotions. He's not weird but autistic and he's the lead in The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-time. Writing as Christopher Boone, Mark Haddon has created a higly original book that's both brilliant and deeply moving. The book is written in a manner Haddon perceives to be what an Asperger would have written. That makes it readable in one go but you may want to slow down your pace to fully grasp its brilliance.

When I was in high-school, I had a friend who was autistic as a child. Reading the book reminded me of him and the striking resemblance he shares with Christopher. That friend of mine is a maths genius and his mathematical ability was several years ahead of mine. He didn't give two hoots about the teachers and the assignments they gave; he cared more about his personal projects, which included highly intricate work of arts (he's very good at painting), his occasional photography experiments and many other amazing stuff. He was in a whole lot of trouble because of the way he was, with the teachers as well as his parents. He was aware of his "condition" and tried fitting in with the rest of us. I heard he's doing real fine doing his STPM now.

I don't want to come across as someone who harps about books from years ago but it's kind of hard to read the latest stuff when you only have a small budget for books. On the same note, do be patient with me while I shower praises on Kill Bill Vol 1 (I know it came out so v. long time ago). Kill Bill has a straightforward and minimalist premise: Revenge. The whole movie is about "The Bride" (kick-ass Uma Thurman) going on a killing spree to bump off people who had done her wrong. What it lacks in depth, it certainly makes up in style, double portion of that too. Every shot was done elegantly and the action sequences were so meticulously choreographed that it was hard not to get all smitten over this bloody (literally) cool flick. To top it off, Kill Bill has a nice soundtrack that is a big part of the whole experience.

Vol 1 looks like a beginning to a great trilogy. Will definitely be watching Kill Bill Vol 2, not a few years later, I hope.