Marriage bureau for rich people

The title is something, isn't it?

This book tells a story of how a marriage works in India. As we know there are so many casts in their society. What should marry what, when is the right time, a doctor to a doctor, rich to rich and there's also rich to poor people marriage.

Mr. Ali, the main character is a pensioner. He's bored and later he comes out with the idea to open a marriage bureau, more or less, it's a marriage agency.

People send in their application, and Mr. Ali will compile, arrange them according to the casts, religion, job, etc.

It was an interesting read. I have always love Indian culture I think. I love Hindi movie to start with. Mr. Farahad Zama also wrote in such a simple way.

Mr. Ali succeeds in arranging few marriages, and he gained a lot of attention and respect. There's always a woman behind a successful man... Mrs. Ali was illustrated as a content woman, patient, intelligent and kind. I love her.

There's also a bit about their stubborn son, their hardworking assistant.

It's a fun read.

:)

Me and Mr Darcy by Alexandra Potter

Got this book from the big sale, the big bad wolf. 

I've never read the Pride and Prejudice but I love the movie with Keira Knightley and Colin Firth. So there, at least I could imagine how was Mr Darcy, his character and everything. 

It's a story about a book-aholic, Emily Albright who rather spend her time reading than go out having fun. (Okay, reading is having fun, to her).

When she read about a book tour about her favorite author, Ms Jane Austen, she couldn't help but sign herself for that tour even she had to travel so far, she's in US and the tour happen in UK. 

She met some few fellow fans of Jane Austen, most of them were boring except for this one male UK reporter. The trip took about 2 weeks and lots of things happened within that.

Emily was kind of in her own world, for there are some times she found herself talking to Mr. Darcy. It's quite scary and of course delusional. They talked a lot and got to know each other.  Maybe she was so obsessed about Mr. Darcy so she was hoping that Mr. Darcy would like to get to know her too.  However, the more she knew and learned about Mr. Darcy, she thought that he's not that perfect. 

Meanwhile, Emily thought that this reporter, Spike was not her type and she's not his. They fought a lot but there are few circumstances when Emily could look into Spike's good side. 

The ending, is expected. 

However, reading this book, I knew that a lot of things could happen in two weeks time.  Feeling could be developed, perceptions might changed, and everything. 

I have given this book to a colleague. 

When she saw me reading this book she asked a lot about it, and in the end, she wished me "hope you'll find your Mr. Darcy" but I told her that I didn't really like Mr. Darcy... heee... whatever... 

The Smart One and The Pretty One by Claire La Zebnik

This is a story about two sisters. Yeah, the smart one (Ava) and the pretty one (Lauren). 

But anyway, I think both of them are pretty. HEHE. It's just that Ava is the one who think that dressing up is such a waste of time and it makes people focus more on your exterior rather than your inside. 

It starts when their mother was diagnosed with cancer and Lauren who's been working in New York had to come home in LA as she was fired because apparently she couldn't manage herself well in budget/financial management. And she (Lauren) has this weakness towards good clothes and shoes (who doesn't, by the way). 

When Ava found out that Lauren is in serious debt, Ava even arranged a session with financial consultant and she made Lauren signed a contract saying that she'll be paying her debt. 

So when Lauren found an old paper in their parent's home, a simple, foolish contract between the parents and their friends (the parent's friends) saying that Ava was engaged to their son, Lauren had planned to make Ava comply to something "contract-ty" too... 

So, then the story began... apparently Ava's "fiance", Russell is someone who's involve in fashion thing, and he, like Lauren is so determine to make Ava over. But Ava thought that since Russell and Lauren are so into each other, they like the same thing (fashion), share the same thought towards fashion, Ava had put herself aside. Meanwhile, Russell thought that Ava despises him.

Anyway, it's happy ending... 

You could read the review/synopsis here.... Claire La Zebnik

Summer and the City - Candace Bushnell

 

• It's the sequel after Carrie Diaries.
• It's interesting. And reading it made me felt the same excitement as watching the drama series. :)
• It's about how Carrie got to know her 3 companionship~ Samantha, Miranda and lastly, Charlotte...
• Apparently, it's Carrie who first got to know all three of them, and with her skill, she'd turned them all three of them (four later) into a click...
• It told the story, a summer before Carrie was supposedly go to Brown, but she begged her father to let her take up a short summer writing course;
• Carrie, with the assistance from Samantha finally (so easy) got to adapt to the new environment (surroundings);
• How she met Capote Duncan- I believe that his name was somewhere in the series..
• All of the old stories on how was Samantha (which nothing hardly differ) and how Miranda was so feminist, and how polite and naive Charlotte was...
• It's good (I did say it, right) for those who loves the movies/drama series....
• Oh, I wish there would be more sequel of it! :) 

How Starbucks Saved My Life-Michael Gates Gill

He was out of work, at the age of sixties. Out of what he had been doing for almost 30 years. He was kicked out from an advertisement company, because of some factors, namely age. The young managers decided that his idea are becoming old fashioned and all. 

But he has gained a lot of business contacts, and he opened a consulting company which could last only for few years. He's had a family to feed and in the meantime, in his "downtime" he settled in a short fling which added in a new son to the family. His wife decided to leave him.

Soon, his consulting company closed down but he still acted as though he was still a busy man always in contact with his client, wearing the suit, carrying a briefcase as he used to do. 

Until one day when he was having his hardly earned latte in Starbucks, a lady manager asked him if he would like to work in a Starbucks cafe. He was speechless, how could a young lady could detect his acting. So without much thinking he applied for the job. 

Soon his life changed. This book is a true story of Michael Gates Gill. How he had made comparison on his working behaviour pre-Starbucks and during Starbucks.There are a lot of things that he should do to adapt to the new environment, a change of life style indeed. 

How he gained a lot of respect by being just a coffee shop worker, rather than what he'd got when acting as a manager in a big company. He had reviewed on how he had wasted his life, with his daughters and sons because he had put the career on the top of his priority list before.

It was a moving story. It's not boring at all albeit it's an (sort of)  autobiography book. 

:)

The Little Prince / Le Petit Prince

I never imagined in a million years that a whimsical child’s fable could make me feel so downhearted. I can understand why this book was listed as one of the greatest classic. To a child, the fantasy about having a fren from outer-space is so appealing – this book has been used for elementary literature all over the world (err… except M’sia which I don’t quite understand why :p) and to an adult like me, the depth within the simplicity of the story is what captivated me the most.

This is a story about a strange encounter, self-narrated by an aviator, whose plane crashes in the middle of the desert. While stranded there, attempting to fix his plane, he stumbled upon a fine-looking, small prince who claimed to be originally from Asteroid B 612 – a planet no bigger than a house.

Slowly, the aviator learned about the simple life of this little prince whose daily routines involved uprooting the baobabs & sweeping up his 3 volcanoes, how he loves watching sunset whenever he’s sad, and most of all how intensely in love he is with the one and only flower in his planet - the rose.

As the story unfolds, the little prince shared the story of his journey, all the memorable encounters he had with adults from other asteroid and finally how he landed on earth. The main theme of this story is how simple life can be if we see it thru the eye of a child and how we tend to complicate things as we grow older.

This book is somewhat like Alice in Wonderland - on a surface, it’s simple & appealing enough to be read by a child but if you really try to comprehend the meaning behind it, it’s mind-blowing how deep the message can be. I won’t be a spoiler by giving it all out to you, you should read it yourself coz you might have a different interpretation of the story as compared to mine. 

But all I can tell you is, be prepared, you might need a tissue as this story has a bittersweet ending. And you’ll be surprised to learn how a simple tale like this can teach you a lot about life.

My fave quotes from this book: "One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye" (On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux).

The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle

if you are trying to figure out what makes you happy, or if there is anything that you should consider in order to make a better life, perhaps knowing the Power of Now would help you grasp the idea of enjoying the now.

the book, frankly is not exactly an easy read. there are parts that would make you ponder hard, parts that would make you feel defensive, parts that would make you hopeless of what you are now. but then again, Mr Tolle writes so much truth in it, you would definitely be thinking, the man seriously has a point. and he must be right 'coz what he said was what happened to me.

this book deserves to be revisited again and again, coz in life we experience different thing at a different time. and this book is better understood maybe in a different way at a different time.

i must say, i love this book. it's an eye opener. it's thought-provoking. it demands a full attention from its reader. i dare you to read it. :)

love from brussels.