For one more day-Mitch Albom

I've found this in my friendster's blog.  Link asal. 

Macam biasa, karya Mitch Albom, sangat menekankan kasih sayang dan kekeluargaan.

Cerita ni berkisah mengenai Charley Chick Benetto…once a baseballer yang sangat menyerlah semasa zaman muda dia. Disebabkan minat dalam sukan baseball yang sangat mendalam, Chick sanggup berhenti belajar dan mengikut nasihat ayah dia dengan menyertai team pro untuk bermain dalam some sort of sport liga.

Selepas berhenti sebagai baseballer, Chick bekerja sebagai sales oficer..yang memang tidak kena dengan jiwa dia. Success was not always on his side, Chick rasa tertekan, started drinking…dan mula mengabaikan keluarganya…

Wife Chick meninggalkannya dan Chick semakin tertampar bila his only daughter, Maria, tidak menjemput beliau ke majlis perkahwinannya.

Chick mengambil keputusan untuk take his own life (bunuh diri)…dan dia mengambil keputusan untuk kembali ke Pepperville Beach (his hometown) because he decided to end his life where he started it.

He’s got into an accident, but when he woke up to escape to his home, he was shocked to see that his mother, who died 8 years earlier, was there. So many things happened from the time he reached his home that night, most of them was priceless moment with his mother.

These moment made Chick realized that there’s so much more to life, and there’s never too late to fix relationship with the families. Chick got to know many things about his father (who left the family when he’s about 9-11 years old).

Chick later woke up to find that he’s lying on the road (accident’s site) and he recovered to enjoy and to redeem his life, his time with families.

It was a good reading. Mitch Albom… 

Tuesday With Morrie

I believe you guys have heard or read about this book. Well, I just finished reading it, in Malay version. I read the original version while I was waiting for my friend at Border, The Curve some time ago. Hah.

This book was actually a thesis, done by Mitch and his beloved Prof. Morrie.  His lecturer while he was doing his degree. It was a book/thesis discussing about life and what are important things about it. 

Mitch called him Coach, that was something to distinguish him from Morrie's other students, and while he was studying at the University (Brandies) he had always find time to spend with Morrie, to talk and discuss about everything. It was his way of escapism from the life which he thought boring. He thought when he's with Morrie, he was himself. 

It was 16 years after the convocation that he found out from a tv show that Morrie was sick. He started to keep in touch with Morrie and then the idea of doing the thesis came. They started to reminisce their old days, and started to discuss like they used to do.  

Mitch, while sharing Morrie's thoughts on life, couldn't help but thinking about  how he had spent his life. 

Mitch came out with 13 ideas of topics to be discussed with Morrie and they met on Tuesdays to discuss everything on each topics.

This book was divided into few chapters each with a short and simple story, with pieces of Morrie's story from his life in between.

The way Morrie saw life was unique. He was positive and he brought love with him and shared with everyone around him. You'll feel the love when you read this, I bet. :)

I cried. Hehe. It was moving. Love it.


p.s : good for pressie. here. here. here.  

Veronika Decides to Die

Initially I was quite reluctant to share this book with just anybody else as this book is so personal to me. But then again, the story is too good to be hogged alone so, here I am :) This book was introduced by a fren of mine who claimed that this story reminded her so much of me. And the fact that Veronika Decides to Die was also my first Coelho’s book,  I just have to confess -  I’ve read this book so many times before until I’ve lost count ;p

This book talks about life and sanity, what it feels like being the ‘mad ones’.  Coelho’s interpretation of madness was spot-on lucid given that he himself has been admitted to the institution for 3 times when he was younger. So, he’s the most perfect figure to talk about this issue.

Okay, so the story revolves around a girl from a small town who seems to have everything figured out. She got a job, her own place, boyfriend, you name it. But just because she felt that she knows how & where her life is heading to (like few years down the road she’ll be married & then became a mother, she’ll stay at home & devote herself solely to her family bla bla bla…) she decided that it’s pointless to go on living since everything is so predictable. So on one fine day, Veronika decided to kill herself.  

Allow me to digress a little, FYI it is common for most ppl who resort in to suicide to perceive suicide as the only way of having control over their life when everything else falls apart. What so cynical about Veronika’s story is, she has the control over all elements of her life but she bravely decided to change the course of her life coz she thought it was too conventional.

But the twist to this story is, she survived her suicide attempt only to find out that she got only another 2 weeks to live (due to heart damaged caused by the overdose of sleeping drugs). She woke up in an institution called The Villete where she met a few significant characters – Zedka, who suffered from major depression, Mari who suffered from severe paranoia / anxiety disorder and Eduard the schizophrenic.

Learning the fact that she’s dying somehow gave her another reason to live life as she felt the helplessness of not having control over her predicted demise. And being among the mad ones has given her the freedom to do or say whatever she wants because there will be no more fear of being judge as well as the fact that she got nothing else to lose. For the first time in her life, Veronika wanted to live her life to the fullest.

If I were to describe this story in a nutshell, I’d say it’s story about the fear of losing control, losing yourself in life & relationship as you grew older, and the more you feel like you’re losing it, the harder you struggle to liberate yourself.

But that’s not just it, there is another twist at the end of the story, which is so mind-blowing btw, and I just gotta say this, Coelho has the most amazing talent in crafting the perfect ending for all his stories. So, watch out as I’ll do more reviews on Coelho’s other masterpieces.

Orhan Pamuk - The Museum of Innocence (Part One)

Actually I still read it but I can't wait to review it (I don't finish it yet). :) Been reading it since few months ago. It's not a boring book but I can't help but falling to sleep each time I read it. :( 

It's the story of Kemal, who had been in love (or so) to Sibel and about to get engaged to her.  Until he bumped into his childhood friend, to be exact, the daughter of his mother's seamstress, Fusun. Kemal and Sibel both come from an elite and well known family so when Kemal thought he had fallen into Fusun, he didn't know how to react, and most of all how to tell Sibel about his feeling towards Fusun. 

Later, after Kemal and Sibel got engaged, Fusun and her family were kind of shying away from the society.  To make matter worse, Sibel, upon knowing about Kemal's affair, refuse to break their engagement but instead she sticks to Kemal for quite a long time. While Kemal, when lost his love (Fusun), was close to lose his job and life. He was so lovestruck and practically did everything to find Fusun. 

However, when he had found Fusun (after a year and few months), he would have to live with a fact that his girl had married another man. At that time, Sibel had gone out of his life as well.

Basically this book was named the "Museum of Innocence" because along the story Kemal had described everything that remind him to Fusun and practically collecting them to be placed in that museum.  I guess it is so. Because I have just read first half of it! 

I don't know how it ends, but can't wait to finish it. :D

Till then, happy reading. :)

Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell

After reading the recent reviews from you guys, aku terasa sangat bimbo in my choice of book!:P But since the baby arrived my time to read has become almost non-existant, let alone to go and buy books (kurang la tax exemption aku tahun depan!) Anyway, this book has been collecting dust on my bedside table for the longest time, and when I went for a much needed getaway last month, baru la i got to finish it!

If you have been watching the TV series for this one and never read the book..you'd be a bit eh?! The TV series did not religiously follow the book. The characters are still the same (but i think Nico's husband's name is different and she has a daughter in the book!) You get my drift la kan?

Well..it's about 3 best friends in their early 40's and on top of their careers, living in New York. Makes me feel like I don't have to explain further to you guys cause the storyline is like any other chic lit, borderline cliche but still a fun read nonetheless.

Oh god!not helping at all am i??hahah! I have also read Candace Bushnell's other book - One Fifth Avenue. OK...confession..I only bought both books cause I wanted a complete collection of Candace Bushnell's work. To make my book shelf look pretty..*kantoi* (pasni nak beli Trading Up and 4 Blondes..somehow i can't find the Sex & the City book...)

Blame the bimbo in me! I secretly think we need to be one once in a while *wink*

Love Over Coffee

With the Indian culture and the IT development background, the story revolves around Anup and his love, Rajni. Nothing interesting but this book is quite funny. Anup, acts as a story teller , telling details about his colleagues, the closest which make them 4 as a gang. Each of the characters is different but with certain similarities that keep them bind together.

Rajni, the girl, works in the same office, but different division. The love over coffee is about their secret meetings/datings at the office coffee machine. Few things happen in their work, which involve the office politics to the extent of leaving them speechless and the shocking truth, the love, the feelings, the comedies.

It was like watching a Hindi movie-minus the songs.

The relationship between Anup and Rajni is against their parents decision, as we could always predict in Hindi movie but they find the solution anyways.

It's a good read, with good laugh here and there.

It's quite boring in the beginning but it gets better once you understand and I found myself guessing and hoping what could have happened.

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

I came across Kafka when I was away on a foreign land and I have to admit that I’m not the type of person who can just pick up a book, read & rave about it. There’s a lot of convincing involved with this book :b But I have to be frank, when I stumbled upon this book, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. I was in a very awkward state of mind where I don’t mind ppl hating me coz I loathed myself even more kinda situation… *sigh* Long story, not worth mentioning…

Ah-neways, back to Metamorphosis… This book tells a story of how a perfect man fell from grace & all his good deeds were completely forgotten when he somehow transformed into an insect-like monster. Gregor Samsa was the perfect model of a filial son – he single-handedly supported his family after his dad’s business fell short, he worked hard day in & day out to help pay the debts and never once he failed to be that gentle, sweet-natured son & brother to his mom & little sister. Gregor worked as a traveling salesman where he spent all his day on the road, never had the luxury to have his own personal life. He devoted himself just to his work in order for him to help out his family.

This book tells in details of how Gregor coped with the overnight transformation, getting used to his bug-like physique and how he survived his remaining days as ‘the monster’ before he was left to die as an outcast in his own home. It also depicts the changes happened to his family member & how they cope with his bizarre transformation.

Kafka was well-known for his peculiar style of story telling – he would write something so unthinkable yet convincing enough to make us drift away & delve further into the story. I shall not spoil the surprise by summarizing the whole story coz it will be a great insult to a book this amazing. And to think that it was written back in 1912 – it’s awesomeness. It’s definitely a must-read & I’m looking forward to get hold of other Kafka’s book in future.