Eat, Pray, Love

Is it normal to have an image of a character in our head when we read a novel? I hope it is because I always have faces for all the characters in any book that I read. The same happened when I read Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert which I just finished a few weeks ago. I have been wondering how close the images were to the real characters (if they were real). In Eat, Pray, Love, there is a character named Ketut Liyer. Gilbert made it sound like this old man is so wonderful, warm, adorable, and even cute like a teddy bear. So naturally a certain image came to my mind to fit all the descriptions. But when I saw an article about the real Ketut Liyer in NST last Monday, I was disappointed because the image I had is no where near the original one (in the picture above).

Reading

Recently I have not been so good at keeping up with my reading. But I am glad I have gained back the momentum. Thanks to Danial for bringing a series of 4 books called the echoes series. I think I started the 1st one last Sunday and now I am just beginning to read the third book. I really hope to finish all four of them before Danial goes back to his school this weekend.

These books are written by Jamilah Kolocotronis, an American Muslim author. Frankly speaking I have never heard of her or read any of her work. I am glad I get to know this writer because I like her books, so far. It's a refreshing change to read English novels based on Islamic perspectives. It's good to read something positive about my faith because I am tired of reading, watching, or listening to all the bad reputation of a religion which is very dear to me. I think we have to be practicing Muslims to feel and understand what I am talking about. There are so many hate sites on the internet. Sometimes they depress me but I am glad my faith helps me to sort my feelings. I definitely can relate to the books by Jamilah Kolocotronis .

Keinsafan

Saya baru sahaja habis membaca buku berjudul Travelog Dakwah yang ditulis oleh Prof. Mohd Kamil Ibrahim, Pengarah UiTM Johor di Segamat. Saya beli buku tersebut semasa berbengkel ISO di Kuala Lumpur pada minggu lepas. Itu pun secara kebetulan. Sepatutnya kami telah beredar ke Kuantan sebaik sahaja bengkel tersebut selesai pada jam 1 tgh di Hotel Seri Cempaka Cheras. Disebabkan kami terpaksa menunggu seorang rakan sekerja yang menghadiri mesyuarat hingga pukul 5 petang, kawan-kawan pun menyarankan kami jalan-jalan cari makan di Tesco. Dalam kesempatan tersebut saya menjengah di kedai buku Popular dan "terjumpa" serta "terbeli" 2 buah buku :) Salah satunya adalah buku Travelog Dakwah.

Isi kandungan buku tersebut memang sungguh terkesan di hati kerana saya pun lebih kurang sama dengan penulis dari segi kejahilan ilmu akhirat. Ilmu duniawi, no problem. Maklumlah, belajar sampai ke menara gading, di negara omputih pulak tu. Sekiranya buku tersebut ditulis oleh seorang ustaz untuk mengajak ke arah kebaikan, saya kira ajakan tersebut tidak begitu memberi kesan yang mendalam bagi diri saya kerana kita sedia maklum seorang ustaz memang baik dan tugasnya mengajak kepada kebaikan. Tetapi apabila seseorang yang jahil, dan menemui "jalan pulang", ajakannya lebih mengujakan saya.

Bila saya amat-amati segala yang diamalkan oleh beliau setelah diberi peluang untuk menjadi seorang "born again Muslim" memang tidak terikut oleh saya yang daif ini. Terjaga malam memang kerap, boleh dikatakan saban malam, tetapi hanya sekadar untuk melawat bilik air. Setelah selesai hajat, maka tidur semula adalah lebih menyeronokkan dari beribadah. Tetapi, seperti Muslim yang lain saya juga bercita-cita tinggi menggunung untuk masuk syurga tingkat teratas! Memang tidak logik. Walau bagaimanapun, Allah maha berkuasa.

Never End

I have been reading this book on and off since I bought it on 24 March 2006! For whatever reason, I am still not even half of it yet. In between, I have finished reading so many others. The book is interesting but I tend to pick it up at my worst reading mood such as last night when my eyelids were so heavy. After 3 or 4 pages, I was out. But I will not give it up until it is completely read from cover to cover, regardless of how long it will take.

Parenting

This book had just arrived at my office today. I ordered it last week from a fellow blogger named Zaid Mohamad. He's a senior manager in a multinational company and yet he's able to write a book on parenting! Ooooh, how I wish I could do that! I am not sure how I stumbled upon his blog but I am glad I did. I remember now! I read an article about him in the New Straits Times a few weeks back. At the end of the article there was his web site address so I started surfing and reading his blog entries. When I went to MPH I saw this book. I thought of buying it but I changed my mind. Then when I got back to Kuantan I contacted the author and was told that if I ordered directly from him, I could have the book autographed by him, so I did. I hope to get a few more tips on how to raise my five wonderful jewels.

Books

These are the ones we bought at MPH

September and October can be considered as book months for our family. When we went to MPH on Wednesday 23 Sept. we bought the above pictured books. Then on Tuesday 29 Sept. Steve brought home a bunch more which the kids have ordered through Scholastic Book Club. Two days ago my sister-in-law asked me to provide a list of books for her to get the kids for Christmas. When I mentioned it to them, they were jumping up and down with excitement but I still haven’t seen the list. I told them to be reasonable so that it won’t be a burden to their aunt :) We’ll see what they’ll come up with.

These are bought through Scholastic Book Club

These 2 were my choices hoping that Yasmin will be a famous mystery writer someday

On Thursday 1 Oct I finally finished reading “Dreams from My Father”! I bought it on 17 Dec 2008 and started reading it sometimes this year (I can’t remember exactly when because it took me too long to finish it). Actually, once I got to the last third part of the book, it was a breeze. I would say the ending was kind of happy but sad in a way. Does that make any sense? I guess you have to read it for yourself to really feel the way I do.

This one I recommend to all my Muslim friends and readers

When I was checking my e-mails yesterday, I saw one from Kinokunia ( I signed up to receive news letters from them). When I opened it I saw a book by Angelina Jolie titled “Notes from My Travel”. Out of curiosity I checked the title on the internet and read the excerpts. It was a really moving story about her experiences visiting a few refugee camps around the world. Ouch! Another one to get!

Reading

I can’t recall when I started reading “Dreams from My Father” by Barack Obama. It’s an interesting and well written book. He can definitely be a novelist. However, I still can’t finish the book for whatever cosmic reason that might be. For one thing, the font is small, and the language is a bit hard for me to understand. I have to really concentrate when reading Obama’s book, unlike the most recent book I read by Dr. Muhaya which only took me an hour to finish. Now I am contemplating on reading “Ke Mana Wang Anda?” by Hajah Rohani Datuk Hj Mohd Shahir. I bet by the time I finish this one, I will still have many more pages (or chapters) of Obama’s.

Whatever happens, the most important thing is to keep on reading. Reading helps our mind to stay active. I guess when our mind is active it is less likely for us to be senile. When I was a kid I hated reading but I started picking up the habit when I was studying at a university. I guess I didn’t have good models to follow as a kid. My husband and I made a conscious effort to read to or in front of our kids from the day they were born. Alhamdulillah, we are seeing the fruit of our labor. Children will not follow what the parents tell them, but they definitely follow what their parents do, at least where reading is concerned. So to all parents (and parents to be) out there, if you would like to have kids who like to read, you better start reading.

New Books

These are the books which we bought at Kinokuniya last Sunday.

Those who like to read motivational books, I would really like to recommend the book by Dr Muhaya titled “How to Become a Good & Successful Medical Student: A Holistic Approach. It’s only 99 pages (not counting the appendices) and I finished reading it while traveling on the commuter from KL to Seremban. Although it was written for medical students, the content can be applied to students in basically every field. It also contains useful tips for good living in general.

Scholastic Books

We have been ordering books for our children through the Scholastic Book Club since Danial was in standard six. On 13 May 2009 Steve brought home 7 new books which we have ordered a few weeks ago - “the Looking Glass Wall” for Danial, “the Boys Start the War” and “Drama Queen” for Yasmin, two “Bionicle Adventures” books for Harris, “ A Long Way from Home” and “Secret Code Door Alarm” for Hannah, and “Clifford’s Puppy Days: Hooray for Mom” for Najla. Najla’s book is special because it came with a stuff toy of Clifford the Big Red Dog and she loves it so much.

It really worth all the money we spent when we see the kids read with passion. Besides our family, a few other families who send their kids to the International School of Kuantan also purchase some. Since Steve was the organizer, he received “Red Apple Teacher” mugs.

“Asas Mewarna”

On Friday 3 April 2009 Najla received 3 new books titled “Asas Mewarna 1”, “Asas Mewarna 2”, and “Asas Mewarna 3” which we ordered from her teacher last week. She was so happy when she showed them to me. After I picked her up at the nursery we went to KPTM to play ping pong with 2 students named Izzat and Amirul and an engineering lecturer named Mustakim. As usual we played until 7pm. While waiting for us to finish playing, Najla colored the first page of the 1^st new book.

To Read Or Not To Read

Books are the only assets we have (besides 2 cars). The whole family is crazy about buying and reading books. I have so many that I have not read and a few that I am in the middle of reading. Lo and behold! Steve came home from his carnival day with 10 more new books! He said he couldn’t resist them because they were only RM2.00 a piece. Ten books still costs him less than buying 1 brand new one. What a bargain indeed!

Actually this is what I would like to finish reading.

I am also reading these:

And these are the newly acquired ones…