Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

Okay so it's been a while since I update my readings.  Excuses to that can be several blog entries so I safe you the agony and proceed to this book.
At this point I'm still unsure on how to upload the photo of the book from my iPhoto into this new spanking MacBook Air of mine but I hope I'll figure it out soon so I can paste the book pic here.

But first thing first before I'm bogged down by other things in real life, my Apr-May reading.  Can you believe it that I'm only updating this now? I can't either.  Let me see, where's my note...

Okay I have several David Mitchell's books.  This is my first attempt to read him.  It's a combination of several short stories where one or two characters from each story will somehow interlink or with the other story very briefly.  Sometimes you have to really pay attention to your reading in order to notice that.

Chapter Tokyo
pp44  Then one of them asked why Japanese kids try to ape American kids? The clothes, the rap music, the skateboards, the hair.  I wanted to say it's not America they're aping, it's the Japan of their parents that they're rejecting.  It's not American culture exploiting us.  It's us exploiting them.
Hmm, thought provoking.

Conversation between two friends pp49
Koji: Do you believe in love at first sight?
Satoru: I believe in lust at first sight.
Koji: Seriously
Satoru: Well, love has to be based on knowledge, hasn't it?  You have to know someone intimately to be able to love them.  So love at fist sight is a contradiction in terms.  Unless in that first sight there's some sort of mystical gigabyte downloading of information from one mind into the other.  That doesn't sound too likely does it?
Are you smiling yet?

Chapter Hong Kong
It's about a corrupt financial lawyer.  I don't know what to make of it.  Don't quite like it but not totally disliking it either.

Chapter Holy Mountain
p146 I think my father was Emperor Chi seen shit.  Finding virtue in him was harder than finding a needle in the Yangtze river.  He never spoke a word of kindness or thanks to me and he sold my chastity for two tea bowls.  But, he was my father and the souls of the ancestors are the responsibility of the descendants.

An old woman who lives at the foot of a holy mountain all her life made her pilgrimage to the summit of holy mountain only to find - it was not holy anymore.  This is a tragic story but it has a justified ending.

Chapter Mongolia
This is my favorite chapter thus far.  One word, magical.

Chapter Petersburg
This one took me longer than expected.  But the last 10 pages were fast but story was not to my liking.

Chapter London
pp271 Question: Why do you exist?  Answer: Rugged lust and ruptured rubber?
LOL
pp285 I don't believe in an afterlife.  I consider the idea of God to be a childish prank and worst, a sick joke probably pulled by the devil.  And oh yes, you can have one without the other ...
London is about a guy who has to convince himself that he can make a commitment to marry the mother of his child.  I think ...

Chapter Clear Island
Scientist with a conscience, a fugitive, a woman - a page turner for me.  My favorite chapter thus taking over the previously liking above.

Chapter Night Train
This one completely baffled my mind.  I couldn't phantom who is whom etc.  Confused BUT the story is intriguing and clever for me to keep ploughing through. To sum up, a page turner with clever dialogues and complicated plot.

Chapter Underground
Epilogue of Okinawa.  The closure of the first chapter.

So I finished the book, more than a month later.  I think its an acquired taste, to read Mitchell that is.  I don't really enjoyed my first attempt.  But I can't strike it off entirely bcos com'on people this is THE David Mitchell we talking about and not to mention that I have 3 other titles that belongs to him which I bought and have yet to read!!!  Don't ask how come?  All I can say, not all recommendations out there works for you.  But read you must of anything you fancy.

Note: at this moment I have yet to figure out how to download the book's pic so I may have to post this without the book cover.

Day job

I blame my work. The one thing that never fail to wake me up unwillingly everyday except for weekends. The thing that pays all my bills. The one that allows me to taste all the luxury things that I sometimes splurge on. The one that makes me think is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? The thing that had me cried every time a new year dawns in because I always felt that I haven't done good enough to write it in my achievement column. Everyday I wish I'm doing something else and I don't know what that something else is. Until then, I'll be here stuck to do what everybody thinks I'm very good at except myself, my day job.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

After 86 pages or so, I don't know why but I kept comparing the book with everything from Dan Brown. Maybe bcos I desperately need it to be as fast pace as any of DB's book. So far it hasn't been.  Is it bcos of the lengthy and unfamiliar Scandinavian names of people and places? I struggled to come to terms with the difficult pronunciation and to remember the characters/protagonist's names.  But I'm getting there (note to myself)

P117 or so
There were many examples related to real live incidents but bcos it happened in Scandinavia scenes so again I'm not too familiar or even knew about it  (even though there were high profile cases in the financial journalism ~ what's happening to me?) so I just assume these were fictional which could have otherwise be plus points or even spark an interest ( I'm losing it unless something happen - fast).

p209 'She looked like an ageing vampire ~ still strikingly beautiful but as venomous as a snake' ~ Isabella raised her cane and pressed the handle against Mikael's chest.  To me Isabella Vanger sounds like 'Cruella' from 101 Dalmations.  I even pictured her as such.

p214 'Rebecka case' - the killer tied her up and stuck her head into the smouldering embers of a fire place, when she was still alive - OMG.  I had to stop reading.

The above was the start of many crimes written in this book.  Many other were quite unimaginable and horrendous crimes especially the sexual abuses.

p346 Mikael Blomkvist discovered the mystery behind the names and number in Harriet's diary ~ I knew it!!  Bcos that were my guesses too.  But I couldn't be sure bcos I don't read the bible, but I suspect as much.

p360 t-shirt slogan : Armageddon was yesterday - today we have a serious problem. LOL

p366 Blomkvist meets Salander. FINALLY.  Been waiting for this for like forever.  Plot is getting better and there was no stopping for me after that.

Conclusion: It was a page turner but only after more than 300 pages.  Thankfully my patience was rewarded. Not many readers can withstand such agony.  This is a dark thriller book which I must say is not my favourite genre.

Would I continue  reading Larsson's book 2 & 3? Yes ... but not so soon.  Maybe I should watch the movie first as to gain more interest on the sequel book.

Warning: spoiler ahead

I did suspect Martin (Harriet's brother).  Don't you just love it when you are right?

Fridge magnets chronicle





Few months back, hubby went to Vietnam.  He bought this cute wedding couple fridge magnet.




Earlier, his colleague went to Uzberkistan and got us the above magnet and she later went to Korea and got us this beautiful Hanbok (Korea's traditional dress) magnet.

 

 

In the recent school holiday, we took the kids to Tioman Island.  Here's one I got from there.

That's a total of 117 to-date.

The September of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer

I'm going to pretend as if I have been updating my blog all this while and brush off the fact that it has not been updated for the past 4 weeks.  Truth be told, I have no valid reason, other than I'm too lazy to on my aged notebook and wait for it to come alive, without falling asleep first.

I read this book somewhere in mid January (yeah, how time flies!) The note in the book stated that I bought it somewhere in 2008.  Couldnt believe it took me almost 2 year plus to finally read it.

The story reminds me of Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, but a milder version. What captivated me
was how it was beautifully written, even though subject takes place in a war. 

p68 prisoner's decapitated head paraded on the streets on a pike is similarised to kebab on a skewer (okay I admit this not beautiful but gory and unfortunately aptly compared)

p77 notion of death is like a wallpaper ~ present but rarely seen

It is about how the use-to-be affluent people under the Shah's ruling and the common ones survived ~ post Shah of Iran.  It tells of how the relationship between master and servant, employer and employee, children between private and public schools and friendship ~
changed during pre and post war.

p103 In 1971, whilst placing 2 wreaths of flowers on the tomb of Cyrus, the Shah solemly recited 'Cyrus, rest in peace for we are well awake'. In the minute of silence that followed his speech, the desert wind blew stronger, swirling the yellow dust in the air etc.  Question: Had Cyrus soul responded to the Shah? Spooky.

p227 Pain, he has come to realize is the domain of the elders. Their suffering always more noble and more justified than that of a boy like him, who is expected to find thrills in his new environment and to lock his short past in the cellar, only to retrieve it, years later like a bottle of wine and share it in brief sips with the dinner guests.

This is an engaging story from a debut attempt. I enjoyed it.

Belieber or not

Image via WikipediaMy 13 year old son Danish is obsessed with Justin Bieber.  Yes you name it - the songs, videos, mags, caps, Supra sneakers, the color purple and of cos the hair (before Bieber cuts off his famous locks).  We even celebrated his birthday last year with JB's theme.

We've decided that my son will not be going to JB's World Tour Concert here in KL bcos
1) its on a school night
2) none of his (male) friends are going
3) if he were to go; I have to chaperon him
4) that will double the already high price tickets
5) hubby will be outstation and cannot send him to the venue
6) I dont know how to get to the venue on my own (typical me)
7) I have to take half day leave from work
8) etc. etc

I can think of many, many other valid reasons on why he can't go.  So to cut the story short - to compensate we brought him to watch the movie instead.  The whole family went to watch Justin Bieber Never Say Never (the movie) in 3D no less.  Even grandma (my mother) came along.  In less than 2 hours when the movie ended, all of us (except my youngest son who fell asleep three quarter of the movie) were converted to 'Belieber'.  I cant believe it, we were so fascinated by his natural talent, preseverance and determination.  We were discussing about him all the way till we reached home.  Even though Danish didnt say it out loud but from his look I know he's sort off saying ~ I told you so ~ to us the grown ups. LOL

I'm not sure what possesed me and hubby but as a result of that I've just confirmed two online tickets for Danish and his chaperone ~ me to watch JB My World Tour Concert in Malaysia this coming Apr 21.

Whatever happens to all the eight reasons above? I'll worry about that soon ... very soon.

I found the video below on a recent flash mobs by kids to celebrate the Bieber Fever (yup I've even learnt their lingo) here in KL.  Enjoy!!

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I almost reluctant to write anything about this book. Not bcos I don't like but quite the contrary actually. I love it so much! I'm afraid my words will do injustice to it. p3 'cemetery of forgotten books' I dont know why but those mere words stole my heart away and I'm completely smitten by the book. And I only just started. Cemetery of forgotten books is a place of mystery, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down it's pages, it's spirit grows and strengthens. How cool is that? Just by reading the introductory I can feel it in my bones that I've just hit the jackpot. It literally gave me goosebumps!! Daniel is entrusted with a book which became his destiny in finding out who and what happen to the said book missing author Julian Carax. p9 A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept p233 Destiny is usually just around the corner. Like a thief, a hooker or a lottery vendor, it's three most common personification. But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it yourself. I had many suspicions or theories as the story unfold. So alert - spoilers ahead: 1. Somewhere along the pages, I suspected Julian's mother got to do with something or everything 2. The Devil is Carax or at least Carax is alive 3. Julian is related to Daniel? p76 Presents are made for the pleasure of the one who gives them, not the merits of those who receive them. I can't brag enough ~ I enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind so much. Thank you Zafon.