Birthday Stories: Selected and Introduced by Haruki Murakami by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
i am not a big fan of short stories but taking a risk coz haruki murakami is my fave author. its quite nice to read short stories coz you don’t feel you have to commit to the characters for too long and just enjoy them as it is.
The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sigh..have always loved murakami and will still always love murakami. This strange library is really strange. almost like the author is just having some fun writing it. i just love the illustrations. i love the simple story (as compared to more complex storylines, think 1Q84). and i have learnt from reading murakami, don’t always expect answers. just move on reading and enjoy the fantasy.
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
i am glad i gave this book a second chance. i unfortunately watched the movie first few months back and decided then that since i didnt enjoy the movie, i wouldnt enjoy the book. true they say, don’t judge a book by its movie.
reading Still Alice actually gives me a genuine curiousity to understand what a person with Alzheimer’s disease is going through. unlike the movie, i could finally understand better what is going on in Alice’s mind and feel her emotions, her frustration, her anxiety of having to face this illness alone, after all, she is an intelligent professor!
i appreciated that Still Alice go through the stages or phases of memory lapse and gradually succumbing to the wills of the disease. it did make me feel this disease is more scary than cancer, because it is true, losing your memory, not recognising the people around you, losing language, it is as good as a blank walking person, seeing hearing speaking but not truly comprehending
perhaps i could now have an interest to read other Lisa Genova’s novels.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I seen this book around in bookstores and many times i contemplated to buy it. I was lucky enough to stumble upon it on my recent visit to the library and borrowed it. i am glad i just borrow it instead of buying! i did not fully enjoy it. it felt like i have read the storyline before, nothing fantastic about it. i read through it with such dread partly because it is, quite a depressing story, perhaps as intended by the author.
it’s about a family of mixed marriage, about death of a daughter and how its loss affected the family. ultimately about a family so engrossed with personal expectations they fail to see the signs of a troubled teenage girl. in the end, i only have a soft spot for Hannah, the youngest sister and how the family – father, mother and an elder brother, completely dismiss this little girl’s need and emotion upon her sister’s death, each family still engrossed and selfish with their own feelings.
the book goes back and forth from the present and the past, or days leading to the death of the girl, Lydia. the characters are all abit cliched. a mother who actually ran away, to continue her studies, which i find preposterous because why can’t she just talk about it with her husband, who is a professor, someone who would appreciate learning and education. how stupid the idea is, and eventually, the mother running away for weeks would be the cause of Lydia’s distorted understanding of the need to please her mother and lead the child to grow up trying to be what her mother couldn’t be, completely losing her sense of self. a father who does not know anything about parenting and losing out to temptation to a teaching assistant, on the night of her daughter’s funeral nevertheless, who also, despite being asian, lost all sense of asian values.
i understood the pain Lydia went through. but towards the end, i was just thinking, why the heck did i even pick it up and read it. maybe because the story started with the knowledge that Lydia died so that is pretty much the ending we are moving to, so there is no mystery to it. i probably would appreciate it more, perhaps even be surprised by the ending if the story started with what it intended to have, a ‘simple’ picket fence family who just wants to live an honest life, but ended up with a tragedy.
Off the Page by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
it was a bit too YA for me and for awhile i dreaded reading through the lamentations of love and uncertainty that happened between delilah and oliver as teenage lovers.
From where we left off in Between The Lines, Oliver safe off the page and Delilah living her dream life of having a high school prince lover. all those teenage love rivalry and frustration is there although we have a happily ever after idea all along.
so things go well for a bit until Edgar, the human boy who is now living in the fairy tale have some leadership issues and his mother the author of the book apparently dying from cancer. some switches happen along the way including Delilah’s best friend Jules got into the book.
however, i felt there are some unfairness in the way that since Jules is quite a major character here, falling in love with Edgar, i thought she should be given the right to share her point of view, as a protagonist. and i did wonder how this whole switch-human-book character going to turn out, because i am no longer on Delilah’s side of hoping she can get her happy ending. i wonder what is going to happen to Jules? is it not unfair now to let Jules go through what Delilah went through? of course it also shows great friendship from Jules to ‘sacrifice’ leaving with Edgar inside the book now. i just felt we totally left Jules out just to give a happy ending for Delilah and Oliver, sounds a bit tad selfish.
also the two months after portion is really just to give people like me a ‘it’s ok everything is fine, don’t think too much’ haha.
i still feel Jules must have a say for herself.
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what i appreciate from this book are some quotes that quite touch the heart.
“What would you do if you only had one day left in this world? Spend it with the people you love? Travel to the far corners of the earth to see as many wonders as possible? eat nothing but chocolate?
Would you apologize for all your mistakes? Would you stand up to those you’d never had the courage to face? Would you tell your secret crush that you loved him or her?
Why is it that we wait till the last minute to do the things we should be doing all along?”
“Everyone has a story…What you do, what you say, how you carry the plot, just might leave a mark on someone. Because that’s what stories do. They help you escape and they give you the chance to do things you never imagined you would or could.”
“…she somehow is able to create a story that is exactly what the reader needs at the moment she is reading. what one person takes away from a book might be different from what the next person takes away – almost as if the story is altered depending on who’s reading, where and when…..the real question is who’s doing the changing: the story, or the reader”
point on.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
i love the book. so many elements seemingly effortlessly intertwined into a beautiful story. there’s philosophy, there’s spiritual, there’s geography sciences, there’s psychology, there’s quantum physics, there’s relationships, bullying issue, and social media abuse. i mean, i feel so pleasantly overwhelmed by the many new information i am learning from a book.
here is another book that gives me a hangover when i reached the end of the story. it’s euphoric.
this is my first ruth ozeki’s and i am looking forward to reading more from her.
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am surprised i loved reading it. the stories, although in flashbacks and such, was smooth reading. it is one of the books which makes me cry, laugh, surprised and anticipating for what is going to happen next. i love the play with words, big words. and especially appreciated the emotions put in the story. of a family lost and found. of an extraordinary love, the memories, the guilt, the uncertainty, its all very relatable to us. even though the character revolve within the story is about a sister Fern. i am surprised we could love Fern so much from Rose’s memories and desire to reunite with her brother and sister Fern.
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved the book. Seeing that i had it in ebook and book form probably shows how much i love it, although i have to admit it was quite a drag when i first read it. I had to pause from reading it for quite awhile because i find myself unable to move on with the reading. Finally took it up again and reread the first few chapters instead of continuing from where i left off. I did not regret doing that because the story became more clearer.
It had history, thriller mystery, religion, ancient beliefs, a bit of espionage, family and love and of course, my favourite subject of the story:angels, even though they are depicted as the anti-thesis of my beliefs. Partly due to why i stopped reading it earlier was because its blasphemous. Although of course i know its fictional, i need to step back a bit.
Its mindblowing and i admire how the author was able to link everything seamlessly, almost without effort. And the whole story, although it took me weeks to finish it, the span of the story was supposed to happen in what, two days?! So many things could happen! Amazing.
I simply cannot wait to start the next book, but right now, im having a hangover after reading angelology.
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Yes. A hangover. Good books always give me this lost feeling after i finished it. I love love this book. I need at least two days to get over this hangover or otherwise any book i picked after this is going to bore me within the first page. And anyway, i think my brain needs something intelligent and non fiction after this. I know it’s yearning for something spiritually enhancing and enlightening because angelology has too much christianity and Ancient beliefs and not to say blasphemous. There’s also many things from angelology i want to google. I mean the story is fiction but the themes are not. I got to check it for myself.
the thing with reading Paulo Coelho is that, i could consider him as a fave author but i don’t always like or enjoy reading his books. the only, only book of his that i will reread without second thoughts is the Alchemist. i have to say that is his best. i have read the zahir, aleph, Brida, the witch of portobello which comes close to be a fave but there are others, like some of his books that i bought but have not read at all and there are those i wont read at all.
so i bought this Manuscript Found in Accra quite some time ago. as always with some of his books, i bought them first and decide to read them later. much later sometimes. like aleph, i read, i stopped, i read again from the start, stopped again. and only on the third attempt that i could truly appreciate the story.
so i have high hopes for manuscript. i thought it would be like the alchemist. but it was not to be. its just a manual…on life…questions and answers. it feels more like a self help book. i have yet to feel inspired from it. the preface gives an impression it is non fiction. but i can always do a bit of net research about it and find out how non fiction it is. but as i read through the pages, it felt like a typical Paulo Coelho-esque life inspiring questions and answers. it can get boring sometimes. but i know, reading Paulo takes time and sometimes you have to read at the ‘right time right moment’ of your life for them to make sense.
the alchemist made such an impact on me because i was reading it at a time when i was trying to find my identity, searching for knowledge, away from family and it was inspirational. i read the zahir when i felt a bit lost and on the verge of being a lovefool giving up on well, love, whatever that is at the that point of my life. it made sense to me then. i read aleph last year and i understood that journey of purpose and following that purpose and i learn to understand that concept of what or who your are now may be connected to a past life (at that time i was introduced to timeline therapy from nlp) so its like, it made sense. it can happen. although sceptical, it can happen.
yes, reading Paulo have to be at the right time. when you are ready for it. i am trying to read this manuscript found in Accra but i guess i am not ready for it still. maybe i should move on to the next book. or maybe a matching bookmark will help. i love matching bookmarks to books. i am obsessed with it. well, this calls for one bookmark making!
The Island by Victoria Hislop
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
surprised that eventually I was drawn into the story and finished it in 4 days. and it strike me that this is one novel with good English, grammar and all put into good use! I feel like reading a general paper essay and had to be ready with a summary of sorts or be ready with answering some exam questions. I should read this book years ago during those difficult years of writing descriptive assignments. I feel like I have to read the book politely.
I truly loved Maria, felt as though, she was the great aunt I never had. and disgusted with Anna’s character. and as the story was ending, it was not about a tragedy or a disease, it was indeed about heroic acts and strong characters that braved through difficulties with perseverance and acceptance. I found myself googling about leper colonies as I was reading the novel, trying to find out about spinalonga and Greece’s connections to leper colony. it was an informative historic fiction. it can be a classic novel in the times to come.
living seri 