Read these...

While waiting for Geets to arrive from Miri (yay~!!!), to kill the time I'm going to do book reviews. Just realised that all these books are by female authors (whereas the previous book review entry was all by male authors...hmm..) and no, these are not all from the chick lit genre.

1. The Book of Tomorrow (by Cecelia Ahern)
Rate: 3.5/ 5.0
To me, Cecelia Ahern books always have interesting angles...either it's a woman recovering from death of her husband (cried like crazy readin this), or a place where lost things go, or even imaginary friends (my fave~). This book is not my fave Ahern, but it's still good. I'm not a fan of the main character since she's obviously so spoiled. But the story has a good suspense and twist to it.

2.Room (by Emma Donoghue)
Rate: 4.75 / 5.0
Haha...I might as well rate the book a full 5. Trust me, you must read this. When I picked up the book from MPH bookstore, I had no idea it was ranked third on top 10 fiction bestsellers for the week. What attracted me to it was it's brief summary at the back, it's simple cover and "Man Booker Prize Finalist" written on the front.

The book is about a young woman being kidnapped and prisoned for seven years in a Room, and her son was born and brought up not knowing the Outside world really exist. The book is writen from the perspective of the 5-year old Jack and you can really see his innocence. I don't want to give spoilers away, but here's the brief summary at the back of the book that drew me to it:

'To five-year old Jack, Room is the world. It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where Jack is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.'

3. Eat Pray Love (by Elizabeth Gilbert)
Rate: 2.0 /5.0
I'm sorry to those who love this book, but I don't. First, to those who do not already know it, this book is somewhat an autobiography (so it's non-fiction) of the author's life finding her happiness. It's been turned into a movie with Julia Roberts playing the main character. Anyway... why I don't enjoy it? Maybe cause she goes on and on about her problems... about not being able to concentrate while meditating, about not being able to open up to love, etc etc etc. I guess to me, reading is my way of escapism from daily stress, so reading about people talking about their problems is just no fun.

4. The Memory Keeper's Daugther
Rate: 4.0 / 5.0
To be honest, this book is thick and the plot is really slow. Took me a while to finish it, but I'm glad I did. It's about a doctor who delivered his own twins, but found out one of them was born with Down syndrome. Thinking the girl might not be able live long (it was 1964 after all) and wanting to spare his wife of the sadness in the near future, he decided to give the baby away and lied to his wife saying one of the twins died during childbirth.

5. Twenties Girl (by Sophie Kinsella)
Rate: 4.5/5.0
Chick lit~! Huhu. Bought this book at a really good discount, cost me only 5 Aussie Dollar (that's only RM15!... wait, don't be fooled...books there are generally more expensive, they cost about $18-25 per novel. I got this at a really really good sale at QBD Bookshop). Anyway, this book has a nice story to it. Yea, it's chick lit, so you don't need to think much and just enjoy the story and the happy ending.

P.S.: My dear got me a really nice stamp with my name in calligraphy (this is khat kufi). It's made by Yayasan Restu in Shah Alam and I've been stamping all my books with it. Thank you =D See...

Self-leadership...

"Most experts would agree that if you can’t effectively lead yourself, then you can’t effectively lead other individuals, groups or organizations. If you’re continually changing your priorities and can’t effectively address most of them, then the rest of the world will seem to be a confusing mess to you, as well. Others will soon become confused about your priorities, including for them. You’ll soon lose credibility and your ability to lead." - excerpt from an article written by Julia Fabris Mcbride.

OK... I don't know who Ms. Mcbride is, but what she says is right. I remember back in PIPE, one of the OPUs CEO came over for a talk session with us. What I remember most was that he said

"If you can't lead yourself off from your bed and your blanket in the morning for the Subuh prayer, how can you lead others in an organization?" ... very impactful words indeed.

This year, I hope to lead and manage myself better... in terms of managing finances, relationships, work, also in terms of keeping fit physically, mentally and spiritually. So that's my resolution for 2011 =)

My ramblings...

My first entry for 2011... didn't even bother to write bout 2010 in summary or about my new year resolution... hmm... anyway, here are things going through my head (it is possible that it's on influence of Nescafe):

1. I am annoyed if I go to have a meal with someone and he / she starts playing with the phone the whole time. It doesn't matter whether you're surfing the internet (on your so-cool smart phone), or chatting, or playing games... it's a no no NO~! Answering a call or replying to a text can still be tolerated. I've gone through this so many times that I guess I'm used to it... but I still don't like it. Table manners people!

2. Feel like dancing when the radio puts on 'Love Like Whoa' or that 'We Speak No Americano' song... =P catchy tunes...~

3. I don't like to update my Facebook status that often... maybe cause then everyone would read it... and that means EVERYONE... old schoolmates, officemates, makcik2, cousins, potential in-laws... But then people can always read this blog you say... yea, but who really bothers to read this blog, except maybe Geets or Illy (you girls still do right? gosh... I sound so pathetic =P)

4. If you come to Johor, you MUST visit Tanjung Piai. You'll learn so much about the importance of mangroove forest (hutan paya bakau) to our eco-system, and about the plants and animals there. But hey... we all know the main attraction is really the fact that it's the Southern-Most Tip of Mainland Asia! It's practically like climbing the Everest! (ok la Kinabalu maybe)... only not.

5. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to get the 3-months attachment at UTM Skudai. I've learned way so much about membranes. Will really miss this place, and the people here, and the working environment here (we get to punch in at 9am and wear T-shirts to work... how cool is that!).

6. Need to save money seriously this year... like damn serious (or Geets would say like serious shit!)

7. Which btw, I haven't seen Geets physically (I've seen her pictures on FB obviously) for a year now... it's been a year and a half since graduation, and it's been a year PIPE... but I love that we still chat with each other EVERY SINGLE DAY!

8. My dad's birthday is next week and I have no idea what to get for him... hmmm...

9. Teringin sangat nak makan limau mandarin right now... especially klau dengar iklan Chinese New Year on the radio.

10. Better get back to report writing... ~ as Paris Hilton would say (on her BFF show... yea, I can't believe I've been watching it for 4 consecutive weeks... but in my defense there was nothing better on TV...)... anyway... TTYM~!