Join me at Goodreads!

Previously, I was using one of the Apps on Facebook called Visual Bookshelf. After a while, I got bored of it... mainly because it takes quite a while to load and the features seem limited. So I looked around for a social network website for bookworms (or nerds if you want to call it =P ) and I'm so happy to come across Goodreads!

There are many other social network sites of course (like LibraryThing, Shelfari, etc.)... but I like Goodreads the best. The interface is not too boring like LibraryThing and yet you can still find all the things you want. What I had in mind was... I wanted a website that I can keep catalogue of all the books that I have read and at the same time I get to read and share reviews of books with others ... and I think Goodreads have just what I need.

I love how the books can be nicely catalogue!

This is what the homepage looks like.

The book reviews are really what interest me. With so many people using this site, you can get all sorts of views for just one book, from whichever genre. You can even find Malay, Arabic, French (etc..etc..etc..) books' reviews... It's great way to find what to read next.

There are even fun stuffs like trivia and quizzes... and you get to vote on all sorts of list (like the "Best Books of the 20th Century" and "Worst Books of All Time"... amazingly, Twilight was voted on both lists! haha).

I have also joined one of the groups called Goodreads Malaysia... and it is so great to be pleasantly suprise by the number of bookworms out there. Who says Malaysians don't read?! The community even put up a challenge of "50 Buku Setahun (2011)"... where you challenge yourself to reading 50 books!!! Erk... I don't think I can manage that... so, I've set my target at a humble 20 this year (see the widget I have on my right ----> ).

To all my friends out there, come sign up on this site. I would love to know what you've been reading and your views on them.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ~Mark Twain

Books for this month

Well, not for March particularly, but these are the books that I've read for the past month or so. Two of them I just finished this week (which my colleagues were like "dah abis dah?!" hee...)

Often when people ask what genre do I like, I don't have one. I usually pick whatever is on the bestseller list or recommended by friends. If you're looking for something good to read, hope this review helps (but then again, you should always give it a try yourself anyway~).

1. Flashforward (by Robert J. Sawyer)

Rate: 3.5 / 5.0

The TV series with the same name was based on this book. The idea of the whole world put on blackout and getting a 2 minutes glimpse of the future really pulled me to read this book. To some, knowing the future motivates them, while for others it's just a burden (yes, one character even committed suicide). Unlike the TV series, where the blackout was caused by some bad guys, in the book the event was a complete accident caused by side effect of an experiment with the Large Hadron Collider. Read how everyone tried to deal with it, and suprisingly they even tried to recreate the blackout again. There are parts of the book where it gets too physics and I just got blur... but on the whole, definitely recommended.

2. From Nothing Hill With Love...Actually (by Ali McNamara)

Rate: 1.5 / 5.0

Borrowed this from my cousin and read it while I was bored at rumah nenek. Yes, it's just a chick-lit where you know everything will be happy in the end (and I do enjoy reading chick-lit cause it's so takyah pikir)... but why does the main character have to be so.. erm.. so... silly (yeah, that's the word). She goes around wanting to proof movies does exist in real life. I mean huh?! And the movies that were quoted were mostly romantic comedies... if you really want to proof things in movies happen in real life, why not go for those drama-type ones, or even those based on historical facts (duuuhhh~!). If such person do exist, I think it's best to slap some senses into her =P

3. To Kill A Mockingbird (by Harper Lee)

Rate: 4.5 / 5.0
My dear rumet bought this for my coming 25th birthday (thank you met~!!! sorry I've read it before my birthday =P). I've always been wanting to read this book, to see why it's so famous... and I love it. The story is told from the view a little Scout Finch (somehow stories written from the kids' view are really good...just like Room). I guess a lot of us already know the general plot of this book is about a lawyer trying to defend a black man who was accused of rape (which he didn't do). Considering the heavy topic, i.e. on racial equality, aside from having a good court scene, the book is also suprisingly amusing and warm. I might as well give this a 5.0 / 5.0!

4. The Alchemist

Rate: 3.5 /5.0

Hurm... was recommended by rumet. Generally I love the journey went through by Santiago to achieve his dream. I may not agree with the philosophy of Soul of the World (or maybe I just don't understand it), and the wind and the sun talking are just weird... but hey, that's suppose to be magic of the story I guess. I like the fact that there are questions at the back of the book that are meant to guide readers and make them think. I love books that force me to think~! This book would be a great choice to be used in our schools for english literature (as compared to what they have now. I saw my brother's literature book for Form 5 students and it has lots of pictures in it! really?! it's literature for Form 5 and there are big pictures!!! hmm...ridiculous).

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...

Book Reviews....

Let's just cramp everything into one entry~! haha. Here's my review of 5 books that I have read (either this or previous year). Please understand that these are just my personal view, you may agree with me... or maybe not, best you give the book(s) a try yourself ;)

1. Quran Saintifik (by Dr Danial Zainal Abidin)
Rate: 5.0 /5.0

I would honestly recommend reading this book. Very good for self knowledge. You'll see the significance and advantages of the things that we do as a Muslim (such as tahnik, avoiding pork and alchoholic drinks, etc.). And most importantly you'll discover the beauty of the Quran itself =)

2. A Thousand Splendid Suns (by Khaled Hosseini)
Rate: 4.5 / 5.0

A nice novel really - the story of Laila growing up in a middle of war time, and all the hardship and sadness she gone through. You can kinda feel the horrors of being in war zone area, not knowing who would end up dead the next day... Anyway, I prefer this book compared to Khaled's Kite Runner.

3. Ajaibnya Sedekah (by Muhammad Muhyidin)
Rate: 1.5 /5.0
I think the author started off with good intention and good idea of writing this, but somehow I can only manage to read it only uptil half of the book (the reason because I find the writing style is annoying). IMO, the concept of the more you give the more you get can't be explained logically by mathematical eqn or economic model (it's just magic~ could be your rezeki or a test)... so for the book trying to explain it, I'm just lost. Plus, I'm just annoyed that there's no proper referencing done (I expected to see list of references at the back or at least footnote on which Surah or Hadith it is taken... En. Azizan just said that I was being too much of a researcher =P sorry~)

4. Lost Symbol (by Dan Brown)
Rate: 4.0 / 5.0
The first half of the book is just slow and almost boring... but towards the ending it gets really good. I'm amazed that the book in the end emphasizes on the importance of Holy Books to humankind (although they think the Books are written by early geniuses and not from God - they must have been atheist then rite?). What I love about this book is not it's story (I think Da Vinci Code is much better) ... but I love the impact it made on me... thinking how lucky I am to be born a Muslim.

I know this kinda run out of the topic, but try imagining living the whole life not believing in God (as an atheist). What would motivate you to do good? What would be your whole purpose of living really? As a Muslim, we believe in heaven and hell, we understand our role on this earth, and the need to do good and we know our Quran is protected until the end of time. So true, it is the saviour to humankind... if we were to follow it's teaching closely.

Yeah... Mr. Brown might have just put bits and pieces of facts together just for the sake of a bestseller novel... but I would have to applaud for writing books that are controversial, but encourage ppl to think (although that might not have been his intention~! who knows).

5. Enjoy Your Life (by Dr. Muhamad 'Abd Al-Rahaman)
Rate: 4.5 / 5.0
This is a motivational book on how to be a better person, based on examples from our Prophet. Quite light reading. Below are a few good points picked out from the book.

• Perhaps just a smile at a poor man would raise you in rank in the sight of Allah.
• Respond to mistreatment with kindness.
• Do not interfere with matters that do not concern you.
• Be content with what Allah has apportioned for you.
• If you are obliged to do something or forced into a situation then you might as well enjoy it!
• Do not burden yourself with what you cannot do
• Be careful to not allow yourself to be pressurized by others
• Whoever is humble for Allah's sake, Allah elevates him. Allah only increase the honour of the one who is humble.
• Intelligence is not to win an argument, it is to avoid it
• Put yourself in the shoes of the one critised & think from his perspective. Only then pass a judgement on him.
• Help by your speech if you cannot do so in any other way.
• Piety is to show good manners
• Why should we continue to torture ourselves over something which was over & done? Do not pay attention to small matters.
• Steady on principles
• Remember names
• Worship in secret
• Smile and keep smiling
• Be concerned about others
• Be optimistic & have good opinion on ppl.
  

Book Rental

Last week, while waiting for a meeting to start I walked around Amcorp Mall and found a nice book rental store on the 4th floor called My Book Place.

Walking around it made me realize that even though I love books and novels, often when I buy them I would only read them once (exception for Harry Potter books - that's for collection too). Since I won't get to meet Gta or Illy that often anymore, I can't borrow their novels... so this is quite a good option. For a novel, I would normally have to pay about RM35 each... but renting cost RM5 each... so is it worth it? I think yes if you're only gonna read it once anyway.

This little store got a nice review by NST... and since I think I'll be having more meetings in that area in the future, it really was a nice discovery.

Another interesting store is Q'reazant Literary Rental Store. It's supposedly located not far from my office, but I have not yet try to find it. What's interesting is the fact it provides the service of rent-by-mail... for an annual fee of RM120, you could rent 2 books per time with no added post charge and no penalty for late returns. Its website even provide a complete catalog of whatever books you want to rent.

I have not tried this service yet myself, maybe not for now since I'm still living in somewhat bandar area (to En Azizan... ye, ni bandar ye, bkn kampung =P)... but it's a nice option to have in case if I have to work in some far-off area in the future.

Interesting reads: The 100

I guess this book needs no introduction, as most of us already know that Michael H. Hart has placed our beloved Prophet Muhammad at the top of the list as the most influential person in history. The top 5 of the list is mostly dominated by religious leaders, while the rest consists of scientists, inventors, political leaders, philosophers and explorers.

It is interesting how these people became to be so influential. Some by sheer luck, like how Becquerel discovered radioactivity; while some through being ruthless and ambitious (like Hitler or Pizarro). There are also those through who achieved recognition through years of hard work and dedication (like Mendel who discovered basic principles of heredity, carried out about 21000 experiments); but most impressive and motivating are the story of those who raise above the odds... Beethoven was deaf, John Dalton suffered from color blindness... and of course our beloved Prophet who was orphan and illiterate.

Although the book did help to broaden my general knowledge on history, I'm rather disappointed that there are none of the Islamic scholar in the list. I believe Ibn Sina (Avincenna) and Jabir ibn Khayyan (Geber) deserve a place in the list more than Pablo Picasso or Gregory Pincus. Watching the documentary 'Science & Islam' on the History Channel, it is said that Copernicus obtained his idea from the works of Islamic scholar, but there is no mention of that in this book.

However, I think Hart has tried his best to come up with the list and gave good reasons on why his opinions or the rankings are as such. At the beginning of the book, Hart did challenge his readers to come up with their own list! Anyone wanna try???


P.S.: Thanks to Azizan for lending me the book =)

Interesting Read: why men lie and women cry

I just finished this book, borrowed it from IRC the other day while studying for Ethics paper. Very interesting to read. Most of the facts are amazingly true~!!! Hahaha. We really enjoyed reading this one.

Although not all facts are relevant, here are some of the interesting excerpts from the book:

1) How a man should give a woman directions:

If he tells her to go to the road with the giant oak tree, then head to the pink building beside the National Bank opposite the lake she is likely to reach her destination. If he tells her to take the third exit at the West turnoff on Highway 23 and drive five kilometres North, she will possibly never be seen again. (hahaha...true~!!!)

2) If a man buys his partner a single rose, for example, she'll give him 1 point. If he buys her a bunch of six roses he still only gets one point. But if he bought her one rose every week for six weeks, then he'd score 6 point. Regular gifts of a single rose show she's always uppermost in his mind. (note: the more reason to call mak always~!!!)

3) When most right-handed people are recalling an event that actually happened they engage their left brain and look to their right. When they are inventing a story they engage their right brain and look to their left. In simple terms, right-handed liars look toward their left, left-handed liars look to their right. This observation is not foolproof but is a strong signal of deceit.

4) Indirect talk at home:

• When a woman says: I'm not upset ---> Meaning: Of course I'm upset!
• It's your decision ---> As long as I agree
• How much do you love me? ---> I did something you won't like

5) A dictionary of male speech patterns:

• When he says: I can't find it ---> Meaning: I can't see it, it didn't fall into my hands, so it must not exist!
• We're going to be late ---> I have a legitimate reason for driving like a maniac.
• Can I help with dinner? ---> Why isn't it already on the table?
• You really look terrific in that outfit ---> Please don't try on one more outfit, I'm starving (witnessed this being used by my brothers bila letih waiting mak shopping =P)
  

The book is informative, yet fun to read!!!

Books vs. Movies

Hmm...just an I'm-bored-but-I-have-so-much-work-to-do entry =P Anyway, the whole discussion started when my beloved rumet wanted to recommend good fiction books to Zaid. So...here's my conclusion on whether the stories are better in book or movie version:

1. Princess Diaries - prefer the movie...the story is milder here and suits everyone. The book is more...umm...well, not mild... where she is actually an illegitimate child, her dad is not dead but can't have another child (that's why she ended up as princess), her grandma is mean, and her mom is quite a reckless person.

2. The Da Vinci Code... definitely the book!!! I couldn't put the book down when reading it, and finished it within 2 days.

3. Memoirs of a Geisha...hmm...I think I like the book better. There's more details to it, helps you to understand the culture and situation nicely...like how exposing the little bit of skin at the wrist and at the back of the neck is considered sexy and alluring. But the movie is not bad either.

4. Confession of a Shopaholic - prefer the movie...it's sweet...kinda revolves around the green scarf a bit, and yea the story is not very logical...I mean she slapped the guy after pretending to be able to speak Finnish, and the guy liked her?!?!?!... but anyway, it's sweet.

5. Twilight - huhu...obviously the book. There's a bit too much staring-at-each-other-longingly in the movie. It surprise me that I couldn't put the book down when reading it...the story is simple and there's no real twist to it...and yet, I couldn't even put down Eclipse.

6. Devil Wears Prada - the movie. The book kinda continued on and on about her being busy and having her priorities all messed up, ...seeing it on screen is much nicer rather than reading through the story.

7. Harry Potter - hmm...the books are great before Harry got all PMS (starting from 5th book I think)... the best book so far in my opinion is the 4th, but the best movie is the 3rd. The 5th movie isn't bad either...the scene at the ministry was cool. Looking forward to the 6th movie this year...~!

8. Lord of the Rings - hahaha...I never even finish reading the books! =P So i prefer the movie (obviously!)