Wishlist for 2011

Image source: www.dawama.com
My reading resolution for 2011? The same for 2010, which is one book per week, or 52 books for the whole year. I only managed to read 40 books in 2010, so hopefully this year I'll be able to achieve my target!

But I'm more excited to share my wishlist for 2011! This is going to be several parts, and I'll start with the books that I wish to buy for my husband. He's a fan of fantasy fiction, and one of the most outstanding series of fantasy fiction in Bahasa Malaysia is undoubtedly the Saga Artakusiad series written by Ahmad Patria Abdullah. The series was written in the 80's, and we are really pleased to know they have been re-printed by DBP last year! While this is going to be a 'revision' read for my husband, I'm looking forward to owning the whole set so that I can't use the excuse 'but what if I can't find the next book' not to read the series. Here's a fanclub website dedicated to the Saga Artakusiad series, but it has not been updated for more than a year it seems, which is surprising, given that the awaited event of the books re-printing happened in 2010.

Here are the titles in the series (I'm not sure if these are in the correct order):

Kembar Artakus
Petua Azkram
Pedang Aurora
Kota Arialun
Permata Aurarius
Puteri Alindalia

There's a seventh book titled Legenda Numerius but this is not published by DBP, it's self-published by Ahmad Patria Abdullah. I can't recall the name of the company now (Nusa something if I'm not mistaken), but we have the copy at home :)

And here is the link, so that it's easy for me to refer to when I want to make the purchase. I personally find that the search engine of the Dawama online store is not very good.

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KL Children Book Fair

KL Children Book Fair 2010 begins today!

Details:
22-26 December 2010
Tun Razak Hall 3, PWTC, KL

More info at their website http://www.kualalumpurchildrenbookfair.com/

Despite having a few children's books in my wishlist (for my kids of course) which I intend to buy, I don't think I will be going - I'll just wait for next year's Pesta Buku.

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Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers for sale

Having thoroughly enjoyed two of Malcolm Gladwell's books a few months ago (Outliers and What the Dog Saw), I decided to pick up his other book which was recommended by my friend Bas, titled Blink, at MPH with my vouchers. Their clever marketing ploy worked on me, and I ended up grabbing the Value Buy 3-for-RM79.90 (one book cost RM32.95). I haven't read Blink and The Tipping Point, so that's fine, but I already have a copy of Outliers.

So, I'm offering it up for sale, a brand new book, for RM28 (with postage to anywhere in Malaysia). If you are interested, please email me at emel.siti at gmail.com

What is Outliers about? I'll mention again here that I really enjoyed the book, and I think it was both entertaining as well as educational, inspiring and thought-provoking. It's a non-fiction collection of essays by Malcolm Gladwell on the theme of success. The blurb at the back read: 'Why do some people succeed far more than others?'

Here are the contents:

Introduction
The Roseto Mystery

Part One: Opportunity
1 The Matthew Effect
2 The 10,000 Hour Rule
3 The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1
4 The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 2
5 The Three Lessons of Joe Flom

Part Two: Legacy
6 Harlan, Kentucky
7 The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
8 Rice Paddies and Math Tests
9 Marita's Bargain

Epilogue
A Jamaican Story

And here's the link to Gladwell's webpage where he answered several questions on the book Outliers and insert 3 excerpts from it.

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I won MPH book vouchers!

Image source: MPH Click blog

Alhamdulillah, I have won MPH book vouchers of amount RM60 in their recent giveaway :)

*gleefully rubbing my hands*

Now, which books shall I pick?

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Menunggu Cinta Tuhan oleh Lily Haslina Nasir

Sumber gambar goodreads.com
Buku terbitan PTS Litera ini tidak mengecewakan. Saya larut dalam cerita yang digarap oleh Lily Haslina Nasir. Ini karya beliau yang pertama saya baca. Impresif juga biografinya; beliau mula menulis seawal usia 13 tahun dan novel pertama beliau diterbitkan sewaktu beliau berusia 17 tahun.

Latar yang dipilih adalah amalan ilmu hitam dan kewartawanan unit hiburan, cukup menarik. Watak-watak utama - Khalida Atikah, graduan bidang syariah yang ingin melakukan dakwah cara sendiri menjadi wartawan unit hiburan; Azrul Rasyid, ketua unit hiburan Akhbar Dinamik yang kasar lagi lantang, tulisannya penuh menyakitkan hati; dan Nureen, gadis seksi yang mula belajar ilmu sihir dari makciknya, Latifah. Ilmu sihir diamalkan untuk melariskan makanan (Latifah memiliki perniagaan restoran), membalas dendam dan sebagai ubat pengasih.

Pengakhiran cerita ini sebenarnya tidak sukar dijangka, tapi saya seronok juga membaca untuk mengetahui bagaimana perinciannya. Prolog yang diberi di permulaan novel juga sudah menggambarkan kesudahan cerita, tetapi saya dapati ada sesuatu yang 'tidak kena' (plot tidak konsisten/kongruen) dengan prolog ini apabila sudah selesai membaca keseluruhan novel. Ada juga satu plot dalam cerita (berkenaan rahsia ibu Azrul) yang sedikit tergantung. Dan akhir sekali, meskipun isu remeh sahaja, saya kurang setuju dengan pemilihan wajah yang menjadi penghias kulit depan novel ini, wajah gadis dari ras Kaukasian/Arab sedangkan watak yang cuba digambarkan (Khalida Atikah) berbangsa Melayu. Bukannya apa, pandangan pertama (first impression) jika tidak dibaca blurb kulit belakang mungkin menyebabkan bakal pembeli menyangka ini kisah cinta berbeza budaya.

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The Big Bad Wolf Booksale is back!

The Big Bad Wolf Booksale (by Book Xcess) is back and is starting today!

Date: 12-17 November 2010
Venue: Ground Floor, South City Plaza, Seri Kembangan
Time: 10 am to 9 pm

Adult fiction and non-fiction starts at RM8 only. Last year I spent only RM71 on 8 books. I'm not sure yet whether I'll be going. I still have quite a huge backlog of books that I haven't read yet.

Check out the website. They listed some of the books that will be there.

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Angela's Ashes and 'Tis by Frank McCourt

Angela's Ashes was firt published way back in 1996 but I've only managed to read it recently. It's a memoir of the author's difficult and poor childhood in Limerick, Ireland. It's very sad to read such hardships, and I cried a few times, for example when his sister and brothers died. I had 'Tis with me as well, so I was fortunate to be able to continue reading about Frank's life in his next book. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy 'Tis as much as I had enjoyed Angela's Ashes. In the first book, the author, as a boy, seems to be strong and brave, intent on helping his family survive and get out of the poverty. But in the second book, when he starts having a more comfortable life, and his family is much better, he seems to be a bit confused and at times almost 'aimless'. It is not my intent to judge him, it's just that I felt, his story became an ordinary life story in the second book. Even the part about his teaching career wasn't very inspiring. There were several instances when he shone as an inspiring teacher, but in general he seems quite ordinary in his struggles dealing with uninterested students and low wages. I guess I wouldn't be looking for the third book Teacher Man.

The other thing that ticked me off a bit while reading both his first and second book is the details he went through when describing his 'excitements' and 'adventures'. I thought, what would his wife and ex-wife be thinking and feeling when reading those? On the positive side, I guess it helps me to understand how easily boys get excited and hence appreciate more on how Islam manages this, by giving guides on covering (aurat), behaviours, boundaries etc. I also gain further appreciation of Islam's ruling against drinking alcohol, reading about how the father's drinking habits had such an impact to his family. It's difficult to understand how a father, supposedly the head of the family, could drink all his wages away and let his family starve and beg.

All in all, I'd still recommend Angela's Ashes as a good read. Borrowing a sentence from the Wiki link above, "Despite all the hardships, many passages of the story are told with wry humor and charm."

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Reading list Jan-Aug 2010

My personal target is to read 52 books a year (one per week). Let's see how I've fared up to August (see my list below). 30 books in 8 months, equivalent to 45 books in 12 months, so looks like I might fall short of my target if I don't increase my pace. Since I also want to vary my reading between fiction and non-fiction (fiction will exceed non-fiction, but by how much), BM and BI (BI will exceed BM, but by how much), let me try and break down these 30 books into these simple categories.

FI 17
FM 8
NI 3
NM 2

Woops, looks like I haven't been doing too well (in terms of varieties), I'm too heavily prone to English fictions. 25 fictions vs 5 non-fictions (!) and 20 BI vs 10 BM. Hmm... I guess I read more for entertainment rather than for general knowledge. By the way, the numbers 1 to 5 out of 5 given besides the books' title, author, and reading period is my personal rating.


30. The Automatic Grammatizer & Other Stories by Roald Dahl (30-31 Aug 2010) 3/5 FI
29. Kita Hanya di Seberang Jalan (28-29 Aug 2010) 4/5 FM
28. Step on a Crack by James Patterson (21-22 Aug 2010) 3/5 FI
27. The Witch of Portobello by Paolo Coelho (3-7 Aug 2010) 4/5 FI
26. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (27-28 Jul 2010) 5/5 NI
25. Jaja & Din by Noor Suraya (18 -24 Jul 2010) 2/5 FM
24. M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman (14 - 18 Jul 2010) 3/5 FI
23. Salina by A. Samad Said (10 - 15 Jul 2010) 1/5 FM
22. Detektif Bertudung Hitam by Bahruddin Bekri (5 - 10 Jul 2010) 3/5 FM
21. Strangers and Lovers Revisited by Robert Raymer (4 - 10 Jul 2010) 3/5 FI
20. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (1-4 Jul 2010) 3/5 FI
19. Parker Pyne Investigates by Agatha Christie (29 Jun - 1 Jul 2010) 2/5 FI
18. CSI NY - Deluge by Stuart M Kaminsky (26-18 Jun 2010) 3/5 FI
17. By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paolo Coelho (14-15 Jun 2010) 3/5 FI
16. The Regatta Mystery & Other Stories by Agatha Christie (12-13 Jun 2010) 3/5 FI
15. Sinergi by Hilal Asyraf (1-2 Jun 2010) 2/5 FM
14. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (28-30 May 2010) 4/5 FI
13. Inspector Singh Investigates: A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul by Shamini Flint (26 May 2010) 3/5 FI
12. What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell (13 - 28 May 2010) 4/5 NI
11. Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint (8 - 11 May 2010) 3/5 FI
10. Dark Alchemy by Jack Dann & Garner Dozois (17 Apr - 1 May 2010) 3/5 FI
9. Wang, Anda dan Islam by Zaharuddin Abd Rahman (10 Apr - 5 May 2010) 3/5 NM
8. Perindu Pelangi by Siti Munirah A Rashid (10 - 11 Apr 2010) 5/5 FM
7. Dingin Salju Indiana by Nurulsham Saidin (6 - 9 Apr 2010) 3/5 FM
6. Business Stripped Bare: The Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur by Richard Branson (25 Mar - 5 Apr 2010) 4/5 NI
5. Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult (3 - 15 Mar 2010) 3/5 FI
4. Perubatan Islam dan Bukti Sains Moden by Dr Danial Zainal Abidin (14 Feb - 23 Mar 2010) 2/5 NM
3. The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of Three by Stephen King (1 - 12 Feb 2010) 3/5 FI
2. Manikam Kalbu by Faisal Tehrani (23 - 29 Jan 2010) 3/5 FM
1. PS I Love You by Cecilia Ahern (2 - 4 Jan 2010) 4/5 FI

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