Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Friday, September 14, 2012

This Present Darkness

This present darkness

Piercing the Darkness, This Present Darkness, and The Prophet by Frank E. Peretti. I finished reading all those and I'm left with wanting more. His novels are the kind that give me a sweet aftertaste. Um you know the thing about a great novel, a literature-prize-worthy type of novels, they left you with a disturbed, somewhat gloomy feeling. Most of them. Ones, such as my favourites, Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Those are great novels no doubt, me a great fan of the author and I very much enjoyed the story and actually out hunting for them if I'm tired of those chicklits.

But, it is different with Frank E. Peretti's novels. I felt *oh, this will sound funny and cheesy* warm and peaceful, albeit you get almost the same story weight as from those other more serious novels. So it's somewhere in the middle. I like it.

I was first introduced to one of his works by our cell group friend, back in 2010. This Present Darkness. At first I was a bit sceptical, especially when I knew it was a Christian fiction novel. I mean, in my mind it was expected to be a lousy, corny novel. But in the end I decided to give it a try, maybe even read a few chapters. So I borrowed the book. And, I was glad I did. This Present Darkness (as well as its sequel, Piercing the Darkness) are definitely a page turner, about a spiritual warfare that in physical life is actually the hidden agenda or often the wrongdoings of social issues that people molds and covers to make it look good and even acceptable. A deception. So in his novels, he presented this and trying to get the reader to think and go back to the truth, what is wrong and what is right.

Definitely a soul stirring book. Frank E. Peretti is a Christian fiction writer and some of his books have been adapted to big screen as well. Now is one of my fave author based on the three novels I read. I'll be on the next book soon (The Oath).

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Littered with Books

 images I still remember how excited I was the first time I set foot in this little, gorgeous bookstore. Littered with Books embodies what a cozy bookstore should look like.

Well, I guess I should thank a local TV programme that covers small yet beautiful stores in Singapore. When they aired one episode about a small cake shop owned by a Japanese chef, I made note to visit the shop. And God be good. Just there across the street from the pastry shop, among the quiet neighborhood, stood the cutest bookstore I’ve ever laid my eyes on, in real life.

It is charming and inviting with an ever-so-lovely white colonial windows lined the wall of its two-storey house. The owner must be a real book lover and they paid so much attention in the store decoration as well. Every little detail seemed to add a nice touch to the overall vibe. The placement of sofa, table, books on display… ohhh bottom line is, I adore this little bookstore. Small haven for you who get sick of shopping malls!!!

lwb1 lwba

Note: All photos courtesy of “GreatNewPlaces”

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Not as bad as I thought

Okay, I take my words back. I quite like the book. So it's not the best book and all but I actually enjoyed reading it. It's kinda refreshing. But oh, reading the first few chapters was a real challenge. You really have to suppress those might-come-up urges to just close the book and throw it away, out of your sight. In my case, I found this huge desire to tear it apart *really* and felt sorry for myself for spending over a thousand yen on this book. But once you pass that phase and get used to the author's writing style, you're good to go.

The story begins with Anna Walsh having some serious, pretty gore injuries. She is back in Ireland. Anna has 4 sisters - Claire, Margaret, Rachel, and Helen - each with different, unique trait, and *annoyingly* hilarious mother. I was left wondering for a few chapters in the beginning what have caused Anna those terrible injuries, who Aidan (a man, in case you're asking) is and why she's desperately looking for him (his whereabout is unknown). Despite her family's constant worries, Anna decides to go back to NYC, to her job and *of course* to find Aidan. As the story grows, everything falls into place. Aidan was her husband and it turns out that they were in a car accident that killed Aidan. Due to post-trauma, she still thinks that Aidan's still alive. She keeps calling his cellphone, writing email to him everyday. But at some point, she remembers everything, about the accident that took Aidan's life. From this, everything's centered on her coping with grief.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes

何これ、一番人気あるって。。。まじ???騙された!!

Okay I only read the first few pages so it's maybe a little early for me to say this: "I don't like it". Maybe it will get better if I keep reading but ohhh... it's so hard. I kept frowning at every single sentence I read and I got this huge need to bang my head on the wall . Read for yourself, here, a little preview:

--> this is the part where I really couldn't take it anymore. But a girl gotta stick to her principle; read the book till last page!! oh boy!!! <--

"... But, because her life had begun to resemble, however briefly, a crime drama, Mum got carried away and tried to break down the locked apartment door by running at it with her shoulder - even though, and I can't stress this enough, Helen had a key. And Mum knew she had it. It had been given to her by the missing woman's sister and all Mum got for her trouble was a badly mashed shoulder." *comment: OH COME ON!!!*

!@#$%* What was I thinking??? Why did I buy this book??

Monday, November 17, 2008

Chasing Harry Winston

Oh my... another disappointment. After those many days reading Lauren Weisberger's Chasing Harry Winston, I found myself so glad to FINALLY reach the last page. *Pardon my humble opinion* It wasn't downright bad or anything, but it was so... plain I had to push my way through pages. When I was about half the book, I found the e-book version of Lauren Weisberger's Everyone Worth Knowing so I alternately read them both. I found Everyone Worth Knowing waayy much more interesting.
Okay so Chasing Harry Winston tells a story of three bestfriends, Adriana, Leigh, and Emmy. The story begins with Emmy and her bf breaking up. This event lead to Emmy's new resolution followed by Adriana's.
Adriana is a party animal trying to commit to one man only and secure herself a Harry Winston ring whereas the-commitment-type Emmy tries a new life-style; to collect men from every continent that is. And Leigh, although she's in so-perfect relationship, somehow she's not content with what she has, like something's missing but she can't quite put a finger on the matter and can't stop wondering what goes wrong actually. Well, Adriana, Leigh and Emmy soon figure out that apparently they are not being honest with themselves and that by trying to lead a completely new life they're being someone they're not, DUH!! *so cliché*. This book definitely falls under my never-read-twice category. Gee I wish I bought Everyone Worth Knowing instead...

I'm not really head over heels into Chicklit, but among those that I've read, none yet coming as close as to dethrone Shopaholic series

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Eat, Pray, Love


I've finished reading The Shack and I was running out of books! So I was roaming in kinokuniya shinjuku friday night, looking for new books and tadaa... Eat, Pray, Love!! When i read the review on the back, I caught a word "Bali", and that did it! I had to buy this book! *pardon this subjective, stupid thought ~grin~* That and the simple cover won me over.

While I admit I did buy this book solely bcoz the story took place in my beloved-beloved island, Bali, I must say this time I didn't regret buying a book based on compulsive act ^^ Ugh I still remember my past disappointment over one of Paulo Coelho's books.

Anyhow, I found the story to be familiar in its own way. I mean I believe you can relate yourself, friends, or someone you know more or less to the story, to the quest of finding the real joy. The book tells us about the author's seek of pleasure, God and the balance between the two after a harsh divorce. As you may well have guessed from the title, eat is about pleasure and she tried to find it in Italy eating lots of pastas, gelattos and pizza like a good Italian *comment: this is where i came to envy her!* The seek of God took place in India, in an ashram and... finally, she found balance between pleasure and God in ehm... behold... Bali.

The book itself is divided into 3 parts with each part tells a life she led in those 3 countries; Italy, India, and Indonesia. One more thing that I really like about this book is that Liz Gilbert wrote it with a lot of sense of humor. So while this is a book about a woman's pilgrimage, it's so much different than any other memoirs. I kinda expected to get a feeling similar to those when I read someone's "true story", but I didn't. I found myself laughing every now and then reading this book. It's entertaining and refreshing, though I started to get a little bored once I entered the India part, you know, with all the yoga talk. I'm not a Yogis and not interested to become one, so it pretty much explains why I can't really accept the philosophy (and the ritual... and the chanting... okay never mind). Overall, I LOVE this book.




Friday, October 03, 2008

Me the book addict

"Throwing a book in a trash is like throwing away a person"... Oprah

Well, I couldn't agree more with her. Think about how much effort author put into writing a book and it just feels so wrong to disrespect it.

Talking about books, Aren't you drooling over a wood-panelled library of your own? And I haven't even mentioned the cozy couch, maybe a fireplace and a good music... I could spend hours in there.



Aah maybe I will have my own painting studio too. The one that has a view to the garden and a huge french-style patio door huehehe *umm wait... it's a must!! my future house MUST HAVE those two rooms ^^ *

::photo courtesy of oprah.com::

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Tuesdays with Morrie

A great book by Mitch Albom.

"What is it about silence that makes people uneasy?"... Morrie Schwartz

Thursday, July 03, 2008

wrong book

oiya oiya, mo crita, dulu kan sempet beli buku di kinokuniya, judged from the author and as suggested by many good reviews printed on the back cover, I thought it should be a terrific storyline like his other books were. Much to my disappointment, it turned out to be a real yawner. I was bored as hell when I read it and I didn't finish the book. My first record of not having finished reading a novel. The whole time I was reading that book I was like "Man, what are you trying to say? I don't get you. Is it me? Am I too dumb?" Yah kecewa sih, I mean he's one of my fave authors!! Love his books. Apparantly not the one I bought here. Yappari, Japan hahaha ga nyambung !#$"#&%

ps: Oh, the book is titled "Witch of Portobello" by Paulo Coelho.