latest read: the fault in our stars

 A student of mine gave me this book as a gift. It is one of the books that caught my attention while browsing in the bookstore. Lucky I didn't purchase it then.

The premise is very simple: boy meets girl, boy loves girl, boy tackles girl, girl falls in love with boy. 

A typical story that happens possibly everyday with abundance. 

The twist here is that boy and girl are children with cancer.

So yeah, the story revolves around how they see the world from their perspective as children with death staring them in their face for the rest of their lives.

The writing is pretty good and there are some parts of the book that made me cry. 

I mean, to read about death and the effect on those left behind would touch me regardless if they have cancer or not. 

As far as the story goes, I don't get why this book received so much attention and accolades. It's a good book, yes, a very sad one, yes, but to me, I think the praises are just blown out of proportion. 

I think playing the cancer card was what made book receive all that attention, not what the book actually is. 

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latest read: miss peregrine's home for peculiar children

I have no idea how I found out about this book but it was one of my I-need-to-buy-it book list. 

So when I saw it at a significantly reduced price at a Popular bookstore, I grabbed it.

It took me probably quarter-way through the book that I realized that the girl on the book sleeve is actually floating. 

Gah! How is it totally missed that at first glance or several glances after that? 

I was more intrigued by the description of the book.

Well, to begin with, the book was actually fantastic. I was hooked on the writing, the humorous way the author has with description and all the old-fashion photos that came with his story. There was suspense on the sudden death of his grandfather of which his adventure began with finding the truth about his grandfather.

Finding the abandoned children home and actually discovering "the loop" was pretty interesting but it actually began to go south from that point on.

The introduction of monster and hollows and whatnot just threw me off and then the story just start to feel like some science-fiction story. Ugh. Then falling for the girl the grandfather was with during his time, another "Ugh" moment. It just got more and more off track and cliche. Boooring. 

Oh well, it had great potential to begin with but just didn't end well. 

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@ melaka for ictle'13

Tuesday, 21st May 2013
A one-day trip to Melaka for International Conference on Teaching and Learning in Education (ICTLE'13) which turns out to be more like a day of being a tourist at Melaka. 

Fun!

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latest read - inspector singh investigates: a most peculiar malaysian murder

I bought this in one of Popular bookstores' many and frequent book sales. I think it cost me RM5;  discounted from its original RM40 or something like that; can't remember now. 

I had seen this book before at some other bookstore but hesitated from buying but at the price tag of RM5, who can resist?

The story line is quite interesting and funny and to a certain extend, actually depicts the ugly reality of Malaysia. There's a non-written rivalry between Malaysia and Singapore and it's something ingrained in many Malaysian. Malaysians find it simply irritating and sometimes infuriating when anything compared between Malaysia and Singapore, Singapore gets the upper-hand. 

So yes, whenever something is compared in this story between Malaysia and Singapore and Singapore gets the better review, I get offended. But yeah, let's just stick to the story.

It's started with a murder of one of three brothers and ended with the death of one other brother and eventual death penalty of another. So by the end of the story, all three brother are dead or will die. 

Nice story huh?

The book itself is very easy to read and I like the narration of the story. I am definitely on the look out for the other four Inspector Singh books. 

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Malaysia General Election 2013

General Election 2013 , GE 2013, or better know as Pilihan Raya Umum 2013 , PRU2013 was held on Sunday, 5th May 2013.

I was out of the house by 7.40am and back home by 8.30am. It was a good thing that I sacrificed a good Sunday sleep-in to go early for voting seeing that people who made their way to the polls pass 9.00am had to queue for at least 1.5 hours.

My vote venue is Kelas Al-Quran Dan Fardhu Ain Integrasi (KAFA) Kampung Kemensah, Hulu Klang, Selangor - the same place as GE2008. 

The school looked exactly like I remembered it except that in 2008, from where I was lining up for my turn to vote, I could look out and enjoy nature and the landscape. This time around, my view was obstructed by a zink plate that sheltered a badminton court. 

Also surprising that when I joint the queue, I was number 14 or 15 in the line. In 2008, when I arrived at approximately the same time, I was 4th in line. 

Huh, population increase...

This year SPR (Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya) introduced the use of the indelible ink - a measure to ensure no one is able to vote multiple times. 

My blue finger

I was kinda proud to wear the ink since it's proof that I used my rights as a citizen of Malaysia. 

It is my civic duty and my right to vote and I'm proud to show it off. 

Anyway, I came to vote all dolled up since the day before I went to have my hair done. 

Hahaha, looking good to vote! 

Woah, it looks good from the back. Too bad I can't see it and
man, why can't it look this good everyday without effort?

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