Naomi (Jun'ichirō Tanizaki)

I thought this would be my type of books, though I have yet to really "define" my taste. But more importantly, the sadistic side of me wanted to read stories about doormats. In this context, doormats refer to guys who continuously treat girls nicely despite being walked over. If we look at history, from Chinese Dynasties to Roman Empire, there were many instances of great heroes being taken in by the wiles of an enchantress. And it happens to people we know. I couldn't understand why they put up with heartless girls and let themselves be fooled, even though they know they are destroying themselves. I wondered do they even deserve sympathy for taking up the crap they have been put through.

Naomi provides a precious record of the marital relationship between Joji and Naomi, despite the distinct difference in their age, family background and education. Everything began with Joji's strong attraction to Naomi's name and Western look. 

" Whether Naomi's appearance would improve was something only time would tell; she was only fifteen then, and I viewed her future with both anticipation and concern. My original plan, then, was simply to take charge of the child and look after her. On the one hand, I was motivated by sympathy for her. On the other, I wanted to introduce some variety into my humdrum, monotonous daily existence. "

In short, Joji wished by having Naomi around would inject more excitement and warmth into his life. And it would be different from setting up a proper Japanese household,  which could be unappealing and tiresome. He tried to groom her by hiring an English tutor and sending her to have music lessons. Nevertheless, things didn't turn out as he wanted. He learned disappointedly that she was not as intelligent as he had hoped. His desire but her to become a fine woman was nothing but a dream.

" But at the same time, her body attracted me even more powerfully... ... There was nothing spiritual about it. She'd betrayed my expectations for her mind, but her body now surpassed my ideal. Stupid woman, I thought. Hopeless. Unhappily, the more I thought, the more I found her alluring. This was very unfortunate for me. Gradually I forgot my innocent notion of "training" her: I was the one being dragged along, and by the time I realized what was happening, there was nothing I could do about it. "

Stupid man. Little by little Joji was stripped off his resistance, confidence and sense of dignity. He became ensnared, gave in to Naomi's demands and rationalized her misconducts. And all this led to unforeseen misfortunes. Not to mention Naomi's extravagant spending and poor household management, which had gotten him into debts that he had to resort to lying to his mother for financial assistance. He could no longer perform at work. 

I never expected myself to get so angry as I was reading through this book. In fact, I was getting more and more disgusted at how pathetic Joji had grown into. He knew he was being a fool. He tried to get Naomi out of his mind when he threw Naomi out of his house. But he still let her back in his life again, even though he was certain of her ulterior motive. 

" My delusions grew more frenzied every day. I only had to close my eyes, and Naomi's image would appear. Often, remembering her fragrant breath, I'd look up at the sky, open my mouth, and take a gulp of air. Whenever I longed for her lips, whether I was walking down the street or closed up in my room, I'd look skyward and begin gulping. I saw Naomi's red lips everywhere I looked, and every breath of air seemed to be Naomi's breath. Naomi was like an evil spirit that filled the space between heaven and earth, surrounding me, tormenting me, hearing my moans, but only laughing as she looked on. "

Useless men. Nah, they don't deserve any sympathy if they are spineless.

P/S: Tanizaki's writing is beautiful. I am more interested to read from Naomi's (female) point of view about the manipulation and seduction.

Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers (Lois P. Frankel)

I was introduced to this book through one of the posts made by JoV and I subsequently bought it with my RM200 book vouchers in January. This is a book every young girl should receive upon graduation.

The major I studied and the industry which I will be working are filled predominantly by men. I have my rationale for refusing to choose a major in which there are more female students than male. That way, I wouldn't end up in a stereotypical role. Anyway, there are always pros and cons when you are in the minority group. Hopefully, learning about the team dynamics and chemistry between two genders, as well as the mistakes made by women will work to my advantage.

Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office outlines the mistakes women make unconsciously at work which are divided by the author into 7 chapters - how you play the game, how you act, how you think, how you brand and market yourself, how you sound, how you look and lastly, how you respond. Coaching tips suggested at the end of each section help women to overcome the mistakes and further develop in their personal and career growth. 

I was embarrassed to find myself guilty of mistake #82 - Grooming in Public *facepalm*. Public displays of grooming, which I thought was no big deal, has now made me more conscious of what I do in public. Also, another mistake which has hit me hard is lengthy explanation. And the author was right with her analysis on why women talk more (and write longer emails or messages).

" Another (reason) is that we fear we haven't been thorough or complete enough, so in an effort to be "perfect" we keep talking. "

" And finally we overcompensate for our insecurity. We think the more we talk the better case we make.. when in fact the opposite is true. "

Thank JoV for introducing me this wonderful book on your blog. More to read and learn and experience! :)

Hell (Yasutaka Tsutsui)

Just a few days ago, an acquaintance of mine asked about my views on heaven, hell, afterlife (and many more which included religion) and I went dumbstruck. First, I honestly didn't see it coming. And I thought it was incredibly rude and offensive to bring up anything sensitive and not to mention, personal over a casual dinner date. Second, I never gave a damn thought on those mentioned. So I picked up Hell (which I stumbled across in the library) to read. 

So what is hell like in this novel?

" In Hell it was possible to view moments in another person's life simply by staring at them. There were no-comic-book-style balloons above their head to indicate what they were thinking, nor was it a form of mental telepathy. Instead, the truth was revealed through a kind of vision that crept up from the back of one's mind. " 

" Had the familiar looking man been right? Was Hell really just a place without God? Why did everything for which Takeshi had worked so hard now seem silly? Why did everything he suffer for and agonized over in his youth now seem laughable? Everyone who came to Hell seemed to feel the same way, and not just about their own lives. Everything that had happened in the real world - everything that must still be happening there - seemed utterly insignificant. Could that be the true nature of Hell? To make people forget their attachments to their previous lives? Was that the real reason for Hell's existence? "

Takeshi sees a number of familiar faces in Hell after his death. No matter how horribly he and these people have died, they are in immortal form. People are indifferent in attitudes and emotions even after reading each other's minds and revisiting the darker details of their formal lives. No jealousy, anger or hatred despite the betrayal, infidelity, revenge and other forms of harm human beings are capable of inflicting upon others. The resignation, the feeling of release from the affairs of the real world explains about the tranquility that everything they cared and all the desires are gone. Well, Hell does sound like a great place, no? 

The only problem I have is there are quite many characters entangled in this story with each of them connects to one another in one way or another. The shifting focus from one character to another makes it hard for me to follow so I have to refer back from time to time to keep track of them all. One thing if these characters are being freed from all worldly desires which include curiosity, then why are they still persistently wondering about questions such as 1) is it possible for someone to turn senile after coming to Hell?, 2) who is in charge as there has got to be some kind of system in place for managing things, even in Hell, 3) what could be the fate that awaits them when they leave Hell to move on? nothingness or heaven? and many more. 

Overall, it is dreamlike and funny, especially on how people view and react to death when it is approaching. I myself have come close to death once - nearly drowned at the age of 12. The only things I could think about at that time (which I still recall vividly until today) are how regretful I was for not listening to my parents (as they forbade me to play with water on that trip) and how sorry I was if I were to cause them sorrow.

" He fell to the floor, gasping, his mind growing dim. He was reaching the point of no return. But he'd be laughing stock, dying like this! Finally, he yanked out his dentures. The mochi stuck to the false teeth and slithered back up his throat as he pulled out of his mouth. 

How many times had he managed to cheat death? And how many more times would he do so before the end finally came? If he were younger, he might have rejoiced at having survived, but age had changed him. He was tired. " 

The Wild Goose (Mori Ōgai)

" The story is narrated by a friend and fellow student of the hero, Okada. It introduces us to three quite distinct though interrelated worlds of the Tokyo in the 1870s and 1880s. First is that of the students in the Tokyo University Medical Department - a world of young men living in cramped student boardinghouses, combing the secondhand bookstores for something to read, practicing jujitsu etc . The second world is that glimpsed through the figures of the moneylender Suezo and the heroine's father, the bumbling and unlucky candy seller. This is the complex world of plebeian Tokyo, where shrewdness and native wit rather than birth and education are what advance one's lot.  Third of the three worlds is the wholly feminine one inhabited by Otama, the young woman who becomes Suezo's mistress; Suezo's wife Otsune; the sewing teacher and her pupils; and the maids. "     

- Taken from the introduction translated by Burton Watson.

As much as I hate limiting my options, I tend to shy away from Asian Literature, particularly East Asian,  with Japanese Literature as the exception.

Otama had been living alone with her father since the death of her mother. Otama eventually agreed to be Suezo's mistress because of her obedient nature and the benefits that such an arrangement would bring to her father when things got harder for them. It was until later that Otama learned that she was a mistress of a despised moneylender. 

" In her mortification there was very little hatred for the world or for people. If one were to ask exactly what in fact she resented, one would have to answer that it was her own fate. Through no fault of her own she was made to suffer persecution, and this was what she found so painful. When she was deceived and abandoned by the police officer, she had felt this mortification, and recently, when she realized that she must become a mistress, she experienced it again. Now, she learned that she was not only a mistress but the mistress of a despised moneylender, and her despair, which had been ground smooth between the teeth of time and washed of its color in the waters of resignation, assumed once more in her heart its stark outline." 

" In her attitude toward Suezo she became increasingly warm as her heart grew increasingly distant. She no longer felt grateful for his favors or indebted to him, nor could she feel pity for him that this was so. It seemed to her that, for all her lack of fine upbringing and education, she was wasted on such a person. Among the people passing by her window, she began to wonder, was there not some trustworthy young man who would rescue her from her present predicament? It was when she first became aware of imaginings of this nature that she started in surprise."

She started to fantasize about Okada who passed outside her window. Although she knew perfectly well that when Okada started raising his cap in greeting one day, the action was done with no studied intention, Okada didn't mind. After their encounter over the snake, she was so overwhelmed with feelings that she wanted him for her own, more than an object of desire that she was keenly looking out for opportunities to approach Okada. Nothing happened as the circumstances had kept Okada and Otama apart before Okada left to study abroad. The character that has my most sympathy nevertheless is Suezo's wife, Otsune whose husband wouldn't even buy her and the children new clothes. Thankfully more and more women are becoming financially independent in this era. 

" Well then, what should I do? When I came home this morning,  I wanted to have it out with him as soon as possible. But suppose he had been there - what would I have said? Whatever I said, he would have come out with some vague, incomprehensible answer, the way he always does. And he would twist things around and in the end make fool of me. He's too cleaver a talker - whenever we argue, I always lose. Should I just keep quiet then? But if I do, what will happen? As long as that woman is around, he doesn't care what becomes of me! What should I do? What should I do? "

In all, I thought this is a masterpiece. It doesn't bother me that the romance between Otama and Okada never comes about in the story. I am especially amazed at how detailed the writer explored the emotional and mental lives of the female.

" For all women, there are things they regard as desirable but which they do not feel compelled to pursue. Such objects - a watch, a ring, displayed in the window of a store - they will invariably stop to look at as they pass. They do not go purposely to the store to see them, but, happening along on some other errand, they will nevertheless pause for a moment of inspection. Their desire to possess the object, and their resignation to the fact that they can never afford to do so, combine to produce not distress but rather a subtle, sweet sensation of grief that women look on as a kind of joy.  

The situation is quite different, however, when a woman makes up her mind to possess a thing. The emotion then is one of intense anguish. She thinks of the object until she can think of nothing else. Even if she learned that in a few days it would come easily into her hands, she could not bear to wait. Heedless of heat or cold, darkness or storm, she will lay her impulsive plans for the acquisition. " 

I have been impatient about many things in life and also, guys I seriously lay my eyes on. Many nights I spent on scheming just so I could get what I want step by step. I also recall being the aggressor in most of the short-lived relationships I have been in. Not that I ever had any regrets, I am just hoping to be more composed from now on :P

Dance Dance Dance (Haruki Murakami)

I tried my best not to search and go though online reviews about this book until I finished reading it. This is also the first ever Murakami's book I bought (with the RM200 vouchers given).

She is definitely calling me. From somewhere in the Dolphin Hotel. And apparently, somewhere in my own mind, the Dolphin Hotel is what I seek as well. To be taken into the scene, to become part of that weirdly fateful venue.

To return to the Dolphin Hotel means facing up to a shadow of the past. The prospect alone depresses. It has been all I could do these four years to rid myself of that chill, dim shadow. To return to the Dolphin Hotel is to give up all I'd quietly set aside during this time. Not that what I'd achieved is anything great, mind you. However you look at it, it's pretty much the stuff of tentative convenience. Okay, I'd done my best. Through some clever juggling I'd managed to forge a connection to reality, to build a new life based on token values. Was I now supposed to give it up?

The protagonist, whose name is not mentioned, has returned to the Dolphin Hotel in Sapporo. What was once a sad and peculiar hotel which buried deep in his memory has been transformed into a gleaming modern multistory building where the surrounding areas are booming too. From there, he makes friend with the receptionist with glasses, Yumiyoshi and a 13 years old girl, Yuki. He has also met and talked to the Sheep Man in his cramped room. While watching the movie Unrequited Love starring his former classmate (whose real name was Gotanda), he sees his missing ex-girlfriend, Kiki appear in one of the scenes. All sorts of strange connections are starting to come together.

Okay, I love this one!!! The reading started with quite a slow pace that at one moment, I thought I might give it up on. Lucky I didn't. Having read a few of Murakami's works, I thought this is the most logical I have read so far. There is nothing too absurd to follow. It can be summarized as a journey an ordinary thirty-four year old divorced man launched to reconnect with an old friend, reconsider meanings of loss and abandonment and lastly find love.

Thirty-four is a difficult age. A different kind of difficult than age thirteen, but plenty difficult. Gotanda and I were both thirty-four, both beginning to acknowledge middle age. It was time we did. Readying things to keep us warm during the colder days ahead.

Gotanda put it succinctly. "Love. That's what I need."

"I am so touched," I said. But the fact was, that's what I needed too. 

I love the murder mystery. It doesn't bother me whether or not Gotanda has indeed killed Kiki or Mei for that matter. And the friendship between the protagonist and Gotanda is well-evolved. In the last chapter, just when I thought the story would just end with a happy ending after the reunion of the protagonist and Yumiyoshi (which it eventually did).. but before that, Murakami did a great job at spicing it up with the suspense that the protagonist might lose Yumiyoshi in the dark. My heart skipped several beats. Dahlah I was alone in my apartment that night.

Yumiyoshi took the penlight from me and leafed through the pamphlet. I was casually observing my own shadow, wondering where the Sheep Man was, when I suddenly struck by a horrifying realization: I'd let go of Yumiyoshi's hand! 

My heart leapt into my throat. I was not ever to let go of her hand. I was fevered and swimming in sweat. I rushed to grab Yumiyoshi by the wrist. If we don't let go, we'll be safe. But it was already too late. At the very moment I extended my hand, her body was absorbed into the wall. Just like Kiki has passed through the wall of the death chamber. Just like quicksand. She was gone, she had disappeared, together with the glow of the penlight.

P/S: I am reading this for Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge 2012.   

Pictures

... of recent backpacking trips to Ipoh - Cameron Highlands - Genting Highlands - Kuala Lumpur.

Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner)

Firstly, the title is misleading. It's not all that freaky after all and I am not dazzled. Basically this book has been written based on a few fundamental ideas:

1) Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life.

2) The conventional wisdom is often wrong.

3) Dramatic effects have distant, even subtle, causes.

4) "Experts" use their information advantage to serve their own agenda.

5) Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so.

" Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work - whereas economics represents how it actually does work. Economics is above all a science of measurement. It comprises an extraordinary powerful and flexible set of tools that can reliably assess a thicket of information to determine the effect of any one factor, or even the whole effect. That's what "the economy" is after all: a thicket of information about jobs and real estate and banking and investment. But the tools of economics can be just as easily applied to subjects that are  more - well, more interesting "

The problem I have with this book is I don't find it mind-boggling. Okay, maybe I didn't know about what school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common before this. But once I knew their dark side is cheating, I can see why. Just the same as why hundreds or millions of people faking or exaggerating their personal information on online dating sites. It all boils down to human nature which responds to incentives. The same reason why your dentist or real-estate agent is using his informational advantage to make more bucks. This is hardly something hard not to be able to comprehend. So the "findings" or "discoveries" in this sense are kinda  nothing new to me. And it was hard to get excited over something that u have already figured out all this time.

However, we gotta give the author(s) credits for not simply accepting conventional wisdom - the crime rate didn't just take a historical plunge because of stronger economy, increased number of police or all other explanations like what was being told in the media by the journalists or politicians, though it is not hard to relate abortion ban with the increase in crime rate twenty years down the road, especially when I am pro-choice.

" But just because two things are correlated does not mean that one causes the other. A correlation simply means that a relationship exists between two factors - let's call them X and Y - but it tells you nothing about the direction of that relationship. It's possible that X causes Y; it's also possible that Y causes X; and it may be that X and Y are both being  caused by some other factor, Z. " 

Overall, I would rate 3 stars out of 5.

2012

2011 has been a good year. I believe everything that I have gone through will make me a wiser person. Now, I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for me!! And my 2012 has officially arrived after I was done with my finals yesterday. Lol.

Here's a list of reading challenges which I would love to sign up to participate in 2012:

Middle East Challenge

South Asian Challenge

I have many acquaintances  from South Asia and Middle East (in fact, my supervisor and co-supervisor for my final year project are both Bangladeshi). Yet, I have little to almost zero understanding about their culture and everything. Hence, it is time for me to start reading books about South Asian and Middle Eastern. I am planning to read at least two books for each challenges. 

Non-Fiction, Non-Memoir Reading Challenge

2012 is going to be a year with non-fictions for me! So for Non-Fiction Non Memoir Reading Challenge, I aim to try out for Bachelor's degree at 15 non-fictions or more.

Dystopia 2012 Challenge

I consider signing up for Dystopia Reading Challenge as well as I have a few books about Dystopia on my 2012 Reading List. My target is read 5 books, which is the first level: Asocial. 

EDIT:

Haruki Murakami Reading Challege 2012

How could I leave out Haruki Murakami?? There are so many of his books which I intend to read. Among them are 

- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

- Norwegian Wood

- The wind-Up Bird Chronicle

- Underground

- After the Quake

So the level of participation will be Toro. But I really hope that I will read more than five.

Let's read more books!

Phew

Corresponding to my goal to read more non-fiction books, I have kickstarted the new semester with Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success and Robert Levine's The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold. Truth to be told, I am very much relieved when I am writing this post. It is simply because I have finally finished reading these two books after one and a half month of carrying them around (not really, but I usually tried to read them when I was waiting for bus, lectures to start or before I slept.

I initially thought of reading The Tipping Point instead of Outliers but I couldn't find it on the bookshelves (probably getting misplaced). What a disappointment. Anyway, Outliers was brilliant. It presents to u that, despite the popular belief, successful people don't get to where they are just because they are hardworking, ambitious and passionate. The question we should be asking by now is "why do some people succeed far more than others?". Hence, the book argues, it takes more than personal merit to be Bill Gates or a star athlete or to be lifted onto the top rung or to be extremely good at Mathematics. And the book looks into it by dividing into two parts - opportunity and legacy followed with examples and statistics which the society itself tends to overlook.

I have always believed that environment plays an important role to shape a person, be it his personality or future. But I have never done more research or reading on it before. So this book is really an eye-opener and the chapters which I enjoyed the most - The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1 & 2 where the comparison between Chris Langan and Robert Oppenheimer - two very brilliant young students, each of whom ran into a problem that imperiled his college career but they ended up having distinctly different lives is being highlighted. Then I realize, I won't be extraordinary successful. I didn't even receive much of the middle-class parenting style "concerted cultivation" (heavily involved in their children's free time, shuttling them from one activity to the next etc).

" It's an attempt to actively "foster and assess a child's talents, opinions and skills." Poor parents tend to follow, by contrast, a strategy of "accomplishment of natural growth." They see as their responsibility to care for their children but to let them grow and develop on their own. Lareau stresses that one style isn't morally better than the other. The poorer children were, to her mind, often better behaved, less whiny, more creative in making use of their own time, and had a well-developed sense of independence. But in practical terms, concerted cultivation has enormous advantages. "

Having said that, I was thankful that my mom did a good job at encouraging me to read and write since I was only 6 years old. She would make me a scrapbook with all the articles or essays she had cut down and collected from the newspapers and as I grew older, she ordered books and magazines for me (it was a luxury since it was quite a huge expense 15 years ago). Although she didn't sign me up for piano lessons etc, she is the reason why I love books so much. :)

(I might or might not write on Robert Levine's The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold)

Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)

Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It continues the story of Katniss Everdeen after she wins in the arena as the sequel to the The Hunger Games. I actually managed to finish reading it before the new semester started.

After being crowned the victors of the 74th Hunger Game, Katniss and Peter move in their new houses in Victor's Village. Life goes on but things are never the same for Katniss, Peeta and Gale. Peeta learns bitterly that the affection Katniss displays in the arena is just a show she puts up to survive and win the game while Gale is distancing himself from Katniss. Then there is Victor Tour which causes major anxiety for Katniss before she finds out that she, her family and her loved ones are in big trouble. She is being threatened by President Snow from Capitol for outsmarting Hunger Games and undermining his control when she challenges to change the rule of the game to keep her and Peeta alive (instead of either one of them). It is seen as a form of rebellion and most importantly it incites rebellions in other districts which Katniss finds out later. Hence, a special edition of Quarter Quell which is held on every twenty-fifth anniversary is dictated to reap from the existing pool of victors, which brings Katniss and Peeta, along with the past victors of the game back into the arena. This is served as a reminder that even the strongest (the past victors) among the rebels (people from the districts) cannot overcome the power of the Capitol.

That is the first half of the story. The love-triangle is seriously putting me off, but the huge difference is that I no longer see it merely a story about game like the first book. I mean the theme is still survival, but what strikes me even more is government control which reminds me of the uprisings happen in Eypgt, Libya, Yemen and their other Middle-Eastern counterparts. People who are oppressed for generations see no hope, change and a better future. They are desperate and desperate people will rebel, take to the streets to protest etc once it has reached the tipping point because there isn't much for them to lose anyway. And I guess the most important message that is sent out - never underestimate the power of people.

"Before I go down to face this new life, though, I take some time making myself acknowledge what it will mean. Less than a day ago, I was prepared to head into the wilderness with my loved ones in midwinter, with the very real possibility of the Capitol pursuing us. A precarious venture at best. But now I am committing to something even more risky. Fighting the Capitol assures their swift retaliation. I must accept that at any moment I can be arrested. There will be a knock on the door, like the one last night, a band of Peacekeepers to haul me away. There might be torture. Mutilation. A bullet through my skull in the town square, if I'm fortunate enough to go that quickly. The Capitol has no end of creative ways to kill people. I imagine these things and I'm terrified, but let's face it: They've been lurking in the back of my brain, anyway. I've been a tribute in the Games. Been threatened by the president. Taken a lash across my face. I'm already a target.

Now comes the harder part. I have to face the fact that my family and friends might share this fate. Prim. I need only to think of Prim and all my resolve disintegrates. It's my job to protect her. I pull the blanket up over my head, and my breathing is so rapid I use up all the oxygen and begin to choke for air. I can't let the Capitol hurt Prim.

And then it hits me. They already have. They have killed her father in those wretched mines. They have sat by as she almost starved to death. They have chosen her as a tribute, then made her watch her sister fight to the death in the Games. She has been hurt far worse than I had at the age of twelve. And even that pales in comparison with Rue's life."

Moving to the second half of the story. It is about the game - Quarter Quell such as strategies on tributes Katniss and Peeta should team up with as ally because they are no longer competing with trembling children. Instead, they will be facing competitors who have known each other for years. Katniss and Peeta are actually at a distinct disadvantage as they are the youngest and the most recent winners. And this is the part of the story which I was most fascinated about - Peeta and Katniss learning how their mentor, Haymitch won the last Quarter Quell; Katniss making a pact with the tributes she least expected herself to; the clock theory where each hour begins a new hour, a new Gamemaker weapon and ends with the previous, i.e. blood rain, poisonous fog, monkeys' attack, jabberjay etc. In fact, it took me only a few hours to finish reading the second half as contrast to days spent just to push myself to keep reading the first half of the story. And the story ends with Katniss being saved after the force field is blown and she is later disclosed that District 13 does exist; the wires and force field that Beetee working on are among the weapons to break the remaining players out of the arena with the coorperation with the undercover team; Katniss and Peeta are meant to be a piece in the game, to be used with consent and knowledge etc. Lastly, Katniss also discovers that Peeta is captured by the Capitol, District 12 is gone but luckily her sister and mother are saved.

“We had to save you because you're the mockingjay, Katniss,” says Plutarch. “While you live, the revolution lives.”

The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay.

The one that survived despite the Capitol's plans. The symbol of the rebellion.

I think I will still proceed with the third book of the trilogy - Mockingjay after this even though online reviews say it is the weakest of all.

After Dark (Haruki Murakami)

"Time moves in its own special way in the middle of the night."

What do u do after dark, when the night falls and u know dawn will not be there for hours?

I used to be nocturnal. I enjoyed the quietness, especially at the deeper stage of night when more and more people went to bed and I was still awake. In fact, in my second year of study, I kept the habit of sleeping around 7pm so that I could wake up at 12am to concentrate on whatever tasks I was doing - be it reading or finishing up assignments. When the night was nearly over, I would either grab a quick nap or jog to recharge myself before I started to attend classes with a cup of coffee. All these changed when I got myself a roommate who slept at 10pm.

"The giant digital screens fastened to the sides of buildings fall silent as midnight approaches, but loudspeakers on storefronts keep pumping out exaggerated hip-hop bass lines. A large game centre crammed with young people; wild electronic sounds; a group of college students spilling out from a bar; teenage girls with brilliant bleached hair, healthy legs thrusting out from microminiskirts; dark-suited men racing across diagonal crossings for the last trains to the suburbs. Even at this hour, the karaoke club pitchmen keep shouting for customers. A flashy black station wagon drifts down the street as if taking stock of the district through its blacktinted windows. The car looks like a deep-sea creature with specialised skin and organs. Two young policemen patrol the street with tense expressions, but no one seems to notice them. The district plays by its own rules at a time like this. The season is late autumn. No wind is blowing, but the air carries a chill. The date is just about to change."

Most Asian cities are vibrant and bustling by day and night. The night marks another new beginning, hardly the end of a day. And Murakami has just painted a picture of what it is like as midnight approaches in Tokyo, Japan.

I had meant to read After Dark for quite some time. I was curious with the kind of stories Murakami could weave around with night (and loneliness) as the theme. However, when I finally finished it, I was left puzzled. I must admit, I couldn't seem to find the true meanings of the stories as they were vague and bizarre (especially the part where Eri Asai was imprisoned in the TV set). How does one relate to another is another thing I couldn't comprehend. For example, Shirakawa, other than being the guy who beat up the Chinese prostitute.. the kind of involvement he has with Eri Asai is never clearly conveyed. Maybe the message is there, I just failed to grasp it.

While reading After Dark, I actually listed down every piece of song Murakami mentioned in the book then played them to get a feel of the atmosphere Murakami was trying to create. And one of them is "I can't go for that" by Hall & Oates. Overall, I like Sputnik Sweetheart and Kafka on The Shore better. Having said that, I still like After Dark quite a lot. I love the characters, particularly Mari Asai who is probably representing many young people these day who are aloof, cynical and indulgent in their own way. I know I am one of them. I also like the way he writes - it is always hard to predict how the story will progress (although it remains another question whether u can truly fathom it or not).

My Recent Langkawi + Penang Trip

You would probably go "wtf, this is a book blog, not a travel blog." Lol.

Anyway, just thought that I would post up some pictures captured along the trip while I work on my latest post on Haruki Murakami's After Dark ;)

The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

I knew nothing about the story or whatsoever so I had zero expectation when I read it. And it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Two tributes (one girl, one guy) are forced to be provided from twelve respective districts to participate in a yearly game named the Hunger Games. The twenty-four tributes will then be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena where the game will be televised and they must fight among themselves. The last one standing will be the winner. Sounds very much like the US reality show - Survivor, right? But the most significant difference - the losers will be dead instead of returning home to family. And the Hunger Games is served to remind those districts of the Capitol's zero tolerance toward any uprisings - how totally they are at their mercy and how little chance they will stand of surviving another rebellion, should there be any. And the story is told by 16 years old Katniss Everdeen, from District Twelve who has volunteered to replace her 12 years old sister for the deadly game.

Okay, what's so fascinating about it? It's about survival - how to be the sole survivor when there are 23 other tributes who will be going after u. And u have to overcome the crazy weather or whatever challenges the Gamemakers have created to keep the game entertaining to woo the audiences. Hence it's entertaining to learn about the distinctive skills those tributes posses to either attack or defend. For example, Peete disguises himself as to be invisible under layer of mud and plant, thanks to his cake decorating skills. Strategies are also employed. For example, to weaken the Careers, Katsis has allied with Rue to blow out their supplies of food. Meanwhile, the Careers who are well-trained, physically capable to involve in brutal killings will work in group at the initial stage to take down weaker opponents who are all on their own. Since I enjoy schadenfreunde, I also love reading the different ways the tributes are killed after they are being outsmarted (food poisoning/ tracker jacker stings etc). Lol.

The bow! Somewhere in my befuddled mind one thought connects to another and I’m on my feet, teetering through the trees back to Glimmer. The bow. The arrows. I must get them. I haven’t heard the cannons fire yet, so perhaps Glimmer is in some sort of coma, her heart still struggling against the wasp venom. But once it stops and the cannon signals her death, a hovercraft will move in and retrieve her body, taking the only bow and sheath of arrows I’ve seen out of the Games for good.

And I refuse to let them slip through my fingers again! I reach Glimmer just as the cannon fires. The tracker jackers have vanished. This girl, so breathtakingly beautiful in her golden dress the night of the interviews, is unrecognizable. Her features eradicated, her limbs three times their normal size. The stinger lumps have begun to explode, spewing putrid green liquid around her. I have to break several of what used to be her fingers with a stone to free the bow. The sheath of arrows is pinned under her back. I try to roll over her body by pulling on one arm, but the flesh disintegrates in my hands and I fall back on the ground.

However, there is one thing I don't appreciate, that is the romance between Peeta and Katsis, who are schemed to be portrayed as the crossed-star lovers from District Twelve to deceive the audiences, and later the Gamemakers and Capitol rulers. And the romance between them later becomes the key to their survival in the arena. But the thing is both the characters shine in their very own way, so when the romance element is thrown into, it just takes out their respective awesomeness and makes them such a cliche. Peete is blindly in love with Katsis that everything he does seems to protect or keep her alive. While Katsis, although she is not smitten, she is confused with her feelings. In short, the lovey-dovey craps just bore me out. Bring on more strategies or manipulation or killings please! Lol.

Having said that, I will read the second book of the trilogy - Catching Fire after this. I will also look forward to its upcoming film.

For the coming one year..

I am not going to start with how much the local libraries suck with their pathetically inadequate book collections which they never seemed to update since ages ago. Instead, I am going to talk about one which never fails to surprise me, which is my uni library.

For the past three years in university, I had spent majority of my campus life in the library. And I foresee myself spending more time there in my coming final year. However, I must admit I was there mostly for the free internet access and cool air-conditioning (to avoid the killer heat) other than the fact that it does provide the kind of superb environment that enables me to concentrate on doing my works.

Regarding the books, I was initially there for reference books related to my field of study. Then I started to explore more and discover that there was a section for fictions. And I was even more amazed that they have some really good collections such as Kafka on The Shore, To Kill a Mockingbird, Never Let Me Go, The Virgin Suicides, Memoirs of a Geisha etc (but mostly are Asian Literature which I wasn't all that keen). One day, I even found an erotic short stories which I of course wouldn't miss haha! Without limiting myself, I moved on to other sections like economics, religion, science etc and I was pleasantly surprised with what I had stumbled across.

For the coming one year (August '11-August '12), I am aiming to read more non-fictions instead. With that, I am targeting to at least read a minimum of non-fictions on biography/ psychology/ philosophy/ politics/ business/ culture while at the same time, I hope I will still be reading fictions. I try not to be ambitious or unrealistic because it will be my final year and I am positive I will be very much occupied with my final year project + lectures + assignments + exams + goofing around with friends before we go separate way + job hunting.

Lets see how it goes then. :)

The Reader (Bernhard Schlink)

I took up German language class last semester and I am planning to proceed to next level XD What others might not know - my dream is not to speak German fluently (impossible unless I live in that country and interact with the natives) but to be able to read books written in German!

Back to the book, it is divided into 3 parts

- Part One tells the story of how 15 years old Michael Berg met with 36 years old Hanna Schmitz, a streetcar conductor whom he was seduced and had developed a secret affair with. They followed a routine of Michael reading aloud to Hanna, showering, making love and then lying together. The relationship ended abruptly when Hanna walked out on Michael’s life one day.

- Part Two tells the story of Michael and Hanna’s unexpected encounter in the courtroom a few years later when Michael had become a law student whereby Hanna was one of the defendants for a series of trials dealing with the camp guards and enforcers who committed their crimes in the Nazi Past. When the verdict was handed down, Hanna was sentence to life. Michael finally learnt about Hanna’s secret - she was illiterate, she couldn’t read and write.

- Part Three tells the story of Michael’s adult life - he failed marriage and his research job in legal history. Then he started to send off tapes which had recorded the reading he did to Hanna. Hanna had learnt to write and read because of it. The exchanging of tapes (and later notes from Hanna) went on for years. And Michael’s first visit to Hanna’s prison happened one week before Hanna was released (after making an appeal for clemency). Nevertheless, the story ended with Hanna committing suicide and Michael carrying out her instructions.

Contrast to my usual habit, I actually watched the movie before reading the book. And I was happy that neither of them has let me down. The movie was superb (I had nothing to complain) and the book I don't mind to pick it up to read again and again. It is really thought-provoking and terrifying given the description of thousands of innocent women who were burned alive in fire or died in march under the harsh weather condition and inadequate clothings when the genocide took place. It makes me thankful to live in the safe and sheltered world I am living now.

One of the many things which prompts me thinking:

- If someone is racing intentionally towards his own destruction and you can save him-do you go ahead and save him? Should we set other people's views of what is good for them above their own ideas of what is good for themselves?

This was raised when Michael was in a dilemma whether to go to the judge and tell him that Hanna was illiterate to serve justice so that Hanna would be punished less severely. But he also wondered should he act on behalf of her while this possibly could not be what she was fighting for.

"Yes, that was what she had been fighting for, but she was not willing to earn victory at the price of exposure as an illiterate. Nor would she want me to barter her self-image for a few years in prison. She could have made that kind of trade herself, and did not, which meant she didn’t want it. Her sense of self was worth more than the years in prison to her.

But was it really worth all that? What did she gain from this false self-image which ensnared her and crippled her and paralyzed her? With the energy she put into maintaining the lie, she could have learned to read and write long ago."

Moving on to the characters. I had so much sympathy for the adolescent Michael who was suffering for being in love with a woman who not only did not reciprocate his feelings but also manipulated him emotionally. And when she left him unannouncedly, he was tortured with not only physical desire but the feeling of guilt which led him to blame himself for driving her away thus believe Hanna’s punishment of leaving was well-deserved.

"But its results had meaning. I had not only lost this fight. I had caved in after a short struggle when she threatened to send me away and withhold herself. In the weeks that followed I didn’t fight at all. If she threatened, I instantly and unconditionally surrendered. I took all the blame. I admitted mistakes I hadn’t made, intentions I’d never had. Whenever she turned cold and hard, I begged her to be good to me again, to forgive me and love me. Sometimes I had the feeling that she hurt herself when she turned cold and rigid. As if what she was yearning for was the warmth of my apologies, protestations, and entreaties. Sometimes I thought she just bullied me. But either way, I had no choice."

Moving on to Part Two, I started to see Hanna more than an emotionally detached woman who “exploited” Michael. True that she was guilty with the crimes she committed but not as guilty as it seemed, neither was she the main protagonist the way others made her out to be. She was confused and helpless. Her incapacity to familiarize herself with the indictment and the manuscript and also probably of her consequent lack of any sense of strategy or tactics all happened because of her illiteracy.

"And no, at the trial Hanna did not weigh exposure as an illiterate against exposure as a criminal. She did not calculate and she did not maneuver. She accepted that she would be called to account, and simply did not wish to endure further exposure. She was not pursuing her own interests, but fighting for her own truth, her own justice. Because she always had to dissimulate somewhat, and could never be completely candid, it was a pitiful truth and a pitiful justice, but it was hers, and the struggle for it was her struggle.

She must have been completely exhausted. Her struggle was not limited to the trial. She was struggling, as she always had struggled, not to show what she could do but to hide what she couldn’t do. A life made up of advances that were actually frantic retreats and victories that were concealed defeats."

Everything was so sad. It broke my heart reading that Michael was on the verge of crying while finding out more and more truths after Hanna’s death. But I could totally understand why he didn’t write to Hanna or visit her in prison until one week before she was about to get out.

"Precisely because she was both close and removed in such an easy way, I didn’t want to visit her. I had the feeling she could only be what she was to me at an actual distance. I was afraid that the small, light, safe world of notes and cassettes was too artificial and too vulnerable to withstand actual closeness. How could we meet face to face without everything that had happened between us coming to the surface?"

Man, this book is officially my favourite! Go read it if u haven't.

Note to self: Read more on The Holocaust.

A Walk to Remember (Nicholas Sparks)

I think it was about 6-7 years ago when I first read this book. I picked it up from the school's library bookshelves and finished reading it within a few days time. It was quite an accomplishment back then as I had only started reading English books for not too long. I also remember claiming to have fallen in love with it. And soon, I watched the movie which was made based on it (but I thought it wasn't as nice as the book itself).

But if u ask me - what's so nice about this book? Truth to be told, I wouldn't have been able to answer u. And I can't recall if I have read any other novels by Nicholas Sparks. I think I DID, but I have no memory of the storyline, characters or whatsoever etc That says something, right? (Don't tell me that I am getting older!) Hence, that explains my intention to reread this book to find out what was so special about it and why I loved it so much back then.

Then I spent longer time than I probably did in the past to finish reading this book. And I think I understand why I loved it so much back then. U see.. 6-7 years ago I was still in my teens and I happened to be quite a sucker for sappy romance books. That alone could be the primary reason. Now u might want to ask me - do u enjoy it for the second time? The answer nahhh, is not so much.

I do love the setting though. Beaufort, North Caroline in the 50s.

It was the kind of place where the humidity rose so high in the summer that walking out to get the mail made a person feel as if he needed a shower, and kids walked around barefoot from April through October beneath oak trees draped in Spanish moss. People waved from their cars whenever they saw someone on the street whether they knew him or not, and the air smelled of pine, salt, and sea, a scent unique to the Carolinas.

And I find myself relate more to Landon carter instead of the selfless and religious girl, Jamie Sullivan. Truth to be told, if only I knew one of the main themes is Christian faith, I would have thought twice before reading it. Nevertheless, there are still some scenes of the story I found myself laugh, i.e Landon's dilemma to ask Jamie to the dance.

It was then that I realized something terrible, something absolutely frightening. Carey Dennison, I suddenly realized, was probably doing the exact same thing I was doing right now. He was probably looking through the yearbook, too! He was weird, but he wasn't the kind of guy who liked cleaning up puke, either, and if you'd seen his mother, you'd know that his choice was even worse than mine. What if he asked Jamie first? Jamie wouldn't say no to him, and realistically she was the only option he had. No one besides her would be caught dead with him. Jamie helped everyone-she was one of those equal opportunity saints. She'd probably listen to Carey's squeaky voice, see the goodness radiating from his heart, and accept right off the bat.

Overall, it could make a simple, good (and hopefully not too unmemorable) read but if u are looking for something more unpredictable, then u might be disappointed.

Perfect Chemistry (Simone Elkeles)

When I was around 13, I had started reading teen romance books in Mandarin (the language I am the most comfortable with) until the age of 18. And this book reminded me exactly of those romance books I had read in the past which made it dull, plot and character-wise. Nevertheless, giving up on this book reflects my increasingly low tolerance towards everything in life at the moment. That's it - life is too short to be wasted on books (or movies or anything else) u don't deem worthwhile.

To me, Perfect Chemistry is kinda like a modern version of Romeo and Juliet. Two persons who are seemingly living an opposite life in terms of everything (with the exception of their academic excellent) have strongly attracted to each other physically and fallen in love later on despite being advised by friends and fully aware that it is forbidden because duh they come from a different world. Brittany is white and rich (although she herself isn't as perfect as the image she is trying to portray due to family issues) while Alex is a Mexican gang member who might not even finish school. But since they are assigned to be each other's Chemistry partner, they are forced to work with each other despite the prejudices and blah they soon are drawn closer and develop mutual understanding after learning more about one another - their problems and that they are actually similar in so many ways. Could it be anymore cliche?

I also wanna whack whoever that says "Look, the characters are real blablabla".. Don't we have enough of this crap in television shows or movies already? Cheerleader dating the quarterback of the football team who can't resist the charm of the bad guy who is rumored to do drug and all the illegal stuff outside school. What makes the story lamer is the bet Alex makes with his friends or cousins to get into her pants before the school ends; if he loses, it is going to cost him his motorcycle. Urgh. Even though I didn't finish the book, I can predict the rest of the story.

Anyway, I admit with the characters having great chemistry as portrayed in the book. For your information, the part I looked the most forward to is them having intense make out session or some sizzling hot sex. In fact, I actually skimmed the book for scenes like that hahaha But I guess I am just sick of books with seemingly perfect characters like Brittany. Although I don't mind to have a male character as sexy as Alex in the book (to make up for the lack of lustworthy males in real life), I guess I do have a preference for the characters to be real at this point of life. And by real, I mean ones that can actually resemble someone we know in life in one way or another or typical us who are carrying out our normal life (and not involving in knife fights etc). But then, other readers who don't share the same view as I do might find it boring. So I guess, young adult romance isn't my thing afterall and I am gladly to move on to other gernes.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower ( Stephen Chbosky)

"It is a story narrated by a teenager who goes by the alias of "Charlie"; he describes various scenes in his life by writing a series of letters to an anonymous person, whom he does not know personally. The story explores topics such as introversion, teenage sexuality, homosexuality, abuse, and the awkward times of adolescence. The book also touches strongly on drug use and Charlie's experiences with this. " (From Wikipedia)

It does sound like something I normally dig. Afterall what "Charlie" is put through, those happy and sad moments, is something I believe every teenager or young adult has been through (or is still going through); something that we should be familiar with in one way or another; something that we can relate ourselves to.

Surely when "Charlie" touches on the tragedies that happen in his life - the suicide of his friend, his sister's teenage pregnancy, domestic violence etc, it touched my heart. However, to my surprise, I was actually bored that I decided to stop half way through instead of finishing it. I found the way the story is narrated monotonous that I simply couldn't be bothered to pick up the pace to find out more. And I want to read no more tragedies.

Sputnik Sweetheart (Haruki Murakami)

I was actually in a rush to finish the story (and review) before I started my industrial training.

This is not the first Haruki Murakami’s novel I have read. In the past, I have read Kafka on the Shore and I loved it very much. After that, I tried The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, which unfortunately I had to quit half way through due to the hectic semester but I intend to pick it up soon to reread.

I must admit, I have high expectations toward Haruki Murakami’s works after reading Kafka on the Shore. Perhaps that explains why I felt the disappointment, more and more especially toward the end of the story. To simply put, the story didn’t live up to my expectations. At one point, I was like “Yeah, this is it. This is exactly what I am looking for.” But at the end, I was let down. It is like one of those moments when you are teased and pained in pleasure yet the fun is denied when you are close to the point of orgasm. The feelings of emptiness lingered long after I closed my laptop.

What’s so fascinating about reading Haruki Murakami’s? The stories always bring me to somewhere unknown and unexpected. And whatever that is happening to the characters is beyond my imagination. In Kafka on the Shore, humans can communicate with cats and fishes (or was it something else) rain from the sky. Meanwhile in Sputnik Sweetheart, we are told the story of Miu’s hair turning all white after being abandoned on the Ferris wheel at the amusement park. All these never ceased to amaze me, thus provided me the much needed escape from reality.

Back to Sputnik Sweetheart, the theme revolves around sex, love and loneliness. I would say it is beautifully written - the unrequited love the narrator K has for Sumire, Sumire’s first love to Miu, a woman 17 years older than her and the oppressed love affair between K and his girlfriend, the mother of one of his students. The climax of the story is when Sumire goes missing during her trip to Greece with Miu. Whatever happened to her is never found out (and thus remained a mystery to the readers). While K and Miu carry on with their respective normal lives but part of them is dying with the gone of Sumire. I can't really pinpoint what but I expect more than that for the storyline laaaa. Also, one of the things I failed to fathom - what does the shoplifting incident have to do with anything? Perhaps it does signal an end to be put on K and his girlfriend’s secret love affair. But why is it necessary to K? Or maybe I should have taken my time to read it.

"Why do people have to be this lonely? What’s the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the Earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?"