| Jotting Life |
Books, that's what I'm talking about.Never Say I Assume! by Tan Chin Nam & Larry Parr is published by MPH Publishing and is sold in a smashing red cover with high quality paper. It has the cover photo of Tan Chin Nam holding the 1996 Melbourne Cup. It has 285 pages exclusive the index pages. Priced at RM39.90 and I got my copy at where else? The MPH bookstore itself. This book is a memoir of the writer's life, how he and his family survived the Depression years in 1930s and how his family went from "riches to rags" and again getting back on their feet. He also provides the path-breaking history in his account of Japanese Occupation during World war II and he also relates the friendship he had with the former Malaysian's First Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putera al-Hajj. Anyone who knows Tan Chin Nam in present days would love to read this book. I only know Tan Chin Nam as a person who founded Tan & Tan company which is so famous with high end housing developments. Being in my line of job, I sure know this fact. But, as I read through the book, it is amazing to know that Tan Chin Nam is really as big as his name as well as his character. Born in 1926, he is the founding father of such well-known companies as Tan&Tan as I mentioned above, and IGB as well. Among his projects are Mid Valley City in Kuala Lumpur as well as landmark heritage structures such as the Queen Victoria Building and Capitol Theatre in Sydney. Two of his business sobriquets are "Mr. Low Cost", because he created Malaysia's first housing project for low-income people, and "Mr. Condo" for Malaysia's first condominiums and hotel apartments. He received the first ever "Property Man of The Year" award in 1992 from the International Real Estate Federation. I especially love his Rules for Life and the Chinese Business Wisdom. In short, I learned how difficult it was during the Depression years and when the Japanese had conquered Malaya during World War II, it is hard to believe that such cruelty actually exist! I am not sure how to re-describe it here. You've got to read it yourself to "feel" what I'd "felt thru reading." There's indeed many lessons to learn from this book and I got a glimpse of how former Malaysia's first PM's had lived. There's also several pages of photos in this book and I absolutely love to browse thru the photos even though I hardly knew them except there were of course photos of Tunku Abdul Rahman in his heyday, Tunku Abdul Razak, a young and handsome our current Pak Lah and a few other political figures. Reading this book somehow has taught me to keep my mind open and try to become non-judgemental though deep down I have few things which contradict with my values. The author of second book that I've read need no introduction because Paul Coelho is already a famous writer. He has sold 75 millions books worldwide and his works has been translated into 62 languages. Like The Flowing River is the second book of his that I've read. Published by Harper Colllins, it is truly and inspirational short stories written from 1998 to 2005. Sold at RM34.90 at MPH bookstore, has 245 pages and the book's size is just nice enought to fit inside my handbag. The font is relatively small compared to other books but it doesn't deter me from reading it. To a Muslim, of course most contents depicted are the contradicting beliefs but we are not looking "why we are different" here but instead "the similarities" and based on these similarities, I believe all of us could live in harmony. Each titles only needs you about three minutes to finish it, making this book so easy to digest and unlike novel, you don't have to relate one character to the other character each time you flip the pages. It is a book where I find that I can keep on reading and re-read it again and again. His words are so profound that every time I finish each chapter, it makes me pause and ponder upon the story. I totally hooked from the very beginning until the end. Finally, it is also just make my iman firmly intact after I finished this book, you've got to read to know why. This book is a must-have after The Al-Chemist. The final book that I want to talk about is My Sister's Keeper from Jodi Picoult. Published by Atria Books, priced at RM34.90 with 500 pages. This is also a second book of Jodi Picoult that I've read. The first one is The Plain Truth. I've just finished reading it this evening and needless to say with red-swollen eyes too! It is a fiction of Anna Fitdzgerald and her sister, Kate and her family. I've learned many medical terms here and keeps on referring to my dictionary and sometimes I need to let the g00gle engine do the job. This is a very emotional, high tense drama and I keep on imagining I am Sara, the mother of Kate and Anna. What would I do if I were in her shoes. I cried for Jesse, for Anna and for Kate - for all of them. It is really beyond words how to describe it when you read about Sara who has a daughter, who was diagnosed with APL (acute promyelocytic leukimia)and later on gave birth to Anna - at the first place was conceived to save Kate. How is that so? Just have one box of Kleenex handy while you are reading this. The ending, the ending? oh, don't ask me, go and grab your copy. I am still thinking of the ending and my heart bleeds. Post Script: 
This is my latest lists of books on my desk 
Siri Pendidikan Moral Kanak-Kanak published by Al-Ameen We went to the International Book Fair, held at the PWTC, KL yesterday. We arrived early and there was already a crowd. I spent almost three hundred ringgit. The workbooks for my schooling kids were bought at only RM1 per book! It was really a good bargain. Everything has a dscounted price with a good discount too! We went to the famous Karangkraf booth, it's not actually a booth-lah, they have one room for themselves but I only bought one book there. I noticed there were several authors of Malay novels but since I am not one of the fans, I just skimmed their faces and only recognized one or two familiar faces and was out of there soon after. I bought books at Al-Hidayah and Al-Ameen and Famy, I didn't come across with Pendidikan Anak-anak Dalam Islam by Abdullah Nasih Ulwan. Other than activity books, workbooks and novels for my children, these are the books that I bought:
p/p/s: You can read more on al-ameen's books - click here. Books that I bought are here too. 07:48 - Wednesday, May 2, 2007Post Comment
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