A very easy to read and engaging light-hearted novel. It is about Leah and other quirky characters that live in the house opposite her apartment. One day, Leah got the chance to get to know the landlord, Toby, and his tenants in the house and as she helps Toby to get his tenants on their feet again and face life (each is escaping life or not embracing it), she gets to know about herself and the man she likes.
What I like about the book is that it does not have a heroine, someone too tomboy or someone too girly/ needy or anything like that. People who seem normal but each has their weakness and the ability to blend all these characters and their struggles out of this stagnant phase in their life is what makes this book an engaging read. Check out Lise Jewell’s website here.
First of all, I got this book at Singapore Airport Changi Terminal 3, the new terminal that has high tech ceiling lights and check here for the rest. Best part though is the new Harris bookstore where I got this hard cover book for only S$10.90. For some strange reason, there are other titles autographed and cost the same price!
I have read a few self-help books before (not a big fan of them) but this one really got my attention.
Stephen Pollan offers 10 tips in this book, not that they are new e.g. don’t live in the past, do your best, not the best, but it is the testimonies of the people he come across who are easy to relate to.
The best thing this book has done for me, is that I finally begin to see the light that no one thing in life can replace everything else. If you read my
About Me, you understand why I even start this site.. Family and friends have been telling me it is not possible to find a job that meets all my needs but just seek a balanced life. I always take that as a sign of weakness, giving up on finding that something, this book convinced me otherwise.
And sorry for not updating this blog for 3 weeks, been reading this book, exercising, volunteering, doing pro-bono design and office work is busy with traveling.
This book really got my attention after a pastor at my home church in Singapore devoted an article on this book in the church magazine.
The version I read is the 2nd (expanded) version and the first 200 pages really blew me away and had me thinking to myself ”yes, this is what is happening right now in our world, what should I be doing now to ensure that I am well prepared?”
Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist and acclaimed writer of a few books such as From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree (check out his site here) wrote about how the world is flat i.e. connected. He discussed 10 forces that had flattened the world, from the fall of the Berlin wall to internet and the one that stays on my mind is how UPS becomes part of the supply chain of so many companies, not just delivery but even repair & maintenance!
However, it got a little less interesting for me as the book went on to talk about how America is (not) prepared for the flat world and how different developing countries run along with it or resist it. Another point though is that in various examples, it’s mentioned that freelancers (think graphic designers!) actually become competition in our connected world.
I got a greater sense of urgency and awareness of the need to prepare, embrace, run along and run ahead in this connected world but not so much on how to prepare for it.. Not sure if the 3.0 version has the answers but I guess nothing beats keeping my eyes and ears open!
I have to salute Douglas Kennedy, a male, who is able to capture so vividly the emotions, struggles, triumphs of the female lead (Hannah Buchan) in this book. The book is set in two contrasting periods, the 1960s when Hannah was a student, how she decided on a quiet life in Maine and how a one-night affair turned into a nightmare years later (when she is a grandmother!)
The feelings in this book: disappointment with life, settling for something less, courage to differ, courage to face obstacles are so real that believe me, I cried more than once reading through the book. Definitely going to read more of Douglas Kennedy’s books.
This is the first time that I read a PD James book and only now I realised that James is a female! Do read her website which has an interesting FAQ section where she explains why she is into detective story.
Her detective cast is the usual Alan Dagleish who with his two other team members have to investigate a death on the Combe Island. It is amazing how the entire book is set on this isolated island where PD James has the skill to make me stay engaged, on my toes as to who could be the murderer. Definitely a good read with no fanfare that you typically find in a crime novel. This is serious detective work.
This is a book which is over 700 pages and I only realised after reading 300 plus pages that I have read this book before! The book is engaging, talking about how one guy comes into the life of a plain and another vain cousin and how they ended up right in the center of a disappearance incident. Not giving the story away, but enough to say that the plot is engaging with a lot of focus on feelings of uncertainties of the two cousins and women in the story, plus a little about sex but no x-rated sections.
