Be VERY Excited!

I'm currently in Terengganu on a one-week-vacation and guess what, I managed to finish three books in the span of 4 days here. Throw a person in an unfamiliar environment and he can accomplish great things. Great things!

The three books are:

1. The Autobiography of Malcolm X (As Told to Alex Haley)

2. My Name Is Red, by Orhan Pamuk

3. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by DH Lawrence

But, as per usual, the reviews will be coming shortly (short, being an adjective, is subjective) since my holiday isn't over yet. In about a week, the review of Malcolm X's biography will be ready, inshaAllah. It's not like I have much to do anyway at home, apart from reunions and trips back to alma mater etc.

P/S: Aini, kau kena baca Orhan Pamuk. Seriously. Best gila!

HAMLET by William Shakespeare

Okay, so this isn't strictly a book.

It's a play, meant to be enjoyed on stage, but I personally believe there is no harm in appreciating the beauty of the written word and let your imagination do the rest of the work.

I first knew about Hamlet in MRSM Muadzam Shah. I was a socially awkward kid and socially awkward kids go to the library. It's been that way for centuries. Anyway, there was this collection of illustrated books on famous stories and I remember reading one on a very moody prince who is upset about the fact that his mum married his uncle very soon after his dad died. Or something. I can't remember. The illustration wasn't that great.

So when I was properly introduced to Shakespeare in Form 4 (doing Sonnet 18), I remembered vaguely the story of the young prince and was really disturbed that I couldn't remember what happened to Hamlet at the end of the story. So I borrowed a Penguin copy of Hamlet (abridged, of course, haha..) and read it. This time I was really moved by the poignancy of the story, partly because I could relate to his feelings. I'm not referring to the father-died-and-then-mum-married-uncle thing. It's just the general sense of frustration at everything that goes wrong in the world and being in a situation that forces you to make decisions in light of that frustration. In short, it's a story for young people who are confused. Take away all that fancy language and the Shakespeare phobia and you're left with a story as sad and beautiful as life.

The reader first finds himself , not at the funeral of Hamlet Sr, who just died of suspicious circumstances (But is appears nobody thought foul play was involved), but instead at a royal wedding. Traditionally, Hamlet Jr would be king after the death of Hamlet Sr, but OMG! He came back from boarding school to find his uncle, Claudius, had married his mum and was appointed king. Double sorrow. No, make that triple because he couldn't believe that his mum had forgotten his dad so soon and married Claudius. We're talking two months after the death. And the marriage was as big as any royal event. It is ugly.

And then, with the help of his best friend Horatio, Hamlet came across the ghost of his dead father who told him that he had been murdered by Claudius, the uncle. So now, Hamlet has to decide whether or not the ghost was telling the truth (Because ghosts can lie, you know) before deciding whether or not to avenge his father.

(L to R) Hamlet and Horation in the film

version starring Kenneth Branagh 1996

Now, my favourite part is when Hamlet is contemplating his own mortality. The famous "to be or not to be" speech is basically a soliloquy (a speech by a character not addressed to anyone) that raises Hamlet's fear of death. Death is an unknown territory because to him, nobody has ever come back from death to tell him what exactly happens after life. So he's scared of the fact that he does not know what lies after. And he's increasingly frustrated by his inability to avenge his father. On top of that, he is pained by the fact that nobody seems to remember his dead father anymore. Everyone seems to be praising and flattering the new king, and nobody is mourning apart from Hamlet himself. Dead and forgotten. The tragic fact about mortality.

So we follow Hamlet as he tries to find himself amidst the question of mortality and what it means to live. Hamlet is a good person. He believes in undying love (which is why he was hurt by his mother's change of heart), he believes in justice (he wants to avenge his father's murder), and he believes in morality, especially when it comes to trust between friends. This story is about a young man's journey to keep his moral righteousness while trying to seek justice. And the sad part is, he lost the battle. Somewhere along the line, his quest for justice became an act of revenge. And in doing that, he sacrificed more than just his own morality; he sacrificed the very thing that makes him human: Love.

But even through all that, I think Hamlet did learn something good. There is a quote near the end of the play where Hamlet stops worrying about what would happen if he died. "Let be", he said. This reliance on the higher power ("the special providence")that decides people's destiny is sometimes the only thing we need to have courage to do what we're meant to do.

There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.

If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now;

if it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all.

Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows what is't

to leave betimes, let be.

A great story. I highly recommend this to people who take pleasure in good stories and even better language. The poetry blows me away. If you think you're not up to reading Shakespearean English just yet, don't worry. Penguin abridged versions are readily available everywhere. Perhaps in some time, you will on move on to the real thing and enjoy the beauty in its entirety. Happy reading! =)

Awesome combo

Tariq Ramadan: The Messenger; The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad.

I began to know this man from what rather to be an interesting review by Rashidah Abd Hamid. Then came the googling part, and I am smitten, by his words. I was trying, walking and wandering. A perfect reason to go into one bookshop from another, rest assured. Sadly, nothing went into the cart, but I'm thankful a good friend sent this book all the way across the continent(s). So, thank you!


When I flipped the very first page, I thought I was astounded, even by the acknowledgment section.One of the parts I seldom read, and then again I was wrong. Those are beautiful words by a man named Tariq Ramadan, an author, a scholar, an educator.

It is quite common for us to read the biography of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when we were kids, and even in the school syllabus. We were exposed to many of the stories right from the born of the last Prophet until the second of his last breath. Well, this time around, the book takes us to a whole new level.

What could I say? I personally think that the explanation by Mr Ramadan is interesting, precise, and somewhat what most of us forgot about this day- practicality. How, that certain events that could definitely be handy in handling issues in our society these days.

What I admire the most definitely is how Mr Ramadan is capable of interconnecting and putting the relationship from one event to another, and readers shall see that it is one concise and comprehensive text, and did I mention- practical?

Quoting Ramadan, "Whatever adversity one faces, one's strength and freedom on Earth consist in remaining constantly aware of dependence on the Creator".(p 58) Now, this is one of the issue being raised in this book- human dependence upon the Almighty God, which started from the usage of the word- in sha Allah (if God so wills)- something of what our society missed nowadays- and need to be reminded again. Indeed, human is born with humility- something that makes us all mortal and what beyond is in God's hand, after striving for hard work, dua' and tawakkal. And yes, little did we see that we are not the Best Planner of all- and Allah indeed knows best.

Roll down for some more insight view from Ede!

Paulo Coelho: Like The Flowing River.



These days, I think I am more likely to get involved with short stories. Yeap! Talking about commitment here. Needless to say that if you are opting for collection of short stories, please take a look on Coelho's Like The flowing River.

It is nowhere near the fiction- most of the stories are basically from the author's experience- of being on vacation, of meeting new faces, of going to strange places, of getting hopes crushed and built again, of moving on and so on.

While I am not a big fan of Coelho's By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Weep, I am surely positive that this book proved that Coelho's one of the greatest philosopher. Try one of the best stories- the story of the pencil; (the sneak peek)

"First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’ ‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person. ‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’ ‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’ ‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

or even the stories on the pianist of the mall, and many more. Trust me, his reflections are beautiful and inspiring.

Now, hoping in the future i will have the chance to read Veronika Decides to Die. Heard that the book is good too.

Currently reading: Fitzgerald's The Diamond as Big as The Ritz (and other short stories). Have bought Grisham's The Associates the other day, hopefully will get the chance to start on that one soon!

An update, finally

First of all, Salam Maal Hijrah everyone. Hopefully this new year will bring you more prosperity and may God provides protection and guidance, insyaAllah.

Secondly, thousand apologies for not much an update for me. "Not much" will be an understatement, I know. Excuses are lame, weknow. So no excuse this time, that I assure you.

For a restart, I have a book in the list. (I promise to continue with another later)

1) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger


What can I say about the book? Well basically I think everyone has got his hand on this book, especially since it debuted on silver screen last November. Sadly, I havent got the chance to watch the movie yet but that's not a sad case; I always prefer reading the book rather than watching its adaptation. Oh yes I'm pretty biased there I know.

The title tells it all- it lies around a couple, Henry and Clare who found each other when Clare is six and Henry is 36. The story is told based on first-person narration of both of them, so it helped us to see and understand the story from both perspectives. It is no science fiction I'm telling you, but it is told that Henry's ability (or maybe disease) is caused by stress and by the flickering images on the tv. Anyway, while at first I think it might be cool to have your other half time-traveling- it is not really. Henry couldn't tell Clare what will happen in her future, and pretty much he couldn't do much. He couldn't drive (imagine one sec he'd be on the wheel, and *blink* he's in the 70s,then whatever happen to the car, right?), and yeah, he time travels, naked. *gulp*

So I scratch my word- God forbid please don't give me any time traveler, not even in the form of Eric Bana . Sobs!

How does this story move you? By letting you share the joy of two person who loved each other, but at the same time- bring you at unease and sore you as Henry time travels. And yes, touched you when one knows that it takes more than you can give to stay normal- though you're not.

So there, pretty much the description of Time Traveler's Wife. Available in your nearest bookstore, priced at RM44.90


p.s:Oh, I have one extra book of this UP FOR GRABS! I've bought one and suddenly my sister told me she already has the book. So buzz me if you want this book :)

THE TRIAL and THE MESSENGER: THE MEANINGS OF THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD

I wrote these reviews about a year ago and I thought it might be worth the while posting it up here. For those of you digging political thrillers and Sirah books, here's a little treat from me. And for those of you who don't dig them, well, give these books a look and something might catch your eye =)

I'm really excited about reviewing books again, since I haven't done this in quite a while. In the past few weeks, I've read quite a few good books, both bought by myself and given to me by others. I can't imagine what my life would be without a decent book by my side. I'd be bored stiff, I suppose. The two books are:

1. The Trial (Franz Kafka)- translated from German into English
2. The Messenger: The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad (Tariq Ramadan)


1. The Trial

The first review is on Kafka's all-time masterpiece, The Trial which deals with the importance of the rule of law whether in a democracy or an authoritarian state, though I'd say it's even more important in the latter. We are introduced to the main character (I can't really tell wheter he's a protagonist or an antagonist) who is simply called "K" and we follow him through a lengthy legal procedure the purpose of which remains vague to the reader and to K himself. All through the chapters, I was left wondering what K had done to deserve such a thing, and being a fan of the WWII history, I recall seeing and reading many similar cases in history books and documentaries, where people were just dragged out of their homes, detained for weeks or even months when there was no evident proof to link them to any civil crimes. Detention without conviction.

As I was reading this thriller, I couldn't help but think about Malaysian ISA (Internal Security Act). This is the mark of a truly good book. It'll never cease to be relevant and about 5 decades after it was written, The Trial still manages to make a random reader like me think about the link between K and an individual Malaysian for example. Detention without conviction, no matter for what purpose, seems to me to be immoral. We are not talking about being locked up overnight here, sometimes, people get detained several yeras straight without really knowing for which specific crime they are held for. In an age when the idea of democracy is being constantly debated, it's almost inconceivable that the notion of ISA still exists, especially in a country that speaks out against Guantanamo. Martin Luther King once said something about how when we criticize people of being victimizers, we have to stop for a moment and take some time to think whether we are not one ourselves. The Trial, to me, highlights the point that where the objective of unlawful detention may be noble (to protect national unity, to keep harmony, etc), the execution may not be. And the high risks of abuse attached to the idea of detaining people without lawfully just cause is a valid ground for questioning, at the very least.

The statue of Franz Kafka

So that's what I like about this book. Some people are of the opinion that the book is just too vague. Till the very end, we are not told of what K had done, and that leaves some people frustrated. but I think that's what the novel is trying to illustrate. How such a process involves vague methods so as to prevent the detainees from taking active measures to protect their rights. They simply don't know which rights have been violated due to the vagueness of the whole thing. This brings to light the imminent danger of letting something like ISA undermine the principle of the Rule of Law, where the act of incriminating people must come with maximum certainty as to their guilt. So, for those of you who are learning Constitutional Law, this book is a great way of consolidating your understanding. Verdict: 7.5 out of 10. Giving credit where its due, I'd like to thank Ms Johnson for recommending this book to me all those years ago in KYUEM, even though I still haven't forgiven you for deserting us =)



2. The Messenger: The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad

I bought the second book in Borders near where I live now, and the prospect of being treated to a heavily historical book excited me so much that I unwrapped the book immediately after I sat down at Starbucks. And I wasn't disappointed. Ramadan is well-known the world over for a reason, and that is his highly eloquent presentation of intellectual messages. In The Messenger, for instance, Ramadan avoids falling in the claptrap of other conventional biographist like Karen Armstrong whose book, "Muhammad", I find a bit boring since there really is nothing new in it. Ramadan chose instead to serve up the story of the life of the Prophet (pbuh) in a way that's not narrative but analytical. In any history book, the first stage of information is always the "what", and once we get through that, we go the "why". And an exceptionally good history book would venture into the "lesson" behind the "what" and the "why". This book has all the three elements.


If you are not familiar with the life of the Prophet, don't worry so much as the author goes to great length to make the chronological order of the Prophet's lifetime simple and accessible. For those of you who are well advanced in Sirah Nabawiyah, plenty of references are provided, with numerous mentions of Ibn Ishaq's biographies of the Prophet, as edited by Ibn Hisham, along with Quranic verses and Hadiths, mainly by Bukhari, since Ramadan was careful not to cite weak hadiths. So, once we get past the rather tiresome task of making sure the primary and secondary sources are not suspicious, we get what seems to me to be a great treatment of an exemplary life which does not attempt at oversimplifying certain events in history. For example, the execution of the treacherous men of Banu Qurayzah has always been a matter reduced to oversimplification. Maududi took a positon that favored the expedition wholeheartedly without going into the context in which the Banu Qurayzah's treachery took place. Seems pretty one-sided to me. The closest to a fair description of the event was by Montgomery Watt, who focused instead on the breached covenant which promotes the reasonings behind the actions of both the Muslims and the Jews. But Ramadan went a step further by showing how the Prophet's decision had been necessary and not simply justified. If an act is justified, it hints at a wrongdoing that is excused, but if an act is necessary, it hints at a positive act that incurs some costs. I prefer the latter view of the Banu Qurayzah episode, which somehow suggests that Ramadan does not underestimate the perceptive level of his readers. I like that =)

Tariq Ramadan

Furthermore, there was no action of the Prophet that was trivial enough to the author. In the chapter that dealt with the passing of the Prophet, I wasn't really expecting any substantial lessons to be learned. I was wrong. Even after the Prophet's death, a powerful lesson on human qualities is presented. I really like Ramadan's way of highlighting the unpredictability of man's character and that because of that, nothing is final. Abu Bakar who was so sensitive all his life, who was most prone to weeping, was calmer than Umar who had a strong personality in the light of the Prophet's death. The lesson is, sensitivity is not a weakness and physical strength may hide a malleable heart. The Prophet didn't have to do anything to teach us all this vital knowledge on psychology. And that's how good this book is at relating events and showing how each of them represents something in the modern world. If for nothing else, this book illuminates that the way of the Prophet is never obsolete.

Verdict: 9.5 out of 10, which is the highest so far that I've given to any book. But then, I'm a huge history buff, so I may be a bit biased. But go and read the book yourself and if you think I've overvalued the book, let me know in the comments section, I'll be happy to listen to your thoughts. Happy reading, everyone =)

Original Post

Review: ANIMAL FARM and LORD OF THE FLIES

My friend from KYUEM, Meor Muslih who is now studying medicine in Prague has written two very interesting reviews on two very interesting books. The first one is Animal Farm by George Orwell. This novel was recommended by our Sociology teacher a couple of years back, amidst our lessons on Marxism/Socialism. The second book is Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Now, this is the book that I've always wanted to read but never got around to doing it. I guess that will change in the near future, thanks to Meor. So, get clicking on the link below if you find any of these two books as interesting as I did =)

Meor Muslih's reviews

IMPOSTER by Philip K Dick

Okay, okay, I know this wasn’t on the ‘Coming Soon’ list but I read this last night (at the time of writing, not posting) and happened to find it a very interesting read. Interesting enough to get me out of this lazy mode and get writing for a change. So that makes this book pretty damn good, doesn’t it?

Well, a little background for starters. Philip K Dick writes science fictions and he writes them so well, Steven Spielberg chose to turn his ‘Minority Report’ into a feature film. Too bad Spielberg didn’t have as good a taste in the main cast as he did in the script. But I guess we should be thankful that it’s Tom Cruise and not Shia LeBeouf. Anyway, back to Philip Dick. Now here’s a writer who really knows how to produce a page turner. I’m not really a huge fan of futuristic science fictions (The fact that I’m a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek should not be held against me now), but Imposter made my heart pound so fast, I thought it could burst.

A picture of no real relevance. But I like the rocket.

It’s not a novel, it’s just a short story of about 15 pages so that must be welcomed news for people like me out there (read: people with short attention span). The story takes place in the future, we are not told exactly when, amidst a raging war between the people of Earth and some outerspacers (read: aliens!). Times are tough, people are wary of differences and they don’t exactly have the time to go investigating into an accusation when one occurs. At times like this, when they call you a traitor, you are one. No trial, no ‘innocent-unless-proven-guilty’ shit, and you’re certainly not expected to care. Unless you happen to be the alleged traitor.

Spence Olham wakes up one day to the fact that he is now going to be eliminated on the grounds that he is not really Spence Olham and actually an alien-humanoid spy with a U-bomb (a very powerful bomb) inside his chest. One that can annihilate the entire planet. Intelligence has shown that humanoids are sent to replicate a specific target (in this case, Olham), kill the target and adopt all his feelings, emotions and even memories. Once the replication is made, no one can tell the difference and it’ll be as if the target is still alive, albeit with a ticking bomb in his chest.

So, Olham has to prove that a) he’s not that humanoid, b) he really is Spence Olham, and c) that somewhere out there a humanoid is walking free among humans. And he has to prove it soon, since these men out to get him will not listen to reason.

Now… how about that? I’m not gonna spoil the experience for you by providing too much background, but if I managed to get you slightly interested in the story, I guess it wouldn’t be so hard to get you clicking on the link below. Yes, folks… you can find the story online from a portal called Scribd. You can even download it if you want. God bless the net. So get reading, people, and enjoy the ride! =)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2916509/Imposter-by-Philip-K-Dick

P/S: The language employed is so very simple I really think the Ministry of Education should use this short story in the PMR syllabus. Alongside ‘The Pencil’ and ‘Of Bunga Telur and Bally Shoes’. Okay, penning off.