Black Mamba Boy

Author: Nadifa Mohamed

I cannot be bothered to rewrite the plot, so just look up the reviews on Amazon if you are interested. In short summary, the story is about Jama, a ten-year-old Somalian boy from 1930's Aden, who journeys across North-East Africa to find his father. Along the way Jama meets clansmen, friends and soldiers as Africa and Europe becomes embroiled in the Second World War.

It took me quite a while to finish this book. Not because it was a tedious read, but the death of one of Jama's friends by torture at the hand of Italian soldiers really shook me to the core. It took me several weeks before I could pick up the book to continue reading.

The novel won the 2010 Betty Trask prize, and while I found the writing style a bit inconsistent, the context was definitely spellbinding. There were nuggets of wonderful prose and the descriptions of the places were very detailed. My favourite was this dialogue between Jama and his friend when describing Italian soldiers:

"So they're like the British?" piped up Abdi.

"Yes, but they use more hair oil."

2011 Global Reading Challenge Update - the last stretch

Africa:

1. Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed - IN PROGRESS
2. The Boy who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

Asia:
1. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
2. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Australasia:
1. Genesis by Bernard Beckett - DONE
2. Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville - DONE

Europe:
1. The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk - DONE
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - DONE

North America:
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald - DONE
2. The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger - DONE
3. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery - DONE (do I get bonus points for this extra book?)

South America/Central America:
1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - in progress
2. Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

Seventh Continent/Other World:
1. God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert - DONE
2. ???

Three continents down, three in slow progress, and my own backyard not started. 7 more to go in 5 1/2 weeks...

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

I read the e-book, but realised when I got to the penultimate chapter that a hardcopy was sitting in the bookshelf downstairs all this while. Oh well...

Since this was an e-book, and written as a collection of twelve cases (such that I wasn't compelled to read the whole book in one go), it has taken me a long time to finish it. So much so that I cannot remember the plot of all the cases. What I did enjoy is the logic and deductive skills employed by the main protagonist, and having seen the recent movie, it was quite fun to picture the detective and his companion as they were in the film. Some of the cases had a very dark and sinister setting, while others were mere anecdotes of wit and cunning. All of them, though, portrayed Holmes' strong powers of observation. As he said to dear Watson in one of the first cases, "You climb the stairs everyday, but you fail to observe how many strps there are."

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Kindy raya

Since school restarted after the raya break, Aiesyah has insisted on wearing the hijab to school. Just before the Malaysia Day weekend, the kindergarten organised a combo Merdeka-Malaysia-raya celebration, where the kids were asked to put on traditional costumes. I'd say these two make quite a dashing couple, don't you think?

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P/S This was supposed to be published on my other blog, but I posted here by mistake. I think it does add more colour to this site, though.

Global Challenge 2011 Update

The Medium Challenge
Read two novels from each of these continents in the course of 2011:

Africa:
1. Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
2. The Boy who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

Asia:
1. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
2. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Australasia:
1. Genesis by Bernard Beckett - DONE
2. Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville - DONE

Europe:
1. The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk - DONE
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

North America:
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger - DONE
2. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery - DONE

South America/Central America:
1.
2.

The Seventh Continent ( either choose Antarctica or your own ´seventh´ setting, eg the sea, the space, a supernatural/paranormal world, history, the future – you name it):
1. God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert - DONE
2. 


From your own continent: try to find a country, state or author that is new to you.


Try to find novels from fourteen different countries or states.

6 out of 14, and only 3 and a half months to go. Not good.

Genesis

Author: Bernard Beckett

This book was in my wishlist for last year's Global Challenge, but I only managed to buy it this year at Kinokuniya, KLCC. My verdict? BRILLIANT!!!

The book is part science, part historical study, 100% philosophical. It is set in the future, when the World has plunged into biological warfare, economies crumble and a plague is threatening to wipe out mankind. A group of refugees set up an isolated Republic on a remote island, blocking out disease-carrying ships with a Great Sea Fence and trained snipers along the coastline.

A rigid order governs the island-state - its society is classified into Labourers, Soldiers, Technicians and Philosophers. Children are screened at birth for classification or termination, then subjected to "a rigorous education, both physical and intellectual". Any individuality is stamped out, until Adam Forde appears.

The narrative is an interview for a position in a select council, where the interviewee's chosen subject is The History of Adam Forde. Without giving too much away, this is a philosophical discourse on AI, society and government in a much more readable format than Sophie's World. About halfway through the book I was able to determine the nature, or origin, of the interviewee, but this did not lessen my enjoyment of the book. The ending, although not entirely unexpected, was still very cleverly done.

The lesson to be learnt: If you want to survive, stay within the norm.

Something Wonderful

Author: Judith McKnaught

Tall, dark and handsome nobleman. Naive, spirited, intelligent down-and-out virgin. Flaring tempers. Passionate love. Enough said.

This is one of my favourites though. Purely because they were properly married (albeit very early indeed) before any romps took place.

Almost Heaven

Author: Judith McKnaught

This was read sometime last year, and I had a long debate whether it was worth posting or not - it is hardly the most intellectual or thought-provoking material in my collection. Then I decided to be honest to myself and my readers, so here it is.

After a truly depressing experience reading 'Disgrace' for the 2010 Global Reading Challenge, I needed something light and fluffy. Well, this was hardly light and fluffy, but a good dose of pleasurable reading nonetheless. I am not including this in the Challenge, though.

It is a typical, formulaic romance where the hero is tall, dark, coldly handsome and turns out to be of noble birth. The heroine is the most attractive creature on earth, spirited and independent - with an intellectualism that she is forced to hide in a bid to be accepted by society. I can hardly remember the plot (something about Scotland, a scandalous encounter, debutantes), but reading it reminded me of being seventeen when I was still in school and we denounced the male of the species as heartbreakers and decided to stick to falling in love with fictional characters instead.

The Night Bookmobile

Author: Audrey Niffenegger

My first ever graphic novel. It appeared in a review in The Star, and so made it to my wishlist. After a meeting in KLCC, I headed straight to Kinokuniya to acquire this, and I am very glad I did.

The story is about a woman who comes across a bookmobile in the middle of the night. The librarian is Mr Openshaw, who appears to know her on sight and keeps the bookmobile open 'from dusk till dawn'. As she steps into the bookmobile, she finds row upon row of all the books - all the STUFF - that she has read in her whole life. Unfinished reads appear as half-empty tomes, while books borrowed from libraries appear with their library stickers intact.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Mesmerized, she tells Mr Openshaw that she wishes to work with him, but he tells her it is impossible. Back in the real world, she gets a day job as a librarian, and eventually works her way up to become the Library Director, when she stumbles across the bookmobile for the last time. Once again she pleads with Openshaw for a position, and again he refuses. As she reaches her home, where she is surrounded by books and little else, she decides to end her life.

When she wakes up, she finds herself in the middle of a large library - READERS' HEAVEN! She sees Mr Openshaw, who gladly receives her as a librarian. When she asks to see her own collection, though, she is told that her books are no longer accessible.

"Only those who are alive can be Readers," Openshaw tells her. As a new librarian, she is assigned as Custodian of a new Reader - a young girl who is learning to read, and her first finished book is ready to be catalogued.

I found the idea of a bookmobile with your own personal reading collection immensely poetic and romantic, but to lose it after you die? Not so heavenly after all. However, judging from Mr Openshaw's habits, Custodians do get to read their Reader's collections. As long as they have the same tastes in books, that should not be such a problem.

If I had my own bookmobile, my Custodian would notice that my reading rate increases dramatically during my maternity leaves, and it would be filled with all sorts of material and paraphernalia. I remember reading anything and everything I could lay my hands on, including children's books and manuals. He or she would also note that I have lately acquired a habit of reading soppy romance novels when my husband is away and I am feeling lonesome. Either I am pining for him or pining for my youthful years as a teenager besotted with tall, dark and handsome fictional characters.

Read more reviews here.

The Museum of Innocence

Author: Orhan Pamuk

This is my first Orhan Pamuk novel, and also his first since winning the Nobel Prize in 2006. It is a story of two lovers in 1970's Istanbul, or rather one lover's obsession with the other. This obsession ultimately manifests itself as a museum, hence the title.

Kemal is a wealthy, westernised Turk, about to become engaged to the equally sophisticated Sibel, when he meets Fusun, a poor distant cousin, in a boutique. Taken by Fusun's beauty, he offers to tutor her in Maths in preparation for her university entrance exam. Soon Kemal and Fusun are entangled in a secret relationship and constantly getting tangled between the sheets at his mother's Merhamet Apartments, surrounded by trinkets and collectibles that had outlived their use. As his engagement with Sibel draws near, Kemal truly believes that he will be able to continue his relationship with both women, and so he invites Fusun and her family to his engagement party. Unfortunately Fusun finds out from some of the party guests that Kemal and Sibel had already consummated their relationship long before their engagement - although it was only when Sibel was 'absolutely sure that there would be in the end a wedding did she give herself to him'.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Frustrated, Fusun deserts Kemal, who plunges into depression. Sibel attempts to cheer him up, but eventually she leaves him too, breaking off the engagement. Kemal then sets off in search of his lost love.
When he finally finds her again, Fusun is living with her parents in Cukurcuma and married to a film director wannabe. The husband sees Kemal as a potential financier for his dream art film, in which Fusun is to be the star. Seeing this as a means to stay in contact with Fusun, and possibly ultimately win her back, Kemal plays along and starts to spend the next 8 years with Fusun's family, having most of his suppers in the small house in Cukurcuma. As a means to preserve the memories of the time spent there, Kemal starts collecting small artefacts from Fusun's household, particularly items that Fusun has come in contact with. This growing collection is later displayed in Kemal's museum.

I found this book a bit frustrating. Kemal's obsession with Fusun seems highly superficial. Despite Kemal's assertions of Fusun's kindness and wisdom, there is hardly any evidence of such behaviour in their interactions. Instead she comes across as a bit of a bimbo, whose loftiest aspirations is to become a movie star. Even when she dies in the end, I did not feel sorry for either of them, as the circumstances that lead to the accident were a direct result of what I find extremely childish behaviour - walking off in a tantrum and then insisting on driving, all because she was protected from mixing with the film crowd so many years ago. And it was not even something that she really wanted anymore!

What I do like about the book is the wonderfully descriptive writing of the scenes and sounds of 1970's and early 80's Istanbul, the glimpses of a society trying to find its place and identity as a modern, forward-looking nation - a society that appears almost embarassed of its traditions and culture. The book is almost self-deprecating in this respect, and sometimes I suspect it is also this self-depreciation that intentionally chooses to depict Kemal and Fusun's otherwise shallow relationship as one of the greatest love stories.

Read other reviews here.http://www.themuseumofinnocence.com/

Anne of Green Gables

Author: L. M. Montgomery

Book One of this year's reading challenge is an e-book that I downloaded onto my Samsung Galaxy S (Android smartphone). I read it mostly in bed, the first half within a few sporadic sessions and, after about a week's break, a single marathon session to finish the remaining half. By then it was 2 o'clock in the morning, and I began to worry that my eyes would appear puffy at work the next day from lack of sleep and excessive crying.

I do not quite know how to categorize this book - since it starts with Anne as a young girl it could very well be considered children's literature, although the series continues into Anne's adulthood. Of course, it is a classic like 'Little Women', which I have read as a young girl. And how I wish I had read this one as a young girl.

Anne is a red-haired chatterbox of an orphan girl. She is mistakenly delivered to live at Green Gables with the Cuthberts - Marilla and her brother Matthew - who originally wanted a boy to help them around the farm. With a wild imagination and an equally impressive vocabulary of big words, Anne would end up in scrapes and endear herself to the Cuthberts and their neighbours, making friends as well as envious enemies. Her imagination is not without virtue, though, as she has a big heart and is ambitious to do good. At the Avonlea school, she proves herself to be one of their brightest students and secures a place at Queen's Academy, where she wins an Avery scholarship to do a B.A. at Redmond College.

Just before she begins her studies at Redmond, Matthew dies of a heart attack and Anne finds out that Marilla's eyesight is failing. She decides to give up her scholarship and take up a teaching position in a nearby town, which allows her to visit Green Gables often. Knowing this, her previous schoolmate Gilbert Blythe - who earlier earned  Anne's wrath by calling her 'Carrots' - gives up his teaching position in Avonlea to Anne so she could stay with Marilla. The book ends with a promising 'bend in the road ahead'.

Montgomery writes very much the way I imagine Anne would write - her description of the places are full of verbal flourishes that paint a wonderful picture in your mind. What I loved the most, though, is Anne. The author clearly loves her protagonist, imbuing her with abundant energy and passionate feelings, along with a youthful optimism that makes the reader (i.e. me) long for those carefree days. It reminds me of the times when everything was possible and the big wide world was mine for the taking. When right and wrong was as clear as black and white. I think I cried as much for those days as I did for Matthew and Marilla.

2011 Global Reading Challenge

And why not? Find out more here.

I'm going for Medium this year:

The Medium Challenge
Read two novels from each of these continents in the course of 2011:

Africa:
1. Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
2. The Boy who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

Asia:
1. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
2. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Australasia:
1. Genesis by Bernard Beckett - DONE
2. Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville

Europe:
1. The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk - DONE
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

North America:
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger - DONE
2. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery - DONE

South America/Central America:
1.
2.

The Seventh Continent ( either choose Antarctica or your own ´seventh´ setting, eg the sea, the space, a supernatural/paranormal world, history, the future – you name it).

From your own continent: try to find a country, state or author that is new to you.


Try to find novels from fourteen different countries or states.