๑۩۞۩๑ 自由在我以为的自由 ☆╮: Books

For One More Day

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:03:51 GMT

"If you had the chance, just one chance, to go back and fix what you did wrong in life, would you take it? And if you did, would you be big enough to stand it? Mitch Albom, in this new book, once again demonstrates why he is one of my favourite writers: a fearless explorer of the wishful and magical, he is also a devout believer in the power of love. For One More Day will make you smile. It will make you wistful. It will make you blink back tears of nostalgia. But most of all, it will make you believe in the eternal power of a mother's love."

-JAMES MCBRIDE, author of The Color of Water

从Tuesdays with Morrie 到《天堂遇见的五个人》，Mitch Albom 通过故事诉说着世间的一切皆因为爱。He's one of my fav writer because 每一次看他的小说都会深刻体会珍惜家人朋友的重要，感激他们给予的爱和包容。

Just like Mitch Albom mentioned in his prologue, every family is a ghost story. Because of their stories, we have ours.

This story is about Charley Benetto, a broken man, his life destroyed by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits rock bottom after discovering he won't be invited to his only daughter's wedding. And he decides to take his own life.

　　 What follows is the one seemingly ordinary day so many of us yearn for: a chance to make good with a lost parent,to explain the family secrets and to seek forgiveness.

In the book, there's a part where Charley listed out the times his mother stood up for him & the times he did NOT stand up for her. Though I can't recall (or do I just choose to forget) about times I did not stand up for my mum, it made me start to think about times that I hurt her feelings.

For One More Day 让我同感身受，明白到主角那失去母亲，很想再见她一面的切身之痛。很多时候我们都忽略了一个事实：妈妈，是我们人生中的第一个好朋友；而她也永远会是我们最好的朋友, whether we like it or not。

这是一本很棒的书，it'll make you re-evaluate your attitude to your parents & appreciate their love & care.

一个人的好天气

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:16:43 GMT

This is a book suitable for light reading.

译者: 竺家荣
作者: [日]青山七惠

简介：

小说描述了一个打零工的女孩如何与年长亲人相处，同时追寻自我、独立的故事，走向自立的一名女孩在工作、生活和恋爱中的种种际遇和心情令人揪心，小说写尽了做一名自由职业者（“飞特族”）的辛酸。内容折射出当前日本的一个社会问题，即许多年轻人不愿投入全职工作而四处打工，宁愿做自由职业者，他们不想长大，不愿担负责任，无法独立，害怕走出去看看这个世界，但是又不知道这种恐惧从何而来。

就像大部分的年轻人：去哪里都好，只要远离父母。做什么都好，只要远离家乡。不想继续读书... 搞什么...

Anyway, 人总得成长。由摸索到接受自立的生活，放开那依赖的过去。偶尔抬抬头看看周边的风景，细心体会四周的转变... 自己一个人，也是可以有好天气的。

THe Memory Keeper's Daughter

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:33:55 GMT

译《不存在的女儿》

Author: KIM EDWARDS

" Families have secrets they hide even from themselves...

It should have been an ordinary birth, the start of an ordinary happy family. But the night Dr David Henry delivers his wife's twins is a night that will haunt five lives for ever.

For though David's son is a healthy boy, his daughter has Down's syndrome. And, in a shocking act of betrayal whose consequences only time will reveal, he tells his wife their daughter died while secretly entrusting her care to a nurse.

As grief quietly tears apart David's family, so a little girl must make her own way in the world as best she can."

Above is the introduction written at the back of the book.

All the grief & drama, are the outcome of a lie. A lie as a husband's best intention for his wife. What he didn't understand was, best intentions are not always the right way.

When you tell a lie, you'll need to make another ten to round it up. The guilt that haunts him for the rest of his life, lead him to secrecy. Through photos & frames, he tried to capture the best moments & memories, the wonders of human and nature, and his love for his family. Sadly, the love captured in the photos, are not seen in the eyes of his wife.

In this book, we see family that is so closely tied together, yet are strangers among themselves. The unspoken love between father and son, leading them to barrier and fights. Until David's death, only his son starts to understand his father.

Though David's lie is too much to bear, he paid the consequences, living a life of loneliness and unforgiveness... I feel sad for him.

A really nice novel.

Kite Runner

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:32:44 GMT

譯名《追風箏的人》 by Khaled Hosseini

暑假看完了的一本书，老实说看完的那一刻感触良深；很想立刻blog下来。可是惰性导致拖了那么久，很多感觉也变模糊了。

这本书让我“看”到了离我的生活十万八千里的阿富汗。虽然全都是Muslim，却也因教派和种族之分而分划着荣华富贵和贫乏下贱的人生。

能在自由的天空下，追逐风筝是那么幸福的一件事。可是在那小小的世界中，自由却不是必然的。

有些事情和人，错过了那么一次，情同手足的兄弟再次相见时已是天人永隔。

书里让我印象最深刻的一句：世上只有一种罪，那就是偷窃。其他的罪都是另一种偷窃。

原文："..there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft."

“When you kill a man, you steal a life,” Baba said. “You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?”

很棒的一本书。

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 08:20:35 GMT

BLASTING IN TOWN NOW~~~

Yay, finally got my book..... Gonna read it now.. Updates later. Don't worry, I'll try my best not to give spoilers...

Ah~ Shit... That bloody Rita Skeeter..

For the record, I finished reading this @ 11.55pm 22-7-2007

Well, what could I say? Everything's done & over....

The following are SPOILERS so highlight ONLY if you wanna read:

- When I read about Dumbledore's past, I really hoped that it's just some bullshit of Rita Skeeter. However, when apparently it's true, I felt a bit down. Why? Why does JK Rowling spoil the perfect man image of Dumbledore?

- With the pitiful death of Snape, I felt so sorry for him. Reading chapter 33, the Prince's Tale... Poor Severus, he loved Lily all his life & all he gets is to be the bad guy, just to protect Harry, the son of the lady he loved & the guy he hated... R.I.P Prince ΦΔ (copyrighted from Hwee Jean's nick... )

- I was so touched when Professor MacGonagall & the other professors supported Harry 100% & the whole of Hogwarts, willing to fight against Voldemort. And even the house-elves of Hogwarts.... Aww... Such a touching scene...

- Yet, when Fred died, I nearly cried. Fred.... Oh Fred!! *sob* And then Lupin & Tonks, leaving behind their newborn baby, fight till the end.. *Rowling, how coul you just bring through Lupin & Tonks' death like that? How could you make their death look so unsignificant??*

- What's with the 19 years later part thingy? Really, just like the descripton of others, it feels like fan-fiction....

- Poor Dobby... Pity Mad-eye Moody, how could you just die off like that, at the very beginning???

-So Nevile Longbottom became professor of Hogwarts, so what became of Luna Lovegood?

Anyway, an end is an end. Good-bye Harry Potter....

迷藏

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 19:16:00 GMT

作者：亦舒（沒錯，又是她...）

因为一场意外，他们知道彼此存在。她身边，不曾缺乏追求者，可是心中的位置却被一个只知道名字的陌生人占据了。他，以致尋找她，可是每一次她身邊都有另一個人。整个故事有点像向左走向右走，两人不曾深交，心却挂念彼此；寻寻觅觅，远在天边近在眼前，可由一而再的错过彼此。看了真的有点气结。

介紹

迷藏游戏，外国人不过叫hide and seek:藏和觅，可是到了我们口中，突然多出一个迷字，分外黯然，意思也大为失落，有可能永远找不到。

選載
　　那一天的事，維元記得很清楚。
　　離開學校實驗室的時候已經天黑，她匆匆收拾手提電腦，穿上大衣，走到停車場，才想起忘漏了母親新近手織的絨線圍巾。
　　那條玫瑰紅圍巾人人都讚好看，母親近年眼力已大不如前，手織物特似珍貴，實驗室是公共場所，莫叫人揀了去才好。
　　維元決定折返取回。
　　她看到男朋友于申一站在車子旁等她，向她招手。
　　維元笑問：「又換新車？」
　　申一得意洋洋，「祖母送我的生日禮物。」
　　維元把書包交給申一，申一故意肩膊一沉，「嘩，足足三十磅。」
　　「我忘記圍巾，得回圖書館拿，你等我五分鐘。」
　　「我陪你去。」
　　「你陪著新車吧。」
　　申一笑。
　　維元讀出車頭字母，「嗯，巴伐利亞汽車工廠，好車。」
　　申一拉住她的手響亮地吻一下。
　　維元回轉實驗室，管理員已鎖上大門，她握住門柄，搖了幾下。
　　維元決定去請管理員開門。
　　經過走廊，她聞到異味。
　　這時同學已經散盡，清潔工人也已完成一天工作，全日最靜是這一刻。
　　學校為著節約，走廊燈光熄掉一半，有點黝暗。
　　那陣辛辣的氣味叫維元掩鼻。
　　電光石火之間，她知道是什麼氣味了，煤氣！
　　實驗室裏全是化學品，洩漏煤氣非同小可。
　　維元忘卻其他，她奔回實驗室大門，煤氣味更加濃烈，她伏在門上往玻璃張望，裏邊漆黑一片，有點可怕，她用力推門，門卻鎖上。
　　人急生智，維元大喊：「救火，救火！」
　　走廊平日人山人海，這時渺無一人，維元急得想哭。
　　維元看到警鐘，她打破玻璃，拉下手掣，鈴聲大作。
　　這時，煤氣已叫她嗆咳。
　　維元看到管理員匆匆奔近，她認得是福伯。
　　福伯一接近已知是什麼一回事，立刻掏出鎖匙，打開實驗室大門用力推開，進去關煤氣總掣。
　　維元順手開亮了燈，她看到那條玫瑰紅圍巾，立刻取回，綁在頸上。
　　福伯喘氣，趕緊開窗，「幸虧你發現得早──」
　　維元站在門口，用手指＃實驗室角落，驚恐得說不出話來。
　　福伯朝那方向一看，不禁跌腳，大叫：「我的天！」
　　角落桌子上，有一個年輕人伏在那裏一動不動，咀鼻對牢本森燈喉。
　　福伯奮力把他拖出走廊，他已經神智不清。....

一个复杂故事

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:09:03 GMT

昨天看了亦舒写的《一个复杂故事》。
书如其名，故事真的很复杂，看得我累死。

雅子，跟哥哥两个人相依为命，直到哥哥结婚；领奖学金的她就搬到大学宿舍去。
有一天，哥哥病危急需大笔费用（大嫂变卖了屋子还不够）；在朋友的介绍下，雅子卖了自己的卵子。

在医疗费用还不够的情况下，这时有个陶姓女子询问雅子当代母，不过是用她丈夫的精子和雅子的卵子（所以基本上根本就是雅子自己的孩子）。

雅子怀孕三个月左右的时候，接获消息说陶姓女子要跟丈夫离婚，所以不要孩子了，解除合约，然后打掉孩子；赔偿费用照付。
不肯拿掉孩子的雅子搬走了，打算自力更生生下孩子独立抚养。
可是才过了不久，突然有个男人找上门来——陶姓女子的前夫，郁，也就是孩子的父亲。他说孩子出世后，他要回孩子。

两人争执期间，郁爱上了雅子；而郁的家人也很喜欢雅子，大家都希望雅子进门，可是雅子不肯... 直到孩子出世后，DNA证明说双生子中，只有一个是郁的孩子（另一个不懂是陶用哪个男人的精子）；郁家就只要会自己的血脉而不要另一个，所以找律师争夺抚养权。

这个时候，雅子就逃到了加拿大工作，不久后定居... 长久以来，雅子跟郁都保持联络，就像朋友。

一直到接近结局时，才恍然大悟为什么郁追求那么多年（而且还是孩子的父亲），雅子都不肯下嫁... 原来她是同性恋！

... 看完故事后，累....真的佩服亦舒，脑袋可以想象到那么复杂的一个人际关系。
不过我觉得现实生活里还真的不排除这个故事的可能性，毕竟现在的社会现象无奇不有。

[漫画]Death Note

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:27:19 GMT

看了死亡笔记电影后，对整个故事的发展很有兴趣，就去找漫画来看。

如果你可以随时随地无声无色地杀死想要杀死的人，你会怎样？你会想杀死所有痛恨的人？杀死所有恶人罪人？之后呢？小畑健绘画的《死亡笔记》就是一个这样的故事。

下载到的，都是连载的版页... 108小册，看到我有点想一头撞向墙，眼睛也开始花了。

不过看到结局了，还是挺令人满意的... 夜神月，L，尼亚，寐罗...一个个斗智，真的很厲害。真的愛上L和尼亞...

在此献上轻松四小格....

我想跟你走

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:40:08 GMT

前一阵子跟yunjia她们到葡国茶餐厅去吃饭后，我跟秀蓉到书城去买了些书。我买的其中一本：刘若英的《我想跟你走》。

虽然我喜欢刘若英，也常听说她是才女，不过很惭愧的，我并不懂她有写书。这是我第一次看她的书。

才看了第一篇《永远不搬家》，我就默默地流泪了。刘若英诉说着当政府要回收她全家住了不知多少年的老房子。婆婆其中的不舍、老房子的记忆、老房子的味道...还有最后当整个房子空了，最后要将公公的牌位请出时对公公说的话；这一切一切都让我感动流泪。因为我明白其中不舍的感觉。

小时候由于爸爸的工作，每隔几年就搬迁一次。小时候很多朋友常说：好羡慕你哦，可以搬家，搬来搬去；我都没机会搬，永远住同一个房子。可是他们不明白对一个地方的留恋，很想落地生根的感觉。那么多年来，我心中的遗憾就是每当有人问：你是哪里人？我总是有很复杂的答案。我通常回答说“巴生人”，可是事实上，我除了孩儿时期在那里住了一两年，我不曾在那里成长。那你是哪一间学校的？我就得回答“怡保的圣母女中”，然后慢慢解释其中的原因。
巴生，说到底只是我的出生地，也是我父母的家乡。不过学奶茶在书里说的一句：家人在哪里，你的家就在哪里。现在，爸爸退休了，我们全家搬迁回巴生了。虽然没什么童年回忆，没什么朋友在这里，可是家人外婆阿姨，所有的亲戚所在，也就是我的家了。
我每一次搬家，都会对那只是住了两三年的家眷恋，然后很伤心。所以看到奶茶写下要搬离整个童年回忆（几乎一生）的老家的伤悲，我非常了解。

至于老家在哪里？我也说不定了。小学时住过的几个房子都是租回来的，搬了家，也就只能靠记忆中的模糊片断和一些旧照片让我回忆那些房子的格局。至于中学在怡保的家，在我们搬走的时候就变卖了，记忆虽然还在，可是已经回不去了。
记得中学的毕业册，每个同学都很清楚地写下自己的地址，因为他们肯定不论他们人在哪里，家都一定还在那里不会变。毕业册上，我没法写下家里的地址，因为当时听说爸爸要搬回巴生，可是又还没找到房子，所以我写下的：是我外婆家（在巴生）。我以为，外婆家至少是永远都在的。去年，舅舅买下了我家隔壁，外婆也成了我们的邻居。小时候的记忆，那间我外婆住了好多年，妈妈在那里出嫁的老排屋，在阿姨不舍的情况之下接手了。装潢后，虽然跟以前的环境变了，可是值得欣慰的就是至少那还是我将来还可以走进去回忆的地方。

刘若英的老家

书里的第四篇《萧副官在》，说到从湖南跟着她公公到台湾的萧副官，四十年来都不曾回家乡。到最后他终于回去了，了了心愿了。
“他盼了四十年的一趟路，去了，回了，也就是终点站了。”。我想起了我的曾外婆，当年她跟着曾外公来到马来西亚后，一直很想回去。结果在我二年级那年，她终于回去海南探亲了，而且也是终点站了。我还记得当年妈妈阿姨都哭得很伤心，不过那也是她的心愿了。

刘若英写的，都只是生活实录。不过就因为是实录，也就更接近生活中事。她人生的心情，其中的感动，让我好几度默默流泪。*一直要很注意不要让朋友将我当疯子看。*
我只能说：这本书很好看（seeyan 也这么说），我也更加爱刘若英了。哈哈~

The Giving Tree

Sat, 04 Mar 2006 18:57:41 GMT

THE GIVING TREE by Shel Silverstein

It's an illustration book with a very simple yet meaningful story.

There was once a tree that fell in love with a boy.

He played with the tree, climbed up the tree, ate its apple... He loved that tree, and so the tree was happy.

Anyhow, time passed and the boy grew up.

The tree felt lonely most of the time.

After a very long time, the boy came back & he was not happy.

He needed money, so the tree gave him all its apples to sell for money.

It felt happy after that.

So the story goes, everytime the boy came back after a long period, he needed something. The tree gave him its branches and its trunk, just to make him happy..

What was left was a lonely tree bark, but it was happy.

Many years later, an old man came back to the tree..

The tree apologize for not having anything more to give to him, to make him happy..

The man (boy) said I needed nothing now but a place to rest.

So the tree bark stretched itself as tall as it could, the remaining of it, for the boy to rest on it. And both of them were happy...

爱的约定

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 14:44:47 GMT

爱的约定
原名〈这不是过眼云烟〉

2054年的国外读书的硕士林滟，
听到奶奶要去世的消息，
匆忙赶回国内，
一次车祸后。她回到了50年前，也就是2004……

如此的深爱彼此，却无法相厮相守

抱着对彼此相约50年后再相见的信念，勇敢的活下去

很无意的，闯进了不属于自己的世界

心动了、爱上了、改变了，

就像是刻在石头上的印记，就算离开了，印记还是会留在那里

生命中的每一个人，有意或无意

都是联系在一起的一个圈子

完成自己和身边的人，美丽的拼图

the five people you meet in heaven

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 17:35:57 GMT

《你在天堂里遇见的5 个人》

Author: Mitch Albom

有些故事注定要从结局讲起的——其实，所有的结尾又何尝不是开端呢？

本书让每一个读完本书的人都成为锁链中的一环，分享着同一个秘密：天堂里，会有五个人，为了五段不同的记忆，等候你长大，相爱，衰老，死亡，等待着解答你最后的疑问。因为，我们每一个人都会影响到另一个人，世界上各式各样的故事，说到底都是同一个。

“为什么人们觉得他们应该出席葬礼？

在灵魂的深处，人们知道所有的生命都是相互关联的。死亡把一个人带走的同时，也留下了另一个人，在被带走和被留下的短短距离中，生命改变了。”

“没有一个生命是毫无意义的。

只有当我们觉得孤独的时候，我们才是在浪费自己的生命。”

“自我牺牲其实是生命的一部分。它不是需要惋惜，而是值得追求的东西。”

“宽恕。

没有人生来就带着愤怒的。当我们死了，灵魂便从愤怒中解脱出来。”

“失去的爱依然是爱，只不过形式不同而已。你虽然见不到他们的笑容，不能给他们端食物来，不能揉乱他们的头发….但是，当这些感觉减弱的时候，另一种感觉正在升华。回忆变成了你的伴侣。

生命一定会终结，爱却不会。”

This book is an inspiration... Let you re-examine your life. We are all fearfully & wonderfully made by God. He has a plan for every one of us, a plan that was made even before we are born...Don't ever think that your life is meaningless. You might not know the purpose of your existence now but you'll know sooner or later..

Comin' to an end

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 20:48:38 GMT

Ok... so it's 4.30AM and i've just finished Half-Blood Prince...

To be frank, I'm too sad to sleep now. I've always knew that Dumbledore wouldn't live forever to protect Harry Potter and I knew that he's going to die in this book as a spoiler friend told me last afternoon when i'm half-way through finishing the book. Yet, to read about how Dumbledore died, and his funeral made my heart filled with grieve.. Sleepless night, I think....

The whole book is almost like... Dumbledore is so close to not being killed, yet..

So now Hogwarts might be closing down due to the fact that a teacher killed the Headmaster. And Harry has decided to track down Voldemort and Snape by himself, to kill them. Well, of course Ron and Hermione will wanna fight with him all the way..

Ok, I'm being a spoiler here as well...I know, i'm a totally idiotic spoiler.. I'm really sad over Dumbledore's death.. I mean.. He's the greatest wizard ever appeared in the whole series so far, right?

Wondering how long would it take for JK Rowling to finished up the 7th book, giving it an end...

HARRY POTTER and the Half-Blood Prince

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 08:18:59 GMT

Oh yeah yeah yay.....!!

HARRY POTTER and the

Half-Blood Prince

is releasing TODAY!!!!

This one on the left is the Children version, which I am getting... Coz the rest of my series are in kid's version cover!!! While this one on the right is the Adult's version, which I know its cover is absolutely better...

Too bad i'm not in KL nor I'm with Daiyanti and Bahanee. Or else, I might suggest we do it again... waiting overnight outside KLCC, to be the first hundred customers to get all the discounts & giveaways in Kinokuniya!!!

But it's okay, I still get my copy of it today.. So tonight I'll have somethings to do, FINALLY~~!! Haha, thinking I'm childish? I don't care... For those who wanna be spoilers, please be quick or else I'll be the spoiler for you... hahahah...

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面包树上的女人

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 12:54:59 GMT

从上海回来几天了，有一点无所事事的感觉。

妹妹告诉我她最近迷上了张小娴的书。

今天她放学回来，手上也拿着一本 - 《面包树上的女人》

我很久很久已经没看张小娴的书了。

几年前看了几本，但都觉得她的书不怎么样。

是太久没看她的书的关系？还是纯粹太闷了？我就开始读起这本书来。

这本书，我看到一半就没什么兴致看下去了，不过我看书喜欢看完，所以还是忍了下来。

书里的几个女人，从中学开始就认识，一起分享她们的喜怒哀乐，一起追求爱情。

这本书，读得我很想骂人。这几个女人，好男人不爱，专爱坏男人。偏偏又想要坏男人是他们的唯一。自己的生活就只为那一个男人打转。一个两个一只祈求友好男人爱护自己，偏偏又只会伤好男人的心。

我只能说，整本书很烂。整本书写的就只是诉说着几个女人，让我觉得愚蠢的爱情观。

但，很多女人就是甘愿被爱情盲目理智。无奈.... 我好像有些明白为什么我妹妹会喜欢这本书了... 因为她就是一个被恋爱盲目心智的女生吧？