Book reviews on books re a child, a criminal , a pair of twins and a sepulchre

A Theory of Relativity by Jacquelyn Mitchard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a book I would not have normally picked up. But I was bored and at my sister house so I browsed through her bookshelves.

The story is about a custody fight of a child from a parent whose was adopted. Long story short it is not easy if you died and you were adopted, your child maybe fought after for custody.

The writing is too descriptive for my taste. I don't think so we need a lot of the histories or days of the secondary characters. There seems to be a lot of backstory that also dont really panned out or ended unsatisfactorily.

It was OK lah only in short. I can't seems to find a positive point in the book but it is readable.

The Racketeer by John Grisham

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

About: A man was wrongly imprisoned and while in prison a Federal Judge was murdered, and this man found this is as an opportunity for his second chance, a way out.

The book is just OK with me because I dont like the main character. He was double frame but cant he be any nicer? Boo hoo your luck sucks, but basically while he was innocent, trials in life just doesnt make him a good person.

The book is fast paced and you immediately knows what is going to happen next, though it is not as thrilling as other John Grisham. The details are good though.

Not sure if I had outgrew Grisham or I picked up one of his lesser books recently, but this and the last one I had just read is just blah la. Enjoyable but I can't wait to finish it off for better things.

 

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A pair of twins moved into the apartment bequeathed to them after their aunt dies and came to know their interesting neighbors.

I love the story, it was a beautiful story, fanciful, wispy, ethereal.. there are all words that came to me when ready the book.

The twins together is a whole person, but apart is just a set of personality you get annoyed of. A lot of the scenes are set in graveyards, thus reminded me a little of Neil Gaiman The Graveyard Book, where the feel of the story is the same. Though Gaiman have a sense of humour in his books.

However the absence of humour does not mean I think it is bad. The book feels light and heavy at the same time, sadness and exultant. A good book, good story and beautifully written.

Sepulchre by Kate Mosse

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

About: 891. Seventeen-year-old Léonie Vernier and her brother abandon Paris for the sanctuary of their aunt's isolated country house near Carcassonne, the Domaine de la Cade. But in the nearby woods, Léonie stumbles across a ruined sepulchre - and a timeless mystery whose traces are written in blood.

2007. Meredith Martin arrives at the Domaine de la Cade as part of her research for a biography she's writing. But Meredith is also seeking the key to her own complex legacy and soon becomes immersed in the story of a tragic love, a missing girl, a unique deck of tarot cards, an unquiet soul and the strange events of one cataclysmic night more than a century ago... ( as taken from Google Reads)

2 different women in 2 different era , brought together by an evil force that consumed one and threaten the other.

It was a good book. I read other reviews and many was not very favorable, but I like it enough. Some of the characters motivation seems a little weak to me, it feels like ... sheeesshhh overreaction much.. However I enjoyed the 2 characters.

I like both Leonie and Meredith. They are flawed but I like them. They feels human to me. Like Labyrinth the fantasy element also seems to be the weak link here. The danger from the supernatural evil doesn't feel threatening nor make much sense. I think it is either less is more or if you want to create a sorta history of the evil...there really should be more details, intricacies, and something that doesnt feel text bookish.

This still will not deter me to find the 3rd Languedoc series though. The supernatural element is weak IMO, but I like the characters she weaved.

View all my reviews

Snipped

Lepas balik dari pantang to I saw Brownie punye balls to gotten really big. And he is very chummy with a lovely calico stray depan rumah.

Selalu la lepak sama2 and tenung je si calico ni. Mesti hormone tengah nak warm up and figuring out what he should do. Haha. But I never noticed any mounting and sebelom start baik la hantar untuk spaying and neutering, 

So I buat the appointment at my usual vet whose rate is almost the same as klinik kembiri punye and I decided to spay calico ni sekali as to avoid her having kittens in front of the house again. Before this she ade kittens dekat rumah ni tapi after I balik pantang tadek dah kittens tu. Momma cat je ade. Probably ade orang amik the kittens because they are so fluffy and gebu. 

I nama kan die Siti btw.  She reminded me of Kurap due to the coloring of her fur. So I guess I have a little bit of affection to this cat and hence the TNR (trap neuter release) for her.

So hantar rabu lepas tu and baru amik Jumaat which is today.

I also brought the kitten from my sister house yang mata die nak kena operate to the same vet. Sebelom ni die macam sakit mata and around a week back my eldest sister perasan yang mata one of the kitten ni macam dah nak terkeluar. Horror. 

So long story short, the kitten need to have one of the eyes removed. At least the other eye are OK. So the kitten are operated the same day the cats I brought for mandul also. And boleh balik on Jumaat also. 

One of the eyes yang dah kena jahit since dah dibuang.

The kitten one eye tadek aside, is pretty much ok. Masuk cage di rumah my sis terus cari makan. Hope it continue to be ok. Brownie dah pretty much back to normal dah. Siti je la stress di dalam cage sebab she was a stray kan, mana biasa kena kurung. But she took it ok so far. 

Hectic lah

Its Friday and I got a a lil bit of a flu here and Aziz is drinking Ribena while Saif is cooing away happily and NOT SLEEPING.

Sebab tadi Saif tanak tido. Tak sempat nak masak lunch for Aziz so I ordered pizza je. Beria nak pizza, then bile makan satu slic jee. Pffthhh. Sebab tengah duk makan, Saif nangis, I left the pizza box on the table and found Bobby manage to open the pizza box by nudging it open with his head dan tengah licked my sambal bilis pizza !!!

Pffftt. Bobby. The heck you did with my pizza!!

Anyway last week we went to Ikea dengan baby wear Saif and Aziz in stroller. Fuh. Went to buy new bookcase for moi ( I am running out of space ) and closet utk Aziz .

As for babywearing,  Ok la the baby wearing though I still need time to be really comfy with the wrap, tapi senang lagi dari handle 2 strollers. Bile Aziz dah tanak duduk dalam stroller, I put Saif in there pulak sebab after 2 or 3 hours in the Boba Wrap die dah bangun dan nak susu pulak.

Met another mother with 2 child in tow and wearing a  Boba wrap exactly like mine for her baby in an elevator and we smiled at each other.

Dalam nak bayar tu time tu la Aziz memekak and Saif pon dah start macam rimas in the wrap, so I headed to the benches and bough apple juice for Aziz and die minum sambil baring beside me and I BF Saif. I gotta say this is getting to be easier the second time around. The first time around, I can never BF in public.

There was some hot issue about this from what I can remember, but to me if the person is appropriately covered the whole time, it should be no issue. I think there is a baby room but I remembered baby room in IKEA with the smells and the poo and yeeeshhh I can't deal with that. Also Aziz wont be contented to be stuck in a room with me, so I just throw on my nursing cover and find someplace a little bit discreet and just BF.

Anyway talking about babywrap and BF ing , I had just watched this video

Funny and exactly of what we mothers are accustomed to... being judged at or judging people on. To me this video only covered a slice of what people with or without children keep on judging about how to raise kid/kids, but the gist of it is at the end of the day, the child is what matter.

Oh so time lunch tu sebab I am sick of nasi , went to Vivo for lunch. Ok la.

Vivo punye dessert murahh sebab tu I went there and the food is OK ish. Hmmm.. Brownie and ice cream. All in all it was a successful outing with 2 kids in tow. Hahaha.

Oh well. Saif dah start cranky die. Later dudettes.

What I am seeing now in front of the laptop.

SAHM in training

Since my pantang had already finished and my home had finished most of the renovation works, I am now at home to take up duties as SAHM. It is hard I tell you. And boring and monotonous. The cooking bits especially yang I selalu kelam kabut. Ikutkan hati nak aje beli tetiap hari, hahaha.. tapi bangkrap la laki nanti. Also lama2 muak gak. After a series of kedai food, nasi , telo dadar and kicap pon sodap aje. 

Also is tiring as the house feels kinda berdebu but husband cakap sebab the front porch area still debu and bising at me because I opened the door. Rimas la rumah tutup, tapi I dah mop satu rumah ( my czer stitches are throbbing now ) baru rase sedap sikit pijak rumah. There are still a tonne of things that needed to kemas. I just do what I can la in the little time I have. 

I had met my gynae for post natal checkup and all was good. Cam biasa die akan buat pap smear and she advised that the next kid .. should be 3 year ye gap. woah. Tapi I initially felt like that pon. Tengok la how rezeki kan, Also after my gynae checkup , bawak Saif for his rotavirus vaccine and his eczema. Last week eczema kat pipi die was really bad . 

It kinda looks painful too.  His paed prescribed Ezenide to be applied for 3 to 5 days . Lepas letak 3 days je dah OK! 

Hari ketiga dah tak merah. Lega! 

Also we can't see from pictures but currently his eyes are grey. Though I think it is slowly going to hazel. I think he is gonna take after his dad eyes. Aziz eyes are dark brown, so kite tengok Saif punye camne.

The cats are super glad I am home and I can see it from Wolly because she kept on giving me her belly to rub. The others just want wet food. And I still cant believe how big Brownie gotten. I think he is gonna be bigger than the other cats in the house. 

And Aziz had now started a new playschool! Sebelom ni die pergi nursery je, and since I am not sure when or if I am going to work , we started him on a half day playschool and tengahhari comes, I picked him up. He cried the first 2 days, sebab semua very foreign to him. Biasa la. But lepas tu he is OK. I think he enjoyed the new school and the teachers like him. 

Anak mommy dah besa

So at least my morning I have a little bit of a free time ( if Saif behaves) and manage to do some cleaning / housework. Lepas amik Aziz tu, kenkadang pening gak la nak juggle. Mostly it looks like this at home around during late afternoon.

My boys!

Excuse the mess, sometimes I just cant bother la. Haha. 

A Dino Day

I was obsessed with dinosaur when I was small. I try to learn a lot of the dino names and the era though if you ask me now, I can't tell you anything because my mind is like a leaky sponge. 

Anyhow I always like to buy a lot of dino theme toys or clothes or books for my kids. So Aziz kinda likes dino too. Not obsessed but he enjoyed them. 

So when I saw in IG that Dila brought his son to Dinoscovery aku duk la beria ria cakap kat laki aku. ( Yang lagi excited nak tengoknye mak die bukan anak die) . Dekat je, as it is at Avenue K.

So we went there last Sunday ( it was also end of pantang days! ) and I enjoyed it and Aziz enjoyed it to an extent. 

Aziz sampai2 excited terus nampak badan dino ni. With ekor die gerak2. Dekat luar entrance tu ade board with some game ... Aziz sibuk nak main. 

Sebelom masuk entrance. I looked huge tapi walaupon I stress tapi I know the weight will shed off later on. Especially bile nak balik rumah dah ni. Try Boba Wrap and it is easy enough IF you wrapped it tightly around your body and the way doing it is you wrap it around you first and the material trailed di bawah.... Dan I didnt consider before how distressed I am trying to tie it around me at a parking lot sebab I don't like the idea the material trailing the dirty parking lot floor. I am somewhat of a germaphobe. So this thing is DISTRESSING I tell you and I felt like buying JUMPSAC because while the wrap is OK , I just can't handle the thought it had contacted a dirty floor. JUST CANT. ( My mild germaphobe flaring tu) . Ehem. Maybe I should practice without it trailing on the floor. 

Ehem. Anyway. Those interested in knowing the fee is 

With MyKid and MyKad 

Adult - RM25 

Kid - RM35

Those under 60 cm is free ... which is basically babies who can't walk yet. So Saif free! Yeay. Aku baru nak protest if Saif pon kena bayar. 

Adult cheaper sebab it have more activity for kids kan. So we entered and all except Saif were given a vest to wear and activity map and bracelet for the kid. Memula tu Aziz cuak sebab the Dino exhibit was dark and in the dark , animatronic Dinosaur must seems very realistic to a small kid. So awal2 tu die cuma nak clinged on to his father. Nangis2 bile Dino tu bukak mulut. Then bile sampai tempat activity for kids baru die warm up. It took him a while but he had fun in the end. So that is money well spent. 

Place where kids can dig through the sand la kekonon cari tulang dino. Aziz is more interested in digging and collecting sand rather than looking for bones.

Saif pon well behaved slept most of the dino exhibit time and woke up bile abang die dah sampai tempat activity. Manage to breastfed him at a corner while abang continue on. 

Wearing the vest and this is a spot where kids can colours . 

There are 6 activity spots for kids to play with addition to a 3D short movie and colouring area. Activity macam wall climbing and main tail dino tu Aziz takleh main lagi as he is much too small, but he did enjoyed himself on other. Ok lah. Ni kira as bawak die suka suka just before die kena enter playschool baru. 

I was surprised when he requested to climb this dino. Ingatkan memula die takut. Tinggi sebab kena naik tangga but ade orang kat situ boleh tolong and jaga die, so Aziz seems ok. Masa time pergi ni pon tak ramai orang so I like it sebab the kids tadekle berebut for their activity time. 

Tak lama kut sini. Dalam an hour lebih camtu, dengan kite orang gi makan Ah Cheng Laksa. Ok. Baby dah menjerit. :D

2014

Tuka gambar to dusk in Tokyo sebab epilepsy aku tengok gamba sebelom ni. 

It had been an eventful year. 

For the world. The Gaza terror ( war is too bias because only the Gazans suffered the most), the Sewol South Korea ferry where a lot of school teens are the major  casualty, the Peshawar school massacre where a lot of children died needlessly on some misguided ideas of revenge, also the year most of the world are introduced to Boko Haram and their despicable acts of kidnapping school girls, the Sydney cafe siege where Muslims every where despaired when one lone man tarnished the name of Islam and the death of two innocents. 

And I am not getting to Malaysia yet. Of course MH370 and MH17. Even remembering it is painful, I can't imagine the pain of family and loved ones of the passengers.  The loss of Air Asia plane recently while it is an Indonesian plane, but it still hit too close to home. Cameron Highlands ravaged lands. The floods in East Coast that is still ongoing. The water crisis in Selangor.

In short it was a bad year all around. 

Personally it have its ups and down. 

The birth of my second son. Rezeki enough to have 2 renovations in a year. Our Japan trip. The addition of the 2 cats. 

My resigning from the company after close to 7 years. Kurap gone from our lives. 

I dont know what 2015 will hold. I am not sure where my career will head or if I will have any in light of this economic downturn. Aziz starting a new playschool. Juggling 2 kids. So much uncertainties and for someone who hated change I guess I feel as if I am in a limbo. 

Lets hope the best for us and Malaysia. 

Kitchen makeover gitu

Makeover sangat. We were renovating the kitchen this year and bilik air bawah masa bulan 2 dulu. Punye la lamaaa baru aku nak update..  It took around a month and half to siap.

Dari masuk rumah tu we didnt do anything to the dry kitchen. We only added a wet kitchen at the back. Just some space to chop onions and cook, tapi tu lama dah. The dry kitchen we only ripped out some moldy cabinets and left some other moldy cabinets to be used.

The old cabinets

The back of the kitchen and our old meja makan. The meja makan set tu pon is actually from the old owners. You can see the pintu there that led out to the wet area of the kitchen.

During the middle of renovation. You can see the sink there. We put it there initially masa first masuk rumah, then we decided to yank it away for this renovation sebab we hardly use it. 

The floor tu it is not wood. Tiles actually. My husband nak tiles yang rupa wood tu. I ok je

Rindu la Kurap. No moar kucing yang jalan sana sini jauntily with tail up in the air.

Time masa renovate belakang ni since the cat area was used to store all workmen stuffs for about a month tetiga ekor kena boarding. Time ni ade Bobby , Gollywolly and Kurap je. Kucing2 ni lepas kite orang bawak balik terus sibuk nak hidu2 area 'baru' Tu tengah mode kepoci la tu. 

This is what it looks like after it had just finished, yang gamba last tu is our store room atau maid room. 

Kabinet belakang ni is where I stored all my electrical gadgets stuff and periuk or baking ware. We didnt yanked out the tiles at dinding sebab save budget and also eh ok je aku rase.

The see through cabinet tu, I also put IKEA stacking shelf tu so I could maximize the space for glasses and everyday plates. 

That 3 shelf tu I memula mintak 2, tapi contractor lupa. Aku pon malas bising, and there is A LOT of medicine box there. I kept on cleaning up and it still kept on being added there. Balik rumah nanti cleaned lagi area tu. 

What it looked like now when we are actually using the kitchen. Could stand for a less cluttered look tapi tu nanti la. Haha. Meja makan pon we bought new but pakai balik the old kerusi. Meja yang lama tu very bulky and heavy and dah nak tertanggal pon certain part. The kerusi tu ok je lagi. Repaint balik je. Fridge beli baru because old fridge tu tak cukup la. Tah hape harta simpan dalam fridge pon tak tahu. Masak sekali sekala gak. Haha/. 

I didn't take the old picture of the old bathroom sebab tak ingat also it was too dismal looking. 

I  really love the tiles. It is a small bathroom and the white tiles makes it look bigger. 

Kaler kabinet and tiles tu pon I purposely chose a bright color sebab dapor ni tak cukup pencahayaan so dark color makes it depressing. 

Ok ni gambar bunga, tapi sebab aku tak amik gambar plug tu and this picture just happened to have the plug up close, I put it up here. My mom suke the idea of this plug. Macam if you squint at previous pic it is act like an extension. Suke sebab tak payah nak tarik semua electric stuffs to one place. And I love tiles biru tu, it is actually tiles you use for swimming pool. Hehe. 

Sekarang we are renovating the kids room and the front of the house and the library a bit. Tu new year la baru update. Harap bukan end of year 2015 baru aku letak kat blog ni. Hehe. 

Of War criminals, Magicians and Lawyers

The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Dark Room tells the stories of three ordinary Germans: Helmut, a young photographer in Berlin in the 1930s who uses his craft to express his patriotic fervour; Lore, a twelve-year-old girl who in 1945 guides her young siblings across a devastated Germany after her Nazi parents are seized by the Allies; and, fifty years later, Micha, a young teacher obsessed with what his loving grandfather did in the war, struggling to deal with the past of his family and his country.

3 stories in one novel. If there are some similar theme with all of these stories is that there are all related to a Nazi sympathizer/officer or are ones.

The first stories was simple and sad. The second of the starving children story on a journey to their grandmother are the one I most can't stand. It is too heartbreaking. I kinda like skim read it. Not that I skip here and there. But I kinda scanned the words without delving much into it. Too painful. The third story is the one I kinda most exasperated with. I guess I don't get the guilt. I get survivor guilt. But the obsession with your ancestors sin is your sin is not something I get behind.

However I might feel about the stories the writing is simple and powerful. For a debut novel, this is a well thought of book. Most of the time I can't identify with the characters but maybe because I can't imagine being in their spot. I hated the way she written the dialogue though.

The Prestige by Christopher Priest

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A story 2 magicians obsession in trying to outperform each other.

I never watch the movie as I never got the time. Every time it is on I seems to miss it. But I was intrigued enough to pick up the book.

First going in the narrative of Andrew I am impatient on how it will play out. but once it start with Borden I was entertained. Then Angier narrative makes the book even more intriguing and want me to reread again Borden narrative on what I had missed. I love the twist at the end. I am haunted by the ending and wondered what really ending.

If there is one complain I could find is that the ending leave me wanting and with more questions. (Slight spoiler ahead) What happened to Angier? Why there are so many prestige of him?. What Andrew going to do with his brother?

A very entertaining and intriguing story with unsatisfactory ending though it maybe what the author wishes. I did read that Christopher Priest thinks the movie is brilliant and wishes he apply the same way on how it goes in the movie to the book. So I am now wishing I could watch the movie.

The Street Lawyer by John Grisham

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

About: A lawyer violent encounters with a homeless man who held him hostage sets him on a path of self discovery and a coverup at his firm.

Grisham books to me is like a snack. not filling, but a fast, enjoyable and light reading. This book is exactly that. Though I gave it a 2 because it feels a bit preachy.

Felt throughout the book that I am being fed statistic and facts about homelessness but nothing on the emotion side of it. I never get a clear picture on what kind of person Michael is and that makes him boring, even during the most exciting point of his life he seems to be disassociated.

The summary is that while I enjoyed the book , the story feels hollowed.

Budak dah Botak

On the Saturday morning after Saif was born, the 7th day, I said to my mum that kalau kat JB I would asked my mother to call Ustazah Masyitah who used to do cukur rambut for the cucu babies in my mom circle of kelas agama friends to come and do Saif. Not a big thing, just a few people and just some simple makan-makan after. 

But my abang ipar friend who is an Ustaz is here on KL so he called the young Ustaz up ( ustaz ranggi.. ) and mentioned my intention. My mom decided to cook nasi lemak and we just invited very few people for the makan. 

So on the 8th day, Saif punye rambut cacak2 tu dah tadek. 

I pump milk the night before so budak kecik will lessen his fussing time tu 

My baby memang suke buat duckface

Abang Aziz kat belakang tu berlari sana sini, tak kesahkan adik die kena cukur.

I think the young ustaz kurang sikit pengalaman cukur so lama sikit nak habis cukur. Rambut Saif pon banyak. Afterwards Saif was a bit freakout die kena manhandle camtu so it took some time to calm him down, but he was ok je. We kumpul2 the rambut afterwards dan laki aku I think maseh belom bawak timbang to kira the weight in gold. Nanti kena ingatkan. 

Ni rambut die nak tumbuh balik dah in weird fiery pattern. Laki aku cakap macam dalam watak anime. 

Latest photo of budak botak yang you can see rambut tumbuh di atas je setakat ni. Hehe. 

In term of growth I think it is ok. He feels heavier, seluar masa die mula2 pakai keluar hosp no longer muat, the last checkup his weight naik tremendously and the pediatrician could not be more pleased. Yesterday pon baru bawak Saif for follow up check die punye circumcision. Like Aziz we decided to do the circumcision masa die umur 3 hari. We know how easy it was to care when they are that young so which is why we do it. Tali pusat die tanggal on his 12th day and the circumcision ring tu lagiii lamaa. Almost hari ke 17 ke 18 baru nak tanggal. Laki aku dah risau. My sister advised to soak in the bathtub masa mandi tu lama than usual kasi anu die kecut sikit and ease the ring off. And by easing it off, meaning mende tu sendiri tanggal sendiri la, the extra effort needed from our end is just soaking him. And memang masa tengah die berendam tu la the ring came off. Sekian protip untuk ibu2 yang tidak tahu. 

Oklah. Ape nak blog lagi pon dah tak ingat. Baby tengah menjerit. 

Post recovery bits and coping with new life - somewhat

People always said every child birth is different and this is true! Let see what gonna happened if I am to have a 3rd child pulak. 

This time the post recovery is very painful one. I didn't remembered when I had given birth to Aziz it was this painful. That first 2 nights I was racked with sweats and contraction pain. I felt so hot that 2 days and was sweating a lot that my hair was disgusting while everyone in the room was feeling cold. It was made even worse because cesarean post op meant no bath for at least 2 or 3 days! But I didn't dare to let the temp drop even further in the room because I don't want my newborn baby sick because of the cold. And the contraction pain this time is really intense. I could cry, it is almost as bad as during labour contractions. I asked the nurse and she said memang normal, usually those who had undergone cesarean the second time will feel the pain even more. She said the third usually not that bad. Mesti cakap camtu supaya mak2 tak stop at 2. Haha. But sometimes the contraction pain was so bad that I am tempted to stop at 2 jugak! I can still feel it on and off during this past weeks but not so bad. 

So I guess the decision I made to not have visitors during the first few days after my operation was the right one for me. I only want family to visit. With breastfeeding and my pee bag at the side of the bed and just laying on the bed too much in pain even to laugh, my heart is not just in it for visitors. I apologized to my friends and not asked them to come while I am at the hospital and am glad of it. 

This time, breastfeeding come much smoothly, I have plenty of milk by the second day and do not struggle much. There are some sore nipples because baby still trying to learn how to latch, but nothing as bad as the one I had with Aziz.  After the first week, the soreness had went away with the help of Lansinoh. Even sleeping with the baby is not much of a hassle, kecuali that one time where I drink a lot of teh tarik ( I couldnt help it. It was there! And it was hot! ) baby meragam, most of the time Saif is a little angel. He woke up every 2 or 3 hours for milk, and I am ok with it. Staying at my sis mostly helped a lot. I can't imagine kena buat semua mende sendiri. Salute to those mothers who did. 

My husband and Aziz spent the nights at the hospital. At first Aziz was upset that he can't sleep next to me. My stomach was too sore to handle his jumping and limbs flying around! Even now. So he have to make do sleeping next to his father.  Alamat Aziz jatuh dari sofa bed pon bapak die tak sedar. Kena la I kejut my husband by calling him out. Kesian Aziz. 

Awal2 tu sibuk nak dukung adik die. 

This is a big adjustment to him. So far there is no jealousy though there is a lot of hurt feelings when we are not paying attention to him.  Up until now I am still struggling to find a balance between attending to the need of a newborn baby and my somewhat limited mobility and Aziz needs for his mom. Still struggling. I sometimes snap at him, especially when he is being his Terrible Two self. Then I will be racked in guilt when he goes a few steps away saying "tanak kawan! " while crying . Sedih taw. So I try to will myself to be more patient.  In the mean time, I can only hope that Aziz will continue to not lose faith in his mommy and are able to understand that his mommy attention is now split in two. It is made somewhat easier being in my sister house because he have his cousin to play with, so I hope when we are back at our home I will have a better grasp on how to manage STUFFS. 

Though I do say, Aziz do love his brother. Always wanting to be next to the baby, and alerting me if baby is crying when I am dead asleep from tiredness, wants to kiss him and what I am always alarmed of, wants to dukung baby. I am sometimes scared that he will pick up his brother unattended so I tried to not leave those 2 alone. So far anything that concerned his little brother, he will heed our warning. Part suruh makan tu jeee buat aku still bengang. "Tanak makannn." .. pastu buat muka gonna puke. Haha. Kelakar memang kelakar, tapi tanak makan dan tanak susu memang la mak die nak naik meroyan la. Fuh. Bagilah kesabaran pada ibu ni.. Amin. 

He wants to sleep next to his brother tapi aku cuak la if I tak sedar tertidur , die roll over on his brother ke. So I manage to persuade him to sleep further off.  Aziz kinda now have grasped that things are different now. Sometimes he still wants to sleep on my arms, but nowadays it is ok for him to fall asleep on his own as long as I am nearby. Like I said it is a big adjustment for all of us and day by day we are looking for ways to ease into a new life and routine. 

Latest book reviews

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The passion of Catherine and Heathcliff. A love so strong that it defy conventionality. That is what I usually heard when people refer to Wuthering Heights. And it was . Passion. Wild unbridled raw love. 

For this book, I was tempted to put only 1 star but!!, there was something powerful in this book towards the end that makes me feel morbid and despondent and fearful. All of the characters are unlikable but they remain true to their self even towards the end. It is as if she wrote it because she was compelled to get these horrible character out, like exorcising demons out of the system and are completely helpless in how they turned out to be because they will not be thwarted even in their author's hand.

David Golder, The Ball, Snow in Autumn, The Courilof Affair by Irène Némirovsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I already read and reviewed David Golder so not gonna comment here.

The Ball - the POV of this story is from this girl who longs to be a part of her mother attention and glitz and glamour. This story is about shifting of power. Of when you were a child and suddenly you realized your parents do not hold all the answers or wisdom and they are sometimes as childish as the child they are bringing up in the world. This is a wonderful short story.

Snow in Autumn - A servant story on the collapse of her master family in the Russian Revolution. I don't really like this story. Bit too depressing and it kinda goes on and on a bit without a point, but it was still very sad.

The Courilof Affair - Is my favorite of it all. The story of its assasin and its victim. I love their relationship in this. Though I was a bit lost at first, but after the narrative became a bit clearer , the narrator and its victim, their relationship is beautiful and tragic.

Love the stories though you need to push through some of the descriptions a bit.

Searching For Pemberley by Mary Lydon Simonsen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In this story, Maggie worked for the US war office at London and while there in England, she chanced upon a family whose ancestors was based on Pride and Prejudice , Elizabeth and Darcy. While in England in researching this family, she also found love(s).

Okay. To me there are two stories here. One of the Lacey family whose supposedly is the inspiration for Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. The other is Maggie stories.

If I can give a star, the Lacey family I will give one, which is somewhat enjoyable, but I am kinda embarassed to read and annoyed. Because there are so many references to Pride and Prejudice , where for one, I think most of people who picked up this book know Pride and Prejudice inside and out. Secondly, while I believed the author love Jane Austen wholeheartedly which is why she penned this novel, if I am Miss Austen herself I would be insulted since the story seems to insinuate that she borrows her stories and characters heavily from other people lives rather than weaved her own.

As for Maggie story herself, it was ok but kinda weak. If it was just her story the book will not hold up on her own. I never quite get it why Jack and Beth just suddenly open up to Maggie and not to other people about their ancestors. It was never conveyed but just accepted.

I do wish we had more of Maggie story and her family in Minooka rather than an unnecessary long windedness of the Laceys which we all know what happened since it does not differ much from Pride and Prejudice one.