Big Bad Wolf 2012

Sejak setahun dua yg lalu, jiran saya Lani bercerita ttg BBW ini. Dia beli byk buku di sana krn diskaun yg gila! Gila? Wah! Baru tahun ini berkesempatan pergi. 

Kebetulan pagi td sy ada exam PM di PJ. Sgt berdebar nk sit for this exam. Study lgsg tak sempat sbb sgt pack di office, n di rumah dh penat sgt. Baca pun bkn msk otak. Study cuma kejap mlm n pagi sblm exam. Tawakal sungguh2. 

Alhamdulillah, sy Pass! Oleh krn kami nak ke BTS, sy minta Papa bawa saya singgah di The Mines. Nak pi BBW (sbb kebetulan nak ke BTS juga). Niat cuma nak pergi tengok je, sbb sgt2 teruja dgr cerita2 Lani. Tahu bajet mmg sgt kurus 2-3 bln kblkgn ini. Bln ini lagilah... byk peruntukan yg perlu.

Tapi bila tgk Papa pi withdraw duit di ATM, haish... musuh jgn dicari, rezeki jgn ditolak. Walau Papa tak pelawa, sy dah pilih buku. Tambah smgt lg bl Papa Nasir angkut kotak utk isi buku2, tu tanda izinlah tu kan? Hu hu...

Konon niat nak tengok je. Bak kata Lani masa called dia tanya landmark, "Tengok je? Tak percaya saya dgn akak ni..."

Big Bad Wolf ni di MIECC, dekat2 The Mines. Alhamdulillah hari ni tak pack sgt. Ruang buku sgt luas, wah tak terdaya nak round. Tambah pula bila bawa handbag kiri kanan (si Babang n Didik). Takut nanti tgk asyik masyuk baca n pilih buku, anak2 entah ke mana pula...

Mostly buku Inggeris. Pelbagai 'genre'. Saya lebih kpd fiction and novel, apatah lagi harganya mmg aduhai... apapun buku, even yg hardcover cuma RM8! Kalau harga asal mahu 3-4-5 kali ganda. Hampir2 buat saya gila... 

Dah lama sgt tak baca English fiction. Bila dah mula menulis ni, sy lbh dorong priority utk baca Malay fiction. As benchmark and knowledge.

BBW msh berlangsung sampai 23 Dec ni. Kalaulah ada duit, ingin sy ulang lagi. Tapi RAN... sedar diri sikit! Baju sekolah anak2 belum beli ya! Aveo & Avanza pun perlu dirawat sama!

ruang pameran buku yg luas

Didik n Babang pun excited juga

Kami duduk di lantai, sort buku n kira harga dulu.
takut tak cukup duit nak byr nafsu membaca hu hu..

Nasib baik juga Papa tak komplen... dia mcm redha je... terima kasih ya Pa! Penat tau saya perah otak jawab exam pagi tadi hu hu... itu hadiah saya utk Papa, ini pula hadiah Papa utk saya. Wah... bila nak mula operasi membaca?

After River

Hari ni selesai juga urusan renewal n make passport for kids di Imigresen Shah Alam. Sehari suntuk dgn urusan di sana sampai lunyai badan. Sampai Babang tak sempat hadir SKS7 utk sambutan Maulidur Rasul. Sorry ya Bang... nanti Ummi draft surat minta maaf utk cikgu ya.

Alhamdulilah, all passport collected kecuali Papa Nasir punye nanti ambil next Tuesday. Sbbnya nombor kami dipanggil bila Papa Nasir attend Friday prayer (kaunter terus-menerus). Tiada siaran ulangan utk nombor, maka sy harus ambilkan Papa nombor yg baru. Aduhai, tunggu lagi berjam-jam... tak apalah... dahulukan urusan dgn Pencipta adalah the utmost important.

Lewat ptg, selesai pula urusan print KTVH utk final reading n editing prior submission. Alhamdulillah...

Nak tidur ni sbnrnya sbb penat sgt. Tapi budak 2 ketul ni masih berjaga main games. Sambil bertahan mata monitor mrk, teringat pula pd After River, hu hu...

Dah lama sgt tak baca English fiction sbb nak kena study Malay novel supaya mampu menulis seadanya. It has been years and I missed them. Terambil juga satu buku from shelf one day. The one I bought in Big Bad Wolf 2012.

Walaupun sjk Babang bersekolah ni, jadual hidup sy so much in rush n so much in penat, tp ada juga kebaikannya. It's because I am so much in love with reading, semula. Ms tunggu tamat waktu sekolah Babang, dptlah sy membaca jika tak ada org yg boleh dibawa berbual. Sikit-sikit lama2 sudahlah satu buku dibaca.

And I finished After River a forthnight ago. Slps sungai? Slps sungai ada laut... hu hu.. Buku tulisan Donna Milner pd 2008. 358 pages je. Buku org putih sll kertas dia warna yellowish sikit..  buku2 kita kertasnya cecantik.

Dulu2 pernah ada kawan tanya knp sy suka baca English fiction sdgkan ia cerita ttg bukan kita, bukan cara hidup dan agama kita. Ya, cerita mrk tentu berbeza dgn cerita dan budaya kita. Pd sy, membaca itu jambatan ilmu tak kisah apa material. Yg penting, baik jadi tauladan, buruk jadi sempadan. Kalau yg berttgn dgn agama, kita tentu lebih tahu Islam adalah deen kita. So, ia tak beri sebarang pengaruh negatif as long as kita tahu siapa kita.

Overall saya suka After River. Based of life in 1960's, ia ttg Wards family yg tinggal di mountains area of British Colombia. They have dairy farms, ternak n jual susu lembu segar utk slrh town. Cerita triggered dari Natalie Ward, after so long meninggalkan keluarga, rasa 'bercinta' sgt utk pulang. But she has to. Her mother is very sick and need her much. May be these are the last days of her mother...

Along the way of story is flashback. From the flashback, up current, then flashback... leave reader asking what exactly happen. Sy tak pnh buka last page nk tgk ending bila baca English fiction.

Ia ttg bagaimana kehidupan sebuah keluarga yg bahagia berubah dgn kehadiran seorg pemuda yg sgt handsome, sgt educated, sgt sopan n sgt berhati lembut bernama River @ Richard Adam Jordan. Kalau hero semuanya yg sangat lah kan... hu hu... (tapi ni hero tak boleh pakai punye...)

River sbnrnya graduates yg lari dr perintah berperang (masa tu perang Vietnam) sbb dia suka kedamaian. Dan what River has done to the family years afterward slps bgt byk tragedi demi tragedi yg menimpa keluarga, aib yg menyebabkan mrk dipulau n dipandang serong. Caused Natalie bawa diri. Since then, things never be the same again.

A story of spouse, parental, family, persaudaraan, ambition, education, life struggle n ttg love of course. Kalau tak, buku ssh nk jual hu hu. Sy tertipu bl sangkaan meleset ttg feeling River towards Natalie. Sy sangka both daughter n mother love the same River. Bila River sgt kayu dgn Natalie, I thought he prefers the mother. Unfortunately, he prefers Boyer! Natalie's eldest brother. Yg ini tak boleh jd example. Berdosa! Sesungguhnya sebaik-baik Deen adalah Islam.

Sedih baca After River sbb imagine the life of the family and what they kept inside themselves. Tragedi yg setiap drpd mrk alami tiada sesiapa mahu luahkan. Masing2 kept the pain inside himself/herself. Tujuannya utk jg satu sama lain. Ending... of course kena happy. Tp happy endingnya bkn fairytales...

"This family never fights, never used words as weapons. 
They use silence. And it hurts just as much..."

"Talk to him, Natalie. Don't underestimate his capacity to love. 
And to forgive."

The Stepmother

It's a novel by Carrie Adams, an author of The Godmother yg diadaptasi kpd filem. 352 pages n it cost me only RM8.00 in Big Bad Wolf 2012 hu hu...

The Stepmother. Terbayang mak tiri Cindirella? That's a typical perception. Can we ever imagine if one day the Cindirella is written in the opposite version? I grab this book for purpose. Seriously I need to see 'stepmother' from fiction's literature point of view. Overall, saya suka novel ini. Ia adalah realiti kehidupan. Certain shj yg tak suits our culture n religion. Ignore.

Bea n James berpisah krn Bea fikir suaminya tak cope up dgn hidup mereka n put every burden on her shoulder. After the 3rd baby, Bea pregnant lg n decided not to have that one sbb dia tertekan. It became issue bila James tak blh terima kenyataan Bea murdered their baby boy tapi blh pula terima bila Bea said it wasn't his. They divorced. Bea being a single parent, raised her daughters with her mother's support walaupun that was the last choice on the earth..

After 4 years, James akur Bea mmg tak akan kembali. The day Bea nak confess she wants to be with James again, it's too late. He found a girl name Tessa King - a lawyer in recording co. aged mid 30s. He falls in love again. So, Bea keep in herself the dreams and became worst. 

On the other hand, Tessa had hard times to adapt as a stepmother to be. Especially dealing with James's eldest's 14 years old daughter.  However, Tessa came crossed sesuatu pd sikap n sifat James yg contributed to his last marriage failure. Knowing his fiancee's ex-wife, learning all the flaws and incidents happen to the girls n Bea, winning over the girls attraction, semua rahsia dia ketahui. Ada 2 pilihan - as a lawyer, she binded utk tolong org n tegakkan kebenaran, as a lady n a lover n a wife a stepmother to be, she wants to have James for herself. 

I love d kindness n wisdom in Tessa even dia pun manusia yg ada flaws. Wonder whether I could be her in our very much different situation. Her late father said, "speak it outloud", so all the things yg dia rasa perlu diperkatakan, she spell it to James. On the day Tessa's father pass away, dia suruh James balik kpd Bea n settle all the unsaid things. If  he couldn't done that, their future marriage will follow suits. Fail! 

Walaupun Tessa yakin she done the best, tapi msh ada rasa sedih kalau James akan kembali semua ke pangkuan Bea n put back the family together.  There's a saying : Sometimes, we must love that person enough to let him go. If he ever loves us enough, he'll be back. 

James : I do loves Bea.

Tessa : (somehow feel broken hearted)

James : But I don't love her anymore now. It's you I love...

Ending : Happy. James married Tessa. Tessa n Bea becomes best ever friend. Bea gets back to work n get herself again as advised by Tessa. They take turn on the children...

Reality? Hmm.. I wish I will be blessed with ages n health n times, so that I can write another 'The Stepmother' - my own version. 

My walk to remember... bila ditolak ke suatu persimpangan, of course hanya ada satu pilihan harus dibuat. Of course sesuatu harus dikorbankan. Mungkin better now than never yg saya praktiskan akan memberi 1001 pros n cons. I am sorry if it doesn't favour many people. But again... it has to be done. Now when people started to see what I have seen earlier, I feel so relieved. But why deep in me, I feel the grief...?