Libro. Book. Livre. Kitab.

I cannot think of a clever title for this one. 

Last year, I signed up on Goodreads and forced encouraged myself to read a few books, rated them and gave my thoughts on them.. I read them randomly, I picked them because they interest me in one way or another..

My 2012 book-that-I-read list, latest to oldest

   

The Paris Wife (Paula McLain)

Me said: 
2/5 stars
Just another "relationshit" story.. The author once again proves that men are jerk since 1920s, and earlier... Don't read if you don't wanna be upset, that's all.
Note: I didn't actually read the book but I listened to the audio of the BBC version/dramatization

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir author (Jenny Lawson)

Me said:
3/5 stars
Hilarious! Some families are dysfunctional, others seem fine. If you think your family is fucked-up, well you should read this book and see Jenny's...

Insurgent (Divergent #2) (Veronica Roth)

Me said:
4/5 stars
**spoiler alert** While reading the first few pages of this book, I was kinda having a feeling that this is a story within a story like Sophie's World or something like The Truman Show movie which is about finding out later that his whole life is a TV show. Well, I can say, in some ways, I'm right.
The whole book Tris character keeps disappointing me for doing something stupid over and over, like fighting for a reason she doesn't even know. LOL, yeah I got carried away with Veronica Roth's very nicely written story.

Divergent (Divergent #1) (Veronica Roth)

Me said:
5/5 stars
Wow! I never thought I could finish the book this fast. It's too good to be left unfinished. At first I thought it's like Hunger Games (didn't read the book, I just watched the movie), but it's not. It's too divergent ;-)

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (Richard Dawkins)

Me said:
3/5 stars

"This is a book about a the positive evidence that evolution is a fact. It is not intended as an anti-religious book."

My first Dawkins' book and I can say being a science ignoramus, I wish it was explained in simplified terms, though I feel it is already simplified it's just that science is not my cup of tea. I think it's not suitable for "beginners"... I should have read The Magic of Reality first.

Lying (Sam Harris)

Me said:
5/5 stars
"I came away convinced that LYING, even about the smallest matters, needlessly DAMAGES personal relationships and public trust."
"I now knew that endless forms of suffering and embarassment could be easily avoided by SIMPLY TELLING THE TRUTH."
Very well said and nicely written.
This essay opened my eyes that by lying (whether small or big, white lies or not) you are not only depriving people of their right to the truth but also you are depriving them to live the reality of life. And if you just simply tell the truth (even if it will hurt their feelings), a lot of time and effort would be saved and you won't feel guilty/sick when you're with them.

The Yacoubian Building (Alaa Al Aswany)

Me said:
2/5 stars
Depressing, sad and heartbreaking.. I thought the tragedy won't end till the last page of the book.. I'm glad it didn't leave me with a heavy heart.

The Complete Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)

Me said:
5/5 stars
I've seen the French film before I read the English book. All I can say is the film is good but the book is better.

Sophie's World (Jostein Gaarder)

Me said:
5/5 stars
It is not a bagatelle. I'll say no more. cover

Atonement (Ian McEwan)

Me said:
5/5 stars
Well written.. sad.. tragic..

Both Right and Left Handed: Arab Women Talk about Their Lives (Bouthaina Shaaban)

Me said: 
3/5 stars 

The George Carlin Letters: The Permanent Courtship of Sally Wade (Sally Wade)

Me said:
5/5 stars

Chicago (Alaa Al Aswany) 

Me said:
4/5 stars

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Four Book Set (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, #1-4) (Jeff Kinney)

Me said:
4/5 stars

The Tiger's Wife (Téa Obreht)

Me said:
1/5 stars

That's all folks! :p

Thoughts on Sophie's World (A Novel About the History of Philosophy)

Mission accomplished! I'm done reading Sophie's World ahead of schedule (target date was July 15). I tell you, the book is NOT a bagatelle.

How I wish I had read it long time ago. If only I did, I would have had religiously read more GOOD books... I'll make a career out of reading because I had never learned something or anything like it at school.

Reading Sophie's World is like having a short course in Philosophy class. You'll have a greater understanding of philosophy and later as you reach half of it, you would able to distinguish philosophers from each other. The terribly exciting thing happens in the mid part of the book (in my case, it makes me in denial), you wouldn't want to put it down.

Anyway, I don't want to spoil it so I'll say no more but here's a synopsis of the book:

Looking in her mailbox one day, a fourteen-year-old Norwegian schoolgirl called Sophie Amundsen finds two surprising pieces of paper. On them are written the questions: Who are you? and Where does the world come from?

The writer is an enigmatic philosopher called Alberto Knox, and his two teasing questions are the beginning of an extraordinary tour through the history of Western Philosophy from the pre-Socratics to Sartre. In a series of brilliantly entertaining letters, and then in person, Alberto Knox opens Sophie's enquiring mind to the fundamental questions that philosophers have been asking since the dawn of civilisation.

If you are busy or lazy or both, you can read it on Sparknotes and commentary on the book can be found here

There was a movie and a tv series based on this book.. I shall see it soon.

Vi sees!

FRIDAY is my 2nd favorite F word...

...next to FOOD! :p

I love Friday because it's the weekend and my only one day off. Even though I don't have Saturday off like others (UAE's official weekend is Friday-Saturday) I'm still happy because at least I have a week-off. 

Being at home on Friday -lying in bed all day staring at the ceiling- can sometimes be boring. Of course, LOL. And sometimes going to a place where you can enjoy and keep busy can ruin your budget and empty your wallet. The only thing I know to save you from all of this is to do some volunteering..

So where was I last Friday eve? I was feeling really good somewhere at the BurJuman because I was helping/sorting through a collection of books (thousands of them) for the upcoming Pink Book Sale.  

Books in the boxes...

Books on the floor...

Books in the trolley...

The pile of books is a mile high!

Another good thing participating on this kind of activity, you'll find a lot of books -- those you've been looking for all of your life, LOL, in a cheaper price. Imagine, I bought these 2 books for only 20 dhs (US$ 5.50)

Okay guys, I'm off here to give hope to a hurting world! ;-)

Free Unused Books (For Real)

Yo, booklovers and freebielovers in the UAE!

I know there are many of you out there who still prefer to read conventional books than e-books and I also know that we all like free stuff, right? Right?

Lucky us, we have the Book Shelter here in the UAE where we can adopt books as much as we want..

The Book Shelter  is an initiative to promote a culture of reading in the country. What they do is encourage the UAE community to donate their unused books and then they -the Book Shelter- will provide those books to the community -anyone regardless of age and nationality- for free. They are trying to establish free library station across the Emirates, the same thing they have done with Maraya Art Centre in Al Qasba, Sharjah. They have free library centre there with over 400 books that are for free. You could just basically walk in there take a book of your choice and just go home with it. They also have a complete list of books on their website wherein you can just order and they will deliver it for free. They also participate in exhibitions, events and they create a reading nook.

Seriously guys, this organization is superb. They are genuine. I can guarantee there is no catch, no hidden anything, no fees something, no need to like/follow nothing. In fact, last January, I have ordered 3 books and received them right away. They even included a beautiful bookmark. Here's the proof..

 

The best things in life are, indeed, free! And there's no excuses for you all not to visit their site and adopt books.