Author: John Grisham Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Year of Published: 2013 Page: 289 Format: Kindle Edition Buy on Amazon Add to your Goodreads
Theodore Boone, young lawyer, has had a lot to deal with in his thirteen years, everything from kidnapping to murder. But he's come through it all and, with the law on his side, justice has always prevailed.
Sometimes, though, the law doesn't seem so just. His friend Hardie Quinn is about to have his family home bulldozed to make way for a bypass. Hardie is not the only one affected: other homes, businesses and schools lie in the path of the road. Theo has to tell his friend the bad news: for once, the law isn't on his side, and there's very little anyone can do to end the destruction.
Theo joins the campaign to stop the road. But when he stumbles on a terrible secret about the corrupt men behind the plan - a secret it is illegal for him to know - Theo must figure out how to keep the developers from breaking the law . . . without breaking it himself.
This smartly written story is getting interesting when Theo and his friend are involved in preventing the unnecessary construction of a bypass in Strattenburg. Theo dealt with few situations that need him to learn controlling his teenager emotion such as suspended as a patrol leader in his boy scout team and almost losing his dog, Judge when they fight with the intruder of his friend’s land.
The publisher categorized this book in the Middle-Grade Children Mystery & Detective Books (8-12 years old). Children can learn a few good things in this book, such as: 1. Saving the environment and learn to observe your living area, is there any area you want to protect? 2. How to use social media to help others or any organization or supporting a cause? Theo and his friend recorded many videos showing the impact of building a bypass near a school and those vided viral on YouTube and getting the attention of people in Strattenburg until most of them object to the construction.
Penulis: Faisal Tehrani Penerbit: Buku Fixi Tahun Terbit: 2018 Muka surat: 370 Beli di: Gerak Budaya (versi BI) Tambahkan dalam senarai Goodreads anda
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Suliza, seorang profesor yang feminis menyedari seksualitinya tidak normal ketika bersekolah di sebuah sekolah agama. Selepas tragedi buruk menimpa insan yang disayangi, Wan Ros, dia berpindah ke Amerika untuk meneruskan pengajian. Di sana dia mula mengkaji dan menyokong gerakan hak asasi manusia, sebuah perjalanan yang membawanya dari Cornell ke Geneva dan Stockholm.
Sekembalinya ke Malaysia, Suliza dan sahabat peguamnya Maria sering kali menjadi sasaran kumpulan konservatif kerana hak asasi yang mereka pertahankan serta seksualiti mereka. Suliza berkenalan dengan Hashimah, seorang tukang cuci di universiti dia mengajar. Suami Hashimah seorang ustaz yang merupakan seorang pengganas yang dikehendaki dan menyebabkan keadaan semakin berbahaya buat Suliza. Penahanan suami Hashimah menyebabkan kejadian pembunuhan tragis Suliza. Profesor tulisan Faisal Tehrani bukan sahaja memaparkan kisah cinta namun juga makna keadilan, seksualiti dan agama dalam masyarakat yang didominasi oleh golongan pelampau.
Sudah hampir seminggu saya mengkhatamkan buku ini, namun baru kini berkesempatan untuk membuat ulasan. Seperti biasa, seorang Aina menghabiskan buku yang sudah dibeli beberapa tahun lepas kemudian rasa menyesal tidak membaca lebih awal.
Selama tiga tahun ini, tak pernah pun saya nak ambil tahu atau cuba-cuba baca reviu tema apa yang dibawa dalam buku ini. Kalau lihat kulit buku pun, ia dijual sebanyak 1500 naskhah sahaja kerana kebimbangan ‘diban’. Sekarang masih ada namun versi Bahasa Inggeris yang diterjemah dan diterbitkan oleh Gerak Budaya.
Sewaktu beli dulu pun saya cuma berfikir, “ha ada 1500 sahaja buku ni dalam Malaysia, tak boleh terlepas, FT pula tu”. Nyata sekali buku ini membawa tema hak asasi manusia, namun ideanya pasti kurang menyenangkan pembaca di Malaysia terutamanya yang beragama Islam kerana kelompok yang diketengahkan ialah LGBTQ. Ia sarat dengan banyak fakta dan paling penting, sindiran kepada banyak pihak, terutamanya agamawan.
Banyak sekali petikan teks Deklarasi Hak Asasi Manusia Sejagat 1948 (UDHR) yang diselitkan. Jujurnya memang sedikit membosankan buat saya, tapi kerana saya jenis pembaca yang tak akan langkau halaman, ku gagahkan jua membaca.
Profesor Suliza, Dalila, Wan Ros, Jebat, Ustaz Idrus, Dr Ali Taqi, Hashimah dan banyak lagi watak sangat menghidupkan kisah dalam cerita ini. Sesuatu perkara berlaku sememangnya berlaku dengan sebab. Suliza begitu lantang menentang agamawan dalam isu LQBTQ lantaran kekerasan yang diterimanya sewaktu zaman bersekolah. Ustaz Idrus dibunuh bukanlah kerana isterinya perempuan jahat, namun kerana kejahatan dan dirinya sendiri yang menyalahgunakan agama demi kepentingan sendiri.
Apabila diletakkan label Untuk Pembaca Matang di buku ini, maka ia memang terpakai untuk menentukan usia pembaca buku ini, kerana ada beberapa babak erotik...
Membaca buku ini juga umpama membawa saya mengelilingi dunia. Pada awalnya banyak babak berlangsung di Geneva, seterusnya India, Stockholm, Jerman, Paris, Jepun dan bermacam-macam lagi. Penulis juga banyak membuat cameo dalam bukunya sendiri.
Tidak semua idea yang diketengahkan saya persetujui, namun, perbincangan mesti terus berlaku. Bulat-bulat menerima pun tidak, bulat-bulat menolak pun jangan, pembacaan mesti terus dilakukan dan mesti terus berfikir.
Kesimpulannya, manusia perlulah dilayan seperti manusia, bukan haiwan. Kita tidak berhak menjadi Tuhan lalu menghukum manusia atas perkara yang tidak mampu kita halang/tukar.
Penulis: Tony Buzan Penerbit: PTS Publishing House Tahun Terbit: 2018 Muka surat: 232 Beli di: Book Cafe Tambahkan dalam senarai Goodreads anda.
Potensi kita untuk memperbaiki kadar kepantasan membaca kepada dua kali ganda lebih pantas berbanding sekarang, dan kemudian mencapai kadar 1000 perkataan seminit, sama sahaja dengan mereka yang berada pada tempat 10 teratas dunia.
Setiap orang daripada mereka adalah pembaca, yang sama seperti pembaca dan saya, yang pada mulanya tidak berpuas hati dengan kadar kecepatan membaca biasa mereka dan membuat keputusan memperuntukkan masa dan usaha bagi membangunkan kemahiran manusia yang paling berkuasa ini.
Buku The Speed Reading Book memberi pembaca peluang baik untuk mengikuti jejak langkah mata mereka. Ia adalah hasil latihan dan kajian selama lebih 50 tahun dalam bidang ini.
Sumber: Bookcafe.com
Sewaktu mula baca buku ni, saya cuba buat ujian kepantasan membaca di internet dan juga dalam buku ini. Amat mengecewakan kerana kepantasan saya hanya di tahap sederhana.
Selepas baca beberapa bab awal, barulah saya sedar, ada beberapa benda yang saya salah faham sebelum ini tentang cara membaca. Salah satunya ialah penggunaan penunjuk ketika membaca (macam mengaji pakai lidi tu). Sangkaan saya ia mengganggu proses membaca, tetapi sebaliknya. Pakai penunjuk bukan sahaja boleh bantu membaca lebih pantas, tetapi juga kurangkan potensi berpatah balik/terpaksa ulang-ulang baca gara-gara ‘lost’ atau berangan, dan juga lebih fokus kepada isi bacaan.
Fakta menarik yang ada dalam buku ini, juara dunia enam kali pembaca cepat, Anne Jones membaca Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows dalam masa 47 minit 1 saat, dengan kelajuan 4,251 perkataan seminit. Rasa tak logik langsung , entah masuk kepala ke tidak kan? Tapi kebolehan macam ni rupanya memang ada.
Setiap fakta dalam buku ini mudah difahami dan diterjemah dengan baik. Saya sebenarnya sangsi betul ke teknik yang ada mampu bantu membaca pantas, tapi lepas betul-betul disiplin buat latihan yang ada, untuk latihan terakhir, bacaan saya bertambah 60 perkataan seminit.
Disebabkan ini buku terjemahan, jadi dalam bahagian latihan kosa kata tu ada rasa macam “something off” sebab latihan dan kosa kata semuanya dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Tak feel sangat.
Tips berkesan baca buku ini:
1. Pastikan duduk dalam suasana yang kita betul-betul dapat fokus, terutamanya sewaktu buat latihan sebab nak kena catat masa bacaan. Kalau ada gangguan sampai kita terhenti ke apa, mestilah kiraan tu sebenarnya tak tepat. 2. Jangan mengelat, buat semua latihan yang ada. “Practice makes perfect” 3. Sasaran kita nak membaca cepat, tapi janganlah kelam kabut, kalau hari ini mampu baca 240 perkataan seminit, takkanlah esok dah boleh baca 4000 perkataan. Konsisten itu lebih penting.
Matlamat saya untuk menjadi pembaca pantas, tak berakhir di sini, malah baru bermula. Untuk yang mahu menjadi pembaca pantas, selamat membaca buku ini!
Penulis: Andrea Hirata Penerbit: Bentang Pustaka Tahun Terbit: 2019 Muka surat: 262 Beli di: Jejak Tarbiah Tambahkan dalam senarai Goodreads anda.
Sebatang kapur dan penghapus tergeletak di bawah papan tulis itu. Tampak benar telah sangat lama tak dipakai. Demikian minim angka-angka itu sehingga tak bisa dijadikan diagram batang, diagram kue cucur atau diagram naik-naik ke puncak bukit. Rupanya di kota ini, penduduknya telah lupa cara berbuat jahat.
Mata Inspektur semakin sendu menatap papan tulis itu. Keadaan yang tenteram ini perlahan-lahan membuat polisi di dalam dirinya terlena, lalu terbaring, lalu pingsan, lalu mati. Inspektur sungguh khawatir. Wahai kaum maling, ke manakah gerangan kalian?
Untuk pertama kalinya, Andrea Hirata menulis novel dalam genre kejahatan. Pembaca akan berjumpa tokoh-tokoh unik dengan pikiran menakjubkan, yang mudah bahagia dengan hal-hal sederhana.
Sumber: Goodreads
Buku ini bermula agak perlahan, dan saya sebenarnya pernah mengabaikan bacaan selama hampir dua tahun sebelum membaca semula. Saya ambil sedikit masa untuk memahami tentang kumpulan-kumpulan watak yang ada seperti geng polis iaitu Inspektor Abdul Rojali, 10 sekawan, Boron dan Bandar, serta Trio Bastardin.
Andrea Hirata memang terkenal dengan tema pendidikan dalam tulisan beliau, buku ini sendiri terhasil daripada kekecewaan mengetahui seorang siswi kedoktoran gagal menyambung pelajaran akibat kemiskinan.
10 sekawan ini dari sekolah lagi terkenal dengan reputasi mereka yang dalam kedudukan tercorot dan berhenti sekolah lebih awal dari waktu yang sepatutnya. Mereka langsung tidak berbakat dalam pelajaran. Dinah, salah seorang anggota 10 sekawan contohnya, pasti automatik menjadi sakit perut saat waktu pelajaran matematik bermula.
Dinah sangat runsing mengenangkan Aini, anaknya yang berjaya menempatkan diri dalam fakulti kedoktoran, namun hasrat menyambung pengajian tidak kesampaian kerana kemiskinan mereka sekeluarga.
Ternyata, sekolah dokter itu mahal sekali, But, baru aku tahu kalau orang miskin tak bisa masuk Fakultas Kedokteran
Lalu, jalan akhir demi merealisasikan impian Aini ialah rancangan merampok (merompak) bank oleh 10 sekawan. Aini mesti menyambung juga pengajian, tak kanlah dia mahu menjadi pembantu di kedai kopi sampai bila-bila.
Tangkap! Tangkaplah orang miskin yang berjuang agar anaknya bisa sekolah! Kita ini bukan merampok, Dinah! Kita ini melawan ketidakadilan!
Beberapa kali saya ketawa sendirian membaca gelagat 10 sekawan yang tidak tahu apa-apa tentang merompak ini berbincang tiap kali mesyuarat. Panduan terbaik mereka hanyalah filem-filem rompakan yang rupanya hanya ideal di dunia filem.
Ngomong-ngomong, apakah kau sudah hafal redaksi gertakan itu?" tanya Handai.
"Aih, tenanglah, Jun, hanya sedikit tambahan . Tengoklah, gertakanku nanti lebih bernuansa budaya lokal Melayu Belantik ni!"
Tidak dinafikan, di sebalik babak-babak kelakar yang ditulis, banyak sebenarnya sindiran oleh Andrea Hirata sendiri, seperti:
kurangnya akses kepada pendidikan oleh orang miskin.
Inequality disebabkan oleh penggubal wang-wang haram.
penguasa jawatan rendah tidak dipandang kata-katanya, hanya diberi perhatian saat terjadi kecelakaan.
Watak hero yang saya sangat kagumi ialah Inspektor Abdul Rojali, berintegriti dan tidak pernah sekali terlintas dalam pemikiran mahu mengambil walau sedikit wang penghargaan.
Walaubagaimanapun, oleh kerana saya membaca prekuel buku ini terlebih dahulu (Guru Aini) maka, saya sikit terganggu dengan ketidaksinambungan fakta yang ada tentang Aini, namun, tidaklah terlalu banyak dan mengganggu pembacaan.
Secara keseluruhan, saya sangat berpuas hati dengan buku ini yang menyentuh pelbagai aspek, terutamanya pendidikan, dan sedikit sebanyak, politik, ekonomi dan sosial. Saya sangat menyarankan untuk anda mendapatkan buku ini. Bagi pembaca Malaysia, anda boleh dapatkan versi Bahasa Melayu daripada Jejak Tarbiah.
This post comes a bit late than the status I have posted on my Facebook, which is the recap of my reading in 2020. But well, this blog had just begun a few days ago.
My reading target for 2020 is only 20 book. It's rhyme just right with 2020. I didn't expect I would manage to finish 34 books. MCO (Movement Control Order), TEMCO, CMCO and RMCO were becoming the booster to add my reading, maybe because the time used travelling to other places were replace by reading. In addition, I manage to insert some of my time joining an online book meeting
Most of the book read is new, but I did too some re-read, and even read the book I left abandoned for seven years. Some of the books enter the DNF (Do Not Finish) category. Why should I force myself reading things I hate?
I think my best achievement is successfully finishing the Harry Potter Series. Feeling like a Potterhead now (better late than never right?). About a month and a half, I immersed myself in the magical world.
Some people choose quality over quantity when reading, and some people prefer the opposite. Some people prefer non-fiction, and some just like to read all fiction. However, that is just personal preference. Reading is our own journey, and we do not race with anyone. For me, I'll make sure I read more books every year.
In a book, Projek Bibliofil, there is a line of words written, "The book we read doesn't necessarily need to be like by everyone. Reading material shouldn't be the indicator of cleverness."
Hopefully, in 2021, the number of books I will be reading should be at least the same as the books I will buy (ouch), anddddd also read many books with Amir.
My favourite books of 2020:
Non-Fiction Books: 1. Seni Berfikir yang Hilang 2. Digital Minimalism 3. Atomic Habits
Fiction Books: 1. Guru Aini 2. Harry Potter (1-7)
Books about Books 1. Projek Bibliofil 2. Kertas- kertas yang Merubah Fikir 3. Aku, Buku & Kota Kaherah
Entri ini hadir lambat berbanding status yang sudah saya postkan di Facebook, iaitu recap bacaan tahun 2020 saya. Almaklumlah, blog ini baru sahaja selesai dilancarkan beberapa hari lepas.
Sasaran bacaan untuk tahun 2020 sebenarnya 20 buah sahaja. Ya, sengaja mahu mengambil ritma 2020 itu. Tidak sangka pula sebenarnya saya berjaya menghabiskan 34 buah buku. PKP, PKPD, PKPB dan PKPP sudah jadi seperti satu booster untuk menambah bacaan, mungkin juga kerana dapat gantikan masa untuk bergerak ke sana-sini. Malah, saya dapat sertai beberapa siri Book Meeting secara online.
Kebanyakan buku yang dibaca ialah buku baru, tetapi ada juga beberapa buku yang sengaja diulang baca. Saya juga dapat sudahkan bacaan yang terbengkalai selama 7 tahun. Ada juga buku yang masuk kategori DNF (Do Not Finish). Kenapa mahu paksa diri bukan? Tak perlu baca apa yang kita tak suka pun.
Rasanya best achievement saya ialah berjaya habiskan Siri Harry Potter, baru boleh rasa jadi Potterhead, cewahhh (biar lambat daripada langsung tiada). Sebulan setengah jugalah bergelumang dengan dunia magik.
Ada orang memilih kualiti berbanding kuantiti ketika membaca, ada juga yang sebaliknya. Ada orang memilih untuk banyakkan bacaan bukan fiksyen. Ada pula yang lebih sukakan fiksyen, namun, itu adalah pilihan masing-masing. Kita cuma berlumba dengan diri sendiri. Untuk perjalanan membaca saya, saya akan pastikan saya membaca buku lebih banyak daripada tahun sebelumnya.
Dalam buku Projek Bibliofil ada baris-baris yang menyebut lebih kurang begini
“Buku yang kita suka tidak semestinya perlu disukai orang lain. Bahan bacaan tidak seharusnya menjadi nilaian tahap kebijaksanaan kita sendiri.”
Harapan untuk tahun 2021, jumlah bacaan mestilah seiring dengan buku yang dibeli (ouch), dan juga membaca lebih banyak buku bersama Amir.
Bacaan pilihan tahun 2020:
Buku Bukan Fiksyen: 1. Seni Berfikir yang Hilang 2. Digital Minimalism 3. Atomic Habits
Buku Fiksyen: 1. Guru Aini 2. Harry Potter (1-7)
Buku Tentang Buku (wajib baca!) 1. Projek Bibliofil 2. Kertas- kertas yang Merubah Fikir 3. Aku, Buku & Kota Kaherah
It has been a long time since I did my last book review here. Now I promise to myself again to be active and doing a post at least twice a month. (Come on Aina!!!)
Blurb
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerising storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
My Review“If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.”
Michelle strives her way since small in school to high school, then Princeton and Harvard. Even her counsellor told her she is not a Princeton Material. She doesn’t allow what people define her, really define her, and proving them wrong.
“Failure is a feeling long before it becomes an actual result. It’s vulnerability that breeds with self-doubt and then is escalated, often deliberately, by fear.”
Reading this personal memoir making me realise even the First Lady grow up as a typical teenager, having a crush, love music, etc. She even has her struggle in marriage, pregnancy and raising her kids.
In Barrack’s tenure for eight years, she still can’t hide her dislike for politics. But her effort in ensuring the kids in America get their healthy meal and approaching teenage girls to empower them for me was very great.She even took the opportunity to encourage many companies to hire the ex-army and care a lot about their family.
One of the crucial things that amaze me that how she tried really hard to make sure her kids growing up feeling normal (even living in the White House is not normal).
As Michelle said, “Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.” Please go grab this book and it should inspire you to own your stories and to not allowing others define you.
P/S: Big thanks to my dear sister Ku Nurasyiqin for getting me this book during her trip to Hawaii.
You wanted to study but decided to have a quick check on your phone and ended up scrolling your Twitter account for almost an hour?
You wanted to reply text messages / Whatsapp message, and suddenly you already spend most of your time scrolling your Facebook timeline or Instagram?
You are tired but you thought checking your social media is a good thing to do before went to bed is a good idea, and tadaaaa, it’s past your bedtime and you ended up waking up late to work?
You have nothing to do / you have some free time, and you are scrolling your phone even though there’s actually nothing for you in it?
Does this situation seems familiar? Too many on hold task because we have been inserting “some time for scrolling our phone”.
A few months ago, I read a book by Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. I want to share some trivia/interesting points/quotes Newport wrote in the book.
“These apps and slick sites were not gifts from ‘nerd gods building a better world’ “. We might think the tech company invent those devices and apps to make our life better and easier, but actually, they are not. “They were instead designed to put a slot machine in our pockets”. They build the apps to make money. Yes, this does remind me of the apps I bought because it’s premium (insert self laugh) or I bought it because it has a special discount!
I remember presenting this book in my book circle, and one of the members who work in the IT industry was admitting this fact. She said that they monitored every site we clicked, and they studied the way to make us stay as long as we can on their apps/sites.
Another quote from the book, Sean Parker, the founding President of Facebook said in developing the apps, they asked a question “How do we consume as much as of your time and conscious attention as possible?“
So, how much time have we consumed for our social media?
Newport introduced the idea of “30 Days Digital Declutter“, where you delete all unnecessary apps (which do not affect your life/work) and re-introduce the apps after the declutter finish.
To be honest, before reading this book, I did my own version of digital declutter back in 2019 where I deleted Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from my phone and never try to open it in my web browser at all. Surprisingly, I can finish reading five books that month instead of normally only two books.
There is a woman, an influencer who participate in the declutter experiment, sharing about her experience during the declutter. She became bored after the second day because she has “nothing” to do.
There are so many things we can do every day, but because of social media is the things we do every day, when it’s gone, we suddenly have “nothing” to do?
Think again.
Addiction doesn’t only apply to substances (alcohol & drugs), but also behavioural. Social media is also an addiction. How do tech company encourages behavioural addiction? By giving something to people so that they:
a. Crave for intermittent positive reinforcement.
b. Drive for social approval.
As an adult, I may not have that behaviour anymore, but I still remember when I was younger, how good I felt when people commented and liked my status. I might not be getting any positive reinforcement physically, but hey, I get it a lot online.
Spend time alone. Or solitude. Newport suggested that people need to allocate their time to be alone. “Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences-wherever you happen to be.” We hardly spend our time for solitude nowadays due to “busy” filling out our time scrolling our newsfeed, which actually does not require our attention.
Solitude deprivation, on the other hand, is the state in which you spend close to zero time alone with your own thoughts and free from input from other minds. Existence of the smartphone and social media seems encouraging the solitude deprivation and increase in teen mental health issues because teenagers have lost their abilities to process and make sense of their emotions, or to reflect on who they are and what really matters, or to build strong relationships, or even to just allow their brains time to power their critical social circuits, which are not meant to be used constantly, and to redirect that energy to other important cognitive housekeeping tasks.
Reclaim Leisure. I love the idea Cal emphasizes that “doing nothing is overrated”. While he categorized spending time with social media as low-quality leisure (remember, what we did was scrolling, there’s nothing difficult about that), he proposed to do high-quality leisure during our free time, be it a bit difficult but it will benefit us later.
All in all, we must reject the mindset that we must always have a smartphone with us. We are the one who controls our phone, not controlled by our phone. Social media was first invented to make us connected to people, but make sure to not disconnect with people around us.
This may not represent totally content from the book, but I hope that this entry helps you to start your early journey of digital minimalism.
, entah masuk kepala ke tidak kan? Tapi kebolehan macam ni rupanya memang ada.
