The legacy of Danish writer

Currently, my son loves reading the storybooks written by Roald Dahl, a British writer, which he borrows from his school library. Interesting books, kind of unique and sometimes, even I, myself read them.  It reminds me when I was a little kid, I enjoyed reading the fairytale books such as 'Thumbelina', 'The princess and the pea', 'The emperor's new clothes', 'The Little Mermaid', 'The ugly duckling' and many more. Being just a kid, it didn't really matter to me who was the writer as long as I liked the book. 

~Google pix~

I came to know the author of those books when I was in Copenhagen, way back in 2005. He was Hans Christian Andersen (H.C. Andersen), the 19th Century Danish writer whom was born in Odense, Denmark. He moved to Copenhagen when he was 14 and died at the age of 70. His works on the children books had tremendously delighted children worldwide including myself. His writing of poetry and stories have been translated into more than 150 languages which many had inspired the movies, plays, ballets and animated films (e.g. Disney films). On his birthday, April 2 is celebrated as International Children Book Day. 

It happened to be in the year 2005 when I was around in Copenhagen, they celebrated the bicentenary of Andersen's birth. A rememberance on his legacy, highlighting the history of his life and work. Being on the unpaid leave or best described as being on a summer holiday, I had the ample time to tour the city and visited the places (other than going to shopping streets and malls) with my 4 year old son at that time, while hubby was busy working :) 

Visited the Gallery of H.C. Andersen with no one else but Akid ;)

The statue of H.C. Andersen in the Copenhagen city

A statue of The Little Mermaid was placed in the Copenhagen harbor in honor of H.C. Andersen

Forgotten

Forgotten blog & forgotten books...Great;p Hmm, hardly find time to do all these. There are 2 thick books on my bookshelves that I hardly read, one was bought by mr. hby (nothing to do with beauty;p) Well, actually, few more books that are half way read, my bad! Definitely need to find time for all these.. Thinking of early retirement?? Might be & might be not...

Addiction

For the past two months, I had the chance to read quite a number of fiction books, not because I was really free but I was somehow addicted to these books.... Especially when I was on holiday or on business trip, which I had spare times to read in the flight, taxi or even in a train (Reading-London)... Being outstation alone, I could just spent my night time reading, before going to bed or even in the morning before shower or during breakfast... Gosh, I couldn't believe myself, it was just like my teenage years...:P

My say:

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series relates more on teenagers' lovey-dovey life with a stretch imagination of vampire & werewolf characters... The main character in the book is Bella, a high school girl who's deeply in love with a romantic vampire, Edward Cullen and befriends a werewolf, Jacob. A very smooth flowing and engaging story ever...especially as I've already watched the twilight movie. (can't wait for the next movie- new moon in Nov.) I'm thinking of getting the 4th series -'breaking dawn' later, depending on my time & my mood for reading...

Sophie Kinsella's novel collections are obviously funny and engaging as well... even most of the times, the madness for Becky to shop is quite exaggerating... The main character in this book series is Becky, who's funny, spontaneous and the type of 'go with the flow' girl... and it's balanced with Luke's character as a firm, smart and a loving partner. I watched the movie - confession of shopaholic after reading the book & it was quite frustratingthat the movie's storyline twists quite a lot from the book, ... btw, it's still entertaining...

On the go...

I was away from the office for almost a month. Before a week leave for my little bro's wedding, I was in Millennium for a 3-day workshop. After coming back from kampung, I was off to States for the UCEC conference and got back home on last Sunday. Then on Tuesday, I flew to Kerteh to facilitate a Level 1 training. I've just got back from Kerteh this afternoon and next week, I've to attend a 2-day training in Permata. I'll finally be back to the office on Wednesday... phew.

Funny enough, I still feel the jet lag. I notice that I will feel very sleepy around 3pm onwards. The travel duration to Houston took me more or less 24 hours including transit at Taipei & local connecting flight. A tiring journey not to mention the jet lag that I have to face. The advantage of the long hour trip was that I could spend my time for the things that I rarely have time to do it at home. I read books, watched movies and went to sleep whenever I like. I finished reading this book - Tuesday with Morrie on the way to L.A.

Lately, since my long medical leave in Apr-May, I'm into reading fiction books. At the KLIA airport to Ktn, I got myself a book by Cecelia Ahern - A Place Called Here, something to read during my waiting time before boarding or in a taxi from Ktn-Kerteh & from KLIA to my house.

At Houston G.Bush airport

Ayat-Ayat Cinta

Grabbed this book from Tesco while doing our groceries over the weekend. Tertarik dgn komentar A. Samad Said di belakang buku itu mendorong gua membelinya. Sasterawan agung itu memuji karya anak muda Habiburrahman dari Indonesia, semestinya bukan calang2 karya apatah lagi buku ini amatlah laris di seberang. Best Seller gitu...

Ayat2 cinta berbahasa mudah, santai dengan gambaran dan watak2 yang hidup. Penulis pandai memancing pembaca utk terus membaca dari satu episod ke seterusnya....bercerita tentang aspek2 kehidupan disulami adab2 islami. Kisah2 kelakar, sedih, romantik dan dramatik dlm satu cerita diolah kemas dan sungguh terberkesan.

Yang pasti Ayat2 cinta bukan cerita kosong, tapi penuh pengajaran dan didikan. Ia berkisar bukan hanya kepada cinta sesama manusia, malah lebih dari itu...

Well, I'm not really good in writing sort of book review. What I can say, Ayat2 Cinta has something different to offer and you've got to read it yourself.

The school for husbands

I've just finished reading this book. The story line was quite slow at the beginning, but it became more interesting as I went along.... It was about a late-thirty couple with a toddler, struggling to balance their life between work & family.

The story reminds us for not to underestimate of those small, little annoying things which at some point might blow the tantrum in marriage. The misunderstanding of her husband having an affair was the last straw for the wife to get out from the house. Desperate to save his marriage, the husband enrols at the 'School for Husbands', a residential college which claim can transform pathetic partners into husbands from heaven. This part was quite funny, the consultant lady used bombastic terms for the lesson modules. One of them that I could recall, "Retail Environment Temporary Personnel Loss", otherwise known as 'Husbands Buggering Off in Tesco". Her explaination was that nos. of wives cite the way their husband vanish the moment they enter large retail outlet. This sounds familiar...

Apart of miscommunication and the feeling of getting less attention & affection from each other, the way that the wife's mother interrupted in their marriage had drawn their relationship apart. Other factors such as non-conducive work environment, nasty colleagues and the wife's pathetic ex-boyfriend which indirectly gave hard time to them...

Well, a good book for the husbands actually...