Aku hairan dengan golongan yang masih mudah memandang sinis insan2 seperti aku yang gemar mengulit buku cerita. Buku cerita atau istilah yang lebih sesuai, fiksyen, tidak semestinya novel cinta. Walaupun cinta kerapkali menjadi tema sesebuah fiksyen, genre yang ada di pasaran kini tidak tertakluk kepada cinta romantika berjiwang karat-karat sahaja.
Gamaknya dia fikir, diet bacaan aku cuma terdiri dari novel2 ber'karat' itu sahajalah. Justeru mudah sahaja memandang sinis. Namun kalau ya pun, apa yang salahnya? Novel2 cinta pun sudah banyak yang elok2. Cuma perlu sedikit selektif dengan lambakan yang sedia ada dan kalau boleh pelbagaikan bacaan. Jangan asyik2 Alaf 21 sahaja. Sesekali apa salahnya mencuba Tunggu Teduh Dulu oleh Faisal Tehrani misalnya, ataupun Ayat-ayat Cinta oleh Habibur. Tak salah juga kalau mencuba Gone with The Winds dan Scarlett oleh Margaret Mitchell. Pride and Prejudice juga menarik jika anda pernah menonton filemnya.
Amat sayang kalau minat membaca yang sudah sedia ada itu tidak dikembang-kembangkan.
Berbalik kepada kawan aku itu, aku fikir sudah lama benar dia tidak menjenguk ke kedai buku jadi pengetahuannya tentang kepelbagaian kutubkhannah fiksyen dan non fiksyen barangkali tidak pernah menjengah benaknya. Bak kata Frank Zappa, ' So many books, so little time'. Banyaknya dan pelbagainya buku-buku yang dibaca oleh umat manusia atas dunia ini tidak mungkin dapat dibayangkan olehnya.
Pembacaan fiksyen juga boleh saja 'menggegar' dunia atau negara. Mungkin pernah dengar The Satanic Verses? Atau The White Tiger yang penulisnya dengar khabar tidak begitu disenangi oleh kerajaan India kerana kritikan sosialnya yang menghiris. Atau Ketupat Cinta yang sarat satira menyindir pemain siasah semasa dan ikon-ikon hiburan tempatan? Atau lebih baik, SHIT oleh Shahnon Ahmad?
Nah, banyak saja buku cerita yang lebih ber'makna' dari pekerjaan harian anda sendiri.
Dan sayangnya, sebagai orang 'pandai' yang bekerja dalam bidang sains dan teknologi, dia masih terperangkap dalam mentaliti lapuk 'Eh, aku budak sains dan engineering, heran apa aku sastera-sastera karat yang cuma untuk losers yang tak pass SPM.' Mentaliti ini jugalah yang disogokkan sewaktu aku sekolah dulu. Entah dari mana datang dan asalnya, habis dari budak sekolah sampai mak ayah ramai yang termakan propaganda 'sastera cuma untuk losers', sedangkan yang ambil jurusan sains dan teknologi pun, bukannya ramai sangat yang cemerlang.
Orang-orang pandai sepertinyalah, dengan akal pintar dan rezeki melimpah ruah yang dianugerahkan Tuhan, yang sepatutnya paling boleh diharapkan untuk mengembangkan budaya membaca di kalangan masyarakat, bukannya menidakkan orang lain yang gemar membaca, walau novel 'karat' sekali pun.
I was rather tired and occupied in June, so I only managed to finish Voices and Antara Pengganas dan Mujahiddin Tulen. The rest listed in my June reading were hardly touched. And having them lying around and carried around, made them basi already.
So I decided to put 3 of the in my 'to-be-continued' shelf. Hahaha.
I am going to proceed with The Solitaire Mystery but at the same time do check out what we are reading for July in Goodreads Malaysia:
I have decided to go for Brian Gomez's Devil's Place and Ms Samarasan's Evening....
And apart from these, I am also currently lusting for the following,
It should be rather interesting to see controversial issues being written in such graphically artful manner.
And the latter was also co-written by Edward Said. (erm..enough said)
Happy reading, nevertheless!!
Zaman sekarang ni mak selalulah berselera. Maklumla nak lepas geram. Nanti dalam pantang, kena-kena pulak bulan puasa, menganga sajala tengok deme semua makan sedap-sedap.
Hari ini dalam sejarah, mak nak bagitau pasal satu website resepi yang sangat lazat kelihatannya. Kedua2 gambar dan resepi.....rasa macam nak jilat saja monitor pc ni.
Terdapat juga testimoni bergambar dari orang-orang yang pernah cuba resepi tersebut.
Resepi-resepinya banyak juga yang mudah-mudah. This one particular pseudo called yani, wah rajin betul memasak. I'm not her friend nor promoting her. I'm just talking from initial observation. And from my initial observation, I supposed she must have some dessert-producing related affliation. One could not help also to guess that she must have owned a bakery.
Oh, merepek meraban. Ini dia website myresipi.com.
http://www.myresipi.com
(note the spelling is 'resipi' intead of 'resepi' atau 'recipe')
Seperti biasa, mak akan mencuba resepi-resepi mudah dan dessert yang boleh menjadikan diri bodoh kira-kira selama seminggu, seperti Puding Caramel yang ini,
http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/82
Tiramisu Simple yang ini,
http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/736
Caramel Cheesecake yang ini,
http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/325
dan Souffle Cheese Cake yang ini,
http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/67
Ya Tuhan. Banyaknya nak try!!. Jangan satu pun tak buat sudahlah.. hissyyy.. perempuan...perempuan.
We're not allow to reproduce photos so check the site out yourself for those mouthwatering pictures.
The classic case of independent talcum application.
Ainaa first molar was on top right.
Laki aku lagi hensemm.. woohoooo!!!
Faris posing sbb bored dekat masjid.
Pengantin perempuan. Kat belakang tu kakak nya.
Barisan sepupu sepapat.
Ainaa mengamuk nak minum susu. In the background was the kedai keropok lekor sedap.
Faris again. Takutnyaa...
Ainaa before her first molar erupted. Kinda of cute for budak tgh comot baru balik nursery. (heh, puji anak sendiri nampak)
Aina had just gotten her first molar!!... Sheshh.. padanla melalak nak dekat seminggu.
Air liur punyalah banyak kalau kumpul boleh dapat sebotol ibu sirap.
Kesian kat aku. Ntah kene carut ape dengan keluarga Kelantan sebab dok banyok membantu sewaktu bekwoh.
Anyways, kalau nak carut, carut lahhh.. hahahah. Aku balik pun dah kira ok.
Sedikit gambar2 from our roadtrip. Tak banyak ambik sbb bateri habis.
On the return trip we took the Terengganu route instead of Gua Musang. Wanted to try the so called 'jalan pantai' and we wanted to singgah at my hometown in Pekan.
Our take? The pantai route was nice especially with many stops for seafood treats and delicious keropok lekor.
But the route was still laden with too many traffic lights as it's not a highway. And the journey took us so longg.. We started off from Kelantan around 2.30 ish, stopping about 3-4 times. Total stopping time was roughly 3 hours, and we got to my Pekan hometown around 11.30pm.
And I'm telling you, the number of cars travelling at cuti sekolah time were so many. So many we even encountered a roadbully-behaving-lady driving a Wira like a pimp trailing behind white smoke, honking at us because we happened to be on her way. Macam-macam jenis driver lah kat Malaysia. We were apparently so annoyed at her and upon that I told my husband,
Biasalah, bohsia baru dapat kereta mmg macam tu. Jgn dilayan orang bodoh nanti kita pun jadi bodoh macam dia.
Gerammm!!
Kepada perempuan tersebut, kalau takat Wira berasap-asap putih tu tak payahla nak action2.
Oh, kami sungguh penat. Tobat tak lalu Terengganu time cuti sekolah.
(Entri ini akan dituliskan dalam loghat Pekan/Pahang.)
Minggu lepaih kawae cuti daghi haghi Rabu. Adik ipor kendughi kawen. Memandangken kite sumue bukenye kawin tia'p2 haghi, kenalah kawe ambik cuti lebih sikit. Ingatkan sempatla membace due tige buoh buku yang mudoh mudoh, tapi malangnye anok kawe hok kecik tu tok sihat mane, jadi kenela kawe menjage die aje. Kawe bangun sekeja'p nok gi dapur menolong sesikit die doh menjerit menangeh. Habih tu kawe nok buat guane?
Walau macam mane pun, kawe nak kabo, bulan Mei lepas kawe berjaya habihkan 4 buoh buku:
Untuk review klik aje pade gambor buku.
Untuk bulan Jun ni kawe nok cube habih kan buku-buku di bawoh. Hujung bulan enam nanti kite tengoklah maca'm mane.
This message was forwarded to you by faiza1010@gmail.com.
Comment from sender: Hearing about sexual assaults at our very own higher institute of learning's is not new, but I do feel that somehow most of the cases were regarded as rumors because it seems like there's no coverage at all in the news.
Was it the AUKU that they they've signed on to, that prevented them from going to the police and public alike?
This is definitely new. Somehow I finding myself wishing that UITM would get sued and pay the price for what happened to that poor girl.
This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)
URL: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/5/27/nation/20090527161955&sec=nation
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SHAH ALAM: A university student who was sexually assaulted at her hostel six months ago is suing Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) for negligence.
The 21-year-old woman, a second-year Hotel and Tourism Management student, filed the suit at the Shah Alam Sessions Court here on Tuesday.
In the suit, she said the university had failed to prevent unauthorised parties from intruding into the hostel.
She claimed that the incident was due to the defendant's negligence for failing to take necessary measures for the safety and security of the students.
She also said she was not only hurt physically but also emotionally, and has been suffering from acute stress reaction and post-trauma stress disorder. Her studies have been badly affected and she is currently on leave and undergoing psychiatric treatment.
In the statement of claim, she is seeking aggravated, exemplary, general and special damages.
Her counsel Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said the incident took place on Nov 28 last year at about 5am, when the student was bathing in the common bathroom on the second level of the hostel.
He said a naked man knocked on the door and forced his way into the bathroom.
The victim screamed but nobody came to her aid because the other students were asleep and there were no security guards around, he told reporters at a press conference held by Shah Alam Member of Parliament Khalid Abdul Samad here Wednesday.
The intruder forced her down and inserted a finger into her private parts before she finally managed to make her escape, he said.
The victim did not appear during the press conference.
Mohamed Hanipa said he would serve the suit to UiTM after receiving the sealed documents from the court, adding that he expected to get this within a month.
Khalid said the victim's mother approached him on Dec 26 last to ask his help. He said they wrote a letter to UiTM on Jan 28 on behalf of the girl to get an explanation, but did not receive any reply.
"Filing the suit was the family's last option after waiting for an answer for so many months," he said, adding that police had yet to arrest anyone over the incident.
When contacted, UiTM vice-chancellor Datuk Seri Prof Dr Ibrahim Abu Shah said the matter was being handled by the university's student affairs department.
__________________________________________________________________________
Your one-stop information portal:
The Star Online
http://thestar.com.my
Copyright © 1995-2009 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited.
I would give this a 3.5 instead of a 4. But since there is no half stars in Goodreads, I am okay with 4 as it is interesting and memorable enough as well as instructive, because it kept my rather vegetated brain, THINKING. The only thing that it is lacking is the entertaining factor.
I've put the whole comment in Goodreads, here. But I'm putting a snippet of it anyhow.
The Handmaid's Tale is a description of a dystopian state somewhere in America, where a totalitarian regime took over. In the state of Gilead, women are confined to 'female roles' of Wives, Marthas, Aunts and Handmaids. Handmaids are surrogate mother of some sort of viable ovaries. Their role is to boost the declining population, following an aftermath of a nuclear war and pollutions, which left the nation barren.And a bit more,
As a Muslims with this faith so close to my heart, I found that it is quite annoying for some to conclude that The Handmaid's Tale is painting a picture of an Islamic fundamentalism in power. I do admit that there are some countries which oppress and abuse women, perhaps you may view me as one of those women. However to blame the whole religion which consist of the creed and it's many teachings, is unjustly and uncalled for. In my opinion, it is not the creed that is to be blamed, it's those who interpreted it that we might have a problem with.Read in full, here.
Handmaid's did however fulfilled the very claim at the back of the book. It is indeed 'a cautionary tale' which sends a spine chilling warning from the possibilities of fundamental fanatics.
