The New York Times recently profiled the Readius, a foldable reader that uses e-ink and wireless communication so you can read books, magazines, and emails on a 5" diagonal screen, from a device about the size of a cell phone when folded.

It begins its life in Europe, and is scheduled to appear in the US in early 2009.

This is apparently just the beginning of a flurry of devices with flexible screens, wireless integration, and even richer displays.

Let the games begin!

Semua kenaikan harga buku secara tiba-tiba ini tidak lain adalah karena pajak dan harga bahan baku kertas yang naik. Setidaknya itu yang saya dapatkan dari sumber informasi terpercaya.

Tidak heran kalau para orang tua mengeluh ketika harus membayarkan sejumlah uang buku anak – anak mereka setiap semesternya yang berkisar sampai 1.000.000,-. Tentu saja tidak hanya orang tua yang merasakan dampak kenaikan harga kertas. Saya dan bahkan mungkin semua orang pecinta buku juga merasakan hal yang sama. Tidak tanggung – tanggung perubahan harga yang terjadi. Apalagi bagi kami yang tinggal di luar pulau jawa. Harga yang ditempel di belakang buku ditambah lagi dengan biaya ongkos kirim.

Nasib – nasib. Sebagai pekerja serabutan, saya makin merasakan susahnya menjadikan sebuah buku menjadi penghuni rak buku. Tidak hanya karena harus lebih sering kejar setoran. Tapi juga jadi harus makin selektif dalam memilih buku ataupun komik yang bisa dibawa pulang. Tidak hanya membuat List To Buy makin panjang tapi saya juga dengan berat hati akhirnya memutuskan untuk sementara tidak membli beberapa judul komik dan buku. Contohnya seperti Shonen Mags, Shonen Star dan Hanalala, majalah komik keluaran PT Elex Media Komputindo. Yang parah sekarang Death Note, Bleach, Kunimitsu, Gash Bell dan mungkin akan bertambah dengan judul lainnya harus saya hentikan sementara.

Beruntunglah orang – orang yang berada di Pulau Jawa. Karena pesta buku diskon sering digelar disana. Berbeda dengan di kota ini. kalau pun ada itu hanya sekali atau dua kali setahun. Diskon yang berlaku juga tidak banyak. Hanya sekitar 15%. Kalaupun ada yang sampai 50% itu adalah koleksi buku terbitan lama.

Kadang terpikir untuk melakukan pembelian buku online. Tapi ngeliat ongkos kirim, saya jadi berpikir lagi. walau hampir semua toko buku online itu juag sudah memberikan diskon. Dulu sih sering pesan buku dari mereka. Tapi ketika memutuskan untuk jadi pekerja serabutan, melakukan pembelian via internet ini menjadi semakin susah. Hehehe...

Sehingga tidak heran kalau sekarang saya sering ikut lomba resensi yang digelar oleh beberapa penerbit. Selain membuat kemampuan mereview isi buku saya terasah, saya juga bisa dapat buku gratis. ^_^V Walau memang harus bersaing dengan beberapa orang yang juga tidak kalah jagonya. Ga tanggung – tanggung, saingan saya adalah anggota kubugil and friends yang terkenal dengan blog bukunya. Tidak bohong, ada rasa pesimis. Namun saya percaya kalau sudah rezeki nggak bakal kemana. Caio Ally!!!

Mengeluh mungkin tidak akan ada habisnya. Bahkan tidak akan mampu membuat semua harga buku itu turun.. yah setidaknya, sedikit beban jadi berkurang.

Kejar setoran lagi yuk!!!

Martin Downes gleans some questions from Richard Baxter to ask oneself while reading:

1. Could I spend this time no better?

2. Are there better books/blogs that would edify me more?

3. Are the lovers of such a book/blog as this the greatest lovers of the Book of God and of a holy life?

4. Does this book/blog increase my love to the Word of God, kill my sin, and prepare me for the life to come?

[From the Banner of Truth Magazine, July 1958]

This is one book that moved me to tears. It was disturbing,  yet so beautifully written.  The characters were so well-etched and real. On one hand we have Aamir, the protagonist, who yearns for his father's appreciation and on the other, we have Hassan, his servant and  true friend who doesn't stop short of going to any length for his friend.  A tale of friendship, love and sacrifice. "For you, a thousand times over" - this line is the leit motif of this book and is both its starting and ending line.

The book spans a few decades. The first half is set in pre-Taliban Afghanistan and highlights the bond that the two friends share. It gives an insight into the priveleged lifestyles of the wealthy upper-class Afghans. The social hierarchy between the various tribes and the class divide is depicted vividly. It has interesting descriptions of the daily life of Afghans - their food, customs, religion, culture, festivals, celebrations .

 The second half deals with Aamir and his quest for redemption. There is also a tender love story incorporated, that provides the much-needed brightness in the otherwise gloomy descriptions of refugee life and its struggles. I especially loved the way Aamir's relationship with his wife is portrayed. In terms of setting, the first and second halves are complete contrasts (the second half is set mostly in America). The war in Afghanistan is described in painstaking detail. As a person who never knew what it was to live in a war-torn country, it was a complete eye-opener to me.  The lives of refugees and their fight for survival is so movingly depicted. One particular anecdote in the book that has been etched in my memory is the one where Aamir's father, after a nasty fight with a Vietnamese convenience-store owner who refuses him credit, fondly reminscises how a stick was used as a 'credit card' in Afghanistan. All his servant had to do was take the stick to the baker, who would make a mark on it with a sharp instrument, one for each loaf of naan sold. At the end of the month, the marks were counted and payment was made accordingly. I found this concept fascinating! 

The only slightly negative thing about the book is that it tends to drag a bit towards the end, especially the part where Aamir is making his attempts to bring Sohrab, Hassan's 10-year old son, to the United States. There is also a morbid scene describing the child's attempt at suicide. This, I thought was a little far-fetched, as were some of the dialouges spoken by the child and the fact that he is silent for almost a whole year. But, I guess these wouldn't be so improbable, considering all that the child had been subjected to. Emotional wounds are hard to heal after all.

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and also learnt a few things about this glorious country called Afghanistan. This book is not for anyone looking for a breezy read. There is no humour in the  book, but do not let that dissuade you from reading it. It is haunting, disturbing and yet so beautiful as it takes us through Aamir's journey from guilt to redemption. I loved the liberating ending!

Kenapa sih orang-orang suka liburan ke luar kota? I prefer nonton TV ato DVD di rumah, baca setumpuk buku (preferably novels), atau going online untuk ngisi hari libur. Kalo keluar rumah, aku lebi suka jalan-jalan ke toko buku, mall, butik yang harganya reasonable, atau duduk di gerai kopi/donat sambil baca majalah/buku atau internetan. Ah, what a holiday...

Masi di dalem kota, aman, terlindungi, dan nyaman. Mungkin banyak orang bilang, itu gak seru. Orang selalu lebi banyak yang milih liburan di luar kota atau luar negeri, backpacking ke situs-situs wisata, pokonya mereka bisa dibilang anti liburan di dalem kota deh. Pada nyari suasana baru. Ahahaha, aku justru suka suasana kota--rame, aman, nyaman, semuanya ada, bisa kemana-mana sendiri... yah, after all, Surabaya still has the goodness that offers me a thought about staying.

Atau aku adalah tipe orang yang takut keluar dari 'safe zone' aku? Takut nyoba hal-hal yang aku pikir gak bakal bisa aku lakuin? Agaknya iya. Bukannya aku setakut itu sih; aku cuman lebih suka kalo aku ada di wilayah aman itu, no need to worry about unknown things, no need to nervous of plans ahead.

Kayaknya tulisan ini dibikinnya telat ya, secara hari ini sebetulnya masa liburan udah abis. Bodo ah.

Let's talk about this day. It's much tiring, since I now have this habit of early morning waking, karena harus nganterin dua adekku ke sekolah. Jadi sekarang hari-hari aku dimulai dari jam setengah 6 pagi. I've got to do this early morning driving (kebalikan ama yang sapa tuh, yang suka nge-late nite driving, ehehe) untuk kemudian pas udah balik ke rumah disambung ama beres-beres rumah. Abis gitu, kalo gak ke kampus, ya nganter-nganter ibuku kemanaaa gitu. Trus jam 1 atau 2 harus jemput adekku lagi. Huuh... oleh karena itu, aku gak bisa lagi tidur malem-malem kayak sebelumnya. Jam 8 malem mata udah berat, dan jam 10 udah siap-siap merem. Kroookk...

Sempet ketiduran segala pas di tukang jait tadi, tidurnya dengan pose duduk dan tangan ngelipet di meja (as I used to do in high school :p), dan tidurku itu bener-bener tidur. Sampe mimpi-mimpi gitu. Tau-tau pas dibangunin ibuku, I wonder where I was, uhuh yea that stupid. Padahal sebelumnya aku masi sempet baca beberapa lembar A Thousand Splendid Suns (can't leave home without a good book) tapi kantuk (bahaya laten, kayanya) terlalu menguasai.

Tau-tau aja tadi siang, dengan perkiraan TKP di Pasar Pucang, handphone ibuku ilang. Kayanya sih jatoh gitu pas doi keluar dari mobil. Begitu nyadar, udah lewat sekitar setengah jam-an dari perkiraan waktu jatohnya. Langsung deh aku dan ibuku tadi menginterogasi orang-orang yang tadi berinteraksi ama kita gitu. Nothing... dan sampe situlah kisah perjalanan N73 itu bersama ibuku (gak tau lagi kalo malingnya tobat.)

Anyway, postingan kali ini gak fokus banget ya. Sebenernya banyak yang pengen aku tulis berkaitan dengan hari ini, tapi... males. Well, see you.

Image courtesy of cartoonstock.com and digestive.niddk.nih.gov.

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• Get online and go to your favorite search engine. Perform a search for “Online TOEFL Course.”

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Tra i tanti mestieri che ho fatto negli ultimi anni, questo ancora mi mancava: il recensore ignaro.

Mi spiego. Vi è mai capitato di leggere qualcosa e pensare "ma io questa l'ho già sentita"?

Oggi, sul Venerdì di Repubblica, a pagina 94, si parla di Uno strano destino, splendido romanzo del magico Daniel Woodrell di prossima uscita in Italia per Fanucci. L'autore dell'articolo esordisce così:

"C'è una linea retta che dal William Faulkner più noir conduce a James Lee Burke e da Flannery O'Connor porta a Joe Lansdale, e comprende autori di generazioni, formazione diverse come Cormac McCarthy e Jim Thompson: tutti, chi più chi meno, intenti a perfezionare la grande tradizione del Gotico americano".

Bella, eh?

E questa è la conclusione del mio Faulkner e il giallo, una cosa che avevo scritto qualche anno fa e che i visitatori di questo sito hanno potuto leggere il 3 giugno scorso:

"Ecco quindi la linea retta che da William Faulkner conduce a James Lee Burke, e che da Flannery O’Connor porta a Joe Lansdale, e che comprende, tra gli altri, autori di generazioni, formazione ed esperienze diverse come Daniel Woodrell, Cormac McCarthy, Charles Willeford e Jim Thompson: tutti, chi più chi meno, intenti a perfezionare la grande tradizione del Gotico Americano."

Che dire? Intanto, mi spiace che abbiano omesso il povero Willeford, il mio scrittore preferito.

Poi non resta che citare la battuta preferita di Sid Hudgins, il giornalista ficcanaso di Hush-Hush nei romanzi di Ellroy: "Ricordatelo, comunque: ve lo abbiamo detto noi per la prima volta: garantito, di prima mano, e in via molto, molto confidenziale" (James Ellroy, White Jazz, 1992; traduzione di Carlo Oliva).

Comunque sia, il Venerdì di Repubblica mi deve almeno una birra.

(già che ci siamo, non è vero, come scrive il suddetto recensore, che Cavalcando col Diavolo - il film di Ang Lee - è stato tratto dal romanzo di Woodrell Il bel cavaliere se n'è andato, in originale The Death of Sweet Mister. Proviene invece da Woe to Live On, uscito in Italia nel 2000 per Le Vespe, piccolo editore di Pescara).

LC

Posted by Duff

I've probably already recommended this book to you (I told my podiatrist about it when he told me his four-month-old wouldn't sleep if that's any indication of how frequently I suggest it). So just consider this a reminder.

The Wonder Weeks: How to Turn Your Baby's 8 Great Fussy Phases into Magical Leaps Forward by Hetty Vanderijt and Frans Plooij made me a better parent.

Anytime the Dervish and I made any progress in our new relationship, she suddenly wanted to climb back whence she came. In protest, my good sleeper suddenly shaved hours off her slumber to buzz listlessly through her days like a drunken, irritable bee.

But right around the time I'd start to say "wit's end" and "end of my rope" to end most sentences, the frustration (for both of us) would -- suddenly -- end. She'd emerge a new Dervish. Sweet. Beaming. Able to do something new and call-the-grandparents-worthy. We, her parents, felt like we'd just participated (poorly) in the lightning round of Red Light, Green Light.

She likes to keep us guessing.

Nothing special going on here, just normal development, clearly defined by The Wonder Weeks in regular intervals (and complete with encouragement from the authors and testimonials from parents who have been there/are happy to be done with that). Pure vindication. Because, according to the authors' research, all infants go through the same things at just about the same time, based on their due dates, up until 54 weeks.

It seems infancy, from an infant's perspective, is no walk in the stroller. It's a lot more than just eating, sleeping and pooping -- it's learning how to be a person.

Since I'm still learning what it means to be person myself, I can empathize with the Dervish.

A special thank you to askmoxie for recommending this book back when I really, really needed it.

It's been awhile since my last stab at morning pages let alone  an artist's date. I can barely take it anymore. there is a distinct feeling of 'cloggedness' - a feeling of something being under my skin bursting to come out yet unable to! So this morning, I did an important chore that took next to no time to complete... and had the cheapest and yet most satisfying breakfast I've had in ages - it cost me all of RM2.60! A  piece of crispy chewy thosai and a hot frothy glass of teh tarik...ahhhh... the simple pleasures of life. Comfort food - although i'm not an Indian, deep down I recognise that comfort food knows no borders! After that I strolled over in the coolness of this morning's drizzle to my favourite bookshop (Cziplee's in Bangsar Baru) and spent the morning browsing to my heart's content.

Here's a book i nearly bought on sight!

1000 Artist Journal Pages : Personal Pages and Inspirations by Dawn deVries Sokol

The author encourages the reader to start art journalling and gives a few ideas to as a jumping off point. Some of the ideas remind me of The Artist's Way.The beautiful book is a compilation of journal pages of different artists from around the world. It was just so refreshing to flip through all the pages, my eyes hungrily taking in all the creativity and colour. It was truly food for my starving artist soul...ahhhh

If you would like to have a look at some of the pages, just google the book's title under google images and you will be able to find the pages of some of the artists who have contributed to the book. I am inspired to start an art journal now! Let's see how far this will take me :)

For those who know me well, would account that I need changes in my life to keep me going. I need to change to grow. Also, I just get bored of being the old myself. I need to know where I have to improve to move on and move ahead in life. I want to change for my own betterment. 

A change for me is something that has to be positive all the time. I believe in having the faith that when you want good things to come in your life; they WILL - simply because you are positive about them coming to you. I understand and have experienced that sometimes it just hard to be positive continuously day in & day out in your life. There are times and minutes and seconds that you forget that you are being attracted towards negativity and you then get a constant flow of negative thoughts in your mind. Then what do you do? How do you come back to being positive, cheerful, satisfied and content during those times? 

A simple thing that has been working for me is music, my friends and a constant reminder of certain things that I keep in front of me. Now, I know, a lot of people may have tried this and said, that over a period of time this fades away, however I challenge that you come out and challenge your own self to avoid letting it fade away from your life. 

Now, my main intention for writing this post is to share what I have put up in front of me everyday. All that I ever believed in, I found it all consolidated on Website of "The Secret" {Previous posts on "The Secret Part - I" & "The Secret - A Review"}.

It is called the Optimist's Creed which has been written by Christian D. Larson almost 100 years ago. It's very strange or call it God's will that I landed on that exact page and also had it delivered in my mail box couple of days ago. This one contains just about everything that I have always talked about with people, just about every word that I completely BELIEVE in to its very core. 

I now have its print out on my soft board on my desk where I see it everyday and all it helps me do is to remind me to make a Promise everyday. Make sure to use the words "I Promise" at the beginning of every statement.