Two months ago, I vowed to go back to my first love after music – reading. Oh. That makes reading my second love then!
I thought that sharing this resolve online will make me stick to this promise. I suppose that is one upside of Facebook. You can use Facebook as a tool to showcase your hobbies and improve on it. These hobbies can include photography, writing, video-editing, cooking, running, modelling/posing, etc. Idiosyncrasies included.
In Dec 2011, I finally finished “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”. This book stayed on my bedside table for the most part of six months. I got it in July. Perhaps reading for just 15 minutes each night (if at all) does not help. I even started on a different book to keep my interest going. “Tiger mum” was not that bad. Reading was simply at the bottom of my priority list last year. But I kept on buying books I wanted to read, regardless. This lead me to write a post about my penchant for “collecting” books but not reading them.
So in 2012, I will read twelve books. And I will tell you all about it to boot!
To get started, let me tell you about the two books I read in 2011.
Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother by Amy Chua (July-Nov 2011) – Borrow it. A look into an Asian mum’s way of parenting. Quite an eye opener although I wondered often where the story was going. This book made me realize that I am not doing too bad raising my two boys. But I wouldn’t use Amy Chua’s extreme parenting style. I can totally empathize, however.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Nov-Dec 2011) – Borrow it. Gripping. One night, I was so engrossed with it, I read until 2AM. I just wanted to know what will happen next.
Next up is the first book of 2012’s Twelve Books.
Book #1: I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson (Jan-Feb 2012) – Borrow it. A 2002 bestseller, this book was turned into a movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker. I’ve read a lot of hype about it from several women’s magazines and write-ups. But I thought that it was a bit overrated.
Working mums will love this book. It’s a larger than life depiction of a working mother. Kate Reddy is a mother of two small children with an architect of a husband. She employs a nanny, holds a high powered job in an investment firm, and (don’t fall off your chair) has an almost-lover. To cap it all, she also has superpower abilities in forecasting the finance market while bashing a pie to make it look home made for her daughter’s food fete. No, not all of us can look as good as Kate is described in the book.
I enjoyed it though. Quite an easy and amusing read.
How I rate the Twelve Books:
Pass it – not worth your precious time
Borrow it – worthwhile reading but don’t buy it
Shelf it – worthy of a space in your bookcase
Gift it – it is so good, you want to share it
Disclaimer: Please don’t take my word too seriously. I am no expert in reviewing books. In other words, katuwaan lang po ito (just for fun)!
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