The Little Prince

by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I read this book for the second time, and it was as lovely as the first time. It is a story about a Little Prince from another planet that visits Earth and finds a pilot that has crashed in the desert. This book is the account of the pilot of meeting this strange boys. The pilot writes this story down lest he forgets his time with this strange but wonderful prince. The original story is in French, called Le Petit Prince.

I really love this book. Second time around because I still remember the story roughly, I found it less sad than the first time I read it. Because it was sort of like meeting an old friend again rather than the loss of a friend. One does feel the longing and sadness of losing a friend when reading this book (first time round), but second time around one feels the joy in cherishing the memory of such a wonderful character. I would definitely read this book again and again from time to time. One should never forget to see the elephant in the boa, and not a hat in a child's drawing.

Rich Brother, Rich Sister

by Robert Kiyosaki and Emi Kiyosaki

I bought this book end of last year because I've heard of Robert Kiyosaki and heard that he was pretty good with explaining motivational and financial generalities. But I found this books horrendous.

Well, first a short synopsis. This book is about the life paths of Robert and Emi Kiyosaki, they are brother and sisters. Robert is a successful enterpreneur, businessman and investor. He is the famous author of several books of the same vein as this I believe, books on investment, life, etc. His stories is about how he got to where he is today. Emi is a Buddhist nun, and this book looks at the other side of being rich, that is spiritually rich. This book also describes her life path. Thus the book finds similarities and contrasts between the two's life journeys.

Okay, not my review. I must say I have only read about 2/3 of this book. I cannot take any of it any more really, it is really not to my liking. For me, it is horrendous. Not my cup of tea at all. The book's concept in itself of the contrast between the material and spiritual pursuits of life is very good. However, the execution and explanation of concept I find to be very incognitive. As in I feel I am dumber for reading this book. I don't know why, Robert is such as successful person, and Emi is a Buddhist nun. I have great respect for what they have achieved in their life. But the reasons they explain for them doing what they do, and the logic behind it, that is simply wrong to me.

Here are several examples. First is connection made behind concepts on life. One thing was something on generalized principles. Robert speaks of having right and wrong answers. He says that the World is at war because there are issues like people believing in only one God and everyone's God is different. So that gives rise to tension and ultimately war. Then he goes on to say there are many ways of doing something, and not one single way is right. Up to this point I agree. Then he moves on to say, that is why we have a right hand and left hand, not a right hand and wrong hand. Then I think what is the point in that statement??? I know that is true, that we have a right and left hand. But then that is just words, there is no meaning behind it. Why would I call one hand the 'wrong' hand? It is empty statements. Oh, and this book is filled with plenty of gems like this.

Furthermore, there are so many inaccuracies in world principles in his statements. He makes sweeping generalization that are just not true. Well in his defense, he does say in the book he is the type of person that wants to win, and is not interested in being right. I personally do not think I am the person that want to be right, but it is like nails on chalkboard when I see statements in this book that are clearly so wrong.

Ah, this is turning into a raging post on the book. There is a plethora of other reasons wrong with this book but I cannot be bothered listing all of them out. I must say I tried my best to give it a chance. Heck, I read 200+ pages of it in hopes there is some gem buried in it. Indeed there were a few, but it is all buried in so much garbage I find it hardly worth the read. I'll end this post on this note. I had less moments of inspirations that I had moments of pure frustration. In essence, this book sucked for me. Waste of my time.

To Kill A Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

I bought this book, the 50 anniversary version of it. This book is a Pulitzer prize winner and amazing that I have not read such a classic till now. Well, actually there are many 'must read' books that I have still not read yet, so there you go.

Short synopsis from wiki here. This really is quite a simple story of kids growing up, but in the backdrop when black and white people were still very much segregated, the time of black slavery. The simplicity of the story simply makes the story of it better. I think the measure of a good piece of fiction is not only the plot and pacing, but the good writing style. This book is pretty direct and simple, but it just wants to make you read on. You just read on page to page without any rush, because each page is as beautiful as the last, as the next.

I see this book sort of like J.D. Salinger in terms of quality, obviously the style is very much different. But it is such a beautiful story. It really gives me motivation to read more book, everytime I read such a wonderful book.