A Moveable Feast-Ernest Hemingway

A memoir of Ernest Hemingway's life with his first wife, in Paris in the 1920s, as a struggling young writer. It sounds like a wonderful life spent writing in cafes, drinking wines and coffees, enjoying good food, and mingling with other writer friends like F. Scott Fitzgerald (who I think was cast in a relatively bad light, especially when they went on a road trip together)- a sweet, romantic way of life. In this memoir, he included the names of cafes and restaurants he had visited, and according to what I found on the internet, some of these places still exist. Wonderful, if you are living in Paris!

The opening quote of the book:"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

A quote from the book read to Meg Ryan by Nicholas Cage in the "City of Angels" movie: "As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans."
You can almost taste the lure of the oysters from his description... It is actually through the movie that I borrowed this book. I had read some of Hemingway's past works like For Whom the Bells Toll, Snows of Kilimanjaro, etc., but honestly, they can get a bit dry and lengthy. But the Moveable Feast is a fairly good read, especially if you are a food/cafe/Paris lover.

The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol pales a little in comparison to Dan Brown's two other major hits: Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. The story kicks off with a slow and dry start but it gets more interesting mid-story. The ending of the story was also disappointing and I think, it ended a bit hastily. But nonetheless, it is quite an intriguing story if you are into his past works about the Free Masons. The Lost Symbol is set in Washington D.C., which people tend to associate with politics more than religion, so I guess that's a nice twist as compared to say, a setting in Rome/ Vatican City. Quite a worthwhile read, if you are a fan of Dan Brown. Otherwise, it might be good to start with Da Vinci Code first.

The Library

Was thinking that the library should give us a record of what books we had borrowed over our lives. I think that would be pretty interesting. I've already lost track of what books I had read. so I guess it might be a good idea to just list the books I borrow, on this blog from now on. The last round of books were:

Augusten Burrough- You better not cry: True Stories for Christmas
Jill Mansell-Rumor Has It
The Rough Guide to Travel Survival
Bobbi Brown-Living Beauty
The Silk Road

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello
Atlas of the Human Heart
12,000 miles
Amulya Malladi- A Breath of Fresh Air
A Moveable Feast- Ernest Hemingway
Cant rem the other one..hurhur

When Life Gives You Lemons;Atlas of the Human Heart

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello by Anura.
This book title caught my eye coz I quite like all things Italian. It's one of the three travelogues I borrowed from the library 3 weeks ago. It's an enjoyable, humorous read of Anura's stint in Italy, where he worked as an English teacher, in a rundown language school. Anura is of Sri Lankan descent but had lived in New York most of his life. The story is filled with characters of all sorts; the character i liked the most was his last gf from I think mm Bulgaria, Czech, oh whatever. As mentioned in the book, this is his first and last book! Which I find a real pity coz his writing is witty and he has a sardonic sense of humor, which I enjoyed tremendously. Definitely a worthwhile read to lighten up a gloomy day.

Another travelogue. This one has none of the light-heartedness or humor found in Limoncello or 12,000 miles. In fact, I found the story and the author really dark and depressing. it was disconcerting to find a 16-year old, brave and independent enough to travel alone to unfamiliar places. The author, an American, left school to travel to Beijing, Hong Kong, Nepal, Amsterdam, england, Italy. The travelling was done in the 1980s, when China was still quite "conservative", I would say. Foreigners were probably not as commonly seen then, as compared to now. Her travel through these places was quite an adventure, she was a tutor in China, a smuggler, a prostitute at one time, a beggar, actress, etc. The things people do to survive. Subsequently she met a guy in Amsterdam, who would become her abusive bf, and father of her child. She was pregnant at the grand old age of 19! I dont know how to put it, it's like her life has been put on the fast track, squeezing what people would have experienced in decades into the three years of her teenage life. A very interesting read.

12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time

Currently still reading this book. Pretty decent read about a Jewish family's three months' travel from Asia, the Middle East, to Europe. If you are interested in getting snapshots of history, culture, or arts, this is a good book to get interesting facts that do not bore you as much as a real history book.

It's rather impressive that Mark Jacobson's children seem to be extremely intelligent, sensitive and unique individuals, who are actually concerned about the going-ons in the world than your average teenager.

I like the part where they travelled to India's Ganges River and watched the burning of bodies and then taking a boat ride in that river. Not only that, they actually saw two men crapping in the middle of the roads, next to each other, and chit chatting the whole time. Oh my God, that must have been a truly unpleasant sight for a nine yr old boy (the youngest of the Jacobson's family).

Another part of the travelogue which left an impression on me was the Cambodian leg of the journey. The clan travelled to the Killing Fields and visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide museums, where about 2 million people were massacred. People were also imprisoned and tortured in Tuol Sleng, a high school converted into a prison of sorts. Those killed had their mug shots taken first before execution- their skulls remained in the museum.

Such bits and pieces of the travelogue made me want to visit these places, to experience something perhaps, a little different from your usual run of the mill happy holidays. Most people I know, prefer to travel to affluent countries since most of us, technically, want to enjoy life whilst on vacation. But I feel travelling to places that are less developed and have sad histories to tell, could be a true eye-opener too and perhaps give you a little food for thought.

Bookfest and More Books to Recommend

I was like a kid in a candystore at the bookfest. Was walking around the place in circles for almost 2hours, not wanting to leave. Serene had to practically drag me out of the place! The books I pushed her to purchase were Tuesdays with Morrie and Eat Pray Love. She chose the latter coz she found it ludicrous to pay $15 for a thin book -_-



The book I forgot to add in my previous list was of course,



Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia



An inspiring read about Elizabeth Gilbert's travels to the three Is- Italy for pleasure (food, specifically), India for spiritual searching, and Bali to find Love. Which explains the title of eat, pray, love. I admire her gutsiness and openness- going to new places, meeting new people, opening up to them, and finding new relationships (friends, lovers, etc). This is something that I find myself not able to do. It's true I like to travel but I am your typical tourist. I do not dare open myself up to strangers in a different land. I think travel is made all the more interesting and meaningful if you interact with the locals, and try to live their way of life. Otherwise, how else can you truly know a place?

My Little Black Book of Books

Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist

Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks
Three Weeks with My Brother

Jostein Gaarder
Sophie's World
The Solitaire Mystery

Mitch Albom
Tuesdays with Morrie

John Grisham
A Painted House

Dan Brown
Da Vinci Code
Angels and Demons

Ian McEwan
On Chesil Beach
Atonement

Frank McCourt
'Tis
Angela's Ashes
Teacher Man

Kinga Freespirit
Led by Destiny- Hitchhiking around the World

Augusten Burroughs
Running with Scissors
A Wolf at the Table
Dry
Magical Thinking