Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen-Mah

As a daughter in a Chinese family, Adeline Yen has been left out by her family in most occasion. And what’s more, she was born in the 1930’s and at that time Chinese girls still bind their foot (at that time, men find women with small feet attractive and they are considered marriagable) and sons are most prized in Chinese families. As such, the females are often deprieved of higher education compared to their male counterpart.

Adeline’s mother died when she gave birth to her. Because of this fact, her family began to shun her and think of her as bad luck and her father married a woman much younger than him (it was a common practice those days for men of high ranking to have concubines). The woman in question was Jeane Proseperi who’s of French descent (French dad, Chinese mom). She was referred to as Niang (another term for mother in Chinese) by Adeline and her siblings…and yes, she’s the classic evil stepmother as you have read in storybooks.  

Fortunately for her, her Aunt Baba (her father’s sister) is kind to her and constantly nurture her and to Adeline, her Aunt Baba is the kind of mother that she never had and was her role model even to this day. She kept Adeline’s report cards and whenever Adeline’s down (thanks to Niang), she will brought out those report cards to remind her of her great achievements. Mind you, Adeline’s one of the brightest in the Yen family. She even won an English essay competition or some sort and won a scholarship to further her studies in London. And yes, she’s fluent in English as a primary school kid in Shanghai. Her other role model was her Grand Aunt whom she called Gong Gong.

As a child, her Gong Gong rebelled against her father when she was to bind her feet like every other Chinese girls at that time. Her rebellion proved to be a success and her feet were never binded. And few years down the road, she became one of the most successful banker in Shanghai and she bacame the president of Shanghai’s Women’s Bank which she founded in 1924. And that was why she was referred to as Gong Gong rather than Grand Aunt.

Her childhood wasn’t a happy one. She had live under Niang’s “dictatorship”, war and even betrayals by her close ones and this well-written memoir that she authored tells it all. This memoir describes Adeline’s hardships and how she overcome it all even when there seem to be no hope at all. Read on, to know the real meaning behind the term Falling leaves or Luo ye gui gen in Chinese.

P.S: I’m one of those “bananas” and I’m not very familiar with Chinese terms. The Chinese terms mentioned above are from the book itself.

Note: Adeline Yen-Mah is now a physician and author now living in the States. For more info, click HERE.

The Runaway Jury by John Grisham

Completed the book yesterday…finally!!!! Was on the way to work and seeing that the journey to work takes about 20 mins, I might as well read. So anyways, here’s the gist of what the story is all about.

Basically, a widow whose husband has died of lung cancer and she’s filing a lawsuit against a tobacco company for supposedly causing his untimely death and this Rohr guy who represents the tobacco company is doing whatever he can to win the case even if it means going as far as bribing or plotting a conspiracy against the members of the jury to get their vote in the favour of the tobacco company. Then comes a certain Nicholas Easter who skillfully worm his way into becoming one of the member of the jury. In the beginning of the story, one would assume that he’s just a charming ex-law student who for some reason is trying to gain the confidence and trust of his fellow jury members. Little did they know, he’s working with his girlfriend, Millie-something holding the juries’ votes “hostage”. Rohr was to give him this sum of money given a period of time or else Easter will sway the juries’ votes to the opposing side. Desperate to win the case, Rohr paid some million dollars to Millie and unbeknownst to him, both of her parents had died from lung cancer several years ago from smoking; that simply means Rohr’s been screwed, if you get what I mean.

My thoughts:
Yes, smoking is the main contributer of lung cancer but in the end it’s the consumer’s choice of whether to smoke or not and if one choses to smoke, he/she will have to live with the consequences later on. And regarding the tobacco company that promotes smoking - it’s just business and to inform teens about the consequences of smoking, it should start from school level…but I have to admit that so far, I doubt that it’s even working at all as we can all see teens these days smoking a cigar. But really, smoking is bad for your health and like the government says, say TAK NAK to smoking and you will probably live a longer life.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I borrowed Jodi Picoult’s “The Pact” from the library. I returned it unread three weeks later. Oh how I regret my decision now. “My sister’s keeper” is one awesome book with great storyline and characters. It’s simply superb.

The underlying theme of this novel is whether it’s ethical or non-ethical to design a baby’s genetic. Anyway, let me tell you a little bit of the background of this novel.

Brian and Sara Fitzgerald have two children, Kate and Jesse. Jesse’s the classic delinquent son who never fails to break any school rules. Kate’s the sick one. At the age of three she has been diagnosed with leukemia, or simply put, blood cancer. Imagine the horror that Brian and Sara faced as a parent to a dying child. Parents aren’t supposed to bury their child after all.

Jesse’s bone marrow (??) isn’t a match. Now, Jesse’s Kate only sibling and the only alternative at that time was to wait for donors. Brian and Sara ain’t gonna wait. The longer they wait, the more serious Kate’s condition becomes. And then Dr. Chance (Kate’s doctor) mentioned that right after one of her patient’s mom got pregnant and somehow her patient’s new sibling’s bone marrow is a match. This gives them an idea.

Brian and Sara went to this geneticist to design their unborn child’s genetic so that it matches Kate’s. In other words, the unborn child is the key to Kate’s recovery and nine months later, Anne is born.

As soon as Anne’s old enough, she began to understand the purpose of her existence. If it wasn’t for Kate’s illness, she would still be somewhere in heaven by now and wouldn’t be brought to the world. At the beginning, I thought that Anne despises Kate and that she tried to kill her on purpose. But as the story progresses, you can see that Anne and Kate are like any other sisters. They fought over CDs, clothes and everything else. And they love each other dearly.

All things were great at first. Anne provides all the things that Kate needed for recovery until bam! Anne couldn’t take it anymore and decided to sue her parents. After supposedly flicking through the Yellow Pages, enters Campbell. Campbell decided to be Anne’s attorney on pro bono basis…in other words; Anne does not have to pay a dime on his service. Anyway, all goes well and Anne eventually won the case. Well, not really. She didn’t live through her high school graduation day. In the end, Anne did just what her parents intend her to do…..she saved Kate’s life

As a reader, I have come to hate Brian and Sara. Especially Sara. Is it right for a parent to kill his/her child just to save the other? Seriously, I don’t think Anne deserve to go through all those painful process just to help her sister. What the hell, Sara even expects Anne to donate one of her kidneys to Kate. With only one kidney, I doubt that Anne would be able to play hockey, a sports that she loved dearly, let alone live till 80.

Overall, I would say that if you’re looking for a novel with great storyline, then Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper is the novel that you have been looking for.

Hmm….am gonna hunt for Picoult’s The Pact at the library ASAP. It should be as good as My Sister’s Keeper.

True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

No doubt Nicholas Sparks is one of the greatest author of love stories today. Just pick "The Notebook" and "A Walk to Remember" and you'll know why. Both titles mentioned had been made into films.

Now he's back with "True Believer" and I've finished it last night and frankly, it was good...but not super great...it's a mixture of ghost story and love story but I wouldn't call it a ghost story...laugh out loud...he just used the ghost story element as the background of Jeremy Marsh's and Lexie's brooding romance...

Jeremy is a science journalist based in New York while Lexie, a small town girl is a librarian in Boone Creek, a small town in North Carolina. Somehow, fate has bring them together although I must say that Lexie was really pissed at Jeremy when they first met. Lexie thought that Jeremy's out to exploid the small town. She, however was wrong. Thank goodness for that...

Jeremy's out to investigate the strange cemetery that is thought to be haunted by a black woman who was seeking revenge for what the authorities back then have done to her ancestors' grave...Sources have claimed that the cemetery's sinking every day... how cute...sinking indeed...along the way, he has encountered the guy at the gas station who talked way too much, Rodney, the local sheriff who has the hots for Lexie, Dora, Lexie's grandma who has taken care of her since her parents' death and Rachel, Lexie's friend who loves to flirt but is secretly in love with Rodney. Wow...

Somehow, Jeremy fell in love with Lexie even though they have only know each other for only a few days. He hadn't felt this way with any other girl since his ex-wife, Maria left him for one reason that I'm not gonna tell now (read the book yourself, you lazy bumps). Lexie herself has her fair share of downs. She was engaged once to the man that she thought she loved until she found him on the bed with another woman. For goodness sake she even followed him to New York just to be with him. Then, enter Mr. Renaissance. Sadly, it didn't work out either. Ever since then she has lose faith when it comes to guys. She knew that Rodney's in love with her but she didn't love him...too bad for him....

Oh well, like any other love story you know how it ends. Sparks' "A Walk to Remember" didn't end in a happy note...thank goodness this one does...

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl is not like any other teenager. Other teenagers hang out with their friends, go to school. But that's not the case with Artemis. He's one of the exceptionally gifted teen of his time. He even reads Science journals and medical journals as a hobby. Come on. Even I as an IT student am not too keen on reading books on technology and electronic. Bore me to death even but not Artemis. You see, his dad, Artemis Fowl Senior was a criminal. That's probably how the Fowls can live in a lavish lifestyle. Artemis Jr., unfortunately, inherits his dad's love of criminal lifestyle that is, until Artemis Sr. got into trouble and Artemis Jr. has to save him, with the help of Holly Short, a fairy, pixie whatever you call her and of course, Mulch Diggums a low-life dwarf who steals for living.

Let me tell you how they got together in the first place. It's as if Fate has put them together. Artemis first discovered the existence of fairies and Haven when he was 13. How, I don't remember. You'll have to read about Artemis' first outing in Colfer's Artemis Fowl.

In his latest outing, Commander Julius Root has been killed. Killed by Opal Koboi who's suppose to be in coma, no less. Opal, however is not an idiot. She's considered as Artemis equal, if not better than him. While she's in coma, her mind is buzzing with activities as she hatched a plan that will bring destruction to Haven, home of the fairykind. She reinevent herself as a girl named Belinda Zito and "mesmers" Giovanni Zito, a millionaire environmentalist so that she can use him to bring her plans to live. Zito, in fact is part of her plan.

Now, how on earth does she escape from the health facility? With the help of the pixie twins of course. In her place she place her clone, an exact replica of her while the real her escapes and her plan was brilliant as the Dr. Argon who's in charge of the facility don't even notice her disappearance as her clone was perfect.

First, she murdered Commander Root and framed Holly for her crime. Now, the whole LEP is hot on her trail. Together with Artemis Fowl, his bodyguard, Butler, Mulch Diggums, the insolent dwarf they thwarted Opal's evil intentions and managed to save the whole Haven community from destruction.

Trust me, this book is entertaining and a nice read. Before you know it, you'll be craving for more Artemis Fowl.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Austen is my favourite author. Seriously. People at my age often dismiss the idea of reading a
novel from the 19th century. Let alone reading it as part of the literature component. I mean, in 
SPM English Literature paper, students are required to read several poem and of course, novels. 
Jane Austen's Mansfield Park is one of them, or so I heard from my peer who took English 
Literature as a 5th former. Anyway, my point is, nowadays not many people would appreciate 
classic novels. Only a handful of people like me who actually enjoys Austen's work.

Okay...lets get to business. Pride and Prejudice (P&P) is one of Austen's most celebrated novel in 
her days and today. Why else there are many film adaptations made? The most recent stars
Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as the cold and proud Mr. Darcy. 
Both actors are excellent in their respective roles. P&P's basically about the trials and tribulations
of the Bennet family but I have to say that the star of this novel has to be Elizabeth Bennet or
Lizzie as she's affectionally known. She's the pride and joy of Mr. Bennet as she's the most 
intellectual and well-read just like her old man. Of all the Bennet sisters, I must say that Lizzie
and her older sister, Jane are the mature and sane ones. The same cannot be said about Lydia
and Kitty. All they can think about is men especially the ones in the military. Laugh out loud.
They are definitely suckers for men in uniform. Mary, on the other hand, is the quiet and passive
one. She rarely mix around with people and she hates balls and parties (sadly, I'm more like her). Their mother, unfortunately, is not like what most mothers are. All she cares about is to 
get all her daughters married and she will brag whenever she can especially to the Lucases. 
Nevertheless, like every mother, she cares for her children and she wants the best for them. 

Enough of the Bennets. Here comes Mr. Bingley and his friend, the cold and proud Mr. Darcy.
Lets begin with Bingley. He's one of the kindest man that one would ever known. He's definitely
loaded but he didn't boast about it like some rich, spoilt brat would do. He's very down to earth 
and that's probably why Jane got attracted by him in the first place, and he, by her in return.
They're made for each other. But before they can finally unite, they have to overcome several
hurdles and I have to say, it's all worth it when they finally got together. Of Mr. Darcy, at first,
he can be really standofish as he's really proud man when we Austen introduce him to us,
readers. He's a snob in every way a rich man would. Apparently, he's worth 10,000 pounds per
year. He even said our dear Lizzie is not handsome enough to tempt him and he said it loud 
enough that Liz heard that. Lizzie who's made of iron, couldn't care less, however his quotes
made her despise him even more and she makes sure that her sentiments towards him is known. Laugh out loud. That's probably she attracts Darcy. She's not like any other girl who
don't have a stand on what she believes in. Plus, she's well read and in those days, girls like her
is a rare species. Most girl of her time either draws or sews and I would say that Lizzie's more
like a tomboy of her time.

She despises him further when she found out that Darcy advises his friend, Bingley to stay away
from Jane and that Jane's not into him. Of course, Darcy meant well but like what Lizzie told him, he doesn't know Jane like she does. According to Lizzie, Jane's not the kind of girl who make her intentions towards a guy known. She's shy perhaps. Wickham then enters the scene
as the handsome military man and instantly, Lizzie fell for him. Wickham, however is not what
it seems. He fed her with lies about Darcy and Lizzie believes him.

Then came a day when Lydia eloped with Wickham. They were in shock as they didn't expect
Wickham to be such a man. Mr. Bennet immediately rush to London to find them but
unsuccessfully. Their uncle, Mr. Gardiner joined the search party and fortunately, he brings back good tidings from London. Apparently, he has paid Wickham an undisclosed sum of money
so as he'll marry Lydia. You must understand that in those days girls like her is no more like a
whore and her family will have to bear the consequences as well.

After the awful episode, Lizzie begin to think of Darcy in a new light. He wasn't the bad guy at all
unlike what Wickham had told her earlier. To think that she had rejected his marriage proposal.
She feels even worse when she found out from Lydia (accidentally) that Darcy was at the wedding and that he had paid Wickham that undisclosed sum of money. To top it all up, Bingley
came over to her place and he and Jane are engaged! All thanks to Darcy of course.

Lizzie begin to fall for Darcy. However, she had rejected his proposal earlier on. Which man will
propose to the same girl again? Then Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Darcy's aunt came. Her
Ladyship warns Lizzie not to except Darcy's hand in marriage if there's any. She also said that
Darcy's engaged to her own daughter, Ms. De Bourgh ever since their infancy. Lizzie however
fired back and told Her Ladyship that she'll never refuse Darcy's hand in marriage if he ever
propose. With that, Lady Catherine left in anger. She would not have a girl of "inferior birth"
becomes the mistress of Pemberley. Crap.

When Darcy heard of Lizzie's episode with his aunt, his hope is renewed. He went to the Bennet's
and popped the question to Lizzie again. And of course, our beloved Lizzie said "yes". Ah....it's so
sweet. Imagine that, two weddings for the Bennets. Jane is offically Mrs. Bingley and we can all
refer Lizzie as Mrs. Darcy now. Ah....double wedding...how cute....

P&P's like a chick-lit of the 19th century...except that, the term "chick-lit" doesn't exist yet back
then. Nevertheless, Austen's P&P is a good read and like everyone say, good books will last
forever. Pen is after all, mightier than sword...

Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella

I have to admit that I was giggling non-stop when I first read Kinsella's first effort, Confessions of a Shopaholic. It's so hillarious that I don't mind reading it over and over again. Believe it or not, when I'm down, I'll read the book and instantly, my face will lit up. The same can be said about Kinsella's latest effort. After Becky's misadventure as a financial journalist, she went to Manhattan with her guy, Luke and finally tied the knot with Luke, her long-lost sister came out of nowhere. Apparently, her dad was with a girl before he met her mom and the girl got pregnant without his knowledge. The girl married another man and they raised her daughter whom she named Jessica.

Before Jessica's appearance Becky and Luke were honeymooning in India. It was hillarious. Can you 
believe that Becky actually ran across a charcoal-filled ground just to get to the peddlar who 
was selling bracellets or some sort. I had a good laugh on that one.

When Becky and Luke finally got home from their honeymoon, she was told by Luke to stop 
spending on unnecesary items as she's not working and that she can't afford to pay it. Fortunately 
for her, Luke is kind enough to pay off her visa debts.   

When Becky finally meet her sister, she was overjoyed. She never had a sister. All this time, she 
was an only child. She started to think of the shoppings trips that she and her sister will go. 
She was so wrong. Jessica is her total opposite. She may hate her sister at one point, but along
the way she learnt a valuable lesson from her...and her sister, in turn, from her... 

The Devil Wears Prada

The Devil Wears Prada is all about the evil boss from hell and her unfortunate employee. It's like a metaphore where the devil represents Miranda Priestly and her victim, Andrea Sachs. You see, Andrea's a graduate from Brown who majors in journalism. She wants to write but than again she can't find a proper job that requires her to write and so she landed on a job as a personal assistant for Miranda Priestly, a so-called prominent figure in fashion in Runway. Well, Runway is a fashion magazine in case you don't know. Along the way, she met Eduardo and James who are both eccentric in their own ways. Not to mention, Emily another of Miranda's personal assistant.

Part of Andrea's job is to fullfill every Miranda requests no matter how ridiculous it can be and it certainly has nothing to do with writing or whatsoever. There was once she has to fetch Miranda's pet dog from the vet to its home. She even has to do Miranda's laundry which Miranda gladly pile near Andrea's table. No matter how ridiculous Miranda's requests are, somehow she managed to fullfill it with the help of Emily of course. She even have to get two advance copies of the new Harry Potter book for her twins before it hit the stores. Crazy. If my boss were to call me in the middle of the night, I would have quit immediately, but not Andrea. She continued working in Runway with hopes that she might get promoted like all the girls before her and maybe even get to write for The New Yorker. Yeah right. A job every girl would die for. Nuts.

Her hectic work life strains her relationship with her boyfriend, Alex and her friendship with her best friend, Lily. Not to mention her family. She has to cancel every date with Alex just to satisfy every Miranda's ridiculous requests. Even when Lily found a new apartment that both of them can live in, she's not there with her. As the story progresses, we realise that Lily may be alcoholic. She's probably stressed out due to her Ph.D studies and Andrea's not there for her. The one day, Alex decided to take a break from their relationship. More like breakup. Still, Andrea continues to be Miranda's slave. She even flirted with Christian, the best-selling author while she's still on a relationship with Alex.

Then one day, Andrea has to fly to Paris to accompany Miranda to fashion shows and parties since Emily's down with mono and can't make it. In the process, she miss the chance of seeing her nephew, Isaac. While she's there, Lily's involved in an accident and it was pretty serious. In fact the doctor said that she was lucky to be alive. Alive she may be, she'll have to face the consequences since her alcohol level was very high at that time and she still took the wheel. Still, Andrea refuse to go home for the sake of her best friend who was in the hospital.

Finally when Miranda commanded Andrea to get her twins' passports renew as soon as possible although it's impossible, she finally decided to quit and fly back home to be with her family and friend. While she's out of job, she wrote a 2000-word piece and send it to various women magazines and as luck have it, her piece caught the eye of a certain Seventeen editor and wa la, she got 3000 bucks for it. Better still, the editor have contacts in The New Yorker and so, Andrea's life is back on track.

Well, this novel is okay for me and you can catch the movie adaptation in cinemas soon starring Anne Hathaway as Andrea Sachs and the one and only Meryl Streep as the boss from hell, Miranda Priestley.