For My Reading Pleasures

Lately, I have been lagging in 'menyahut seruan sendiri' - "A book a week keeps the stupidity away". Instead of awake, i would fall asleep on the third paragraph, hence i am only half way through of a book i borrowed from an interesting friend 1 solid month ago.

Here's the list to my impending reading pleasures in the next 2 weeks: -

Tony Hawks - A Piano in the Pyrenees

"If you had to pick two things you wanted - if you had to - what would you pick? I hesitated. This was a bigger question than usually got asked at these post-match debriefs. 'I suppose the honest answer would be,' I said, still accessing the last pieces of required data from a jumbled mind, 'meeting my soul mate, and finding an idyllic house abroad somewhere...'

Inspired by breathtaking views and romantically dreaming of finding love in the mountains, Tony Hawks impulsively buys an idyllic house in the French Pyrenees. And here, he imagines, he will finally fulfil his childhood fantasy of mastering the piano, all the while overlooking spectacular views as the troubles of the world pass by unnoticed. Tony's hopelessly ill-prepared stumbling into the world of overseas home ownership is perhaps best read as a useful manual of how not to go about buying a house abroad. He flirts with the removal business in a disastrous attempt to take his piano over to France in a dodgy white van; foolishly elects to build a swimming pool himself; and takes his experience of relationships to a new level when he finds himself co-habiting, not with a beautiful French woman, but with his old mate Ron the builder from West London.

Yet, as Tony and his small group of friends haplessly attempt to integrate themselves into local village life, they learn more about themselves and each other than they ever bargained for. And for at least one of them, love is found at last, in the most unexpected of places..."

p.s. I learn about a great turn-off one-liner that i could use - "I'm still interviewing for the position of my Mr. Right" ;)

p.s.s. Soulmate? Sounds like So(u)l(e)d Out to me ;P

Michael Gates Gill - How Starbucks Saved My Life

"Yale graduate, prosperous ad exec: Gill has it all. Then he turns 60 and finds himself precipitously bounced from his job and saddled with the triple threats of a ruined marriage, an unexpected newborn, and a brain tumor. Despairing at the prospect of looming poverty, he stops at a Manhattan Starbucks to comfort himself with a latte.

By chance he sits down next to Crystal, a young African American woman recruiting new workers for the coffee giant, and she offers him a job. Almost as an act of desperation, he accepts, and he dons the uniform of a barista-in-training at an Upper West Side Starbucks.

This son of privilege who had hobnobbed with Queen Elizabeth, T. S. Eliot, and Jackie Onassis, now keeps daily company with a diverse crew of brash young New Yorkers for whom Starbucks' progressive employee benefits and demanding, inspiring standards of public service offer hope.

Gill starts at the bottom, cleaning the bathroom, and he has trouble mastering the cash register. Over the months he learns to deeply respect Crystal, to appreciate the mutual support of his coworkers, and to genuinely cherish the passing parade of customers, each unique.

To his own astonishment, he realizes that he actually looks forward joyfully to every hectic, exhausting workday. Other corporate giants can only envy the sheer goodwill that this memoir will inevitably generate for Starbucks".

p.s. The KISSes i know are "Keep It Short and Simple" and "Keep it Short and Sweet" and i was told by Azlan that in this book, i shall learn about "Keep it Simple, Stupid" ;P Darn right!

Jon Krakauer - Into Thin Air

"A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster".

p.s. I was introduced to Mr. Jon Krakauer's writings by Bro PT CA, as he shared with me about Jon's "Into The Wild" and i am now hooked to reading "Outside" - a magazine focused on the outdoors. Though I hardly been doing outdoor activities (as i have a slight symptom of OCD - i need a clean restroom, at all times), i love reading the articles and stories featured. Maybe you should have a peek and experience the WOW factor. Before that, may i put my disclaimer clause that i do not read it because of the hunks appearing in the articles, ok?

p.s.s. 12 years ago, someone dear told me that his ultimate dream is to climb up the mighty, perilous K2, the Savage Mountain - the second highest after Mt Everest. Alas, he never get to fulfill his dream. My reading this book shall be in memory of ever-brilliant Zen.