my nonfiction shelf

Around the World in Eighty Days

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne was first published in 1873. 

The around the world travel story of Mr. Phileas Fogg, a rich English gentleman, and his French servant Passepartout is absolutely adventurous and fun to read. Along the path of the journey Mr. Fogg and Passepartout are secretly followed by Detective Fix who mistakes Mr. Fogg for a bank robber. Of course, he is an important character who constantly put the master and the servant in trouble. It’s enjoyably exciting to keep my fingers crossed that they would make it around the world in eightly days and earn £20,000 upon return. 

Another interesting part I haven’t heard anyone talk much about it is when Aouda, a young Indian widow, is forced to be burned alive along with her husband’s body according to local religious customs. It shows us how beliefs and religions affected rights and status of women in the past. I believe up until now poor treatment and violence against women still exist in many parts of the world. 

One last thing, I love the tricky ending. The author was incredibly brilliant to come up with it.

Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones’s Diary is my most favorite comedy chick lit.

Bridget Jones, a 32 years-old single woman working for a publishing company in London, finds herself alone while being at her marriageable age. Realizing she was past her prime, Bridget starts writing her diary to set up some strong resolutions to lose weight and meet Mr. Right. Then, two nice guys who have nothing in common, Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver, happen to come to her life. So, it’s time for Bridget to decide who would be the right one for her.  

The novel reveals an anxiety hidden deep down inside subconsciousness of single thirty-something women. The story is simple but humorous and witty, presenting thoughts and preferences of most women who are irresistibly passionate for one of those cool, sexy, and tricky guys with sense of humor. But eventually when they want to settle down with someone for the rest of their lives, this kind of person may not be the right one.

It’s a feel-good and light-reading comedy reminding me if something bad heppends then soon good thing will come. Anyway, don’t compare the book with the movie, as they are different media and each of them is the best of its kind. 

The Host

Romantic science fiction with fascinating plot and compelling storyline. 

The story was told through a female alien, the wanderer, whose soul was inserted into the body of a human girl, Melanie. 

Upon the insertion, Melanie’s mind was so intensely resistant that she didn’t easily give up her own body. As a result, the wanderer found herself fighting with Mel’s interrupting thoughts and old memories every once in a while.

The novel makes me wonder what it feels like to share my body with another girl and each of us was in love with a different man. That must’ve been pretty torturing and awkward.  

The book was another masterpiece of Stephenie Meyer after the popular teen romantic fiction Twilight Series. So far as I know it will soon be a movie. Some changes might be made as necessary to fit the story into another different media. Hopefully, it won’t much differ from what we have read and imagined from the book. 

Practice Makes Perfect

Very cute and enjoyable romantic comedy for pure reading pleasure. J.D., the hero, is ideally hot. I rate the book 3.5 stars out of 5. I'd have given it another half star if the story was a little less predictable. In spite of that, it was one of the books i couldn't put down.

A Total Waste of Makeup

Light and easy reading. The story's kinda plain. There are no exciting climaxes near the end of the story or any exciting parts anywhere in the book to keep readers interested.

However, despite the overly lavish lifestyle of the characters, I love Charlie’s fun wise words for young ladies she has written down from her own experience, to which she sometimes acts contrarily. Drew, Charlie’s boss, is a meanie in a cute way, making the story more hilarious.

Overall, It's a fun book for those who enjoy comedy chick lit.

The Judgement by Chart Kobjitti

The Judgment by Chart Korbjitti is one of the best Thai novels, wining SEA Write Award in 1982. The book has been translated into several languages worldwide. The story presents way of life, traditions, beliefs, and behaviors of Thai rural villagers.

Fak was a tiny member of a small rural community. He took serious blames from people in the village who thought he took his stepmother as his wife after his father died. The headmaster represented an evil in disguise. With his respected social status, he was powerfully influential to thoughts and attitudes of people in the village.

Fak was repeatedly punished by unfair judgment of the community.

In reality, justice is imaginary and never exists. Merely beliefs and values formed within the society are real and affect all members no matter they're right or wrong.

Twilight

I was totally captivated by this book and can't help feeling like I'm in love (with Edward Cullen, of course ^.^) every time i read it. It's one of the most perfect romantic stories I have ever read. Stephenie Meyer is very talented at storytelling and keeping readers interested. However, it was a little disappointing to find out the other 3 sequels weren't as impressive.

Enchanted Inc

Delightful supernatural comedy chick lit.

Katie Chandler, an average uptown girl, left Texas for New York hoping to find her luck in the civilized but bustling city. She got a job as an assistant to marketing manager. Unfortunately, her boss turned out to be an evil in disguise. But everything didn’t go as bad as expected. Luckily, a company called “Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc.” doing a vague type of business insisted on offering her a job while she had no idea what exactly she would be in charge of. 

At her new job, Katie was surrounded by a bunch of unbelievable magical things in another mysterious side of the world. She secretly fell for a shy but extremely powerful wizard. He was so cute….he was so hot….he was so charming….but he had overwhelming mighty magic that terrified her at times. Meanwhile, Katie’s unwanted skills at her previous job became invaluable at this new workplace.

What would happen next if the MSI had to fight with a vicious enemy who was trying to destroy the world? What if the charming wizard was eventually aware that Katie had a feeling for him?

I give this book the thumbs up on its nice little twist in the end making the story a lot different from banal chick lit cliché.

Original Cyn

I picked out the book because of its interesting excerpt and found out later that some parts of the story didn’t really make sense.

For example, Cyn, the heroine, doesn’t act professionally at work. She obviously keeps important clients waiting, shows up late for presentation without the handout she should have prepared and finished in advance, and doesn’t even have enough common sense to keep the pet bird away from the meeting place. Though the author tried to convince us that Cyril Pickersgill, one of the clients, is so mean to a nice and pitiful girl like Cyn, I personally think she deserves the trouble.

Besides, I felt distracted by many main-plot-irrelevant parts all through the story. Other than entertainment and interesting british slangs in the book, I don’t think we would get anything else out of it.

Classic Novel Pride and Prejudice - the best of the best!!

Have been so obsessed with Pride and Prejudice novel by Jane Austen and couldn’t help imagining myself Miss Elizabeth Bennet, an independent lighthearted heroine who was finally in love with Mr Darcy, a rich disagreeable gentleman of ten thousands pounds a year who hardly smiled and danced.  ^.^

It was one of the most beautiful classic literature I very much enjoyed. Mr. Darcy’s controlling personality, noticeable to us throughout the path of his courtship with the sassy Miss Bennet, made the story undeniably romantic and charming.  

One thing I believe is Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet weren’t just imaginary fictional characters. Jane Austen elaborately made them so real that they have been existing in fiction lovers’ minds and influencing them for generations.

P.S. So much in love with Mr. Darcy @^.^@

Dok-Mai-Rim-Taang (ดอกไม้ริมทาง) - My Most Favorite Thai Fiction

The title of the fiction means ‘street flowers’ in English. It was written by Boton around 1982- 1983. The story is about three siblings living in an old small canal house outside urban areas of Bangkok. Samon, the oldest sister, supports and takes good care of her sister and brother with a small income earned from selling flowers grown in a farm she inherited from her parents since they passed away. 

What makes the story very special to me is moral positive attitudes and simple self-sufficient ways of life of the characters. In the meantime, I wonder why is this book not really popular among Thai readers? Maybe its plain and simple storyline might not be exciting enough to draw attention like that of most popular Thai cliche soaps. 

I have been reading this book over and over since I was in college and never feel bored reading it. It always cheers me up and heals my pain whenever I feel lost in life or get hurt from failure to accomplish whatever I wish I could have in this chaos world. It has always been teaching me that everyone has their beautiful parts of life. Nobody can devalue anybody without consent. Be happy with what we have and never desperately long for anything that is not for us. Then, we will realize happiness actually is all around.