book club

Had a funN, kelakar usrah tonight. tak boleh angkat sey! anyway, each of us shared one or more books which has significant/universal values. books that shook our minds, or affected us deeply, or appealed to us. so, the featured books:

Faisal Tehrani's Tunggu Teduh Dulu
Taufiqurrahman Al Azizy's Musafir Cinta
Mitch Albom's For One More Day, 5 People You Meet in Heaven, and Tuesdays with Morrie
(Dr) Katherine Hamlin's The Hospital by The River
Tania Aebi's Maiden Voyage

I wanna recommend that you guys read 1511H Kombat by Faisal Tehrani. CooL sey jalan ceritanya! a simple description i could think of is that this book is an Islamic action-thriller.. perjuangan in the future, with the sophisticated technology.. and of course, a pinch of 'cinta Islami'. back then, kak Nadiah praised this book and recommended me to read it. together with Advencer Si Peniup Ney. one or two years ago, i read Advencer, tapi baca agak sloww.. somehow i found it hard to digest the story. i think got a bit of tasawwuf/sufi stuff. and then, i borrowed 1515, a story of a Malaccan Malay/Muslimah srikandi by the name of Nyemah Mulya. macam best kan? but i didnt even get to half of the book. terlalu banyak sejarah, dan agak mendak sikit perjalanan ceritanya. i like history, but i think, bab sejarah melayu ni, kite tak minat. or maybe, it was merely because i ran out of time to read it. kak Ummu said Detektif Indigo "best!", but i've yet to get my hands on a copy. oh, lastly, Bila Tuhan Berbicara was an interesting read.

Musafir Cinta.. wah, mcm adik-beradik Ayat-Ayat Cinta and Gang, eh? tapi tak lah.. instead, this book is part of Makrifat Cinta trilogy by Taufiqurrahman Al-Azizy. the first book is titled Syahadat Cinta, second is Musafir Cinta, and finally, Makrifat Cinta. i dont know if the main protagonist is the same person throughout, or stories of different people weaved together.. about this book being a sequel pon kite baru je tahu dari internet. so ya, perhaps you all want to read 'em yourselves.

Mitch Albom's books are undeniably touching. the contents (and characters) are full of wisdom. and like what kak Hafizah said, they revolve around Death. i've read and watched For One More Day, and watched Tuesdays with Morrie. Ins.Pi.Ring. menginsafkan jugak; meskipun diorang bukan Muslim, but all of us can relate with the values, feel and appreciate the feelings and message that the author wants to bring across.

Dr Hamlin's story moved me. the sad state of affair in Ethiopia. the women with unfortunate lives. the suffering. the selfless effort by Dr Hamlin and her husband. their dedication. their expertise. their devotion to their religion. wooowww... this book has got me into thinking about what i wanna be, and can be, in the future. hmm.. somehow, it awakened something in me, but i dont know exactly what. amazing to see how far the two doctors have come, from the moment they stepped off the plane in Ethiopia to the establishment of The Fistula Foundation. one more thing that caught my attention: they were a strong team. as husband and wife, and as colleagues working together to build a system, an infrastructure, a safe haven for the many women in Africa.

I just finished Maiden Voyage very recently. im such a slow reader these days. whenever i take out the book to read, i prepared myself to be taken on a journey with her.. what she saw, what she experienced, in the different countries and on the oceans. i must admit, that i still dont understand all those nautical, nagivation, sailing, weather, and boat-related technical jargons. huhu.. there were times when i just couldnt digest, so i skipped the chunks of sentences. that aside, the mere idea of being in her shoes fascinates me. to go on a circumnagivation, on a sailboat, alone! and she was eighteen (i kept saying to myself, "what were you doing when you were eighteen, liyana???!"). seems like a dream adventure, ey? but no, it was tough and rough. more importantly, that was when she grew up and matured. Experiential Learning. On-The-Job Training. hmmm... wishful thinking, liyana?

Yupz, books are indeed a gateway to many things: fantasy, self-discovery, empowerment, wild imaginations....... and personally, i found it enjoyable to talk about books with each other. so that we can know who likes to read what sort of genres, or books/authors that we never knew exist but are awesome and loved by their readers..

May tonight's usrah be another session that brings us closer to each other and to being better individuals, inshaAllah..

Oh, oh! just before we ended, someone popped me an entirely unexpected question (sangat random sey!), to which my immediate answer was, "I'M STILL A KID!" *lol* nasib baik tak tersedak kite tadi. hehehehehehehe

Cant help but wonder though, was that a burning question, Marl? :P