Wishful Wednesday (23)

Ada buku asyik yang baru saja terbit, dan aku langsung bertekad harus memiliki dan membacanya. Terima kasih pada Pak Ketum BBI, Helvry, yang sudah mengimin-imingiku sejak buku ini masih belum lahir. Awas kalau dia gak baca buku ini juga… #eh. Kebetulan sekali Wishful Wednesday minggu ini jatuh tepat pada hari Natal, yang aku imani sebagai salah satu hari penuh berkat. Jadi aku berharap semoga buku ini segera dapat menjadi milikku, dengan satu dan lain cara!

Perempuan Bernama Arjuna

By Remy Sylado

Buku ini merupakan fiksi rasa filsafat, boleh dibilang Dunia Sophie-nya Indonesia. Dan yang menulis adalah salah satu penulis lokal yang bagiku ‘jaminan mutu’: Remy Sylado. Bikin penasaran kan? Ini sedikit teasernya, berhubung sinopsisnya belum muncul di Goodreads (saat aku menulis post ini). Karena buku ini baru terbit, aku belum menemukan linknya di tobuk online, tapi kayaknya bakal beredar minggu ini di tobuk offline.

Semoga om random kali ini berpihak padaku… *lalu menebar mantra*

• Silakan follow blog Books To Share – atau tambahkan di blogroll/link blogmu =)
• Buat posting mengenai buku-buku (boleh lebih dari 1) yang jadi inceran kalian minggu ini, mulai dari yang bakal segera dibeli, sampai yang paling mustahil dan hanya sebatas mimpi. Oya, sertakan juga alasan kenapa buku itu masuk dalam wishlist kalian ya!
• Tinggalkan link postingan Wishful Wednesday kalian di Mr. Linky (klik saja tombol Mr. Linky di bagian bawah post). Kalau mau, silakan tambahkan button Wishful Wednesday di posting kalian.
• Mari saling berkunjung ke sesama blogger yang sudah ikut share wishlistnya di hari Rabu =)

2013 Reading Challenges Wrap Up (Part 2)

Following my Part 1 of 2013 reading challenges wrap up, these are more reading challenges that I have been completed :

2013 TBR Pile Challenge by Adam (Roof Beam Reader)

Challenge: read 12 books + 2 alternates

Plan: to read 12 books + alternate

Result: read 14 books

This has been a very useful challenge, for without it I would have let those books in my TBR covered with dust (or even forgotten) in the shelf for years. Sometimes you need to make commitment to force you to do something. It turns out that those books are mostly good books. I didn’t quite succeed with Matilda and The Sea, but the rest are quite a treat. My updated master post is here.

Books I have read:

The Old Man and The Sea – Ernest Hemingway

The Portrait of A Lady – Henry James

The Confession – John Grisham

Little Dorrit – Charles Dickens

The Mystery of Edwin Drood – Charles Dickens

The Masterpiece – Emile Zola

La Bete Humaine – Emile Zola

In Cold Blood – Truman Capote

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice – Laurie R. King

The Orange Girl – Jostein Gaarder (translated edition: Gadis Jeruk)

Veronika Decides To Die – Paulo Coelho

The Sea – John Banville

David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

- Matilda - Roald Dahl 

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Back To The Classics 2013 by Sarah (Sarah Reads Too Much)

Challenge: read 6 books from required categories + 5 from optional categories

Plan: to read 6 + 5 books

Result: read 11 books

I have been joining this challenge from 2012, and since I have decided to read as many classics as I can, it’s been both useful and fun to explore new classics through these categories.

Books I have read:

 The Old Man and The Sea – Ernest Hemingway

Little Dorrit – Charles Dickens

The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson

The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila - St. Teresa of Avila

Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Guy de Maupasant's Short Stories Collection

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What's In a Name Reading Challenge 2013 by Ren (Ren’s Little Corner)

Level 4 : Crazy About Name (read 20 or more books with character’s name in the title)

Plan: to read 23 books

Result: read 22 books

This is originally my challenge which I hosted back in 2012, so thanks to Ren for adopting it!

Books I have read:

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secret – J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix – J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling

King Lear – William Shakespeare

Richard III – William Shakespeare

Little Dorrit – Charles Dickens

The Mystery of Edwin Drood – Charles Dickens

Candide - Voltaire

Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare

The Dante Club – Matthew Pearl

Veronika Decides To Die – Paulo Coelho

Hamlet – William Shakespeare

Matilda - Roald Dahl

Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison

Saint Joan – George Bernard Shaw

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

#BBI’s Secret Santa 2013: Riddle

Sempat absen dari Secret Santa tahun kemarin, tahun ini aku excited banget. Seperti tradisi yang sudah dimulai tahun lalu, para member BBI (Blogger Book Indonesia) pada akhir tahun akan bertukar kado—yang tentu saja berupa buku. Selain itu, agar ada sesuatu yang unik, dan untuk mengakrabkan antar anggota, setiap kado harus disertai riddle. Riddle ini berupa clue (petunjuk) yang mengungkapkan jatidiri sang secret santa yang sebenarnya. Ya, jadi, pada akhirnya si santa gak akan lagi menjadi secret, karena kita akan diminta menebak siapa sang secret santa kita. Dan sehari setelah kita memposting tebakan kita, sang santa yang sebenarnya akan unjuk diri….jreng jreng… :D

Sekarang waktunya pamer hadiah buku dan riddle yang kudapat dari Secret Santaku yang baik hati…

Beginilah penampakan paket dari Secret Santa, bikin penasaran kan, hadiahnya buku tapi kok bentuknya mirip guling? Dan empuk lagi….. :D Setelah dibuka dengan paksa, ternyata isinya adalah….

Ahhh….jelas saja bentuknya mirip guling, karena ternyata Secret Santaku memang sungguh murah hati. Tak hanya mengirimiku buku—dan bukunya adalah buku incaranku dari salah satu penulis kesayanganku: John Grisham!—Santa juga mengirimi kado berupa syal rajutan. Ah…rupanya Santa sangat mengenalku dengan baik, tahu saja dia kalau aku yang sering terserang radang tenggorokan ini membutuhkan syal hangat kalau sedang sakit. Makasih Santa atas perhatianmu….hiks…terharu.. T_T

*numpang narsis* Aku langsung nyobain syal-mu lho Santa.... 

Udah ah narsisnya.... :P Sekarang riddle-nya, yang tertulis di atas secarik kertas….

Isinya begini (karena gambarnya kurang jelas):

Dear x
Jika kamu tahu nama panjangku ini akan memudahkanmu.
Namaku terdiri dari tiga kata,
* Salah satunya merujuk pada bulan lahirku.
* Yang lainnya merupakan nama seorang putri dari Kaisar Rusia.
* Sedang yang terakhir akan banyak kamu temui di hiasan pohon Natal.

Nah…..kira-kira ada yang bisa menebak siapa Secret Santaku ini? Aku sih sudah bisa menebak, dan kayaknya gak mungkin salah. ;) Eh, kalo ada yang bisa menebak, jangan rame-rame yaa…. ^_^  Identitas sang Santa akan kubuka pada 31 Januari 2014 bersamaan dengan review buku The Racketeer, hadiah dari sang Santa.

My Personal Readathon #2: Christmas Holiday

Last month, when I had one-day holiday (a national holiday of my country), I decided to have a quiet personal readathon. I mentioned my intention on twitter before leaving office the day before, and… got reply from Astrid that she’d be very pleased to join my readathon. So, we ended up having our each personal readathon at home, both reading different books. Nonetheless, we had good time together, while we were exchanging short messages twice or thrice during the 24 hours readathon, talking about what we were reading and our progresses. Then the next day we posted our fun personal readathon, and voila…. many of our friends seemed to be interested in joining the next readathon we’d be planning!

And, what was intended to be a quiet, silence personal readathon, now becomes a small group readathon (blame it to the power of social media!). However, since thinking that there are several persons out there are reading books at the very moment is really encouraging, Astrid and I decided to do another (still) quite personal readathon while minimizing the social interaction. So, here is our plan:

My Personal Readathon #2

1. The concept is still having a quiet personal readathon, each with his/her own book, at his/her own pace. So, we are having a personal readathon of our own, but simultaneously with the others.
2. It would be 36 hours readathon, but you may join in less/more than that.
3. The readathon starts at 8:00 AM (GMT+7) on Monday, December 30^th, 2013 and ends at 8:00 PM (GMT+7) on Tuesday.
4. We would have 2 (two) break-points during the readathon; 1^st is at 8:00 PM on Monday evening, 2^nd is at 8:00 AM on Tuesday morning.
5. You may opt to socialize a bit with the others to know their progresses (or just to have a little chit-chat about the readathon), or you may just continue your reading quietly.
6. The break-points will be held in Twitter only, using hashtag #MyReadathon2 (please minimize mentioning too many people, as we don’t want to spam our followers).
7. We can decide our own choices of book(s).
8. We can have our own pace; you can stop reading to do what you must do, as the main purpose is to encourage you to read as many pages/books as you can.
9. To participate? Just grab your book, and read with us, you don’t need to register or something… :)
10. If you want, you can post your wrap up/report/just share about your readathon after it’s finished, but it’s not obligatory.
11. If you have any questions, you can mention me @Fanda_A or Astrid @pippopu using the hashtag #MyReadathon2.

See you on the 30^th! ;)

2013 Reading Challenges Wrap Up (Part 1)

OK, so this is one of the consequences of joining too many reading challenges in a year: you must post a lot of wrap ups during December! As I’ll be busy with Book Kaleidoscope—will you join too?—I will post my wrap up in two parts. This is the first one.

Narrative Poem Reading Challenge by Listra (Half-Filled Attic)

Level: Homer (read < 4 narrative poems)

Plan: to read 3 narrative poems

Result: read 2 narrative poems

I passed this challenge but have only finished two narrative poems, instead of three as I intended to at the beginning. I picked Dante for this challenge, and managed to read Inferno and struggling a bit through Purgatorio, but I totally failed with Paradiso. I have tried to read few chapters, but I didn’t understand it a bit, although I have read the analysis too. I guess Paradiso is much too theological for me, and it’s far from fun. But at least, this challenge has encouraged me to read narrative poems, and more importantly, to finally read Dante! I especially like Inferno, because Purgatorio is already theological in the last chapters. Thanks to Listra for hosting this challenge!

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New Authors Reading Challenge 2013 by Ren (Ren’s Little Corner)

Level: Middle (read 12-20 books)

Plan: to read 12 books

Result: read 13 books

I still have one more book for this challenge, and I think I would be able to finish it before end of the year (will update later). But at least I have exceeded the target of 12 books. I’m glad I can finally read books of these new authors. Several of them become my new favorites: Herman Melville, George Bernard Shaw, Laurie R. King and Henry James. And of course, it was delighted to get to know the famous Dante. Thanks to Ren for hosting it, and for spoiling us with giveaways along the year!

Books I've read:

1. Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway

2. Herman Melville: Moby Dick

3. Henry James: The Portrait of A Lady

4. Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy

5. Laurie R. King: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice

6. John Banville: The Sea

7. George Elliot: The Mill on the Floss

8. Truman Capote: In Cold Blood

9. Roald Dahl: Matilda

10. Betty Smith: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

11. Voltaire: Candide

12. Euripides: Medea

13. George Bernard Shaw: Saint Joan

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Books on France 2013 Reading Challenge by Words and Peace

Level: Beaucoup (read 6 books)

Plan: to read 6 books

Result: read 6 books

This one is perhaps the most successful reading challenge I am joining this year as, not only that I reached the target, I could also stick with the book choices, just as what I intended from the beginning. Thanks to Words and Peace for hosting it, France is always dear to my heart, and even my most favorite author is a French: Emile Zola!

Books I've read:

1. Candide by Voltaire

2. The Masterpiece by Emile Zola

3. La Bete Humaine by Emile Zola

4. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (re-read)

5. Cinta Sejati (translated short stories collections) by Guy de Maupassant

6. Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw

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2013 TBRR Pile Mystery Reading Challenge by Maria @ HobbyBuku’s Mystery Stories

Challenge: read 12 books

Result: read 7 books

Actually I was not sure I’m going to complete this challenge as I don’t read many popular books now. However, I still enjoy reading them sometimes, and I ended up reading seven books for the whole years. Laurie R. King with her Mary Russell’s series becomes my new favorite, and I plan to read more from her. And of course, the biggest surprise is that J.K. Rowling wrote a detective series! As expected, I love it very much. Thanks for Maria for hosting it, I’m sorry I couldn’t be more productive….

Books I've read:

1. The Confession – John Grisham

2. The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Charles Dickens

3. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

4. The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl

5. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice – Laurie R. King

6. The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

7. The Accused: Theodore Boone #3 - John Grisham

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Fun Year With Children Literature by Bzee and Maria

This one is not a challenge, it’s a fun event to read children literatures. I ended up reading 5 books. Three of them are my rereading of Harry Potter (I only included 3 early series, the next 4 are not for children—in my opinion). There’s nothing special with the children books I have read, maybe I’m never a big fan of children literature anyway… Thanks to Bzee and Maria for hosting it!

Books I've read:

1. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone (re-read) 

2. Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secret (re-read)

3. Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (re-read)

4. Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson

5. Matilda - Roald Dahl

To be continued to part 2….

Laurie R. King Readalong on January: A Mystery Book Club

Read Along atau Baca Bersama ini merupakan bagian dari klub buku misteri yang di-host oleh Maria (Hobby Buku’s Mystery Stories): 2014 Mystery’s Book Club. Untuk lebih jelasnya mengenai klub buku misteri ini, silakan meluncur ke link tersebut.

Salah satu kegiatan klub buku misteri ini adalah baca bareng (readalong) buku-buku dari para pengarang kisah misteri. Kebetulan untuk bulan Januari ini—sekaligus membuka rangkaian readalong sepanjang tahun 2014—blog ini kebagian meng-host Laurie R. King Readalong. Untuk yang ingin mengenal lebih dekat penulis misteri asal Amerika ini bisa mengunjungi blog beliau.

Untuk readalong-nya, aku memilih mengambil karya Laurie R. King yang paling terkenal, dan baru-baru ini menjadi favoritku, yaitu seri Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes. Eh…Sherlock Holmes? Betul, anda tak salah baca. Jadi ceritanya, King mengisahkan ketika Holmes sudah pensiun dari praktek detektifnya dan kini menyepi ke desa sambil beternak lebah. Nah, suatu hari Holmes bertemu seorang cewek tomboy berotak jenius bernama Mary Russell. Holmes pun akhirnya mengambil Mary sebagai muridnya (apprentice), dan dimulailah petualangan mereka menguak misteri demi misteri. Total seri Mary Russell ini ada 12 buku, dan hingga hari ini sudah ada 3 judul yang diterjemahkan oleh Penerbit Qanita (dan kabarnya buku ke-4 akan terbit tahun 2014).

Judul-judul lengkap ke-12 seri Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes untuk readalong kita, beserta link ke Goodreads:

#1. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice

#2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women

#3. A Letter of Mary 

(Qanita belum memasukkan edisi terjemahannya ke Goodreads) 

#4. The Moor 

#5. O Jerusalem 

#6. Justice Hall

#7. The Game

#8. Locked Rooms

#9. The Language of Bees

#10. The God of the Hive

#10.5 Beekeeping for Beginners

#11. Pirate King

#12. Garment of Shadows

Syarat untuk berpartisipasi:

1. Follow blog ini DAN blog Hobby Buku’s Mystery Stories.
2. Mendaftar di KOLOM KOMENTAR blog Hobby Buku’s Mystery Stories dengan format: Nama | URL blog/FB/Goodreads | e-mail | twitter (kalau punya). Secara otomatis anda juga mendaftar sebagai anggota klub dan bisa mengikuti event-event lainnya sepanjang tahun.
3. Tinggalkan KOMENTAR di post ini juga, supaya kita semua tahu bakal readalong dengan siapa saja. ^^
4. Pasang button Mystery’s Book Club di atas.
5. Kalau anda mau, silakan pasang button Laurie R. King Readalong ini juga (tidak wajib).
6. Selama bulan Januari (tgl 1 s/d 31) baca 1 atau lebih buku-buku dari seri Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes, boleh terjemahan atau versi aslinya.
7. Buat reviewnya dan masukkan link review tsb di linky dibawah ini (akan terbit 1 Januari 2014). Linky ditutup pada 10 Februari 2014.

Jadi…tunggu apalagi? Yuk sama-sama kenalan dengan Mary Russell, dan bersamanya kita bisa reuni-an dengan Om (dia udah om-om lho disini :P) Sherlock Holmes! Happy reading :)

P.S. Kalo mau diskusi/tanya-tanya tentang readalong ini, bisa via komentar atau twitter @Fanda_A dengan hashtag #MaryRussellRAL.

2014 TBR Pile Challenge

I’m so glad that Adam continues to host this challenge next year, 2014! It helped me so much to force encourage me to read those neglected books over this year. Like many of you, I believe, I am often tempted by books I newly purchase. And sometimes, it’s quite boring to see a certain book again and again for few years, there in my bookcase, that I am reluctant to read it. And whose fault was it? Mine, of course….

This year I have been successfully conquering not less than 13 books of my TBR pile, and am right now on the second half of the 14^th book. Yep! I intend to read all the 14 books (12 originals in the list and 2 alternates) by the end of 2013. So, I’ve been waiting for Adam’s announcement for 2014 challenge, because I have been, these few weeks in fact, creating a new list to be conquered.

Here’s the twelve books I’ll be reading during 2014, along with two alternates (which I hope I’ll read too before the end of 2014). The years behind each book are the publishing year, as the rule is to read books published before January 2013.

1. The Professor and the Mad Man - Simon Winchester ~ 2006 [Indonesian translation]
2. The Help – Kathryn Stockett ~ May 2010 [Indonesian translation]
3. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes ~ May 1997
4. Angel’s Cake – Gaile Parkin ~ 2010 [Indonesian translation]
5. Contact – Carl Sagan ~ Dec 1997 [Indonesian translation]
6. The Debacle - Emile Zola ~ 1973
7. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou ~ Apr 2009
8. Terre des Homes (Wind, Sand and Stars) – Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~ Dec 2011 [Indonesian translation]
9. By The RiverPiedra I Sat Down and Wept – Paulo Coelho ~ 2007 [Indonesian translation]
10. Little House on the Prairie – Laura Ingalls Wilder ~ Jan 2007
11. The Kill – Emile Zola ~ Sep 2008
12. Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré ~ Aug 2011

Alternates:

1. Foucault's Pendulum – Umberto Eco ~ Nov 2010 [Indonesian translation]
2. Greyfriars Bobby – Eleanor Atkinson ~ Aug 2010 [Indonesian translation]

By the way, I have only realized just now that more than half of the list is Indonesian translation. Well, I have a fondness of reading English books lately, and neglecting my Indonesian translation books. Oh my...that's why, again, I must thank Adam for hosting this challenge. Now...let's conquer the heap!