FN Blog - Seven heads are better than one!

I borrowed this book from M, and he says I could keep it. That’s how much he didn’t like it.

I was told that it was a bit of a struggle to read the first half–I realized it was because I thought the writer was a bit self-indulgent, over-describing things that didn’t need detailed imagery. “Exactly!” agreed M. “And his descriptions aren’t even that great. It’s like he likes hearing himself talk.”
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H and I were hanging out at Fully Booked before catching a friend’s performance at Mag:Net, and this book caught my eye:

Though I normally gravitate toward fiction books, I’m a bit of a sucker for history (which some have argued is one of the more useless subjects). But I like learning about the past, and how the world turned into what it is. This particular book caught my interest because it was about how women managed (or didn’t manage) to rule in a patriarchal society.
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I must admit that I have never seen or read Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. (Did I just hear the men give a collective gasp?) I’ve been wanting to, but just haven’t had the chance. It’s only after reading The Sicilian that I felt that I really might be missing out on something here.

I must thank Miguel for introducing me to Puzo—I had run out of books to read, so I asked if he could lend me anything interesting. My specs: something entertaining, easy to read, nothing that has even a whisper of post-modernism (still reeling from that last book…). I just wanted something I could escape to whenever I needed a break. A few days later, Miguel handed me this book. I thought it was such a guy choice, but I’ve learned not to doubt his selection. He, after all, was responsible for bringing James Clavell into my life.
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For some reason, I found a copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera in my room. Its yellowish pages had those brownish speckles that betrayed its age—but I can’t even remember buying or borrowing this book!

It was a familiar title, and it was even turned into a movie, so I had such high expectations. It’s heralded by some as a post-modern masterpiece, which kind of left me confused. Because honestly, I hated it! I struggled through it (because I hate starting a book without finishing it). It was utterly…unbearable!
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I had been so intrigued by Gregory Maguire’s books, which I would often see on display at the bookstores I frequent, that I finally gave in and got myself a copy of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Wicked is a revisionist look at the Land of Oz. In the original story by L. Frank Baum, you have Kansas girl, Dorothy, magically blown into Oz with her dog, Toto. To make a long story short, she wants to get back to Kansas, but the Wizard tells her she has to kill the Wicked Witch of the West before she can head on home. There is an obvious line drawn between good and evil, good guys and bad guys. And, in the end, good naturally triumphs.
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After hearing about The Secret from quite a few people (including Oprah, who did a show about it and consequently received an overwhelming response), I decided to get a copy of the book by Rhonda Byrne. (I have yet to see the video, which apparently came first.) How could I not when I’d hear my friends say stuff like, “I felt like I was so malas, like I was in a rut. But after watching the video, parang things changed!” and “I read it in one go. I stayed up all night. Now I feel so empowered!”?

In a nutshell, The Secret is all about the Law of Attraction—like attracts like, so you essentially create what you think about. So if you keep thinking, “I need more money,” you’re perpetually in that state of needing more money. You have to change your thinking to “I have enough money.” And the universe, if you believe The Secret, will listen.
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