Book Review: Timun Jelita by Raditya Dika

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BOOK review

Started on: 27 December 2024
Finished on: 8 January 2025

 

Timun Jelita by Raditya Dika

 

Title: Timun Jelita

Author: Raditya Dika
Publisher: GagasMedia

Pages: 200 pages
Year of Publication: 2024
Price: Rp 66,000 (https://www.gramedia.com/)

Rating: 3/5

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"Dulu, waktu sekolah dia memang suka bermusik. Tapi hidup terkadang terlalu tega untuk mimpi-mimpi kita. Realitas membuat kita harus mengerti, kapan mimpi lama harus dihentikan karena nasib memaksa untuk berjalan ke arah yang lain."

Setelah ayahnya meninggal, Timun—seorang akuntan berusia 40 tahun, mendapatkan warisan gitar tua yang membangkitkan kembali hasratnya untuk bermusik. Di usianya yang tidak lagi muda, cukup sulit bagi Timun untuk menemukan teman seusianya yang mau bergabung dengannya. Saat itulah muncul Jelita, sepupunya yang masih kuliah dan memiliki hasrat bermusik yang sama. Dengan kemampuan yang dimiliki, mereka berdua membentuk duo musik dengan nama Timun Jelita—dan inilah kisah perjalanan mereka.

"Bermusik masih terasa asyik, membuka diri juga tidak ada salahnya."

Book Review: Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks

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BOOK review

Started on: 19 November 2024
Finished on: 24 December 2024

 

Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks

 

Title: Counting Miracles

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 368 pages / 352 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2024
Price: Rp 492,000 (https://opentrolley.co.id/)

Rating: 3/5

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"How long ago did she forget, she wondered, that life was as much about living as it was about responsibility? Or, as Casey had sort of put it, how long ago had she forgotten how to be happy?"

Tanner Hughes devoted his life to the military and spent most of his time abroad. He's constantly moving on to his next adventure and has no desire to settle down. When his grandmother passed away, her last words were: find where you belong. She also told him the name of the father he never knew—and where he might be found. Tanner immediately went to Asheboro to find out more about his father. While in town, he met Kaitlyn Cooper, a doctor and a single mom who had an immediate connection with him. Meanwhile, an eighty-year-old man named Jasper lived nearby in a cabin bordering a national forest. With a dog as his only company, he lived his life haunted by the tragedy that happened to his family decades ago. As these characters' lives intertwine, a miracle might change their lives forever.

"A whirlwind fling was one thing, but falling for him was another.

Saying goodbye was going to be hard enough already."

Book Review: The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

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BOOK review

Started on: 18 October 2024
Finished on: 16 November 2024

 

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

 

Title: The Little Liar

Author: Mitch Albom

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 352 pages / 350 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2023
Price: Rp 335,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 5/5

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"You can trust the story you are about to hear. You can trust it because I am telling it to you, and I am the only thing in this world you can trust."

Until he was eleven years old, Nico Krispis never told a lie. On the day the Nazis invaded his home in Salonika, Greece, a German officer found Nico and offered him a chance to save his family. Nico was supposed to convince his fellow Jewish residents to board the trains heading to their new homes. Unaware of this cruel ruse, Nico goes to the station platform and reassures the passengers that the journey is safe. Nico even sees his family loaded into a large boxcar with their neighbors. When Nico realizes he helped send the people he loved to their doom in Auschwitz, it's all too late. Since that day, Nico never tells the truth again.

"When we finish this story, you may say, "That was impossible." But here is the funny thing about truth: the less real something seems, the more people want to believe it."

Book Review: Anjing Mengeong, Kucing Menggonggong by Eka Kurniawan

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BOOK review

Started on: 6 October 2024
Finished on: 13 October 2024

 

Anjing Mengeong, Kucing Menggonggong by Eka Kurniawan

 

Title: Anjing Mengeong, Kucing Menggonggong

Author: Eka Kurniawan
Publisher: Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Pages: 148 pages
Year of Publication: 2024
Price: Rp 127,200 (https://www.gramedia.com/)

Rating: 3/5

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"Apakah saat itu Sato Reang sudah menjadi anak saleh? Setelah dipikir-pikir dengan segala kelakuanku di masa kecil itu, jawabannya mungkin tidak.

Setidaknya sampai aku berumur tujuh tahun."

Kisah ini adalah tentang Sato Reang. Hidupnya berubah sewaktu ia disunat di usia tujuh tahun dan ayahnya berkata bahwa sudah saatnya ia menjadi anak saleh. Di saat Sato Reang mendambakan kebebasan dan bersenang-senang bermain bola, ia dipaksa mengikuti ayahnya menjalankan berbagai ritual ibadah yang sebetulnya tidak ingin ia lakukan. Segala tekanan itu membuatnya membenci Jamal, temannya yang paling saleh dan paling rajin sembahyang. Terlebih lagi, ia semakin terdorong untuk menjadi anak yang tidak saleh demi mempermalukan ayahnya.

"Aku berjanji akan ada suatu hari di mana aku bisa merayakan kebebasan, melakukan apa pun yang aku mau, dan di saat itu aku boleh menangis sekehendak hati."

Book Review: Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Answers to Life's Most Important Questions by Tony Reinke

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BOOK review

Started on: 29 July 2024
Finished on: 4 October 2024

 

Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Answers to Life's Most Important Questions by Tony Reinke

 

Title: Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Answers to Life's Most Important Questions

Author: Tony Reinke

Publisher: Crossway

Pages: 536 pages / 712 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2024
Price: Rp 773,000 (https://opentrolley.co.id/)

Rating: 5/5

*This e-book was received as a review copy from Crossway   

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"Questions are the best steady-state way of creating problems for the mind because a question-free mind is a thinking-free mind and a discovery-free mind. Without this engagement, reading becomes passive entertainment, rather than growth in understanding reality. All learning is the fruit of question-asking and answer-seeking."

The Ask Pastor John podcast was created to fulfill the needs of thoughtful believers who need sound biblical advice for various questions about life in a secular world. The podcast features John Piper, a pastor-theologian and bestselling author who answers life's most difficult questions from the audience. In this book, Ask Pastor John host Tony Reinke summarizes and organizes ten years of their most popular and insightful episodes into thematic sections. Readers can quickly access Piper's insights on Bible reading, career, entertainment, mental health, and more. Through this book, we will realize how asking good questions strengthens faith and grows our understanding of God's word.

"Asking questions is the key to understanding. It wasn't a reminder. It was his brand."

Books I Read During the First Year of Parenthood

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It's been over a year since I last published a non-review post on this blog! 😮 I also find it hard to believe I've been a parent for over a year. As a reader, I naturally turned to books for parenting advice (after asking my friends who have become parents first). Since I don't have any more book reviews left to write at the moment, I want to take this opportunity to share some parenting books I've read during my first year of becoming a parent. In this post, I will only write short reviews for each book and talk about whether it's helpful for me or not. Hopefully, this post can help those planning to have a baby or about to have one 👶.