The Girl on the Train

Title: The Girl on the Train

Author: Paula Hawkins

Translator: Inggrid Nimpoeno

Penerbit Noura Books

August 2015

431 pages

If you are addicted to Gillian Flynn's works, the debut of British author Paula Hawkins can be one of the choices since it also delivers a psychological thriller. Many reviews referred to the book as "the next Gone Girl". By early August 2015, the book had sold more than three millions copies in U.S. alone. DreamWorks Pictures is having the right to adapt to novel into screen and planned to be released on October 2016. 

The Girl on the Train follows the story of a woman named Rachel, a 32-year-old alcoholic. She's divorced to Tom, her ex-husband who left her for another woman, Anna. Tom and Anna then got married and live in Rachel's former house while Rachel has nothing and finally stays at a friend's house. How tragic.

Everyday, to kill time, Rachel goes on a train to London. Along her journey, she passes the same suburban houses each day and sees the same people going about their lives. She witnesses her old house and the neighborhood and also the 'perfect' couple, Scott and Megan. Then one day she sees something that leads her becoming involved in the murder mystery of Megan.

With those conditions as described above, you can imagine the dark, haunting and depressing plot. If you love a book with twists, turns, and excitement, this one is well worth reading. 

A-N-T-U-S-I-A-S

The girls' school has no ranking system. However to make students feel special, one of the ways is by awarding them with special rewards. Every month the class teacher will award some students as Student of the Month. The categories for this award are so many. I think it depends on the teacher's creativity since all students will get this award sooner or later within two semesters. The categories could be: the most disciplined student, the most helpful student, the most creative student, etc.

Last couple weeks ago Zea said that she had an important information for me. Well...okay, what is it girl? Then she gave me her award certificate. Wow...congrats, girl. You made us proud. She smiled from ear to ear. But when I was about to leave, she suddenly asked, "Ma, antusias itu artinya apa?"

Go Set A Watchman

Title: Go Set A Watchman

Author: Harper Lee

Translator: Berliani Mantili Nugrahani & Esti Budihabsari

Publisher: Penerbit Qanita

Publication date: September 2015

288 pages

I am sure most of us love the American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. It's hard not to love this Pulitzer Prize winning novel that in 1999 voted as Best Novel of the Century. After publishing this novel in 1960s, there's no work of Lee published again thus people keep asking about whether Harper Lee is a one-book-wonder. She answered her devoted readers' curiosity with a dignified silence.

Go Set A Watchman was initially written down in 1950s, before To Kill A Mockingbird,  and originally rejected by the publisher. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014 by Lee's lawyer, Tonja Carter, who was assigned to appraise Lee's assets. She re-examined Lee's safe deposit box and found a manuscript of Go Set A Watchman in it. She contacted Lee and passed the manuscript on to Lee's agent, Andrew Nurnberg and on February 3, 2015, HarperCollins announced that they would publish Go Set A Watchman.

The book was having an awesome response. It was sold 1,1 million copies on the first week and beat the sale of Harry Potter and 50 Shades of Grey.

The book still delivers the same characters and setting. If you miss Jean 'Scout' Louise and her father, Atticus, here they are. But Scout is 26 years old and works in New York now. One day she returns home to visit her aging father and found out that everything changes. Her homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truth about her family, the town and the people dearest to her.

Highly recommended. Unforgettable novel about wisdom, humanity, passion and humour. A life-time favourite book.

The author, Harper Lee, is 89 now. She lives in Monroeville, Alabama, blind and deaf.  

Some Beautiful Places to Get Lost

The magnificent Museum Angkut, Batu, Malang

Still at Museum Angkut

TRAVELING- it leaves you speechless, 

then turns you into a storyteller.

--Ibn Batutta

Lanterns at Batu Spectacular Night

The apple plantation

Just returned from Malang, Batu and Bromo for weekend getaway with two friends. Feeling totally refreshed and recharged. Love the city, surrounding and all. 

The amazing Batu Secret Zoo 

The mystical Bromo

If you think adventure is dangerous,

try routine, it is lethal.

--Paulo Coelho

Horse riding at Bromo (really helpful for lansia like me, haha