Ulat Buku Menjajah Lembah Klang?

Semalam saya baru mengemaskini bahagian sidebar blog, kerana mendapati ia agak serabut. Setelah habis delete segala link ke laman yang tidak selalu dikunjungi (atau sebenarnya memang tidak diupdate langsung), saya menambah apa yang patut. Contohnya blogroll yang disediakan oleh Blogger.com--senarai blog yang tersedia dengan tajuk dan tarikh entri terbaru dimasukkan untuk blog-blog yang biasa saya kunjungi. Sangat praktikal sebab saya tak perlu tercari-cari lagi antara blog yang dah berhabuk dan bersawang dengan yang selalu dikemaskini.

Sambil tu saya masukkan blogroll untuk blog 'dunia perbukuan' juga. Ada yang biasa saya kunjungi selama saya menulis di blog ni, buat rujukanlah kononnya. Contohnya Dari Jiwa Rasa, sebuah blog yang amat informatif dan sarat dengan reviu buku, juga sedikit sebanyak pendapat tentang perkembangan semasa. Semenjak membaca reviu buku Ayat-Ayat Cinta oleh blogger tersebut, saya sudah 'terlekat' untuk melayari blognya. Tak kurang juga laman Ulas Buku oleh penulis yang saya kira 'misteri' sebab menggunakan nama pena 'myxpltk'. Unik, tapi sungguh saya ingin tahu apa maksudnya. Nama sebenar penulisnya saya dapat tahu dari blog Faisal Tehrani iaitu melalui respon komen oleh FT kepada myxpltk (harap-harapnya betul ejaan ni, susah jugak nak menaipnye dua tiga kali tanpa copy and paste) tapi rak perlu rasanya dicatatkan, manalah tahu tuan punya nama tak mengizinkan. Kupasan buku yang dibuatnya juga bagus, sampaikan komik dari Gempak Starz pun diulasnya (seingat sayalah. Linknya tak dapat dicari. Maaf).


Tapi saya terjumpa dua laman ni, yang isi serta gaya penulisannya bagi saya sangat menarik. Blog pertama dinamakan penulisnya The Book Bark! dan saya sangat suka reviu-reviu bukunya. Kami meminati genre yang sama nampaknya--fantasi. Namun dia ni seorang blogger (masih belajar lagi) dari New York, jadi tentunya dia mengulas buku bahasa Inggeris dalam bahasa ibundanya. Namun saya banyak belajar dari ulasannya setelah dua tiga hari menyelongkar isi blognya.


Dan yang satu lagi ialah blog and we also read. yang juga sangat-sangat menarik. Apa yang dimuatkan dalam blog ni? Gambar-gambar orang yang sedang membaca di sekitar Lembah Klang! Penulis blog ini ketika berjalan di sekitar bandar Kuala Lumpur, dia akan merakamkan gambar orang yang tengah membaca, tak kiralah, dalam bas ke, komuter takpun monorel ke, atau di Starbucks sekalipun. Lepas tu dia akan menanyakan orang tu apa yang dibacanya, sekali dengan pendapat peribadi ataupun buku kegemaran orang tersebut yang lain. Menarik gila! Saya sangat suka melihat ragam orang yang membaca ni, macam-macam ada. Ada seorang budak ni kalau pergi mana-mana, mesti dibawak bahan bacaan. Lepas itu budak kecik ni mintak satu kerusi, dan ayahnya kata "the rest was automatic". Amboi budak ni memang dah suka membaca, ada buku, ada tempat duduk, melekat terus. Hebat sungguh. Saya kagum! Tahniah buat si cilik ni.

Bercakap tentang update-mengupdate ni, mana Din Paiman? Dah lama dia tak menulis post baru. Din mana ko menghilang??! Exam ke?

Juga, hari ini saya balik ke Shah Alam, dah habis cuti...tidak!!! Kerjaku belum siap lagi..

Twilight

Title: Twilight (Twilight Saga #1)

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Publisher: Little, Brown

Year: September 2006 (Paperback)

Price: RM27.50

Pages: 498

About the book: When you discovered that the person you fell in love is an immortal vampire, what would you do? Would you sacrifice your mortality to become a part of it? Or would you just run to a safe place and be oblivious?

Thus Bella Swan, falling in love with a 108-year-old vampire Edward Cullen, wanted to be one too.

And knowing that vampires exist in this very world is not a good thing. Remember that, guys.

My thoughts: Twilight is a romance-fantasy novel, first in the Twilight series about human-vampire love. Well, when you read what the publisher got to say about this book, it stated: Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight is a love story with bite. And I can assure you that’s quite true (but not the seductive part—I didn't feel seduced pun). For the suspenseful part, it seems the climax works. Mainly I would prefer just plain fantasy with a little bit of lovey-dovey in it, sure; and obviously romance is not my favourite, but the thing is, this book sure is good, lookin through both aspects. Yes, it has romance element in it, since it’s a romance novel, but then the plot and storyline is very well-written, thus making my perception of romance novels a bit less pessimistic. Besides that, I also like reading about the vampires. Meyer let them look like what we always see on tv but she tried not to make them exactly the same. Such as the vampires hates cross, it does not apply for Twilight's bloodsuckers. Then I thought vamps drank human blood, but Cullens do not. They drank animals'. Guess what Meyer call them? Vegetarian. Lol, seriously, that is funny-lah! Wonder if she considered the word herbivore? Haha.
However, though the book is good, I am not very excited about first-person perspective. Because the story must revolves only around one character at a time. This happens in Twilight and the other three books. Maybe Breaking Dawn, the last volume, can be an exception as it contains first-person perspective from two characters—Jacob Black and Bella Swan—hence provided more happenings. But all in all, Twilight is still an exceptional novel, a good debut from Meyer. Nonetheless Meyer wrote the first-person-perspective-storytelling in control, so I guess that’s my own problem for not liking how the story is told.

Though Bella is the main protagonists, I honestly love Alice Cullen more. She is absolutely adorable in this series! Well, maybe in Twilight, this 'adopted' sister of Edward still looks mysterious and a bit creepy, but then—in later sequels—when Bella start to hang out with her, look how it turned out! Alice is truly the centre of attention to me more than Bella is. I was disappointed in New Moon and Breaking Dawn to see that there were many events left without her. But then I realise, yeah, Bella's the main character. Alice couldn't be more popular than she is, right? Oh well.

Ah, the epilogue—how would Bella decide in the end? What would she choose, her family, or eternity? What an ending! Loved this one. The sequel comes with the title New Moon.

P/S: I like this book's cover! The publisher sure did a great job.

My suggestion: A good read for fantasy lovers, and romance too. Well, the story sure gave me some moments of surprises and suspense. All in all, I would give this novel 7.5 out of 10. Plus watch out for the movie—it's coming this December!

Countdown to Inheritance Cycle Book Three #2: Eldest

Title: Eldest (Inheritance Cycle Book Two)

Author: Christopher Paolini

Publisher: Knopf

Published: March 2007 (Trade Paperback)

Price: RM39.90

A sequel. That means more adventure.

Last month I've reviewed the first volume in Inheritance - Eragon. The first book focuses on Eragon and his journey with Saphira, struggling between becoming Dragon and Rider, plus learning that their life is threatened by evil King of Alagaesia - Galbatorix. Later they joined the Varden, a rebel group, in a mission to take the King's cruel reign and replace it with peace. In the last battle, Eragon was badly injured, only to be awakened by a mysterious persona whose name was Togira Ikonoka, The Cripple Who Is Whole, inviting both Eragon and Saphira to the deep forests of Du Weldenvarden, waiting to answer questions that clouded their minds.

Thus Eldest brought us the tale when Eragon and Saphira had to travel far to the northest region of Alagaesia, inside the land of the elves. Together with the help of the dwarves, and Arya the elf, they journeyed and encountered many things - until they arrived and train with Togira Ikonoka. Meanwhile, things were not well in Carvahall. Roran must fight for the sake of his family, friends, village, and his lover Katrina - a fight that put his cousin Eragon in even graver danger.

I simply love how the story goes on chronologically in the novel. The story divided itself into three parts: Eragon, Roran and Nasuada, each told from their perspectives. Eragon, facing problems in becoming a rider, and in love; Roran with the aftermath of Eragon's escape from Carvahall; while Nasuada with the hardships in leading the Varden after her father's death. Then about the plot - it is simply packed with so many elements - action, romance, suspense - thus developing the story better. But the title brings more significance, and interesting consequences too. Similar to the prequel, the title is strongly related to a main character. Eldest is actually a secret that would be revealed much later in the book; a secret that I myself was taken by surprise. And this secret too is related to the the series' name: Inheritance. Curious, huh?

Anyway, I'm not very fond of books with too many pages. Yes - this book is 679-page long. Oooh, lengthy indeed. To think that this is going to be the thickest book I've ever owned. Certainly not. Breaking Dawn in the Twilight Saga has 754 pages. That's almost a 100 more than Eldest. I wonder whether Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is thicker? For me 500 is okay. But over 600 is a bit excruciating. But the irony is: the thicker a book gets, the more I feel like reading the book.

And yes, this means that there's only about a month before the release of Brisingr, Inheritance's third volume.

Let the countdown begin!

Detektif Indigo: Kembali (Siri Detektif Indigo #3)

Judul: Siri Detektif Indigo - Detektif Indigo Kembali

Penulis: Faisal Tehrani

Penerbit: Ameen Kreatif

Tahun: 2008

Harga: RM16.00

Mukasurat: 224

Setelah ditinggalkan dengan cliffhanger yang mendebarkan dalam Ikan Fugu, Lukisan dan Jimson, penulis berjaya membawa sekuel yang makin penuh dengan suspense. Kes penculikan Prof. Aslan, Setiausaha Agung OIC dan pengasas Akademi Indigo, Dr. Recep Gul menjadi suatu ancaman kepada masyarakat Islam dunia. Kumpulan Detektif Indigo terpilih dari serata dunia dipanggil untuk menyiasat kes sulit ini. Dan yang terpilih itu termasuklah enam sekawan dari Maktab Rendah Indigo Sepang - Chen-chung si hafiz, Faruq yang serba tahu, Mihrimah Maryam pakar sains forensik, Ruzbihan yang tajam deria baunya, Rabiah Zaitun si ahli kimia, juga entomologis, Isamu Nakamura. Dalam penyiasatan itu mereka merungkai suatu konspirasi besar yang melibatkan seorang tenaga pengajar mereka, di samping menyelesaikan kes pembunuhan seorang kejam seorang pelajar.

Cerita yang nampak ketara perkembangannya. Berbanding dua prekuel detektif Indigo sebelumnya, saya rasakan karya ketiga ini ternyata amat baik. Jalinan plot amat baik, dan misteri demi misteri mampu membuat pembaca teruja menelitinya, malah cuba menaakul sendiri. Saya sendiri, sungguh tertarik dengan konspirasi yang melibatkan Dr. Mama, tenaga pengajar enam watak utama cerita ini. Apatah lagi kelebihan Chen-chung yang telah dinyatakan dalam volum pertama lagi, dan masih menjadi misteri: IQ setinggi 357, sedang rakan-rakan lain hanya mencecah IQ dalam lingkungan 120-200.

Tidak banyak novel penyiasatan yang berkualiti yang boleh diperoleh di Malaysia. Yang masih saya ingat pun, masa sekolah rendah dahulu sering membaca Siri Salma, atau Siri Lima Penyiasat (tak berapa ingat) yang sebenarnya diterjemah dari karya Inggeris Nancy Drew ataupun Hardy Boys, juga siri penyiasatan Enid Blyton, tapi tidak begitu dekat dengan jiwa saya, mungkin kerana karya tersebut merupakan terjemahan yang masih mengekalkan watak, latar dan dialog asal. Detektif Indigo, berbeza sekali, kerana punya nilai agama dan moral yang disisipkan bersama. Ternyata, novel Detektif Indigo ini mampu melangkah lebih jauh, jauh lebih baik dari novel-novel Inggeris ini!

Dan sekali lagi, Detektif Indigo Kembali meninggalkan pembaca tertanya-tanya, dengan cliffhanger yang lebih mengujakan. Kemunculan seorang pelajar baru, guru ganti yang bermuka ngeri, dan rintihan misteri dalam jaringan telepati Indigo. Apa lagi rahsia yang perlu dibongkar?

Sama-sama nantikan buku keempat dari siri ini. (Maaf kerana tidak menulis mengenai dua volum pertama - mungkin lain kali, insya-Allah. Mahu beli Siri Detektif Indigo secara online? Boleh berbuat demikian di sini)

*Alhamdulillah, saya berjaya mendapatkan autograf dari penulis ketika membeli naskhah ini, dan beserta tandatangannya dia menulis: Rasydan, mahu jadi detektif yang mana? Biar saya jawab di sini: Kesemuanya, boleh?