Paulo escrevendo é assombroso

There is no other author that can capture my attention so much than Paulo Coelho. How i came to know Paulo? Well it goes like this. I was having a social drinking session with two of my close friends, Julia & Jang in Julia's home back in hmmm i think in 2007. As usual i rambled about life, philosophy, freedom, traveling the road less traveled etc etc. Then Julia said, "you should read Paulo's book, The Alchemist". I did and seriously it changed the way i see life, again, after Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

Wanting more, along the way, i bought some books by Paulo and found his writing is so similarly amazing like The Alchemist. His writing is based on themes made of reality. Check out the themes of some of his books that i have.

Veronika decides to die: Redemption
By the river piedra i sat down and wept: Forgiveness
The fifth mountain: Faith
The valkyries: Hope
Like the flowing river: The meaning to be truly alive
The witch of portobello: Can we dare to be true to ourselves?
Brida: Quest of knowledge
The pilgrimage: Humility
Warrior of the light: Courage
The devil and Ms. Prym: Temptation
Eleven minutes: Love

I don't have The Alchemist since i only borrowed it from Julia and it is about Wisdom. I'm still searching for other Paulo's books. Can't find it anywhere in KK, it's always the same books and sold out pretty quickly. Maybe in KL or outside of Malaysia i can find the rest. It is in my bucket list to read all Paulo's books. Hah! yes i will because dele escrevendo é assombroso...

A monster in her house

Never did Elizabeth know that the monster will take one horrible step further in jeopardizing her whole family. It was to ‘abduct’ her from her own house and sealed her existence for so many years. Allan Hall really captivates readers around the world with her book called Monster. A real life story of Josef Fritzl and his gruesome vision of so-called a perfect life. Hall captured all the details of the whole experience especially what happened in the ‘new home’ that Fritzl built and what happened inside Fritzl’s sick mind.

Josef Fritzl is married to Rosemarie Fritzl and has 7 children. One of them is Elizabeth who caught her father’s attention more than her other siblings. He was a control freak around the house especially to Rosemarie and Elizabeth. Being a good mother, a loyal wife and a person who doesn’t have anyone to count on to continue living except Fritzl, Rosemarie is very afraid of him, everyday.

Fritzl also has a high sexual desire and is very fond of his own daughter, Elizabeth. It’s sick! Elizabeth vowed to get out of the house when she is legally to do so i.e. only at the age of 18. Taadaa..today Elizabeth is 18 and she is going to do what she had planned for so long. But a dream crushed today when she is kidnapped by her own father and locked away in a ‘new home’ under their house for 24 long years. Now, instead of living her life the way she had planned, she is now living Fritzl’s life in the most shocking way.

It only took me 2 days to finish the book, if not because of the 8-5 work, I would have finished it in a day. Apa kan daya… After the book, I youtubed and googled about Rosemarie and Elizabeth and the other siblings but there are not much info about them on the net. I think it’s to give time to them to recover. Of course, since Elizabeth and her children fathered by Fritzl, are so under nourished, teeth and hair falling, light sensitive and what not.

If you’re into this kind of book, do grab Monster, it would be a great eye and mind opener.

Favourite Quotes from Into The Wild

credit: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

I am really hooked with the movie Into the Wild, watched it twice. Basically it's about Chris McCandless a.k.a Alexander Supertramp, who is not afraid to be different and practice his belief while he's still alive. He hates rules but he's no trouble maker. He comes from a middle class family but he likes to go to the street and talk to pimps, prostitutes, homeless people, hungry people and give them food and advice on how to improve their lives. He believes in pushing oneself beyond reach and get more than one deserves. After college, he chose to leave home, burnt all his money, dumped his yellow Datsun and walk into the wild...

Dik and I went to Harris bookstore in 1Borneo 2 weeks ago and she spotted the book sitting in the non-fiction section. Yes! i bought it cause i know that there are some facts that are not shown in movies. Glad that i did! I'm at the last 2 chapters now. The author Jon Krakauer did an excellent writing. Along the way, i've marked quotes from the book that has its sense to me. Here goes.....

"I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking...." - pg 18

"Invent an utterly new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience..." - pg 22

"Master of his own destiny..." - pg 23

"Allowing his life to be shaped by circumstances.." - pg 29

"He learned to bury what money he had before entering a city, then recover it on the way out of town..." - pg 37

"living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found" - pg 38

"Seemed like a kid who was looking for something, looking for something, just didn't know what it was..." - pg 43

Jack London: Call of the Wild (a fiction book most favoured by McCandless) - pg 45

"You don't need to worry about me. I have a college education. I'm not destitute. I'm living like this by choice..." - pg 52

These subsequent quotes from 1-7 are taken from Chris' letter to the old man, Ronald A. Franz:

1. "You really should make a radical change in your lifestyle..." - pg 58

2. "So many people live within unhappy circumstances & yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of SECURITY, CONFORMITY and CONSERVATISM, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind. But in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit of a man than a secure future...." - pg 58

3. "The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences..." - pg 58

4. "I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover..." - pg 58

5. "Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon..." - pg 58

6. "We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living..." - pg 58-59

7. "And you must do this economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely..." - pg 59

"He was going to write a book about his travels..." - pg 67

"I have always been unsatisfied with life as most people live it. Always i want to live more intensely and richly..." - pg 91

"Came into this world with unusual gifts..." - pg 106

" Quit...after objecting to rules imposed by a high school band leader..." - pg 110

"He quit playing partly because he didn't like being told what to do..." - pg 110

"Chris had so much natural talent but if you tried to coach him, to polish his skill, to bring out that final 10%, a wall went up..." - pg 111

"Didn't like going through channels, working within the system, waiting his turn..." - pg 113

"Chatting with prostitutes and homeless people, buying them meals, ernestly suggesting ways they might improve their lives..." - pg 113

"You can read about this stuff, but you can't understand it until you live it..." - pg 114

"I was surprised, as always, by how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility" - pg 136

"if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it" - pg 154

"McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul" - pg 182

Phewww...ok those are amongst my favourite quotes in the book...i like them soooo much!!

It's always to read the whole book or watch the movie on your own, you can better absorb the lessons taught us by McCandless.

Into The Wild book


Into The Wild Blu-ray DVD

Welcome To Hell

A True Story by Colin Martin
 

Colin Martin is an Irish man, has a wife, 2 sons and a daughter, an engineer by profession, he was a successful man with a dream family and career. Several years later in 1994, it was a beginning of 'journey thru hell' for him. He secured a business deal in Bangkok with a large foreign corporate, not known to him, turned out to be a large fraud. So dedicated in his work, he didn't realized he was being cheated and being ripped off left to right. When the beans were spilled, it was already too late as the culprits were on their way sipping fine cocktails, spending the money. Penniless, mad, super frustrated, he decided to stay in Bangkok, ended up spending several years in Bangkok trying to find the culprits, leaving his wife and children in UK.

After 2 years, he managed to find the culprits and thought everything will be back to normal again. But he was absolutely wrong and that was the beginning of the real nightmare for him...

What happened to Colin? can be found in this book 'Welcome to Hell', a story told so intense by Colin about his life jailed in Bangkok Hilton - the most notorious prison in the entire Thailand. It is where money rules, the guards has ultimate power over the prisoners, filthy jails (feaces everywhere), men turned to men for sex, prisoners were asked to masturbate to fill the guards leisure time, super corrupt guards and policemen whom strip the prisoners' money (given by family and friends) to buy their daughter's birthday gifts, gangsterism, violence with no cause, 'cartoon' court trials and many more. How did Colin survived? Do grab the book. I found mine in 1B.

If you like true story, this is a must read, easy to understand, the type you can't put down for a break. It is an eye opening. One message Colin wants to deliver here is - Thailand is dangerous. Happy reading! *But at the same time, Thailand has its beauty side as well*

Follow my Dream, but which one?

That is the essence of the new book by Paulo Coelho entitled The Winner Stands Alone. It will soon be released in March but it is already available online for all readers all over the world. What does Paulo said about his new book?

"One of the recurrent themes of my books is the importance of paying the price of your dreams. But to what extent can our dreams be manipulated? For the past decades, we lived in a culture that privileged fame, money, power – and most of the people were led to believe that these were the real values that we should pursue".

"Yes, you may reach the goal society has fed you – but will you be satisfied? Will you be whole? Will you be in peace? This cycle of possession never ends – because the moment that you think that you have reached your goal another desire creeps in. And how can you find rest when it is the hunt that moves you?"

"....We are part of the solution, if we go back to the real values of life, being “follow your dream” the most important of all. Not the dreams of the Superclass. Not the dreams of our parents, or our partners. We should be what we always wanted to be".

You can read Paulo's full comments on his new book here

I have always been telling myself to follow my dream and pay the price of this dream. Prayer sets in almost everyday, if not in a form of a dialogue, always in a form of monologue conversation with...i guess, my own soul. Years of reading books by succesful people like Napoleon Hill, Robert Kiyosaki and Paulo himself feeds me the same pattern of how to fulfill dreams. I'm working on it or maybe i thought i'm working on it. Lately i question whether my pursuit of happiness is the right dream or am i working myself in conformance with the society which are, and always will be, fame, money and power? Maybe i'm not but will my desire be eaten as such? Definitely looking forward to reading this new book. Fiction yet based on real issues which i believe will give it a new perspective.

- a book does not change a person, but it provokes thoughts and action -

Paulo Coelho

The 1st chapter of The Winner Stands Alone....

The 2nd chapter

The 3rd chapter

The 4th chapter