A Thousand Pieces of Gold by Adeline Yen Mah

Once in a while we stumble upon a gem of an author with refreshing twist to his/her storytelling and Adeline Yen Mah is one of such author.

In this book entitled "A Thousand Pieces of Gold", she managed to bring the art of storytelling to greater heights by linking Chinese proverbs into her life while explaining the history, significance and meaning behind those proverbs in short and concise chapters.

Being English educated, I don't know much about Chinese proverbs and it is indeed an eye opener to see that it is alive and well in use even now; literally and practically peppered into daily usage as summary or to spice conversation/writings.

Quoting from the book:

"British poet Philip Larkin once described Chinese proverbs as "white dwarfs" of literature because each was so densely compacted with thoughts and ideas."

I wouldn't have known all these proverbs if not for Adeline Yen Mah. Now thanks to her, I can proudly say that I am "ren xin gui han" (the heart of the people belongs to Han).

Personal rating: 10 out of 10 (definitely a worthwhile read)

Cons:
1) None

Pros:
1) Proverbs are explained in simple and direct story telling style.
2) Chapters are written in short and concise paragraphs with examples and stories infused to achieve greater effects.

Burned Alive by Souad

This is the first non-fiction book I bought and to tell the truth, the main thing that pulled me to it was the enigmatic white mask plus the title itself in bold and red letters.

“Burned Alive” is very evocative and thought provoking nonfiction with victim/narrator and aid worker telling the same story via different point of views.

It revolves around a girl being burnt alive for committing bodily sin in order to uphold the family's honour. In other perspective, this kind of killing would be labeled as "honour killing". Details are not spared in this novel and readers would find themselves cringing on the sheer brutality of the act.

Personal rating: 8 out of 10 (worthwhile read)

Cons:
1) None

Pros:
1) It is hoped that this novel will be adapted into silver screen as it would bring forward a stronger message than in print alone.

P.S. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern

As claimed by the book cover, this book has been adapted into a major motion picture starring Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler. However, the review here is about the book and not about the movie (which was so boring that I guess cows will fall asleep watching it)... anyway, let's touch on the book itself...

To tell the truth, I bought the book out of curiosity... in fact, I read the book before I watched the movie (just to make some comparison on the actual adaptation; most readers do that by the way ?)...

The book is about a girl picking up pieces of her life after demise of her other half. The twist of the novel is that her partner had left her monthly short letters reminding her to go on with her life albeit with challenges infused into those letters.

I don't know about the rest of the readers but my attention span to this book ended after the first chapter. Truth to be told, first chapter is a worthwhile read with tear inducing emotion in words but after that, it is purely speed read for me; which explains on the allure of the book to me in general sense.

Personal rating: 4 out of 10 (I bought it out of curiosity)

Cons:
1) Boring read after the first part of the novel.
2) Style & slang of writing is utterly British.

Pros:
1) Tear inducing emotion in words.

Attila: The Judgement by William Napier

In this third and final installation of the trilogy, Attila and Aëtius are lined up for the final face-off together with the rest of the empire at stake. Both sides did their best to rally alliances with kings and tribes across the land in their quest to destroy or defend the set target.

As mentioned in the second installment, this third book continued from the second book and the battle started from the word "GO" (in literal sense). Descriptions of battles are brutal and concise particularly in the first part of the novel. Subsequent battle descriptions are mostly briefly described with exception of the final two all out war.

Frankly speaking, this book is not as exciting as the first two books. In fact, I speed read some of the boring bits and sing-song/poetic moments captured in between the chapters.

The ending is supposed to be the climax but I was sorely disappointed with the outcome. However, I can’t comment much as this novel is loosely based on actual historical figures. It has sad ending for both sides but I won't want to divulge those details here as it will spoil the fun of reading through the trilogy.

Personal rating: 5 out of 10 (I bought it because it’s a trilogy)

Cons:
1) Book 1 and Book 2 are better read compared to this one.
2) Too many sing-song/poems mentioned in the novel.
3) Some battles are not clearly described and quite a number of pass-over paragraphs.

Pros:
1) Good description for first battle and decisive war between the two sides.
2) Heroic moments, devastation and after-effect of wars are captured in absolute clarity in key battles.