Golden Bones by Sichan Siv

Bought this quite some time ago. Only got around to read it last week.

This is the real story of a Cambodian boy who made it to America and to the White House. It's an amazing journey.

Sichan Siv was the youngest son of a Police Chief and have love to learn since young. He continued his studies even though after his father passed away and the family was not financially well off.

He came to be an employee of U.S relief agency. But Pol Pot overthrew the government his life was in danger along with his family members. It's known that the Khmer Rouge hates educated people and would execute them in a blink of an eye.

His dear mother and sister had told him to run and never to give up hope. He cycled across Cambodia hoping to go to Thailand. He survived due to his fast thinking. But the he was captured and put into a slave labour camp. He was ready to give up hope when he remembered what his mother had told him "never give up hope".

He reached Thailand in the end but not without some horrifying experience. He was selected to be sent to America.

He reached America, he felt homesick and worried about his family back home. And yet he did not let this deter him from starting a new life there. He worked as an apple picker, a cab driver and burger flipper but he never give up hope. He improved himself and was offered a job in the White House. He was US Ambassador to the U.N.

This is a very impressive biography if I do say so. Not many could have done what he had done.

The book was quite detailed. However, there are some places where it's a bit dry. This can't be helped as he was trying to give the readers a complete background on the political situation in order for them to understand what he was trying to say.

A good read

Girl From Mars by Julie Cohen

I bought this book due to "kiasuness". Needed a few more ringgit in order to enjoy Member'sDiscount from BookXcess.

Am happy to say that I did not regret getting this book. It's a light hearted book. I wonder how to classify this book. Chit-Lit or Romance?

Well, story is about 4 best friends. Philomena, Jim, Digger and Stevo. The friendship cracked when Stevo met someone whom he fell in love with. The other three felt they were left in a lurch.

One night when all three were drunk, they made a pact. That is they would not date other people. They had no time or uses for romance in their life and that no matter what their friendship would comes first.

Guess, you can guess what ensued after the pact was made.

This is indeed a fun to read book.

Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker

This is a typical tale of why we should not tell lies, for adult.

Norman Huntley and his friend Henry were in a church when they “invented” an 83 year old woman, Ms Hargreaves. Then they thought it’s funny to post a letter to this “Ms Hargreaves” and invited her to come over for a visit.

It was fun while it lasted. But imagine their surprise when Norman received a letter from a Miss Hargreaves saying that she would be pleased to pay him a visit. At first, they assumed someone were pulling their legs.

As the day drawn near, they start to panic as many things they invented seems to be coming true..up the the part about a Harp..

That day they met the train, and to their surprise Ms Hargreaves was every bit like what they have thought up, including the dog and the parrot.

Here arrival really brought havoc to Norman’s life. People start to wonder where did they meet and speculate. He tried telling the truth to his father and girlfriend. His father believed him but his girlfriend was doubtful.

In order to cover one lie, Norman have to invent more lies.

The matter turn worse for Norman when he had a fight with Ms Hargreaves and she started to make his life miserable.

How can he get back to his life again? How to make Ms Hargreaves go away?

This is a very interesting and not to say funny book. It have it’s funny moment. Very descriptive on funny moments.

I love the eccentric Miss Hargreaves and felt that it serves Norman right for telling lies. It's not that he wanted to tell lies but it's like a norm to him to talk without thinking.

To The End Of Hell by Denise Affonco

I told my friend about Inspector Singh In Cambodia book and how I was sadden by the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge soldiers. She the passed me this book. It's a real story about how Denise Affonco survived the Khmer Rouge regime.

She was born and brought up in Phnom Penh to a Vietnamese mother and a French father. She worked in the French Embassy and married to Seng a Cambodia of Chinese origin who is a communist sympathiser

She was trapped in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge came in power. She had the chance to get out of the country with her children as she is a French citizen but that did not include her husband who is a Cambodian. In the end she stayed, rather that to split up the family Moreover, her armchair Communist husband had convinced her that life would soon return to normal when Khmer Rouge wins.

When the Khmer Rouge came in and they evacuated everyone from the city of Phnom Penh and everything was done in the name of Angkar. They were moved from place to place and soon Seng was taken away never to be seen again. Later, her son also taken away from her to do the work of a man. She also had to work and they were not given enough food to eat. Many died.

In fact, maybe that is the purpose of the whole thing. To work and starve them to death as their life does not worth the cost of a single bullet. Poor Denise had to see her sister-in-law, niece, nephew and her daughter die due to lack of food and medication. She also nearly died for Malaria.

This has been a difficult book to rad as I know of the ending already. I guess, war brings out the worse in human beings

The Big Dirt Nap by Rosemary Harris

This is the second Rosemary Harris book which I read. I love her Pushing Up Daisies. Got both books from The Big Bad Wolf Sale last year.

In this book, Paula Holiday gets to tag along with her friend Lucy to an all expenses paid trip the Titans Hotel. Lucy is there for a story while Paula is there to see the rare Titan Arum or better known as Corpse Flower( Rafflesia). 

Unfortunately for her, she gets to "meet" with a real corpse instead while her friend Lucy went missing.

Nick, was a man whom she met in a Bar was found dead with Paula's name card in his pocket. Starting then, strange things starts to happen to her. She felt that she is being tailed and spied on. Her home was broken into.

Paula waited for Lucy at the hotel but Lucy never show up. Lucy sent her strange messages which makes Paula fear that something bad had happen to Lucy. She started to dig around and found that Nick's murder and Lucy disappearance seems to be linked.

This is a very fast paced book. A lot of clues and stuffs like that. There was an unexpected ending in the story. The murderer turns out to be someone who is least expected in the story.

The Purpose of Passion By Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware

The Purpose of Passion with the sub-title Dante's Epic Vision of Romantic Love, co written together by Kurt Burner and Jim Ware is one of the most fascination Christian book about love that I've ever read before. It amazed me even at the first chapter and I find it amusing that they decided to use Dante Aligieri's work as their reference, for as far as I'm concerned, 'Dante Aligieri is well known for his work 'Inferno', not for his love stories. The irony of it amuses me in a good way.

I like how the author(s) starts off the book-with reference to their own wives/people that they have come to know and how they relate their experience about love with their own. Yes, indeed, this book is no fiction, and I suggest you not to read this if you're looking for made up stories. In the first chapter, the readers are introduced to Alicia a woman who has been raped by her own father and how she deal with it.

This book, teaches you about the higher kind of love, for human love does not last forever. This book teaches you on just how you can achieve it, and also the power of forgiveness. This is really an amazing book, and I enjoyed it very much.

Highly recommended for those broken souls or individuals who are doing some soul searching. I rate this book 3.5 stars out of 5. I seriously thought the cover did no justice to the book at all, and it needs improvisation.

Note :Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinion exressed herein are mine.