THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman is inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Such wonderful storytelling. If you are looking for something exciting and magical, imaginative and adventurous, you will not be disappointed with this. Garth Nix said: “I wish my younger self could have had the opportunity to read and reread this wonderful book, and my older self wishes that I had written it.”

The story opens with a man named Jack coming to the house to accomplish what needs to be done: to kill the whole family. When the man Jack is done with the father, the mother and the sister, he goes to look for the fourth and youngest member—a baby boy. Before this, the baby is awaken by some crashing sound and feeling bored after being awaken, ‘plots’ for an escape from his cot. He just decides to leave the house and totters up the hill, to the graveyard.

Page 206: That people's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn't matter as far as the maintenance of life is concerned. They're all just fuel.

After Dark by Haruki Murakami tells the story of what happens to a few particular persons between 11.56 P.M. and 6.52 A.M. in Tokyo on a particular night.

I revisited this book again in August this year for a book discussion with my colleague, Eugene Foong. He was preparing a presentation for his Masters degree based on the same book. One day during lunch, he asked if I’ve read Nassim Taleb’s FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS and I answered yes. That’s how the book discussion came to be.

It is interesting to note Taleb’s observations on how chance plays a part in success. Luck is democratic and hits everyone regardless of original skills, he says. Take the example of millionaires: […]

GOSSAMER is my first Lois Lowry book and definitely not the last. It’s an interesting and delightful read. I’m intrigued by the dream-givers, especially Littlest One. I could almost hear her tiny soft voice whenever she speaks, or asks this and that while she follows her teacher on duty to bestow dreams.

Littlest One is a tiny creature slowly learning her job of giving dreams to humans. Where do dreams come from? What makes the stuff of nightmares? In this story, two people—a lonely, sensitive woman (we do not know her name) and a damaged, angry boy named John—face their own histories. […]

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY by Roald Dahl is my first Roald Dahl book and I must say I love it! This highly imaginative book is a gem and one that’s full of lessons. I like the little boy Charlie very much and like most children, he is full of curiosity. He is also obedient for he listens to his parents, Mr and Mrs Bucket, and his very old grandparents. His family is poor and the seven of them live in a tiny, worn-down house. It is heartbreaking to read his family situation.

One day, Mr Willy Wonka, a well-known chocolate maker who has been missing in action for a long, long time comes back into business. […]