Lottery by Patricia Wood

Perry L.Crandall, (the L stands for 'Lucky') have an IQ of 76, but he is not stupid. He is just a bit slow. He lives with his Gram who taught him everything he needs to survive.

She taught him it's important to have list so that he won't forget. They list down who they can trust. This is very important. She taught him it is okay to be slow but "don't be smart". She taught him to buy lottery every week. They would bought 5 tickets weekly.

One day, his Gram just would not wake up from her sleep. She had taught him what to do in this situation. To call 911 and to call his Boss, Gary, to let him know that he won't be able to go to work that day.

He is orphaned at the age of 31. His friends, Gary and Keith, were there for him when he broke down and cried.

Then he went and win twelve Million dollar from his weekly lottery ticket. Suddenly, he found himself with very concerned family members which comes out of the worm holes to help "protect" his interest.

Perry is something like Forest Gump.His wish is simple. And when he won the Lottery, he just followed his list. The list where his Gram and him listed in the event that they win the Lottery.

Amidst all these, his "family" tried all sort of tricks to get their grubby hands on the money. Would he survive their onslaught?

I nearly missed this book if Winnie from Bookxcess did not point this out to me. The cover of the book was not that attractive. Looks like some sort of cheap novel. But after reading this book, I totally revised my opinion. I think it's fantastic. It is a MUST READ.

To me, it's like a motivational book. To know what is our personal goal and target instead of comparing it with others. Take one step at a time for each person will have their own pace. Be thankful for the thing you having now. Always know what is your needs and no need to covet what you do not need.

This book will makes you think a lot without being preachy. 

I love Page 52 . It's about Perry feeling extremely down. Everything in his life have gone terribly wrong. And he missed his Gram terribly. I was sad to read this. Patricia Wood really wrote well in this part.

What I don't like about this book is the usual complaint...the fonts is too tiny and as mentioned earlier the cover of the book. Frankly, if Winnie had not mentioned it's a good read, I would not have bought this book as the tiny font scares me off. I hope authors/publishers would consider this point when they decide to get the book printed. Make the books easier on the readers eyes. You win, I win.

Peony In Love by Lisa See

Set in the seventeen century China, Peony is a young girl of 16 years age from the Chen family. She is betrothed to the second son of the Wu family.

Being the only daughter of the first wife and all the rests of the concubine bears only girls, Peony, is much loved by her parents.

During that era, unmarried girls are secluded at home and are trained to be good wife to their future husband. The same happen to Peony. She was taught to sew, play musical instrument and most important of all to read.

At that time the work of Tang Xianzi "The Peony Pavilion" is one of the most popular work and have been made into opera.

As fate would have it, Peony loves The peony Pavilion and had tried to get her hands on as many version of it as possible. On the month of her 16th birthday which also coincide with the 7th month celebration of the Weaver Maid and Cowherd, her father commission an opera troupe to their luxurious home to entertains them and their guests.

Her mother was against it. For her mother thinks it is not appropriate for unmarried girls to be seen in public. However, her father assured her that all will be taken care of.

That night turns out to be the turning point of Peony cloistered and protected life. For that night she bump into a man which makes her thinks of the seven feelings that makes us human.

 Here starts her journey from this life and later one the journey to the realm beyond.

This is truly one of the most wonderful and beautifully written book that I have ever read. The description of the love and lost that Peony had was very heart wrenching. It is a adventure itself to see her trying to do the right thing and things kept turning out unexpectedly

There are so many layers of stories in this book. Nothing is what it seems.

I stared reading this book last night and it is a real page turner. This is definitely a MUST READ. This is indeed a sad day for me. Why? Because I fear the next book which I laid my hand onto may not be as good as this.

Map of The Invisible World By Tash Aw

I have been waiting for this book to come to BookXcess since the first day it was released.

Can you imagine my delight when I spotted this book in BookXcess Facebook updates? I nearly missed it coz I was very busy earlier this month. When I spotted it, more than a week had passed.

Hoping against hope, I "FB-ed" them and sent them an e-mail to reserve a copy. Too bad the paperback copies have all been sold out. Left are the Hardcovers. Still, I managed to secured a Hardcover copy of this book thanks to their efficient Customer Service.

What is this book about? Hmm...it touches a bit of everything that happen in Indonesia around 1950-60s.

Story is about the life of two orphaned brothers, Johan(the elder) and Adam(the younger).

Both were in an orphanage after being left there by their mother. Johan was adopted by a rich Malaysia couple when he was around 10 years old. He was tricked into the car that carries him away from his 5 year old brother.

Can you imagine the heart-break for Johan to see Adam chasing after the car with his little feet till Adam collapse on the dusty road?

Johan grew up in a privileged environment but he was rebellious and seems to have a dead wish. Later it was shown that he had something akin to "Survivor Guilt". He had promised that he won't leave his brother but he did.

Meantime, Adam was adopted by a Dutch man name Karl. Karl lives in tiny island of Indonesia and loves Indonesia very much. He consider himself an Indonesian though many disagree with him.

One day when Adam was near 16 years old, the Army came and took Karl away. Adam was at a lost. He dug into his father stuffs and found a picture of a woman and an address. That woman was Margaret Bates. Karl's ex-girlfriend.

Alone, Adam journeyed to Jakarta and found Margaret and seek her help in finding Karl. Margaret was shock but immediately took Adam under her protection. But something gone wrong in which Adam end up on the street.

After many things happen, they managed to be reunited again and with a new friend's help they managed to find Karl.

I am not familiar with the history of Indonesia nor it's politics situations back then. This book really opens my eyes. It highlight the internal battles around the Islands especially after the Transmigration Policy which seems to have failed and resulted in many broken families.

Then at the city center, the political party are at each other throat. Ones need to have $$ to get anything done there.

The ending was not quite what I had expected. Guess the are many "Invisible World" out there which we can't see with our naked eyes.

This is indeed a terrific book to read. I can see that a lot of research and efforts have been put into the creation of this book. Each words that I read in this book gives me a sense of euphoria that one can only enjoy after reading a good book.

I really look forward to Tash Aw book.

In 5 Easy Steps by Lum Kit-Wye

Elaine Chan was just spectacularly dumped by her jerk of a boyfriend, Patrick, at her class reunion in front of all her classmates who had laughed at her during her school days. To make the matter worse, she also lost her job when Patrick fired her. She was working for Patrick father.

Then she read in a magazine which teach her to re-invent herself in 5 easy steps. When her mom start match-making her with every Tom, Dick and Harry, she had to take a drastic step. She grab the chance to work in Singapore when the opportunity arise.

The first night she arrived Singapore, she was locked out of the apartment. Lucky there was a nice neighbour, Kai, a guy who is staying next door with his grandmother and his father. And soon, Kai, become his best friend and "partner in crime".


Her first day at work as a secretary in a law firm were nearly disastrous but she bump into a gorgeous hunk who looks like Aaron Kwok.

The gorgeous hunk name is Evan and he is a successful lawyer in the firm. Soon he became Elaine's boyfriend.

There were a series of very comical incidents when Elaine tried to be the model girlfriend for Evan

Throughout all this, her neighbor Kai was there to help her...including the time when she tried to play sleuth to find the missing maid of an abusive neighbor.

Kai's relax attitude about life makes Elaine questioned her own happiness and of Kai's happiness as he seems to be heading into a disastrous relationship again.

This is the first Asian Chic-lit which I have come across and I must say, Ms Lum Kit-Wye had out done herself in writing this book.

For me this book beats Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series hands down! She really deserve to win "The Inaugural Chic Writing Competition 2009"

Her writing style are easy to read and characters are well developed. There are many aspects in the story which is believable and not too outrageous. The heroin was perfect. Appear to be helpless without being brainless and too feather headed.

I laughed out at the part where she describe how Kai's grandmother's denture got glued together when eating "Nian Gao"and the part where Elaine put too much pepper into her cooking.

This is a very enjoyable novel. I hope that Lum Kit-Wye will come out with a second novel soon.

To give you a hint on what is instal for you in this book here is something about the author extracted from the back of the book/

About The Author

Kit-Wye has written numerous best-selling novels and divides her time between her beach house in the Bahamas and her New York Penhouse where she lounges around on her designer furniture seeking inspiration for her next best selling book....JUST KIDDING! Actually, Kit=Wye spends all her time in Singapore where she works hard at her lecturing job and, together with her two equally hardworking husband, runs after their two young sons, trying to stop them from destroying the Ikea furniture. This is her first novel.

(Extracted from the back of the book)