Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Aah, the book I waited for ever since I got my hands on Eclipse!! How is that possible, you ask? Simple, I had pre-ordered this book on the day I bought my copy of Eclipse. A short side story. About a week before the official release date, I had a call from the book store, telling me that although they had expected the pre-order copies to be hard covered, it turns out that they will receive paperback versions instead. The man on the phone asked me if I would like to wait for the hard cover edition instead, which will take another two weeks to arrive. Like, D'OH... of course NOT. Anyways, I was unable to pick up the book on the actual release date, but we made time to go there the next day. Yippeee... oh, and to add to the excitement, I finally bought the English version of Twilight and New Moon on the same day. The only drawback is that they are all soft covered, leaving my copy of Eclipse the only hard cover book I have in the series. Not that it matters that much.

So anyway. While my cousin-in-law warned me that he had read some reviews saying that the book isn't so good and asked me not to get suicidal when I find out so myself, I thought this book is THE BEST yet!! Seriously. Stephenie is brilliant. I also told my cousin-in-law that the only reason I might get suicidal is that this is the end of the series. Gasp! Oh, and of course I was having a slight problem coming back to reality after the book is done, in fact I can still replay some of my favorite scenes word-by-word right this moment. And I only read it once, mind you!

Like I said earlier, Stephenie Meyer is just brilliant. I mean, I'm not quite sure what I was expecting for Breaking Dawn, but I most certainly did not anticipate what happened instead. I guess I thought it would be mainly about the wedding, maybe some party crashers, and then an epilogue on Bella's transformation. But Breaking Dawn of course delivered sooo much more!!

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I actually liked Jacob a lot more after this book. LOL. And I'm sooo glad it all turned out so well for everyone in the story. I also think that Stephenie left a lot of loopholes that could develop into another book or something... wouldn't that be grand?? Ah, but anyway, there's still Midnight Sun to look forward to, although being in Edward's head might not be the same absorbing experience being in Bella's was. And how I wish I could get my hand on Steph's The Host. Just to see if it's really her writing that got me or rather the love of Edward and Bella. Hahaha.

The Missing by Chris Mooney

Seperti layaknya buku Dastan Books lainnya, buku ini menarik perhatian gw karena mengandung kata-kata Psikopat, Pembunuh, Wanita dan Detektif. Hehehe. Kenapa menurut gw buku-buku yang mengandung kata-kata ini menarik? Hmm... ga jelas juga. Tapi mungkin ada hubungannya dengan zodiak gw yang Scorpio yang katanya cocok jadi Detektif... Halah, apa coba! Ya, ya, intinya gw suka laah sama buku2 thriller kaya gini, meskipun sebenernya siih, selama ini buku-buku yang gw beli belom pernah ada yang gw baca sampe akhir... hahaha. Eh, ada sih mungkin, kaya Dan Brown misalnya. Yaa, udah lah ya, kayanya klo dibahas bisa panjang. Mari, kita lihat buku yang satu ini.

Meskipun gw akuin buku ini emang cukup bagus dan gw sempet bela-belain tidur agak telat demi menyelesaikan bab-bab terakhirnya, menurut gw buku ini ga sehebat review2nya (bisa dilihat di sini), salah satunya karena ga sampe membuat gw breathless. Buku ini adalah sejenis buku yang mengalir dengan lancar, mbacanya tuh kira-kira kaya nonton satu episode CSI di TV. Eh ga juga sih, karena klo nonton CSI biasanya gw masih lebih inget isinya daripada waktu kelar baca buku ini... sekarang udah agak samar2. Hehe. Hmm, ga sesamar itu sih. Masih inget lah kurang lebih.

Yang pasti buku ini cukup 'bersih' menurut gw, ngga ada penggambaran yang terlalu berlebih mengenai apa sebenarnya yang dilakukan si psikopat terhadap korbannya. Sepertinya sengaja, membiarkan imaginasi pembacanya melayang sendiri sesuai kata sifat yang dipakai (mis. keadaan mengenaskan, kan tergantung tiap orang tuh mengenaskan tuh kaya apa).

Oh, satu hal yang perlu gw bahas adalah mengenai ending yang 'mengejutkan' *SPOILER ALERT* -- kenapa ya, kayanya namanya cerita thriller itu banyak yang di endingnya salah satu tokoh yang tadinya kita kira adalah tokoh baik, tiba2 berubah menjadi tokoh yang ternyata sepanjang cerita berkonspirasi dengan si penjahat. Apa ngga lama-lama jadi ngebosenin ya? Hmm, mungkin ga juga kali, karena kita ga tau tokoh baik yang mana yang sebenernya jahat. Hehehe.

Trus-trus, satu lagi... yang gw sukaaa banget dari buku2 Dastan adalah 'bonus' pembatas bukunya!! Hihihi, oke, bukan review buku sih, tapi kan satu paket ya :P
Pembatas buku Dastan tuh bener2 kreatif, pokoknya gw suka deh! Cuma sayangnya, gw ga berani ninggalin tuh pembatas di dalam bukunya, takutnya kalau dipinjem orang entar ilang. Hiks.

English Translation coming up when I feel like it... LOL

Whoopss...

It's been a while, I know... kept pushing this further down my to do list... but anyway, I think I have a little spare time at the moment, and I have read 3 books (I think) during the time span, so we'll see how many reviews I can get down. I'm thinking one or two... :)

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Although I had (forced myself to) finished reading Eclipse on Saturday evening, I am still mesmerized by it. Although the book is the third in the series, it is actually the second that I read thoroughly (I couldn't bear to read through New Moon, though I might eventually) and only the first one I read in English, the reason being it is not yet available in Indonesian so I forced myself to buy it. Honestly though, I prefer reading books in their original language, and am planning to buy Twilight as well as New Moon in English too ASAP.

Anyways, let's get back to the book, although I doubt that there will be much to say about it cause Stephenie is just an awesome writer in a way that makes my limited words fail. I cannot even begin to describe her ability to really draw you into the book, see things the way Bella sees it, and feel all the emotion that Bella feels. I don't know if it's just me, since I really do identify myself with Bella a lot, but reading through these books left me pretty much numb afterwards. Numb only because as I look around me I suddenly realize Edward is not there. Yeah. It's THAT bad for me. And although I dislike the plot twist with Jacob, I can't really help myself not to feel awful for breaking his heart too. So at the end of the story... I really can't wait for the next book to finally come out! Even if it is hazardous to my mental health. LOL.

Ways To Live Forever - Sally Nichols

Gw inget banget gw tertarik baca buku ini setelah baca review di salah satu majalah. Saking niatnya gw smp mesen lewat kutukutubuku.com. Hehehe. Versi bahasa Indonesianya punya judul 'Setelah Aku Mati'. Bukunya cukup menarik en gw bacanya kira-kira sehari setengah (ada urusan laiin laaah), tapi ga SEmenarik itu juga. Ceritanya ngalir begitu aja. Membacanya menyenangkan, dan mungkin juga gw akan rekomendasiin buku ini ke orang lain, tapi ngga akan dengan sengaja gw promosiin kemana-mana. Hehehe. Pastinya bukunya menyentuh banget, en bisa dibilang agak-agak memberi inspirasi juga. Yang gw heran, kenapa juga ni buku dikasih label Novel Dewasa sama Gramedia?? Padahal jelas-jelas di luar ini tuh buku buat anak-anak. Yah paling ngga dianggep Teen-Lit kek gitu. Mungkin karena intinya tentang kematian kali ya? Anyway, klo loe lagi ngga ada kerjaan di hari Sabtu, trus diluar ujan (becek dan ga ada ojek), kayanya ga ada ruginya duduk di pojokan kamar ditemani bantal-bantal lucu en baca buku ini. Lebih mantap lagi klo sambil nyeruput hot chocolate :)

I read the Indonesian version of this book, and it is called 'Setelah Aku Mati' (After I Die). It was an interesting book and I read through it within a day or so, but I wasn't THAT impressed about it. The story just simply flowed through me. I would agree that it was a good read, and I probably would recommend it to others but only if I got the chance, meaning I won't be going out of my way just to promote it, which happens when I really, REALLY liked a book. And it's very touching and now that I think of it, it was a bit inspiring. I wonder however why the Indonesian publisher labeled it as an Adult Novel when it is clearly intended as a children's book, or at least young adults'. Could be the death theme that surrounds it. Anyways, all in all this is an excellent choice if you're looking for a book to spend your Saturday evening reading, preferably lounged in a cozy corner, a cup of hot chocolate next to your hand and better yet if it's raining outside :)