"The Witch of Portobello" by Paulo Coelho

The title of the book was very catchy and aroused my curiosity in wanting to read the book.
And that's probably why I had recommended reading it for bookleaves in the frist place. Also, the fact that the 2 books I've read of him was pretty good, I did expect it to be interesting. My final feeling on the book is I guess somewhat disappointing.

The first book that I've read by Paulo Coelho was the well known bestseller "The Alchemist". It was a very good story, a very good teaching and philosophy to be learned from the book. But something that people, or at least I, already knew of. The story was well told but there wasn't any surprise that really sparked my attention. It pretty much ended in how I thought the story would end. However, I do like this way of storytelling. That, I admire a lot and am very jealous of it.

The second book was "11 Minutes". This was very different from the first. It was a little less philosophical than the first and it felt more like reading fiction. (The first felt more like reading a story from the Bible, but that's just me) It was fascinating how he had set up the storyline and the character.

The third, which was "The Witch of Portobello" was much like the first, very philosophical and spiritual. A woman trying to find herself. A very mysterious woman by the name of Athena trying very hard to find the higher being.. Maybe even the purpose of life and being? I did like it overall, but it really irritated me at some point and I can't really pin point the reason of why it made me feel so. Perhaps it's because it didn't really give me a direct answer in what she, the heroine of the book, or me the reader was searching for. Or perhaps it was because it made me think more and question more. I did like the narrative style. The way he used different people to tell the story of the protagonist. It held my interest...

I do like his books (though there may be some disappointing aspects) and I don't think that I've ruled him out of my reading list yet. There still are couple of books that I do want to read by him, "The Zahir" and "Veronika Decides to Die" to be exact.
Though I don't think it will be soon... I know I will read it but not just yet...

Bookleaves

What is bookleaves, you ask?
It's the name of my treasured book club.

When I first came to Korea in 1998, everything was so different and alien: people, places, custom and culture. Being a Korean and looking like one but not having lived in it does make a huge difference. Making friends and meeting people, probably was one of the hardest thing to do. Fortunately though, I did start attending a school and tried to get involved. So for a while the urgency of being in a book club wasn't that important, since I was reading on my own time and was busy sorting out some troublesome part of my life (there were some personal issues to be handled back then).

Anyhow, when I finally brought myself to look for a group, and yes there was one that I did find, I didn't get a single reply for months. That really got me worked up and decided 'heck, I'll make my own, surely there must be people out there who'd be interested in joining a book club'. And YES! there was. After putting the ad for some months out in the classified section I finally started getting emails from people who were interested and we decided to meet up to talk about making it real. Our first meeting was in June 2005.

The meeting was great there were about 6 people to start off with and we first decided on a book and the next meeting date. Then we made a group in Yahoo! in order to get in touch with people easily. I constantly got emails from people who were interested and some came, some never showed up. Many of our members have left Korea and our little club after completing their contract and at the same time many have joined.

Our group is practically open to everyone and anyone. The only thing that we ask for is that the person who joins must love to read and discuss about it. Yes, it has been my experience that some people join for the purpose of practicing English and that does irritate me a lot and sometimes I feel like I'm discriminating my own race. However, the whole purpose of this group, the reason I made this group is to get people who enjoy reading and discussing about books together. As well as meeting people from all walks of life and share thoughts and talk about everyday life. A club where you can relax and be comfortable in.

It has been over 2 years since the group's been active and I think we're doing pretty good with it. There has been a lot of change in members but still I think the groups doing great. If any of you out there who live in Korea, near Seoul to be exact, please don't hesitate to come by our group. We usually meet once a month, sometimes twice, depending on the book, and people's schedule. It's always a Sunday and we're pretty flexible on time, though we tend to lean towards the earlier hours of the afternoon. At the meeting we usually hang around at a coffee shop talk about the book of the meeting and other books that we'd like to share. Then depending on the time and how hungry everyone is we get a bite to eat. The decision on what to read depends on the members, sometimes we take turns and at other times we talk about it think of a whole bunch of books we're interested in and choose from that pile. We always decide about 3 or 4 books and the date respectively so that we don't make plans on those dates and we can all be there.

To find out more about the group, just write to bookleaves@gmail.com

Le Festin

This song became one of my favorite this year...
It just makes you want to waltz away...



- Le Festin -
sung by: Camille
lyrics by: Camille
music by: Michael Giacchino
album: Ratatouille OST (2007)

Les reves des amoureux sont comme le bon vin
Ils donnent de la joie ou bien du chagrin
Affaibli par la faim je suis malheureux
Volant en chemin tout ce que je peux
Car rien n'est gratuit dans la vie.

L'espoir est un plat bien trop vite consomme
A sauter les repas je suis habitue
Un voleur, solitaire, est triste a nourrir
A nous, je suis amer, je veux reussir
Car rien n'est gratuit dans la vie.

Jamais on ne me dira que la course aux etoiles, ca n'est pas pour moi
Laissez-moi vous emerveiller, prendre mon envol
Nous allons enfin nous rega...ler

La fete va enfin commencer
Et sortez les bouteilles, finis les ennuis
Je dresse la table, demain nouvelle vie
Je suis heureux a l'idee de ce nouveau destin
Une vie a me cacher, et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin
Une vie a me cacher et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin. . . .


The dreams of lovers are like good wine
They give joy or even sorrow
Weakened by hunger, I am unhappy
Stealing on my way everything I can
Because nothing in life is free.

Hope is a dish too soon finished
I am accustomed to skipping meals
A thief alone and hungry is sad enough to die
As for us, I am bitter, I want to succeed
Because nothing in life is free.

Never will they tell me that I cannot shoot for the stars
Let me fill you with wonder, let me take flight
We will finally fea...st

The party will finally start
And bring out the bottles, the troubles are over
I'm setting the table; tomorrow is a new life
I am happy at the idea of this new destiny
A life spent in hiding, and now I'm finally free
The feast is on my path
A life spent in hiding, and now I'm finally free
The feast is on my path. . .

So Behind.... no relaxation....

This past several weeks were really dreadful. No time to relax and I'm so behind in reading..
I practically had no time to sit down and open up my book and flip through pages..
Though, finally, this crazy schedule of 40 hours a week working has officially ended. I can get back to relaxing and leaf through some books that I had had to put down for a whole month. And yes, because of that and other things we practically skipped two of our book meetings and I think we're behind 2 books or is it 3?

Anyhow, it's good to be back to the original schedule and actually get things done like cleaning and cooking and just getting around the house organizing stuff that's been all over the place for a complete full month.
There still are things that I haven't been able to take care of today but then again, one day won't really cover up for a full month of chaos, right?

July 25 '07 4:42pm (from my notes)

Night and Day merges to one and time just seem to fade away.
Floating in space and time without destination.
Seconds, minutes, and hours just undistinguishable.
Like being stuck in a room full of clocks and watches that are all pointing in their own different direction.
Like visiting the clock smith and seeing all those watches he’s trying to fix.

The fear of being lost and fear of inability to find the way just sucks me into this tiny room where I can barely breathe. All these ticking sound pushing, rushing, ushering me to be quick. And me just standing there, just pacing back and forth unable to make a decision. So, the problem…
Yes, it feels like I’m stuck in that tunnel again.. that I keep coming back to.. and that tunnel is like a shape shifter who changes its shape every single time as it sees fit – preventing me from escape… freedom.

So, it’s that tunnel again..
that hopeless feeling just flooding back…
The Insecurity!