Last Friday, 6 talented writers from Jalansutra mailing list launched a new culinary book called Tempat Makan Jakarta Tempo Doeloe at Restoran Miranda (d/h Tan Goei) - Menteng. The book is filled with delicious reviews of more than 20 old style food places located in Jakarta. What makes this book different from other culinary books/tabloids is the honest review of its writers. Plus, some of those places can really be categorised as hidden treasure (haven't been reviewed before by other media) so I find it very interesting. Got this book on Friday afternoon, and by Saturday, I've already tried two of them. Congratulation guys! (Cindy, Andrew, Adi, Lita, Gres & Irvan) I can't wait for the second book :)

Posted by jeny at 05:13 PM | Comments (4)

Bought a new book by Yohan Handoyo called "Rahasia Wine". maybe this is the first book about wine ever written in Bahasa Indonesia. I found it very useful, easy to read, full of information about anything you need to know about wine, how to buy a good wine, how to pairing it with food (Indonesian food) and even have a section that teach us how to pronounce all those wine name correctly. :)

Posted by jeny at 07:33 PM | Comments (8)

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Bought this book at Jakarta Book Fair along with "Indonesian Authentic Cuisine". "Extreme Cuisine: The Weird & Wonderful Foods That People Eat" was written by Jerry Hopkins. this book was simply amazing, contain all wonderfull and weird stuff people eat around the world. but only mentioned a little about Indonesian eating habit. :)

Posted by jeny at 12:20 PM | Comments (1)

A new graphic novel from "Marjane Satrapi" the author of best selling "Persepolis", I haven't read "Persepolis" but this one sure is one of the best novel I read this year. The topics is mostly about the sex life of some Iranian women while they were gathering in Marjane's house. Very entertaining indeed :)

Posted by jeny at 08:05 PM | Comments (5)

Read this book about 1 month ago & still want to re-read again and again. the book contain some short stories & prose written by Dewi Lestari (Dee) in 1995-2005. just like her other novel "Supernova", this one was a must read book this year. I especially like "filosofi kopi" and "rico de coro".

Posted by jeny at 06:36 PM | Comments (3)

I just finished reading 'Dimsum Terakhir', a new novel by Clara Ng. Telling a story about 4 Chinese born Indonesian twins sisters in Indonesia.

It is not easy being a Chinese born Indonesia in Indonesia. And Clara Ng portrayed their life in their perspective quite a right way, their tradition, life.. etc. in my opinion this novel was an interesting read, much much better than her previous novel 'Utukki' :)

Posted by jeny at 06:11 PM | Comments (6)

Just bought 2 asiapac comics called "the origins of chinese food culture" and "the origins of chinese tea and wine" at Gramedia books store. Illustrated beautifully by Fu Chunjiang, The books tells interesting facts and ancient stories relating to chinese food, tea and wine. For me this books were really inspiring, makes me understand more about Chinese culture.

Posted by jeny at 02:21 PM | Comments (1)

I bought a new novel by Ninit Yunita : Test Pack yesterday from inibuku.com. Start read it that night, and couldn't put it down before I finished the last page.

At first I thought it was just another Indonesian ChickLit, but I was wrong. The novel turn out to have more mature topic : "Childless is not the end of the marriage" :) Telling the story of 'Neng' and 'Kakang' who had married for 7 years and still haven't get a child. Fun, but I cried in the middle of the novel when 'Neng' left 'Kakang' :P Very Recommended Novel I Think.

Posted by jeny at 10:28 AM | Comments (7)

I got my copy of "Harry Potter and the half Blood Prince" last Saturday at Kinokuniya Bookstore Plasa Senayan and start reading it since monday morning.

In my oppinion this book was much more interesting than the previous one (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) This book gives us much more insight into the major characters (good and evil) and sets the stage for the final confrontation coming in Book 7. hehehe Only 1 more to go, and I can't wait "P

Posted by jeny at 04:44 PM | Comments (1)

Last week LH informed me that the last book of "Indiana Chronicle" by Clara Ng : "Bridesmaid" already came out. I already bought the first & second book so I think I'm gonna buy the third book, since the cover design is very attractive. (yes... I admit I always judge a book by its cover hehehe). The story is about Indiana Lesmana facing 2 wedding at the same day, 1 Lesbian Wedding, also she had to deal with her "aerophobia".

If I'm not reading "Shopaholic" series by shopie kinsella, I will find this book quite entertaining, but same to the first & second book, there was so many thing in this book reminds me of the character in "Shopaholic" series.

Indiana Chronicle : Bridesmaid can be found at all bookstore or buy it online here at 45K. Enjoy :)

Posted by jeny at 05:12 PM | Comments (2)

Just finished reading the forth book by Shophie Kinsella "Shopaholic" series : Shopaholic & Sister. Tell the stories about Rebbecca Brandon (was Bloomwood) returning from her honeymoon and found out that she had a long lost sister. but soon she will find out that her sister hate shopping, and to make it worse her best friend Suze already had a new best friend. I enjoyed reading this book very much. :)

Shopaholic series can be found at all bookstore or buy it online here at 45K. Enjoy :)

Posted by jeny at 05:02 PM | Comments (4)

Just finished reading a new book called "Kambing Jantan, sebuah catatan harian pelajar bodoh" which means "male goat, a diary of a stupid student". A very very funny book tells a real life story of the writer "Raditya Dika", he used to write his story on his blog, then lately published it into a book.

Kambingjantan is a story about a teenager that studied abroad. Raditya write his story in an honest & funny way that makes me don't want to stop reading & laugh. Very recommended book for light reading. :)

Posted by jeny at 03:43 PM | Comments (20)

I bought this novel last week, its a new gen-re novel written beautifully by 9 people (Bondan Winarno,Arief Hamdani, Violeta Narcissus, S. Widiastuti, Priatna Ahmad, Irvan Sjafari, gre, Anna Hadj, Anna Budiastuti).

"Puing" tells the story of 9 friends and their thought about life, death and life after death from the perspective of each writers. A sad end love story, very interesting to read. very recommended :)

Posted by jeny at 05:15 PM | Comments (6)

I borrowed this book from my friend last Monday. I already heard about this book review from the forum but I haven't read any of Andrei Aksana books before. This book tell the story of Giana, a beautiful and successful actress but had no one to share with. In my opinion, it was a very interesting story and very very attractive cover design :P

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I also read the third book from Supernova series : "Petir". It tells the amazing story of an ordinary girl (elektra) who can control electricity in her body. Just like the previous book by Dee, this book was funny and smart. But compared to her first book "Ksatria, putri dan Bintang Jatuh", this book are much much lighter. Nice cover design, and I will definitely buy the fourth book.

Posted by jeny at 11:36 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

I done quite a lot of reading last weekend. one of them was "Indiana Chronicle : Lipstick", a second book from Indiana Chronicle trilogy by Clara Ng. Actually I don't expect much from this book... just enough for light reading. quite fun.. but nothing special. Maybe because some of the character and scene remind me so much to "the Shopaholic" series. I think I'll buy the third book "bride maid" since I already got two. :)

Posted by jeny at 09:47 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

I have just read a very fascinating "mystery" novel by Mark Haddon called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

It is written from an autistic twelve year old ( Christopher Boone) point of view, and covers the time period after he discovers a neighbor's dog murdered in their front yard. The boy's view of the world is truly fascinating, with his logical descriptions of human emotions being the best part.

I have never read anything quite like Mark Haddon's funny and agonizingly honest book. Very insightful & I really enjoyed it. This short, easy to read book are Highly recommended

Posted by jeny at 02:49 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

I recently finished The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. I haven't done so much reading lately. Off course I heard about this controversial book, but when i borrowed this book weeks ago from my friend, I haven't had a chance to really read this book until last week. And once I start I couldn't stop reading :) I actually enjoyed this book, It's both interesting and thought provoking. The most interesting aspect of it was the discussion about the Golden Section with regards to math and the Fibonacci Series, and the use of anagrams in the book. For those who found fault with minor errors or claim it is an attack on Christianity just remember it is a work of FICTION. "The Da Vinci Code" is not a literature by any means, but it is entertaining.

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