20 Simple Ways to Become a Bookworm

A top goal for many people is reading more books. And while it seems like an easy enough goal, it seems that it can be difficult with all of life's distractions.

Reading can be a pleasure like no other, especially when you discover a fantastic author or an imaginative new world. You can cuddle up with a good book on a weekend or rainy day, become life-long friends with a great character, lose yourself in the worlds created by books.
If reading more books is a goal of yours, there are some easy and simple things you can do to encourage a life-long reading habit. Follow these tips, and you'll soon have a list of books you've read that goes on forever. 

• Make it a habit. If you can install a new habit to read at certain times of the day, no matter what, even if it's just for 10 minutes at a time, you'll end up reading a ton of books over the course of a year. For example, make it a habit to read with breakfast and lunch, when you use the bathroom, and when you go to bed. If you do 10 minutes at a time, you'll have 40 minutes a day, or nearly 5 hours a week. If you ride public transit, read while you're waiting and while you're on the bus or train. Make it a daily habit, and it will add up. This is the surest way to read more book 

• Keep a reading list. Either in a notebook, on a wiki, or some other document on your computer, keep a simple list of books you want to read. Add to it every time you hear of a good book, or read a good review. This running list will keep you motivated keep reading more. 

• Keep a book log. Along those lines, also keep a log of all the books you read. If you want to be detailed, write the book title, author, the date you started and the date you completed it. Even more, you can write a short note about how you liked the book. If all of that's too much trouble, just keep a list of the books you read and maybe the date you finished them.

•  Set a challenge. Make a challenge for yourself -- say one book a week, or 40 books in a year. Something achievable, but a challenge. Make it a public challenge, announcing it on your blog or to friends and family, and give everyone your weekly progress report. You'll push yourself to meet the challenge, and find ways to do it.

•  Cut back on online reading. If you're reading a lot of stuff online, you probably don't have enough time to read books. If you cut your online reading by just 30 minutes (I'm not saying to ditch it completely), you'll have time to read for half an hour a day. That adds up.

•  Join a book club. Most areas have some sort of book club -- look online, in your local newspaper, or at your local library for a book club near you. If you can't find one, organize one with friends, family and neighbors who are interested in books. A book club will get you motivated to read, and help you find recommendations for great books, and perhaps an easy way to swap good books with people in your area.

•  Join an online forum. Along those lines, there are many online forums for book lovers -- just do a Google search. Join one, participate, list your favorite books and authors, read those of others, talk books. It's a lot of fun, and you'll get support to form your reading habit.

•  Limit TV watching. If you watch hours of television every day, you won't be able to read many books. Cut your TV time in half (for example), to free up time for reading.

•  Join Bookmooch. Try Bookmooch for a great way to swap books. List the books you're willing to mail to people, and then list the books you want. If someone requests a book, you mail it at your cost. If someone has a book you want, you get it mailed to you for free.

•  Carry your book always. This is one of the most important tips if you want to read more books: anywhere you go, bring your book with you. If you leave the house, put your book in the car. That way, if you have any waiting time, you've got your book to keep you company.

•  Find inspiration. Read blogs by book lovers. There are many. These book lovers will describe books in such as way as to make you want to read them. They'll talk about their favorite authors. It's inspiring, and it'll motivate you to read.

•  Get great recommendations. Find others who love the books you love, and see what else they recommend. A great way to do that is through Library Thing, a service where you list the books you own, give them ratings and reviews, and get recommendations for other books.

• Read books you can't put down. While you may be ambitious and want to tackle all of the classics, if those go a little too slowly for you, put them down and come back to them later. Instead, find a real page-turner. It doesn't matter what kind of book it is, as long as it's a book you love to read and can't put down. For me, that's writers like Stephen King and John Grisham and Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum or Sue Grafton. I'll stay up all night reading one of their books.

• Always have books to read. You should never finish a book and not have another book lined up. I like to have at least 5 lined up, so I don't have to worry about it. Have your lineup of books stacked to one side of your bookshelf, so you always know what's on deck. 

• Read books that make you laugh. Humorous books are good books, in my opinion. They're fun, and they can poke fun at some of the things we normally take seriously. And they make you want to read them. Find a funny author and go with him. My favorites are Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and Mark Twain and David Sedaris. 

• Connect with your passions. What do you love, and what do you love to do? If you read about it online, it's probably something you love to read about. Think about what those topics are, and find a good fiction novel about it. You're more likely to keep reading if you love the topic. 

• Get into a series. Once I hit on a book I love, if it's part of a series, I try to read the whole series (if I can find all the books). Start to finish is best, but sometimes it doesn't matter. Series are a great way to keep reading. 

• Finish your book before starting another. One bad habit I broke a few years ago was starting one book, putting it down, and then starting another, thinking I'll read them both at the same time. It doesn't usually work. I often don't come back to the first book, and usually don't finish it. If you start a book and it's a dud, go ahead and abandon it. But if it's a keeper, try to finish it before moving on. 

• Become a library lover. There's no better resource for book lovers than the local public library. It's full of great books, new and old, and it's free. It's free! Go there, and enjoy the time you spend there.

•  Get to love used book stores. Second best, next to the library, are your local used bookstores. There aren't a lot of them in my area (just one, actually, not counting a thrift shop), so it is one of my favorite places to go. I usually take a stack (or a box) of my old books, sell them, and use the credit to get a bunch of new ones.

and also limit Fb-ing :)

Taken from LifeRemix  http://blog.liferemix.net/20-simple-ways-become-bookworm


(Happy Reading people!)

Gian

Peperiksaan akhir tahun lima semakin hampir. Semua orang sedang mempersiapkan diri masing-masing untuk menghadapi peperiksaan Pediatrics dan Obstetrics & Gynaecology tahun ini. Sebab semua nak lepas tahun lima dan melangkah ke tahun akhir dengan penuh bergaya. Mudah-mudahan.

Namun, saya tetap mahu meluangkan masa untuk membaca buku selain buku pelajaran. Lagi-lagi sebelum datang minggu2 stres nanti. Maka semalam sempat 'lari' sekejap ke pekan El Maadi yang terletak tidak jauh dari ibukota Kaherah. Naik saja tren Metro menuju ke Helwan. Turun di stesen El Maadi, jalan sepuluh minit dan sampai lah ke kedai-kedai buku seperti Alef Bookstroe dan The Bookspot yang berkedudukan tidak jauh di antara satu sama yang lain.

Dan selepas keluar dari The Bookspot, tersenyum-senyum sendiri pabila mendapati saya siap membeli dua buah buku ini

1. Three Cups Of Tea - Greg Mortenson
2 Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult


n im currently-reading

1 The Leaving of Liverpool - Maureen Lee
2. Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami (Kindle Version)
3. The Pocket Therapist - Therese Borchard
4. Hafalan Shalat Delisa - Tere Liye (Digibook Version)

Buku The Leaving of Liverpool itu adalah milik adik ipar saya sebenarnya. Katanya dia beli buku tu sebab ada perkataan Liverpool. Kerana dia dilahirkan di sana :)

Norwegian Wood yang baru sangat saya mula membacanya. Biasa lah kan mula-mula ni boring sikit. Belum dapat feel sangat lagi dan tak masuk lagi style pakcik Murakami ni :)

The Pocket Therapist. Nah. Buku ni sudah setahun saya memilikinya. Dan sampai sekarang tak habis-habis lagi baca.

dan akhirnya HSD yang telah ditinggalkan beberapa minggu dek kesibukan (terlupa pun ada) dan kesihatan mata yang tidak begitu memuaskan dua minggu ini (tk boleh tengok laptop lama2) . Nanti bila mata dah sihat, boleh kita balun baca banyak-banyak dan habiskan terus. Insya Allah :)

Dan suka untuk saya kongsi di sini. kata-kata semangat. Dari seorang kakak

"baca quran untuk kekuatan jiwa dan pengajaran hidup, baca buku omputih tambahkan tsaqafah, kuasai bahasa dan tingkatkan intelek. quran dah tak pisah dari kehidupan, novel rencah tambahan :) "

*nangis terharu*


ok. Mari bersiap untuk berkelah!

till then,
Fathiyyah

Hujan Bulan Juni

siapa menggores di langit biru
siapa meretas di awan lalu
siapa mengkristal di kabut itu
siapa mengertap di bunga layu
siapa cerna di warna ungu
siapa bernafas di detak waktu
siapa berkelebat setiap kubuka pintu
siapa mencair di bawah pandangku
siapa terucap di celah kata-kataku
siapa mengaduh di bayang-bayang sepiku
siapa tiba menjemputku berburu
siapa tiba-tiba menyibak cadarku
siapa meledak dalamku
: siapa Aku 

-Sonet X-


***

 aku ingin mencintaimu dengan sederhana:
dengan kata yang tak sempat diucapkan
kayu kepada api yang menjadikannya abu

aku ingin mencintaimu dengan sederhana:
dengan isyarat yang tak sempat disampaikan
awan kepada hujan yang menjadikannya tiada.

-Aku Ingin-



***



kupandang ke sana: Isyarat-isyarat dalam cahaya
kupandang semesta
ketika Engkau seketika memijar dalam Kata
terbantun menjelma gema. Malam sibuk di luar suara

kemudian daun bertahan pada tangkainya
ketika hujan tiba. Kudengar bumi sediakala
tiada apa pun di antara Kita: dingin
semakin membara sewaktu berhembus angin 

- Dalam Doa II-


****

 "dalam diriku mengalir sungai panjang,
darah namanya
dalam diriku menggenang telaga darah,
sukma namanya
dalam diriku meriak gelombang sukma,
hidup namanya!
dan karena hidup itu indah,
aku menangis sepuas-puasnya "

****
 

Di sudut hati yang paling dalam, ada je hasrat untuk menulis puisi  dan dibukukan untuk simpanan sendiri.
Namun, akibat kekangan masa dan kekurangan kesempatan, maka hasrat selalu ditangguhkan dan ditolak ketepi dahulu.


Tu semua alasan. Bukannya susah pun nak bawa buku nota kecil ke mana-mana dan bila ada senggang masa (waktu nak tunggu syawerma siap ke), duduk dan menulis puisi sekerat dua sebentar.


Dan selalu lupa tentang suatu fakta ,
yang bila menulis puisi, otak juga sedang ligat berfikir.


ligat berfikir macam main sudoku (my fevret :D)

Apapun,

Buku puisi 'Hujan Bulan Juni' oleh  Sapardi Djoko Domono sudah siap masuk di dalam 'wislist'
 


-Yang menulis sambil makan Fatiroh bi Sukkar (roti canai inti gula)-

Mavi Marmara selepas 2 tahun

Salam

Viva Palestina,
Mavi Marmara,
Hantaran cinta,
Kami semua.
Palestin, kami datang !

(Fatimah Syarha, novel Detik Cemas Mavi Marmara Palestin Kami Datang!)

31 Mei 2010

Tak sangka dah dua tahun peristiwa ni berlaku. Rasa macam baru je haritu perasaan saya berkobar-kobar datang dengar forum dari sukarelawan-sukarelawan yang tiba di Jordan lepas berjaya dibebaskan. Rasa macam baru je sudah tulis entry pasal Mavi Marmara di blog sendiri. Dan sekarang bila perasaan berkobar tu datang balik lepas baca buku ni, baru sedar 'Eh, dah dua tahun rupanya...'

Perkara pertama yang datang dalam ingatan lepas usai mengkhatamkan buku ini adalah ....

" Agak-agak ramai tak yang masih ingat tentang peristiwa ini? "

Bohonglah kalau saya katakan saya sendiri sentiasa ingat memanjang tentang Mavi Marmara dari dulu sampai sekarang. Ada ketikanya memang tak terlintas langsung di fikiran selain sekadar sebuah peristiwa yang pernah dilalui dalam hidup. Astagfirullah.. Teruknya rasa~

Tapi syukurlah, Allah masih sudi nak beri ingatan supaya ingat semula. Rasa balik apa yang pernah dirasa waktu fresh baru melalui peristiwa itu. Mungkin sebab saya si manusia ini mudah sangat terlupa, maka Allah peringatkan semula. Serius teringat balik semula memori yang ada bila kembaca membaca tentang Mavi Marmara. Dan pada masa yang sama saya juga terfikir-fikir tentang kondisi lain yang turut sedang berlaku sekarang. Syria, apalah keadaan mereka sekarang ya? Global March To Aqsa, apa berita terbaru nya ya? Malaysia, bagaimana kisah kita ya?

Dan dalam pada yang masa, saya juga terdetik : 

Agaknya itu sebabnya kena ada sistem 'detik masa yang dibekukan'.

Dibekukan macam mana? ---> Ditulis, dirakam, difilem, dibukukan dan macam-macam lagi

Cubalah bayangkan kalau semuanya takde. Takde orang yang nak menulis dan mencatat untuk simpanan. Takde orang yang nak merakam dan mengabadikan dalam video mahupun filem. Takde orang yang nak membukukan mahupun menghimpun catatan. Mesti semuanya hilang di telan zaman. Kalau nak cerita secara lisan, takde sebarang jaminan untuk benda-benda yang dikisahkan kekal tepat seperti yang ada (kecuali perawi-perawi quran dan hadis yang super2 mantap ingatannya). Maka? Hilang macam tu sahaja. Sia-sia~

Kan?

=)

So, apa lagi semua? 

Cepat, jom kita selalu cuba bekukan masa!

Paling-paling pun mungkin boleh testing awal-awal tulis diary ke.. Hehe. Siapa tahu suatu hari nanti, 20, 30 tahun akan datang bila kita selak balik kita boleh tahu macam mana rupa perjalanan hidup kita. Kalau lupa pun, dah ada catatan yang boleh mengingatkan kita selalu.

Apatah lagi kalau ada menulis blog yang berfaedah untuk bacaan awam atau menghasilkan buku yang bermanfaat untuk dibaca. Subhanallah. Bersambung-sambung pahalanya untuk kita. Insyallah.~

Semoga tulisan-tulisan kita akan membantu kita kelak sebagai saham di akhirat. Amin...

Jumpa lagi~

Sepanyol dalam Merindu

 

Memang tidak dinafikan, hati cukup cemburu dengan kawan-kawan dan adik-adik juniors yang sudah sampai ke bumi Sepanyol atau nama Islamnya, Andalusia. 

Merindui bumi Andalus sejak mengetahui tentang fakta-fakta yang terpalit dan ternoktah di dalam sejarah. 

Sejarah bagaimana terbina dan betapa tinggi nya Islam di sana, suatu ketika dahulu. 

Suatu hari nanti, andai diberikan rezeki, dipanjangkan umur pasti akan jejakkan kaki ke sana. Menghirup udara bumi Andalus yang masih segar kegemilangannya dalam buku-buku sejarah lama.

dan sebelum itu, haruslah mendapatkan buku di atas. Barulah lagi 'basah' dalam jiwa. Mudah-mudahan. 

Dah masuk dalam wish list. Bakal dibeli melalui Amazon sebab susah nak dapatkan buku begini di kedai buku  biasa.  Insya Allah :) 

Teringin nak baca hasil nukilan pak cik Haruki Murakami.. Norwegian Wood. Pun termasuk dalam wish list . Tunggu habis periksa akhir tahun ini, pasti akan mendapatkannya di kedai buku terbesar di KLCC. Sudah tentu dengan menggunakan duit simpanan sendiri

:)


Currently-reading

1. The Definitive Book of Body Language (Hard Cover)
2. Hafalan Shalat Delisa (HSD) -- Digibook version
3. Before I Fall -- Kindle version

p.s: Bakal menduduki peperiksaan Surgery hari Rabu ini. Mohon kalian yang membaca ini mendoakan. Terima kasih :)

Winter Break

Bismillah 

 Waktu peperiksaan Pediatrics hari tu, hati punyalah meronta-ronta minta nak baca buku selain medik.
Habis je periksa, memang tenggelam dengan buku-buku buat seketika, sampailah tiba saat untuk naik kapal terbang ke malaysia. Maka, Dalam Dekapan Ukhuwah(DDU) yang dipinjam dari Milah telah dikhatamkan dan dihadamkan. Sebak dan sesak dada baca kisah teladan dari para sahabt dari DDU itu. Hu

Sekarang, sedang di fasa cuti bersempena winter break. Maka, haruslah ia dimanfaatkan sepenuhnya.
Target cuti dua minggu ini tidak lah sedahsyat mana. Hanya lima buah buku ini sahaja. Kita cuba, capai target atau tidak kita tunggu dan lihat saja :)

1. Rindu Bau Pohon Tin  - Ustaz Hasrizal  (currently reading)
2. Negeri 5 Menara - A.Fuadi (currently reading)
3. I was Jane Austen's Bestfriend - Cora Harrison
4. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimie Bender 
5. Isabella - Maulana Muhammad Saeed Dehlvi (Done!)

Tapi sekarang rasa 'tergoda' dengan Hafalan Shalat Delisa (HSD). Lagi-lagi filemnya sudah dimuat naik di saluran youtube. Namun harus ditahan buat seketika.. Digibook HSD ada je di desktop ni. Tinggal cari masa nak baca sahaja :)


Till then,
take care people!

You Should Date A Girl Who Reads

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

- Rosemarie Urquico-

p.s: I love the way she writes, so i put this in here. Dan yang paling penting, pinanglah seorang gadis itu kerana agamanya. Dalam apa-apa hal sekalipun, agama itu tetap nombor satu  :)