Monocle Magazine (Review)

Magazines are my "guilty pleasure" in reading. They don't feel as content heavy as a book, and in the long run, they cost way more than books (even if it's just $2 an issue, think of 52 weeks a year and many years....). Hence, since I value my books more, I try to not read so many magazines (In econs-speak: the opportunity cost of buying books are buying magazines). That, however, is not to say that I don't have a lot of them. I have about ... well, I'm not sure. Betweeen my Japanese magazines (which get their own special magazine case) and the normal English magazine (in their own, smaller case), I have no more space left. Sometimes, I think that my books and magazines are slowly taking over the house (ok, so maybe there is SOME reason for my parents to try and restrict the buying)

Ever since I read about Monocle magazine, I've been interested in what it's about. I heard many glorious things about it, such as it ways about the weight of a small brick (ok, so for others, that was a complaint). And sadly, Kinokuniya didn't have it (at least the Bugis branch). But thanks to my Dad, who went to Holland V for his Birthday supper last month, I saw it at the Magazine Shop.

Looks promising right?

The Magazine shop is a marvellous place. They have hard to find magazines, like Harvard Business Review. When I asked for Monocle, the guy just pointed to a stack nearby, as though they were so common you could find them at any street store. When I saw the issue was about education (remember, I'm still in school), I couldn't resist, despite the $20 price tag (I can buy a paperback for that price!). Needless to say, both my parents thought it was a waste of money.

But I think otherwise. I think I finally found the perfect English magazine for me. Because a lot of the magazines are either too thin (like 8 days) or have too many advertisments (think TeenVogue), I end up flipping through a lot of wasted spaces.

I'm happy to say though, that Monocle exceeded my expectations. Although it's sadly not the size or weight of a brick, it is content-heavy enough, and the article lengths are just write. I also appreciate the top-bars of information tibit. And one of the best parts is that it is a truly global magazine. The news from different parts of the world was amazingly non-American centric (unlike TIME, and to a lesser extent FORTUNE).

If you have the money, buy this magazine. It's almost as good as a book. To use a different analogy, it's like my Zite app (but with the time limitations of the printed page).

My First Success!

There was a breakthrough yesterday. My sister set a new record by finishing the book I got for her in a week (exactly a week). I'm so pleased, since she only started reading for fun about last year.

The book in question is The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, she's a good writer. If you have any friends/relatives that prefer reading chick-lit, you can recommend this to them. I think that this is actually better than most romance novels, since it's clean.

In the words of my sister, this book is "sweet" and "clean", which is a rarity in the romance novel sector. I don't know if you've noticed, but I tend to avoid romance novels because of all the >.< scenes. Perhaps this is a reason why some people are too disgusted to read? At least for my friends. So, if you have any Christian friends, or friends who want a nice clean story, but don't want anything difficult? Debbie Macomber is a good choice if you don't feel like recommending a YA novel (E.g. Anything by Sarah Dessen).

On a side note, there is a series of new apps called Booktracks. I don't recall if I've actually written about it, oh wait, I'm pretty sure I did. But anyway, I found an article on TechCrunch which basically disproves of the whole idea. And I thought I was the only person that wasn't jumping for joy at the thought of Booktracks.

I have shown the app to a few of my friends, but after the initial "Ooh" and "Ahhs", they just lose interest and move on to Sushi Chop (or its equivalent). Perhaps it's just me, but I wouldn't recommend getting this if you want people to read. Or if you like reading a lot (like me), since I'm not suited for this app. In fact, I've deleted all the ones I've downloaded, and to my amazement, I feel no regret or sadness. Perhaps the apps are too short, (I mean the length of the books), but it just doesn't seem to have enough omph to dazzle me. Right now, I'm more excited about sites like smashwords.com and manybooks.net, which let me download books free and legally(:

Travelling Light by Max Lucado

I've had a few encounters with Max Lucado's books before, although I haven't actually read them. For some reason, many people think that I'm a big fan of his books (actually, I'm a fan of Phillip Yancey). So, out of curiousity (and if you must know, also because I was out of books), I picked up Travelling Light from the Church library to give it a go.

Now, it took my simply ages to finish Free Of Charge. Mostly because I haven't had time. Plus, I just love reading and re-reading passages. It took me one day to finish Travelling Light. This doesn't actually say much, since I had way too much time at school that day, plus I have finish other awesome books in a day too. But when I finished reading the book, I felt a sense of un-satisfaction.

Now, I'm not saying the book isn't good. It is. There are passages that made me think, hmm... that's something I have to consider. But at the same time, I didn't feel any emotional connection, that I expected to have, with the book. And this isn't because of the prose. Because I'm pretty sure the prose was meant to evoke a personal response. I know, because when I try to emote (and pretty much fail) in my writing, I subconciously tend towards that kind of style. But despite all that, great (I think) prose, good content, I didn't think much of the book.

But I did give it a second chance. I left it for a day, but when I picked it up again today, I felt even less motivation to read it. And it's not because it's all roses in my life right now. Right now, I'm being pricked/stabbed by all sorts of thorns. And not only in school. But even though I tend to turn towards the emotional in these kind of times, it just didn't work. And I have no idea why.

This is why, I'm reserving judgement for this book. I won't say if you should or should not read it. I have no idea so...

An Update to Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf

I'm impressed.

I sent a letter I mean email, to Professor Volf yesterday, about my doubts about indiscriminate forgiveness and the law. To my surprise, when I checked my inbox today, I saw a reply. It's actually my first time writing to an author and I wasn't expecting to get a reply, especially since I wasn't sure if my email would be blocked by spam filters (I found his Yale email address). But to clarify things, here's his reply to me (my email to him was more or less the same question I was talking about in my last post.

"The issue that you present is not just a matter of the relation between the
two--the abused to the abuser--but also relation between the abuser and
others. The abused can and should forgive the abuse she/he had suffered, but
must love all the third parties who might suffer (and the abuser
him/herself) and therefore do what he/she can to prevent future abuse, and
do that both for the sake of the potential victims and for the sake of the
abuser. So yes, I think if the potential for future harm is there,
prevention (also via reporting to the police) is important. And in any case,
I do not think that personal forgiveness is incompatible in all cases with
prosecution by the state. Hope this helps."

If anyone was confused with the same things as me, I hope this helped clear it up too.