Lucerys Wip That I Desperately Need To Finish/edit

I was in Periplus Setiabudi One Central Jakarta to meet a friend of mine. A funny story behind this meeting is that we were bonding over mutual interest in the novel The Secret History. She and I have the same favorite character, which obviously is Henry Marchbanks Winter. That was our second meeting, so it wasn't that awkward anymore.

I am also thankful that I was able to bring two of my book wishlists: Any Ozamu Dazai's book and Normal People by Sally Rooney. Honestly, I wasn't planning to bring The Setting Sun home because I intended to buy the other one, No Longer Human. Due to the availability of No Longer Human's old cover book, I chose to bring The Setting Sun instead. The publisher of Osamu Dazai books, which version I bought, has a distinctive book cover style that matches each other. These beautiful covers surely would be my priority wishlist for the next year.

Due to many new activities I've had these past 2 months, I am trying my best now to start reading again and stacking that habit once again so I won't easily fall into a reading slump. I have not even been able to finish my current read since November. Not because the book is boring, but it was just me who gets tired easily to even be done with 10 pages minimum.

But, all good now, at least I'm trying and actually do read, although it's quite hard to beat my sleepiness.

1980's edition of Bumi Manusia and Anak Semua Bangsa by Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Kalau sudah cantik dan wangi begitu, harusnya langsung duduk di atas mukaku. Yang kamu bilang berat itu, adalah beban yang ditempa hidup pada perempuan jelita seperti kamu. Duduk, istirahatlah di atasku, biar aku bantu muntahkan emosi liar yang kamu pendam sejak kemarin.

— Gombalan Klise, pada kekasih bayangan yang belum jadi kepunyaan.

Reading is political and it always has been. Here are some of the classic books on the banned list that you should definitely check out.

Babel by Rebecca F. Kuang: English and Indonesian translation

theme eleven: rosemary — responsive and minimal sidebar or header theme with a slide-out navigation menu and a bunch of customization options.

previews: sidebar preview / header preview / live preview

install: theme garden / pastebin / github

features and options:

slide-out navigation menu with up to six custom links, an unlimited number of pages on your blog, and a search bar

 option to add a header/sidebar image, option to show blog icon, or option to show both

space for two optional statistics/updates in your header or sidebar

post sizes: 400px, 450px, 500px, 540px, 600px

lots of post styling options: centered or left-aligned text, two styles of post info (minimal with icons only or with icons and text), show or hide date, show/hide/hover tags, show or hide captions, customizable post margins

font sizes from 12px to 18px, eleven body font options, and four title font options. all colours are customizable.

responsive for all screen sizes and mobile devices.

notes:

the icons in your blog stats are from Feathericons.com; to change them, go to the site, find the name of the new icon you want, and add the new icon name into the slot in the customization panel.

tumblr’s customize page is very buggy and when you first install the theme, you have to toggle the options on and off to get them to work properly.

see full list of credits here.

July's Bookmail.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I liked Henry. It was happened rather naturally due to the tendency of mine to like cold and mysterious characters. The book synopsis on the book, will not giving you anything rather than a thought of 'ah this book is about students who discovered about the lost history from Ancient Greek and the fact is they're going to change the world with their discovery'. Mind you, I wasn't a Penguin Publisher collector/reader type of girl. Rather, I am more like 'I read what I want and what my heart desired, whenever I want'. So to be frank, this was my very first 500+ pages English novel that I could finish. Which is surprising cause I remember I bought this book only for the aesthetic.

The beginning of the book was so brutal, with the fact that someone has died, not just died but murdered. What a start, isn't it? But it's classic, it ought to be mysterious and made you uncomfortable to sleep without knowing what happen next. The thing about this type of book (modern classic), you'll know that this is a masterpiece when the first sentence of the book was about death.

I lost my words, to be honest. But me, here, right after finishing the book, not for criticizing the book, but only to stay sane. The thing that solely going through my mind is how furious I am yet I feel so empty cause this book is just end like that. Not giving me enough closure that I need!

I almost hate everyone in this book, even with Bunny. But then, by the end of the book, I pity myself. I pity myself for even mad at them all.

Bring back my sanity. I pity myself for not even mad at their wrong-doings to Bunny

milk and honey by Rupi Kaur

This book is so insufferable. I'm not saying this is not a good book, but surely not suitable for someone in mid 20s. If you are 17-19, then yes. But the chapter of 'the hurting' is depicting a childhood trauma of her upbringing, which perhaps most women can relate to.

But I do still need to be honest, my whole worlds crumble over the first chapter. The trauma she captured, surely is heartbreaking and soul-wrenching. I am not saying this because I'm a woman, but no one in this world, deserved to be violated that harsh and that young.

love the way donna tartt makes richard sound so sassy in the audiobook. the closet is glass