About The Book: The Secret Garden

I've just finished reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. And I just wanted to tell everyone the sense when I read this book. So, in between the pages, I smiled, thrilled, and excited. The book is very enchanting. It can bring the readers to the feeling that Marry Lennox felt. Or the excitement of Colin Craven about the outside world he never saw. Or the warmth that Dickon Sowerby felt when he interacted with the nature. And most importantly, this book would make you want to grow your own garden! 

Anyway, I am not going to talk about the process of planting plants or growing a garden. I am going to talk about the characters of Mary, Colin, and Dickon and how they relate to each other. In the book, it is explained that Mary is a stubborn and sour little girl. She is so spoiled because she is always served by servants. Meanwhile, her parents do not really care about her existence. After their parents' death, Mary is brought to his uncle's house. Little does she know that her characters will be much improved once she gets there. There he meets Colin, her cousin, and Dickon, the brother of one of the nurses there, Martha Sowerby. Colin and Dickon are two little boys but they each have very different characters. Colin is like Mary, he is so spoiled, he likes to throw tantrums, and he acts like a Rajah who gives order to everyone. While Dickon is a very understanding young lad. He is calm and caring. He is just a simple happy boy. Mary likes to befriend these two boys. With Colin, she can scold him whenever he throws tantrum. It's like she finds her own mirror in Colin. They get upset to each other. They don't hesitate to present their own ego. While with Dickon, Mary is fond of him. She likes him the first time she meets him. Here's a piece of conversation with her and Martha about Dickon:

“I've seen Dickon!” said Mary. “I've seen Dickon!”
“I knew he'd come,” said Martha exultantly. “How does tha' like him?”
“I think—I think he's beautiful!” said Mary in a determined voice.
Martha looked rather taken aback but she looked pleased, too.
“Well,” she said, “he's th' best lad as ever was born, but us never thought he was handsome. His nose turns up too much.”
“I like it to turn up,” said Mary.
“An' his eyes is so round,” said Martha, a trifle doubtful. “Though they're a nice color.” “I like them round,” said Mary. “And they are exactly the color of the sky over the moor.”
Martha beamed with satisfaction.
“Mother says he made 'em that color with always lookin' up at th' birds an' th' clouds. But he has got a big mouth, hasn't he, now?”
“I love his big mouth,” said Mary obstinately. “I wish mine were just like it.”
Martha chuckled delightedly.

Mary feels an instant feeling of comfort the first time she meets Dickon.

This piece of story really got me thinking about the relationship between man and woman in general. I am gonna relate this to my own story. I always like the typical boy like Colin. It gives me thrill to be with a boy like him. It's a challenge to conquer his ego. But at the same time it's very exhausting. I have to put up with him and sometimes he ignores me. And I get upset, and he gets upset too. It's a never ending cycle. And then one day I was given a chance to meet a man like Dickon. And I felt the sudden comfort and happiness like Mary had with Dickon. You know he won't let you down because he isvery nice. You know that he will put you on a pedestal. Someone who doesn't give mixed signals. Someone who is a real gentleman.

Perhaps the more mature you are the more you expect a man like Dickon. I don't judge that the man like Colin is bad. But he is simply immature. He still doesn't know how to treat women, in a nice way.

I am not actually trying to ruin the story and the characters. I just try to see the story from a different perspective. 

Overall, I must say this is a very good book, especially about children and parenting. Must read one!

Mary, Colin, and Dickon (The Secret Garden Movie)

My Book Project!

I am in the project of reading as many books as I can! Wish me luck! Here are some of the books I plan to read:

- 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha Joon Chang

- Al Hikam by Ibn Athaillah Al Iskandari

- Fawaidul Fawaaid by Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyah DONE

- Utsul Tsalatsah by Ibn Utsaimin DONE

- The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin DONE

- Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella DONE

- Divergent by Veronica Roth DONE

- Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman DONE

And many more...... I will keep the list updated ;)

J'adore Sophie!

Ever since I knew Sophie Kinsella's books, I began to admire her talent. First, I read Confession of Shopaholic, then I could not stop. I have finished reading all her books by now. Here are the list:

Confession of Shopaholic

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

Shopaholic Ties the Knot

Shopaholic and Sister

Mini Shopaholic

Can You Keep a Secret?

The Undomestic Goddess

Twenties Girl

Remember Me

I love the way she writes. Her novels are all easy to read and funny. It is like when you unfold one page, you do not want to stop. Her main characters are all women living in London. Oh yeah, I begin to love London once I read her books. She always pictures about how a career woman in London copes with her job and relationship. But the bigger picture is, she is trying to say that women can cope well with all that problem. That after a huriccane always comes a rainbow (this one is Katy Perry's lyrics). I describe some of her heroines below:

Becky Bloomwood (Shopaholic The Series): working as a financial journalist, she does not quite fancy her job, and is trapped in credit card debts. She manages to change her career path into TV news reporter, personal shopper in Barneys New York, and the last one is still as personal shopper in The Look, London. Her passion is on shopping and fashion, she finds out finally. She is also described as a wife and a mother in later series.

Emma Corrigan (Can You Keep a Secret): an assistant marketing in a sport drink company, she has colleagues who like to underestimate her and rarely listens to her opinion. And she does not have a courage to struggle for her promotion. Finally she finds a way to get her ideas acknowlegded by her company and get promoted into Marketing Executive

Samantha Sweating (The Undomestic Goddes): she is a high-powered lawyer in London, working 24/7, has no home life, and cares only about partnership. One of her colleague bertrays her and she then loses her job and becomes a maid in a rich family. When finally her former employer finds out the truth and is willing to hire her back, she makes the biggest decision in her life, stays working as a maid, for a more laid back life.

Lara Lington (Twenties Girl) : a struggling headhunter, she is partnered with her best friend, but her best friend finally leaves her off for holiday. Lara then struggles to build the business by herself.

Lexi Smart (Remember Me): She was once a staff in a carpet company. One moment had changed her life and so she became very ambitious and finally got promoted to be a director. As a director, she is a hard one. She acts like a big boss and loses her best friends because of her attitude. After an amnesia happens to her, she finally realizes her mistakes and changes her attitude.

I love how Sophie Kinsella describes the career complexities. Every career woman must have experienced one of those situations. Sophie is able to drag us into such a situation and also give a problem solving for her character.

One thing I love also from her books is there is always a perfect man for every of her characters. It may sound cliche, but somehow the male character completes the female characters. Just like Becky Bloomwood who is so spendthrift. She gets Luke Brandon, who is financially well managed. Emma Corrigan who is a doubtful one meets Jack Harper, which is completely determined person. Samantha Sweating who is so serious is matched with Nathaniel (I forget the last name), who is so laid back. Lara Lington and Ed Harrison who completes each other, Lara is funny and is always entertaining Ed, who is boring and plain. And Lexi Smart, who is so well driven, and the one who can balances her is Jon Blythe, who keeps her on track.

However, my most favorite male character is Luke Brandon. What makes me love him? May be because Sophie has described him in detail since he is single till he becomes a father. So, I kinda know him very well in person. Secondly, he is not as perfect as other male characters. He is having middle age crisis. He is not close with his parents. He sometimes puts Becky aside of his business. But he always loves her as well as her daughter, Minnie Brandon. There is one quote of him that melts me down: "You don't need to change one hair. One freckle. One little toe. And if it is me that's made you feel you should do this..then there's something wrong with me". Gosh, I want to have a husband like him, please! If only he is real!

Thank you for Sophie Kinsella who: have made me love London, have opened my eyes to see that woman can strive for the best in her careers. The most important thing in life is not making big money, but doing what you like, following your heart. There is also one quote of Samantha Sweating I will always remember: " Sometimes you don't need a goal in life, you don't need to know the big picture. you just need to know what you're going to do next!”

PS: I wish I could meet Sophie in person. I am imagining myself having tea time with her and talking about how she gets the ideas of writing her novels. Then we stride along London street. We shop in Harvey Nichols or Harrods together. We buy souvenirs for each other. We get to know each other well and become best friends. J'adore Sophie!