Short book review?!

Thank you for telling me in your own polite ways that people don’t like to read book reviews in blogs. I thought I will do my share of promoting the reading habit since research showed that Malaysians only read 2 books per year. However I am not surprised at your feedback because a colleague who teaches English commented "you still read story books at your age" when I brought out my book to read while waiting for the meeting I was attending to start. Ironic that it should come from a teacher, and an English teacher at that! Didn’t know there was an age limit for reading story books. Every time we visit a bookshop or I read a book review in the newspapers, I point out to my children the book I would like to read. That saves them the headache of deciding what gift to get me for birthdays, anniversaries, etc while I can be certain that I will like my gift! I also read between 2 – 4 newspapers everyday, depending on how much time I have. It is very important to me because it helps me relate moral values which I teach to current issues and situations to enable students understand what they are studying better.

On another issue, I am not one who frequents the temple. We only go to temple on auspicious days like Deepavali or Thaipusam and sometimes on family members’ birthdays. But I admit I feel good and revitalized after each visit to the temple. After reading an e-mail forwarded to me, I feel guilty thinking it is a hassle visiting the temple on a regular basis. I like to share the story with you:
A 'devotee' wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to the Ashram or Temple. 'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 mantras. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting theirs by giving services at all. This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

By the way, if you are one who likes to read suspense-filled legal thrillers, you shouldn’t miss Steve Martini’s ‘Critical Mass’. It is about the theft of two nuclear devices from the former Soviet Union and smuggled into the US. It is a gut-wrenching, superb thriller… so realistic it scares you. Happy reading.