OMG it’s day ten already? TEN TEN TEN~ *sound effect takde kene mengena*

Okay today’s question is:

Favorite classic book

Hmm… now that’s a hard question. I rarely read classic book. Well in term of classic book = those book like “Killing a Mockingbird” or “Shakespeare Romeo or Juliet” kinda thingy.

So can I define classic book as… some oldest book that I have / read?

In that case.. I got to be thankful to the first ever Agatha Christie book…

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

This is the first edition cover. Obviously mine is not this one.

The A.B.C Murder has been written by Agatha Christie and published in UK on January 6, 1936 (so I think this can be considered classic). I stumbled upon this book when reading some comics (cannot remember whether Detective Conan or Penyiasat Remaja comic) and this book is mentioned in the comics.

Imagine how delightful am I when I found this book on the shelf of a bookstore. Straight away buy, read, and from there on I am hooked with Agatha Christie book. My earliest book collection is mainly Agatha Christie books.

This book is peculiar and unique on its on way, since it combined different point of view into one book. It combines the first person point of view and the third person point of view, and it might be confusing for those who are not familiar with the book style.

And the ending is twisted. EPIC!

P/s: As usual, the series of meme will be continued next Monday. LOL!

Here’s the question for day 9:

A book you thought you wouldn’t like but end up loving

Aha. When I first saw this question, I already know the answer. This book was bought on impulse. I saw the cover and it look too cool, and when I read the summary behind, it seems like something intriguing… but I thought – “yeah, maybe this is just a normal book“.

Yes, I thought the book is sooo not interesting. How wrong am I when I read it.

Presenting…

Mirrorscape by Mike Wilks

The cover looks cool, no?

The story revolves around a mystical world where arts are everything. People buy and sell arts, people make arts for their living, and whoever that can draw is in a high position in the country. Artists are like kings.

So as usual story goes, there is a kid named Mel who learns how to draw from the famous institute in the country, and discovered a secret about their master. Their master can draw a living portrait and make it another world! He can travel around using his drawing that is scattered and hung around the country.

So an adventure started for Mel and his newly found friends; exploring arts, portraits, and picture.

The story is good although it is not as good as Lord of The Ring or Harry Potter. I can still remember bit and pieces about the book, so yes, that’s a sign that this book is not as what I expected.

Since yesterday I answered about the most underrated book, can you guess what is the question for today?

Of course, the question for today will be: The Most Overrated Book.

Which somehow I feel a bit easier to answer compared to yesterday’s question.

Okay, my answer would be:

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

A bit of disclaimer: I do not say that this book is bad. It is one hell of a good book, but it is overrated.

It all started when this book somehow become popular out of nowhere. When I first read Dan Brown, I didn’t read The Da Vinci Code. I read Angel and Demon first, even though I bought this two book at the same time (I still remember this because at that time I was at my second year in UTP, and instead of buying the next model of Gundam which is the rave at that time, I bought these two books instead).

And my opinion still stays the same – I like Angel and Demon better than The Da Vinci Code.

What happened after the popularity rises is what I termed as “overrated”. We can see that the rise of “DVC genre” books suddenly polluting the bookshelf. Too many poseurs trying to copy the success of Dan Brown. Books like, The Book of Four? Hell I hate that book.

While it is a good book and subsequently made into a movie, the movie doesn’t deliver justice for the book. The movie was poorly directed, and was poorly adapted. Comparing the movie Angel and Demon with The Da Vinci Code, personally I believe that the Angel and Demon movie is more successful.

So this book is sooooo overrated even though it is one hell of a book.