Mrs Mismarriage

Picked up this book because would like to give asian chic lit a try. It turn out ok ok. Set in the Singapore city, it is easy to relate with familiar culture, familiar food and familiar 'type of people & their kiasuness'.

Language used in this book is easy to read & understand, although the story seem to be a little dry & unrealistic towards the middle. Imagine meeting 3-4 men who are interested in the female lead in a matter of few days ... she must have been drop dead gorgeous..

One thing good, this book does depict life & marriages in a country like Singapore very honestly & openly. It doesn't paint a very rosy picture of all things true (and ugly).

The story line is a little routine though, a boy & a girl meet - how they fall in love - how he propose - how they got married - how they start living as husband & wife - how husband is always busy with work - how wife becomes bored of being siu nai nai - how wife meet better options out - how one venture into infidelity - how they got back / separated in the end.

Rate this book 2/5

From back of book :

Harvard literature phD cancdidate Audrey Lee's perfect life loses the plot when her brand new boyfriend, the dapper MBA Paul Chang, gets down on one knee, and of all te silly & ridiculous things, proposes marriage!

Suddenly Audrey is a fairy tale trapped and wed-locked into a life she never wanted, that of expat wife and homemaker in her hometown Singapore. And wouldn't you know it! That's when a number of attractive men pop up all interested in her, enough to make Audrey feel she may indeed be the Singaporean Madame Bovary or Lady Chatterley.

With Paul too absorbed in his career to care plus a few mishaps making marital mayhem, Mrs Mismarriage is starting to feel that perhaps she is destined to live....unhappily ever after...

The Vital Touch

This book is a treasure. Filled with examples and convicing real life studies.
Reading this book is like reading a fiction, never wanted to put it down.
The real life observation and examples makes us ponder.
Having experienced the stages from caring for newborn to toddler myself, I can really relate to this book.
At times, I feel like this book is writing for me.
It doesn't only gives reasons why touch is important to children but supportive scientific explaination is given as well.

After reading this book, I find myself not limiting the amount of physical contact with my baby. It is also from this book that I understood more about the importance of touch especially that of parents to babies. Babies do not cry for no reason and does not really know how to use cries to manipulate us, so at times when we leave our babies to cry, we are sending them message that you're insignificant. This is definately not what we want to convey.
I rate this book 4.5 / 5

From the back cover of this book :
A provocative exploration of touch's rople in our babies development.

Why do American babies rank among the least held on earth? Throughout human eveloution, babies have enjoyed initimate physical contact with their mothers. In cultures around the world, parents' arms are used to comfort their babies, from holding and carrying them to rocking them to sleep.

In this probing & insightful book, psychologist Sharon Heller uses evolutionary psychology to examine why social pressures and a desire for self sufficiency have caused Americans to distance ourselves physically from our children. Our overrealiance on infant carriers, strollers, swings and cribs as parenting substitutes often preventing us from attaining physical closeness wih our children, causing increased infant fusiness and creating conflicts to mothers.

Drawing from an inspiring array of cultural & anthropological sources, The Vital Touch explores all the psychological, physiological and sensory benefits that occur when parent & baby are in touch-and what happened when they're not - and show us how we can provide a soothing & nurturing environment in which our children will thrive.

Here is a book that affirm the value of touch as the most essential medium through which we can communicate & bond with our babies.

Chicken Soup for the Soul celebrates Mothers

Chicken Soup for the soul celebrates MOTHERS is a collection in words and photographs about mothers.
It is a hardcover book with 14 real short heartwarming stories and very touching pictures. Those pictures really capture the essence of emotions.
Overall, a good read just for anyone whether you are a children of a mother, a soon-to-be mother, a mother, a grandmother or great grandmother.



From the cover of the book :
Mothers are strong. Mothers are unique. Mothers are love.

There's a universal element to motherhood : a new relationship with yourself, your life, and your child that transcends even the most difficult times and the most trying situations. This relationship manifest itself in quiet gestures of acceptance & lvem heart-touching momentoes, and laughter-filled days.

The photographs in this collection celebrates and capture the power of these universal moments, and the stories touch the very soul of the mothering experience : the electricity of feeling the first kick in the womb, the simple wisdom of a child on frenzied day, the gesture that makes a lifelong connection with a teenage daughter, the joy (mixed with sorrow) of caring for an aging mother.

Some of these stories are from children honoring their mother's gift of mentoring & love, Others are from mothers themselves. All celebrate the special role mothers play in our lives, and all will touch you and open your heart to triump, joy, hardwork and sometimes akward tenderness that forms the unique experience of motherhood.