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Archives: Books

Take Back Control of Your Money

Ever noticed how your money often seems to disappear when you’re not watching? Hidden fees, impulse purchases, and clever marketing tactics can drain our resources faster than we realize. The truth is, we live in a capitalist society where everyone out there wants to get your money.

This book sheds light on these common traps and provides strategies for you to avoid them. You will learn how to protect your money from slipping through the cracks, and even better, grow it into a sizeable pot of wealth so you never have to worry about money again.

Imagine a life where you could spend without worrying about the bills instead. Or earn passive income even while you sleep. A life where you’ll have enough for and beyond retirement. All that is possible when you learn how to take back control of your money and build it.

In Take Back Control of Your Money, OG personal finance blogger Budget Babe shares a step-by-step roadmap to helping you master your finances once and for all! With her knack for simplifying complex financial concepts into actionable steps, Dawn makes it easy for anyone to learn how to break out of the rat race and become financially free.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your financial strategy, this book is a must-read for anyone serious about taking back control of their finances and future.

The Longing

It is in Malang, East Java, Indonesia, in the 1950s, when Ah Lam is married off to Cheng Lei, the son of a wealthy merchant, to help improve her family’s situation as she is of age. Once settled in Surabaya, Ah Lam soon finds herself dealing with an abusive husband while raising her young children and running her own small restaurant to make ends meet during the extreme political and economic hardship of the 1965-66.
Meanwhile, Ming Zhu, Ah Lam’s daughter, befriends a wealthy Muslim Javanese entrepreneur family and falls for Arya, an aspiring scholar, whom she later marries despite her parents’ disagreement for their different cultural and religious backgrounds under the authoritarian New Order regime in the 1970s. Ming Zhu and Arya have fraternal twins, Fajar and Dido, and get divorced as the conservative Islamic culture grows.
Dido, as the female twin and a Peranakan woman, faces gender and cultural challenges as she is torn between her hybrid ethnicity and cultural roots while growing up in the disorienting Reformasi era and the May 1998 riots. She becomes a documentary filmmaker as her way to make sense of the current political upheaval and her own conflicted identity.
As the country is unravelling even further, how will these three generations of women find what they need when intergenerational trauma and family memories haunt their lives and ties to others?

Penguin Select Classics: The Origin of Species

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one most responsive to change.”

For the longest period, society believed that all beings were created at once over a short span of time. Up until Charles Darwin introduced the theory of evolution and argued that living beings as they function today have developed through the process of natural selection, challenging conventional beliefs about the origins of life.

This theory is driven by the differential survival and reproduction of individuals with advantageous traits. The offsprings which acquire stronger traits through genetics, will have a higher chance of adapting to the changing environment.

Darwin’s theory suggests that all species, including humans, share a common ancestry, providing a unifying framework for the diversity of life on Earth.

An absolutely engaging and enlightening read to understand the human body and be more in sync with how we can utilize our physical abilities to adapt to the world’s changing requirements.

Penguin Select Classics: The Importance of Being Earnest

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

We all play certain roles in life, at work or with family, which require us to suppress how we truly feel to perform our duties.

Set in London, the play revolves around the lives of two such young bachelors, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who decide to lead double lives to cope with the weights of their social obligations.

Jack becomes ‘Earnest’ to escape his country estate and win the heart of Gwendolen Fairfax. Algernon pretends to have a fictional invalid friend named ‘Bunbury’ to avoid family gatherings and responsibilities. Life takes a turn when their alternate identities collide, leading to humorous misunderstandings.

Through this entertaining satire, the story compels us to wonder how society rewards appearance and superficial acts over authentic living and seeking true happiness; making us question are we truly who we allow the world to see?

Penguin Select Classics: As a Man Thinketh

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”

One of the earliest thinkers and observers of manifestation, James Allen was the first to identify the connection between man’s thought, actions and destiny. Allen argues that the quality of our thoughts shapes our lives, determines our success and happiness; they are the seeds from which our actions and circumstances grow.

Through the narrative James Allen explains how individuals have the power to control their thoughts, and consequently, their destinies. It is an important read to understand how to overcome negative thoughts, prevent succumbing to defeat, and how to build a strong relationship with one’s thoughts, and be the master of our own minds.

As a Man Thinketh is a clear, easy and powerful guide to self-improvement and personal development.

Penguin Select Classics: The Communist Manifesto

“The free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”

The Communist Manifesto, a philosophical document, through its engaging story-like narrative explains the rise of industrial capitalism and sheds light on the capitalistic system’s effect on society.

Arguing that throughout history, societies have been marked by class struggles, where the bourgeoisie (capitalist class) has oppressed the proletariat (working class) for the pursuit of more profits.

More importantly, it urges people to question and think about norms and administrations that are not genuinely working for everyone’s quality of life, asking citizens to live with an open and thinking mind.

Penguin Select Classics: The Canterville Ghost

“He made me see what Life is, and what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both.”

At times, the scary exterior is just a cry for lots of love and understanding; and the Canterville Ghost is no different.

The Otis family purchased The Canterville Chase, a haunted castle in England. The castle is home to the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville, who has been haunting the castle for over three hundred years. To the Ghost’s horror, the new family was just not afraid of him; instead, they set about trying to get rid of him. What ensues is a hilarious cycle of practical jokes and pranks.

Until one day, sweet and sensitive Virginia Otis, the youngest daughter of the family, discovers the ghost’s hiding place. The ghost tells her his story and asks her for help. The key to the Ghost’s peaceful departure to afterlife, is in her innocent, childlike powers.

What does the Ghost ask? Will Virginia be able to do what he needs? Find out in the most endearing tale of kindness, friendship and forgiveness.

Penguin Select Classics: The Bell Jar

“The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”

Esther Greenwood is a beautiful and immensely talented young lady who dreamt of being a great writer. As a college student she travelled from Massachusetts to New York to work on a magazine for a month as a guest editor. While there, she is showered with fancy dinners, and elite networking. Esther knew she should be having the time of her life, but something was wrong, and she felt deadened.

Little she knew that this was the beginning of a clinical depression which would take all sense of life out of her. After a visit from a beloved professor, she starts to believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Months of treatment later, Esther leaves the mental hospital in time to start college. She now knew that life would be a seesaw of good and bad days, and the bell jar could ring either with sadness or elation, she just needed to hear it jingle and practice what she learnt.

The Bell Jar is an intimate, and uplifting narrative written with the expert stroke of the finest writers of the century; meant to make the reader feel supported and hopeful in their journey.

Letters from Gaza

LETTERS FROM GAZA is more than a book – it’s a voice from the silence, a heartbeat in the wreckage. Through poetry, letters, and monologues, 30 Gazans lay bare their fears, grief, and relentless hope amid devastation.

As the year 2023 came to an end, and wistfulness filled the air with hopes for the new tidings; the whole world was left startled with the unfolding of the largest humanitarian crisis of this century.

While we lamented at the visuals of unimaginable destruction, loss, and unsurmountable pain, there were people living that reality.

Men, women, and children with plans for the weekend and dreams to fulfill; many wrapping their chores early to take a walk by the sea. Millions of such diverse individuals who were now only spoken of words wrapped in tragedy; all merged into one.

Surviving war isn’t a blanket experience; there are many facets which remain unheard. This collection is pertinent in bringing focus to the diverse human stories behind the crisis, the emotions that rang loudly in the silence of the night, when the shutters went down and the dust had settled.

Throughout the year, 30 people living in the Gaza strip, of varied ages and ethnographies, penned their feelings, fears, memories, thoughts, and hopes on the tempestuous days of war. Each story is a reminder of the world held within every person and how humanity at large was at stake with them.

Collected and compiled by Mahmoud and Mohammed, two prolific writers in Gaza, this collection stands as a testament to unparalleled resilience and unveils the unimaginable emotional scars of war; leaving us overcome with tenderness and compassion.

Clichés & Curses

Clara Healy is convinced her family is cursed.

After witnessing the relationships from the two closest people in her life fall apart, Clara was determined not to be the curse’s next victim by avoiding the root cause: falling in love with cliché love interests.

Leading up to college, Clara has managed to avoid getting stuck in situations that will cause her to spend more time than necessary with a cliché love interest. Whether it be the bad boy, an academic rival, or her all-time kryptonite, the star athlete.

But when she accidentally arrived late to the first day of ASL class, her streak came to an end when Colton Reed, the college star baseball player ended up sitting next to her. The situation only got worse when the class was asked to find a partner, leaving Clara no choice but to pair up with Colton.

Even though the circumstances were less than ideal, she wasn’t going to let the curse get to her. Seeing Colton Reed on a weekly basis? She could handle that. Right?

From practicing ASL with bubble tea every Wednesday, car rides home and an unexpected night out together, Clara slowly starts to realize that some things were easier said than done.

And escaping the curse was going to be a lot more difficult than she thought it would be.