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  Title: Swann's Way Author: Marcel Proust Librivox Audiobook app Read by Expatriate This is the first volume of the monumental novel In Search of Lost Time, a masterpiece of French literature and modernist fiction. The book explores themes of memory, time, love, jealousy, and social class, all deeply intertwined with personal experiences and psychological insight. The narrative is divided into three main parts. The first introduces the unnamed narrator's childhood in Combray, a small French town, highlighting his emotional attachment to his mother and his sensory experience of time through involuntary memory—famously illustrated by the taste of a madeleine dipped in tea. This scene has become iconic in literary history and is central to the novel’s meditation on memory. The second and longest section, "Swann in Love," focuses on Charles Swann, a cultured man of the French aristocracy, and his obsessive, emotionally turbulent relationship with Odette de Crécy. Through...

  Title: At the Heart of the Reich Author: Major Gerhard Engel Translated from the German by Geoffrey Brooks Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, New York Year published: 2016 208 pages This memoir offers a rare and insightful account of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle from the perspective of someone who was both close to the Führer and yet remained personally detached from Nazi ideology.  Engel served as Hitler’s army adjutant from 1941 to 1943, and his writings document the day-to-day life, behaviors, and mindset of Hitler and those around him during the critical years of the Second World War. The book is based on Engel’s diaries and personal notes, providing first-hand observations of Hitler's leadership style, moods, private conversations, and strategic thinking.  Engel portrays Hitler as a complex figure—charismatic and domineering, yet increasingly isolated and erratic as the war turned against Germany.  The memoir also highlights the internal dynamics and tensions with...

  Tajuk: Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz: Pemikiran Agama dan Politik Penulis: Ismail Yusoff Penerbit: Penerbit UUM, Sintok Tahun diterbitkan: 2015 366 halaman "Saya juga cukup jaga tutur kata dan pakaian dengan rakyat. Pakaian apa yang dipakai orang kampung, pakaian itulah saya pakai - dengan sarung, dengan baju Melayu, dengan serbannya. Saya tidak pakai kasut harga mahal, tetapi kasut yang biasa diguna orang kampung." (m/s 56) "Saya takut benar dipuji kerana bimbang pujian itu melebihi daripada hakikat sebenar yang ada pada saya. Bila mati nanti saya akan ditanya sama ada hakikat diri saya serupa dengan pujian yang saya terima. Kalau serupa Alhamdulillah. Kalau tidak serupa, banyak pula soal jawabnya, oleh itu tak payah pujilah." (m/s 59) Buku ini merupakan sebuah kajian yang mendalam dan ilmiah mengenai tokoh politik Islam yang paling berpengaruh dalam sejarah moden Malaysia, menelusuri gagasan-gagasan utama Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz dalam bidang agama dan politik, serta...

  Title: The Red-Haired Woman (Kırmızı Saçh Kadın) Author: Orhan Pamuk Translated from the Turkish by Ekin Oklap Publisher: Faber & Faber, London Year published: 2017 253 pages The Red-Haired Woman is a haunting and layered novel that weaves together memory, myth, politics, and personal guilt to explore the relationship between fathers and sons, as well as the tension between tradition and modernity.  Set against the backdrop of Turkey’s shifting political and cultural landscape from the 1980s to the present, the story follows Cem Çelik, a boy from Istanbul who, after his father abandons the family, takes up a summer job apprenticing with a traditional well-digger in the rural town of Öngören. As the well-digger, Master Mahmut, becomes a temporary father figure to Cem, their relationship mirrors the intimate yet fraught dynamics of paternal authority.  Cem’s adolescent restlessness and curiosity grow, especially after he catches glimpses of a traveling theater troupe ...

  Tajuk: Saya Bukan Menteri Penulis: Zainuddin Maidin Penerbit: Penerbit UUM, Sintok Tahun diterbitkan: 2016 279 halaman BERSIH, CEKAP & AMANAH? Dr. Mahathir telah mengucapkan terima kasih kepada saya apabila saya mengucapkan tangannya pada majlis meraikan hari jadinya yang diberikan oleh jutawan Vincent Tan di sebuah hotel. (halaman 193) SIAPA MENTERI VETERAN GATAL? Ada kisah lucu tentang seorang menteri veteran yang gatal setiap kali menemui gadis-gadis atau wanita-wanita cantik akan memuji kecantikan mereka ataupun mengatakan lama tak tengok you walaupun beliau belum pernah menemui mereka sebelumnya. Beliau pandai untuk menyeronokkan wanita. Suatu hari beliau terlihat seorang gadis yang cantik dalam barisan untuk menyambutnya dan terus menyatakan, "Lama tak tengok, pi mana? You ni semakin cantik, minggu sudah I jumpa bapa you." Gadis ini terus menjawab, "Bapa I dah mati lima tahun dahulu." (halaman 199) SIAPAKAH BUDAK-BUDAK TINGKAT 4? Bagaimanapun yang lebih ...

  Title: The End of the Chinese Dream Author: Gerard Lemos Publisher: Yale University Press, London Year published: 2013 301 pages This book is a detailed and sobering exploration of the social, economic, and personal challenges faced by ordinary Chinese citizens in the early 21st century. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted between 2006 and 2010, primarily in the industrial megacity of Chongqing, Lemos seeks to uncover the lived experiences, aspirations, and fears of everyday people, challenging the polished narrative of China’s rapid development and prosperity often promoted by state media.  Through an innovative research method involving “wish trees,” where participants anonymously shared their hopes and concerns, Lemos provides a rare glimpse into the anxieties and frustrations of a population grappling with the consequences of breakneck modernization, systemic corruption, and social inequality.  The book argues that beneath the surface of China’s economic miracl...