Setelah Aku Pergi (Ways to Live Forever)

"Kalau kalian selalu sedih saat memikirkan aku, bagaimana kalian bisa mengingat aku?"

Waktu pertama kali lihat cover bukunya di Gramedia, aku sudah tertarik banget sama buku ini, apa lagi pas baca blurb di belakang bukunya. Setelah Aku Pergi bercerita tentang bulan-bulan terakhir dalam kehidupan Sam McQueen, bocah berusia 11 tahun yang divonis mengidap leukimia sejak ia berusia 6 tahun. Sam kini dirawat di rumah dan mengkonsumsi obat-obatan. Semua itu bukan untuk menyembuhkannya, tapi untuk mencoba menambah masa hidupnya. Sam yang mengetahui bahwa umurnya tidak panjang pun memutuskan untuk menulis kisahnya atas dukungan dan saran dari tutornya. Dalam diri Sam, kalian akan menemukan sosok anak lelaki yang kuat dan menyenangkan. Sam tidak pernah mengasihani dirinya hanya karena penyakitnya, ia sangat keras kepala dan selalu mencoba untuk menjalani hidupnya dengan penuh makna.

And Still Peace Did Not Come

“Reopening old wounds will be painful, but in the end, the scar will be smaller.”

When I pick this book, it was meant to fulfill the ‘Political Memoir’ category on this year Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. But, after I read this book, I realize that this book isn’t only a political memoir  of a country, but also an autobiography of a woman.  This is a woman journey to help rebuild and bring peace to her country. This book tells stories about Liberia journey through their Civil War, or like they called it in this book, their own version of ‘World War I’ and ‘World War II’. War that last from 1989 to 2003, between the government, rebels, and warlords. Wars that make the lives of so many Liberian children turn into nightmares and terror, as they forced them to be child soldiers. It’s also a story of a woman named Agnes Fallah Kamara-Umunna, who largely escaped the worst effect of the war, but ended up as a journalist trying to bring peace to her country by talking about what really happened in these wars.

The Fault in Our Stars

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.”

The Fault in Our Stars is my first John Green book, and boy how head-over-heel was I with this book. The story revolves around Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16 years old girl with lung cancer. Hazel believes that she knows what will happen to her by the end of her life. She believes that she’s chaotic, she’s a burden to her parents, she believes that she’s a grenade, that’s why she keep her distance from other people so they won’t get hurt when she dies. But, one day, the universe sent Augustus ‘Gus’ Waters to her. Gus is an ex-basketball player, osteosarcoma survivor, who has an attractive physique, beautiful blue eyes, unique personality (just like Hazel), and a big believer in metaphors.