Ramadan memang sudah usai, tapi semoga semangat Ramadan terus menyala di hati kita semua ya. 

Bulan ini saya kembali langganan Scribd setelah beberapa bulan saya stop karena banyaknya timbunan buku fisik yang belum dibaca di rumah juga ebook yang belum dibaca di Gramedia Digital, Google Playbook dan Kindle. Alasannya adalah alasan klasik: mau coba eksploring ebook biar bisa stop jajan buku fisik dulu. Tapi gak sampai sehari langsung pecah karena ada diskon buku-buku Penerbit Kakatua yang harganya jadi 15,000 saja per buku. Saya langsung jajan 10 buku. Jadi mungkin tidak butuh alasan tertentu untuk kembali langganan Scribd atau layanan lainnya ya :').

Karena sudah lama tidak membuka Scribd, saya jadi kurang tahu update buku-buku terbaru disana. Ternyata ada banyak buku baru yang sedang lumayan populer seperti It Ends With Us-nya Colleen Hoover dan buku Co-Ho lainnya. Ada juga buku-buku Fredrick Backman favorit saya, serta yang tak kalah menyenangkan adalah koleksi buku-buku islami di Scribd. Kebanyakan adalah buku-buku Kube Publishing yang kalau sudah sampai Indonesia harganya aduh lumayan sekali. Satu buku fisiknya berkisar 150-300ribuan. Jadi lumayan sekali bisa ngirit kalau baca di Scribd! Salah satu buku yang ada disini dan merupakan favorit saya adalah: Revive Your Heart-nya Nouman Ali Khan. Saya punya buku ini di Kindle. Beli pakai alamat India dengan harga sekitar 70ribuan kalau gak salah. 

Berikut rekomendasi lainnya yang mungkin bisa kamu coba baca di Scribd!

1. Revive Your Heart - Nouman Ali Khan

Goodreads blurb: 

Revive Your Heart is a call for spiritual renewal and an invitation to have a conversation with one of the world’s most recognizable voices on Islam, Nouman Ali Khan.

This collection of essays is disarmingly simple, yet it challenges us to change. To revise our actions, our assumptions and our beliefs so we can be transformed from within, as well as externally.

It aims to help modern Muslims maintain a spiritual connection with Allah and to address the challenges facing believers today: the disunity in the Muslim community, terrorists acting in the name of Islam, and the disconnection with Allah.

These challenges and more are tackled by Nouman Ali Khan, with his profound engagement with the Qur'an, in his trademark voice that is sought out by millions of Muslims on a daily basis.

2. Lesson from Surah Yusuf - Dr. Yasir Qadhi

3. Lesson form Surah Al-Kahf - Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Goodreads blurb: 

The Qur’an is full of parables. Each one, when its meaning is unpacked and understood, offers wisdom and guidance. Surah Kahf, chapter 18 from the Qur’an, is particularly thought provoking, and Muslims are advised to read it at least once a week.

But why? And what can we gain from it?

In this book Yasir Qadhi leads us through Surah Kahf, unfolding the lines, stories and symbols that have inspired people for over a thousand years: the people of the cave, Prophet Musa’s momentous encounter with Khidr, the two men and their gardens, and Gog and Magog.

And surely We have explained matters in people in the Qur’an in diverse ways, using all manners of parables. (Qur’an 18:54)

Through Yasir Qadhi’s unmistakeable voice, modern Muslims may glimpse some of the Qur’an’s profound meaning.

Say: “If the sea were to become ink to record the Words of my Lord, indeed the sea would all be used up before the Words of my Lord are exhausted…” (Qur’an 18:109)

4. The Heart of The Quran: Commentary on Surah Yasin with Diagrams and illustration - Asim Khan

Goodreads blurb: 

The Heart of the Qur'an is a collection of loving letters sent from God to humanity. The Prophet Noah would plead with his people, saying "I am delivering my Lord's messages to you" [Qur'an 7:62]. With the current paradoxical climate of increasing secularization and the rise of fundamentalism across the world, there is no better time to search for fresh insight and guidance from the Qur'an. 

The Heart of The Qur'an is a well-researched commentary on Surah Yasin. It is written in simple English and is complete with diagrams and illustrations to create an engaging read. The commentary is profound and inspiring, it masterfully highlights the nuances of the Qur'ān's language and repeatedly draws the reader's attention towards practical changes they can make in their lives. 

5. Angles in Your Presence - Omar Suleiman

Amazon blurb: 

Throughout your existence, there are angels in your presence. But it’s your actions that cause those angels to either praise you or disgrace you. Through this book, we will explore the actions that invite these blessed unseen beings to pray upon you, and carry your name and mention to the One who created us all.

6. Allah Loves... - Omar Suleiman

Goodreads blurb:

In Allah Loves… Omar Suleiman explores who and what Allah loves so that we may become one of those who are beloved to Him.

The Prophet Muhammad said that one of the supplications of Prophet Dawud was, “O Allah I ask You for Your love and the love of those that love You and all of those actions that would bring me closer to being loved by you.” 

Looking at our actions, characteristics and beliefs, this book will help us become better people, citizens and believers that are deserving of Allah's endless, infinite and ever-lasting love.

Made up of 30 short and spiritually enriching chapters, this book is a reminder that throughout our lives, the Creator's love is always there, increasing through everyday actions such as showing generosity or remaining consistent with unnoticeable good deeds.

7. Prayers of The Pious - Omar Suleiman

Goodreads blurb:

This inspirational collection of prayers and reminders is the perfect companion for anyone who wishes to connect to the Divine. Shaykh Omar Suleiman provides us with thirty short prayers taken from the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and the early generations, each with a short reminder to deepen the impact of the prayer in our lives.

Prayers of the Pious provides spiritual gems that serve as valuable wisdom and practical advice for the soul. By reading this short work with an attentive heart, the reader can cultivate love for God and His Messenger and live life with gratitude and contentment.

8. Women in the Quran - Asma Lamrabet

Goodreads blurb:

Today, the issue of Muslim women is held hostage between two perceptions: a conservative Islamic approach and a liberal Western approach. At the heart of this debate Muslim women are seeking to reclaim their right to speak in order to re-appropriate their own destinies, calling for the equality and liberation that is at the heart of the Qur'an.

However, with few female commentators on the meaning of the Qur'an and an overreliance on the readings of the Qur'an compiled centuries ago this message is often lost. In this book Asma Lamrabet demands a rereading of the Qur'an by women that focuses on its spiritual and humanistic messages in order to alter the lived reality on the ground.

By acknowledging the oppression of women, to different degrees, in social systems organized in the name of religion and also rejecting a perspective that seeks to promote Western values as the only means of liberating them, the author is able to define a new way. One in which their refusal to remain silent is an act of devotion and their demand for reform will lead to liberation.

Hari ini saya harus ke kantor saya di daerah Dago untuk mengambil barang, sebagai anak Cimahi yang ke Bandung sesekali saja, sayang rasanya kalau langsung pulang, jadi saya meminta Mas Har menemani saya pergi ke sebuah tempat yang sudah lama sering muncul di explore Instagram saya. Sekalian Mas Har juga harus menepi untuk Sholat Jumat. Jadi pergilah saya ke Nimna Book Cafe. 

Nimna Book Cafe ada di Jalan Sukahaji. Lumayan jauh sebetulnya kalau dari Dago ya, 20 menitan naik motor. (Sejak balik lagi ke Cimahi saya merasa 20 menit di jalan itu lama hehe, padahal waktu di Jakarta 20 menit di jalan itungannya dekat ya). Tempatnya tidak jaduh dari Kampus UPI, kalau teman-teman dari luar kota dan berkunjung ke Lembang, Nimna lokasinya tidak jauh dari Lembang. Jadi mungkin bisa mampir sekalian turun pulang. 

Begitu masuk, saya langsung pesan kopi hazelnut kesukaan saya dan Mas Har. Satu kopi saja karena kami berdua sebetulnya sangat kenyang, mau makan dan minum banyak tidak sanggup rasanya. Kopinya lumayan enak! walaupun hirearki kopi hazelnut favorit saya tetap point cafe-nya Indomaret dekat rumah hehe, tapi kopi Hazelnut di Nimna layak dicoba nih, mungkin agak sedikit kurang manis saja buat Mas Har yang suka sekali kopi hazelnut manis. Tapi buat saya pas. Semoga di kesempatan berikutnya bisa cicip makanannya juga :).

Sejak masuk kafenya, saya sudah tidak tahan ingin gegeratak koleksi buku Nimna, ada buku dan komik apa saja disini. Ternyata banyak sekali dan beragam genrenya. Komiknya banyak dan koleksi Detekfit Conannya sampai nomor 80an sekian. Tapi yang paling menarik buat saya adalah: koleksi buku-buku Umberto Eco. 

Saya menemukan nama Umberto Eco dari buku-buku Dea Anugrah. Hidup Begitu Indah dan Hanya Itu yang Kita Punya dan Kenapa Kita Tidak Berdansa. Nama Eco sering disebut Dea disini, sama halnya seperti nama Gabriel Garcia Marquez dan Ernest Hemmingway. Mau tidak mau saya jadi penasaran ingin membaca karya penulis-penulis tersebut. Untuk karya Marquez dan Hemmingway, saya sudah mengunduh e-booknya di Gramedia Digital, sementara untuk Umberto Eco, saya tidak bisa menemukan ebooknya. Mungkin ada kalau beli di Kindle atau Google Playbook ya, tapi karena ingin kenalan dulu, jadi belum dulu (hehe). 

Ada tiga buku Umberto Eco yang saya temukan disini: The Name of The Rose versi Bahasa Indonesia, Tamasya Dalam Hiperrealitas versi Bahasa Indonesia dan versi Bahasa Inggris dari buku The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. Karena memegang bukunya langsung, saya jadi mencari tahu sekilas tentang Umberto Eco. Meskipun bukunya yang paling terkenal adalah The Name of The Rose, saya sepertinya penasaran dengan judul terakhir: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana yang bercerita tentang seorang penjual buku-buku antik. Dia kehilangan sebagian ingatannya karena stroke, tak bisa mengingat namanya dan keluarganya namun bisa mengingat cerita-cerita dari buku yang pernah ia baca. Menarik ya? 

Nimna Book Cafe ini tempatnya asyik untuk dikunjungi bersama anak loh! ada pojok lesehan di ujung yang isinya memang banyak buku anaknya. Namun saya personally malah sepertinya lebih ingin sendirian kalau kesini lagi :) Vibenya nyaman buat pembaca, gak berisik dan tenang sekali. Kalau membawa anak dan anak kita mungkin moodnya sedang tidak baik, malah jadi mengganggu pengunjung yang lain. 

Tapi kalau teman-teman ingin coba bawa anak boleh juga loh! Gak ada larangan kok dari pihak Nimnanya!

Oiya ada satu hal yang menarik nih di Nimna. Jadi ada satu buku catatan yang bisa dicoret-coret oleh pengunjung. Ini seru banget :') saya baca beberapa tulisan disini dan senyum-senyum sendiri dibuatnya. Jadi berasa dapat semangat dari orang yang tidak kita kenal tapi kita tau punya frekuensi yang sama karena pernah datang kesini.

Saya merekomendasikan sekali tempat ini untuk teman-teman yang suka membaca, suka buku atau sedang cari tempat ngopi dan kerja yang tenang di Bandung. Silakan mampir teman-teman!

After a very long Eid Holiday, yesterday I (and millions of people in Indonesia) get back to work. 
Since the holiday begin, I know that there would be an endless and chaotic hours on day 1, because the holiday is too long for me (or the industry i currently work). And guess what? It's true!

The Day 1

My day began with me waking early because I really want to go back cooking for me and my family. I once have that routine, months ago actually, before Rana was born. But now that Rana is already eat what we eat (can believe she's turning 1 last month!), I decided to go back cooking! It's therapeutic for me. Everytime I spend my morning early, cooked, and maybe make time for read some pages of books, write to do list for the day, and drink a cup of coffee, my day mostly went better. So I did that.

I cooked chicken soup and fried tempeh because it's the most easy things. The simplest cooking I could do in minutes. So happy when Rana ate passionately, the biggest achievement for me as a mom: my daughter loving my cooking. 

So after the breakfast, and ready to work at 9, I start opening my emails (endless emails) and to do list, do some sync with my co-working through Telegram, did every single things I missed on holiday, I'm already feeling exhausted on the lunch break, but I can't stop, still so many things to do and I don't want to work after 5, I want my time with Rana. 

I somehow made it to work till 5PM. It's because I ask my mom to play with Rana after lunch break :').

So I survive the day 1. Did almost all of my checklist for the day. I could even manage to post on my Instagram about my point of view from a book I currently read. Set Boundaries, Find Peace.

You can check the post here

I bought the book from Google Playbook with a very great deal anyway! it's only 32K IDR, the normal price for paperback version here in Indonesia would is 300K the last time I check :')

Then come today. The Day 2. 

I wake up early (2 days strike is a big win for me). I buy some fresh vegetables from warung near my house. I cooked and finished before 8AM, bathe Rana, then I feel something, euuugh, it's my period day 1. and somehow I feel soooo demotivated all day, I really want to ask to have a day off but I couldn't. I can't leave all the never ending task. But even when I'm there, I feel like a zombie. I hate feeling like this every time I got my period. 

To make it even worse I forgot that there's a meeting at the end of the day, with my boss, my boss's boss, and my team did not even ping me or chat me or looking out for me. It is after the meeting ends, they finally realize I was not there. I'm so disappointed at first, I even cried. But then I realize, it's my fault, not them. 

I realize that being left out like that makes me a feel a little of me myself. I feel like even if I was not there, everything would be fine. And maybe it is. So, yeah, today is just one of a bad day at work that I haven't feel for quite a long time. 

I reopen a book on my Google Playbook, its No Hard Feeling by Liz Fosslien. On of the chapter of the book was about communication, and a subchapter Crying at Work. I read at that page and feel a little bit better because I know I'm not the only employee who cry at work, well it actually cry at home because I did work remotely. 

I write about the book here, it's a great book with a visually pleasing illustration and graphics. 

But anyway, one thing that I love from my breakdown today is: I'm not desperately looking out for available job outside or thinking of resigning. I just retreat, turn off my phone, cry, turn on my phone once I think I'm okay, and then I write. 

Maybe I will feel better tomorrow, or I could be worsen too. But I guess life (and work) couldn't be always rainbow and butterfly, right? sometimes we feel like this too. Feeling like an outsider, feeling that myself, my work is not enough, and feeling not okay at work and that's okay, I suppose.

Postcard dari Jombang

Selamat lebaran! 

Saya dan keluarga menghabiskan waktu lebaran di rumah keluarga suami di Jombang. Desa tempat kami pulang kebetulan sebuah desa yang sangat jauh dari pusat kota, belok dikit sudah masuk Lamongan :') lebih dekat ke Mojokerto bahkan daripada ke Kota Jombang. Untuk masuk desa ini, kami perlu melewati hutan jati, hutan mahoni, dan sawah serta kebun warga. 

Tidak ada sinyal telfon sama sekali di desa ini. Tapi wifi bisa masuk. Jadinya selama disini kami numpang wifi tetangga dan tetap dapat sinyal internet yang tetap menghubungkan kami dengan apa yang terjadi diluar sana. Sinyal disini bahkan amat stabil. Enam bulan lalu ketika berkunjung, sinyal di Desa ini pyar pet, sering sekali tiba-tiba mati terutama ketika hujan. Tapi ya, waktu itu saya bahkan sudah sangat bersyukur karena tetap bisa bekerja dari rumah ketika pulang. 

Pulang kali ini rasanya beda karena saya sama sekali tidak bekerja. Libuuuuur panjang. Selain itu, ini untuk pertama kalinya saya lebaran idul fitri disini. Dan: Tidak ada lontong, ketupat, opor, sambel goreng atau rendang sama sekali. :') Mungkin karena sekarang saya sudah bertambah tua, urusan makanan yang beda dari biasanya tak lagi jadi masalah. Tak ada makanan khas lebaran sama sekali, ya sudah tidak apa-apa. Walaupun jujur saya jadi kangen sekali rumah. Dan dengan pengaturan lebaran yang pasti di Jombang, saya tidak tahu kapan akan merasakan menu komplit lebaran idul fitri buatan Ibu di Cimahi. 

Bacaan-Bacaan di Libur Panjang Lebaran

Sepanjang di Jombang, saya membaca beberapa buku. Ada dua buku yang sedang saya baca (buku non fiksi) berjudul Set Boundaries Find Piece  - a guide to reclaimed yourself karya Nedra Glover Tawwab, buku ini saya beli di Google Playstore dengan harga 32.000 saja! best deal karena hanya 10% dari harga buku fisiknya. Saya baru selesai membaca bab pertama di kereta dari Bandung menuju Jombang.

Buku nonfiksi kedua berjudul 101 Essays that will change the way you think karya Brianna West, buku yang ini saya beli dari Konyv Bookstore beberapa hari sebelum berangkat ke Jombang. Karena isinya semuanya essay-essay nonfiksi, yang buat saya perlu banyak waktu untuk di"olah", saya berencana membaca satu essaynya per hari, rencananya! haha, karena ternyata sekarang baru baca 4 essays saja. Jujur saya membeli buku ini karena nagih banget baca essay setelah baca buku-buku Dea Anugrah, tapi buku ini agak beda, essay-essay disini banyak ditulis dari perspektif penulis tanpa menyertakan sumber pemikiran tersebut, ada sih catatan kaki buku-buku lain yang penulisnya baca di bawah keterangan essay, namun saya berharap mendapat lebih banyak sumber lagi hihi. Impresi membaca 4 esai pertama jadinya agak kurang berkesan, walaupun banyak coretan-coretan yang membuat saya berpikir lama juga, tapi ya, mari kita lanjutkan baca terlebih dahulu sebelum memberikan penilaian menyeluruh terhadap buku tersebut. 

Selain membaca dua buku nonfiksi tersebut, saya menamatkan membaca 3 buku fiksi! Freeter Membeli Rumah karya Arikawa Hiro, buku yang saya dapat dari Penerbit Haru untuk di Review. Reviewnya belum siap sih hehe, tapi membaca Freeter rasanya menyenangkan! 

Dua buku lainnya adalah buku romance yang direkomendasikan oleh seorang bookstagrammer setelah saya membaca The Love Hypothesis, yaitu buku berjudul The Spanish Love Deception karya Elena Armas dan The Girl with The Make-Believe Husband karya Julia Quinn, buku terakhir yang saya sebutkan merupakan buku prequel dari series Bridgerton. Sebagai penggemar buku-buku bergenre romance, membaca keduanya rasanya lumayan menghibur ditengah liburan panjang ini! Kalau sempat nanti saya akan bikin reviewnya juga ya!

Kalau teman-teman, membaca buku apa saja di libur panjang lebaran ini?