Book Review │Books I read in 2016: Novels, Poetry and More

Hello everyone and Hello 2017. I'm still in denial stage regarding end of 2016 as it was such a beautiful year filled with happiness and joy. Nevertheless, I'm having high hopes on 2017 as well and new goals I aim to achieve throughout the new year.

Today I shall talk about books that I read in 2016. Reading has become a new hobby in 2016 and I'm grateful for committing to this hobby. I can proudly say that I have read 16 books last year as this is a great start for a newbie like me. Without further due, here is a list of books that I read in 2016:

Heart-warming book:

Wishes don't Die -  الأمنيات لا تموت: first book to talk about is this poetry that is written by Abdullah Hamed. This poetry talks about friendship, love and lots of other lovely categories. The writing style is simple, unique, and catches your attention very quickly. This poetry is so good that when I went to buy it I was told that this is the last book left. What sold me to this book is the summary and salesman raved so much about it that I couldn't resist not taking it. Not to mention that my mom loved it so much. I highly recommend reading it as it will warm up your heart.

The Answer is Love - الإجابة الحب: another heart-warming book is this documentary written by Karim Al Shatheli. The author is actually a psychologist and happens to be a researcher in psychology. In this book he talks about importance of love, make it stronger, protect it and more. This is one of books that I highly recommend for girls who are engaged and married to read as it is rich of very useful information that you will truly benefit from. The book is written in a very simple language, summarizes key points, and showcases different scenarios to learn from. I truly enjoyed reading this book and recommend all love birds to read it.

Dramatic books:

The Book of Tomorrow: this is a novel about a girl who's life completely changes after death of her beloved father. The girl encounters new people, experience new events that have not countered in her life before. There were multiple emotions that I sensed while reading this novel and I found it to be one of most dramatic novels I read in 2016. I've talked more about this novel in my post Favorites | Recent Things I’m loving 2016

Chaos of Senses - فوضى الحواس: this is the first novel I read that is written by the talented Author Ahlam Mosteghanemi. It is an Arabic novel and it talks about a woman experiences a forbidden love at time where she is married to a military man, having a fugitive brother chased by law, and at time where Algeria suffers from political stress. The novel is extraordinary hence the title "Chaos of Senses". It is another novel which felt very dramatic to me as the story progress my emotions grew stronger from curiosity to shocks. I also enjoyed the writing style as each other carried an emotion and rhythm. I highly recommend you all to read this novel.

Adventurous books:

The Time Keeper: This is the first novel I read written by Mitch Albom. Without reading the summary, I saw that Cecilia Ahern had praised the Author and that what motivated me to purchase this novel. I will not summarize the story to you because the less you know before reading, the more you will enjoy reading this novel. It was very adventurous and thrilling that I could not put my hands down. I also felt excited and curious to know what is going to happen after each chapter. The story is absolutely amazing and the writing style is perfectly on point. I highly recommend reading this novel I hope you all love it as much as I did.

40 Rules of Love: This is another novel that got me thrilled, excited, curious and truly happy. It is written by Turkish Author Elif Shafak and this is the first novel I read written by her. The novel consisted of two integrated stories at different generations. It also contained a mix of modern and ancient lifestyles which added spark onto the novel. Moreover, the writing style and context was absolutely amazing and pleasing to read. Because I was having so much reading this novel, I took my time in finishing it as I wanted to enjoy it as long as possible. This is a Must-Have novel and you all need to get your hands on it.

Horror books:

Rare cases (1, 2 & 3) - حالات نادرة: this is first series of horror novels I've read this year written by Abdul Wahab Said Al Rafaie. Each novel consist of 5-6 short stories of patients that the hero, who is a psychologist working in asylum, encounters in each story. All stories are unique, different, and none of them is similar to the other. In addition to that, all stories are written in different format such as diary or conversation and other formats. Each series is different from the previous one as you can see improvement in Author's writing style. The atmosphere that the whole novel created was tension, fear, and curiosity. The horror level was moderate but thrill and tension was pretty high. This novel was awesome, fun to read, and if you're into horror stories or movies you are going to like it.  

Museum of Souls - متحف الأرواح:  another horror novel I read that is written by Abdul Wahab Said Al Rafaie. This novel consists of one story only which is about a young girl who returns to Kuwait after completing her studies to live with her Grandfather whom she never met. While living with her Grandfather she uncovers dark secrets and experience horror and fear. The story is written in diary format and simple tone. In addition to that, there were so many shocks and unexpected events that made the story scary, thrilling, and tense. The only down-side is it's really short that it took me only 3 hours to finish reading it. Nevertheless, I loved reading it and I recommend you all to try it out.  

Tragedian books:

All The Bright Places: this was one of my top "must-have" novels in 2016. This novel was recommended by Zoe Sugg aka "Zoella" who is a British You Tuber. Zoe said that she loved this novel so much that she finished reading it within 2 days. This is one of novels that got me really emotional as I kept crying for days. Even though it is tragedy, it was lovely to read. I learned so much from this novel and I can say that it has impacted me in a positive way. I have reviewed this novel in my post: Book Review: All The Bright Places  

Al Shahama - الشهامة: this is another novel that got me very emotional. This novel is written by one of top Kuwaiti Authors Aliya Al Khadhemi. There are two short stories in this novel: Al Shahama and Frozen Tears. The novel was written in very simple, easy to understand language. Both stories are drama, romance, and tragedy.  The atmosphere created was tension, happiness, anger, and sadness. In addition to that the level of drama was really high that I read with my eyes wide open. I got pretty emotional with both stories and yes I cried. The only down-side of first novel is it was really short and I personally wished that more events took place and the story ended differently. Nevertheless I enjoyed reading this novel and I do recommend giving it a try.

Girl Online on Tour: of course how could I not get the novel that it is written by my favorite You Tuber Zoella. This is the second novel of series Girl Online. What I loved about this novel is that it is somehow the opposite of first novel. The drama level was so high, so many surprises and shocks, as well as tension. Although it is not a tragic novel yet I considered it to be tragic as I found it so sad and it made me cry. I have already reviewed this novel along with first novel Girl Online in my post BOOK REVIEW │GIRL ONLINE & GIRL ONLINE ON TOUR

Romantic books:

Black Suites You - الأسود يليق بكِ: this is the best romance novel I read written by Ahlam Mosteghanemi. The story is about a young singer, who lives under a rhythm, is committed to  wear nothing but black to morn the loss of her father and brother. One day a wealthy man, who counts every moment,  finds her and becomes mesmerized with her personality. Despite difference in personalities, they encounter each other and live a one of a kind love story. One thing for sure Ahlam is known about is integrating love with politics especially the political situation in Algeria. Along with love story, Ahlam shares political events that took place in Algeria, and worship values of humanity. The language used is a little complex, however it is really beautiful that you will enjoy every single word you read. In addition to that, there were so many emotions to experience while reading this novel such as happiness, grief, sadness, sympathy, and best of all self satisfaction. In this novel I have learned few valuable lessons that I intend to apply in my life and I highly recommend you all to read this novel.

Girl Online: this is another lovely romance novel I read in 2016. The romance was very appealing, beautiful and lovely to read. The author succeeded in illustrating this love story and making my heart melt in each scene. Personally I loved it so much that I intend to read it again. To read my review on this novel check out my post BOOK REVIEW │GIRL ONLINE & GIRL ONLINE ON TOUR    

Best book of the year:

I grew and forgot to forget - كبِرت ونسيت أن أنسى: I saved the best for the last, best novel I read in 2016 written by Bothayna Al Essa. No words can describe how amazing this novel is. The story is very inspiring, shocking, and yet beautiful. It covers common social issues that are trending in Arab society. Along with that, it consists of a beautiful love story between young adults. In addition to the story, the content was very unique as the storytelling was covered in a shuffled series of events, and the language used is mix of literature and casual speech. Moreover, poems were essential parts of this story which added so much drama and beauty to the story. Also, I experienced a lot of emotions in this story such as happiness, grief, anger, pleasure, and satisfaction.  I personally enjoyed reading every single word in this book and if you don't get your hands on this novel you are missing a lot. I highly recommend you all to read this novel.

That's all for today everyone, I hope you all enjoy reading this post and let me know which novel you enjoyed reading most last year. See you again in another post.

Life Post │My Life in 2016: Dreams, Accomplishments, and Loses

Here comes this day, where we assess our life, our thoughts, and our performance at the end of each year. In every organization, managers evaluate performance of their employees. In every school, teachers test students’ academic skills. And in every year, we assess ourselves. We ask same questions every time:
Did I achieve my goals?
Did I make a difference this year?
At the beginning of every year, we strive toward two goals: make difference in our lives, and strengthen our bonds with beloved ones. One of the things we tend to assess is our social life: who entered our life, who supported us, and who left us behind. Those who made difference in our lives are the ones we strive to keep.
Another aspect we assess is our memories: both happy and sad ones. We promise ourselves to maximize happy memories and minimize sad memories every year.
Today I shall make one difference in my life: share personal story of my life.
In 2014 & 2015 I lost two of my closest family members: my grandma and my uncle. These loses impacted me negatively and my days were filled with sorrow and grief. In short, my life had lost its color. When I wrote 2016: New Year, New Memories blog post I was completed devastated with how 2015 turned out. It was truly the worst.
So on 1^st January 2016, I made a wish and prayed for it: No more sorrow, no more grieve, and no more loses. I got tired of these feelings. Luckily, the Lord listened to my prayers and my wish came true at a time where I didn’t expect to see light.
In 2016, I’ve accomplished three major goals:

• Graduated from university: the dream finally came true; I graduated from Sultan Qaboos University with a Bachelor Degree in Finance. I can’t believe it; I made it after 5 years of struggling with stress and studies. I missed many fun opportunities, events, hangouts, and moments for joy. I sacrificed them all to accomplish this dream. Now, I finally made it and I’m glad that I made this sacrifice. Check out my post as I expressed my gratitude for witnessing this day: Life Post │My Graduation

• Get hired at well-known organization: sooner than I thought, I got hired in audit department in KPMG. KPMG is a company that provides audit, tax and advisory services to many organizations in both public and private sector. Personally, I have never thought of starting my career journey in audit, but after working for 5 months I realized that this is what I truly want. Achieving such goal at a time where market is going through recession is a great life-time opportunity. I’m proud of this accomplishment and I hope that I can develop myself throughout my career life.

• Meet my soul mate: now this is an unexpected goal, getting engaged. Before getting engaged, I had set criteria for the guy I would want to commit a long-relationship with. Because my criteria were hard to find, I did not expect to get engaged within this year or any time soon. Surprisingly I did find the guy that fit all criteria and had more characteristics that I was pleased with. Getting engaged was a very big step I took this year, as this will be a change in lifetime. I’m happy for taking this decision and I’m grateful for achieving this goal.

All these wishes are very dear to me. They boosted my confidence and self-esteem. After being pessimist for two years, I can now smile and not worry about my future. I’m no longer suffering from anxiety, depression or even stress. I couldn’t be thankful enough to the Great Lord for pulling me out of darkness and bringing me into light.
As happy as I sound, there were days that I wish they never existed. As time passed, I came across difficult moments and situations that I have not anticipated to come. Let me briefly state circumstances that I went through:

• Hospitalized for 6 days: In my post Life Post │Why did I disappear? I mentioned that I got food poisoning in January and I stayed 6 days in the hospital. Physically, this was a very tough experience as I was very weak. I could not eat or drink anything for 4 days, and after 7 days I managed to eat very little. It took me almost a month to fully recover from food poisoning and until now I’m very cautious about what I eat.

• Lost my car: another tough experience I had to go through is lose of my car in an accident. I had this car since 2012 and I had great memories with it. Unfortunately, it was strongly hit in an accident and got completely scrapped. I’m truly grateful for being alive and not getting injured, as my parents said: “You can always replace a metal with another”.

• Loss of close ones: every year, you get to meet new people and lose contact with some, but what about those who were very close and dear to you? For some reasons, I no longer contact those who were very dear to me. Promises were broken, my feelings were hurt, and the relationship became toxic. As much as I wanted to stay in touch with them and forgive them for their mistakes, I couldn’t take it anymore, it was too much burden and I felt that my heart does don’t deserve to bear this pain. Nevertheless, I wish them all the best in their lives.

As you can see, my life had blessings and challenges. It was a tough but lovely year to live and I’m grateful for everything that has happened throughout my life. Before I finish up with this post, I would like to state lessons that I have learned this year:

• The success of every relationship is dependent on both parties. Each party needs to be comprising, passionate, and determinant to keep the boat sailing on the sea. Ignorance is the key to destruction of every relationship. If one party neglected the other, the other party will eventually leave them behind after a while.

• Confidence and determination are essential keys to achieve any goal in your life. If you believe in yourself and you are determined to go through whatever it takes to achieve a goal, then you can achieve anything.

• Never keep your dreams limited to your capabilities, always dream big. If you want a dream to come true, turn it into a goal and work for it. Do not wait for others to make your dreams come true, you should work for it on your own.

• Learn from difficult experiences, as they always carry a valuable lesson for you to learn. Do not focus on negative side of such incidents, instead look at positive aspects to it. You never know, how positively this could impact you. If you went through a tough situation and you don’t know how to overcome it then check out this post Life Post │Tragedies: How to overcome them.

Well this is it, my last post in 2016. I hope you all enjoyed reading this post and I wish 2017 would be a very happy new year to you all. See you all in the next post.