To Joseph

I said bye to you a few days ago – blame it on the French people for my early farewell.

But there are things that you cannot say to someone’s face – especially if the person who’s supposed to say them is someone like me.

Dear Joseph,

You’re going away for a year. You’re probably getting ready to leave to the airport now and you won’t get to read this until later. But it’s fine. I’m sure mom is crying now – or at least getting her tear-ducts ready for the upcoming waves. But it’s ok. You know why, because even though you might be seeing her cry and it will hurt you deep inside to let her go, you have to.

You’ve quoted this a while back on your Facebook profile. And I’ll say it again. “Moving on with the rest of your life starts with goodbye…”

Remember this sentence in your darkest days in Portland, when the only thing you want to do is come back and be with your Lebanese family again. Remember it when someone bullies you at school. Remember it when the only thing you want to do during one of Oregon’s many rainy days is to crawl up in bed and sleep…

You’re one of the strongest people I know. And you’re also one of the best people I know. And that’s not just because you are my brother. You were chosen to become a foreign exchange student because they saw in you an honorable and polite and decent Lebanese student who can give the best image possible about his country to people who don’t even know his country exists.

So be strong like you always are. Watch out for your sharp tongue. It will get you in trouble with people who might get you wrong or not be as used to your bursts as we are here.

Remember you have a family that loves you and who will always be there for you.

And even though you’re driving me mad with playing “Rolling In The Deep” in the next room as I’m typing this, let me tell you a secret. I will really, really miss you. It’s going to be hard to get used to you not being here, but you’ll only be a minute away, right?

So for now, I’ll leave you and wish you a safe flight and a happy time. Have fun. Enjoy the United States till you can’t hold your joy anymore, till your lungs feel like a balloon about to burst and till your muscles ache from laughter… for it is that happiness that you deserves.

P.S: I still got to go on an airplane before you.

Elie

Kane Chronicles: The Throne of Fire (Book Review) – Rick Riordan

The story of Sadie and Carter Kane picks up with The Throne of Fire, three months after the events of The Red Pyramid.

After getting new recruits into their Brooklyn home and starting their training process, Sadie and Carter are met with the realization that their world-saving job is not over yet. Apophis, the Egyptian lord of Chaos, is preparing to break out of his prison come the Spring Equinox, which is five days after the start of the book.  And the only way to possibly prevent Apophis from escaping is to wake up the Sun God: Ra. But in order to wake up Ra, they must find the three parts of the Scroll of Ra, which are scattered in three different locations that they must determine.

At the same time, not all the gods want to see Ra return because that would mean them not getting a shot at the throne anymore. So it is with both internal and external resistance that they must go on their quest, not knowing that it might well be Apophis’ plan for them to bring back an old and fragile and senile Ra so the world can finally sink in Chaos.

The Throne of Fire stays true to the writing style of the book that preceded it: both Carter and Sadie tell parts of the story. At times, when both characters go on separate ways to fulfill the quest, it is needed to keep you informed of the happenings. The intelligent thing about such a style is that it allows the author, Rick Riordian, to create cliffhangers every few chapters with a character and pick up where the other character left off, leaving you in the dark about what might have possibly happened and keeping you hooked to the pages of his book, wanting to know what happens.

And like its predecessor, The Throne of Fire keeps up with using Egyptian mythology to drive the plot, especially with the story of how Ra got exiled in the first place, as well as the importance of that mythology in fulfilling their quest.

However, unlike The Red Pyramid, The Throne of Fire has obvious girl-boy romantic interactions, mostly with Sadie who starts expressing romantic interest in two characters. And Carter has a side plot in the book involving saving his love interest from the first book, a girl named Zia Rashid.

I have one main gripe with The Throne of Fire, which is a serious lack of understanding (and obviously no will to research) of the Arabic language. At some point, it is revealed that the location of Zia Rashid is “Al Ahmar Makhan.” Not only is this is a literal translation of “The Red Place” but it is also the incorrect way to spell “Makhan” and the incorrect way to write the expression. It doesn’t stop here. According to the author, “makhan” means red and “al ahmar” means sand, which for anyone familiar with Arabic knows it’s almost the opposite and “al ahmar” means red, not sand.

However, with that aside, The Throne of Fire remains an enjoyable book, although it’s quite shorter than its predecessor. I can’t wait for the final installment in the Kane Chronicles, scheduled for a May 2012 release.

Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid (Book Review) – Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan is the author behind the Percy Jackson book series, which I’ve read and enjoyed.
While the Percy Jackson books are about Greek mythology, Riordan, a history teacher, admitted that if there’s a culture that tops the Greek one in class discussions, it’s the Egyptian ancient culture (obviously not the current one).

And so, it is from that basis that he wrote his second book series (there’s also a third one being a continuation of the Percy Jackson series and titled: The Heroes of Olympus): The Kane Chronicles.

The first book of the series is titled The Red Pyramid and it follows the lives of Sadie and Carter Kane, two siblings, who lose their mother to mysterious causes and are forced to live apart for six years: Carter globe-trotting with his Egyptologist father and Sadie with her grandparents, in London.

However, on Christmas eve, as Carter and his father Julius show up in London for their annual visit of Sadie, a sense of alarm is in the air but the kids do not know the cause. And when their dad takes them to the British Museum to examine the Rosetta Stone and ultimately destroying it, it is revealed that their dad is not a regular human. He can do magic. And soon enough, it is revealed that they are both descended from powerful Royal Egyptian bloodlines, making them both Magicians and holding the blood of the Pharaohs.

However, with power comes persecution – especially when both Sadie and Carter are truly clueless about the power they have. And when both start to have visions that foretell the Egyptian God Set preparing the destruction of North America, they must do all they can to stop him.

The interesting thing about Riordan’s books is that, even though they might be childish at times, they still hold very interesting material for you to read and it offers that material in a rather entertaining context. In this case, I am personally much more interested in Egyptology than I am with Greek mythology so I was positively entertained when the author used the stories of Egyptian gods to advance his plot.

The characters jump around many parts of the world using portals. They go from London to New York to Cairo to Paris to Memphis to Phoenix and Washington. Mix all of that in a rather tightly-packed book and you’re offered with a story that doesn’t let down. There’s always something happening.

Moreover, the writing style adopted by Riordan for this book is interesting. The book starts by saying that he received the text as a recording from both Sadie and Carter and that the book is more or less the transcript.
The book itself can be separated into two major parts that intertwine: the part told by Sadie and the part told by Carter, both of which are subtly quite different since both characters have different interests.

All in all, The Red Pyramid, albeit being a little hard to get into at first, is a very entertaining book for anyone who’s read the Percy Jackson books and liked them. It is the first book of the Kane Chronicles trilogy.

Review of book two: The Throne of Fire coming up tomorrow.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest (Book Review) – Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is the third and final installment in the Millennium trilogy, currently the best selling books worldwide.

The final installment picks up where the second one left off: Lisbeth Salander has been shot, Zala is wounded and Niedermann is tied to a sign post. And so both Salander and Zala are taken to the hospital to fix up their wounds, with Lisbeth barely making it through. However, the revelations that started with the second installment, about Lisbeth’s deep involvement with a section of the Swedish secret police, continue to work in the third book. Never before has the Zalachenko club in Sapo (the Secret Police) been revealed to this extent and they must do their best to clean up.

Little do they know, however, is that this time around Lisbeth Salander has decided to fight back – and similarly to them, her fight will not be clean. Unlike them, however, she will always be one step ahead, even when Sapo believe they’ve got it all in the bag.

Lisbeth Salander has to seek the help of Mikael Blomkvit, who’s now under strict Sapo surveillance. And he’s willing to help. He will harness the power of his magazine and investigative journalism to bring justice to Salander, a woman who has had her most basic of rights violated.

Erika Berger has a stalker as well. Someone who wants her to fail at her new job, as editor in chief. But the collective effort of all people who are involved, in one way or another, with Millenium – as well as Milton Security, Lisbeth’s former employer, is needed to bring the Zalachenko group of the Secret Police down.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is a very riveting book, especially when it comes down to the trial during which Lisbeth speaks up and surprises everyone. The cross-examination of Dr. Teleborian, the psychiatrist who decided Lisbeth needed to be locked up when she was twelve, is probably one of the most exciting passages to read in the whole series.

However, unlike the previous two books in the trilogy, there isn’t a mystery in this one. There isn’t a killer to be identified like in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or The Girl Who Played With Fire. All the cards are laid out on the table for you to see. You know what each side is capable of and you know the material they both have.

In books like this, it is up to the author’s talent and expertise to deliver a book that is captivating and still wholly engrossing for you to read. And Stieg Larsson delivers. The author’s approach towards this book is not different from the previous ones but there’s an undeniable sense of urgency in the way he laid his words on paper. The monologue italic thoughts are still scattered out throughout and they serve as a strong catalyst for the advancement of the plot.

There are moments however where Larsson abandons his novelist self and goes into a pamphlet-like writer, giving you what I believe is pages and pages of credible history about the workings and logistics of the Swedish Secret Police. The fact that I skimmed through those pages and still understood the whole book is testimony to how useless they are. Perhaps he wanted to use his books for some sort of activism, but it just doesn’t work. Or it could be that I have nothing to do with Sweden.

However, at the end of the day, even though the ending of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is quite expected, it still brings you a sense of relief to see Lisbeth walk out free. The girl with the dragon tattoo who played with fire all her life dared to kick the hornet’s nest and live to tell the tale. And it is a great tale.

Off to France and Spain

I’ve never traveled before. Ever. Unless you count that brief two day trip I took to Damascus last December and the one before to Northern Syria in July.

Well, if you do, let me tell you this: if you don’t go to your destination in an plane, then you haven’t really “traveled.” At least that’s how I understand it to be.

But I digress.

In a few hours, I will be taking my very first airplane ride to Southern France where I will spend four days before heading out to Spain for a thirteen day excursion.

I’m definitely excited. But also quite anxious. It could be that I haven’t packed yet. I just look at the suitcase and decide there’s still time.

My stay in Spain will involve three cities: Toledo, Madrid and Sevilla. No Barcelona for me, sadly. But I guess there’s a time for everything. And with a Schengen on my passport, it’ll be easier to go there some other time.

While in Spain, I will be participating in the international Catholic Youth Day, formally known as JMJ: Journee Mondiale de la Jeunesse, which will be an opportunity for me to meet the pope – although I have low hopes about actually “meeting” him unless you consider spotting someone in a sea of a million people “meeting.”

While I’m definitely not the most religious of people, I think this will serve as an opportunity for me to meet lots of new people. Let me tell you a secret though, my group is going to miss out on most of the religion sessions and we’ll be going touring the cities we’re in. Awesome, right?

France should be great as well. I’m not doing the cliche France trip of going to Paris and staying there for the whole vacation, which I honestly would have loved to do – there’s just something about Paris, right? My French stay will give me an opportunity to practice my dying French skills. Yes, AUB, I blame you.

A woman in my travel group is of Argentinian origins and she was giving us Spanish lessons the other day in order to get around in Spain. Apparently the people who speak something other than Spanish are rare over there. Who would’ve thought? Needless to say, only one sentence got stuck in my head. And no, it’s not good morning or good evening.

“No habla espagnol, habla inglese?” will be my motto for the upcoming two weeks. I’m sure you can deduce what it means quite easily.

As for now, I’ll leave you and hope you come to read the posts that I’ve written and scheduled to be posted. There will be a book reviews, a short story split in seven parts, among other things… And if I get the chance to tell you how my French and Spanish adventures are going, well, why not, I guess.