Credit : www.achievement.org
I have classified Nora Ephron as another favourite author next to Sidney Sheldon although I have only read ONE book of hers (I Feel Bad About My Neck). She has definitely made an impact with that one single book. She is also the director, producer and co-writer for the movie "You've Got Mail" -- another fav of mine. I've been watching the movie definitely more than 5 times not because I'm a pathetic romantic cheesy kind of person. Instead, re-watching the movie all over again made me realise the intricate layers of the piece. For instance, when Joe's girlfriend rushed off to work, the scene was captured in their apartment, yet, the viewers were made aware of the girlfriend's movement, of her entering the elevator, the distant voice of the bellboy greeting her -- that kind of details you rarely capture in other movies. My favourite part of the whole lot is the idea of having THAT kind of conversation with my partner. It is the kind of line that kept repeating in my head that I look forward to talk about with someone -- yet it never got translated to real conversation. I mean - siapa yang nak cakap about some butterfly getting off a train station to buy a hat -- which turns out to be the wrong hat? Or talk about a bouquet of sharpened pencils? Or the amazing smell of the scotch tape? Nanti orang ingat aku loony agaknya~
Reading through her writing is actually my de-stressing moment. She is so laidback, funny, hillarious, and also very witty and observant. Her collection of essays reminded me so much of reading through Shai's entries (which got me thinking, Shai, go and publish some excerpt of your English entries in your blog, it's amaayyzing). These people are the kind of group that are able to translate certain situation into amazing structure of sentences that made you just want to read it over and over again -- or made you go: "how true!!" or “can never be said better!”.
An excerpt of Ephron's book said -- "We were looking for applause, we were constantly performing, we were desperate to be all things to other people." -- You can just cut that, and paste it elsewhere, and can have thousands of other interpretations. Cut that and paste it on your enemy's walls, he'll think you provoked him. Cut that and paste it on FB, heck, people will think it's coming from some kind of indie songs. Cut that and paste it here, some whiny people will start posting 'kau memang terdesak' line in the chatbox (haha!). In that particular chapter, Ephron was actually writing about having an imaginary cooking session next to restaurant critique, Craig Clairborne.
What I'm trying to point out is that when words are interpreted without the essence of the content, you may have thousands of mistaken perceptions that makes it inadequate and pointless and deviates from the intended facts (macam Malaysian mainstream media ~). At times, I may be cynic. At times, I'm just making fun of things. It takes people with the same wavelength to understand what I'm trying to project. You just have to read the whole story to understand it before barraging it. And that -- is a lesson of life, and that, is inspired by reading.
An amazing writer for me is the one that inspires. They can make me go for an impomptu vacation. They are able to move my small-papan-shape-lazy-butt to go and queue for a book signing session -- ALONE! They can even inspire me to cook ridiculous recipes. In Ephron's case, I'm awed with her storytelling that I am determined to cook 'crab apple' for iftar yesterday -- only to find out that 'crab apple' is actually some kind of jelly made of fruits called 'crabapple', NOT a quirky combination or crab AND apple.
Anyway, go and get a copy of her book. I love her wit. And I just read that she’s already 70 years old (Like, for real…?? She explains about my life so much better than I do -- which to think about it, just makes sense). Till then, Salam Ramadhan.
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