BOOK REVIEW : THE FAMILY

The Family by Mario Puzo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Motivated by The Borgias I stumbled upon on Astro Ch720......Boy, it is really like the Godfather of the 15th century. Inspite of the earthly character or misdemeanor of Rodrigo Borgia or Pope Alexander VI, he was still an admirable strategist of the time. He ruled as the Caliph of the Papal States or a king of any kingdom. The middle ages were strange times.....Mario Puzo, as usual was in his elements.

I realise that politics in the middle ages were no different everywhere. The need or desire to hold one's seat of power could drive one to all all sorts of commitments.....alliances through marriage and the hostage system, corruption, murder, abduction, treachery.... even for the holy who took residence in the Vatican. Man's earthly considerations were often given a blind eye.....

Puzo did not complete the book. He died. Based on notes on the last chapter Carol Gino, a nurse, finished it.

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How Did I Get There?

Amidst the frenzy of the never ending tennis and badminton matches and championships on telecast in the last two months, I  surprise even myself  with this weekly peek at Masterchef Selebriti Malaysia at the same time. I do not watch local productions that much but when I stumbled on this one I thought it was rather interesting. This may have been due to the mixed presence of celebs from different genre...actors, comedians, singers, producers, astronaut ......

The programme had started in May 2012. It is part of the television  cookgame show  franchise, MasterChef created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version of the show in 1990. Malaysia is one of about 35 countries cashing in on the program. I have seen a few episodes of the Malaysian Master Chef Season 1 but I never really watch it with much interest. By the time I got hooked  to the celebrity version, there were already a few eliminations. I guess the participants, being an expressive lot, makes the difference. 

They are now down to the last five.

The three permanent judges are Moh Johari Edrus (Chef Jo), Zubir Md. Zain  (Chef Zubir), Adu Amran Hassan (Chef Adu). So the guy, Wan something...who had caused waves over his appointment to the other series is now in oblivion?