A review by:

Mr. Chan Bing Fai

Former school teacher, Headmaster and educational technologist

Lynn Wong's latest book is SMILE though your heart is ACHING. This is a much awaited book, a worthy sequel to her first book "As Time Goes By" published five years ago. Both her books are generally about life and living. They are not autobiographies.

Her first book is centred more on childhood memories and growing up pains based more on events, observations and her responses and reactions to them, with the innocence of a child. Her latest book, however, is about the adult world with its ups and downs.

It is also about fighting corporate battles.

The words she has chosen carry her thoughts succinctly. They are warm and friendly without being pretentious. The topics included in both her books cover a broad spectrum of subjects and events. Some are more hilarious and many are focused on a more serious note.

Her approach to life is spontaneous, governed by prudence and common sense. It appears lighthearted and easy. Being a keen observer, even trifles, will not escape her scrutiny. Her response to these is largely based on common sense and knowledge; laced with wisdom.

Her thoughts flow through smoothly from one idea to another and the transition is gentle, methodical, tidy and logical. Lynn's philosophy appears simple and yet very profound and thoughtful; gracious and tinged with a lot of human skills and understanding.

Her books are very personal and subjective; unique, highly perceptive, intimate and reflective. I have enjoyed reading both her books and excitedly look forward to her next one which I hope will not take too long to come to fruition.

Her artist -illustrator- is equally talented in bringing out the many encounters and experiences of the author through her drawings; depicting expressions, moods and emotions subtly and with precision. Congratulations to both of you for complementing each other perfectly!

The typography and layout is attractive and designed for easy reading. The book is available in major bookstores.

It is priced at RM27.90.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

From the chapter on " Pain Is Necessary" by Lynn Wong

Every morning, from Mondays to Saturdays, it is a ritual for most of us to fight the wish-I-could-sleep-forever syndrome before struggling out of bed, grumbling. We grope in semi-consciousness to the bath room, wash and put on a clean dress in an attempt to look decent before we face the world. On especially bad mornings, when we are in a terrible rush, in our haste, we knock over the mugful of coffee, scalding ourselves and staining the only clean blouse that's not in the dhobi, our toast falls butter-side down, we misplace the car keys and forget to top up the car's fuel tank; and step on the cat's tail - ouch!

Why does one have to go through the motion of going to work?......






















"Work is painful. It's full of bad breaks, heartaches, hard knocks and impossible situations. You will fall and hurt yourself many times. When that happens, just pick yourself up, dust off, brace yourself; put on your BRIGHTEST SMILE, fake it if you must until you make it and go back into the ring, FIGHTING....."

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