THE DIARY OF FRIDA KAHLO: AN INTIMATE SELF-PORTRAIT (RM177.80)

“I don’t think it’ll be possible for me to list down just one of my favourite books. There are so many brilliant gems to choose from. My favourite books have been chosen according to what I was going through at that point in time. These books I love have offered me an alternative view of the world. One such book is The Diary Of Frida Kahlo. Incidentally, I am a huge Frida Kahlo fan, therefore it is only natural that this is my ‘most favourite’ book. What I love about this diary is that it shows what a passionate person she was and how she lived her life with such fervour.

At that point in my life, I was happy, travelling, married and doing work. So to read the book at that time made me so grateful for my life. Frida was involved in an accident that happened when she was riding a bus. The vehicle collided with a trolley car and she suffered serious injuries, including a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot and a dislocated shoulder. An iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus, which seriously damaged her reproductive ability. And yet despite all this, she focused her energies on painting as the accident had left her in a great deal of pain while she recovered in a full-body cast. I find it simply amazing and inspirational to a large extent. But I must also list other favourites The Tiger The Ramayana, Wretched Of The Earth, Fear Of Flying and of course, The Bible.”