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Which is worse?
Finding a book you love and then hating everything else you try by that author, or
Reading a completely disappointing book by an author that you love?
Do you read non-fiction regularly? Do you read it in a different way or place than you read fiction?
In non-fiction, I mainly read memoirs, biographies and travelogues fairly regularly. I also read science based books very often. History based books to interest as do books on religion. By that I don't mean religious texts. I steer clear of those. I can read non-fiction anywhere. That means, I don't need any particular place for it.
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I received the following books:
1) The Horseman's Graves by Jacqueline Baker
2) Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales by Eleanor Bluestein
3) The Noticer by Andy Andrew
It's Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? is a weekly event hosted by J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog, "to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finish this week." Wright’s poems don’t bear down toward conclusions, they expand and evanesce as if in a valiant, impossible effort to comprehend and demonstrate Wittgenstein’s dictum that “the world is all that is the case.” Wright’s new collection of short poems is less a book unto itself than the next installment in a continuous poem he’s been writing for 40-odd years.
4) THE POSSESSION OF MR. CAVE By Matt Haig
In “The Possession of Mr. Cave,” Matt Haig takes on the unspeakable terrors. In fact he stacks the deck with them: the narrator’s mother dead by suicide, his wife dead at the hands of a burglar and — in the chilling, riveting, heartbreaking scene that opens the novel — his son, Reuben, dead by a stupid attempt to curry favor with bullying peers. What’s left? And how to find a reason to continue living in the face of grief? These are the initial questions that face Terence Cave, a man who restores antiques but cannot preserve the well-being of those he loves most.
What’s left, it turns out, is Reuben’s 15-year-old twin sister, Bryony. So Terence, fearful and bereft, dedicates himself to his daughter’s well-being. Yet the question of what constitutes a 15-year-old’s well-being and what a father’s protection entails, or should entail, is at the heart of this complex novel.
Can anyone forget The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling? I loved all the characters in it, as a kid. I think I still do. Sometimes I call my youngest nephew, Mowgli!
Mowgli — the young jungle boy.
Father Wolf — One who raised Mowgli as his own cub
Raksha — One who raised Mowgli as her own cub
Grey brother — One of Mother and Father Wolf's cubs
Hathi — An Indian Elephant
Bagheera — A black panther
Baloo— A Sloth Bear
Shere Khan— The Royal Bengal Tiger
Kaa — Indian Python
Akela — An Indian Wolf
Tabaqui — A Golden Jackal
Chil — A kite
Mor — An Indian Peafowl
Mang — A Bat
Ikki — An Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine
The Bandar log — A tribe of monkeys
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi — An Indian Mongoose
Darzee — A tailorbird
Chuchundra — A Muskrat
Nag — A male King cobra
Nagaina — A female King cobra, Nag's mate
Karait -- A Common Krait
Kotick — The White Seal
Sea catch — A Northern fur seal and Kotick's father
Sea vitch — A Walrus
Sea cow — A manatee
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion, where we post about the unfamiliar words we have encountered in our reading the past week.A person regarded as irritable.
2) Muerta: 'Where is Eleni?'
Finally it is over! Due to unavoidable reasons, I started the read-a-thon after 4 hours and lost 5 odd hours to sleep. Now I am kind of comfortable with how much reading I did in the time left. I finished 4 1/2 books. All from different genres and very good reads.
Random Acts of Heroic love Danny Schienmann, pages 428
Breathing Out The Ghost by Kirk Curnutt, pages 329
The Pleasure Trap by Elizabeth Thornton, pages 385
Going to see the elephants by Rodes Fishburne, pages 293
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton, 158/308
Sinai Tapestry by Edward Whittemore, Pages 23
Total pages read: 1616
I abandoned Sinai Tapestry by Edward Whittemore, after 23 pages. As it is a heavy read, I simply couldn't concentrate on this book in the last hours and left it, selecting another.
Now to answer the questions
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
The last hour. I just wished to finish the book I was reading. Infact I stopped reading 30 minutes before the end!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Graphic novels, romance novels, light breezy reads,
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I think it is perfect the way it is.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
All that cheerleading, what else!
5. How many books did you read?
4 and a half. 1616 pages in all
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Random Acts of Heroic love Danny Schienmann, pages 428
Breathing Out The Ghost by Kirk Curnutt, pages 329
The Pleasure Trap by Elizabeth Thornton, pages 385
Going to see the elephants by Rodes Fishburne, pages 293
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton, 158/308
Sinai Tapestry by Edward Whittemore, Pages 23
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Random Acts of Heroic love Danny Schienmann, pages 428
8. Which did you enjoy least?
The Pleasure Trap by Elizabeth Thornton, pages 385
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
If possible, they ought to serve us all coffee and tea! Kidding!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Yes, of course! As a reader!
Now I don't want to look at another book for atleast a couple of days..:D
RLB Hartmann sent me a pdf of his book I wrote With Cullen Baker and agreed for an author Interview. Do check on his website and his book by clicking on his name the book title.
Here goes the interview:
1) When and why did you begin writing?
I began writing when I was in grade school because my neighbor, who was 2 years ahead of me, showed me a story she had written. I wanted to do that.
2) When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I considered myself a writer long before I actually was one. It took me awhile to realize that writing doesn’t necessarily make one a writer. The turning point for me was when I wrote a scene that made me cry (one that was supposed to!).
3) What inspired you to write your first book?
My first book (s) were inspired by reading girls’ mysteries and teen romances, and later by Daphne du Maurier’s "three novels of Cornwall" that came in a one-volume book club edition. None of those efforts of mine deserve to see the light of day.
4) What was the hardest part of writing your book?
The hardest part of writing my first REAL book was learning how to handle point of view. And letting go of the first version of the first page.
5) What do you see as the influences on your writing?
Aside from my early reading choices, I think that my writing has been influenced greatly by the discovery of source materials.
For my historical novel, I Rode with Cullen Baker (available at Lulu.com), finding a book by Ed Bartholomew gave me not only the name of my previously unnamed character, it unlocked a story that had been stalled for years.
For the Mexican historical saga Tierra del Oro , it was marrying a bookseller whose occupation opened the world of out-of-print books, postcards, ephemera, and other booksellers’ stock that guided my research.
6) Who is your favorite author and what is it that strikes you about their work?
I don’t have one favorite, but the key ones are/were: Margaret Mitchell, Daphne du Maurier, Elswyth Thane (second wife of Dr. William Beebe, naturalist and inventor of the Bathysphere), Elizabeth Borton de Treviño, Louis L’Amour, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
What these writers have in common, beyond a passion for their characters and a sure hand with details, is that all of them wrote intricate stories set in the past. Believable and engaging characters, a completely developed other world, and entertwined plot threads give writers like them an authenticity while making their work accessible to readers like me.
7) Can you share a little of your current work and how you envision it in the future?
My current work is Tierra del Oro, which is the historical saga featured on my website at www.rlbhartmann.com.
The entire story is now finished, and I’m seeking an agent whose expertise can see this project into print. I am very much aware of the time and commitment needed to publish these books, and I’m more than willing to let the first volume speak for itself and begin building a readership.
I ‘ve also written these stories as feature film scripts, but have started reworking the scripts into episodic tv format. The first 14 are available for consideration by any interested producer who has funding.
8) What book (s) are you reading now?
A book I finished recently is The Shadow of the Wind (in translation) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Having read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, I’m now reading Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist by James Bishop, Jr. I’m about to leap into Assault and Pepper by Tamar Myers, whose series books are always a delight.
9) Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
If you mean hot off the shelf, I’m afraid I can’t think of any. I’m working on 20 boxes of "things to read soon" that have been piling up for the last few years.
10) Do you have anything that you want to say to your readers?
I hope you enjoy Jessica’s story of falling in love with a dashing outlaw. Cullen Baker was a real person whose notorious escapades at the close of the War Between the States (Southern term for Civil War) are documented in a few elusive sources. There is a Cullen Baker Festival each Fall in the county where he lived and was murdered. Maybe this year I’ll have a chance to attend.
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Thanks RLB, for answering my interview question. I look forward to read the pdf of your book and also to your guest post.
Author's Bio from her website in her own words:
What would you spend an unexpected windfall on? Say … $50? How about $500?
The story of Zenia ought to begin when Zenia began. It must have been someplace long ago and distant in space, thinks Tony; someplace bruised, and very tangled.
This poetry book is the only one book, I covet on this sunday. I checked and nothing else interested me in the New York Times.
SLAMMING OPEN THE DOOR by Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno
"Chika climbs in through the store window first and then holds the shutter as the woman climbs in after her. The store looks as if it was deserted long before the riots started; the empty rows of wooden shelves are covered in yellow dust, as are the metal containers stacked in a corner. The store is small, smaller than Chika's walk-in closet back home."
Chika and her sister Nnedi had been in the market buying oranges and groundnuts when the riot started.
"It had all started at the motor park, when a man drove over a copy of the Holy Koran that had been dropped on the roadside, a man who happened to be Igbo and Christian. The men nearby, men who sat around all day playing draughts, men who happened to be Muslim, pulled him out of his pickup truck, cut his head off with one flash of a machete, and carried it to the market, asking others to join in; the infidel had desecrated the Holy Book."
Inside that store, Chika and the woman are an unlikely pair. The Woman belongs to the working class and Chika to the higher strata. The woman is Hausa Muslim and Chika is Igbo Christian. Initially Chika disparages that woman but slowly she changes as she finds that the woman is ready to share whatever little she has. Like her scarf, the threadbare one, probably the only one she owns, to tie a wound on Chika's leg. Chika too is grateful for that. In her grief of being separated from her sister, she shares the grief of the woman too, whose daughter too is lost in the riots.
Ethnic riots separate communities, yes. But they also bring people closer. Those ones who belong to different stratas.
"Later, Chika will read in the Guardian that "the reactionary Hausa-speaking Muslims in the North have a history of violence against non-Muslims", and in the middle of her grief, she will stop to remember that she examined the nipples and experienced the gentleness of a woman who is Hausa and Muslim."
In todays volatile world, where riots are very common, this could have happened anywhere. Adichie does not disappoint. Do read this story online here.
How do you respond to the comments on your blog? Do you try to email individually or comment on post yourself answering the comments above? What do you think is the best way to respond to comments and do you respond to all of them? Do you feel slighted if you don't receive a response back from the blog owner?
I seldom respond to comments on my blog unless it is controversial or someone asks me anything. Frankly I don't have the time. I used to reply to each and every comment in the beginning. Not any more. My way of replying is to visit the commenter's blog and comment on her posts. I think that is more important, visiting fellow bloggers and commenting on their blog, instead of replying to each and every comment on my blog. I don't mind if no one replies to my comments. I don't keep track of it either.
I think I would rather read. As it is blogging takes away to much of my time.
For interesting posts I do subscribe to comments and keep track. As for responding, few times I have. Not all.
Weekly Geeks 2009 -14: What's cookin'?
What shall we cook today? It seems that for most of us,
a bit of our book obsession would carry over to the cookbook
genre, so this week for Weekly Geeks, let's talk cookbooks!
I wil do this in an entirely different way. I don't have cookbooks to show in my bookshelves or otherwise. I can only recall a tattered one with the cover pages and index pages gone, God knows where.
I am a fairly good cook. I learnt it from my mom. India is a diverse country. So eating habits vary as does the cooking. Most recipes pass from one generation to the other by word of mouth. It's not that women don't make use of cookbooks but we rely more on the words of a good cook. At least I do.
If I have to cook certain items, I ask my friends or nowadays I simply surf the net. That way one gets to learn about different recipes for the same stuff. I pick from that which me suits me best. I don't go for the professional sites but personal ones. That way I have learnt a lot of household tips too.
As they say, web is our oyster!
These two websites are very popular with Indians:
TARLA DALAL
SANJEEV KAPOOR
Trish of Trish's Reading Nook is hosting the Non-Fiction Five Challenge. It will run from May 1 to Sep 30, 2009.
The Rules
1. Read 5 non-fiction books during the months of May - September, 2009
2. Read at least one non-fiction book that is different from your other choices
Go sign in the Mr Linky thing on Trish's blog.
Here is my tentative list:
1) Travel Writing 1700-1830: An Anthology edited by Elizabeth A. Bohls and Ian Duncan
2) Grow Your Money by Jonathan D. Pond
3) The Wolf's Head by Peter Unwin
4) Return to the Middle Kingdom by Yuan-Tsung Chen
5) Unholy Business by Nina Burleigh
6) Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
As you can see, all are from different topics/issues.
My On-the-ground-lion,
Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…
1) Are you currently reading more than one book?
Yes, I am reading more than one book. I always do.
2) If so, how many books are you currently reading?
Six, as of now. Angel of Wrath by Bill Myers. Beloved by Toni Morrison. Walking Through Walls by Philip Smith. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Selected Poems by Robert Lowell. Also re-reading Catch 22.
3) Is this normal for you?
Yes, it is normal for me. I am always reading 3 to 4 books at a time. That way I pick up the one I want to read, according to my mood. I can keep track of all the stories. However, that is not true for movies I watch. I forget which is which!
4) Where do you keep your current reads?
Most of the times, near my PC. That is most accessible place for me. Sometimes, if I read in bed, I keep it there under my pillow, the one I am reading before sleeping. The one I finish, I take it back to its place on my shelf and pick another book in its place.
Blue Rose Creek, California Maggie Conlin left her home believing a lie. She believed that her life was normal again.
Title: Six Seconds
Author: Rick Mofina
ISBN: 9780778326120
Publisher: Mira/2009 Pages: 469
This year I have been reading a lot of crime fiction. Six Seconds too belongs somewhat to that genre. It is more a novel on terrorists and terror attacks, Jihadists and all. The issue which is very contemporary. When I requested for an ARC of the book, Rick Mofina was kind enough to send me one.
When Maggie goes to pick her son from school for a soccer match, she finds out that Jake her husband had picked him and vanished without a trace. Maggie runs from pillar to post but with no avail.
A nurse Samara, has been raped and has lost her husband and Son in Iraq to merciless American soldiers. She vows revenge on them. To achieve that she gets involved with truck driver, who used to do Iraq rounds.
Daniel Graham who belongs to Royal Canadian Mountain Police is trying to forget his sadness over his wife's death by pulling the trigger on himself near Faust river, when he is somehow compelled to watch out for rescue operations. He does manage to get hold of a little girl who dies in his arms, after uttering a few words. He feels so guilty and has to find out what happened to the Canadian family who seem to have been drowned.
All three events seem disconnected, yet there is something which is common for all. Graham's search leads him to a school in Montana where the Pope is supposed to visit. Although Graham is told to give up his search, he has to go on. And thus he unravels a plot to kill the Pope, all in six seconds. However, no one knows how as no weapon, nothing is detected.
In the backdrop of todays terrorism, this novel feels as if it is real and feasible. And it keeps us hooked too. The leader of the terrorist group remains unseen and faceless. This makes it very scary too. Isn't it what is happening today? Mofina sure knows how to write a crime fiction, or should I call it terrorism fiction? I wouldn't call the prose great but who really thinks about that while reading a fast paced crime thriller.
Author: James Vance Marshall
ISBN: 0688010091
Publisher: William Morrow/1970
Pages: 160
Two children, Sarah, 14, and her brother Joey, 11 are lost in the deserts of outback Australia. They are looking out at ways of survival. A tribe of Aborigines arrive out of nowhere and just take those children into their protection. The children have been brought up in a missinary and have been taught to be good Christians. And the Aborigines follow the faith they have been following from time immemorial.
Nature shows its perils yet the children nor the Aborigines give up hope, following, invoking God in their own ways. The cultures might be divided but hope remains same.
Sarah discovers that cultural differences are not what they seem. Both have the same ends. Both teach love, hope, belief. How can a different faith be wrong? That gives her power to save the people. She also teaches love to everyone who has been in touch with her.
If only we understood this, our world would be better place to live. That no religion is above the others. And all religion teach love. This fable may seem simple but gives us a profound message.
Title: Waiting for Will
Meili met us at the door of the restaurant. She kissed my head as my father and I entered, and when he wasn’t looking, she slipped me a thin, red envelope.
Year of the Dog by Casey Kait is the 14th short story in Fifty-Two Stories.
The story has been told in the voice of a thirteen year-old girl. She and her father, Peter, are dining with Meili and her sons, Sammy and little Pete. Her mother is not there with them as she has a migraine. Meili's husband too is working late. The story starts with the girl thinking how much she likes Meili, who considers her like her own daughter. Meili is always giving her presents. This time she slips in twenty dollars in that thin, red envelope.
Sammy, 13, is morose throughtout the meal but little Pete, 9, is eager to talk about Tennis with her father. The girl is not too happy the way her father is monopilising the younger boy. They finish the meal and come out into the streets which are crowded. It is the Year of the Dog and one can hear cymbals playing and see the head of the Dragon moving with it in tune.
Sammy walks ahead, the girl is with little Pete, Meili and her father are behind. They buy titbits in the noisy, crowded streets and the girl in none too pleased to see her Father and Meili holding hands. At one point, Meili throws a tantrum and her father holds her again after she calms down. Sammy too has seen all this and says he hates his mother. The girl spend the twenty dollars given by Meili, to buy a toy drum for little Pete. She doesn't wish to have anything from Meili again. When Peter and Meili join the children, the girl refuses to shake hands with Meili and walks to their car with her father and starts crying..
This story started with good vibes between Meili and the girl. She says she is fond of Meili but at the end, she hates Meili. She shows her displeasure by refusing to shake hands. She does not make a scene or anything but does it with quiet dignity. Her father understands her turmoil and lets her cry. The reader too likes Meili in the beginning but somehow that diminishes towards the end. The girl has not expected Meili and Peter to have feelings for each other. She hates the very thought of Meili taking her mother's place. And so does the reader.
It is a story which is all too common. And that makes it very readable.
Posting the senryu first, as a short review for Weekly Geeks:
Title: the nine planets
Zeke's tree would not speak to him.
"Are you sure you've got the right tree?" Ariel asked when he told her. "Maybe you've been hearing another one nearby that got tired of the confusion and gave up."
Title: The Farwalker's Quest
Author: Joni Sensel
ISBN: 9781599902722
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's books/2009
Pages: 387
Zeke and Ariel, twelve years old are out chasing polliwogs in the creek in their lunchtime. That's when Zeke discovers that his tree won't talk to him. Ariel, who was never one cowed down by anything goes back to the tree to force it to speak to Zeke. Thats when they discover a dart with 13 weird symbols. They recognise a few of the symbols for each of the trades it represents but the last one is unfathomable.
Namingfest is three days away, on Apirl first where one can know what trade one wants to apprentice for. Ariel is the daughter of a Healtouch, and wishes to be one as she recognises medicinal plants and has a healiing touch. Zeke is the son of a tree-singer and wishes to be one himself.
That particular dart is given to the Storian of the village for safe-keeping but two finders turn up to claim it. They also want to take away Ariel along with them, recognising her for what she is, but they are not keen to reveal it to her as yet. Ariel fails her namingfest and wishes to be away too. Luna, Ariel's mother is not keen to send her daughter with two strangers to a far away place.
Scarl and Elbert steal Ariel away and kill her mother. They keep her tied and trussed up, taking her to some unknown place. Soon after Zeke follows and rescues her. Both bolt from the captives, finding new adventures on their way. Somehow Ariel knows exactly where to go and Zeke finds that rocks speak to him. It turns out that Ariel is a Farwalker.
Scarl and Elbert catch up with them and Scarl turns out to a protector of the children. They undergo the path of the dart, wanting to find out the Vault that is somehow mentioned in it. When they do, it is a revelation for the children and Scarl too. The treasure is not of Gold but wisdom, the art of living, which was lost in the disease which swept the Earth blinding everyone. People found their eyes-sight but lost everything else.
Despite the violence, I liked the book. The fantasy element is more like in the dreams or as an ESP. This makes it more realistic. Some questions are left unanswered. Maybe, Sensel wants to write sequels. It sure makes a good read for 11-13 years olds. My ARC goes to my 12 year old nephew.
Also reviewed by
CB James
