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What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever read? (You know, something NOT a book, magazine, short story, poem or article.)
I read the labels on anything. Shampoos, cartons, you name it I read it! I have read the compositions of any medicine, be it skin ointment or oral medicines. I read all the instruction manuals. Then I read all the road signs..If that isn't odd, then what is?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
This week is all about Top Ten Authors That Deserve More Recognition!
I will only list one name:
“Here,” she whispered.
He sucked in a breath. What the—
She lifted the hem of her blue robe and drew it up over her pants, revealing the white canvas suicide bomber vest wrapped around her torso.
His heart stopped. “Oh, shit, Sam…”
~Page 154, No Turning Back by Kaylea Cross
CIA communications expert Samarra Wallace is on the run from a faceless enemy when she learns terrorists have kidnapped and threatened to execute her cousin. She will do whatever it takes to free her, including breaking cover to contact the former teammate she is dangerously attracted to. Now all she has to do is convince him she's not working for the bad guys.
Today, I invited my younger brother and his family for lunch. We did have a good time. He and my SIL gifted me a pair of oxidized Silver Bangles! I wore those throughout the lunch! That is WHAT made up for my week! I should have modelled the bangles on my wrist!
"Anything Goes on Saturday" is a meme hosted by Yvonne of Socrates' Book Reviews. It's a chance to choose any topic you want and talk about it on Saturday - it can be about a book, TV show, movie, a recipe or just an update on your week. Whatever you choose.
I will shamelessly promote my poetry blog today. I write poetry at my blog, rooted. I started it much before this book blog. I do have a lot of poets in my network. I write poetry for my own pleasure as well as prompts. You go, read any of my poems and don't forget to comment there. And do let me know, here too.
Enjoy!
Follow Friday, is hosted by ParaJunkee, Book Blogger Hop, is hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and
Follow Friday 40 and over is hosted by Java
Do feel free to explore my blog. You will definitely find something that interests you as I read wide range of genres, except maybe for a few. I also write poetry. You can read that on my other blog, rooted. Now go, explore both of my blogs! And follow them, if you like!! I follow blogs I like via Google Reader...
Enjoy!
Book Blurb:
When Eleanor Bellingham-Crump — a socialite responsible for the death of a ten-year-old boy — turns up murdered on the floor of a Hollywood hotel bathroom, Lomax and Biggs are confronted with a crime of artistic brutality. Along with the scissors impaled in Eleanor’s lifeless body, the two detectives find a meticulous scrapbook documenting a motive of vengeance in lurid detail.
Series? Or Stand-alone books?
Something like this was asked in BTT in September 2010. I will answer it in a similar vein. I prefer stand alone novels any day . I have read the Harry Potter series and also read all the three novels of the Millennium trilogy. These are exceptions than the rule.
One has to read series in the proper order.And that totally puts me off. It has to be VERY good series to pique my interest. And I also don't like to wait for the next book. For stand- alone novels, you can just pick it up, with no worries.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
This week is all about Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves!
Now how do I list those? Let me start:
1) I don't like long paragraphs. Some go on and on. Prime example being War and Peace. Although I did like the book after that bad start.
2) Un-necessary use of similes and metaphors. It takes away from the story
3) Too many characters introduced and they don't make sense after a while.
4) Book blurbs not doing justice to the content.
5) Obnoxious covers which do nothing for the novel
6) Wrong grammar. I can't stand it.
7) Use of Slang language. I want to throw the book!
8) Neat endings where everything is tied up! Too neat gets my goat!
9) When the plot gets blurred. In some novels, one loses the plot and it doesn't make sense any more, what the author is trying to say.
10) Movie covers! That is a guarantee that I won't pick that particular book!
What about yours?
"They've been using the money to fund eco-terrorism. Paying for safe houses. Guns. Bombs."
~Page 210
Title: Out At Night
Author: Susan Arnout Smith
ISBN: 978-0007275519
Publisher: Minotaur Books/2009
Pages: 283
When Professor Thaddeus Bartholomew is being chased by a killer, he has no time other other than type a text message with the name of Grace Descanso, before he is killed. He is found in a soy field, with a crossbow shot in his chest.
Grace, is a crime-scene tech and is on a vacation with her daughter. FBI has no compunctions about getting in touch with her. Grace has only a vague recollection of the Prof and does not understand his last text before his death. Her Uncle Pete, who is in the FBI does not want her to walk away.
When she starts the investigations in her own way, she finds her family involved in it. And the genetically modified soy is only a scratch in the surface. And the Prof. murder is not a random act! there are politicians, and agriculturists involved. It is always question of money.
Out At Night is very real. In the sense that by modifying our plant life, we are playing God, creating havoc for the nature, for humanity. The initial want of better yields, has given way to destruction, power and money. We need to tackle those questions.
What is the last book you bought? Was it for you? for someone else? Have you read it, yet?
The last book I bought was The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. I bought it for myself and yes I have finished reading it. Click on the title to read my review of it.
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I completed one novel, Out At Night by Susan Arnout Smith. Will post the review in a couple of days!
This weeks Weekly Geeks' asks:
Tell us ten things about you with regard to books and reading. Let your imagination run wild!
I am listing ten bookish things about myself, in no particular order:
1) I inherited my reading from both my parents. My dad was into Science stuff, my mom into short stories. And I can read anything.
2) I read a lot of poetry, from classics to contemporary.
3) I always use a bookmark.
5) I can't read in bed, although I do read lying down on the couch in the living room.
6) I can read anywhere, except by travelling in a car or bus. (No, I don't read in the bathroom either!!)
7) Anywhere I go, the first thing I look up, is a bookstore. Used bookstores too.
8) I love the old libraries too. It makes me feel so much at ease.
9) I can't read e-books or listen to Audio ones. Love the good old paper ones.
10) Except for YA, I can read any genre, although nowadays, I am read more of Crime Fiction (which in itself contains a VAST genre)
"Anything Goes on Saturday" is a meme hosted by Yvonne of Socrates' Book Reviews. It's a chance to choose any topic you want and talk about it on Saturday - it can be about a book, TV show, movie, a recipe or just an update on your week. Whatever you choose.
Those of us, who have been blogging for more than 4 years, we all knew Dewey. Most of what we see in the book blog world is in fact, what Dewey wanted for us...the networking, the connections with each other. She left all of us, to be one with GOD, but is still there in our hearts.
Today, I am reproducing here, Dewey's Review Questionaire for all. I have used it in its entirity or part of it in many of my reviews. I find this very useful when I don't have much time to think. This questionaire has all the relevant questions which ought to be asked of any review.
Title and author of book:
Fiction or non-fiction? Genre?
What led you to pick up this book?
Plot summary:
What did you like most about the book?
What did you like least?
What did you think of the writing style?
Which of your readers are most likely to enjoy this book? Why?
Have you read any other books by this author? What did you think of those books?
What did you think of the main character?
What is the central character’s biggest problem?
How do you think he/she feels?
What strengths does she have that help her cope?
Do you know anyone who has been in the same situation?
What would you have done?
If you were his best friend, what advice would you give?
How would that help the situation?
8. What effect do the people in the book have on one another?
Any other particularly interesting characters?
Write a (physical, emotional, relational) description of three of the characters in the book.
Take two or three of the characters and write about their relationship to each other. How do they interact; who are they to each other?
If this book has been made into a movie, and if you’ve seen the movie, compare the book to the movie.:
Share a quote from the book:
Share a favorite scene from the book:
What did you think of the ending?
Do you recommend this book? If you use a rating system, what’s your rating?
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Feel free to use it but do mention Dewey. She is no longer there, her blog is no longer there, unless it is in your google reader, where all her posts are retained. But she lives on....
Publisher's Blurb
One cold morning, in the wind-lashed Swedish countryside, a man's body is found in an isolated garage. The victim has been shot in the head, and run over repeatedly by a car. Inspector Christian Tell, a world-weary detective with a chequered past, is called to the scene. But there are few clues to go by, and no one seems to be telling the truth. Then, a second brutal murder. The method is the same, but this victim has no apparent connection with the first. Tell's team is baffled. Seja, a reporter and witness, thinks a long-unsolved mystery may hold the key to the killings. Tell is drawn to Seja, but her prescence at the crime scene doesn't add up, and a relationship could jeopardise everything. For the inquiry to succeed, the community must yield the dark secrets of its past.
Follow Friday, is hosted by ParaJunkee, Book Blogger Hop, is hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and
Follow Friday 40 and over is hosted by Java
Jennifer asks, "Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?"
I read several books at once. A poetry book, a crime fiction, a science book, and any other that takes my fancy.
Parajunkee asks, "How did you come up with your blog name?"
For me everything begins with reading and ends with reading. So that is how I named my blog.
Do feel free to explore my blog. You will definitely find something that interests you as I read wide range of genres, except maybe for a few. I also write poetry. You can read that on my other blog, rooted. Now go, explore both of my blogs! And follow them, if you like!! I follow blogs I like via Google Reader...
Enjoy!
What happens when the line between fiction and reality becomes all-too slim? Discuss!
Books are based on real life situations. Some are so real that we instantly identify with them. However, in most books, the ending is positive, Everything sorts itself out. However, reality is not like that. For natural or man made catastrophes, there is always a tragedy of gigantic proportions. And that can't be sorted out. Not the way we wish it or want it. I do't think fiction can be taken as reality. The line is always there even though it might get blurred!
Literary Blog Hop is hosted by The Blue Bookcase. If you features book reviews of literary fiction, classic literature, and general literary discussion, you too can join in!
This week's question is:
What one literary work must you read before you die?
For starters, I am not in a hurry to die! And I have read most of the Classics in while I was in High school and college. The ones I left out I don't really want to read.
But yes, I will speak of poetry here. I want to read all the works of the following poets, not in any particular order:
1) W. B. Yeats
2) Percy B. Shelley
3) Robert Burns
4) Robert Browning
5) Lord Byron
6) John Clare
7) John Keats
8) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
9) Robert Frost
10) Sylvia Plath
There are lot more. Of course, I have read many too. Poetry for me is like breathing to live!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
This week is all about those characters in books that we wish were in our family!
I wish those following characters to be in my family:
1) LEE from East of Eden by John Steinbeck: I think he is one of best character in the book. He is unlike any other servant. He himself says that a servant can be the master of the man he is serving. But we never see him imposing on Adam Trask at any place. He is more of a family to them than anyone else. He is the one who brings up Cal and Aron single handedly. It is he who keeps them together. He is practical, down to earth and lots of philosophy going inside him.
2) LIESEL from The Book Thief by Marcus Zusack: As a daughter. She is spunky, responsible and very lovable.
3) HANS THOMAS of The Solitaire Mystery by Jostien Gaarder: As a son who brings fantasy and mystery in our lives. Who helps is in merging reality with mysticism.
"The blood was definitely female."
"Female...What age?"
~Page 125
Title: Therapy
Author: Sebastian Fitzek
ISBN: 9780330453158
Publisher: Pan Books/2008
Pages: 293
It is as if 12 year old Josephine did not exist. She disappears without a trace from her doctor's clinic without a trace. Her father, a well known psychiatrist Viktor Larenz, searches for her and leaves his practice, goes to live in a remote North Sea Island. It is the only way he can deal with his loss. And he is also drifting apart from his wife.
A beautiful woman, Anna Glass, a writer of children's fiction, come to visit him and wants him treat her for her rare form of schizophrenia. Her characters in her novel come to life for her and she does not understand that. Dr Larenz finds her story intriguing and reluctantly agrees to treat her as he somehow finds resemblance between one of her characters with Josie. He has to know more, and only by knowing the ending of her story, he might get to know about her disappearance.
Viktor's grief, his obsession to know more, keeps us hooked to this novel. The enigmatic Anna, we want to know more about her. She appears real and yet unreal. Viktor is warned against her but he can't let her go as he can't let go off Josie. Listening to her story, he believes Anna is somehow responsible for her disappearance.
The reader feels for Viktor, his desperation to find anything about his much loved daughter. The interaction between Anna and Viktor keeps the reader wanting more. And when we finally get to the end, it leaves us completely blown out of our mind. Therapy is a novel one can't put down without finishing from start to finish. I would definitely recommend this and look forward to read more by the author.
I completed one novel, Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek 
Check out Monica of The Bibliophilc Book Blog, who is giving away the e-reader of your choice. Do enter here.
"Anything Goes on Saturday" is a meme hosted by Yvonne of Socrates' Book Reviews. It's a chance to choose any topic you want and talk about it on Saturday - it can be about a book, TV show, movie, a recipe or just an update on your week. Whatever you choose.
Here I would like to ask something. Most of us have Facebook and Twitter accounts. We network via one or maybe both, in addition to blogging. I, for one, use Facebook to keep in touch with my old school and college friends. I don't twitter. I do have a account but never post anything, i.e., do not twitter! I find it a nuisance. Who is really interested in what I am doing every second of my life?! Nor am I interested to know anyone else's! And I have found people posting about when their dog/cat poo-ed etc etc. Is it what we have come too? Why should want to know that?
Blogging for me is important. It keeps me in touch with books, or poetry. And about people who are like-minded. I would prefer blogging to Facebook/Twitter any day!
How about you? What interests you most? Blogging, Facebook or Twitter?
As the thirtieth minute ticked by, he knew he would never see his daughter again. Josephine had opened the door, glanced around briefly and slipped inside the old man's office.
Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek
Right now I find it totally engrossing. It has the potential for a great thriller.
Follow Friday, is hosted by ParaJunkee, Book Blogger Hop, is hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and
Follow Friday 40 and over is hosted by Java
Jennifer asks, "If I gave you £50 (or $80) and sent you into a bookshop right now, what would be in your basket when you finally staggered to the till?"
My basket would be filled with Crime Fiction novels and a few poetry books. What else? Let me first have the money!
Do feel free to explore my blog. You will definitely find something that interests you as I read wide range of genres, except maybe for a few. I also write poetry. You can read that on my other blog, rooted. Now go, explore both of my blogs! And follow them, if you like!! I follow blogs I like via Google Reader...
Enjoy!
Do you multi-task when you read? Do other things like stirring things on the stove, brushing your teeth, watching television, knitting, walking, et cetera?
I listen to music while reading. Other than that I can't do much. Yes, while travelling by train, I can read or in waiting rooms but that isn't multi-tasking. Previously, I could watch TV along with reading but not now.
I wish I could do so many things while reading, but I can't. What about you?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
This week, we have to list Top Ten Dynamic Duos. There are so many I really like. I will choose from classics to present day.
I list the following in no particular order:
1) Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare
2) Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson from Arthur Conan Doyle novels/stories
3) Hercule Poirot and Captain Arthur Hastings from the Agatha Christie mysteries
4) Perry Mason and Della Street from the Erle Stanley Gardner series
5) Jane Eyre and Rochester from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
6) Jeeves and Bertie from the Pg Wodehouse novels/stories
7) Heathcliff and Cathy from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
8) Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
9) Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn from Mark Twain books/stories
10) Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist from the Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson
"By remains, you mean hands, torsos, things like that?"
"No. That row of bags you saw before contains nothing but bones."
~Page 141, The Noah's Ark Quest by Boyd Morrison
What book(s) are you most excited about right now?
Right now, I am not excited about any book. Mainly because I have not been reading anything. I had not even had time to check out books...
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Mailbox Monday has moved over to I'm Booking It for the month of March 2011.
I received nothing in the mailbox this week!
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I had not been able to read anything due to census work. For the first time, a whole month passed without my finishing a single book.
1) The Elephant Tree by RD Ronald
"Anything Goes on Saturday" is a meme hosted by Yvonne of Socrates' Book Reviews. It's a chance to choose any topic you want and talk about it on Saturday - it can be about a book, TV show, movie, a recipe or just an update on your week. Whatever you choose.
I will talk about some totally unrelated to reading. I like to collect small boxes. Carved wooden one, marble ones, then there is one which is made up of camel wood, amongst others..... I keep knick knacks in those, i.e., jewellery like small earrings, finger rings etc etc...
I also like to gift such boxes to my friends. They are a great hit. Why not? You can have a look at a few of the boxes I have...I love the smallest leather one. One can keep it in ones Purse/bag. Very handy!
Follow Friday, is hosted by ParaJunkee, Book Blogger Hop, is hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and
Follow Friday 40 and overis hosted by Java
Jennifer asks,"Who's your all-time favorite book villain?"
We are going to see a lot of answers mentioning Voldemart. However, Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is my all time favourite Villain. Although I should call him that. Anti-Hero is a better term to describe him.
