Mondays: Mailbox/What Are You Reading/Musings

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at A Girl and Her Books. Staci from Life in the Thumb  is hosting for the month of August.
I received two books, thanks to the author/publicist:

1) Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend

Using various fortune telling tools to interpret her visions, Sunny seeks to aid the residents of Divinity, New York. But when she uses tea leaves to read the frazzled town librarian, what lies at the bottom of the cup is anything but helpful.

2) Displaced Persons by Ghita Schwarz

In May 1945, Pavel Mandl, a Polish Jew recently liberated from a concentration camp, lands near a displaced persons camp in the British occupation zone of newly defeated Germany. Alone, possessing nothing but a map, a few tins of food, a toothbrush, and his identity papers, he must scrape together a new life in a chaotic community of refugees, civilians, and soldiers.

Gifted with a talent for black-market trading, Pavel soon procures clothing, false documents, and a modest house, where he installs himself and a pair of fellow refugees—Fela, a young widow who fled Poland for Russia at the outset of the war, and Chaim, a resourceful teenage boy whose smuggling skills have brought him to the Western zones. The trio soon form a makeshift family, searching for surviving relatives, railing against their circumscribed existence, and dreaming of visas to America.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.

Virtually nothing!

What was the last book you…
• borrowed from the library?
None
• bought?
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
• cried over?
Room by Emma Donoghue
• disliked and couldn’t finish?
Too many!
• read & loved?
Too many!
• got for review? (or: got in the mail?)
Displaced Persons by Ghita Schwarz
• gave to someone else?
I am always giving books!
• stayed up too late reading?
Room by Emma Donghue

Saturday Snapshot- August 27

My nieces and Nephew. I am missing the other two!

One might ask, what is special about this photo? Well, the two girls are sisters, the boy is their cousin and they seldom meet each other. It is a rare photo.....

Posted for Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce of At Home With books.

Book Blogger Hop/Follow Friday

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 “Non-book-related this week!! Do you have pets?” 

NO!!!
 (Update: I am not against pets. Just never owned any. I do love my brother's dog!!)

 ParaJunkee asks " In books like the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) series the paranormal creature in question "comes out of the closet" and makes itself known to the world. Which mythical creature do you wish would come out of the closet, for real?"

Dragons. I rather like them. They are friendly, despite their sizes!

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...

Booking through History

When is the last time you read a history book? Historical biography? You know, something that took place in the past but was REAL.

I used to read a lot of History. Indian as well as World History. But now I read history via historical novels. I know that is not enough. I should get back to reading History books. SOON.

Top Ten Books You Loved But Never Wrote A Review For.

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's Top Ten is:  Books You Loved But Never Wrote A Review For.

Here is my list: (There are too many!!)

1) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2) The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
3) The Fountain Head by Ayn Rand
4) Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
5) Kite Runner by Khald Hosseini
6) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
7) The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
8) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
9) Agatha Christie Novels
10) Erly Stanley Gardner novels

Teaser Tuesday: Other Eyes by Barbara D'Amato

Brad leaned against the median divider, holding the baby close. They were both crying.

~~~Other Eyes by Barbara D'Amato

Mondays: Mailbox/What Are You Reading/Musings

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at A Girl and Her Books. Staci from Life in the Thumb  is hosting for the month of August.
I received two books, thanks to the author/publicist:

Moving Can Be Murder by Susan Santangelo


Empty nester Carol Andrews would prefer leaving her beautiful antique home feet first to selling it and moving on. But her Beloved Husband Jim convinces her that a nearby active adult community is the best fit for them at this time in life. The house sells, and Carol returns alone the night before the closing for a pity party farewell tour. And finds the dead body of the buyer in her living room. Wow. Talk about seller's remorse!

My Bollywood Wedding by Rekha Waheed:

Now that Maya has found Jhanghir Khan, her perfect man, it's time to start the mammoth task of planning her dream wedding. But 15 designer wedding boutiques, seven venues, two jet-set dashes to Dubai and Dhaka, and one trip to Tiffany's later, with interfering aunties on her tail, her enthusiasm is flagging. And with the Maliks and Khans fighting over dowries and every decision related to the 600 strong guest list, Maya questions if it's all worth it—and most importantly, she starts to doubt if Jhanghir really is Mr. Right.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.

Virtually nothing!

Do you prefer character-driven stories, or plot-driven stories?

It depends on the genre. For literary fiction, I want character driven. For Crime Fiction, I prefer plot driven. 

Saturday Snapshot- August 20

Raksha Bandhan, a festival for brothers and sisters, where one ties a sacred thread on one's brother's right wrist. Prior to that, I tied a Rakhi to my divine brother, Krishna....
You can see the colourful threads I bought for my brothers and SILs (yes, I tie on their wrists too)...


Posted for Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce of At Home With books.

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Book Blogger Hop/Follow Friday

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 “What’s the LONGEST book you’ve ever read?” 

 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (1312) and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1475)

ParaJunkee asks " If you could write yourself a part in a book, what book would it be and what role would you play in that book?"

I think I would like to be a part of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, depicting French Revolution. The role of Sydney Carton, of course. To know why, one has to read the novel.

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...

Booking Through Fluff

You’ve just had a long, hard, exhausting day, and all you want to do is curl up with something light, fun, easy, fluffy, distracting, and entertaining. What book do you pick up?

I used to pick up romance novels on such days. Those provide mindless reading and the endings make one feel good. Now? I usually continue with what I am been reading. But I do think certain genres help in dispelling stress. Graphic novels are great outlets and so are authors, who write hilarious books. I love P G WODEHOUSE, any time!!!

Top Ten Picks: Must Read Poets

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's Top Ten is: FREEBIE! It is our call.

I am choosing something different.

Ten Must Read Poets (in no particular order):

Here is my list of poets. I have taken those from classic to modern. I have read and still reading many poets but this list is my personal favourite. I read them again and again.

Rumi (1207 - 1273): needs no introduction. He only needs to be read. Rumi to write mystical poetry and tales called Masnavi in the style of Sana'i and 'Attar. Rumi completed six books of these before he died on December 17, 1273. Many of his talks were written down in the book Fihi ma fihi, which means "In it what is in it" and is often referred to as his Discourses.

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321): His most famous work is Divine Comedy. La divina commedia (Divine Comedy) was completed just before his death. It is a narrative poem in terza rima containing 14,233 lines organized into 100 cantos approximately 142 lines each. Written in the first person, it tells of the poet's journey through the realm of the afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The dual allegory of Commedia - the progress of the soul toward Heaven, and the anguish of humankind on Earth - was later echoed by John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress (1678-84). Gustave Doré's (1832-1883) illustrated text of Inferno (1861) is among the most famous translations.


William Shakespeare (1564–1616): His sonnets are a must read. He wrote 154 sonnets. Evoking Petrarch's style (also known as Shakespearean sonnets) and lyrically writing of beauty, mortality, and love filled with moral anguish and adoration of unattainable love, the first 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man, sonnets 127-152 to a dark lady

John Clare (1793-1864): his poetry is wonderfully descriptive of the English countryside as it existed in the early 19th Century and recaptures the spirit of rural life of that era. Clare's attempts to write like other poets of his day, as well as his financial worries, put tremendous strain on his mind, and in 1837 he was admitted to a mental asylum in High Beach, Epping. The asylum poems are among his best known works, but the haunting descriptions of rural landscapes in poems such as 'The Flitting', 'Decay' and 'Remembrances' are more typical of the true character of his poetic voice.
“I am” is his most famous work.


Robert Browning (1812-1889): My love for poetry started by reading Browning. I read “The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Child's Story” and was hooked for life.


Emily Dickinson (1830-1886): She is noted for her unconventional broken rhyming meter and use of dashes and random capitalization as well as her creative use of metaphor and overall innovative style. She was a deeply sensitive woman who questioned the puritanical background of her Calvinist family and soulfully explored her own spirituality, often in poignant, deeply personal poetry. At times characterized as a semi-invalid, a hermit, a heartbroken introvert, or a neurotic agoraphobic, her poetry is sometimes brooding and sometimes joyous and celebratory. She wrote 1789 poems.


Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967): was an American writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. She published seven volumes of short stories and poetry: Enough Rope, Sunset Gun, Laments for the Living, Death and Taxes, After Such Pleasures, Not So Deep as a Well (collected poems) and Here Lies.


Dylan Thomas (1914-.1953): He was a neurotic, sickly child who shied away from school and preferred reading on his own. Thomas was the archetypal Romantic poet of the popular American imagination: he was flamboyantly theatrical, a heavy drinker, engaged in roaring disputes in public, and read his work aloud with tremendous depth of feeling. He became a legendary figure, both for his work and the boisterousness of his life. Perhaps no other poem depicts so clearly the innate spirituality, the romantic and the metaphysical nature of Thomas as a poet than "And Death Shall Have no Dominion", for it is especially in this poem that he expresses his wide and deep love of humanity and the immortalist sentiment that death shall never triumph over life. "Do not go gentle into that good night a villanelle composed in 1951, is considered to be among the finest works by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914–1953). Originally published in the journal Botteghe Oscure in 1951, it also appeared as part of the collection "In Country Sleep." It is one of his most-quoted works. It was written for his dying father.


Sylvia Plath (1932-1963): was an American poet, novelist, short story writer, and essayist She is criticized for her controversial allusions to the Holocaust, and is known for her uncanny use of metaphor. Plath's work is valuable for its stylistic accomplishments--it is melding of comic and serious elements, its ribald fashioning of near and slant rhymes in a free-form structure, its terse voicing of themes that have too often been treated only with piety. It is also valuable for its ability to reach today's reader, because of its concern with the real problems of our culture. In this age of gender conflicts, broken families, and economic inequities, Plath's forthright language speaks loudly about the anger of being both betrayed and powerless.


Mary Oliver (1935): I am captivated to her work after reading this:

“From the complications of loving you
I think there is no end or return.
No answer, no coming out of it.

Which is the only way to love, isn’t it?
This isn’t a playground; this is
earth, our heaven, for a while.”

— from Mary Oliver’s A Pretty Song in Thirst

An intense and joyful observer of the natural world, Oliver is often compared to Whitman and Thoreau. Her poems are filled with imagery from her daily walks near her home in Provincetown, Massachusetts: shore birds, water snakes, the phases of the moon.

I must not leave out Pablo Neruda. His "Ode to the Lemon" strongly evokes the smell of the same.

Teaser Tuesday: The Abduction by John Grisham

"I doubt if he abducted her."
"Well, if he's not upstairs in his room, we may have a problem."


Title: The Abduction
Author: John Grisham
ISBN: 978-0525425571
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile/2011
Pages: 256

I used to read a lot of John Grisham. The Pelican Brief is one of my favourite novels.  The Abduction was sent to me by the publisher. I was happy to receive it. But when I saw it has a teenage detective, I had my misgivings. But when I started it, I changed my mind. I am way older than the intended readership for this novel.

Theodore Boone's friend April disappears. She has a dysfunctional family and her only friend is, Theo. The police is clueless. Theo, along with his friends and an Uncle, who is the black sheep of the family, searches for her. He has a good legal knowledge (His parents are lawyers) and also has wonderful investigative skills.

This is a very enjoyable read, not too complex but keeps our interest intact till the end. It has good pace, and any adult reader too will like it. I found Theodore very knowledgeable, he hates going to school but goes nevertheless. He likes to be present in the court. This is not an blood and gore type of mystery, considering the teenage readers. That is what I liked about it. But then, John Grisham does not disappoint.

Mondays: Mailbox/What Are You Reading/Musings

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at A Girl and Her Books. Staci from Life in the Thumb  is hosting for the month of August.

I received one book, thanks to the author:

Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton: 

On a frozen January night, a young man loops one end of a long rope over the branch of a tree. The other end he ties around his neck. A snowmobile will find him thirty-six hours later, his lifeless eyes staring out at the endless cold water of Lake Superior. It happens in a lonely corner of the Upper Peninsula, in a place they call Misery Bay. 

            What seems like a simple quest to find a few answers will turn into a nightmare of sudden violence and bloody revenge, and a race against time to catch a ruthless killer. McKnight knows all about evil, of course, having faced down a madman who killed his partner and left a bullet next to his heart. Mobsters, drug dealers, hit men—he’s seen them all, and they’ve taken away almost everything he’s ever loved. But none of them could have ever prepared him for the darkness he’s about to face.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.

Currently reading the above novel!

Do you like looking at other people’s bookshelves?

YES. Mainly because I want to check out what they are reading and if I can pick anything. The bookshelves also convey the reading taste of the owner. And I like to know that.

Saturday Snapshot- August 13

In a resort in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Just look at the splash of colours. Mom, interviewing the two!!

Posted for Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce of At Home With books.