Saturday Snapshot: January 21, 2012

My youngest Auntie!

Lush Flora at her place!

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

Booking Through Skipping

Do you skip ahead in a book? Do you feel badly about it when you do?

For some books, I have skipped chunks. Geographical descriptions and author's philosophical thoughts fall under those categories, which made me skip. And also when the author get repetitive.

I have not really felt bad skipping. Why should I? There is so much more to read. Why waste time on boring parts?

Saturday Snapshot: January 14, 2012

all alone!

Click on it to see a bigger photo!
Posted for Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce of At Home With books

Booking Through Interview II

1. What’s your favorite time of day to read?

Anytime if I on the reading mode...

2. Do you read during breakfast? (Assuming you eat breakfast.)

No, as I am getting ready to go for work

3. What’s your favorite breakfast food? (Noting that breakfast foods can be eaten any time of day.)

Oatmeal with nuts!

4. How many hours a day would you say you read?

It depends. Some days 10 hours, others none!

5. Do you read more or less now than you did, say, 10 years ago?

I am reading less nowadays.

6. Do you consider yourself a speed reader?

Yes.

7. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

To read even faster.

8. Do you carry a book with you everywhere you go?

Yes, I do.

9. What KIND of book?

Fiction/Poetry depending on my mood

10. How old were you when you got your first library card?

I don't remember, maybe 6 years!

11. What’s the oldest book you have in your collection? (Oldest physical copy? Longest in the collection? Oldest copyright?)

A leather bound Romeo and Juliet, which belonged to my mom. She inherited from her dad! It is from 1916!

12. Do you read in bed?

Yes, but on a regular basis.

13. Do you write in your books?

No, I don't

14. If you had one piece of advice to a new reader, what would it be?

Read at your own pace. Don't fret. Enjoy the words, the writing...

15. What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask? (Actually, leave the answer to this one in the comments on this post, huh? So I can find them when I need inspiration!) 

I will let it pass for now.

Teaser Tuesday: Ryan's Return by Barbara Freethy

"Maybe I just want to know you again," Ryan said finally. "You're my father. I'm your son. It seems as if we should be closer than we are."

Title: Ryan's Return
Author: Barbara Freethy
ISBN: 978-0380785315
Publisher: Avon/2006
Pages: 374

It is return of the prodigal son to Serenity Spring. A famous photo-journalist now, Ryan Hunter is invited for the Centennial Celebration. He had left behind his father and a brother he had betrayed. Now when he returns, he finds his father still the same, his brother who detests him and a young boy who looks like him.

With no love lost between them, Ryan knows he has to somehow face his past if he wants to moves in present and future. His father,who never stopped loving him, that young daughter of Kara has so much faith on him. So he just can't leave it all behind.

The interaction between father and son, between the two brothers and that of the young girl with Ryan and also a love affair of Andrew, his brother. These all make the book very readable. It is in no way a heavy book, but it does make us sad at many levels. It has those comic moments, especially when the two brothers are locked up in jail. 

I found this novel utterly sweet and extremely readable. The romance element is sweet and doesn't take over the story. That is how it should be, in a novel that speaks of family relations.

You can download the kindle edition for FREE here!

Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book

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 Pick: Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book

Here is my list and one has to start with the author and the one novel they wrote:

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind

Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago

J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

 Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Ross Lockridge Jr., Raintree County,

John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

Dow Mossman, The Stones of Summer

John Okada, No-No Boy

Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale

Mondays: Mailbox/What am I reading?/Musing

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at A Girl and Her Books. Alyce  is hosting it on her at home with books blog for the month of January 2012.

I received only two book, thanks to the publicists:

The Discovery of Jeanne Baret by Glynis Ridley:

In 1765, France sent an expedition around the world, hoping to claim new imperial prizes. Among the 300-plus men aboard the two ships was one woman—disguised as the male assistant of her botanist lover. Jeanne Baret left no written record of her experiences, but at least eight other passengers did. Mining their diaries for a glimpse of what went through Baret’s mind during her two years at sea, Ridley has assembled a portrait of a woman whose fortitude was matched only by her curiosity.

Voices of the Dead by Peter Leonard: 

Detroit, 1971. Harry Levin, scrap metal dealer and holocaust survivor, learns that his daughter has been killed in a car accident. Travelling to Washington DC, he's told by Detective Taggart that the German diplomat, who was drunk, has been released and afforded immunity; he will never face charges. So Harry is left with only one option - to discover the identity of this man, follow him back to Munich and hunt him down. Told with swagger, brutal humour and not a little violence, it follows a good man who is forced to return to the horrors of his past. 

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

I read the following:

1) Love Returned by Mildred Colvin

2) Return of the Runway Bride by Donna Fasano

3) The Passionate Italian by Diana Fraser

4) Of Novel Birth by Brenda Novak

5) Wild Angel by Miriam Minger

I am in the midst of reading:

Many books!

Are there any “raved reads” –books that everyone seems to be talking about– that you’re hoping to get read this year, yourself?

I pick what I want to read. If the "raved reads" are from the genre I like, I might pick those up. Or maybe not. It depends. I will never go for much hyped fantasy/paranormal fiction.

Saturday Snapshot: January 6, 2012

Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala

Taken by my sister in law in December 2011. See the modern with the traditional. An ATM!! They have a dress code. My brother refused to adhere to that and didn't go in. My sister in Law did go but came back after she saw the crowds. So none of them had a darshan!

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

Booking Through Interview I

If you could sit down and interview anyone, who would it be? And, what would you ask them?

This wasn't easy for me. I had very well known people in my mind. However, being a poet I chose Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), who was a well known poet in the Victorian Era. She married Robert Browning against her father's wishes. Robert Browning was six years her junior and was considered a gold digger by the Barrett family. Their marriage was very harmonious. Robert Browning is the better known poet of the two.

If I had been born in that era, I would have asked Elizabeth Browning the following questions:

1) Why was their father dead against marriage of any of his children? (He disinherited anyone who married)

2) What was the biggest influence for her poetry?

3) How did she get to learn so much despite her father not sending his daughters to school as he did with his sons?

4) What made her to make a stand against slavery, which was persistent in her time?

Top Ten Books I'm Excited To Read in 2012

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 Pick: Top Ten Books I'm Excited To Read in 2012

I am looking forward to read a lot of:

1) Crime Fiction
2) Poetry
3) Science related books
4) World History
5) DIY

I think that covers pretty much everything I wish to read in 2012!