Chak de INDIA, JAI HIND

 PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

India beat Srilanka by 6 wickets.

We won the World Cup, 2011.

Three Cheers for India.

Hip, hip......Hurrah,
Hip, hip......Hurrah,
Hip, hip......Hurrah.

India bagged the Cricket World Cup after long 28 years.

'Parippuvada and Tea'

I have read from blogs that, most of the avid readers prefer a coffee cup filled with brewing coffee alongside a wonderful book. I tried to sip coffee while reading. But it was not that easy. I do not mind the big cup but not with brewing coffee, but South Indian tea where we mix milk with the decoction. My day begins with it, so why am I going for a coffee.

This is what I really liked to have while reading books ' Parippuvada' and Chaaya(tea). Though Parippuvada(s) do not look that attractive, it's crispy and it is readily available anywhere in Kerala.

Woman who dared ( edited by Ritu Menon )

 

' Woman who dared' is a book that talks about 21 successful Indian women who had made their mark in their respective fields. It's too late to introduce this book. But I go with the axiom' better late than never'. It's a book, I think every Indian women should read. I can vouch that there are many personalities among these 21 women, whom today's generation is totally unaware of.

The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi

  I have not read this book.But I have read a lot of reviews and heard many interviews on this book. Since I have not read this book, I cannot give my review. So here is a synopsis from the Flipkart.com

 Book Summary of The Pleasure Seekers from Flipkart.com

It all started in August 1968 when Babo, with curly hair and jhill mill teeth, became the first member of the Patel family to leave Madras and fly on a plane all the way to London to further his education. His father should have known there would be trouble: on the morning of the departure he had his first and only dream, in which strange ghosts threw poison-tipped arrows and all his family was lost...But off Babo went, and now here he is, in a flat off the Finchley Road, untraditionally making love to a cream-skinned girl from Wales, Sian Jones, who he fell head over heels for as soon as he saw the twirl of red ribbon in her hair. Ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-boom-boom-boom. Theirs is a mixed-up love in a topsy-turvy world, and their two families will never be the same again. Meet the Patel-Joneses: Babo, Sian, Mayuri and Bean, in their little house with orange and black gates next-door to the Punjab Women's Association. As the twentieth century creaks and croaks its way along - somewhere out there Charles and Diana get hitched; Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her own bodyguards; cable TV arrives in India - these four navigate their way through the uncharted territory of a 'hybrid' family: the hustle and bustle of Babo's relatives, the faraway phone-line crackle of Sian's, the eternal wisdom and soft bosom of great-grandmother Ba, the perils of first love, lost innocence and old age, and the big question: what do you do with the space your loved ones leave behind? In this tender, lyrical and uplifting debut, Tishani Doshi, a prizewinning poet, effortlessly captures the quirks and calamities of one unusual clan in a story of identity, family, belonging and all-transcending love.

Coyote by Linda Barnes

The story starts when a mysterious women asks Carlotta Carlyle who was once a cop, to help her find her missing Immigration card and gave her a five hundred dollar bill, though the woman did not looked as if she could afford such a huge sum. Though it seemed a straight forward task in the beggnning, Carlotta sooon realised it that is just the other way round. The mysterious woman suddenly disappears and the card ends up with other woman, who is dead. An immigration agent who follows carlotta is the other mysterious character. 

I do not have much to write on it as I did not find it quite interesting to read..

My hands are full

There was a time when I was searching right, left and centre to read a book.I've already mentioned in my previous post that how I would fall short of books and how I managed to get some books. But today my hands are full. I liked this sudden and pleasant twist. My only worry was how I was going to read all those books.

I'm currently reading " Atlas shrugged" by Ayn Rand. My room mate gave this book. She was an elderly lady who was a retired professor.

" If you read this book, you will definitely be going after her other books." That's what she told me when she gave me this book. I think I am going to take this whole month to finish it as it has more than 1000 pages. 

Ayn Rand was famous for developing a philosophical system called " Objectivism". I googled for objectivism but could not grasp its essence. I hope I would get to know after going through the whole book. I am wishing myself a happy read for I was always scared  of such  intense topics.

I also wanted your suggestion on Dan Brown. I haven't read any of his books. Today I was watching " Angels and demons"and it seemed quite an enjoyable watch. But I did not complete watching it as I wanted to read the book first.

I have Angels and demons, Deception point and The lost symbol ebooks. But I do not know how far I can go with these novels in a pdf format. If I do not have any other option, I would definitely resort to ebooks.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

It's been very long since I posted a review. I was reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Reading a classic after long years had been a wonderful experience. The pace of the reading was very much different from reading a best seller.

Summary

Jane was an orphan who was sent to live with her aunt Mrs. Reed who never had a special liking for her. She kept Jane for she was asked by her deceased husband to do so. Jane Eyre was her husband's niece. Little Jane had to face her nagging cousins all the time. Soon she was sent to Loowood school where she befriended Helen Burns who  died  due to consumption. Though short span of time, Helen influenced Jane a lot.Her life changed when she had gone to Thornfield Hall and met the rough Mr. Edward Rochester. He fell in love with her madly. They were about to marry when the bad news struck Jane like a thunder bolt. She was always sure that there was some sort mystery in Thornfield Hall that kept alluding her for quite sometime .She used to hear scream occasionally in the Thornfield Hall that sent cold shivers down her spine. She was not sure what was it all about.

Mr. Edward Rochester was already married to a woman named Bertha Mason who was a  lunatic. She was kept hidden in the Hall and it was her scream that was heard occasionally. Jane could not marry her beloved ,Edward for if she married him, she would be called his mistress as his wife was alive.

Jane left Thornfield Hall against her master's wishes. After a tiresome journey, she reached where she met the next twist in her life. She was exhausted and famished and sought asylum in a Moor House where lived the Rivers family. Ten months had passed.She was friendly with St. John and her sisters Mary and Diana. The more delightful news was that she got a family who was originally her family. Jane was St. John's cousin and their uncle who was their mothers' brother died leaving Jane his possessions that made her independent.  It was in that same Moor House St. John proposed to her and asked her to become a missionary's wife and accompany him to India. Jane was ready to accompany him not as a wife but as a sister which St. John was not ready to accept.

Another thought was gnawing her - the thought of her master and beloved, Mr. Edward Rochester. She had written to Thornfield Hall seeking Mr. Rochester's whereabouts. But she did not receive any reply. She decided to seek it by herself and set on to Thornfield Hall ,where once her life was about to change.  What she had to encounter was a ruined mansion where her love blossomed. She also learned that a disaster struck her master's mansion and his life in the disguise of his mad wife Bertha. Out of her lunatic fury she set the mansion ablaze and died accidentally falling from the top of the house.

Mr. Rochester had to pay a heavy price.His hand was amputated and he lost his sight when he was struck by his mad wife on his head with something heavy . After this tragic incident he was keeping himself aloof and was staying with his servant John and his wife. His joy knew no bounds when he met his Jane. Soon they were married.

My thoughts

Jane Eyre was an independent young woman who knew her thoughts as well as herself. She always maintained a tranquil equilibrium between her earthly desires and her principles. She straight away told to Mr. Brocklehurst that she read Bible, but was not in favour of psalms. Though she loved Edward, she was not ready to become his mistress.

I liked Jane a lot. Reading classics were not an easy task for me. But I really enjoyed this one. A totally engaging read.

Final Appeal by LISA SCOTTOLINE

I was actually looking for a legal thriller written by a female  with a female lead. I was really happy when I laid my hands on this book. 

Final Appeal really had a wonderful beginning. You would get the fast pace the moment you began the story. The story started when Grace Rossie, a divorcee and a single mother who accepted a part-time job with a federal appeals court as an assistant to the hot Chief Judge, Armen Gregorian. The real twist came when Armen was found dead in his office.Everyone but Grace believed it was a suicide. 

She could not for she was with him a few hours before his death and was making love to him passionately. Her hunch got confirmed when she got a note that was written by him, professing his love.A man could commit suicide right after confessing his love to somebody. Grace started off to find the real assassin. This is a story which would give you a lot in the beginning but nothing in the end. 

No fear was lurking in the darkness.There were so many characters which would not fit in or were not given many clarifications on why they were introduced in the story. Sadly, I never got butterflies in my stomach. There was little fear for the safety of the heroine as she encountered mostly favourable situations for her sleuthing...

But I want to read more Lisa Scottoline as I came across many good reviews for her other books....

I am back again

I have read 13 books last month and was quite happy about it. I thought I could repeat the same in the new year too. But I was wrong. I laid my hands on many books but could not read even a paragraph. I was inflicted  with readers block. I used the word ' infliction' deliberately. Situation was worse. I didn't feel like concentrating on anything. I could not eat, sleep, watch movies...the list was endless. Long and short, I was not properly doing anything...Am I exaggerating? Heck/, no....I tried Master of the Game by Sydney Sheldon, Malgudy Days by R. K. Narayan, Five point someone by Chetan Bhagat which was a national best seller, Only love is real by Dr. Brian Weiss. But none of these books were of any help, though they were quite a good read.

I thought I was too over confident and was afraid that my lists with which I had decorated the fringes of my blog was going to remain without any entries. I was short of money to buy any new books, but I mustered my energy and went to my favourite place, the second hand book shop. I exchanged my old books with new ones along with a small amount which I could afford.

I began with "Final Appeal Lisa Scottoline and I am sooooooo happy that I am back in the game.

 

Contract Paternity (Delta Justice) by Jasmine Cresswell

I picked up this book from a second hand store without even realising that it was not a mystery but romance. Along with this book I have picked up three more which were an absolute mysteries and I have completed two of them in December. Hence, I could not come up with its reviews.

I might be a bit hasty with this book as I had selected 3 good mysteries.

' In the sultry Louisiana heat, a family dynasty of law and order is shattered by a mysterious crime of passion". This was the sentence that misled me.

I was too obsessed with the word ' mystery ' that I didn't take the other words for face value. While I was reading I was seriously looking for a chilling suspense but all my search was for naught. When I almost reached the middle of the story, I really felt as if I was reading a mills and boon. 

The setting was perfect for it. The woman and the man. Due to a torrential downpour she could not get to her  home and also could not find a motel to spend her night. Here comes our masculine hero with his helping hand. He offered her his bed in his apartment (in every sense). She was in a dilemma whether to accept it or not. Though she did not know what would happen we knew that she was going to accept it. 

In the apartment, everything  perfect, from upholstery to bed. Again the conflict, whether to make love or not (to be or not to be , sex(hysterical paralysis). They could not as somebody's intrusion ruined their privacy. Still I could not realize I was reading a romance. I understood only when I reached the last page.

But that should not keep me away from writing its summary.

Summary

Tony Delacroix was a famous jazz singer who also belonged to the famous Delacroix family. She was going to be thirty five and badly wanted to mother a baby and was in search  of a prospective father. Perfect timing...Brody Wagner, a successful lawyer bumped into her and he possessed everything what she was looking for in her baby's prospective father. But Brody wanted not only to be  a sperm donor but somebody more than that in Tony's life. But a mystery    ( was it a mystery?....I don't know) that was kept hidden in her family brought them too close. The mystery got solved with the help of  this dashing hunk Brody Wagner and they lived happily ever after....yea, yea they got married.

I would give 4/10 for this book.

Body Double TESS GERRISTEN

Summary

Dr. Maura Isles' world changed all of a sudden when she found out that the woman who was murdered right in front of her house resembled her in every possible ways. The mystery intensified when she learned that the deceased was none other than her twin sister.  The  cop Jane Rizzoli who was brave, determined and also pregnant was in charge of the investigation. As the story progressed, the duo they had to face a series of blood cuddling events. As deep as they dug, they encountered   not only Dr. Isles' mysterious past but also a her murky identity as a daughter. The suspense was  chilling and you could see it all through the story.

I was really getting butterflies in my stomach after reading it. Ms Gerristen was really vivid in her craft and her grip on each expression could give you a clear imagination which scared the life out of me. Definitely, it was a good read and fulfilled all my criteria in my 'Strong heroine Challenge, 2011' category.

Mingled Hearts VICKY LEWIS THOMPSON

Dr. Stephanie Collier was a young and enthusiastic psychologist who cherished her freedom the most. But all her assurances for herself came on a sudden halt,when a tawny eyed Dr. Lloyd Barclay entered her life. All her emotions which she had kept hidden exploded at the very sight of him. She could also read that he also felt the same.  But she valued her freedom and independence the most and she was not ready to bargain it for a man. But It was just the beginning.

Though I was not an avid reader of Mills and Boon, I've read some but this one completely lacked the passion and heat. Not a good pick to start with in 2011.

I love to read books. But for me it is not too easy to get all those new arrivals. I am a bibliophile who is not surrounded by bibliophiles. Hence, there is less chance of getting any books either as a gift or in exchange. The library nearby, is of little use for I've to wait for months to get a book I want. Because most of the best sellers are under reservation. But I have to read books. Hence I decided I would go to a second hand book nearby and get books . 

I like suspense, romance and fantasies. I'll write about the books I read and how I felt about it.

Regarding films, I've good access than books.

Though I love suspense. I'm starting with a romance " Mills and Boon". 

 "Mingled Hearts" by Vicki Lewis Thompson

I've just started reading it and will come up with a review very soon.

These are the 13 books I read in December, 2010.