Knotty Tidbits: 14

Title: Half Moon Bay

Sound of waves at a distance...

Warm sand under the bare feet...

Sun saving us from the chilly winds...

With a favorite novel in hand and my beloved by my side...

What more could I ask for? :)

It was a hazy and windy day at the beach. 

Was I able to play in the water at the beach? No. 

But did I miss it? Not at all! :)

Medical thrillers

I have never been able to read any thrillers related to medicine or with the killers inflicted pain on victims. When I read, I imagine and can even feel the pain when I read of physical torture. I cannot even bear to listen to someone explain medical ailments or accidents. This is one of the reasons why I cannot read Robin Cook novels. But I am surprised that I can read Patricia Cornwell novels. Why so? Even in her books, there is a lot of scenes where medical examiner performs postmortems. But I love reading her novels. I can read them back to back. May be because I like the character of Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Just finished reading her "All that remains" and now planning to read "Hornet's nest" 

Big thanks to my parents who encouraged me to read and I am very happy to enjoy reading. Keeps my mind off daily stress and uncertainties :) 

Woman's Power

This is the title of the novel that I read yesterday. It was written by Louisa May Alcott, one of my favorite writers. Why? Because her "Little Women" is my favorite. I read that novel during my childhood days. Probably it reminded me of us sisters. Anyway, so I read "Woman's Power". It is a story about a governess called "Jean Muir". It was an engrossing story but in the end the villain wins! Except for the ending I loved the story. But I hate bad endings and I cannot appreciate the journey of reading the novel if it has a wrong end!

:(

2 B R 0 2 B

My first book on Kindle was this one.. 

2 B R 0 2 B

It stands for To Be Or Not To Be...

The story is set in a futuristic time when mortality has been conquered and death is voluntary. The population is constant. If there is to be a birth of a baby, someone needs to volunteer to die; only then the birth is allowed. During this age, a mother is giving birth to triplets and what happens to the babies is the story.

It is free on amazon. Read it. It will not take more than half an hour. 

Here is the link for the book.

I read it on my cellphone. The kindle app is so easy to use and can be installed on any electronic device. 

Around the world in 80 days

I know I know... This book is a very old one... But a very interesting one, ain't it? It is not my kind of a book... Hardly any dialogues... And pages and pages of description of the scenes... 

I had heard of this book during my childhood when I was reading "The Mysterious Island" (by the same author). This time when I chanced upon the book during a used-books sale, I told myself: "Why not give this a try?"

I have to admit; I love the book. The story moves at a very fast pace unlike most other books written during the same period. There are lot of pages about India as well as about the US. It is very exciting to read about how people traveled during those days. The suspense of whether the main character in the story wins the bet of traveling the world in 80 days kept me turning pages!

Can't wait to read his "20,000 leagues under the sea" and "A journey to the center of the earth"!!! :-)

A for...

Left to me I would say 'Arathi'... I mean 'A for Arathi'... But here... 'Alibi' would be a better word... 'A for Alibi'...the book that I recently finished reading... A book by Sue Grafton! :-)

Even before I decided to read this book, I heard a lot about the author... Her way of writing... And also her unique way of naming her novels... by letters of Alphabet... I was curious and wanted to read her novels... The best way to start was at the beginning... That's why I selected 'A for Alibi'. :-)

In the book, the narrator is a private investigator... I loved the way she introduces herself in the novel... It is like she is answering the interview question: "Tell me about yourself." :-)

I did not find the novel as interesting as Sherlock Holmes or Hercules Poirot... However, it held my attention till the end... May be because it was her first novel that I read... may be I am still getting used to her way of writing... I will read her next novel "B for Burglar" and will have more to say...

Now it's time for an Agatha Christie mystery... Happy Reading to me... and may be to you too! :-)

Two books in a row...

The habit of reading is strange. There are long periods in time when no book excites me. Even if I start reading a book and keep it by my bedside; it may not interest me to take it up and continue from where I stopped. But there are other times when I pick up a book and can't put it down. I read all the time; all through the day...  and more during night until wee hours of morning... Most of the nights, my tired eyes shut and the book slips off my hand when I drift off to sleep. 

When I finish reading the book, if I find it exhausting/tiring, then I may not take up another book for days. But occasionally, completion of one book fills me with so much energy that I take up another book for reading immediately.

This week was one of those times when I read a lot. I completed two novels in a row and that too in just two days! More about the novels in my next post! :)

Lady in Waiting – A Book Review

This book is about two ladies who are from different centuries and the only connection between them is their first name (Jane) and a betrothal ring. One Jane is an antique shop owner in the US and the other Jane is the 9-day Queen of England in the 16^th century. The similarity and contrast between the two Janes is very interesting. I could not help reading page after page to know about Jane, the Queen; to find out about her history and also the history of the ring. At the same time, I could not help having a lot of feelings for the Jane whose husband kept her in the waiting.

There are many scenes in the story that are very close to my heart. But I am not sure if I should write about them here. I do not want this review to be a spoiler to the people who have not read the book. 

All in all this book can be a good company during travel or on a lazy Sunday. It is not advisable to start it on a working day (as I did); for you shall have a tough time controlling your urge to read amidst work! J

My knowledge in the history of England was almost nil and this novel started a new interest in me. I started searching about the Royal lineage and now, I am eagerly waiting for a book on Queen Elizabeth to be shipped home. History intrigues me and I am always interested  in finding out more about women of those days. The combination of both - as in the case of Queen Jane or Queen Elizabeth is deadly!

I somehow have a feeling that male readers may not like this book. This might be because the book is a little on the emotional side.

A big thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah for providing a complimentary book for review. It has revived my love for reading!

Detective Stories

I just can't keep away from my book reading... The recent one is of a collection of Detective Stories... The weirdest of these was the case where a dying man in his will wants to giveaway all his gold to a person whose weight is equal to the weight of the gold the dying man has. What a strange will!

Tandem - A Book Review

These days I have got back to my habit of reading. And I thought it would be nice to post a review of it here. The book is Tandem by Tracey Bateman.

This book is a sequel to a book named "Thirsty".

I got this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for review. Any book lover can register at their website and select books for review. The books are sent to our mailing address for free and we get to enjoy reading them. Then once we post the review of that book on their website, we can select the next book for review. This suits me well! :-)

Now coming back to Tandem...

This book is about a series of murders that happen in Abbey Hills. It is also the story of lives of several people living in Abbey Hills. There are a number of parallel threads in the storyline that makes this novel even more gripping.

Generally, I do not prefer reading vampire story, but this one is an exception. The narrative is not very gory or scary; yet there are some incidents in the novel that gave me goose-pimples. The twists and turns in the story kept me guessing the murderer whose details are not revealed until the end of the book.

The writing style is lucid and crisp with more emphasis on the narration rather than on describing the setting where the incidents take place. At the same time, the simple description of the locales give us a good idea about the landscape of Abbey Hills.

This book can be a good choice for entertaining us during long journeys/travel. And it can be good for people who like fast pace narratives, suspense and adventures.

I can't wait to read "Thirsty"! :-)

Reading.. An Eye Opener!

When someone says that their hobby is reading, what do we ask? "fiction or non-fiction?..." "Who's your favorite author?" etc. etc. Do we ever think of what use the reading is put to? Most of us read just for pleasure... we read to get into a world of imagination and to forget our real world. In some cases, we read to see how good the author has written the plot or to observe the writing style or the language of the book. Some people read books related to management or communication skills to help them in their profession and others read biographies and autobiographies to gain inspiration and motivation from lives of great personalities.

 

A good book can captivate us to such an extent that we stick to turning the pages all through the night completely forgetful of the world around us! Many at times, our mood swings depend on what kind of a chapter or passage that we are reading in our current book. A book full of jokes can keep us in good humour; at the same time, if the protagonist is going through a very difficult phase in life, we also seem to be very sad or temperamental. Such is the influence of books on us!

 

If you are an avid reader, you will completely agree with me! (won't you?)

 

Recently, I was enlightened a very different kind of a perspective for the hobby: reading. Why do we restrict ourselves to reading novels or books related to our profession? Why not take up books that can improve our knowledge in topics like Travel, Astronomy, Geography, Archaeology, Philosophy etc.? There may be a subject/topic that interests us a lot, say psychology. Then we can get books on child psychology or criminal psychology and read them. They not only help in passing our time but also enrich our learning.

 

Ever since, I started looking at reading in this angle, I have started browsing for books related to Travel, tourist places in the world, Bhagavad Gita etc. I get hooked onto the book because these topics interest me and at the end of the book, I am left more knowledge. Instead of discussing the plots of the novels that I would read, I now discuss about religion, China's forbidden palace, Iceland's volcano or Mahabharata.

 

Even though we may read one book a day, there will be still thousands of books still waiting for us to be read and absorbed. I can't wait to read more! :)

What is love?

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it?

It makes you so vulnerable.

It opens your chest and it opens up your heart

and it means that

someone can get inside you and mess you up.

You build up all these defenses,

you build up a whole suit of armor,

so that nothing can hurt you,

then one stupid person,

no different from any other stupid person,

wanders into your stupid life...

You give them a piece of you.

They didn't ask for it.

They did something dumb one day,

like smile at you,

and then your life isn't your own anymore.

Love takes hostages.

It gets inside you.

It eats you out

and leaves you crying in the darkness,

so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends'

turns into a glass splinter

working its way into your heart.

It hurts.

Not just in the imagination.

Not just in the mind.

It's a soul-hurt,

a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain.

I hate love"

-Neil Gaiman