Books I read

Dead dead blog

2011-11-07T13:12:00.001-08:00

Its dead! Off to tumblr for another short lived attempt at writing!
http://rosecoloredglass.tumblr.com/

Waiter Rant - Thanks for the tip -- Confessions of a cynical waiter

2008-12-30T18:03:00.000-08:00

By Steve Dublanica aka The waiter. The guy who writes an amazing blog linked in my fav blogs. The book is almost an extension of the stories he writes on his blog. We get an exquisite view into the life of a waiter in an upscale restaurant in Manhattan.
You really dont want to piss this waiter off. He can hold a grudge and you better tip more than a lousy 15%.
You read about his life, his family, his fears and his successes. You read about lost loves and new ones. Its an amazing and intriguing read.
Since i loved his blog, the book was a treat. Try it, you wont regret it. This might well be the only non fiction i ever write about here. :)

Twilight

2008-12-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

By Stephanie Meyer. Too much publicity turns me off from some titles. The twilight series was one of the series that i ignored because it was in my face everywhere i went. My aerobics instructor couldnt stop raving about it when the latest one came out. You wouldnt believe the publicity the book got. It was on the front display in every Barnes & Nobles. I got emails from Amazon begging me to read the book. I politely declined the assault.
Then i saw a poster of the movie about the delicious looking vampire and this girl clinging to him. Hmm...i dint need anymore prodding. Soon enough i was buying a paperback of Twilight. This from a person who NEVER buys books. I read too many of them. If i start buying the books i wanted to read i would be signing over my paycheck to the local bookstore.Favourite of cards in my wallet is my library card. So i did it. I read Twilight, thank you very much.
Let me just say..WOW. I am a sucker for forbidden love. This was the best of the kind. Edward Cullen is the aforementioned delicacy. Isabella Snow falls for him hard when she moves from Phoenix to live with her father in Forks. Edward resists but is drawn to her anyway. He thinks she smells delicious. In vampire talk, he wants to drink her blood.
The book is amazing because the author never lets go of the taut romance between Bella and Edward inspite of all the goings on around them. Please read it. Now let me run to catch the movie.
oh BTW...the blog is no longer comatose. For the lack of better things to do with my time. :)

This Blog is Comatose!

2008-01-01T09:26:00.001-08:00

Its getting a bit old..writing about the books i read because i am not reading anything phenomenal or life changing right now...so this blog is going to be ignored for sometime...

Dexter in the Dark

2007-11-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

Third in the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay. This is the best yet. Dexter is in the middle of a very scary case. 2 girls are found dead, burned in a kiln and beheaded. Bull’s heads where their heads used to be. A college professor is under custody for the murders. What terrifies Dexter is that at the crime scene, the Dark Passenger inside him cringes and slowly leaves him alone. Dexter has never felt this alone and helpless. He is almost, god forbid, human in this book. He is funnier than ever. And is even looking forward to his marriage to Rita in some ways. The kids Cody and Astor are caught torturing their neighbor’s cat and Dexter has to discipline them and teach them the Harry way.
Amazing read. I cant wait for Lindsay’s next.

A spot of Bother

2007-10-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

By Mark Haddon.The author of “The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time”. This is a long drawn and confused book about a dysfunctional family. George Hall finds a reddish patch on him and is convinced its cancer and that he is to die soon. Even when his doctor confirms that its just eczema he is not convinced. He starts to lose his mind slowly. His wife Jean has an affair with George’s ex-colleague and is thinking about leaving the loveless marriage. Daughter Katie is marrying the “wrong” guy Ray. It seems to her family that her disastrous first marriage has taught her nothing. Son Jamie has just broken up with the love of his life Tony and wants him back. All the other stories happen on the background of the impending marriage of Ray and Katie.
The book has its moments. Like the scene in the hospital between the future son-in-law and mother-in-law and the incredible wedding reception fight.
All in all, an okay read not exceptional.

Death Du Jour

2007-10-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

By Kathy Reichs.It’s the third book featuring the forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Tempe is in Quebec to help with the cases there. She has to return to her students in North Carolina soon. But what shocks her are a series of brutal murders of young women and an unsettling excavation of a mixed race nun who is a candidate for sainthood.The story moves from Canada to Charlotte but never loses track. There is everything to keep you hooked. A deadly fire that kills babies whose dead parents were members of a satanic sect. For Tempe this case is close to home, her sister might have joined this sect unknowingly. Result is a race to get to them before more people lose their lives.Detective Ryan and Tempe acknowledge their feelings for each other and try to work something out. Reichs’ books are gripping and detailed at the same time. You might take a week to get through her book but its definitely worth the work.

Dear John

2007-10-13T09:13:00.001-07:00

By Nicholas Sparks. One of my favourite authors. He has penned classics like "The message in a bottle" and "The notebook". Dear John is the love story of John and Savannah and has the usual love at first sight, the unavoidable circumstances that cause them to drift apart and the final closure that they have. The trademark of Sparks novels are that they have a bitter sweet ending and this one does too.
John is in the Army and the distance between them draws them apart.The book is ok. If it was six months ago, i would have shed a couple of tears about how beautiful this love story is. Not anymore. Readable if you have always loved Sparks.

Between,Georgia

2007-10-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

By Joshilyn Jackson. Its the story of Nonny Jane Frett and her struggles with her foster mother and her birth mother's family in a small town called Between.
Nonny is a thirty year old ASL specialist, her foster mother Stacia is deaf and blind and gets through her days with the help of her fraternal twin Genny who is a bundle of nerves. Genny is a stone's throw away from crazy. Bernese, Stacia's cousin is the overbearing person who runs the Between's museum of dolls. Making dolls is Stacia's passion and bernese has turned it into a business. But the real problem is between Bernese Frett and Ona Crabtree. Ona is the mother of Nonny's birthmother. Ona wants Nonny to be hers and the struggle is obvious.
The book is amazing with its colourful characters and interesting twists and turns. Its just as good as Jackson's first book "Gods of Alabama". I read that before starting this blog.
Amazing read. Should not miss.

Deja Dead

2007-10-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

By Kathy Reichs. The TV series Bones is based on the main character of Reichs’ books Temperance Brennan. Tempe is a forensic anthropologist, a middle aged divorcee with a teenage daughter staying away from her family in Montreal. She is caught up in a serial murder case where the women victims are tortured to death and then buried in shallow graves.
She along with detectives Ryan and Claudel unravel the clues to find the killer but not before she loses her best friend to the killer and is afraid for the safety of her own daughter.
Amazing book. She has written some 10 books with Tempe as the main character. Cant wait to read the next.

Ten Big Ones

2007-09-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

By Janet Evanovich. Stephanie Plum, the hotshot car wrecking bounty hunter is back in business. Now she is up against a street gang. She is living with Morelli and all is fine till she identifies a miscreant who has been setting stores on fire in Trenton. This book has a lot of interesting things happening, Stephanie thinks she finally knows where The Bat Cave is. Connie, Lula and Stephanie kidnap a killer but are too much of a wimp to beat the guy to get some information out of him.
Amazing read as usual. Only 3 more left in the series..Sigh!!

Dearly Devoted Dexter

2007-09-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

By Jeff Lindsay. Second of the Dexter series, Dexter is no longer safe to carry out his dark hobby. Sgt Doakes knows that Dexter is not what he seems to be. Doakes shadows Dexter everywhere and cramps his style. So Dex plans to lay low for a few days at the end of which he finds himself engaged to Rita and in hot pursuit of a crazy doctor who turns his victims into living vegetables.
Stakes are high this time when Dexter’s sister is in love with a detective from “an agency” who has come to investigate the mutilations.
The book is amazingly fast and much better than the first in the series. There is more humour and the climax is as interesting as it can get. Must read. Cant wait for the next.

Knocked up : Confessions of a Hip mother-to-be

2007-09-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

By Rebecca Eckler. I heard about this book when Eckler created a mild controversy by sueing Jud Appatow (of Knocked up movie fame) of using situations from her book in his blockbuster movie.

I read it and there are hardly any parallels but the book is very interesting and very funny. Eckler is a up and coming reporter in National Post in Canada. But she finds herself pregnant on the night of her engagement party by her fiancee. And her life turns upside down.

A very funny book..if she does not make any money through the law suit, its definitely a good publicity stunt for her book.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

2007-09-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

By Jeff Lindsay. I heard about this book first when i saw an ad about a HBO series based on these books about a loveable serial killer who kills serial killers.
Dexter Morgan is a blood splatter specialist of the Miami Dade PD. But he has a dark side. He is a serial killer of serial killers. Dexter was adopted by a police officer who noticed this dark side and told him to use his dark urge to kill only those who deserve it.
Now there is a new serial killer who kills hookers cleanly, the way Dexter would have done it.
The book is interesting and written well. Incredible read.

Seven through Nine

2007-09-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

By Janet Evanovich. I have worked my way through Seven Up, hard Eight and To the Nines. All three are amazing adventures of the loveable Stephanie Plum and her crazy friends and family.
All of them are amazing to read and make you laugh out loud for sure.

Lord Vishnu's Love Handles: A Spy Novel (Sort Of)

2007-09-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

By Will Clarke. Travis Anderson has some sort of a psychic gift. He knows what will happen. He invested in the internet when it was just another new thing and stuck gold. Now he spends his days playing on psychicow.com and worrying if his wife is cheating on him with his best friend and business partner. And he has problems with the IRS. And he is an alcoholic. Suddenly Debra McFadden shows up and recruits him for an ultrasecret organization that wants to use his “special” powers and can make all his problems go away. He agrees reluctantly and finds himself in close company with a chanting Vishnu devotee. The book is a hilarious and interesting read. I enjoyed it.

Cat O'Nine Tales

2007-08-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

By Jeffery Archer. Most of the stories in the book are based on the tales Archer heard when he was in Jail. He has still not lost his touch. Interesting book.

The Stone Diaries

2007-08-31T08:42:00.000-07:00

By Carol Shields. This is the story of Daisy Goodwill. From her birth till death. Incredibly moving and very well written book. It takes us through the very interesting life from her birth in Canada to her death in Florida. This is a pulitzer prize winning book. An amazing book. Not much to write about ths book other than i enjoyed it a lot, its been more than 2 weeks since i read it :)

Anyway good read!

Hot Six

2007-08-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

By Janet Evanovich. Ranger is under ground, and a main suspect in the murder of Homer Ramos, a black-market arms dealer. Stephanie is back in business, trying to find Ranger and getting her car blown up. Grandma Mazur is staying at Stephanie's. The book is amazing as usual and a very good weekend read.

Virgin Suicides

2007-08-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

By Jeffery Eugenides.This is a story about a family which has to live through our worst nightmares. Five daughters of the Lisbon family commit suicide. The story is told in past sense by a group of boys who had lived across the street from the Lisbon girls. Cecilia Lisbon is the first to go. She tries to commit suicide unsuccessfully by slitting her wrists, but finally succeeds by jumping off the second floor window onto the sharp garden fence.

The book is about the mindset of the remaining girls who have to live with the pity and the stigma against the family and themselves.They finally decide its too much and decide to end it all.

The book is engaging from start to end and an amazing read.

High Five

2007-08-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

By Janet Evanovich. The book is amazing and funny as usual. Stephanie Plum, the bounty hunter from hell is on her next case. She wants to know what happened to her Uncle Fred. He has been missing for 3 days. He was last seen running errands.

Plum finds herself in the middle of a money embezzling gang. Benito Ramirez is back from the prison and torturing Plum again. Plum finds herself attracted to both Ranger and Morelli.

A couple of car deaths and back to her good old Buick, this book is as good as the last. Cant wait for the next.

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows

2007-08-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

By J.K.Rowling.(Duh!) This book is amazing. I could not think of a better way to close the Harry Potter series. I am not going to give away too much info abt the book.
Its the gang's final year at Hogwarts but after Dumbeldore's death in the Half-blood prince there are more important tasks ahead. Dumbeldore has a task for them. To find the horocruxes of Lord Voldermort and destroy them.
The book is 700 plus pages but its non stop action. And the climax is the best. It gives closure to each and every character in the books. Great read.

Four to Score

2007-08-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

By Janet Evanovich. Fourth in the Stephanie Plum series and still going strong. Stephanie's FTA is Maxine Nowaicki, a waitress at a local diner. She has skipped bail after being arrested for stealing her ex-boyfriend's car. Plum is on the case and soon enough, her Honda CRX bursts into flames along with Lula's beloved Firebird.

There is a new addition to Plum's friend circle, Sally Sweet. An high profile drag queen who finds himself in a bit of sticky situation. Morelli finally does "it" with Plum and we are more than relieved.

This book made me laugh out loud more than the ones before it..loved it!

Middlesex

2007-08-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

By Jeffery Eugenides. Its a story about Cal Stephanides. A 40 year old man who was born a girl, who grew up in a Greek American family.

The story of Cal or Calliope does not start with her birth, it starts in Greece with the marriage of his grandparents, the burning down of their village, their emigration to America. Her story waits in the wings while her parents are born, waits till they grow up and fall in love and marry. Her story doesnt start until her brother is born and her parents yearn for a girl child. She is born a girl, but at puberty there is something more shocking waiting for her.

I dont know what i liked the best in this, the story that never stops or the very different topic or the feeling that you have to find out what happens to Cal in the end. At the end of the book, you are not bothered if Cal is a boy or a girl, you just want him to be happy.

An amazing book that is very hard to put down. Oprah recommends and i second :)

Three to get deadly

2007-07-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

By Janet Evanovich. Its the third in the Stephanie Plum series and in my opinion the best till now.The bounty hunter from hell is worse than the first two, still riding her Uncle's '53 Buick. Now she has a partner of sorts, Lula from the earlier books. A prostitute turned filer for Vinnie Plum, Lula rescues Stephanie from a lot of tight spots in this book.

Stephanie's bad luck with cars is still on. She buys a second hand Nissan truck that stalls on since day one and gets blown up once its all fixed for good. This book is hillarious from start to end with Plum getting her hair dyed bright orange, wrestling with an FTA in a chicken suit and having a dead body hit the windshield of her car in Route 1.

Amazing...cant wait for the next.

The Reunion

2007-07-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

By Sue Walker. Never heard of this author but took the book because it sounded interesting. Its a long winded story about a group of inmates of a mental health institution for teenagers in England.
Innes Haldane is confronted with the past she has been trying to forget for so many years. A malevolent mother pushed her to the edge of Innes sanity and she had to be admitted to
"The Unit" as it was known. There she meet another set of teenagers Isabella, Danny,Alex, Carrie,Lydia and Simon. Memories of those days come rushing back when she gets a terrified call from Isabella after all these years. She wants to meet Innes but Innes is not ready. She is shocked when Isabella takes her own life in a week. She cannot believe it when she hears that people in that group have begun to die one by one and she fears she will be the next.
She then embarks upon a journey to find a dark secret about the Unit that will ultimately drive them all to their limits of sanity. Too long to keep us interested till the end. We will definitely figure out the secret before Innes finally "gets it". Readable.

Two for the Dough

2007-07-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

By Janet Evanovich. Second in the Stephanie Plum series. She is still a bounty hunter trying to find Kenny Mancuso, a FTA. Things get complicated like everything in Plum's life. Mancuso is no newbie to crime. He is a certified psychopath wanted for shooting his long time buddy. Plum comes waltzing into the picture thinking its an easy catch. Morelli is back in Vice and cant get enough of Plum.

Grandma Mazue is a central character in this one. And she is funny as hell. This book is the one where the Big Blue is introduced. The '53 Buick that Plum is forced to drive when her Jeep gets stolen. Amazing book. I cant get enuf of Plum. Cant wait to read Three to get deadly.

Johnny got his gun

2007-07-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

By Dalton Trumbo. Its an amazing, terrifying and an inspiring book. I came across this when watching Metallica's video of "The one". It had disturbing scenes from a movie. On reasearching more about it, i found out that the scenes in that video were from a movie based on this book.

This is an anti-war novel written during The Second World War times. Its about a young american in his 20's who leaves his family and loved ones to go to a war which he does not understand and does not mean anything to him. In the war he is struck by a rocket and he loses both his arms,legs,his eyes,nose,ears and his mouth. He ends up in a hospital fed through a tube.

The book is his thoughts and his struggle to communicate to the world that he is not just a piece of meat. He asks the people in the hospital to publically admit to his condition so that more people understand how horrible war is. How we can never justify taking a life for something as intangible as Democracy or Liberty?

The book makes you think and is written beautifully. A must read.

Tell me lies

2007-06-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

By Jennifer Crusie. This is her first novel. Its an interesting mix of incidents ranging from incredibly funny to dreadfully boring. Its got its high times and its downs. Maddie Faraday has a normal almost boring life in Frog Point. Her life turns upside down when she finds a crotchless panties in her husband's car. she is relieved to a point. She can finally leave her husband. Things get complicated when C.L.Sturgis from her high school turns up at her door step looking for her husband. Everything takes a turn for the worse when her husband ends up dead and she finds hundreds of thousands of dollars in her bank locker.

The book is readable but i am not so crazy about Crusie anymore. It felt like Welcome to Temptation all over again.

Tell no one

2007-06-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

By Harlan Coben. An interesting and fast moving thriller. This guy is published by the people who publish Dean Koontz and Thomas Harris. David Beck is still recovering from the murder of his wife and his love since he was 7 years old, Elizabeth Parker. On the 21st anniversary of their first kiss, he recieves an anonymous email telling him to check a link. What he sees shocks him to the core, he sees his dead wife in a street camera looking up at him.

Then starts the search to find out if his wife is really dead or still alive. Beck gets shot at, almost killed by a homicidal asian, assaults a police officer and after a lot of twists and turns, we get an amazing climax. Good read.

One for the money

2007-06-19T16:43:00.001-07:00

By Janet Evanovich. Till now i had clubbed Evanovich with those syrupy romantic authors who wrote books by the dozen. But believe me this lady is fun. I have this liking towards quirky and silly heroines. Helen Fielding, Catherine Alliot, Jennifer Crusie all write books with heroines who you can identify with. They have the rough edges and the clumsiness you have.

One for the Money is a Stephanie Plum novel. The first one in the series. Plum is an out of work lingerie buyer for a company that is about to go bust. She has been out of work for 6 months and is getting by by selling her furniture. In an act of desperation, she joins her cousin Vinnie's office as a bounty hunter. To catch all the Failed to Appear criminals who dint show up in court and for whom Vinnie paid the bond.

The book is hillarious with each character well flushed out and the story line never letting us down. This book just gave me 12 more books to read, cos the 13th book of the Plum series just released and i cant wait to work my way through all of them.

Nineteen minutes

2007-06-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

By Jodi Picoult. Its an amazing book about a high school kid who is tired of being bullied and decides to do something about it and shoots 10 kids and a teacher. After the Virginia Tech Massacre, i read up on famous high school shootings like Columbine, this book is eerily close to the Columbine events. There are a lot of differences, in Columbine, there were 2 kids who turned killers and in Nineteen Minutes there is just one sad child.

The book explores the thoughts and struggles of the parents and the children whose lives where never the same after the nineteen minutes of shooting in the schoo. Picoult in her usual style makes you want to read the book in one sitting.

Because it deals with such a sensitive scenario, i found this book amazing and unputdownable!

Bad Luck and Trouble

2007-06-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

By Lee Child. I was very sad when i finished this one..because now i have read everything Child has written and i have to wait for months before i can get my hand on the next one. Bad Luck and Trouble is about the reunion of Reacher's Special Investigators unit from the Army is not in the best of the circumstances. Neagley and Reacher are together again to investigate the killing of their team.
Fast moving and incredibly interesting...but all Reacher novels are. Must read.

For One More Day

2007-05-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

By Mitch Albom. An amazing book from an author whose imagination is just impressive. He is the author of one of my favourite books, a book that i have actually bought. I had many expectations from this book and it fulfilled them all.

A thin book about a failed baseball catcher, who spends his childhood and teen years yearning to play baseball in the World Series. Which he does but it lasted for only 6 weeks. Too little too late.

This is the story about his mother, who at a time when divorce was frowned upon, got divorced and raised her 2 children all by herself. Though she did everything she could, Charlie 'Chick' Bennetto was a daddy's boy. Yearning for the days when his dad used to be home. In this struggle for approval from a non-existant dad, he ignored his mother and never gave her credit for the times she stood up for him.

When she dies, all he can think of is wanting one more day with his mother to apologize for letting her down, for telling her that he loves her. And he gets that one day. Books like this dont come along very often.

Persuader

2007-05-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

By Lee Child. Reacher is undercover in a drug lord's house. He is his usual unscroupulous and brilliant self. The book is about an off the books DEA operation that has gone awry. And when Reacher comes face to face with a man he thought he had killed 10 years ago, he is also sucked into the operation and decides to go undercover.
A DEA agent is missing and one of Reacher's task is to find out what happened to her and get her out of there if she is alive. But Reacher has other plans for Quinn. The man who worked for Pentagon 10 years ago and was involved in a weapons espionage case that Reacher and his team were trying to solve.
The book is an usual Lee Child offering with all the usual elements.

Crazy for you

2007-05-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

By Jennifer Cruisie. An amazingly sweet and sexy love story of Quinn and Nick in a town called Tibett. It has everything a good small town novel should have. The gossip mongers, the lady with a bad reputation, a boring pub...
Quinn decides she wants more in her life when she is besotted with a stray dog. She wants to keep the dog she names Katie but her highschool baseball coach boyfriend Bill will not hear of it. He steals the dog behind her back and gives it to the animal pound. A furious Quinn decides to move out and the story is all fun after that. An obsessive ex-boyfriend who just wont let go, commitment phobic new love who has been her best friend for years. A mother who turns openly lesbian after kicking out her husband of 30 years.
The book is hillarious and fast. Crusie rocks!

Gemma

2007-05-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

By Meg Tilly. I wanted to read something that was not romantic or action. So i just happended to pick this book and i promise i could not put it down till i completed it. It is a very sad and touching book about child abuse. Gemma is a 12 year old girl who has an exceptional imagination and is hard working at school. She loves mornings because nights mean horrible things to her. Night means visits from her mother's boyfriend Bobby who hurts her in ways she does not understand. Just when she thought life could not get worse, Bobby forces her to sleep with his friend Hazen Wood who in his own perverse way falls in love with Gemma and kidnaps her. The cross country ride with Hazen makes Gemma hold on to anything that will keep her sane. She finally escapes him. The rest of the book is about good things happen to her. How she does not believe it at first but then she starts to trust and love people around her. Its a very beautiful book written in the eyes of a 12 year old. Made me break down and cry and thats a good thing.

Gone for Good

2007-05-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

By Harlan Coben. Its been a long time since i felt the thrill of reading a new author whose books are amazingly fast and thrilling. Lee Child was the last author who made me feel this way(no matter how pathetic that sounds, i stand by my statement). This book is amazing in its speed and language.
The book is about a social worker who runs a safe house for runaway children in New York, Will Klien. Will has a history of his own, his brother Ken is wanted by police for the murder of Will's ex-girlfriend. Ken has been missing for 11 years. The book begins when Will's mother dies and he finds evidence that Ken had been communicating with his mother. The book moves at an amazing speed and none of the suspense are predictable and dull. It makes you want to finish the book in one sitting. I cant wait to read the others this guy has written.

Without Fail

2007-05-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

By Lee Child. Another thrilling Jack Reacher novel you could devour in a day. The situations are fresh and the characters are new. Reacher finds himself in Atlantic city protecting a couple of old singers from the manager of a club where they are performing. Reacher is all set to move to the next city, when M.E.Froelich shows up unannounced. She is the head of security detail for the Vice President of USA and she has a very disturbing request and challenge all rolled into one.

And Reacher is never one who could stay away from challenges. Thus starts the rollercoaster ride which has some very intersting twists and turns. And Child is not an author who disappoints his loyal readers. Reacher does everything that makes his character one of my favourites.

Amazing read. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read an action packed thriller.

BTW...i was just wondering...if one of Lee Child's book were to be made into a movie, who would I want to play Reacher? If it had been some years back, i would have wanted a full haired Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson. In moments of insanity, I wonder how would it look if Stallone played Reacher. Hmm..maybe be could just pull it off.

My friend Leonard

2007-04-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

By James Frey. The sequel to A million little pieces. AMLP was a very touching book about Frey's "ordeals" in the rehab. In My friend Leonard, Frey is out of the prison and is still struggling with the alcohol and coke addiction. The book starts out interestingly with tragic incidents in Frey's life as soon as he is out of the prison. Lily commits suicide the day he reaches Chicago to meet her and start a new life with her. He is heartbroken and he spends a night in his truck with a bottle of cheap liquor but he does not touch it. The rest of the book is about his relationship with Leonard and how Frey stabilises his life.
Did i like it? Well yes, because its a book with hardly any unwanted words or paragraphs. The story is fast and keeps you involved. But if i had started this book to get a glimpse of the real Frey, i would have been disappointed. The incidents are too surreal and just cliched at some points. By the end of the book, you wonder, is he really free of addictions? Isnt he just addicted to another type of drug....self-importance? There is just too much Frey and too little Leonard in this book. But all in all, its an engaging book and has its moments. They just should not classify it as non-fiction. That would do the trick.

Lipstick Jungle

2007-04-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

Though Trading up was an absolute let down, there is something in Lipstick Jungle that makes it a good read. I think its because the central character in TU, Janey Wilcox had a gray side that was just a shade too dark. She was ambitious but there was no justification for the stuff she did apart from the reason that she wanted to be invited to all the hot parties in NY. Not quite a lofty ideal. But Lipstick Jungle is about 3 women who are on the verge of success. Victory Ford, an up and coming fashion designer who has her own brand and is just recovering from a flop show during the fashion week. Wendy Healy who is the head of Pardor pictures, who has a struggling marriage and 3 kids to boot. Then there is Nico O'Neill who is the eyeing the top post in the company Splatch-Verner.The worlds of Janey and the three women are the same. There are a couple of characters we know from TU,like George Paxton and Selden Rose. Thankfully no Janey Wilcox though.
All in all, an easy read.

Welcome to Temptation

2007-04-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

April has been a crazy month for me. I was a woman on a mission ( i can safely call myself a woman...cos i am 25 years old now!! finally!!). I have been reading books at a supersonic speed this month. This book is by Jennifer Crusie recommended to me by the librarian on a very boring afternoon in the first week of April. She told me that after Catherine Alliot, Crusie churns out the best chick flick ever.
And i did enjoy this book. Based in a small town called Temptation, population of 2000 in the middle of nowhere (well..actually Ohio), its a hot love story between the mayor of the town and the a lady who comes to this town to shoot a movie. The movie is actually a skin flick..sort of a comebak for the aging actress Clea who hails from Temptation. Amy and Sophie Dempsey shoot weddings in Cincinnati and they decide this could be their break.
Sophie Dempsey has always taken care of her brother and sister since forever. She has remained the good girl in the family when her siblings were getting into all sorts of trouble.
But Sophie finds herself smack in the middle of rumours and death plots...all because she is dating the mayor of Temptation. The book is a fast paced romance novel that offers everything you look for in a book to take you through a slow weekend.

One Shot

2007-04-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

By Lee Child. By now everyone knows that i am a lunatic fan of Jack Reacher...a level above crazy. And he never disappoints me. I had to take a day off from work to sit at home and just finish this book. Its just awesome.
Its 5 o clock friday evening and 6 shots are fired onto a crowd of people leaving a DMV building in Indiana and 5 people are dead. The killer is captured immediately. James Barr. One small hiccup. Barr denies being involved and asks for Jack Reacher.
The books follows its on incredible twists and turns and ends with an incredible stake out. All's well that ends well and Reacher is off on his own journey never doing the same thing twice.

The memory keeper's daughter

2007-04-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

By Kim Edwards. The only book i have enjoyed this much is "The God Of Small Things" years and years ago. Allow me to gush for a minute about how great this book is. Its just amazing. The prose, the story, the characters, the location everything is just perfect.
The charcters and their surroundings come alive when you read this book.
Its about a family, Dr David Henry, his wife Norah and their children. During childbirth Norah gives birth to a healthy boy and a girl with Down's Syndrome. David decides to save his family from the grief of raising a challenged child and hands the child over to his faithful nurse Caroline Gill and asks her to leave the child in an asylum for people suffering from Downs. Caroline who is in love with David refuses to leave the child in the asylum after seeing the horrible conditions there and decides to raise the child herself. She lets David know that by frequent letters. David meanwhile tells Norah that her daughter died at childbirth. Norah is happy about the healthy boy Paul but feels an inexplicable pain when she thinks about her lost daughter. The rest of her life is colored by that loss. The marriage falls apart after more than twenty years.
I will not tell you how the book ends, because the ending made the book even more beautiful than it already is. Now i understand what the hype was all about. This is a must read.

Trading Up

2007-04-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

By Candance Bushnell. The author of Sex and the City writes about the struggles of a aging Victoria's Secret modey Janey Wilcox and her problems in life. For a book about a model, this book just keeps going on and on and on. Rambles on for more than 500 pages. I would have given it up halfway if i had not been a crazy fan of SATC. I believed sincerely that an excellent series like that based on the book, the author must be exceptional. But Trading up was a disappointment. The heroine is a cold hearted scheming woman who forges relationships only to get ahead in the socialite circle.

The ending is also half baked with us wondering why we subjected ourselves to 500 pages of torture to be left in the lurch this way.

Even though this book was a disappointment, I have become brave and decided to try "Lipstick Jungle".

Journey

2007-04-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

By Danielle Steel. Dont ask me what made me choose this book. I was looking for a romance novel and I dint see any Nora Roberts that i liked. So i thought Danielle Steel is good..she has written some books that i have enjoyed years ago..i wanted to see if she still had the magic. But i realised sadly that she dint. Journey is a half baked story about Maddy Carpenter, a hot shot news reader married to Jack Carpenter, head of a TV station. Frequent guests to the White House, friends with the First Family, they lead a charmed life. Jack had rescued Maddy from an abusive marriage only for Maddy to realise that she was living through the abuse again. Not physical but a mental domination and isolation. Maddy does not realise this until she joins a Women's group against abuse headed by none other than the first lady. Thats when she realises that she is stuck in an abusive marriage too. But she does not have the strength to get out of it. After almost 200 pages of mental torture(for us, not her!) she finally decides to leave Jack and start a new life with an aging Senator( whose name escapes me..Bill Something). So thats the story. I dont know why i am trashing this author who has written some mind blowing romance stuff i have enjoyed liked 5 years ago. I remember books like Perfect Stranger which i have enjoyed immensely. But this book was a total let down. I dont know if it was the book or if i have been spoiled by the work of other romance novel geniuses, I will not be reading another Danielle Steel for a long time to come.

Running Blind

2007-03-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

Jack Reacher again. This is the book after Tripwire. After Jodie, Leon Garber's daughter and Reacher have fallen in love and practically living together. Reacher is restless, 2 things keep him in New York. Jodie and Leon's house in Garrison that came to Reacher.

Reacher is clueless and relieved slightly when he is in the middle of a bizzare investigation. 3 women have been killed...with the same MO. Killed in their own bathtubs filled with army camouflage paint. The weirdest thing is that there is no evidence in the house to indicate that someone other than the victim was even there. And weirder still, the coroner can't find how these women died. No poisoning, no shooting..nothing. Just dead women.

First the FBI thinks Reacher had something to do with the murders but then they realise otherwise and ask him to come on board as consultants. Reacher agrees reluctantly.

Incredible book with amazing final sequence. And just proves once again that i am hooked on Reacher in a big way!!

Red Lily

2007-03-17T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last of the "In the Garden" trilogy. The Harper Bride still haunts the Harper house. Roz and Mitch are married.Stella and Logan are thinking of expanding their family with a child of their own. And Hayley and Harper fall in love.

I enjoyed this book a lot because the romance is fresh and beautiful. The usual guy is a hunk,girl is a looker....the guy does romantic things for her and she falls head over heels. No fuss romance.

In the end...all ends well..Harper Bride is finally acknowledged and put to rest. The three single women are married and everyone is happy.

They should write more books like this one :) I loved it!!

February woes

2007-02-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

No..thats not the name of a book...just that i have ignored the books in February. I read maybe 2 books only the whole month!!! Thats my worst average in a very long time.
You know the way you just go off stuff you love for a spell..well..maybe you dont but i do that a lot. Thats how i went off books in a major way. I would sit in the bus, knowing i had a book in my bag..but would not take it out and read. I was content to just sit there and think.
Okie...so the books that i did manage to finish are readable and forgettable.
The Family Daughter-Mailey Meloy
What does an author do if she has met a writer's block and just cannot think of a new story. She re-writes her first book with a twist. Family Daughter is this author's second book. The first one(which i have not read, thankfully) is called Liars and Saints...it has all the classic elements of an "exciting",abnormal family...a daughter who cant find her roots or her self, a mother who is a wanderer and has never grown up in the real sense, a dead father, a load of guilt, an incestous relationship...a lot of stuff to help us keep turning the pages. The first book was supposedly a third person narrative about Aby Santerre and her family. This time around Aby is spilling the beans...Interesting..but not good enough.
Angel's Flight-Micheal Connelly
This guy is the Nora Roberts of mystery..whenever i go to the library i find his books all over the place..he must have written hundreds of them. I figured since the guy has made such a big attempt..i mite as well give it a try. Its kind of ok. A tired, over-worked and emotionally broken detective Harry Bosch is faced with the case of his life the same night his wife leaves him. An african american laywer is shot dead. What makes this case more important is that this lawyer Howard Elias has made a life of suing the LAPD and now the suspects in his death are also officers from LAPD. The books is a long series of twists and turns and more twists,leaving us heaving a sigh of relief when its finally over. Readable but not exceptional. I have read better Police Fiction.

Black Rose

2007-02-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Second book of the In the Garden trilogy by Nora Roberts. The mystery surrounding the family ghost, the Harper Bride thickens. New developements in the lives of the three women in the Harper house.
The way the Blue Dahlia was about Stella's grit and courage, this one is all about Roz's strength and sense of self. Interesting,funny and entertaining...just wat the doctor prescribed for a cold evening at home..on the couch with a mug of steaming choclate.

Killing Floor

2007-01-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

Reacher is minding his own business in Margrave,Georgia when he is arrested at Eno's Diner. For murder.

Thus starts the mind blowing Jack Reacher escapade, the first book of the series. Reacher is passing through the town famous for a jazz artist Blind Blake when he decides to find more about Blake...and before he sees it coming he is in smack middle of a murder mystery. The chief of detectives Finlay and an attractive officer Roscoe assist Reacher in solving the mystery that suddenly becomes very important for him. I am not going to tell you why and i am also going to warn you not to read the summary of this book. But if you have read some of the later books in this series you might just figure it out for yourself the way I did. Anyway the book, as any in the series does not need too many words to describe it. Just awesome. I am a true Reacher fan!!!

Blue Dahlia

2007-01-20T10:22:00.001-08:00

Nora Roberts. She is awesome as usual. I dont usually like to read books that are a part of a series. But this one..i thot i will make an exception. Its the first book of "In the Garden" trilogy.
Its about 3 women who come to stay in the Harper House by chance. One is Rosalind Harper, the owner of the house. Stella Rostchild, a widow who loses her husband in a plane crash and is left with 2 young boys to take care of. Hayley, a pregnant girl whose lover does not love her anymore. They come under the roof of Harper House by chance but are held together by a bond that makes them almost a family.
Stella falls in love with the landscaper working with Roz. The relationship is volatile and passionate from the start and the book ends with each of the women finding a piece of themselves. Stella in Logan. Hayley in her child Lily and Roz meets Mitch who mite become a pivotal character in the next books of the trilogy.
The 3 women join in the quest of the resident ghost of the Harper House...known for generations as the Harper Bride. They just know that the ghost is a presence in the house and sings for young boys during the night.
A series of events bring the 3 women closer than they had expected. I cant wait to read the next book.

Coronado

2007-01-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

Latest by Dennis Lehane. Its a collection of short stories and a play of the same name as the book. The short stories are all forgettable. But the play is awesome. Its about a father and his son Bobby, a pair of lovers Gina and Will, a psychiatrist and a patient. The conversations of these 3 pairs dont happen at the same time...its a wonderful way to write a very gripping play.
Bobby and his father are talking about a diamond that Bobby stole before he went to jail. His father wants to know what he has done with the diamond...and Bobby wants his father to tell him where Gwen..his lover is. He suspects that Gwen mite have been harmed by his father. Gina and Will plot to murder Gina's husband Hal so that they can be together..and the patient confesses to the psychiatrist that she was an accessory to a murder a long time ago but has not come to terms with it. I will not give out any more spoilers..
The rest of the stories in the book are mediocre. But it mite be that after reading a Kenzie-Gennaro book..u want so much more from Lehane.

The Tenth Circle

2007-01-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

By Jodi Picoult. Its her latest and after reading a few of her old ones..i guess i expected a lot from this one too. But this felt a lot like Salem Falls with the underage heroine raped. But it has its differences...its a kind of graphic novel with cartoons in the midst. The heroine Trixie Stone is just another high school girl who broke up with her boyfriend Jason and is devastated because of that. Her father Daniel Stone is a cartoonist who has stayed at home to bring up the daughter while his wife Laura worked as a Dante Professor in college.
The Tenth Circle is about a tenth circle in Dante's Hell into which Dante and Virgil are dragged into to meet the Devil himself. The various stages and characters in the book are potrayed in the comic strips throughout the book to bring out the hellish circumstances that the Stone family is going through.
There is Daniel with a childhood he has not discussed with anyone...at the end of the book Daniel is forced to face his personal demons to get his daughter back into his life. Laura struggles with herself and is distraught about her infidelity.
The book has all the classic Picoult elements...an uncomfortable personal situation where the right is never really right and wrong mite not seem so. Interesting read but definitely not as incredible as the other Picoult books.

The Hard Way

2006-12-29T06:08:00.000-08:00

I borrowed this sentence from a review on Amazon because it tells exactly what i think about Jack Reacher..."As far as I'm concerned, the tight-lipped, human arsenal Jack Reacher is the most compelling figure in contemporary escapist thriller fiction. " [Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States)]
The Hard way is the 10th Reacher Novel by Lee Child and its incredible from start to finish. Reacher is doing nothing but sitting on a side walk cafe having an espresso and the next thing he knows he is yet again involved in an investigation...to help a distraught husband find his kidnapped wife and daughter....Reacher has a new heroine...Lauren Pauling..a retired FBI agent who helps him in the search for the truth...
My lips are sealed about the plot...all i can warn u is that you are not going to put this book down from start to finish...it will hook you like all the others before it....
No other hero...except Kenzie/Gennaro pair has captured my imagination like Reacher...he is quiet...does not believe in staying in once place...leaving a trail...and at the end of the book...there is no settling down...the perfect hero to write 10 books and more about...

Anybody out there?

2006-12-26T07:49:00.000-08:00

By Marian Keyes. Another chick flick. The second young widow story in 2 weeks...The situations in this is very similar to the Cecila Ahern's P.S. I love you. Its about a young widow with an almost dysfunctional family trying to cope with the loss of the love of her life...unexpectedly.
"Anybody.." is different because it potrays the chaos that must go through one's mind when you lose someone you love. so unexpectedly. Anna Walsh works for Candy Grrrl...a new and hot cosmetics company as a hot shot PR....she is swept off her feet by Adian who is an IT geek...they get married and in a year Adian dies in a car accident...
The best thing about this book inspite of its predictable twists and turns is the potrayal of the confusion and denial in Anna's mind about Adian...she just loves him too much to believe that he is dead....
u wont use so many tissues when u read this book...but Keyes has already shown she can tell a story...and this is no different...a chick flick to the core..Enjoy!

P.S. I Love You

2006-12-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

This book is guaranteed to make you cry. Sit down with a box of tissues to read this book. Its a story of Holly and Gerry. This love struck couple married for 7 years and then tragedy strikes. Gerry is diagnosed with brain tumor and Holly is widowed. The story is a very romantic one about how she learns to let Gerry go and learns to live and love again.
It is bound to make you cry....and make you laugh out loud at times. Holly reminds you of the loveable Catherine Alliot, Marian Keyes types heroine...clumsy at times but very sweet.
You will love her friends too...Sharon and Denise who support her thru her hard times and get her back on her feet. What i am not going to tell you is the very important part of this book that gives it a direction...let me warn you...DO NOT read the back of this book before you start reading it...that spoils the surprise of the first 50 pages...and in a 250 pages book thats a big chunk...
Anyways i wud definitely recommend this for a weekend when u need a little crying to get all the blues out of your system...Enjoy.

The abortionist's Daughter

2006-12-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

This books you from page 1. Its a dark murder mystery-family drama involving a family, mother Dr.Diane Duprey runs a abortion clinic, father Frank Thompson who is a succesful lawyer...and a daughter Megan who is in college..just out of a relationship when her mistakes come back and haunt her. Her life is shattered when her mother is murdered and her father becomes the prime suspect in the case.

What follows is an intense murder investigation where a lot of things about the family comes to light...all the unresolved issues between Diane and Frank and the romance between Megan and the detective investigating the case Detective Huck Berlin.

Its an unputdownable page turner...like the hundreds out there. It may not be different but it satisfies you the way a good thriller should.

I have landed....

2006-12-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

Here i am in the land of my dreams...a place i have wanted to see and experience for a very long time now. The first week of my stay was interesting to say the least....anyway the best thing is that i am in the 10th most literate city of the USA...and office is a block away from an incredible library...and i am into my second book already...isnt that amazing:)
Anyways its the Holiday season and i LOVE it!!!

Update

2006-11-23T00:54:00.000-08:00

I have closed my library account here because i am relocating at the end of this week to the Land of Dreams...and Uncle Sam. So it mite be sometime before i can get my hands on a good book.

Gone baby Gone

2006-11-23T00:27:00.000-08:00

I think i have already written how much i love Dennis Lehane and the Kenzie-Gennaro team. This was the only book in the Kenzie-Gennaro series that i have not read. Its mind blowing as usual. Patrick's quick wit and Angie's repartee makes the book come alive.
The story too is more interesting than the others in the series. Its about children who are kidnapped from home and the way the nvestigators are haunted by the things they have to see little kids go through.
I dont want to tell anymore about this book because i think you should read this book...no matter what...

Echo Burning

2006-11-23T00:12:00.000-08:00

Another great book by Lee Child. Jack Reacher is drifting again and this time finds himself in Texas in the middle of summer. He hitchhikes and is picked up by a young and beautiful woman who confides in him that she is looking for a person who can murder her husband who has been abusing her for years now. He is now in prison and releasing very soon. Reacher is very sckeptical at first but decides to go home with her to keep an eye on her in case her husband tries to hit her.
The book is fast moving, has lots of action and enough twists and turns to make you want to see what happens at the end. Readable and interesting.

Black Dahlia

2006-11-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

Its a very disturbing book about a murder of a young woman and how its investigation is shrouded by lies and deciet. How the murder affects the lives of people involved in the case. Its an incredible book by James Elroy who wrote the screenplay for L.A Confidential. The book is based on the real life unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short. The young girl was murdered brutally and disemboweled. The book describes the journey of two detectives who work the case. They are haunted by the horrific way she has been murdered.
The book takes us through the investigation when many layers of truth comes to light. As they investigate a more or less hazy picture of the girl emerges. A startlet who had a dark side. The porn movie she acted in, a friend who acted as her pimp, her lesbian liasons with the daughter of a very powerful man with underworld connections all come to light. This just makes the detectives Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert and Lee Blanchard more driven to find the killer.
The storyline is very interesting and unsettling. A very interesting read.

Empire Falls

2006-11-06T23:13:00.000-08:00

Its a story about a small dying town in Maine, Empire Falls. It captures all the small town elements. The way the characters have known each other since they were kids. The way the history of each person living there is entwined with the history of the town.
The story centers around a restaurant Empire Grill which is being run by Miles Roby. Miles gave up his college education to be close to his dying mother eventhough she hated the thought of Miles coming back. She suspected college was Miles' ticket to freedom. And now years later Miles is his mother's worst nightmare. The owner of Empire Grill,newly divorced and not going anywhere.
The town is at the mercy of the Whitings family. Francine Whiting owns every money making organization in the town...and everyone panicks when they suspect that Mrs. Whiting plans to sell everything and leave town.
The book is about small town fears and how they cope with a terrible tragedy. The book is very unsettling at times. Especially when dwelling on the new busboy in the Grill, John Voss. His childhood and his activities makes u wonder how people can be so cruel.
Its a must read. Thank you Desperate Housewife for this fantastic reference.

Summer Crossing

2006-10-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

I lent this book from the library primarily because of how thin it was. It was around 120 pages. And with a good cover. And its a known fact that i am a sucker for good covers. Anyway i looked closely...it was a book by Truman Capote. I had so much about him i thought i should read him. And i did read...the book is good.
Its about a 17 year old girl Grady McNeil's summer in New York in the 40's. Her rich socialite parents have gone to France for the summer but she says she wants to spend the summer here in NY all alone. Her sister and parents are not thrilled but they agree to her. Grady has a reason to want to stay back. She is in love with Clyde Manzer who is a war veteran and now a parking lot attendant.
This book is about that summer,how it changes the lives of everyone around Grady.
As usual, i googled the book and came up with an interesting tidbit of info. Apparently, Summer Crossing was the first book by Capote. But the manuscript was stolen and it never got published till 2005.
The book is passionate....a lot of things work for this book..the heat of that summer, Grady's age and struggle with love, the potrayal of Manzer and his family, all this makes the romance between the couple overwhelming...and the incidents at the end believable.
Good read. I plan to read more of Capote.

Tripwire

2006-10-17T22:54:00.000-07:00

Another Jack Reacher novel. I cant say anything about this book other than i have become a fan of Child and Reacher. I am going to go slowly but surely through the entire Reacher series.
I think he is my second fav after Kenzie-Gennaro team.
Tripwire happens after Reacher is out of the army and is drifting. doing odd jobs. Till a guy comes lookin for him and ends up dead soon after that. Reacher heads out to New York to find out more about the guy who came looking for him and the mysterious client Mrs.Jacob who sent the guy in the first place.
He is in for a shock when he comes to know that Mrs.Jacob is none other than Jodie Garber, General Leon Garber's daughter. Reacher ends up in Garber home to see that Leon is dead...
Jodie and Reacher try to unravel the mystery surrounding Garber's last queries about the only son of the Hobies. He was supposedly missing in action during Vietnam.
The remainder of the story is fast moving and interesting. I like the hunour and primitive man like instincts of Reacher which makes him different from the other fictional heros.

An Unfinished Life

2006-10-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

I love books that have a flavour of earth in them.Books by authors like Annie Proulox where the place the story unfolds itself becomes a character....this book by Mark Spragg has a very similar feel to it. Its a story of two old men and a young girl...its a story of an abused mother with a young daughter...its a story of a sleepy town in Wyoming..
Griff is a ten year old who packs all her belongings every day in the morning in the hope that her mother will take her and flee from her latest boyfriend who beats them. Her wish comes true one day when her mother Jean decides enough is enough and they both leave the trailer home and the abusive boyfriend behind. With nowhere to go and money running dry, Jean takes Griff to Ishawooa...the town in Wyoming where she grew up...fell in love,married and lost her husband,Griff's father. Griff is first shocked and then excited that she has a grandfather.
Her grandfather Einar is a recovering alcoholic...who is spending the twilight years of his life alone in a run down farm with a friend of many years, Mitch who is bed ridden since a grizzly mauled him. Einar reluctantly takes to the girl but does not want anything to do with her mother.
The book ends when they all come together and decide to give their family a second chance..the book ends with a hope that Griff will finally stop packing every morning.
Needless to say i loved it..its a very poignant story..particulary the way Einar has been treated. He struggles a lot within. Griff is adorable and far wiser for her age. Its sad when kids have to grow up sooner than they have to. Wonderful book. Cant wait to see the movie based on this book. Staring Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and JLo.

Whats with me and Prison???

2006-10-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

I seem to be reading a lot of prison books...first Pen Pals by Olivia Goldsmith...its about a Wall Street broker who takes the fall for her boss....and learns that everyone she trusted have let her down...there is a looot of details about women prison...its readable...but in no way comparable to her gems like First Wives Club

The second prison centered book is The vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult...i love this author but this book lacks the emotion that defines her other books...its about a search and rescue person who finds out a devastating truth about her past...readable..

Silent Partner..by Stephen Frey...another readable book...i dont have any glowing comments about this...its too technical about finance to interest you for long....you have to be almost halfway into the book for it to really pick up and go someplace...

Sometimes...there are weeks when none of the books i get my hands on seem to appeal to me...though i blame it squarely on the author and the story...many a times its just that i am too distracted to concentrate and do justice to the book....so i dont know if the problem is with me or the books...i will leave that to u to decide for yourself...

Little Women

2006-10-04T03:11:00.000-07:00

I have never been a fan of classic novels. I have tried Jane Austen many times but i have failed to be enthralled by her old world beauty...i am all about fast cars and faster bullets. I got my hands on this book at a friends...i was between books...(an interesting term..like a relationship status)...so i decided to give it a try....i was hooked.
The preface told me the way Louisa May Alcott dint like it one bit that this book was her claim to fame. She dint think this was her greatest work.It is supposedly a loosely based on her own life. Believe me i have not seen better books.
Little women is about the March family. 4 girls who lead a charmed life..doted on by their loving parents. They are poor..even though they sometimes miss the luxuries that money can buy they are aware of how lucky they are to have each other. The eldest Meg is the responsible beauty, Jo is a tomboy full of energy and least lady like.loving Beth who is the darling of all with a good heart and Charming Amy who is the baby of the family. The book is about their lives and loves. Laurie..Theodre Lawrence is their next door neighbour and closest friend of the girls.
The best part of the book is the way u become one the fifth child in the family and u cry with them and laugh with them. U are amused by their antics and heart broken when they cry. Its truly an experience this book.
Dont miss it if u get ur hands on this book!!!!

u can read it here

Some books i missed out on...

2006-09-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

The past 2 weeks...i got loads of time to read....these are the books i have finished...

Mad River Road - Joy Fielding. An enjoyable and predictable thriller with lots of women characters.
Not that kind of girl - Catherine Alliot. A easy to read..chick lit..funny book..but feels like you are reading Going Too Far again.
The Enemy - Lee Child. A Jack Reacher novel.My first Lee Child. Interesting read.Incredibly fast moving with a very tight storyline.I think i will read more of Lee Child's works.
Confessions of a Shopaholic - What can i say about this book other than it seems like Bridget Jones got a new Vice...shopping. The characterization and circumstances remind you so much of Bridget Jones. Thats the reason its a decent, readable book.
The Devil Wears Prada - Incredible book. The way Miranda Priestly has been potrayed is just mind blowing. She is devil incarnate. Makes us want thank god that our bosses are not as sadistic as she. The book is definitely better than the movie.

The Afghan

2006-08-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

The hero of the Fist of God is brought into commision here to find out more about the top secret Al-Qaeda terror operation named as Al-Isra. Mike Martin who had spent most of his life undercover in Arabian countries could easily pass for an Arabian with his tawny complexion and dark hair. As he gets ready to impersonate a deadly Taliban commander Izmat Khan who has been in American custody for years, he does not know where or what the operation will lead him to. The story is fast paced and show cases the intricate level of detail Forsyth's research. The climax is unexpected and leaves u asking for more. I am not going to tell you anything more about the book other than to get a copy and start reading now:)

Mercy

2006-08-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Another great book by Jodi Picoult. It involves 2 pairs Allie and Cam who are happily married for 5 years. Cam is the Chief of Police in the county and Allie owns a floweshop right opposite the police station. Allie worships her husband and Cam is in love with the familiarity of Allie. Into this scene enters Jamie and Maggie. Maggie was suffering from terminal cancer and Jamie confesses to Cam in front of the entire village that he killed his wife because she wanted him to end her misery. Allie is moved by the deep love that Jamie had for his wife. Mia Townsend walks into Allie's shop one day and Allie hires Mia to be her assistant. Cam and Mia fall in love and have a relationship behind Allie's back. The rest of the story is the entwining of these heavy duty feelings and wether Jamie is right or wrong in killing his wife. The courtroom drama is as central to this book as the feelings between Cam,Allie,Mia and Jamie. Incredible read.

Marker

2006-08-16T01:44:00.000-07:00

I have been reading Robin Cook for as long as i can remember. Most of his books feature Stapelton-Montgomery Pathologist pair. This one is no different.There are a series of mysterious deaths in Manhattan General. All the dead are young and just recuperating from a non-serious surgery. They are also new subscribers to AmeriCare.Laurie does the autopsy. She finds the cause of death to be heart attack but is not able to determine the manner of death. That is why the heart attack when the heart and the blood vessels are healthy.Thus begins the search for the serial killer working the graveyard shift in the hospital. Also running parallel are the straining relationship between Laurie and Jack, Laurie's being positive for a cancer causing gene, an unexpected pregnancy.All in all, the book like all RC's works are worth reading..with tight sequences and very little loopholes.
P.S. This is RC's 25th Novel.

Blue Smoke

2006-08-16T01:43:00.000-07:00

Nora Roberts...i call her the Queen of Romance. This is an incredible story of a 11 year old girl who witnesses the arson of her family pizzeria...she is fascinated by the fury and hunger of Fire. And that becomes her destiny.She decides to become a Fire investigator....all through college and during her rookie years...fire follows her like a shadow....A carpenter Bo Goodnight sees Catarina Hale at a college party and all music stops for him then,...he has found his Dream Girl..but before he can advance towards her...she has disappeared. He searches her for years...only to see her come to live next door.The story is how Hale and Goodnight fall in love and all the obstacles they have to overcome to be together...What i liked so much about the book....the big Italian family of Hale...the closeness they share...the love between the lead pair...the book makes u feel good at the end of it...Worth reading:)A snippet of info about NR....she has been writing non stop for years now...and she writes on an average 11 books a year....she writes everyday without fail...even during vacations...her books are republished frequently...so to denote that the book is a first time publication we find the initials NR inside a circle next to the name...interesting rite?

The Pact

2006-04-26T01:43:00.000-07:00

Incredible story..Chris and Emily have been together since they were born. The Hartes and the Golds have been neighbours for years now...All of them expected Chris and Emily to marry one day...but they were shocked when Emily killed herself with a shotgun and Chris was injured.Incredible story with great twists and an exciting court room scenes. We see Jordan McAfee in full force...As always Picoult's stories are based on situations that are very different and very close to heart...imagine how special that relation must have been...when you cant have any memories of childhood that doesnt include the other person....imagine falling in love finally with him....incredible i would say..The book is mindblowing...so is the ending...with some twists and turns and an engaging crime angle to the whole thing..

Shutter Island

2006-04-17T01:42:00.000-07:00

It had been more than a month since i read a novel when i took this book to read....i have read Dennis Lehane's Mystic River and was impressed. MR is such a dark book with vivid characterizations. I expected the same from Shutter Island. I was not disappointed.Teddy Daniels,an US Marshal and his partner come to a physichiatric care facility in an isolated island to investigate the disappearence of an inmate...what follows next is an incredible story of paranoia and fear....with incredible twists and turns,the book keeps you hooked till the last minute...The thing about reading such dark books are that they leave an impression no mattter how the book ends or turns out to be. Lehane has that incredible ability to make that happen....Read the book and find out for yourself...

The Godfather

2006-03-30T10:28:00.000-08:00

I dont know if i can even begin to comment on this book....its incredible from start to finish....i had first read this in third year of college....and i was impressed...but i had forgotten about it....then the other day..i thot i have to re read this classic and bought myself a copy of the book....Don Corleone...a character who is larger than life and commands the respect of one and all....if he had lived...i would have wanted to meet him....a statesman of sorts...Sonny...a character with all the fury and strength...u can actually see in front of ur eyes the scene where he beats up Connie's husband Carlo outside his book making place.Micheal...Don incarnate....dint get to see much of him in the book as the don....but i loved his character...I had read the sicilian too....but i dont remember much....i loved the fury in the book...the sense of revenge thats sicilian...thats what i loved the most...the way they get even....what i remember the most about the book is because of the movie "You've Got Mail". In that Meg Ryan asks help from Tom Hanks...and he says to go for it with all she has got...he tells her to go to the mattresses....Meg cant figure out what he is saying....then Hanks explains....in case of any doubt ask "The Godfather". i havent seen the movie so i guess i have to make do with a personal copy of Mario Puzo's work and referring whenever i am in any doubt..:)

Brokeback mountain

2006-03-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

What a story....the passion between two people made to be unnatural and hateful only because its between two men....The story starts with Ennis Del Mar reminiscing about that long gone summer on Brokeback mountain...where he meets Jack Twist for the first time...On the mountain alone with the sheep,horses and dogs a romance developes that both of them cant understand or control....they part ways after the summer...with lame words of meeting again....Both get married and settle down....after 4 years a letter and then a meeting bring back all the memories and the understanding that they have something special that cant be ignored nor flaunted for the fear of being ostracized.They meet every year for ten days stolen from their lives....but never return to Brokeback Mountain...The most touching part in this incredible story is the way Jack reacts when Ennis says the trip planned in August mite not happen....because he has to work in a farm to pay for his bills and child support to his divorced wife....Those words seem to be the turning point leading to a heart wrenching climax....Wow...what else can i say about it except mindblowingOne thing i will take away from this book are the words "There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it you've got to stand it. " How true!!

Salem Falls

2006-03-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

Its a story of a modern day witch hunt. Few teenage girls in the quiet town of Salem Falls are practising magick,reading books on Voodoo and with the help of a store that sells Witchcraft books and herbs...There is a diner where the owner is a hopeless drunk..whose daughter runs the place. The daughter always sets a place aside for her own daughter who has been dead for many years...refusing to believe that she is actually dead...Into this scene enters a man accused and convicted of having a relationship with a student of his in a school where he worked as football coach...What follows is a interesting story of hate and witchcraft,love and court trial....and the ending is how love wins over everything and makes everything ok....Good read...

Angel

2006-03-08T23:02:00.000-08:00

A nice book with a haunting story line.The whole book is in the form of a journal kept by the heroine Harriet Purcell. She is a X-Ray technician in teh 60's Australia. It starts with the dramatic way in which Harriet leaves home and rents a flat in the blue collar area Kings Cross where she meets head on with a way of life that she had been sheltered from till then.The story then deals with the coming of age of Harriet and the way she is drawn to the daughter of the resident soothsayer of The House. It showcases Harriet's sense of right and determination as she overcomes hurdles to make her angel her own....An interesting read...

Memoirs of a Giesha

2006-02-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Yet another incredible fiction...I have just come back from Kyoto...from the Okiya of Nitta Sayuri...how else can i describe the way Aruthur Holden takes us by hand through the lonely childhood and an even lonlier life of "one of the greatest gieshas of Japan"...I have been enchanted with the orient since i dont know when..the story of Chiyo..with blue-gray eyes...sold to slavery by a man she trusted....An incredible story with twists and turns..we see the gieshas training for the dances...putting on make-up to entertain their guests by the night...we see the plight of young girls who dont understand why they have to become giesha..We see Chiyo grow into Sayuri....the way she longs for the love and acceptance from Chairman...Its a fantastic journey with a beautiful ending....

A million little pieces

2006-01-30T15:47:00.000-08:00

When i started this book i had no idea about all the controversies raging about it....all i knew about it was that it was a book tht Oprah claimed she loved and i was itching to get my hand on a non-fiction..i am sure u know by now...i inevitably judge my books by the cover and i am no disappointed most of the times...anyways...i did not have many expectaions about this book...but i was hooked in a few pages time,....as hooked as James...i have always thot that suffering or sadness is a tonic that i need to get through life...James was a guy who was reeling from wat he did to himself....the darkness surrounding him at the start of the book is overwhelming...but the light begins as a tiny ray and blinds us by the time James comes out of the The Clinic...his dramatic recovery from addiction sounded believeable...and AA and 12 steps just as impossible to believe and accept...The fragile relations forged by a man learning to be with people...his brother..parents..Lily...Leonard...they were all healing him...it was book that touched me deep and made me wonder if i could ever have that much strength of character...saying no to something you want badly is not easy....and when James does it...we are happy for him..After i read the book...i read some posts in various forums alleging that many crucial incidents in the book were all a figment of Frey's imagination...I did feel a bit cheated because i appreciated the man's suffering more because it was real...but even then i cant dispute the fact that this book touched a chord very few books have been able to do...and fiction or non fiction...A million little pieces made me more whole....

Smell

2006-01-16T23:51:00.000-08:00

Its a debut by Radhika Jha. People say that you should never judge a book by its cover but something about the cover just drew me to the book..must be the pathos or helplessness in the face of the lady on the book. One thing about me is that i never read the gist of the book before reading it. U will ask then how can i know if the book is worth lending or not. I would normally judge the book by the author or how catchy or interesting the title of the book is. There are some cases when the book is boring as hell and i just cant go on! But that doesnt happen often...this method gives me more freedom to chose and not restrict myself to the books whose editors can write a gist better than others..Anyway..about Smell..the helplessness of the lady on the cover is a feeling reflected by Leela the central character of the book. Leela is a Gujarati born in Kenya but forced to relocate to her Uncle's home in Paris. The book takes us through the many facets of her life and the way her sense of Smell is a constant companion to her through a string of broken affairs and incomplete friendships.What can I say except its a book that touched me and i am glad that i came across it!

Five people you meet in heaven

2006-01-02T01:33:00.000-08:00

I want to talk about this fantastic book that i read some time back.A book that has touched me in ways i cant explain. "Five people you meet in heaven" by Mitch Albom.The book gets you thinking about a lot of things but one of the things that really struck me is my own vision of heaven. In the book, Eddie dies and passes on.But before he can go to heaven he has to meet 5 people who will explain to him the meaning of his life. Give him the answers to the questions that have been eating him from inside. He meets each of the 5 people in their own vision of heaven. What i like to believe out of that is heaven may not be a place of white clouds and angels in long white dresses.Heaven might be a place that you long to be in. A place where you felt the happiest. Heaven might be a snowy christmas spent with your loved ones. Heaven might be a cottage on the beach where you went for your honeymoon. Now that opens a lot of room for imagination. What will my heaven be like?What place and time did i never want to let go and move on? Which is that time that i long for in my darkest moments? Which is the place where i feel i have left a piece of myself and i am no longer the same without it?This thought is so sweet i dont want to let it go. So what will be your heaven?

To kill a mocking bird

2005-12-17T01:36:00.000-08:00

Well..why did i chose to lend this book from the library? Good question..i dont know. I had tried reading this earlier but i was not patient enough to even get past the first page. So i thought of giving it another shot. Afterall why so much hullaboo about a book! It won the pulitzer so it cannot be boring!And boy..i enjoyed the book. Scout, the narrator is one of the funniest characters i have read about..and most of the time joke is on her. That makes her all the more adorable. There are moments when you forget that it is a child talking. Atticus is a father every child would dream of. The evenings on his lap reading the paper is a picture every reader takes away from this book. Jem and Dill are fun. Their childhood is full of games and tricks.The book is gripping till the end. The courtroom drama is one of the chapters i enjoyed the most.The part when Scout asks Jem how her teacher can hate Hitler with such fervor when she agrees to the persecution of blacks in her own country. The rawness of the South comes alive in the book.A great read...full of dry humour and great twists.