Reading Room

Teaser Tuesday: Tintin and The Seven Crystal Balls by Herge

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 00:47:00 +0000

Mondays: Mailbox/Whereabouts/Musings

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:38:00 +0000

Mailbox Monday has moved over to Knitting and Sundries, for the month of November.

I received two books, in the past week, thanks to authors/publicists:

1) Trapped in Mystery Island by John Howard Reid

Police sergeant Merryll Manning is on vacation on an island in the Florida Keys for a Murder Mystery weekend. The plan is to solve the mystery and win a cash prize of $5,000.00. Easier said than done. Merry has his teenage-looking girlfriend Susan Ford along for the trip. Susan isn’t above using her sexuality to keep Merryll flustered and under her thumb.

2) Blood of My Brother by Jame LeporeWhen Jay Cassio’s best friend is murdered in a job clearly done by professionals, the walls that he has built to protect himself from the world of others begin to shatter. Dan Del Colliano had been his confidante and protector since the men were children on the savage streets of Newark, New Jersey. When Dan supports and revives Jay after Jay’s parents die in a plane crash, their bond deepens to something beyond brotherhood, beyond blood.
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Well, trying to read Trapped in Mystery Island by John Howard Reid without much success!!

Synopsis:

Finished reading a tintin album, Red Rackahm’s Treasure by Herge!
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What truths do you remember learning in fiction?

I am mentioning the following: Honesty, Integrity, Friendship, Positive Attitude, Perseverance, Love, Affection, Caring, Sharing, Respect for fellow human beings….and so much more.

TSS: Tintin and Red Rackam’s Treasure by Hergé

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:45:00 +0000

Title: Tintin and Red Rackam’s Treasure
Author: Hergé
ISBN: 0316358142
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company/1991
Pages: 64

Continued from The Secret of the Unicorn, this album introduces Professor Cuthbert Calculus, who is very deaf but so ingenious. Thomson and Thompson too join them in the treasure hunt.

With rollicking adventure they do find the Unicorn but no treasure! However, in the later part they do find the treasure in an unexpected place.

With the usual humour, Tintin and Captain make a great team. Professor Calculus endears himself to us and we can never tire of Thomson and Thompson’s stupidity. With beautiful art work, this album to, is a keeper like all others.

And at least, my reading slump disappeared for a while!

Book Blogger Hop/Follow me

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:40:00 +0000

Follow Friday, is hosted by ParaJunkee, Book Blogger Hop, is hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and
Follow Friday 40 and over is hosted by Java

ParaJunkee asks: How long have you been book blogging??

I have been book blogging since 2006. It has been more than four years now.

Jennifer says: ”Since Thanksgiving is coming up next week, let’s use this week’s Hop to share what we are most thankful for and what our holiday traditions are!”

I am simply thankful to be surrounded by my family and friends. I cannot ask for more…

Do feel to explore my blog. You will definitely find something that interests you as I read wide range of genres, except maybe for a few. I also write poetry. You can read that on my other blog, rooted. Now go, free to explore both of my blogs! And follow them, if you like!! I follow blogs I like via Google Reader…

Enjoy!

Booking through Borrowing

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:13:00 +0000

Who would you rather borrow from? Your library? Or a Friend? (Or don’t your friends trust you to return their books? And, DO you return books you borrow?

I can borrow from anywhere..friends or/and library. And I do make it a point to return borrowed books. My friends do trust me in that regard!!

But nowadays, I end up buying books. And hoarding them for a while before I give those away!

Literary Blog Hop: Literary Non-Fiction

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:05:00 +0000

Literary Blog Hop is hosted by The Blue Bookcase. If you features book reviews of literary fiction, classic literature, and general literary discussion, you too can join in!

This week’s question is:
Is there such a thing as literary non-fiction? If so, how do you define it? Examples?

I would say yes, for the existence of literary non-fiction. It can broadly defined as creative nonfiction, literary journalism, and of course, the literature of fact. It is that branch of writing which makes use of writing style and creative vision that are connected with with fiction or poetry. That technique is employed to describe or report about actual people, places, or events. I think travelogues, autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, essays fall into the category. I also think scientific books too can be taken as literary non-fiction. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a true account which reads like a novel. The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol 1-3 along George Bernard Shaw’s essay collection, Naom Chomsky’s writings are few examples…

A-Z Wednesday: The Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 02:34:00 +0000

The path home was overrun with weeds and hanging vines. Norman hiked through the mess as best as he could, slapping the mosquito against his neck as he tried to keep his fishing pole from tangling in the park’s tall grass.

Title: The Suicide Collectors

Author: David Oppegaard

ISBN: 9780312381103

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press/2008

Pages: 294

Rating: 5/5

The Suicide Collectors is another of my best reads of 2009. It is a book which is difficult to review. Or to put a genre to it. After a while, I simply gave in and went with the flow.

There is something like Despair which has plagued the Earth for some years now. This has resulted in mass suicides. And as soon as there is a suicide, a shadowy group arrives from nowhere to collect the bodies.

There are only a handful of people who wish to remain alive, not to give in no matter what. It is a lone fight for them. They are out numberded by the shadowy group of suicide collectors. Norman is one such person, who stands up against the Suicide Collectors. He does not allow them to take his wife’s body. He even ends up marking one of the Collectors. Norman, along with his elderly neighbour Pops, leaves on journey across North America. They get to know that a scientist is trying to find out a cure against the Despair.

On their way, they meet a young girl, Zero, both whose parents committed suicide. As she has no one, they take her along. Norman tries to make the best of the situation. He knows that the girl has to go one living no matter what.

This novel somehow reminded me of The Road by Cormac McCarthy although there is not much common in here. It is terrifying, very stark, bleak and scary at places. In the sense that it can become a reality. Despair can hit us at any time and giving into it is going to be easy. To fight against it, is hard. This novel has surprises, twists, turns and is powerful. I would call it gloriously creepy. The prose is wonderfully flowing and very gripping. A book to read, to think about and revisit, if possible.

Teaser Tuesday: Trapped on Mystery Island by John Howard Reid

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:51:00 +0000

“Connor is dead— really dead! God help me, I saw his body! And his room was smashed up.”
~~Page 106

Synopsis:

Sunday Salon: Issues with embedded comment box

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 03:28:00 +0000

Lately I find that I am unable to leave comments on those blogger blogs with embedded comment boxes. Either it takes too long to load or it doesn’t open at all. And even if I comment, typing those word verification takes a lot of my time. To leave a comment, I have to click three or more times.

I don’t see any point wasting so much of a comment-ers time. If you want others to visit you and leave comments, make it user friendly. If not then, I suppose that is your loss. Because I am not going to waste my time clicking again and again….to leave a comment.

I have the same issue with intensedebate and such likes. I dislike typing my email each time I comment and then that captcha verification….

Thought I would say it here again although I did a post about this a few months back.

Weekly Geeks: Extra Hour for reading

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:07:00 +0000

How you find that “extra hour” to read on a normal day?

Right now, it is difficult for me to answer this. I am not able to read anything at all. This reading slump is not leaving me. Half of November is almost there and I have not read a single book. Hope I snap out of it but it is not happening.

But there was a time, when I could read at any time. If I found even a few minutes, I spent that reading. It did not matter where I was. I could even read in the midst of crowds simply by shutting out the noise by immersing myself in reading.