Sunday Salon: October 2010 Wrap Up/RIP V

My reading has not improved. I am slowly trudging through The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson. I somehow can’t read more than a few pages at a time. It is very frustrating. I am also unable to visit my blogger friends. I don’t know what’s wrong with me...


Although I read only two books in October, I thought I will still do a wrap up post:

1) Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy
2) The Weight Of Shadows by Alison Strobel

As for as RIP V is concerned, I  read three books although my plan was to read lot more. Here is what I read for RIP V:

The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb
Never Wave Goodbye by Doug Magee
Bones of Contention by Jeanne Matthews

Weekly Geeks: The books you waited too long to read

Weekly Geek question:

Is there a book that has hanged around your reading pile for far too long before you got to it, A book that probably got packed away until you accidentally got to it or a book that you read a few pages in and never got back to.

I can cite many examples but here I will mention only a few.

1) The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood: I started it and somehow it did not hold interest. I read it again after 6 months and could not put it down. Maybe the first time around, the sheer number of pages (600+) intimidated me.

2) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck: I have loved all the Steinbeck’s novels I have read. And this one supposed to be the best and I have not got around it. I start it and then somehow it does not get read.

3) The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff: It has a very interested premise but I have left it halfway through. And I will come back to it.

4) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: I have read a lot of Marquez’s works but yet to begin this book. I have owned it for ages now. 

And then I waited for 
5) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson: Due to a reading slump, I am taking ages to finish it!

How about you? Do you feel guilty about leaving a book in the lurch?

Booking through Skeletons

What reading skeletons do you have in your closet? Books you’d be ashamed to let people know you love? Addiction to the worst kind of (fill in cheesy genre here)? Your old collection of Bobbsey Twin Mysteries lovingly stored behind your “grown-up” books? You get the picture … come on, confess!

I read a wide genre of books now. I have been doing that for a long time. But there was a time when I only read romances…..namely Mills & Boons and Harlequins. I still own around 400 of those books. I am trying give those away but something prevents me. When my mood needs boosting, I pick one up and start re-reading! Many of these romances have been read again and again. Some authors remain favourites even now: Liliane Peake, Carole Mortimer, Sally Wentworth and lot more. Janet Daily too. Does anyone else recall these authors?

A-Z Wednesday: Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

Title: Crow Lake
Author: Mary Lawson
ISBN: 0385337639
Publisher: Delta Trade Paperbacks
Pages: 291
Genre: Fiction

The story begins with Kate Morrison. She is narrating it for us right from when she was six years old. She has two elder brothers, Luke who is nineteen and Matt who is seventeen. They have a baby sister Bo, who is eighteen months old. Right in the beginning, we see the children losing their parents in a car accident. Luke who had never cared much for his siblings gives up on his dream of becoming a teacher and brings up the younger kids with the help of his brother. Matt has always been interested to go to the University but due to some reason I need not elaborate here, he can’t. Kate follows Matt’s dream. She ends up becoming a zoologist.

This novel is set in the wild terrain of Ontario. Here heartbreak and hardship go hand in hand. The story of the Morrisons is tied up with the Pye family. The Pyes are a cursed lot where the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons. On the centre stage are the Morrisons undergoing tragedy but it is not brutal. In a way, it binds them together.

We see Kate saddened by the fact that Matt could not pursue his dreams. She shuts him from her world completely thinking it would only cause him pain to see her doing what he had coveted most. Kate has many misconceptions regarding her brother Matt, although he is one person she loved most in this world. No one could measure upto him. When she leaves for University, she shuts him out giving up the closeness they had shared while they were younger.

 The Morrison children are very close to each other. The bonding is palpable. They seldom show their love for each other, but are very caring. They do not want to lose each other by being apart from each other. That part appealed to me. I am very close to my siblings. I share a wonderful rapport with my brothers. May be that is why I liked the book. Family love…that is what is underlying in this novel. Finally, we see Kate coming into terms with herself and her family.

Mary Lawson can weave words very well. In no way this book is depressing. It has humour going for it even in the face of adversity. The love shines through despite the bubbling arguments.

Teaser Tuesday: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

“How are doing you?” Trinity wrote.
“I have a hole my head.”
“I can’t tell the difference, “Bambi wrote.
“Wasp always had air in her head.” SisterJen wrote, and that was followed by a spate of disparaging remarks about Wasp’s mental abilities. Salander smiled.

~~Page 321, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson*

*Still reading it!!!. Isn’t that a pity that my slump continues for the second month?

Mondays: Mailbox/Whereabouts/Musings

Mailbox Monday has moved over to She Reads and Reads, for the month of October.

I received four books, in the past week, thanks to the authors/publicists:
1) From The Dead by John Herrick
A preacher’s son, a father in hiding, a guilty heart filled with secrets: When Jesse Barlow escaped to Hollywood, he hungered for fame—but eleven years of failure result in a drug-induced suicide attempt. Revived at death’s doorstep, Jesse returns to his Ohio hometown to make amends with his preacher father, a former love, and Jesse’s own secret son. But Jesse’s renewed commitment becomes a baptism by fire when his son’s advanced illness calls for a sacrifice—one that could cost Jesse the very life he regained.

2) The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

It tells the story of an Englishwoman, Catherine Parkstone, who moves to a remote hamlet in the hills to set up in business as a seamstress and tapestry-maker.


3) Dead Head by Rosemary Harris
Fugitive mom…that’s the tabloid headline that rocks a small New England town when it’s discovered that one of their favorite ladies is a fugitive from the law. Amateur sleuth Paula Holliday is called on by the woman’s family to find out who dropped the dime and why this long-kept secret is enough to kill for.


4) Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris
Meet Paula Holliday, a transplanted media exec who trades her stilettos for garden clogs when she makes the move from the big city to the suburbs to start a gardening business. Paula can handle deer, slugs, and the occasional human pest—but she’s not prepared for the mummified body she finds while restoring the gardens at Halcyon, a local landmark.

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This is really bad. I am stil reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson. My slow reading is not a reflection the novel. Rather the contrary. At least I am reading few pages everyday because of it!

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About how many books (roughly) would you say you own?


I own around 2500 books. Two years back I had more than 4000. I am cutting down slowly…

Book Blogger Hop/Follow me/Friday Find

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

Jennifer asks: “Where is your favorite place to read? Curled up on the sofa, in bed, in the garden”
I mostly read curled up in the sofa but there is no hard and fast rule. However, I can’t read in bed!

ParaJunkee asks “What are you currently reading? Basically, what book is that?”

I am currently reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson and it needs no introduction!

Meanwhile, you can explore my blog. You will definitely find something that interests you. I read wide range of genres, except maybe for a few. I also write poetry. You can read that on my other blog, rooted. Feel free to explore both of my blogs!

Enjoy!

Friday Find:

The Long Falling by Keith Ridgway

Grace Quinn is an Englishwoman living in rural Ireland. Isolated by religion and circumstance, she endures both an abusive husband and a strained relationship with her son, Martin, whose open homosexuality her husband refused to accept. After an act of desperation, reeling with doubt and denial, she seeks out her son in Dublin. Keith Ridgway “affectingly renders the separate sanctuaries of mother and son . . .and lights the distance between them.”

Booking through Foreign

Name a book (or books) from a country other than your own that you love. Or aren’t there any?

I am an Indian and almost every book I read is from the UK, US or many other parts of the world. So you can say that all that I read is of foreign origin.. And of course, I choose well….I will have to name all that I have read and that is, way, way too much!

Teaser Tuesday: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

As I still reading it, I post another teaser from it, taking care of a non-spoiler..

“He took a screwdriver from his pocket, stood on tiptoe and unscrewed the three screws in the round white cover of a vent in the wall of Salander’s room. He pushed the telephone as far as into the vent as he could, just as Blomkvist had asked him to.”

~Page 278, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

Mondays: Mailbox/Whereabouts/Musings

Mailbox Monday has moved over to She Reads and Reads, for the month of October.

I received four books, in the past week:
1) A Dangerous Affair by Caro Peacock
2) Voltaire’s Calligrapher by Pablo De Santis
3) The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart
4) Sometimes Mine by Martha Moody

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I am still reading 
Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest


My slump is going on!

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Do you prefer hardcovers, trade paperbacks (the bigger ones), or mass market paperbacks (the smaller ones)? Why?


I like Trade paperbacks best. Lighter in weight, easier on the eyes and easier to carry. Hard covers are good on the shelf but heavier to carry!