Sunday post

Its Sunday again. I've decided to sum up my last week's activities and upcoming events. Its been an uneventful week. Lab results were not encouraging  but ive realised that i can bear disappointments much better lately. Thats what research is all about i guess, trial and error till you find something significant.  But my books help me get through it. I've finished two thrillers and I'm pretty happy about them and i would give the ratings soon. I'm panicking as August is nearly over. Here comes September, bringing more datelines that i have to achieve. Thesis to finish typing, scientific paper to be drafted and  powerpoint presentation to get ready. However i look forward to September. I hope there's a new chapter with new subplot, twists and turns waiting for me.  The upcoming week is a busy week for me with lots of labwork to be done and not forgetting  the coming tuesday is a holiday to commemorate independence day of my country, Malaysia.

     

Happy Independence Day Malaysia,
Selamat Hari Merdeka!!

Happy Sunday everyone and have a good week ahead!

Book blogger hop

Hi welcome to my blog. I give reviews for the books that i read (multicultural, historical, thriller, contemporary and non-fiction) and spice up the blog with some interesting thoughts and snippets.

This weeks question is from : Books Are A Girl's Best Friend

Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?

Generally i try to rate the books that i own as a guide for those who would like to get a summary before getting the book themselves or as a comparison to what they thought about the book. I rate books over 5. I do not have any fancy rating system, just a simple one for now. But i love to check out how other bloggers glam up their ratings with cool buttons ans so on. It's really a great way to find new and wonderful books in other bookshelves. 

Hope you can check out my site here and give me some useful comments. I would love to have my very own blog button but i cant seem to get around doing it. =) Anyway thanks to Jennifer for hosting this blog hop.

cheers to all bloggers.

Book review: Dead head

Title    : Dead Head
Author: Allen Wyler

First sentence reads: The Motorola cell phone/walkie talkie rang a   second before a voice came from the tiny speaker.

Rating: 4/5





Russell Lawton, a neurosurgeon is kidnapped  by terrorists who demand the most extraordinary thing from him. As i dont go for thriller these days, I started reading this book as i wanted to find out what was the demand all about. In a well planned kidnapping strategy, the terorists also kidnapped and hid Russell's daughter Angela as a motive for getting Russell's expertise for their own benefit. The stunned Russell will be asked to conduct a near impossible task of removing the head of  a severely injured Muhammad the colleague of  group leader, Ahmad and keep it alive to complete their mission. The explosive beginning seems to fizzle in the middle of story as FBI gets involved as Russell's ex-wife files kidnapping charges against Russell as their daughter goes missing. I was eagerly waiting for the gory details of severing head from body without leaving the brain dead and connecting it to computer to produce an interface that can interpret speech pattern and the author doesn't disappoint us and  really creates an intense medical/ research environment for readers to savor with explanation on connecting neuron signals to computer. It is also rather chilling to read the surgical procedures. Overall, it was something different from most other thrillers and I quite enjoyed it.

WWW Wednesdays

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions!…

What are you currently reading? 
Chasing Eden by S.L.Linnea

What did you recently finish reading? 
Just finished 'dead head' by Allen Wyler. The last thriller that i read was Da Vinci code, so it was refreshing to read a thriller again with a unique plot.

What do you think you’ll read next? 
I've got Cleopatra's daughter lined up in my TBR list.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks! :)

Evening musings : Peace

Im reading 'chasing eden' a book by S.L.Linnea. There is a part which mentions dog tag. Dog tag? For humans that is.The thought of soldiers who die in battlefield being identified by dog tag is saddening.

Is peace really elusive? Like paradise, heaven on earth? Is peace,for both  mind and  humans is attainable? When? Don't everybody deserve a chance to live without fearing bullets, bombs, daylight robberies, murder, abuse?

I wonder, will there be a day where there are no soldiers to protect each nation? Only children bearing flowers welcoming you everywhere you go.

When will people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and all other places on this beautiful earth live without fear?

Will I see that day?

Even people who have it all don't have peace of mind. What an irony.Will they be freed of discrimantion, no divide over race, religion?

Im here on a comfortable couch in my house without any fear or worry at this moment. I wish the same for every single person in this world.

Yes, i want peace. I also do want bombs, no not the kind that you think and know of. I want bombs made of every kind of balloon, crayons, coloured pencils, candies falling down surprising people and making them laugh.

Yes, you peace I hope will be discovered.

100 must read books

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcherride 
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie