Top Ten Tuesday (Freebie week)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new Top Ten list will be posted.  Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to us on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers' lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.


This week 10 July : Freebie week (Any topic)


My pick: Favourite authors of mine 

1. Khaled Hosseini - Amazing storyteller. I loved The kite runner. It was such a heartbreaking story and the writer did a great job in bringing alive the pre-war Aghanistan. 

2. Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The shadow of the wind (need I say more). This book is a masterpiece and the writing, the story was just out of the world.


3. John Grisham - I've read three of his books. My favourite would be The rainmaker. Grisham's legal thrillers are a feast for the mind and I especially enjoy his dry sense of humor.


4. Margaret Atwood - I've only read the Cat's eye and I enjoyed it. I'll be reading more books by her.


5. Garth Stein - The art of racing in the rain (Unforgettable story and lovely book cover).


6. J.K Rowling - How could I have forgotten. The best in fantasy fiction. Nothing beats Harry Potter series, they are simply enchanting.


7. Dan Brown - Amazing thrillers (The Da Vinci code, Angels and Demon)


8. Thrity Umrigar - The weight of heaven


9. Michelle Moran - The first historical fiction that left me wondering how could I missed reading books as fantastic as this sooner.


10. Wendy Nelson Tokunaga - Midori at moonlight. Amazing writer, with witty and amusing and heartwarming story. I hope to read more from her.


There are more fab authors but I'll do a separate post on this topic alone sometime soon. Enjoy your Tuesday.

Book blogger hop : 6 July- 13 July 2012

Welcome to another week of book hop. This great weekly event is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books. This weeks's question is:

If you could be a character from any book, who would you be?

Well, this is a tough one. I'm thinking back to all my favourite books. Instead of just one character, I want to list a few that I would pretend to be, just for fun.

1. Little prince (The little prince)- He is  adorable and wise. He could dish out the most amazing nuggets of wisdom. If I were him, I  could just fly to any planet of my choice, observe the planet dwellers, befriend weird creatures like that arrogant rose he keeps covered. Wouldn't that be great?

2. Mary Baker (Secret garden) - I love the little girl who brought to life an abandoned garden. I loved Mary's tenacity and her relationship with Colin her sickly cousin. I love gardening and this enchanting story and character has always remained close in my heart.

3. Enzo (the dog, The art of racing in the rain) - I know its a little weird to be a dog. But enzo is no simple dog. He has a mind of his own and boy he can charm any heart. I loved his loyalty, his quirkiness and his influence in his owner's life. A dog who loves F1 racing, you bet id love to be him.

4. Daniel Sempere (The shadow of the wind) - I would love to be given the trust of discovering the secret hidden tomb of library. Its just so delicious to think of discovering a hidden book, a book much sought after and a book that somebody would kill to have. 

Sunday post

 

                                  

Hi there,

Its been a great weekend and I'm satisfied with how I spent my time. I'm a bit slow on writing up my reviews these days. Currently I'm reading The Postmistress by Sarah Blake and recently have finished reading Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye. Reviews are pending and I hope I can roll them out soon. 

Meanwhile, I've been contemplating on writing and writing styles. I've been dreaming of being a writer and pulling off the most brilliant fiction that would ever emerge in the shelves. Dreams aside I've been thinking of  just putting my pen on a empty sheet and just scratch away and see where it goes.  

If you were to write a fiction, what genre would it be and how would your writing style be, to the point, sharp and blunt or lyrical and beautifully worded? Which author's writing style would influence you the most? I believe the books we read would undoubtedly influence us without us realizing it. I also believe the ability to hold one's attention lies in the very first sentence. Though its not the case all the time, I find myself catching my breath and really looking forward to know what happens next when the first sentence hooks me in.

Do you believe that writing fiction requires a strong background in literature and writing as I noticed that the most acclaimed authors are mostly writers in profession. 

As I read Margaret Atwood's book, I realized how beautifully worded the prose was and when I was reading the Shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, I was moved by the beauty of the prose, the lyrical way the story went forward. I love beautiful wordplay, strong characters and medium fast paced stories. I would love to be able to connect to the protagonist and move along with him/her as the story unfolds.

Thus, if I were to write, mine would be contemporary fiction (literary fiction is too high end for me). I would love to be able to write in that fluid, flowing style of Carlos Ruiz Zafon, with a strong wordplay like Margaret Atwood and a heart warming story that sticks in your heart like The kite runner. I love to combine and alternate the story from past to present as that requires a lot of careful planning and skillful wordplay to keep readers in track.

I would love to hear from all of you on what you think and how would your fiction look like. Comment away dear booklovers.

    Cheers and happy Sunday !!

Book review: The shadow of the wind

Title: The shadow of the wind

Author: Carloz Ruiz Zafon

Genre: Historical fiction, Literary fiction

First sentence reads: I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.

Rating: 5/5

Ok, I've got five words to describe this book;

Masterpiece, spellbinding, thrilling, soulful, beautiful. 

Now when I think further, I can add more adjective but it doesn't matter. My rating and the 5 words would have told you whats necessary.

The year is 1945, Barcelona. A 10 year old boy, Daniel was brought by his father, Sempere to a secret book haven , the Cemetery of Forgotten books. There he chose a book which he was told to adopt and keep it a secret. The book that Daniel chose was The Shadow of the Wind by an unknown author called Julian Carax. Spellbound by the story Daniel starts to question the origin and whereabouts of the author. which lead to a mystery behind the elusive  Julian Carax. As Daniel grows up, the pull of the mystery gets stronger and he resolves to delve fully into it. He realizes that as he followed the trail of the book's origin, a few people start to follow his trail like ants to breadcrumbs. The origin and mystery behind Julian Carax is the crux of the story and it ends as it begins with a heady mix of anticipation and elevated heartbeat.

This is the only book that left me sleepless and anxious to get to the end or to the crux of the story. It was utterly bewitching and unputdownable. Every sentence was a song, a poetry in motion, a dark mystery waiting to unfold. The characters were immensely delightful and heartwarming, Daniel, his dad Sempere, the family friend, Gustavo Barcelo, the ever humorous and witty Fermin Romero de Torres, Julian Carax, Nuria Monfort, Bea (Daniel's sweetheart) and the loyal friend Miqual Moliner. I was glad for the length of the book, and the masterful translation by Lucia Graves. It was a hugely satisfying read and I would highly recommend this book to any book lover and anybody who loves a great mystery told in a beautiful and soulful manner. 

Favourites quotes: 

I couldn't help thinking that if i, by pure chance, had found a whole universe in a single unknown book, buried in that endless necropolis, tens of thousands more would remain unexplored, forgotten forever.

'Well, this is a story about book.'

'About books?'

'About accursed books, about a man who wrote them, about a character who broke out of pages of a novel so that he could burn it, about betrayal and a lost friendship. its a story of love, of hatred, and of dreams that live in the shadow of the wind.'

'Don't insult me Daniel. Let me remind you that you are talking to a professional in the art of seduction, and this business of kissing is for amateurs and little old men in slippers. Real women are won over bit by bit. Its all a question of psychology, like a good faena in a bullring.'

Book blogger hop - 5/5/12 - 11/5/12

Welcome to another week of book hop. Book blogger hop is hosted by Jennifer at crazy-for-books. This week's question is;

What are the next five books in your TBR (to-be-read) pile?

1. The open road; The global journey of the fourteenth Dalai Lama - Pico Iyer

2. The book thief - Markus Zuzak

3.The shadow of the wind - Carloz Ruiz Zafon

4.  The year of the flood - Margaret Atwood

5. A change in altitude - Anita Shreve

I'm pretty excited about reading the book thief and the shadow of the wind. The reviews have been very good for these books. So what is the books in your TBR list? Do drop me a line and happy hopping. 

Sunday post

Ahoy there book-lovers. Its been a long time since I blogged. I had a very good start this morning with a review on a latest book a bought. I have read quite a few books during my absence from the blogging world but the words to write up reviews just eluded me and I lost the momentum quite a bit. However, i never missed checking out other book blogs and catching up on books that are reviewed. I miss blogging and I hope to take it up again on a more frequent basis. I've realized that I do not have the time to read as frequently as before and thus the number of books that I read have dwindled.However, I still try to read at least two books a month, which I have to admit is way too less in the eyes of a bookworm. 

After a flurry of activities for the past one month I find myself relaxing at home this weekend. Me and my books and a few pending work. Its such a quiet Sunday and I plan to make the most of it. I ought to finish  preparing exam questions and going through the lectures and practical classes scheduled for the week. I also plan to start writing the reviews for other recent books that I read. But I'm going to take it real slow and write the reviews so that they do justice to the good books that I've read. Below are some of the good books that was read recently (in recent months). The reviews I promise, are coming up.

I bought two books yesterday. One of it is Barbara Taylor Bradford's Letter from a stranger, which i have read and reviewed. The second is a non-fiction by Pico Iyer, titled The open road-the global journey of the fourteenth Dalai Lama. I hope it is interesting and insightful as I have always been interested in reading about the Tibet and  the life of Dalai Lama.

Well I guess I better get back to the exam questions. Cheers and have a great Sunday !

Book review: Letter From A Stranger

Title : Letter from a stranger

Author: Barbara Taylor Bradford

Genre: general fiction

First line reads: The following morning the letter was read once more, corrected and locked away for the second time.

Rating: 1/5

I was extremely intrigued with the synopsis and the first sentence left me even more curious to read the entire story. Its somehow reminded me of the the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Thus, with great anticipation of getting into the bottom of some hidden family secrets and betrayals I started reading the story.

Justine Nolan returns to her childhood home in Connecticut after completing a documentary on a elusive artist. The tranquility of her country home the Indian Ridge was marred when she discovered a letter from Istanbul for her mother. Feeling utterly piques she opens and read it and was left speechless with the contents. The letter uncovers the cruel lie her mother told her and her twin Richard 10 years ago involving the disappearance of their beloved grandmother Gabriele. 

That left Justine with the urgency of finding out the source of the letter and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her grandmother. She leaves for Istanbul almost immediately and works with a tour guide to unravel the whereabouts of the writer of the letter which she hoped would lead to her grandmother. 

The prologue of the book was written is such a beautiful manner whereby it tantalizes us on following the destruction that the letter was going to create on its wake. The intrigue stops there for me. The following chapters were written haphazardly and drags on with the same lines being churned out by different people. I did not find the mystery behind the letter compelling enough and the romance between Justine and her new found love in Turkey distracting. The story had the potential of a good plot however it lacked the clear direction and execution and the correct wordplay to make it a good read. This book failed miserably in making me read it. I found myself skipping lines, and then pages and then lose focus altogether.