Where was I?

I'm a very forgetful person. Can't remember a thing. Not even my own phone number!

Some time ago, one unkal  (it's 'uncle' but that uncle has been living in north India for so long and he insists that it is 'unkal'; unlike my other uncles who are 'unkuls' heh heh!) So one day this unkal asks me my favourite author/books. Someone told him, it seems, that I "waste" my time reading. I did not have a proper answer. I really couldn't decide what my favourite book or author was! God, it was embarrassing! I mean I cannot tell Harry Potter! It sounded so childish. I did not want to lose face either. So I said I'm more of a bibliophile! I just wanted to say something smart and mature, you see! And it worked too! That unkal quickly changed the topic!! :D:D Guess I'm not the only childish person 'round here!

All the same, I do have to be organised. And I do need to have some good answers ready for some of the routine, crappy questions people ask. 

So here are my most recent reads ––

1. Gathering Lights, Jennifer Donnelly:  This is so so so good. To me at least. One of the inspiring books I have read. I could completely sort of connect with the story. (Does that sound weird??)
   
   
   This is one of those Reader's Digest Four in one books. Second hand copy. As good as new though!
   
   
2. Shopaholic series ( 1 to 4), Sophie Kinsella: Absolutely LOVE these books! They are so funny. Page turners definitely. Awesome chick lits! Embarrassingly and endearingly familiar scenes!
   
   ebook!!
   
   
   
3. Chronicles of Narnia (1, 2 and 3), C.S. Lewis: Bad timing for me to start these. I was reading LOTR and HP that and sadly, these books got eclipsed! But these are pretty good. Little less descriptive, at times more descriptive for my liking. 3 on 5 I'd rate them. But I was kind of reluctant to start and continue the fourth in the series. I was also disappointed to find that the kids are different in each book. Anyway!
   
   ebook!!   But I so badly want to find an illustrated version of this!! And also the Lemony Snicket books. Looks like I should find a someone in US to buy these!! I can't find them anywhere here.. :(
   
   
4. Naked Face, Sidney Sheldon: Er... The yoozh! Was good. Good thriller. No where boring.
   
   Library book.
   
   
5. Mittoorodi Kathalu, Namini Subrahmanyam Naidu: Hillllarious! Written in nellore language :D. Heavily slanged and and awfully honest and super funny stories! Interestingly, the few to whom I recommended this book got so offended by the language! Mind you, these people don't get all that offended at all listening to Eminem or something!! All the swear words written in mother tongue aren't that cool I suppose eh?!
   
   My dad's. Somebody gifted it to him.
   
   
6. The Witches, Roald Dahl: I can never find a bad thing to say about a Roald Dahl's!! Enjoyed reading every tiny bit of it! It's like eating CadM!! :D
   
   ebook!!
   
   
7. Harry Potter (!): So ashamed of myself! This time it was Audio books! There were 200 something mp3 files, each around 40 mins long!! I don't want to think of how much time I wasted!! ((((But it was good))))
   
   torrent download!
   
   
8. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens: Heart warming!! This is so much like that movie  It's a Wonderful Life. In my head, they were all the same actors! :)
   
   ebook!! A legal copy of ebook I must mention!! The copyrights have expired so it is avaible in Google Books; the full copy. I want an illustrated version of this one. The one illustrated by Brett Helquist. Can't find it here. Maybe  should try Amazon... :-S
   
   
9. Alice in the Wonderland, Lewis Carroll: I'm glad I read this! We had a part of this (that Mad tea party I think) as our English lesson in school. I did not like it then. After reading the full story however, I had to change my mind. Cute story :)
   
   Awesome find this one!! This is a fully illustrated collection of four stories! Hard bound, colour pictures, glossy paper and everything! I was so happy that day when I bought this, I was grinning all day! Seriously, my absolute favourite shopping is book shopping!! :D:D
   
   
10. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie: Neverland! Bloody brilliant!! I would read this again just to keep pondering over that idea of Neverland!
    
    It's one of the four in that book above. But I have to mention it as a separate book, duh!

And here are the ones I'm currently reading. They are mostly short stories though –

1. Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien: Second read but it is taking forever!!
   
   It is that big red colour book you find everywhere!!
   
   
2. Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis: Don't even remember what page I stopped at. I guess I'll have to start from the beginning. Sigh!
   
   ebook!!
   
   
3. Grimms Fairy Tales, The Brothers Grimm: These are my everyday perk-ups! :) Some stories more than the others. 
   
   Bought a second hand copy of this; all yellowed pages. There is a name on the first page in some kid's scrawl... It's so cute! :D
   
   
4. Fairy Tales, Hans Anderson: Very, very good bedtime stories! 
   
   I love the cover art of this book. You'll find this in the Penguin classics section in any good bookstore. Got mine there, obv!
   
   
5. Wicked Stories/ Heartwarming Stories, Various Authors: Edited by Ruskin Bond. Saw the name Ruskin Bond and bought it straight away! Good stories too.
   
   
6. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger: I'm not able to make time for this one somehow. Maybe I have this feeling that this is going to be one of the "serious reads"! I did not understand the title; had to google it!
   
   I overpaid for this one. Stupid airports. :(
   
   
7. The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling: I cannot define the genre or the age group of this one. It sounds and seems like below 13, but it is kinda serious for preteens. I've read so many version of the Jungle Book  but I just wanted to read the original one. Happy I did :). The other stories are good too!
   
   I got this one from one of those sellers who go to schools and take orders.. Long story leave it.
   
   
8. Shopahlic and the Baby, Sophie Kinsella: Love it! Can't wait to finish it!
   
   ebook!!
   
   
9. Amaravathi Kathalu, Satyam Sankaramanchi: Good short stories; good plots and messages. Very arty narrations; I should say typical narrative rather. Telugu short stories seem to follow this kind of narrative. Don't know who started it. Maybe I should concentrate a bit more on telugu literature. I cannot tell apart the some of the writings of Mullapudi from Satyam's; and some other contemporaries. They all seem the same to me. The style and language I mean.
   
   Vishalandhra book house :D
   
   
10. Namini Iskoolu Pustakam, Namini Subrahmanyam Naidu: After Mittoorodi... I'm a little disappointed. These stories are too....real. Hm... I'm hoping I'd change my mind after completing this.
    
    Vishalandhra again!

Phew! No wonder my memory sucks. I always do this.. Bite more than I can chew. And then complain about it. Anyway.... Good thing I'm making lists. 
Anyway, I'm a bit more organised now than I was before starting this post! :D

Behind the scene....

rubbish boyfriends

I bought this book because I simply loved it's title and the cover-image.

A bigger reason why this book caught my eye. This one guy I knew suggested a few books. He used to bug me everyday asking if I had read them yet. Got so pissed off, I went out on a weekend to those second hand book stands (thank you god you did not make me buy new ones!) and bought them. Those were some of the worst books I've ever read. I'm not biased towards any particular genre of literature, or even music/movies come to think of that, but these stupid books made me realise the importance of the classification - good and bad! One ridiculous sci-fi, one hijack story that was 800 pages long, one obnoxiously gooey romantic, and one that I don't remember. Later, I found out that these were the only books he read, so he made read them too. Also, that this was his way of flirting. Stupid $#%#$%#!!! 

Sometime later, I was at a mall and saw this book in a dusty corner. Took it instantly. And guess who I "rubbished" then on? Clarification -- He was NOT my boyfriend, not even a friend. Someone I knew. Anyway, lesson learnt - You don't have to take every idiot seriously.

The book was okay. Nothing spectacular; a chick lit. Funny and close to reality. I won't read this book again unless I'm awfully bored and I'm left with no choice. But I'll always be fond of this err... souvenir of a silly experience.

==================================================================================================

Tales of Beedle the Bard

I read Harry Potter all the time. Sometime back, I was so busy it was all eat-sleep-work for almost three tiresome months. When I finally caught a break, went shopping the first thing and I saw this in the stores. I almost cried. I said almost! (I should probably mention that I'm a spendthrift. No, a wastrel!) I bought it, along with some other merchandise. This book was released just then, so there were other goodies like parchments and calligraphy pens and I think there were new harry potter games dvds. So I had spent some 1500 rupees and went home happy. In two days I was back to normal, healthy state I started wondering if I had spent too much. It was the end of the month and there was rent and bills and some such nonsense. On that same day, my roomie bought a pirated copy for 50 bucks, including the travelling charges! Long face for the rest of the day and she sure made fun of me that I paid that extra 750 for binding. (Whatever dude! Mine's genuine and it's hardbound, yours isn't!)

I called this friend of mine that evening. This one's too good and so patient. He listens intently when I make a big deal out of nothing at all. I told everything. To make me feel better, he made me read it to him on the phone! I went a bit ahead and described the pictures too!! What a sweet guy! 

Now whenever I see that book, I feel a bit nostalgic. So, I don't read this a lot. Good old days! Ok, not that old days, but I like that line!

=================================================================================================

Papillon

Long, long ago we (family) ended up in the waiting hall of a railway station. Heavy rains, train delayed for six hours. To kill time, we - me and dad- went around and there was nothing interesting so bought some magazines and books. Dad was totally content watching people around and he says he can never get bored when there is so much activity going on. I, on the other hand, got really uncomfortable and cross and I become a pain in the a** when I get cranky. I'm a huge fan of Ruskin Bond and this is why I guess; I cannot find the beauty of life the way he does.

So that's how I read this book - Papillon. I was too young to be scared of violence back then but this book scared the hell out of me. Not the violence, the reality in it. I think this was my first serious read. Don't know what made me pick this book but it had changed my perspective of people around me, of life, and of course, of books in general. It was like a wake up call for me to grow out of Tinkle and Famous Five. I'm still growing out of them, but that's a different issue.

I'll always remember the rainy-railway station, the oh-so-crowded waiting hall and the ride back home at three in the morning. I was still reading when I finally went to bed and had a nightmare.

In spite of everything I said, this is one of favourites!

That's enough for now.

Lemony Snicket - II

I have finally finished the series “A Series of Unfortunate Events”

Like I have said in my earlier blog, only the first book would be the more enjoyable one because of the writing style, gentle humour, and a totally different perspective of the narrator, etc. But it is the same in all the thirteen books so it gets a little boring for a grown up to read the entire thing in one go. So from the second book onwards you tend to focus on the plot. These books are meant for kids, so the plots would be comparatively bland. Also, we are so used to reading books with happy endings so despite the author’s continuous reminders that this is a “series” of unfortunate events and happy ending is not nearly possible, we, I, still expect something good to happen to the Baudelaires. Ok I won’t give away the ending. The Beatrice’s part in the story was cute.

Not in the mood to write anymore.

The setting of the story, the twists, plots sometimes are ridiculous. But if you ignore the rubbish the story actually is very close to reality.

Mr. Darcy

“

...

"My ideas flow so rapidly that I have not time to express them—by which means my letters sometimes convey no ideas at all to my correspondents."

"Your humility, Mr. Bingley," said Elizabeth, "must disarm reproof."

"Nothing is more deceitful," said Darcy, "than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast."

"And which of the two do you call my little recent piece of modesty?"

"The indirect boast; for you are really proud of your defects in writing, because you consider them as proceeding from a rapidity of thought and carelessness of execution, which, if not estimable, you think at least highly interesting. The power of doing anything with quickness is always prized much by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance... "

This is one of my favourite speeches in Pride and Prejudice. I love the Mr.Darcy character. He is simply perfect! Other people in the book have accused him of being arrogant, Miss Lizzy included. I have never felt he was arrogant from the start of the book; proud maybe, but not arrogant. Not even in his introduction scene at that ball. I don’t want to start describing my love for this book and Mr. Darcy because that is not what I wanted to write about. There are more than enough opinions out there already.

There are a lot of people around us like that Mr. Bingley. Hell, I’m like him sometimes. We tend to take pride in certain things that are not particularly “laudable”. Like how Bingley talks of his way of writing here in the speech above. When people say things like that to me, taking pride in things that are definitely not something to be proud of, I so badly want to snap back at them! But, it’s not a nice thing and it is not worth the trouble I would be in later. A few real examples, from real people I know....

“I can NOT wake up before nine in the morning” What happened that day when you had an interview? You did not sleep the night before, I suppose, so you needn’t “wake up before nine”??

“I’m too lazy!!” Yeah you are. You should go see someone about it. It is really, really annoying. It is even more annoying when you say it as if you have won something! As if you are doing us all a favour being lazy!!

“I don’t get angry that often but when I do it’ll be a pandemonium!!” Do you even know what that word means? You get angry ten times everyday so I have been facing ten “pandemoniums” a day, everyday since I know you! Jerk!!

“I get mad when people drive slow...” “I...”

And sooo many other sentences that start with ‘I’ and are centred around ‘I’. This is one of the few things I so badly want to bitch about, but I dare not. Because, like I said before, it is not a nice thing to do and it would only make me feel bad later. Moreover, I'm one of them too! It is simply in the human nature to tend to be attracted that which is generally not good. Simply, we like being a little bad and we also like making fun of the good ones. And we are proud of it sometimes because we are a little afraid that someone might point it out to us. So we ourselves declare under the facade of "confidence" and get away with it.

So, done bitching, I'm done retrospecting. Now wishing - I just wish there are more Darcys and less Bingleys around! World would be so much simpler and life a lot easier..!!

I wish I was like Darcy...true to myself and more importantly, true to everyone else.

Lemony Snicket – A Series of Unfortunate Events

The age group prescribed for this collection is 7 to 14. I saw this movie. I liked the movie; many of my friends did not. So just started reading and I’m happy I did. I sometimes feel smug that I have read so many books. I did not really read so many books but I’d like to think so! ;-) When I come across some new, different book title it makes me feel as if I’m missing out on so much. A Series of Unfortunate Events is one such thing. The story, the story-telling is quite unusual.

This is a story of three children –orphans – who are constantly facing troubles. Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire are the three unfortunate children who lose their parents in a terrible fire. Mr. Poe, the banker who is in charge of the Baudelaire fortune, has to find them a guardian until Violet turns 18. Their first guardian, the main villain of the story, Count Olaf is an evil, shrewd man who is always making plans to make the children’s lives miserable so he could get the Baudelaire fortune.

Wherever these kids go their troubles follow. I won’t tell how unlucky they are or how depressing this story is, because the Lemony Snicket person (the narrator of the story) tells us that at least once in every chapter of every book. And there are thirteen books. Children who are sick of reading Cinderella, Snow white, etc will find this so refreshing. Not just the children, sometimes the unusual grownups like me who love reading books that are listed under the genre ‘Children’ or ‘Young Adult’.

There is a subtle, mild humour mostly in the form of Sunny Baudelaire, sometimes the Count Olaf team and the writing. The plots are quite good. The characters are well defined. There is suspense that is handled well. I have not yet reached the end so I cannot really comment more on this. The usual parameters that are used for a book review cannot justify these books. You just have to read at least one to know what I’m talking about. Admittedly, you might get bored after second or third books. The plot is more or less the same and the ‘humour’ is the same old, same old. I, however, am still reading because I just want to know how it ends.

Also, I liked so many characters, this means so many rantings coming up..!

Sons of Fortune - Jeffrey Archer

Just finished reading this and started typing because later I might forget what I wanted to say.

This is a story about Nat Cartwright and Fletcher Davenport, twin brothers who get separated at birth. They both are brought up by different families, attend different schools and go on to pursue different careers. One becomes a successful banker and the other a senator. At one point it so happens that one brother has to defend the other in a murder trial. Later on, they both contend for Governor. Yes it sounds so cliché but wait till you read the book, it gets more cliché.

If you want to know the story just read the back cover of the book. It is the narrative that keeps you reading. Calling it ‘narrative’ makes it sound a bit boring, because there are also twists and suspense and courtroom drama (only twice but still!) and the success stories of the two brothers. The story weave is just perfect. It is not always you find a book that makes the most normal, mundane things interesting.

‘Leaders are born not made’ – the classical leadership theory says so. Both Nat and Fletcher were ‘born’ leaders not ‘made’. I really enjoyed reading their speeches. They’re all too political, yes, but they make good sense.

There is this villain Ralph Elliot. He seems to bother both Nat and Fletcher for no apparent reason, just for the fun of it. Ok that might not be true but there is no more to this character in the book so I’ll assume anything want. He does villainous things because that’s what villains do!

Also, except for this villain, there are no other hurdles to both the heroes. Their lives are so easy – bed of roses. Then again, I cannot complain about this because, this IS the reason why I watch movies or read books. I want to read stories that restore your faith. If I wanted to know a story that is close to REALITY, I might as well ask the person sitting next to me in a bus or somewhere, about his/her life. I wouldn’t bother sitting up late at night and read this 500 page book.

Nat and Fletcher will come to know in a not-so-unusual way that they’re brothers. But the dialogue between them after that is too cheesy. For me anyway. Gets tiresome towards the end. I felt the suspense was too long – ‘the counting of the ballots’ was the suspense here! I had to skip through those pages not because I couldn’t wait to know the end; I just wanted to finish it!

If you have read Kane and Abel, you might have the feeling that the author wanted so badly to write another book with a similar plot. But it is a good read on the whole.

Severus Snape

After reading Deathly Hallows I had changed my opinion about Snape. Who didn’t! But now I'm reading HP books all over again (now Goblet of Fire) and I seem to have forgotten why.

So...let me see...

Snape was a brave man (Dumbledore says so), he was not selfish (considering the big picture, and putting people like Draco, Voldemort, etc out of the picture), he was in love with Lily (In spite of the fact that she was a muggleborn... Oh my, imagine that :-p!), and he has been acting as Dumbledore’s spy all this time “at great personal risk” and did things that only a few would have dared to do(no comments here, it is true isn’t it?).

BUT, if you don’t take the big picture, if you look closely into what he has been doing ever since Sorcerer’s Stone, well, I don’t know about you but more than once I wanted to break his big nose and punch in his mouth to wipe away that godawful sneer. What I’m saying here is, why be so mean and be the one everyone hates when you can suppress that impulse and live peacefully? Can someone really enjoy that? (The answer to this is so easily “yes”; otherwise the word “bitter” would only refer to taste) Or, come to think of it, he is technically a spy so is it a cover? No, big no! He seems to relish the idea of putting any student in sight in detention – one step short of Filch. He has reasons. He was this miserable geek (no offence) who turned bitter eventually because of the dumb (again no offence, just telling these two kinds apart) yet popular kid who could fly well. He just did not grow out of it. Poor guy he didn’t even get a chance! Even the nice, pretty girl he actually liked went for the star kid and he is all alone (there is his boss of course but that comes under “work”).

It must have been real hard for him, yes, but it is so far in the past! He could have taken the “high road” and put things behind and live like a normal person. But no! He had to be so Snape-ish. He had a problem with James. But that has NOTHING to do with poor Harry! It is not Harry’s fault he was born to James, or that he was famous for no apparent reason. He is just a kid in school and this Severus-grouchy-Snape is a teacher for crying out loud!

Another thing that bugs me about Snape – Why is he ASHAMED of admitting his love towards Lily? One not-so-nice reason would be that she was a muggle-born and he was Slytherin head, so the official Slytherin principles must have stopped him. But why would he be ashamed of admitting that he always meant good? (Yeah yeah... Spy working undercover! Whatever!)

Like I said, I was feeling too resentful towards Snape that is why the lament. There was no point really here but I never promised any such thing did I?

But after reading Deathly Hallows I kept remembering all the people I knew in real life who would be classified as the “Snape” kind, you know those teachers you hated in school, pestering neighbours, occasionally a grandmother or some just the grouches you happen to know! I kept wondering if they were really depraving. It seems to me (and I would like to think so) that even the most bitter person has to have something nice hidden deep inside; a greater cause (d.e.e*); and all the bitterness is simply a mask behind which there is always a smug, knowing smile.

There is also a second kind – the “Umbridge” kind. I cannot think of reasons for forgiving these people. They are mean just for the sake of it. Some sort of spiteful pleasure I guess! Am I being too harsh? I don’t know, But I will let you know once I come across someone like the Toad Witch whether I’m being too harsh (If there is a frog prince there can be a toad witch..hmph!)

*Dramatically Enhanced Expression