I've finished it. Trying to read and not inhale the fibrous material was a challenge - given the nasty cold I had yesterday. Went to the doc and the medicines did their job of healing me and knocking me out. All I could do yesterday was play Pastry Passion and snooze between reading How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
It's a wonderful book. Like a perpetual vacation, starting from the time she takes an actual vacation to when she comes back and returns with son and neice in tow. The life-altering experience she goes through during her visit which helps her get her groove back has its own share of cynics in the form of her sister Angela who always plays it safe and seems to Stella to be the nasty voice of reason or in other words, the living spirit of her long-passed away mother. Everyone else is pretty gung-ho about Stella finding holiday romance, the kind that refuses to end with the closing of a good week's worth of vacation.
The book is light and interesting. Her narrative matches her ever actively changing mind; changes tracks faster than the Bullet train at the speed of light. It's a good beach read or something to enjoy even in bed with a head cold as bad as mine.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Recommended with love...
My library has rickety metal shelves crowded tight with books; thrillers, suspense, humour and romance all jostle for space along with a few books I cannot classify into a sub-category of fiction. The front of the library has a few well-organised, non-cluttered shelves filled with recommendations. And so far, most of those I've picked from that shelf (90%) have been wonderful reads.
I read:
1. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
2. Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy
3. The Best Laid Plans by Sidney Sheldon
What I've got this evening: How Stella got her Groove Back
Hope I'm in for another treat. I havent seen the movie. I'd liked Terry McMillan's previous book 'Waiting to Exhale' although the movie was not as good. So, I guess I'm not missing too much if I read the book before I see the movie.
But what surprised me was John Grisham's off-his-beaten-track novel. Playing for Pizza was written when he visited Parma in Italy to write another book. It's about a quarterback who is booted and booed out of the NFL and gets an assignment to play with the Parma Panthers for the Italian Super Bowl. From the heavens to what he thinks is a personal hell for him, he descends from the NFL to a richer experience in both football and life, the one he'd really left behind when chasing star-studded dreams with the NFL. His first dinner in Parma with his coach and a few team members is quite an event, causing a change in his own perception to snowball and gain him not the biggest but the most important victory in his own personal battlefield. An experience at the opera is sensual and stimulating. It's a book for the senses, best enjoyed with a goblet of the deepest, fruitiest red, a cool terrace and evening turning into dusk. Magic does not always unfold between the pages of bestsellers; it's in the understated, often overlooked books that it resides and overwhelms you with its might.
I read:
1. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
2. Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy
3. The Best Laid Plans by Sidney Sheldon
What I've got this evening: How Stella got her Groove Back
Hope I'm in for another treat. I havent seen the movie. I'd liked Terry McMillan's previous book 'Waiting to Exhale' although the movie was not as good. So, I guess I'm not missing too much if I read the book before I see the movie.
But what surprised me was John Grisham's off-his-beaten-track novel. Playing for Pizza was written when he visited Parma in Italy to write another book. It's about a quarterback who is booted and booed out of the NFL and gets an assignment to play with the Parma Panthers for the Italian Super Bowl. From the heavens to what he thinks is a personal hell for him, he descends from the NFL to a richer experience in both football and life, the one he'd really left behind when chasing star-studded dreams with the NFL. His first dinner in Parma with his coach and a few team members is quite an event, causing a change in his own perception to snowball and gain him not the biggest but the most important victory in his own personal battlefield. An experience at the opera is sensual and stimulating. It's a book for the senses, best enjoyed with a goblet of the deepest, fruitiest red, a cool terrace and evening turning into dusk. Magic does not always unfold between the pages of bestsellers; it's in the understated, often overlooked books that it resides and overwhelms you with its might.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Went to Strand...Yay!
Finally, spent a glorious hour and a half browsing through the massive book sale of the Strand Bookstall.
As is often the case, did not get anything from the list I'd taken there.
Bought the following:
1. Little Men (sequel to the Little Women) - Louisa May Alcott
2. The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
3. Two books of Calvin and Hobbes comic strip collections
4. Present Laughter - An Anthology of Modern Comic Fiction by Malcolm Bradbury
5. Essence of Style - How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour by Joan DeJean
Bought a lot didnt I? I actually bought less books than I did a couple of years ago, my previous binge at the book sale. Post marriage I tend to keep all bills to a minimum, so this was it (and I in a last-minute attack of conscience took away two books - A William series book and Jo's Boys - back to their stations minutes before they were being totaled up).
I spent early morning today awake, harassed by a mosquito, snug in a blanket finishing my Calvin and Hobbes book. I love book sales!!
As is often the case, did not get anything from the list I'd taken there.
Bought the following:
1. Little Men (sequel to the Little Women) - Louisa May Alcott
2. The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
3. Two books of Calvin and Hobbes comic strip collections
4. Present Laughter - An Anthology of Modern Comic Fiction by Malcolm Bradbury
5. Essence of Style - How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour by Joan DeJean
Bought a lot didnt I? I actually bought less books than I did a couple of years ago, my previous binge at the book sale. Post marriage I tend to keep all bills to a minimum, so this was it (and I in a last-minute attack of conscience took away two books - A William series book and Jo's Boys - back to their stations minutes before they were being totaled up).
I spent early morning today awake, harassed by a mosquito, snug in a blanket finishing my Calvin and Hobbes book. I love book sales!!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Brida and The Secret
I was reading Brida. Now, I'm reading the Secret. Unconsciously, both books are taking me up the same path of introspection and being one with the universe (or at least, realizing the potential of it and using it).
Brida
One realizes the potential of the universe, the world we're in, and its history and future. The way of the Wicca, being one with nature, the land on which you're born in myriad forms and lives, with your past and present isnt just a lesson for promising witches and warlocks. I believe that the original Wiccans were ordinary citizens with what seemed perfectly ordinary rituals at the time. I'm sure they might have harnessed some power but I believe that future generations have turned it into a cult with a secrecy that exists along with much misinformation surrounding witches.
Brida has the Gift and she is drawn towards a path of learning that she has very little idea about. At the start, she seems like you or me trying out astrology and the mystical sciences with the eagerness of a spectator. She is put through exercises that seem pointless at first but serve to open her subconsciousness to the path she was looking for. Her own misconceptions are cleared along the way as she transforms from becoming a spectator waiting to watch it all unfold to the person who has carried the power within for centuries and is now awakened thanks to the Wicca who knows how to. Brida's experiences seem real despite the fiction surrounding it (perhaps Brida herself is fiction?). I havent been able to research this topic but more or less accept it as is because I've read about Wicca before (not the character, the path of the Witch) and it takes you back to the way things used to be before the rituals and practice of this path was held illegal and pagan.
The Secret
The Secret uncovers the mysterious force of the Universe that, if harnessed, can bring you its many gifts and take you from one of the millions and make you one in a million (the one millions of ordinary people want to be). I dont know if these things have been researched in a scientific way but seems to be talking common sense. If you think positive, positive things will come your way kind of common sense. Negative thoughts bring about disasters; personal or group tragedy. Do people bring about accidents by thinking about them? Do groups of people dying in an unforeseen disaster, natural or not, bring it on themselves by thinking negative thoughts? I dont know if there's proof backing these statements but as they say, if you go looking for the hows or being cynical about how the force is going to bring the things you desire to you, then it's as good as not believing in them and causing them to never come your way.
A good thing it talks about: be more positive. They want you to tap into your childlike innocence...the one that accepts wishes to come true and never thinks how they will happen. One just accepts that it will happen. Like the power of prayer, I have thought. You surrender your belief in the power above and pray for some things to happen and they do happen. Your faith must not waver or doubt the force. There's no other force other than your own negative thoughts that can stop them from coming true.
As with astrological advice (what's written in the stars), I think that one must not depend on this. One must accept it as a master of the force not as a slave to it. It's very tempting to say why work at it when I can just think/wish it to become true? If you do that with all mysterious forces then one might as well check them as one checks the weather. It serves to turn one paranoid rather than confident.
May the force be with you!
Brida
One realizes the potential of the universe, the world we're in, and its history and future. The way of the Wicca, being one with nature, the land on which you're born in myriad forms and lives, with your past and present isnt just a lesson for promising witches and warlocks. I believe that the original Wiccans were ordinary citizens with what seemed perfectly ordinary rituals at the time. I'm sure they might have harnessed some power but I believe that future generations have turned it into a cult with a secrecy that exists along with much misinformation surrounding witches.
Brida has the Gift and she is drawn towards a path of learning that she has very little idea about. At the start, she seems like you or me trying out astrology and the mystical sciences with the eagerness of a spectator. She is put through exercises that seem pointless at first but serve to open her subconsciousness to the path she was looking for. Her own misconceptions are cleared along the way as she transforms from becoming a spectator waiting to watch it all unfold to the person who has carried the power within for centuries and is now awakened thanks to the Wicca who knows how to. Brida's experiences seem real despite the fiction surrounding it (perhaps Brida herself is fiction?). I havent been able to research this topic but more or less accept it as is because I've read about Wicca before (not the character, the path of the Witch) and it takes you back to the way things used to be before the rituals and practice of this path was held illegal and pagan.
The Secret
The Secret uncovers the mysterious force of the Universe that, if harnessed, can bring you its many gifts and take you from one of the millions and make you one in a million (the one millions of ordinary people want to be). I dont know if these things have been researched in a scientific way but seems to be talking common sense. If you think positive, positive things will come your way kind of common sense. Negative thoughts bring about disasters; personal or group tragedy. Do people bring about accidents by thinking about them? Do groups of people dying in an unforeseen disaster, natural or not, bring it on themselves by thinking negative thoughts? I dont know if there's proof backing these statements but as they say, if you go looking for the hows or being cynical about how the force is going to bring the things you desire to you, then it's as good as not believing in them and causing them to never come your way.
A good thing it talks about: be more positive. They want you to tap into your childlike innocence...the one that accepts wishes to come true and never thinks how they will happen. One just accepts that it will happen. Like the power of prayer, I have thought. You surrender your belief in the power above and pray for some things to happen and they do happen. Your faith must not waver or doubt the force. There's no other force other than your own negative thoughts that can stop them from coming true.
As with astrological advice (what's written in the stars), I think that one must not depend on this. One must accept it as a master of the force not as a slave to it. It's very tempting to say why work at it when I can just think/wish it to become true? If you do that with all mysterious forces then one might as well check them as one checks the weather. It serves to turn one paranoid rather than confident.
May the force be with you!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Desirables...
A few things on my Christmas list...
1. A drop-dead gorgeous bag
2. Books
By books, I mean one that I've been hunting for a really long time...
Chocolat by Joanne Harris.
I see the Lollipop Shoes everywhere but its a sequel to Chocolat in a way...so I think it's finally time that I succumbed to temptation and bought the book. I remember seeing a whole shelf load of J. Harris books and never buying Chocolat or Five Quarters of the Orange...etc. Until I saw the Lollipop Shoes, that is. Then, I remembered wanting the Chocolat book and my putting it off for what will be a few years now.
I think the only place where I will find the book in the cover I long for will be at Strand. Hopefully, they will continue to give discounts on all their books else it's too far a trip. None of the bookstores keep this book now; for some strange reason in bookdom, they've all decided not to stock it anymore. Else, a new book usually brings forth almost all past offerings from the author to the world of literature. Not this time, I guess. Even JK Rowling's book release was quite low-key.
Hope I get the book soon.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Scarlet Feather
An amazing book if you love human interactions - place polar opposite human beings in a conversation and with a slice of wit, a generous dash of everything human (anger, jealousy, wrath, love) and a topping of some really crazily wonderful dialogue. Also great if you love food; love to read about food, talk food, eat food....if you're a foodie. Although food is not the main thing in the book, its relationships and the feelings that make us all very human. No one's perfect; our parents, our mates, or friends.
Scarlet Feather is about two individuals with a lot going on in their personal lives, trying to live their dream in the form of a catering business. They long to see themselves being lusted for by everyone and anyone who wants to throw a party but they're getting there slowly, the hard way. Their personal conflicts with those related to them, their ever-deeping friendship, their love lives and the fondness they develop for certain people while pursuing and staying faithful to their aspirations; this book embraces them all. It makes one realize that one's life is not a one-way journey to an island. Millions of people along the way shape us, our feelings, our outlook and we often need an entire support system (a village) to survive and grow in our own personal paths. Each person they are associated with plays a part in their triumph or failure. Relationships are made and broken but in each happening, we experience a mirroring of our own understanding about human life, its fragility, its wrong and right moments. Although the path the two protagonists' lives take in the end seems a bit contrived and selfish...something like this can happen only in novels is what you tend to think. But on the whole, its a wonderful insight into families and friends and mainly what makes this world go round: relationships and food. And yes, love.
I recommend it to those who dont stick to their set path but plunge into the uncertainty of literature. Every book seems to mirror the author's own sensitivity and preferences (perhaps even an ideal world situation) no matter if they've all studied literature in college and are Ph Ds or MAs in their chosen field of writing. Every effort is marked by an individual's mental make up like his or her DNA.
It's wonderful to discover Ireland through Maeve Binchy. It's even more comfortable to do it through the medium that bonds people and families together - food!
Scarlet Feather is about two individuals with a lot going on in their personal lives, trying to live their dream in the form of a catering business. They long to see themselves being lusted for by everyone and anyone who wants to throw a party but they're getting there slowly, the hard way. Their personal conflicts with those related to them, their ever-deeping friendship, their love lives and the fondness they develop for certain people while pursuing and staying faithful to their aspirations; this book embraces them all. It makes one realize that one's life is not a one-way journey to an island. Millions of people along the way shape us, our feelings, our outlook and we often need an entire support system (a village) to survive and grow in our own personal paths. Each person they are associated with plays a part in their triumph or failure. Relationships are made and broken but in each happening, we experience a mirroring of our own understanding about human life, its fragility, its wrong and right moments. Although the path the two protagonists' lives take in the end seems a bit contrived and selfish...something like this can happen only in novels is what you tend to think. But on the whole, its a wonderful insight into families and friends and mainly what makes this world go round: relationships and food. And yes, love.
I recommend it to those who dont stick to their set path but plunge into the uncertainty of literature. Every book seems to mirror the author's own sensitivity and preferences (perhaps even an ideal world situation) no matter if they've all studied literature in college and are Ph Ds or MAs in their chosen field of writing. Every effort is marked by an individual's mental make up like his or her DNA.
It's wonderful to discover Ireland through Maeve Binchy. It's even more comfortable to do it through the medium that bonds people and families together - food!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Lord Emsworth and the Loonies
Not really exaggerating; once you read Blandings Castle series (whichever one), you think you're either an Alice in Wonderland or everyone's just loony in varying degrees.
It's all about Emsworth and his pig. Everyone else is just causing havoc and tormenting him refusing to allow him to sit in his study with Whiffle on the Care of the Pig or lounge in the pig sty staring at his prize possession (possibly the only one). The first intruder is Constance (his sister, also known as Connie) who absolutely thinks of him as a project that cannot be left by itself. Her absence in one book was not a pleasant break for Emsworth; there are four sisters equally unbearable and weight-throwing-about and one promptly came to replace her. The girls, as in all P G Wodehouse books, are either Connie-like or are extremely nice but a bit batty. The one I'm reading right now even has a Gussie-like character (from the Wooster series) and a young Spode-ish character but you find yourself liking him better than Spode. I dont think I'll ever like Spode unless as a salesman for Eulalie (a lingerie brand), which he's successfully hidden from the eyes of all but Jeeves. This is also how Bertie successfully blackmails Spode (even if it is only to save his life).
Anyway, this is not about Bertie, this is about Emsworth. He also has guardian angels who watch over him and are basically on his side. One is Lord Ickenham (in the book I'm reading) and the other is Galahad Threepwood (his brother). I'm sure there are others but I havent read the entire series.
It's an enjoyable afternoon read. You can involve yourself totally in the insane schemes they hatch and the way they work out but in unpredictable ways. Everyone's plotting; Connie's plotting to make a man out of Emsworth (a better man), Ickenham is trying to make it all right for lovers to get married (despite opposition from guardians), Emsworth is trying to protect his pig or struggle with listening to someone for more than the minute they start talking, Beach the butler is trying to lose weight, the young men are trying to make money or get married. Only the girls arent working at all at something or the other; they're looking pretty at balls, or playing tennis with the men or going for walks with a particular man after dinner. Only in Jeeves and Wooster are girls trying to scheme round the clock with Wooster expected to be the person carrying out their brilliant plans.
Definitely an adventure waiting to happen the minute you pick up any of P G Wodehouse's books. To think that he left his day job at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank to pursue writing! What a loss to literature if he hadnt!
It's all about Emsworth and his pig. Everyone else is just causing havoc and tormenting him refusing to allow him to sit in his study with Whiffle on the Care of the Pig or lounge in the pig sty staring at his prize possession (possibly the only one). The first intruder is Constance (his sister, also known as Connie) who absolutely thinks of him as a project that cannot be left by itself. Her absence in one book was not a pleasant break for Emsworth; there are four sisters equally unbearable and weight-throwing-about and one promptly came to replace her. The girls, as in all P G Wodehouse books, are either Connie-like or are extremely nice but a bit batty. The one I'm reading right now even has a Gussie-like character (from the Wooster series) and a young Spode-ish character but you find yourself liking him better than Spode. I dont think I'll ever like Spode unless as a salesman for Eulalie (a lingerie brand), which he's successfully hidden from the eyes of all but Jeeves. This is also how Bertie successfully blackmails Spode (even if it is only to save his life).
Anyway, this is not about Bertie, this is about Emsworth. He also has guardian angels who watch over him and are basically on his side. One is Lord Ickenham (in the book I'm reading) and the other is Galahad Threepwood (his brother). I'm sure there are others but I havent read the entire series.
It's an enjoyable afternoon read. You can involve yourself totally in the insane schemes they hatch and the way they work out but in unpredictable ways. Everyone's plotting; Connie's plotting to make a man out of Emsworth (a better man), Ickenham is trying to make it all right for lovers to get married (despite opposition from guardians), Emsworth is trying to protect his pig or struggle with listening to someone for more than the minute they start talking, Beach the butler is trying to lose weight, the young men are trying to make money or get married. Only the girls arent working at all at something or the other; they're looking pretty at balls, or playing tennis with the men or going for walks with a particular man after dinner. Only in Jeeves and Wooster are girls trying to scheme round the clock with Wooster expected to be the person carrying out their brilliant plans.
Definitely an adventure waiting to happen the minute you pick up any of P G Wodehouse's books. To think that he left his day job at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank to pursue writing! What a loss to literature if he hadnt!
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