India will be back with a bang

India started its final frontier with an innings defeat. Some stupid Indian medias started to question about our team’s ability once again. Our media’s reaction is not an unexpected one and I will be surprised only if they speak some good stuffs about us.

 SA skipper and even Paul Harris mock India by giving comments like ‘We expected a better fight from India’. Don’t worry guys the second test will not be the same. At the same time don’t forget that this is not completely your victory but the toss and more importantly the weather played the major roles.

SA would have suffered the same loss if they had played in India. And then I didn’t understand why the media never criticizes Australia or SA or NZ if they laid bouncy fast tracks but they strongly criticize the sub continent teams if they prepare a spinning track by calling it as a negative tactics.

I still believe in our players’ ability whether it is a fast, spinning or seaming track. I’m sure that our players will win the next match in Durban. I just want to tell one thing to SA ‘Hey SA please come out of your ecstasy.You are still No 2 and try to compete with with us.’

To Kill A Mocking Bird - An Exaggeration

I decided to write this post before four months. But I dropped the idea because my post will contradict with nearly 70 percent of the people who reads this. At the same time I cannot sugarcoat . If I do so it is an injustice done to my Blog Title. Just today, ‘This is your blog. You can write whatever you think’, the thought clicked in my mind. This thought finally made me to post this.

This book celebrated its 50th anniversary recently. It is a Pulitzer Prize winner. British Librarians ranked this book ahead of the Bible as one “every adult should read this before they die”. Almost all the bloggers had given very good rating for this book.

Everyone praised this book. This made me to read this book. But after reading, the praise for this book seems to be an exaggeration. Everyone had overrated this book. Harper Lee wrote this book 50 years ago. It is not possible for me to know the influence this book made in those years. This book might have been the first of its type to deal with American racism. This book have lots and lots of moral values. So its moral content might had earned a very good review for this book. But the story was not presented in an interesting way.

The real success of a writer lies in his/her ability to eliminate the events. Yes, when we decide to write about something, the first confusion we will have is what are all the events we should include. Lee had included all the events happened in her life. Some of them are not necessary for this theme. She had failed in this area. ‘The God of small things’ is also a book with this theme and Arundathi Roy had proved her skill in crafting that novel.

Most of the people rate the books by its moral values and not by how it is said. I accept this as a good book but not a great book

She, I and Rain

My friend and I came out of the office at 5.50pm. It was raining. I gave my rain coat to him and decided to leave the office in shuttle. I borrowed his umbrella. Our shuttle reached another campus.

I got down from the shuttle and started to walk. I watched another associate. She is speaking to a security with our company’s umbrella in her hand. I could figure out what she is speaking. We can carry our umbrella only till the parking. Probably she is arguing about carrying it to gate. Finally she failed in her effort and gave the umbrella to the security.

She came running to the platform. With her right hand she took the shawl and covered her head. She had a novel in her left hand, close to her body to prevent it from getting wet.

 She came to me and said, ‘If you don’t mind..’

‘Yes, you can come’, I said, even before she complete her sentence.

She thanked me and came under my umbrella. I smiled at her and she smiled back. It is just a smile for formality. The novel which she had with her is ‘Nights in Rodanthe’. She must be an ELT like me or else how could she be free to read novel during office hours.

This is completely new to me. Walking with a pretty girl, that too a stranger, under an umbrella, close to each other. I walked much slower than usual. I wanted to make it a long journey. But how long can I take to cover this 50 metres distance? We came out of the campus. 

‘Will you be crossing the road? I just want to take a call taxi’, she said.

‘Yes, I will’.

We crossed the road.

‘Thank you so much’, she thanked me.

‘Its OK’, I replied and started to walk in the opposite direction.

Moral: Naan romba nallavan.

Why only old should always be gold?

We are in 21st century. The world has changed a lot in these years and we are so generous and open-minded to accept all changes. Initially people communicated with others through letters but when telephone was invented, everybody started to use it. People switched from Altavista to Google, from Orkut to Facebook and from conventional computer to laptop. People welcomed all the changes with great enthusiasm. But there is a thing which didn’t change in these years. Its nothing but our mindset.

Sachin is a great player. But even after watching his game they still tell he is nowhere near Don Bradman. Kamal Hasan is a good actor. But everyone consider Sivaji as the best actor. Shreya Ghoshal’s voice is mesmerizing but still everyone gives Asha Bhonsle a little higher position.

Even if Sachin scored another 30000 runs, he will still be given the second position. It is good to respect the seniors. But please give the youngsters, the credits, which they deserve. I accept that old is gold. But if you say that old alone is gold then it is unacceptable.

Fantastic Sporting Week

I planned to post about my favourite Roger Federer’s win against current World No 1 Rafael Nadal. But now, how can I stop with it? How can I do it after Barca’s superb win against Mourinho’s team.

The whole week has been a fantastic one for me (considering sport results). First Indian Cricket team won the ODI against New Zealand despite the absence of its senior players. Then came the most joyful moment for which I have been waiting so long. The legend Roger outplayed Nadal in the Barclay’s World Tour final and clinched the title. I expected this to happen in the US open but unfortunately Roger lost in the SF. This time he played wonderfully to make his lead 3-0 in the indoor stadium. After a long time I was impressed with Federer’s back hand winners. Now Federer is entering the new year with psychological advantage over Nadal and I hope that RF will continue his winning streak.

Even before this happiness fades, El Clasico result came as a big surprise. I know that Barca will win but I didn’t expect it in this fashion. FCB made its revenge for the loss against Inter. None of Barcelona fans would have forgotten how Mourinho ran in Camp Nou after his win against the home team last season. But now they didn’t give him a chance to move from his seat. Real Madrid player’s frustration and aggression could earn only bookings but no goals. With this famous win FCB replaced RM from the top of table.

Loneliness Kills

Another boring weekend…….a weekend without non-veg……..a weekend without anyone to chat…….a weekend closed inside a room is about to get over. Thank God! It went faster than I expected.

In one of Anton Chekhov short stories two people had a great debate regarding imprisonment. One said that he can stay imprisoned for twenty years. Another said that it is not possible. So they had a bet. If the first fellow stayed inside a guarded room for twenty years then second fellow will give a large amount(I don’t remember how much) to him. The second fellow said to others, ’It is possible to stay in prison when you are forced but the liberty he has to come out at any time will help me to win the bet’.

I’m in a situation like that. It is easy to stay, without talking to anybody, doing our work when people are around. But the real difficulty is when we don’t have anyone to speak. This is why I blog so often recently. When I want to share something I have none other than my laptop. My laptop gives its ear to everything I say. So if you think that I’m blogging some unwanted non sense then please bear with me. I have no other go and it will continue.

The day has come

I went to office at 9.20am. 20 minutes late. A colleague said to me that Mr.S was looking for me. Mr.S is one of our Sr. Associate and he looks like my Control System professor to some extent. ‘Why should he look for me?’ and I realised it was about project. I went to him and repeated the same information ‘I’m blah blah blah’ like a KG student to school teacher.

‘Go and meet Mrs.A. She is your APM’, said Mr.S.

‘Who? The one who is standing.’

‘Yes’, he replied without seeing.

Mrs.A was in Module-C and Mr.S was in Module-B. Both were separated by glass partition.

I went to her and said ‘I’m Selva. Sr. Associate asked me to meet you.’

‘To meet meeeee!!!’, she said with surprise.

‘Yes.’

‘I’m Hema’ , she said with hesitation.

Bulb.

‘Oh sorry. Who is Mrs.A?’.

She pointed out her.

I introduced myself to Mrs.A and she said about my project and introduced my team members.

‘I will mail you some documents. You go through it and we will have KT later’.

‘OK Mam.’

After a week finally I’m assigned to a project.

 

My New Indi Rank -55

Before two weeks I got this month’s Indian Blogger’s rank. This time my score is 55 out of 100. Another E grade. It is OK to get E grade in Academics but it continues in blogging too….OMG.

But the good thing is, last time my score was even worse 25…lol. So relatively 55 is good. I don’t know how they rank the blog. Can anyone help me to improve my blog score?

My new room

From the previous post you all know that I’m in Coimbatore for a week. Till today 5.47 pm I stayed in our company’s guest house. But at 5.48 pm I left the guest house in an auto to the new place, ‘Sanjay Mansion – For Quality and Comfort’, where I will be staying atleast for the next five to six months.

I came to my mansion at 6.10 pm, paid the advance to the lady who is in charge of the mansion and got my room key and the mansion’s address card. Room no 210. The other side of the address card lists the facilities in the mansion as seven bullet points. Two persons in each room and I’m the first one (210/1) to occupy and only God knows when the second fellow will come (I will write a separate post about him after his arrival).

There is an ultraslim Samsung TV. I switched on the TV and I could see only the black and white pixels. It has a high tech cupboard with safety lock(shown in the picture). Two beds and pillows with yellow coloured covers. Wi-Fi facility, which my laptop couldn’t detect. And finally an attached bathroom.

I kept my baggages in the room and went to buy a torch light. I walked through a small path between bushes to the Saravanapatti road and then from there I walked nearly two kilometres to buy a torch light. While coming back I got lost between the bushes. In that dark I’m not sure where the mansion is. At last with the help of some boys I came to the mansion.

This is all about my new room.

These 7 days

I came to coimbatore last Thursday and a week has been over by now. Last Tuesday I got the mail about my posting in Cbe. I tried to postpone my joining date to Monday by giving all reasonable false excuses. But it is of no use and now I’m writing this post about my week stay in Cbe.

On seeing the urgency of my superior I thought that I will have a hard time here. But I’m loving the work which I do here. I come to office at 9am and browse till 5.45pm. Each and everyday is same as the one before. After a week’s time I’m even bored of browsing.

I’m not a hard working or a work loving person but it is such a pain to sit in a seat simply for a whole week. I expect them to map me to some team atleast tomorrow.

CB's books are just trashes!!!!!!

I recently joined a Reader’s Forum. I started a discussion ‘What do you think about Chetan Bhagat’s novels?. To my surprise I got 45 to 50 replies within two days and it’s the highest among all discussions. But most of the replies said that his books are utter waste….trashes……only people with cheap taste likes his book and a lot more like this.

Unfortunately I like his books. Am I a person with cheap taste????? Not sure what to tell. I’m not able to figure out what these people are expecting from a novel. CB’s novels are very good page turners. It is entertaining enough to hook the readers with it. I’m sure that a lot of people started to read novels because of him(novels that are better than CB’s novel).

Ok it is a normal to criticize people when they gain popularity. I decided to include CB’s case also under this category.  What do you think?

Best 5 Ads

I was watching TV and the sentence ‘After the break….Stay tuned’ came on the screen. Few years back on seeing these words my hand automatically switched channels to watch some other programs. But now the situation is entirely different and sometimes I even switch channels to watch Ads. Today’s Ad film makers are thinking a lot to make the ad as attractive as possible in a minute or two they have got. So here I’m sharing the Ads which I like a lot.

The first position goes to Vodafone Ads.

The successful ad campaign of Vodafone started a long back when it was Hutch. Yes, the pug and the girl – Happy to Help Ads. Then Zoo-Zoo ads and now the Vodafone delight ads. All the ads are equally interesting and I had never dared to change the channel during these ads.

The second position goes to Tata Docomo

All their ads are creative as well as interesting. ‘When life changes in seconds why should you pay for minutes’ – these funny Ads made me to smile whenever I watch it.

The Third position…….again goes to another Telecommunication ad and this time it is Airtel

When I think of Airtel Ad, suddenly the thing which comes to my mind is the Airtel Theme composed by A.R.Rahman. This was the first Ad music which had such a reach. Their ads always have a sentimental touch with it. Even now the new ad showing a couple who always stay connected in Airtel’s world is really nice to see.

I found it easy to give the first three positions but I had a great difficulty in giving fourth and fifth position.

I give the fourth position to Cadbury Diary Milk ad – Nazhathor kaariyam inithey thodangattum (Let the good deed starts with the sweet).

And finally the fifth position goes to CEAT tyres ad. A husband and a pregnant wife were travelling in a bike. And unexpectedly a high speeding car comes across their path and this is followed by a dead silence. The wife presses her husband’s shoulder with a great relief that they were saved. This ad has a lot of delicate things within it which is inexpressible by words.

Hi friends these are the ads which I like and if you feel that I have missed some of the interesting ads then you please mention it in your comments.

Wrong Calculation

I got posted in Coimbatore. I decided to take some cost cutting measures and the first among this is to go by Government bus (GB) and not by our company shuttle. Coimbatore is not as big as Chennai so travelling by bus is not a hard task. To implement the plan I was waiting for GB in the stop just opposite to our campus. After ten minutes I was bored and I decided to call some of my friends (thru phone). I made six calls and spoke for nearly 35 minutes. But there was no sign of GB. I went to the nearby shop and had a mini slice with micro sips to kill the waiting time. But again it’s of no use. After wasting an hour in the bus stop I took an auto to my place. My plan was to save 500 bucks a month by going by GB. But I think I will lose 855.5 rupees / month because of my brilliant wrong calculation.

Phone calls = 35 x 0.75

Slice = 9

Auto = 40

For 22 days = 1655.5

Is MSD better than DADA????!!!!!

Indian cricket team is in its victorious path. We are No 1 in test ranking for the first time. This post has nothing to tell about our journey to No 1 position. But I’m trying to figure out ‘Who is the best captain? MSD or DADA’. Yes, I had a great fight with some of my friends regarding this. But I’m the only one who supported MSD.

While discussing …. no debating…… sorry sorry….. while fighting on this topic I heard a lot of rubbish things against MSD like ‘He is winning because of luck’ , ‘He is coming as a lower order batsman’ , ‘He is not a good wicket keeper’ , ‘He has changed his game’ , ‘He is not performing but only others in the team are performing’ and finally ‘His team is very much stronger than DADA’s team’. Are this all valid reasons against his captaincy?. I could only laugh after hearing all these non-sense.

Name	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %
Ganguly	49	21			42.8
MS Dhoni	18	12	2	4	66.67

42.8 might look like a very good winning percentage. But in this 21 wins 6 were against minnows(Bangladesh –3 and Zimbabwe- 3). Now the winning percentage goes down to 37.5. If we do the same thing for MSD , his winning % will go down to 64.7. To my knowledge 37.5 is much lower than 64.7 (How about you?).

The next thing they say about Ganguly is that he is the one who made India to win test in overseas. Yes he won 4 overseas test series. But the interesting truth is that 2 against Bangladesh and 1 against Zimbabwe. The win against Pakistan is really a good win. In the mean while he lost 4 overseas test series. Even Dhoni have 2 overseas victories in this short duration(NZ-1,Ban-1).

Now comes the most important thing they (supporters) tell about Ganguly – his win against Australia in 2003(Series drawn). Is this the reason why they call him the best captain? Then we should include the new contender into the list ‘Sunil Gavaskar’ who had done the same thing in 1980. The supporters who raise their collars for this achievement should know that Ganguly lost the home test series(1-2) against Australia in the very next year.

The final thing – ‘MSD’s team is better than Ganguly’s team’ . But is it true?. Let us take a look at the team

Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Srinath, Kumble, Nehra and Zaheer were in the Ganguly’s team.

The new team have Ohja for Kumble , Ghambir for Ganguly, Ishant for Srinath and Dhoni for Patel.
Now can you tell which is the stronger team?

Now let me deal with the negatives against MSD. ‘Luck favours Dhoni’. Yes luck favoured Dhoni in 50 ODI wins, 20 T20 wins and 12 test wins. He is the fastest Indian captain to reach 50 wins.

‘He is not a very good batsman’. Yes, he is a worst batsman who tops ICC ranking list for past 3 or 4 months with an average of 50.28.

As a wicket keeper he have 387 dismissals in his record.

‘He is coming as a lower order batsman’. This is the thing which I like about Dhoni. He is not playing for him but for his team. Is it a wiser decision to send Raina or Yuvraj to his position. But Dada did a blunder while dealing with such a situation. He came as opener even when is in very bad form instead of sending Sehwag. If you mistake that Dhoni cannot perform as higher order batsman then take a look at this

Position	Avg	50s	100s
2	49	1	0
3	82.75	6	2
4	81.55	8	1
5	52.96	6	3
6	38.75	9	0
7	39.26	4	1

I gave a lot of information about Ganguly and Dhoni but only now an important doubt raises in my mind – ‘How will they select a good captain?’ - By their performance during captaincy period or by their team winning records or by some other criteria.

If it is by his individual performance during his captaincy then MSD(avg 71) is in first position followed by Sachin, Gavaskar and Dravid. If it is by his teams performance then again Dhoni tops the list with 66.6% of winning record. Then how some idiots are supporting  Ganguly.

My Personal Blog

I joined my job this Monday and five days of my training are over by now. The training in Academy is better than I expected and I’m really having a good time so far. I’m in Mainframe domain along with 23 other Engineers.

My training is from 9.30AM to 6PM and so I had no time to update my blog last week. But I will try to find some time for my blog in coming days. I have planned to write the reviews of ‘Darkly Dreaming Dexter’ and ‘Nights in Rodanthe’ for next week. I’m not sure to what extent I will stick to this plan but i will try my best.

I have also started a new blog ‘A Corporate Guy’s Memoir’. Yes, this is my personal blog. It is easy to scribble something that is happening in my life than to write a book blog. So I started this blog. I request you all to have a look at my new blog and give your valuable comments.

Artemis Fowl

First Line : HO Chi Minh City in the summer.

Artemis Fowl is the first book of Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. This is a die-hard fantasy(as said by its author).

The protagonist Artemis Fowl, 12 years old boy, after whom the novel is named is a geeky, cunning, self centred and criminally minded guy. He believes in the existence of fairies. After putting some hardwork he gets his first lead about fairies’ book. With the help of this book and latest technology he abducts a dwarf(LEPrecon). Artemis asks a tonne of gold for ransom. But the dwarfs would do anything to protect what is theirs. A normal child in this situation would have abandoned the mission but not Artemis.

Eoin Colfer had showed the rough nature of Artemis even in his first meeting with Nguyen. He is ‘stop-at-nothing’ guy. His attribute created a hatred in me. I had never hated a novel character like this before(not a hatred because of boring). Artemis way of decrypting the fairies’ book was really interesting. Yes, Artemis is a talented guy. But at the same time most of the fairies are equally talented like Artemis. So there is no need to tell about the clash between two equally poised opponents. Both the groups were devising their own plan to get the better of the other.

This work of Eoin is interesting with rich fantasy stuff backed by science. He has successfully characterized the personalities of each character. The strength of this novel is its suspense and thrill so this is not a stuff which we can read over and over.

On the whole this novel is worth a read. I’m sure that the fantasy lovers will have a great time with this novel. I give a little above three and a half but a little below four stars to this novel.

My First Award - 'The Versatile Blogger'

I just received my first blog award ‘The Versatile Blogger’. I should thank Zee of Wordly Obsessions for considering my blog as worth to receive this award.

Now that I’ve received this award, the rules are I have to pass it on to 15  other fabulous blogs that I have just discovered. I also have to link back to the person who gave me the award (as done above) and say 7 things about myself that you wouldn’t otherwise know… ok, so here goes!


7 truths about me
1)I just now received my joining order from my company. Coming Monday is the first day of my job. So I’m little nervous.
2)I like to mosey with my friends after 10PM to enjoy the serene and beautiful night. Nothing in this world is more pleasing than a night walk.
3)I’m a tea addict. I will do anything just for a cup of tasty tea.
4)I love to travel in bus for a whole night. I will sleep better in bus than in my bed.
5)I’m an insomniac. Normally I will be awake till 3AM.
6)I love to read Bible. The best book I have ever read.
7)Then about pets….I don’t love pets. That doesn’t mean I hate pets but I didn’t get a chance to spend time with them. I have no special affection towards them.

My 15 Bloggers:

                                                                                                                                                                  

Lovely Little Nisha

Edgy Inspirational Romance

Ravin Rants

Alisha’s World

My World…..in words and pages

The Perpetual Page Turner

Sam’s Book Blog

Stiletto Storytime

The Fiction Enthusiast

Writing is a Blessing

Read Sam, Read!

Tahleen’s Mixed Up Files

You’re Killing Me

The Tower of Stories

The Eager Readers

 

Thank God!

Yesterday evening I started from my home town to Chennai. Thirteen hours travel that too by train. I hate train travels but my mom  and dad are accompanying me so I had no other option but train. We were sound asleep. It was midnight. While sleeping I felt some movements and suddenly woke up. I was surprised to see a dark man standing in our cabin with his right hand in my bag.

I rubbed my eyes with my hands to make my vision clear and asked him ‘What are you doing?’.

‘I’m searching for seat twenty-five’, he lied.

 “Why are you searching for seat twenty five in the first cabin?’, I raised my voice.

Without replying he left the compartment in haste. The bag had my laptop, my U.G mark-sheets, my job offer letter, debit card, passport and some cash. Thank God! My bag was saved.

After Dark

First Line : Eyes mark the shape of the city

The idea of reading Murakami’s book came out in my mind after reading some reviews of his work in Zee’s Wordly Obsessions. ‘After Dark’ by Haruki Murakami depicts the events taking place in the course of night in a city.

After Dark just connects both the dream and real world. Mari, a nineteen years old girl, is sitting in a restaurant and reading a book. She is awake even at this wee hour but her sister Eri is asleep most of the times in her room. Murakami tells us how the life of Mari, her acquaintances, Eri and the software guy are interlaced.

The story is narrated by a third person, most likely an entity. The entity is something like a camera which can show the events taking place there but it has no power to intervene the events. Yes, a camera with some emotions. This gave me the feeling of watching a movie.

The narration switches between Eri, Mari and the software guy. Murakami ends a chapter with suspense and then he switches the narration to some other place. Thus my curiosity to break the suspense made me to read the next chapter with great speed and interest. Murakami also had given the choice to the readers to speculate the reason for Eri’s sleep.

This thin book just sucked me into the story by its suspense and excellent narration. Murakami had done a great work and surely I will look out for his books. I give four and a half stars to this book.

Book Blogger Hop!

Once again I welcome you all to the Book Blogger Hop organized by Crazy For Books. This hop is open from July 23-26. The Book Blogger Hop is a place just for Book Bloggers and readers to connect and find out new book related blogs. Please feel free to leave some comments and also your blog URL(if you have one).

This week's question:

Tell us about the book you are currently reading.

Now I'm reading 'Darkly Dreaming Dexter' by Jeff Lindsay. I had finished just 40 pages and the book is very interesting. This is about a monstrous guy Dexter who is obsessed with killing but also following Harry's Codes to channel this practice in a constructive way.

Friday 56

Rules:

• Grab the book nearest to you. Right now.
• Turn to page 56
• Find the fifth sentence
• Post that sentence (Plus one or two if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comment section of this blog.
• Post a link along with your post back to this blog, Starting Fresh and to Storytime with Tonya and Friends
• Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Here is mine from 'Midnight's Children' by Salman Rushdie,

 He invited the leaders of the dozens of Muslim splinter groups to form a loosely federated alternative to the dogmatism and vested interests of the leaguers.

Waiting For You

First Line : The best thing about summer camp is the last day

After reading this book of Susane Colasanti, I had the gratification of reading a splendid Romance novel. Yes, I liked this one a lot. I had read few romance novels which I felt like ‘something is missing’ after finishing but not this one.

After the summer vacation, Marisa is waiting for a fresh start with new plans. The main objective of her plan is to get a boy friend. In real life hardly anything goes according to the plan. Her life becomes more and more screwed. Everything is against her and is forcing her into darkness. But the anonymous Dirk in the program ‘All Talk, No Action’ is the only one who understands the problem of Marisa. But she don’t know who he is?

‘Waiting for You’ depicts the life of a teen girl who is trying to overcome her depression. Heyyyyy…. stop… don’t think this is a sad story of some loser. Susane has presented this story in an interesting and hilarious manner. The feelings, dreams and expectations of the teens are portrayed as such. This novel is interesting because it shows the things which happens in our daily life and at times I felt that I had faced this situation in my life. Susane even made me feel that Marisa and XXXX(don’t like to reveal the name to you) are made for each other.

On the whole this is a wonderful novel and I’m sure that this may take some of you back to your high school days. I give four stars for this novel.

One For The Money

First Line : There are some men who enters a woman's life and screw it up forever.

‘One for the Money’ by Janet Evanovich is the first book of Stephanie Plum series. This is about Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter, who solves the mysterious cases.

Stephanie Plum has lost her job and was searching for a new job. Her financial crisis is forcing her to take the bounty hunter job. She finds herself in deep shit before learning even the first step of her new profession. Now she has no other option than to face it with guts.

Stephanie Plum series is slowly becoming one of my favorites(I had read book 2 already). The story is completely enchanting from the beginning to the last. I like the characterization a lot. Generally, in a mystery novel the protagonist will be brave, intelligent or with kiss-ass attitude. But Evanovich has not portrayed Stephanie Plum as an audacious fellow with great skill. She has shown how Plum, who was initially an amateur turns into a professional. Moreover the humour content adds some extra points to this novel.

In this novel Plum didn’t find anything with her skill but she is lucky enough to bump into the persons she was looking for. Everyone in the novel praises Morelli as a man with great brilliance but he does nothing more than waiting outside Plum’s home or driving Plum into nuts. The story would be more interesting if few sleuthing stuffs were included. The more pathetic role was given to the cops. Morelli and the missing witness were just in the city but the cops are too incompetent to locate them.

Apart from these few flaws this is a well written novel. I didn’t feel like boring or wasting the time by taking this novel, not even a smidgeon. I give four stars to this book.

Book Blogger Hop!

Crazy for books is organizing this Blogger Hop. Through this hop I came to know about many new blogs, like you. I feel happy to thank you for visiting my blog. I would like to know what you think about my blog so please feel free to leave some comments along with your blog URL(if you have one).

This week's question - What book are you dying to get your hands on?

'Waiting for Columbus' - this book is in my wishlist from the day I read its review in a blog(don't remember the blog name). I searched for this book in local bookshops but I got the same reply 'NOT AVAILABLE'. Even now I didn't completely stop my hunt for this book and I hope I will get it soon.

Friday 56

Rules:

• Grab the book nearest to you. Right now.
• Turn to page 56
• Find the fifth sentence
• Post that sentence (Plus one or two if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comment section of this blog.
• Post a link along with your post back to this blog, Starting Fresh and to Storytime with Tonya and Friends
• Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Here is mine from "Magic Seeds" by V.S.Naipaul,

The leader came to Willie one day and said, 'Headquarters is taking an interest in you'.

Full House

First Line : Nicholas Kaharchek surveyed his seven new polo students moving across the sandy practice field.

Billie Pearce leads a perfect and predictable life. But her life becomes unpredicted when she and Nick are attracted to each other. Under certain circumstance they are forced for the marriage. The doubt whether ‘Nick really loves her’ is disturbing Billie and at the same time Nick is facing perils from someone…

I have the habit of choosing a book without reading its blurb. This is how I chose ‘Full House’ by Janet Evanovich. I read her Stephanie Plum novel before few days and so I took this book without second thought.

I started to read this book and I found out that this is not a mystery novel like Plum but it’s a romance novel. The first few pages were interesting and witty but then this turned into kinda erotica. I love romance novels but I hate erotica. I don’t want the novel to be a written pornography.

After reading nearly half the book, the thought whether I should continue with this book crossed my mind. It is exactly at this moment the story just took a turn from its path. Then I was hooked in the story till the last. And the last fifty pages were so thrilling that it filled me with tension.

What can I tell about characters?….All the characters are different, unique and interesting. Billie, the perfect(before meeting Nick); Nick, the playboy; Max, the geek; Sheridan, the possessive; Frankie, the hunk; and Dee Dee, the model. 

I liked this novel but it also had some flaws. Nick was hanging out with Billie just because she was beautiful and hot. But suddenly at the end he was overwhelmed with his love for Billie. The reason for the transformation of his lust into love was not conveyed properly. Billie, the mother of two, a sixth grade teacher, who behaved with great dignity, steps into the shoes of Gloria. This is so stupid to believe.

I had a great confusion in rating this but finally I decided to give three stars to this novel.

Book Blogger Hop!

Crazy for Books is hosting Book Blogger Hop. It is open from July 9-12.
This week's question:
Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites!

Harlan Coben is my favorite author because he writes excellent mystery novels. He will just make me to think that I have untied the mysterious knot but in the next chapter I come to know that all my assumptions are wrong. Only in the end when he reveals the truth we can get the exact overall picture of the whole thing. His novels have unpredictable ending.

Friday 56

 

Rules:

• Grab the book nearest to you. Right now.
• Turn to page 56
• Find the fifth sentence
• Post that sentence (Plus one or two if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comment section of this blog.
• Post a link along with your post back to this blog, Starting Fresh and to Storytime with Tonya and Friends
• Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Here is mine form "Full House" by Janet Evanovich,

Billie stared at her. "Nick?" She hadn't thought of using Nick as a way out.

In the Beginning

First Line : "Don't do it hard, you'll break my arm Walren" Yed cried out.

‘In the Beginning’ is the first book of ‘The Great Destruction Series’. This book mainly revolves around Yeducavich and the Warnos(his race).

Yeducavich, a women protector, is tricked by his King for a night stand with Ezra for the sake of his race (King claims so). Then Yed finds out that Ezra is none other than his childhood friend. He gets the permission from the King to be her protector under one condition - ‘At no cost the involvement of the Kingdom should be revealed’.

Protector Yed goes to Ezra’s home and the romantic feeling starts to bloom between the two which is illegal for someone in this profession. Moreover they were in fear of war and the extinction of their race.

How will Ezra react to the truth? Can Yed come out of this predicament? Can Warnos withstand the war?

I was thrilled when I came to know that this novel belonged to the genres -‘Romance and Fantasy’ as both are my favorite . So I had a great expectation for this novel. When I started the novel, this was the first question that raised in my mind - ‘How can I enjoy the romance between some creatures with tail?’. But to my astonishment the romance between Ezra and Yed was exquisite. With time I was sucked in the story and it made me to turn the pages with thrill. And towards the end it had a sentimental touch which made me sad.

The plus about this novel is the very good story, interesting romance, thrill and a very strong ending. Also Melanie Ray made me to care for her characters and this is a good thing for the novel.

But I also admit that all my expectations were not gratified by this novel. Melanie failed to add the contents to make it a good fantasy (just the tail and the pheromones are not enough). The Warnos were using more mundane things like laptops, mobile phones and cars. When I read fantasies, I look for new experiences in everything I come across but I found it missing. And finally its cover, they could have designed it a little more attractive.

On the whole I enjoyed the novel. I will surely read it more than once. The ending is a brilliant cliffhanger and is making me curious to know what will happen next. I give four stars for this novel.

Blue Dahlia

First Line : Birthing a bastard wasn't in the plans.

‘Blue Dahlia’ by Nora Roberts is the first book of ‘In the Garden Trilogy’. This shows the love and power of a mother.

Recently widowed Stella moves to Memphis with her two children and a dog. She gets the job in the Harper Nursery. It is the Harper house where the three women Roz, Stella and Hayley, who are sailing on the same boat meets. Then Stella meets Logan, a landscaper. Initially they both hate each other but with time the hatred slowly turns into love. Stella feels hesitant to enter into a long term relationship with Logan fearing what will happen to her two sons. She is also consistently disturbed by a dream featuring Blue Dahlia. More than this, she is unaware of the huge problem the future has kept in store for her to deal.

Nora Roberts portrayed all the three female lead characters as mentally strong women. Stella is a well organized women, she perfectly plans each and everything. In contrary, Logan is a complete mess. But all the characters are altruistic type which is hard to believe and a bit artificial.

Nora Roberts trademark is her description, which is the strength of her book. The description is so lively and the dialogues of the kids and their little kid fights are realistic. What can I tell about the story? It’s nothing but another over familiar, slow paced love story. The climax comes to the rescue of the story which gave me a little thrill.

The cover of this books shows the Blue Dahlia. It reveals nothing about the story but this attractive bright coloured cover made me to choose this book. I give two and a half stars to this book.

Friday 56

Rules:

• Grab the book nearest to you. Right now.
• Turn to page 56
• Find the fifth sentence
• Post that sentence (Plus one or two if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comment section of this blog.
• Post a link along with your post back to this blog, Starting Fresh and to Storytime with Tonya and Friends
• Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Here is mine from 'Blue Dahlia' by Nora Roberts. Only today I started to read this book.

"She had to speak with Roz about the seasonal employees. Who, how many, individual and group responsibilities."

This is the blurb:

Three women meet at a crossroads in their lives, each searching for new ways to grow - and find in each other the courage to take chances and embrace the future.

Stella has a passion for planning that keeps her from taking too many risks. But when she opens her heart to a new love, she discovers that she will fight to the death to protect what's hers.

Fill in the Blank Friday

Fill in the Blank Friday is started by The Perpetual Page-Turner. It is nothing more than normal fill in the blank. We should complete the following sentence

I enjoy reading because _________________________

I enjoy reading because it takes me to some other world through my imagination which others cannot reach. The good book is like a best friend to me when I'm in solitude. Moreover it is the best and interesting way to spend my leisure time.

P.S. If you don't have a blog, please do it in the comment section.

Veronika Decides to Die

First line: On 11 November 1997, Veronika decided that the moment to kill herself had – at last - arrived

‘Veronika decides to die’ by Paulo Coelho tells about the 7 days of Veronika, which she lived in Villete while waiting for the hands of death to touch her.

Veronika, who appears to have perfect life decides to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills in excess. But her plan fails and when she wakes up, she finds herself in Villete, an asylum in Slovenia. Doctor tells her that she has only a week left to live her life because of the damage she had caused to her heart. During her stay in Villete she explores the different versions of Veronika who stayed within her without getting the opportunity to come out. Her stay also affects Mari and Eduard, making them to take the important decision of their life. Finally Veronika and Eduard falls in love with each other.

Paulo Coelho had tried to tell about the importance of living our life as we like and he had succeeded in it. He tells that most of the people live their life fearing what others will think? And how sometimes the love of one destroys the life of other?

From the first page to the last page Coelho had carried the story in an interesting way. This book changed my thoughts about mental asylum. Coelho’s explanation about mad people, scientific reasons behind it and the stories of Zedka, Mari and Eduard made me to thoroughly enjoy this book. Just after reading the first four pages I decided that I should somehow find and read all the books of Paulo Coelho. I give four and a half stars for this book.  

Pop Babylon

First line : 'Kylie Minogue is sitting on my face'

Imogen Edwards-Jones have come up with ‘Pop Babylon’ by the information obtained from some folks of Pop industry. This book tells about a year long work of ‘The One Management’, a music company in building a boy band.

Though it tells about the building of ‘Band of Five’, the interesting part of this book is not the story but the anecdotes and the gossips about the pop industry. It tells about the problems involved in forming the girl band, about the drugs and scandals in this industry and the reasons for the failure of most of the bands. The author had brought the evil face of the industry into lime light.

I have read some non fiction but this one is different from them. This book is completely filled with information like ‘How much they spent for Spice Girls album?’ , ‘What is the share of manager, distributors and blah blah’ and a lot like this. This book was not so catchy to me as I’m not interested to know about Pop industry. I recommend this book to the people who are interested to know about Pop world.

The Virgin Suicides

First line : ‘On the morning the last Lisbon girl took her turn at suicide – it was  Mary this time…….’

The Virgin Suicides is a non-fiction by Jeffery Eugenides. The story tells about the life of five Lisbon girls who end their lives by suicide. The story is narrated by the Lisbon’s neighbourhood boys who were in infatuation with the Lisbon girls.

Even though the climax was revealed in the first line, the author made me to read the full book at one go. The book was rich in its description. Jeffrey brought the transformation of Lisbon’s house after Cecilia’s death live before my eyes.

The book is the collection of the things which the nearby people know about Lisbon girls. This also contains the views of various experts about this suicide pact. This book made me to think deeply about the reason which forces the person to suicide. In the case of Lisbon girls I think they were trying to free themselves from this world to live a new life in some other world which they alone can see.

On the whole the book is dark. 

Two for the Dough

First Line : I knew Ranger was beside me because I could see his earring gleaming in the moonlight. 

‘Two for the Dough’ by Janet Evanovich is a detective novel. Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter. Vinnie employs Plum to find Kenny Mancuso who disappeared after getting the bail. Morelli(cop), cousin of Kenny is also looking for him while working in a case to find some missing guns and ammo from a military base. Plum and Morelli decides to work together. After sometime she gets another work from Spiro (Undertaker) to find his 24 missing caskets. Plum gets dead threats and some gifts from Kenny regularly. The rest of the story tells how Plum and Morelli resolve the mystery in this case.

The story had a slow start. First I thought that Kenny was hiding himself from someone who is a threat to him. I thought someone have stepped into the shoes of Kenny and playing the game but to my surprise he suddenly shows up to Plum. Then the author slowly enlightens us the attributes of Kenny and how dangerous he is. And then onwards the author made me to expect what Kenny will do next and who will become his next victim.

I should mention about Grandma Manzur character. This is the most interesting character in this novel. She also plays an important role in the story to find the culprit. On the whole the novel is interesting.

The God of Small Things

First Line : May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month.

The God of small things by Arundhati Roy is a well crafted heart breaking story. This tells about the life of two egg twins Estha and Rahel and their mother Ammu. The consequences they face by breaking the love laws. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how.

This novel is a non linear narrative type. The novel had a very good story but the main plus point of this novel is not the story but how she tells the story. The conversation between the two egg twins are so realistic. She had unveiled the caste problem existing in certain parts of our country. Roy’s description was witty in many places and she had adopted her own style. She has the power to stir our emotions through her writing. Roy made me to live with Estha and Rahel for those four days.

This is one of the best novel I have ever read. This novel made me to wet my eyes. It is simply a magnum opus.

The Avenger : Time Raiders

First Line : The dead woman sighed.

The Avenger:Time Raiders by P.C.Cast is a novel based on time travel. Alex is a women with a special gift of speaking to dead people. Professor Carswell want to use Alex for a time travel mission. The mission is simple, Alex should go back to Boudica’s period(60 AD), get the medallion in Boudica’s torque and bring it to Carswell. This medallion is necessary to save the future generation.

Alex goes back to the past as per plan but she falls in love with Caradoc whom she used to see in her dreams in normal life. She wants to live with Caradoc but at the same time she don’t want to betray the people of her time.

This is the first novel which I read about time travel. P.C.Cast made it quite interesting. This novel had thrill, fantasy, romance and action. The novel had so many twist and turns. Till the end I didn’t have a clue of how Alex will accomplish the mission and what will happen to her love life?. Especially the plot which Alex uses to escape from Suetonis is very good. This is the very good sign for this kind of novels. I liked this novel a lot.