Reading on a Rainy Day

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Showing posts from February, 2010

Month in Review - February 2010

February has probably been one of my worst months, reading-wise. I've never come below 6 books yet, and though I did manage 6 books this time, it was a just-managed scenario. Looking back, I'm not really sure why I didn't get much reading done. I am just glad I will graduate soon (I really can't wait to be done!) Here's my list from February: Rainwater by Sandra Brown ( 4 cocktails ) City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare ( 3 cocktails ) The Help by Kathryn Stockett ( 5 cocktails ) The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch ( 4 cocktails ) Open Season by Linda Howard ( 2 cocktails ) The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien ( Reread - 5 cocktails ) Short Reviews Blue Heaven by C.J. Box ( 4 cocktails ) Creepers by David Morrell ( 4 cocktails ) Challenge Progress Challenges completed: 0/12 100+ Reading Challenge : 15/100 Awesome Author Challenge : 1/10 Support your Local Library Challenge : 9/50 Flashback Reading Challenge : 1/9 Audio

Review: Open Season by Linda Howard

Title : Open Season Author : Linda Howard Genre : Romance First Published : 2001 Publisher : Pocket Books Source : Personal Copy Challenges : 100+ Reading Challenge , A to Z Challenge 337 pages On the flap On her thirty-fourth birthday, Daisy Minor decides to make over her entire life. The small-town librarian has had it with her boring clothes, her ordinary looks, and nearly a decade without so much as a date. It's time to get a life -- and a sex life. The perennial good girl, Daisy transforms herself into a party girl extraordinaire -- dancing the night away at clubs, laughing and flirting with abandon -- and she's declared open season for manhunting. But her free-spirited fun turns to shattering danger when she witnesses something she shouldn't -- and becomes the target of a killer. Now, before she can meet the one man who can share her life, first she may need him to save it. I have very little good words to lace up this review with. The book blurb

The Sunday Salon -- Feb 28, 2010

What? February is over all ready? How can that be when I hardly read anything this month? The only major recollections I have of this month is waking up every morning at 6, working like a zombie for the whole day, and sleeping only at 10-11. Did you know that as the semester progresses, students start feeling more depressed, sullen, frustrated, sometimes even walk with an outright "I don't care" attitude, all the way till the last month, when the happiness factor slowly spikes up? If I had to graph it out, it would resemble a very biased bell curve. Of course, that only relates to the coursework part of campus life. I know we have a lot of fun otherwise, but even that dwindles considerably. Right in the second week of classes, I was shocked to see so many students reading out of their notes in buses, and bus stops. The library and all reading lounges were already brimming with students working on their assignments and preparing for their tests. Alright, I know I am

Review: The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch

Title : The 13th Hour Author : Richard Doetsch Genre : Thriller, Time travel First Published : December 2009 Publisher : Atria Source : Library Challenges : 100+ Reading Challenge , A to Z Challenge , Support your Local Library Reading Challenge 352 pages On the flap Nick Quinn is being held in jail, accused of the murder of his beloved wife, Julia. He knows she's dead; he saw her bloody corpse, shot in the head at point-blank range. The police tell him they found the murder weapon with his fingerprints on it in the trunk of his car. Nick is confused, grief-stricken -- and completely innocent. At 9 p.m. on July 28, a gray-haired gentleman visits Nick in the police interrogation room and asks him a simple question: "If you could get out of here, if you could save her, would you?" He hands Nick a golden talisman that allows Nick to go back in time, one hour at a time, for a total of twelve hours. With each hour that Nick travels back, he finds mor

Friday Finds -- Feb 26, 2010

This meme is hosted by MizB at Should be reading . What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Busy week again, but surprisingly spotted some excellent books this week! I'm really curious to know if I'll ever pass a week without adding a book to my wishlist! My finds The Hot Zone by Richard Preston I came across this book in Alyce's blog, At Home With Books . It reminded me of a Michael Crichton novel that I enjoyed tremendously, The Andromeda Strain . Seeing a similar theme running in this book, and based on a true event, I couldn't resist adding this one, no matter how spooky! :) The true story of how a deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in a Washington, D.C., animal test lab. In a matter of days, 90% of the primates exposed to the virus are dead, and secret government forces are mobilized to stop the spread of this exotic "hot" virus. Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa I just

Short Review (A-Z Wednesday): Creepers by David Morrell

This is a meme hosted at Reading at the Beach . To join, here's all you have to do: Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week. Post: 1~ a photo of the book 2~ title and synopsis 3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.) The letter for this week is C . I chose Creepers by David Morrell , which I read in September 2009, and enjoyed quite a bit. Marce @ Tea Time with Marce was looking for a horror book capable of giving sleepless nights ::wink::, so I suggested her this book. Since the letter for this week is C , I thought I will post my review as well. I gave it 4 stars. (Note: I do not generally read horror, so this one might not be scary enough to the horror aficionados out there!) Here's a synopsis, from the back of the book: On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore and begin preparations to break into the Paragon Hotel. Built in the glory days of Asbury Park by a recl

Teaser Tuesdays -- Feb 23, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read Open to a random page Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. It was a tough toss choosing between The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R.Tolkien and White Oleander by Janet Fitch, for the teaser this week. Finally, I chose the one that sounded more suspenseful! He broke a windowpane. I could tell he hadn't intended to because he hesitated, and then, in a sudden burst of courage, he thrust his arm through the window and fumbled for the latch. She crossed the room faster than I could have believed possible, lifted her arm and stabbed him in the hand. ~ Pg. 31, White Oleander by Janet Fitch . Check out other teasers here!

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- Feb 22, 2010

This is a weekly event initially hosted by J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book Blog , now by Sheila @ One Persons Journey through a world of Books , to celebrate what you are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week. Books completed last week - The Help by Kathryn Stockett - The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch (Review coming up soon!) - Open Season by Linda Howard (Review coming up soon!) Unfinished - The Chopin Manuscript by Jeffery Deaver and 14 other writers : I decided to give up on this, since after 1.5 hours of audio, it still was not holding my interest. I'm sorry to not put on more effort on this, but maybe I'll give it a try some other time. I am currently reading The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien : This is a re-read that I am doing for the LOTR Readalong . I totally LOVE this series and plan to watch the movie after finishing this read. White Oleander by Janet Fitch : I've heard this is depressing. I just started it

The Sunday Salon -- Feb 21, 2010

Yet another Sunday comes by so soon. It's been another blazing week, but thankfully, one that had a few books in it. I am not so sure of the coming week though, and I do plan to finish three books before Feb-end. I hope to achieve that! I've been thinking for the past few days about reading lists. I belong to the group that obsessively makes reading lists prior to the start of each month. I like knowing what books I plan to read each month, how many more challenges are going to be nearing completion, plus it gives me a sense of order and predictability, which I value a lot. Besides, most books I want to read I pick from the library, and it definitely would annoy me if a specific book is not available currently, or if I have to wait a few days for it to arrive from another county. On the down side, I can't always go by my inner desire to read a specific book, or feed my thirst for a book from some specific genre. Also, if I see someone praising a book highly, I do g

LOTR Read-Along: Joining the Fellowship on its adventure

20 days into February, and I'm only yet getting the first post up. I didn't want to write this before I was ready to start with The Fellowship of the Ring , for fear of abandoning my current urgent reads. Yeah, Lord of the Rings always has that effect on me. It transports me to a totally different world, one that never fails to dazzle or amaze me. Once I finish this book, I might even watch the movie to relive the great saga on screen. This month, Clare @ The Literary Omnivore is hosting the Readalong for the first book of the LOTR trilogy. I know a lot of you have already started reading this book, (maybe even completed it?), but since I am yet to start, I have not yet visited any of your posts about this month's read. I'll be sneaking by shortly! ;-) I have already read The Fellowship of the Ring about three times, if I have my numbers right, and it remains, by far, my favorite book of this whole series. That probably has to do with the lighter tones and mo

Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Title : The Help Author : Kathryn Stockett Genre : POC First Published : February 2009 Publisher : Putnam Adult Source : Library Challenges : 100+ Reading Challenge , Support your Local Library Reading Challenge 451 pages On the flap Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Friday Finds -- Feb 19, 2010

This meme is hosted by MizB at Should be reading . What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? I didn't come across too many new finds this week, but there were a few that are worth mentioning. My finds Eternal on the water by Joseph Monninger So many bloggers reviewed this book over the last week. After hearing all that good opinion, I'm pretty eager to try it out too! From the day Cobb and Mary meet kayaking on Maine's Allagash River and fall deeply in love, the two approach life with the same sense of adventure they use to conquer the river's treacherous rapids. But rivers do not let go so easily...and neither does their love. So when Mary's life takes the cruelest turn, she vows to face those rough waters on her own terms and asks Cobb to promise, when the time comes, to help her return to their beloved river for one final journey. Set against the rugged wilderness of Maine, the exotic islands of Indonesia, the sweeping panor