Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from March, 2011

Featured Post

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton

"This will cost you the Court, Mom," Isabelle repeats. "It will be a scandal. A woman who was wild like that now up for the Court?" "A woman," Ginger says. "Would you feel differently if we were talking about a man?" Meg Waite Clayton's The Four Ms. Bradwells  is about four best friends who find themselves pursued by a horror from their past - a mysterious death that happened almost 30 years ago. Ginger, Laney, Betts and Mia have been close friends from their law school days. They have stood by each other through all their individual adversities and celebrated each others' happiness. At the moment the story begins, Betts is at her Supreme Court appointment hearing, when a senator asks her about her involvement in the murder. This opens up a can of worms as Betts denies having anything to add to the public record on that matter and the four friends make a getaway to Ginger's summer house, which was whe

Leif Reads: "I just received Best-kept Lawn Award of the suburbs"

Every month,  Ash  and I are going to focus on one eco-related book for Leif Reads. To see what this feature is all about, visit  this page . This month, we are reading  Slow Death by Rubber Duck  by  Rick Smith  and  Bruce Lourie . Slow Death by Rubber Duck  talks about seven toxins that we unwittingly come in contact with - many times a day - as we go through our regular daily routine. Last couple of weeks, Ash highlighted  how the toy industry has been introducing our kids to toxins  - through plastics in toys, and then I highlighted two toxins/toxin sources that you can easily find in your homes - Teflon (yes, your non-stick frying pan may not be that good for you) and mercury (say goodbye to tuna). In this week's post, Ash talks about why lawn care is not worth all the hoopla around it. I have this omnipresent image of a respectable family with a home in the suburbs, settling into their dream life, mowing lawns while they gossip with their neighbors about the go

Some bookish chatter - Now I've seen it all (a blank book on a bestseller list?)

Honestly, one of these days you'll be receiving an advance copy of my yet-to-be-written new book. Yet-to-be-written is right, because I'm thinking of leaving it entirely blank, if that's all I need to make sure it becomes a bestseller. On nothing less that Amazon, to be sure. Did you hear about that news earlier this week? I'm still scratching my heads wondering what I'm missing in this picture. Is it the title - one that jumps at you from even a mile away? Or is it that people have been running out of blank paper at home? Telegraph had this picture up on their post . ( Picture source ) I'm thinking about the number of trees that went into putting this book way up there! Esp if this is also a bestseller. On the other hand, students have been buying this book to use as notebooks for their lectures. So maybe the world's not so crazy after all. I never thought I would live to see this. Amazon should reshelve this book to the stationary section.

Book n Movie Review: The Freedom Writers' Diary by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers

I'm sure one of these days she's going to go to principal and ask for her leave, but then again, what else is new? "These kids are going to make this lady quit the first week," my friends were saying. Someone else said, "She'll only last a day." I give her a month. I first heard of this book in Sheila's blog when she reviewed this during the Banned Books week last year. At that point, I wasn't too keen on reading the book, but when I saw the movie pop up in my Netflix recommendations list, I decided to check it out. I didn't have too many expectations from it, but by the end of the movie, I loved it. Who doesn't love a rebel? And I mean a good rebel -- someone who succeeds in something when everyone else expected him/her to fail. The movie was everything about changing your destiny, and all through my life, I've never tolerated the 'fate' and 'destiny' philosophies that anyone dished out to me. I like

Elisa Lorello giveaway winner

My  giveaway of Elisa Lorello's books  - Faking It and Ordinary World  - ended last night, and   Random.org  chose the following winner for me! Anita Yancey I've already sent out the email notification to the winner! Congratulations! Thanks to all who entered!

Yet another Monday! (March 21, 2011)

Sheila  @  One Persons Journey through a world of Books  wants to know what we're reading. I'm only too happy to oblige! It's been a slow week of reading. I guess I just had too much going on, but I hope to make something out of the last 10 days of the third month of the year that just started and is already a quarter way through! Books completed in the last week    The Beauty of Humanity Movement   by  Camilla Gibb : Nice wonderful look at the Vietnamese culture!    The Freedom Writers Diary   by  Erin Gruwell : I loved the movie and that's what prompted me to pick this book. What a truly moving book! News from over my blog Giveaway   Today's the last day to enter my giveaway of Elisa Lorello's books - Faking It and its sequel, Ordinary World . Leif Reads!   Second post of March. Do you know of these common toxins in your own kitchen?

The Sunday Salon (The Late Evening Edition - road trips and Indie Lit Awards)

Honestly, I didn't feel like blogging for two days. I almost didn't write this post, but I guess after a couple of days, my brain cells are itching to send some signals to my fingers. I just got back from a visit to my university with my family. This was the first time I went there after 7 months! I can't tell you how excited even I was as we approached the place that was my home for two years. My dad agrees with me that Virginia Tech is one of the most beautiful campuses in this country. (Ok, he has seen only two other campuses, I have seen only one other campus. Plus neither of us have seen Univ of Colorado-Boulder, which I've heard is even more beautiful. But let's not count that against this, okay?). My ever-neutral mom doesn't want to choose between mine and my brother's universities, but I think she secretly likes mine. Next weekend, we're all piling up into a car with my friend and his wife (or my friend and her husband

Leif Reads: "You're Soaking in it!"

Every month, Ash and I are going to focus on one eco-related book for Leif Reads. To see what this feature is all about, visit  this page . This month, we are reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie . Slow Death by Rubber Duck talks about seven toxins that we unwittingly come in contact with - many times a day - as we go through our regular daily routine. Last week, Ash highlighted how the toy industry has been introducing our kids to toxins - through plastics in toys . In this week's post, there are two toxins I wanted to mention - PFCs and mercury, mainly because we come so easily in contact with them in our kitchens. This is the town that Teflon built Years ago, when Teflon arrived in the kitchen market, it was a big hit. I still remember hearing all the buzz around it at home, when dad bought our first non-stick frying pan. At the time, I had a vision of cooking something, without it sticking at all on the pan. Of course, when I finally

Radio Shangri-La giveaway winner

My giveaway of Lisa Napoli's Radio Shangri-La ended last night, and   Random.org  chose the following winners for me! Rakshit Kumar Christa I've already sent out the email notification to the winners! Congratulations! Thanks to all who entered!

Some bookish chatter - VABOOK, a movie trailer and the Orange Prize long list

So who's going to or already attending the Virginia Festival of the Book ? The VABOOK started yesterday at Charlottesville, which is just an hour from my place. I can't however head there during weekdays, so Saturday is probably the first day that I can make it. Unfortunately I'm not decided yet. Since I'm also missing BEA, I want to not miss this one at least, considering the proximity to my place. But there's a lot going on this weekend at home, so I'll probably decide only at the eleventh hour. Did you hear about the movie adaptation of Lisa See's book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ? I read this book last year and loved it so much, so I'm really excited about it. Here's the trailer if you're interested in it. It looks good, doesn't it? I'm confused by the modernity that I see in it. Maybe that's reflective of the present, in which the protagonist, Lily is narrating the story, but this story is set in the 19th century and ev

The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb

"Comrade, sir, I assure you we believe fully in the theories of Marx and Lenin," said Dao. We believe absolutely in communism, the most wonderful ideal of mankind, the youngest, the freshest ideal in all of history. But if a single style is imposed on all writers and artists, the day is not far off when all flowers will be turned into chrysanthemums."  (The above was actually told by the Vietnamese intellectual leader, Phan Khoi , but the author has attributed them to her character, Dao, in this fictionalized story set in one of Vietnam's darkest times. - As mentioned in her note at the end of the book ) The Beauty of Humanity Movement is a story about Vietnam - about one of its warring times that the United States had nothing to do with. In fact, the better-known US-Nam war is only mentioned in passing - almost because it actually happened, not because it had any connection to this story. Old Man Hung serves pho to his faithful customers every

CSN review: A sneak peek at my new TV stand

A couple of months back, I mentioned how CSN contacted me asking if I wanted to review one of their products. As I looked through their extensive catalog - an activity someone obsessed with home decor would spend hours on -- it got me thinking about how obsessed I was with organizing anything . So when I tried to decide what to check out from CSN , I found I had to change my requirements from "This will look good over here" to "This will be great value to my home" to "This is something I want to buy" to eventually "This is something I really really need". I am typically subscribed to several deals on various items so that I can buy them - except that I don't. I hate spending money just because I want something, and yet I really do want that, ya know? So after putting off the task of selecting something I won't regret buying -- I wanted a bookshelf (well, who doesn't?) but I couldn't justify buying that because all my books

Giveaway - Faking It & Ordinary World (Elisa Lorello)

(Updated: Thanks to all who entered. The contest has ended.) I have an ARC each of Faking It and its sequel, Ordinary World , by Elisa Lorello to give away, in celebration of today's paperback release of Faking It . The paperback of Ordinary World releases on June 14th. (To read the descriptions of either book, scroll down below the entry form.) To enter, simply fill the form below. I'll be closing this giveaway on Monday 11.59 p.m. US Eastern time, and will announce the winner using the always-dependable services of random.org. To enter, You  don't  have to be a follower of my blog. You must be over 13 years of age. Only US and Canada please. Enter by Mar 21, 2011, Monday, 11.59 p.m. US Eastern time. Fill the form. <p><p><p><p&

Yet another Monday! (March 14, 2011)

Sheila  @  One Persons Journey through a world of Books  wants to know what we're reading. I'm only too happy to oblige! Have we all in the US remembered to spring forward yesterday? Much as I like that spring is almost here (it's HOT here, but the brown is only slowly translating into green), I don't appreciate the one hour less sleep yesterday. Moreover, I always struggle to be up earlier for at least a week or two. Books completed in the last week    Radio Shangri-La   by  Lisa Napoli : A nice look at Bhutan and its culture. News from over my blog Giveaway   Enter my giveaway of Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli . I'm giving away 2 copies! Leif Reads!   First post of March. This month, the focus is on  Slow Death by Rubber Duck  by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie. Reviews up!    Bringing Adam Home by Les Standiford  ( *WOW* )    The Dressmaker of Khair Kh