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Showing posts from July, 2012

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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

Yet another Monday! (July 16, 2012)

Sheila  @  Book Journey  wants to know what we're reading. I'm only too happy to oblige! I haven't done this meme 2 months, so it's quite tempting to list all the books I read since then just so that it looks like I've been reading a lot. But I'll refrain from being naughty and stick with the past week or two. Maybe. Right now, I'm going through four books, and I'm torn between which one out of two of those books to give the center stage in this post. So I'll spotlight both. I'm so thrilled to finally be reading Oliver Sacks and Thrity Umrigar - authors I should have checked out long ago! Both books are amazing so far!  I'm also reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (finally!) at bedtime and Women Know Everything by Karen Weekes during my tea break. Which pages were turned... Over the last weeks, I finished a couple of books - both pretty good.   The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel: I have to say I

The Sunday Salon: On rereading (and a readalong)

Once in a while when I am in a very anal mood, I go about organizing my Goodreads booklists, moving books around, renaming shelves, adding new ones and deleting the shelves that no longer interested me. Despite how counter-productive such a task usually is, I find some odd sense of comfort and pleasure in doing it. During one such exploit yesterday, I came across a shelf that I had named 'revisit', meant for those books that I want to reread again. These are usually books that usually required a reread to fully appreciate all facets of storytelling and subtle nuances of the plot - books like Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore , which on completing, gave me an immediate feeling of disorientation but after a couple of days of processing, made me see the pure brilliance of the narration. But there were also a few other books that I enjoyed tremendously, even rated them 4+ stars. Funnily, barring the Murakami book, I didn't feel like rereading any of the others.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (Book n Movie Review)

  In July 1942, Sarah is taken along with her parents by the French police to a cycling arena, where thousands of other Jewish men, women and children are also held prisoners without any basic food, water or shelter. Before they are taken by the police, Sarah manages to hide her brother in a hidden closet in their bedroom, promising him that she will be back soon to help him out. Days pass, with no rescue or relief in sight, while Sarah worries for her brother with each passing second. Intertwined with this story is that of Julia's in the modern time period, where Julia is researching about the French participation in the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (as the incident is called), and uncovering a strange connection between her husband's family and Sarah. That mention in the synopsis of a girl hiding her brother in a closet, with the promise to come back, but somehow not being able to keep that promise has been a very haunting thing to read. Every time someone read this boo

Should I read....

This book? Because, obviously, this is coming later this year... I prefer reading a book before watching its movie equivalent, unless the book doesn't lure me one bit (like  One Day ) or the movie/TV equivalent sounds like the better way to experience the story (eg: Vampire Diaries , and I don't like vampires anyways) or the humongous size of the book just keeps giving me shivers (Hello, Game of Thrones ). And sometimes, the book happens to belong to a period I struggle with ( Pride and Prejudice ). But I still much prefer to read a book first, because books are better, right? Somehow, I'm not sure about The Great Gatsby though. The reviews I've read have made me alternately intrigued and indifferent. But since Leonardo DiCaprio is in it, it's a given that I'll be sitting in the movie theater, probably during the first week after release itself. What do you think? Have you read it? Planning to? Or not your soup?

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

These two Unwinds are out of control. [...] They need to be protected from themselves. They need ... they need ... they need to be unwound. Yes. [...] It would probably be a relief for them, for now they're all broken up on the inside. Better to be broken up on the outside instead. That way their divided spirits could rest, knowing that their living flesh was spread around the world, saving lives, making other people whole. Just as his own spirit would soon rest. There is only one thing occupying Connor's head these days and that is his upcoming unwinding. After the Second Civil War, a new law came into effect: the lives of children up to the age of 13 was well-protected. Beyond that, parents could choose to unwind their child - meaning allow the government to amputate every part of the child's body and use these parts for research or medical treatment. Since Connor's parents are no longer able to have any amount of control over him, they decide to unwind him. Bu

Fleeing the den

Happy Fourth of July to my American readers! Couple of nights ago, my best friend, Piyush , did a great imitation of my blogging style, and pretty much verbally composed a blog post for me, based on his understanding of how I write and organize my posts. Unfortunately, he did a pretty good job at it, but I have to say his narration cracked me up immensely. So much for comfortable writing patterns. Did you get a whiff of that VA/WVA/DC/MD/OH storm this past weekend? What a humongous mess that bully created! No power still at our place, so on Sunday, we left town to warmer but powered pastures in NC to stay with my friends. Power is back up at my workplace but our den is still in the stone age. Anyways, no power on a 100 F day is never fun, whether or not there is a pool to dip in, or a movie theater to take shelter in. Half the traffic lights weren't working, so it was pretty much a case of stop, look, then drive. Have to say that this actually worked better than if there were