Skip to main content

Featured Post

A New Way of Living | Weekly Snapshot

Posted on
I don't know about you guys but this has been one of the longest weeks ever. With schools closed and work moved to home, this has been a new way of living. When the changes and shutdowns came just before last weekend, there was no time to really process the information. Within days, life had changed. And then on Monday, I reported to work, from my home, with kids also at home. It was when Friday finally rolled along that I felt the gravity of the situation, how we'll be rarely getting out for weeks, if not for months. How schools were likely going to be closed for months. How work still had to be done remotely or worse, there was no work to do anymore due to layoffs or a shutdown. How there was not going to be any dining in restaurants for months.


That was a very sobering thought. I didn't sleep until 1.30am that night.

How are you all doing? What are some of your tips to keep your sanity on while we get through this very difficult time? Some of you are in places that are …
Post a Comment

The Week in Books (1/14 - 1/27 2013)

Posted on

Last week has been one of the busiest for me at work. I usually never find the need to work more than eight hours a day, but I ended putting in more than that each day this past week, after one of my colleagues resigned. That cut into my blogging time, but I managed to read a good bit.

The Twelve Tribes of HattieThis week I read...
- The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis: I picked this one up after all the hype that has been following this book ever since it was chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this one much. There were just too many narrators and the ending felt too weak for me to appreciate this book.
- The Man in the Rockefeller Suit by Mark Seal: A month after popping the first disc into my car stereo, I finally finished this book. Being a long book and being about a character I fervently disliked, The Man in the Rockefeller Suit turned out to be a challenging book to listen to. Although I enjoyed the book as a whole, I felt that the execution could have been better.

Into the WildCurrently I'm reading...
- Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: After loving Krakauer's Into Thin Air, I picked up Into the Wild to listen to in my car, hoping for a similar treat. Sadly, this book about a kid who walked out into the wild, trying to live freely and then dying two years later in Alaska, isn't as captivating.
- Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloane: I had heard some buzz around this one when it first came out. It was even freely available on the author's website for a brief period, but it is only now that I managed to find the time to read it. While this book caters awesomely to my likes (books and computer programming!), the writing is amateurish. Still, it's turning out to be a nice mystery and I'm hoping it will be worth it.

Reviewed (Yikes, just one this fortnight!)
- The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton


Tags

Comments

JudithLeeswammes said…
Sorry to see that you didn't like The Twelve Tribes of Hattie very much. I would like to read it, although I also don't like too many characters. I must reconsider!
January 28, 2013 at 5:07 AM
Juju at Tales of Whimsy.com said…
I saw Into the Wild the movie and wasn't impressed. I can't imagine how the audio is.
January 28, 2013 at 9:17 AM
Athira / Aths said…
I hope you get to try it. I will be curious to hear what you think. I know many others enjoyed the book, so you may too.
January 28, 2013 at 9:53 AM
Athira / Aths said…
I was initially thinking of watching the movie too, but now I don't care after finding the audio book a little dry.
January 28, 2013 at 9:55 AM
Juju at Tales of Whimsy.com said…
As I'm sure you already know, you're not missing anything ;). The acting is good the story just did nothing for me.
January 28, 2013 at 11:47 AM
Jenn said…
I've heard such good things about Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. I'm curious to see what you think as I typically don't hop on the bandwagon for super popular books until they've been out a while.
January 28, 2013 at 12:06 PM
Athira / Aths said…
I don't either read the hyped up books until much later. I end up not liking the book much usually. I picked Penumbra for my book club. So far it is okay - I hope it picks up soon.
January 28, 2013 at 12:49 PM
Helen Murdoch said…
Sort of an "eh" kind of week. Bummer. I also couldn't deal with Into the Wild after really liking Into Thin Air.
January 28, 2013 at 1:06 PM
JoV said…
Reading and reviewing one book a week seems good enough, as I struggle with that too! :) I love "Into the Wild" and I hope you are touched by it because I did. I have the movie DVD still to watch. Let me know what you think about it.
January 28, 2013 at 5:08 PM
Athira / Aths said…
You're right! I've gone weeks without reviewing, so it is good that I at least had one post out. At the same time, I hope I don't forget to review some of those books I really want to talk about - that happened a lot last year. Still, no pressure - it's nice not to be on a schedule. :)
January 28, 2013 at 6:41 PM
Ryan said…
I really like Jon Krakauer. I think Into the Wild might is his most thought provoking book to date (though Where Men Win Glory comes a close second). Hope you enjoy it.
January 30, 2013 at 7:56 PM
Athira / Aths said…
I like Jon Krakauer too. I've found what little of him I have read to be very thoughtful, well-researched and the man himself very honest. I didn't enjoy Into the Wild very much but I loved reading through some of the philosophical and argumentative sections. I'm definitely craving more Krakauer!
February 4, 2013 at 9:47 AM
Athira / Aths said…
I like Jon Krakauer too. I've found what little of him I have read to be very thoughtful, well-researched and the man himself very honest. I didn't enjoy Into the Wild very much but I loved reading through some of the philosophical and argumentative sections. I'm definitely craving more Krakauer!
February 4, 2013 at 9:47 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hell-Heaven by Jhumpa Lahiri (Short Fiction Review)

Posted on
I first read Jhumpa Lahiri years ago, when her Interpreter of Maladies was making a huge buzz. At the time, I didn't catch any of the buzz, but for some reason, when I saw the book on the shelf at the store I was browsing in, I felt it just might be a decent read. Funnily, I read the entire short story collection without complaining about it, but for some reason, I cannot read any collection anymore without agonizing over its disjoint nature.

I did enjoy Interpreter of Maladies, but I did get bothered by the thread of loneliness and infidelity and distrust that laced through the stories. For that reason, I have been reluctant to read Unaccustomed Earth. However, when I came across Hell-Heaven at the NewYorker - a free short story from her book, I decided to go ahead and read it. I can't resist the pull of stories set in India or featuring Indian characters, and it is that same aspect that hooked me throughout this story.


In Hell-Heaven, the narrator contemplates the relations…
13 comments
Read more

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Posted on
Maybe that’s what religion is, hurling yourself off a cliff and trusting that something bigger will take care of you and carry you to the right place.
Bernadette Fox has a reputation. While her husband and her daughter Bee love her, there's barely anyone else who share the sentiment. Her neighbor Audrey loves to gossip mean things about her with her close friend, Soo-Lin. The other parents of kids at Bee's school look down on Bernadette because she doesn't involve herself in school affairs. Bernadette herself goes out of her way to avoid company.

And then one day, Bee comes home with an excellent report card and asks for her reward - a family trip to Antarctica. The very plan throws Bernadette into a panic but she has no other option. She hires a virtual assistant, based out of India to take care of all her demands, including getting prescriptions at her local pharmacy, doing her online shopping and taking care of some of the logistics of her trip. (It is ridiculous! Bern…
27 comments
Read more

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (Short Fiction review)

Posted on
With the Hunger Games hype that engulfed us last week, it was hard to avoid all the discussion of similar works that existed. Of the many titles that I came across, two stood out particularly - a short story called The Lottery and a Japanese novel (and movie) called Battle Royale (which I'm reading right now and just cannot put down). The novel will be fodder for another post, so for now, I just want to rave about the awesomeness that was The Lottery.

In contemporary America, villagers across the country are gathering on the 27th of June (and some a day earlier) for an annual event called the Lottery. Children, women, men, all come to the main square of their village or town, where the lottery master keeps a black box full of paper chips. One of these chips is marked has a special mark on it to identify the winner (the person who draws that chip). Not everyone draws however, but only the head of the family. Husbands are viewed as the head of their families/households, and if the …
19 comments
Read more