Reading on a Rainy Day

( Photo credit ) I read Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock so long ago, well more than 3 months ago, that I don't remember everything I wanted to tell you about this book. I did however like it a lot, didn't love it, and thought it was a fabulous read for anyone. This book got on my radar thanks to NetGalley . I doubt I may have read the book otherwise, though I probably would have TBR'd it. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is set in a day of a boy's life and is written from his perspective. At the beginning of the book, Leonard Peacock lets us know that he is planning to kill a classmate by nightfall and then end his life. He doesn't reveal his reasons for such a macabre plan yet but proceeds on to insist that he needs to give farewell presents to four people before he carries out his plan. Of course, the recipients shouldn't get too suspicious about why they are getting gifts. The four recipients turn out to be the only people who have had a positive impact o...

( Photo credit ) Finally this series is over. And I say that with a relief. I don't know why I read it if I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it, but it's a series and it's hard abandoning something in the middle. I found both the previous books of this series,  Divergent  and  Insurgent , very immature and insubstantial, but with a good world-building and a somewhat intriguing plot. The world that Tris inhabits has been divided into five factions, each favoring a certain trait in people (fearlessness, honesty, peace-loving, selflessness and knowledge). Of course, too much of one trait does have some other consequences.  In  Divergent , one faction leader turns evil and tries to take control of all the factions. In  Insurgent , the factionless (i.e., those without factions) take control from the evil faction leader. And finally, in  Allegiant , another faction leader tries to get back all that control from whoever last had it. That's the story in...

( Photo credit ) I read Bossypants four months ago. For some reason, I have been postponing my review since I first wrote it couple of months back. Not that I am unsure of it or it was controversial or I had any such juicy reactions. Bossypants simply didn't fascinate me. This is the not the first time I was listening to the book though. I had first played the audiobook in my car two years ago when I went on a short drive - I did get to the halfway point before I had to return the book. I remember enjoying the book tremendously then - so it surprises me that I didn't like it too much this time around. I really like Tina Fey. The husband and I watched Admission recently, and while the movie isn't award-winning material, it certainly was a nice entertaining way to spend a late evening. She is certainly funny - hilariously. In Bossypants , she narrates so many funny anecdotes that I ended up feeling that I had been living a very unfunny life. She talks about pretty ...

( Photo credit ) Having read and loved Raina Telgemeier's Drama , I was eager to read her Smile , which was really the only other book of hers that I'd heard about. (Imagine my wonder though when I discovered today that she has a whole series under her name - The Baby-Sitters Club , which luckily, my local library has the whole set of!) As soon as I finished Drama , I requested Smile from PaperBackSwap . I received my copy last night and devoured it in two sittings, and that too only because I had to step out on an errand. Smile has every bit the same style of fun graphics that I loved the most about  Drama . While Drama was fiction, Smile is a graphic memoir. When Raina was in sixth-grade, she tripped near her porch when racing with her friends and broke her two front teeth. One of the teeth fell out while the other went all the way into her gums and lodged itself there. (Yes, I cringed heavily during this phase. A tooth getting pushed into the gums is a spooky tho...

( Photo credit ) In 2011, I read almost 20 graphic books. However, since then, I've read only four - Drama included. I'm not sure why I didn't seek out enough graphic books lately, maybe I got worn out by the format and needed a break. When I saw Drama at the library this week, it was hard to ignore it. It has exactly the style of illustrations I love - it makes you think that you're going to have fun with the book. Moreover, having read a few reviews of this book in other blogs, I knew it comes with strong recommendations. In Drama , seventh-grader Callie is part of the stage crew that designs sets, costumes, lighting effects and props, among other things. She has had a long fascination with drama and theater, having even auditioned once for a role  (she sucked as a singer). Before long, she found out that designing sets is what she loves to do. In this book, the stage crew decides to put up "Moon over Mississippi" and they begin auditions. Between ...

( Photo credit ) Lately, light reading is what I've been trying to do quite a bit. It makes it easier to get back into reading when I feel that I'm finishing books. But reading a silly fluffy book wouldn't help either because they tend to wear my brain down with all the cringe-worthy or cheesy stuff they may contain. I picked up The Vampire Diaries for some quick reading, even though I guessed that it was likely going to be very silly, because at least I knew the story (the TV version of the story, that is). And besides, I've been meaning to read the books at some point to find out how different the books were from the TV show. As it turns out, very different, while still very similar. To me, The Vampire Diaries books are super-boring, tiring and so like the Twilight series that I'm surprised they are not the same story. Book Elena is such a pain in the butt and so very "I will never leave you Stefan" and "I will die for you Stefan" ...