Reading on a Rainy Day

Every time Mrs. Wentworth came at me, I thought of Mama. [...] But Mama could never know. I was tied to Mrs. Wentworth now. The wage they had agreed upon was meant to keep Mama alive. If I ran away, I feared Mrs. Wentworth would come after Mama. She'd be left with nothing - no clothes to wear, no place to sleep, no food in her belly. My bruises were a small price to pay. Twelve-year old Moth was born into the poorest of the slums in 1870s New York, to a fortune-telling mother and a father who abandoned them when she was three. Named Moth by her father because a tree told him to do so, Moth was sold into servitude by her mother in exchange for a fortune. Despite her attempts to blend into the new household, she ends up detesting the lady of the house - so much that she was willing to risk thieving to escape. And then begins a new life for Moth - at the infant school, where virgin girls are taught how to charm and seduce a man until eventually their virginity is sold. On the p...

Which, err, I know I didn't announce here. I assumed I had been off for two weeks maybe, but I'm actually surprised that it has been almost a month since I blogged. Yikes! Where does time fly to? We had a big party of family members visit us over the last week. By big, I mean 7 people. It was fun and hellishly stressful too. And still fun. The weeks before that involved quite a bit of planning, which is the main reason I wasn't online much. We went to Myrtle Beach for a few days, checked out a few places closer to home, headed out to DC over the weekend. The last of the party (my brother) just left today morning. (I sure hate the quietness around here right now.) Even though, I did pretty much nothing but cook and plan and go outside over the last week, and although the return to the routine is a welcome change, I'm still wishing some of that fun could last. Anyhoosie, nothing ground-breaking has happened on the reading front. I know I finished a few books. Unw...

Somewhere inside me is a merciful, forgiving person. Somewhere there is a girl who tries to understand what people are going through, who accepts that people do evil things and that desperation leads them to darker places than they ever imagined. I swear she exists, and she hurts for the repentant boy I see in front of me. But if I saw her, I wouldn't recognize her. Beatrice is nervous. She has a test coming up soon. The test. The test that will determine her future. On a particular day each year, all sixteen-year olds have to take a test that will find the dominant quality they possess and thus find the faction that best suits them. A day after the test, they have to make their choice. If they choose a different faction from the one they were born in, they cannot return back or meet their parents. Beatrice's test doesn't go as expected, forcing her to keep a secret, and she ends up making a choice that surprises everyone. However, when she begins to hear hints of ...

"Your hair was set beautifully, but the style she's given you is not for you." My heart was pounding with rage. It had taken me an hour and a half to do that style and he dared to say that I'd got it wrong. The customer is always king. I'd done the style she asked for. Vimbai is the hairdresser at a well-known salon in Harare, where she has self-proclaimed herself to be the best one in town. She is definitely one of the best hairdressers - the owner of the salon prefers Vimbai handling the important customers. Even otherwise, the salon sees many customers who would rather have her dress their hair than anyone else. One day, when a man named Dumisani comes calling at the salon, in response to an ad calling for applicants, Vimbai's reign as the queen hairdresser is threatened. As simple as that summary sounds, The Hairdresser of Harare is anything but simple or trivial. Set against the backdrop of the politics within a salon, there are several elemen...

I wasn't planning to do one of these, but since everyone else is posting their summer reading lists, I couldn't resist. Blame it on peer pressure. Couple of months back, I planned to spend the second quarter reading science fiction and dystopian titles. And while I did read a few books from that category ( Divergent , Battle Royale , Fahrenheit 451 , The Knife of Never Letting Go , currently reading Unwind ), I didn't quite get to as many as I had hoped to read. But mostly, none of the books I read so far have wowed me - they all fell far short of expectations. I will probably continue with more science fiction books (I still have Insurgent to read and maybe continue with the Chaos Walking series ), but they may not exactly be on top of my pile. For now, I'm looking for something else to focus on. I know that whenever I make a reading list, I never get to most of the books on that list. Reading lists, to me, are for ogling pleasure. I have no doubt, that histo...

(Thanks for visiting! This giveaway is now closed.) Yesterday, I raved about Make it Stay and today, I'm thrilled to say that I have  ONE copy  of this book to give away, courtesy of the publisher and  TLC Book Tours . I strongly recommend this book to all readers of literary fiction. To enter, simply fill the form below. The usual stuff: You  don't  have to be a follower of my blog to enter the giveaway. You must be over 13 years of age. International giveaway - (which means you can be from anywhere on Planet Earth) The giveaway will stay open until I chose the winner on May 29, 2012 . Fill the form.

I remember Neil made a show of checking his watch that day; then, facing me as if I were a point-blank gun barrel, shouted his invitation to lunch. The whole staff turned to stare. He must've thought I couldn't hear with my earphones in. Poor fellow blushed so hard I thought his head might pop off. Neil and Rachel (aka Rae) met and got married when Rae was in her forties - much later than is considered the "normal" age for first marriages. Rae is a writer, an introvert who preferred to stay home in her PJs than meet people. Neil was more outgoing, loved cooking and hosted dinners often for their friends and acquaintances. Into this marriage, Neil brings the baggage of his long friendship with Mike, the owner of an aquarium business in downtown, and the complicated relationship between Mike and his wife, Tilda. At the moment however, something terrible had already happened, involving Mike and Tilda - something hinted at a lot, while Neil preps dinner for a gathe...