Quotes from Books.

I didn't remember what month that was, or what year even. I only knew the memory lived in me, a perfectly encapsulated morsel of a good past, a brushstroke of color on the gray, barren canvas that our lives had become.
- pg. 107 of 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini

Monday is here again!

Ah! Monday is here again!

What's up on Monday?! Hmmm...

I am almost done with Lost Symbol

I have stated True Believer by Nicholas Page. Everyone keeps on gushing about Nicholas's books. I really needed to read one at the very least right! Don't ask me why I chose this. But it has been in my TBR since last year :)

I hunted down eBook of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman AND Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.Though I have no idea when  will be able to read it!

And last week I finished nothing [ as usual ;)]!

I saw a documentary on NGC[ I think or was it Discovery?! :( ] about the rain's and flood in Mumbai on the fateful night of 26th July, 2005. which killed over 1000 people and destroyed so many homes as well. Th city that never sleeps came to a stand still that day.

Did you know Mumbai was originally a group of 6 or so islands? And they were joined by putting sand in to the sea by the British back when they were here!? And well the documentary really was SHOCKING! The documentary showed as to what happened on that day, and what were the real causes apart from the 8th heaviest down-pour ever recorded here.

Got time? Watch it. You will know the dos and dont's when being in a traffic jam and flood!

For example -

              If you are in a car, and you see the water increasing, get out of the car and hit for a safe land base. Don't keep your car glasses tightly closed and don't put on the AC in the car, there are chances that the AC will start emitting toxic gases and you will lose your consciousness without even knowing about it! One guy almost lost his life because of that. It was terrible seeing what happened and I really felt angry when seeing the main reason.

And much more of such stuff.

What's up for you guys out there?

What are you reading?

Thank You J.Kaye for hosting this one :)

Sunday Pictures

Hello Everyone! Hopefully you are all realxing and having fun on this cold Sunday Morning! I am mostly sleepy today and reading Dan Brown's Lost Symbol. I am going to discuss that one soon with you guys so keep an eye on this blog ;) :)

So as on almost all my Sundays, here are some pics that I would love to share with you :-)

This little doggy followed us, when we were in Coorg. I LOVE dogs and I am sure they have a way of sensing if they are liked and if they are, they start following you :-)

So I gave it my packet of Kurkure! Now before you ask me what is Kurkure, here is the pic of the delicious snack cover :)

Next we have here is a boat and this one was taken in Kerala. Can you believe men actually go in that and fish and all that? I can't even think of fitting in it ;)

This next pic is of a shed for boats :-)

And that's a lake flowing near to my mom's ancestral place in Kerala. It is beautiful! Mom says that when they were kids, they had no roads to come to this place and they used to travel by boats! That's interesting right?!
Click on the pics for larger images!

Wishing!

Well, if someone could just help me not read Alaine's blog, it would be GREAT! I just don't know what to do with all the piles of books she keeps on talking about... I want each one of them... but today I am here to talk about an author... who I really really need to read...but more importantly about 2 books that I really really want NOW! -

Synopsis ~~

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.

The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.

A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants--from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys--except for Claire's rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.

When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire's quiet life is turned upside down--along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom or with each other.

Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own.

~~~

Synopsis ~~~

In this irresistible follow-up to her New York Times bestselling debut, Garden Spells, author Sarah Addison Allen tells the tale of a young woman whose family secrets—and secret passions—are about to change her life forever.

Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother…

Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey’s clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she’s going to change Josey’s life—because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding.

Before long, Josey bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who makes the best sandwiches in town, is hounded by books that inexplicably appear whenever she needs them, and—most amazing of all—has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush.

As little by little Josey dares to step outside herself, she discovers a world where the color red has astonishing power, passion can make eggs fry in their cartons, and romance can blossom at any time—even for her. It seems that Della Lee’s work is done, and it’s time for her to move on. But the truth about where she’s going, why she showed up in the first place—and what Chloe has to do with it all—is about to add one more unexpected chapter to Josey’s fast-changing life.

Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.

~~~

Well here is what Alaine's got to say about Garden Spells ~~

This is an absolutely fantastic feel good story. The authors writing is lyrical and it was just like feeling the touch of a gentle summer breeze as I read this story. I can't recommend this book highly enough to anyone who loves magic, flowers, plants, family love and romance.
- From Alaine - Queen of Happy Endings

Ahhh, all the search keywords in one review, you got to love this book even before picking it up!

Another girl TeddyRee said,

This was a magical, enchanting read. It made me feel like everything was right in the world, the kind of feeling you get with the first sign of spring flowers, a breath of fresh air on a still day, a rainbow after a sun shower. I guess the magical component really appealed to the little girl in me but this isn't just a story about magic, it's about self discovery, place, belonging and love, wrapped up in a gentle, uncomplicated read.
- From The Eclectic Reader

Didn't I say this book is just that I need NOW!

As if that was not enough, Alaine went ahead and posted review of Sugar Queen, God!
Doesn't this girl know that I cannot possibly be under so much pressure ;-) :-)

Here is what Alaine's said about Sugar Queen~~

This book reminds you that love is magical and can make water boil, books appear when you need them the most and family relationships are complicated. If you are looking for a highly entertaining read then The Sugar Queen is a must read.

- From Alaine - Queen of Happy Endings

hmm... now you know WHY I really need to buy both these books by Sarah Addison Allen. Alaine also tells us that her next book The Girl Who Chased the Moon is due out in March 2010. Now I really need to get to both these books before THAT!

Have you seen anyone eagerly waiting for a book by an author you have never read before?!
That's Veens for you :)

Cover Attractions!

I am filling today's cover attraction post with covers... you can even have a vote as to which one you like ;)
I didn't do this post last week, so here we go..

I just love this cover of "Waiting for Columbus"! The sad part is, I FORGOT to mark the blog where I saw this first! So sorry Girl!
If I remember or find out, I will surely update this post!

OK! I am not sure what is it that I like about this cover! I think it has to be the shiny heels!

The next 2 covers are from Jo-Jo Loves to Read! I just don't know, but i kind of like it!

I know why I like this one, it just gets me in the holiday mood! And it is kind of funny too!

So which is you Fav?!

create a free poll on pollsb.com

RIP IV Wrap-Up

I would have loved to say that doing this challenge was so much FUN, but instead I am saying this challenge gave me the sense of accomplishment that I wanted to feel.

Because I Completed this one.

I signed up for Peril, the Second and here is my list -

The Girl who played with Fire  by Steig Larsson - though I read this before this challenge started, I thought I will include this here as it is just right for this challenge and put me into the modd for this setting. Love this series and Loved this one too!

Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer - This one was not what i expected. This didn't give em the CHILLS that it promised :) But I kind of enjoyed Heyer's writing, her homor and subtle sarcasm. Great characters but predictable!

Soul Catcher by Leigh Bridger - A soul Catcher, a Soul Hunter, party of Angels and Boons and then a freaking, cruel deamon.. there you go! I fanally read something that sometimes gave me the small creeps. :-)

Thank You Carl, it was GREAT, finally finishing one challenge I signed up for!

I am in for the next RIP :o), when is it really?!

Family Plots: Love, Death & Tax Evasion by Mary Patrick Kavanaugh

Family Plots: Love, Death & Tax Evasion

by Mary Patrick Kavanaugh

Published October 27th 2008 by iUniverse.com 

Paperback, 300 pages

From GoodReads.com,

Family Plots is a fresh and funny autobiographical novel about a young mother trying against all odds to create a normal family life with her new husband, a criminal attorney, who—it turns out—is committing a few crimes of his own. The novel offers readers a wry, unsentimental account of a marriage barreling toward calamity. In an attempt to find romance, family, and financial stability, its struggling heroine stumbles into a world of pseudonyms, fake weddings, and hidden bank accounts. Events that land many of the players into the family cemetery plot also reveal unexpected secrets and stashes that manage, in small ways, to transform a tale of seeming tragedy into one of surprising healing and redemption.

Family Plots, which the author likes to call Pulp Fiction, a term which I found both funny and interesting is based on real events that happened in the author's life. She explains that she has changed the script of her life a bit, invented some dialogues, given a little more spice to her characters and made this book at once witty, suspenseful and just like the blurb says, healing.

Mary bought up in a disjointed family always yearned for a normal family with a loving husband who would be a charming father for her little princess Rachel. Mary knew Dan earlier as her boss, but  after a break of a few years, a child from a former college heart-throb and a life under unrelenting tower of debts later, she finds Dan again. Dan at once fits into the role of a family man. Mary decides to start over with Dan, to solve her debt issues and give Rachel the family and security that she never had. She gets a job and starts doing really well. Mary is ready to forgive all of his secretiveness and lies that Dan spurns up time to time when question about the legitimacy of his work and his friends, for the perfect family that she dreamed of.

Dan by profession is a criminal attorney and abandons his profession to pursue different business opportunities which almost always ended up in being disasters. He keeps everything locked behind drawers and Mary has no idea most of the times about what he is up to.

Feeling a kind of sympathy for Mary as she tried to bring meaning to Rachel and her lives was easy. But as the novel progresses one also ends up with a feeling of happiness for her successes. I however never understood her fixation with putting up with Dan. As Mary tried hard to keep her mind over matter, she gets into more trouble than she bargained for, with Dan.

I dived into this one, not knowing what really to expect out of it. It is the first autobiographical account I have read. I found it engrossing and at the same time witty. It is insightful and makes the most silliest moment seem really funny. There is also packed in a lot of insight in this little book which delivers in spite of the Sixteen Rejections it faced from the top NYC Publishers [ Mary I really liked the idea of having that written on the gold medallion that's on the cover, it caught my attention :-)]

Through small steps and constant struggle, we see Mary finally taking the right steps in the right direction but what about her better half?! This book is more suspenseful than you could imagine. There was always this feeling in me of wanting to know what went wrong next! Trust me not in a bad way but still, you know what I mean. For everything, it was worth seeing Mary coming out a winner in spite of ALL the odds.There were so many little things that really made me think... like this one ..

I thought about the time when I was seven and my dad handed me a crisp one hundred dollar bill. I clutched it greedily thinking of all the things I could buy. I'd take my best friend to Disney land, eat all the chocolate mint ice cream I wanted; buy new dresses, make-up, patent leather shoes, and still have money left for a case of Mystic Mints, which I would never share with Hank. I thought of so many things I could do with the money, and none of it included saving it. My dad cheered at all my ideas, then said, "Okay honey, Give it back.". What? I clung to the bill. "You didn't really think I was serious?" he said. Since then, I'd spent money faster than I got it.
- p.207

I am sure this is one book that will make a great gift this Christmas for anyone who needs to see the light at the end of the tunnel, who need to remember that whatever the odds, we only win if we are ready to fight them!

Such things and more make this book - spicy, sweet, mysterious and a good ride.

Thank you Dorothy of  Pump Up Your Book Promotion for giving me chance to review this book!

For more reviews :- 

Lisa's from Lit and Life

Kay's from Kay's Bookshelf

Soul Catcher by Leigh Bridger

Soul Catcher (The Outsider Series #1)

by Leigh Bridger

Published October 1st 2009 by BelleBooks, Inc.

Paperback, 320 pages

4 of 5!

Description

From the Gothic eccentricity of Asheville, North Carolina to the terrifying recesses of the Appalachian wilderness, from modern demonology to ancient Cherokee mythology, SOUL CATCHER follows the tormented journey of folk artist Livia Belane, who has been stalked through many lives by a sadistic and vengeful demon.

Livia and her loved ones, including her frontier-era soul mate and husband, Ian, a Soul Hunter, have never beaten the demon before. Now, in this life, he s found them again.

Wow... that was some read! I am not really sure, how to really kick-start this review...but I really think it was the kind of roller-coaster ride, I love once in a while!

Soul Catcher is the story of Livia, who is a soul catcher and Ian who is her soul-mate and a soul-hunter. In every life they find each other and are destined to fight the deamons. But one particular daemon tracks them down in every life and is bent on taking violent revenge everytime. For some reasons Livia doesn't want Ian to find her, but he finally gets to her and is not going to let go easily this time. Livia has to fight the ugly daemons but a more difficult war is inside her, she has to fist accept who she is and she has to save the world of beautiful souls by sending these daemons and there folks to place they deserve.

I loved all the characters. I loved Ian, who was the complete opposite of the introvert Livia. I loved the way author portrays him. I must admit the book started on a violent note and is grim for sometime, but then there are some very nice tender moments. I love all the boons, angels and the pogs. I love the Talking Rock... ok I love almost everything except for... the language, the F word is there in every other of Livia's dialogues, but I was not bothered by it like many other books. This one, actually showed the frustration that the modern Livia faced and her sarcasm towards her situation . But it gets OK towards the end. Then there are some really violent se*ual torture scenes. Oh my! I was so ANGRY when those happened and sad. That's the feeling, I think the author wanted to instill in the reader. Then there are some s*x scenes too, tender and most importantly they are not badly done. It is a requirement, the story needs it and it is done nicely. If you have issues with any of the above things that I mention, then I guess you would not want to read it... but despite of everything, I enjoyed it immensely.

It was a page-turner and it has some kick-ass action. I really liked the concept of souls passing on... I actually kind of feel like believing in it too... it is so much less painful.

oh Yes, I didn't like the cover, this was nothing that I imagined Livia to look like. :-)

I recieved this book through BBAW, where I requested the eBook! Thank you BBAW and thank you Bell Bridge Books for sending me the eBook to review.

Another note -

Coming in 2010

Soul Hunter Book 2,

The Outsider Series

Livia finds herself struggling to adjust to another new incarnation of Ian, this one doomed to be executed for heinous crimes. At the same time, she and Ian must battle the rising threat of a powerful new demon and the arrival of a Soul Hunter who has competed with Ian for Livia’s love over many centuries.

No points for guessing, that I will be grabbing that one as soon as I can find it! ;-)

Also reviewed by:

Wendy's Minding Spot
MariReads
Books Books and more Books
Novel Addiction
Maymay's Memos
Falling Off The Shelf
Gautami from everything distills into reading 

Attraction to Blue :o)

I LOVE the BLUE of the above cover!

I saw another [see right]  cover as well on the net, but I can't get a bigger Image... hmmmph! The Author website has the first cover ONLY.

This one was reviewed on S. Krishna's blog [ 4.5 stars out of 5]
From the back cover:

Though she lives in the shadow of her legendary landscape photographer father, and is the mother of a painter whose career is about to take off, Claire has carved out a practical existence as a commercial photographer. Her pictures may not be the stuff of genius, but they’ve paid for a good life.
But when her father dies, Claire loses faith in the work she has devoted her life to—and worse, begins to feel jealous of her daughter’s success. Then, as she helps prepare a retrospective of her famous father’s photographs, Claire uncovers revelations about him that change everything she believes about herself as a mother, a daughter, and an artist…

Which cover are you attracted to this week?!

Thank you Marcia for hosting this event!

A short Hiatus!

Diwali is tommorow and we have a LONG weekend ahead!
So I will be out of pocket for the next 3 days :)

See you all on Monday :)

Let the Light light the darkness!
Let the Light penetrate your visions of unhappiness..
Let this day bring the best of spirits to you and your family.


A very Happy DIWALI!