I don't know... Maybe it's just me. I don't know how to appreciate this book. It's not a drag. It's not boring. It's not difficult to read. Yet I don't particularly fancy this.
It's about a regular guy in his 40s who's stuck in a boring marriage where both husband & wife have fallen into a regular routine & any love that was there (if there were any to start with) was no longer evident.
One night, he chances upon a Yugoslavian girl in her twenties whom he assumed was a prostitute from her dressing. Upon inviting her into his car & sending her home, he lost whatever guts he had earlier, to even ask for her "service". In fact, she even denied that she's a prostitute.
They proceeded to talk. She doing most of the talking, he - a keen listener; drinking in all her words. She started sharing tales from her past. Some sad, some interesting, some enlightening, some morbid. It got him hooked for more. Day after day he'd come more for the tales that she told; that the line between truth & tall tales began to go blurry. He continues to be the avid listener who's shocked / sometimes disturbed by the stories / "revelations", yet felt the constant pull to come back for more. Needless to say, as the books suggests, she's a Partisan's daughter.
In turn, she's also addicted by his presence. As an adored artist with a loyal fan. She can't fail him. She wants to continue feeding him with interesting stories that will keep him coming back for more.
Eventually, as in all relationships, something happened to end their regular meets. They lost touch & he's left story-deprived, with no clue as to where has vanished.
The whole book is actually a patch-work of stories that this 20-yr-old Yugoslav girl told this man, interjected with questions and dialogs between the 2-characters & sometimes the eccentric housemates of the girl. Just like the ones where Scheherazade's tells her tales every single night to satisfy her King & in return, be allowed to live for another day (though admittedly, I think the stories were less entertaining).
If this is your cuppa - can give it a try. If you know your taste is similar to mine in terms of books; then don't bother. :)
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Book Review: Cupid's Melody by Karen Fox
Nic Stone is a super hot Faery who fell in love with a mortal, Anna. He doesn't want to lose her, so asked the Queen of the Fae to grant Anna immortality. Little did he know that to gain immortality, Anna will have to die first and be reborn as an immortal.
He had to wait 25-years before he get to find his wife in the mortal world. Why 25-years? Well, his wife is reborn as a mortal, she can't be immediately grow to adulthood. So he had to bid his time before going after her again. However, it turns out the Queen of Fae wanted Nic for herself, so she made it difficult for him... His Anna will have no recollection whatsoever of their relationship or their love for each other. So even if he were to ever find her in the mortal world, he'll have to win her over all over again!
He finally found her - in the form of Dianna Fielding, who is the spitting image of his wife Anna. Anna - Dianna, shouldn't this be a second indicator besides her look?! In this life, Dianna's a famous singer who is already engaged & lives in a large property with her sister cum manager, Stacy. In order to have the opportunity to get close to Dianna to enable to make her fall head-over-heels in love with him all over again, he masquerades as the new gardener of their large property.
However, the strangest thing is he found that other than Dianna's looks, nothing else resembles his lost love - Anna. Strangely, he seem to be attracted to Stacy instead. Is he falling in love with another woman (i.e. Stacy rather than Anna) or he's under the spell of the Queen of Fae to sidetrack him from his quest. After all, she threw in another condition that he has to win his Anna's love or lose her forever & he'll be hers for all eternity. So what's stopping her from pulling another fast one at him.
So despite the strong attraction / pull he felt for Stacy, his stuck his quest to winning Stacy - with fiancee / not? I'll let you guess the ending (which I guessed half way through the book) or better yet! Go ahead and read it!
This is definitely a light read / chick lit suitable for a lazy afternoon during the weekend.
He had to wait 25-years before he get to find his wife in the mortal world. Why 25-years? Well, his wife is reborn as a mortal, she can't be immediately grow to adulthood. So he had to bid his time before going after her again. However, it turns out the Queen of Fae wanted Nic for herself, so she made it difficult for him... His Anna will have no recollection whatsoever of their relationship or their love for each other. So even if he were to ever find her in the mortal world, he'll have to win her over all over again!
He finally found her - in the form of Dianna Fielding, who is the spitting image of his wife Anna. Anna - Dianna, shouldn't this be a second indicator besides her look?! In this life, Dianna's a famous singer who is already engaged & lives in a large property with her sister cum manager, Stacy. In order to have the opportunity to get close to Dianna to enable to make her fall head-over-heels in love with him all over again, he masquerades as the new gardener of their large property.
However, the strangest thing is he found that other than Dianna's looks, nothing else resembles his lost love - Anna. Strangely, he seem to be attracted to Stacy instead. Is he falling in love with another woman (i.e. Stacy rather than Anna) or he's under the spell of the Queen of Fae to sidetrack him from his quest. After all, she threw in another condition that he has to win his Anna's love or lose her forever & he'll be hers for all eternity. So what's stopping her from pulling another fast one at him.
So despite the strong attraction / pull he felt for Stacy, his stuck his quest to winning Stacy - with fiancee / not? I'll let you guess the ending (which I guessed half way through the book) or better yet! Go ahead and read it!
This is definitely a light read / chick lit suitable for a lazy afternoon during the weekend.
Book Review: Shakespeare's Apprentice by Veronice Bennet
It's interesting that this is a novel of an unknown within Shakespeare's circle. Of course, the main character in this novel is a fiction of the author's imagination. However, it's truly a rare find that Shakespeare the great artist / playwright plays second fiddle in this novel.
It's about Sam Gilburne. A farmer's son who has ambitions to make it big in the world of theatre under the great (though not exactly that great yet at the time of this tale) Shakespeare. During the time when no women are allowed to play women's roles; they are performed by boys who've yet to developed their post-puberty low octave voices. Sam Gilburne is one of them. Not the leading female role though. Most of his roles are minor roles.
In comes the heroine - Lucie Cheetham, the niece of Lord Essex, a favourite courtier of Queen Elizabeth. Same old storyline of the gap between the rich & the poor, the powerful vs the weak, the influential vs. a nobody, the cream of the crop vs. the weeds in the common field - but love is blind to status & wealth. Naturally the love pair did not have it easy, but they had Master Shakespeare on their side.
Eventually circumstances changed. The ones in favour ran out of favour and with a bit of drama (read for yourself!), the lovebirds finally got together. The End... Yea, unlike Master Shakespeare's works, this actually has a happy ending.
A good light read over a weekend. Must warn, it may be termed chick-lit to some.
It's about Sam Gilburne. A farmer's son who has ambitions to make it big in the world of theatre under the great (though not exactly that great yet at the time of this tale) Shakespeare. During the time when no women are allowed to play women's roles; they are performed by boys who've yet to developed their post-puberty low octave voices. Sam Gilburne is one of them. Not the leading female role though. Most of his roles are minor roles.
In comes the heroine - Lucie Cheetham, the niece of Lord Essex, a favourite courtier of Queen Elizabeth. Same old storyline of the gap between the rich & the poor, the powerful vs the weak, the influential vs. a nobody, the cream of the crop vs. the weeds in the common field - but love is blind to status & wealth. Naturally the love pair did not have it easy, but they had Master Shakespeare on their side.
Eventually circumstances changed. The ones in favour ran out of favour and with a bit of drama (read for yourself!), the lovebirds finally got together. The End... Yea, unlike Master Shakespeare's works, this actually has a happy ending.
A good light read over a weekend. Must warn, it may be termed chick-lit to some.
Friday, 14 October 2011
Book Review: The Self Preservation Society by Kate Harrison
Boy - were there ever a draggier start than this novel. Throughout my whole 10-days stay in the maternity ward post-Cesarean, I was reading (or trying to read) this book and I only managed to reach page 16 by the end of my stay!
One of my quirks is that I can't stand leaving a book unfinished. Once I started reading one, no matter how draggy, I'll feel like I've left an incomplete "business" if I don't finish it. So I "persevered" :-) Surprisingly it took a turn for the better & by the time I reach the middle, it became interesting enough for me to complete the read in less than half the time taken for the 1st half.
The heroine - Jo Morgan, is obsessed in self preservation after watching a documentary about the Hiroshima nuclear bombing & its effects on the survivors. The sysnopsis on the back cover summarizes her nicely - "As a little girl, she stockpiled baked beans in case of a nuclear holocaust; now she works in accident prevention, trying to protect the world from conker injuries, killer-cosies and death by chocolate."
One day she got involved in an accident - a cyclist hit-and-run while she was crossing the road (yea... despite all her efforts in ensuring self-preservation). She was hospitalised and was in a coma (yet get to hear a lot of discussion around her). When she finally "woke-up", suddenly her view of life changed. She met an old retiree at the hospital who helped prod her towards taking more "chances" / "risks" that she'd not dare to before. In the process she got to know the grandson of the old man who had issues of his own. Rather than revealing too much in case you'd be interested to read the book, suffice to say, they ended up "healing" each other.
By the way, I got to know the terms for the many phobias out there. Each chapter interestingly starts with a type of phobia & its' definition. Thought of listing them all down:
1) Nucleomituphobia - Fear of Nuclear Weapons (who's not?)
2) Tyrannophobia - Fear of Tyrants
3) Ephebiphobia - Fear of Teenagers
4) Gamophobia - Fear of Marriage
5) Alliumphobia - Fear of Garlic (Dracula / Vampires ;p)
6) Gnosiophobia - Fear of Knowledge
7) Nosocomephobia - Fear of Hospitals
8) Russophobia - Fear of Russians
9) Nostophobia - Fear of Returning Home (so where do they live?)
10) Soteriophobia - Dependence on Others
11) Phengophobia - Fear of Daylight or Sunshine
12) Bibliophobia - Fear of Books (this will definitely NOT happen to me!)
13) Xenophobia - Fear of Strangers or Foreigners
14) Cibophobia - Fear of Food
15) Frigophobia - Fear of Cold Things (no ice-creams? oh no!)
16) Ergophobia - Fear of Work (who doesn't? Wonder if there's fear of lack of work?)
17) Ichthyophobia - Fear of Fish (hmm.... I had that in my 1st Trimester. Can't stand the smell of it!)
18) Potamophobia - Fear of Rivers or Running Water
19) Cenophobia - Fear of New Things or Ideas
20) Radiophobia - Fear of Radiation
21) Atychiphobia - Fear of Failure
22) Tachophobia - Fear of Speed
23) Syngenesophobia - Fear of Relatives
24) Melophobia - Fear of Music
25) Theatrophobia - Fear of Theatres (I'll miss knowing Phantom of the Opera!)
26) Dishabiliophobia - Fear of Undressing in Front of Someone
27) Illyngophobia - Fear of Vertigo
28) Xyrophobia - Fear of Razors (fortunately there's convenient cold wax now. Otherwise, will be very hairy indeed)
29) Dromophobia - Fear of Crossing Streets
30) Taphephobia - Fear of Being Buried Alive
31) Arachibutyrophobia - Fear of Peanut Butter Sticking to the Roof of the Mouth (Wow!)
32) Enochlophobia - Fear of Crowds
33) Optophobia - Fear of Opening One's Eyes
34) Pyrophobia - Fear of Fire
35) Oneirophobia - Fear of Dreams
36) Athazagoraphobia - Fear of Being Forgotten
37) Tropophobia - Fear of Making Changes
38) Euphobia - Fear of Hearing Good News (errr.... ???)
39) Doxophobia - Fear of Expressing Opinions (I know a couple of those... Storm?? *wink*)
40) Philophobia - Fear of Falling in Love
41) Ouranophobia - Fear of Heaven (and the person would rather go to Hell?!?)
Good to know huh? :D
One of my quirks is that I can't stand leaving a book unfinished. Once I started reading one, no matter how draggy, I'll feel like I've left an incomplete "business" if I don't finish it. So I "persevered" :-) Surprisingly it took a turn for the better & by the time I reach the middle, it became interesting enough for me to complete the read in less than half the time taken for the 1st half.
The heroine - Jo Morgan, is obsessed in self preservation after watching a documentary about the Hiroshima nuclear bombing & its effects on the survivors. The sysnopsis on the back cover summarizes her nicely - "As a little girl, she stockpiled baked beans in case of a nuclear holocaust; now she works in accident prevention, trying to protect the world from conker injuries, killer-cosies and death by chocolate."
One day she got involved in an accident - a cyclist hit-and-run while she was crossing the road (yea... despite all her efforts in ensuring self-preservation). She was hospitalised and was in a coma (yet get to hear a lot of discussion around her). When she finally "woke-up", suddenly her view of life changed. She met an old retiree at the hospital who helped prod her towards taking more "chances" / "risks" that she'd not dare to before. In the process she got to know the grandson of the old man who had issues of his own. Rather than revealing too much in case you'd be interested to read the book, suffice to say, they ended up "healing" each other.
By the way, I got to know the terms for the many phobias out there. Each chapter interestingly starts with a type of phobia & its' definition. Thought of listing them all down:
1) Nucleomituphobia - Fear of Nuclear Weapons (who's not?)
2) Tyrannophobia - Fear of Tyrants
3) Ephebiphobia - Fear of Teenagers
4) Gamophobia - Fear of Marriage
5) Alliumphobia - Fear of Garlic (Dracula / Vampires ;p)
6) Gnosiophobia - Fear of Knowledge
7) Nosocomephobia - Fear of Hospitals
8) Russophobia - Fear of Russians
9) Nostophobia - Fear of Returning Home (so where do they live?)
10) Soteriophobia - Dependence on Others
11) Phengophobia - Fear of Daylight or Sunshine
12) Bibliophobia - Fear of Books (this will definitely NOT happen to me!)
13) Xenophobia - Fear of Strangers or Foreigners
14) Cibophobia - Fear of Food
15) Frigophobia - Fear of Cold Things (no ice-creams? oh no!)
16) Ergophobia - Fear of Work (who doesn't? Wonder if there's fear of lack of work?)
17) Ichthyophobia - Fear of Fish (hmm.... I had that in my 1st Trimester. Can't stand the smell of it!)
18) Potamophobia - Fear of Rivers or Running Water
19) Cenophobia - Fear of New Things or Ideas
20) Radiophobia - Fear of Radiation
21) Atychiphobia - Fear of Failure
22) Tachophobia - Fear of Speed
23) Syngenesophobia - Fear of Relatives
24) Melophobia - Fear of Music
25) Theatrophobia - Fear of Theatres (I'll miss knowing Phantom of the Opera!)
26) Dishabiliophobia - Fear of Undressing in Front of Someone
27) Illyngophobia - Fear of Vertigo
28) Xyrophobia - Fear of Razors (fortunately there's convenient cold wax now. Otherwise, will be very hairy indeed)
29) Dromophobia - Fear of Crossing Streets
30) Taphephobia - Fear of Being Buried Alive
31) Arachibutyrophobia - Fear of Peanut Butter Sticking to the Roof of the Mouth (Wow!)
32) Enochlophobia - Fear of Crowds
33) Optophobia - Fear of Opening One's Eyes
34) Pyrophobia - Fear of Fire
35) Oneirophobia - Fear of Dreams
36) Athazagoraphobia - Fear of Being Forgotten
37) Tropophobia - Fear of Making Changes
38) Euphobia - Fear of Hearing Good News (errr.... ???)
39) Doxophobia - Fear of Expressing Opinions (I know a couple of those... Storm?? *wink*)
40) Philophobia - Fear of Falling in Love
41) Ouranophobia - Fear of Heaven (and the person would rather go to Hell?!?)
Good to know huh? :D
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Book Review: Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
I love a good historical fiction. Geography is not a matter. It can be England, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, Tibet or Timbuktu, if it's a good blend of real historical figures with fictitious plots or storyline (closely linked to true historical events) or behind the scenes of the events. I'm a sucker for it if it fulfills that criteria.
Let's just say that this book fulfills all the above expectations and more.
I've read and heard a lot about the Last Empress. More often than not, in bad light. She's always that "Dragon Lady" who's nasty to her subjects, heartless on the account of how she manages the "love life" of the emperor, her "son" and her penchant for draining national resources on frivolous projects without a care.
This book however, gave me a totally different view of the Last Empress. Instead of "judging" her actions (as we mere mortals tend to do), the author managed to present possibilities that her various historically "evil" / poor decisions & actions may not be borne out of any malice! There are possibilities that she may be the victim of circumstances. The strong & resilient woman (at an age where women are seen as only good enough for breeding, mending & cooking) taking the blame for the fall of an ancient empire - regardless of the fact that the empire was already a very sick "dragon" by the time she came too power.
Historically, across the Globe, we're a race (& I mean the human race here) that tend to pass judgement & "assign" a scapegoat to any downfall. In this case, the person to take the blame & carry that "shame" for all eternity as part of records we call "history", just happens to conveniently be the Empress Orchid (Yehonala). No (or I should amend - to a lesser degree) blame was heaped on the emperor himself or the emperors before him (caveat: I must exclude Kang Xi & err... I can't remember the other great emperor; from the list), who did not have the foresight nor take the effort to keep up the ancient glory of China in comparison to the progress of the industrial revolution in the West.
This novel explores the various historical events including the infamous marble "entertainment boat" that was commisioned under the empress' name - and present a different view. The view of the empress herself. What if she did not commission that expensive & frivolous project? What if it was all an attempt of the court official's "smear" campaign to tarnish her name to hand-over the reins to the next of kin that they can better / easily manipulate? What if she's a victim - who's forced to take up the rein? What if the officials around her & court politics were so life threatening that she had to go along with some of the decisions put forth by some powerful ministers despite not being the best course of action? What if she truly wanted to bring in smart & fresh new blood as part of the advisory team within the ministries but were hampered by the traditional Manchu ministers who are unable to accept Hans among their midst? What if she very much wanted her son to take over the rein, but the rein was thrust back to her in pursuit of more "fun" endeavors like "accumulating" concubines?
Are we truly reading "history" and facts when we go through the various scribes of the period? It may very well be recorded based on the perception of the scribe / historian - not the actual dynamics behind that occured behind the scenes. If so, could we have "prosecuted" the Empress by our righteous judgement of her supposed actions?
Yea... amazing isn't it! I got all this from reading "fiction"! :)
Summary: I'm truly satisfied - both in entertainment & mental stimulation. Not for those who find history a bore & too tedious to recall the various characters that fleet through the various scenes. I must also warn that at times it's also very depressing (even for me, it got rather difficult to continue) - especially towards the end when losing is inevitable & just a matter of time.
I came across a quote once that "History is written by the victors". This piece of work indirectly demonstrated such possibility. She's in the losing team in this case - so are we reading records of the victor or hers? Points to Ponder.
Let's just say that this book fulfills all the above expectations and more.
I've read and heard a lot about the Last Empress. More often than not, in bad light. She's always that "Dragon Lady" who's nasty to her subjects, heartless on the account of how she manages the "love life" of the emperor, her "son" and her penchant for draining national resources on frivolous projects without a care.
This book however, gave me a totally different view of the Last Empress. Instead of "judging" her actions (as we mere mortals tend to do), the author managed to present possibilities that her various historically "evil" / poor decisions & actions may not be borne out of any malice! There are possibilities that she may be the victim of circumstances. The strong & resilient woman (at an age where women are seen as only good enough for breeding, mending & cooking) taking the blame for the fall of an ancient empire - regardless of the fact that the empire was already a very sick "dragon" by the time she came too power.
Historically, across the Globe, we're a race (& I mean the human race here) that tend to pass judgement & "assign" a scapegoat to any downfall. In this case, the person to take the blame & carry that "shame" for all eternity as part of records we call "history", just happens to conveniently be the Empress Orchid (Yehonala). No (or I should amend - to a lesser degree) blame was heaped on the emperor himself or the emperors before him (caveat: I must exclude Kang Xi & err... I can't remember the other great emperor; from the list), who did not have the foresight nor take the effort to keep up the ancient glory of China in comparison to the progress of the industrial revolution in the West.
This novel explores the various historical events including the infamous marble "entertainment boat" that was commisioned under the empress' name - and present a different view. The view of the empress herself. What if she did not commission that expensive & frivolous project? What if it was all an attempt of the court official's "smear" campaign to tarnish her name to hand-over the reins to the next of kin that they can better / easily manipulate? What if she's a victim - who's forced to take up the rein? What if the officials around her & court politics were so life threatening that she had to go along with some of the decisions put forth by some powerful ministers despite not being the best course of action? What if she truly wanted to bring in smart & fresh new blood as part of the advisory team within the ministries but were hampered by the traditional Manchu ministers who are unable to accept Hans among their midst? What if she very much wanted her son to take over the rein, but the rein was thrust back to her in pursuit of more "fun" endeavors like "accumulating" concubines?
Are we truly reading "history" and facts when we go through the various scribes of the period? It may very well be recorded based on the perception of the scribe / historian - not the actual dynamics behind that occured behind the scenes. If so, could we have "prosecuted" the Empress by our righteous judgement of her supposed actions?
Yea... amazing isn't it! I got all this from reading "fiction"! :)
Summary: I'm truly satisfied - both in entertainment & mental stimulation. Not for those who find history a bore & too tedious to recall the various characters that fleet through the various scenes. I must also warn that at times it's also very depressing (even for me, it got rather difficult to continue) - especially towards the end when losing is inevitable & just a matter of time.
I came across a quote once that "History is written by the victors". This piece of work indirectly demonstrated such possibility. She's in the losing team in this case - so are we reading records of the victor or hers? Points to Ponder.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Book Review: The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes
This is a LBD (Little Black Dress) Book, written by Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart. It's about 3 sisters with magical powers (Dee, Lizzie & Mare Fortunes - yes, tht's why the title "Miss Fortunes") whose parents were killed when they were still teenagers. Dee, the eldest, knew tht their parents were killed by their Aunt - Xan; who's also a powerful witch. Xan becomes powerful by "sucking" magical power out other witches / sorcerers.
Dee at the age of 16, packed her sisters & went in hiding to avoid Xan from killing them when sucking their powers too. Their latest hiding place is Salem Fork where Dee worked as a Bank Officer, Mare an employee in Value Video!!, while Lizzie stayed at home to experiment on turning straw to gold using magic (tht way, the sisters will not need to worry about money & pawning off their mother's jewelry to survive).
Somehow Xan found them in Salem Fork & even sent their "True Love" with hope tht the girls will sacrifice / willingly give away their magical powers in return for a "normal" life with their soul mates. Dee is paired with Danny James - who happen to hate witches / rather ppl who claim they have magical powers due to some tragedy in the past (but found out tht he's a psychic himself!). Lizzie with Elric, a powerful wizard who ended up teaching her how to control & make use of her magical powers effectively by proper channeling. Mare with Christopher Duncan aka Crash (go figure! a bike loving, rich mechanic with such a nickname...).
Unfortunately for Xan, the 3 sisters refused to remain in hiding any longer & decided to collectively fight against Xan. Naturally in the end, good triumphed over evil & everyone lived happily ever after (not without some sex scene thrown in).
You may think tht I gave the story away, but there's actually much more twists & turns not mentioned here. A good light read.
Dee at the age of 16, packed her sisters & went in hiding to avoid Xan from killing them when sucking their powers too. Their latest hiding place is Salem Fork where Dee worked as a Bank Officer, Mare an employee in Value Video!!, while Lizzie stayed at home to experiment on turning straw to gold using magic (tht way, the sisters will not need to worry about money & pawning off their mother's jewelry to survive).
Somehow Xan found them in Salem Fork & even sent their "True Love" with hope tht the girls will sacrifice / willingly give away their magical powers in return for a "normal" life with their soul mates. Dee is paired with Danny James - who happen to hate witches / rather ppl who claim they have magical powers due to some tragedy in the past (but found out tht he's a psychic himself!). Lizzie with Elric, a powerful wizard who ended up teaching her how to control & make use of her magical powers effectively by proper channeling. Mare with Christopher Duncan aka Crash (go figure! a bike loving, rich mechanic with such a nickname...).
Unfortunately for Xan, the 3 sisters refused to remain in hiding any longer & decided to collectively fight against Xan. Naturally in the end, good triumphed over evil & everyone lived happily ever after (not without some sex scene thrown in).
You may think tht I gave the story away, but there's actually much more twists & turns not mentioned here. A good light read.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Book Review: A Place Called Here by Cecilia Ahern
I remembered declaring in this blog (my earlier articles on her works) tht I love every piece of Cecilia's work. Strangely, this book was quite a drag to read (at least for me). It took me like 2-mths (?!?) to complete reading it (with breaks filled by reading other books).
It's not tht the storyline is bad. It's quite an interesting idea actually. Probably the start was a bit too slow paced & there's pieces of puzzles tht needs fixing (& am too lazy to figure out I guess); but it became interesting & easier to plod through the rest of the way.
"Here" in this book is referring to a place where all the "X-files" / people / things tht went mysteriously missing, went to. But I'm jumping the gun. Let me start with the main character. She's Sandy Shortt & her name is a contradiction to her appearance (her hair is dark brown & not sandy at all; while her legs is so long she can hardly be referred to being short even by men's standards).
Anyway, Sandy has a childhood "friend" cum "enemy" called Jenny-May Butler. One fine day Jenny-May went missing & Sandy blamed herself for the cause of Jenny-May's disappearance. Apparently, it was because she prayed / wished very much tht she doesn't need to face Jenny-May ever again & lo-behold she's missing.
After that it became her obsession to find ALL things tht has gone missing. She didn't stop at ppl. She'd also turn the whole hse upside down, comb the streets & trace back all possible routes just to find a missing sock or watch or toothbrush. It was her obsession even in her adulthood, where after quiting the police force (initially she thought she can help find missing persons legitimately) she has set up an agency specialised in locating missing person. Success rate may be slim, but at least she hope she's doing something to return these missing people to their loved ones.
Along the way, she stumbled into "Here" & found tht there's a whole community of missing person of all nationalities that they even had Registries by the language tht each new comer converse in. They even have several villages, with their own local councils, townhalls, schools, medical facilities (all using whatever tht is "found" Here but missing in the other world where we live in) etc. Sandy refused to accept tht she'll be Here forever & to conform to the way of life tht's being set up by the community.
There's more to the story, but essentially it's about "Here". Do read it if you want to know what happened to Sandy in the end & whether she succeeded in her quest to find Jenny-May.
It's not tht the storyline is bad. It's quite an interesting idea actually. Probably the start was a bit too slow paced & there's pieces of puzzles tht needs fixing (& am too lazy to figure out I guess); but it became interesting & easier to plod through the rest of the way.
"Here" in this book is referring to a place where all the "X-files" / people / things tht went mysteriously missing, went to. But I'm jumping the gun. Let me start with the main character. She's Sandy Shortt & her name is a contradiction to her appearance (her hair is dark brown & not sandy at all; while her legs is so long she can hardly be referred to being short even by men's standards).
Anyway, Sandy has a childhood "friend" cum "enemy" called Jenny-May Butler. One fine day Jenny-May went missing & Sandy blamed herself for the cause of Jenny-May's disappearance. Apparently, it was because she prayed / wished very much tht she doesn't need to face Jenny-May ever again & lo-behold she's missing.
After that it became her obsession to find ALL things tht has gone missing. She didn't stop at ppl. She'd also turn the whole hse upside down, comb the streets & trace back all possible routes just to find a missing sock or watch or toothbrush. It was her obsession even in her adulthood, where after quiting the police force (initially she thought she can help find missing persons legitimately) she has set up an agency specialised in locating missing person. Success rate may be slim, but at least she hope she's doing something to return these missing people to their loved ones.
Along the way, she stumbled into "Here" & found tht there's a whole community of missing person of all nationalities that they even had Registries by the language tht each new comer converse in. They even have several villages, with their own local councils, townhalls, schools, medical facilities (all using whatever tht is "found" Here but missing in the other world where we live in) etc. Sandy refused to accept tht she'll be Here forever & to conform to the way of life tht's being set up by the community.
There's more to the story, but essentially it's about "Here". Do read it if you want to know what happened to Sandy in the end & whether she succeeded in her quest to find Jenny-May.
Book Review: Stripped by Julie Elizabeth Leto (Harlequin M&B's The Bad Girls Club)
hehe... I've not been reading Mills & Boon since my highschool days. I've moved on since then... but I was caught without a book on my train ride home from KL to Seremban one day, so I grabbed this book as a light read for the 1+hr train ride home. Only found time to write a review on it today.
Well, "Stripped" in this story, does not mean stripping down to their Birthday suits. It's actually refering to stripping of "powers". Hmmm.... intrigued? Well the story is abt a modern day witch (Lilith St. Lyon - why witches / vampires tend to have french sounding names?) who did not follow the rules of the witch community, so the "council" decided to strip her of her "powers". Unfortunately, her elder sister is the head of the council so it created quite a rift between them.
What is her powers exactly? & what has she done wrong to deserve such punishment? She can mind read / has psychic powers. 1 of the golden rule of the witching world is not to use it for personal gains. However she's used it to figure out the likes & dislikes & sexual fantasies of a detective (Mac Mancusi) she has been working with in solving crime using her psychic powers. He freaked out & felt cheated (cos' he thought tht the fact tht they have so much in-common boils down to Chemistry) when he found out tht her psychic power was real (he'd always thought tht it was all a hoax / some other scientifically explainable methods).
So she was left "man"-less & powerless all at the same time. Then a series of crime occured, forcing Mac to contact Lilith. Despite her lack of powers now, Lilith is determined to prove to the council tht she's worthy of her powers & hopefully it'll be returned to her someday. To cut a long story short, there's some twist & turns with battles & new "beings" like Warlords etc thrown in for good measure.
Not a bad read, considering the author is able to compress so many actions in such a short novel & yet managed to develop the flesh & bones of the main character - making it come to life.
Well, "Stripped" in this story, does not mean stripping down to their Birthday suits. It's actually refering to stripping of "powers". Hmmm.... intrigued? Well the story is abt a modern day witch (Lilith St. Lyon - why witches / vampires tend to have french sounding names?) who did not follow the rules of the witch community, so the "council" decided to strip her of her "powers". Unfortunately, her elder sister is the head of the council so it created quite a rift between them.
What is her powers exactly? & what has she done wrong to deserve such punishment? She can mind read / has psychic powers. 1 of the golden rule of the witching world is not to use it for personal gains. However she's used it to figure out the likes & dislikes & sexual fantasies of a detective (Mac Mancusi) she has been working with in solving crime using her psychic powers. He freaked out & felt cheated (cos' he thought tht the fact tht they have so much in-common boils down to Chemistry) when he found out tht her psychic power was real (he'd always thought tht it was all a hoax / some other scientifically explainable methods).
So she was left "man"-less & powerless all at the same time. Then a series of crime occured, forcing Mac to contact Lilith. Despite her lack of powers now, Lilith is determined to prove to the council tht she's worthy of her powers & hopefully it'll be returned to her someday. To cut a long story short, there's some twist & turns with battles & new "beings" like Warlords etc thrown in for good measure.
Not a bad read, considering the author is able to compress so many actions in such a short novel & yet managed to develop the flesh & bones of the main character - making it come to life.
Book Review: The Fire Inside by Kat Martin
I think I've found a Period Romantic author that can rival Judith McNaught. Of course I'm still pretty much bias to McNaught being the all time best author for Romance genre books (especially Period Romance. Unfortunately I don't really fancy her modern-day romance novels), but tht doesn't mean I shouldn't give credit to other really good authors of the same genre.
Anyway, back to the book. It's abt Kassandra Wentworth ("Kit" for short), the daughter to a Viscount is already in her 20's (21 to be exact) & she's still not married (gasp!! horror!!.... **grin**). However, it's not from lack of suitors; but more so because she refuses to be submissive to the male gender - her father & future husband (if any) included. And due to a shameful secret from the past, she refused to ever fall in love (again, am not letting the cat out of the bag here so tht you can still enjoy the book).
Of course, there's always someone to change her mind on that. That hero is Clayton Harcourt. Naturally you'll need a strong hero to handle a spirited heroine like Kit. He's the bastard son of a wealthy Duke. What he lacks in purity of lineage, is "compensated" by his skills & shrewdness in managing his personal estates & finances - making him the Duke's favourite (though he can't openly admit / show it).
There's a thick plot from the time the 2 strong characters meet & have clash of will, to the point where they got married & even after they got married (sneak preview - there's a kidnap & chase scene involved). So overall it was highly entertaining, racy & full of suspense especially towards the end of the novel.
Go read it or if you can't find it, I'm willing to lend (if you're in Malaysia tht is).
Anyway, back to the book. It's abt Kassandra Wentworth ("Kit" for short), the daughter to a Viscount is already in her 20's (21 to be exact) & she's still not married (gasp!! horror!!.... **grin**). However, it's not from lack of suitors; but more so because she refuses to be submissive to the male gender - her father & future husband (if any) included. And due to a shameful secret from the past, she refused to ever fall in love (again, am not letting the cat out of the bag here so tht you can still enjoy the book).
Of course, there's always someone to change her mind on that. That hero is Clayton Harcourt. Naturally you'll need a strong hero to handle a spirited heroine like Kit. He's the bastard son of a wealthy Duke. What he lacks in purity of lineage, is "compensated" by his skills & shrewdness in managing his personal estates & finances - making him the Duke's favourite (though he can't openly admit / show it).
There's a thick plot from the time the 2 strong characters meet & have clash of will, to the point where they got married & even after they got married (sneak preview - there's a kidnap & chase scene involved). So overall it was highly entertaining, racy & full of suspense especially towards the end of the novel.
Go read it or if you can't find it, I'm willing to lend (if you're in Malaysia tht is).
Friday, 21 August 2009
Book Review: The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings
Before I start this review, I would like to record that my friend (Ee Lin, who's also a fan of Eddings' books) & I are deeply saddened that our favourite author - David Eddings has passed away. Though it was already a few months back, but since I'm reviewing his books.... I thought it was only appropriate to mention it here.
Now, about this book.... where do I start?.... I think so far this has to be the longest 1-book story that I have ever read from Eddings (913 pages!). Maybe because the story is completed in 1 book, while most of his other books are in series (The Belgariad - 5 books, The Elenium - 3 books, The Mallorean - 5 books etc). If you're not familiar to Eddings' works & are wondering what's all this funny names about - well, just imagine Tolkiens & his work for Lord of The Rings, they are the same genre.
Anyway, back to Althalus. The story is about a young, skillful & "lucky" thief called Althalus, who 1 day ran out of luck & on several occasions barely escaped with his body intact. Depressed & with light pockets, he went into hiding at his favourite campsite "tavern" (of sort). There he met a strange character called Ghend, who tasked him to steal a book for him from the house at the edge of the world (at tht time, people thought that the earth was flat) in return for gold equivalent to the weight of the book.
Ghend is actually the follower of Daeva - God of Darkness, pro-creation, nothingness. Deiwos is the God of Creation & Light. Dweia is a Goddess of Life (birth & death, fertility, tending to the creatures created by Deiwos). While Althalus, after meeting Dweia at the house on the edge of the world (at tht time he doesn't know she's a Goddess) & learn to read / utilize the white book of Deiwos, ended up being the defender of all creations.
To cut a long story short, Ghend & his minions with his black book of Daeva vs Althalus, the white book of Deiwos & his assortment of followers - each with their own special characteristics / powers do battle in their bit to (1) destroy the world into nothingness (Ghend / Daeva) or (2) maintain the world & its creatures (Althalus / Dweia - lastly Deiwos). Of course in the end, good managed to overcome evil & the world is saved. Althalus ended up "married" to Dweia (oh.... I forgot to mention tht Althalus is in a way immortal because he lived to 3000-4000 years while in the house at the edge of the world / Deiwos' hse).
Ah..... how satisfying.... A true Eddings work... witty characters, thick plots & keep you on your toes from start to finish. Wonder if they'll do something similar like LOTR for Eddings' works? Would also love it if Raymond E. Feist books are turned to movies (hopefully of the same quality as LOTR). Now who's Feist? I'll write about his books sometime.....
Now, about this book.... where do I start?.... I think so far this has to be the longest 1-book story that I have ever read from Eddings (913 pages!). Maybe because the story is completed in 1 book, while most of his other books are in series (The Belgariad - 5 books, The Elenium - 3 books, The Mallorean - 5 books etc). If you're not familiar to Eddings' works & are wondering what's all this funny names about - well, just imagine Tolkiens & his work for Lord of The Rings, they are the same genre.
Anyway, back to Althalus. The story is about a young, skillful & "lucky" thief called Althalus, who 1 day ran out of luck & on several occasions barely escaped with his body intact. Depressed & with light pockets, he went into hiding at his favourite campsite "tavern" (of sort). There he met a strange character called Ghend, who tasked him to steal a book for him from the house at the edge of the world (at tht time, people thought that the earth was flat) in return for gold equivalent to the weight of the book.
Ghend is actually the follower of Daeva - God of Darkness, pro-creation, nothingness. Deiwos is the God of Creation & Light. Dweia is a Goddess of Life (birth & death, fertility, tending to the creatures created by Deiwos). While Althalus, after meeting Dweia at the house on the edge of the world (at tht time he doesn't know she's a Goddess) & learn to read / utilize the white book of Deiwos, ended up being the defender of all creations.
To cut a long story short, Ghend & his minions with his black book of Daeva vs Althalus, the white book of Deiwos & his assortment of followers - each with their own special characteristics / powers do battle in their bit to (1) destroy the world into nothingness (Ghend / Daeva) or (2) maintain the world & its creatures (Althalus / Dweia - lastly Deiwos). Of course in the end, good managed to overcome evil & the world is saved. Althalus ended up "married" to Dweia (oh.... I forgot to mention tht Althalus is in a way immortal because he lived to 3000-4000 years while in the house at the edge of the world / Deiwos' hse).
Ah..... how satisfying.... A true Eddings work... witty characters, thick plots & keep you on your toes from start to finish. Wonder if they'll do something similar like LOTR for Eddings' works? Would also love it if Raymond E. Feist books are turned to movies (hopefully of the same quality as LOTR). Now who's Feist? I'll write about his books sometime.....
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Book Review: The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
That's right, Quinn did a good job in getting me hooked to the Bridgerton family. This time it's Anthony's story. Since his name started with "A", so you're correct if you guessed that he's the first child (for those who read my previous reviews on her books).
I can't remember if I mentioned tht the Bridgerton children lost their dad to a bee sting at around 38/39 yrs of age (apparently he got stung the 2nd time & tht took his life...). Anyway, Anthony being the eldest (he was 18 when his father died), was the most impacted because he was daddy's boy through & through. Co-incidentally his uncle also died at the young age of late 30s. So he had this notion that the men of his family will not live beyond their 30s.
As a result, he went all out to "enjoy" his life (women, card games etc), but without sacrificing his "duty" to his family & lineage. His 1 greatest fear is to fall in love because he doesn't want the burden of a heartbreak when the time comes for him to expire & he doesn't want his widow to suffer like his mum (for his mother & father is a love match). So in his early 30, in trying to ensure tht he has an heir, he decided to get married BUT without falling in love.
In came the Sheffield family. It consists of Mary (the second wife), her daughter Edwina & her step daughter, Kate, whom she cared for as her own after the death of her husband - Kate's father. While Mary & Edwina is fair, blonde & petite, Kate is all the opposite. While they are soft spoken, gentle & graceful, Kate is the exact opposite as well. However they loved each other dearly.
Edwina attracted the attention of Anthony as a suitable wife candidate because she's pretty & smart enough, but there's no risky spark tht would make him fall in love with her. However due to his reputation of being a rake, Kate went all out in preventing him from pursuing her sister. In a chain of events & a "scandal" (not going to go through the details - if it piqued your interest, do read it), Anthony & Kate ended up married to each other instead!
Anyways, it started "without" love (or rather they refuse to acknowledge there's such feelings), but all ends well. Oh yea... and Anthony managed to the ripe old age of 92!
I can't remember if I mentioned tht the Bridgerton children lost their dad to a bee sting at around 38/39 yrs of age (apparently he got stung the 2nd time & tht took his life...). Anyway, Anthony being the eldest (he was 18 when his father died), was the most impacted because he was daddy's boy through & through. Co-incidentally his uncle also died at the young age of late 30s. So he had this notion that the men of his family will not live beyond their 30s.
As a result, he went all out to "enjoy" his life (women, card games etc), but without sacrificing his "duty" to his family & lineage. His 1 greatest fear is to fall in love because he doesn't want the burden of a heartbreak when the time comes for him to expire & he doesn't want his widow to suffer like his mum (for his mother & father is a love match). So in his early 30, in trying to ensure tht he has an heir, he decided to get married BUT without falling in love.
In came the Sheffield family. It consists of Mary (the second wife), her daughter Edwina & her step daughter, Kate, whom she cared for as her own after the death of her husband - Kate's father. While Mary & Edwina is fair, blonde & petite, Kate is all the opposite. While they are soft spoken, gentle & graceful, Kate is the exact opposite as well. However they loved each other dearly.
Edwina attracted the attention of Anthony as a suitable wife candidate because she's pretty & smart enough, but there's no risky spark tht would make him fall in love with her. However due to his reputation of being a rake, Kate went all out in preventing him from pursuing her sister. In a chain of events & a "scandal" (not going to go through the details - if it piqued your interest, do read it), Anthony & Kate ended up married to each other instead!
Anyways, it started "without" love (or rather they refuse to acknowledge there's such feelings), but all ends well. Oh yea... and Anthony managed to the ripe old age of 92!
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Book Review: Affair by Amanda Quick
This is my second attempt of reading this book. Surprisingly it was quite good & I can't recall why I found it boring when I tried to read it when I was a teenager. Probably you'd need a certain level of "maturity" to appreciate the story. During teenage years, Mills & Boons / Harlequin was thought to be the best romance novels! Now if I tried reading them again, they're either "childish" / rather "shallow" in plot / content. :-)
I am 13 going on 30..... (singing to the tune of "I am 16" fr Sound of Music)... Anyways I'm digressing, so back to the topic.
This story was set in the times of Napoleon war, but set in London. It's about the lives of Charlotte & St. Clair, 1 a noblewoman whose step-father swindled away her inheritance & the other a bastard of a nobleman. To ensure she can keep a roof over her head & to provide for her sister, she realize tht she needs to enter a profession tht's unique (considering the limited options available for women in those days). She finally set up a business investigating the background of the men her "clients" plan to get married - to avoid them being straddled with a swindler / gambler / wife-beater etc. Life & business was quite good until 1 of her client was killed & she suspects it's one of the many suitors she investigated on & reported to her client. Possibly vengence for being rejected. With the in mind, she felt responsible to investigate & uncover the murderer.
At the same time, St Clair applied to her advertisement for her man-of-affairs to replace her current staff who's retiring. Of course it was just a front. He's actually quite a well to do chemist who's tasked by his maternal aunt to investigate on the death of his aunt's close friend. Guess what... tht friend is Charlotte's client who was murdered. St Clair's aunt believes tht her friend's murderer is Charlotte. St. Clair finally admitted to Charlotte his real identity when he's convinced she's not the murderer & they decided to co-operate to find out the real murderer.
Along the way, they managed to fall in love, but they didn't realize it. He proposed an affair since both don't buy in to the idea of marriage (due to their backgrounds - thus the name of the book) and finally they found tht they can't live without each other & got married after all.
But.... I'm jumping the gun. The marriage is after they've solve the "mystery" of the murder & even got Charlotte's sis & St Clair's step brother together too. Not going to reveal the murderer, don't want to spoil the fun - though it's predictable. Go read it!
I am 13 going on 30..... (singing to the tune of "I am 16" fr Sound of Music)... Anyways I'm digressing, so back to the topic.
This story was set in the times of Napoleon war, but set in London. It's about the lives of Charlotte & St. Clair, 1 a noblewoman whose step-father swindled away her inheritance & the other a bastard of a nobleman. To ensure she can keep a roof over her head & to provide for her sister, she realize tht she needs to enter a profession tht's unique (considering the limited options available for women in those days). She finally set up a business investigating the background of the men her "clients" plan to get married - to avoid them being straddled with a swindler / gambler / wife-beater etc. Life & business was quite good until 1 of her client was killed & she suspects it's one of the many suitors she investigated on & reported to her client. Possibly vengence for being rejected. With the in mind, she felt responsible to investigate & uncover the murderer.
At the same time, St Clair applied to her advertisement for her man-of-affairs to replace her current staff who's retiring. Of course it was just a front. He's actually quite a well to do chemist who's tasked by his maternal aunt to investigate on the death of his aunt's close friend. Guess what... tht friend is Charlotte's client who was murdered. St Clair's aunt believes tht her friend's murderer is Charlotte. St. Clair finally admitted to Charlotte his real identity when he's convinced she's not the murderer & they decided to co-operate to find out the real murderer.
Along the way, they managed to fall in love, but they didn't realize it. He proposed an affair since both don't buy in to the idea of marriage (due to their backgrounds - thus the name of the book) and finally they found tht they can't live without each other & got married after all.
But.... I'm jumping the gun. The marriage is after they've solve the "mystery" of the murder & even got Charlotte's sis & St Clair's step brother together too. Not going to reveal the murderer, don't want to spoil the fun - though it's predictable. Go read it!
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Book Review: Eleven On Top by Janet Evanovich
It's about a lady bounty hunter - Stephanie Plum who always seem to get herself thrown into garbage dumps / dodging bullets & basically throw herself into dangerous situations (most of the time unwittingly). She has a childhood sweetheart, Joe Morelli & at the same time is attracted to another cool, calm & collected bounty hunter, Ranger (just Ranger.... no surname & not even sure if tht's his real name! Bet it's a name to hide his real name tht's actually quite funny sounding tht he doesn't want ppl to know).
1 day she's just fed-up with tht kind of life & called it quits. She tried to change career, but not having any previous experience (besides hauling criminals), she had to start from the bottom (or as the way thing progressed - from the top actually).
1) A clerk in a button factory - should be a safe enough behind the desk job. But she lasted less than 24hrs because she refused to "provide" sexual favours to the boss. Along the way, she managed to "acquire" a few bullet holes on the back screen & body of her car (presumably fr her enemies)
2) Work in a laundrette - Kan Kleen, operated by a Mama Macaroni. (oh btw, her employment was automatically terminated when her employer got blown to bits thanks to the bomb planted in Stephanie's car, but Mama Macaroni decided to take over & drive instead. Suffice to say, despite Mama Macaroni's "bulk" there's not much left to be collected after the explosion).
3) With her "superb" track record of causing havoc in all her previous jobs, she had to move her career direction downwards... To be exact - down to the bucket, where she works as a "1-leg-kick" (Canto: Yat Kiok Thek, which means 1 person do all chores) in a fast food restaurant called Cluck-in-a-Bucket. She has to say corny stuff like "Thank you for visiting Cluck-in-a-Bucket. Have a clucky day!" & she has to cluck like a chicken for customers who asks for it (imagine tht happening in KFC... For the life of me I can't imagine someone wanting the order-taker to cluck). The last day of her employment, she was stationed at the drive-thru counter taking orders. It was her last day, because someone (1 of her "pals" she managed to cause some real injury in her previous job as a bounty hunter) pulled up the drive-thru counter & pass her a gift wrapped package (it ticked!). In panic, she accidentally threw the parcel into hot boiling oil tht was meant for frying chickens! Again in panic, her co-worker sprayed water from the fire-extinguisher. Kaboom!! Let's just say Cluck-in-a-Bucket became Cluck-in-ashes.
4) Trying to safe Stephanie from herself, Ranger offered her a position in his firm, running searches on ppl they had to catch / spy on / provide security for (Ranger is both a bounty hunter & a successful business man providing security & surveillance services). She borrowed Morelli's SUV to get to work, but being the disaster magnet she is, the SUV turned to dust along with his rickety garage when a bomb exploded as soon as Stephanie left the car to enter Morelli's hse (where she's staying until "things settles down"). So she ended up getting a Ducati fr Ranger (cos' any bomb planting will be obvious as there's no nook / cranny to hide it) & a loaded gun to protect herself.
She tried to solve the mystery of events tht happened to her lately. Someone seriously wants her dead - but who? She had a suspect, but he's supposed to be dead. Turned out she has been barking up the wrong tree & the mystery unravelled towards the end (of which she very nearly got killed if not for Ranger). Will not spoil the ending in case you want to read it.
Though it seems I have written quite a lot abt the book, but actually there are more disasters to check out tht I did not mention above. The ending was quite abrupt though. It was as if even the author is sick of coming up with more disasters & just decided to end it with Steph nearly got killed, Ranger saved her & the culprit reprimanded (oh not without the normal criminal spill their beans on why they do this / that... That is "sooooo..... normal" for criminals to do - i.e. explain themselves... being sarcastic there).
Overall an ok read, but pretty far fetched most of the time. Exaggerated version of a walking catastrophe.
1 day she's just fed-up with tht kind of life & called it quits. She tried to change career, but not having any previous experience (besides hauling criminals), she had to start from the bottom (or as the way thing progressed - from the top actually).
1) A clerk in a button factory - should be a safe enough behind the desk job. But she lasted less than 24hrs because she refused to "provide" sexual favours to the boss. Along the way, she managed to "acquire" a few bullet holes on the back screen & body of her car (presumably fr her enemies)
2) Work in a laundrette - Kan Kleen, operated by a Mama Macaroni. (oh btw, her employment was automatically terminated when her employer got blown to bits thanks to the bomb planted in Stephanie's car, but Mama Macaroni decided to take over & drive instead. Suffice to say, despite Mama Macaroni's "bulk" there's not much left to be collected after the explosion).
3) With her "superb" track record of causing havoc in all her previous jobs, she had to move her career direction downwards... To be exact - down to the bucket, where she works as a "1-leg-kick" (Canto: Yat Kiok Thek, which means 1 person do all chores) in a fast food restaurant called Cluck-in-a-Bucket. She has to say corny stuff like "Thank you for visiting Cluck-in-a-Bucket. Have a clucky day!" & she has to cluck like a chicken for customers who asks for it (imagine tht happening in KFC... For the life of me I can't imagine someone wanting the order-taker to cluck). The last day of her employment, she was stationed at the drive-thru counter taking orders. It was her last day, because someone (1 of her "pals" she managed to cause some real injury in her previous job as a bounty hunter) pulled up the drive-thru counter & pass her a gift wrapped package (it ticked!). In panic, she accidentally threw the parcel into hot boiling oil tht was meant for frying chickens! Again in panic, her co-worker sprayed water from the fire-extinguisher. Kaboom!! Let's just say Cluck-in-a-Bucket became Cluck-in-ashes.
4) Trying to safe Stephanie from herself, Ranger offered her a position in his firm, running searches on ppl they had to catch / spy on / provide security for (Ranger is both a bounty hunter & a successful business man providing security & surveillance services). She borrowed Morelli's SUV to get to work, but being the disaster magnet she is, the SUV turned to dust along with his rickety garage when a bomb exploded as soon as Stephanie left the car to enter Morelli's hse (where she's staying until "things settles down"). So she ended up getting a Ducati fr Ranger (cos' any bomb planting will be obvious as there's no nook / cranny to hide it) & a loaded gun to protect herself.
She tried to solve the mystery of events tht happened to her lately. Someone seriously wants her dead - but who? She had a suspect, but he's supposed to be dead. Turned out she has been barking up the wrong tree & the mystery unravelled towards the end (of which she very nearly got killed if not for Ranger). Will not spoil the ending in case you want to read it.
Though it seems I have written quite a lot abt the book, but actually there are more disasters to check out tht I did not mention above. The ending was quite abrupt though. It was as if even the author is sick of coming up with more disasters & just decided to end it with Steph nearly got killed, Ranger saved her & the culprit reprimanded (oh not without the normal criminal spill their beans on why they do this / that... That is "sooooo..... normal" for criminals to do - i.e. explain themselves... being sarcastic there).
Overall an ok read, but pretty far fetched most of the time. Exaggerated version of a walking catastrophe.
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Book Review: The True Naomi Story by A.M. Goldsher
This is A "Little Black Dress" Book where most of them are chick reads....
Naturally it's about Naomi. It's supposedly written by Naomi to give her version of her Biography vs. the many Biographies on her in the book store. Oh... u must be wondering who's she to get her Biographies written... forgot to mention she's a rock star. Or rather she & her band, consisting of Jen (keyboard, background singer & song writer for this band), Travis (bassist & Jen's bro), Frank Craft (drummer).
Some of the descriptions of the recording & the phases of development of their rock group are quite technical tht there are times I wonder if the write is also involved in the industry. Of course it's not all smooth sailing. It started really nice with best friends Naomi & Jen jamming together in Jen's room, both of them have supportive parents when they said they don't want to go to college (although their results certainly qualifies them), but tht bond disentangled as they shoot to stardom overnight. I won't tell the ending. Suffice to say it's a happy one.
Ok for some light reading...
Naturally it's about Naomi. It's supposedly written by Naomi to give her version of her Biography vs. the many Biographies on her in the book store. Oh... u must be wondering who's she to get her Biographies written... forgot to mention she's a rock star. Or rather she & her band, consisting of Jen (keyboard, background singer & song writer for this band), Travis (bassist & Jen's bro), Frank Craft (drummer).
Some of the descriptions of the recording & the phases of development of their rock group are quite technical tht there are times I wonder if the write is also involved in the industry. Of course it's not all smooth sailing. It started really nice with best friends Naomi & Jen jamming together in Jen's room, both of them have supportive parents when they said they don't want to go to college (although their results certainly qualifies them), but tht bond disentangled as they shoot to stardom overnight. I won't tell the ending. Suffice to say it's a happy one.
Ok for some light reading...
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Book Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I was browsing an e-book site, searching for some interesting short reads while waiting for hubby to fetch me (yup. He'll be in KL for a meeting). Probably I picked the wrong site, but the selection of books are either non-fictions / classics rather than new writers (i.e. writers tht are still alive at this point).
Then I found this e-book. I was surprised to find tht it's only 18pages! Considering it's turned into a movie, I thought it'll be much thicker. Anyway, am not complaining cos' tht's about the right number of pages. Too long & I'll have to postpone the reading to tomorrow.
The idea of a person being born old & die a baby is interesting. However there are some parts where I wished the author could have elaborated more to give the story some logic (I mean as logical as a child born old can be).
1. How in the world did the mother delivered this child - Caesarean? How can he be almost adult size when the mother's tummy should be about normal size (otherwise they'd have put her in the hospital pronto!)
2. No mention at all about the mother. She died?
3. The relationship with his wife & the changes of heart as he gets younger could have been elaborated more
Irregardless, it's amazing tht the author can tell such a story in such a concise manner & still made it interesting without much elaboration. Probably the idea of being born old & die young is an interesting idea to start with...
Then I found this e-book. I was surprised to find tht it's only 18pages! Considering it's turned into a movie, I thought it'll be much thicker. Anyway, am not complaining cos' tht's about the right number of pages. Too long & I'll have to postpone the reading to tomorrow.
The idea of a person being born old & die a baby is interesting. However there are some parts where I wished the author could have elaborated more to give the story some logic (I mean as logical as a child born old can be).
1. How in the world did the mother delivered this child - Caesarean? How can he be almost adult size when the mother's tummy should be about normal size (otherwise they'd have put her in the hospital pronto!)
2. No mention at all about the mother. She died?
3. The relationship with his wife & the changes of heart as he gets younger could have been elaborated more
Irregardless, it's amazing tht the author can tell such a story in such a concise manner & still made it interesting without much elaboration. Probably the idea of being born old & die young is an interesting idea to start with...
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Book Review: Where Rainbows End by Cecilia Ahern
Am beginning to feel tht Cecilia Ahern is going to be 1 of those few authors I'll never be able to find anything wrong with every single book they produce.
This is another great book tht was hard to put down. The story was told based on a collection of letters, IMs, chatroom conversations, e-mails & even short messages in greeting cards. Marking each event throughout the lives of Rosie Dunne, her best friend Alex and all the other supporting characters - Katie (Rosie's daughter), Toby (Katie's best friend), Stephanie (Rosie's elder sis), Ruby (Katie's 2nd Best friend) etc etc.
The collection of letters / conversations etc were so intimate & all the characters are so well developed tht you really feel for them. Each succes, failure, loss, heart-ache etc are celebrated / mourned (depending on the characters - any mishaps on some scumbags like Katie's ex-hubby would spark jubilation!).
Basically it's abt Rosie & Alex who've been best friends since they were 5yrs old. They separated in their teenage, just a year before college, where Rosie remained in Ireland while Alex flew to Boston (his father had a promotion tht requires him to be based there). Over the course of time, they got married, have kids (not neccessarily in tht order... if u know wht I mean...), career ups & downs, divorce etc. Through it all, Rosie & Alex continued keeping in touch. Along the way they discovered tht they've fallen in love with each other but each didn't know tht the other felt it too. They thought it was only 1-sided, because everytime 1 of them picked the courage to express their feelings, the other is attached to someone else.
By the time they both recognized the love they carried for each other, they are well into their 50s... Tragic, but better late then never. Good thing is, Katie (Rosie's daughter) may have realized this earlier then her mum (hint.... hint.....)
Love it! The characters were so adorable & sincere I can just picture them! Contact me if any of you wanna borrow this (or any of the other books I've reviewed). Note the word "borrow"... Must return wan ar....
This is another great book tht was hard to put down. The story was told based on a collection of letters, IMs, chatroom conversations, e-mails & even short messages in greeting cards. Marking each event throughout the lives of Rosie Dunne, her best friend Alex and all the other supporting characters - Katie (Rosie's daughter), Toby (Katie's best friend), Stephanie (Rosie's elder sis), Ruby (Katie's 2nd Best friend) etc etc.
The collection of letters / conversations etc were so intimate & all the characters are so well developed tht you really feel for them. Each succes, failure, loss, heart-ache etc are celebrated / mourned (depending on the characters - any mishaps on some scumbags like Katie's ex-hubby would spark jubilation!).
Basically it's abt Rosie & Alex who've been best friends since they were 5yrs old. They separated in their teenage, just a year before college, where Rosie remained in Ireland while Alex flew to Boston (his father had a promotion tht requires him to be based there). Over the course of time, they got married, have kids (not neccessarily in tht order... if u know wht I mean...), career ups & downs, divorce etc. Through it all, Rosie & Alex continued keeping in touch. Along the way they discovered tht they've fallen in love with each other but each didn't know tht the other felt it too. They thought it was only 1-sided, because everytime 1 of them picked the courage to express their feelings, the other is attached to someone else.
By the time they both recognized the love they carried for each other, they are well into their 50s... Tragic, but better late then never. Good thing is, Katie (Rosie's daughter) may have realized this earlier then her mum (hint.... hint.....)
Love it! The characters were so adorable & sincere I can just picture them! Contact me if any of you wanna borrow this (or any of the other books I've reviewed). Note the word "borrow"... Must return wan ar....
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Book Review: Switchcraft by Lowri Turner
It's about a pair of twins - Emma & Gill, now in their late thirties. They may look alike, but as much as possible they try to differentiate from each other. They love each other to bits, but they just wouldn't want to be thought as the same all the time.
Emma is married with a step-daughter "inherited" fr her husband's (Max) ex-wife (Dominique), successful, highly strung, motivated / driven to achieve her goals, love organizing things etc
Gill on the other hand is single, still looking for Mr Right, works in a bar as a waitress, unorganized, couldn't care less about being successful as long as she has constant supply of ciggies & booze. Not tht she's a drunk / chain smoker... She's just...... carefree?
Both are fed-up of their lives & decided to swap roles for 2mths. Hell broke lose went each of them found tht they like their new lives more than their previous one. All would have been fine, since Gill is more than happy to play mother hen to Emma's stepchildren (yea... plural now cos' d ex-wife dumped her son - an offspring from her affair after Max) on Emma & Max & she kinda jumped into bed with Max already. But due to some misunderstanding (on Emma's part), her fairy tale new life was not as good as she thought & wants out; when Gill wants to continue being in.
Hell broke loose when Emma publicly denounced Gill & exposed the ruse in front of their parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was a jumble of confusion after tht; which was actually quite hillarious.
Verdict: The start was really boring as you plod through the whining & complaining of each of their lives... It starts to get interesting after the switch. Entertaining from then on.
Emma is married with a step-daughter "inherited" fr her husband's (Max) ex-wife (Dominique), successful, highly strung, motivated / driven to achieve her goals, love organizing things etc
Gill on the other hand is single, still looking for Mr Right, works in a bar as a waitress, unorganized, couldn't care less about being successful as long as she has constant supply of ciggies & booze. Not tht she's a drunk / chain smoker... She's just...... carefree?
Both are fed-up of their lives & decided to swap roles for 2mths. Hell broke lose went each of them found tht they like their new lives more than their previous one. All would have been fine, since Gill is more than happy to play mother hen to Emma's stepchildren (yea... plural now cos' d ex-wife dumped her son - an offspring from her affair after Max) on Emma & Max & she kinda jumped into bed with Max already. But due to some misunderstanding (on Emma's part), her fairy tale new life was not as good as she thought & wants out; when Gill wants to continue being in.
Hell broke loose when Emma publicly denounced Gill & exposed the ruse in front of their parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was a jumble of confusion after tht; which was actually quite hillarious.
Verdict: The start was really boring as you plod through the whining & complaining of each of their lives... It starts to get interesting after the switch. Entertaining from then on.
Book Review: To Sir Philip With Love by Julia Quinn
Sadly, I have read the last of the 3 books by Julia Quinn tht I bought. A good light read after work when you don't want to have to plough through complex story lines / characters.
This book started with the narration about Sir Philip & his relationship with his wife (Marina), children with a hint of his past (tht caused his behaviour pattern - i.e. avoiding his twin - a son & a daughter). Marina suffered from post-partum blues (or at least I "diagnosed" her behaviour as tht) & after much melancholic-self-confinement in her room, she attempted to commit suicide, but was saved by Philip. She finally died without a fight after suffering fr fever - probably from cold.
Eloise , the 5th child of the Bridgerton brood, came into the picture when she sends her condolence to Sir Philip. Turns out, she's Marina's distant cousin. The first note ended being a year long correspondence; which resulted in :
a) Sir Philip, wanting someone to mother his kids & thinking tht Eloise is a dowdy ol' spinster (tht was the only reason she's not married right?); offered a proposal in his last letter & for her to visit him (to get to know him better of course). She's labelled as a spinster at the age of 28! (but tht was during the time when it was normal to marry at 18-19).
b) Eloise, being miserable when her "fellow-spinster" got married to her own brother - Collin! (well tht's another story I'll go out & get), agreed.
She went to meet Sir Philip. Was disappointed at first with what she found about him (she was expecting a different version of handsome). A bit of arguments, debates, "sneak-counter-attack" with the twins who dispised her at first. Lastly, with a bit of "help" from her brothers, got married to Sir Philip.
Of course there's more meat to the last paragraph, but to put tht down would be almost writing the whole book out.... Overall a nice read.
This book started with the narration about Sir Philip & his relationship with his wife (Marina), children with a hint of his past (tht caused his behaviour pattern - i.e. avoiding his twin - a son & a daughter). Marina suffered from post-partum blues (or at least I "diagnosed" her behaviour as tht) & after much melancholic-self-confinement in her room, she attempted to commit suicide, but was saved by Philip. She finally died without a fight after suffering fr fever - probably from cold.
Eloise , the 5th child of the Bridgerton brood, came into the picture when she sends her condolence to Sir Philip. Turns out, she's Marina's distant cousin. The first note ended being a year long correspondence; which resulted in :
a) Sir Philip, wanting someone to mother his kids & thinking tht Eloise is a dowdy ol' spinster (tht was the only reason she's not married right?); offered a proposal in his last letter & for her to visit him (to get to know him better of course). She's labelled as a spinster at the age of 28! (but tht was during the time when it was normal to marry at 18-19).
b) Eloise, being miserable when her "fellow-spinster" got married to her own brother - Collin! (well tht's another story I'll go out & get), agreed.
She went to meet Sir Philip. Was disappointed at first with what she found about him (she was expecting a different version of handsome). A bit of arguments, debates, "sneak-counter-attack" with the twins who dispised her at first. Lastly, with a bit of "help" from her brothers, got married to Sir Philip.
Of course there's more meat to the last paragraph, but to put tht down would be almost writing the whole book out.... Overall a nice read.
Friday, 15 May 2009
Book Review: It's in His Kiss by Julia Quinn
Goes to show tht my absence from blog writing was filled with reading mushy love stories.... Oh well.... this is the 2nd book of the set of 3 tht I bought of Julia Quinn.
This book is about the youngest of the 8 Bridgerton siblings - Hyacinth. I just found out from this book, tht the mum actually named her kids in alphabetical order. Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory & Hyacinth!
Aparently Hyacinth is quite a character... Speaks her mind with a directness tht scares the daylight of the men around her (except her brothers) & very smart but is not willing to play the foolish damsel tht other girls employ to snare men tht may be intimidated by their inteligence (if you ask me, if the men are intimidated by women's inteligence, then he's not worth pursuing).
In comes Gareth St Clair, who's has loads of his own problems & is charmed rather than intimidated by Hyacinth's wits & sharp tongue. He inherited a diary of his paternal grandmother, but it was written in Italian. He hoped tht the diary would unlock the mystery of his parentage (aparently his 'father' insists tht he's a result of his mother's affair with someone else - aha....). Hyacinth who knows a little Italian, volunteered to translate the diary for Gareth; which threw them into a bit of an adventure here & there.
Naturally, the relationship developed into love.... predictable, but an interesting & entertaining reading journey.
This book is about the youngest of the 8 Bridgerton siblings - Hyacinth. I just found out from this book, tht the mum actually named her kids in alphabetical order. Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory & Hyacinth!
Aparently Hyacinth is quite a character... Speaks her mind with a directness tht scares the daylight of the men around her (except her brothers) & very smart but is not willing to play the foolish damsel tht other girls employ to snare men tht may be intimidated by their inteligence (if you ask me, if the men are intimidated by women's inteligence, then he's not worth pursuing).
In comes Gareth St Clair, who's has loads of his own problems & is charmed rather than intimidated by Hyacinth's wits & sharp tongue. He inherited a diary of his paternal grandmother, but it was written in Italian. He hoped tht the diary would unlock the mystery of his parentage (aparently his 'father' insists tht he's a result of his mother's affair with someone else - aha....). Hyacinth who knows a little Italian, volunteered to translate the diary for Gareth; which threw them into a bit of an adventure here & there.
Naturally, the relationship developed into love.... predictable, but an interesting & entertaining reading journey.
Book Review: When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn
It's my first time reading Julia Quinn's novel, but the Times was having this buy 3 for the price of 2 thing, so I bought 3 of her books all at once!
The first book I read was "When He Was Wicked" & I found out tht all her books chronicled the love lives of a family of 8 siblings - The Bridgerton. She has 7 books so far, so obviously we can expect the 8th for the 2nd youngest son of the family.
This book is about Francesca, the 6th child of the Bridgerton. She was married to an Earl (John)whom she loved dearly. She's also a very close friend of her husband's cousin - Michael (who's well-known for his "wicked" exploits with the female species). Michael is secretly in love with her too, but as John is as close as a brother to him, naturally Francesca is off limits.
John died suddenly - supposedly due to a ruptured blood vessel in the brain & left Francesca a widow at 22. Michael suddenly became the Earl, succeding his cousin, since John & Francesca were childless. Well, the foregone conclusion was, with John gone, he should be able to confess his love for Francesca....
Darn Michael's (& later Francesca's) conscience though... cos' he felt like he's "stolen" the title & wealth of his cousin (though for the life of me, I can't understand how he can be so egoistical as to think tht he - a mere human, can cause the death of his cousin by rupturing John's blood vessel. Tht would be like assuming God-like figure). He can't bear the thought tht he's "stealing" John's wife as well. When he finally managed to break free of his mental barrier & started pursuing her, it's Francesca's turn to have the guilt / conscience... :-)
Well, at the end they got together... Good light reading, but Judith McNaught is still a class above.
The first book I read was "When He Was Wicked" & I found out tht all her books chronicled the love lives of a family of 8 siblings - The Bridgerton. She has 7 books so far, so obviously we can expect the 8th for the 2nd youngest son of the family.
This book is about Francesca, the 6th child of the Bridgerton. She was married to an Earl (John)whom she loved dearly. She's also a very close friend of her husband's cousin - Michael (who's well-known for his "wicked" exploits with the female species). Michael is secretly in love with her too, but as John is as close as a brother to him, naturally Francesca is off limits.
John died suddenly - supposedly due to a ruptured blood vessel in the brain & left Francesca a widow at 22. Michael suddenly became the Earl, succeding his cousin, since John & Francesca were childless. Well, the foregone conclusion was, with John gone, he should be able to confess his love for Francesca....
Darn Michael's (& later Francesca's) conscience though... cos' he felt like he's "stolen" the title & wealth of his cousin (though for the life of me, I can't understand how he can be so egoistical as to think tht he - a mere human, can cause the death of his cousin by rupturing John's blood vessel. Tht would be like assuming God-like figure). He can't bear the thought tht he's "stealing" John's wife as well. When he finally managed to break free of his mental barrier & started pursuing her, it's Francesca's turn to have the guilt / conscience... :-)
Well, at the end they got together... Good light reading, but Judith McNaught is still a class above.
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