P.S I love you : Peter Sellers

Book Title         : P.S I love you : Peter Sellers
Author               : Micheal Sellers
Year Published  : 1981
Date I Read      : 24 Jan 2012
My Rating         : 5/10

Theme

This is the story of Peter Sellers (the actor) written by his son Micheal with his sister Sarah and half sister Victoria. He explores the relationship Peter Sellers had with his children, his 4 marriages, his film life, his illness, his depression and crazy behavior

What I thought about it

I saw a recommendation for the book PS I love you in one of my friend's facebook profile. She said the book brought tears to her eyes. I had skipped this book as a chic flik cause of the title. But when I saw her recommendation, I decided to give it a try. When I started reading it, I knew that it was not a chic flik. Little did I know that there is another book by the same title. Now I am pretty sure my friend was referring to the other one and not this one :-)

Though many people loved PS, I am sure if they knew this side of his they will hate him. I felt sad for the people who had to deal with him in his lifetime. I did not enjoy the book cause though Micheal claims that all of them loved PS, it came off as an effort by the kids to show the world what a bad man their dad really was.

I am not sure why this is happening to me. But the last 4-5 books that I have read have not even gone past rating of 5. This has never happened before. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the next few.

Will catch you all soon with another review soon.

Related links

Peter Sellers in Wikipedia


Challenges

Linking this to letter P for A to Z by Title

Linking this to letter S for A to Z by Author Last Name

Challenge : Off the Shelf

Signing up for a challenge Off the shelf. I have quite a few books that are there in my shelf that I may not read. So this challenge will help me cover that. I am going to start humbly are sign up for Level Tempting (5 books). I almost am tempted to sign up for 15 books. But only problem with that is I might not be able to meet my other challenges (A to Z). So lets see how this goes and I will upgrade if possible

This challenge is to read those books you own a copy of, print, digital, and audio, you have been meaning to read, but never gotten to. Books should have been acquired before 2012. I thought I will list the books as well

1. Angela's Ashes

2. Girl who played with fire

3. World of Nagaraj

4. Inca Gold

5. Host

Challenge : What's in a name

Signing up for another challenge @ Beth Fish Reads called What's in a name. This one sounds interesting. I will keep an eye for books which match.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2012, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
2. A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
4. A book with a type of house in the title: The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Ape House 
5. A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
6. A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking

Books Read

4. Type of House : The Shack


6. Calendar : Revolution 2020

Devil Wears Prada

Book Title         : Devil Wears Prada
Author               : Lauren Weisberger
Year Published  : 2003
Date I Read      : 20 Jan 2012
My Rating         : 5/10

Theme

This is the story of Andrea Sachs fresh out of college as an English Major aspiring to get a break in the publishing world. She signs up as a Junior Assistant to Miranda Priestly, editor of a fashion magazine. What transpires in the job and how she struggles to survive in a job she hates is the theme of the book.

What I thought about it

I picked this book up when I saw it in a car boot sale. So I paid only 50p for it. When I was not in a mood for a serious read this week, I decided to get a quick read out of this book. It was a funny book with fast paced narration. We can relate to many of the characters - the struggles to please your boss, the effort to achieve work/life balance, trying to please everyone around you when no one seems to see things from your point of view.

The book is also adapted into a movie starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. I think they both did a commendable performance in the movie.

Don't expect a great book out of it, but definitely worth it if you are looking for quick light read.

Related links

Lauren Weisberger in Wikipedia
Devil Wears Prada in Wikipedia
Devil Wears Prada in Amazon.co.uk

Challenges

Linking this to letter D for A to Z by Title

Linking this to letter W for A to Z by Author Last Name

Burial at Sea

Book Title         : Burial at Sea
Author               : Kushwanth Singh
Year Published  : 2004
Date I Read      : 10 Jan 2012
My Rating         : 4/10

Theme

The story revolves around the main character Victor Jai Bhagwan, starting from his childhood leading on to his adult life. The setting is in pre and post independence India. Jai Bhagwan and his daughter Bharati resemble Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

What I thought about it

I saw this book in the library. I have read Train to Pakistan by Kushwant Singh a long time ago and really enjoyed reading it. That inspired me to pick this book up.

The book starts off ok and was an easy read. It describes Victor's childhood, his foreign education, come back to India etc. You will keep wondering where the story is leading to. Half way thru, the author seems to have forgotten what he was doing and starts describing Tantric Sex of Victor and Maa Durgeshwari, not to forget the seducing of his daughter Bharati by some yoga master. At some point I felt like I was reading some porno book, and that too written very bad. Save yourself and give it a pass.

Related links

Kushwant Singh in Wikipedia
Burial at Sea in Amazon.co.uk

Challenges

Linking this to letter B for A to Z by Title
Linking this to #1 for South Asian Books

Why am I doing this?

As I start this blog, I have a few things in mind.

1. To read books and enjoy it.

2. Participate in some challenges so that it pushes me to do more.

3. Read reviews by fellow bloggers to get book ideas. This is kind of tricky. When it comes to book or movie, I am very particular not to know the story before I read. Even knowing what the flow is bothers me. My friends know that very well :-) So how do I read a review without reading story? I want to know if someone who read a book enjoyed it and I want to know why they enjoyed it cause that will help me decide if I will enjoy it....

4. I want to be able to write something about the book I read. That is the tough part. I have never written about any books though I read a lot. Hope you will be patient with me as I learn how to do this. And I am yet not too sure how to write without giving away too much (see #3 above). So I decided writing succinctly for now is the way to go.

How I rate books

Since I am going to attach a number to the books I read, I want to just write a word about what it means to me. I am rating out of 10.

1,2 - you will mostly not see these numbers. If the book is that bad, I would not have finished it.

3 - I barely survived. I hated it.

4 - There were a few bits that were ok. But still a bad book.

5 - An ok book. You can read it. Would not go and find it to read.

6 - A lot of books fall under this category. Just time pass. No negative

7 - I liked it.

8 - I loved it (If I rate 8, I highly recommend it).

9 - One of the best books read. (You may see one or 2 a year).

10 - The perfect book (I have almost never rated any book 10. I think I should have only 2-3 books in this category in my lifetime)

Challenge : A to Z by Author Last Name

What is it?? This is a challenge by Strawberry Splash Reviews

The A to Z Reading Challenge, which shall henceforth be known as AZRC, challenges you to read and review one book starting with every letter of the alphabet. There are three possible challenges you can partake in.

1. Author - A to Z by authors last name, 26 books.
2. Title - A to Z by book title, 26 books.
3. Double Whammy - Do both Challenge 1 and 2 for a total 52 books.

I am going to choose by Author Last Name #1 option.

I will update the list as I read along and add reviews.

A : Paths of Glory Jeffrey Archer
B : Revolution 2020 Chetan Bhagat
C : Death on the Nile Agatha Christie
D
E
F
G
H
I
J : Fifty Shades of Grey EL James
K : Pigeon English Stephen Kelman
L : Gifted Nikita Lalwani
M : The Matchbreaker Chris Manby
N : The World of Nagaraj RK Narayan
O
P : Jaya Devdutt Pattanaik
Q
R : The Folded Earth Anuradha Roy
S : P.S I love you Micheal Sellers
T : Immortals of Meluha Amish Tripati
U
V
W : Devil Wears Prada Lauren Weisberger
X :
Y : The Shack William Young
Z

Challenge : A to Z by Book Title

What is it?? This is a challenge by Babies Books and Signs. The A to Z Book Challenge, challenges you to read and review one book starting with every letter of the alphabet.

I am going to choose to add names as I read along.

I will update the list as I read along and add reviews.

A - Angela's Ashes
B - Burial at Sea
C - Christmas at Tiffany
D - Devil Wears Prada
E - Eragon
F - Folded Earth
G - Gifted
H
I - The Immortals of Meluha
J - Jaya
K
L
M - The Matchbreaker
N
O - Other Side of Me
P - PS I love you
Q
R - Revolution 2020
S - The Secret of the Nagas
T
U
V
W - Winter in Madrid
X
Y
Z

Challenge : South Asian Books

I saw this challenge in S Krishna's site and was really excited. I am really looking forward to be part of this challenge. I will keep updating this post as I read along. I would like to read a humble target of 10 books under this challenge.

1. Burial at Sea
2. Revolution 2020
3. The Immortals of Meluha
4. The Secret of the Nagas
5. The Folded Earth
6. Jaya
7. The World of Nagaraj
8. Gifted
9.
10.

How it all started

People do a lot of stuff in their free time. Watching TV seems to be the #1 thing people seem to be doing when they have some time to spare. I think it is closely followed by browsing the internet. Books seem to be very low in the priority for many people.

When I was little, for some reason books were never part of my life. I started reading when I was about 15. A friend of mine (Meena) used to go to a library in my hometown (Ellor in Trivandrum) and I tagged along with her and read my first book. I am pretty sure it was Fever by Robin Cook. It took me a month to read it. I was that slow. 

The next step was when my mom saw that I was probably interested in reading, she got me a library membership and I read a few books. 

But that was not the time when I actually started reading. Fast forward a couple of years.... I was in college by this time. I was talking to a friend of mine (Dilip) and he mentioned some popular books. I had no clue what he was talking about. He could not believe I did not know what he was talking about. He laughed and laughed till he had tears in his eyes. More so cause he saw tears in mine :-( 

That was the day I knew I had a challenge in front of me. I knew I had to read just so that I could prove I can. See those where the days I really would achieve anything cause I wanted to prove that I can. 

Anyways, I started reading a lot around that time. My college work did not give me much time to do as much. But I kept on. Soon I forgot all about the challenge. I was really enjoying what I was doing. 

Then I moved to Chennai for work. There I found a reading partner in my friend Narthana. I got membership in a little library in Adayar (Chennai) I started reading atleast 2-3 books a month. 

The best phase was when I moved to US. I could not believe that libraries had so many books and all of them was free. I read with more vigour. I read at a rate of 2-3 books a week. I really miss those days.

Then came the slow days. Marriage and a kid later, I was almost giving up hope that I will ever read again. But my husband was encouraging. The move to UK also helped. Books are so cheap here. I always order something or other from Amazon. I started slowly. I read a book or 2 a month. Not bad. 

I teamed up with a few of my friends in Facebook and we do a group called Bookworms. We all read and post comments every month. That was interesting... 

I was so naive and never realized that there could be blogs about books. I started blogging a couple of months ago. I started a cooking blog. I am not a great cook. But the blog inspired me to do more. Though I read a lot, I am not too good at writing about what I read. May be, this blog will be the one to inspire me to read more and also to write about it. 

I saw a few challenges in different blogs that I might sign up for. This is going to be interesting. I am not going to write a lot (atleast initially). So hang on there with me. 

And last, but not the least - I am looking for all the encouragement, comments and feedback from all of you out there. Lets begin this new journey today!