Go for it!!

A friend has written a book for kids and is holding a book reading session in Chennai and Bangalore.

If you are in either of the city, do take your kids there. It sure will be loads of fun!!

My rendezevous with book reading

I had started reading books regularly when I took the subscription from BookMeABook. And because of that I was able to read an average of 2 books over a span of 1.5 months. I know this is a very very minuscule score if I compare it to other avid readers. But for me this was a big achievement too :)

The books I have read were all quite diverse when it comes to their genres. And the titles along with my start rating are -

1. "A Face in the Dark and Other Hauntings: Collected Stories of the Supernatural" by Ruskin Bond (**)
2. "Almost Single" by Advaita kala. (**)
3. "The Tunnel of Time" an autobiography by R K Laxman (***)
   
4. "Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough (*****)
   
5. "You are Here" by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan (**)
   
6. "Tuesdays With Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson" by Mitch Albom (****)
   
7. "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga (****)
8. "Sea of Poppies" by Amitav Ghosh (****)
   

As you can see some of them I really liked and some were just OK OK. I really loved reading "Thorn Birds". It was one un-put-downable book. "Tuesdays with Morrie", although philosophical in nature, but was quite interesting. "The White Tiger" was pretty good too. Next one that I'm going to start is "Kim" by Rudyard Kipling.

With office so hectic, I don't get much time to read these days but I still managed to read one book last month and I hope I manage to improve this pace.

So any of you has read any of these books? And how would you rate them?

BookMeABook.com - the book rental company

Talking to someone who recently read my book review posts asked me where am I sourcing my books from. Whether I'm buying them or renting them? Its then that I realised I'vent written about the book rental company from where I'm sourcing my books from.

In September 2008, I had received an SMS advertising for this site "BookMeABook.com" where they were giving books on rent after you register with them and paid some refundable deposit to people in New Delhi and NCR region.

I have always been fond of reading but somehow always preferred borrowing them rather than buying them to read. Reason being, books need lot of care and lot of space to be maintained. The space was the main constraint why I preferred to borrow them and this company seemed to be just perfect for readers like me.

I went to their website and they had couple of plans on offer depending on how many books would you want in a month. I opted for the easiest plan available i.e. the one where they offered 2 books a month. After browsing through their website for about 5 min, without thinking much I went ahead and got the subscription for it. Then I proceeded to add books to my queue from their catalog which I wanted to read. The same evening I got a call from them and next day my books along with a bookmark were there at my doorstep. (Its another story that the bookmark has been duly chewed away by betu ram from one corner. ) I went WOW with their promptness. And so far they have kept the WOWness intact except that they do no deliver the books in the same sequence as I've specified.

I wrote to them about it and they had their reasons that all the copies were out in circulation and thus the preferred sequence of books cannot be adhered to. To some extent it makes sense but I still can't help feeling a bit disappointed when the book I'm looking forward to doesn't arrive.

So this is how their system works. I've provided a delivery address at the time of registration. I specify the list of books that I would like to read and sequence them. The next step is to click on the button "Order Pickup". For a first time user, it basically means "Send me the books". For a second time and subsequent time user, it means, "I've read the books you had sent and please send me my next lot of books". Once you have submitted your "Order Pickup", a guy will come personally and take the read books from you and give you your next lot. In the envelope that they send the books in, they also send a self addressed envelope for us to keep the books back in before handing them over to the delivery boy.

Its obvious that they had put enough thoughts about the system before implementing it and they have been able to keep up to it. The books I've received have all been in good condition.

They have quite a few books in each genre including for kids although couple of books which I've looked for once in a while I haven't found there. I'm planning to write to the librarian with those book titles so that they can add them to their collection.

So far I'm pretty happy with their service and I hope they keep increasing their collection. I've already figured out the books I want to read for the whole year and am looking forward to read them all.

So any of residing in you Delhi and NCR can make good use of this site if you are fond of reading.

So happy reading everyone!

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I finished reading "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini on the Saturday that just went by. I managed to finish it flat 3 days compared to the weeks I usually take to read books these days.

After reading and hearing such rave reviews from so many people including some of you from the blogworld that I just had to read it. It is a wonderful tale of two little boys from Afghanistan and their journey of growing up and moving on with their lives. How from being such "pukka" friends they drifted apart and they could never see each other again.

The book was very well written and kept you glued to it. The emotions, the turmoils in the lives of the main characters of the story seemed so real that you could almost relate to it. There were 2-3 points in the book that made my eyes wet.

After I finished reading it, for about half an hour I kept thinking about the characters in the book. About their lives and the whole story as such. It made me sigh. It was a mix of sad and a happy sigh. It touched me a lot.

But still I feel his other book "A Thousand Splendid Suns" was much more intense and overpowering than this one.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

I had read the book "The Historian" more than a month ago but never sat down to write down my views on it. Until now :) I won't call it a review as I am not sure I know how to write reviews. I don't now what it should have and what it shouldn't so that it doesn't become a spoiler.

This novel by Elizabeth Kostova is a tale of a quest for the 'Vlad the Implaer' who is none other than the Dracula or 'Drakulya' as called in the novel. It has been presented as a first person account and it reaches through the past five centuries with the story settings all over Europe.

Although the book was a bit thick, about 650 odd pages, but I really enjoyed reading it. The story was quite gripping and thrilling. The author kept the curiosity maintained almost throughout the book.

And after reading the book I really wanted to travel to Budapest and Istanbul. The way the author described both the cities I was quite intrigued.

So people how like a bit of history, a bit of horror and a bit of thriller its a good read.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I finished reading the book "A Thousand Splendid Sun" by Khaled Hosseini this weekend.

I had heard such rave reviews about the book but somehow I never expected such intensity which I felt when reading the book. It was so engrossing, so captivating that putting it down for sleeping at night was so difficult.

And once I finished the book, hubby asked me how was it. And I didn't know whether to call it awesome or to say that I felt so sad inside after reading it.

And I thought how can someone be so inhuman towards the women. I know this is not something new that I was reading or hearing about but the way the author had described scenes and situations, I could feel my blood boiling at those moments. As if I was there and seeing all this happen in front of my eyes.

This was the first book I read by the author. And am definitely going to read his other one, "The Kite Runner", as well.

The 3 Mistakes Of My Life

I bought Chetan Bhagat's "The 3 Mistakes of My Life" over the weekend and finished reading it as well.

This was my first Chetan Bhagat novel. It was a nice read. Can't say very good but decent enough. Again I will say its a good filler. Only at a few points you felt something for the characters in the book. Mostly it was kind of flat.

I guess my tastes in books require something which gives you an adrenaline rush. Something that makes you feel overwhelmed, where you feel what the character is feeling at various points in the book. Do you get what I'm trying to say?

Anyone read it? What do you feel about the book?

A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffery Archer

Finished reaching "A Prisoner of Birth" by Jeffery Archer yesterday night. And I simply loved it.

Started reading it last Friday night to keep me distracted from the darn tooth pain which kept me awake whole night. By morning when hubby and Betu woke up I was already midway in the book. And I managed to read it little by little during the week despite so much work at office. And yesterday night finally managed to finish it! I was so engrossed in it that when hubby came in from work at 8:30 PM, I absent mindedly said "Hi" to him and kept reading it. He was might pissed to see that. But obviously :D

Coming back to the book, I loved the way Jeffery wove the story. I loved the character of Alex Redmayne and even more than him his father Mathew Redmayne despite the fact that they were there for very little part in the book.

Its after very very long I have managed to read a Jeffery Archer. Last I had read was more than 8-9 years ago. And I hope I can keep this book reading habit ignited from now onwards.

Now thinking on what book to start reading next. Any suggestions people?

The Namesake

Finished reading the book "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri a few days ago. And I'm in a fix as to what were my thoughts on the book. Yeah..I'm confused. I don't think it was a great book. Just something which can be a good filler if you have nothing great to read in your hands!

There was nothing about the characters that you leave you mesmerized or awed. Or to make you feel for them as such. Or was it just my state of mind when I was reading it?

Anybody read it? Anyone feels the other way about the book?