Best of the Year so far..

Amazon has listed the best books of the year for 2008 -

Must see the list HERE

Life Isnt all Ha Ha Hee Hee

Damn right, its not!!

But the book isn't a good example of representing that either. It was just OK by my standards. Am I a better person because I read this book? Perhaps not, it reiterated for me a lot of things I probably knew already. Still, dont we often read material where we know the content anyways, or at least think we do? (The Secret types.)

Tans, Chila and Sunita are the three characters in the book - all very unique in their personality with distinctive beliefs. The story revolves around the relationship among the three women and also among the people in their lives.

Apparently this book was also made into a television series in the U.K. in 2005:

The cast includes:

Tania - Laila Rouass

Chila - Ayesha Dharker

Sunita - Meera Syal (the author)

If this series does come my way in the far future, perhaps I will watch. But for now, I am back to my own non-ha ha hee hee life.

I hate my nose!

Says, Alfred. This doggie has self esteem issues and is not happy with his appearance, especially the shape of his nose. Sure enough, we may look at his mug and think 'cute'. But that didn't stop Michael Jackson from getting multiple surgeries, did it? Anyways, I am moving away from the point. Alfred is unhappy with his nose and finds himself on a quest for the perfect nose.

Alfred's Nose promises a great story (with a moral, dont we love that!), and good visuals. I wish to buy this book for my nephew, when he is older. I am actually not a fan of dressing dogs in human clothes, sweaters, mufflers, anything to help them stay warm - OK, anything more, Ugh. Yet, I think the moral of the book might make this entire thing interesting.

The book is written by Vivienne Flesher. You can check out a few pages HERE.

A Second Chance

Literary praise much like beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, or reader. Or sometimes praise may be affected by the guilt by association to one's past actions.

After the disaster with A Million Little Pieces, James Frey is now out with a new book – Bright Shiny Morning a book focused on L.A. Interestingly, the NY Times gave it a rave review and its words are a strong but meaningful article giving James a second chance and urging you to do the same. On the other hand, there are other reviews that believe Book 2 is worse than Book 1. One critic implied that if James Frey was going for fiction (which he was not in Book 1), then still the fiction in A Million Little Pieces is much better than Bright Shiny Morning.

Unaccustomed Earth

As a reader of Jhumpa's previous book, I will give this a read. I loved and i mean loved her 'Interpreter of Maladies'. Namesake, not as much. It was good, but kinda slow. The movie was OK too although I wasn't sure is Kal Penn as ideal for the role or if he did a great job. It was a beautifully shot movie though, that I must admit.

In a way I am glad Unaccustomed Earth is a book of short stories. If you have read the book, let me know what you think!

Eerie. Abrupt endings. Just Terrific.

This was the last book I read... Great book to own because you can be quickly enamored by Roald Dahls writing, and fantasy-like macabre stories by picking up this book and reading a story or two.

Kafka on the Shore

I just started 'Kafka on the shore'. It is quite interesting how this book finally got to my hands. On my way to work by subway one morning, I noticed a girl across from me reading this book.

It caught my interest and I twisted anf turned and bent and well, did whatever it took until I found out the name. No! I was not obnoxious or rude!

Half an hour later, I was on Google waiting to read more about it. I hadn't heard of the author before this, so it was kind of difficult for me to remember his name. Anyways, search engines make our lives so much easier these days.

That very day I decided to share my new find with my friends through email. A few months later, among other things, I welcomed Kafka's story in my house as a birthday gift. Thank you N! Its been a while and Haruki has been staying patient as I made my way to pick up his book. Now finally, Kafka and I have begun our journey....will write more when we reach the end.