Yay Yay. I finished reading "The curious incident of the dog in the night time".
Will update this space later with my brief review.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Monday, July 12, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Another Challenge :-) Book 1: The girl who played with fire.
I'm unstoppable, I know. As soon as I failed in my previous challenge, here I'm taking up the next challange.
What this time? No blog writings.(I spare you people). I have to read 50 books in a year. As you know, I never cheat. As soon as I finished the book, I will tell you and you can keep the track of it. Ok?
The thing is half of the year is already gone. So, I'm going to read 25 books in 6 months. Starting from this month.
I have already completed one book this month. "The Girl who played with fire". I plan to write a small review as well. (That doesn't count for challenge)
And I will put the books in my side bar as soon as I finished.
Now, the review:
This is the second book in the millenium series. Fast paced and gripping . Blomkvist and Millenium are ready for another scoop with Dag and Mia. This time it is about sex trafficking. Dag and Mia are murdered before they publish it and all the evidence are against Lisbeth Salander. Police, Blomkvist and Armansky are in their own way try to discover the truth. But Salander has something else in her mind. To take revenge and to kill someone who is responsible for some horrible events that happened in her childhood. And that someone is not that easy to be found. His name is not listed in any documents anywhere in Sweden. How things turn out and what happens to salander is the rest of the story. Go for it. Recommended. But read the first part before you read this.
Currently Reading: The Curious incident of the dog in the night time.
What this time? No blog writings.(I spare you people). I have to read 50 books in a year. As you know, I never cheat. As soon as I finished the book, I will tell you and you can keep the track of it. Ok?
The thing is half of the year is already gone. So, I'm going to read 25 books in 6 months. Starting from this month.
I have already completed one book this month. "The Girl who played with fire". I plan to write a small review as well. (That doesn't count for challenge)
And I will put the books in my side bar as soon as I finished.
Now, the review:
This is the second book in the millenium series. Fast paced and gripping . Blomkvist and Millenium are ready for another scoop with Dag and Mia. This time it is about sex trafficking. Dag and Mia are murdered before they publish it and all the evidence are against Lisbeth Salander. Police, Blomkvist and Armansky are in their own way try to discover the truth. But Salander has something else in her mind. To take revenge and to kill someone who is responsible for some horrible events that happened in her childhood. And that someone is not that easy to be found. His name is not listed in any documents anywhere in Sweden. How things turn out and what happens to salander is the rest of the story. Go for it. Recommended. But read the first part before you read this.
Currently Reading: The Curious incident of the dog in the night time.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Blog marathon post 10: The girl with the dragon tattoo - Book review
http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/exclusive-daniel-craig-18015
(Daniel Craig is to act in the movie Dragon girl. The movie is based on the book "The girl with a dragon tattoo".)
When I was hovering around in the book section at Landmark, I have seen this book. Even though the title immediately catched my attention I was little hesistant to buy that time. But, when I read the above piece of news I wanted to read before the movie is taken. It will be good to read first and then check how they transformed the book into a movie. Most of the times I was miserably dissappointed to see the movies. These experience and "Consequence of Analysis" told me, if I watch the movie first, I will ceratinly loose the interest to read the book. So, I decided to put my hands on that book as soon as possible. Since I have finished reading that book and I really liked that book, I just want to give you the feel about the book.
As most of you all aware, it is a page turner. A mystery novel. A 40+ aged hero with a 20+ aged heroine trying to find out the mystery behind a girls disapperance which happend in 1966.
The disappeared girl is the grand daughter of Henrik Vanger, ex CEO of Vanger's corporation. Her name is Harriet Vanger.
She used to give framed pressed flowers as gift to Henrik. But even after her disappearance, he is getting same kind of gifts on his birthday every year for 36 years. He cannot come out of this tragic event and wants to find out who really killed her.
He strongly belives that she cannot just dissapear into air without any trace so she must be murdered and that murderer should be one of his family members. After a small background check, he decides to hire Mikel Blomkvist.
Mikel Blomkvist: A financial journalist. Part owner of the magazine "Millenium". (This book is the first in Millenium Triology). A straight moral person. He is in a trouble now. The allegations he made about the industrialist back fired him. He has been sentenced to jail for three months and has to pay a huge fine. This has weaken the credibility of "Millenium". He either has to resign from "Millenium" editorial board or has to prove that his allegations are right. He doesnt know where to start and how to proceed. So, he decides to have a break from editorial board and wants to have a breat to think about it. The same time he gets an offer from Vanger.
Lisbeth Salander: The girl with the dragon tattoo. She is the one who did the background check of Mikel Blomkvist.A girl with numerous tattoos, two piercings in her face, with fancy clothings, and with an asocial behaviour. She works for Armansky who is the head of Milton security company. She tolerates no restrictions. She served several years in children prison and she is now under gaurdianship. She is an enigma. She never socializes with anyone and she never shows any emotions or affections. She never quits anything once she decides to take it up. She never asks for help and wants to do it by herself. She is ready to be beaten to death rather than giving in. But she respects people who treat her as a human being. After "taking care" of his second gaurdian who molested and raped her, she joins with Blomkvist to assist his investigation about Harriet's mystery as a research assistant.
1966: The day Harriet disappears. It is the day when all members in the vanger family get together for dinner. It is a practice that goes on for a long time. At midday, there is a terrible accident in a bridge in that village. All the attention of the whole village turn to that accident. The bridge is the only way to come/go to/from village. And it is locked due to accident. But, Harriet happens to be disappeared. The police, the village and Henrik appointed special force, all searched every nook and corner of the village even the sea nearby. They checked all possible theories and all lead to dead end. Now, 36 years have gone by. Still there is no trace of Harriet. Everyone belived that she has died. And Vanget wants to know who did that.
When Blomkvist takes up this job, he has no slightest hope that he will unfold the mystery. But when he goes thru all the police reports, photographs, press reports and Henriks notes again and again, he found that what the others missed in the investigation. He needs one more hand to help with him to research in depth and to get details. Who else than salander will be more appropriate? Together they approach the whole case in a new dimension and in new angle. But someone doesnt want them to find the truth. Someone is poking their nose into their affairs and in their house. Someone tries to kill Blomkvist. No matter what, they are not ready to give up. And atlast they find the truth. A horrible truth which will shatter the whole Vanger's corporation. What is the truth and what they do after they find out and what happens to Blomkvist career is the rest of the story.
If you are an imaginative reader, then there are so many things in this book for you to dwell into. One example is thinking about Lisbeth Salander. What might have happened to her childhood to make Lisbeth the way she is now? Blomkvist is a moralist. But he has to compromise at some point time in the story. What would have happened if he doesn't compromised?
There are someother things which are so captivating and put you in deep thinking but I dont want to spoil the surprise. If you like mystery novels, twists and turns and if you want to glued to the book for several hours then this is the book for you. Recommended.
(Daniel Craig is to act in the movie Dragon girl. The movie is based on the book "The girl with a dragon tattoo".)
When I was hovering around in the book section at Landmark, I have seen this book. Even though the title immediately catched my attention I was little hesistant to buy that time. But, when I read the above piece of news I wanted to read before the movie is taken. It will be good to read first and then check how they transformed the book into a movie. Most of the times I was miserably dissappointed to see the movies. These experience and "Consequence of Analysis" told me, if I watch the movie first, I will ceratinly loose the interest to read the book. So, I decided to put my hands on that book as soon as possible. Since I have finished reading that book and I really liked that book, I just want to give you the feel about the book.
As most of you all aware, it is a page turner. A mystery novel. A 40+ aged hero with a 20+ aged heroine trying to find out the mystery behind a girls disapperance which happend in 1966.
The disappeared girl is the grand daughter of Henrik Vanger, ex CEO of Vanger's corporation. Her name is Harriet Vanger.
She used to give framed pressed flowers as gift to Henrik. But even after her disappearance, he is getting same kind of gifts on his birthday every year for 36 years. He cannot come out of this tragic event and wants to find out who really killed her.
He strongly belives that she cannot just dissapear into air without any trace so she must be murdered and that murderer should be one of his family members. After a small background check, he decides to hire Mikel Blomkvist.
Mikel Blomkvist: A financial journalist. Part owner of the magazine "Millenium". (This book is the first in Millenium Triology). A straight moral person. He is in a trouble now. The allegations he made about the industrialist back fired him. He has been sentenced to jail for three months and has to pay a huge fine. This has weaken the credibility of "Millenium". He either has to resign from "Millenium" editorial board or has to prove that his allegations are right. He doesnt know where to start and how to proceed. So, he decides to have a break from editorial board and wants to have a breat to think about it. The same time he gets an offer from Vanger.
Lisbeth Salander: The girl with the dragon tattoo. She is the one who did the background check of Mikel Blomkvist.A girl with numerous tattoos, two piercings in her face, with fancy clothings, and with an asocial behaviour. She works for Armansky who is the head of Milton security company. She tolerates no restrictions. She served several years in children prison and she is now under gaurdianship. She is an enigma. She never socializes with anyone and she never shows any emotions or affections. She never quits anything once she decides to take it up. She never asks for help and wants to do it by herself. She is ready to be beaten to death rather than giving in. But she respects people who treat her as a human being. After "taking care" of his second gaurdian who molested and raped her, she joins with Blomkvist to assist his investigation about Harriet's mystery as a research assistant.
1966: The day Harriet disappears. It is the day when all members in the vanger family get together for dinner. It is a practice that goes on for a long time. At midday, there is a terrible accident in a bridge in that village. All the attention of the whole village turn to that accident. The bridge is the only way to come/go to/from village. And it is locked due to accident. But, Harriet happens to be disappeared. The police, the village and Henrik appointed special force, all searched every nook and corner of the village even the sea nearby. They checked all possible theories and all lead to dead end. Now, 36 years have gone by. Still there is no trace of Harriet. Everyone belived that she has died. And Vanget wants to know who did that.
When Blomkvist takes up this job, he has no slightest hope that he will unfold the mystery. But when he goes thru all the police reports, photographs, press reports and Henriks notes again and again, he found that what the others missed in the investigation. He needs one more hand to help with him to research in depth and to get details. Who else than salander will be more appropriate? Together they approach the whole case in a new dimension and in new angle. But someone doesnt want them to find the truth. Someone is poking their nose into their affairs and in their house. Someone tries to kill Blomkvist. No matter what, they are not ready to give up. And atlast they find the truth. A horrible truth which will shatter the whole Vanger's corporation. What is the truth and what they do after they find out and what happens to Blomkvist career is the rest of the story.
If you are an imaginative reader, then there are so many things in this book for you to dwell into. One example is thinking about Lisbeth Salander. What might have happened to her childhood to make Lisbeth the way she is now? Blomkvist is a moralist. But he has to compromise at some point time in the story. What would have happened if he doesn't compromised?
There are someother things which are so captivating and put you in deep thinking but I dont want to spoil the surprise. If you like mystery novels, twists and turns and if you want to glued to the book for several hours then this is the book for you. Recommended.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Blog Marathon Post 2: English Books and Me - Part 1
I'm not regularly reading books these days. Thanks to Internet, TV and movies. But I was a voracious reader, only tamil books. Books I have read in English, I can easily count those. Now I'm feeling bad for losing track with reading. So this Post.
This post especially is to remind me how much I'm missing reading books(both in Tamil and English with special regards to English books :-) ). To remind me how I'm wasting my time in unnecessary things which no way going to enrich my knowledge, no way going to make me a better person. To remind me how much I miss those fantastic moments being in solitude with deep thoughts and questions. This post is to help me go back in time (mentally,ofcourse) and revel in time when I enjoy reading. Those magic moments of reading, where waiting for suspense to unfold, overwhelmed by the love, passion and emotions.
When I started reading English books? I never read even a single book till my college. I just memorised in school days. And how I dreaded English exams? Mugging up a single para from morning to evening....and writing the same thing for any questions asked. Thats how my English was in my school days. I was in English medium and moved to Tamil medium after high school. After my schooling I decided to improve my English. How? How? How? The only way I know was reading. (Thats what I'm good at but in Tamil).
I didn't have proper direction or guidance to how to go about it. In my college, I took English novels from library, kept it with me for a long time and will return it without reading. I remember I started reading Kane and Abel, only a few pages. Read some R K Narayan stories. After that I dont remember anything that worth reading. The first book, as far as my memory goes, I read was Naked face by Sidney Sheldon.
That time, I felt that, that was a good read, though I didnt understand completely. After that I started reading Sheldon books. Most of the times, I read only half of the books and will get bored to continue. Started reading Bloodline, Stranger in the mirror, Memories of midnight and Sands of Time. The books I really completed were Tell me your dreams, If tomorrow comes, The sky is falling ... and and... Oh! God! I read only three sheldon books.
The reason I couldnt complete a full book was, I was still struggling with English. I hadnt improved much even when I was doing post graduation. It was very difficult for me to write even one or two sentences in English without any errors. Only after Joining the tutoring company, since I had lots of time in my hand, and with the happy feeling that I was really earning, I started reading with more passion. Previously there was a purpose for my reading English books. There was a compulsion that I had to improve my language skills, but now, not necessary, I have job. I dont have to worry about my language skill for sometime, till I want to go for another job hunt..
The first book, I really enjoyed reading in English was Harry Potter - the first book - and the Philoshoper's stone. The next two years... reading all Harry potter series...
My life was very simple that time... Get up read Harrypotter...squeeze in some time to get ready... read Harry potter...while travelling read harrypotter.... only my physiqe was here... I was living in Howards school, listening to those magic teachers, speaking with Harry, Hermoine and Ron, Fred, George.... Madly in love with Hermoine... with great respect for Dumbledore...
When I finished the Deadly hollows.... once everything is over.... I felt that emptiness... kind of feel a retired man should get... like the marriage hall after the marriage... I used to get this feel whenever I read a huge novel... Becoz I will be living in that world. I will be mentally having relationship with those people....
After Harry potter.... the very important book which I read was "The fountainhead". This is also a good read. A book about objectivism, oppotunism and all isms... How you want to be? All youth should read the book to know why you are doing and what you are doing. What is it to have an aim, a purpose in life? How the world will react if you want to do things in your way? It will not give answers, but it will help you to ask yourself so many questions. Like whom you want to be? Howard Roark, Peter Keatings, Gail Wynand, or Toohey or like Dominique? Everyone wants to be Howard Roark or Wynand... most of the time we are Peter Keatings...(to be contd... in the next post)
Note: I may alter some of the things later.
This post especially is to remind me how much I'm missing reading books(both in Tamil and English with special regards to English books :-) ). To remind me how I'm wasting my time in unnecessary things which no way going to enrich my knowledge, no way going to make me a better person. To remind me how much I miss those fantastic moments being in solitude with deep thoughts and questions. This post is to help me go back in time (mentally,ofcourse) and revel in time when I enjoy reading. Those magic moments of reading, where waiting for suspense to unfold, overwhelmed by the love, passion and emotions.
When I started reading English books? I never read even a single book till my college. I just memorised in school days. And how I dreaded English exams? Mugging up a single para from morning to evening....and writing the same thing for any questions asked. Thats how my English was in my school days. I was in English medium and moved to Tamil medium after high school. After my schooling I decided to improve my English. How? How? How? The only way I know was reading. (Thats what I'm good at but in Tamil).
I didn't have proper direction or guidance to how to go about it. In my college, I took English novels from library, kept it with me for a long time and will return it without reading. I remember I started reading Kane and Abel, only a few pages. Read some R K Narayan stories. After that I dont remember anything that worth reading. The first book, as far as my memory goes, I read was Naked face by Sidney Sheldon.
That time, I felt that, that was a good read, though I didnt understand completely. After that I started reading Sheldon books. Most of the times, I read only half of the books and will get bored to continue. Started reading Bloodline, Stranger in the mirror, Memories of midnight and Sands of Time. The books I really completed were Tell me your dreams, If tomorrow comes, The sky is falling ... and and... Oh! God! I read only three sheldon books.
The reason I couldnt complete a full book was, I was still struggling with English. I hadnt improved much even when I was doing post graduation. It was very difficult for me to write even one or two sentences in English without any errors. Only after Joining the tutoring company, since I had lots of time in my hand, and with the happy feeling that I was really earning, I started reading with more passion. Previously there was a purpose for my reading English books. There was a compulsion that I had to improve my language skills, but now, not necessary, I have job. I dont have to worry about my language skill for sometime, till I want to go for another job hunt..
The first book, I really enjoyed reading in English was Harry Potter - the first book - and the Philoshoper's stone. The next two years... reading all Harry potter series...
My life was very simple that time... Get up read Harrypotter...squeeze in some time to get ready... read Harry potter...while travelling read harrypotter.... only my physiqe was here... I was living in Howards school, listening to those magic teachers, speaking with Harry, Hermoine and Ron, Fred, George.... Madly in love with Hermoine... with great respect for Dumbledore...
When I finished the Deadly hollows.... once everything is over.... I felt that emptiness... kind of feel a retired man should get... like the marriage hall after the marriage... I used to get this feel whenever I read a huge novel... Becoz I will be living in that world. I will be mentally having relationship with those people....
After Harry potter.... the very important book which I read was "The fountainhead". This is also a good read. A book about objectivism, oppotunism and all isms... How you want to be? All youth should read the book to know why you are doing and what you are doing. What is it to have an aim, a purpose in life? How the world will react if you want to do things in your way? It will not give answers, but it will help you to ask yourself so many questions. Like whom you want to be? Howard Roark, Peter Keatings, Gail Wynand, or Toohey or like Dominique? Everyone wants to be Howard Roark or Wynand... most of the time we are Peter Keatings...(to be contd... in the next post)
Note: I may alter some of the things later.
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