Between Sisters

I picked up Kirtin Hannah's book by accident. It was on the bestseller of Barnes and Noble and i wasnt even looking to pick a book. I loved her first book and i picked up another one and followed it up with Between Sisters.

I'm staying with my sister and it has been quite awhile since we stayed under the same roof. We are pretty close and sometimes we know exactly what to do and she has always looked out for me. It makes it all the more special when you get a chance to stay together in a foreign land.

Reading this book was like looking through us again. The elder ones are always protective and consider their younger sister almost like their own offspring. They know what to shield the younger ones from. The younger ones are philosophical and emotional and always think from the heart. Neither can go through the rough patch without the other. I cant imagine waiting for my 12th results without my sister going hither thither trying to find out how much i screwed up.

I would recommend this book to all who have siblings and can relate to being the elder one or the younger one. It makes you understand the tempo and the thoughts that run through the other sometimes the ones you missed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and as always i find Hannah's writing applaudabile. So i went and picked up another one of hers, fingers crossed.

To Read

Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Meyes
Twilight - Stephen Meyer
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon - A journey through Yugoslavia
Ireland - Elisabetta Canoro
Reading lolitha in Teheran

If any of you have read the above books, send me your comments.

Forbidden Territory

Forbidden territory is a movie about Africa. Its difficult to understand explorers, especially the ones who go to unknown territories. The ones, who would put their lives on the line for the passion of traveling the land no man has travelled before.

I love exploring, especially places that i would never be able to go back to again. I want to have touched every stone and visited every spot so i wouldnt have missed anything. The excitment comes mostly from doing the research previously and the anticipation of seeing the places that were pieces of my imagination.

Africa is a wonder land. The lesser it is explored the more mysterious and thereby the more sort after the nation becomes. The movie is about a man Henry Morgan Stanley who goes in search of a missionary named Livingston. After he finds him, they make a deal to explore the source of the mother Nile and then Livingston promises to return to England with Stanley. During the course of this trip, they discover each other - One finds a father he never had, the other finds his long lost son who died in the war front.

Faith gives strength and makes us do things which we would otherwise never dream of doing. Even when people we love the most disappoint us, when we spend months dreaming of the day we would be cared for in their arms and they turn their back on us, this strength gets us through the days.

Watching a movie wade through Africa is a visual treat and when it has a plot that is as capitulating as the characterization as this movie, it is a satisfaction to the mind.

Aidan Quinn's portrayal was picture perfect. His cold blue eyes convey every emotion vividly. When he stares at his lost love, his eyes are like the iceberg and when he tries to bid adieu to Livingston, his eyes are pools of painful tears that would'nt flow down. Every emotion is bought out to perfection and i think he is a class actor.

Memoirs of a Geisha

I'm probably the last one to jump on this train of having read the book. The book itself was a good read. Although slow at certain parts, it gives wonderful insight into the life of women in Japan and the life of a geisha.

Anybody who picks up this book is going to put a geisha on the other side of a line, but you have to read it to understand what their real profession is. The narration of a kimono and the obi itself shows how colorful the geisha were dressed. I really wonder how life would be without having to make choices and choosing your destiny but being led by people all around you.

There are lot of women in this book and it gives you different perspectives about women - jealousy, compassion, ambition, endurance and greed. Somehow, i found it difficult to read this book although there are lot of interesting quips that puts your imagination into a real execution.
The romance between Sayuri and the chariman is actually quite boring since nothing really happens till the very end and you are ready to give it up.

The analogy to eels was quite hilarious and the fights between Sayuri and Hasutmomo was also quite energising. The plot is quite good and since i haven't really read a book as extensive about Japan and geisha, it kept me going. At one point, i really wanted to meet a geisha and watch her dance performance.

I would recommend this book, a very interesting read.

Project Green

Now most of us would be familiar with the word green. What with eco-shape containers and say-no-to-plastic trailers, we can all understand the importance of global warming and going green.
Little things go a long way, like cycling to office, planting a garden, bringing a water bottle to work and car pooling. But these are not little things, they are lifestyle changes and sometimes it is difficult to change how you have lived for over twenty-something years(with little or no consideration) to the environment.

So here i'am embarking on a PROJECT GREEN, where am going to learn a synergtic way to keep the environment safe for my grand children and many more generations to come and hopefully, they would be able to see the wonderful things, i have seen and enjoyed.

Summer Island

Summer Island by Kristin Hannah was a book that i started to read on a sunday evening and decided to bunk monday and finish it through. It gives me immense pleasure to take a day off just to finish a book, something i have not done in many years. The last i remember was in college and back then we were not accountable for anything. Sometimes when i look at my sister juggling office and family i wonder if such simple pleasures would ever come back, where taking a day off was just about that and nothing more and nothing less.

Neverthless, this was a book review so let me stick to that. What got me bowled over was the number of characters in the book and how Kristin had detailed each of these characters. Nora Bridge is the woman who not only walked out from her marriage but motherhood and even though she has made peace with the former, the latter haunts her every living day. Ruby is a strong willed, honest to the word teenager in an adult and when she comes of age, she sheds wisdom on every one of us. The tangles of the family, how it is important to realize that mistakes are a part of it and how to forgive is what holds us together is easily penned. When i started reading this book i compared it to one of the mills & boons but it never treads on the physical strings but leans on the emotional side.

I really enjoyed reading Kristin Hannah's writing and now i want to read her latest - Fire Fly lane. Summer Island is a book you need to curl up with coffee and cookies and be ready to make a call to your mom or sis immediately after that.

Will i find them?

I decided to sit down and make a list of books that i want to read in the next few weeks, so i dont have to go to the library and wonder what books am going to land up with. In the past, that has never worked.


Although it is utterly frustrating not to find the books that i really want to read, randomly picking them up hasn't helped me either. So i decided to make this list for the next couple of weeks and if i dont get this, i would rather settle for a daniel steele or John Grisham which would not be so much of a loss either way.


So here goes, (fingers crossed to find them)


HouseKeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackermann
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A couple of them are from the reviews my fellow bloggers gave, but i think this would make up a good read.