Xombies by Walter Greatshell: for R.I.P Challenge

Xombies by Walter Greatshell|August 3rd 2004 by Berkley|352 pages|Science Fiction

2 stars out of 5

About the book: Spreading at an astonishing speed, the “Agent X” virus transforms everyone it touches into maniacal monsters. Lulu Pangloss, one of the few as yet uninfected, flees to the last safe place on earth–but what’s awaiting her there is as unexpected, and as frightening, as what’s followed her.

My Review:
Xombies…What do I say about this book? I picked it up from a store because of the awesome cover and of course because it had Zombies. It does starts with some fun and gory zombie fighting that I was expecting from this book in the first place. The Zombies are created by a virus called Agent X which mysteriously affects women first.

17 year old Lulu and an old guy Mr. Cowper flee from their homes and go to a Navy base to find protection with the navy. Cowper is supposed to be Lulu’s father, the guy who ran away from her mother and someone whom Lulu had never met for the first 17 years of her life.

Circumstances lead to Lulu and Cowper running away together. But what they find at the Navy base is not protection but hundred’s of men and boys who Cowper suspects would be left behind once the Zombie defenses stop working and they invade the base as well. Cowper along with the men takes control of the Submarine which then sails (?) off to the Artic regions.

So far so good. I was really into the story until all the zombies were wiped out from the Submarine. But after that the Zombies kind of disappear for almost 200 pages of the book. That would have been okay if the rest of the book would have been good. But the Submarine descriptions were very tedious and I found myself very disinterested after that. I couldn’t picturize the descriptions and there was too much technical jargon. Honestly I skipped a lot of that section and it’s a huge section of the book.

The last hundred pages or so were really good but then again I was so bored with the middle section that I just wanted to finish the book. So I read the last 100 pages real fast which kind of led to me to missing out certain explanations of the Agent X that caused the Xombies. I found a few loopholes in the story but then again I said I skipped, so I’m not sure they were really loopholes.

The 2 stars are mainly because after the first 100 pages I lost interest in the book. Even the last 100 pages of the book could not revive my interest. But not wanting to be completely unfair, I will tell you what I liked in the book. I liked the writing style. The protagonist Lulu was a very street smart and intelligent girl whom I liked right from the start. The bond between father and daughter though not in the face was nicely developed. The Zombie sections, however few were awesome, so was all the action.

All I can say is that this book needs major editing, especially for the Submarine part.

This book is re-releasing this year with a different cover (which I don’t like much) and title XOMBIES: APOCALYPSE BLUES, with the sequel XOMBIES: APOCALYPTICON coming out in 2010, I think.

Another one down for R.I.P

The “self-help” section

I was watching a re-run of S*x and the City the other day. In the episode, the girls go to a bookstore and Charlotte goes to the Self-help section to buy a book on ‘How to start again’ after her broken relationship. There are 2 women in that section and one of them is crying loudly in a funny and exaggerated way while reading a book. Charlotte picks up a book and the same woman comments that it helped her immensely. Charlotte instantly feels uncomfortable and moves out of the self-help section with an excuse that she was actually looking for the travel section. Finally, she goes home and orders the book online.

I kept thinking about this particular episode for almost a week. So I thought I should write it down. I don’t read self-help usually because I find it extremely boring. Maybe I haven’t come across the right book. The only self help book I own is Men are from Mars, Woman are from Venus, but I still haven’t read it .Oh and another one called Screw Cupid, but that was a review copy and it was fun.

All I wanted to ask is this-
How many of you read self-help books? If you do, do you feel shy browsing in the self-help section? Or do you ever feel shy while buying books like ’101 ways of making friends’ or ’100 ways to find out if your husband is having an affair’???

If you don’t read such books, do you judge people who do? Just a little maybe? And not necessarily in a wrong way.

Just curious…

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Title: Hush Hush
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing (October 13, 2009)
Genre: Young Adult
Rating: 4 out of 5

About the book:
For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She’s never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.
But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora’s not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can’t decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen – and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

My Review:
After her father’s murder a year ago, Nora stays with her mother in the same old farmhouse just outside the city. As they have to come up with the maintenance cost for the farmhouse, her mother has to work after her father’s death and Nora is mostly home alone with her mother traveling for her job. Nora is a sincere student and none of the boys in her School provide any attraction or distraction for her.

Enter Patch. Patch is a new transfer and is usually quite and detached. Of course Nora and Patch are coupled for biology Assignment and part of it is getting to know each other and then making a report out of it. In spite of the fact that Nora knows something is wrong with Patch, she finds it very difficult to stay detached from him. Without giving much away, what ensues later is unraveling of mysteries, of Patch and of some other guys that enter the picture later.

I started the book thinking it would be heavy on fantasy but it was focused on the mystery aspect of the story for most of the part. But the mystery was so good that I did not mind. The characters were great. Patch was sexy and attractive and dangerous. Although I didn’t like Nora much she wasn’t some dumb female attracted to the dark and dangerous kind and acting on it just because she could (Read Bella from Twilight). She was intelligent and had a mind of her own. Nora’s friend Vee was the most entertaining of the lot. I almost waited for her to come in the picture. She was entertaining even when she was discussed in third person.

The one thing that I do find myself complaining about is the lack of atmosphere. I’m not saying it wasn’t there, just that I didn’t feel it much. Although I enjoyed Hush Hush thoroughly, I wish I could be transported to that place while reading it. I would have enjoyed it even more than I did. But then I haven’t seen this complaint in any other reviews so it could just be my mood. I am not sure.

In spite of my minor complaint, the fact remains that Hush, Hush is a great debut novel and I will definitely be looking out for books by Becca Fitzpatrick in the future.

Highly recommended if you like Young Adult or Fantasy.

After You by Julie Buxbaum

Title: After You
Author: Julie Buxbaum
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: The Dial Press; 1 edition (August 25, 2009)
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

My Review:
I have been sitting on this review for a long time. I tried writing it a couple of times but I just couldn’t do it justice. But I’m going to try and tell you how lovely this book is. Ellie’s best friend Lucy is murdered in broad daylight and Ellie goes to London to take care of her 8 year daughter Sophie. Lucy’s husband Greg is coping with his own grief and does not really pay much attention to Sophie or what’s going on in the house. He’s more than happy to hand over the ropes to Ellie for a while.

Sophie is understandably going through a shock and has stopped speaking at all. Ellie and her husband’s relationship is strained because Ellie lost her child some time back. Instead of working on it, Ellie goes to London to take care of Sophie and figure out what’s going on with her life and her relationship.

As you can see, After You is not strong on plot; it’s more focused on the relationship aspect of it, relationship between friends, between mother and daughter and between husband and wife. Ellie tires to get Sophie out of her shock by reading aloud The Secret Garden to her every night. And even though most of you know what I think of The Secret Garden, I really enjoyed how the author used the book in the story. I disliked Ellie sometimes because of the way she handled her relationship with her husband, the way she even refused to try. Why does a loss of a baby have to result in the loss of your relationship with your husband too? Is having a child or not the only basis for the marriage?

As Ellie comes to terms with these things and more, we get to see the transformation in her and as well as Sophie, who is a real sweetheart by the way. Everyone in this book has their own problems and in the end however everything is not resolved, there is an effort to mend what they already have instead of being distraught over what was lost.

After You is a story of loss, hope, grief, regrets, family, finding happiness and most important, finding a place where you belong to . After You is a brilliant look at relationships with beautiful writing from Julie Buxbaum. Although the book may sound really sad, it is actually quite funny most of the time.

Highly Recommended.

My favorite passages. They are probably understood best with context.

Time and place fall away. We dip into the book, as if bathing. There will soon be a garden. A buried key. A hidden door. We keep reading, and we can almost forget everything that has been lost and taken.
*****
“Can you at least try to understand?”
“Okay, I can do that. I’ll try.” And here’s the thing about Philip. Just when you think you may stop loving him, that you can give him up for good, that enough distance has grown between you that there is no climbing back into this thing, that he’s become more stranger than husband, he goes and says something that makes you forget why you could have ever doubted him in the first place: “Of course, I can try for you.”
*****
I want to be eight years old again, sit in a desk that wraps around on the right side even though I am a lefty, and I want to store my already made lunch and floppy school-books in its belly. I want to laugh when my teacher gets chalk on her back and get called on to recite my multiplication tables. I want my responsibilities clearly laid out: to go to school, to do my home-work, to go to bed at bedtime, and to brush my teeth twice a day. I want to surrender all of my decision-making power, the cruel weapon of too much freedom, and hand in my adulthood badge. I don’t want to keep falling up.

I’m so glad I’ve already ordered The Opposite Of Love by the same author, now just keeping my fingers crossed that it arrives

Weekly Geeks…and a little disclosure!!!

Personally, after such weeks, I feel almost burnt out and think, “Why am I doing this? I’m not getting paid for this.” Do you ever feel the same way after weeks like the ones mentioned above? If you do, what do you to counter it? How do you keep going? Do you take a break from posts after that, or do you just “soldier on”?

Or if you don’t feel burnt out after such weeks, why not? Also why are you a book blogger? From what I’ve seen and experienced, it’s certainly not the fame or the glory that you get. So what is it? Why? Why? Why?

Believe it or not but I’ve never thought “Why am I doing this? I’m not getting paid for this.” I used to itch to talk about books I have tried to talk to people around me and if you don’t like books as much, there is only a little you can listen to. Even now, although my younger sister reads books, she will never listen to me rant about a particular book. ‘What if I want to read it in the future?’ is what she says even if I don’t give spoilers. So my blog is the only place where I get to talk about books. That’s more incentive than I need.

After weeks like BBAW I feel even more energized to keep doing what I do because then you also feel more like a part of a community larger than you ever expected. It’s fun.

I think this is the perfect opportunity to say what I wanted to say for some time.

None of my friends or family about this blog, only J (my would-be husband ) and my younger sister. And although J thinks I’m doing a good job with the blog, he doesn’t read much, so reading this blog for him is like reading books on Finance is for me, lol.

Friends won’t understand my need to blog. For them reading 1 book a month would mean they are voracious readers. So they wouldn’t get it. My blog is almost a refuge for me, a place where I can be myself. When I tell people I read “only” 50 books last year, they would definitely understand the “only” part of it even if they don’t agree with it.

You might have noticed that my blog does not have my name on it anywhere. No, Violet is not my name. VioletCrush is a random name I picked when I shifted my blog from 20six platform to WordPress. There was no other name available that I could think of and I liked the sound of VioletCrush. For those whom I have had contact via email, no, my name is not Eliza either.
Let me explain.

It was 11th July 2006 and I was getting bored in the office with no work. I used to read a few non-book blogs for timepass and in the moment of extreme boredom I thought why not open my own blog. And I did. I didn’t want to continue with it but people started commenting and then I just kept blogging about everything under the sun. I blogged a lot about my personal life. So it didn’t make sense to reveal my identity considering how private and reserved I am. I worked in a call center once and our client was AT&T wireless which was a US based company. So we had to change our work names to American names. I picked Eliza and the email id that I currently have. I used the email id for the blog and I didn’t find any reason to disclose my identity.

A year into blogging and a couple of my friends discovered my blog. I really wasn’t comfortable blogging anymore. So I shifted to WordPress and changed the name of my blog. I kept the email id. Then I started book blogging. And I then started corresponding with authors, publicists and publishers. I never gave my real name and people assumed my name was Eliza. I did clarify it to people who asked…usually. But generally I just didn’t bother. It was too much of a hassle to explain.

I was really paranoid too. I guess mostly it was just due to habit. On certain occasions I commented with my real name by mistake. Once I made some lame excuse of commenting from the wrong Id (sorry don’t remember which blog) but usually I just let it go. But I don’t really think I need to keep my blog private anymore, I don’t blog about my personal life as much as I used to. But…I don’t want to. This is my private place, my refuge and I want to keep it that way.

For those who already know my real name, I’m glad and relieved. I would love it if you address me with my real name in mails or private messages. But on this blog I would prefer to be called Violet or VioletCrush I hope you don’t mind

For that reason alone I am changing my email address, so that I don’t confuse people anymore. My new id is violetc dot books at gmail dot com. My old email address will still work; I will direct all my mails to the new one. So no worries there. I will use my real name to correspond via emails from now on.

Finally…I just can’t keep it short, can I?…Thank you from the bottom of my heart for tolerating my rant and accepting me regardless of my name

What about you? Is anyone else like me? Do your family and friends know about your blog?

ummm…How do I start?

I’m getting married

For those who are old and regular readers of my blog, yes, it is the same guy. My parents have agreed to the wedding now

When you ask? 27th Nov of this year

I couldn’t be more excited

Sorry for the overdose of smileys but I really cannot stop smiling

Are the smileys distracting?

Okay, to make up for them, here’s our pic. It was taken in July last year at my elder sisters wedding.

Between Me and the River: Living Beyond Cancer by Carrie Host

Title: Between Me and the River
Author: Carrie Host
Genre: Non-Fiction-Memoir
Publisher: Harlequin; 1 edition (August 1, 2009)
Hardcover: 304 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5

My Review:
Carrie Host, a mother of three, is diagnosed with a rare life threatening Carcinoid cancer.  Obviously no one thinks such things could happen to them and Carrie is devastated. This book deals with her journey through Cancer with all the up’s and downs. The River signifies the various stages in her life.

This book was a torture to read, torture as in scary. It could probably be because it reminded me of how fragile life is and anything could happen anytime, about how a seemingly happy family could suddenly plunge into darkness and uncertainty.

Carrie Host gives every detail of her treatment and healing process, mostly about her personal journey as opposed to the medical details. She expresses her fears about her children, her future and the fact that there might not be a forever for her and her husband. She is also a poet so that kind of makes the prose a little flowery unlike the usual straightforward tone you find in memoirs, which is not a bad thing.

Take a look at this passage; it gives an example of the flowery writing that I was talking about.

Cancer is like that. At first, you can’t believe that you are in the waiting room of a cancer center. It’s not like the waiting room anywhere else, because all these people are in some way affected by cancer. You don’t want to be one of these people. You don’t want to believe this. It’s the person next to you in that waiting room, looking like he is doing well, who helps you see the first piece of tangible evidence that there are people who survive this. One moment you are spiraling down, sure that you are utterly alone, and then circumstances reveal that you are not. This is where hope comes and puts an arm around you.

This book is not just a memoir, it is in small parts a self help guide too. And although I might not understand the full extent of help her words provide, I do have an idea of the comfort and support they might offer to those who need it.

While I could see how difficult it was for Ms. Host in spite of having loving family and friends, an incredible support system, financial stability and not to mention a very loving husband, I can only imagine how it could be 10 times more difficult for someone who does not have even one of these.

Although a lot difficult to read because of the emotional aspect of it, I do recommend it if you are looking for stories of people who suffer through a deadly disease and see life through their eyes.

Carrie Host and her Family

Thank you Lisa for the book.

Wait Until Twilight by Sang Pak

Title: Wait Until Twilight
Author: Sang Pak
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (August 4, 2009)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My Review:
Samuel is a teenager who has lost his mother a year back. He lives in a small Georgia town with his father who owns a hardware store. One day he and his friend David decide to film 3 babies that are said to be very odd. Some say they look like the devil. Samuel wants something cool and different for their school project, so on a hot sunny afternoon they head off to the “Underwood”. That’s the place where the triplets live with their mother.

Samuel has a very strong reaction after he sees the babies, to the extent that he pukes. Look at the description:

Their heads are way too big, and their arms and legs are all different lengths. Some long, some just stumps with little fingernails stuck in a semicircle. Even their eyes are different sizes, one larger than the other, and their twisted little noses are hardly there.

The mother is angry and drives them out of the house. After this incident Samuel spends his days as before. But the babies’ faces keep haunting him. They are all he thinks of day and night. Their faces keep on haunting him in his dreams and even when he is awake. He knows he shouldn’t return to the house but he does. The mother of the babies has an older psycho son called Daryl whom Samuel should have probably stayed away from. But as days turn into months he becomes so obsessed by the babies that he keeps going back. He wants to do something to save the babies to find peace within.

Wait Until Twilight is mostly a coming of age story but it’s also a story about overcoming the demons inside you and taking charge. The prose was very simple and hence the book was a quick read. But that was exactly what made the horror and the danger that Samuel was in seem so real. The story grows on you slowly and takes hold of and doesn’t let you go till the very end.

The descriptions of the small town were bang on and I could also feel Samuel’s thoughts, his guilt and his fear seeping through the pages. As the book progressed I grew to really like Samuel and the choices he made. And although I sometimes wanted to tell him that what he was doing was very wrong and dangerous, I also knew that he had to do it.

Conclusion: Wait Until Twilight is a great debut novel and although it’s a YA, it’s one of the books that is without doubt a cross-over.

Thanks for Introducing Me to This Book! (s)

Sorry, just cannot list one.

I have bought or at least enquired about a lot of books I’ve seen on blogs. Most of them are not available here or available at high prices. But the ones I have managed to read have been fantastic. If I haven’t liked them, I have at least never regretted reading any book suggested or seen on a book blog I trust.

To list a couple of books I read recently.
The Handmaid’s tale
Carrie by Stephen King.

I would never ever have read another Stephen King if not for the 4R’s Challenge and for the suggestion of Jennifer and Sandy. I loved the book and now I’m really looking forward to reading more by Stephen King.

Jane Eyre is one more book that I already had in my TBR but would probably would never had read it. I picked it up because of the many great review I had read and I could experience the pleasure that is Jane Eyre.

I have bought many books too but haven’t got the chance to read it yet. I don’t remember the exact sources but I bought Persepolis, Un Lun Dun (Nymeth had reviewed King Rat by the same author), Phantoms of the brain (from Eva’s review), Banana Yoshimoto’s couple of books (I was probably influenced by Melody’s review of Kitchen), Ghosts of Eden (which I would have bought if I had not won it from Jackie’s blog). I have a lot of books on my wish list because of Eva’s blog too.

Also, I can never ever thank Jessica enough for Lisa Kleypas. She had a contest long back and the winner could choose one of the books she had mentioned. She had also linked to her review. I picked Seduce me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas based on her review and I loved it. Now I buy any book that I spot by her in the bookstore. I own 6 so far

I can go on and on, I want to list every blog because of which I have added something in my TBR or Wish list, but honestly I don’t have time today, too busy at work. I had to do this, so I’ve done it as quickly as possible. I’ll link the blogs as and when I get the time, I promise. Possibly beautify it too Later.

BBAW: Reading meme!!!

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
Not usually, I like to concentrate on reading completely, unless it’s for read-a-thon
Here is one of the snacks I made for the last one, yum. I’m soooo excited that it’s coming up in October again.

Watermelon and Bhel-an Indian snack

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
I usually don’t mark, but I’m not that particular about it either.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?
Bookmarks. If one isn’t handy I dog-ear.

Laying the book flat open?
No way.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Both.

Hard copy or audiobooks?
No audiobooks for me, thank you.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
I have to read to the end of chapters or at least a break in the chapter.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
No, unless it hinders my understanding to the sentence. Usually I just go with the meaning in context.

What are you currently reading?
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Edit: I was going to start reading this but now I’m reading Between me and the River which looks good so far.

What is the last book you bought?
Oh, I bought a LOT of books. Here’s the post and take a look at the pic below

yay!!!

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
Strictly one book at a time.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
I cannot afford to have a favorite time to read. Night time is the only time I get to read. Favorite place to read would be my computer chair with my feet kicked up on the table or my bed or my armchair in the living room if the Telivision isn’t on.

ArmChair

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Usually stand alone.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
Lisa Kleypas and Nora Roberts for romance readers, Michelle Moran for entertaining and television style Historical fiction, Mary Higgins Clark for mysteries, Sidney Sheldon for people who don’t read much, Jodi Picoult for overtly emotional books and if you want something to think about. I can go on and on but I’ll stop.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
I don’t have enough space to organize, currently it’s read-unread. But when I have enough space I might organize them by Genres and then club the books by same author together.

I enjoyed this topic, let me know if you’ve done it too.