Admit One by Emmett James

Title: Admit One
Author: Emmett James
Hardcover: 216 pages
Publisher: FizzyPop (February 1, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0984258109
Source: Online publicist
Rating: 4 out of 5

My thoughts:
Admit One was an unusual book. It is a journey in film but it’s certainly unlike anything I expected. It starts with his childhood experiences while watching the movies with his family. The theater outings start with The Jungle Book, Grease, Sindbad and other movies. We learn about this family and the place where he lived. And although he has nothing but bad things to say about his mom and brother, I enjoyed this section. He has a funny and sarcastic way of saying things.

What I enjoyed most was the second half of the book. That’s when he leaves Britain for America to try his hand in Hollywood. The reason why he has to leave Britain is another story altogether. Seriously, I couldn’t believe some of the things this guy did.

At times I didn’t quite like the things he did but then again I have to applaud his honesty and guts to own up to his actions. His struggles to become a star and in the process landing in all the wrong jobs was hilarious. I could give you examples but it would kind of spoil the book.

It’s interesting to know what someone has to go through to make it big in Hollywood. I like the authors ability to find humor in the most embarrassing situations. Everyone who loves movies and has grown up with a healthy obsession with them can definitely relate to his experiences. There is this one paragraph at the end which I really liked (no spoilers).

Movies are pure illusion, the illusion beginning with the very word itself-movie. There really is in literal terms no such thing as a motion picture. A moving, talking piece of celluloid just doesn’t exist. What we really stare at are still photographs-twenty four brief flickers of images per second, inevitably summoning a multitude of thoughts, feelings and actions from within ourselves. A place in which each of us has a unique documentary taking shape, where one’s own personal life story begins to play out for the world.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to everybody.

P.S: I’m curious about the prologue to Steven Seagal though.

Mr. Seagal, I’m having a party, and you’re just not invited…

Why was that?

BTT: Why you read?

Suggested by Janet:
I’ve seen this quotation in several places lately. It’s from Sven Birkerts’ ‘The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age’:

“To read, when one does so of one’s own free will, is to make a volitional statement, to cast a vote; it is to posit an elsewhere and set off toward it. And like any traveling, reading is at once a movement and a comment of sorts about the place one has left. To open a book voluntarily is at some level to remark the insufficiency either of one’s life or one’s orientation toward it.”

To what extent does this describe you?

Honestly? I’m not sure I understand everything in the quote above. I had to look up volitional and posit

“reading is at once a movement and a comment of sorts about the place one has left“. I understand this as reacting to the book from where you are at that moment in your life. Your experiences, your surroundings affects what you take from a book or how you relate to it. So in that sense yes, I agree with it.

“To open a book voluntarily is at some level to remark the insufficiency either of one’s life or one’s orientation toward it.” I don’t agree with this. Just because I want to read, say YA, does not mean I miss that stage in my life. My orientation towards YA could be because of completely different reasons. But then again, it could be insufficiency in a total different way. I might feel like reading books set in colder regions just because I live in a hot place.

We humans need constant change, we like to know and experience things that are different than our own. At least that is my basis for reading other than entertainment of course.

Wordless Wednesday: India

On the way to Bhuleshwar…

used to plow the fields

Bhuleshwar Temple

Selkie Girl by Laurie Brooks

Title: Selkie Girl
Author: Laurie Brooks
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (October 14, 2008)
Source: Library
Setting: Shapinsay (Orkney Islands), Scotland
Rating: 4 out of 5

My thoughts:
Selkie Girl is a story set in Shapinsay Island which is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. This story is inspired by Selkie legends where a Selkie is a creature that is half human and half Seal.

Elin Jean has always felt like an outcast in her village. She has fingers which are connected by thin webs that make her the object of ridicule in the village. She spends most of her time in isolation seeking solace from the Ocean. She lives with her parents and her grandfather. But no one has ever been open to her about why she is so different from the others.

She would come to know in time, yes, but it will change her life, turn it upside down and will lead her on a journey into the unknown. She will have to find a purpose and a place to belong.

Selkie Girl is a magical book. The setting is beautiful and mythical. Laurie Brooks writing creates an imagery so vivid that you can feel and imagine the vastness of the ocean, the horror of the seals fate, the beauty of the land and Elin Jean’s struggle to belong either on land or in the sea. The author has taken the Selkie legend and turned it into something else.

I could give you one example of the beautiful writing here:

Here is a roaring power to be reckoned with, this channel where the North Sea meets the mighty Atlantic. At odds with each other, the two bodies collide, churning into waves that can rise to forty feet. As change-able as the weather that reigns over it, the channel rests, mild as a newborn lamb, until the wind shifts it into raging tides that can catch the most experienced sailor unawares. And in a storm, the waves stretch as tall as mountains, white peaks battling for domain over the waterway. Even the thought of these storms humbles the others. What the sea gives up, it must take away, they say. And the truth of those words is born of bitter experience. Each year families lose fishermen to the sea, gobbles up in the wild storms, bodies lost forever beneath the tides.

And although the writing is beautiful, it can be a bit too wordy at times.

Grandpa blows rings of smoke, one inside the next. He sends the ovals toward the ceiling, and they follow willingly until they collide with the lingering haze from the cooking fire above and their perfect circles distort and disappear.

The first half was a bit slow for me but I raced through the second half not wanting to finish the book but also wanting to know what happens. Again a Young Adult book that can easily be a crossover.

Having said the above, I believe I have reasons for loving this book more than I expect others to. I LOVE the ocean and that’s probably why I could understand the endless pages describing Elin Jean’s pull to the ocean, her reasons being different than mine though. I love books set in lush, green surroundings, if it’s an island it’s a plus, if the island is in Scotland or Ireland, even better. And finally, I love books based on legends, myths or fairy tales. All I want to say is that these are also some of the factors that have lead me to like this book. That’s all.

P.S: I kind of hate the cover.

Something, maybe by Elizabeth Scott

Title: Something, maybe
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Source: Library
Genre: YA
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (March 24, 2009)

My thoughts:
I have been following Elizabeth Scott’s blog for sometime now but I had not read even a single book by her. So I picked up Something, maybe from the library.

Something, maybe is really a feel good book, a lighthearted story about a teenage girl Hannah in a small town. There are quite a few themes covered in this book but none are too overbearing. There is Hannah’s mom who is grieving for her dead husband and Hannah who is trying to fit in. Hannah has a huge crush on Josh who works with her at Burger Town call center and Finn who irritates her enough to not think seriously about.

I had read its a romance story. It is, but romance is not the main theme in this book according to me. I found the relationship between Hannah and her dad very interesting. Her dad is an old, rich and a famous guy with his own reality show. At the beginning I found their relationship really funny but as the story progressed I found it sad and heart breaking.

I liked all the characters-Hannah, Finn, her mom and even Josh. Elizabeth Scott makes all of them feel real. Something, maybe is a very good page turner but I would recommend it to YA lovers only.

Weekend Site-seeing

We had a long weekend as it was Chinese New Year. We spent the New Year Weekend and the Valentines Weekend visiting places in and around Singapore.

We went to the HSBC Tree Top walk which is a bridge suspended over the Forest. It’s beautiful. We took the longer route through the MacRitchie Reservoir Park, so we walked for more than 10 Km. It was fun though.

Tree Top Walk

MacRitchie Reservoir Park

St. John’s Island and Kusu Island are 2 small Islands to the South of Singapore. They are beautiful and even though we went on a public Holiday it wasn’t very crowded.

St John's Island

St. Johns

Kusu Island

Kusu Island

BTT: Reading encouragement

Suggested by Barbara H:

How can you encourage a non-reading child to read? What about a teen-ager? Would you require books to be read in the hopes that they would enjoy them once they got into them, or offer incentives, or just suggest interesting books? If you do offer incentives and suggestions and that doesn’t work, would you then require a certain amount of reading? At what point do you just accept that your child is a non-reader?

Honestly I have no clue because I don’t have any kids nor do I interact with kids or teenagers who would require reading encouragement.

You know I always think that when I have kids I would really want them to be book lovers. It opens up a whole new world, not to mention hours and hours of entertainment. I know it’s weird but I really want a girl so that I can give all my books to her as an inheritance. Most of the books I have are the ones women would like to read. All the romance books might not go down well with a boy.

But anyway, I’m digressing. As far as I’m concerned, no one encouraged me to read, neither at home nor at school. I started reading pretty late and it just happened. I guess it’s about finding the right book at the right time. With teenage girls you cannot go wrong with Nancy Drew’s and just progress from there. Besides the kind of books that are getting written in the YA category, I don’t think there is ever going to be a dearth of reading material.

But then again, if my kids do not like reading it’s not going to be the end of the world. I would definitely be very sad, but I would eventually be okay with it. Time will tell.

I’m definitely interested in reading answers of the experienced people out there.

Wordless Wednesday: Jurong Bird Park (Singapore)

In the name of God by Paula Jolin

Title: In the name of God
Author: Paula Jolin
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (April 3, 2007)
Source: Library
Setting: Damascus (Syria)
Rating: 4.75 out of 5

My Thoughts:
In the name of God was a very unusual book. It’s how a 17 year old girl, Nadia, turns from being a devout Muslim to a fanatic. It makes us realize that there is a very thin line between the very religious and the fanatic if there are people who know how to exploit it.

Nadia lives in Damascus, Syria with her mother and brother. Nadia just wants to walk the path of God, do whatever he asks and be a good Muslim. But when the conditions in Syria worsen, the conflicts between the Muslims and the Syrian Government are on the rise and American Bombs are attacking the neighboring countries, Nadia is forced to direct her devotion on a path that she thinks will take her directly to heaven.

In the name of God gives us a good insight into how a transformation like this can occur and how people are ready to do anything for religion.

There were some of the arguments that I had to agree made sense. I had to agree with Nadia’s point of view at times. But sometimes, even if I did understand I did not agree with her.

This book could work both ways actually. It could be a great read for American teens to see the world from others eyes. I would like to think most of them already know the consequences of the war but this book would give them an experience of being on the other side of the fence.

On the other hand, I hate to say this, but this book could feed into the psyche of someone who is already on the path of being a fanatic because the arguments in this book are good on both sides. But as we all know, people see what they want to. I just hope what I’m saying is wrong because this book is good and deserves a wider readership.

One more thing, it’s a YA book but I don’t know what else can be called a cross over, if not this.

Note: You need to know the basics of Syrian history. Just Google a bit and you’re set to go.

Lost in Austen

Yes!!! I’ve finally watched it. In one day. Yes, the entire series and I don’t know how time flew. For those very few who don’t know what this is about: It’s a mini series and a different spin on Pride and Prejudice. Amanda Price, a 20th Century girl from London, frequently immerses herself in the World of P&P as an escape, when one day she finds herself in the World of Austen, switching places with Elizabeth at that. Needless to say the plot doesn’t go as she knows it does.

I was a little skeptical at first. Although I’m not an Austen purist I had heard the main plots in this version were changed. But I was pleasantly surprised.

How many of us, when we were young, wanted to swap places with Elizabeth and have Darcy love you instead? I know I did. Amanda has just this dream of her fulfilled. She gets to live in the P&P world and get to the characters up close.

**spoilers**

I gasped so many times at the twists in this series and thought to myself that this clearly cannot be happening. I mean Jane marrying Collins? Outrageous!!!

There were a couple of twists I didn’t like-Bingley falling for Amanda. I mean seriously? Thankfully the writer did not continue on that.

But some of faves were

–Wickham turning out to be a good man after all. That was refreshing.
–And the best of all was Caroline Bingley being a lesbian. I mean really. Who saw that coming?

I thought I would not like to see Darcy falling in love with Amanda instead of Elizabeth but it was so well done that I was rooting for Amanda all the way.

5/5. Do watch it if you haven’t.

You know what the best scene I thought in the movie was? When Amanda asks Darcy to do this one thing.

Oh yes, another one of my fantasies

Whats your take on this version of P&P? Did you like it?