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Archive for the ‘BTT’ Category

Booking through Thursday’s : A weekly meme based on books

BTT: Blurb: What attracts you to a book?

Posted by Violet on October 29, 2009

btt2Suggested by Jennysbooks:
Something I’ve been thinking about lately: “What words/phrases in a blurb make a book irresistible? What words/phrases will make you put the book back down immediately?”

hmmm…very interesting.

For me, words like “true story”, “war zone”, “fairy tale”, “scary”, “southern charm”, “romantic”, “in the depths of the forests”, “magical” make a book irresistible.

What I won’t care about is probably “spiritual journey”, “suffering from incurable disease”, “sports”, “has to take a super secret chip from Russia and plant it in the USA and then act as a spy by infiltrating the British Army” (basically anything that looks too complicated)

That’s it’s actually. But I am a very impulsive person; I just might pick anything depending on whim and if any blogger I trust effectively pitches it :)

I have answered the question considering what I understood is correct :)

Posted in BTT | 18 Comments »

Have you ever lied about reading a book?

Posted by Violet on October 1, 2009

Two-thirds of Brits have lied about reading books they haven’t. Have you? Why? What book?

Ummm…no. Not exactly. Okay let me explain. I have never ever said I’ve read a book when I haven’t even opened the first page. But…I do say I’ve read the book when I have left it midway.

Books that come to my mind are The Fountainhead, To Kill a Mockingbird and possibly a couple more. I have read more than 200 pages of these books. Then I just couldn’t go on. I think I might like both these books if I read them now, I’m just not sure. But if you ask me if I’ve read them without being really interested in what I answer, I’ll probably say ‘yes, I have’.

the_fountainheadto_kill_a_mockingbord

But if you really want to discuss I will tell you why I did not finish these books, it all really depends on whom I’m talking to.

What about you?

Posted in BTT | 30 Comments »

BTT: Biggest book you’ve read recently?

Posted by Violet on September 3, 2009

What’s the biggest book you’ve read recently?
(Feel free to think “big” as size, or as popularity, or in any other way you care to interpret.)

Definitely The Handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood. I even wrote a review. This book had been on my wish list for a long time and I finally got to read it. I was expecting a 5 star read and even though I liked it, it got only a 3.5 from me. But yes, I will definitely read another book by Atwood because I loved the writing.

Also, Carrie by Stephen King. Not only in terms of the book, but in terms of the author too. It was the first Stephen King book I read (not counting the Eyes of the Dragon) and I loved it. Definitely looking forward to reading more by him.

handmaids-taleCarrie

What about you?

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Don’t forget to enter my contest for Nefertiti and Cleopatra’s Daughter+Cleopatra Earrings. Open Internationally!!!
 

contest_new

Posted in BTT | 23 Comments »

BTT: Recent fluff

Posted by Violet on August 27, 2009

What’s the lightest, most “fluff” kind of book you’ve read recently?

Hmmm…that actually depends on what fluff means to you. I count chick-lit, romance in the fluff category, but that doesn’t mean that they are not awesome or intellectual reads.

Let me see.

I’ve read The Grand Finale and The Family Man by Jayne Ann Krentz recently and I still haven’t reviewed them here. So here’s the short of it without the plots, just a general idea of what I thought of the books.

The Grand Finale by Janet Evanovich: I had heard so much about Janet Evanovich and about how funny her books are. So I grabbed this book when I saw it in the library. I liked the book but not as much as I expected to. And although I smiled a few times I did not find it that funny. Weird considering how much my sister liked the sense of humor in this book. The good part was that it was a quick, light read. I read it in a single sitting which is very rare these days. Sadly I did not connect with any of the characters and the plot was kind of common too.

The Family Man by Jayne Ann Krentz: I picked this book when I found that nothing held my interest. I was going through what we call the reader’s block. This book helped me get out of it. The plot was normal, nothing new in it but I really liked how the heroine was portrayed in this book. She was working and she was good at what she did. She was also very ambitious and was planning to open am eating joint of her own. The romance was normal but I liked the family dynamics in it.

Posted in BTT | 20 Comments »

BTT: funniest book you’ve read recently?

Posted by Violet on July 30, 2009

What’s the funniest book you’ve read recently?

Oh well, I don’t read many funny books. As in I don’t go out of the way to pick “only” funny. I have Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris which I thought was funny enough.

Otherwise I have read books recently which had a lot of humor in them. Vamped and And then everything Unraveled come to my mind.

Somehow I feel I’m not too much into funny books or comedy for that matter. I am planning to read more David Sedaris and Nick Hornby but I’m no hurry.

One book I do remember reading and laughing out loud is Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur. It’s a story about an Indian Village boy who goes to America for studies and how his friends make plans for him so that he looses his virginity. Well, something like that. I think it’s also been made into a movie but I haven’t seen it yet.

But this book was real funny. I think Indians would understand it better because a lot of jokes would be tangent to other people. But it’s still fun. Do read it if you ever get the chance.

What’s the funniest book you have read recently? Please do give me any suggestions…

Posted in BTT | 15 Comments »

BTT: What do you prefer?

Posted by Violet on July 23, 2009

I forgot its Thursday and I already posted something else. As a rule I don’t do two posts a day. But anyway. Do visit the other post and let me know what you think of Reader’s Digest Condensed editions.

Onto BTT.

Today’s questions is (are)
Which do you prefer? (Quick answers–we’ll do more detail at some later date)

Reading something frivolous? Or something serious?
Both, depending on my mood. Alternately perhaps.
Paperbacks? Or hardcovers?
Both, preferably paperbacks.
Fiction? Or Nonfiction?
Fiction, sometimes non-fiction, mainly memoirs
Poetry? Or Prose?
Prose. I don’t read poetry.
Biographies? Or Autobiographies?
Any. No, I think autobiographies.
History? Or Historical Fiction?
Historical Fiction
Series? Or Stand-alones?
Stand-alones. But sometimes series have their own charm.
Classics? Or best-sellers?
Both.
Lurid, fruity prose? Or straight-forward, basic prose?
Again both
Plots? Or Stream-of-Consciousness?
Plots, I think.
Long books? Or Short?
Short or medium for that matter
Illustrated? Or Non-illustrated?
Both
Borrowed? Or Owned?
Owned
New? Or Used?
Both, preferably old.
(Yes, I know, some of these we’ve touched on before, and some of these we might address in-depth in the future, but for today–just quick answers!)

Considering how much I love to ramble on I had a hard time giving the answers. I had to curb my urge to elaborate many times :)

What about you?

Posted in BTT | 23 Comments »

BTT: Unread

Posted by Violet on July 9, 2009

An idea I got from The Toddled Dredge (via K for Kat). Here’s what she said:

“So here today I present to you an Unread Books Challenge. Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, ‘No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!’ “

Here is my bookshelf.

Photobucket

As you can see there are 2 shelves. I categorize my books into read and unread because that’s all the space I have to segregate books. The lower shelf is the “unread” one. It’s has 3 rows of books, 2 of which you cannot see from the picture as they are stacked behind. If I had to guess how many books are in my Unread pile, it would be more than 100.

There are books which I desperately want to read. Here are some of them
The Handmaid’s tale
Middlesex
Fahrenheit 451
Where the heart is
River, cross my heart
Anne of Green Gables (2)Little Women
Autobiography of a monk
100 days in Baghdad
The Thirteenth Tale
Their Eyes were Watching God and so on and so forth.

In spite of all this, I would never say “Don’t give me another book to read”, no matter how many books I have :) Though I think I should.

What about you?

Posted in BTT | 31 Comments »

BTT: Do you read Celebrity memoirs?

Posted by Violet on July 2, 2009

Do you read celebrity memoirs? Which ones have you read or do you want to read? Which nonexistent celebrity memoirs would you like to see?

uummm….generally no. I do skim through them if I come across any in the bookstore or the library. But I don’t really read them from cover to cover. Although I love reading memoirs, celebrity memoirs just don’t interest me unless they have something other than their movie careers in their books.

If models come under celebrities, I would like to mention one book that I have been searching for a long time but unable to find.

Desert Flower by Waris Dirie. I really do want to read this one. Her life story fascinates me.

desert_flowerFrom Publishers Weekly
Joining the current rage for model memoirs (see review above) is Dirie, a native of Somalia, who has for more than a decade stalked the world’s catwalks and appeared in numerous glossy magazines. This, however, is no fluff-job dictated into a tape recorder on transatlantic flights, then recomposed by a hired gun back in New York. Rather, it is a striking account of a personal odyssey that began in the Somali desert, where Dirie grew up without shoes, living amid nomadic tribes and tyrannized by patriarchal strictures. As a pubescent girl, Dirie was circumcised?a procedure described here in chilling detail?before escaping an arranged marriage to stay with an aunt in Mogadishu. Landing a job as a house servant in London, Dirie struggled to launch a modeling career while dodging British immigration authorities and the dreadful results of marriages of convenience. At the end of this affecting and at times very entertaining book, Dirie’s metamorphosis from desert nomad into jetsetting nomad culminates in a post as a human rights ambassador to the UN, where, these days, Dirie campaigns for the eradication of female circumcision and women’s rights around the globe. It’s easy to forget that Dirie’s memoir is a book about someone whose success has come from posing for the camera. Indeed, it is Dirie’s remarkable lack of narcissism or entitlement that makes her so captivating a raconteur.

I’ve read Britney Spears mom’s memoir if her mom does come under celebrities. It was good. See my review here.

Sushmita Sen

Sushmita Sen

One autobiography I would be interested in reading would be ‘The butterfly’ by Sushmita Sen (which is not out yet). She is one actor I really admire. She was Ms. Universe somewhere around 1997, I think. And she is one of the very first celebrity women who had adopted a girl in spite of being single. That’s a huge thing here.

Other than that? Not really interested.

P.S: I almost forgot. I would really love to read Oprah’s Memoir/ Autobiography too. Or is there one already?

Oh ans yes, I’ve read Sidney Sheldon’s autobiography which I didn’t like so much. For me he was a Celebrity :)

Posted in BTT | 23 Comments »

Hot!!!

Posted by Violet on June 25, 2009

Now that summer is here (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), what is the most “Summery” book you can think of? The one that captures the essence of summer for you?
(I’m not asking for you to list your ideal “beach reading,” you understand, but the book that you can read at any time of year but that evokes “summer.”)

That is a tough question, the answer of which could depend each person’s perspective of what summer is. I like to read books that will take me away from the hot summer’s here. I would like to read a book that is based in the colder regions or the rainy ones, something like Chasing the monsoon. You get the point.

But if you ask me what books remind me of summer, I would mention books that remind me of lazy days and relaxed evenings. I would put most romances in this category. I don’t like to read anything heavy when it’s too hot, it’s gets difficult to concentrate.

As I said I would put all romances (Lisa Kleypas, Nora Roberts, Jude Deveraux, Sandra Brown etc, etc) as summer reads or even Young Adult books that do not deal with difficult subjects.

I hope I have answered the question correctly. Even if I haven’t, I can think of a cover that reminds me of summer though :)

I know it says autumn, but for me it’s similar to Summer. This is the book I’m reading currently (which reminds me I have to update the Currently Reading section) and although it’s somewhere between the end of summer and the start of the rainy season here, I find this a perfect distraction :)

What books remind you of Summer? Or let’s say, What exactly is Summer in your parts like?

Posted in BTT | 15 Comments »

BTT: Fantasy and Sci-Fi…

Posted by Violet on June 18, 2009

One of my favorite sci-fi authors (Sharon Lee) has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day.

As she puts it:

So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

I don’t read much Sci-fi. It’s not that I don’t like it; it’s just that I don’t know what to read. The books I remember reading are The hollow Skull (loved it) and The Trechyon Web by Christopher Pike. And I’ve read Uglies too. I used to read a lot of Robin Cook in college. Does that come under Sci-fi? And Congo too. Its one of my favorite book and I love the movie too. This is as far as my Sci-fi reading goes. I might have read others but I can’t recall any at the moment.

I read Fantasy but not as much as I would like to. As always I can’t recall any names. And I’ve never heard of Sharon Lee. I have Un Lun Dun which is an Urban Fantasy and I’ve been wanting to read it for a long time. Lately I’ve noticed there are a lot of Fantasy books coming out in YA.

What will I do on 23rd? I don’t know. I might read or review a fantasy/ Sci-fi. What say?

Do you read Fantasy/ Sci-Fi? What will you do on 23rd?

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tempt_me_at_twilightOMG, I had to mention this. I just found out that the third book in the Hathway series Tempt me at Twilight is releasing in September this year. Yipieeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

I’m at work and I literally feel like jumping but I can’t, so I’m doing the next best thing. Writing it on my blog :)
I’ve read the first 2 books Mine till Midnight and Seduce me at Sunrise and loved them. Although I wanted it to be on Leo, I’m happy with Poppy too.

Aaaaannnnnndddd I think its high time I start working on my blogroll

Posted in BTT | 26 Comments »