I have taken this negative meme from Dewey's blog. I thought I would give it a shot. My answers are not as good as hers! Feel free to do this meme and credit it to Dewey!

1. When you dislike a book, do you say so in your blog? Why or why not?

I do say so. As I spend a lot of time reading and analysing it, I do think I should mention the negative aspects too. However, I mention it why I did not like that particular book. There might be cultural reasons too. Some books simply do not work for me.

2. Do you temper your feelings about books you didn’t like, so as not to completely slam them? Why or why not?

Earlier I saw my book listed on Amazon! It isn't even nearly written yet, and yet there it was! A very, very strange experience seeing it there. I felt sad, rather than surprised or exhillerated though, seeing it there (was almost going to type just then it felt like coming across your own obituary in a newspaper — that same, I imagine, kind of shocking strangeness — but maybe that is the wrong analogy. Extremely weird though that first glance...left me winded. Seeing the title there for the first time: 'Abandoned', alongside Anya Peters, was a bit unsettling too. It even said how many pages it is: 320! and the date it will be published. Three hundred and twenty pages and none of them written yet! Except mostly in my head — where they have been written over and over most of my life in a way. But that is nowhere near the same as having them written down properly on paper, and then typed up — not in the form they will be in in a book that is sold on Amazon anyway.

You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?

(Obviously, there can be more than one answer, here–a book with a cliff-hanger is going to engender different reactions than a serene, stand-alone, but you get the idea!)

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Hmm...Well, I stretch and yawn first. I guess it depends on the book. If it's a good one, I usually wander around in a reading stupor. I feel all fuzzy headed and I'm still thinking of all that happened in the book. I think about what the characters did after the end, what I want for them, how I would have ended the book. All that jazz.

If it wasn't so good, or *shutter* terrible, I may want to pick up something totally different to scrub my brain.

Lately, the first thing I do after finishing a book is blog about it!

Andi commented on an NY Times article (about another article) on bookshelf etiquette. It was a rather tongue in cheek but the author's #1 rule caused some hubbub:

It is unacceptable to display any book in a public space of your home if you have not read it.

Srly!? What book snobbery! Imagine all the unread books relegated to closet shelves and pushed under beds. Poor books.

Weeks and weeks since I've written in here. I haven't known what to write. I kept waiting for something more interesting to happen, but since I've written the book nothing has really, not really, nothing particularly bloggable anyway. I've spent the time since slowly putting my life back into order, sorting things out, settling back into things, relishing the ordinariness of it all again. I feel stronger now than I have ever done, can't imagine what could phase me after how I lived this time last year, but the feelings I have about the book are still very complicated, conflicted feelings and I suppose that was another reason to avoid writing in here too soon — to avoid even thinking about any of it for a while once it was written. It is done now, will have to speak for itself.

I was thinking of my old bookcase today — a wood-worm-riddled, junk-shop find that I got from outside a shop up near Leeds just after my last year at college. Somehow I'd managed to hang on to it through countless moves over the years. Until the year before last, when all my belongings in storage were sold-off without notifying me, when I could no longer pay the bill and didn't have an address for them to get in touch to let me know: everything from diaries to cutlery to washing machine to a triangular piece of the Berlin Wall I'd hammered off myself, to every photograph I'd ever had, to that lovely, dark-wood bookcase, went.

Stars: ****1/2I read this book for the Celebrate the Author challenge and the Reading My Name challenge.

Celebrate the Author Note:
Dr. Seuss is one of my favourite children’s authors so I didn’t want to cheat and just re-read some of his books that I’ve read a million times. So I decided I’d read a few of this books I haven’t read yet as well as a book about his life.

This book is a Children’s Non-Fiction book about he early life of Dr. Seuss, before he was known as that. It explains who he was as a boy and how he came to be an author and artist. The story itself is written like a picture book and ends when he is 22 and his writing life is taking off. After that is an explanation of how he came up with the idea for some of his books as well as information on his life after 22 such as when he was married and how The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham were the result of bets by his publisher.

You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?

As with most reading bloggers, I think, we all feel so elated after finishing it. Then a bit sad, if it was a really good book. I close the book and savour the book in my mind. Nowadays, I get into writing a review right away as instant recall works best for me. Next is, looking for another book to read. I read two-three books per week. So I do not keep much gaps between the books I read. I try to keep the genres different between reading. However, as most readers do, I too am reading at least three different books at any given point of time. So the end of a book does not affect me that much. And we must not forget all those reading challenges! So where is the time to give a gap?

And being single with no kids and neither pets helps me read as much as I want at any time!!

Here it is, all alone at the bottom of the box: a final unsold copy of Vegan Lunch Box. Yes, I've turned off my ordering buttons and closed up shop, ready to devote myself full time to shmoo's third grade year.

But don't despair, vegan lunch fans! I'm excited to report that a brand new, completely revised edition of Vegan Lunch Box will be coming out from Da Capo Lifelong Books in March 2008.

I've finally crashed through a barrier. I finished reading the endings of several books I've had on the go for what seems like months, and it's a fantastic feeling to have finally done it. It was almost a psychological block. For some reason, I just wasn't able to finish them. But in the last few days without even thinking about it I found myself opening them at the bookmark, curling up somewhere and, one after the other, reading on until the last page. Pure joy.

I'm having a quiet Sunday but there's lots of busy bloggers out there today:

-Nymeth is celebrating and giving books away.

-Justine Picardie is guest blogging tomorrow at Dovegreyreading. Remember, she wrote that Daphne DuMaurier novel? I'm staring at the mailbox waiting for my copy.

-Aquatique has a really interesting post about breaking up over books. Check it out.

And myself, I'm reading Hawaii and Mansfield Park today. Plus, DA-TA-DADA, I opened my own Esty shop here. I only have 2 items now but plan to add more throughout the week. I'm pretty excited out it.

Have a great Sunday!

I am not one to buy books by a list. I do random buying. I pick up a book, look it up and then see if I like it or not. Some authors, I am familiar with, I do not take much time to pick those out.

Every Sunday, in Daryaganj, which is adjacent to Red Fort, Sunday book bazaar starts at 6:30 am and goes on till their wares are done. That is 4 pm or so. I prefer to go alone. I start around 8 am and browse it until 1 pm. Have my lunch at any of the well known eateries where you get piping hot street food.

This is my favourites haunts where you get books dirt cheap. That is staring from Rs 10 onwards. It is one forth of the US Dollar (One US Dollar=Rs 38). I have bought Anne Tyler for Rs 30. Two Amy Tans for Rs 30. You get my gist? I recently bought Picoult's Mercy for Rs 50. Mind you, these are not pirated books. Secondhand maybe, but not pirated. Stephen Kings, Koontz, Wallace, Irving are pretty common. Romances/Best sellers are ever so popular. Next time I plan to hunt for Graphic Novels!

The anticipation of finding certain books keeps me going to the book Bazaar every two weeks.

Most of Carol Shields work that I've read can be described as "women's fiction", meaning that the protagonists are women. Larry's Party is a not unpleasant change from the norm.

Just dropping by to tell you of something that just happened, here at Timothy’s [a coffee shop].
For once, a coffee place is playing the right kind of music. Classical. And I mean the good stuff, the adagios. Intermingled with solo piano-music, nice and relaxing. It’s a great reading atmosphere, and so that’s what I am doing… voraciously reading Ken Follett’s new World Without End.
I’m at page 307. → Just 707 to go.

Just wondering…
Have you ever gotten involved with a book like for instance

My friend Breeni of Breeni Books tagged me for the What are you reading? meme.

I'm supposed to -
Turn to page 123 of the nearest book, go to the fifth sentence and post the next three! Then tag five more people.

I'll cheat and do this for the two books that I'm most actively reading at the moment and not tag five people.

First - Tobacco particulate thickens the air.
A shelf of books: Auden, Veblen, Spengler, Steinbeck, Dos Passos. Tropic of Cancer, out in plain view, it must have been smuggled.That's from Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin, which I am reading in preparation for our book club discussion on Wednesday.

This week’s question is suggested by Puss Reboots:

How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and give the book a try?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

It always seems to be raining when I write a blog.

How reluctant or willing are you to outright abandon the reading of books that are not quite cutting the mustard?
How willing are you to put them aside?
Are you tenacious? Do you give a faltering book a reprieve, and keep turning pages?
Do you toss it on the coffee table and see if perhaps another day, it might light your fire? Or, skipping that phase, do you just toss it in the fireplace?
How many chances do you give a book?
Regarding consummation, how many boring and uninteresting pages or chapters will you endure before you annul your vows and open the covers of another?
Do you stick with the relationship, defying all others until the last page is turned? ‘Til death doth us part?

All of those questions interest me.
My own answer would be that generally, I am very tenacious, and rarely abandon a book. Rarely set it aside.

There’s this great guy I’ve been seeing.
Wait a minute, let me rephrase that.
When I go to my favorite Starbucks after work, there’s this other guy who also sits there and reads voraciously as though the world was scheduled for demolition tomorrow!
He's a lot like me, in other words.

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

How can one even think of comparing books and movies? Both are entirely different mediums. I am not much of a movie person. I seldom even watch a movie. I prefer reading anyday. When a book is made into movie, no doubt it gets better publicity, lot more people watch it then reading the book. However, I find most of the movies that have been adapted from a book, leave me wanting more. In a book, everything is happening inside your mind. You form certain opinions about certain characters. I would rather escape the world reading a book than watching a movie. Most of the times, I get distracted from a movie but not while reading a book.

Booking Through Thursday

I had a post ready for today, but I liked this suggestion from Chris even better, so … thanks, Chris!

Here’s something for Valentine’s Day.

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Hey, that's me! Thanks Deb for using my question.

For a while now, I get up early, that is around 4:30 am or so. When dawn breaks, I go for my daily walk. Sometimes I jog too. I am a morning person and it kind of refreshes me. Today, I took along my mom and as soon as we started to walk, it started to rain! All of a sudden. Summer rains ARE like that! I liked getting wet and surprisingly so did my mom. After we got back, we had a cup of tea each and sat in the terrace to watch the rains. Pleasantly chatting. I love sharing such moments with my mom.

Title: The Second Journey: The Road Back to Yourself
Author: Joan Anderson

Here's a blogging meme I stole from Dewey. I should have another review posted tomorrow on The Grass is Singing, another Doris Lessing novel.

1. Do you remember learning to read? How old were you?
According to my grandmother, I learned to read at two. I can’t help but think she’s exaggerating, though. Perhaps she just means that I would read back the stories that she read to me. If she is correct, I’m a genius and I should be elected next ruler of the world. That is all.

2. What do you find most challenging to read?
I don't so much find anything in particular challenging to read; I do, however, find it challenging to read after a long day or when I'm tired. It's right to sleep if I do.

3. What are your library habits?

Stars: ****1/2
I received a copy of this book for review. I also read it for the Pub in '08 challenge.

Summary: In “My Soul to Keep,” Dylan Foster is once again caught in a bizarre and twisted chain of events. A parent’s worst nightmare comes true and a birthday party that should be filled with joy is turned awry when a little boy close to Dylan’s heart is snatched from a local park. With little evidence to point the way, local law enforcement is led through a chain of mystifying events that seem to go no where. With the help of an intuitive six-year-old girl who is eerily connected to the missing boy, Dylan follows a path of tantalizing clues to the truth. With the sinister presence of Peter Terry never far behind, Dylan is led to a place she never expected – or wanted – to go.

I haven't written here for a while. I've been trying to let things settle and to think forwards, rather than backwards all the time. Obviously I had to do that while I was writing the book, think backwards — wade through all that past, all that heavy sludge of childhood emotion. I felt like a spring recoiling on itself. But once the book was finished it was time to try to go forward again. It's what we all have to do, but that's exactly what I hadn't been doing for so long. I'd gotten stuck. So these past few weeks I've tried to think forwards, and put all the past behind me. But the paperback is out tomorrow, so for a while I can see that will be difficult to do.