From Dewey:

The theme for Week 2 is something I borrowed (yes, she said it was ok!) from Darla at Books and Other Thoughts. She says in her sidebar that if she reviews a book that you’ve reviewed, you can email her and she’ll link to it in her review. I love this idea for three reasons.

1. As a blog reader, I like that I can have my review linked in someone else’s blog.

2. As a blog reader, I like that if I’m interested in a book Darla writes about, there will be other reviews linked at the bottom of the page, so I can get other viewpoints. You can see how this works here.

3. As a blog writer, when I review a book, I often remember that I read someone else’s review at some point, but whose? And when? With Darla’s method, people tell her about their reviews, and she can see what they had to say about a book that is still fresh in her mind.

Being a part of the geeks feels good. Although I did a wrap post last week, I forgot to post the link for Dewey to update it. Not that it matters. The theme of the weekly Geeks #3 is to write about our fond memories of childhood books. Why we liked any particular book? We can list our favourite childhood books or we can review any of those. Cool!

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?

This week’s theme comes from Samantha, who suggested that one week we all write about our fond memories of childhood books.

You could approach this several ways. I’ll probably list my favorite childhood books with maybe a paragraph about each book: why I loved it, how old I was when I read it, where I got the book, etc. You could also just pick one childhood favorite and review it as you would any other book. Or, if you’re fast, you could make up a meme other weekly geeks might like to use. It’ll be interesting to see how everyone personalizes this theme. Don’t forget to come back and leave a link to the post in your comment once you’ve written your post. No wrap-up post this week; just the one childhood books post.

Now that it's May and I'm not laser-focused on poetry each day, I have a plethora of things I'd like to catch up on. I was thinking of a whole stack of reviews I want to get posted, I have memes to participate in, and some links to share; but then I took a look around to see what's been going on.
Lo and behold, Dewey has set up the Weekly Geeks, with the first week's assignment being to find at least 5 new blogs from those signed up so far. Well, I just spent a LOT of time on this; there are so many of the blogs I read all the time signed up (yay) but I did find a bunch of new ones. I know I'll now be busier than ever keeping up with the bookish set...

So here are 5, new to me:

She Reads Books
Anyone who says "cataloguing is my crack" is just fine by me! :)

Bookstack
I enjoyed looking through Ravenous Reader's posts, and feel the same kind of notebookism as she does. Books, paper and pens make me happy.

Passion for the Page

As it is Buy A Friend A Book Week, there are many book giveaways going on. I will keep on adding to this post about new giveaways! Don't forget to check this out!

1) Dewey at The Hidden Side of the Leaf is holding one here. Do check out her link for further details!

2) Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty is giving out two books. Check it for further details!

In this week I could manage to review only one book, that too a Tintin one, The Lake of Sharks. Comic books take less time to read and review. A new house entails a lot of work. Although I am nicely enconsed in my new home, all those paperwork for banks etc has to be completed. In India, nothing gets done by telephone or the internet. One has to go there and get things done.

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!

I must be out of my mind. I joined a few more challenges for 2008. I think I can overlap many of those. Click on the icons to know more about those challenges. Join as many as you can.

The challenges in alphabetical order are:

Total 52 books. 26 each for authors and titles.

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?

Melody from Melody's Reading Corner tagged me for this meme, which is to sum up your life in 6 words. I can't think of anything other than the following right now (and I know it is too tame!) :

Reading as much as I can

Now for the rules:

*****Sticky Post--it stays on top for a while*****

Today when I clicked nickname to type my name after leaving my live link in a post for a fellow blogger, I saw the URL field along with it. It is back! This time too they have not publicised it. So the onus lies on us bloggers to do so.

Do spread the word around, friends!

As this is BAFAB week yet again, I bought books for my nephews, nieces and friends. I also bought books for myself. A few book lovers too are offering books on their blogs. Do check those out for free books! This way, I won a few books in the last year! Do check out
Rhinoa's Rambling
Melody's Reading Corner

This week's geek is about story telling. This one is kind of interesting as it can go into many directions. In books, I like first person narrations as well as dialogue writing. It truly depends on what kind of stories I am interested in.

However, I am not going to talk about books here. Or Movies or TV. I like theatre very much. The kind, which is live and involves all our senses. One can almost feel as if one is a part of it.

Kristin Gorski of "Write now is good" has tagged me for this.

10 signs that I have written a book:

1). It is set in, of all places, Australia. Frankly I don't know, why. I have never been there. However, I would like to write a book set in Australia.

2). It is about a man lost in the forests trying to find his way out. He can talk to animals and commune with trees. He is not your macho man.

3). No fairy tale like endings. Our man will cry when he is hurt.

4). There is lot of internal dialogues. Symbolism is must.

5). It would be a third person account. I cannot write in first person.

As it was BAFAB week from Jan 1-7, I bought books for my nephews, nieces and friends. I donated 50+ assorted books to an old age Home. I suppose I was just plain lucky to win three books I had put my name for. Thanks Melody, Dewey and Rhinoa. I look forward to read those. "The Road" was a coveted one!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy from Melody's Reading Corner
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher from Dewey

I've been very lucky lately. I won a book from John @ The Book Mine Set and Daphne from the Bronte Bloggers. I need to pass this good luck on!

Since it's Buy a Friend a Book Week and... BIG ANNOUNCEMENT... Linda Wisdom author of 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover will be making a guest appearance here at book-a-rama on April 11, I'm going to give away my gently used (by me) copy of 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover to ONE lucky reader.

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

I haven't been posting for awhile, a whole week almost went by! That's crazy! So it was a nice gift to come back and go thru my favorite blogs to see that Alisia over at Book Haven has given me an award! The You Make My Day Award!! Now I get to have fun choosing 10 blogger friends who make my days a little brighter.... Thank you Alisia!!!

Now this is going to be really hard because I love every blogger in my blog roll. I would most definitely choose Alisia because she is one of my favorites but since she was the one who chose me, here are a few more that stand out:

Kookiejar from A Fraternity of Dreamers makes my day because her blog just cracks me up, but Wednesdays she has all kinds of goofy news and links! Check her out!

As I have not being reading, I have no reviews to post here. I have received two books from Collins, a branch from HarperCollins. Those are non-fiction and that too something entirely different genre. Nothing about people, places or animals..

You can understand by reading the tittles what I really mean:

1). Grow your Money/101 easy tips to plan, save and invest by Jonathan D. Pond
2). Babyproofing your Marriage by Stacie Cockrell, Cathy O'Neill and Julia Stone

I will get around those books and write my opinions. I have already written reviews for two books, I received from Collins.

Downsizing Your Home With Style by Lauri Ward
The Ultimate Tea Diet by Mark “dr. tea” Ukra with Sharyn Kolberg

I have listed the Nobel Laureates and their books I have read so far. I have not reviewed all of those on my blog as I read a few, long time back. If I do, I will link those here. I am in the process of reading another book by Steinbeck, three by Marquez and one by Orhan Pamuk.

1907 - Rudyard Kipling
Jungle Book

As my school is far from my present residence, I have been reading a lot while travelling. I have finished three books. Posted review for the other two. Today I will post a review for Did I Expect Angels? by Kathryn Maughan. I read it in April though. Sunday Salon seems like a good way to write a review. I plan to write poetry after posting my review. And catch up with my fellow bloggers. I have slacked enough.

Title: Did I Expect Angels?
Author: Kathryn Maughan
ISBN: 9780595402595

I was tagged by Melody for this fun meme.

The rules of this particular meme are:

1). Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2). Open the book to page 123
3). Find the fifth sentence
4). Post the next three sentences
5). Tag five people

Although I am currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan was the nearest book. Here I go:

My very first award ever! Sarah at PussReboots awarded me the You Make My Day Award. This is the first award any of my blogs have won. I'm honored thanks!

Winners of this award are to award it to at least 10 more people. So without furthur ado, Bloggers who I believe deserve this award!

A Gaggle of Book Reviews - the first book review blog I ever read, the one that got me thinking of becoming more active with my blog.

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.

The Worst

Luckily, there wasn't any real stinkers in the books I read this year. However, I was frustrated with a few. I wasn't impressed with Moll Flanders but I can't fault it since it was a product of it's time. Anyway, here are the awards for the Worst.

Tittle: The Blind Assassin
Author: Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 1860498809
Publisher: Virago Press/2001
Pages: 637

After reading The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood, I decided to read all her books. I mooched it from bookmooch long time ago. I started the book in January but somehow or the other, I could not finish it sooner. The beginning is very slow and tends to ge boring too. I have had moments of giving it up altogether. I am glad I did not. Yesterday, I started from page 81 and after reaching halfway through, I just couldn't leave it. I am damn glad I persisted.