January 31, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays : The Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted at Should Be Reading.
Teaser Tuesdays
Share 2 teaser sentences from your current read. Be careful not to include spoilers.


The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

From Page 663

"Until yesterday I have followed men of other lands because I must. You I will follow because I want to. Perhaps you are not a lord in Andor, but here, I say that you are, and I pledge myself your man."


Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

From Page 102

"I follow you because you are who you are," Bashere said quietly. "The world must follow you, or those who survive will wish themselves dead."

January 24, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays : The Dragon Reborn and The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted at Should Be Reading.
Teaser Tuesdays
Share 2 teaser sentences from your current read. Be careful not to include spoilers.

The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan

From Page 271

"We were the counter to the Dreadlords. The Battle Ajah. And now we stand ready, for the Trollocs to come south again, for Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle. We will be there. That is what it means to be a Green."

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

From Page 879

"The Shadow rises again, Gaidal. It rises here. We must fight it. That is the reason we were bound to the Wheel. "

January 23, 2012

January 17, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays : The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted at Should Be Reading.
Teaser Tuesdays
Share 2 teaser sentences from your current read. Be careful not to include spoilers.

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

From Page 661-662

"You are here. The banner is here. The weave of this moment is set. We have come to the Horn, but we must follow the banner. And the Dragon."

January 10, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays : The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted at Should Be Reading.
Teaser Tuesdays
Share 2 teaser sentences from your current read. Be careful not to include spoilers.


The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Page 552

"Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day."

January 8, 2012

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren.
In My Mailbox
Anyone can participate. IMM is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.

Bought:



Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer

From the internationally bestselling author of Kane and Abel and A Prisoner of Birth comes Only Time Will Tell, the first in an ambitious new series that tells the story of one family across generations, across oceans, from heartbreak to triumph.

The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the words “I was told that my father was killed in the war.” A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle, who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he’s left school. But then an unexpected gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys’ school, and his life will never be the same again.

As he enters into adulthood, Harry finally learns how his father really died, but the awful truth only leads him to question, was he even his father? Is he the son of Arthur Clifton, a stevedore who spent his whole life on the docks, or the firstborn son of a scion of West Country society, whose family owns a shipping line?

This introductory novel in Archer’s ambitious series The Clifton Chronicles includes a cast of colorful characters and takes us from the ravages of the Great War to the outbreak of the Second World War, when Harry must decide whether to take up a place at Oxford or join the navy and go to war with Hitler’s Germany. From the docks of working-class England to the bustling streets of 1940 New York City, Only Time Will Tell takes readers on a journey through to future volumes, which will bring to life one hundred years of recent history to reveal a family story that neither the reader nor Harry Clifton himself could ever have imagined.


The Famous Heroine / The Plumed Bonnet by Mary Balogh

THE FAMOUS HEROINE
Cora Downes has beauty, spirit, and money, but no breeding. Yet when she gains renown for a daring rescue, she finds herself thrust into high society. Innocent and adrift in a world of beautiful banquets, bejeweled gowns, and snobbish standards, Cora is quickly compromised into a marriage—to a frivolous lord whose interests seem to lie elsewhere. But could piercingly blue-eyed and well-mannered Francis Kneller turn out to be the most unexpected love of her life?

THE PLUMED BONNET
Alistair Munro, the Duke of Bridgwater, is looking for love outside the bounds of polite society. And that’s what he expects to receive when he rescues a seemingly disreputable girl in a colorful bonnet off the side of the road. Yet Stephanie Gray, a former governess, has recently come into money and is eager for a proper match with a well-born man. Sure that he’s sullied her name, Alistair offers marriage to make amends. And in this unlikely union, Stephanie and Alistair make a welcome discovery—that sometimes it’s possible to marry first, then fall in love.


Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Lily is haunted by memories–of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness.

In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication: nu shu (“women’s writing”). Some girls were paired with laotongs, “old sames,” in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.

With the arrival of a silk fan on which Snow Flower has composed for Lily a poem of introduction in nu shu, their friendship is sealed and they become “old sames” at the tender age of seven. As the years pass, through famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. With the period detail and deep resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship.


The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The timely and critically acclaimed debut novel that's becoming a word-of-mouth phenomenon. An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present.

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sons-their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner tells a sweeping story of family, love, and friendship against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, bringing to mind the large canvases of the Russian writers of the nineteenth century. But just as it is old-fashioned in its narration, it is contemporary in its subject-the devastating history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years. As emotionally gripping as it is tender, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful debut.


Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

[ What I spent on the books : RM 111.35]

January 2, 2012

Eclectic Reader Challenge 2012

Eclectic Reader Challenge 2012 is hosted on Book'd Out. The guidelines are as described below :
Timeline : 1st January 2012 - 31st Dec 2012.
  1. You do NOT need a blog to participate.
  2. Books may be any form (audio, print, e-book).
  3. Books may overlap other challenges.
  4. You do not have to make a list of books before hand.
  5. You need to read a book from each of the genres listed:
    • Literary Fiction
    • Crime/Mystery Fiction
    • Romantic Fiction
    • Historical Fiction
    • Young Adult
    • Fantasy
    • Science Fiction
    • Non Fiction
    • Horror
    • Thriller /Suspense
    • Classic
    • Your favourite genre
  6. Learn more and sign up here.

What's In a Name 5 Reading Challenge

What's In a Name 5 challenge is hosted on Beth Fish Reads. The guidelines are as described below :
Timeline : 1st January 2012 - 31st Dec 2012.
  1. You do NOT need a blog to participate.
  2. Books may be any form (audio, print, e-book).
  3. Books may overlap other challenges.
  4. You do not have to make a list of books before hand.
  5. You need to read 1 book from each category listed:
    • A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title
    • A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title
    • A book with a creepy crawly in the title
    • A book with a type of house in the title
    • A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title
    • A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title
  6. Learn more and sign up here.

January 1, 2012

2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge is hosted on The Book Vixen. The guidelines are as described below :
Timeline : 1st January 2012 - 31st Dec 2012.
  1. You do NOT need a blog to participate.
  2. Books may be any form (audio, print, e-book).
  3. Books may overlap other challenges.
  4. You do not have to make a list of books before hand.
  5. The goal is to outdo yourself by reading more books in 2012 than you did in 2011.
  6. Learn more and sign up here.


I signed up for Level Getting my heart rate up i.e. to read 1-5 more books than I did in 2011.

Tea & Books Reading Challenge


Tea & Books Reading Challenge is hosted on The Book Garden. The guidelines are as described below :
Timeline : 1st January 2012 - 31st Dec 2012.
  1. You do NOT need a blog to participate.
  2. Both physical and eBooks are allowed.
  3. Books may overlap other challenges.
  4. You do not have to make a list of books before hand.
  5. You will only get to read books with more than 700 pages.
  6. Learn more and sign up here.


Challenge Wrap-Up


Sign-Up Date : 1 Jan 2012
Challenge Completion Date : 28 Feb 2012

Initial Level signed up for : Earl Grey Aficionado (6 Books)
Upgraded Level : Sencha Connoisseur (8 books)
Actual Books Read : 13

The list of books read for the challenge :
  1. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
  2. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
  3. The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
  4. The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
  5. The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
  6. Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
  7. A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan
  8. The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
  9. Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan
  10. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
  11. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
  12. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan
  13. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan


2012 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge


2012 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge is hosted on Reading with Tequila. The guidelines are as described below :
Timeline : 1st January 2012 - 31st Dec 2012.
  1. You do NOT need a blog to participate.
  2. Books may be any form (audio, print, e-book).
  3. Books may overlap other challenges.
  4. Chose your own books from the Book Blogger recommendation list. You do not have to make a list of books before the challenge begins.
  5. Rereads do not count towards the completion of the challenge.
  6. Learn more and sign up here.


I signed up for Level I i.e. to read 5 books from the Book Blogger Recommendation List.

Year 2011 Wrap-Up

December Reads:

  1. Slightly Scandalous by Mary Balogh
  2. Forbidden by Jo Beverley

December Published Reviews:


2011 Statistics:

  1. Books Read = 74 (100+ Reading Challenge)
  2. New Reads = 44
  3. New Books = 36 (The Year's Bounty)
  4. Books Bought = 27
  5. Books on Wish List = 75 (The Ever Growing Wish List)
  6. Books Added to Wish List = 29
  7. Wish List Reads = 8
  8. Borrowed or Unread Books = 14 (What's Left on the To-Be-Read Pile?)
  9. Number of Published Reviews = 80
  10. Number of Signed Up Challenges = 13



2011 Top 10 Reads :

  1. The Passage by Justin Cronin
  2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
  3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
  4. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
  5. Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
  6. About a Dragon by G.A. Aiken
  7. Fire by Kristin Cashore
  8. Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth
  9. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
  10. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

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