tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296674515273726702024-03-14T14:49:19.776+05:30The Caterpillar CaféTouch books, feel books, smell books, borrow books, read books, review books, e-books, need books,love books,breathe books.Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.comBlogger182125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-8469249019221741842017-09-02T13:52:00.000+05:302017-09-02T13:52:00.154+05:30On Reading: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Click... creak...crack...pop..</i></div>
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Sorry. Those are the sounds of my knuckles cracking out the air bubbles that formed since the last time I posted something here.</div>
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Hello! How are you? Good? Safe? Dry? Looking for something nice to read? </div>
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You're in luck because I have just finished what is undoubtedly the most spectacular book I have read in a very long time. One of those rare books that leave you a bit sad at the last page because you suddenly realise that you're only get to read it for the first time once. Make sense? Have you ever experienced that before? With a book that wasn't Harry Potter that is? </div>
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I discovered <i>We Have Always Lived</i> in the Castle by Shirley Jackson on my Kindle app's recommended reads list. Over the last three years, I got very lazy in my endeavour to discover beautiful books and came to rely heavily on this system. I mean, why bother browsing aisles at a bookstore when there's an algorithm that can give you exactly what you need without you having to leave the comfort of your bed, right? </div>
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Well, I don't know about you, but while I appreciate the algorithm on nights when I really want something quick, mindless and easy, every other time, the experience of discovering a book that has nothing whatsoever to do with what you usually veer towards is what makes a read even more pleasurable. </div>
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The guilt of finding book after book that I did not mind, even if I didn't feel passionately enough to blog about, actually hurled my reading habit against a wall. I often found myself reading half a book and then abandoning it for something else which I would also abandon and then start the process again. It was like being caught in a vortex and the only place I was spinning towards was down. </div>
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But just as I was starting to lose hope I decided to take a leap of faith and typed in the name of a book I had seen a long time ago on my Recommended list but didn't really 'feel' at the time -- I was just moving from Goth into erotica, so sue me. </div>
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And I'm really really glad I did because Shirley Jackson's masterpiece is perhaps one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking literary works I have read in a very long time. This is also my first book by the author so I'm rather looking forward to taking a small break -- maybe read <i>Delta of Venus</i> again (haha, I kid) -- before I start <i>The Haunting of House Hill</i>. </div>
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<i>We Have Always Lived in the Castle</i> is one of those rare books that has a tragic beginning but has a happy ending -- even if it isn't happy in the conventional sense. It starts off with a market day for 18-year-old Mary Katherine (Merricat) who, you can tell instantly, isn't quite right. Or at least that's what the villagers think about her and her family. Well, the ones who are still alive anyway. The rest of her family, father, mother, brother and aunt, are all dead. Murdered, in fact, one night after they sprinkled a bit too much sugar -- laced with arsenic -- on their berries for dessert. </div>
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So yes. Perhaps we understand why Merricat isn't quite right in the head. Though, once we get more of an insight into her mind, she is after all narrating the story, we realise that she is rather unapologetic about it. All that she wants is to be kinder to her Uncle Julian, the only survivor of the poisoning that night, love, be loved by and protect her older sister Constance, the prime suspect of the murders and for everyone in the village outside her mansion to die painfully. </div>
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<i>"I always stood perfectly straight and stiff when the children came close, because I was afraid of them. I was afraid that they might touch me and the others would come at me like a flock of taloned hawks' that was always the picture I had in my mind -- birds descending, striking, gashing with razor claws." </i></div>
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<i><u>We Have Always Lived in the Castle (p. 10)</u></i></div>
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Yes, market days are the worst of it for little Merricat until Cousin Charles comes along and starts to tear holes in family dynamics. He's also rather interested in the family safe, but that really isn't something Merricat's too worried about. It's Charles' influence over Constance that actually starts pushing Merricat into a swirl of darkness that forces her to face issues she would rather leave buried under the <i>Amanita Phalloides</i>. </div>
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In a lot of ways this is a story about love, the pursuit of happiness and about the things that go on behind deadlocked gates, in misunderstood mansions that send imaginations and villagers for the pitchforks.</div>
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Given that this is such a thin book -- around 160 odd pages -- I really wish I could write another post in greater detail about how I felt after reading this book. And about all the memories from my own childhood living beside a crumbling building. Mansions, grand or ruined, which house recluses like the Blackwood family always give fodder to the imagination. And unless we're on the inside, we're no better than the villagers who gossip, speculate, bully and finally, destroy.<br />
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You know what? I think a We Have Always Lived in the Castle does deserve another post. So maybe you could give it a quick read as well -- took me 5 hours over two very, very dark nights -- and come back so we can make a nice little conversation of it.<br />
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Until next Saturday!<br />
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Afsha 💙</div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0Bengaluru, Karnataka, India12.9715987 77.59456269999998312.4764182 76.949115699999979 13.4667792 78.240009699999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-35470326588677362072017-01-30T11:16:00.001+05:302017-01-30T11:16:24.479+05:30Discovering the Wimmelbuch | München<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's never too early to introduce your child to Oktoberfest. The aspects that go beyond beer, that is. The food, the rides, the games, the music and the very many characters one might encounter at the annual celebration of all that's <i>wunderbar</i> about Bavaria. Of course, Munich isn't just about beer and games. And this lovely little prezzie that I, sorry, my son received over the holidays is testament to that.<br />
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<b>München</b>, a <i>wimmelbuch --</i> wordless picture book with a series of panoramas detailing motley characters and their stories against different backdrops -- by illustrator Annegret Reimann, is a little journey through the most iconic places that define the Bavarian capital. It's like a travel book for little children (and their adults), but without words, through illustration.<br />
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It starts off with a beautiful day at the Isar river with characters frolicking with cookouts, barge parties, rollerblading or just taking a simple stroll. As we move ahead, we're treated to scenes from the English Garden, Olympic Park and the art museum until finally ending up at Munich Hauptbahnof, the city's main railway station.<br />
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In each panorama, we get to meet some of the same characters and see how their stories progress while also stumbling across some new folk. There's the grumpy old lady with a dog, seen in every picture looking upon others with complete distaste. My favourite spotting is of said grump staring daggers at two pigs sunbathing in the nude. Don't worry though. She brightens up eventually when her doggie leash gets entangled with one held by a grumpy old man, bringing her a sweet and happy ending. Then there's Baby Finn who rolls down a hill while his Mummy chatters away on the phone, and gets rescued by a fox and a bear in Lederhosen. The most beloved character of them all, in my opinion, is Max the Dog who's seen reading a book, playing the guitar and giving a riveting speech about art through different pages.<br />
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As a child, my favourite pastime was to flip through books and invent stories about the pictures. Opening this <i>wimmelbuch</i> brings back memories of those simpler times, and the hours spent in imagination. This book will hopefully bring my son the same joy once he gets older and is able to focus on the big picture rather than big pictures.<br />
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Until then, I'll keep this book safely and lose myself in its pages every once in a while.<br />
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<b><i>Discover more Wimmelbuchs from the same publisher at <a href="http://wimmelbuchverlag.de/">http://wimmelbuchverlag.de/</a></i></b><br />
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<br />Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-48099838964264502452016-08-05T10:08:00.000+05:302016-08-05T10:08:50.451+05:30Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (WARNING: SPOILERS)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child </i>was oddly
satisfying. Hermione is Minister for Magic. Ginny edits the sports pages for
The Daily Prophet. Harry did become an Auror after all and is now Head of
Magical Law Enforcement.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fans who had a strong desire to see Harry and Draco Malfoy
bury the hatchet will also be glad to see that the two have done just
that. Taking it a step further, Albus and Scorpius are the new Harry and Ron/Hermione,
sharing everything from their sweets from the Trolley Lady to bending the
dimensions of time.</div>
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As was bound to happen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child broke
sales records this week but many JK Rowling fans are seething. <b><a href="http://Reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was oddly satisfying. Hermione is Minister for Magic. Ginny edits the sports pages for The Daily Prophet. Harry did become an Auror after all and is now Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Fans who had a strong desire to see Harry and Draco Malfoy bury the hatchet will also be satisfied to see that the two have done just that. Taking it a step further, Albus and Scorpius are the new Harry and Ron/Hermione, sharing everything from their sweets from the Trolley Lady to breaking the dimensions of time. You keep waiting for something to jump out and shout, “Boo”. But alas, it isn’t to be. As was bound to happen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child broke sales records this week but many JK Rowling fans are seething. ‘You owe your fans a BOOK!’ they shout from this headline in The Telegragh. But does she? Really? Rowling swore never to write another Harry Potter novel after she was done with The Deathly Hallows and she has upheld that vow. That, I think, is deserving of success because why overexploit a winning franchise and risk brewing the Drought of the Living Dead? Nobody wants another Harry Potter book more than I. Written by JK Rowling, not a playwright working off a short story she wrote and her seal of approval. The Cursed Child has been accused for playing out like fan fiction. I’m pretty certain I read a tale woven around the theory that Voldermort might have had a child with Bellatrix and that is just how the book rounds off to close for its finale. If this were a JK Rowling original, none of these theories would have been given any credence in the final product. As the creator of this world, she managed to keep her fans on tenterhooks until the very end. She was the one who designed the pillars, dungeons and secret chambers, and fan fiction just spun like webs around them. It must have been very hard work for her, if you ask me. To have so many traps to get caught in and yet, in the course of seven spectacular books, not once was her storytelling influenced by these theories, no matter how far fetched, fantastical or fantastic. Somehow, Rowling masterfully steered her story towards more exciting – unexpected and fulfilling – avenues because she is the maker of this, a god in her own right, a master of fantasy fiction. I have read the Harry Potter series so many times, I actually found myself creating a quiz for Potterheads at pubs and themed parties. I envy every woman, man and child who hasn’t yet read the book because you only get to discover Rowling’s world of magic for the first time, once, no matter how many times you go back there. But when I finished the final book, I was, once again, oddly satisfied because I believe that this series I had followed for over a decade was, much like life, made more precious by the fact that it had ended. I really appreciated that. I read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child for a whole day and a night – under the blanket by torchlight, no less – and yes, it was oddly satisfying. Except, not in the manner in which I was used to given my love for the original series. I kept waiting for something to jump out and shout, “Boo”. Sadly, it was in vain." target="_blank">‘You owe yourfans a BOOK!’</a></b> they shout from this headline in The Telegragh. But does she?
Really? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Rowling swore never to write another Harry Potter novel
after <i>The Deathly Hallows </i>and she has upheld that vow. That,
I think, is deserving of respect because why overexploit a winning franchise
and risk brewing the Drought of the Living Dead?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Nobody wants another Harry Potter book more than I. Written
by JK Rowling, not a playwright working off a short story she wrote. <i>The Cursed Child</i> has been accused for playing out like fan
fiction. I’m pretty certain I read a tale woven around the theory that Voldermort
might have had a child with Bellatrix and that is just how the book rounds off to
close for its finale. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If this were a JK Rowling original, none of these theories
would have been given any credence in the final product. As the creator of this
world, she managed to keep her fans on tenterhooks until the very end. She was
the one who designed the pillars, dungeons and secret chambers, and fan fiction
just spun like webs around them. It must have been very hard work for her, if
you ask me. To have so many traps to get caught in and yet, in the course of
seven spectacular books, not once was her storytelling influenced by these
theories, no matter how creative, fantastical or fantastic. Somehow, Rowling
masterfully steered her story towards more exciting – unexpected and fulfilling
– avenues because she is the maker of this, a god in her own right, a master of
fantasy fiction. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I have read the Harry Potter series so many times, I
actually found myself creating a quiz for Potterheads at pubs and themed
parties after it ended. I envy every woman, man and child who hasn’t yet read the book because
you only get to discover Rowling’s world of magic for the first time, once. But when I finished the final book, I
was, once again, oddly satisfied because I believe that this series I had
followed for over a decade was, much like life, made more precious by the fact
that it had ended. I really appreciated that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I read <i>Harry Potter and The Cursed Child</i> for a whole day and
a night – under the blanket by torchlight, no less – and yes, it was oddly
satisfying. Except, not in the manner in which I was used to given my love for
the original series. I kept waiting for something to jump out and shout, “Boo”.
Sadly, it was in vain. </div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-30936295721665614162016-07-08T12:00:00.000+05:302016-07-08T12:00:10.298+05:30Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell: Love in the time of the Walkman and AA batteries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The first thing that runs through Park’s mind when he sees
Eleanor is that she looks exactly like the kind of person this would happen to.
‘This’ being getting rejected by every person on the bus who has an empty seat
next to them.<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
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Everyone that is, except Park who is most definitely not in
love at first sight or even the local do-gooder. Just a social Inbetweener
trying to keep the peace.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, Rainbow Rowell would have no story if these two
teenagers didn’t end up together on that seat of that bus because everything of
note to the pain, pleasure and chronic confusion of first love
starts right there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is probably when I say that this is no ordinary love
story, but I won’t. If you recall falling in love with someone at the age of
16, you know it’s immensely ordinary, but that is what makes it extraordinary.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like the first time Park reaches out and holds Eleanor’s
hand and she “disintegrates”, that is one of the most intense, moments in the
novel. You forget, in the process of growing up, how intimate early hand
holding can be.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Or when Eleanor refuses to borrow Park’s Walkman (it’s set
in the 1980s, by the way), instead just emptying out its batteries, and Park
goes home and calls his grandmother to tell her that he doesn’t want any
presents for his birthday… Just a large supply of double A batteries.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I downloaded Eleanor & Park on a Saturday night
with a glass of wine and read it until the early hours of the next morning. I
don’t know if it was nostalgia or the wine but I wanted to fall asleep hugging
my Kindle that night. It has one of those innocent yet intense first-love
stories you just wish was yours, because what makes it so perfect is the
knowledge that it will eventually have to end.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Eleanor & Park is a YA novel about young love. But it
tells a story that would resonate with audiences across genders (yes, despite
all the hand holding) and age groups. It would be one of my top recommendations
for anyone looking for a relaxing read that takes you on a wistful journey
down… Oh no, I’m gushing, aren’t I?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyway, I sincerely hope you will read this book and then
return here to share your impressions with me. I would really, really like to
know what you think of it!<o:p></o:p></div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-19055056241822642922016-06-18T14:15:00.000+05:302016-06-18T14:15:06.232+05:30Recommended Read: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>"As part of leaving Bloomington for college and my brand-new start, I'd made a careful decision to never </i>ever<i> tell anyone about my sister, Fern. Back in those college days, I never spoke of her and seldom thought of her. If anyone asked about my family, I admitted to two parents, still married, and one brother, older, who travelled a lot. Not mentioning Fern was first a decision, and later a habit, hard and painful even now to break." </i></div>
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How do I write about this book without mentioning the one detail that forms the crux of it's beginning, middle and its end? I could "start in the middle" as our narrator, Rosemary Cooke does and take it from there. But I would still find it hard to write a good enough recommendation that you probably could get from the blurb anyway.<br />
<br />
So how do I begin? Do I tell you about Fern? It's impossible to leave her out of this because she's the reason the characters' lives turn upside down. But telling you about her right now would also change the way you approach the novel and influence your judgement right from the start. I'm sure you're not one to trivialise certain details of family life. But if you know about Fern before you get to it yourself, you won't appreciate the bigger picture,<br />
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If it wasn't for Fern's disappearance, Rosemary would probably not spend her time and energy avoiding the subject of her family. Their brother Lowell would not have run away from home before graduating high school. If it wasn't for her reluctant abandonment to the jowls of science, their mother would not be prone to depression and would still perhaps play the piano. The family would not have left their sprawling farm house for homes that were smaller and smaller to din out the silence and emptiness of a shattered nest.<br />
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How do I begin to describe how utterly beautiful and heartbreaking this novel is without adding spoilers? As you can see, I'm trying... really hard.<br />
<br />
So the book starts in the middle, in the year 1996 when Rosemary Cooke's in the 5th year of college. She has a secret and it involves her family. Years ago, her sister Fern was plucked from their lives and never spoken of ever again. Fern or the subject of her, isn't buried. But her fate and the feelings it incited in the family, are.<br />
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I think it's okay to tell you that Fern did not die in an accident nor was she kidnapped with a child snatcher. Fowler makes that clear pretty much from the start. That's actually what draws you into the novel because a) curiosity and b) once you start reading it, the book is so immersive, there's no turning back.<br />
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I see that haven't written much about it without giving it away, have I? So let me try one last time to do this recommendation justice.<br />
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<i>We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves </i>is a novel about a child who is loved so dearly that her disappearance breaks her whole family. But what's truly tragic is that the while Cookes force themselves to give her away believing it was for the greater good which, really, is a matter of perspective but I'll tell you right away that it wasn't.<br />
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So for the first time I'm asking you to trust me and just read the damn book because it's good. Like really, really good. It won't change your life. It won't make you bawl but it will make you well up every once in a while. It will give you fresh fodder to analyse things you already know about science, psychology and family life.<br />
<br />
Read it because it is very well written and will keep you hooked right to the end. But most importantly, it may not force you to see things you'd rather not but it will make a great case for opening your eyes.</div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-23861761868760498842016-06-11T15:18:00.001+05:302016-06-11T15:19:49.633+05:30Review: The Dream Thieves (Book 2 in The Raven Cycle) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It started off with promise but somewhere along the way, Maggie Stiefvater's <i>The Dream Thieves</i>, book two in The Raven Cycle series, loses interest in itself.<br />
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Perhaps it's in the abundance of imagery that staggers the progression of the story. Or in the forced manner in which Adam seems to be changing, going from a quiet, intelligent and poor but proud boy, to someone seriously whiney and exasperating to read as a character. But really, I think it fails because there just isn't enough meat in the story to justify 453 pages.<br />
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<i>The Dream Thieves</i> has an intriguing enough start. We learn that Ronan Lynch can pull things out of his dreams. These are mostly terrible things such as the Night Terrors, dark and evil creatures with beaks for mouths and sharp craws for hands that are out of slash him to ribbons. In the meanwhile, Gansey's search for Glendower is put on hold by the disappearance of Cabeswater, the ancient, magical forest they discovered in the last book. Blue starts to struggle with her feelings for Adam, and realises that she's drawn to Gansey, knowing full well how that's going to turn out after her vision of the two of them having their first and last kiss in the previous book. Noah too seems to be less there than usual, disappearing completely in the second half just like Cabeswater.<br />
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The book also introduces a Ronan's formidable nemesis and fatal attraction, the psychopathic Kavinsky who disregards personal and public safety in favour of dangerous drag races and Fourth of July explosions. We also get to meet The Grey Man, a mysterious assassin in search for an object that can invade dreams for the treasures that lie there.<br />
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The premise is fascinating and for that Stiefvater's imagination needs to be lauded. It's a pity that the world she weaves in her head reads more like a series of dreams, fascinating when you're penning it into a diary, but lacking in storytelling when you try to put them together.<br />
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The novel needed more. Be it more plot connectors or hooks that draw you from one chapter to the next and from this book to the third.<br />
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Frankly, I'm going to have to take a break from this series because unlike Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, heck, even Twilight, the series isn't immersive enough to keep you hooked from one book to the next.<br />
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<i>The Ravel Boys</i> helped the series off to a good start. But The Dream Thieves makes me wonder if Steifvater is just stretching the series on just for the sake of it.<br />
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I honestly believe this book was an unnecessary detour to a very promising story, shifting the reader's focus from the real prize, the unearthing of Welsh legend, Glendower.<br />
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I'm still going to finish this series because I've committed to it and I genuinely like it. But yes, a break is is order before I can delve into the next one because finishing this book was felt like a chore. And it will take me some time to get over that.Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-20064972832316133202016-05-26T00:30:00.000+05:302016-05-26T00:30:25.911+05:30Initial thoughts on The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been around eight months since I read a book that wasn't backlit. Yes, ink and paper, and my beloved third generation Kindle are gathering dust on the beautiful bookshelves we built shortly after moving to Bangalore.<br />
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Most of my reading is now done in my phone as it's the only gadget I have on my person at all times between feeds and naps and feeds and more naps. I'm not complaining because the <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2016/04/the-readers-roadblock-reset-button-and.html" target="_blank">books I have been reading this last year</a></b> aren't the sort you'd want to collect in physical form. Also, since most of my reading is done either with the curtains drawn during the day or with the lights out at night -- motherhood is a strange adventure -- my good, old Kindle isn't getting much use either. </div>
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But every once in a while, I come across a book that I wish I could just read, touch, smell and lovingly display on my bookshelf until the end of time. And while I've only just started Maggie Stiefvater's <i>The Raven Cycle</i> series, I already know that these are books I would have loved to add to my collection.</div>
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While I'm a huge fan of Young Adult fiction, I was afraid that I had read every good title in the series before the genre and its sub-genres became formulaic. Witches, vampires, werwolves and trolls; dying girl loves boy who dies first, suicidal girl loves manic depressive... Ok, about this second set of examples, I have to justify myself by saying that I have nothing whatsoever against books about star crossed lovers, torn apart painful circumstances that are very, very real. I'm just against writing that jumps on the bandwagon of whatever is making YA enthusiasts swoon and/or cry. It's like publishers are picking novels they think will find their way to the top of your Recommended Reads list on Amazon and GoodReads. Seriously, after a while, the stories start to sound like clothes that tumbled about in a washer-drier stained by one bleeding red sock. </div>
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When I first read the blurb for <i>The Raven Boys</i>, book one in the series, I was absolutely sure that this was going to be no different in essence from titles such as <i>The Vampire Diaries</i> and <i>Bloodlines</i>. But the price of the book, twice as much as mass fiction bestsellers, caught my fancy. So I decided to download a sample because what had I to lose, right? </div>
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I'm so glad I did because this series has me absolutely hooked! And this is despite the fact that the blurb heavily emphasises that protagonist is fated to kill her true love with a kiss. Really, it should be talking about a young man's intellectual obsession with finding the last Welsh ruler who is fabled to be asleep since the 15th Century and whoever wakes him will be granted a favour. Set in a small town that is a hotbed of spiritual energy, our protagonist is joined by four misfits who each have their own reason for helping him out.<br />
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What I love about the novels is that they're driven by characters whose backstories and personal battles fuel the plot. It's also so much more than fantasy/paranormal fiction because every theme built up in the book has a basis in actual fact. Like the Ley Lines for instance, are places theorised for their intense mystical and spiritual energy along significant landforms. The motely crew's obsession with the lines and their hunt for Owen Glendower, is an intense study into history, mythology, religion and dead languages.<br />
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As readers we get a fascinating insight into all of this with a pretty immersive story to go with it. What's more is that while there is a love angle to the story, it's more of a detail, one of many in a series that's filled with so many I just can't wait to see how they all come together in the end.<br />
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My reading had reached a plateau this last year and I was afraid that I would be stuck like that forever. Sure, the view was pretty scenic but it was as good as gazing at everything and nothing at the same time. I'm glad to have discovered this series which is promising to be a good ascent back into the world of literature. I'm not expecting a life changing experience here, as was the case with the Harry Potter series and <i>Elenor and Park</i>. But it's good to be back on track and see where I go. </div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-16244103255406646712016-04-05T09:00:00.000+05:302016-04-05T09:00:17.511+05:30The Reader’s Roadblock, the Reset Button and All Aboard the Hogwarts Express! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4AiOBv4NWog/VwI3F_JGVCI/AAAAAAAAFgg/I2MyCo3y_eEHfEMynmqhsINW1gAsn3RuA/s1600/hogwarts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4AiOBv4NWog/VwI3F_JGVCI/AAAAAAAAFgg/I2MyCo3y_eEHfEMynmqhsINW1gAsn3RuA/s400/hogwarts.jpg" width="358" /></a></div>
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Ever so often, we all hit a roadblock in our reading habits.
Mine started around a year ago when I couldn’t focus on anything that
wasn’t YA or a thriller.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It started with <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2015/11/book-review-dark-places-by-gillian-flynn.html#!" target="_blank">Gillian Flynn’s <i>Dark Places</i></a></b>, a masala entertainer if ever there was one! Eerie. So enthralling. So easy… I just couldn’t bring myself to read anything dissimilar after that. </div>
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With a baby on the way, I wasn’t getting out much either. I
had stopped browsing at local bookshops. I wasn’t socialising at much. I’d
also stopped my drunken downloads (more on this in a future post). All I was going by was the ‘Suggested’
section on my Amazon account. And with Flynn as inspiration, the suggested
reads cropping up everywhere I looked were also as such. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Girl on the Train. Before I Fall Asleep. The Devotion of
Suspect X. The Fault In Our Stars. All The Bright Places.</i> And so on and so
forth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I was reading a lot, no doubt about it. And with a baby in
my arms by September, I found myself devouring a book every three days – there’s very little to
do when you’re in a chair, feeding at all hours during the day and night. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But then it got to a point where I realised that’s all I was
doing. Reading. Keeping myself entertained. Looking at words and forming moving
pictures in my mind. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s good enough, isn’t it? Keeping the cogs turning? No. It isn't. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What kind of ‘reading’ are we doing if we aren’t expanding
our minds? If we get to the last page and then immediately download the next
book we see that’s closest in promised effect to the one we just finished? "Fans of Gillian Flynn will love this..." "The Gillian Flynn of Scandinavia..." "So much better than Gillian Flynn..."<o:p></o:p></div>
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Comfort makes me uncomfortable. It makes me aware that I’m
stationary. It also screams at me that I have a choice. I could sit here in my little coracle and go
round and around. Or I could pull out a paddle and try to get somewhere.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Maybe I’ll get dizzy just going around in circles. Maybe I’ll
get lucky and move in a certain direction. I’d also be running the risk of
tipping over and getting drenched. And you know what? All of these things are
still much better than sitting stationary, too afraid to tip over.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Clearly, I’m at a roadblock. But it isn’t the first time I’ve been here. </div>
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I’m frazzled
and I don’t like it one bit. So I’ve taken a U-Turn and traced my steps back to
a place in which I always find comfort and inspiration. I called it my Reset Button
and it’s triggered by these words: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When Mr and Mrs
Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing
about the cloudy sky outside to suggest strange and mysterious things would
soon be happening all over the country. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Sure, it's a bit of a step back. But it isn't a setback. It's a reset in the form of a book I once knew like rote, the words just flew off the page. But it's never let me down. And over the next few weeks, I hope to share this journey back out of the rabbit hole on this space.<br />
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<i>Do you have a book, author or passage that acts as your reset button? Share it with us in the comments section below. </i>Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-51416060913409564612015-12-23T07:49:00.000+05:302015-12-23T07:49:05.998+05:30Three Reading Resolutions for 2016<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wen4pPTIaes/VnoEIfExPNI/AAAAAAAAFRk/djNevZAzxnk/s1600/IMG_20151223_074323_1450836880954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wen4pPTIaes/VnoEIfExPNI/AAAAAAAAFRk/djNevZAzxnk/s320/IMG_20151223_074323_1450836880954.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
When you’re passionate about something, it won’t do to set yourself insane targets. You just end up turning it into a chore, something that stresses you out, rather than something you love. Of course, being a total grasshopper isn’t going to help either. Structure and discipline are imperative to doing justice to your efforts.<br />
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Over the years, I’ve set many resolutions. Read a book a week. Write a book in three months. Review 100 books a year (I ended up speed reading… all right. Skimming through, before I cried just a little, got angry with high achievers who makes things look so easy and abandoned the idea altogether). Setting stringent targets has never worked out for me. Obviously. It isn’t so much the stress of achieving so much, as the standard I expect from my work. Unwittingly, I have set myself up for failure year after bloody year!<br />
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But call me an optimist, fool… masochist… I’ll be damned if I don’t make any resolutions this year! What else is there to look forward to after the season of excesses ends and the New Year begins?<br />
This year however, I’m going to try and be a little smarter and go for quality and structure over quantity and chaos! Here goes:<br />
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1. Enough with the bestsellers, bestselling authors and books that got turned into movies… I feel like I’ve spent all of last year reading fast paced, bestselling literature. It’s been fun, formulaic, easy and escapist. But now it’s time to get back to reading books that actually challenge and change me as a person.<br />
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2. Read more African literature! Over the last few months, I noticed that my shelves were bursting at the seams with books from the US and UK. There are even a few from Australia and a sizable number from Japan. What I’m seriously lacking, however, is literature from Africa. How is that possible? Is that normal for a literary blogger? 2016 is the year to change that! This year, I’m going to try and make every second book I read come from an African author. <br />
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3. Read more South Asian novels, especially literature in translation: As I spent the end of the year reliving my days as a student of literature with <a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2015/12/currently-reading-some-thoughts-on.html" target="_blank">Perumal Murugan’s <i>One Part Woman</i></a>, I started to wonder why I don’t read more literature from South Asia, especially literature in translation! Have I become lazy in my reading habits or am I simply happier escaping to the words of the West rather than see what my own kin have to say? I’m not saying that I should be boycotting anything. But yes, it’s important to balance it out with a few voices from my own neighbourhood.<br />
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I am tempted to add more resolutions to this list. Stuff like: Write at least one blog post a week. Experiment with posts so you can add variety beyond the regular reviews, rants and raves. Etc. But I’m not going to do that because this year, I truly want to enjoy The Caterpillar Café. No point burdening the poor blog with my own big promises and unrealistic expectations, eh?<br />
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I hope you set yourself some good quality resolutions that set you up for cheers over chaos too! Here’s wishing you a Happy Christmas and a spectacular New Year.Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-82686887942374211382015-12-14T12:30:00.000+05:302015-12-14T12:30:00.680+05:30Currently Reading | Some thoughts on Perumal Murugan's One Part Woman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rO_TZ-jlCmg/Vmz-VWGWjdI/AAAAAAAAFQI/MmKlJx2BYhM/s1600/one%2Bpart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rO_TZ-jlCmg/Vmz-VWGWjdI/AAAAAAAAFQI/MmKlJx2BYhM/s400/one%2Bpart.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
<i>One Part Woman</i> spent a significant amount of time in the limelight early this year because religious/political (what’s the difference these days?) outfits in Tamil Nadu were trying to <b><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/bjp-rss-seek-ban-on-tamil-novel-arrest-of-author/article6729393.ece" target="_blank">get it banned</a></b> – four years after it was first published in Tamil and two years after its translation into English. Erm… Anyway, not only did they fail in their endeavours, but they also ensured that every reader across all Indian states now knew Murugan’s name and had ordered a copy of <i>One Part Woman</i>.<br />
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What they did succeed in doing however, was breaking the author’s spirit, leading him to write this note:<br />
<i>"Author Perumal Murugan has died. He is no god, so he is not going to resurrect himself. Nor does he believe in reincarnation. From now on, Perumal Murugan will survive merely as a teacher he has been."</i><br />
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I’m halfway through <i>One Part Woman</i> and this book will makes me feel a plethora of emotions, the most prominent of which is anger. Anger, because Kali and Ponna don’t deserve to be mocked by everyone they know, and even those they don’t know for not having a child a decade into their marriage.<br />
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Anger, because everyone keeps insisting that Kali get married again but he refuses like a martyr, letting people believe it’s because he loves his wife too much when really, he’s afraid that another barren marriage will ascertain his impotence and he’d much rather it be vague as to whose “fault” this really is.<br />
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But nothing makes me angrier than the knowledge that Indian literature has lost an significant voice. More importantly, the Indian hinterlands have lost a channel that was attempting to hold a mirror up to it and also translate it to the world.<br />
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Buy One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan from <b><a href="http://www.flipkart.com/one-part-woman-english/p/itme2mcyh3rumkfy?pid=9780143423546&affid=afshakhan" target="_blank">Flipkart</a> // <a href="http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/0143423541/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=3626&creative=24790&creativeASIN=0143423541&linkCode=as2&tag=thecatecafe-21" target="_blank">Amazon</a></b><b> </b>Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-65621677620692339852015-12-04T12:30:00.000+05:302015-12-04T12:30:03.178+05:30Review: The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, M.D.<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from The Happiest Baby on the Block </td></tr>
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<i>Oh my God, Afsha... You
did not just publish a review for a book on baby care and parenting thingies!!!</i></div>
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Yes, dear reader. I did! I can actually hear your shock all the way in my little office/nursery in Bangalore. What can I say? I have been
forced to broaden my 'interests' over the last one year. Good thing too because
I don’t know how I would have survived the first three months of being a mum
without this book. I owe my sister a big ‘Thank You’ for recommending
it to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like many mothers-to-be, I thought that <i>What to Expect…</i> was
all I needed to waltz into motherhood. But after
reading pediatrician Harvey Karp's <i>The</i> <i>Happiest Baby on the Block</i> I realised just how ill prepared I would have been had I not expanded by reading list.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The book spends its entirety preparing the new parent for
the first three months of their child’s life, a period plagued by
crying, tummy troubles, sleepless nights (that they drag their poor
parents into) and cluelessness in general. To explain the reasons for this, Karp draws on the theory of there being a fourth trimester which went missing in the process of evolution because babies just got too big to come out the natural way.<br />
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If you think about horses, for example, who are able to sprint on the first day of their lives, or any other newborn animal, raw as it might be but can still move itself towards a food source, you'll see how ill prepared our newborns are to survive in the first three months of life. I mean, they're practically lumps of very cute and cuddly lard that need all our time, patience and energy to thrive. Especially when finding out what's plaguing them can be anyone's guess. Is it hunger? Diaper discomfort? Gas? Reflux? Colic???<br />
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Ah... that dreaded colic. Karp spends most of the first few chapters trying to
explain what it is and how it differs from tiny tummy troubles (gas,
constipation) and big tummy troubles (acid reflux, food sensitivities). Of
course, having read the entire book from cover to cover, I still haven’t the
foggiest about what colic is exactly, other than the fact that it makes babies crying for hours and
hours for seemingly no apparent reason, or what causes it. However research does show
that it disappears by three to four months of age so phew… I guess? </div>
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What it does tackle quite well is how to handle tummy
troubles and sleepless tykes using what Karp calls The 5 Ss – swaddling,
shushing, sideways/stomach sleeping, swinging and sucking – in great detail. These are techniques adapted from tribal cultures such as the Bushmen of the Kalahari desert whose babies are known to hardly ever cry and sleep like, well, babies! <o:p></o:p><br />
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<i>"For the first few months of life, we need to treat our babies the way our ancestors treated theirs thousands of years ago, with the reassuring rhythms of the fourth trimester. In other words, we should no longer mistake our newborns for little horses. Rather, we should treat them like little kangaroos! Kangaroos "know" their babies need a few more months of TLC before they're ready to go hoppin', so they welcome them into the pouch the moment they're born. Likewise, we need to offer our sweet newborns "pouches" of prolonged holding, rocking, shushing, and warmth. If you do this, you'll be amazed. Once you master the skill of imitating the womb, you'll be able to do exactly what the !Kung (Bushmen) moms do: settle your baby's cries in minutes." </i></div>
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<i><u>From Chapter 6: The Woman Who Mistook Her Baby for a Horse; pg 85</u></i></div>
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Now I know that all babies are different and perhaps my baby
was just an easy baby which is why this book’s content worked so brilliantly for us....
But that isn’t a hundred percent true. My baby, like every other baby out
there, is unpredictable. I would think a million times before
calling him ‘easy’ or ‘angelic’ or boast of him 'sleeping through the night’ –
which he did, like, once last week after which he hasn’t been sleeping well at
all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But through the sunny days as well as the blue, I’ve been
able to calm him down and ensure he sleeps that little bit longer with the
implementation of the 5 Ss. In fact, the few nights that have been the worst
were actually the ones when I decided to forgo the swaddling because I felt
guilty for “keeping his hands trapped” all night long. I did however learn my
lesson from overthinking it the next morning as I sat nodding off into my bowl
of porridge.<br />
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I would recommend this book to parents – new and seasoned – looking for a way, any way, to calm their crying babies and help them sleep longer. If you’re not a new or seasoned parent and frankly, don’t plan to have babies now or any time soon, you should still keep the details of this book handy for the next baby shower you’re scrounging around for gifting ideas. Hey, if you’re enthusiastic enough you should read this for your siblings and friends with babies and haven't the time (or inclination). Read, understand the theory, master the technique and as a mom, dad, aunt or uncle, you will be nothing short of magic!<br />
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<i><b>Buy The Happiest Baby on the Block - The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Sleep Longer from <a href="http://www.flipkart.com/happiest-baby-block-english/p/itmeckygf7sa5mma?pid=9780553393231&affid=afshakhan" target="_blank">Flipkart</a> // <a href="http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/0553393235/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=3626&creative=24790&creativeASIN=0553393235&linkCode=as2&tag=thecatecafe-21" target="_blank">Amazon</a></b></i><br />
<i><br />So now that I know how to get him to sleep, most of the time anyway, it might be worth teaching him to sleep on his own. A lot of reading and research is going to go into this but I've been told that one of the best books on the subject is <u>Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber</u>. It may be a few months before I can report back with a verdict on it though so stay with me, ok? I'll be back next week with the usual and maybe if I have the time in between baby time, a little bit more. </i></div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-65117247107085325872015-11-27T12:00:00.000+05:302015-12-01T12:41:51.025+05:30Book Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pWiMKncP8KI/VlKYH82V_hI/AAAAAAAAFNY/STJYQwFF2YA/s1600/dark-places.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pWiMKncP8KI/VlKYH82V_hI/AAAAAAAAFNY/STJYQwFF2YA/s400/dark-places.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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Maybe you’ve read <i>Gone Girl</i>. Maybe you watched the film. I read the book during an uninspiring literary week and a whole lot of Oscar hype. I never ended up watching the movie.<br />
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Most people I know claim to have had their minds blown by <i>Gone Girl</i>. For good reason too, I realised once I started reading the book. The characters were delightful shades of grey. Some were downright dark and murky. And if you found yourself rooting for one, you soon changed loyalties, or at least caught yourself thinking of it, at some point during the book. But once it was done, and I blame the fact that I read it in the midst of a whole lot of on and offline chatter, I thought it was good, but not mind-blowing. Like, it isn’t on my list of all-time favourites in the genre. It isn’t even in the top 10, to be honest.<br />
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What did blow my mind though is Flynn’s second novel, <i>Dark Places</i>. Any book that spends its entirety deconstructing the build-up to a gory night in small-town America – the stuff of nightmares, this -- is not a book you want to pass up. No seriously, I actually dreamed of axes and Satanic symbols painted in blood on walls two nights in a row. Could this be the 21st century version of <i>The Shining</i>’s flood of blood? In my imagination, it totally is!<br />
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Just like <i>Gone Girl</i>, we have again a set of characters who are deliciously dark with shades of grey. There’s Libby, who survived a bloody massacre that brutally killed her mother and sisters when she was 7 years old. Her brother Ben, the only person to go down for the murders even though there were several discrepancies at the murder scene. There’s Lyle, treasurer and spokesperson of sorts for the Kill Club that’s obsessively trying to find out what really went down that night. And a bunch of other very shady characters who have been constructed beautifully to give the plot depth and intrigue.<br />
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I really like Flynn’s style of writing and her knack of stitching multiple narratives together. This is actually written from three perspectives. Libby’s voice is in first person and unfolds the mystery in the present. Ben and Patty, their mom, alternate in third person, building up to the fateful ‘event’ over one single day. Flynn also weaves in intricate character details and back stories in a crafty manner that lend her novels a certain X factor that makes them impossible to put down.<br />
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<i>Dark Places</i> is definitely a contender for my list of most intriguing murder mysteries of all time. However, I have it on good authority that her first book, <i>Sharp Objects</i> is actually her best. Guess I’ll reserve my judgement until I read that one. But in good time. I want a few months of reads that are anything but fast paced thrillers to really relish this one. Mostly because I really don’t want to overdose on the genre or find myself getting Flynned out.<br />
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<b><i>Buy Dark Places from <a href="http://www.flipkart.com/dark-places-english/p/itme9gcsmnhnsab2?pid=9780753827031&affid=afshakhan" target="_blank">Flipkart</a> // <a href="http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/0753827034/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=3626&creative=24790&creativeASIN=0753827034&linkCode=as2&tag=thecatecafe-21" target="_blank">Amazon</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-in.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thecatecafe-21&l=as2&o=31&a=0753827034" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i></b><br />
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<b><i>Enjoy our posts? <a href="https://www.facebook.com/caterpillarcafe">Like us on Facebook</a>!</i></b>Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-71644634242753750352015-03-09T13:19:00.002+05:302015-03-09T13:19:39.641+05:30Review: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Sweet. That’s the only word I can think of to describe Australian bestseller, <i>The Rosie Project</i>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">It’s a sweet novel about a sweet man who is a more independent, social and likable version of The Big Bang’s Sheldon Cooper. But there is still something slightly, how do you say it, weird, about Don Tillman. He has his day planned down to the minute, compulsively points out people’s errors and follies and takes his meals based on the Standardised Meal System.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">He is also a highly self-aware individual who knows that he isn’t easy to like, has a small number of friends he can count on his first four fingers and has confined himself to being the one making social errors when out on a date.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">But he also knows that if this were the animal kingdom, his above average intelligence, salary and physique would make him highly desirable to females. Now, if only the real world worked like that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">He thus comes up with the Wife Project – comprising of a detailed questionnaire with multiple choice questions - to find a suitable partner. But as with all stories featuring people with very specific demands, what he really ends up desiring, very involuntarily, is the curve ball hurled at him – a “barmaid” who smokes, is always late and is a vegetarian who will only eat sustainable seafood. Now, for someone who has their entire day chalked out carefully, eats the same meal on the same day of every week, who counts their units of alcohol as carefully as they do their calories, this isn’t an ideal situation. But if our character isn’t about to spin out of control having voluntarily or involuntarily dived into situations that are alien to him, we wouldn’t have a story that was half as interesting, would we?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">So we have here a book, that starts out nicely, gets to the mid-point very nicely and ends very nicely. Therein lies the problem. It’s nice. It’s sweet. It’s highly readable and Don is seriously likable. But that’s about it. The story doesn’t get any more layered than that. Ok, so there’s that whole Father Project bit, where he’s helping Rosie find her biological father, that’s adding a bit of drama and entertainment to the story. But even that doesn’t immerse you enough to keep you at the edge of your seat.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><i>'Don, can I ask you something?'</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><i>'One question.'</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><i>'Do you find me attractive?'</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><i>Gene told me the next day that I got it wrong. But he was not in a taxi, after an evening of total sensory overload, with the most beautiful woman in the world. I believed I did well. I detected the trick question. I wanted Rosie to like me, and I remembered her passionate statement about men treating women as objects. She was testing to see if I saw her as an object or a person. Obviously the correct answer was the latter.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><i>'I haven't really noticed,' I told the most beautiful woman in the world. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Don, however, is a great character. He’s everything a romance novel with a plot beyond truelove isn’t, and that is a marvellous change to read. He has quirks that you love and quotable quotes that you’ll enjoy memorising. But Rosie’s character is a little flat and predictable in a lot of ways. She has daddy issues, tries to come across as a rebel and feminist when she’s really a highly qualified doctorate candidate who just wants to be loved and accepted. Quite typical of most heroine written in that role, if you ask me.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><i>The Rosie Project</i> is a sweet book that makes for a nice read. I don’t regret the time I spent on it at all! It has its moments and it’s hilarious in parts. But did I want to read the sequel the minute I finished with the last page? Not really. In fact, I thought this book itself was quite drawn out with nowhere to go after the first half was complete. I recall looking at the progress bar on the Kindle and wondering, “Wait, only 49% in?” “Only 62%?” “What more is left to happen?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">But in its defense, the book is pretty well written so you don’t find yourself forced through the second half even though you know, more or less, how it is going to pan out. So in that respect, it is worth the read. But yes, am I going to bother the sequel? Highly unlikely.</span></div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-57949478148710241022014-12-03T09:59:00.002+05:302014-12-03T09:59:20.041+05:30Review: The Boy who could see Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9IXNmI8buDs/VH6QvcnRBjI/AAAAAAAAEGs/oifYTMY8BLI/s1600/IMG_20141129_071943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9IXNmI8buDs/VH6QvcnRBjI/AAAAAAAAEGs/oifYTMY8BLI/s1600/IMG_20141129_071943.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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There’s nothing ordinary about Alex Broccoli. He lives in a room
at the top of his council house that has no heating. But he seems to prefer it
that way. He wears clothes he found in a trunk that once belonged to an old man
who lived in the house before him. He feels smarter in a jacket and bow tie
anyway. He loves onions on toast more than anything else in the whole wide
world. Especially, since you can buy a whole week’s worth of onions for very
little money. And he also happens to see demons.</div>
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In fact, he has his very own demon. His name is Ruen and he
comes in three avatars – Old Man, Ghost Boy and Monster -- that switch based on how playful, serious or scared he's feeling at that moment. Alex doesn’t have many
friends which is why having Ruen helps. But he also knows that he can’t take
everything his demon tells him at face value because he has a penchant for
evil. He’s the “evil Alex” if you may.</div>
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Yes, there’s nothing ordinary about the protagonist of Carolyn
Jess-Cooke’s <i>The Boy Who Could See Demons</i>, but then again, he isn’t a normal boy
living a normal life. He’s the child living in what was once, and still
threatens to be at times, a very troubled part of the UK. In fact, they even
call that dark period in Northern Irish history the Troubles and this story is
set in the current generation that’s still suffering the aftermath of all that
went down.</div>
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Set in the backdrop of present day Belfast, <i>The Boy Who
Could See Demons</i>, deals largely with issues of mental health among children and
signs of depression in adults. It also adds fantasy to the brew with instances
that linger even after the book is over. Like when Ruen ‘composes’ A Love
Song for Anya and it happens to be the very same tune that haunts Alex’s
therapist, the only person who has seen his condition before from a very close
range. How else would Alex know personal, intimate details about her daughter’s
life, death and mental health issues?</div>
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Of course, these are smaller parts of the book that leave
you wondering. What you really walk away with is an insight into a disturbed
adolescent’s mind given his environment at home. What you also see here is a
beautiful yet dangerously flawed mother-son relationship that has you biting
your nails until the climax.</div>
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But most importantly, what Carolyn Jess-Cooke paints here is
the picture of a Northern Ireland that’s emerging from its own ashes and
learning to live in a renewed environment without forgetting about its troubled
past.</div>
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It’s very rare to find a book you go to bed and wake
up reading. A page turner, this one, as the author expertly weaves a tale that
is at the same time sad, fantastical, hopeful, at times, and ruinous too.</div>
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<b>Verdict:</b> This is the perfect book for readers across genres
with a story that gives you some harsh, hopeful and riveting facts masked in
the imagery of fiction. </div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-14561822146048074882014-11-28T00:00:00.000+05:302014-11-28T00:00:00.579+05:30Review: Illusion (Swept Away Book 1) by JS Cooper<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s3Ey2fguwbA/VHQUs5udbaI/AAAAAAAAEE8/pNV6pS1QKq4/s1600/ill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s3Ey2fguwbA/VHQUs5udbaI/AAAAAAAAEE8/pNV6pS1QKq4/s1600/ill.jpg" height="400" width="255" /></a></div>
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It wasn’t the blurb that convinced me to pre-order this e-book.
It was the first three chapters on Amazon. </div>
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The only solace with which I walk away from JS Cooper’s
<i>Illusion</i> is that I didn’t fall for the whole cliché of ‘girl trapped on a
deserted island with a handsome stranger’. The book did have potential. And an
interesting plot that could have been made even more intriguing once Bianca
London and Jakob No-Last-Name-For-80%-of-the-book found themselves kidnapped
and isolated on an exotic island.</div>
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It kills me to read books with potential that go bonkers. Truly it does. Why do authors do this to themselves? But more importantly, why do they do this to us?</div>
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Bianca is a freelance film writer who has been looking into
her mother’s suspicious death when she was 5-years-old after her father died
and left her a bunch of papers and a very curious letter. Things start to get
scary when she notices a man stalking her at a coffee shop and then again at a
pub. She is soon drugged and stuffed into the trunk of a car with Jakob, a man
she’s never really met though he did share a table with her at the coffee shop.</div>
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Cut to the deserted island. The duo is left tied up on a
beautiful sandy beach with no food, water or clue as to why they’re there. They’re disoriented. But obviously not enough to stop them making sexual advances
or noticing the other’s anatomy.</div>
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Once they gather their bearings after a few bananas, they
sit down to talk over why they may be in this situation. Bianca is convinced
that she’s there because she was investigating her mother’s murder which involves
her billionaire ex’s company. Jakob wastes no time in revealing that he too is
a billionaire but he has no connection whatsoever to said ex. Of course, his
avoidance of all personal questions thereafter do hint at the fact that
perhaps, he isn’t putting all his cards on the table. </div>
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This doesn’t stop our Belle from revealing everything about
herself – murder investigation, back story, hopes, dreams, aspirations included. After all, Jakob is pretty. How bad can he be, really? </div>
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The first thing that gets my goat is that this dumb woman
doesn’t once ask the man she’s stranded with for his last name. Not once! I
mean, come on? Didn’t your parents teach you anything other than to barge
unprepared into the line of fire of a potentially evil corporation? </div>
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Secondly, another character soon appears on the island. He’s
named Steve and is just as shady as Jakob though not as pretty. This is somewhat why
Bianca sticks to the latter because, I mean, how can she dismiss the time they
spent in the boot of the car together? That’s a real connection, right there.</div>
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Third, this Jakob character is a real pervert. Sure they’re
on a stranded island and clothes will come off what with the heat, sand and the
surf. But seriously. What’s with all the inappropriate touching and staring and
sexual comments? </div>
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And finally: Why is it that most leading men in erotic
romances say things like – a) I don’t do girlfriends; b) If you were mine, I
would make sure you never thought of another man ever again; c) I’m dangerous.
You should stay away from me; d) I can’t help but feel protective about you. Let’s
cuddle (or something similar).</div>
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I mean seriously? Are these the guidelines they make you
memorise when you venture into the genre? Can these men not be totally good
looking assholes for once? </div>
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Don’t even get me started on Bianca’s character. You start
off thinking she’s a bit clueless and obviously naive, even though she keeps reiterating
how hard she finds it to trust people. But then she outdoes herself as we see
how the presence of pecks, abs and sky blue eyes turn her into coconut jelly. </div>
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The book could have worked if Cooper had just focussed on
the plot like she initially promised instead of exploring warped male-female sexual
dynamics and how they affect the character’s decision making skills. Bad. Very,
very bad! </div>
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What she delivers however is a plot ruined so totally by forced
erotica, you’re left baffled that this is actually just book number 1 of a “series”.
Trust me JS Cooper. It may have worked for EL James. But lighting only strikes
once. </div>
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God help us all! </div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-91591491930589496742014-11-24T11:27:00.000+05:302014-12-03T12:25:56.438+05:30Fine Fiction | The Deceiver <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><i>The Caterpillar Cafe loves young talent even if it is seriously young like 10-year-old Govindanaraen. He is our youngest ever contributor and we are so happy to publish his first short story. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-weight: 700;">The Deceiver</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-weight: 700;">by </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Govindnaraen Khandelwal</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">It was late night and it was raining cats and dogs in Washington D.C. I
was sitting down on my bed thinking of Luke Neo. I hated him a lot
because he was the only criminal I had failed to catch and that had held
me fifteen months from getting promoted. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Luke is on the top list of the ICL (International Crime List). I am FBI
agent, Jake Parker, and I am 34 years old. When I was about to check
the latest stats on Luke, suddenly there was another call. I groaned as
this might be the billionth time the crazy lady must be calling me thinking
I was a businessman who worked with her. But it was my boss, Sam. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">He said, “Jake, go to these coordinates 99* S and 34* W. We suspect
that Luke is in this mall.” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Before I could say a word, he hung up. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I definitely had to go. It was my mission to catch Luke.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">When I finally reached the mall, the security guard blocked me from
entering. “I’m sorry but the mall is closed, Sir”, he said.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“F.B.I, let me in” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I took the stairs since the electricity was off. When I reached the second
floor I saw a shop open and the first person I saw there was Luke typing
at his laptop. As I was about to take my gun and shoot, suddenly I felt
something burning on my back. When I turned, I saw the guard who had
restricted me from entering pointing a tranquilliser at me. Then I saw
Luke again. He just smiled at me and went back typing at his computer. I
fell down on the ground slowly closing my eyes.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I woke up with a startle. I heard Luke saying that we were in the
safehouse in Georgia. When he finally realised that I had woken up, he
said, “Still with those stupid F.B.I agents. Man you are meant to be with
us, your brain and our power can rule the world.” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I did not answer. Instead I tried to get my gun out. But when I tried to
reach for my gun, I realised I did not have a gun, and I also remembered
that I was in a safe house packed with henchmen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“What were you doing in the mall?” I asked a bit inquisitively.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Just hacking into the president’s computer,” he said, typing something
on the laptop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Why in a mall?” I asked.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Did you see the shop’s name.”</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“No” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“It’s called Hallmark if you turn it around and it spells Kramllah. Kramllah
is a mafia group present from 1990. It was the greatest mafia group in
history and the leader wanted to kill the president and fake as him and
order nuclear strikes all over the world"</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“So what were you doing in the shop.” I asked</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“When they failed, I made up my my mind that I will carry on that
project.”</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Why?” I asked.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“You know the leader of Kramllah is an impostor in the F.B.I and also
related to me”.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“He.” I said, in a bit of a suspicious tone.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Yeah, you got a problem?” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I had learned more about the case now. Since Luke was so glued to his
laptop, I figured out that if I could come up with a plan and trick him to
break out of this stinking place. Suddenly, I saw a water bottle and said,
“I need water.” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Luke turned to one of his henchmen and told him to give me water. As
the henchman walked towards me, I saw a gun in his pocket. I grabbed
the gun and shot him on his knee. He cried in pain. I heard Luke calling
for reinforcements. I ran out of the window and saw a car with no one in
it. I could hear gunshots behind me and did not even dare to look back.
As I neared the car, I saw Luke’s henchmen behind and in front of me, I
was nearing the car when a missile shot by one of the henchmen went
zooming past me. The missile missed me by a couple meters and the
dust blinded me. I reached the car and found the keys on the
dashboard. Soon I was in the car driving fast. I headed towards the J.
Edgar Hoover Building, the headquarters of the F.B.I. in Washington.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">When I reached the F.B.I headquarters, I found that my boss, Sam, was
already there. I was happy to see him. I took immediate action of
informing him about there being a spy in F.B.I. Minutes later we were on
a private helicopter ride to NYC to discuss matters with the C.I.A. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Actually I was feeling very happy going back to the C.I.A because I
would be meeting my friends and my former CIA boss. In the middle of
the flight, Sam said that he needed to use the washroom. When he got
up I heard a shrill sound. As boss was walking towards the washroom, </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">he removed his knife and jabbed it in my stomach. I felt like an ant who
was being crushed by a humans shoe slowly and painfully.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 3">
<div class="section" style="background-color: rgb(100.000000%, 100.000000%, 100.000000%);">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“I am the leader of Kramllah and Luke is my child. When my plan failed,
he took up the challenge of doing the same. He reports to me everyday.”
Sam said this cruelly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I felt like I was dying there and nobody but me and the leader of
Kramllah were there. I saw a gun on the table and with all my energy I
pushed Sam. Before he could react, I shot him. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The pilot had witnessed all these events. He supported me in this case.
Immediately he turned the chopper towards the hospital. Three months
later, after I was healed, I finally was promoted. We also found a GPS
tracker that belonged to Sam. Through that we found the coordinates of
Luke and his gang’s location. Soon after, we imprisoned Luke and his
gang.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Luke and his gang are rotting in the jail and I am relaxing on my new
chair in my new cabin waiting for a crime to unfold. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602177730405516745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-67968677241701304402014-11-12T01:49:00.001+05:302014-11-24T12:07:07.445+05:30What kind of reader are you? | A rant<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ttIkO3ykVLc/VGJuv6nWlHI/AAAAAAAAEBs/Ag4j4n3Cq7g/s1600/read.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ttIkO3ykVLc/VGJuv6nWlHI/AAAAAAAAEBs/Ag4j4n3Cq7g/s400/read.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
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The books you read say a lot about you. How you read a book however, speaks volumes about your personality.</div>
<br />
Are you a book addict? Tearing at a novel's pages every free moment you get?<br />
<br />
Are you a reading addict? Scanning the contents at the back of cereal boxes during breakfast or under packets of tissue paper in the loo?<br />
<br />
Are you a fidgety reader? Fluttering through pages never really getting in or out of a story with ease?<br />
Are you adventurous with your picks? Scanning lists and lists and lists related to your lists to find your next read?<br />
<br />
I’d like to think of myself as “all of the above” though of late I have been leaning towards the fidgety side of things. This isn't because my style of reading has changed. It's because my lifestyle has.<br />
I guess that's another category of “reader”, isn't it? The kind of person who loves to read but is hindered by distractions like beeping phones, chattering at coffee shops or motion sickness...<br />
<br />
The only thing to do in such cases is not to give it. To chug along. Keep trying. Reading. Neil Gaiman can't keep you in his grip? Move on to chicklit. Zadie Smith just going on and on and on? And on. Move on to a thriller. Fantasy just too fantastical in the midst of the mundane? Hello YA!<br />
I guess I'm still in the throes of 'all of the above' which can be summed up in one word, really - indecisive.<br />
<br />
But there's no room for self-doubt even if I have only finished two out of the last 10 books I started.<br />
What is wrong with me? Nothing, really. Just life. A certain lifestyle. Distractions and... stuff.<br />
There was a time I wrote about everything I read. EVERYTHING. But lately I haven't been reading enough, or intensely enough to churn out a decent enough review-rant-rave.<br />
<br />
So this is where I will insert your voice, dear reader, whispering: "Don't beat yourself up about it." "Everyone goes through these phases." "Why don't you just pause? Take it slow for a while?"<br />
<br />
Pause? Take it slow? I can't pause. I'm nothing if not a reader. I love words and the worlds they wield. But you're right. Maybe I should take it slow. And give myself some room to breathe. Think. Formulate my thoughts.<br />
<br />
To be honest, I didn't always finish all the books I wrote about in the past. For good reason too. Reasons I often used as anchors for my posts.<br />
<br />
So what's changed between then and now? Nothing what-so-ever! Well, maybe the new city, new job, two dogs and unfamiliar domestic setting are still more or less brand-spanking-new. But yes, other than that, nothing much.<br />
<br />
I'm still an ardent reader. I still love discovering cool new titles across genres.<br />
<br />
In fact, now that I've got this rant out of the way, I'm actually buzzing with new things to write about. Like Gone Girl, which I read and, well, really really need to discuss with someone before I go absolutely insane! Oh, and GoodReads has become my go-to site to find seriously awesome reads I wouldn't have ever found otherwise. That deserves a post, don’t you think so? I also live in a city which has a ridiculously large number of readers! The largest in India, if <b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/IT-capital-Bangalore-emerges-also-as-book-capital/articleshow/29268138.cms" target="_blank">sales figures are to be believed</a></b>. The number of quaint little bookstores are staggering in how they're designed to keep you trapped behind beautiful stacks of books -- old, new, undiscovered, forgotten -- until closing time.<br />
<br />
It’s time to wake up and bring this blog back to life. Now, I know we’ve said this once before and went back to the grind, our post drafts getting rusty, and our bookshelf lying forgotten.<br />
<br />
This is where I promise you new and exciting posts a week. Maybe more if we can wing it! But it’s time to stop making promises and actually putting those posts about wonderfully exciting books into action so you can see for yourself.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>PS:</b> Does anyone else think we need to get a design makeover? Reshma and I have been discussing this (agreeing mostly) for months now but haven't really come to a conclusion as to whether we want a new look. Let us know what you think in the comments.<br />
<br />
<b>Update at 4.29pm: </b>Ok, we went ahead and changed it anyway. It's a lot simpler than our previous layout but it has way more features and opportunities to interact. Also, subscribe?</div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-50637401738114655202014-09-05T19:56:00.000+05:302014-09-05T19:56:35.450+05:30Five Poems, Five Poets, Five days | Walt Whitman <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxuN-NcmcHnN2xR3Ouskna8scfbWF8ca5E2MkDFyRIgpCNLR86QpekX50eYI3j9JcNxJEW9a4VGK2Io6LrWBtkavMim9LcQtBwH3KqZHUdsicm2y5TZAEoON0irzMixWwgJ_Z6ElVPV2U/s1600/Walt+Whitman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxuN-NcmcHnN2xR3Ouskna8scfbWF8ca5E2MkDFyRIgpCNLR86QpekX50eYI3j9JcNxJEW9a4VGK2Io6LrWBtkavMim9LcQtBwH3KqZHUdsicm2y5TZAEoON0irzMixWwgJ_Z6ElVPV2U/s1600/Walt+Whitman.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
'I sing the body electric;<br />
<br />
That says everything doesn't it. I don't think an opening line gets better than that for me and it's one of my favourites. It is the opening line of the eponymous poem 'I sing the body electric'. It isn't the most famous of Walt Whitman poems- many critics found it obvious and repetitive. That honour would go to <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174742" target="_blank">'O Captain! My Captain!'</a>, which has garnered interest of late because of the untimely and sad demise of Robin William's, that funny funny man, who broke our collective hearts a couple of weeks ago.<br />
<br />
'I sing the body electric' is from Walt Whitman's <i>Leaves of Grass</i> that was first published in 1855. It grew from a small collection of 12 poems to almost 400 by the time it got to the 'death bed edition'. My own edition (see picture) is a lovely 1968 edition illustrated by Mary Jane Gorton, a replication of an edition in between, I don't know which. It begins with Leaves of Grass, an poem that is a prologue of sort to the next one, I sing the body electric, which is essentially a magnificent ode or rather a love letter, an erotic love letter, to the human body.<br />
<br />
The poem is made up of 13 stanzas of varying lengths and the stanzas are made up of structured prose if you will. The poem does have a rhythm of sorts and has to be read aloud. Imagine a chant or a drum rhythm that begins slowly, Dum Dum Dum and then movies into steady beat that finally crescendoes into an orchestra of trumpets and flares.<br />
<br />
The first section makes the primal connection between body and soul, and then catalogues its various parts -<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
The expression of the face balks <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/142/1001.html#19.11">account</a>;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.bartleby.com/142/1001.html#19.12">But</a> the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees—dress does not hide him;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
The strong, sweet, supple quality he has, strikes through the cotton and flannel;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span><a href="" name="15"><i> 15</i></a></span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side.</blockquote>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He then talks about the democratisation of the body regardless of who we are in society. He talks about the swimmer in the swimming batch, the rower, the horseman, labourers, wrestlers, all in the rhythm of free flowing prose structured into verse. He then talks about the virility of man, the lusciousness of body that is overtly erotic. It's no surprise that this was an extremely controversial piece of work at the time.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #000020;">You would wish long and long to be with him—you would wish to sit by him in the boat, that you and he might touch each other.</span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
I have perceiv’d that to be with those I like is enough,</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span><a href="" name="45"><i> 45</i></a></span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
To pass among them, or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly round his or her neck for a moment—what is this, then?</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
I do not ask any more delight—I swim in it, as in a sea.</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
</blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
There is something in staying close to men and women, and looking on them, and in the contact and odor of them, that pleases the soul well;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span><a href="" name="50"><i> 50</i></a></span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
All things please the soul—but these please the soul well.</blockquote>
<br />
How about the woman? Well we were kept in our place and it reflects in the poem. Our bodies are not considered as fierce and we are given more gentle treatment, as would have been the zeitgeist of the time. We are called a 'divine nimbus' which irritated me to no end. What on earth does nimbus mean you ask? I looked it up. It means luminous cloud or even worse, saint. But then of course we are also about desire -<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous, quivering jelly of love, white-blow and delirious juice;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span><a href="" name="60"><i> 60</i></a></span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
Bridegroom night of love, working surely and softly into the prostrate dawn;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
Undulating into the willing and yielding day,</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
Lost in the cleave of the clasping and sweet-flesh’d day.</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
</blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
This is the nucleus—after the child is born of woman, the man is born of woman;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
This is the bath of birth—this is the merge of small and large, and the outlet again.</blockquote>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There is no talk about contractions or how my pelvis handles the assault that is the 'birthing' process probably because he never saw what went on at the time. He only saw the perfection. While the male is 'action and power', the woman is 'in her place, and moves with perfect balance;'<br />
<br />
That chaffed at my insides but let's move on. We then come to the slave auction where he says he will 'help' the auctioneer while simultaneously deriding the process which he believes is a worship of the physical even as there is so much more to the body. There is the 'all baffling brain' :<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
In <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/142/1001.html#19.100">this</a> head the all-baffling brain;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span><a href="" name="100"><i> 100</i></a></span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
In it and below it, the makings of <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/142/1001.html#19.101">heroes</a>.</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
</blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
Examine these limbs, red, black, or white—they are <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/142/1001.html#19.102">so</a> cunning in tendon and nerve;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
They shall be stript, that you may see them.</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
</blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
Exquisite senses, life-lit eyes, pluck, volition,</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
Flakes of breast-muscle, pliant back-bone and neck, flesh not flabby, good-sized arms and legs,</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span><a href="" name="105"><i> 105</i></a></span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
And wonders within there yet.</blockquote>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My favourite part, and the reason I chose this poem, is the final stanza. Where he, if I may say, 'rips into it'. If he was a rapper, this would be his crescendo. Tu Pac would have loved this part where he pummels through every organ, every crevice, our mouth, our nose, the teats, the nipples, the weeping the hips, the wrist. He ticks it all off until he gets to the knees and then says -<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
The thin red jellies within you, or within me—the bones, and the marrow in the bones,</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
The exquisite realization of health;</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
O I say, these are not the parts and poems of the Body only, but of the Soul,</blockquote>
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><blockquote>
<span> </span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><blockquote>
O I say now these are the <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/142/1001.html#19.165">Soul</a>!</blockquote>
<br /><br />The human body is divine and this poem always makes me feel wonderful be alive, to appreciate what I am and to never take my health for granted. So now I am off to work out. The poem can be read in it's entirety <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/142/19.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <br /><br />For more information on Walt Whitman- go <a href="http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/walt-whitman" target="_blank">here </a><br /><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602177730405516745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-88041402373903392242014-09-03T12:28:00.000+05:302014-09-03T18:51:27.920+05:30Love to love, love to hate | 20 books that have changed me<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BL68Hn_CxkY/VAa6t6lFgnI/AAAAAAAADz4/06MDFY8wtoI/s1600/2014-09-03%2B12.09.18.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BL68Hn_CxkY/VAa6t6lFgnI/AAAAAAAADz4/06MDFY8wtoI/s1600/2014-09-03%2B12.09.18.png" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
The first time I was nominated to list 10 books that changed
my life, I ignored it. I mean, how am I supposed to pick just 10 books? Each
and every book I’ve ever read or left unread has changed me in some way or
another. <o:p></o:p>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Good books leave you with a feeling of satisfaction. Even if
they dodn’t go the way you would have liked. They make you happy. You find
yourself smiling when you think back to their prose years later. You often find
yourself recommending them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bad books leave you angry. Irritated. Sometimes, you read
them until the end just to give yourself the satisfaction of knowing yes, that
was undoubtedly one of the worst books of all time. You find yourself scowling
when you look back on them years later. You often find yourself bitching about
them and often, recommending people read them so they can share your pain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately, there’s a thin line between love and hate,
bad and good. It is all subjective, after all. What you devour may read like
nails on a chalkboard for another. What you detest may be a friend’s bible! <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is why I believe that books both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ have
the tendency to change you. Raving about the ones you love gives them a wider
audience. It lends them the affirmation you believe they rightfully deserve.
Bitching about the ones you dislike also has its advantages. Some might listen
to you and get the reason they need not to risk it. But others who have read
and loved them offer up some insightful arguments.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All books you've read/attempted to read serve a
purpose. They may tell you things about the author. But more importantly, they
teach you things about yourself. They offer you lessons on life you may not otherwise see. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe the prose was too heavy or pretentious. That teaches
you the importance of making points and telling stories that are simple, clear and
to the point. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plot probably had promise when it started but found
itself in the same old rut that kills originality. That teaches you about
ideas in life that look promising at first but materialise very differently
because you are either too lazy to see them through or couldn’t, for whatever
reason, follow your original vision.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Either way, books you like and dislike have the tendency to
change you. But you can’t blame people for wanting to focus on the good over
the bad. Let’s also not dismiss the idea of the pressure involved in revealing
the texts that had an impact on you. Will I sound erudite enough? What if I
sound too pretentious? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
On my fourth nomination, I had a go at it on Facebook and this is the response I received.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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You know you have good friends when they keep you honest. Especially if they're the ones who know each and every reading adventure you've ever had and how it influenced you even if you don't. Also, as the only person (I know of) to have ever designed and hosted a Harry Potter pub quiz in Mumbai, I think my friends may be right on that part.<br />
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So here’s the final list of books I love that changed me.
Followed by, in the interest of balance, titles I disliked for various reasons,
but not enough to dismiss because they've added value to my life and love of literature in some way or another.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Books I Love to Love<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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1. Harry Potter by JK Rowling (Are you happy now, Reshma?)<o:p></o:p></div>
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2. 1984 by George Orwell<o:p></o:p></div>
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3. <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2013/07/in-your-food-depressed-review.html?q=lemon+cake" target="_blank">The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake</a></b> by Aimee Bender<o:p></o:p></div>
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4. Mystery Man by Colin Bateman<o:p></o:p></div>
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5. The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa <o:p></o:p></div>
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6. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami<o:p></o:p></div>
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7. Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw<o:p></o:p></div>
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8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak<o:p></o:p></div>
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9. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan<o:p></o:p></div>
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10. French Women Don’t get Fat by Mireille Guiliano <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Books I Love to Hate<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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1. <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2012/05/fifty-shades-of-rants.html?q=el+james" target="_blank">50 Shades of Gray</a></b> by EL James <o:p></o:p></div>
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2. <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2013/04/book-review-1q84-by-haruki-murakami.html?q=1Q84" target="_blank">1Q84 </a></b>by Haruki Murakami<o:p></o:p></div>
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3. <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2013/08/afshas-review-discovery-of-witches-by.html?q=discovery+of+witches" target="_blank">A Discovery of Witches</a></b> by Deborah Harkness<o:p></o:p></div>
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4. <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2012/10/call-grammar-police-bared-to-you-by.html?q=bared+to+you" target="_blank">Bared to You</a></b> by Sylvia Day<o:p></o:p></div>
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5. <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2012/04/unbearable-silence-of-snow-rant.html?q=snow" target="_blank">Snow</a></b> by Orhan Pamuk<o:p></o:p></div>
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6. <b><a href="http://caterpillarcafe.blogspot.in/2012/03/sequel-to-prequel-angels-game-by-carlos.html?q=the+angel%27s+game" target="_blank">The Angel’s Game</a></b> by Carlos Ruiz Zafon<o:p></o:p></div>
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7. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie<o:p></o:p></div>
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8. Weight Loss by Upamanyu Chatterjee <o:p></o:p></div>
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9. The Alchemy of Desire by Tarun Tajpal</div>
10. Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence – this is still part of
my master-list of books that changed me because no matter how disturbed I find
myself while reading it, I will from time-to-time go back to it for old times’
sake. (A rant on this book + my visit to the author’s house in Nottingham,
COMING SOON).<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-47420914482980929242014-08-28T17:26:00.000+05:302014-08-28T17:48:23.466+05:30Poetry | Five Poems, five poets, five days <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Caterpillar Cafe is not a review site primarily because, being writers, we can't bear to give bad reviews especially when we know how hard it is to write anything at all. So we believe that 'Good writing lies in the eye of the reader.' </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So here at the cafe' we tell you what we love and why we think you will love it too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And one of us happens to love poetry. Yes, remember english classes- ' Tiger Tiger burning bright' ?Poetry is a lot more than memorising poems. It's perfect reading before bed as the rhythm of the lines act like a lullaby lulling you to sleep. This week I run through some of my favourite poems. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have to start with Donne. Donne was my introduction to how poetry can be completely absurd and yet make sense all at the same time. Donne manages to turn anything into a metaphor for love. A compass, death and now a flea. I think this is perhaps the cleverest poem written about a flea and perhaps the most erotic. Do you know another poem that combines fleas and sex. A perennial favourite, here is The Flea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>How to read?</i> I am terrible at recognising iambic pentameters and tetrameters but here goes. This poem <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">alternates metrically between lines in iambic tetrameter (4 iambs or syllables ) and lines in iambic pentameter (5 iambs). So it's 454545455. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">The rhyme scheme in each stanza is regular, in couplets, with the final line rhyming with the final couplet: AABBCCDDD.This makes the last three lines in the stanza read strange as you always think the last line remains hanging. Tell me if you think it reads differently. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"> The Flea</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d493f; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d493f; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/john-donne" style="color: #043d6e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;">JOHN DONNE</a></div>
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Mark but this flea, and mark in this, </div>
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How little that which thou deniest me is; </div>
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It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,</div>
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And in this flea our two bloods mingled be; </div>
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Thou know’st that this cannot be said</div>
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A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,</div>
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Yet this enjoys before it woo,</div>
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And pampered swells with one blood made of two,</div>
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And this, alas, is more than we would do.</div>
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Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,</div>
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Where we almost, nay more than married are. </div>
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This flea is you and I, and this</div>
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Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is; </div>
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Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met, </div>
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And cloistered in these living walls of jet.</div>
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Though use make you apt to kill me,</div>
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Let not to that, self-murder added be,</div>
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And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.</div>
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Cruel and sudden, hast thou since</div>
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Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence? </div>
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Wherein could this flea guilty be,</div>
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Except in that drop which it sucked from thee? </div>
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Yet thou triumph’st, and say'st that thou </div>
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Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;</div>
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’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:</div>
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Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-indent: -1em;"><span style="text-indent: -1em;"> Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602177730405516745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-21595591691177117442014-08-22T11:24:00.001+05:302014-08-22T11:24:07.246+05:30An overdue update & a comeback plan!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DflS642XnQI/U_baLu5IB8I/AAAAAAAADvU/bEnvup6q3ms/s1600/IMG_20140210_191820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DflS642XnQI/U_baLu5IB8I/AAAAAAAADvU/bEnvup6q3ms/s1600/IMG_20140210_191820.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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We’ve been leaving long gaps between our reviews, I know.
But that isn’t because we aren’t reading. Because, boy are we reading a whole
lot! <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve just spent the last few months exploring independently
published erotica and up-and-coming fantasy/horror/ thriller titles. I’m also
currently chugging through Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series because I want
to have all the details fresh in my mind for the October release of the final
Heroes of Olympus novel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Reshma has been fluttering through book launches, book shops
and densely populated bookshelves at book publishers’ offices, not to mention off-beat
books that she has been discovering on her travels. But I’ll let her fill you
in on this part because she tells it better than I.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In short: We owe you. Big time! And we’d like to thank all
our readers who’ve been waiting patiently to discover brilliant titles far off
the bestseller shelves. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We’re quite excited to announce that we’re expanding
our repertoire to include aspects of reading that go beyond the written word nestled inside paperbacks and e-readers. I’m talking about adventures in the aisles of
bookstores, people whose bookshelves we admire and lists and lists of recommended
reads! <o:p></o:p></div>
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So keep an eye on our little blog as we go back to some old
habits – two posts a week *fingers crossed* – and some new ones that we hope
you will absolutely love.</div>
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Have a great weekend!</div>
Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-421982020252163232014-06-17T14:27:00.001+05:302014-06-17T14:45:45.106+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602177730405516745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-54195156177897766782014-05-01T17:27:00.001+05:302014-05-01T17:38:02.002+05:30Hello Dolly! Now go away | Review of JC Martin's The Doll<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DcF2dn4OqYI/U2I00xfOAMI/AAAAAAAADXk/uXuITiHobtM/s1600/the+doll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DcF2dn4OqYI/U2I00xfOAMI/AAAAAAAADXk/uXuITiHobtM/s1600/the+doll.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
There are more kindle singles about demonic dolls than I appreciate or have the ability to resist.<br />
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I’m not afraid of dolls the way I am of worms or the deep end of the pool. But I’m not too comfortable in their presence either. A minute alone in a room with a doll, and the walls start to shrink and their dead, unblinking eyes get bigger.<br />
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Why then, did I have to download a single about not one, but an entire island of dolls?
Because you don’t stop sitting under trees or jumping into pools just because something scares you… even if you are the kind of person who doesn’t look into mirrors in the dark for fear of catching their reflection off guard.<br />
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The Doll by JC Martin has rave reviews on Amazon and at Rs 56 it is most definitely worth downloading even if it ends faster than you can say ‘Peek-a-Boo’.
Single mom Joyce takes her daughter Taylor on vacation to Mexico where they visit The Island of Dolls which houses dolls in all shapes and sizes, whole and dismembered. Taylor takes to the place immediately, as would any child who hasn’t yet been traumatised by a certain Good Guy who shall not be named. Joyce on the other hand finds herself ill at ease conjuring images of said Good Guy.<br />
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As it turns out, the island is actually a shrine to a little girl who drowned in the lake. Evil lurks there and the dolls have everything to do with it. This evil follows Joyce and her daughter home where things start to get seriously creepy. And then Joyce makes a discovery that takes her back to The Island of Dolls... at dusk.<br />
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It isn’t a very long story. Nor is it very erudite, or grammatically sound for that matter.
But it’s creepy as hell, especially when the writer links up to the sinister side of Palo Monte, a religion that developed in the Spanish colonies of South America. The bit about the Nganga, a cauldron of bones and ashes in which spirits are said to reside, is my favourite.<br />
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The language is like a runny yoke that could have been less casual, but as it’s narrated in first person, not to mention self-published, you may be able to let that slide.<br />
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Dolls have been done to death but this story has the X factor. I kept expecting demon doll to spring up at me from under the bed or in the bathroom the night I read this. However, the next morning, after giving it another read, I realized that it isn’t as scary I you initially thought. Somehow, as much as I appreciate short fiction, this is the sort of book that would have made more of an impact in a full-length novel.<br />
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JC Martin has a fine flair for storytelling even if her talent is a bit raw. If she puts this much thought and lore into all her scary stories, she's definitely going on my default reading list.<br />
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<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005S0V67I/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005S0V67I&linkCode=as2&tag=caterpi-20&linkId=44HIWS47ZX56DJR6" target="_blank">Download The Doll by JC Martin Amazon; Kindle Single </a></b></i>Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-56520434188175456772014-04-11T08:23:00.001+05:302014-04-29T14:32:27.260+05:30Book Review | Seraphina - Rachel Hartman <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's been a while since I fell in love with a Dragon. Game of Thrones doesn't count because the book merely <i>has</i> dragons in it. George R R Martin makes sure that any magic is confined to the boundaries of realism which is probably why Westeros is so in denial of the ice zombies that are headed their way. Christopher Paolini's inheritance cycle was a low point for fantasy's most beloved creatures- it was the 'Bride and Prejudice' of Jane Austen movies. Robin Hobb's dragons in Dragon Haven were a little too mystical and almost disconnected. Then there was magnificent Temeraire who stole our hearts but the series catered to the fairer sex that likes a little bit of war with everything. Yes, it's been a while since I fell in love with a Dragon.<br />
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It's also been a while since I felt for a protagonist. Katniss was strong but she never really pulled at my heartstrings; she didn't need me on her side. Sophie from Hex Hall was just plain snarky and let's not even talk about Bella. The kids from <i>Divergent</i> and <i>I am number 4 </i>are all super hero material. Ride a horse- check. Shoot things- check. Brilliant eyesight- check. Pretty- check. Essentially a counter to Bella whose insipidity single handedly led to the creation of the Super Chick.<br />
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Then comes Seraphina. At the outset, she has no super power, well apart from playing an instrument. And two, she's sweet. I know right? Sweet! She's kind and a little shy but that doesn't mean she doesn't have chutzpah, but above all she's intelligent. The book is a high fantasy novel set in the little city of Goredd which is enjoying a time a hard won peace, put in place by a treaty between humans and dragons. Only in this world, Dragons can take human form- Sarranti. When we meet Seraphina, there has been a murder in the Royal family and she, a court musician, finds herself, quite abruptly, right in the middle of it. Seraphina knows a lot about dragons because of Orma, who apart from being my favourite character in the book, is also Seraphina's mentor and closest ally. The plot revolves around her getting more and more embroiled in finding out who killed the Royal Heir and in the process realising that there is way more to her past than meets the eye.<br />
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We have a surprising set of characters which include Prince Lucian- the handsome bastard, who is about to marry the daughter of a cranky but fair Queen. His fiance channels Marie Antoinette thereby acting a the perfect foil for Seraphina. But Orma is my favourite and reminds me of the Vulcans. There's always an little bit of humour hiding behind his seriousness, waving hello.<br />
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The book starts off slow, primarily because it's such a strange world and we are dumped into it with no real context. The first three chapters take a little getting used to; the language is mature and languid. But it's fantastic to see a protagonist who speaks well, doesn't say 'Whatever', is passionate about music and whose mind, to say in the least is, bloody complicated. Rachel Hartman uses an interesting plot device is original albeit clumsy in places and manages to elevate the novel above most other YA fare. But plot devices aside, the book is filled to the brim with drama and story. There is chemistry and there is sacrifice of the most noble kind. By the time I got to the end I was wiping away tears and clicking on Flipkart to buy the second book in the trilogy, only to find that it's going to be released in 2015! I hate fantasy.<br />
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Verdict- Buy if you are a YA fan, you can reread it in a year or donate it to a YA book club.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13602177730405516745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329667451527372670.post-62703452501380090022014-01-18T10:57:00.001+05:302014-01-19T11:05:00.793+05:30Review | Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Some spoilers
included. #JustSaying<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a sculptor of antagonists. Demonic,
degenerate and devoid of humanity, these are the creatures you can only imagine
encountering in hell or worse, in a nightmare that has demons crawling across
the walls and ceiling. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The scariest is Mr Cain, a magician/clown/maker of deals
from <i>The Prince of Mist</i>. It may have something to do with his insane pursuit
for his pound of flesh or the fact that he often appears from – wait for it – mist.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then there’s Lain Coubert from <i>The Shadow of the Wind</i>, a
disfigured creature with neither eyelids nor lips who carries the smell of
burnt paper everywhere he goes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And now in <i>Marina</i>, his latest book in translation, Zafon has
outdone himself with Mijail Kolvenik, born in the tunnels of Prague, raised in
the operating room of his adoptive father, a doctor and now, obsessed with
cheating death even if it means stalking children with his claw-like hands and
feeding off his own young. You’d be wise to avoid tunnels, dark alleys and
abandoned Gothic structures for a while after reading this book.</div>
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One can’t deny that Zafon has a special gift with
antagonists. Now if only he focused as much time and effort on his protagonists.
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<i>Marina</i> is about a boy named Oscar who lives in a boarding
school in Barcelona. This school obviously has really lax rules because all
Oscar seems to do is leave the premises after class every day and explore the dark
streets of the city. Fascinating and wondrous, he soon encounters a rambling
house one evening and finds himself mesmerised by its occupants, a one-time
famous painter named German and his daughter Marina. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The girl quickly becomes the object of his affection though
she responds to his advances in hot and cold bursts until she breaks his heart.
The similarities between Pip and Estella from <i>Great Expectations</i> are uncanny
but without the breathless charm. Moreover, this isn’t a story about adolescent love even though Zafon
hints at its significance through mysterious illnesses, an oscillation between
optimism and depression and a bit of stalking, on Oscar’s part, even the
occupants of the house are clearly not at home.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The real truly story starts with the discovery of an unnamed
grave in a secret cemetery and a veiled woman who visits it on the last Sunday
of every month. On following her the kids find themselves ensnared in a mystery
that revolves around Mijail Kolvenik, a man who made a fortune in mechanised prosthetic
limbs during the war. But as with all good things this too ends in tragedy
with nothing to show for it except a demonic new avatar that wants nothing more
than to replace every part of himself in order to live forever.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Zafon’s a master of the sinister novel. His descriptions of
situations, places and people transcend language. But at some point he started
to lose the plot… literally. In Marina, it’s as though he’s confused between
focussing on the best story he’s ever written and the chemistry between these
two stupid kids – I mean, who returns to a warehouse filled with mysterious
life sized puppets dangling from ropes on the ceiling? A strong indication of
this is how he’s titled the book – Marina – rather than the choicer ones that
hint at mysterious characters – The Prisoner of Heaven, The Water in the
Shadows, The Prince of Mist…<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m not a big fan of
forced emotional scenes. Especially those that are drawn out for pages and
pages well after the story has ended. Zafon claims that Marina is one of his
favourite books among all his titles. I really can’t see why. Neither story, the
forced one featuring Oscar and Marina or the more absorbing one of Mijail and
Irene, satisfy Zafon fans sufficiently. He should have sent Marina to where it
really belongs – The Cemetery of Forgotten Books.</div>
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Afsha Khan Jayapal http://www.blogger.com/profile/02861363899938485987noreply@blogger.com1