Like most people, I tend to catch up on my reading list in the summer. My latest conquest is The Time Traveler’s Wife. I started reading the book three days ago. I got to work early today (a rarity) and I have about 30 pages left to read until I am finished. I look around and no one is here yet and so I decide to read. This was a bad idea. I am tearing up and come very close to sobbing out loud as I turn each page…506…505…504…..536 (Period). I hate for this book to be over. I am not ready for it to be over. I read it way to fast and I’m still immersed in this story. I Google for discussions on this book and unfortunately do not find any good ones. I am hoping that there are many people currently reading this book, about to finish, since the movie is coming out in a few days. Here are some of my thoughts on The Time Traveler’s Wife:
Love in real life is not all peaches and cream. There are ups and down. Audrey Niffenegger, the author, was able to capture all the highs and the lows of love. We’re captivated by the nature of the couple’s first real meeting, when they make love, fall in love and get married. But Audrey is not afraid to paint love in an ugly light. Henry and Clare try unsuccessfully for years to have a child and it tears away at the seams of their marriage. They bury the corpses of their dead fetuses. Clare admits to secretly enjoy being by herself sometimes when Henry time travels. The couple goes through the constraints of money and past love affairs. Henry and Clare’s love story is truthful and believable.
So, I had a sneak peak at Peter Seibel’s upcoming book- Coders at Work. Thanks for the wonderful opportunity, Peter.
Read it, because then you will know the greatest coding brains.
For those of you have not heard of the book, its a collection of the author’s interviews with 15 of the best brains in Computer Science and Programming, the world have seen. I particularly enjoyed reading the interviews of Donald Knuth, Ken Thompson and Guy Steele- these were the more known names to me because of my trade with Computer Science, Unix and Scheme day-to-day.
After scheming through it, I found one thing re-established, Computing was more fun in the early days. This was a common thread running through all of the interviews- a lot of the interviewees shared a opinion that, computing today is a lot abstracted from the real thing beneath. I wish I was born during those days near one of those university campuses
BTW, if you want a sneak peak, please consider emailing the author and you might just get lucky, like me
I apologise if it appears I’m blowing my own trumpet (which I am), but when you read this, you’ll understand why. I came across this recently and it really made my day:
“This book was marketed as Indian chicklit, part of a new wave in Indian publishing. Well it does have a spunky, 20-something female as the lead character; but the reason I liked it (and no I’m not trying to be snotty about chicklit…for the record, I LOVE chicklit) was because it’s an intricate murder mystery too.
For Indian readers who grew up reading Agatha Christie and felt sorry for themselves because they believed they could never relish that pleasure in an Indian form…well…there’s hope. Now, now… Jain is no Christie. Judging from her glam author photo and bio, she might even take offence at being compared to a badly dressed tame dame, no matter how successful. But she sure possesses a talent for dragging you, protestingly at first, through a hundred twists and turns to finally catch the killer.
There are a bunch of interesting suspects who are all linked to each other and to the victim in rather complex ways. Jain keeps all these connections, cross-connections, and revelations moving along smoothly as she weaves her way to the climax. And she does all this without subverting any of your cherished beliefs such as: a) highly-placed murderers never get caught in India b) Mumbai traffic is BAD c)and Indian policemen are lazy and inefficient. They might be lazy and inefficient but they can solve murders when they want to…as long as they have a nutty TV writer and her hot squeeze of a serious author to help them.
Policeman Gaitonde is my favourite character in the book…I find myself saying ‘actuities’ and ‘hau’ every now and then…try it…your tongue twists interestedly around them…in a way it never will around ‘activities’ and ‘have’. Some of the characters are rather cliched but they help to build the atmosphere. I’m convinced it will be made into a movie soon…I had the feeling I was not reading a book so much as watching a fun thriller–a blend of Ram Gopal Varma and the Rajat Kapoor/Vinay Pathak stable.”
Lily B. on the Brink of Cool, Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Reviewed by: Madeleine
Rating: Excellent!
Lily B. meets the coolest people ever at her aunt’s wedding. Her parents tell her to stay away from them, but Lily doesn’t listen. Are these people as great as Lily thinks they are? I enjoyed the book because it was very interesting, but the plot was also realistic. Also, I love how it’s written in journal entries and you read about everything AFTER it happens. I would definitely recommend this book to others because it’s fun to read and keeps you guessing.
The book was about a 13-year-old boy named Vladmir Tod who’s a vampire. His parents (Thomas and Mellaina Tod) died in a fire. His ELA teacher was killed and he blames his new teacher who turns out be family. I enjoyed the book because on every page there was a surprise and it really hits you. There’s also a lot of drama with friends, family, and school including Meredith, his crush. There was also a lot of action, fits, murders and betrayal. I would recommend this book to others because it’s a book you won’t want to set down. There’s so much adventure and action, you’ll never want to keep reading till it ends.
Secrets of My Hollywood Life, Jen Calonita
Reviewed by: Lemlem
Rating: Excellent!
The book is about a TV actress. Kaitlin (16 yrs old) wants to have a normal life and go to school. So she does! In disguise, of course, as a geek! And truly learns what high school is about. I enjoyed this book because it had an interesting main character who was mostly down to earth when it came to being an actress. And the story was funny, with her attempt of living a double life, and exciting. Like when people talked bad about the actress her with her right in front of them (in disguise, of course). I’d recommend this book to others because it was a funny and exciting look on actors!
Locked in Time, Lois Duncan
Reviewed by: Margaret
Rating: Excellent!
This awesome book was about a girl named Nore, whose father just got remarried. Her stepfamily seem nice at first, but turn out like they’re trying to kill her! I most definitely enjoyed the book. The author really made it suspenseful! I didn’t know what would happen next. Everyone was a true character and was explained very well and thoroughly. You really visualized the setting and everything! I would recommend this only to people who love suspense, realistic fiction, mystery, and sometimes horror. It was great!
APCO is finally back to its original (blue) template after many, many tries of other ones… thanks guys for helping me, but i guess i’ll stick with the original template for now. i’ll change it when it’s APCO’s anniversary. =)
after reading the latest chapter of TMLHE, my heart is broken!! the title of this chapter is “broken hearted” but i didn’t expect my heart to break along with jin yue’s… *tears tears
yan nan fei is definitely one of the best authors i’ve met (just recently added her on facebook. xD) and she is my role model! i’ll definitely try to write star-crossed with the feeling/mood she has in TMLHE. =)
by the way, i have exciting new ideas for star-crossed, i’ll continue to write as fast as i can while moving!
also, my progress in “julie & julia” is very, very slow right now… i’ll definitely make time to read while writing/packing/moving. =]
I had to share this with all of you and openly asking for help with this. For those who haven’t listened to it, check out the Audio page to listen to a podcast I have created called Spine Breakers. It is a podcast about books, book reviews, and like topics. The first episode surprised me with the reaction that we have received, there are a lot of book people out there and the reaction overall is positive to go and continue the podcast in full force.
Part of my job on the podcast is not only organize what we talk about, but rather organize what we will talk about. Now some parts are easy, pick a book to review and review it. However one segment that I take on the the Newsprint. This is a section of the podcast where we talk about news stories that have to deal with books. I introduce the topic, and we then discuss the potential effects of said story. Now I also deal with the Main Event, a round table discussion on a general topic. Now for the next episode the discussion is going to be about a tech/book story that was in the news recently, therefore I can not mention it in the newsprint.
So now I have been looking online for book news not related to the biggest story and guess what…NOTHING. Well I shouldn’t say that, but when it comes to book news you mainly will find book reviews and interviews with authors. Granted this is a good for people who want to know about the released, but if you are looking for news news in regard to the publishing industry, you are not going to find much.
Publisher’s Weekly is the only website (to my knowledge) to have an entire section dedicated to news news issues with books. The majority of the time I can pick a few articles there and be find, but I do not want to solely rely on that source. I tried newspapers book sections, the major websites for news, and some google news filters but guess what I come up with? Yup book releases and interviews.
By far this part is tricky since I like to have at least 3 stories, at the moment for the entire month of August. I have found two…particularly not the greatest of topics. However I am hoping that between now and when we record the podcast something else will come about to replace the subjects. If you have some website/blog you can point me to, to help me out with this let me know in the comments I be happy to check it out.
Only on the internet can you have so many friends and be so lonely.
We’re all famous in our own minds.
Complete honesty is a complete lie.
What’s worse than keeping a shameful secret?
All sex has consequences, most of them dire.
Don’t read my life. Go live your own!
“Imagine an 18-year-old Lolita, updated to the 21st century, blogging her own provocative adventures. By turns charming and crude, disturbingly reckless and achingly tender, Undiscovered Gyrl seduces… Shot through with teenage yearning for ‘true love,’ each page vibrates with the quicksilver spirit of youth. As we follow the narrator on her ever-darkening journey, questions arise about voyeurism and identity in an age of cyber-anonymity. Allison Burnett’s masterful page-turner lingers long after the last page.” -Rachel Resnick, author of Love Junkie
When I saw the banner for this Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett in Shelf Awareness, I was hyper-excited to get my hands on the book, and when I got a positive reply to my email requesting a copy to review, I couldn’t contain myself. It looked interesting and like one of those books you just can’t put down, especially for someone nosey… like me.
So, how did the book hold up to my anticipation?
Honestly, I was surprised by the book. It’s set up as a blog-to-book, and in it you watch as the narrator (the definition of the “unreliable narrator” to be sure) grows as a blogger, and disintegrates in some ways as a person. The idea of being able to be completely open in the anonymity is, at first, a relief and exciting thing for her, later it seems to be something that pushes her to more extreme and outrageous behavior… if for no other reason than to get a reaction from her readers.
Personally, there are parts of this that scare the hell out of me. I have a 16 and 15-year-old, neither of which are really that into blogging and stuff… now. Maggie, on the other hand, is 10 and a bit extroverted. ”Katie” tells about her mother and her boyfriend’s fighting, her dad and his girlfriend’s abusive relationship, and how she pits everyone against each other to get what she wants. She continually tells her readers that there is NOTHING sexual behind her boss’s generosity, but relays stories about him in such a way as to leave it almost obvious. She degrades herself over “Dan,” her college instructor on-the-side, and you can’t help but feel pity for her… she so wants to be loved, she’s willing to turn herself into that girl who waits desperately for his girlfriend to go away so she can devour the scraps.
With Undiscovered Gyrl, Allison Burnett reveals a very real picture of the modern teenage life. Unable to read and comprehend a book a year unless assigned by a teacher, but reads and responds to 20 emails, IMs and text messages a second. She couldn’t fathom doing homework without the TV on, CD blaring and the Google open on the computer. It makes me glad I’ve not given any of my kids a cell phone. They don’t have TVs in their bedrooms, even. We just got a second computer last June, so maybe mine will be safe…
Here’s the thing: Undiscovered Gyrl is very graphic and I even learned a few sex-things from reading it. I never knew what a “box job” was before this book. But it’s not porn, per se, and it all goes into the story for a purpose. It is shocking… at least for me, an over-30-parent. “Katie” isn’t totally unsympathetic, yet says things at times that make me want to slap the snot out of her. She’s so stupid and I just want to grab her up and say, “Wake up! You’re throwing your life away!” But, if there’s one thing I got out of this book it’s this: The fact it came from an adult would render it meaningless all together.
I give Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett 5 out of 5 stars… it did NOT disappoint.
