Bahubali 2

The nation (and other nations) has finally got the answer to the ultimate question – Katappa ne Bahubali ko kyon maara?

I had never watched any dubbed South Indian movies until Bahubali 1. You can’t blame me as my exposure to them was thanks to Set Max. So I never got interested in Bahubali 1 until all the memes and jokes came flooding my Facebook wall and inbox. (Some of them were actually good, btw) By the time, I was ready to take the plunge (of watching the movie), it was not running in cinema halls anymore. So I watched it online with J* and halfway through the movie he was snoring away to glory. My problem is I can’t leave any movie which is reasonably good midway, I have to finish it. And surprisingly and because I started watching it with minimal expectations, I really liked most of Bahubali 1. I cringed at the song where the hero makes the heroine beautiful, and how she left her life’s mission in the hands of the hero whom she had met like 5 minutes before, because love. I was really curious about the ending too like the many many more, so Bahubali 2 was eagerly awaited.

In Toronto, it was playing in only 2 cinema halls which was really surprising because it’s usually more than 10 for any other Indian movie. So we went on Saturday April 28^th to the first cinema hall (CH1) and only the front row seats were available. The guy there advised us to go to CH2 which is a good 25 kms away and we went only to find the same scenario there. We booked the tickets of the next day there which is 50+ kms away from home. J* had not seen the first part and didn’t remember whatever little he had seen and he also thought it was unnecessarily hyped, so he was not very excited. BUT, we are glad we went.

We absolutely loved the movie and I didn’t want it to end. It was truly a cinematic experience and here is my random review of the same.

-Last I heard, it has done a business of 1500 crores worldwide. A couple of years back 100 crore used to be a big thing, but this is something else and this record is here to stay, considering the quality of movies Bollywood is churning every Friday.

-I have a new found respect for the South Indian movie industry. Owing to which I watched another movie named Magadheera by the same director and I cringed at the movie and the respect lowered a few levels.

-The sexism complaint from part 1 was addressed to some extent in this one. Anushka Shetty as Devasena is a treat to watch.

-I loved how Amrendra Bahubali dared to tell Sivagami that she is wrong to fix the alliance without asking the girl. Her husband got up and recited all the sacrifices she has done to raise Bahubali. If it was a Bollywood movie, at this point the hero would fall at the mother’s feet and say bye to his love interest, because sanskaar. I loved how he supported Devasena when she used to raise her voice against Sivagami because he knew she was right, without disrespecting his mother.

-Thankfully, Sridevi refused the role of Sivagami, because money not enough. I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing any of the characters. The casting is perfect and Prabhas is my new favorite now J I have watched some of his interviews and it’s refreshing to see that he is so incredibly shy and humble in real life!

 -Though I would have liked to see Devasena do more when they were banished from the kingdom and Bahubali was applying all his mechanical engineering skills to make the lives of villagers better.

-Similarly, Avantika did nothing when the hero was in picture, it was HER life’s mission in the first place.

-I could not forgive Katappa for killing Bahubali for the reason given. I discussed this with J* and another dear friend NSA. One of the argument was it was Satyug and they really meant what they said. Another chain was maybe he should have told him and killed himself.

-Thankfully Sivagami had declared Mahendra Bahubali as the king when he was born otherwise Katappa would have killed him too when Bhallalldev’s father asked him to. Phew!

-The stunts were amazing, despite some of them being physics-defying. The only illogical thing in the movie was the plan to enter the palace. It was hilarious.

-I like the songs too, even though they are not original, I mean the originals would be the Telegu ones right?! Angel likes them too. In fact, we listened to the songs of Bahubali 2 as nap time music last night J

-I think this would be the end to the magnificent Bahubali series. Will there be a Bollywood Bahubali? I hope not!

The 100 Books Pact 60/100

51/100 After You( Me Before You Series, Book # 2) by Jojo Moyes

This is a series of 2 books (I don’t know if we can call it a series if it has only 2 books). So I read the second one first (not knowing that it’s second) and I could easily make out that it’s a sequel to something. However, fortunately, I had seen the movie “Me Before You”, long back that I faintly remembered, which happens to be based on its prequel and I could connect the dots. So Lou Clark is all lost after the death of Will Traynor. She is doing a job which she has no interest in. She survives the fall from her terrace and gets to meet Will’s daughter, Lily, the existence of whom was unknown to Will himself. She also meets Sam Fielding along with a couple of other characters. I appreciated how Lily challenged Lou to move on without feeling guilty and Sam for teaching her how to love again.  It’s an emotionally charged story about healing and learning to move on after a painful loss. 

52/100 Me Before You (Book # 1) by Jojo Moyes

As mentioned above, I had seen the movie based on this book, so I already knew the plot, I still decided to read it as the characters were still fresh in my mind. This is a story of two individuals, Louisa Clark and Will Traynor, who meet each other by chance and change each other’s lives forever. After an accident Will is left in a wheelchair with no hope of recovery. Lou gets fired from her job and is looking for a new one. Will’s mother is looking for a caretaker for Will who can keep him company, make him see the beauty of life and hired Lou for this job. After that memorable first day, she and Will start to get used to each other and even on occasion opening up a bit one with the other. And what follows after that is a series of outings with Will, to try and make the 6 months that he has left as memorable as possible.

It lovely. And Sad. And full of life. And frustrating. And heart breaking!

53/100 Third Class in Indian Railways and Other Essays by Mahatma Gandhi – I had never read Mahatma Gandhi until this. It’s an interesting peek into Gandhi’s early thoughts. This book is a compilation of 6 essays on various things like travelling third class, non-violence, swadeshi and his dressing style. It’s written almost 100 years ago there has been no drastic change in the third class of Indian Railways. Do read it once to have a picture of what pre modern India looked like.

54/100 The Janus Stone (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 2) by Ellie Griffiths

After reading the first book in the series The CrossingPlaces (Book # 30/100), I wanted to read more about Dr Ruth Galloway and her adventures. I had placed a hold for this one long back and finally got to lay my hands upon it after 2 months of wait. So as soon as I got this one, I placed a hold for the next one in the series until I finished 8 books. I was obsessed with Ruth at one point in time, she was the last thought that came to my mind at the end of the day and also the first one next morning. So coming back to The Janus Stone, I still liked the main characters, Ruth, DCP Nelson and the quirky Cathbad. This time Ruth is investigating the body of a young girl, found dead in the old house. She also finds herself pregnant.

The plot has many layers, is quite intricate as it twists and turns upon itself and is fun to read.

55/100 The House at Sea’s End (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 3) by Ellie Griffiths

I absolutely loved this one. The plot is fascinating ant the characters empathetic. Ruth is just back from her maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter. How she struggles as a single parent along with the mystery dated in 1940s with a background of WW 2 forms the essence of the book.

56/100 A Room Full of Bones (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 4) by Ellie Griffiths

We are at Book 4 and this is the weakest book of the series. So far. The first half is too long and dull going on about the exploration of Australia and the aboriginal holy relics. In the second half, the pace picks up. As usual there is humor and mysticism.

57/100 A Dying Fall (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 5) by Ellie Griffiths

This was an enjoyable read where the setting changes to Blackpool where Nelson was born and raised. And coincidentally, Ruth has to travel there with now 18 month old Kate to investigate the death of her college friend Dan. There are several new characters while a few old ones like Clough and Judy have minor roles. It had plenty of suspects and actual danger for some of the characters. My heart skipped a beat when Cathbad had that nasty fall! I thought I had the culprit figured, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I was wrong.

58/100 The Outcast Dead (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 6) by Ellie Griffiths

In this book a woman gets accused of killing her own child and at the same time Ruth has discovered the body of who they think is notorious Mother Hook who was hanged 1867 accused of killing children. The story revolves around the two center plot lines. Cathbad is my favorite character in the series. There is a major positive development for some of the characters and I was so happy for them as if I really know them. The pace never lets up and I couldn't put it down. I thoroughly enjoyed it and never guessed the perpetrator at all. 

59/100 The Ghost Fields (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 7) by Ellie Griffiths

In this book, during the clearing of a field in preparation for development, a World War Two era plane is discovered. The surprise is the body in the cockpit. For further details about the body, I refer you to the book, but I also suggest you begin with the first book in the series. I missed Cathbad in this one, however we see more depth in other charters, one of them being DS Clough. I loved this book until I read the ending. I thought Ruth was a fool for not accepting Frank’s offer to move to the UK. Why Ruth, why?!

60/100 The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 8) by Ellie Griffiths

I think by now I am growing pretty tired with Ruth. Her belittling herself for being old, unattractive and fat, so many times is getting on my nerves. Also archaeology has taken a back seat to religion in this one. It’s not preachy, just historical with a sub plot with women priests. There is also a major revelation and I hope that there is a resolution to this relationship triangle. There is one more book in the series which is not available in my library at the moment. I will still read the next book to find a closure. I don’t like to give up on characters I was so fond of once!

The 100 Books Pact - 50/100

Angel (and me) are in love with Robert Munsch (RM) books and we have read most of his books that our library has to offer. She loves these books so much that she gets them for her book bag program from school (the program where the children can choose a book to carry home for a week from the school’s library) even when she has read them a lot of times and knows the story and the characters by heart. I think his success sutra is the exaggerated sounds and words in each of his stories which the little ones find so appealing. Not to forget the colorful and cheerful pictures by the illustrators. So here I am listing 10 of Angel’s favorite Munsch books out of the many more!

41/100 Alligator Baby  

This one tops the chart. This is the first RM book that we read. Kristen’s parents are expecting a baby, but instead of going to the hospital, they end up in a zoo and got home an alligator baby in confusion. The book always leaves her in splits and she has kept the book for the maximum duration that we can borrow the book from the library (60 days) as well as in the book bag program (2 weeks).

42/100 Mortimer  

A story of a boy who wouldn’t go to sleep and his family is going crazy because of him. His whole family and even the cops tell him to be QUIET and he says yes, but does what he shouldn’t immediately. He sings. Loudly. And has a song for his noise. I think the song is what Angel loves most about this book. Ultimately he falls asleep while the whole family is fighting over whose responsibility it is. It’s great for a bedtime book even or despite of its predictable ending!

43/100 Get Out of Bed 

When Amy’s family couldn’t wake her up in the morning, they dropped her off to school in her bed. So the events of the day carry on around her/including her while she dozes through. What will happen he next day? Her classmates have a last laugh, for sure!

44/100 Andrew’s Loose Tooth  

It’s a good book to read to the age group of 5-6 when they actually start losing teeth. Angel was a little shocked at the idea of losing teeth and we saw some videos of children who had loose/missing teeth and eventually she was okay.

45/100 We Share EVERYTHING  

On the first day of school Amanda and Jeremiah didn’t know what to do and they fight over everything like toys, paints and books, their teacher tells them to share. Soon Amanda parades around in Jeremiah’s clothes and he is loving Amanda’s pink shoes. Fun book.

46/100 Mmm, Cookies 

Christopher’s play clay cookies look delicious and he offers them to everyone, everyone soon realizes that they have been tricked. The teacher decides to give him a taste of his own medicine. The illustrations are wonderful and it’s a fun story that any child will like to hear.

47/100 Ribbon Rescue  

Jillian is in love with the traditional ribbon dress, made of many ribbons (duh!). When she realizes that people need help and her ribbons will do the trick, she happily parts with her ribbons one by one. The plot depicts sharing and helping in a subtle and entertaining way.

48/100 Deep Snow  

This is crazy story about two little girls who dive into the snow and couldn’t get out. We first read it last winter when it was snowing here. This involves a father, a snow mobile, a plane and a dog (in the illustrations). WARNING: Do not attempt to try any of these antics at home - the story is purely silly and meant for a good laugh – we all need it every once in a while.

49/100 Smelly Socks 

Children like all the gross things and this is a reminder to just that.  Tina loves her new socks so much that she is never going to take them off. However when her socks start smelling, her friends take action! Its super funny, very exaggerated and over the top just like many other RM books.

50/100 Moose!  

One morning, Luke finds a moose in his backyard. He then wakes his parents up and nobody believes him until they go to the backyard and loot at the moose themselves. They try to get rid of the moose and are unable to so. Meanwhile Luke develops a special liking for the moose and want to keep it as a pet. It’s a perfect book for young children.

The 100 Books Pact - 40/100

31/100 The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

There are books and there are compelled-to-finish kind of books. This one falls in the latter category. I just finished reading this book and cannot get the characters out of my mind. To say that I loved this book would be an understatement! It started off a bit slow for me, didn’t grab my interest outright but it was gripping after a few chapters. It reminded me that books aren’t just entertaining, they are much more. I read this book over a couple of days and couldn’t go to bed without thinking about the book and the characters, all three of them – Natsya, Josh and Drew, which are so well written. And I loved the ending, it was really beautiful. Highly recommended!

32/100  Sam’s letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

This consists of two great love stories within a single book. Jennifer rushes to be the on the side of her grandmother Sam when she is hospitalized. She got to read the letters written by Sam, addressed to her baring her heart out about her life, unhappy marriage and the mysterious love of her life addressed as “Doc”. Not believing in love after the loss of her soulmate husband, Jennifer learns to open up her doors for a new possibility and discovers that the magic still exists. I liked the writing style of the author and picked another of his popular book. Read on.

33/100  Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

This is a very sad book, stay away if you are not in the mood. It left me disturbed and affected me which is a sign of a good book but keep a box of paper-napkins on stand by. Kate is pregnant and has planned a romantic surprise to reveal it to the father – Matt Harrison. Ironically, he chooses the same night to disappear from her life leaving nothing behind but a very personal diary - Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. Suzzane was his ex-wife and Nicholas, their son. She has written about her relationship with Matt, how they met and fell in love. Reading the dairy was painful for Kate, but she also knew that the answer to weather she would be able to get back together with Matt lay within the diary!

34/100 Charlotte’s Web by E B White

I had always heard of this book as the best book for children, the top 50 book that your child should read before s/he turns 10 and I had never read it/ So finally, I laid my hands on it and it deserves all the accolades that it has got. This depicts the true meaning of kindness, friendship, loyalty and trust. I am waiting for Angel to be 6ish and discover this wonderful book.

35/100 Lady, You Are Not A Man by Apurva Purohit 

This book was recommended to me by a dear friend KD when I went back to work after my maternity leave and was having trouble finding the right balance and I am so thankful to her for that. It ended my dilemma of weather I should place a resignation or not. I read this book in bits and pieces a couple of times whenever I am low or don’t have anything to do. So irrespective of you are a working woman or not, you will connect with this book. I don’t agree with all the things that the author has to say, but most do ring a bell.

36/100, 37/100 and 38/100

The Clue in the Jewel Box, Nancy Drew Mystery Series Book 20

The Clue in the Crumbling Walls, Nancy Drew Mystery Series Book 22

The Clue in the Old Album, Nancy Drew Mystery Series Book 24

Also tried some Nancy Drew books which I loved in my childhood, didn’t enjoy them quite as much now. Ah the joys of childhood! I wonder what happens when we grow up.

39/100 The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 

I had heard so much about this book and was reading the name everywhere. So I picked it up to see that what the fuss was all about. It’s a crime thriller. I kind of identified with it because I am also one of those people who sit in the train, observes people and weave imaginary stories about their lives. But I was let down. I didn’t find it as good as the reviews say.

40/100 French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon

It’s a great book about children. And their eating habits. Enough said!!

The 100 Books Pact - 30/100

22/100 The Grim Grotto 

Continuing the Baudelaire series, this is the 11^th book of the series where the Baudelaires find themselves in the submarine of Captain Widdershins for the first time Count Olaf did not make an appearance for more than half of the book. In The end, the children reached the Briny beach solving the code in Quigley’s telegram and hopping onto the taxi driven by Kit Snicket who is the sister of Jacques Snicket whom they met in the village of fowl devotees(#7) and for whose murder the Baudelaires were accused and a new adventure awaits.

23/100 The Penultimate Peril
Penultimate means next to last thus making this the 12^th book of the series. The children met or saw all the people of their past in the Denouement Hotel like Esme, Geraldine Julienne(the reported of The Daily Punchtilio) and Carmalita, Sir and Charles from the factory, Vice Principal Nero, Mr. Remora and Mrs. Brass from the school, Hal from the hospital running an Indian restaurant.

In the end, Klaus helped Olaf to open the lock of the laundry room fastened by Vernacularly fastened Door as he was sure that the sugar bowl is not there, Violet helped him make a drag chute out of the boat on the roof so that they can land safely in the pond below without a crash as they will accompany him and Sunny reminded him of letting the hotel on fire as a signal to VFD that the last of the safe palce is not safe anymore and they landed up in a boat with him.

24/100 The End
At the end of 13 chapters (14 in case of The End) each in the 13 books, many questions like the whereabouts of the sugar bowl or its contents are unanswered and the fate of many people like the Quagmire triplets and Hector is unknown! That is a disappointment.

25/100 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman is one of the most endearing, charming and fascinating literary characters I have met in a long time. This book is very clever and amusing. It has its laugh-out-loud moments and at some places its very touchy. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did Bill Gates. Highly recommended.

26/100 The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
This is the sequel to the above book and hence a continuation of Don Tillman and Rosie’s life who are expecting a baby. The author had raised the bar too high with the first book. This in itself is a good book, but relatively, it lags behind “The Rosie Project”. To be honest, I rushed through this book as I wanted to get it done with. Having said that, if there is a sequel, I will still pick it up for the love of Don!

27/100 The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Calpurnia Tate or Callie Vee who is almost twelve, is a born naturalist. She is the only girl in the Tate family of seven children. The story is based in 1899. When there was dearth of earthworms which were required for fishing, she figured that earthworms came out in rains, so she created a little rain for them for a couple of days after which they came just by listening to her footsteps, captured them and sold them for a penny.

She figured why the yellow grasshoppers were bigger and the green ones were smaller. It was hard to spot them in yellow grass despite them being fat and slow while the emerald ones were too easy to spot and gobble down by the birds in the yellow grass, thus confirming the survival of the fittest theory by Charles Darwin.

She finds her mentor in her grandfather who has dedicated the later part of his life in the study of nature.  When she is not exploring nature with granddaddy, she finds herself incapable of doing the girly things her mother forces her to, like knitting, cooking or playing a piano. Throughout the book, she has to balance her curious personality with the restrictions placed on the girl. The book ends with the dawn of the 20^th century and the reader just hopes for the amazing things ahead for Callie.

28/100 The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

This is the sequel to ‘The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate’.  If she was my daughter, I would tell her that how immensely proud of her thirst for knowledge I am. I would tell her that how I love the way she loves and cares for her younger brother Travis, I admire her for standing up for what is right, for being brave enough to voice her desire of going to college and if it was not the year 1900 that how she will grow up to become one of the greatest environmentalist. But since she is a fictional character, I would tell all the children of grade 4 onwards to read these wonderful books. Although not everything in this book is pleasant, hang on and you will find yourself cheering for Calpurnia Tate at the end of this book. I can’t wait for Angel to grow up and discover these books.

Both of these are wonderful books and the reader can’t just have enough of them. I want the sequel to this part as well as I want to know what happens to Callie and her aspirations.

29/100 Murder In Bollywood

I was feeling nostalgic and I searched the library with the words – “India” or “Bollywood” and thus ended up with this book. I got four other books with "Bollywood" in title and I am sure I will read them all no matter how mindless they are. I even read a travel book on India and a cookery book on Indian vegetarian recipes too. Come on, I was am missing India!

So this book is written by Shadaab Amjad Khan, the son of Amjad Khan of ‘Gabbar’ fame from Sholay. An ace Bollywood director Nikhil Kapoor and his wife, a leading actress Mallika Kapoor are found dead on the same night. More murders and murder attempts follow. It’s now upto Senior Inspector Hoshiayar Khan to solve the mystery. The revelation was a surprise and the book is quite engrossing.

30/100 The Crossing Places by Ellie Griffiths
The one thing that stands out in this book is the unlikely heroine. Ruth Galloway is forty something, overweight, loner academician who lives with her two cats. She is convinced that her weight makes her unattractive. This is a mystery book with a flavor of archeology. The mystery is not a mystery as such but the writing style and the twists and turns are beautifully described. I have placed a hold for the next book in the series; yes it’s a series of 7 books as of now.

The 100 Books Pack 21/100

This time I have come up with the list of books that I have been reading to Angel these days. She likes to select her books herself. I select some books for her too which she doesn’t like and refuses to listen to those stories outright. But since I am her mother (in the lines of “main bhi uski maa hu” *superior look*), I persuade her to listen to it once, she obliges and sometimes likes those books requesting me to read to her again. So here is our latest list:

11/100 – Animal faces by Penelope Arlon

It lists various physical attributes of various animals, like enormous eyes, sharp ears, huge noses, colorful beaks and so on. It has some amazing photographs.

12/100 – Bears! by the editors of TIME for kids with Nicole Iorio

It’s a book about bears, the different kinds, their bodies, food, habitat and the like.

She picked these two books as the covers for both have panda bears which happens to be her favorite animal. This is the first time, we picked up “Science” or "Non-Fiction" books and not the usual story ones and she really enjoyed these books. Maybe, I can get more of such books.

13/100 – Harry, The Dirty Dog by Gene Zion and illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham is about the dog who hates baths. It was hard for Angel to gulp the fact that someone can hate baths too!

14/100 – Do You Want To Be My Friend by Eric Carle, simply because she loves Eric Carle books, even though she is a little grown up of this book, she loved it nevertheless.

15/100 and 16/100 – If You Give A Mouse A Cookie & If You Give A Dog A Donut, both by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond.

Both these books follow a similar pattern, for example, if you give a mouse a cookie then he is going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him milk, he will probably ask for a straw. When he is finished, he’ll ask for a napkin and after a series of demands later, it ends at the first point, that the refrigerator will remind him that he is thirsty and he’ll ask for a glass of milk. And chances are, if he asks for a glass of milk, he is going to want a cookie to go with it.

She finds these books hilarious!

17/100 and 18/100 – Franklin Plays Hockey & Franklin And The Wonder

This is another character which we discovered, Franklin, the turtle. These are nice stories to read out to children. The first book is about playing in the team and playing for fun while the second one is about wonders of nature and overcoming the fears. A quick search told me that it’s a TV series running into multiple seasons.

19/100 – A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman

I was not aware of the bear named Corduroy but Angel knew him as her teacher had read a story about him to the class, so when she saw the book on the rack, she immediately wanted to have it. I have read it to her twice and she has not demanded to be read it again. I guess it doesn’t fascinate her, I like it though :P

20/100 and 21/100 – Her latest favorite character is a cute monster named Elmo. We got to know about it through “Elmo’s Alphabet Soup” and subsequently got another Elmo book named “Elmo Loves You”. These days, we are reading these two books every day, sometimes more than once. Elmo is again character in a children’s TV show, time to search the YouTube for Elmo and Franklin!

Oops, this list has eleven books, will publish the next list with 9!

 

The 100 Books Pact 10/100

Well as the name suggests, it’s just that. It’s a pact to read 100 books. It doing rounds on Facebook and I decided to give a shot too. I will list the books at my blog, 10 at a time just to keep a tab. And the reading begins!

There is a series of books by Lemony Snicket called “A Series of Unfortunate Events”. When I was in college, I used to share a place with AJ. Her family friends were our neighbors. They had two children (they are quite grown up now, that makes me feel old..) who were avid readers and for fun (and passing time), we borrowed the books in this series from them. Yes, this is a series for children. I had read a few from the series but could not finish it. I didn’t even remember the plot until I read them again as it was always at the back of my mind and I wanted to finish it and know how it all ended. So now with the access to the library, I read them all. It is a series of 13 books and each book has 13 chapters. I think the author is just trying to make a point, 13 being the unfortunate number for some. Throughout the series, the author repeatedly warns the readers to close the book and read some other happy story which makes the reader want to finish the series all the more. So the first 13 books of my 100 books pact would be this series, 10 of which I am mentioning here. I like the alliteration the author has used in each of the titles in the series.

1/100. The Bad Beginning – The series is about the Baudelaire children (Violet, Klaus & Sunny) who are left orphaned after their parents die in an unfortunate fire and their home perished. Violet who is the eldest is fourteen and is an inventor, Klaus is twelve and is an avid reader while Sunny is just an infant and has four very sharp teeth and speaks only a few words which only her siblings and parents can understand. Each of their skills comes handy many a times in their adventures. Their parents had left them a fortune which Violet will inherit when she is eighteen. Mr. Poe is a banker and is in charge of their accounts. It becomes his job to find a guardian for the children. He places them under the care of Count Olaf who is a crook and wants to steal the Baudelaire fortune. How he conspires against them (here and in the subsequent parts) and how they escape his clutches, how they convince Mr. Poe that he is not fit to be their guardian forms the plot of this book.

2/100. The Reptile Room – Now, Mr. Poe found the Baudelaire children another guardian in Uncle Monty or Dr. Montgomery Montgomery who was a herpetologist. The children immediately like him. They are fascinated by various species of snakes in “The Reptile Room”, a giant hall in which Uncle Monty’s reptile collection is stored. Count Olaf turns up as Stephano, the new assistant of Uncle Monty. This book again like many other books in the series is about how the children escape him and whether they were able to save their guardian needs to be read.

3/100. The Wide Window – This time the Baudelaires are deported to Aunt Josephine who lives overlooking Lake Lachrymose and is afraid of everything. She has a huge library of only grammar books and a window (The Wide Window) overlooking the lake. Count Olaf again disguised himself as Captain Sham and managed to charm Aunt Josephine. So as you might have guessed, the books follow a similar pattern à new guardian-Count Olaf in disguise-adventure-escape of the Baudelaires. However the adventures and the built up of each of the story is unique and interesting and that is worth a read.

4/100. The Miserable Mill – Here, the children take a train to Paltryville and their new guardian is the owner of Lucky Smells Lumbermills. Upon arrival, the children get to know that they will have to work in the mill as a part of the deal and Sir (the guardian, who is referred thus as his name is so long that no one can pronounce it right) will keep away Count Olaf, their arch nemesis. The children were miserable in the mill. They had to work all day, fed close to nothing and paid nothing. On the top of their woes, Klaus gets hypnotized and Count Olaf strikes again, this time in the guise of Shirley the assistant of the optometrist in town.

In all the books of the series, the author introduces new words and gives interesting explanation. Sample this - “nefarious” here means “Baudelaire-hating” or “curtly”, a word which here means “tired of Count Olaf’s nonsense”

In the end, as always Count Olaf is exposed and as always, he escapes!

5/100. The Austere Academy – Next the children find themselves in Prufrock Preparatory School where they come across new friends, new enemies and Count Olaf in another disguise. The school’s motto is Memento Mori which means “Remember You Will Die”. They make friends with Duncan and Isadora Quagmire. They are triplets but their brother Quigley Quagmire died in a fire along with their parents. They are in similar situation as the Baudelaires as their parents had left them an enormous fortune too. They are introduced to the gym coach Genghis who in fact is Count Olaf. In the end, Count Olaf’s identity is revealed and he escapes and this time also kidnapped the Quagmires who managed to shout “V.F.D” before being whisked away which leads us to the next part.

6/100. The Ersatz Elevator – Ersatz in author’s own words mean a situation in which one thing is pretending to be another. The Baudelaires are taken to their new home 667 Dark Avenue by Mr. Poe. Its dark as lights are “out” or out of fashion. There they meet Mr. and Mrs. Squalor - Jerome and Esme who are their new guardians. Esme Squalor is the city’s sixth most popular financial advisor and is most concerned about what is “in” and what’s not. In fact, they decided to adopt the Baudelaires because orphans were “in”.  Esme meets Gunther, the “innest” auctioneer (auctions are “in”, you see) who in fact is Count Olaf. The Baudelaires tell Esmé about this, but it is revealed that Esmé knew who Gunther was, and was actually in on the plan to kidnap the Quagmires. In the end, as always, the Count escapes along with Esme. Jerome wants to keep the Baudelaires but is too cowardly to help them find Quagmires and they refuse!

7/100. The Vile Village- This time, the Baudelaires are transported to a village named VFD – village of fowl devotees based on the saying that “It takes a village to raise a child”. They meet with the Council of Elders who decides that the children will do the chores of the entire village and will stay with Hector, the handyman. In this book, they get united with the Quagmires and again get separated with them in the end as they managed to hop on to Hector’s hot air balloon device. This time Count Olaf comes as Detective Dupin and Esme was Officer Luciana. A series of interesting events later, it ended with Count Olaf and Esme escaping but the Baudelaires were left in the town of VFD asking them to wait until the crow is attended to and after that they will be burned on stake. How the children escape the elders of the town would be seen in the next book I believe. Until this book, the author had managed to keep the interest quite high, however from this book onwards, the downslide begins. I still decided to finish the series not with that much vigor though.

8/100. The Hostile Hospital – I am too bored to write reviews about the rest. I did not find them as interesting as the earlier parts.

This one ended with a great fire in the hostile hospital. By applying great wits and showing exemplary courage as usual, the Baudelaires managed to escape the fire and hopped on to the trunk of Olaf’s car to get the rest of pages of the Baudelaires file from the library of records so as to clear the mystery of their parents’ death, VFD and also find the Quagmire triplets.

9/100. The Carnivorous Carnival – In this book Count Olaf was himself and it was the Baudelaires who resorted to disguise. In the end, Count Olaf hired the three freaks as his comrades and kidnapped Sunny along with them.

10/100. The Slippery Slope –

They met Quigley Quagmire whom everyone supposed was dead and who completed the Quagmire triplets. In the end Sunny is reunited with Violet and Klaus, but Quigley is separated from them. Olaf and Esme manage to recruit Carmalita Spats, the horrendous girl from Prufrock Preperatory School who had made the lived of the Baudelaires and Quagmires difficult even there.

They are left with a name of a place which is the last safe place to find the volunteers and a poem which supposedly is coded and they have to decode them as well as find a way to reach the last safe place and a new adventure awaits.

Want to join? Here are the guidelines. Please copy into your first post as a participant....
-To show case your love for reading.
-This is not a competition.
-There is no strict timeline.
-As you read, you post the picture of the book you read with hashtag #100bookpact.
-You get to know what your friends are reading and pick up recommendations. Yes, we do have apps and websites with the same intent and purpose, but hopefully this is something light and motivating as FB makes sure that it is right in your face all the time.
-You can include books that you have already read too. It does not have to be, from now on. If so make sure that these book have been something that fundamentally touched you in some/many ways.
-If you have a child, you can post your child's reading updates also.
In that case there can be repetitions too. My children take pleasure in reading the same book again and again and I believe that they dig deeper with every repetition.
-Here is the format(1)add #100bookpact mark the book as 1/100, 2/100..etc(2)Post front cover of the book(3)Add review - optional(4)Tag people who you would think would enjoy the book - optional(5)If it is your child you are posting for do #100bookpact 1/100 nickname/name of child. ‪#‎100bookspact

 

Just Read

Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein

                                                       

                                                      

I recently discovered that out awesome library lets us borrow the e-books as well. Though I am not a very big fan of e-books, they certainly help me overcome the occasional boredom in office. So I read this book over a number of days in my office time as and when time permitted (Hushhh...)

Here the author goes out to describe in great detail about what is wrong with the “Pink” obsession and the “Princess” culture amongst the little girls. She has given some great fact and figures about the amount of money the companies make riding on this bandwagon alone. She has touched some other topics like child beauty pageants, Miley Cyrus, toy fairs and the like. She has also mentioned her own experiences with her daughter Daisy and her friends. I didn’t even know half of the brands and characters she has listed and Google-ed them along the way. To be fair, most of my current knowledge on children’s things like cartoon characters, songs, rhymes and stories is also because of Angel. We read the story book of ‘Frozen’ and since Angel liked the story, we subsequently watched the movie because she had a lot of Frozen merchandise and we didn’t know the names of the characters. I digressed. In short, the book deals with all the issues that I have been fuming over ever since Angel was born – like early sexualization of girls, the suggestive moves and lyrics in the item songs on which the children can be seen dancing on the reality shows, the way too pink, cute but uncomfortable tutus, the separate aisles for girls and boys in the toy shops.  It showed me that the situation is worse than I anticipated. It even scared me. Does it give me any answers – No, but it does make me more aware about the whole scenario.
I would recommend it to all the parents of little girls.
 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

 

It is a book for children and I tried it because I had heard so much about it.

This “novel in cartoons” is about a clueless middle schooler Gregory or Greg Heffley. It narrates the life of Greg from the beginning of the school term to the end of it in a diary or journal as he would like to call it, with sketches on every page. Greg is a not so popular kid who tries to create a better image of himself by being a school treasurer, cartoonist for the school paper, safety patrol member and a class clown for the year book. There were times when I cracked up, however there were other times when Greg was mean and dishonest like when he let his best friend Rowley take the blame of terrorizing the young children while in fact he had done it. Rowley again fell into his category of popularity. They got along quite well and he is always willing to do what Greg told him to. Gradually, Rowley’s stars begin to shine and their dynamics of friendship change. Other minor characters include Greg’s older brother Rodrick who never missed any opportunity to tease and make fun of Greg, his younger brother Manny who got away with anything he did and Greg’s parents.

It’s interesting how Rowley’s father reads about the violence content in each video game before letting him play it and how Greg’s mother is trying hard to raise her sons to grow up to be respectable adults.

It’s a fun book. Having said that, I don’t see myself reading any more books in the series (unless Angel pressurizes me to, that will still take some time though).

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

                                

I loved the writing style of the author. Its very different. The author has used a bunch of formats to tell her story including Google searches, Facebook entries, Facebook chats, texts, e-mails, Twitter and questionnaire)

This is the story of Alice Buckle who is forty four years old and probably going through the mid-life crisis with the big five-oh looming. She is a drama teacher in Kentwood Elementary School and she is not permanent there. Apparently, she has a loving family with a husband (William Buckle) and two children (Zoe who is 15 and Peter is 12), but she feels that she and her husband are growing apart. On the top of it, William loses his high paying advertising job owing to recession or his inability to keep his mouth shut. Alice suspects that her daughter has an eating disorder and Peter is gay. She then participated in and anonymous online survey about marriages called "Marriage in the 21st Cenury" which turned her life upside down.  In the survey, her psuedonymn is Wife 22 to protect identities which thus forms the title of the book. She is assigned a caseworker - Researcher 101, the questionnaire and their conversations form the essence of this book.  She also has a bunch of loving friends Nedra Rao and Kate who are a lesbian couple, Bunny who was her colleague during her initial stint at playwriting and her daughter Caroline who came to live with the family when she moved to their city in search of a job and was phenomenal in making her run again and in rekindling her friendship with Bunny with whom she had lost touch when life happened.

How her life took a 360 degree turn and whether it came back on track? To find out, read this wonderful book.

All the Images Courtesy – Google Images

The Olive Branch

                                                 Image Courtesy:Google Images

I have a soft spot for the stories set in Europe and this one is in Italy. It’s an incredibly easy read, just the way I like it these days.  I read books during my commute to office and back and I really prefer the easy reads over the dark ones as I just don’t have the energy for the latter since the characters of whichever book I am reading, live with me as I can’t get them out of my head until I finish the book.

Ruthie Collins has bought a house in Puglia, Italy. She bought it on e-bay on a drunk night without actually seeing the site. She bought it to escape the misery of a break up with her partner Ed.

When she did get a glimpse of her new house, it was during a rainstorm. The fact that the house was bigger than what she expected and needed a lot of work before it can be called a home, added to her woes. The new neighbors, the Bellanuovo clan which included Marco, aunts, uncles, grandmothers and whole lot of other relatives, who previously owned the Bellanuovo Masseria (Ruthie’s house now) had no idea that their family property has been sold until she shows up. Not a greatest of starts, but how she makes her life there and how she learns olive farming and the art of olive tasting is what the story is about.

 The author’s descriptions of the Italy country side are divine and made me want to go there and join Ruthie. As an outsider, I can see that the challenges thrown at her by Marco were actually to make her stay rather than get rid of her. The Italian love for food and family is well depicted. I loved reading the parts which had Daphne, the goat. She was the star!

A perfect read if you’re in the need for a little bit of sunshine or Dolce Vita ;)

The Marriage Bureau for Rich People

 

I picked this book on a whim. I usually go to the library with Angel and she doesn’t want to leave the children’s section even for a minute, so I have to coax her to accompany me to the adult section where she is very impatient and wants to go back to her area of interest (pun intended).

I loved the cover of this book (yeah, I am naïve like that). Reading through the covers, I got to know that it is about weddings and is set in a small town of eastern India named Vizag. I had read a similar book earlier named The Wedding Wallah and had enjoyed it so decided to pick it up. I later did some research came to know that it is in fact a series of books where this is the first book and Wedding Wallah was the third installment of the series.

Coming back to The Marriage Bureau for Rich People, it is about Mr. Ali who is retired and interfering with her wife’s daily routine and needless to say, irritating her. He decided to make use of his time and started a marriage bureau with the name of The Marriage Bureau for Rich People which forms the title of the book. We get to meet various characters who happen to be the clients of the marriage bureau. There are two subplots – Aruna, the efficient assistant of Mr. Ali and Rehman, the son of Mr. Ali. Aruna is the girl next door very likeable character, her friendly relationship with her sister, how her father does not want to get her married as she is the sole bread earner of the family, how her love story with Ramanujam (the client of the marriage bureau) unfolds and how they overcome the family and caste barriers. Rehman is the maverick son of the old couple who cannot stand injustice. Even though he has an engineering degree, he doesn’t have a full time job and he is more into protests for the rights of the farmers much to the dismay of the couple.

The author has touched some social causes which are prevalent in the Indian society like –

  -Divorce
  -Divorcee remarriage
  -Dowry
  -Inter caste marriage

The story is quite simple and written in a simple, lucid style. The characters are very realistic. I loved the character of Mrs. Ali who is very motherly, grounded, witty and kind. The book has an old world charm to it which even made me nostalgic. There are some places where the author has written detailed recipes which run into paragraphs. There is an Andhra wedding sequence described in detail, so those who are aware of the ceremony will enjoy it.

All in all, it was an enjoyable, nice and sweet read. I will definitely read the other parts of the series.

PS- A book review after a long time it was! I loved doing it. I plan to write about each and every book I read in the future, just to keep a tab of the books I read and keep this blog going!

Revolution 2020

Kahani puri filmi hai boss...


This is what I thought after reading the book.

I ordered the book last week, got it last week and finished it on Friday last week (took two days though :P )

Its a typical CB novel, difficult to keep it down after starting.. The ending was a bit unexpected though but I found it apt. I know many wont agree but its my blog and I write what I feel :P

Couldn't take the characters out of my mind and so narrated the whole story to J* first thing on Saturday morning as he doesn't have the patience to sit through a complete book anyways.

I have started believing that CB has started writing his books keeping Bollywood in mind, knowing for sure that it will make a perfect Bollywood masala movie!!

My Rating : 4/5

PS - I have a feeling that in the movie(if made), the ending would be changed.

Robot

I finally watched the movie “Robot”. The fact that, me along with J* and mom-in-law were awake till 12 on a Sunday night, even though had to start the next day at 5 am, is reason enough to believe that we liked it J

Below are some random thoughts about the movie that are coming to my mind:

Ø  The concept of the movie- a super genius scientist (Rajni as Dr. Vasi) who invents a super intelligent robot (Rajni again as Chitti the robot) - is brilliant. (My jiju who has a specialization in robotics, claims that he can make a similar thing, but for laymen like me, it’s still brilliant :P)

Ø  Rajnikanth looked 30 years younger than his age

Ø  Aishwarya Rai is beautiful. I had read somewhere, that her role could have been played by any other actress. True, but it wouldn’t have been the same and even though I don’t like her voice, her looks compensate with that

Ø  Thinking about it, the casting is funny. The heroine romances a guy who is as old as her father-in-law(or father for that matter )

Ø  Danny Denzongpa  plays off his negative character quite well

Ø  Chitti is awesome as a machine, but things take a nasty turn when Dr. Vasi instils emotions in the machine and Chitti falls in love with his creator’s girlfriend(Aishwarya, that is)

Ø  The songs are shot gorgeously

Ø  The lyrics of the songs are nonsense, in Hindi at least. Hopefully they made some sense in the Tamil version. Sample this – Mohan jo daro, isko dil me utaaro (???) from the song dhak dhak go, badi madhoshi (?????)

Ø  The music, even though by AR Rehman, fails to make an impact

Ø  The extended conversation of Chitti with the mosquitoes (yes, it’s there) is hilarious :D

Ø  The climax sequences with the army of Chittis are brilliant

Ø  They reminded me of Jurassic Park and Anaconda :P (I later read that the special effects are indeed done by the team who worked on Jurassic Park)

Ø  If one Rajnikanth is good for you, this has hundreds of them at one point

Yes, there are unbelievable action sequences that Rajnikanth is synonymous for, still the movie is much more than that and definitely recommendable. This roller coaster ride should be experienced!