December : To Be Reads

Hi ! After a very long time, I am back into blogging. This time about the books I am going to read for December. I have a reading challenge for this year and I am happy I am proceed well to complete the challenge.



l have 6 more beautiful books to read. Most of my picks have winter as the theme. The list is as follows.
1. Harry Potter and the Half - Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis
3. Dsh and Lily ' s book of dares by Cohn and Levithan
4. Liverpool Lovesong by Anne Baker
5. The Kindly One - Sandman series #9 by Neil Gaiman
6. SAVOUR THE MOMENT by Nora Roberts

The Half blood prince book is my birthday gift from my husband. So lovely of him. ♡♥♡♥♡♡♡



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10 Interesting Facts : Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone (Book)

I am re reading the Harry Potter series this year and wanted to post few interesting things that are still stuck in my mind about the book.

The points may be weird/useless yet my mind is filled with them right now.

1. Harry's wand was made with Phoenix's feather core like that of Voldemort and of holly.
2. Three headed dog which guards the stone is Fluffy.
3. Harry read about Nicholas Flamel first  Chocolate Frog while on train to Hogwarts.
4.  Professor McGonagall is specialized in transfiguration
5. Neville Longbottom's mother sent him a remembrall
6. Professor Snape took Potions
7. Hermione Granger came from a muggle family.
8. Flinch cat 's name was Mrs.Norris
9. The mirror which helped Harry see his parents is called The Mirror of Erised
10. Ron's rat is called Scabbers.

 

Book Review : Dan Brown's Inferno

  

   Dan Brown's fourth novel in Robert Langdon Series is finally out. I had preordered the book in flipkart.com which rendered a very good service in getting the book on my hands on the day of the book release.

I m very proud to say that Inferno is my first book which I ordered before the book was actually out. I was proud showing off this book in my hand during  break time and lunch hours in office cafe. 

I wanted to complete this book at least within a week so that I can give first hand review.  I got the book on 15th of May and completed on 19th of May 2013. In addition, this book completed my goal of reading fifteen books by this year with pride.

OK more into Inferno. Whatte an immense hard work! Fantastic research on the histories. Visual tours to Florence, Venice and Istanbul.  The book had a gripping plot which made me stick to the book till the last word in the last page. It can serve as an research material. But the story is more or less the same as that of Angels and Demons. Threat to earth, genius and brave lady lead, more or less a day's story similar to Angels and Demons. 

This book cultivates the idea of reading the classic novel Inferno by Dante. This book talks a lot about Dante's Inferno and also in and out of Florence.

Few pages made me doze off! But I promise this is a must read in Robert Langdon series. No doubt this will be a made a movie! I love Robert Langdon series. Expecting a different plot in this series with Robert Langdon as Lead.

Characters I just loved in this book : Robert Langdon, Sienna Brooks, Martha ( the pregnant lady) , Sinskey and Bruder!

Book Review : Brida

 

 

Brida by Paulo Coelho is written in 1990. The main character and the tile are the same.It is about a girl who wants to learn magic. So she approaches the Magus in the forest who was abandoned by most people for seducing a girl once. The moment  he saw Brida he realises  that she is his Soul mate. He teaches Brida to overcome her fear and exposes her with two tradition to learn magic. They are "Tradition of Moon" and " Tradition of Sun ". He also gets to know that she possess some kind of gift and tells her she was destined to learn magic through "Tradition of Moon".

Brida then finds Wicca who is a tarot reader from a book seller. Wicca is the one who teaches magic through "Tradition of Sun". Tradition of Moon is learning magic from his soul mate i.e.  the male  transfers all the knowledge to her and  together they get transformed as magician. Something like that. Tradition of Sun is getting taught of magic with the help of a teacher.

Brida takes lesson from both of them and eventually realises the Magus to be her soul mate after seeing the point of light on his left shoulder. This is how one can know their Soul mate. Earlier she thought her boyfriend to be her soul mate. At last she overcomes her fear and goes in search of her gift and finally becomes a witch.

My Thoughts:
Paulo has taught the life lessons in an unusual way. He has taken magic, witchcraft as a medium. The book is full of traditions and rituals. The beginning of the book plus the end were  very boring and I felt those parts to be vague.

I loved the way Wicca inculcated the lessons in Brida. The three steps or tests Brida qualifies to get initiated as witch is really a good part of the book. The Magus character is warm and felt Brida's boyfriend lacked depth.

Few of the quotes in the books were very good. They are..

• Only warriors choose how they will die, but the woman had given her life for love, and perhaps, for her, love was a strange form of war. (Referring to Loni - Talbo being her  husband)
• Whenever you want to find out about something, plunge straight in. (Brida's father to Brida)
• Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.(Brida's father to Brida)

This is a serious read with good language and a lot of witch/ Magi traditions and
rituals. The Magus refers to Magician.

So I rate this book..
★★★★☆

Book Review : Until the end of time by Danielle Steel

After a very long time, I am into my blog, writing a post on a book I recently got hooked to. This year , I should say is the year of book reading for me. The month of January was filled with books and book reading. Feburary and March were dedicated to my family. During these month, I was off from office, took care of m health, spent lots of quality time with my mom, dad, brother and with my sweet hubby. I cooked him tasty, tummy filling recipes which I learnt from my mom and from different sources. But even in those months, I pushed myself to read some books.

Last week I grabbed the book "Until the end of time" by Danielle Steel from the local library. Though I read a lots of books , I love Danielle Steel books. Her books are always light reads and full of love and make me lose my mind from the daily routines. I have read many of her books like Big Girl, One day at a time, Happy birthday, to mention a few. I just love Big Girl which had the main character resembling me throughout the book.

This book "Until the end of time" was a good light read with story of a couples in two different births. The book has 2 parts. The story of the first part was very depressing so I thought of throwing the book aways completed the part one. Because the love, the couple shared was very impressing and touched my heart. But their love story ended bluntly and was a total tragedy. I didnt touch this book for 2 days after I completing the Part 1 of the book. I loved the Jenny Arden character. Her attitude and style were fantastic. When they move to Wyoming, the way Jenny adapts to the new place, new people was inspiring. The end was tragic though.

The part 2 of the book was full of inspiration and love. Thank God I took this book again to read the part 2 with a thought of completing one solid book. Lilibet was an amish girl who had a passion for reading books and writing. Her passion was inherited from her mother. But her Amish community was very conservative and followed so many rules and restrictions. They never allowed English people to be a part of their community. (Similar to our kaatu vaasi s / tribal people). With all odds on her way along with the support of the dairy owner Joe Lattimer, Lilibet Peterson managed to publish her book and find her love of life in an Englishman Robert who was running a publishing house. . I like the characters of Lilibet, Robert, Willy, Henryk and Joe. Lilibet was so cute, charming, inspiring and full of energy throughout. Joe was a very supportive character. 

The story of the second part was more appealing than the first one. I would love this book very much if they were two different stories without the connection between the two couples  in different birth to stress on the book's title "Until the end of time"! Else the book was a good read.

This book is ultimately full of love and love only until the end of time.

 

I would rate it  ★★★☆☆