Library Time: Wally Lamb's Books

Hey guys! Today I went to my campus's library to return a few reference books on Forensic Psychology and Forensic Medicine as well as two Phillippa Gregory's novels, The Constant Princess and  The Other Queen (I haven't read this one).Since I already completed my 4 years of study in Forensic Science, I don't have to borrow reference books any more. So, today I looked through the fiction shelves looking for something good to read during the remaining ten, eleven days of my campus's life. And hey, look what I found! Two books by Wally Lamb, "The Hour I First Believed" and "I Know This Much is True". Heard lots of great things about both so, I hope that I'll enjoy these two novels. 

*****

About Wally Lamb: Lamb is the recipient of the 1998 Governor’s Arts Award, State of Connecticut, a past recipient of the NEA grant for fiction and is a Missouri Review William Peden fiction prize winner.

Teaser Tuesdays Dec. 21, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays: A fun weekly meme Hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading where readers share the teasers sentences from their current reads. This week, I'm reading two books, "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova and "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult.

The Historian: Propelled by the discovery of an ancient book and letters, a young woman plunges into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family's past connect to an inconceivable evil Vlad the Impaler.

He had a large family impaled and many of his people buried naked up to the navel and shot at. Some he had roasted and then flayed. The Historian, pg. 46

My Sister's Keeper: a novel by Jodi Picoult. Creating another baby, specifically design to save her sister. But the baby, now 13 yo, is suing her parents for the rights to her own body.

"What are you saying Brian? That some man in a suit whom you've never met would be able to explain Anna better than her own mother?" Sara, My Sister's Keeper, pg. 178

Library Time: Cry Silent Tears

Howdy readers, I'm not in a good mood today. Really. I woke up early in the morning today and went to collect several forms for my class activity and then headed to library to return a couple of books, borrowed a few weeks ago. Most of 'em are overdue already. So, I've to pay for penalty. Never mind. There's assignment that I haven't finish yet, so, I need to borrow another reference book in order to make it done! Huh....tired already with all these assignment thingy. No choice...

Since I was in library, so I took a peek at the story books' shelf. I found this book called Cry Silent Tear by Joe Peters. I think this would be a good reading so I just borrow it. Already reading a few pages of the book, and I just knew it!! It is a very heartbreaking start. A child badly injured and abused by his own biological mother.? How sad? She's so heartless....OK. This book is not too thick but I'm sure that, I'll have a very, very hard time to finish it cause it is just a very heartbreaking story. Yeah. If you don't believe me. Here's a snippet:

Cry Silent Tears: A True Story of the Horrific Childhood of a Mute Little Boy

As soon as we got in the door of Mum's house, she punched me full in the face, sending me hurtling to the floor. She grab me by the hair to pull me up again then started beating me round my face and body in a fury. I was screaming at the top of my lungs, twisting away from her but unable to protect myself from the blows that were raining down. -page 4

She grabbed my hand and yanked me across the the room, then pressed my palm tightly against the scalding metal until my flesh sizzled. I screamed uncontrollably with the shock of this unbelievable new level of pain.-page 5

Cruel. That's the only word I can say right now. I'll post the review when I finish reading this book. Gotta go guys!! Have a nice day....n I'm trying to make my day nicer too. Ciao....

Library Time: Lauren Weisberger

Howdy readers!! I watched The Devil Wears Prada the movie starring the winner of Academy Award, Meryl Streep and a hot chick, Anne Hathaway a few years back. The movie is fashionably fantastic. Thus, when I started reading books at the end of last year, I decided to read the book version of The Devil Wears Prada. And today, I found it on the library shelf!! Yeah..! Ain't I lucky? Yeah....I also picked the second bestselling novel by the same author, Lauren Weisberger, Everyone Worth Knowing. Wohooo..!!! Double happiness...Well, lets read the short synopsis bout the books.*smile....*

........

The Devil Wears Prada
"High fashion, low cunning - and the boss from hell"

When Andrea first set foot in the plush Manhattan offices of Runway she knows nothing. She's never heard of the world most fashionable magazine, or its feared and fawned-over editor. Miranda Priestly. Soon she knows way too much. She knows it's a sacking offense to wear less than a tree-inch heel at work-but there's always a fresh pair of Monolos in the accessories cupboard.

She knows that eight stone is fat. that you can charge anything - cars, manicures, clothes- to the Runway account, but must never leave your desk, or get Miranda's coffee get cold. That a 3 am, when your boyfriend's dumping you because you're always working and your best friend's just been arrested, if Miranda phones with her latest unreasonable demand, you jump. Most of all, Andrea knows that Miranda is a monster boss who makes Cruella de Vil like a fluffy bunny. But this is her big break, and it's all going to be worth it in the end. Isn't it?

Everyone Worth Knowing
"Betty gets paid to party........."

And she can hardly believe her luck. Running with celebs, gaining VIP access to Manhattan's hottest club meeting 'everyone worth knowing' is a million miles away from her old banking job. When she turns up in the gossip columns with notorious British playboy, it delights her publicity-mad new boss. But her family and her friends want to know what happen to the girl who love bad novels, 80's music and always had time for them.

can Betty says goodbye to the glamour and Gucci and step back into the real world? And where will she find her own prince charming.

........

Haha!! welcome to the world of fashion, glam and fame!! I'll surely love these books. Haha!! I dont know when i'll finish 'em, but I promise you all that i'll review 'em once i finish the reading. OK. Then the third novel by Lauren Weisberger, Chasing Harry Winston goes into my wishlist. Haha!!OK guys!! thats all for now. Have a great day....Ciao..

Ghosh and Edwards

Hey guys! Check 'em out what I got from the library shelf this time. The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I hope that, after two thriller books that I borrow last time, these will calm me a little bit. Family relationship, nature, humanity and a bit of history. I think, this week might be a good week for these kind of books.

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh

Who's Amitav Ghosh ?: He was born in Culcutta in 1956. He studied at The Doon School, St. Stephens College, delhi University, Oxford University, and the faculty of Arts at the University of Alexadria (Wow...he sure loves study, isn't he?). Began his first job at Indian express newspaper in New Delhi, Ghosh was then earned his doctorate at Oxford before he wrote his first novel, The Circle of Reason in 1986.

The Hungry Tide:

(from the book cover) Between the sea and the plains of Bengal lies an immense archipelago of islands. Here, for hundreds of years, only the truly dispossessed braved man-eating tigers and crocodiles that rule there, to eke out a precarious existence from the mud.

The settlers of the Sundarbans believe that anyone without a pure heart who ventures into the watery labyrinth will never return. it is the arrival of Piya Roy, of Indian parentage but stubbornly American, and Kanai Dutt, a sophisticated delhi businessman, that disturbs the delicate balance of settlement life. from this moment, the tide begins to turn.

Praise for this book:

"An intricate book, tinged with a melancholic and fragile beauty....it is a sense of place that dominates this novel - and what an extraordinary place it is." - Economist

. . . . . . .

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Who's Kim Edwards ?: She grew up in Skaneateles, New York. She graduated from Colgate University and the University of Iowa, where she received an MFA in Fiction and an MA in Linguistics. After completing her graduate work, she went with her Husband to Asia, where they spent the next 5 years teaching, first on the rural east coast of Malaysia, then in a small city an hour south of Tokyo and finally in Phnom penh, Cambodia. The Memory Keeper's Daughter , was selected for Barnes and Noble Discovery Award and won the Kentucky Literary Award for fiction in 2005.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter:

(from the cover) This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down Syndrome.

For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline. to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a brilliantly crafted story parallel lives, familial secrets and the redemptive power of love.

Praise for this book:

"In the Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards has created a tale of regret and redemption.. of characters haunted by their past. crafted with language so lovely you have to re-read the passages just to be captivated all over again....simply a beautiful book" - Jodi Picoult

. . . . . . .

OK guys! those are all for now...Have a nice day, and share with me your story and books. Until next time, Ciao....

1st To Die!!

I'm very satisfied reading this book as my first thriller book, and choosing Patterson's is not a mistake at all! I love 1st to Die from the very beginning until the end! This time I'll just skip all the details bout this book but what I wanna share with you here, today is what I love bout this awesome book!

Lindsay Boxer, the main character in this story! Love this tough gal very much. As the only homicide inspector in San Francisco, she tries her hardest to solve the cases of murder of newlywed couples and at the same time fights for her own life from Negli's, a disease that decrease the production of RBC by bone marrow. Then, she founds Cindy, a daring reporter, Claire, a pathologist and Jill an attorney. And together, these brave women have a Women's Murder Club secretly. Most of the story is told from Lindsay perspective and the thrill continues until the very last page of this book.

Mr. Patterson create the murderer very brilliantly. Phillip Campbell, a very twisted murderer which only kills the newlyweds and disappears without any trace. But, he intentionally leaves some evident at the scene to play game. He loves to play games very much. At first, I thought that this Phillip Campbell is Chris, Lindsay partner which is then fall in love with her. But...haha! my detective intuition went wrong. The real killer is so brilliant! He goes into jail at first but released when Lindsay doubt that the real killer is still out there, the wife. Chris and the wife are dead at the end. The real killer tries to kill Lindsay but has been shot by her.

5 stars for this book. This is the First book from the Women's Murder Club Series by Patterson. I'm looking for the next book, 2nd Chance. What will Lindsay encounter next? haha! ciao...

Thriller Time!!

Hey guys!! Library time again! This time I chose two thriller books. One is James Patterson's 1st to Die and another one is The Client by John Grisham. I hope that I'll enjoy reading these books. Different from last time, I choose these two books not because their covers (I still can't stop myself from loving the Tony Parsons' covers) but, it's 100% because of the story itself. Furthermore, this semester I'm studying the Criminology subject and I hope that, more or less, I can learn something from 'em. Here are brief reviews of both the books, and I'll post my own once I've finish reading 'em! When? Owh....Don't ask me that question guys. (coz I'm not sure myself)..Haha!

1st to Die by James Patterson


As the only woman homicide inspector in San Francisco, Lindsay Boxer has to be tough. But nothing has prepared her for the honeymoon murders.

A brutal maniac begins a killing spree - slaughtering newlywed couples - and Lindsay takes on the case. She is sickened by the deaths, but her determination to bring the murderer to justice is threatened by a personal tragedy. So, she turns to Claire, a coroner, Cindy, a journalist, and Jill, an attorney, for help with both crises: and the Women's Murder Club is born.


The Client by John Grisham

In a weedy lot on the outskirts of Memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up the curb... Eleven year old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between the legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years.

Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quite. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client - even take a last desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom....or cost them both their lives.


That's it!! Enjoy reading these books, of course I am. And post the reviews here, next time I will (speaking like Master Yoda...haha!!). OK, guys! I stop here. Ciao...