My Three Husbands by Swan Adamson (308 pages)

Date Started: 15th Nov 2006
Date Finished: 16th Nov 2006

Rating:

My parents bought this book for me on their way back from the airport. I don't know if they're trying to tell me something... Are they hinting to me to find a husband? LOL!

This was a fun book, light and humorous. Taken in the context on its own, it's quite a good read. Obviously you can't compare it to the classics and other bestselling literature, but reading it as it was meant to be, just a light, fun read. It couldn't be better.

Venus Gilroy isn't a really your typical likable character, and you'll find her more than a little stupid and spoilt, but I found myself hoping the best for her in the end. Maybe I'm just a soft-hearted fool, but well, the best of us makes the stupidest mistakes too.

All in all, it's a good book to relax with at the beach or on vacation when you don't feel like using your brain too much. So read it and enjoy it, and then move on to the better books which give you more out of them.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (447 pages)

Date Started: 1st Nov 2006
Date Finished: 15th Nov 2006

Rating:

I loved this simply because I read The Eyre Affair just recently.

But I loved it so much more because of the actual experience of reading it as it was. Literature nowadays are seriously lacking in quality. Most authors seem to think that to have a bestseller they need to write stories that consist of shocking ethical or moral issues and have tragic endings. I miss the great books with happy endings.

This is one of them. You can't imagine how refreshing it was to finally read a good book, a great story, and it has a happy ending too! Although it is a classic, but it's new to me, and I've been jaded with too many sad endings lately. I'm glad for this book.

But endings aside, the storyline, the plot, the narrative... they were all superb. Charlotte Bronte is a wonderful author, and remains one of my favourites. I love how Jane pulls you into the story, the way the descriptive passages flow into one another, the way the words causes the most vivid pictures to appear right before your eyes.

And as I said, it was made all the more enjoyable because I previously read The Eyre Affair. It was slow reading, but it was made to be savoured. That's why it's still a great classic after all these years.

Sorry for not updating for so long. It wasn't for want of reading, because I have been reading most faithfully. It's just that it's NaNoWriMo month and whatever time I've had for writing, I've spent it writing my novel instead of my blogs. =) It's been a good month! But back to the review:


Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner (242 pages)

Date Started: 31st Oct 2006
Date Finished: 1st Nov 2006

Rating:

This was one of the most thought-provoking non-fiction books I've ever read. It really makes you see the world in a different perspective. How cause and effect actually work, how the single proverbial butterfly could change the whole outcome of the future...

Who knew that economics could be so fun? Freakonomics, as its name suggests, is economics with a freakish perspective. The hidden side to everything, you think keeping a gun in your house is dangerous? Your children might stumble upon the gun and have a tragic accident? Well, how about if you had a swimming pool in your backyard for your kids? Do you think that would end with a tragic accident?

Absolutely thought-provoking! It amazes me, many of the topics covered in the book, and it was so fascinating that I finished the book in a day! Which wouldn't be surprising because I used to do that, except that I don't read the way I used to, and this is the *only* non-fiction book I have ever finished in a day!

You have got to read this. Everyone should! Just to have a different perspective at the world and how a simple tiny action could have major consequences. Read this book!

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (254 pages)

Date Started: 29th Oct 2006
Date Finished: 31st Oct 2006

Rating:

I enjoyed this book very much. It gave me many many interesting facts and a lot to think about. I must say though that the blurb is misleading, and it's pretty much useless for the purpose that I bought it for.

It says on the cover title, "Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking", but not once did Gladwell actually gave us a method of how to implement thinking without thinking. In fact, many times he tells you how you should trust your first impression, and then in another chapter he says how your first impressions can lie to you.

So I have no idea what Gladwell was trying to achieve with this book. Helping readers to think more? Think less? What?

However, I gathered a lot from the book. Not about how to think without thinking, but about how people think, and how our brains and thought processes work. I'm amazed by many of the stories he tells; how our faces actually can't lie, no matter how good we are at acting, and that not only our feelings manifest in our expressions, but our expressions manifest our feelings as well. How our bodies can be primed to do thing we're not aware of doing, just because we were exposed to certain ideas we didn't even know consciously that we were exposed to.

It's all very interesting, and while useless in giving us solutions on how to think or trust our judgement, it does give a lot of food for thought and more understanding on the workings of the human mind. Which fascinates me. That's why I'm giving it four stars. =D

A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin (852 pages)

Date Started: 19th Oct 2006
Date Finished: 29th Oct 2006

Rating:

The absolute best book in the world!!! This is my favouritest, favouritest book in the whole wide world!

It's the fourth book in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, and they just keep getting better and better.

I started reading the first three books about three years ago, and was waiting for the fourth book to come out for a very long time. I couldn't wait to continue the epic adventure of the Seven Kingdoms which started with:

1. A Game of Thrones
2. A Clash of Kings
3. A Storm of Swords

And now A Feast for Crows. The next one will be A Dance of Dragons, I truly can't wait.

The Game of Thrones started the adventure with the kingdom still in one piece, but dangerously near its end. As its name suggests, it tells about the trecherous game of politics that the characters are forced to play in the ruling of the kingdom. In A Clash of Kings, the kingdom is split, with too many kings and divided loyalties. A Storm of Swords depict all the wars and battles fought over the divided kingdoms.

A Feast for Crows doesn't really show us much about the Black Crows, however, which I thought weird, but then again, the name was decided on before the book was finished. So...

But it was great anyway! I could never have anything bad to say about Martin's work. He's a genius! And so meticulous with every single detail! How I admire him!

A Song of Ice and Fire is the Lord of the Rings of today, but so much better. Richer, deeper, more exciting, more unbelievable, more engrossing than any other book written!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if I could only ever read one book in my whole entire life, it would be this series! (I count the whole series as one book, else I couldn't survive not knowing what happens next!) Trust me, fans of fantasy...you will absolutely love this series! =D

I went to Borders on Wednesday with Lone, just to do a little browsing. I didn't plan to buy any books... I ended up buying SIX! Dammit! LOL!

But it's such a guilty pleasure! I love books and I should've known I wouldn't have been able to resist! It's all Lone's fault for bringing me to Borders!

I bought:

1. Following the Wrong God Home - Catherine Lim
2. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
3. Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
4. The World is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
5. Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
6. The Closers - Ben Gay III

It's been awhile since I last bought so many books in one go. Oh, but it feels sooooo good!

I'm happy! =D

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (373 pages)

Date Started: 16th Oct 2006
Date Finished: 18th Oct 2006

Rating:

This is the best book I've read so far this year!

I love it! I love Thursday Next and I love the way the story of Jane Eyre was woven into the story. I haven't read Jane Eyre yet, but I just bought the book and I probably will enjoy it all the more because of having read this book.

I love how the whole alternate universe works, and the action, the wit, the sarcasm, the humor, the fun! Wheeeee! I felt like I was in another world. A world where anything was possible! Where you could jump right into the book with the characters, where you could be taken to the places in the books...

Fforde is a genius! Honestly, it's brilliant how he manoeuvered the story of Jane Eyre into The Eyre Affair. I never had so much fun reading a book! I'm in the middle of reading George R R Martin's A Feast for Crows, but I'll probably be reading Jane Eyre after that!