June...

In June 2013, I reviewed eight books.

The Big Four by Agatha Christie (Rating: 4 out of 5)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Rating: 5 out of 5)

Suspicious by Heather Graham (Rating: 2 out of 5)

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Rating: 3 out of 5)

The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon (Rating: 3 out of 5)

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Rating: 4 out of 5) 

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (Rating: 4 out of 5)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Rating: 3 out of 5)

''Lord of the Flies''- Book Review

Author: William Golding
Published: 1954

Genres: Novel, Adventure, Horror

Rating: 3 out of 5

Review

Lord of the Flies centers around a group of children- whose ages are between six and twelve- who are trapped alone in an island after a plane crash. Having no adults with them, they have to look after themselves, take care of themselves, and find ways to be rescued. One of the boys (and the novel's protagonist), Ralph, decides to take the responsibilities of the leader. And everybody agrees to him. Everybody decides to obey him and lead a disciplined life in the island until they are rescued. 

But things don't go according to their plans. Very soon, the discipline and peace between the boys are shattered. Rivalry and argument arises. Jack, another boy with very significant leadership qualities, strongly starts scheming against Ralph. Also, the peace and stability is further destroyed when some of the boys start saying that there is a terrifying beast somewhere in the island.

I enjoyed reading Lord of the Flies, but I didn't love it. At times, I was quite terrified by the mention of the beast. The flow of words and the writing style are both extremely impressive. 

I appreciated the well-developed characters as well. I liked Ralph, our protagonist. Piggy, the first boy Ralph meets on the island, was irritating at first and later I started liking him as well. Jack was a strange character. At first I liked him and his friendship and co-operation with Ralph, but later I started disliking him when he schemes so horribly against Ralph and the others.

The life in the island, the deterioration of discipline and friendship, terror- all these are very well described. The ending is intense and quite suspenseful as well. Overall, I enjoyed and liked this one.

3 out of 5!

January to June favorites

Since it's already almost the end of June 2013 and almost half of 2013 is complete, I have decided to make a list of my favorites among the books I read from January to June 2013.

Top five favorite books I read January-June 2013

The following list is not in a particular order because I'm not sure which one is my No. 1 favorite! But however, among the books I read in January to June 2013, I loved these five the most!

Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley (my review)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (my review)
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (my review)
Emma by Jane Austen (my review)
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks (my review)

On a separate note, I'm right now busy with science fair, which explains the reason of my being a little inactive in reading and blogging! 

Happy reading!

''And the Mountains Echoed''- Book review

Author: Khaled Hosseini
Published: 2013

Genres: Novel

Rating: 4 out of 5

Review

And the Mountains Echoed is Khaled Hosseini's third novel. And what will I say? This novel was also as pleasant, as memorable, as intense, as his two previous books!

I can't really compare this book with the author's previous books, of course, because of several reasons. For example, both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Sun were set with the background of the times of trouble and unrest of Afghanistan. While in And the Mountains Echoed such background can be indeed found as well, it remains slight, because this novel, first of all, is not a historical fiction like the author's previous books.  

And the Mountains Echoed tells the story of relationships--- lost relationships that are not really lost, lost relations which remain present in the form of memory and hope, told with the background of many characters, several emotional subplots, many incidents, and many perspectives. The various subplots working as a background of the stories, with very frequent flashbacks, and perspectives of several people- make this novel an emotional, intense ride! The incidents span over decades and over continents.

The primary plot is about siblings Abdullah and Pari. The novel starts in the 1950s. Abdullah and Pari's mother died a few years ago. The two siblings live with their father, Saboor, and their stepmother, Parwana, and their half-brother Iqbal. To the three-year-old Pari, Abdullah has not only been a brother, but also like a parent. The siblings have a deep bond and deep love for each other.

Abdullah and Pari's uncle, Nabi, works as a servant and chauffeur to the rich Wahdatis in Kabul. One day, Abdullah and Pari's father takes them to Kabul to the Wahdatis. There, Abdullah and Pari are separated! The Wahdatis adopt Pari! Though they are separated, the deep love and memories that they share cannot disappear. For Abdullah, who cannot forget all the beautiful memories, it is very difficult to accept what has happened. But for Pari, at the tender age of three, memories can easily be forgotten. She comes to acknowledge the Wahdatis as her parents, and ultimately forgets Abdullah and the village where she was born- but even when she grows up, she finds that something is absent from her life, dim memories and lights come to her--- but she can't figure out what is missing. But one day, destiny may bring her to her past, one day, she may come to realize what has been missing.

The story is simple but vast, because of the characters, the subplots, the backgrounds. Told through a non-linear, varied narrative structure, the novel, as aforementioned, spans over decades, continents, and characters. I thought that the depth between the relation of Abdullah and Pari, at the beginning of the novel, had been significant but yet not enough to make it heartbreaking. However, in course of time, with the flashbacks, the novel grows intense and powerful. 

And the Mountains Echoed is not my favorite book by Hosseini. I didn't feel the deep emotions that I felt when I had read A Thousand Splendid Suns. But yet, like the author's other works, this novel was also deep and intense, simple and the storytelling was really fascinating. To be precise, I didn't love it, but I was overwhelmed by the beautiful writing style, the deep subplots, the depth in the subplots, and overall, the story!

4 out of 5
 

 

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's reviews. It is about the books that you are adding to your shelves.

                                             Bought:

Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

Letters from a Father to his Daughter by Jawaharlal Nehru

The BFG by Roald Dahl

The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Good Idea, Amelia Jane! by Enid Blyton

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.

Despite of my great love for adult and YA books, I also absolutely love middle grade and children's fiction! And Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton are two of my favorite children's authors!

And I'd been eagerly waiting for And the Mountains Echoed! I'm reading it right now! :D

''Eat, Pray, Love''- Book Review

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Published: 2006

Genres: Memoir

Rating: 4 out of 5

Review

Eat, Pray, Love tells the story of author Elizabeth Gilbert's pursuit of pleasure, devotion, and the balance between pleasure and devotion. After a traumatic divorce and problematic relationship leave Gilbert heartbroken and miserable, she decides to engage a whole year traveling in Italy (for pleasure), India (for devotion) and Indonesia (for the balance between pleasure and devotion). And she does so. She becomes successful at her attempts to discover herself, find inner peace, find pleasure, and finally find the love she looks for. She enjoys the beautiful places, the beautiful food, and the beautiful language of Italy. In India, she finds the devotion and inner peace she had been looking for. In Indonesia, she helps a poor single mother and her children. And finally, she starts to fall in love again with a Brazilian man.

This book was tremendously inspirational! Gilbert's writing style and sense of humor are great. At one moment, she discusses some grave, intense and sad subject. But at the very next moment, she expresses her sense of humor in such a way that it makes us laugh out loud! I really enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed Gilbert's writing style. It is not just a travelogue, but in fact, keeping the travel stories as a background, Gilbert explains her attempt (and success) in discovering herself with great intensity, solemnity, and humor.

4 out of 5

Random thoughts (bookish and non-bookish!)

Hello and happy Wednesday everybody!

Sorry for not being active for a while! I had been sick for the last few days... now I'm better, but since I couldn't attend school for a few days, right now I'm kinda busy catching up with the class.

Oh, a nice thing to share... It's quite cloudy and windy right now now. The last few days the weather was extremely hot... It's pleasant to see some clouds after so many days! :P

As for reading, I've been busy with Elizabeth Gilbert's ''Eat Pray Love'' for the past few days. I'm really liking it and hope posting the review within a few days.

Happy reading.