Off The Shelf 2013.....Completed!!!

So, I have completed my Off The Shelf 2013 challenge of 15 books - and I was done by the end of March! I am obviously going to continue reading but won't be blogging anymore about the challenge.

So I not only ended up finishing Karin Slaughter's Blindsighted & Indelible but also managed the only other book of hers I have in my collection called Genesis - all brilliant books. I have managed to start on my Patricia Cornwell collection but that will be that for the reading blogs - for now at least.

It is amazing how quickly in this time of technology we forget the wonder and joy turning the pages of a good book can bring us. I've been in to Waterstones' recently and it is absolutely wonderful seeing little kids practically dragging their parents into the bookshop so they can get immerse themselves in the amazing world books can offer.

Anyhow, I can wax lyrical about books forever if you let me and I do have plenty of things to be getting on with so signing off for now.

Congratulations to me though!

Books...The list continues...

So okay, I haven't blogged soon enough...AGAIN..but I was DOING things and y'know... Reading. So much so, that I am...nearly done with my Off The Shelf 2013 challenge which I have previously blogged about. So since my last challenge blog ,

I have not only finished:

The Overlook - again by Michael Connelly another Bosch novel which I do feel is great because it's like he's improving Bosch's character with every book - but also:

The Drop - also by Connelly - and ironically enough I had the next book in the list after The Overlook but went for this one which was his absolute latest Bosch novel but no harm done. Just went back and finished the other one, which was:

Nine Dragons - another Connelly book which means I have read all the Michael Connelly books on my shelf. RESULT! Now this was a great book because it gave the whole background to how his daughter came to live with him which was quite good since it tied up a few things from some previous/later books.






So I come to the next set of books - more mystery and whodunnits. This time it's Karin Slaughter - another awesome crime/mystery writer I love.

So the books are:

Blindsighted : Slaughter's debut novel about her character Sara Linton.. one of my favourites - even though I have many in this list.

Indelible : A few books along but still part of the Sara Linton series









I should be finished with these two and one other, I think, fairly soon since I don't think I have many of her books at present, after which next on my list will be the great Patricia Cornwell .....

The challenge continues....

Off The Shelf...Continued....

So. It has been absolutely ages since I blogged which doesn't bode well for the whole "I will blog more" policy I have tried to adopt. Ah well. Shall continue trying. The one thing that has happened certainly is I have finished more books as part of my Off The Shelf 2013 challenge. The last time I blogged about the challenge I mentioned I was going to read:

A Darkness More Than Night - Michael Connelly
The Mayor of Lexington Avenue - James Sheehan & finally
The Lincoln Lawyer - Michael Connelly

All 3 were absolutely brilliant and The Lincoln Lawyer was even better than the film and I kept imagining Matthew Mcconaughey saying all the dialogues and it was great.
After which I managed to ALSO finish:

The Brass Verdict  - Michael Connelly - the 2nd Mickey Haller novel - which was brilliant as usual - kept you on the edge of your seat all along. Apparently they're turning this into a film as well. Hope they keep the same main cast!

The Reversal - Michael Connelly - the next Haller book, this time though he's a prosecutor and a brilliant one but obviously. He teams up with his ex-wife and Bosch to make a brilliant team who you root for until the end.

The Fifth Witness - Michael Conn elly - The last Haller book and again absolutely brilliant - and this time Haller has associates and everything - and with a great twist at the end which is making me wait with bated breath for the next Haller novel. Hope it comes soon.







So I was going to go on to the next set of books but then realised I still had Michael Connelly books to get through and I know I said I was going to stick to different books since I didn't have all of the Connelly ones in order but then I thought, well, if that is the case then I'd never get a lot of books finished so have decided to continue with the Connelly books I have. So the next on my list are:

The Overlook and The Drop both by the great MC - so hopefully by the end of March I should have finished my challenge. I shall of course keep reading but perhaps not detailing it in blogs so much - and keep blogging in general!

Let The Music Play...

So, I was thinking about a conversation I had with my friend M about the kind of music I like and remember telling her about how I came to find most of it. Last night, while trying to get to bed, once again, I thought about all this wonderful music and realized that most of it has come to me in a very strange way. So here goes:

I absolutely love ABBA and discovered them a fair few years ago when I was up late at night watching a film called Muriel's Wedding - so, obviously, heard some of the songs and then found some more tracks and that was me hooked.

Next comes ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra. Some of his tracks were featured in What Women Want and that was it for me, hooked again. Did a proper search and in turn discovered a whole new world of Big Band - Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis, etc.

One of my favourite tracks - It Must Be Love - by Labi Siffre, I heard on a phone advert on TV - It was for Vodafone or something. The same thing with The Turtles - So Happy Together - found while watching a drama on TV which featured it. The majority of my favourite songs I've either heard on TV on some show, or it's been featured in an advert. For instance, Adele - I discovered her music, when of all things, her song Set Fire to The Rain was featured during a montage of cricket world cup matches. Go figure.

Oh and this rendition of Ave Maria that I love - I first heard it properly and recognised that I absolutely loved it was on an episode of The West Wing. Strange huh?

Yes I have songs that I've heard on the radio etc but the majority of tracks I love have come to me in some weird and wonderful way and I quite like that. My musical tastes are eclectic to say the least but then the way that I've discovered that music is that too and I like that. I don't fit in any sort of box and that to me is a good thing.

Weather woes!

Disclaimer: This is going to be a random post about the weather

Its cold. Freezing. Arctic.

For someone who was born in January, I have a very strange relationship with the cold weather. Most of the time I love it and find heatwaves unbearable - only the ones where there is no breeze and it's just plain dry heat. I do wonder how I survived for 16 years in the hot, humid climate of Calcutta. Anyway. The cold.

If I am wrapped up and outside, the fresh air and the biting cold are my friends. However, if I'm not covered up and it's cold I will curse and moan and be miserable until I can get some heat. I am the one who gets out of a warm bed / a hot shower and immediately wants the heating on because I'm cold. I am also the one who will have the heating on and the window open to let some fresh air in when it's freezing outside.

And then I choose to come live in Scotland. Heaven AND Hell for me.

At present I am curled up in bed, typing this blog, have the heating on, can hear the wind and rain howling outside and am contemplating getting up and opening the window to let some fresh air in. Go figure

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So the UK, especially England has had some terrible weather recently. All we've heard about is school and road closures and weather warnings and what not and two things come to mind. 

1. WHY can we never cope with the weather? The weather people have been predicting all sorts for absolutely ages and yet, everything comes to a standstill. Especially in Scotland - a country you would think would know to expect these things and then prepare accordingly but no sir, we still choose to run around like headless chickens without any organisation. Why can countries like Canada with -20 + weather be able to function with normality whereas us with our few degrees below freezing weather means we are totally clueless?

2. Saying the above, I personally feel way too much has been made about schools closing and teachers shirking their responsibilities etc and parents having to take time off work etc etc. I mean, seriously? Heads of schools don't take the responsibility of closing a school lightly I would think. I would also think that making sure your child isn't in any danger due to the adverse weather is more important than anything else? Also, I would think that sending kids home on school buses before the roads get too dangerous is the sensible thing to do rather than keep them in school and have some poor bus driver have the responsibility of ferrying these wee souls across and worrying about not skidding and crashing on an icy patch?

Sometimes using some of those brain cells we have is not a bad idea.

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The downside of this weather is that you don't feel like being out and doing things whereas the upside is that you get lots and lots of stuff done because you can't go out and do things. Saying which, I have had a duvet day today and done none of things I should have done having stayed indoors most of the day. Maybe tomorrow. 

Books..books...and oh.. Books

I can't believe I actually finished reading 3 books in such little time. I'm not surprised because this is a huge achievement per se but more so because this is what I used to do a long time ago. Just read. So, to be able to actually get back to it was quite pleasant. I do wish I was able to spend hours just curled up in my favourite chair and read, but have to you know, do grown up things like go to work, do the dishes, laundry etc.

My reading these books ( Michael Connelly - Three Great Novels Vol 1 also means that I am 3 books in to my 15 book challenge - taken up as part of Off The Shelf 2013 and which hopefully means I should be putting a small dent into the "have read" section of my book collection.

I love legal fiction and I love whodunnits as well and Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series is a bit of both which is perfect for me. So the next set of books on my list are:

A Darkness More Than Night - Michael Connelly - the next in the Bosch series and also brings in Terry McCaleb, another Connelly regular. Lots of suspense, intrigue and drama - the perfect mix for me.

The Mayor Of Lexington Avenue - James Sheehan - Now as I mentioned before, I love legal fiction and this book promises me that if I "...like crime novels, legal thrillers and courtroom dramas..." I'll love this book so let's see if Sheehan matches up to John Grisham.

The Lincoln Lawyer - Michael Connelly - the first in the Mickey Haller series! Strangely enough it was the film version of the book that got me reading Connelly and from Haller I went to Bosch - totally the wrong way around. Also, I love Matthew Mcconaughey so although the film is brilliant, am sure the book is better.




Now I was going to continue with the Bosch series but I seem to have a few books in between missing and I'm weird that way - I have to read/watch things in order - so since the point is to read what you have and not what you've bought this year, I shall mix it up a little with a different book in between and then continue with the Mickey Haller series because those I have in order!!!

Let the challenge continue....

Off The Shelf: 2013

Off The Shelf

So. I'm going to take a page from Legally Alien and take part in Off The Shelf - mainly because I think, like a lot of people I have forgotten the joy in sitting down with a nice fat book and getting lost in the different worlds it contains. Also, it's nice to check off lists.

So I'm going for maybe 15 books (The "Trying" Challenge) this year - mainly because I have WAY too many books to finish reading.

I think I'm going to go for my Michael Connelly collection. Haven't got all the names yet.

Here are the first 3: Michael Connelly - Three Great Novels : The version I have is 3 books in one so hopefully can finish it quicker.

The Last Coyote: from the Harry Bosch series, this books gives you the more of an insight into the dour detective's mind.

Trunk Music: from the Harry Bosch series as well, more Hollywood crime to get to grips with.

Angels Flight: Another Bosch book, more gritty crime to get you hooked.

So here begins the challenge!

She...!

She is a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, revered as a creator of life, a goddess worshipped by billions, she is a woman, she is you, me, the girl passing you on the street. 

A woman has so many names, yet the only thing that’s constant is the violence she has to endure day in and day out – all at the hands of the very men who swore to protect her – husbands, sons, fathers and brothers. Why? This is a question which is yet without an answer. In India, violence against women is the norm. It is shameful, disgusting and beyond belief but still happening every day without lasting consequences.

The recent case of the victim known as “The Delhi Braveheart” has brought this issue to the forefront like never before. It is appalling that it has taken a violent crime of such horrific proportions to get people angry enough to demand permanent change. Will it last though? My cynical side thinks the hoopla surrounding this case will last about six months or so, after which the furor will die down, the protesters will return to their homes and the country will go back to its apathetic self. I do still have hope that after the adrenaline has stopped pumping, behind government doors the wheel of justice will keep churning, creating an everlasting change much needed for women all over the country.

This is not just an isolated incident. Early last year there was the case of the woman in Calcutta on Park Street. She came out of a pub in the early hours of the morning and was conned into getting into a car with men who raped her. That story is all but forgotten. Where are the indignant crowds for her? What disgusted me further was the behavior of Calcutta’s own woman chief minister Mamata Banerjee who decided that the whole case had been fabricated to malign “her government” and who if reports are to be believed, along with police officers were too quick to judge the victim as a ‘loose woman’ because she had been out at a pub until dawn.

Let’s not forget the case of the young woman molested and manhandled in Guwahati, Assam, by a group of men after leaving a pub which garnered more attention than the usual kind because a journalist – and I use the term loosely – recorded the entire incident instead of you know, doing the right and decent thing by stopping the bastards or calling the police immediately. The excuse he gave was that it had been too dangerous to step in and moreover if he hadn't kept recording then the perpetrators wouldn't have been caught. Somehow, I find that hard to believe. To me if the police had at least been called, the girl would've been spared further trauma, but wait if he had done that then that would've been the end of his sensational footage, guaranteed to raise TRP’s.

For a country that is meant to revere women and holds religious festivals dime a dozen honoring the numerous goddesses, India treats its women with no respect, let alone reverence. This article recently published on BBC News paints a pretty dismal yet horrifyingly accurate picture of how women are treated.

According to the reporter Soutik Biswas, Delhi correspondent for the BBC, TrustLaw which is a news service run by Thomson Reuters has ranked India as the worst G20 country in which to be a woman. These facts he says “in the country where the leader of the ruling party, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, at least three chief ministers and a number of sports and business icons are women”.

The article goes on to state how people find it hard to believe the government on promises to toughen laws and prosecute those charged with crimes against women when “…political parties in the last five years have fielded candidates for state elections that included 27 candidates who declared they had been charged with rape”

The stats the article quotes make you want to question whether these facts are true, but true they are. As an Indian woman, I am ashamed at my country’s attitude towards us. My fellow Indian men regularly abort female foetuses, kill baby girls just for being girls, constantly treat women as second class citizens and of course harass women in general. 

The thing that gets me – one of many – is our own culpability in this mess. We women are no less in many cases. Stories of mothers in law driving their daughters in law to death for dowry, giving birth to a daughter, having an equal hand in brutalising their daughters for “ dishonoring the family name” have been heard plenty. Don’t these women ever stop to consider the possibility that what they are doing to others could have been done to them or their mothers? Every time I hear the fact that some poor woman has been castigated for giving birth to a girl I’m always reminded by what my mother told me about the fact that it is the man who determines whether the foetus is female or male, not the woman. A scientific fact I am told yet one that is not surprisingly ignored by these people – after all, why should one let facts and science get in the way of a twisted belief system?

It is not just these facts that have destroyed the hope people have in their government and their fellow man.

In 2011 two young men, Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez were brutally murdered when they stepped up to defend their women friends from being assaulted. They were killed by a mob and no one thought to help them. Similarly in the recent Delhi case, the companion of the 23-year-old victim described a harrowing time after they had been attacked, lying on the street, their clothes in shreds, hoping someone would come to their aid, but no one did. Instead it seems that while they lay in unimaginable pain the police instead of rushing them to hospital, and covering them to preserve whatever little dignity they had left, wasted time arguing about which jurisdiction the case fell under.

There are people I know who bristle indignantly every time some western country calls India “Third-World” – my answer to them – until disgusting behavior like the above is not rooted out – India is certainly third world – if not even further below in the food chain and don’t even get me started on how the country treats its poor. That is one for another blog.

I leave you with this fine post aptly titled “This Is Also India” that I came across which gives me some hope, that maybe, just maybe our country is not doomed.

New Year, New....

So I am using this new year for yet another new start to blogging. I started blogging years ago back in 2006 I think and have been extremely sporadic with it. I hoped to have a new start in 2010 and deleted all the old stuff hoping to start afresh but it didn't last long. Life just got in the way. 

Over the last 2 years I have tried on and off to write consistently but it has never happened and thinking about things as one does at the start of a new year I thought to myself that if I don't start (or even re-start to be honest) this writing shindig again, maybe I never will again and that didn't sit right with me. 

So here I am. 

What am I going to blog about? I don't quite know yet. I'm still deciding but I will in all honestly try to write more frequently than I ever have before. Will I succeed? I don't know, but I guess that's what the new year is for, to try. Isn't it?