Read-A-Thon

Though I've been on a book reading spree I thought I could use some direction when it comes to reading. So I am joining a Read - A - Thon being hosted by Books of Amber. I came across her blog on Goodreads and she is hosting a Debut - A - Thon. It is a 4 day Read - A - Thon that focuses on debuts. It will start at 12.00AM June 27th Thursday and end at 11.59PM on June 30th Sunday.

My list of books to tackle this Debut -A- Thon are:

1. Altered by Jennifer Rush
2. Pivot Point by Kasie West
3. Pantomime by Laura Lam

Well I'll leave the list at 3 books. It is very ambitious of me to think I can finish 3 books considering Thursday and Friday are working days. But what the hell. I can read during my commute.

Book Review : On a Pale Horse By Piers Anthony

I cannot believe I haven't read this book before. Or heard of it earlier. The other portrayal of death that I have read is from Sandman by Gaiman. The following is a blurb about the book-

"When Zane shot Death, he learned, too late, that he would have to assume his place, speeding over the world riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others. Sooner than he would have thought possible, Zane found himself being drawn to Satan's plot. Already the Prince of Evil was forging a trap in which Zane must act to destroy Luna, the woman he loved...unless he could discover the only way out...."

It doesn't sound that exciting, but do not be deceived. This was a great read. It was unexpected. I loved the concept of death being an office that is held. Like any other job, except of course  for the impenetrable cloak, shoes that help you float on water, a gem that is a universal translator, and last but not the least, Mortis. The Death steed, that can turn in to a horse, car, plane, speedboat as the need arises. 

The world that Piers Anthony has built is a great blend of the world of science and magic. Of course the book focuses quite a bit on the magic part. It would have to, the book is from the fantasy genre and not Sci-fi. But in this world the laws of science and the laws of magic co-exist. There are supercomputers and also magical stones that heal and tell you when you might die. There are also cars and carpets that fly. In this world Satan advertises the "virtues" of going to hell. 

In this world there are 5 incarnation - Death, Time, Fate, Nature and War. Unlike Sandman where it is mostly the same person who does this function for eternity, here it is like a beaureaucratic office where different people hold either of these offices at any time. In Death's case the successor is the one who kills the previous person in the office of Death. And this is where our protagonist Zane comes in.

Zane kills Death while trying to commit suicide. And that is how he becomes death. Let me explain why Death came to personally take Zane (because as Zane puts it he is a nobody and did not understand at first why someone as important as death came to personally take him away). Death comes to take those people in whom Good and Evil are in balance, that is their soul is in balance. and it is one of his duties to sort these souls out to determine whether a soul goes to Heaven or to Hell. The one's that he cannot make a decision about are sent to Purgatory, where they become desk clerks and see to the running of Eternity. This means that Eternity is a beaureaucracy.

The definition of Good and Evil are so set in this world that even when someone deliberately tampers with the life support if their mum so that her suffering could finally end, it is considered a grave sin(This is what happened to Zane). The one's that are almost surely all Good are babies. But even babies sometimes are born with the blemish of sin on their souls if they were the result of rape or incest. It is this unfairness that Zane battles as Death. Why should the sins of the parents affect the children just because the rules set millennia ago says so? Zane has to face all this in a world where God is the only one who adheres to the rule of non-interference with the human world. 

Another dilemma faced by Zane is a little spin on sacrifice one/few to save the many. In this case he had to save one, sacrifice many and in the process save humankind. To me it was an example to tell us not to give up. It always gets tougher at the end before we succeed. 

My favorite part of the book was that Death once goes to collect the soul of a man who is an atheist. When he finally collects the soul the soul disintegrates into nothing. This is what the atheist wanted from the afterlife, to go into nothing. So in this world, the afterlife is what someones belief defines it to be. In the same way, Sin or Good are what we think they are. What might be considered a sin might not be so to someone else's perspective, or even to an entire culture. 

The hero and heroine in this book aren't perfect. Zane had a picture of a perfect woman who has never done wrong. But when he finds out that Luna was not perfect he was repulsed by her at first, just for a while, but later fell in love with her for what she was. 

I enjoyed reading this book a lot. Maybe I'm reading too much into the content of this book, but this was what I felt from this book and what I understood. This is my perspective. I give this book a 4.5/5.

Book Review : Flowers in the Attic

This book was a difficult read. Maybe I should have picked a bit more upbeat book. Even though the book was a little depressing I'm glad I read it. The book is about 4 children - Chris, Cathy and the twins Carrie and Cory - whose father has just passed away and they have to move back to their mothers parents house, with their mother. Their grandparents are very rich. So for the sake of the money that the mother would inherit from her parents she allows the children's grandmother (who is a religious fanatic and thinks that the children are the devil's spawn) to hide them away in the attic.

I've read a couple of reviews on the book where the mother has been criticized a lot along with the granny. I'm not saying the mother was not the worst kind of person. She willingly let her children be locked up in the attic without access to the outside world and basically ignored them. But she wasn't always like that. This is apparent in the way the children trusted her almost to the end.

In a part of the story there is a mention of how the grandmother herself was treated when she was little. She was not allowed to touch the Doll House given to her or a Persian Rug that was kept in a glass box. But when her daughter showed interest in these things the grandfather gave them to her as she was the favorite. This might be where the relationship between the granny and the mother could have deteriorated if it hadn't already. Being in that oppressive environment again she could have either stood up to them or buckled and found a way to survive at the expense of her children. I'm not justifying what she did. But it helps us understand where she was coming from. She learnt from a very young age that she could use her beauty to get her way. She had a choice to use it to help herself and the children but she chose to only help herself. In the beginning she had a lot of guilt. She tried to appease that guilt by getting the children a lot of gifts, trying to buy their love. This worked for a while, but not for long.

The book had a theme of history repeating itself. But it also showed what could have been done differently in these cases. Just like Cathy I was frustrated when Chris would always side with the mother. To him his mother could do no wrong. It made Cathy feel like she was the only one full of spite. Knowing this, the mother would always pander to Chris. I think she knew that Cathy would never completely trust her, that maybe, she was a little like her. But once the youngest children's health was endangered Chris stood up to his mother asking they be released. This loss of faith and trust in the one person who is never supposed to betray you was devastating to Cathy. Even though she wanted her older brother to stay the same. Realizing that their mother did not love them anymore but saw them as a burden, broke something in each of the kids.

But at the end the children overcame the evil that was their grandparents house. They did not break like their mother had. Even though throughout most of the book there are many depressing and sad moments, there were also moments of joy and hope. The children strove to keep their happiness. They made a garden of paper and chalk because they couldn't go outside. The older kids became the parents to the younger ones. They still tried to keep their morale high and always stuck together.

One of the things I liked about this book was that the daughter Cathy realized that she would never depend on any one man for her life. She saw that this was in a way the downfall of her mother. The same sentiment was also reinforced by Chris when he tells her that she shouldn't depend on him too much either, and tells her to be independent, her own woman.

It was difficult to read the book. But I couldn't put it down either. I won't say I enjoyed the book. I don't think that's how I should put it. But it gave me a lot to think about. It was a very well written book. It showcased despair and hope very well. I still need to decide if I will be taking up reading the rest of the series. I don't know if I'm up to it. Maybe a little later. I would rate this book a 4/5.

Book Review: Whisper of Death by Christopher Pike

I recently stumbled upon a great blog called The Book Smugglers. I haven't gone through the whole blog but the book reviews that I've read are great. It was in one of these blog entries (about dystopian novels) that lead me to "Whisper of Death" by Christopher Pike.

I didn't know what I was going into when I started the book. But I'm glad I did. Most dystopian or end of the world novels nowadays are mostly to do with the zombie apocalypse. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good Zombie book but it makes one yearn for a different kind of scenario. And boy did Pike deliver.

-----Spoilers----

This book is about Roxeanne, an 18 year old girl who gets pregnant. She and her boyfriend decide to abort the pregnancy and on the way back they realize that they are now all alone in the world except for 3 more people in their town. They find all of them have one thing in common - a girl, Betty Sue who had committed suicide a month ago- and start to die one by one. And they die horrible deaths.

The story reminded a little of Carrie by Stephen King. Not in the way that it was a copy but that a few elements were a bit similar. The supernatural phenomenon and the revenge theme was there in both the books but were handled differently. Betty Sue could affect people's lives and thoughts by writing stories about them. Carrie was telekinetic. They both wanted to take revenge on the people who they thought had wronged them. But that is where the similarity ends.

In the case of Carrie at least there was an end to the story. But in the case of WoD the story is more cyclical. As Betty Sue says, she has a million stories to tell. So she can go on torturing those that betrayed her, in innumerable ways. This book will linger with me for quite a while. And to me that is the sign of a great story. It is making me think. To us something that we do might be of the smallest of significance. But the same thing might the greatest affront to someone else. In this case Roxeanne had not really done anything to Betty Sue personally, but she was still used as a pawn in her revenge and had to go through a lot of pain. I know its weird saying this but this is how real life is. A lot of books depict a rosy picture. that no matter what a person does(especially the main protagonist) he/she is usually forgiven or at least moves on and lives a relatively happy life. But that is not the case.    And you don't have to be the bad guy to get the short end of the stick either, like Roxeanne did in WoD.

All in all I really really liked this book. I would rate this a 4 out of 5.

My Trekkie Experience

Since I was little I have seen and heard Star Trek referenced in a lot of books and movies. It has also been mentioned quite a lot in The Big Bang Theory. I understand a few of the mentions, like "Live Long and Prosper" the Vulcan greeting. I had also watched a few random shows when the show was airing on Star World a while back. I've always wanted to watch the complete series as I am a Sci-Fi junkie.

The first Star Trek I watched was Star Trek : Voyager. This show aired after Star Trek : The Next Generation had already been off air for a few years, even though they were from the same timelines. I still remember that this was aired on the Hallmark Channel in India. I absolutely LOVED the show.

The idea that a Starship that has been flung to the other side of the galaxy along with a smaller vessel full of rebels and has to work together to get back home, was great to me. I mean the potential of the story was amazing. And in my eyes Voyager lived up to it. I was unable to finish watching Voyager as the Hallmark Channel was discontinued by my cable operator. I have always wanted to obtain a copy of the series and finish it. Because by then I had come to love the characters (Captain Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, B'lenna, Tom Paris, Harry and of course Neelix and the Doctor).

Just last month a very good friend of mine, Aashith forwarded a link to me. Hulu was streaming the whole Star Trek Franchise for free for a whole week. As you may already know Hulu cannot be accessed from India. But Aashith also found me a way to circumvent the problem. So I started watching Star Trek : The Next Generation. I also started to download the series simultaneously as there was no way a week was enough time to watch it on Hulu in a week. This also prompted me to do the same with Voyager. So now I have all episodes of both The Next Generation and Voyager.

I set out to watch The Next Generation (TNG) & Voyager. There are a few similarities between the two in the sense that TNG has an Android Data who is trying to learn to be more human and Voyager has the Doctor. TNG has Guinan and Voyager, Neelix. Deanna Troi in TNG and Kes in the first few seasons of Voyager. Even though they are the same they were quite different. In case of Data, he could still not achieve the level of humanity he yearned for, couldn't feel emotion. In the Doctor's case he was perfectly happy being the Emergency Medical Hologram in the beginning. But unlike Data the Doctor could add different personalities to his Holo Program and was even able to fall in love. There are similar divergences from the basic stock of characters in the 2 series. That is what makes these series so great to watch.

There might be people (some of them my own friends) who might think this show is just about people flying in spaceships encountering aliens. These shows are so much more than that. If only people would let go of that misconceptions. Ironically this show helps us in that. The show handles a lot of hard hitting issues.

I still haven't finished watching the complete seasons of both Voyager and TNG. Once I do I plan on watching Deep Space 9 next and maybe even watch the original with Shatner in it.i can finally understand the jokes, quotes and obscure references made in many movies/books/series. And I am also evolving in to a pretty good nerd even though I say so myself. But my Trekkie fandom is a fandom of one. At least when it comes to LOTR I have a few friends who love it as much as I do, but there is no one (so far) with whom I can share my love of Star Trek with.

Now that I am watching so much Star Trek I might start making references to it in my conversations with my friends which they might not understand. This leaves me with no choice. Even though I do not like the Borg I would have to take a page from their book and assimilate my friends so that they enjoy Star trek as much as I do. All that's left to say is "Live long and Prosper"

Random Thoughts

If anyone ever reads my blogs (which I doubt) you will know that I love to read and also watch movies and TV series. Though at this point in my life I watch a lot of movies and series, I still love reading books more than anything else. I do not read non-fiction much (actually none at all). Though I have read the biography of Che Guevara and Mein Kampf (this was when I was very young so I never finished reading Mein Kampf). I just cannot bring myself to read non-fiction. It doesn't excite my imagination as much. And that is what I read for. The images that a book conjures up in my mind.

When I read a book, not only do I imagine the world in my mind but also picture myself in the world created by the author. There are those that say that one day we'll have technology that will make us live through the stories in the books, like the Holo-Novels in Star Trek. But I already experience that now with my mind. I am sometimes just a spectator in the world of the book or I am sometimes one of the characters in the book. It could be the lead or even one of the secondary characters if I think their personality is like what I'd like to think of my own. I mean what is the point in choosing to be a character that you already are? Doesn't it just defeat the purpose of our imagination? Also who would even know when it's all in your mind...

The only way I curb my reading is by differentiating between Fiction & Non-Fiction. Which still leaves me with an unlimited number of books that could catch my fancy. I read almost every sub-genre of Fiction, be it, Crime, Thriller, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Sci-Fi, Young Adult, and many more. I don't know if everybody does this or if it's only me but I start to wonder what would happen if the characters or story-lines of a few books got crossed or mixed. I start making up my own story in my head. It isn't all made up by me. I use elements of both or more worlds that I take the characters from.

My favorite book is Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. I love almost all of the characters in that book. So it is painful for me to let go of the characters after a series is done. So I keep them alive in my mind by bringing them into the world of another book that I love or am finding interesting at any given time. Another magic system that I found had a lot of potential was that created by Paolini. I was fascinated by the relationship dynamics between a Rider and his/her dragon. So I imagine what it would be like if the worlds of Paolini, Tolkien, Robert Jordan (most fantasy novels based in a world or time different than our own) collided with our own world? I could never find a good example to explain to people but I imagine these characters as something like the Q from the Star Trek Franchise. They travel through time and space and dimensions. So do these characters. Though they are better people than the Q we know from Star Trek. I imagine them as the "Q-Jedi" of all dimensions. They uphold justice.

You could call it Fan fiction on a bigger scale as it doesn't just encompass one story or two. But I guess I will not be able to pen it down for 2 major reasons. 1) It would probably be plagiarism as I would be taking elements from a lot of books from different authors. 2) This is the most important reason - I suck at writing. I wouldn't even know where to start. or the technicalities of writing. So all of this will remain a product of my imagination and never get translated into any writings. I will still enjoy my musings on what would happen if Aragorn were alive in this day and age. What if the world of Wizards and Witches  as portrayed in Harry Potter were combined with the world created in Twilight?

I know I sound like a loon. And a little weird (OK maybe a lot weird). But sometimes when I'm sad or even bored I just go in to these worlds that I have created for myself and when I get back to reality, reality is that much easier to handle. Don't misunderstand, I have friends. Goofy friends who are weird, though maybe not as weird as me. But sometimes it's just not possible to dump on a friend. So I think what would Legolas have done? Or Arya? Or Vin? And that just gives me the courage to face whatever it is life throws at me.

All I'm saying is I love books and I'm weird in a way that I create worlds in my head to keep enjoying the books that I love. If there is anyone out there who does the same thing or at least something similar please drop a line to me. I'd like to know I'm not alone or the only one who is like this.

Movie Review : The Croods

I went to watch The Croods over the weekend with a friend. I went in to the movie thinking of just relaxing and enjoying the movie. I was pleasantly surprised when I started actively having fun. I haven't enjoyed an animated movie like this since the "Ice Age" series.

It was the same old spiel of the baby leaving the nest and the father feeling insecure about it but t was shown in a slightly different way. My favorite character in the movie was "Belt". Even though he had no dialogues he was such a great character.

This is a great movie to watch with friends & family. I would give this movie a 3.5/5.