Entries Tagged 'books' ↓

Amazon customers bought more e-books than printed books for the first time on Christmas Day.

Kindle, is now the most popular gift in Amazon’s history.

Kindle is now available in India

Don’t you see scope for a blog post in these three lines ?  Yes, and if you read books, I mean, a lot of them, this is enough for more than a blog post for you.

Will I ever consider buying an e-book reader, and start replacing my printed books with e-books ?

Yes, E-books are more convenient, cheap, and eco-friendly (less printed books = less number of trees cut )   – of course after you pay a good amount initially, for the e-reader , but I will not get to smell my new book .. (I love that smell ! )  .. and many more little and beautiful things about printed books …

Can I share books with people ? I buy a book, finish reading, and then exchange it with a friend for another one … ( free ! )  – is this possible with an E-reader and E-books ?

I have always wondered if the reading experience will be the same. But these new stats from Amazon is giving me better feeling about ebooks. People do like E-Books and E-Book Readers .. especially Kindle.

But, I should admit, I love the idea of ebooks, and would love to have a Kindle for myself ! but things are not looking so pretty in India,

Kindle in India

Even though the advertised price is $279, it may come up to $ 405 in India  including shipment charges, and taxes.  Browsing the Amazon online catalog and purchasing the book also may be costlier in India.

Do you have good things or bad things to share about ebooks ? Will you buy one for yourself ?

New Sources :  guardian.co.uk & intoday.in

Amen by Sister Jesme

Sister Jesme, ( name made from, “Jesus and Me” she says ).  Served as a nun in the CMC congregation for about 33 years. On August 31st, 2008, she decided to leave the congregation and life there. If you are saying “that’s crazy”, read this ; she has PhD in English Literature, and was principal for two colleges in Kerala, 3 years each.

Oh, I see a big WHY on your face now. The same “why” that  made me buy the book and finish reading it the next day (178 pages, it was not tough).

This book is not a complete autobiography, since it tells only her life inside the convent and why she left that place. And I felt that the book was written in “hurry” since the language was not “polished” enough for someone with great knowledge in English literature.

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You Are Here Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan

Meenakshi’s blog was famous, so when she wrote a book, it became famous too. Are all famous books good ? This book is your answer, its a big huge NO.

There is nothing much to tell you about this book. Only good thing that I found is, that the language is really simple, and good. I tried really hard to find the idea or message or experience that the author is trying to convey, but it ended up in something really vague, like “confusions of a 20 something girl, when she realizes and refuses to accept  that she is no longer a teenager, but grown up.”

The whole book looks like a movie that was made with no script or whatever, – Director selected some actors, ( modern, pub going, smoking, drinking and dating heroine ? how about that ? ) and started shooting scenes.

As I told you, language is simple, and it sounds fresh. But if you are expecting something with so called “literary  value”, you will be disappointed.  Sometimes the language becomes so simple that you feel lke you are in store listening to the sales girl explaining the product, and that’s too boring.

This book will test your patience. I am really really disappointed. I have read her father’s Malayalam novel ( which was brilliantly awesome )  4 or 5 times, does that count ?

Tips : Read only the text on front cover, you are almost done with this novel. There is nothing much to expect from reading the entire thing.

Eat Pray Love

“Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert  is a ….  well, I am confused here.

Is this an autobiography ? not really, author does speak about her life, but this is not just about that. Is it about amazing food in Italy, Yoga of India, and Love in Bali ? Yes, in that way, you may call it a guide to good food in Italy, or your first book of Yoga, or even a guide to life ( or finding balance in life ) love in Bali.

But Elizabeth was travelling for an year, to Italy, India and then Bali … so isn’t this a travelogue ? Possible.  You better read and decide !

I picked up this one because of a Ted video of the author. The talk was really really good ; content, and the language. I was enjoying her talk, and I thought I might enjoy the book too, after all, the book says ” 5 million copies sold worldwide” on the cover. I must admit that the language and style was far better than I expected, but may be because of the huge load of expectations I  had, the book did not perform the way I expected.

May be people who can relate to the situations mentioned in book may like it better.  ( and yea that’s why I loved the second part of the book, where the author is in search of God, in an Ashram in India. ).

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Is blog reading considered to be real ‘reading” ? I am not sure. I am in search of answers.

People say blogging is not complete without blog reading. It is important that you read many blogs if you want to be a good blogger. Blog reading and Blog writting together makes blogging perfect. But, is blog reading similar to normal reading ? Should I even make a distinction between online reading and offline reading ?

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That’s what I am feeling right now. The joy of turning the last page of the book…  finished reading another book ! I feel great !! Do you feel the same when you finish a book ? . Well, text books are an exception, when you are at the last page, you know it’s time for exams !

The Motorcycle Diaries : Ernesto “Che” Guevra

Now, about the last book I read. ( This is not a book review, but just my thoughts about the book. )  I picked this one with loads of expectations. I am not quite sure  if this was up to my expectations. But, it was touching, that’s for sure.

A sincere travelogue by a young medical student. In that way this book is more than perfect. But, I was expecting something about how he became the Che that we know. I was disappointed, to some extend, but the last chapter of the book did give something that I wanted.

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I usually watch TV for hours, and I spend the entire weekend in front of it ..   and I watch all those boring channels ( boring for them, not me ) all those news channels, Discovery, NatGeo, Business news, etc etc …

… and recently, I decided not to watch TV .. I am staying in a house without TV now, to make it more clear …  and I have started drinking more coffee. ..  no tv and more coffee makes a man more productive …

I read more books
I read more blogs
I started new blog
I get enough time to do all my work
Loads of free time that I am still need to make plans for.

So, when you see more blog posts, and news about the new blog that I started, and planning to ask me a question, how I get time for all these .. the answer is really simple … no tv and more coffee !!

Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of  9 short stories written by Jhumpa Lahiri.  One of my friends, ( crazy about books ) was waiting for one her books to be released and said she is a really good writer. So, when I found this book at Reliance Time Out book store in a newly opened mall in Cochin, I picked it up …

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