The Project Dragon

  This is the best book I have read recently. The style is unique, the tone is witty, the characters are really entertaining and the plot kept me on the edge of my seat. I can't think of any other book that so cleverly tells the story as Stroud has done with this series. It’s written from the third person perspective for the young boy Nathaniel and the first person perspective for the superior Djinni, Bartimaeus. The footnotes that can be found in Bartimaeus chapters greatly enhance the story with humorous remarks. It may sound tedious to read a bit, jump to the bottom for the footnotes and then carry on back up top. But Stroud has done it masterfully and these footnotes add magic to the book. They actually bring out a whole new aspect to Bartimaeus' character. I’m not enamored with the protagonist, Nathaniel, but I actually really like that he isn’t a self-sacrificing noble boy. Instead he is a selfish, arrogant, and ambitious apprentice. It’s g...

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman Dragons! I never get tired of reading about dragons. That love over dragon stories caused me to find most stories somewhat predictable. But Seraphina's world is really intriguing and captivating. Rachel Hartman has marvelously crafted this dragon world; the transformation of dragons to humans, consequences of human emotions, consequences of love between humans and dragons, the half humans and their abilities, and the co-existence of both species. I like almost all the characters, especially Seraphina and Lucian; they both are very clever, brave, and altruistic. The side characters that add colors to the story are also really fascinating. I'm really grateful that there were no confusing thoughts and dramas as we see in most YA novels. Even though there was a smell of a love triangle in the corner, I hope Hartman would be able to craft it without an irksome drama. What glued me into the book ap...

    Have you ever read a book which you absolutely like and your mind is all over the universe after reading it? And still think about some characters and hard to review because can’t think what to say and how to articulate those thoughts? And the Mountains Echoed is indeed a “thousand tragedies per square mile” as Hussain mentioned in the book. It has been few months since I read this story (or short stories) of human characters and I still can’t put my thoughts into words. ...

    Well, my hubby and I got our first movie date last week since A’s birth and decided to watch the X-Men: Days of Future Past. We both were so excited about the new addition to the X-Men franchise and it is a perfect follow up after the X-Men: First Class which gave us a little hope after few absurd sequels, especially the X-Men: The Last Stand. I didn’t have a high expectation for the movie plot, but was very excited about the cast. You don’t get to see these handsome men (Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender) and gorgeous Jennifer Lawrence together in the big screen every day, not to mention their awesome interviews all over the media. The movie starts with a scene of future world and a narration of how mutants and humans (who has the ability to give birth to mutants) are fading from the earth by Sentinels’ hand, robots that were created by humans to destroy mutants. To prevent the war and save mutants and humans, Professor ...

    We have seen few movies based on and inspired by true historical disasters before. Among them Titanic and The Impossible had successfully captured love, horror, greediness, and fear of those moments that we almost felt we were living in the middle of the disaster in those few hours of journey through those movies. Jack and Rose still live in the depth of our hearts, and the Henry family who survived from the Tsunami still gives tears to our eyes. After watching all those disaster movies, could Milo and Cassia be able to imprint their love in our heart? Could Pompeii be able to give the horror and the glimpse of the real disaster of the eruption of Vesuvius? Pompeii starts with a scene of Romans murdering a whole tribe of Celtic horsemen, and the only survivor of this massacre is a little boy named Milo. Later this little boy, Milo, becomes a slave and end up in Pompeii to fight with gladiators. On ...

After being frozen for half a century, Cap is back to save the world. Welcome back Captain America for your second solo, “save the world” battle. When I saw the first trailer of Captain America: The Winter Soldier I was so excited and couldn’t wait till it hit the cinema, though the first Captain America movie isn’t in my “fantastic movies” list. It has been two years since the New York battle and Steve Rogers is slowly adapting to the modern world of digital era. The black and white world he used to live no longer exists, no one can clearly separate the good guys from the bad guys. It seems that his superior Nick Fury also has his own agenda and Steve cannot trust anyone. With the death of Nick Fury, Captain becomes a fugitive and teams up with Black Widow and Falcon, and with few people he knows he can trust, to unravel the conspiracy that has been hidden behind the S.H.I.E.L.D for nearly 70 years. Steve Rogers is a trustworthy military veteran who always va...

  “Shades of Milk and Honey is precisely the sort of tale we would expect from Jane Austen, if she lived in a world where magic worked.” This is how the Shades of Milk and Honey is described on the back cover of the book. So I picked this book hoping to dive into a romantic historical fantasy world with deep characters. The story is about Jane Ellsworth, 28 years old plain woman who is a skilled glamourist with no hope for a marriage due to her plain features. Her younger sister, Melody is gifted with beauty and charm. The two sisters became jealous at each other when they began their hunt for eligible men, especially for Mr. Dunkirk. With the arrival of Mr. Vincent, Jane and her skills of glamour gets more attention which makes Melody unsecured of herself leading to a tragic mistake of love and judgment. Throughout this drama, there is beauty woven into each scene with the touch of magic to enhance the art. What’s most refreshing ab...

Movies are not just for an entertainments, movies can educate people on various things such as history, culture, science. This film, 12 Years a Slave, is about slavery that took place in the recent history of 1800s. It is based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. It reveals the truth about one of the darkest times of human history. Slavery is a very delicate subject and still occurs in the modern world, though it is not as brutal as past. Even though it is hard and depressing to watch such stories, I am happy that McQueen and the team revealed the cruel reality of slavery by creating this movie. It shows the brutal events that followed during Northup’s 12 years as a slave. 12 Years a Slave has an incredible cast with renowned as well as obscure actors. As Patsy, Lupita Nyong’o brings a new face to the big screen with marvelous performance. Chiwetel Ejiofor is perfect as the main character, Solomon Northup. Mi...

I’m H-A-P-P-Y is one of Akira’s favorite nursery rhymes. He always responds very happily to this song with a little coos and goo-goos. It’s hard to believe that our sweet little boy Akira is four months old already. I enjoy his sweetness so much every day and cherish every moment being around him. I can’t stop admiring him every second, as for me, he is the most wonderful, beautiful and innocent creature in the whole world. I can’t even begin to explain how motherhood has changed me.   I have never been a kid person before, I didn’t even know whether I like children or not. So when we got the news about our new addition to the family, we got scared. Of course we were so happy to hear the good news, but we got so scared about parenting. I was so worried about being a good mother because I’ve never thought about mothering before. KP helped me a lot to overcome my fear. At last I learned that if you love your baby, care about him, protect him, and g...

I don’t know how I missed House of Cards, if KP hadn’t mentioned it I wouldn’t know the existence of this great political drama. Somehow I am glad that I missed it when they aired the first season, hence I watched the whole two seasons at a stretch, with no breaks, without waiting for another year.   “There are two kinds of pain. The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things.” With a cynical narration, Frank Underwood starts his mission to become the most powerful man in the United States of America. His wife, Clair Underwood is his backbone and helps him unconditionally to achieve his ambition. Even though Zoe Barns is just a pawn in this game, she plays a significant part with a great ambition to become a top journalist. Frank Underwood cynically moves Peter Russo as his Pawn with the help of Doug Stamper, one of his Nights, to win this political game. ...

Another year has gone. It feels like it wasn’t long ago that it was the beginning of the last year. It’s amazing to see how time flies.       2013 was one of the best years for us. We became parents, and it was the most wonderful experience we’ve ever had. Our baby boy, Akira, is almost two months old. When he smiles with his birdy eyes all the exhaustion and distress fly away. Every minute spending with him is so precious and memorable. Sometimes I look at him and think “OMG… Did we really make this beautiful creature?” I’ve never thought I would feel this way, these wonderful miraculous feelings, about giving a birth to a child. This year my hope is to be a good mother and take a good care of my little family. I wish my family to be happy, for my baby to move forward and keep growing and developing, for my husband to be joyful in his new role, and for everyone to be happy. Happy 2014!!!

Hi everyone! This is a quick update to let you know that I am getting a little break from this blog over the next 6 weeks or so. The reason behind this short pause is I am going to be a mother within next 2 weeks. I will be very busy welcoming the new member to our little family and won’t get enough time to blog or even read a book. But that is for a short time. These days all I do is watch movies to get distracted from my pains. This little baby is going to be a sports star for sure since she/he having a really fun time playing inside my belly :D Hopefully, I will be able to update the blog after mid-December. Until next time, Cheers!

I didn’t get any chance to watch this film when it came out in 2009. I thought it might be boring since it is about food and cooking. I have to admit that I am not a foodie and I hate cooking. So I didn’t bother to expend 2 hours to watch it. Anyhow very recently one of my good friends recommended this movie and I thought of give it a try since that day I had nothing to do and was feeling sick. Before watching this movie I was oblivious of these two amazing women Julia Child and Julie Powell. I have not read or heard about their books before; anyway I have never read a single cook book or chef biographies in my entire life. What glued me into this movie was Julie’s and Julia’s personalities. Their commitment to pursue their passion sends an inspirational message that anyone can be successful. Julie’s everyday constant struggle to continue her cooking project and the feedback she gets at the end excellently elaborates that consistent commitment does really pay off. ...

Welcome to level seven; Agent Coulson ( Clark Gregg ) is back from death. He is assembling a new team for the S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division). The team includes Grant Ward ( Brett Dalton ), a combat specialist and espionage; Melinda May ( Ming-Na Wen ), pilot and martial art specialist; Leo Fitz ( Iain De Caestecker ), a weapons technology specialist; Jemma Simmons ( Elizabeth Henstridge ), a genius bio-chemist, and new recruit computer hacker, Skye ( Chloe Bennet ). After so many teasers and hype, Marvel’s Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D (Oh NO!! do I have to type this official title every time?) has finally aired last night. When I saw the first trailer and the cast I thought this might not be very exciting as Marvel movies. So I didn’t have a huge expectation from this new TV series. However, surprisingly I enjoyed the premiere episode very much. It was awesome, so much more than I expected, and hilarious.   Agents of Shield almost fel...

“Perfume should tell a story – the story of who you are, who you might be, perhaps even of who you fear becoming… all of these things are possible. It’s a very intimate element of a woman, just like her signature or the sound of her voice. And it conveys feelings and states of being that have no name, no language. Its very ambiguity makes it truer than words because, unlike words, it can’t be manipulated or misunderstood.” The Perfume Collector is not all about perfumes or the history of perfumes. It’s about two women and their life journey, about their dreams and hopes. With fascinating details about perfumes, the story reveals the beginning, the middle and the end of the life story of Eva D'Orcey. Being married to a loathsome man, Grace Munroe attempts to find her true self. Without her knowledge she takes a huge part in the story of Eva D’Orcey. Eva is a beautiful, charming and intelligent woman. She has a good sense of finance and business. She is always w...

I’m guilty of only buying this book because it revealed the real author behind the pen name, Robert Galbraith, is JK Rowling. Before that I have not heard about this book. As soon as I heard JK Rowling’s new secret book is a detective novel, I paid a visit to a local bookstore and purchased it. The Cuckoo’s Calling is a murder mystery. Lula Landry, a supermodel, fell to death from her apartment a few months earlier. The police closed the case as suicide because of Lula’s history of drug problems and her fragile mental state. But her brother, John Bristow, doesn’t believe it was a suicide. He hires Cormoran Strike, an ex-military man who is currently a private detective, to investigate the case. Somehow this book reminds me of a few old mystery novels. Cormoran’s military background and the physical damage from the war remind me of Dr. Watson from Sherlock Holmes. Also Cormoran’s investigation style and the final revelation brought back old memories of Sherlock Holmes s...

When I found out about this new show, Orphan Black, it has already aired the first season. But I am glad that I got to enjoy the entire season without any interruption. It is hard to wait week after week to get answers for the questions and satisfy the curiosity, when watching a TV series like Orphan Black. Surprisingly I enjoyed this show more than any of the sci-fi TV series I have ever watched and I have never got bored for a second. Sarah Manning witnesses a woman, who looks like her (Beth), jump in front of a train while she was returning to States to reclaim her daughter. Sarah assumes her dead doppelganger’s identity and lands in the middle of a huge human cloning conspiracy. The story elaborates the ethical issues and impact of human cloning. One of the strongest elements of this show is its cast, to be more specific, the leading performer who portrays Sarah Manning and her other clones, Tatiana Maslany, is brilliant. She can disappear into a role so deep...

I must confess that I didn’t just like this book, I loved this book. Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches is a mixture of fantasy, history, science and romance, which is a perfect read for me. In this fascinating world of A Discovery of Witches , vampires, witches and daemons have to live without interfering into human lives while hiding their true nature from people and pretending as humans. Thus, different creatures have to live separately from each other and it is forbidden to associate with different groups since humans become suspicious when these different creatures blend. Diana Bishop, a witch, is falling in love with Mathew Clermont, a vampire, in this forbidden world after discovering a long lost manuscript that contains the origin and the evolution of all creations. Diana and Mathew have to protect themselves from the congregation of creatures while learning to control the great power that Diana possesses without her knowledge. The research on h...

I have heard nothing but good about this book, so I thought of give it a try. The first time I got this book to my hand I really liked its outlook, its cover, its quality and all things. I knew that this is a teenage romantic story, but I expected this would be different from other stories that I have read before. But to my disappointment I didn’t see much difference on the plot from other romance stories. It might be because I’ve read a lot of stuff like this, or watched lots of movies similar to this plot, and it’s something that happens in real life sometimes. So the plot was really predictable to me and it didn’t surprise me or startle me at all. But things I love about this plot - the book takes place in Paris, and the happily ever after ending.  Stephanie Perkins’ characterization is really awesome. Those characters were very realistic. I really enjoyed Anna, the way she thinks and the way she talks is unique and kind of funny, but she’s not a perfect girl. Also I...

The second book of the Tiger’s Curse series, Tiger’s Quest , is one of those books that I cannot fully express my thoughts; how I feel about the book. I really love this book more and it was better than Tiger’s Curse .    I can’t think about how to write about this book without spoilers. So I am going to write about it in shorten.    The plot was very attractive and unique as the first book; I think it’s better than the first book.  Though the start was bit slowly, I really liked the twists and turns in this book. There were lots and lots of description about the history, mythology and India.  Those were fascinating and glued me to the book. I really like the twist of the love story and it kept me out the story from boring.   We can read more about the main villain in this book and the battles were started. Lokesh was really a very spine-chilling character. The one character I really loved in this book is Kishan. I like his personality more...