JoV's Book Pyramid

I read two books of similar theme. One about a witch hunt in Lancashire during the time King James I and the other about a mother and her daughters who ran away from a cult and found themselves lost in the outside world and bonded to what they left behind. The Daylight Gate is Winterson’s … Continue reading »

UK publication date: 28 February 2013 USA publication date: 2 July 2013 Tash Aw’s Five Star Billionaire opens with enticing self-help get rich book format. “Move to Where the Money is” followed by a short chapter of “How to achieve Greatness” and many how to’s short articles that carries sound advice and also personal experience of Walter … Continue reading »

How have you been? Just when I thought I was going full speed in April (with 6 books looking to achieve more), I lost my reading mojo and haven’t been able to read properly nor catch-up on book reviews from the book blogging community, partly because….. Well, because Google has decided that 2 months shy … Continue reading »

As the sun comes out more often and spring is here, so are tons of new books that are published and due to publish in both sides of the Atlantic USA and UK this season. I may or may not be able to read all of them but I thought it is only good manners … Continue reading »

Since I posted the travel photos of Jerusalem in March 2013, it has been awhile since I posted any travel post. We have a long weekend in the UK with Monday as our bank holiday, so I’ll give another travel post a go. It has been difficult for me to sort out and select amongst … Continue reading »

It was in the summer of 2010 that I first took the journey from Reading to North West London. Destination: Willesden Green, for a preliminary discussion of a job interview. I got off at Dollis Hill station walked towards graffiti-laden walls next to a basketball court. Group of youth loitering outside the tube station. I … Continue reading »

I brought home Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life from the one-week loan shelf. Following the tradition of previous years, I aim to read a few books from the Women’s Fiction Prize (previously called Orange Prize), although this year I have decided not to read all of them due to this reason here. Running at 463 … Continue reading »

I first knew about the book when Jackie@Farmlane Book Blog gave it 5 stars. Do you know what keeps me awake at night? Ok besides my boys, the book that keeps me awake at night is not crime thrillers, not a good love story, but true crime. True story of crime reportage! My first experience of … Continue reading »

Today is World Book Night. This is my second year of signing up for the event. Last year I gave away 25 copies of The Time Traveler’s Wife. This year I am giving away 20 copies of Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson, in which you can read my review here. My review contains some … Continue reading »

Thanks to Mee, I put this book on my TBR for a long time. Now I finally read it. I remember Mee raves about this book and gave it 5 stars, so I thought I’ll give it a go and surprised myself that I finished this book in one day. Warning: May contain minor spoiler. Communist … Continue reading »

So the shortlist is announced today! The shortlist Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel Flight Behaviour, by Barbara Kingsolver Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson May We Be Forgiven, by A M Homes NW, by Zadie Smith There is no debut authors, they are all familiar names … Continue reading »

Harold Fry was a tall man who moved through life with a stoop, as if expecting a low beam, or a screwed-up paper missile, to appear out of nowhere. This is the story of recently-retired Harold Fry, who sets out one morning to post a letter to a dying friend called Queenie. Quite unexpectedly, in … Continue reading »

It’s been a wish to read something by Eileen Chang for a long time and the impetus to read Lust, Caution was heightened by the prize winning movie directed by Ang Lee. I read the book, then watched the movie. Eileen Chang’s novels write about the tensions set between men and women in love. Although … Continue reading »

“So much political capital has been made out of the Barcelona fighting that it is important to try and get a balanced view of it… Nearly all the newspaper accounts published at the time were manufactured by journalists at a distance, and were not only inaccurate in the facts but intentionally misleading. As usual, only … Continue reading »

Lea, Avishag and Yael are school friends in a small town in Northern Israel. During dull lessons they play game and daydream about boys they fancy. When they reached 18, they are conscripted into the army. Stuck on mundane checkpoint duty with fellow soldiers she hates, Lea relieves her boredom by creating an imaginary family … Continue reading »

My mother died twice.  I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten, but I could never find the time or the will or the courage to write about it. That is, until recently. I first heard of Elif Shafak by a half Swedish half Turkish colleague that work with me last year. … Continue reading »

I borrowed this book from the library before it was announced as the Women Fiction Prize’s shortlist. I need to forewarn that this book is part Harry Potterish, and in essence an Arabian night fantasy novel. I don’t read many fantasy novels, I try to avoid them but when I do it is because of … Continue reading »

Love is not consolation, it is light. While trying to beat the publishing deadline for this book, I thought I will read the ARC copy while I am on holiday in Israel. It is indeed irony to read a book about war (and love) while travelling in a conflict zone in Israel, but that doesn’t … Continue reading »

Today I open up my google reader and about to read my daily feed of book reviews and news, a dialogue box popped up and it says: It is like someone has dropped a bombshell on me. I rely on Google Reader to keep in touch with your book blogs, my dear blogger friends. I … Continue reading »

I have been reading multiple books (6 or 7 perhaps?) at the same time and none of it I could stick well to the end. I told myself I am not going to pursue the case of the Orange (Opps) or the Women writers prize this year and then this longlist came out….. (Red for … Continue reading »

I want to say sorry that I haven’t been active in commenting nor writing a review. There have been too much going on at work and I am exhausted just trying to put thoughts to paper on a long design document. I finished reading The Black Path on the 28 February and didn’t feel up … Continue reading »

O Jerusalem, fragrant with prophets The shortest path between heaven and earth… A beautiful child with burned fingers and downcast eyes… O Jerusalem, city of sorrow, A tear lingering in your eyes… Who will wash your bloody walls? O Jerusalem, my beloved Tomorrow the lemon trees will blossom; the olive trees rejoice; your eyes will … Continue reading »

December 1937. The Japanese have taken Nanking. A group of terrified convent school girls hide in the compound of an American church, the priest is Father John Engelmann. Among the girls, is Shujuan, through whose 13-year-old eyes we witness the calamity that is to befall the church and its refugees. The church is a neutral … Continue reading »

It’s been a hard decision to decide what books to bring for my holidays in Middle East. Usually most of my holidays are city breaks and I would rather soak in everything in the foreign land rather than bury my head on my books while I am travelling. I am new to this ARC review … Continue reading »

Jerusalem is the house of the one God, the capital of two peoples, the temple of three religions and she is the only city to exist twice – in heaven and on earth. – preface It’s been a long time since I read a history book. An academic book. I am going to Jerusalem and … Continue reading »

In two days time, my family and I will be packing up our bags heading to our next destination. For the time being recalling my travel last Autumn, I remember the city of Barcelona. Every time I think about the city of Barcelona, I can only hear Freddie Mercury singing the titular song at the … Continue reading »

Phew, I finally finished reading this. The book cover is so provocative that I have to wrap it up with a cloth cover when I am on the train. Gosh, what can I say about this book? It’s nothing like what I have read before. Entertaining? Quite. Plotting? Excellent. Thrilling? Towards the end. Horrifying? Yes. … Continue reading »

If you haven’t figure out the common thread in Banana Yoshimoto’s novels, it is death. Yes, all her stories are about death. Death of a mother, a sister, a dying friend etc. So get used to this. I picked this up because I was curious and for some reason there was a lot of hype … Continue reading »

Last Friday 18 January 2013, I woke up to a white sheet of snow and knew this was the once in a year opportunity to record scenes of heavy snowfall in South England. The past two years the snow had lasted for a week or two but this year the snow begins to melt and … Continue reading »

The past few weeks have been tough at work. It’s ok to work your butts off at work when you are appreciated but it is harder to work so hard and yet receive undue criticism about my work. I am nursing my wound and hope in two weeks’ time when I’m off travelling again I … Continue reading »

Stoning the Devil is a novel set in the United Arab Emirates, a country of paradoxes, of seediness and glamour, of desert grandeur and Disneyland vulgarity, where public executions and other barbaric customs are winked at by the western expats who run the economy. There were several characters that appear in this what feels like … Continue reading »

Last year saw this book appearing in everyone’s top read of the year and it has been compared to The Night Circus, which I thought was ok but not my cup of tea, but The Snow Child was said to be better than The Night Circus. With  Claire (Word by Word)‘s opinion whom I trust, … Continue reading »

How long have I last read a fable? Not since I was in primary school and that was sooooooooo… long ago! What about you? So when I saw Netgalley was offering a review copy, I requested from both Penguin USA and UK, UK rejected me, USA sent me an Kindle ARC copy (Can you tell … Continue reading »

I have been thinking if I should publish my wordpress 2012 annual report or not. After much contemplation, I will… if only just for an excuse for me to say a big “Thank You” for everyone out there who drop by here often, not too often, lurk, one-off visit or stumbled upon my blog. Whoever … Continue reading »

Back in the internet boom in the advent of 21st century, I was a techy geek reading Fortune magazines and following the stories of technology trailblazers such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezo (founder of Amazon) and Larry Ellison (Oracle). I am still a techy geek and find it fascinating reading about geniuses who create a … Continue reading »

I felt the pressure as the year ends but the turning point was of course to remember that the holiday season was meant to be one that we cherished not get stressed over what we haven’t read! So I have decided to indulge in my guilty pleasure and read a fast moving crime fiction instead. … Continue reading »

It’s the time of the year again where I put up my fancy charts and reflect on my reading and book spending habit this year! Readers of this blog know that I am a stats geek when it comes to analysing my reading trend. This year there have been a few surprises which I will … Continue reading »

I haven’t done very well for 2012 challenge, as I did not achieve the TBR challenge. See my results: 2012 Reading Challenge. I still hope to finish up the TBR list for the next year. The Japanese Literature 6 challenge is still on-going so there is another month for me to complete a few more books … Continue reading »

‘There is opportunity here (Jamaica) if you look right.’ Elmwood ‘So why so many young men and women queuing up for passport? Why so many striking for job and busting up the place? Elmwood, I have seen it with my own eyes. The world out there is bigger than any dream you can conjure. This … Continue reading »

I find the most compelling novels are the ones who talk about the everyday ordinary life in the most extraordinary way. It was the title that first drew me to the book. I always think that for a person to test its survival skills in the fullest one sure way was to become an immigrant. … Continue reading »

It’s Christmas morning here in the UK and there is no snow but lots of rain! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. Hope the new year is another great reading year for you!

Last weekend, I received a bad news from my librarian….. She told me that from 2 January 2013 onwards the library will be charging 60p to reserve a title. This news cut deeper than a knife. It hurts me more than someone telling me I won’t be eating Walkers crisps for a month, or the … Continue reading »

I officially switch off my mind on work and start holiday today, even though I may be working for the next 2 days. I presented my proposal today, so I feel a heavy weight has been lifted off from my shoulder. My December reading plan is in a mess, I can’t bring myself to finish … Continue reading »

Are you happy? Seriously, are you happy? Hector thinks you must be careful when you ask people whether they’re happy; it’s a question that can upset people a great deal (page 15). I came across this book which I fell for the cartoon cover of a serious topic. I read a travel book called “Geography … Continue reading »

Last Saturday, 1 December 2012, is the day I took a massive leap into technology of reading. My husband bought me a Kindle!! The 4th generation Kindle comes in several versions. There is the Kindle Fire, Paperwhite, touchscreen and the very basic one I got here. For a long time I can’t see myself jumping … Continue reading »

Can’t believe another week has gone by, where does the week go? As promised, here’s the winner for “In the Country of Men” by Hisham Matar: Congratulation Sam! As for the book “Purge”, there wasn’t much competition but the winner goes to Mystica! Congratulations both. I’ll get your details and send the book over hopefully … Continue reading »

I won this book from Zee@Notes from the North last year. I have an extra copy to give away. The giveaway gave me the impetus to read this book. There was a stranger at the door step…. It’s 1992 (just before the closing of the iron curtain), Aliide Truu is an old woman living alone in a … Continue reading »

Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel is one of the definitive accounts of WW1. The narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Bäumer, is a German soldier who was urged by his school master to join the war. He is not yet 20 years old when he begins his narrative, but the horrors he … Continue reading »

JoV’s Book Pyramid is 4 years old today! I think it’s very very hard to keep up with the blogging momentum. I find these recent  two years incredibly hard to read and post reviews. The funny thing is once I read, I wanted to review because I started this blog to remember what I read. … Continue reading »

I still couldn’t bring myself to finish up my TBR challenge (See the books in my right side bar). Every book in the list seems to be so daunting. Instead I have chosen to read something new and easy to read instead. I received Carry the One from Penguin UK few days ago and I … Continue reading »