Having never been to [the] French capital in springtime, I was really looking forward to my business trip, although my colleagues there warned me that it’d been raining quite a bit.
Well, the journey there via London was uneventful but the beautiful and sunny Sunday afternoon was partially wasted due to a baggage delay. But I managed to get out in the evening for dinner and a little stroll. This time round, I put up in this charming, urban chic boutique hotel – Arvour St. Georges, not too far from the Montmarte area.
The friendly hotel staff was helpful in suggesting where to go, but I was contented to just wander around aimlessly just soaking in the Parisian night air. The second night, my colleagues took us to Queen, the hippest, most popular disco in, where else but, Champs Elysees, which looked really different from my last visit in December, less festive perhaps but still dazzling with its plethora of brand names and luxury boutiques. It was a good thing we had that wonderful evening, because the next night it rained, so I was more or less confined to the neighbourhood of the hotel.
I didn’t have the luxury of time to wander around the city this round, but it was good to see a different side of the city in slightly warmer climes.
Read more…
Posted on June 29th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: Journeys | 2 Comments »
I made a mistake by watching the movie first before I finished reading the multiple award-winning, critically acclaimed novel Atonement by Ian McEwan. Admittedly, the movie moved the story along a little faster, and intrigued me from the beginning with its casting of Keira Knightley as the lead actress, long before I set eyes on the novel itself.
But when I picked up the novel and read this synopsis on the back of the book:
On the hottest day of the summer 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of her country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend, who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge.
By the end of that day, the liver of all three will have been changed for ever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had not even imagined at its start, and will have become victims of the younger girl’s imagination. Briony will have witnessed mysteries and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of life trying to atone.
I decided to plough ahead with the reading. However, halfway through chapter six, unable to withstand the suspense, I succumbed to temptation and put the video on. The pace and dramatic tension sped up quite a bit in the film, and I like how it stuck pretty much close to the book and retain the use of the three main characters’ perspectives and flashbacks to bring the story across. The only difference was in the way Briony chose to reveal the truth at the end.
Praises must be given to Keira Knightley and James McEvoy for their powerful performances of the star-crossed lovers, while the young Briony played by Saoirse Ronan is suitably memorable for the unpardonable miscarriage of justice she dealt the pair. In the book, her anguish and remorse, and her cowardice in remedying it, is a lot more poignantly written, but this sensitivity is not carried forward in the film, and not well developed. In fact, I couldn’t help comparing the ‘trial’ of Robbie to that of the Salem ‘witches’ in The Crucible. It was based on a single character’s imagination and in the end, a grave betrayal was committed.
Read more…
Posted on June 24th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: Books, Authors A to M, Authors N to Z, Screen, Classics | 2 Comments »
For a long time now, I’ve resisted ‘talking shop’ on my blog. I mean, enough of talking about online marketing at work already … I should give it a rest when I’m back home, shouldn’t I?
But when I see how vibrant the book publishing industry is becoming, with readers, publishers and authors getting into the act, my fingers simply itched to pen down my thoughts and share.
I shall start off with this great news from the team who created Shelfari. In case you haven’t been yet, the book community site has gotten a new look and added some new features. For one, photos and book covers are bigger. I just love how my virtual shelf looks now. Oh, and there are other stuff that they’ve done. What I like is that they listened to what their users asked for. Kudos to the team for getting closer to the hearts of the community population. I didn’t mind the ads, which are tucked unobtrusively at the bottom and the side. Check their blog out for the full details. I’m going to occupy myself this weekend updating my shelf.
Read more…
Posted on June 18th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: All else, webwatching | No Comments »
After two more weeks of tinkling and monitoring, I’m finally pleased to announce that In My Books is finally comment spam free and hacks free. Great big thank you to Keishon for sending through this great plug-in to keep the spammers away.
And to the users at WP forums for all the advice and sharing their paths to freedom from spam and hacks. Just in time too, for the third blogiversary is just round the corner.
Posted on June 16th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: All else | 1 Comment »
The month of May was as much about celebrating differences as fantasy serials. The three paranormal/ fantasy romance reads I finished had relationships that involved protagonists who come from different worlds/ races and time/ century.
Elijah is the third in the Nightwalkers paranormal romance series by Jacquelyn Frank and boy did she have a bombshell of a surprise waiting for the captain of King Noah’s elite guard. Two people from inherently different heritage, social rank and stature, not to mention temperament, whose people co-exist in uneasy truce wrought after several centuries of violent warring that would make the feud between the Montagues and Capulets seem childish by comparison. After all, he was responsible for the death of Siena’s royal father.
From page one, where Elijah is ambushed by a group of necromancers and in dire danger of being vanquished, right to the last chapter when Siena finally accepted their inevitable union and learn to live with him as her equal, Ms Frank held me in thrall with her engaging characters, breathless pace of action (the necromancers are hard to vanquish, now they have one of Nightwalkers to direct them), and the sheer sensuality of the lovebirds’ passion. Both central characters being proud, powerful and stubborn characters, the conflicts were an interesting subplot that builds up the central plot. I’m looking very much forward to the next instalment when Damien and Syreena take centrestage. Now, that’s an even more interesting pairing.
The Psy-Changeling series by Nalini Singh is another must-read, and the third novel, Caressed by Ice, is a refreshing departure from the first two, which had Psy women finding mates in changelings. This time round, Judd Lauren, a former Arrow — an elite squad of pitiless assassins trained by a Psy ex-council man who specialized in mental combat — finds his cold heart being thawed by the fiery passions and convictions of Brenna Kincaid, the surviving victim of the serial killer in book one.
Read more…
Posted on June 16th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: Romance, Fantasy, Authors A to M, Authors N to Z, Paranormal | No Comments »
The whole family’s up early this morning to get on with the packing. I’ve taken vacation leave and we’re going to Cherating Beach for 4 days of sun, sand and sea.
Of course, on the top of my list are books for the journey (an 8-hour coach ride) plus some for the beach. Having finished Fallen and The Dangerous Gentleman on my recent business trip to Paris — yeah, lucky me … another jaunt to the City of Love and Light … there’s a horrid flight journey turned good there, but more of that when I return – these are the choices left to me:
Ice Storm (I should get on this soon)
Hunting the Demon
Sugar Daddy
Rhapsody or Stardust
I was tempted to bring the Temeaire series, but it may be a bit too much, so let’s save it for later. More later …
Posted on May 31st, 2008 by ag
Filed under: All else, Journeys | No Comments »
Alright, I plead guilty to bingeing again when I happened to be in the vicinity of Borders on Wednesday. Well, I was actually going to the bank in the next building, but there was a big signage informing that it’s moved to another location.
So, left with one lunch hour to kill, and no place to go, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to pop into Borders to check out what’s new, then grab a sandwich or something. Instead, I ended up hauling back these on an empty stomach:
Fallen by Erin McCarthy (love the classy matt cover and the story premise)
Warrior Rising by P C Cast – her version of the Iliad, won’t miss it for the world!
Pilgrim and Crusader by Sara Douglass – simply have to find out the conclusion of the series
Hunting the Demon by Jaci Burton – at last, they have stock!
Read more…
Posted on May 23rd, 2008 by ag
Filed under: Books | 5 Comments »
Apologies if you’ve been trying to post comments for the past week or more. I’d disabled the comment function accidentally while trying to combat the comment spam that’s been plaguing me. The annoying spam is still coming but what I find more irksome than anything else if this footer bug or worm that seems to attach itself to my file no matter how many times I deleted it.
So, if anyone of you has a solution for that, please point me in the right direction.
Posted on May 19th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: All else | 1 Comment »
