Whaaaaa??

Its just been a month since the New Orleans trip and its time to pack my bags again? Whaaat ?!
TheBetterHalf has to attend a conference for a few days in Washington, DC, and I sure can tag along. :D
I can always chill and enjoy yet another new place.
If I had known about this trip, I wouldn't have even bothered to  unpack.  ;)
5 more days to go. Yeayyy!
My life does have its moments!

Today

 I wake up to the sound of waves crashing against the rocks.

My skin, toasting in the sun.

Today, I don’t care about the tan.

The sea breeze playing with my hair,

Today, I don’t care about my tousled tresses as I pull myself up.

Silently, I stroll on the shore while waves rush in to kiss my feet.

Today, I don’t care about the sand sticking on my legs.

 I pick the bittersweet wild berries,

The juice drips down my hands, staining my clothes.

Today, I am not anguished.

 I gaze at the horizon and watch the ships pass by.

I know they cannot see me, yet I wave at them.

Today, I don’t worry over the passing hours.

I build torpid sandcastles.

Today, I don’t care about the dirt in my nails.

I am not tormented about tomorrow.

Today, I make no plans.

I turn to the sea.

Stretching for miles, the waves consuming.

Today, I let it wash away my fears and doubts.

Peering into the shallow waters,

I look for seashells and starfishes.

 Today, I scribble random words on the sand and smile.

I watch the sky turn an orange hue,

Today, I take the time to marvel at the picturesque canvas.

I lie down on the sand.

Tonight, I witness the first star to appear.

I breathe in the salty air,

As I watch the lighthouse in the distance.

Tonight, I wait for the starry blanket as I lay shivering.

My eyelids heavy with dreams.

I will think about tomorrow, when I get there.

Tonight I'm serene.

Book Review #25 - Sharp Objects

Title: Sharp Objects.

Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books.
Format: E-book.

Pages: 321.

Genre: Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Crime.

Once I was done with Gone Girl, I had to read Flynn's other works. I got hold of Sharp Objects and finished it in a day.

The scoop(from Goodreads):

WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart 
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg. Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory. HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle. As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming. With its taut, crafted writing, Sharp Objects is addictive, haunting, and unforgettable.

What I feel:

Camille Preaker, a journalist in a mediocre newspaper, heads back to her hometown, Wind Gap in Missouri after many years to report on unsolved murders of two preteen girls. In her attempt to get to the bottom of the murders, she has to face the demons of her childhood, her estranged mother, Adora and her wild half sister Amma. It is evident that Camille is a troubled individual who had a difficult relationship with her mother and how things got worse after her sister had passed away when they were young.

The aloof and hate worthy coddling mother, the distant step father, the vicious and grown way too fast 13 year old half sister, Camille's high school friends who live the so called perfect life, the town folks, the same spiteful gossip doing the rounds in the small town. I cannot start to tell you how well the sense of dread is portrayed in this book.

I knew what I was getting into, when I began reading Sharp Objects. One of the things which I noticed about in Flynn's books are that  the characters are not very likable and most of them flawed to some deep, irreparable level. Camille Preaker is no different.  She drowns out her troubles by carving words on herself, drinking heavily and by being promiscuous. Flynn's characters don't really ask for the readers to feel empathetic towards them. 

I was left horrified at many sections. Flynn is not the type of an author who steers clear from uncomfortable situations which makes her writing all the more morbid and dark and I love it.

Unlike Gone Girl where the author kept pulling the carpet right under our feet, Sharp Objects was a little more predictable..atleast to an extend. Flynn did a commendable job by creating a sense of dread throughout the book. I had to know what happens at the end and finished the book in one go. Flynn has given a new meaning to the term family drama.

My rating

Rating Policy

P.S - Review of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn will be up soon.

Bookworm Musings

Ever happen to you, when a certain scene flashes in your head and you are pretty sure you saw it somewhere? You rack your brains wondering which movie or where exactly you actually saw it.. only to realize it was not some movie or something you saw in television. Instead, it was something you read about and your brain created such a wonderful, realistic scene making you think you actually saw it with your own eyes!

Happens to me from time to time.

Book Review #24 - Bossypants

Title: Bossypants.

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company.
Format: Paperback.

Pages: 304.

Genre: Non fiction, Humor, Memoir.

The scoop(from Goodreads):

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon—from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence. Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

What I feel:

I have always found Tina Fey as a very entertaining person and when her book was released, I had to read it. From Weekend Update in Saturday Night Live to Liz Lemon in 30 rock and various comedy roles in movies, this woman has always been a 'Wow'.

Fey reveals some hilarious stories of the days when she had worked for NBC, about her struggle as a woman in the male dominated comedy show business side by side to her being the awkward teenage Greek girl with bushy eyebrows! Some of the chapters have photographs or illustrations, related to the subject matter. 

I wouldn't say this was a reveal it all autobiography even though she has been very candid in some areas, for instance about how she could't fit into a dress for a photoshoot and how she was fitted into one! Few of the wonderful stories that struck me was when spoke about her father, about how Oprah Winfrey made an appearance in 30 rock, her honeymoon, her daughter, her relationship with Amy Poehlar (even though I wish she had elaborated on Amy)

I recently started watching 30 rock and I swear, the show is hilarious. She was downplaying about the show throughout the book. Clever woman.. by making me have low expectations about the show, I was genuinely surprised at how funny the show was and how talented she is.

L:Tina Fey  R:Sarah Palin

In a nutshell, Bossypants is a memoir of a woman; growing up in a working class family, her awkward teenage years, her path to improv leading to Saturday Night Live, the Sarah Palin skit success, creation of 30 rock, her husband and her daughter.

After watching 30rock and now the book, I should say Fey is one of the most inspirational, funny and talented women of today.

 Some of the passages from her book is pure gold..

On growing up:

"I was wearing my best Gap turtleneck and my dates were two adult lesbians, so yea, I was pretty cool." 

 On beauty:

"If you retain nothing else, always remember the most important rule of beauty, 'who Cares'."

On Feminists:

“Feminists do the best Photoshop because they leave the meat on your bones. They don’t change your size or your skin color. They leave in your disgusting knuckles, but they may take out some armpit stubble. Not because they’re denying its existence, but because they understand that it’s okay to make a photo look as if you were caught on your best day in the best light.” 

On leadership:

"It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don’t like something, it is empirically not good. I don’t like Chinese food, but I don’t write articles trying to prove it doesn't exist."

I did well up when I read her 'Mother's prayer to its daughter.' It was a realistic one without being all patronizing. For more quotes click here or better yet, read the book and watch 30rock!

They said the book is laugh out loud, absurdly funny. No its not. The book is hands down funny; more in the lines of sarcasm than out in the open laughter. After I was done with the book, I felt respect towards her.

My rating:

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Not too long 13

I'm craving the beach.

Book Review #23 - End of Summer

Title: End of Summer.

Author: Michael Potts.

Publisher: WordCrafts Press.
Format: E-book.

Pages: 264.

Genre: Literary Fiction.

I had received the book from the publicist of Wordcrafts Press in exchange for a honest opinion.

The scoop(from Amazon):
A young boy. An old man. And a journey of the heart. A middle aged man, Jeffrey Conley, has obsessive interests, including a fascination with death and the process of dying and a fetish for the sound of a woman's heartbeat. His wife, Lisa, encourages him to get help. His psychologist diagnoses him as having Asperger's Syndrome, a mild condition on the Autism spectrum. When his granny dies, Jeffrey returns to Tennessee for her funeral, and then walks the same field he walked with his granddaddy as a child.

What I feel:

Jeffrey Conley is back in his childhood home to attend his grandmother's funeral. As he roams aimlessly through the property, he recollects a particular summer when he was 9 years old living with his grandparents. He was brought up by his grandparents, since his parents had died in a car crash when he was just a baby. He has no memories of his parents. He only knows what his grandparents has told him.

The story is told from his point of view. The plot shuttles between his 9 year old self and his present self. Jeffrey has been obsessed with death ever since he saw a rabbit's life give out as a result of his grandpa shooting it. He spends lavish amount of time researching about death and the functioning of hearts, so much to the extend that he has a fetish towards a woman's beating heart!

Worried over his growing obsession towards these topics, his wife requests him to consult a psychologist. It is revealed that Jefrrey suffers from Asperger's syndrome. After around 30 years, he visits his childhood home and his childhood memories are relived where he finds out the root of his obsession and hopefully will find his peace of mind.

The plot was refreshing. The innocence of a 9 year old boy was heartwarming and disarmingly touching. The plot did get a little bland after a while. I felt it was way too detailed for it to be convincing. For a middle aged man to remember every single detail: ranging from what he ate to the color of the shirt he wore to church in the summer when he was 9 years old is practically next to impossible. 
The plot did pick its pace at the last part, when substantial events occur which would change young Jeffery's life. All in all an intriguing book with a realistic ending.

My rating:

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