5. Vagabond by Bernard Cornwell

This is the sequel to the previous book I read, The Archer's tale.
And just like the previous one, this too was a wonderful book. I think I learnt a lot about the initial stages of 100 years war than I did in my history classes at school.

After the Battle of Crecy, which ends in the last book, Thomas continues his journey for on the quest of Holy Grail. He meets his cousin on his way who also is in search of the Grail and will stop at nothing. The battles between Scotland and England at York, and the Battle of Calais are mentioned in this book.

Alright then. I think it will be sometime before I manage to read anything else for a while now. My Husband as usual, lost his woollen cap again ( this is the 5th one he managed to lose) so, I have started knitting one for him now.
Until then, Good reading everybody.

4. The Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell.

First of all I had never heard of this author. Gopal's manager gave him this book to read (Did he actually think Gopal will read any book!!! After so many struggles from my part, which included me yelling and carrying the book behind him all the time, I could make him read only Da Vinci Code so far)

and well, that was how I ended up with it. I was very apprehensive about starting it, as it was set in 1300's and it was historical fiction and I usually don't read such genre of books. But I was pleasantly surprised. The book was very captivating and entertaining. The details were very good and elaborate.

A brutal raid on the coastal village, Hookton leaves only one survivor, Thomas and he tries taking revenge on the man responsible for this by joining England's army. But apart from this, destiny has one more task for him, the search of the Holy Grail. And in the process he meets many interesting people.

Apart from this fictitious story the places, names and the wars between England and France mentioned here are all true and happened almost exactly as it was explained.

Though its kinda time consuming... definitely not one of those fast paced action thrillers... it's a real good read.

This book also goes by the name "Harlequin"

I already want to read the next in the series, Vagabond.

3. Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga

The book started out really good and the author was able to maintain the good pace throughout..

It's actually a string of many short stories happening in the same small city of Kittur (a fictitious city)

The characters described are very precise and you get connected to them very well. There is no unnecessary long explanations, leaving a little bit to the reader's imagination and at the end they all bring out the essential flavour to understand the actual workings of any average person in a city of India.

Its a very short read (the book being just 350 pages). So, if anyone is looking for a good book to pass time, this is an excellent recommendation.

Although I must say it's very different from his previous book The White Tiger. Both the books basically deal with the stark contrast between rich and poor this one is slightly sprinkled with humour whereas white tiger was a very dark one.

In many reviews people seem to like white tiger much more than this one, but I couldn't agree on that.

This book is refreshing but White tiger is depressing .

lol...

Books I have read in the past

I have read quite a few books before this. And I am listing some of my favourites

These books were absolutely fantastic and is worth a read. So, if you are confused as to which book to pick up then go no further.

1. My all time favourite - Harry Potter Series.

2. Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress.

3. Lord of the Rings Series by JRR Tolkien.

4. Arthur Hailey's Airport, Detective, Money Changers ( Actually I found all his books very good)

5. Jeffrey Archer's Kane and Abel, Not a penny more not a penny less, Shall we Tell the President (Again I am a fan of all his books)

6. Sidney Sheldon's books are a good time pass too.

7. Life of Pi, The White Tiger.

8. Roots by Alex Haley - An absolute brilliant one.

9. Gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchell

10. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

2. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

After hearing about the huge success of the movie "Twilight", I thought the book must be really good..

Though the book was very captivating, basically a love story between teenagers, the plot around which it was written sounded very absurd and ridiculous. No real good explanations of whether the main character Edward was a vampire or a werewolf or a what till the end.

Only in the last 100 pages or so it becomes clear that he indeed is a vampire.

Though, there is a scene where Bella searches the net about Vampires, the author never really confirms the fact that Edward is one.

And there is also a scene where the entire Vampire family plays Baseball.. God !! I just could not stand it.

Now I understand why the movie was such a big hit. ROBERT PATTINSON...

I am planning next to see the movie and hope it is a little different and much better than the book.

After reading Twilight Iam really cringing to read the next in line New Moon. I don't think I am even gonna bother and just return it back to the library.

1. Lost Symbol By Dan Brown.

Almost a month is over and I havent even finished one single book so far.

Blaming it on the vacation I had when I went back to India for a couple of weeks.

Updating on 27th Jan: Finished the book... Did not expect this ending... Was really mesmerized... The way Brown talks about God being within the man... and the man still searching and probing in the darkness looking for a force above him.....
How did we ignore all the signs in all of our culutres and religions....
I am really looking ahead for the apocalypse to happen.. so that a new age starts...

(the book is actually about tht... if you have seen 2012 you wud understand)

All this new light on life was shed only on the last 50 pages or so... I think its better if you just turn to the last 50 pages and read them.. apart from that the whole book wasn't very good. Dan Brown's previous four books were so good that your mind simply refuses to believe this book can be so pale in front of them. No gripping story lines whatsoever.

I learnt a few very good facts about Washington D.C.. thats all...

100 book challenge

In this blog Iam going to see If I can achieve my goal of reading 100 books by this year end.

I will keep updating the list of the books I have read and currently reading.

So, lets start this countdown