Lords and Ladies

Read this book and am feeling too lazy to do a review :-) I wanted to track it here for my reading challenge....Anyways I loved it, like most other Terry Pratchett books..am glad I have his collection!In a nut shell, this book was an extremely funny take on Shakespeare's "A mid-summer nights dream". If you are interested in the Terry Pratchett books, check out my others posts for reviews on books by this author.

Lost and Found!

It seems that right from the day I created this blog it has been jinxed. I published and took down the first article I ever wrote regarding my frustrations at the work place because many of my friends felt that I shouldn't express my issues with work as freely! This was way back in 2007 or 08 (I don't even remember!) Towards the end of last year I started blogging again about whatever I felt like and was pretty determined to carry on. Well 8 months have passed this year when I try and try to be regular and I just seem to be terrible at keeping up pace with the blogging world! Seems those that I met on the blogosphere might have probably have forgotten me...anyways here is my attempt at this again and for the last time I hope to keep it up.

It seems fitting that I write about (not in detail though) what made me give up all my blogs these last few months! Not wanting to sound too depressed all I can think of are the words 'a few personal road blocks!'Seems that my run of meeting weirdos is not quite over. Somehow I never seem to tire out of the fact that the person in front of me may not always be who he or she actually claims to be. Even when I know this I make the grave mistake of trusting said person and temporarily messing up my life in the process. Maybe its just "Maya", the goddess who temporarily blinds our minds to something which results in our brains not functioning as they should be! Well..it is always easy to blame it on someone and in my case its "Maya"! (Note to self: I should write about this more in the future)


It was during this time that I spent my days reading the book "A Lion Among Men" by Gregory McGuire. I really enjoyed reading the authors first two books "Wicked" and "Son of Witch" but turning the pages of this book seemed like a never ending chore! Like I wasn't depressed and stressed enough! What promised to be a very interesting read took me about 4 months to finish it! Here is the write up that made me pick up the book in the first place!Why should I alone suffer??? If any of you think you may be interested please yourself!Maybe I am still not ready for books like this one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lion_Among_Men


Anyways I was totally put off of reading books as this one had tired me so much! Another 2 months went by before I picked up my next book!By now I am totally behind on my 20in2009 challenge!Soul searching and in a desperate need for laughter I turned to my favorite author who has never let me down till date - Terry Pratchett! In continuation of Equal Rites and Wyrd Sisters I picked up the third book of his 'witches' series titled 'Witches Abroad'! This book actually did the trick - I escaped into a world of funnies where fairly tales were challenged! Cinderella I mean Emberella did not want to marry the prince (who was actually a frog by night), Count Dracula was killed by a cat looking for his dinner and little red riding hood did not make it to her grandmother's to find her eaten by the big bad wolf. The poor misunderstood creature was just really confused and had no intention of killing anyone and all this was coupled with a magic wand that turned everything to pumpkins! Stringing all these tales together were my favorite witches Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick! Gosh I have missed reading! Be sure to check this one out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches_Abroad



After a good laugh I have started reading something a little more serious called "The Palace of Illusions" tale strung from the important events from "The Mahabharatha" narrated by none other than Draupadi herself. I shall post a review of this book when I 'm done with it. Finally I think I am back on my blogs and I hope I stay.. I have some great ideas for my other blogs and plan to implement them at the latest! I was lost in the midst of my mundane life and it seems like I found myself here again!

To my blogosphere friends, do leave your comments - it would make me feel at home again! Until later....

Wyrd Sisters

After ages here I am again.....I wanted to return to my blogs and I couldn't think of a better way than a book review. I managed to read this book (at last!!!) The past months have been crazy in may different ways and somehow most of them relate to work related stress and this book gave me a lot of comic relief during those days.

The second of the 'Witches' series of the Terry Pratchett books, Wyrd sisters is a tale of three crazy witches Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax and Magrat Garlick working together to help return the rightful heir to the throne of the kingdom of Lancre. They are aided by the kings fool, a creepy cat with an even creepier gaze called Meebo (who happens to be the pet of Nanny Ogg) and of course the ghost of the original king of Lancre who was murdered by the duke for the throne of Lancre. The long lost prince however is is no mood to be the king; he wants to become an actor! What happens next? Does the unhappy kingdom get its rightful king? Does Magrat Garlick the youngest of the three witches become queen? The book with its share of crazies is a laughathon and is definitely worth a lot of reads.

Equal Rites

Title: Equal Rites
Author: Terry Pratchett
Series: Discworld series
Genre: Science Fiction, Humor

Summary: The first book in the witches’ series of the Discworld novels. This book is one to tickle your funny bones. The book follows the journey of one girl to attend wizard school at a time when women were not allowed into the university. Esk, an 8th daughter of an 8th son is erroneously made the heir of a wizard before his death. Apparently the dying wizard thought that she was a boy! Granny Weatherwax the formidable witch of the village “Bad Ass” (yes that is correct!) helps her to become a witch and a wizard! The novel is about the battle between the sexes and is filled with plenty of humor, a mysterious staff and adventures that keep you turning the pages.

My favorite character was definitely Granny Weatherwax. An extremely confident and intelligent witch who gets things done her way and fixes most people by just staring at them!

I wonder if JKR could have possibly borrowed a lot of ideas from these books which were published in the late eighties. The book has references to the school of wizardry called the Unseen university with its mysterious cellars, library full of live books, gargoyles on building columns that move away when it rains so that they can avoid getting wet, wizards dueling etc.,! Seems Hogwarts was just a richer version of the “Unseen University” so called because it is not visible to the normal human eye. There are also references to plants that scream when uprooted which was JKRs version of mandrakes and much more. I simply enjoyed the book and would definitely read it again in the future.

Close on the heels of the women in India trying to beat down the Rama Sena and other stupid groups with pink lingerie and more, I thought that it was perfect timing that I chose to read this book!

Verdict – Buy and Read. Definitely one for your personal library.

Finished: 16th February 2009
Rating: *****