Don't you just love.......

Books! You can go anywhere in the world, from the comfort of your own home, you can visit non existent places, places forged in the mind of the author, You can step into the mind of anyone you like, real or unreal. You can go back in time, or forward, you can feel joy and horror without having to be there, you can meet people without seeing them. Billions of people can read the same book, yet the book will have a personal meaning to all who read it. Anyways what I’m saying (in a rather long winded way!) is that I love books!! That’s why I haven’t blogged for a while, my sole attention has been on books (and a few other things of course), what could have kept my attention away from my dear blog, I hear you ask…….

Lord of The Rings: One volume special/tomb/brick
J.R.R.Tolkien

This book is a true epic, I love the hobbits, particularly in the opening chapter, ok so a lot of it is spent in war/travel (which did get slightly tiresome at times), but I love all the characters. When I got to the end I didn’t want it to end, I wanted it to carry on. So I watched the films which were equally brilliant and made me like the story even more. It’s one of those films/stories that you like more and more as time passes, while you’re reading it, it can seem boring but when it finishes you wish it didn’t!

Quotes

"Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment" (Gandalf the Grey in the Fellowship of the ring (film))

Sense and sensibility
Jane Austen

This is a quaint story, the only type of romance novels I like are of this era. The characters have a sense of modesty and decorum, the author doesn’t have to resort to vulgar descriptions to portray romance, in fact the characters don’t even have to kiss. These stories always remind me of Asian families, I’m not sure why but there’s something in them, that makes me picture Asian families going through the same thing (maybe it was the aunty that loves matchmaking and interfering, or the evil sister in-law!!). I experienced dejavu whilst reading this, the old “girl falls in the rain on a slippery hill only to be rescued by a dashing young man (single obviously)” was in this also, and for a moment I thought I was reading pride and prejudice. There is a lot of heartache and sorrows in this book, so if you don’t like that sort of stuff don’t read it!!


The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini

Think of all the heartache, anguish and misery that a human being can experience, times that by ten and you’ve got kite runner. This book is overwhelmingly devastating, on every page the author manages to shock the reader even more, it comes to a point where you are almost scared to turn the page, in order to avoid what sadness lie in wait. The ironic thing is that Hosseini is such a brilliant author that you can picture every paragraph in your mind as vividly as if you were in Afghanistan picturing it yourself. Despite the fact that I cried several times whilst reading this book, it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I love the ending also, I was worried that there might be a “and they all lived happily ever after” ending, that would have just ruined it, but the ending was perfectly suited to the novel, not to happy not to sad…just right.

Quotes

"There are lots of children in Afghanistan but little childhood"

Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte

I liked this book, it was simple, it tells the life story of an orphaned girl and all the injustices against her, again like sense and sensibility it is a romance novel of a similar era. I found the perfect setting in which to read such a book, curled up on a leather sofa next to the patio door, when it’s dark outside and the rain is lashing against the window. It’s the exact situation in which to read a book, which is for the large part set in large gothic mansions and a boarding school. The second half is pleasantly surprising, and is where you learn there is more to some of the characters than meets the eye. The ending is cute, it’s an “aww bleesss” type ending and it leaves you smiling.

Hey I’ve just got why novels like Jane Eyre and sense and sensibility remind me of Asian families, it cause Bollywood themes are very similar in characters and plot to such novels i.e. you have love triangles, family secrets, people trying to split people up/bring them together, people dying, people fighting over property lol it’s all the same!!!

I realised there’s one book I’ve neglected for quite a while, which is sad as it is probably the best book in the existence of mankind. The Quran. I haven’t read it for a while and it was one of my “summer resolutions” to read more of it and more regularly, it would probably benefit me more that’s for sure, so InshAllah I’m going to try to read more of it....