What's on Your Nightstand- February

What’s on Your Nightstand is a monthly event hosted by 5 Minutes for Books.

I’ve been so busy at work and planning for the wedding this past weeks that I’ve been struggling to catch up with my reading. Anyway, I intend to catch up on my TBR pile and this is what’s on my nightstand this month:

The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

I intend to pick up The End of Mr Y, which I bought on impulse about a month back. I found a review from Bookslut’s blog which I thought was pretty helpful and honest.

The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro

This was also a book which I picked up on impulse about maybe a year ago... Yes, you read it right, it’s been sitting pretty on my bookshelf for almost a year now. Anyway, hopefully it won’t sit idly on the bookshelf for long.

Friday Finds, 27 February 2009

This week’s finds:

1. The 39 Steps, John Buchan
2. The Secret Scripture, Sebastian Barry
3. The Help, Kathryn Stockett

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Friday Finds, 20 February 2009

This week's finds:

1. Cafe on the Nile, Bartle Bull
2. Princess, Jean Sasson

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Ps- have been burning the midnight oil in the office for the past few weeks, so please excuse my absence. Hope to update my reviews and catch up with all of your blogs soonest. :P

Friday Finds, 13 February

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.

This weeks' finds...

1. History Without the Boring Bits, Ian Crofton
2. The Women, TC Boyle
3. A Short History of Tractors in the Ukrainian, Marina Lewynka

Happy Valentine's Day y'all...

Weekly Geeks 2009- 05

This week’s Weekly Geeks is all about judging a book by their cover. Pick a book – any book, really—and search out multiple book cover images for that book. They could span a decade or two (or more) ... Or they can span several countries. Which cover is your favourite? Which one is your least favourite? Which one ‘captures’ what the book is about?
 

My selection is John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’, which happens to be one of my personal favourites. My old copy of the book has been missing for the longest time and I’ve been looking for an edition with a great cover that I could purchase for my own collection. Anyway, this week's Weekly Geeks gave me a good excuse to start doing some research on the variety of editions available, here's what I found:

~~~1937~~~~~1965~~~~~~ 1975~~

~~1986 ~~~~ 1993~~~~~1994~~

~~~1994~~~~~2000~~~~ 2000~~

~~2001~~~~ 2002~~~~~ 2003~~~~ 2006~~

Apparently, the 1937 edition is selling at Christie’s for about $230. The 1937, 2001 and 2006 edition is my favourite book cover design. I didn’t really like the 1986 version because the colour and picture just didn’t stand out.

Going through the various cover designs, I’m more likely to purchase the 2002 version which comes in a set of 6 other books by Steinbeck. It’s a box set that includes The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, The Pearl, Cannery Row, Travels with Charley and In Search of America.

Book Review: Love Letters of Great Men

I’ve been absolutely busy the past few weeks and have not been able to read much. Anyway, about two weeks back I found a book which the bookstores were promoting for the up-coming Valentine’s celebration titled Love Letters of Great Men.

The front cover of the book states that the book was inspired by the movie Sex and the City, that was an easy bait cause I was hooked and bought it immediately. I love anything related to the movie. Who can forget those famous words Mr Big quoted from Beethoven: “...Ever thine, Ever mine, Ever Ours...”

Well, enough about the movie already...In all honesty I didn’t really enjoy reading this book entirely probably because most of the letters featured are written to the writer’s respective mistresses who seem to be short flings rather than soul mates. However, there are a few letters that I quite enjoyed reading.

I personally liked Mozart’s letters to his wife; John Keat’s letter to his fiancée Fanny Brawne and Robert Browning’s letter to Elizabeth Barret who eventually became his wife. My absolute favourite is Mark Twain’s letter to his wife on her 30^th birthday and the collection of letters of those fighting during the Great War to their loved ones. These were really romantic and some of the letters from the Great War were truly touching. Worthy read for the month of love...

Happy Valentine's Day you all. xox