Book review : Kissing My Old Life Au Revoir

Kissing My Old Life Au Revoir by Eliza Watson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Paris! Just the name is enough to awaken snoozing butterflies in my stomach. If there's one place I'd rather be now, it is Paris. After reading countless expat blogs, Lonely Planet's guide to Paris, watching 'Midnight in Paris', in fact visiting Paris itself; the charm of the 'City of Lights' never ceases.

About a year ago, I planned a Euro trip with the major halt in Paris. Then I was living in London since 6 months; my hubby was in India and we were supposed to take this trip together after being apart for six months. Now you can imagine, how excited I was. But last minute visa problems for DH meant the trip was cancelled. I spent the entire weekend soaking all the available tissues and threatening to flood the Thames. It must've been my non-stop bawling that even my roomies prayed for the trip to somehow workout. And surprise, surprise, the Visa was granted on Monday; hubs took an immediate(read expensive) flight to UK and the trip was ON!! But unfortunately, this also meant we had to cut short out time in Paris. With just one day, we tried to make most of Paris but till this date, I mourn the loss of those 4 days.

Oh but why have I been rambling about Paris so much; it is since I happened to read this lovely book "Kissing My Old Life Au Revoir" by Eliza Watson this weekend. It brought back lovely memories! I've read many more novels with Paris as backdrop just to virtually be there but this is one of the very few which actually introduces you the the places, the people, their lives & their passion.

Samantha is an event planner, works 60+ hours a week, manages to fulfill all the demands(however irritating they are) her clients make, financial security is of utmost importance to her and is expecting a promotion very soon. She arrives in Paris for a job and decides to stay with her carefree little sister Libby for a day, what she doesn't know is that Libby is very much pregnant. When she isn't offered the well deserved promotion and Libby goes missing; Samantha's life goes berserk. Throw in a sexy puppeteer, funeral crashing psychic and you are set for a lazy weekend.

What I really loved about this book is that it isn't another brainless chick lit, it is far more than that. You grow with the characters, relax to the life and adjust to the surroundings. This is one of the stories where you long for a happy ending! I'd definitely recommend it for an easy read!
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Book Review : Gina & Mike

Gina & Mike by Buffy Andrews
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Gina & Mike is story of 2 high-school sweethearts. They're made for each other & intend to spend their lives together. Unfortunately Gina gets raped by her teacher and in order not to spoil her boyfriend's career doesn't tell anyone about it. But the mental pressure takes a toll on their relationship.
20 years down the line, she meets Mike again at their school reunion.

To be honest, the book was just okay; nothing great. In the beginning of the book, I felt the narration was a bit immature but considering it was supposed to written by a teenager, I thought this was done purposely. However when the story moves on and even a hotshot attorney uses the similar style. Considering the author is already a Journalist & has her own blog, I expected more. Unless you are a teenager & like very easy read, I wouldn't recommend it.



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Fitness shitness, Hai Rabba!!!

Lately I have been seeing a lot of commercials for Fitness videos on TV. The one with Shilpa Shetty looked really good. Recently Bipasha Basu released a fitness video called "Love Yourself" which looked pretty good as well. And there was one more called Zumba fitness video. Zumba is combination various Latin dance forms which helps you workout in a fun way.


Since I hate gym and driving all the way to a dance class is too much of an effort for me, I decided to try these videos at home. In the past three months, I have gained a lot of weight. I had no work and Mangoes made it even more difficult. I have been gorging on Aamras. So I got both the videos Zumba and Love Yourself and started the self torture sessions 2 days back.


I decided to start with Zumba. It consists of 2 parts. First part is a set of what they call "Rhythm Refreshers". It basically includes some 24 short videos which help you master the very basic Latin dance steps. Whereas the part 2  is 50 minute workout video which is a combination of all the latin dance forms. I started with the Rhythm refreshers and I could literally hear the fat in my body cry in pain. Three months of inactivity and then suddenly all the salsa and samba was too much for my body to bear. I have been feeling sore for the last 2 days. Just typing on my laptop felt like a tremendous effort.


So today morning I thought "Lets give a break to my Zumba and start "loving my body". Bips looks awesome in those videos. She's got a beautifully toned body, not an ounce of fat.  God, I felt so ashamed with oodles of flab over my body. It is a 25 minute video consisting of warm-up exercises, specially designed  routine for complete body workout and 5 mins of cool down. It looks like a well thought concept and I have a very good reason to believe that it works out every single muscle. Because by the time I was done, every single body part, muscle, hair, face and even maybe the atoms and molecules of my body were in a deep deep pain. 


Since I couldn't move, I decided to take a dip in hot water. It felt like heaven and believe me I could literally hear  my body sing with gratitude!!! Even while I type this, I keep fantasizing about relaxing in some exotic Spa. But this episode hasn't dampened my spirit, rather it has made me realize how irresponsible I have been. I have decided to take this as a challenge and have atleast 30 mins of physical activity everyday. Lets see how long I manage to do this. Till then, lets Zumba!!!

Movie/Book review: The Notebook

I first heard about Nicholas Sparks' "The Notebook" during a movie trailer on Warner Bros movie channel. The trailer looked very romantic and Ryan Gosling looked absolutely yummy!!! I wanted to watch it badly but somehow I missed it on the TV. Sometime back I stumbled upon an Orkut community for 'The Notebook' and I found a huge fan following for the movie as well as the novel. It isn't in me to let go a nice romantic novel/movie, hence began the frantic search for the movie n the book. I found both together and got confused which one to start first with. Since the movie would be short and it had an additional factor of Ryan Gosling and James Marsden, I decided to go ahead with it.

It was a beautiful, touching movie. Not just the storyline and characters but it is also shot beautifully. I personally liked the scene when Allie and Noah are paddling the canoe in the lake surrounded by swans and it suddenly starts raining, an absolute feast for your eyes!!!

 

Watching the movie din't stop me reading the novel, so I picked the novel next. Apart from a few tweaks here n there, there are no major differences in the book n movie. The novels starts at a rather slow pace in which Allie n Noah's summer romance is wrapped up in a few quite pages whereas I preferred the whirlwind romance of the movie. Somehow I felt the books narration a li'l passive. The characters in the movie more strong and passionate as compared to the book. The Noah of the book is real nice guy but the movie's Noah is far more likable with a slight tinge of aggression and jealousy in the character.


This is the first time I've liked a movie more than the original book. Kudos to the director for creating such a beauty, especially Rachael and Ryan for their scintillating performance. I bet you can't miss the sparks flying between them!!!

Vision in White....

It was almost a year ago when I first picked "Vision in White" by Nora Roberts. Although I'm an ardent Nora Roberts fan, I'll admit I picked it because the cover looked absolutely beautiful. It was the first book of the Bride Quartet series and boy, Nora rarely fails to please you.

The Bride Quartet is a story for four friends Mac, Emma, Laurel and Parker who are into a wedding business. Each one them has a special talent. Mac is great photographer, Emma's the beautiful Florist, Laurel creates magic with the wedding cakes and Parker has nice talent for organising. "Vision in White" is Mac's story. When Mac, the wedding photographer at Vows meets the cute, geeky Carter her focus is shattered. Carter McGuire is a English professor who is definitely not mac's type. I'll guarantee the whirlwind romance makes you catch your breath.
Nora has a nice little talent of weaving beautiful stories. You'll go all gooey when Mac tumbles into love and will ache for her when she's having a difficult time with her mother. Her friends always stick with her and it definitely makes you yearn for a few of your own.
It is a great read, not the one to miss. Makes you look forward for the rest in the series. Well, I have already finished the next two from the series 'Bed of Roses' and 'Savor the Moment' and waiting for "Happy Ever After" to release. I'll write about them in my next blog, till then happy reading!!!

Scaling the Paths of Glory...

Sometime back I read Jeffery Archer’s “Paths of Glory” and I haven’t been able to take it off my mind. The book’s cover page read something about Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing which I thought was pretty boring. I usually go for fiction and very rarely pick up a true story. But since I had nothing else to read, I started with it.

The story is about George Mallory and his attempt to conquer Mount Everest. Frankly I thought the book’s pace was quite slow at the start, probably that’s because this kinda books are not my cup of tea. Part one discussed about George’s childhood and his fetish of climbing anything and everything. It took me almost 4 days to get through the first part of the book which would surprise most of my friends. I mostly manage to complete a book within 2 days.

But gradually I realized it wasn’t so bad and I was actually enjoying it. The protagonist began his climbing adventures when he was young, scaling the wall of Magdalene College, Cambridge for his appointment with the senior tutor there when the gates closed promptly at 3.00pm. Mr. Mallory is known to be arrested for climbing Eiffel Tower in the middle of night. He wooed his wife, Ruth Turner by climbing the bell tower of a 325-ft high basilica in Venice. Later he and Ruth escaped Venice fearing his arrest.

The book becomes gripping when George Mallory along with George Finch is nominated for the Mount Everest Committee in 1921. The first attempt failed, when six Sherpas lost their lives in an avalanche. The second attempt was planned again in the year 1924, but this time Mallory had another accomplice, Andrew Irvine.

The last climb was breathtaking and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Mallory’s letters to his wife reveal a lot about him, his companions and his surroundings. I was so involved during this phase that whenever I was disturbed, I was like “Come on, I’m at a height of 22,000 feet, struggling with frost bite and -40 degree temperature and you are asking me to watch TV soaps with you?”. I was there on Everest with him. I never knew mountaineering could be so much fun and scary at a time.

As usual the author has managed to pick a new subject and made a success out of it. Jeffery Archer's every book manages to enthrall you. I have a great liking for this man and I try to get my hands on everything that's been penned by him.

  

The book's cover page summarizes the book in this one line “This is the story of a man who loved two women, and one of them killed him”.

If you get a chance, go for it.