Book Review : Shadow of Death by Miranda Stauffer

Shadow of Death by Miranda Stauffer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As far as I remember, I haven't read a WWII related book in a long time so when the author Miranda asked me to review her book, I was more than happy.

The war always reminds me of the movie 'Schindler's List' & instantly makes me sad. It isn't an easy subject & I always feel that historical stories are far more difficult to handle than regular fiction. I believe Miranda has a done a beautiful job.

Shadow of Death is a WWII saga of betrayal, doubts & love. Derek Lorenz is a young lieutenant, a strong leader but not cruel. All the massacre & destruction starts taking a toll on his sanity. Analaise is partly Jewish, has lost her parents to the war & turned into a resistance fighter. When she lands in Neustadt, she finds an unexpected friendship in Katya & a strong attraction towards Derek. The attraction is mutual but they both know the consequences hence can't act on it. Love can be found in very unusual circumstances & can make you do things you wouldn't generally think of doing but then loyalty & authority is also very strong. This is story of finding love, loyalty & heart in difficult circumstances.

The characters are built well & the story-line is gripping. Some of the scenes are mind-numbing and truly depict the grim situation. The only weak point would be the book's length, I feel it could do with a bit of more editing.

View all my reviews

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!
View all my reviews

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!!!

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.

P.S. I love You...

P.S. I Love You.. I picked this book some 2 years because I found the name catchy. I was a great book and I absolutely loved it. I also recommended it to all my book-friends and the book circulated for around 2 years. Last month when I left my previous organisation, I get all my stuff back and there it was. Since I was on bench for sometime in the new organisation, I went out and got two more books of the same author i.e. Cecelia Ahern. Where the Rainbows’ End and Thanks for the memories. She’s got a good style and most importantly they are very romantic!!

Three days and I was done with both the new novels again, being left without a choice I picked up P.S. I love u again. While I read it for the second, I realized it was like watching your favourite movie once again. I felt horribly sorry for Holly all over again. The quick sneak into Holly’s past makes you want to be a part of their life. I started missing Gerry like anything. There were moments when the tears wouldn’t stop rolling down. And most of the times I envy the author and her talent. I am quite an emotional person and even TV soap can make me cry but this story, it is amazing. The emotions coming out of the distressed widow seem so real that your heart goes out to her.

This is the best of Cecelia Ahern and if you still haven’t read it, go ahead and grab a copy today. For now I am left with nothing more to read and I’m terribly bored. I need to hit the bookstore in the evening. Now that you know my choice of book, you can recommend something to me...