Interesting use of time

I have always liked to read and also to volunteer for activities. When I found an opportunity that combined these two, I was elated. Here in the US, we have a site called epals. What it expects is that certain books are read by a student and you(the penpal) and then it starts a series of discussion between you and the student through secure email.

The book chosen for us this semester is Tut's Mummy: Lost...And Found - Judy Donnelly. I'm excited on how to motivate a young person to read and enjoy a book! It's my first time being a pen pal!

My seduction - Connie Brockway

This was an interesting read. The heroine Katherine Blackburn is a widow now who had a very short marriage of six months since her husband was killed in war. Her father dies trying to rescue three young men. Kate now after few years has one chance of trying to redeem her and her two sisters situation by trying to reach her cousin sister's husband's brother and implore him to help the family out. On the way, she meets Kit Macneill ( this is one of the three men her father saves) who tries to help her to repay the debt of her father sacrificing his life. On the way to Scotland, many dangerous things happens and she learns that the death of her cousin sister and husband was a plan. It was a good read!

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

I haven't yet disappeared from the blog world yet :) It's this book that's taking me a long time to read. The writing style is very unusual compared to normal books and hence takes me a while to read. The closest I could compare to was Arvind Adiga's style in White Tiger.

The story is about kids born at midnight during Independence for India. Saleem is one and he is the narrator of the story. He realises at age 10 or so that all these kids have some gifts and that they can communicate to each other within their minds. I'm still reading the novel so not much details now. Will update this post when I finish reading the book.

Update

I really liked the book. It is basically a story about the kids born at midnight all tied in with the political events of Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and the assassination, the destruction of slums. I did like the novel but it was a really slow one for me since it was narrated in a different way.

Knitting scarf

My scarf that I'm knitting currently! :)

Winter storm

This post is for Mridula who keeps telling me to post some pictures. I had taken some short video around a month back when there was a huge snow storm here. :)

The Courtship - Catherine Coulter

It is a romance between Lady Helen and Spenser Heatherington, Lord Beecham. Beecham overhears a conversation between Alice and Helen and is intrigued. Helen wants Beecham as her partner but not in the way he is thinking :) She wants his help in finding a mythical golden lamp rumored to make its possessor all-powerful. It was supposedly given to King Edward when his wife was dying and she was restored back to life. Interesting story!

Mad Jack - Catherine Coulter

Lord Cliffe is happy with his lonely existence when tow of his great aunts come to his home with a valet "Jack". Jack tries to steal Lord Cliffe's horse and is caught by him. That is when he realises that Jack is a lady actually in hiding from her stepfather. He needs to save her and her sister from the step father without alerting the step father to her presence! Does he save the day ? :)