I made a mistake by watching the movie first before I finished reading the multiple award-winning, critically acclaimed novel Atonement by Ian McEwan. Admittedly, the movie moved the story along a little faster, and intrigued me from the beginning with its casting of Keira Knightley as the lead actress, long before I set eyes on the novel itself.
But when I picked up the novel and read this synopsis on the back of the book:
On the hottest day of the summer 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of her country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend, who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge.
By the end of that day, the liver of all three will have been changed for ever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had not even imagined at its start, and will have become victims of the younger girl’s imagination. Briony will have witnessed mysteries and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of life trying to atone.
I decided to plough ahead with the reading. However, halfway through chapter six, unable to withstand the suspense, I succumbed to temptation and put the video on. The pace and dramatic tension sped up quite a bit in the film, and I like how it stuck pretty much close to the book and retain the use of the three main characters’ perspectives and flashbacks to bring the story across. The only difference was in the way Briony chose to reveal the truth at the end.
Read more…
Posted on June 24th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: Books, Authors A to M, Authors N to Z, Screen, Classics | 2 Comments »
For a long time now, I’ve resisted ‘talking shop’ on my blog. I mean, enough of talking about online marketing at work already … I should give it a rest when I’m back home, shouldn’t I?
But when I see how vibrant the book publishing industry is becoming, with readers, publishers and authors getting into the act, my fingers simply itched to pen down my thoughts and share.
I shall start off with this great news from the team who created Shelfari. In case you haven’t been yet, the book community site has gotten a new look and added some new features. For one, photos and book covers are bigger. I just love how my virtual shelf looks now. Oh, and there are other stuff that they’ve done. What I like is that they listened to what their users asked for. Kudos to the team for getting closer to the hearts of the community population. I didn’t mind the ads, which are tucked unobtrusively at the bottom and the side. Check their blog out for the full details. I’m going to occupy myself this weekend updating my shelf.
Read more…
Posted on June 18th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: All else, webwatching | No Comments »
After two more weeks of tinkling and monitoring, I’m finally pleased to announce that In My Books is finally comment spam free and hacks free. Great big thank you to Keishon for sending through this great plug-in to keep the spammers away.
And to the users at WP forums for all the advice and sharing their paths to freedom from spam and hacks. Just in time too, for the third blogiversary is just round the corner.
Posted on June 16th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: All else | 1 Comment »
The month of May was as much about celebrating differences as fantasy serials. The three paranormal/ fantasy romance reads I finished had relationships that involved protagonists who come from different worlds/ races and time/ century.
Elijah is the third in the Nightwalkers paranormal romance series by Jacquelyn Frank and boy did she have a bombshell of a surprise waiting for the captain of King Noah’s elite guard. Two people from inherently different heritage, social rank and stature, not to mention temperament, whose people co-exist in uneasy truce wrought after several centuries of violent warring that would make the feud between the Montagues and Capulets seem childish by comparison. After all, he was responsible for the death of Siena’s royal father.
From page one, where Elijah is ambushed by a group of necromancers and in dire danger of being vanquished, right to the last chapter when Siena finally accepted their inevitable union and learn to live with him as her equal, Ms Frank held me in thrall with her engaging characters, breathless pace of action (the necromancers are hard to vanquish, now they have one of Nightwalkers to direct them), and the sheer sensuality of the lovebirds’ passion. Both central characters being proud, powerful and stubborn characters, the conflicts were an interesting subplot that builds up the central plot. I’m looking very much forward to the next instalment when Damien and Syreena take centrestage. Now, that’s an even more interesting pairing.
Read more…
Posted on June 16th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: Romance, Fantasy, Authors A to M, Authors N to Z, Paranormal | No Comments »
The whole family’s up early this morning to get on with the packing. I’ve taken vacation leave and we’re going to Cherating Beach for 4 days of sun, sand and sea.
Of course, on the top of my list are books for the journey (an 8-hour coach ride) plus some for the beach. Having finished Fallen and The Dangerous Gentleman on my recent business trip to Paris — yeah, lucky me … another jaunt to the City of Love and Light … there’s a horrid flight journey turned good there, but more of that when I return – these are the choices left to me:
Ice Storm (I should get on this soon)
Hunting the Demon
Sugar Daddy
Rhapsody or Stardust
I was tempted to bring the Temeaire series, but it may be a bit too much, so let’s save it for later. More later …
Posted on May 31st, 2008 by ag
Filed under: All else, Journeys | No Comments »
Alright, I plead guilty to bingeing again when I happened to be in the vicinity of Borders on Wednesday. Well, I was actually going to the bank in the next building, but there was a big signage informing that it’s moved to another location.
So, left with one lunch hour to kill, and no place to go, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to pop into Borders to check out what’s new, then grab a sandwich or something. Instead, I ended up hauling back these on an empty stomach:
Fallen by Erin McCarthy (love the classy matt cover and the story premise)
Warrior Rising by P C Cast – her version of the Iliad, won’t miss it for the world!
Pilgrim and Crusader by Sara Douglass – simply have to find out the conclusion of the series
Hunting the Demon by Jaci Burton – at last, they have stock!
Read more…
Posted on May 23rd, 2008 by ag
Filed under: Books | 5 Comments »
Apologies if you’ve been trying to post comments for the past week or more. I’d disabled the comment function accidentally while trying to combat the comment spam that’s been plaguing me. The annoying spam is still coming but what I find more irksome than anything else if this footer bug or worm that seems to attach itself to my file no matter how many times I deleted it.
So, if anyone of you has a solution for that, please point me in the right direction.
Posted on May 19th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: All else | 1 Comment »
Tonight being one of the rare occasions where I’m home early from work and the DH is out late, I decided to take a short tour round blogosphere, and I just couldn’t resist sharing these exciting news here.
First up, Sybil, has very kindly posted an excerpt of Lisa Kleypas’ upcoming wallflower reunion book, A Wallflower Christmas, which will be released this coming October. Oh, joy! It was a real treat for moi because the scene features Evie and St Vincent, my absolute favourite characters from the regency romance series. I’m sure fans of the series would have marked the release date down on their calendar. While you’re over at TGTBTU, check out the discussion between the duckies and LisaK.
Oh, and I’m also eyeing these books to be released around the same time:
1. King of Sword and Sky by C L Wilson
2. Noah by Jacquelyn Frank
3. Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini singh
I don’t know about you but I’m already counting down till October.
Posted on May 14th, 2008 by ag
Filed under: Books, webwatching | No Comments »
