A-Z Book List: U for Uninvited

I am sure most of you have had books that were bought, which were started but then for some reason stopped in between only never to be picked up again. I have a list of such books with me, both paperback and Kindle books. Why would I even have them on the shelves (physical or online). Because I am never sure when the mood would strike and I would pick them up again and continue. To name a few of them, ‘Brothers Karamazov’, ‘The Fountainhead’, ‘The Winner stands alone’ etc. The book associated with today’s alphabet is one such. Sadly 😦

Name: The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Gothic, Fiction

I bought this book on a sale (paying in Euro’s in fact) while on my way from Paris to London on the ferry’s book shop. I got three books for the price of two. I did complete one during the trip. One I finished when I got back home. The third on, The Uninvited Guests, was the one that got dumped not even half way through. Not that it was uninteresting. It was a mystery. I did not know it was a paranormal story (at that time at least) but it was going pretty OK. And I honestly don’t remember the reason for me to stop that book. Was it because it was a little slow for my taste? May be or may be not. I remember about the accident that brought people to this estate and the girl not being very happy about it because it was her birthday and she didn’t want the attention away from her. But that is where I stopped. Now I might have to pick it up again sometime and complete it or at least, see if I got bored of the story earlier or was it some other external factors that made me put that book back in the shelf. If you have read that book, please drop in a word as to how you felt about that book, or if you have written a review of the same, please do ping me the link. I would love to know about it.

 

PS: Check out the rest of the A-Z Book list here

A-Z Book List: D for Dracula

Not the one that Johnny Depp plays in ‘Dark Shadows’. Nope… This is the one that made Francis Ford Coppola adapt it to a movie with Gary Oldman playing the role of Count Dracula. I am not sure how many of you have watched that movie. Such an amazing one. I remember scaring my friends in the hostel with that movie. Made sure the room was dark with not a single light on and played the movie on a computer (had bought the CD version of it), I can still hear their screams 😉 I think I am jumping the guns here. Let us go in order.

Name: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Fiction, Gothic, Classics

When I started writing the genre of this book is when I realized that this is the first book I read in paranormal. Twilight series was the second. The fact that this Vampire belonged to the same genre totally skipped my mind 😛 Wonder why. I saw the movie first and was so enthralled by the screenplay, the cinematography and the acting, that I wanted to relive it through the book. A big mistake. In this case, I loved the movie more than the book. Of course the movie did take some artistic liberties and moved a little hither tither from the story, which is usual, but that sort of added some glamour to it. Made it more spooky and scary. And I am not a horror genre fan. I never watch horror movies, if I can help it. Again, no spoilers out here. So without going much into the story, let me tell you that I felt the book a little bit boring and the ending quite exhausting. I felt totally disappointed and to help me get back to a good mood, I had to watch the movie again. I gave it only three stars in Goodreads. Gary Oldman as the Dracula was so mesmerizing (can’t think of any other word). The book Dracula wasn’t so much. May be I was constantly trying to picture Gary Oldman in the  book and it didnt quite fit and that made all the difference ? May be. Not many movies outdo the books, according to me. This one definitely did. Did you find this book better than the movie? If so, let me know. Would love to know why? What did I miss?

 

PS: Check out the rest of the A-Z Book list here

Portable Magic – That (Twi)Light that shone bright…once

Yesterday’s post on my introduction to Fantasy was a little too intense for me, so I thought I will remember something that is light today, even though I wanted to write about some other genre that I was introduced, but thought of postponing it for a day or two.

One day, I was there in my Uncle’s house (who is also a book fanatic and he has encouraged his daughter to read , a lot) and his daughter had this book called ‘Twilight‘. Have you seen the cover of that book? It is so intriguing, well, as intriguing as an apple can be. But still, the blurb was something that interested me. I have not read any paranormal romance till then. Classical Romance with Mr Darcy, well, that is the ever lasting thing right. And it is slow, steady, dreamy etc etc.  And there is no doubt that as a woman I love ‘Pride & Prejudice’.  That was between humans: heads butting, witty comments flowing, regrets and make ups and all that. But what romance can be there between a vampire and a human? Will that be any good ?  Never get me curious about anything. My head spins till I at least know a little about it. So I borrowed that book from her. She was obviously a teenager and she had already moved on to other books (she is also a Jeffery Archer fan, hard core).

I should say, I was in for a surprise. OK, yes, Edward was the epitome of ‘The perfect boyfriend Vampire boyfriend’. And this girl Bella, in her prime teen is head over heels in love with a Vampire. I know my niece (uncle’s daughter) was going gaga over Edward when I told her that he was too good. But honestly, if that was a real life situation, I may not be screaming my head off running in the opposite direction, but I would know, that for all practical purposes, it is really a bad idea to fall in love with a vampire. And I know love can be blind sometimes, really. I have been there , done that. But even then I ain’t that stupid. But then why does Bella’s love for this vampire enamor me ? Because it’s someone else’s story and more over it is a fantasy and a fiction. That surrealism was what hooked me to this book. The fact that a paranormal creature like a Vampire or a WereWolf can fall head over heels with a human and that the human can reciprocate it, and that love is transcendent…what is there not to like.

If you ask me, I thought Bella was very irritating, may be because I did not remember being ‘that’ 16 year old. May be because I did not get to read a story like Twilight in my teen times so as to have an Edward to dream of. Jealous much? May be a little. So once I got this one completed, I got the other books along with this book for myself. Yeah, I have those books with me. These books gave me a rush. All that romance, the angst, the fights, the werewolves, the vampires, the love, the lust – well, as a 30+ year old I was like ‘wow!!! are these for real?’ And yes, I promptly passed it on to my friends, who for some reason liked it. Thank God, I wasn’t alone in this insanity 😉 But again, I felt that only the first book was good and very captivating. The rest were very average. And please don’t even talk to me about these movies. I simply hate them.

If the book is good, I have this habit of conjuring images of those involved in my mind and associating them with voices. That is the main reason I don’t go for audio books. I don’t want anyone corrupting that. And I had this lovely image of Edward and , for some damn reason, Bella too in my mind. But the movies spoiled it for me. Who on earth thought of putting that guy Robert Pattinson for that role and why doesn’t a vampire have a fang. That is their specialty for god’s sake. And the twinkling diamonds….OK, I am not discussing those movies. Gets me all riled up. Coming back to the books. One of my friend who hasn’t read the book watched the movie and was like, ‘ what kind of crap is that ? ‘ He was going on and on about how pathetic all the movies in the series were. I told him ‘that he was judging a series by the movies and those movies were one of the worst adapted series ever I have seen’. He was like ‘You like Twilight series, are you insane ? I thought you were smarter than that’. OK, that did it. You have no idea, how many times we have fought over this series. I know these guys who fight with me over this series are secretly hating Edward because all women go gaga over him. Because it was one woman’s fantasy of her perfect guy. What these guys don’t understand is that it is just that. It is a fantasy. What is wrong with that ? What is wrong is to expect your man to be that perfect. To bring that fantasy into our real lives, that is what is messed up. Not all women like Twilight. I know quite a few who hate that series. But it also doesn’t mean who read it are stupid. I don’t like all the books, but that doesn’t stop me from reading it and completing that series.  They can’t digest that I can like ‘Crime and Punishment’ as well as ‘Twilight’. But sadly, that is the only paranormal fantasy romance I have ever read. I haven’t tried any other paranormal romance yet. Because most of them are a series and I don’t think I can handle that. Romance is good. Paranormal is intriguing. Paranormal romance is bewitching but I think that it will be a one time affair for me.