Good Afternoon, Fellow Book Lovers!
I hope this finds you indulging in a good book!
I have a confession to make...
I am one of those annoying bookworms
that occasionally goes a few weeks or a month without reading a book
and then suddenly experiences severe word deprivation
and sits down and reads three or four books cover to cover in a few days
(that's the phase I'm currently in...
right now I'm working through my third book this week).
In my most recent Friday Five-O post,
I mentioned that it has been kind of a weird week.
Well, these books I have been reading have a lot to do with that.
The first one I read this week was:
And, frankly, I thought it was weird.
Let me give you a short summary:
Hassan Haji is a young, inexperienced, but completely brilliant Indian chef
(being the Foodie that I am...
THIS was probably the biggest reason I chose to read this book).
His father runs a successful restaurant in India,
but after the tragic death of his wife decides to move his entire family to England.
England is full of disappoints for the Haji family
and they move to Lumiere, France
where they open a restaurant directly across the street
from the town's most famous and luxurious French restaurant.
Thus ensues a terrible feud between the two restaurants
that ends when Hassan is accidentally burned in his father's kitchen.
After the accident, the owner of the famous French restaurant
offers to take Hassan under her wing
and teach him what she know about French cooking.
Naturally, Hassan's family are opposed to this at first,
but in the end Hassan is allowed to study under her.
After a few years of this,
he moves on to study under another chef
until finally he opens his own restaurant in Paris
where he receives the craved and sought-after "Third Star".
Sounds like an interesting read, right?
Well, that's exactly what I thought at first.
The story line is engaging
and I appreciate that it truly was a journey
that finally lead Hassan to his success.
However, Morais' use of odd comparisons
and extreme detail somewhat distracted me from the narrative.
Furthermore, towards the end of the book,
the words and phrases seemed to loose their engaging power
and I felt myself rushing through the pages
in an effort to simply finish the book and move onto to something else.
Overall, I would stay that the story wasn't bad,
but I most likely will NOT be adding this book to my personal collection
and/or reading it again.
The second book I read was:
In the beginning, all I knew of this novel was:
that it was a mystery and it was authored by Jamie McGuire
who wrote Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster,
two books that I read earlier this year and absolutely could NOT put down!
I have already purchased these books and downloaded them on audible as well.
To say that I was excited to read this book is an understatement!
Then I actually started it...
and realized the whole basic plot is:
the zombie apocalypse.
(Really?)
I am NOT a zombie fan.
I'm proud to say that I've never watched (and I have no desire to watch):
The Walking Dead
The Dawn of the Dead
or Zombieland.
When I visit the library, I do not gravitate toward books
whose titles include the words:
"zombie", "undead", or "living dead".
I'm just NOT into the Zombie craze thing that we seem to have going.
With all that being said, and my point of view
being strongly expressed,
if you want to immerse yourself in the zombie culture,
go right ahead!
Its your prerogative!
You will get no judgment from me, I promise.
I personally wish to abstain from it.
In case you are wondering,
I am NOT going to be reviewing or summarizing Red Hill on this blog.
(I did actually read it cover to cover,
but can't say that I enjoyed it much.)
I believe my opposition to zombie mania to be too strong
for me to objectively review the writing or story line of the novel.
However, I'm sure there are reviews to assist you out there somewhere.
I wish you luck in finding them!
Have you read either of these books?
What did you think of them?
Do you have any book suggestions for me
(no zombie novels, please...)?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Thank you so much for dropping by today!
I hope you have a great week
and will visit again soon!
I mentioned that it has been kind of a weird week.
Well, these books I have been reading have a lot to do with that.
The first one I read this week was:
And, frankly, I thought it was weird.
Let me give you a short summary:
Hassan Haji is a young, inexperienced, but completely brilliant Indian chef
(being the Foodie that I am...
THIS was probably the biggest reason I chose to read this book).
His father runs a successful restaurant in India,
but after the tragic death of his wife decides to move his entire family to England.
England is full of disappoints for the Haji family
and they move to Lumiere, France
where they open a restaurant directly across the street
from the town's most famous and luxurious French restaurant.
Thus ensues a terrible feud between the two restaurants
that ends when Hassan is accidentally burned in his father's kitchen.
After the accident, the owner of the famous French restaurant
offers to take Hassan under her wing
and teach him what she know about French cooking.
Naturally, Hassan's family are opposed to this at first,
but in the end Hassan is allowed to study under her.
After a few years of this,
he moves on to study under another chef
until finally he opens his own restaurant in Paris
where he receives the craved and sought-after "Third Star".
Sounds like an interesting read, right?
Well, that's exactly what I thought at first.
The story line is engaging
and I appreciate that it truly was a journey
that finally lead Hassan to his success.
However, Morais' use of odd comparisons
and extreme detail somewhat distracted me from the narrative.
Furthermore, towards the end of the book,
the words and phrases seemed to loose their engaging power
and I felt myself rushing through the pages
in an effort to simply finish the book and move onto to something else.
Overall, I would stay that the story wasn't bad,
but I most likely will NOT be adding this book to my personal collection
and/or reading it again.
The second book I read was:
In the beginning, all I knew of this novel was:
that it was a mystery and it was authored by Jamie McGuire
who wrote Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster,
two books that I read earlier this year and absolutely could NOT put down!
I have already purchased these books and downloaded them on audible as well.
To say that I was excited to read this book is an understatement!
Then I actually started it...
and realized the whole basic plot is:
the zombie apocalypse.
(Really?)
I am NOT a zombie fan.
I'm proud to say that I've never watched (and I have no desire to watch):
The Walking Dead
The Dawn of the Dead
or Zombieland.
When I visit the library, I do not gravitate toward books
whose titles include the words:
"zombie", "undead", or "living dead".
I'm just NOT into the Zombie craze thing that we seem to have going.
With all that being said, and my point of view
being strongly expressed,
if you want to immerse yourself in the zombie culture,
go right ahead!
Its your prerogative!
You will get no judgment from me, I promise.
I personally wish to abstain from it.
In case you are wondering,
I am NOT going to be reviewing or summarizing Red Hill on this blog.
(I did actually read it cover to cover,
but can't say that I enjoyed it much.)
I believe my opposition to zombie mania to be too strong
for me to objectively review the writing or story line of the novel.
However, I'm sure there are reviews to assist you out there somewhere.
I wish you luck in finding them!
Have you read either of these books?
What did you think of them?
Do you have any book suggestions for me
(no zombie novels, please...)?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Thank you so much for dropping by today!
I hope you have a great week
and will visit again soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment