Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2010 - what I bought

The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is a much awaited event in our household. The last year we really went mad and crazy and bought loads and loads of books...I have written extensively about it in this previous post.

This year we went on the 14th of November.....yes I know or rather realised later that it's Children's Day in India !!! So that was my excuse for buying books for my son and me (well I also am my parent's child no??? so it was my Children's Day also !!)

I did not have a lot of energy this time...the husband was also travelling all week so was exhausted too....but it was soooooooo sweet of him to take me to the sale and be patient enough while I browsed. He had his turn with browsing too, but this time I knew he was more tired than eager to look for good books.

My strategy for this year was to buy Asian authors for myself and non-American and Non-UK authors for my son.

Here's what all I picked up this year.

1. The concubine of Shanghai - Hong Ying
2. The river of lost footsteps. A personal history of Burma- Thant Myint - U
3. The immortals - Amit Chaudhuri
4. The opium clerk - Kunal Basu
5. Tiger Hills - Sarita Mandanna
6. The hungry tide - Amitav Ghosh

Have finished reading the first one on the list, and it was a good read, and I got to learn about life in China (a bit).

The second one is what I am reading now, and am loving every page of it. Who knew reading history could be so much fun...well especially when we don't have to mug it up for an exam !!

For Aadu here's what we picked up:

1. The gentle lion - Takashi Yanase
2. Little daughter of the snow - Arthur Ransome
3. Little donkey's wish - Udo Weigelt
4. Copy & color in
5. Drawing fantasy art

Considering last year's number...this year we picked up only a few....but all's OK....since we stuck to my strategy and plan.

What books have you bought/read lately?

Memories of my oldest book

The Universe listens to you and and has it's own ways of manifesting our wishes and desires.....so said a friend of mine over a cup of tea just a few days back.

She was trying to get me to blogging again, and begin I did......and I was thinking about a post about books and wanted to share my childhood favorites with all my readers. I wanted to tell everyone about the one book (from my childhood) that stays on in my mind after alllllllllllll these years.

And here I am doing this post about the same....and had it not been for Shruti's post about Diwali Moments, I would have never gone and looked at blogadaa, and all the amazing contests they have there. BTW: Shruti won the blogadda contest about Diwali Moments !!

Getting back to the memories about my oldest book....

The book was bought by my Papa, and although I don't remember the exact date/year of when he bought it, but I can say this much that I knew how to read...so maybe I was 7-8 years old. So the book has been in the family for over 26 years !! that's like quarter of a decade !!

My Papa has a practice of writing the name of the recipient on the first page of the book in the most creative manner...I follow this practice with my son's books !!

The book I'm talking about it 'The Adventures of Dunno and his Friends' by Nikolai Nosov, a Russian author. The book was translated in English by Margaret Wettlin.

The book was thick, hard bound, with a nice cover with the picture of the main character 'Dunno' on it....the cover is still picture clear in my mind.

(Image Courtesy: http://home.freeuk.net/russica2/books/nez/book.html)

The book is in my home in Pune, where it rests with all other books that Papa got for us (big brother and me) as kids. It is super fun to look through this collection whenever we go there...sadly now it's only a couple of times every year. Sigh !!!! One of the many drawbacks of not living in India :(

The very fact that the book still remains in good condition in our Pune home, shows that I have no plans of letting go of this treasure, firstly because it's a book and having parents who love books and collections of their own, I was/am never under any pressure to de-clutter or give away !! The same collect-books streak continues today at my home in KL, and every year we have to make a trip to IKEA to get a new book case !!

Secondly, we hope to pass on the book collection to our next generation, so it's our duty to safe-keep it.

The book is about the amazing little people of a fun town called 'Flower Town'. Dunno, the main character has many friends, and they manage to run into some kind of adventure after another.

The plots are simple, and very funny. One begins to love each and every character in the book.

One thing that I am going to do for sure during my next trip to India is get this book back for my son who is 5 years old, and loves books and reading !! All these years I only allowed him to browse through the book and always had a very watchful eye on him !! for fear of he causing any harm to my beloved book. And my son is a guy who has never broken a toy or torn a book !! My possessiveness comes into action unknowingly !!

I hope the book brings as much joy to my son and my brother's kids over the years ahead .... as much as we (big brother and I) had while we read it as kids.

I highly recommend this book to all parents, not only is it a great read, but it has amazing illustrations and drawings on each page which make the book more readable and super duper enjoyable !!

Through blogadda, I was happy to learn about a company called 'Friends of Books'. This looks like something I'm going to love...as they have an Online Book Rental Library and also a Bookstore full of amazing second hand books. The best part is that they operate 24x7 and 365 days a year !! Hold on...there's more....the books are delivered to your doorstep all over India !!!

Goshhhhhhhh that's like THE best thing for a book-lover like me.

I can buy the books and have them sent to my home in Pune and then have the family ship them over here !! Sadly I can't avail of their library service...but I'm going to tell all my friends in India about this great service.

and I connect with bloggers at BlogAdda.com

Searching for Schindler

Searching for Schindler is a memoir written by Thomas Keneally.

This is one of the books that I had picked up from the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in November. I had bought it thinking that I will enhance my minuscule knowledge of the legendary gentleman Oskar Schindler. The very first time that I knew something more than just his name was when I watched the movie Schindler's List early last year. The movie shook me to my core would be an understatement. It ripped me apart, my emotions were raw at the humiliation, torture, barbaric treatment that the Jews received during that shameful time in our human history.

The movie also filled me with awe for this man who helped so many Jews. It only made my belief stronger that 'there is good in this world'. I tried looking up more info on the net and was flooded with it. I read and read.

This book, actually told me that much before the movie was made, the Author Thomas Keneally had written a book by the same name, and then it got made into a movie by the awesome Steven Spielberg.

The journey of the book and the movie is what is opened up in this memoir.

Thomas Keneally is an Australian, who was in Lon Angeles met the real star Leopold "Poldek" Pfefferberg who ran a boutique of Handbags etc. The author had gone in to purchase a briefcase.

Poldek and his wife were holocaust survivors. In his possession were numerous photographs, paper cuttings, documents related to the holocaust and about Oskar Schindler. He had tried on many occasions to get someone to write a book or make a movie or a TV series out of all the real and amazing data that he had, but had no success.

Keneally took up the assignment and after a lot of hard work, travelling, meeting more holocaust survivors the book Schindler's Ark/ Schindler's List was published. The book won him the Booker Prize.

The book and movie was possible only because it had the relentless support of Poldek who traveled and interviewed people along with Keneally. It was his mission to see it being made into a movie. He would often say 'An Oscar for Oskar' !! And his dream did come true when The movie actually won 7 Oscar Awards.

The book is great, informative, has many photographs of the actual Schindler, and many more of the camps in which people were held. The book for me showed that if we really want to accomplish something - it is possible.

The recent spat between Chetan Bhagat and the makers of 3 idiots looked very stupid to me at first. ( I was/am on CB's side).

But when I recalled reading that the author Keneally was actually invited by Spielberg to the shooting of the entire movie and that he was given first class air fare wherever he was flown to, he was always put up where Spielberg himself stayed shows what kind of treatment an author ought to deserve for the original idea, story etc. Keneally was also asked to be present at all press conferences related to the movie, he was invited to all the glittering premiers that the film had. He was paid his dues when Spielberg (or was it Universal) bought the rights of the book from him; but the points to be noted is the treatment and respect he received for his effort and knowledge of the subject. I firmly believe that Intellectual property needs to be respected and treated as a commodity abiding by the laws of the industry as such.

Overall I say: go read this book

The book sale...where I went mad

The Big Bad wolf Book sale was on, and I had the calendars marked, actually 3 of them marked so that I don't miss the sale under any circumstances.

The first day was last Thursday, and I wanted to go in early in the morning, but since it was a school day, I decided to go in at 4 PM after the kid was well fed and had dozed off for a couple of hours.

I had told another mommy blogger about the sale, and we had made a pinky-promise to exchange notes depending on who went first. Well she went first and I had my first review and reaction wherein she told me that it's amazing and the prices are to die for, and the collection of books was superb. Now these are the only things that a book lover like me needs. She also warned me about the crowd and asked me to be careful with Aadi around. OK points noted, and I got about packing my bags, one with food and drinks for the Son, the others were huge IKEA bags to carry the books and yes a grocery trolley to dump books as I life them off the shelves.

All preparations done, I was awaiting the clock to strike 3:30 when the husband had volunteered to come & pick us up. I love you for this dear Hubby !!

As we approached the place (Amcorp Mall), I saw people with bag full of books, and I felt that I should have come in the morning to pick up all the hot stuff. But never mind lah .... I was sure to find good ones still waiting for me. I firmly believe in the adage 'daane daane per hota hai khaanewale ka naam' just tweek it a bit and it reads 'kitaab kitaab per hota hai padhnewale ka naam' (wow i'm good at this).

All said & done I was after all going with a well researched & thought-out strategy. I was going to attack the large books, your typical coffee table type books, about flowers, grasses, animals etc. These are usually priced very high & it's a great buy if you can get them at a bargain price. I'm talking fresh books people, not second hand ones.

We entered the place, there was no line to get inside as opposed to the morning rush where people had waited in line for upto 30 minutes just to enter !!

We went on picking books, the coffee table types, the cook books, the parenting ones, some management ones, some biographies, and yes books for the young reader at home.

We walked out with 40 books that cost us 340 RM, and I can give it in writing that we got a great deal.

After this round, I deposited the son with the Dad who took him to his workplace nearby....this was strategy # 2. So that I had some my-time at a place that I like. Again I went in and came out with 9 books, this time, some light non-fiction, and more management books.

I was/am so overjoyed to see all those books in my house. I have yet to find shelf space for all, but they are my reading material for as long as they last......

I get my love of reading from both my parents, and I am happy to see my boy turning into one too.

I finished reading the first book- Many lives Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss; finished it in 2 days and then started with a light non-fiction called 'Waiter Rants'.

Will keep an reading update on this blog.

So any of you who went to the book sale...do share your story and what all you bought.

I will put up the list in the next post.

Adios....the waiter waits to be read

A great book for parents !

I highly recommend the book "How to raise a Brighter Child" by Joan Beck to all parents who have children under five.The author advocates early learning and stimulation for babies,toddlers and preschoolers without pressure ,ofcourse.The author says that early childhood (0-6 years) is a time of tremendous development and parents should take advantage of these precious years to provide children with the mental stimulation to boost their intelligence.

While reading the book I got the feeling that the late author was a believer of the Montessori method of education.But she doesn't focus fully on Montessori and shows parents how they can help their children learn in everyday situations.She doesn't give an outline of lessons but shows how to play games with children and how to interact with them so that they learn. There are examples of how to take advantage of children's natural curiosity to stimulate their minds.

Some useful suggestions in this book are:

• Giving the child a good language model to copy.


• Using "Bingo" and dice games (such as snakes & ladders) to teach the child about numbers


• Making nature intriguing to the child by giving her a magnifying glass.Leaves,insects...everything looks more magical when enlarged.


• Encouraging children to make collections of seeds,insects,leaves etc.


• Inspiring creative art beyond crayons and paper:how paper plates,peanut shells and toothbrush can be used in painting.


• Some montessori activities such as cutting matching pieces of cloth of several different textures-velvet,silk etc and asking the child to match them by sight and touch.

The only drawback of the book is its unimaginative layout devoid of any illustrations. This book was not updated after 1999.

I am doing it now at 32 !!

On my 22nd birthday, my dad had given me a beautiful card and had written a very nice poem inside...it was in Hindi...not a poem-poem...but just his thoughts in verses ...
Apart from that he had mentioned in the other written matter about "catch-22". Back then I did not know what it meant...and I asked him what it was and he told me about this book called 'Catch 22' by Joseph Heller. He also mentioned to me that it was a best seller and a very enjoyable book.

My father has a massive collection of books, and I remember in our summer vacations he would select books from his collection for us to read. I get my love for reading from him :)

When we were smaller (i mean before we could digest novels or anything other than comics) our summer vacation would one chore that we loved...and it was to re-cover all of Papa's books, with brown paper (just like our school books), then writing the Title and author's name in our scrawly handwriting...(my Papa's handwriting used to be very very nice...now it is bad...he says all blame to computers and type writers coz they take away the joy and opportunity of writing with hand).

OK, back to 'Catch 22'
2 or 3 years back, when I was home on holiday, I looked through the book collection and found 'Catch 22' and immediately put it in my bag to bring to KL to read later. Well later really proved to be late..coz I got it out from my book shelf only this weekend and have started reading it.

So something that I wanted to do at 22...I am finally doing it...reading it at 32 !!!

A long walk to freedom

This is the title of the Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, which I had bought recently. I was pretty excited about my first owned autobiography, you can read about it here in the past post.
It was actually a page-turner, each page filled with engrossing details, and they are put in such a lovely language, that one often stops and wonders where the man got such beautiful words from?
The book is quite detailed, but never gets boring, you want to read every word printed.

I will refrain from going into details of what is written as it might spoil the fun for some who have not read it so far.

For me the book had a few lessons in store, firstly, always to believe and stand by your principles; secondly to stand by your people; thirdly to look for the good in everyone else. Last but not the least is the lesson to always move ahead and look up in life.

I enjoyed this book immensely and recommend it to everyone.

Reading update

Just a quick one to let you all know that I finished reading 'My Favourite Wife' two days back, and since have started on the autobiography...and it's been great so far.
Will let you know once I am done or may post a passage that I love...

I bought my first autobiography!!

For long I have cherished a dream of collecting autobiographies of people that I consider to be 'inspirational'. Now that does not in any way mean that they have to be famous. But again come to think of it, only famous people have published autobiographies....I would love to read/collect those that are not 'famous'.
Well today was a step ahead in starting my dream. I bought "A long walk to freedom" an autobiography by Mr. Nelson Mandela.
I saw it at Popular, while we were at the IOI Mall today.

I will start reading it tonight. But I think I want to give it it's own time, coz right now I am reading "My favourite Wife" by Tony Parsons. The two books are from very different spaces, and time; hence my apprehension of starting the new book today. But lets see how it goes...

Wish me luck for good reading !!

An interesting read - French Women Don't Get Fat

In the hectic vacation break, i did manage to read some books and i discovered this one quite by chance in my mother-in-law's collection. Titled "French Women Don't get fat" by Mireille Guiliano, it made me re-commit myself to healthy eating.

The books reads easy and best of all it does not ask us to refrain from anything. Moderation is the mantra and feeling great in your skin is what its all about. It has some easy recipes and talks about the importance of good quality ingredients which makes all the difference when it comes to tasting food and of course very do-able exercises such as walking and climbing stairs. The simplicity of the ideas put forth in the book really appealed to me and i would definitely recommend it to anyone who is trying to tweak their current lives into a healthier life.

You can have a preview of the same on the website http://www.mireilleguiliano.com

It also appealed to me because her suggestions are not very difficult to implement and some quick fixes to get you started really do work. There are some interesting references to "good dressmakers" in the book and just to deviate from the book, i did get some dresses altered to fit better - and i must say a well tailored dress makes one look and feel so much better - so succumbing to nostalgia - i do miss the shopping for dress materials and the visits to the tailor - good old fashioned ways (i had no idea that i would miss them so much some day) - apologize for taking the liberty of a poetic license.

So all in all what can i say - have a look at the website and if you are impressed as i was, i am pretty sure you will want to read the book.

Books for babies & toddlers

Reading to our kids is a very important thing. This way we introduce them to the beautiful world of books & improve their vocabulary. Reading also helps develop concepts of numbers, letters, colors, shapes. Children learn to listen, reading also helps develop their memory; most importantly we are giving them lots of information about the world around them.
I read to my toddler from a very early age, but for us it is not a bed-time activity, we read in the afternoon or when ever we want a bit of rest after some activity, this way I found that Aadi takes more interest & is alert when something new comes up. His favourite are the Clifford books, I also read to him some Marathi books (Marathi is our mother tongue). Over time Aadi has taken a huge liking for books & picks up some book from his shelf & sits down to browse & comes to me with all his questions!!

This is a recommended reading list from Oprah.com for infants to age 2:

Hug by Jez Alborough - A tiny chimp invokes the universal language, uniting his friends in a group hug to end all group hugs.
Max's Bedtime by Rosemary Wells - Max's rubber elephant is lost. Ruby tosses him her bear, but Max still can't sleep. So many toys get piled on his bed that he falls off -- and there's the elephant! Good night!
Shanna's Princess Show by Jean Marzollo - "Shanna is a whole series and it's great for African American kids to see some black faces in story books like this one." — Oprah
Counting Kisses by Karen Katz - How many Kisses does it take to say goodnight?
When Mama Comes Home Tonight by Eileen Sinelli - No other bedtime book addresses working families as effectively as When Mama Comes Home Tonight.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. - A big happy frog, a plump purple cat, a handsome blue horse, and a soft yellow duck all parade across the pages of this delightful book. Combined with Martin's sing-song text, Carle's boldly colored collages create unforgettable images of these endearing animals
Duck Is Dirty by Satoshi Kitamura - What starts out as a pleasant stroll becomes one catastrophe after another for Duck, our hapless lovable hero.
Snoozers by Sandra Boynton - By using the colorful picture tabs on this collection of seven bedtime stories, kids can easily find the story they want to hear. Snoozers is the perfect bedtime book for children and parents.
Baby Dance by Ann Taylor - A rhythmic poem by 19th-century poet Ann Taylor makes a delightful board book perfect for baby and parent to share.
Time for Bed by Mem Fox - At the end of the day, darkness is falling and little ones are getting sleepy, feeling cozy and being tucked into bed.
The Adventures of Max the Minnow by William Boniface - A small fish sets off to become the biggest fish of all, only to learn to appreciate himself as he is.
Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley - It empowers a child to scare of the monster, one of the fears a lot of kids have at this age." — Oprah
No, David! by David Shannon - When Award-winning writer and illustrator David Shannon was five years old, he wrote and illustrated his first book. On every page were these words: "No, David!" ...and a picture of David doing things he was not supposed to do. Now David is all grown up. But some things never change.
Little White Duck by Walt Whippo - "This is a book you can sing or read." — Oprah

Here are some more timeless books for toddlers:
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown. About a little bunny who before falling asleep, wishes all that he loves in his room goodnight. A poetic classic that gently lulls a child to dreamland.
Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. An infinitely mischievous yet engaging (and not at all frightening) tale that will delight every young one and every one young at heart. Also see other books in the trilogy: In The Night Kitchen and Outside Over There.
Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram. With over 12 million copies in distribution worldwide, this beautifully-illustrated book about whether you can measure love is as popular as it is touching.
Where Is Baby’s Belly Button?, by Karen Katz.Arguably the cutest lift-the-flap book that will get your little one laughing himself/ herself to sleep. Helps little ones learn about eyes, lips, hands and other parts of the body.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. Beautiful pictures and adorable storyline aside, this book serves as an ideal introduction to math and life-science concepts. It’s actually used in some preschools to explain a butterfly’s intriguing life cycle! Also look for The Very Busy Spider by the same author.

The latest on my bookshelf and DVD shelf.

Last week, on one rainy day, i had enough of the bookshelf at home and decided i need some different books. So on went the pram's rain cover, and armed with my much used umbrella and of course the oyster, we (Mihir and I) visited our local library.

So my bookshelf now has these additions:
The yummy mummy's survival guide - thats a handbook written for mothers to help them deal with what their babies will throw at them, written in the legally blond style - lots of emphasis on self-pampering there - i quite enjoyed it - although its not one hundred percent me - i was glad to know that i am not the only one facing the baby challenges and reacting in not so very pleasant ways.
Michael Palin's Himalaya - this a travelogue about Palin's travels through the great Himalayan mountains - i am reading it right now and love every minute of it - just waiting for the day when i can do such a journey.
An introduction to child development - this looked very interesting and have just started reading it - Psychology has always fascinated me.
Mythology - this is one of the eyewitness guides - love all the pictures in this book and since i have always been interested in the Indian and Greek mythological stories, this tells me there is a treasure trove out there from various other civilizations.
Babies and Young Children - Certificate in Child Care and Education - i just picked this book up because i wanted to see what the prescribed curriculum has to say on the subject.

Mihir's bookshelf now has:
Thats not my train...
Thats not my tractor...
Maisy Dresses Up
Play with Spot
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (dual language version with English and Albanian)

And as if thats not all, i also went and borrowed some DVDs from the local video library
I now have the Harry Potter movies - Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire - just thought i would revise before i got around to borrowing the latest
and one Jennifer Aniston movie - cant remember the name.

So now that my bookshelf and DVD shelf is well stocked - this week should be a breeze for both of us - till Baba gets back home.