Attila by William Napier

As dictated in the synopsis at the back cover, the novel is about the war waged by Attila the Hun against the Roman Empire during the dawn of 5th century AD. Amidst this imminent war (plus a lot of politicking amongst the Romans), the Roman Empire relied on one of the most illustrated Master General, Aёtius "The Last of the Romans". But in this first novel of the trilogy, the author did not touch on the grown up version of Attila and Aёtius yet.


This book started off with an old pedagogue named Priscus of Pannium; recounting his earlier days spent with both Attila and Aёtius from their childhood onwards. The book is written in third party voice-over (by Priscus as story-teller) and first party characters; Attila and Aёtius. As Roman history is long and somewhat complicated, I will touch only on the main characters.
In this novel, we could see the upbringing of both Attila and Aёtius as prisoner of alliance between Roman and Hun Kingdom. Attila was trained in Roman ways and vice-versa for Aёtius.


Attila was mistreated as a child by the hate-filled Princess Galla and this serves as a mould for his revenge against the Roman Empire when he grew up. He tried and finally managed to escape his confinement and made his way back to his homeland gathering friends and foes along the way.


It is then he met his future enemy, Aёtius, in which they spent some time together until Attila was framed for a sin he did not commit and was banished from his own tribe by his uncle Ruga whom has usurped the King's seat (Attila's father) during Attila's absence.
The end part will set precedence for the next novel which is called "Attila; The Gathering of the Storm".


Personal rating: 7 out of 10 (recommended buy)

Cons:
1) Gets a bit long winded particularly the middle portion of the novel

Pros:
1) Good characters build-up
2) Historical lessons in a glance without the boring bits :-)
3) Ancient warfare at its best

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

first impression counts.. that's what alot of people told me all along.. another key sentence would be "never judge a book by it's cover"... :-)

with THE WHITE TIGER by ARAVIND ADIGA, the cover in indeed the reflection of it's content.. as shown in the attached photo, the cover is funky 1960-ish type with a white tiger displayed prominently as the centerpiece... this picture indeed is worth a thousand words...

storyline revolves around the narrator, third-person-character, story-teller; Balram Halwai and his meteoric rise from being a pariah to become a successful entrepreneur BUT with a big twist as he has murdered someone along the way in order to achieve his aim in life.. interestingly, he managed to do all these with panache amidst the confines of his life..

the beauty of this novel is the ability of the writer to portray real life situation of commoners in rural as well as urban India with sharp contrasting effects on both the well-heeled and poor inhabitants.. this is indeed an insight we rarely read or mentioned in glossy magazines..

overall storyline is smooth with sufficient breather in between so that the reader can savour the progressive incline and change of attitude of Balram Halwai from being a follower to a leader..

Personal rating: 7 out of 10 (recommended buy)

Cons:
1) Slightly boring mid part
2) Balram is too lucky to escape with every obstacles without harming himself

Pros:
1) Funky 1960-ish cover
2) portrayal of the real India and it's inhabitants
3) progressive changes of attitude of the characters

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

"Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.
It was Good Friday and the stars were just starting to dissolve into the dawn. As I drove, I stroked the scar on my chest, by habit. My eyes were heavy and my vision unfocused, not surprising given that I’d spent the night hunched over a mirror snorting away the bars of white powder that kept my face trapped in the glass. I believed I was keening my reflexes. I was wrong."

this is the first chapter from the book which kept me hooked all the way till the end. the book is special in the sense that I've never read any love novels before (love novels are just not my "thing").. but The Gargoyle is indeed a different kind of love novel which transcend boundaries dictated by the usual writing style.. man meet woman, fall in love, issues arises.. bla bla bla.. boring... but not so with The Gargoyle..

main characters are the narrator and Marianne Engel.. the rest are supporting characters which spices up the flow of the story... its about a man who was badly burnt in a car accident being nursed to health by an eccentric woman who claimed to be his lover during the medieval era... turn the pages as you read and you'll be able to savour the intricacies of their relationship and be amazed by the sheer determination of their believe in love and perhaps God too.. the beauty of this novel is the ability of the author to present multiple facets of the narrator and Marianne in totally different perspective but still in line with the flow of the story line...

in my opinion, the front parts were fast moving and page turning but towards the end, it gets a bit boring especially when he recovers from his drug addiction... it should be noted that this novel has sad ending.. so, for those looking for happy ending kind of book, please buy this book with caution :-)

Andrew Davidson managed to pull the reader by putting cliff-hangers on every end of the chapter, thus, readers (myself included) will be tempted to read more in order to link the whole story up...

i would highly recommend this book to those who're looking for a different kind of reading experience.

Note: Look for the initial print because the edges of the page are stained black. a lot of people commented (when i read the book) that it has really cool cover and quirky coloured edges; look at the scanned layout of the book and you'll be amazed :-)

Personal rating: 9 out of 10 (recommended buy)

Cons:

1) Slightly boring end part

2) sad ending

Pros:

1) Cool cover, quirky edge colour

2) different kind of love novel

3) multi-faceted characters

4) appropriate cliff-hangers on every end of chapters

Fruit Enzyme

well, it has been some time since i last penned something in this blog. took quite a number of photos with "intention" to write something but didnt materialise as usual...
BUT..i have found something of interest (besides sleeping and reading anyway) to do..
basically i'm trying out with a new fad sweeping across the nation as of now... i'm making my own fruit enzyme... :-)

took the recipe out from the net and compared with a few forwarded emails on the recipe.. and made my own assumption on the mix ratio etc etc... to cut the crap, here are the recipe...

12pcs of green apples

5pcs of lemons
one packet of organic brown sugar

clean knife, sterilised and air dried glass jar

alot of patience... :-P

1) clean the apples, lemons and let it air dry..

2) cut the apples into pieces and arrange it in the jar properly

3) cover it with a layer of brown sugar

4) remove the lemon skin and cut it into pieces as well

5) arrange on top of the apples and cover it with a layer of brown sugar

6) repeat item 1 ~ 5 until the jar is 80% full...

truth to be told, by the time i covered the 80%, my fingers are as wrinkly as old lady due to acidity in lemon juices..

well, attached are the snapshots taken immediately after i've covered the lid on the jar...

tentative date for initial taste test will be on 1st May 2009..

so until then, i will keep you all posted on the status of the enzyme.. hope it works, else there goes my initial investment and enthusiasm :-P