Wednesday, 30 January 2013

The Tamarind Trilogy!

A Review From the Desk (or sofa) of AJ

For those non-smart people out there, trilogy means a series of 3 books. Just a while ago, in my last summer vacation I went for a sightseeing vacation with my family to different parts of Europe. Even though the holiday was packed with fun and enjoyment, going from one part of a country to the other on a long train ride is bound to get monotonous. And it got worse- I forgot to take any books or board games or nice gadgets to pass the time. So I decided that at my next stop, I would get SOMETHING. So I went to a book store in the closest mall, and went to the small English section among all the French books (which I couldn't understand much of), and picked up the most colorful one on the shelf, labelled in gold and black calligraphy 'The Lost Island of Tamarind'. My first thought: I had never heard of it before. My second thought: Not many options here, just take it to the check out counter! So I did. And believe me, what a huge Nadia Aguiar (the author) fan I've become since then. 

The book was about 3 children, Maya, Simon, and Penny, who lived on a boat, the Pamela Jane, with their amazingly amicable parents who were marine biologists. One day the youngsters were separated from them in a storm and landed on a mysterious island known to the inhabitants as Tamarind. The children must go on an exhilarating adventure to save Tamarind from the wars that were to destroy it, and bring peace once and for all. The 2nd book in the trilogy, 'Secrets of Tamarind', is about how after the kids settle on Bermuda with their friend Helix, find out their precious island, for which so many scary and joyful memories were attached to is in danger; and now they are urged by their will to go back and help the Tamarinders. And her 3rd book (have you realized I've said 3 a lot today?) is still yet to come out, and I'm going to be kept on my toes until I'm able to read it!

 My Critic Comments: The first book is definitely surprising, for one that isn't too famous, and is one of those 'deserving but unnoticed' books despite its loud and bold colors and text. I mean, it's super hard to find it in most bookshops, and you usually have to look online. It has maybe a few hundred readers, which does not suffice the story ideas and quality of writing. But being a critic, I have to point out SOME flaws. The problem with the 2nd book is that even though the concept was brilliant, the output climax wasn't as fast and gripping as it's former. I'm expecting the last of the trilogy to be as good, if not better than the first. 

I hope that this summary and review inspired you to go to your nearest library and check out this wonderful tale. It truly is great, and I admit, even though this post was pretty long and boring, it's worth it. And I don't care if you're not a bookworm. You still have to read it! Or else... you're an APPLE! If you realized that was an Annoying Orange reference, you are awesome. Yup. 



Sunday, 27 January 2013

My First Blog!

Okay, so today is the day I'm starting my first blog. 

Unlike a smart person, who would start it right after New Year as their resolution, I've started now, when February is already approaching. But I've got to say, 2013 is going better than I planned. After the fear that the "Mayan End of Days" would come out to be true passed, I realized a few things. First of all, I was being a moron to believe that the world could end because of prediction by some ancient civilization, which wasn't even a proper prediction. (Because if the Mayans were so good at predicting, they'd still be around!) And second of all, the fact that we could have actually just KICKED THE BUCKET like that made me realize that we all need to relax and enjoy our lives a bit more. 


Speaking of enjoying, my class went for a little excursion recently in which we went trekking up a tall mountain full of dirt and plants and got to enjoy a simply heart-stirring view. Puffs of mist hanging over a glistening, crystal clear lake, splashing in icy cold waterfalls, a blazing fire to stop the chills, the friendliest German Shepherd in the world and his buddy, the trip was just magnificent.


So that's it for my first blog. On AJ Bloggin, I'll be discussing books and movies that I get to experience, make reviews (what I'm best at) and talk about the boons and banes of the latest craze. For example, social networking. It is one thing that hasn't even slightly decreased in the new year. Everybody is either on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+! But 2012 has had many cases in which social networking has taken LIVES, cyber-bullying can end up that bad. So what do you think? Safety or connecting with friends? Should we have social networking in as much of an extent as we have it today? 

But seriously, my 'critic-like' comments are to die for (or die laughing at).


So a happy 2013 to you all! Pretty late to say so, but it won't harm me if I do, right? So there.