Tag Tuesday – 1

Here we go…our first ever Tag Tuesday question comes from one of the first posts on this blog, a reader’s comment on that post, to be specific -

I think everyone has a unique formula of book selection. Though the answer to questions like “what do you read?”, ranges from “everything” to “only mystery”; everyone consciously or sub-consciously has a selection criteria. In the beginning one may start by reading literally everything but after a period of time everybody develops a taste. On the other hand, it has also been observed that the essence of one’s reading percolates into one’s personality. It will be very educative if you ladies can write about what drives you to select a book for reading and how do you think it affects your point of view, knowledge, attitude; how you evolved as as reader.

So let’s take a part of that comment as this week’s question -

How do you as a reader decide which book to read? – Author? Reviews / Recommendations? Instinct? Genre? – What is your selection criteria?

We would love to read your response, so please do leave a comment and get the dialogue started.

Tag Tuesday Series

Hello dear readers,

How are you?

After months of writing reviews and Front Cover Friday posts, the BWB team has decided to add to our bundle a series called Tag Tuesdays. We got the idea for the series from Booking Through Thursday site, and we want to do something similar – post a question on Tuesdays here on BWB and get a dialogue started. Your support / comment is one of the factors that motivates us, so please do join us on this new venture.

Watch this space for the first ever Tag Tuesday question tomorrow.

Thank you,
Team BWB.

P.S: As always, you are welcome to submit a question for this series (or FCF post, or a review) through a comment on a post, or email. Your suggestions / inputs are very much valued.

Every Last One

…by Anna Quindlen.In this novel, Mary Beth Latham, a mother of three, narrates the story of her life. Ruby, her first born, is a teenager getting ready to go to college next year; Alex and Max, her twins, are nothing like each other; Glen, her husband, is a physician – the story revolves around this family. Mary Beth describes her everyday life as she deals Max’s depression and Ruby’s break up with her boyfriend Kiernan. Her normal life turns upside down after a tragedy hits home and she’s forced to face unbearable loss. What happens and how she deals with it is told in the rest of the book.

The first half the book was rather slow for me – the author goes on to build the characters and set the background for the tragedy that is about to take place – while it is necessary for what is to follow, I found it rather dragging in parts. Once the awful event happens, it’s a page turner – the pain and the grief is written so very well that it’ll bring out tears at times. The heartache that the narrator goes through is so upsetting; it provokes sympathy. It’s depressing, yes…but there’s something so compelling about that sorrow that it engages the reader with every word.

The writing style is absolutely amazing. It was the one of the reasons I got through the first half of the book…if not for that beautiful flow in prose, I might have given up. I would highly recommend the author, if not the book.

Overall, the second half sure has the potential to make the reader empathize with the narrator’s character – so, I would recommend it if you won’t be too bothered with the slow pace of the first half.

My rating: 3*.

*for the rating scale, click here.