Last Sunday, I was channel surfing, when suddenly I saw Steffi Graf playing in Wimbledon centre court. I thought that it was a replay of one of the matches which Graf had won in old times. But on the top right corner of the screen there was the word ‘Live‘. I was quite surprised. Because it has been 10 years since Steffi Graf retired. I remembered that time. She won the French open that year and reached the Wimbledon final and some of us, who had been following Graf’s career, since she made her debut as a teenager, were hoping that she would win Wimbledon too and continue to play and go on and break Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slams. But, unfortunately, she lost in the Wimbledon final to Lindsay Davenport and immediately announced her retirement. I don’t remember her ranking at that time, but she was still good enough to beat anyone else in the tennis circuit. So I was wondering what Steffi was doing on Wimbledon centre court, 10 years after she retired, and that too, at an odd time of the year (Wimbledon is held June / July). (more…)
Archive for May, 2009
Steffi and Agassi on Wimbledon Centre Court
Posted in Musings on May 25, 2009| 2 Comments »
Book Review No.12 – Coraline by Neil Gaiman and P.Craig Russell (graphic novel)
Posted in Book Review on May 3, 2009| 3 Comments »
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (author) and P.Craig Russell (adapter and illustrator) – (graphic novel)
How I discovered the book
One of my friends who inducted me into graphic novels introduced me to Neil Gaiman’s ‘Sandman’. Since then I have read a few episodes of ‘Sandman’ but haven’t been able to read the whole series from the beginning to the end. Later one of my new friends, who is a Neil Gaiman connoisseur herself, introduced me to ‘Coraline’ and ‘The Graveyard book’. I hadn’t heard of them before. The titles looked quite interesting and so I had put them on my reading list. When I went to the bookshop sometime back, I found that the graphic novel version of ‘Coraline’ was available and I was tempted to get it. When a book is first published as a novel and then adapted as a graphic novel, I try to read the novel version first and if I like it, I try reading the graphic novel version. In the case of ‘Coraline’ the graphic novel was very appealing. So I got both the novel version and the graphic novel version out of the bookshelf and compared them. When I read through the first pages of both, I found that every line was there in both. But I knew that later in the story this will change and the graphic novel version would have abbreviated some of the descriptions and events in the novel version. So I was in two minds – whether to get the novel version or not. Finally after a lot of thinking, I decided to get the graphic novel version, because I couldn’t resist it. I finished reading it recently, and here is the review. (more…)
Book Review No.11 – This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M.Homes
Posted in Book Review on May 2, 2009| 2 Comments »
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M.Homes
How I discovered the book
I was browsing through some of the books in the humour section in the bookshop, when I saw a book called ‘This Book Will Save Your Life’ by A.M.Homes. The title looked interesting and when I read the summary of the story on the back cover, I found it quite interesting. I also found the author’s name quite interesting – with no indication of what is her first name. The book was published by Granta books. I have read other books published by Granta books, and have liked them all. So I thought I will get this book and read it. I finished reading it sometime back. Here is the review. (more…)
Book Review No. 10 – Book Lover by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack
Posted in Book Review on May 2, 2009| 3 Comments »
Book Lover by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack
How I discovered the book
I have always liked novels which are based on books, because such novels are filled with authors and readers and mysteries about them. So, when I saw this book called ‘Book Lover’ in the bookshop sometime back, I read the blurb in the back and I liked the story. So I got it and kept it on my shelf. I was in the mood for some light reading recently, and so I took this book down from the bookshelf. I finished reading it sometime back. Here is the review. (more…)
Book Review No. 9 – Short stories by Leo Tolstoy
Posted in Book Review on May 2, 2009| 2 Comments »
Short Stories by Leo Tolstoy
How I discovered the book
My Russian teacher lent me a book which had some of the short stories of Leo Tolstoy. I have read only a few of the works of Leo Tolstoy before and have liked what I had read. I have planned to read ‘War and Peace’ later this year after getting inspired by one of my friends. I thought I will read the short stories first, before getting into ‘War and Peace’. I finished reading the book yesterday and here is the review. (more…)
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