Weekend Reading – Trains, Dragons and an Escape

Aww shucks, weekend’s almost over! It was semi-exciting (read: shopping-free L), but I did manage to catch up on some reading.

I had ordered some books through Flipkart, and received them over the weekend (that doesn’t count as shopping, does it?)

1. Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly

Plot: This is one of Connelly’s many Harry Bosch novels. Detective Bosch gets involved in a murder, which seems to get murkier as he delves deeper into it. Soon, he finds himself in the midst of the dangerous Chinese triads and the murder investigation transfoms into a thrilling chase across the Pacific to save the one thing he values the most in his life.

Review: I have liked other Bosch novels better, but this is quite good too. Though it starts off a bit lazily, the pace soon picks up and you start feeling Bosch’s tension. A good travel read.

Mr. Tiger’s a big fan of Connelly and he’s the one who actually ordered this book. His collection of Connelly’s is fast growing:

(Pssstttt…….Can you spot my shopaholic books on the side?)

2. Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape by (who else) Gordon Ramsay

This book consists of 100 of Ramsay’s favorite recipes from India. It starts with an introduction where he explains how he got interested in Indian food and about his travels across India. He also includes a glossary of common Indian ingredients.

The recipes are surprisingly simple and easy to follow; I say ‘surprisingly’ because this is Ramsay, and I was expecting complicated dishes with even more complicated instructions, but this book is perfect in that sense. Nothing overwhelming.

However, the best part of the book is the photography. The photos are simply breathtaking, ordinary people and roads in India never looked so good (of course, the food looks sumptuous too, but then you already guessed that, right? ;-))

3. Chugga Chugga Choo Choo – Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk (illustrations)

Ok, this is actually a kiddie book, ordered for the Cub. Just thought it would be fun to review it here J.

It’s a board book about a child’s train (again, I’m sure you guessed that from the title J) which chugs along amidst his other toys. The train goes over and under, through and in between. The text pleasantly rhymes and makes this a great read-aloud book.

The illustrations also deserve a special mention.

I have to say that I am really, really happy with Flipkart. They give you regular updates, send you the books ahead of time, and have many options for payment. They even send you these funky little bookmarks with every book:

So there, my first book review for the blog! Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?