Right Ho!

Just finished - "Right Ho, Jeeves".. audio book and the actual book in parts owing to the lack of time to read the full textual book. Loveeeee, Loveeee, LOVED it. Hilarious to the very end.
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (P.G. Wodehouse) is one of those authors whose stories don't have much of a plot. They seem the quintessential masala that's seemingly familiar to many a Desi and Pardesi alike. But what's amaazingg about his books is his choice of words.. the language he uses. His typical Brit wit and humor can really make your day, while actually improving your vocab.
The stories of the wild combination of Bertie Wooster and the perfect gentleman's gentleman Jeeves make a really good read. If you are new to Wodehouse, then this might be a great place to start.

Thank God for Project Gutenberg, which has a great collection of Wodehouse's works.. and Audio books!

Since my last post, my opinion about audio books has changed a lot! They give you perfectt company when you are working on editing figures for a paper, drawing stuff, compiling data, driving alone on a long drive, cooking.. or even when you need someone to read out to you at night.. like those perfect bed time stories for kids! It's a great experience. And for those that don't like to read or don't really read books, audio books work great. Plug in your ipod and listen on. Right Ho, then!

PS: This book goes in my list of favourites. Lovedd it so very much :)

The Audio Book Experience

Listening to my first audio book - "Eat, Pray, Love" it is. Reallyy liking the book and the author's voice so far. It is quite an amazing experience to listen to someone read out to you... especially when its the author herself.
But I must say, it's definitely not easy to multi-task while doing this. I usually listen to music while I work.. but no, listening to an audio book is not the same. It's FAR more absorbing than music.. mebbe bcos I'm listening to it for the first time. You can't just hear the book.. u've got to listen.. and well that wont go very well when you are "working"!

Am done with 6 chapters of the book. I think I'll enjoy the book till the end. Have heard mixed reviews though.. some say the ending of the book is not even half as good as the beginning.. Let's see.

I honestly think "READING" the book is better.. (although I'm enjoying this first time audio book experience). Mebbe bcos while you read, you let your OWN imagination emote! You are not confined by another person's tone and voice, in the emotions you associate with the words. Mebbe im not describing it well enough.. It's a different feeling altogether to visually be able to read something and imagine it.
But on the other hand, listening to the book does have its advantages.. with practice perhaps I could start multi-tasking while listening to it... Also, listening is a lot faster than reading, I think. Ya ofcourse, needless to say, the pace at which I read books (amidst all the work that I have to get done) is pretty dismal..

I really hope I can get done with this book soon. I wanna watch the movie this weekend. Stars my fav heroine.

PS: Justt listened to the book on the way back home! Awesome combination..a good audio book and a nice drive on the road! Woww :)

Ahaaa!

Finally! The AHA (American Heart Association- Scientific Sessions) results are out. AHA's Scientific Sessions is the annual International convention for cardiologists and cardiovascular Researchers. This year all 3 of my abstracts have been accepted. I'm happy about that. A good improvement over the years..
AHA 2008 - 1 oral
AHA 2009 - 2 posters
AHA 2010 - 3 accepted: 2 oral and 1 poster

November in Chicago! It's gonna be aweffullyy cold.. not looking forward to that. But still, its Chicago! :)

My views on a Review

Just finished writing my first ever review paper for a journal. Oh God.. I never realized writing a review will be soooo very difficult. It's SO MUCH MORE harder than writing your own research paper.
When you write a review, you have to read pretty much all the papers and be absolutely up-to-date with the literature. Usually if you read just one paper in a particular topic, then you are very likely to paraphrase/plagiarize what's written in it. And since that's a STRICTT NO-NO and considered highly unethical by the scientific community, you must read multiple papers in the topic just to broaden your perspective and to give you a clear understanding of the subject and matter. And then when you sit down to write after reading everything, you are so lost and confused that you need to start re-reading again! I had this problem a LOT. So for several days, I was glued to my laptop for hours at a stretch. And at the end of 4-5 hours of paper chasing and reading (and of course multi-tasking off and on.. ahem!)..I could finally write for less than a half hour before packing up for the day!
I always thought writing your own research paper was harder, especially when you have to make sense and beautifully package all those years of good and junk data! But this experience proved me wrong.
I'm satisfied with the outcome... mebbe because I haven't heard the prof's verdict and seen those red marks yet!! but still, a pretty tuff first-time experience its been for me!

LibraryThing

Found this pretty cool site called LibraryThing. Easily lets me add books and also create widgets. So now I have these neat looking widgets to show off the books I have read/have been reading! :D It's really cool.. instead of a boring list that I have.. somewhere at the end of this page!
I don't quite know the difference between Shelfari and this one, but I found this more easier to use (mebbe because I haven't really spent so much time in Shelfari).

Created a new widget called Fantasy Junkie as a toast to my love for the genre. I realized more than 80% of the books I've read are all about wizards, sorcerers, witches, vampires, knights, dragons and amazing fictitious lands. It's not that I hate realism.. but fantasy for some reason keeps me more glued in. I find it fun to read. Keeps my imagination alive and kicking!

Want to read more once I finish up with all this dreadful writing, which I know I should be getting back to.. Write away!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Just got done with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Everybody seems to be reading it. You board a flight or take a subway, you'll find atleast 2-3 people reading this book or another in the "Millenium series" by the late Stieg Larsson.

My 2 cents: A very dark book that deals with sex related crimes in Sweden. I found the first 300 pages of the book a little too long and too much of a drag, except for the characterizations of Ms. Lisbeth Salander. Just when you think you can imagine her character, the author brings in new twists to her attitude towards life and people, which keeps the first half of the book a little interesting. But the last 300 pages is really fast paced. Totally "unputdownable". Reminds you a lott of "The silence of the lambs"...

Ok.. I'm not gonna say more, because I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't read it. But if you don't mind a dark book, then you can try reading it. I must warn you that in parts it is really bewildering and does punch your perplexes!!

I initially wanted to read the other 2 books in the series as soon as I finished this, but now I think I'll take a break after this one.. get back to fantasy a little bit.. or read a witty Wodehouse and then get back to the others in this series.
And so the next one in my book-shelf is "Wicked: Witch and curse" by Nancy Holder.