Aicha Amano

Oh, why do I want books that are impossible for me to buy?! I've struggled in vain to search for these books by Indu Sundaresan . Wag na lang kaya akong umasa?! Hahah. If you can get this book, please by all means get it and send me a line or two. I'd probably die in frustration in envy :D Here is why I would love to get my hands on The Twentieth Wif e and The Feast of Roses : Taken from AllReaders.com . " The Twentieth Wife tells the story of India's controversial Empress, Mehrunissa, who later became known as Empress Nur Jahan of the Mughal Empire. She was the daughter of refugees fleeing Persia for India. She grew up in Emperor Akbar's palace grounds because of her father's position in the royal court. At the age of eight she sees Prince Salim and decides she will one day marry him. Salim and Mehrunnisa fall in love over the years, but are unable to marry because of Mehrunnisa's bethrothal to a soldier. Despite time and distance their passion for one...

The story begins with four friends-- Masako the seemingly level-headed 'leader' of the group , Yoshie the long-suffering and self-sacrificing mother of two, Kuniko the vain who spends more money than she can ever afford in a lifetime (and the least sharpest of the group), and Yayoi the timid--- working the graveyard shift for a Bento -making factory. Each of the women in the book has a story to tell. Their lives are trapped in hard circumstances and dreary daily routine alternating between work and home. Each one of them has a hopeless, dysfunctional relationship with either their husbands, their family, or themselves. 43-year-old Masako 's cool demeanor and hardened heart hides her depressing relationship with her son who hasn't opened his mouth to speak since three years ago. Masako's husband, driven with his own work has simply ignored all other inhabitants in the household and sleeps apart from his estranged wife. At 50, Yoshie is the pillar that holds her fa...

The King's Daughter by Sandra Worth Book Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth of York trusts that her beloved father’s dying wish has left England in the hands of a just and deserving ruler. But upon the rise of Richard of Gloucester, Elizabeth’s family experiences one devastation after another: her late father is exposed as a bigamist, she and her siblings are branded bastards, and her brothers are taken into the new king’s custody, then reportedly killed. But one fateful night leads Elizabeth to question her prejudices. Through the eyes of Richard’s ailing queen she sees a man worthy of respect and undying adoration. His dedication to his people inspires a forbidden love and ultimately gives her the courage to accept her destiny, marry Henry Tudor, and become Queen. While her soul may secretly belong to another, her heart belongs to England. If you happen to have a copy that you want to sell... :3 I'm looking out for it.

Finally, I have a bit of free time in the evenings (6pm - 9pm) to do the things I normally would not have the luxury to. Now I can go out and have fun before the mall closes, watch some DVDs in the bedroom before the kids go to sleep, and read this nosebleed-inducing book which is around 5 or 6 inches thick? ; ; I got this book late last year from Bookmooch and until now I haven't the chance to read it yet. It's a daunting challenge to finish the book, it's the thickest piece of paperback novel I will have to finish. I'm well used to thick books, as I have thicker books in my shelf like Irish Myths, Legends and Folklore by W.B. Yeats , The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco , Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pesl and so on but it's understandable because they're hardbound and the paperback version of those are just the normal size you'd expect. But man, A Suitable Boy is frightening. My nephew, Hisashi, asked innocently how many ye...

"Kabul Beauty School " is the story of Deborah Rodriguez and her journey as a volunteer worker in Afghanistan. She has her own personal reasons why she chose to focus her energies into helping the women of Kabul uplift and help themselves. Deborah, or "Debbie" as she is fondly called by those who know her, realize that there are rigid rules and conduct guide that Afghans place on their tradition-bound women. The cultural gap seems too wide to cross and sometimes both the Afghan women and Debbie have a hard time in all their communications, and it's not just a problem of language, too. Back in America, Debbie was an expert beautician. But little did she know that fate had another plan for her other than being part of a volunteer U.S. medical team. She uses her expertise and mastery of the beauty industry to realize that she just might give the one of the most helpful service to all the women presently living in Afghanistan: a grand scheme to set up the Kabul Bea...

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is set in the early 1970's at the onset of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Universities have closed down, scholars were exiled or thrown in jail, and books, deemed dangerous, were confiscated and burned in city squares. Anti-intellectual ideas were at an all-time high and the regime had managed to overthrow modern thinking. Online history classes at online universities should be able to teach you more about the Chinese Cultural Revolution. This novel by Dai Sijie is a story about two city-bred and educated teenage boys, 18-year-old Luo and the 17-year-old unnamed narrator of the story. Both were sent to be "re-educated" in an extremely remote mountain village called Phoenix of the Sky. The rural community is made up of peasants, lowly farmers and merchants who were given the authority to teach and guide the boys away from bourgeois thinking. The two young men have noticed that the villager's ideas primarily based on the...

THIS JUST IN: I have found this magnificent piece for me in Booksale last night. When I looked up at the tall bookshelf I couldn't breathe and I choked. I got it and was supremely gloating about this beautiful, perfect book that I've always thought was way beyond my means to get. I love, love, love Pride and Prejudice. I adore to the fullest extent both the charming, clever Elizabeth Bennet and the most dashing and desirable Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. My Shelfari/Bookmooch wishlist consisted of: * An Assembly Such as This (borrowed from a friend) * Duty and Desire * These Three Remain * The Darcys & the Bingleys * Mr. Darcy's Daughters : A Novel * The Darcy Connection: A Novel * The Second Mrs. Darcy: A Novel * The Confessions of Fitzwilliam Darcy * Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife * Mrs. Darcys Dilemma * Two Shall Become One: Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy and now I can strike another book off with flourish! :D * The Confessions of Fitzwilliam Darcy I'm so excited to read my n...

AVALON.ph has been one of the very few online stores to cater to Pinoy bookworms and readers. It's been 10 years now and they want to party like it's 2009! For their 10th birthday bash, they're giving away a signed copy of Interworld by Neil Gaiman yours for the taking as long as you enter your favorite Neil Gaiman quotes from any of his published fiction, non-fiction, or comic books in their AVALON.ph blog comments section. This is divine. I've owned and loved Neil Gaiman's American Gods, Coraline, Stardust, Sandman: Book of Dreams and the elusive (and expensive!) Sandman: The Dream Hunters. So of course I'll enter this contest! My most memorable quote will be from Sandman: The Dream Hunters where the Buddhist Monk journeys into the realm of dreams, gets lost, and finally encounters a man fishing on a pond. “ I seek the King of All Night’s Dreaming ,” called the Monk. “ Am I going the right way ?” “ How can you not go to him? ” asked the first of the men, “ ...

My favorite quote: "I'm looking for selfishness. Perfect selfishness. Like, say I tell you I want to eat strawberry shortbread. And you stop everything you're doing and run out and buy it for me. And you come back out of breath and get down on your knees and hold this strawberry shortbread out to me. And I say I don't want it any more and throw it out of the window. That's what I 'm looking for." "I'm not sure that has anything to do with love," I said with some amazement. "It does," she said. "You just don't know it. There are times in a girl's life when things like that are incredibly important." "Things like throwing strawberry shortbread out of the window?" "Exactly. And when I do it, I want the man to apologize to me. "Now I see, Midori. What a fool I've been! I should have known that you would lose your desire for strawberry shortbread. I have all the intelligence and sensitivity of a ...