2023; Book 6: My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

Book 6: My Evil Mother

Author: Margaret Atwood (Canada) 🇨🇦

Genre: Short Story

Set in: Canada 🇨🇦

Page 11:

I certainly didn’t want any pointing going on; pointing was how you directed a spell. People used to get hanged for pointing back in the old days, my mother had told me—or else they were barbecued. Death by burning at the stake was very painful, she could testify to that. There were laws against pointing, once upon a time. If you pointed at a cow and it got sick, everyone knew you were neck-deep in the Black Arts.

Flag score:  🇨🇦 🇲🇽 🇬🇧 🇹🇿 🇺🇸 ☭🇷🇺 🇮🇳

#readingjourney2023 #amazonoriginals #margaretatwood #myevilmother #books #bookoholic

2023; Book 5: The Tiger Came to the Mountains by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Book 5: The Tiger Came to the Mountains

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexico) 🇲🇽

Genre: Children's books/Novella

Set in: Mexico 🇲🇽 

Page 12:

We did not know whether the world would ever return to normal. I think she feared the world had already ended, and I could see her growing harder every day. Iron and ice are difficult to embrace.

Flag score: 🇲🇽 🇬🇧 🇹🇿 🇺🇸 ☭🇷🇺 🇮🇳

#readingjourney2023 #amazonoriginals #mexico #silviamorenogarcia #booksontigers

Dinosaur fossils and a beautiful drive

It's good to be back on the road again, travelling out of a suitcase once in a while. Today was special, because I finally made it to Balasinor to see the Dinosaur Park and real fossils. The largest collection of dinosaur eggs in the world were found in Raiyoli near Balasinor in Kheda district and since 1981, geologists have been prospecting around here. The last time I came here, I was introduced to Nawabzadi Aaliya Babi, the 'Dinosaur Princess' and only the walls of the museum were built. Today, it was as if I had stepped into Jurassic Park. Part theme park, part museum, what I loved about it is that they've added a whole section about what paleontology really is. I thought there were people behind those desks but they were life-size models 😆 The 5D experience was quite enjoyable as well. Tickets are priced at Rs 170. What surprised us was the beautiful drive along the Narmada Main Canal from Panchmahal to Kheda. It's definitely one of the most picturesque drives in the country. The road is owned and managed by Sardar Sarovar Nigam Ltd.

Mandala

Our body has symmetry, our minds don't and so my mandalas are seldom symmetrical and usually made of mixed media. I usually avoid conversation about my own spiritual practice, but this comes close to meditation. #mandalaart #zentangles

2023; Book 4: Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Book 4: Paradise

Author: Abdulrazak Gurnah (UK) 🇬🇧

Genre: Fiction/Novel

Set in: Tanzania 🇹🇿

Page 116:

Perhaps they weren't asleep, Yusuf thought, merely lying in their own agitated silences.

Flag score:  🇬🇧  🇹🇿 🇺🇸 ☭🇷🇺 🇮🇳

#africa #eastafrica #tanzania #readingjourney2023 #books #bookoholic #abdulrazakgurnah #nobelprize #flagscore

2023; Book 3: Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers by Dav Pilkey

Book 3: Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers

Author: Dav Pilkey (USA) 🇺🇸

Genre: Comics/Children's Books

Set in: USA 🇺🇸

"You haven't seen the last of me!" Tippy yelled, as he closed the emergency hatch on the Robo-pants. 

Flag score: 🇺🇸 ☭🇷🇺 🇮🇳

#comics #captainunderpants #americancartoons #books #readingjourney23 #davpilkey

2023; Book 2: Selected Stories by Arkady Gaidar

Book 2: Selected Stories

Author: Arkady Gaidar (USSR/Russia) ☭🇷🇺

Genre: Children's Books

Set in: USSR/Russia ☭🇷🇺

Page 274:

A dream, of course, is not a spring and you cannot throw it away. But it can be blown away.

Flag score: ☭🇷🇺 🇮🇳

#ussr #sovietunion #russia #russianauthors #moscow #radugapublishers #arkadygaidar #childrensbooks #readingtheworld

Flashback 2002: A Poisonous Mistake

Flashback 2002: "We usually don't give Arsenic," the invigilator Prof Marzban told me. "It is Arsenic," I responded holding up the dirty-yellow precipitate in the test-tube. "If you get it wrong, you lose 20 marks," he told me. "If I get it right, you give me 20." He smiled. The results of the second year BSc #Chemistry practicals at St Xavier's College, Mumbai, came out after a month. I had scored 73/75, the highest ever since 1934, Dr Hoshang, the HOD told me. He urged me to change my stream from Life Sciences to Chemistry. I did not. But of all things that could save me, I had never dreamt Arsenic, one of the most devious poisons, would be the one. "We never give Arsenic, you know, not even for regular practicals. I don't know how you figured it," he said. "Well, I had got it during my practicals and I made the same mistake again and again believing it to be a failed test for Cadmium instead of a positive test for Arsenic," I told him. Mistakes help change the way you think 😁

#mumbai #chemistry #QualitativeAnalysis

2023; Book 1: The Great Train Journey by Ruskin Bond

Book 1: The Great Train Journey

Author: Ruskin Bond (India) 🇮🇳

Genre: Short stories

Set in: India 🇮🇳

Page 16:

I have lived to see Bombay become Mumbai, Calcutta become Kolkata, and Madras become Chennai. Times change, names change, and if Bond becomes Bonda I won’t object. Place-names may alter but people don’t, and in Mumbai I found that people were as friendly and good-natured as ever; perhaps even more than when I was last there twenty-five years ago.

Flag score: 🇮🇳

#books #ruskinbond #flagscore #readingjourney2023 #trains #india #indianrailways