Title: Lady Sophia’s Rescue
Author: Cheryl Bolen
Paperback: 20,000 words
Publisher: Self-pub Kindle (Aug. 22th 2011)
Genre: Historical Regency Romance
Read: eBook
Stars: ***/5
Summary: (GoodReads)
As Lady Sophia passes through the gates of her new bridegroom’s country estate and he begins to whisper in her ear the delights that await her in his bed, Lady Sophia realizes she has made a most dreadful mistake. There’s only one thing to do. She must bolt.

The bride-on-the-run is rescued by the exceedingly handsome William Birmingham who thinks she’s a woman named Isadore, and though he’s the richest man in England, she mistakes him for a common (but well-to-do) criminal. Since she’d rather be dead than wed to her wretched bridegroom, Sophia pretends to be Isadore and take her chances with the provocative Mr. Birmingham. But how could she have known that her ruse would bring the gallant Mr. Birmingham into such peril from the wicked man she married? And how could she have known her enigmatic rescuer would ignite passions she never knew she possessed?

My Review:

Lady Sophia’s Rescue is a nice feel-good read. My only complaint is that its too short. Yes, I know it is a novella but I wish Bolen had sketched out the story more. It could definitely have been a full-fledged book.

I really liked the characters but again they could have been sketched out more. I would have liked to know each of them better. Especially Mr. Birmingham – he must have so many adventures to recount. And the villain Mr. Finkel – he seemed to give up so easily, I would rather he had put up a bit of a fight.

The story has a sense of adventure that is fun as you read but the end leaves you with a lot of loose strings and unanswered questions. I would have liked to know more about the scandal involving Lady Sophia’s sister and the yarn about the gold bullion would have made for excellent reading. I so was looking forward to the real Isadora’s entry.

Aside: The book cover could definitely have been better. Cutting off the heroine’s head at the top of the cover just seems gruesome and odd.

On the whole I enjoyed reading the novella and look forward to more books from Cheryl Bolen.

Title: Steve Jobs
Author: Walter Isaacson
Paperback: 630 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Oct. 24th 2011)
Genre: Biography
Read: eBook
Stars: *****/5
Summary: (GoodReads)
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years–as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues–Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.

My Review:

I’ve just finished reading Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson and I’m blown away by Jobs genius.

I have always been a staunch supporter of the open system. I’ve been a Windows used most of my life and when not Windows I was using Linux and Suse. I’ve been against Apple’s proprietary principle always but the book got me to see things from a different angle.

Before I had read the book I had seen and used some Apple products. A friend owned a Mac, hubby owns an iPad 2 which I enjoy using and the ease of use on it blows me away. I hardly have to ask for help. And now, I own a Mac Book Air and I’m unlearning Windows and finding that it’s not so difficult to learn to use a Mac.

Until I read the book I looked at Apple’s products as “products”. But Jobs doesn’t see Apple or its products that way. To him, each of them is a work of art, an ode to perfection. He saw that not everyone likes to tinker, some of us like it clean and simple.

Issacson has done a good job of showing us what Steve Jobs was like. A man with a lot of quirks that were painful but also a sheer genius who saw what no one else did. It amazes me how he knew what we wanted before we did so intuitively.

The book says so much about Jobs and Apple but it also walks you down the history of computers and gives a deeper understanding of where we came from and where we at today.

I haven’t switched to the closed camp after the book but I definitely take more pride in the Mac I have. After all its not just a computer, it’s a work of art!

The new Facebook Timeline for Pages goes live and becomes mandatory today. The New Timeline not only makes your business page on Facebook look different but also changes some of the ways you were using your page for marketing.

There is so much that has been shared across blogs about Facebook Timeline for Pages that writing on the topic seems to cover nothing new. Here are a few blog posts you should check out for you Facebook Page.

Learn About Facebook Pages

Facebook Cheat Sheet: Sizes and Dimensions

Facebook Timeline for Business Pages – 21 Key Points To Know by Mari Smith

Facebook Timeline for Pages – Frequently Asked Questions by Tim Ware on the HyperArts Blog

7 New Facebook Changes Impacting Businesses by Andrea Vahl on Social Media Examiner

The Impact of Facebook Timeline for Brands [Study] by Simply Measured

Eleven Ways Facebook Page Timelines Change Your Content Strategy by John Haydon on Social Media Today

Did Facebook’s Timeline take you by surprise? Was you page updated and ready for Timeline? Are you using all the new features? And most importantly do you like the timeline for Pages?

Continuing on our Oscar run, we watched three more; my favourite – Hugo!!

Hugo
*****/5
This one’s just amazing. It blew my mind and I saw it in 2d. Can’t wait to see it in 3d. The characters are sketched very well, there’s a balance of positive and negative in each character. They all seem real and believable and loveable.
The movie is about Georges Méliès, a man who saw dreams that were way ahead of his time and made movies of them. A lot of the movie is based on the true life of Georges Méliès.
I’ve seen a few Scorsese’s movies but this one just takes it to an all-new level!

Midnight in Paris
****/5
This movie I’d like to watch again. There’s a lot of little things I’m sure I missed out on. The story is about a writer Gil who goes back in time to Paris in the 1920’s. Here he meets the likes of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Picasso… The movie goes to and fro from the present to the 1920’s as Gil makes sense of his life. It was nice to see Paris through the late 1800’s to present day…






The Descendants
***/5
I needed to watch this movie again since I slept half away through it the first time. The sleep didn’t have to do with the movie though just a tired me.
On second watch – It was an OK movie but it did bring out interesting situations and people dealing with it. The equation between father and two daughters as they to know each other is well done. An OK movie.

We’re just done with the Oscar’s so we’ve been trying to catch up with some of them. Here’s the one’s we’ve seen until now.

The Artist
*****/5
In the time of digital hi-fi si-fi ‘The Artist’ stands out. A black and white silent movie it steals the show. The story is about the relationship between a top silent actor and a up-coming actress. The movie is set in the time when cinema was transitioning to talkies and deals with how life changed for artists back then. It’s a beautiful movie and the actors have done an amazing job. I which actors today would emote as much as this. This is a MUST WATCH movie!!!

Moneyball
****/5
I’ve played baseball in school as a kid but what can I say, I’m Indian so I never really understood the craze for the game in America. And then I watched Moneyball. The movie brings new perspective to the game. I was hook though the movie wondering what Beane would do. Worth watching!

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
***/5
For some very weird reason that I can’t recollect right now we decided to watch this old 1964 Oscar movie. It’s a funny movie no doubt but we gave up half the way. At some point it felt like a drag. Have you watched it? What did you think of it?