India, Birthdays, and Lots of Books

I haven’t posted on here in a while, having been in India and very busy, but now I’m back! It certainly seems like a lot longer than a few weeks – I feel like I’ve done so much. So, here’s a quick catch up of what I’ve been up to.



India 

India was quite a sudden and unexpected opportunity – my mother was going to Bangalore (Bengaluru), on business, and she asked if I would like to come too. India was amazing, very hot, beautiful, and very busy. We saw some interesting things, and visited Mysore during the festival of Dasara, which was absolutely spectacular! My photos of the trip are on Flickr, here.

Turbulence

During the plane journey I read a book called Turbulence, by Indian writer Samit Basu. In the story, the passengers on a flight from London to India develop superpowers, so it seemed like quite appropriate flight-reading material. No superpowers to report yet, unfortunately, but I really enjoyed the book, and I’ve reviewed it for Fantasy Faction. You can find the review here.
  
Birthday

It was my birthday on 21st October, which I celebrated in India. Unfortunately, I was a bit ill on the day, and so I couldn’t stuff myself full of all the yummy Indian desserts that had been my plan (my favourites were a green ball with some kind of sugar paste inside that I never did find out what it was called, imarti, spiced pumpkin, and lychee soufflé – so good!). On the plus side, I did get a lot of reading done.

I celebrated a second birthday with my husband when I got home. Presents included Darksiders II and some packs of Magic: The Gathering cards. Wonderfully geeky birthday!

Halloween

I got back from India just in time for Halloween. Didn’t have a lot of time for preparation, but John did manage to carve this particularly terrifying pumpkin.



 Upcoming Reviews

So now that I’m back, what reviews do I have lined up for the blog? Coming up, reviews of:

      Sharps, by K. J. Parker

      The Deadly Desperados, by Caroline Lawrence

      Hollow Pike, by James Dawson

      Railsea, by China Mieville

      The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

      Tales of the Nun and Dragon (anthology, ed. Adele Wearing)

      Prince of Persia (film)

      The Avengers (film)

      Darksiders II (video game)