Just had the most boring lunch ever..

...ever been so bored you could shed tears ?? Yep, happened to me today. Met up with a couple of insular academically inclined acquaintances. Of the 90 mins or so, 85 mins were spent with me listening to them talk about the structure and semantics of south asian diasporic literature in the 20th century, followed by a listing of the top 5 desi uni lecturers in cultural anthropology in north America...

...just wanna go home now and get drunk Devdas style. Man, after my experience today, I'm glad I have some Punjabi truck driver friends to do some serious peg-shegging with..just a shame they're probably all out somewhere in the United Snakes of America battling snow and ice on their way back...or maybe they're having a glassy or two at some rest stop.. :)

Review: Book of Dead Days

Recently finished reading this dark gothic fantasy novel by British writer Marcus Sedgwick.

The summary of the book starts off as:

"The days between Christmas and New Year's Eve are the dead days, when spirits roam and magic shifts restlessly beneath the surface of our lives. A lot can happen in the dead days."

Set in a fictitious city in winter, which seems forever beset by frozen snow, a magician seeks to escape a contract he made with the Devil years ago in return for his life. He enlists the help of a couple of young beggar children to seek a legendary book which apparently has supernatural powers to ward off the demonic spirits pursuing him.

The book is well written and very atmospheric. You can almost feel the bone chilling sub-zero temperatures and the crunch of the snow as they nervously explore various graveyards and deserted buildings in search of the Book.

I give it 8 out of 10.