It Happened in Italy by Elizabeth Bettina

It happened in Italy. What happened in Italy? Italian people treated Jews nicely during the holocaust. That pretty much ends this book by Elizabeth Bettina. The moment you have understood this and appreciated it, which happens within first few pages, there is nothing more in the book to keep you hooked.

I was very excited to read this book because I wanted to know more about this piece of the history as it is a great tale of humanity. I am quite surprised of my ignorance of this wonderful story of how Italians saved so many lives by risking their own.  This book should have definitely been written and talked about so that world gets to know that there is always good amongst the evil. I am glad that I read this and could actually relate it to one of my own experience (When I was helped by a Muslim family during religious riots in India. I am a Hindu)

So as I said, this book should have been written. But it should have been written much more differently. While reading the book, I often kept feeling that I was reading someone’s blog about day-to-day happenings. It happened in Italy wastes a lot of time talking about operational parts of the story and thus leaves the reader high and dry when it comes to the actual story of holocaust.  Also, the ‘Story’ that is being shared through different people comes across as pretty much the same.

I must say that you will be thrilled to know that this all actually happened and is thus a wonderful book to read, if you can ignore the fact that it’s been written badly. Thanks to Thomas Nelson for publishing this book and spreading the word…Maybe we all just need to Give Peace A Chance…

Blackberry Storm 4.7.0.151 leaked – Review and Download Links

Woke up today morning to find out that some smart folks found a device software version upgrade (version 4.7.0.151) for Storm 9530 devices…Go here for all the details. I downloaded it and decided to take the chance.

Upgrade went smooth and all the applications and data got restored smoothly. I have not noticed any significant improvements apart from a bit of jazz. This version has introduced ‘transitions’ while opening or closing mailbox folders etc. To me that doesn’t add anything significant to the performance of the device. It is working as fast/slow as with .148.

Also, the transition from portrait to landscape seemed a bit (little) faster.

Apart from these two things, I have not noticed anything more significant. I will update this post in case I find something more useful.

Upgrade at your own risk. But in case you don’t care much about the version as long as your phone works then don’t try this.

Download links are:

MegaUpload - You can download from here or here or here or here or here or here – Of Course some other people have been kind enough to upload these. So the credit goes to them.

OR

You can download from the Carrier Site – Select 9500 and not 9530.

Blackberry Storm stuck in headset mode problem

Usually I do not get a lot of problems with my Blakcberry Storm, but recently I faced a problem when it got stuck in the headset mode. Problem started when I tried to pair my Strom with a bluetooth headset. I could do it successfully but even after disconnecting the headset, the phone would remain stuck in the headset mode.

It was quite frustrating to miss so many calls because of this problem. I tried a battery pull as well, but it did not work. I googled and found that others were also facing this issue. My research showed me that all these people were as clueless as I was and there is no specific solution.

Finally, something worked after many hit and trials

SOLUTION: Insert your headset (normal wired one that comes with device or any other headphones) into the jack and place a call. You will hear sound in the headset. Now pull the headset while the call is going on. It may not work at the first try but do it a few times. For me this worked and the phone finally returned to handset mode.

Now I am wondering if I should listen to music with my Storm or not.

Blackberry Storm .148 battery drain problem solved

Recently I upgraded my friend’s Blackberry Storm with the .148 upgrade and he started facing the problem of battery drain. With a full charge, the battery that lasted around 48 hours would now drain completely within a few hours only.  He was so frustrated that he wanted to revert back to the .75 version.

Having upgraded my storm too, I never faced any such issue and so this was quite weird. But then I do not have a lot of apps installed (Facebook, Gtalk, Mobipocket reader) on my device whereas he had Weatherbug, Poynt, Facebook, Gtalk, Virtual Voice Mail etc.

It seemed like some app was running in the background and causing the battery to drain. Although we couldn’t figure out for sure as to which one was the culprit but Weatherbug, Poynt and Virtual Voice Mail were the usual suspects. So we uninstalled them and bingo! the battery drain problem was solved! Now with a full charge the battery is giving the same run time as before. It seems that in his case Weatherbug was the main culprit.

Do try it and see if this works for you. I know it’s disheartening to be not able to use these apps but I believe then its a stop gap solution. Moreover, I personally prefer upgrading the device software rather than having apps.

Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl – Review

I was really looking forward to reading this book on a long international flight. It promised to be fast paced and thrilling and that’s what it turned out to be. Face of Betrayal is quite a gripping book and after reading a few pages and having identified with the characters, I wanted to keep reading till the end. The story is about a 17 year old girl, Katie, who on a Christmas break at home goes missing.

The story continues with three women, a reporter, a Federal Prosecutor and a FBI special agent, who keep adding pieces to the puzzle revolving Katie’s sudden disappearance.  An investigation that starts with theories of kidnapping or running away quickly turns into a murder investigation when Katie’s blog reveals her relationship with a Senator. Storyline is pretty fast paced and keeps one glued for more.

What I did not like about the book was intermittent short story lines that never added to the whole plot. I believe these were attempts by Author to establish the character of the three protagonists. Although for me, these were not required as they never made any sense when seen with the bigger picture of Katie’s story. As a reader, I did not care too much about the personalities of the protagonists who were not as impressive as the storyline itself. And they were tied to a proper end in themselves.

Also, this book kept me going with a curiosity to know what finally happened to Katie, but in the end I was a bit disappointed with the way the story folded. Author calls it a ‘Shocking and satisfying twist’ but I was seriously unimpressed.

There are too many subjects that Author has tried to deal with in this book – ranging from child molestation, teen sex, and domestic abuse. Sometimes I was confused as to what the book actually was about.

All in all, I was quite satisfied with the book. It could have been better but I don’t regret it at all. I will not call it a must read, but it’s a good read.

The Noticer – A book to be thought about

“Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective.” And this is what ‘The Noticer’ gives you. The Noticer is a compilation of phases of life that almost each individual goes through at some point in time. By creating characters around these phases, this book presents a different perspective of looking at things. The central character Jones, who I believe represents God, meets different people going through different phases of their life and are unhappy about different things. All these people are the brink of just losing it all when Jones comes into their lives and helps them see the unseen side of the picture.

I don’t like reading self help books, but this book is different. It’s like a friend who knows what you’re going through and helps you figure out your way. If you want to understand the book, you need to relate it to your life. When you do that, you realize why things happened in a certain way. The Noticer tells you how to recognize and nurture human relationships and how to understand the other people around you. It is plain psychology which most of us fail to see.

In my opinion, The Noticer should not be just read, it should be thought about.

Other info:

The Noticer Project is a worldwide movement to “notice” the five most influential people in your life! – http://www.thenoticerproject.com

Becoming a Book Reviewer

The idea of free books to read and free opinion to give sounded fun to me. So I decided to become a Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger. Its a simple idea. Thomas Nelson sends me a book, I read it and post a review on my blog and any one commercial website.

I am not sure how long I will do the reason why I am in is that it gives me a chance to read new authors without buying the book. It’s like a box of chocolate and I don’t know what I am going to get next.

To become a Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger – Go here