Library loot and a comeback!

It has been ages since I have updated here. Lets just say, I had a lot going on in life that needed a whole lot of attention that I had to set the books aside for a bit. But I am back; I have been reading on and off, completed few books and didnt complete another few. But after the visit to a dear library yesterday, I think I have my mojo back and here is my library loot list --- 

the silence of splendor - Indu sundereshan

the weight of  heaven - thrity urmigar

The class - eric segal

What I have read in the past few months -

Maximum city - Suketu Mehta 

   This book literally made me laugh, cry and cringe for most of it. It was one of the most  truth-as-is books I have read in my life. I would recommend it to anyone from Bombay or anyone who wants to know about Bombay in its absolute realism.

Eat pray love - Liz ( that's how surreal she seems now )

   I finished this book as an audio book as I drove and did my running. May I say, its my second favorite to 'god of small things'. there was something so inspiring and free spirited about her flow of words and writing.. I was hooked. I am sure to read the book again and then a lengthy review, i Promise!

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

   My second fav Austen. S & S being the first. Was reading it for the umpteenth time and this time as an audio book again.. I am loving the whole audio book concept now. Lets me be with the words even when I am doing other things! You must give it a try. Makes exercising and cooking a lot of fun!

And a few more I never completed or got started.. So all that pending ones are going to a make my upcoming reviews and hopefully I am more regular.

Until the next review!

Embroideries

This is my first graphic novel of recent works. Having not read Satrapi's more popular Persopolis yet, I wasnt sure what to expect from this terse book. I had assumed embroideries would be in the lines of a quilt-club of women and I was almost right, except for having guessed 'Embroideries' completely wrong!

The setting is a tea-klatsch ; There is the redolence of tea brewing in the samovar, a gaggle of  intriguing women and the warm ambiance suited for unending talk. With the motto of "To speak behind others' backs is the ventilator of the heart" this strange clique presided by Marjane's grandmother settles to narrate stories that are even better than gossip, for they are gossip at its best.

 The main topic of conversation is surprisingly about sex, experience they have had or known others to have had. the stories flow as easy as conversations and are at the same time heart-breaking and funny. The things common to the stories are obsession to being a virgin when the woman marries and deception of men.

As the samovar warms and many rounds of tea is drunk, the stories turn to many confessions and mishaps that are laugh out funny, but equally tragic. Satrapi's ideas, and drawings are amazingly fresh. It is refreshing to see how much she depicts with the stroke of her hand and limited words. There is no real motif in the entire book but a culmination of dialogues, representing the woman's world in Teheran that is no different from the west.

It is a charming little book, with so much told and yet untold painting a vivid picture in our minds. You will love the characters and caricatures without much effort and may be even find yourself in the party.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The next time I visit Europe, I wouldn’t want to miss Channel Islands or Guernsey ever! That’s how lovely this book is! This epistolary novel had me hooked from the very first letter and before I knew I wanted to dole out letters to the many intriguing and affable characters of this book.

Juliet Ashton is the gregarious protagonist, who is an upcoming writer in the post world war II era in London. She, by some bizarre work of fate, gets in touch with the members of an oddly formed book club in Guernsey. Almost like pieces of a puzzle, her quest for a topic for her book and the lives of the book club members falls into place. The friendship thus born, through correspondence of letters leads to an unbreakable bond; And it is these letters that hold the heart of this novel.

Set in a sad time when Europe was strewn in post war trauma, this book is comfortingly sunny! The Nazi occupation of the island and the multitude of stories that encompass those years are told through the writings of various dwellers, as letters to Juliet. The formation of the book club itself was one such episode, invented on spot by the silent heroine of the novel, Elizabeth.

The letters and the impact of books on people of that era is the most wonderful thing to take away from this book. While you can imagine any character simply by their way of writing letters in itself is a warming feeling. Classics and writers like Oscar wilde, Jane austen or Charles Lamb were considered precious. Books weren’t available a plenty back then and owning books and reading them was considered a genial privilege!

The book encompasses a handful of cordial countryside folk. You would love them all the way you might have adored ‘Anne of green Gables’ and you will fall in love with Juliet, almost like one of Austen’s heroines. The appeal of the novel is the genuineness of the letters, the innocence of the lovely people and the sanguinary displayed as hope in grime times!

So go ahead, grab a warm cup of chocolate milk, light a fire, cuddle on the couch with this sweet little book and I can vouch that you will not stop smiling for a long time after you are done!

Graphic novels challenge

I have a couple of graphic novels i wish to read, so this challenge seemed apt to join.
I will take up the beginner level, since I haven't had a taste of adult graphic novels; Also I want to catch up on the Asterix and Obelix saga, I used to love reading them!

1. Watchmen by Alan Moore ( i hated the movie, mostly because it made no sense at all. But the book has rave reviews)
2. Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi
3. Asterix and Obelix , whatever big collection I can find at the library.

Now that's a nice genre to add to your bout of reading, isnt it?? To join click on the picture above.

Short Story love

5th May 2010

(9) In the south by Sulman Rushdie
It is/was one of the most popular stories in the NewYorker last year. And no one can spin words like this man. I totally loved the writing. For one the descriptions of that "southern" city so described was poignantly familiar and Rushdie's prose like writing only made me smell the smells and feel the feels. That said, the story is very powerful. It can be cause for introspection, I must warn. And very atypical of his writing, he sprinkles humor just enough to warm to the otherwise serious narration.

Dont miss it. Read it here.


14th Dec 2009

(8) Royalty by Anita Desai
This is from the collection Diamond dust:stories by Anita Desai

I have always been a lover of her writing style. This story had a strange irony which only struck me after I started thinking about the story when it ended. The old friends meet again; the swami among them expects to be fed and housed. Not an easy read, but when it ends, leaves you wanting to know more!

(7) The time of the peacock by Mena Abdullah
This is from the collection Story-wallah: Short Fiction from South Asian Writers

A very poignant tale of faiths, childhood, beliefs and simple happiness of life. The writing style was very novelistic and hence it felt incomplete.

11th Dec 2009

(6) A sandshore wooing by Lucy Maud Montgomery
You can find the story here.

A sweet love story as the name suggests; no ironies, twists. Simple. short and feel-good. And yes, you can feel a tinge of 'Anne' Maud's best creation in the protagonist.

10th Dec 2009

(5) Curious case of Benjamin Button by F Scott Fitzgerald
You can find the story here.

Having loved the movie, for its bizarre innovation, I found the short story even more intriguing! Its such a make-you-think piece about how at old age one actually starts living backwards. Also Fitzgerald's style of writing has a tinge of satiric humor, it makes the read a pleasurable one.

9th Dec 2009

(4)The evening gift by R K Narayan

This story is from the collection "under the banyan tree and other stories"

Typical Malgudi scene. A man living hand to mouth, does bizarre work for a rich drunkard. And in Narayan's style ends the tale in sad irony.

8th Dec 2009

I am a huge fan of short stories, especially after my all time favorite author RK Narayanan's Malgudi days. I feel they tell you a lot more than a bulky book would.
I have completed 3 shots so far -

(1)The child's story by Charles Dickens
You can find it here.

A typical dickens to harp on the Scrooge like exemplary of a human being, who forgets, remembers, loves and lets go. The ending of the story was the best part of the read. A feel good read

(2)The overcoat by Nikolai Gogol

Inspired by the reference to the book in 'the Namesake', I fished the book online. In fact its a small book and hence can pass off for a short story. The protagonist is rather intriguing, even in the whole aura of simplicity and boredom surrounding him. He is also a plural for Gogol's definition of a living being of that era, a silent spectator of corrupt revolution and the common man. I am still figuring my interpretation of the end.

Did you read the overcoat? what do you draw from the end?

(3)The Cabuliwallah by Rabindranath Tagore
You can find the story and other short stories by Tagore here.

Poignant. Subtle. Lovely.
I love reading stories in and around the british raj; it almost beatifies me to understand a nation that once was and how it would have been if it weren't partitioned to bits today. Though cabuliwallah is not a direct indicator of british india, its somewhere there emanating the smell of fear, love and discrimination.

The house on mango street

By Sandra Cisneros

Having read some wonderful reviews, I was quiet baffled by the size of the book. It is even smaller than ‘Love Story’ and you can breeze past the hundred odd pages in a single hour. But that said this book is three things – Poetic. Terse. Powerful. The writing style of Cisneros is what is defined as vignettes; and this is first of its kind for me and I enjoyed it!

The book is a compilation of short chapters that describe events, people, emotions everything in a nutshell. More than the words, it’s the unwritten language between words that makes the reading a pleasure.

Esperanza is the young protagonist, growing up in a Latino neighborhood of Mango Street in Chicago. The narrative compiles her observations of her close world of friends, relatives and neighbors. She distractedly notes the man who locks up his wife, the aunt who is forever sick and hence sickness seems normal, the friend who is beaten by her father and all the vileness around her. Before you wince, the book has way more happy moments too – of being children, of finding that you have turned a woman, of family time.

These strewn pieces of the hazy puzzle, that is at times heart-breaking and other times putting a smile on your face with the witty remarks, make a terrific lazy afternoon read. The determination of the protagonist to change her world for better and live away, yet never let go of her descent substantiates the hope and inspiration for many who are caught in the similar web of bad neighborhoods, hooting drunk men and coming of age before time. I am definitely picking up Cisneros’s poetry book next!

In other rooms, other wonders

By Daniyal Mueenuddin

This book is a finely honed collection of stories, artfully interwoven across the steep and concentric societal hierarchy. The characters are all part of a complex system of feudal legacy; though varied in their monetary place, the emotions and subtleties remain the same through every story.

The center of the book is KK Harouni, the complacent residue of an ancient Pakistani feudal lordship. The stories circumscribe his extended kin of managers, servants and workers, who are pilfering yet serving his comfortable inheritance. The prime characters are almost always women and though only two of the stories are titled such (Lily and Our lady of Paris), the others follow the same pattern.

The men in the stories are in a comfort zone of power, sufficient wealth and authority to govern their lives. And in the imperfect world, their faith is shaken by concupiscence, combined with prowess of a woman that they feel threatened and humble to succumb. However, in all his stories, there is no triumph; like a pack of strangers at a gambling table, they all take back loses and few victorious moments to relish.

The stories are all hauntingly beautiful and that is totally owing to the prose like writing. Daniyal’s expressive writing and the peaceful exposition may be compared to Jhumpa Lahiri, which leaves a downy ringtone at the end of each tale. His ability to pack ironies, loose ends and nonjudgmental realities may be almost similar to Malgudi Days, but the element of satire is dark.

There were also other details; the author combines in his stories that give a peek into a Pakistan I had never known existed. In ‘Lily’, Daniyal, gives a glimpse of modern Pakistani life, a copious Islamabad society ousting orthodox fundamentalism. In ‘Provide Provide’, he comments on the gypsy realm and in ‘Our lady of Paris’ and ‘A Spoiled man’ he describes the affluent Pakistani, who almost lives as a westerner.

With a package of strangeness, unwarranted longing, perfect relationships undone by idiosyncrasies of love and moments of unattainable passion, Daniyal has created a ‘wonder’ in itself. I recommend this book for a peaceful vacation in the countryside; it may almost be a cue for self-analysis!

The interpreter of maladies

By Jhumpa Lahiri

I began reading this collection of short stories to fill my hours in between chores; though by the time I ended it, I had realized that all the chores were pending and I had immensely underestimated the intensity of t he stories.

Lahiri crafts one tale after another, with depth, tinge of irony and open ended-ness, which render perfection to a short story. The stories are told in first, second and third person contexts, encompassing lives of Bengalis in America, Bengalis in India, first and second generation Bengalis. The story telling is simple and flows mellifluously from one page to next and suffices to get you involved in the characters and their lives without any effort.

The narrative circumscribes various nuances; the turmoil of the Bengal partition, the hardships of living life away from home-country, the paradox of relationships in and out of a marital bond, the incongruity of a mob are but a few. The cultural of Bengal is well depicted through the food, the traditions, the attires and attitudes, that you can almost smell the spices and experience the specter she creates.

However warm the stories, the aspect of centralizing the motif to Bengalis’ and Bengali immigrants’ lives lingers like the piquant after-taste of a heavily spiced curry for the reader. Having read Namesake, the author seems to be recycling what she knows best and wants to be part of. I wish Lahiri, keeps her writing style to deliver more books that are drifted away from the Bengal coast.

Enjoy the book with a hot masala chai on a lull evening; you won’t believe how therapeutic that can be!

Crow Lake

By Mary Lawson

Crow lake was my first book for the Orbis Terrarum. Set in the isolated farming communities of northern Canada the book tells a tale of a determination and faith. The opening paragraph of the novel, I daresay, is the real stunner; The single best sentence that carries the crux of the story and keeps you engaged to burn the night lamp and finish the book.

The story unfolds through the narration of the protagonist, who after having been the sole success of the Morrison clan, continues to remain in turmoil. The past has a stronghold on her like no other and that keeps you hooked to know what had really happened; what had gone wrong?

I loved the way she narrated without being teary-eyed and even peppered in humor from time to time. The tale is not a dark one, that pins on to irrevocable mistakes or torture. It is but family drama, we have all been part of sometime in our lives; Of brotherly wars, sibling misunderstandings, growing up before your age and running away from all that to start anew only to realize that the heart is where the home is, not matter what!

Lawson's idyllic writing about even the simplest things like the trip to the lake or genuine joy of doing dishes as a family are the real things to not miss about this book. The read is a feel good one, leaving you with an all's well that ends well feeling. Definitely an enjoyable read.

Malgudi’s child

Malgudi days is my true unfaltering favorite till date; Swami and Friends my second best. I have re-read the books so many times as to lose count. It is honestly unnerving to be writing about the author’s work that I have devoured without raising a brow, but simply taken in all that he wrote without a single lull moment.

The magic of Malgudi is in the haunting aura it created to believe in the existence of this town; so true in its map, people and teeming life that it was almost impossible to not know its geographical location. The stories were left deliberately open-ended to read between the lines, take in the strangeness of human emotions and yet interpret the ending to the reader’s discretion.

Having read the books since I was twelve, I fail to pinpoint a single best story that formed a stamp in my mind. At each age there was a different story that drove a point home or made me realize something new that I didn’t know before.

I love Engine Trouble for that subtle humor peppered against the sloth-like rules of administration. While, The missing mail had hidden messages of how we take an integral person like the postman for granted; at the same time Leela’s Friend left me feeling poignant and incomplete. Whatever be the irony or hope the stories depicted, they left enough and more room to dissect the inner meaning, so much so that you could spend a whole lifetime understanding what R. K actually wanted to convey to us.

If a plural society was what Malgudi expressed, its most loved character Swami had been the epitome of every child. His childhood is synonym to our own, even before we are old enough to read his adventures. We might have already lived a good amount of it, without realizing how adventurous and utterly satiric it had been!

 If a good book is one without an ending, Malgudi’s heritage is indeed a timeless one!