Fall on your knees

By Ann-Marie Mac Donald

My quest for extraordinary fiction took me to this nook. Ah that rhymes.

My quest for a book
Took me to this curious nook
I took a long look
And it got me hooked, booked and cooked.

Certainly, Ann-Marie is a poetess. Not ‘crude but compelling’ like mine above. Pure and simple poem.

While 75% through the book, you wont know what’s going on, just to go on reading this extraordinary book is a pleasure.
It’s a strange book, definitely. And there are stranger people in it. It’s about the Piper sisters, but you need to check out the family tree to figure out if they are really sisters.

There is Frances, daring and out of this world, there is Materia – poor Materia, there is Mercedes and there is Lily. And then there is Kathleen and Rose and an extraordinary love story, quite unforgettable. Of course there is James, lurking in the back, always.

The book is a bit magical and it’s a bit sad – but it’s worth reading and owning.

Mc Donald seems to outdo herself with some of her prose and the romance. After 75% its worth the wait to read the extraordinary last part and the way in which it is written. Lovely.

I am not into mush and romance, but to look beyond the romance and see the play of words to bring out a point – extraordinary. Mac Donald is an extraordinary writer.

A peek:

I was a ghost until I touched you. Never swallowed mortal food until I tasted you, never understood the spoken word until I found your tongue. I have been a sleep-walker, sad somnambula, hands outstretched to strike the solid thing that could awaken me to life at last. I’ve missed you all my life.

Took me long to part with it.

Please Read. I would again.

Random House Review

Don't ask any old bloke for directions

By P.G Tenzing

I always thought while growing up, that if I were a boy I would be like Che Guevara –take a bike, do odd jobs and go! I love the outdoors and don’t mind being alone.


When I read this book, I felt like someone just lived my life in front of my eyes. A slight regret but felt good that someone thought just like me

PG Tenzing is from Sikkim, like me. And I saw his father in my dreams last night! No don’t get any ideas, his father was my neighbour. That’s how I remembered that I have not written this review, although I had liked the book.

The first 2 chapters are not good. For someone like me who usually judges a book by its first few pages, it was a surprise that I carried on. The problem with the first few here is the patchiness of the plot. Its like Quentin Tarantino Movie, you don’t know what’s happening in the beginning. Just patches. Pulp fiction.

Then of course any adventure which you didn’t take (but you wish you had) grows on to you. Only when his bottom hurts by sitting a lot on the bike, that you feel good that you didn’t take the ride. But otherwise chances are this book can make you laugh, cry and relate. Esp. if you have stayed in South India and if you are not too old.

Take a ride with PG Tenzing as he quits his job as an IAS officer and takes a Bullet around India, just for the fun of it! The joy is in his experiences, the people he meets and the background of normality. You wish you had done it, but hey, sometimes second hand experience is also a good thing.

READ it!

A Stone for Danny Fisher

By Harold Robbins

Every so often I listen to others. When I was younger I had formed a perception of Harold Robbins. The perception that emanated in my mind was another Hugh Hefner. Playboy and not my type. Could he possibly write? I did not even bother to find out.

A friend of mine asked me recently if I have read Harold Robbins. Chill down my spine, did he think I was one of those who read that kind of book? I just said an abrupt ‘no’ and turned the other way. This friend of mine enjoys reading the regular way. If it’s a best seller, he has it in his hand already! Unlike me, who takes huge efforts at getting a novel unheard of, different and almost always from another epoch.

‘Well you must read one atleast’ , he said. And before I knew it ‘A stone for Danny Fisher’ was in my bag. I never leave a book unread, if they are at proximity – I feel it would be an insult to the person who wrote it. So I opened the book, and I won’t regret it ever.

Danny is so ordinary that he is almost extraordinary. Danny never gives up and more than anything else Danny is a great guy. But he is born at the wrong time. The novel is set at a time when the Great Depression had just been declared over and the after effects were beginning to show. The novel gives a picture of life as it were at that time. It doesn’t depress you though because its written marvelously.

Its about love, being victims of circumstances, being a child, being a parent and most important – the book is about life.

You will like Danny of course, and at the end of it probably you will want to get a stone for Danny Fisher.

Definitely read it.

London

By Edward Rutherfurd

Ever wonder that tomorrow your kids might marry your sworn enemy’s kids and it wouldn’t even matter?

Sometimes we think about the purpose we each have in our lives and wonder what we do now, will it matter ever, 50 years, 100 years from now? But then we never live that long to find out. But wouldn’t it be nice.

This book gave me that – map of sorts, a feeling that what we do now, how we treat others now, how big we think now will have its effect years and years from now.
It also gave me that feeling that we are only specks in this rigmarole called life and today I might be a king, but tomorrow I might be a pauper hence it is important o have pluck which can be inherited and passed on and which will help you wherever you are or whatever you are. It’s a wonderful feeling trust me.

While this book talks about London since 57 BC, its not like a history book. There is not one dull moment while the author brings to life the variegated characters as they face the vicissitudes of life, helping build in their own ways the London as it stands now. It’s a book where Chaucer, Henry IV and Shakespeare some of the characters, the book gives a pictures of the life in their times.

Blended in with the history is a beautiful story of generations of the Barnikel, Ducket and Bull families and two others. When in one generation the Duckets are slaves, in another they are knighted.

Always giving you the feeling that life is full of surprises and one should be prepared with pluck and guts to take it as it comes - because a lot of things are not in our hands - this book is a must read.

I don’t think I can do justice to the 1300 pager book, I can only say – DON’T MISS IT and take time to read it.

The Blood Stone

By Jamila Gavin

A real tale teller, I wonder how I got to pick up Jamila Gavin only now!! Maybe I went by the normal routine of picking up books which are famous like a lot of my friends. Big Mistake! I nearly missed a wonderful story, beautiful flowing story telling woven into a piece of history told in a marvelous fictitious tale. I have read a similar book, more complex by Salman Rushdie but this doesn’t have so many characters and the story telling in this one is smooth, like really good wine.

It gives a glimpse of India and Venice – the book is well researched, the characters are deep, unforgettable just like the book itself. As you go along with Pippo in an arduous and interesting journey, you will also meet the people, be there in that place and experience it all. And that’s what I mean by a real tale-teller. You actually enjoy the ride.

Again as with all good books, I love the way it transports you to a different place and time effortlessly. And the best thing about this book among all the best things is that the story is artfully entwined with Homer’s Odyssey which helps you understand that one good Greek epic better.

Just pick it up – but be careful once you do so, because it is un-put-downable and you will wish the journey never should come to an end.

The Paris Enigma

By Pablo De Santis

I believe in Einstein and when he says God is in the details.

The book is, how do I say it – loose. While reading it, it feels like calling the author and telling him that he needs to tighten some bits a bit and add details. After all the book is about detectives!

The books starts very well, I think one of the better ‘starting’ I have read in a long time. It lends a mysterious air to the book. However soon as the first chapter is over, there is diluting of this air because of the lack of details.

On one hand it’s a tale about how some detectives go to any length to produce an enigma, on the other it’s a chance success story of a person who once again proves that pursuance and attention to detail can bring success.

As a takeaway you will have a good sense about detectives from various countries and Paris at the time when Eiffel tower was being built.

Read it. Its always a good thing to read a book written in a different language – this case Mexican. Only thing is wish there were more translators – much like Pamuk’s translators.

A Motel Life

By Willy Vlautin

After a long search for a real good book, I got myself this one. Yes, my blog is about different books and this qualifies.

What will you call an ordinary boy, living a less than ordinary life and still takes life so easy? I think you can only call him Frank Flannigan.

You think life is imperfect and then you meet Frank and his attitude and the perspective kind of shifts. Frank is patient for his age and very good at whatever he does, be it taking care of his brother, the dog, of his girl or telling stories – in which he gets an A+

I wont say much, because the book doesn’t a much to talk about except there is a lot of Frank.

Read it, you’ll love him.

The Kitchen God's Wife

by Amy Tan

Again first Amy Tan. Exceptionally expressive so much that the scenes are vivid as she writes about the China during war and before that also. The women, the men, the American influence even the food.

There is one thing though, 1000 Splendid Suns has covered lesser miseries than this book. But its also like Gone with the Wind - a triumph of the spirit.

As Winne tells the story of herself while she was in China (before moving to America) to her daughter, by way of removing the guilt she has for hiding secrets - Amy Tan takes you to places and people you have never been to or met before. You get involved in the miseries, the joys of this little Chinese woman, in the end almost making you swallow the big lump which forms in your throat.

Read it, but only when you are happy in life :)

Mystic Masseur

By VS Naipaul

Like as if it were a rule - I would never pick a book written by VS Naipaul and Salman Rushdie. But with their tales they’ve made me fall in love. The transportation to a new place, another time gives me a new high, a surge of new life.

I read the mystic masseur with no expectations – it was my first Naipaul. I loved it.

What I loved in this book? Everything, from the insight into the way Indians live or rather speak in Trinidad and Tobago, to the innocence of the plot and the lesson that when God gives you a lemon, make lemonade – Truly, this tale of really sweet characters just charmed me no end.

As mentioned in my previous posts – it’s not the story but the way the characters are, the depth in them, their introduction and significance that makes for a really sumptuous read.

Definitely – pick it up!

Twilight

By Stephanie Meyer


Well. Amateur, no creativity, predictable.

Mmmmm Don’t read it. Or do read it if your travel time is also like mine – 2 hours and you forgot your laptop or ipod.

Interpretation of a Murder

By Jed Rubenfeld

I like books that take me away from my world and into something so different and so mesmerizing that keeping the book down for a moment would be like coming back to the ordinary. Which is quite disheartening at once.

Interpretation of murder was one such book. While I was looking for a good book to read, I came across this book after nearly 2 hours of searching. I took it up especially because Freud is one of the characters and so is his troupe including Karl Jung. It good to understand their theories, work and life and times in a background of a murder mystery or vice versa. This book indeed was a very interesting option.

Of course, I read it in 5 hours between 2 days and definitely it didn’t disappoint me. It gives you a slight history of things that could have happened for Freud and Karl Jung to go their separate ways, the face of New York at the turn of the century and Freud’s fear that America will be going to the dogs.

The story itself is gripping, with unforgettable characters, including a triumvirate, a love story angle and Freud helping in solving the mystery. It’s a complete pot boiler – but better without the tackiness.

When you read books like this you realize its not about the story but the information, the research, the knowledge, the history that makes for a complete book.

I loved it. Read it.

PS: I found 2 things unsolved in this book though.

Gone With the Wind

By Margaret Mitchell
"Until you lose your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is"


I read Gone with the wind when i was 14. And the quote that inspired me most was the one above. Others are hopelessly overrated quotes. The above explains volumes about how beautifully Margaret Mitchell could explain big things in a simple sentence - its a pity that she published only one book in her lifetime. But what a book! Either you write it this big or you don't write at all.

A heart wrenching family saga, a romance like no other, background elements that could give Hardy a run for his money and despite all these amazing stuff that makes up this great book, the one that stands out, the one thing that will be unforgettable is the heroine who can take anything in her stride. Life literally throws the biggest challenges to her and she treats it like its a daily household chore.

One critique here mentions that i hardly write a review, so i will not go into details to explain why the quote above inspired me. Rather let me write something about the book itself.

This book should be read when you think that life has been quite unfair. It comes like a whack on the head and tells one to wake up and take charge.

Scarlet O'Hara was not beautiful, but had a gut that could stand the harshest storms, the coldest winds and what have you and still remains an eternal optimist! Albeit in her own style! There is a thing or two we could learn from this bravado.

In your lowest of times, pick this book and you will realize that there are bigger problems and there is always a way to deal with them and that yours is just one of those. Because a problem is one only till a solution comes along.

I know, this isn't quite a review either, but hell i will think about it tomorrow for 'tomorrow is another day'!

Bookless in Bagdad!

By Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor is my favourite Indian writer. Its inexplicable that someone so good looking can be so talented!

Nevertheless I will not write any further on Tharoor’s beauty – rather let me just give a sneak peek on his book – Bookless In Bagdad.

There were many reasons previously for me not to pick up that book. It sounded like one of those books with similar titles. I had been reading Orhan Pamuk and Salman Rushdie and Khaled Hosseini, so I wasn’t ready for this title.

But I picked it up and kept it in my cupboard. One day when I had nothing to read, I had to read this one. And to my surprise, it had nothing to do with Bagdad!

It’s a very easy read on various authors who have made (or not made) a difference to the English reading population. Of course this is from the point of view of Mr. Tharoor.

You get a nice peek into the past writers, the so called classic writers and the real greats. It will inspire you to read some of them but mostly it will give you an overview, an easy way to choose and a look into the past days, the journey of writers over the years.

You don’t have to go by the book but you can go buy the book J