Of Reading and Book Shopping

I finally made a trip to my old haunt, Blossoms after a long long time and stocked up on some books. Not as many as I generally buy. I come home usually laden with two bagfuls of books. This time I exercised plenty of restraint and ended up with just 5 books- Flappers and Philosophers, Bring Up the Bodies, The Ladies Paradise, The Girl on the Train and The Invention of Wings.

I am done with reading The Girl on the Train and The Invention of Wings. In fact I went through Girl on the Train in a single night, rattling through it like a high speed train myself. The book is very reminiscent of Gone Girl. I ran through that book as well in a single flight and I definitely liked the book better than the movie.  So coming back to Girl on the Train, interestingly this book has had its movie rights bought as well. It definitely has excellent potential for a great screenplay. Bordering on the obsessive, it traverses the thin line between imagination and reality. It's almost like the 4:50 to Paddington in the sense that a fleeting glance from a train window leads to unraveling a  tangled and complicated mystery. No relationship is straightforward nor goes in the direction you expect. All the characters and naturally and quite annoyingly human and fallible. There are no heroes or heroines, just people dealing with their lives in their own twisted fashions.

The Invention of Wings is an inspiration. I loved this book even more than her previous book, the Secret Life of Bees. I have to thank Hollywood because the movie brought me to Sue Monk Kidd. The Invention of Wings is a moving part fic- part bio story of the Grimke sisters and their struggle for racial equality. The story has a very St. Assisi feel to it, two poor little rich girls rising above their feelings, their familial attachments and personal dilemmas to get on to a global stage in the face of rising criticism and overwhelming opposition. It's written in a he said she said style, one of my favourites and it grips you with the unique ideas and the revolutionary thought processes of these women for the times they lived in.

Battle Hymns, Fundamentalism and other stories- 2015 Reading Challenge

Finished the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother today. It's an interesting book, funny and poignant. I was definitely not shocked, outraged or anything else of that sort, that's probably cause I am "Asian" in a manner of speaking. It was more about the difficult relationships that mothers and daughters have with each other, especially during those angsty teenage years. I guess I am more like the younger daughter- I gave up on learning an instrument and on learning classical dance, which my mother would have liked. A refreshing tongue in cheek look at rebellion and control.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist- This was a book I went back to. The first time I read it, it did not go down well with me and I gave up on it. There is something about the cadence of this book. You need to be in a certain frame of mind to read this book. It puts forth the changes that the so called bourgeois undergo  when they move to a new country and how a disaster can make you take action in unforeseen ways, urging you to return to your roots. It is a confusing, cheeky and weirdly funny book.  

I have previously read only one book of Jostein Gaarder. I should thank a neighbor of mine for the introduction to Sophie' s World. Gripping bite sized chunks of philosophy suitable for consumption by all ages is the best descriptor I can apply to his writing. The Solitaire mystery explores destiny, family and all philosophy surrounding the dimensions in which we exist. With strong veins of Greek philosophy and ideas running through it, we follow Hans Thomas on a quest of self discovery and an understanding of the world around us and the mystery of our creation.

Now I am switching between three more books- Gora by Rabindranath Tagore, The Photograph by Penelope Lively and Running through the family by Ondaatje. 

This week in Reading

So this was a good week for my reading. Despite various distractions I have been making headway on and finished a couple of books. So the first book on my bookshelf was Major. Pettigrew's Last Stand. Now this a book I bought purely based on the opinions of a blogger whose blog review I happened to read. Well, at one level this book made me glad that I did not buy a brand new copy. So most readers have their top lists right, books they love, like, endure. My meter goes pretty much like airport or rail book( the kind u read and pretty much don't care abt) they are sort of those short mystery thriller types, unless you read gone girl on an air trip. Then there are your well thumbed childhood favorites, either you know them off by heart so you don't buy them or you keep really old copies and hate yourself when you sell them.  Then there are the books you like to read and preserve, like if you are collecting a series. So you handle those with care. Then there are those which you just might spare cash to but the hard bound edition.  But a little annoying are the books that you wonder why you bought.

This book was definitely one of them. I couldn't quite put my finger on one single thing that troubled me. At the face of it, it claims to be a twilight romance of an unlikelcy couple which is actually an interesting subject. It' s just that I didn't like any particular person in the book at all.  The major is pompous, and a tad bigoted absolutely until the last page. Mrs. Ali is a one dimensional character who tries to break all the rules. It is interesting though that you actually like the characters you are expected to dislike, that is partly intended by the author, but it's also because they are the ones with any sort of variety.

It wasn't a complete waste of time though, some of the observations are wry and the descriptions of the English countryside are great. But for all its attempts,  it seems to me like it is a glorified multicultural catalog.

Children's Books, Darkness among other things

I have been reading a lot this week. All thanks to the great new Scribd app and subscription package, which lets you read on your phone and computer and has a great collection of popular fiction. They even have a newly added audio book section which I haven't tried out. Now I do not prefer e books to real ones, mainly because I miss the smell of books- old, new, dusty et al. But this is convenient and lets me extend my reading time to my commute without lugging around weight and risking motion sickness and if you save books to your library you can read them on your train/bus/flight journeys. So in short, I am a fan.

Anyway the books I have been reading are mostly children's books. I read a bunch of books by Andrew Clements. They are books for tweens I would say, they are not dumbed down for children. They are very well written, exciting, have great plots and 'wait for it' are set in the real world. No fantasies well maybe just a bit,but for the most part real life problems that children face everyday and how they handle them smartly. None of the children are particularly goody-goody, they all have their faults. What they do have in common is a mix of intelligence, street smarts and courage to face everything thrown at them. This makes reading about them anything but tedious. In fact, we may learn much from them

Great Adventure story, interesting twist on small town versus large corporates. Reading second book of this series now.
Other Books by the author:
- The Landry News- Interesting discussion of rights and amendments, Great book about the freedom and power of the press
- The Report Card- An intrepid heroine, who makes you wish you thought of her rebellious ideas, talks of the pressure of grades and living up to expectations
No Talking- Simply loved this one. I wouldn't have survived a day in this no talking contest, being personally an unshushable
 
 This was a strange, strange book. Not in a good way. The premise seemed okay, a little far fetched but okay. The book was very off putting and not at all good to read. Felt they took the whole empathy thing too far, it was sort of weird. The sliding bit was contrived. The only good thing was the suspense, but it was hurried along and that ruined it for me.
Book along similar lines which was surprisingly good was 'Reconstructing Amelia' by a first time author. She handles several sensitive issues with unusual tact and there is hardly anything that makes you uncomfortable about the book. It makes several strikes against the over sharing that everyone does in social media today and it's consequences.

Reconstructing Amelia was a particularly dark book primarily because it exposes things that could quite plausibly happen in real life. Other darkness this week comes from watching American Horror Story. This show is really really scary, not because of ghosts, but because of all the scary people. It has some really great actors, who are particularly convincing. This show has made for quite a few nightmares for me. The other creepy show on my watch list is Stalker. A very under dramatized, sober investigative series, it's about a division which catches stalkers obviously. It's interesting because the characters have more depth than the usual one dimensional investigators we see. It has Dylan Mc Dermott, who also acts in American Horror Story, one of my favorite actors after being "Bobby" from the practice. I haven't missed an episode and this show is sure to have you checking your locks at night. The only movie I managed to catch last week, did not inspire any optimism either. Stonehearst Asylum has plenty of movie heavyweights- Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley namely. The movie is a little slow, but picks up pace along the second half. It treads on the fine line between black and white. The end is not as unexpected as you would like it to be. You realize it somewhere in your brain along the way. Excellent flip side view at mental illness and it's treatment.
 

# BookChallenge- The Top 10 books that have stayed with you

This was my list for the so called Book Bucket Challenge on Facebook.  I don't know if the challenge will get people to think if they have been reading or not and bring them back to the fold. All I know is that it makes for a very good starting point when you are stuck thinking what you should read next, you can go look at all your friends' lists . My list did tend to be a very female oriented list, either female protagonists who are very strong or written by women.

I have never cried over a book. But this book had me thinking otherwise. It is a story of many layers. There are many gray areas too in this book. It is a coming of age story of a young girl, the survival instincts of a mother, the protective older brother and the man they are all fear and respect- the head of the household. At first glance, it is the story of suffering and the triumph of spirit. It tugs at your heart strings. It scares you with the monsters that lurk behind the seemingly innocent facades and respectable personalities of everyday men. But it also tells the story of support and love from unlikely sources and that you are capable of surviving much more than you expect.

Anne of Green Gables is an inspiration and a companion to many girls growing up. I liked Anne because she was not too much of a goody two shoes like Pollyanna. She was an adaptable child who made the best of situations she was thrown into using her imagination. Her practical streak however does come through as she grows older. It is a journey typically taken by all of us moving from childhood to adolescence. Anne's story is bittersweet- rejoicing over tiny triumphs, fussing over tiny schoolroom disagreements and coming to terms with the greater losses in life. She learns important life lessons and grows up to be a fine young woman. So there's hope for all of us. No matter how falliable we are.

Room was a book that either people loved or hated. I read more Emma Donaghue after this, but nothing affected me the way this book did. It was a scary, scary book. A less likely scenario than Purple Hibiscus but very relevant to the ever present dangers of abduction and harassment that women face everyday. I think it was a beautifully written book, just because it handled this issue very sensitively and treaded the fine line between turning away readers in fear and disgust and instead evoking their empathy and sympathy. It is the story of a boy and his mother trapped in a nightmare of a stranger's perversion all through the eyes of the five year old.

Daddy Long Legs is a delightful episolatory novel. I am a big big fan of this style. I am a nut for letters. I can never write those perfect balanced letters- with news and funny tid bits and holding the  reader's interest until the very last P.P.S. But I do love the fact that people can write such letters. Daddy Long Legs doesn't have too much drama, just some misunderstandings and a whole lot of long newsy letters from an orphan to her benefactor. It is a great feel good book. I like the sequel to this book as well- Dear Enemy has a lot more verve to it because of the main character, but I will stay true to my first love.

Jane Austen's very last novel, but my absolute favorite. Every time I read it, I grow to like it more. Pride and Prejudice, I love as my very first Jane Austen. But Persuasion is a book that really stayed with me. Most of Jane's heroines had failings. They were immature, dramatic, prejudiced and so on. What would you think of a heroine whose failing was maturity and understanding? I thought it was an interesting proposition- a heroine who lost her chance at happiness because she considered too much, analyzed too much and tried to do what would benefit everyone the most. It is a very mature work from Austen and strikes closer to reality than any of her other books. There is doubt and there is love and it all depends on how Anne Elliot makes it work.

 Story of runaways who accidentally or not so accidentally stumble onto  a secret history. Unlikely pair of white child and the slave who helps her, aside from a story of the search for identity and happiness, there is a huge political background and all the attendant consequences in this story. It is a very situational story and difficult to relate to, but it is also a story which is difficult to forget. Most importantly, it reminds us that sometimes the truth is best left untold.

Rebecca- Most chilling thrilling novel ever. Daphne Du Maurier had me hooked and on the edge of my seat with this book. Even though I know the story and the ending, I have my heart in my mouth every single time I read this book. I didn't like the heroine at all- she's one dimensional. But I realize that it is sort of the point to make Rebecca all the more a contrast. Mrs. Danvers is so totally the character for Halloween dress up. She's creepy and concerned and nursing secret plans of revenge all at the same time. Manderley Estate is pretty much a character in this book as well, leading to many turning points in the story.

Julie & Julia gave me the kickstart into reading about food. It is one of the first books of the genre I read. I do realize that a lot of is fiction posing as non fiction and people were offended that Julie had misrepresented her life.But really which of us doesn't exaggerate when we tell a story or make our life look prettier than it is. This book led to a fascination with Julia Child. I went on to read - "My Life in France" by Julia Child and "As always Julia"- the letters between Julia and Avis de Voto. It was fun to go look at Julia's kitchen at the FOOD exhibition in the Smithsonian American History Museum after reading all about it in her books.

Finally, a book, that is actually funny and a light read in my book list. Not a mindless book, with limited drama and cutting humour, it is an interesting contemporary series. Written in a very tongue in cheek fashion, it can chase all your blues away. Right from the little boy who lives down the hall, the neighbourhood dog, eccentric middle aged people and the clueless heroine, all of these are people who we would meet everday and that makes these books all the more enduring.

Gone Girl- Best Bestseller I have read in recent times. I tend to veer away from Booker Prize winners and Recommended Best Sellers in general. Booker Winners are not my style, I feel they are too highbrow for me and I really don't understand them. Recommended Best Sellers occur at the other end of the spectrum, they are generally over hyped. But this was a super cool puzzle, a twisted treasure hunt of sorts. Extreme Justice served cold. Must read novel of the previous year.