CHOCOLAT

This is my last book for the year.I couldnt wait to read this one ever since I saw the movie.Usually I read the book before watching the movie but this time around it turned the other way.I would be happy eitherways.I loved the movie and enjoyed the book even more.

This novel tells us the magical story of a small french town turned upside down by the arrival of  Vianne Roche,a chocolate confectioner who opens her chocolaterie in the town just at the beginning of Lent which marks a period of abstinence.Vianne and her daughter Anouk are free spirited souls not tethered to any beliefs and Vianne has a gift to see into peoples souls.However there are many in the town who are against Vianne,chief amongst them being the local priest Father Reynaud who cannot bear the fact that Vianne is a non-believer and takes it upon himself to spoil her planned chocolate festival.Vianne,however owing to her friendly demeanour and open-minded acceptance towards all succeeds in befriending many of the town locals like Josephine,who finally musters the courage to leave her abusive spouse.Guillaume who eventually learns to let go of his sick dog and move on and Amande an elderly lady who shares the same free spirit as Vianne.She also welcomes Roux and his tribe of gypsies when they arrive in the town and are looked down upon by all the other residents.How Vianne deals with all the others in the town and Father Reynaud and the lessons we learn along the way is what makes this an enchanting read.

My Views:I savoured this book and didnt want it to end.It is a beautiful story which teaches us that humanity is above everything else.That we should be open-minded and accepting towards others,how to face our fears,how to be tolerant,how to learn to let go and how everyone deserves a chance to live life on their own terms.This book was magical,the story flowed effortlessly and there was not a single moment of boredom.The chocoholic in me was delighted at the delicious decriptions of chocolate.I loved the little french town of Lansequenet-Sous-Tannes and felt that I had been there already.At the heart of this story is the age old fight between good and evil,but what I liked was that it was not all black and white.Even Father Reynaud was as real as anyone else with his moments of doubt,his guilt,his justification of what he thinks is right.His character was portrayed as someone who is not all black but with shades of gray like everyone else.I admired Vianne for her free spirit .Above all,I loved the subtle hint at magic.I look forward to read more by this author.I am so glad that I picked up a fantastic book to end the year :)

I rate it a 4 out of 5.

KORMA KHEER & KISMET

I had been meaning to get around reading this book a long time ago.I was familiar with Pamela Timms blog Eat and Dust,way before the release of this book.Had read about Uparwali Chai and loved the concept.So when I got to know about the book I was naturally curious.I just got my hands on it recently and got down to reading it immediately.And this here is my signed copy :)

This book as the name very clearly suggests is all about food.Pamela ,a Scotswoman by birth has to relocate to India owing to her Husbands job and finds herself in Delhi.After the few initial shocks India offers every foreigner and being frustrated with expatriate life ,she bravely decides to go to the back of beyond and find what the real India is all about.Always being passionate about food and cooking she embarks on a journey to find out all about Old Delhi's beloved street food.Here she talks about eating the most delectable Korma at Ashok and Ashoks mutton Korma.Bade Mian's Kheer,Baba Singhs Amritsari Kulcha,Pandit Kuremals kulfi ,Mouth watering Jalebis from the old and famous Jalebi wala,the non-glamorous Shakarkandi which is just a roasted sweet potato to the elusive winter treat only a few know about called Daulat Ki Chaat.Her passion about Indian food and her quest to find its origins brings her in contact with many people who end up being treasured friends and she soon realises that Old Delhi finally feels like home.

My Views:You cannot pick up this book and not linger on the cover photo for a bit before finally settling down to read it.The chipped ceramic cups,the dented tin kettle and the rusty shelves give a dreamy quality to the entire setting.It succeeds in exuding an old-world charm.I have already spoken about my love for book covers and this one managed to work its charm.

I consider myself fortunate to live in India where food,culture and language changes every hundred kms.I have been to Delhi only a few times but have been fascinated by the variety in street-food that this place boasts of.Korma,Kheer and Kismet serves as an excellent guide to help anyone embark on the same food trail Pamela has so vividly decribed.I am charmed by the fact that she being a foreigner ,delved into the dusty lanes to source the recipes of all the famous street food and compile them all in this book.Her writing manages to elevate the humble sweet potato or shakarkandi to another level.Besides she also tells us how Daulat Ki Chaat is made.I had been fascinated by Daulat Ki chaat ever since I read about it in Madhur Jaffreys memoir 'Climbing the Mango trees' and when she spoke about 'mutkainas' or terra-cotta pots filled with this piece of sweetened cloud,I had placed it way up there on my must-eat before I die list.Madhur Jaffrey had written beautifully about how a woman in white would always bring this delicacy in winter and how she was reluctant to part with the recipe saying that it required just the right number of dew drops on a cold winter moon lit night .However Pamela tells us how it is actually made and I liked that it was pretty honest and believable and has now led me to take it down from the top position on my must-eat list and list it under may-eat sometime list.Thanks to her for that.She does give food the due recognition it deserves comparing the Amritsari Kulche worthy of being in league with a Parisian bakery.
I was expecting coloured pictures and more pictures of the food,but there are very few of them and they are in black and white.I am not really a huge fan of recipes and re-creating dishes at home so the recipes listed didnt really hold my interest.However apart from that this book is a gastronomes delight .

I rate it a 3 out of 5.

ONE YEAR OLD TODAY!

It has been a year already!The Bibliophiles Corner is a year old today.

Christmas is a magical time of the year and im hoping this magic lasts for all of us through the coming year.Hoping to read new books and writing about them here diligently.

With hopes that this humble blog does manage to connect to somebody out there and hoping to find fellow bookaholics along this journey.

Signing Off ,
With Hopes and Dreams for a fabulous year ahead for all of us.Merry Christmas!!

The Bibliophile

THE MISTLETOE PROMISE

We are right in the middle of December.I love this time of the year for the warmth that it brings into our lives.The Holiday season has just begun and I was looking for something really light to read to kick-start my serious reading again and this one seemed like the ideal slump breaker.Besides it also made it to the new york times bestseller list last week so I went ahead and picked it up.

Elise Dutton is a divorced young woman disillusioned by life and going through the routine of living it every single day.She is approached by a handsome lawyer Nicholas Derr who happens to be a partner in a law firm in the same building.So that they dont have to spend the holidays alone,Nicholas comes up with a very interesting proposal for Elise in which she gets to be his date for the holiday season and gets to spend time with Nicholas on an all expenses paid together time.As per the contract it is strictly a platonic relation in which no personal ,probing questions can be asked by either parties and it expires at midnight on christmas eve.After demurring a bit initially,Elise does agree to this contract and thus begins a journey in which they find themselves falling for each other.However everything is not as it seems,Elise is damaged and has been through a harrowing experience she cannot let go off.Nicholas too has certain unresolved issues.Do they finally come to terms with their past and begin again or does the mistle-toe promise expire on christmas eve is what the story is about.

My Views:I could easily complete this book is a single sitting.Nicholas seemed too good to be true and there was a different track playing in my mind which was screaming serial killer when he comes up with this ridiculous proposal and expects Elise,someone he hardly knows to play along but that was because I was reading this author for the first time and so realised soon enough that this wasnt a thriller.Elise accepting the proposal also seemed far-fetched and I dont know if people easily accept proposals like this is real life.It seemed like one of those too good to be true Christmas romantic movies in the beginning of the story.

However as it progressed,we are shown that both Elise and Nicholas have a guilt-ridden conscience because of their past transgressions and are both struggling in their own way to seek some kind of redemption.Now that was something I could understand.I believe we are all flawed in our own ways and each one of us is dealing with our own demons.Sometimes all we need is forgiveness,to be able to move forward and let go of our past.It is unfair to judge people.Mistakes are a part of life,one cannot avoid them.All one can hope is to let go of the crippling guilt sometimes in order to be able to forgive oneself  and hope that the mistakes are not so life-altering as to take you to the point of no return.

I also loved the description of new york city.

If you read this book with the right spirit you will love it,if you read it being skeptical then you wont.I read it in the holiday spirit of good cheer.

I rate it a 3 out of 5

THE CINDERELLA MURDER

 

Let me begin by confessing that I am not a literature snob,so I dont have any qualms about picking up a Mary Higgins Clark,as and when the mood strikes.There was a phase a few years back when I was on a Mary Higgins Clark reading spree.I have read her books back to back and it did get to a point where I thought I was reading the same book again and again because frankly the stories are so similar but I have a particular fondness for these fast paced books. 

The Cinderella Murder is the first book in the "Under Suspicion' series.Laurie Moran is a successful television producer who has this idea for a reality television show called 'Under Suspicion',which involves revisiting cold cases ,renacting key moments with the actual people involved and interviewing each of them thus shedding new light on the case.Owing to the huge success of the pilot episode (the first book which I havent yet read)she wants to go ahead with the case of a 20 year old beautiful Susan Dempsey,a college student and an aspiring actress which was shut years ago without being solved.Susan is on her way to the house of a movie director to audition for a part in his new film.However her body is found with a shoe missing in a park near the directors home.Noone at that particular time can provide any vital clues to solve the case and everyone including her roommate,a friend,her boyfriend and the movie director have perfect alibis,thus leading to the case being unsolved and it being dubbed as the Cinderella Murder.However her mother Rosemary is still searching for answers and agrees to be a part of the series.There are various suspects.Both,Susans boyfriend and her roommate quit college shortly after her murder.Her other roommate gets the part in the film Susan was to audition for the night of the murder.The movie producer who invites the roommate later that night.Her socially awkward computer lab partner who used to carry the torch for her and who along with a professor has now made it big in the tech world and to top it all a controversial church called Advocates of God which seems very suspiciously involved.It also doesnt help that Susans so called friend and roommate is behaving very reticent.How Laurie manages to get everyone on board and interview them after twenty years of the case being closed and finally track the murderer is what the book is about.

My views:The 'Under Suspicion'series is co-authored by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke and it is a winning combination.The classic Mary Higgins Clark charm is not lost.I loved the fact that it was a fast-paced page turner.It kept me up reading for a good part of the night.I normally try to solve the case myself when Im reading such books and that usually happens when I am halfway through,but this time I was wrong (maybe I am losing my edge or maybe the book is just better)The characters are all engaging and a lot of the book centers around them and their possible motives to kill.Laurie however kept revisiting her past far too frequently for my liking but that can be ignored.Advocates of God provides a creepy element to the story.I liked the twists and turns in the plot which are the trademark of a MHC novel.My only grouse is that there are just too many characters and they get introduced rather quickly,so you are compelled to read this book in one go,but then again you wouldnt want it any other way!So that too works in the books favor at some level.I liked it for the suspense and the pace.I think it is a perfect read for the holiday season.

I rate it a 3 out of 5. 

TWISTS OF FATE

When I first saw this book ,I was intrigued by the cover.The hourglass has always fascinated me,as an early form of recording time and the three butterflies trapped seemed like a perfect imagery for those caged in the vestiges of time running out.Also it had mumbai's queens necklace as the backdrop and that prompted me to read the book blurb,which in turn led me to pick up this book.

This story is about three friends,Sharwari Joshi,Nandini Muzumdar and Parizaad Sethna who  being from disparate backgrounds have a bonding of the soul.Sharwari comes from a middle class background and aspires to be a writer.Nandini comes from a high class socialite family where the parents are too busy to participate in a kids life and Parizaad is raised by a strong and kind single mother.They are soul- sisters.Typical teens with their own set of problems and guided through it all by the kindly Mrs Sethna who plays a surrogate mother when she is not indulging them with the most delicious food from her cafe.But despite the promises of being together till the end,they have to part ways as life throws curve balls their way.Everyone is shocked when Parizaad along with her mother suddenly disappears from their lives.The same Mrs Setha who helped Nandini when she was grappling with a serious disorder.A decade passes with total disconnect and then fate decides to intervene once more.However everythings changed over time. Sharvari is dealing with her own demons.Nandini has some bitter memories she is running away from and Parizaad is dealing with the catastrophy which made her run away in the first place.How they reunite after a decade and how the picture falls back in place is what this story is all about.

My Views:This story was a very refreshing read.It chronicled the lives of the three friends from their teens to adulthood.What I loved about the book is its simplicity.It succeeds in reminding everyone of all that they once used to be,it takes us back to those care-free childhood days.It managed to evoke a bitter-sweet nostalgia in me.Friends are the family we get to choose.However in this mad rush of life how many of us even endeavour to keep the friendship alive?!Life almost never turns out the way we want it to be but there are greater bonds like friendship which keep us sailing even during turbulent times.There are various thought provoking lines throughout the story which gently nudge you to think.Parental guidance,Friendship,life and its responsibilities and how it all comes full circle somewhere along the way is portrayed beautifully.Some medical issues are blended seamlessly and reflect the authors professional background.The writing is very lucid and the characters well-etched.The innocence in the teenage years is complete with teenage angst and teasing.In contrast the time leap of a decade and the change in the characters personas makes the story even more interesting and fast paced.The end was very apt for a story like this.I enjoyed this book.
I rate it a 4 out of 5

LEAVING TIME

I have not read much of Jodi Picoult except for two of her novels,My Sister's Keeper and Nineteen minutes.While the former succeeded in enrapturing me by its poignancy and remarkably dealing with a sensitive issue,I was left underwhelmed on reading the latter.I did not like it at all and that led me to not pick up any more of her books.But somewhere along the way was this voice telling me not to give up on an author just because one of her books failed to impress me.So when Leaving Time,her latest book ,was trending on the new york times bestseller list this week,I decided that it was about time I picked it up.

This is the story of a thirteen year old girl Jenna Metcalf's search for her mother Alice who has disappeared ten years ago without a trace after a tragic incident in the elephant sanctuary where she works as a researcher and studies elephant grief,mother-calf interactions and elephant memories and documents all her findings.Thomas Metcalf,Jenna's dad is a patient at a psychiatric facility as he has lost a grip on reality and Jenna's grandmother refuses to revisit the past which leads Jenna to seek help from two most unlikely people,Serenity Jones a celebrity has-been psychic and Virgil Stanhope an ex-cop who initially investigated the case and left it unsolved.As the story progresses we are introduced to new characters who might be responsible for what happens that night ten years ago.Jenna,however still believes that her mother is alive but ten years is a long time and trying to piece information from that long ago is a challenge for everyone.

My Views:Another reason for picking up this book was the mention of a psychic on the book blurb.Now dont get me wrong here,but I have always been fascinated by psychics,mediums,tarot-readers,though I havent really indulged in readings and such,but I do tread the fine line between being a believer and a skeptic when it comes to the paranormal (but that discussion is for another day)

I must say that the writing pulled me into the story.It was narrated by four characters,Jenna,Serenity,Alice and Virgil and all of them are well-portrayed.I loved the flamboyant,witty Serenity and the conversations she has with Virgil and Jenna are peppered with laugh out moments which provides the humor in an otherwise serious story.Jenna was interesting in parts, however the niggling thought of  can a thirteen year old be so knowledgeable and worldy wise which was there at the back of my mind refused to go away.But the teenager in her did come up occasionally.Virgil ,an alcoholic,dealing with his own demons and desperate to right the wrongs and seek redemption was endearing.A gruff cop on the outside but one with a golden heart.
Alice's narration of the story got a bit tedious to read because she speaks a lot about the elephants and their behaviour which I felt was very clinical and boring and at some point my interest level dipped.Full marks to Jodie Picoult for her thorough research on the subject though and how she shows that elephants are more human than any of us and deserve to be treated with the same repect.

Three quarters of the book down and when I still couldnt figure out the puzzle,I thought to myself that maybe this one is going to be a let down too.But the ending was such a shocker that I never saw it coming.Of course if you do think at a deeper level again later it does require a considerable suspension of disbelief.But at the moment I was reading the book it did manage to send a shiver down my spine.

I therefore rate it a 4 out of  5

ADULTERY

I have never really understood Paulo Coelho.I did read a few of his books after having liked 'The Alchemist' and found myself struggling to understand the plot most of the times.However I see people around me raving about his books ,which in turn prompts me to read more of him to try and see what it is that I am missing.Adultery was brought by me with this purpose in mind.

The protagonist Linda is a successful journalist living with her loving wealthy husband and their two children in Geneva,Switzerland.She has everything in life but she is depressed.In her search for some kind of meaning and purpose to life she connects with childhood sweetheart Jacob Konig,a politician and seduces him thinking that this will add some kind of excitement in her life.She meets him often for rough sex.She imagines she is in love with him and comes up with a scheme to purchase illegal drugs and plant them in the drawer of his professor wife in a view to destroy her,thus ending their marriage.Lindas husband though unaware of his wife cheating,does understand that she has a problem.In a view to re-examine her life she meets Psychiatrists and Cuban Shamans but only after revisiting their honeymoon location in the Swiss mountains and paragliding with her husband does she have a revelation.

My Views:I just didnt get this book.I finished reading it only because I was curious about how it ends.I could not empathize with Linda and I just did not understand what her existential crisis was all about.It just got weirder when Linda randomly walks up to her childhood sweetheart Jacob Konig and gave him oral sex.Jacob to me seemed like he was not even interested.Also how he made her feel complete after treating her with zero respect and leaving her stripped of her dignity was beyond me.The sex portrayed was of a very graphic nature.
Her husband,on the other hand behaves as if nothing is wrong and is clueless even though at some point he does acknowledge that she has a problem.This seemed too far-fetched to me.Also the way depression is dealt with and the view on psychiatrists in general made me question why we even have them,which I am sure was not the motive in the first place.I could not relate to any of the characters and they seemed very unreal.I don't know if this is because I'm Indian because for some reason Paulo Coelho kept speaking about Geneva as if  the location was very important.There was a chapter on the New Testament on theology which was very heavy handed.The book did not prompt me to analyze my thoughts about life,if anything it left me utterly confused.Also the ending which I was curious about was very disappointing.Linda finally attaining some kind of spiritual awakening when she goes paragliding was baffling.
However these are just my views on it.I know there will be many people out there who have found a lot of meaning in the book.Clearly I didn't.
I rate it a 1 out of 5.

JANA BIBI'S EXCELLENT FORTUNES

I was in one of those reading slumps and nothing I picked up could hold my attention.I was just not in the mood for a really serious story which didn't have a happy ending and I happened to mention this to a friend who promptly suggested that I read 'The Jana Bibi' series.So this was one book I picked up without reading the book blurb and delved into the story clueless.

Jana Bibi's excellent fortunes is the first in a series of three books.It tells us the story of Mrs Janet Laird,(fondly nicknamed Jana Bibi) an unpretentious scotswoman who happens to inherit the Jolly Grant House ,in Hamara Nagar,Uttar Pradesh,left to her by her late Grandfather.She moves to this fictional town along with her parrot  Mr.Ganguly and Mary the Madrassi Ayah.In this quaint hillstation,she gets to meet a motley host of characters.Jana gets acquainted with these colorful characters at the Why Not?tea shop.All's well in this peaceful town until word gets out that the government is planning on building a dam there and evacuating all the people forcing everyone to start over.Jana is then enlisted to save the community,which she agrees to do by starting a fortune reading salon called 'Jana Bibi's excellent fortunes' thus trying to put their little town on the Map by making it more attractive to tourists.Does everything go as smoothly as planned and does luck work in their favor is what the story is all about.

My Views:Like I said earlier,I picked up this book during a lull in my reading and it took some time for the story to grow on me.I trudged through the initial few pages when the characters were being introduced and this happened a bit slower than I would have liked but the book really did pick pace when Jana Bibi sets up the salon.I enjoyed the story after that.I loved that Mr Ganguly could anticipate the persons mood and character and say just the right thing at the right time. What I liked most was the Indianness this book portrays despite the author being a foreigner.The repeated references to Indian films,songs,The Hindustan Times,The Illustrated Weekly of India brought back a flood of memories. I could recognise and hum the tune of the songs mentioned despite their English translations...Mera Joota hai japani,hawa mein udta jayee tera lal dupatta malmal ka and ai maalik tere bande hum and these brought a smile to my face.Also there were parallel stories running along the main story and everything falls neatly in place at the end.

Its the kind of book where everything gets sorted out rather quickly but then you find yourself wanting it to.
This book took its time to pick up pace but once it did it was a fun ride,like a ferris-wheel,slow to begin with but then you find yourself  whirling faster and enjoying it.Will I pick up the next one in the series?Most definitely !
I rate it a 3 out of 5.

ON BALANCE

Sometimes a person leaves a lasting impression on you and you find yourself wanting to know more about him/her.I was thoroughly impressed by Justice Leila Seth way before her memoir was released.Needless to say that I am also a huge fan of her son Vikram Seth and this only served to fuel my interest further.So when I got to know about her memoir,I promptly bought it.

Leila Seth was the first woman chief justice of a high court in India,the first woman judge of the delhi high court,the first woman on the law commission and the first woman to top the bar examination in London.Just too many firsts!!Writing about oneself in complete honesty is such a tough job and she has truly followed the dictum ,'If its worth doing,its worth doing well'.Her memoir tells us about her childhood,about the time spent away from family,about losing her father at such an early age,about being brought up in a very westernised Bengali family and how this influenced her and inculcated in her a love of gardening.The memoir then shifts seamlessly to a time when she gets married and goes to London with her Husband,Mr Prem Seth and talks about studying law there.Here we come to know that she balances both effortlessly and that for her family comes first.Despite having the unconditional support of Mr Seth,she too makes sacrifices and manages to effortlessly top the bar exam in London.She then talks about returning to India to practice law here in a largely male-dominated profession and how she held her own,refusing to take just women's cases and choosing instead to compete with her male colleagues,taking up tax matters,constitutional law and criminal cases.Shifting to her personal life ,she talks about her remarkably accomplished three children,writer Vikram Seth,who needs no introduction,her second son Shantum who is a peace activist and daughter Aradhana who is a film maker.She talks about personal issues concerning each of them and we realize that she was there for them every step of the way.She dedicates this book to her grandchild Nandini .

My views:This was truly an engrossing read.There is so much to learn from Jutice Leila Seth and the way she has lived her life.I loved the way this memoir has been written with complete honesty.I got to know about incidents like her panicking because she hadn't washed her husbands socks and he was rather peeved .How she held them outside the car window so that they could dry fast and he could then wear them.This makes her as real as any other person.The chapter on Ira was heart wrenching and very sad.The humiliation faced by her family when Mr Prem Seth was falsely implicated by his office in an enquiry and how the family stood together during tough times.She truly has accomplished so much in professional as well as personal life that I cant help but be in awe of her.She has beautifully balanced her personal and professional life and what can be an apt title to her memoir other than 'ON BALANCE'.Truly a life well-lived.I loved the book!

THE HANDSOME MAN'S DELUXE CAFE

I have refrained from reviewing books in a series here but maybe that is going to change now.How can one not help but talk about a series as endearing as this one??!!

This is the fifteenth book in The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.Alexander McCall Smith takes us to charming old-world Botswana where everything and nothing really happens.We find Botswana's well-acclaimed and only lady detective Precious Ramotswe investigating a case of  an Indian woman who is suffering from amnesia and cannot remember who she is or where she comes from.She is helped by a fellow Indian Mr Sengupta who along with his sister Miss Rose decide to take her in,however owing to immigration problems they need to know the identity of this lady and decide to hand the case over to Mme Ramotswe.
Meanwhile Mr J L B Matekoni,the great mechanic and owner of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is facing the turmoil of making a difficult decision in order to save his Garage.As if this wasn't enough Grace Makutsi secretary par excellence,having scored the unattainable 97% has ventured into new territory by opening the Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe.She is faced with early staffing problems but refuses to pay heed to anyone's advice including her shoes(yes she imagines that her shoes talk to her) leading to disastrous consequences which are further worsened when Violet Sephotho self proclaimed food critic ,reviews the cafe.However nothing ever goes wrong in Smith's Botswana and how everything eventually gets sorted is what the story is all about.

My Views : I am a huge fan of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series and this is my fifteenth book.I am utterly charmed by the simplicity of the setting as well as the characters so much so that I have grown very fond of them.It was delightful to read about the old favorites Mme Ramotswe,Mme Makutsi,Mr J L B Matekoni,Charlie.Smith also introduces recurring character very briefly and one fondly remembers reading about them in previous books too.Nothing dramatic really happens in these books and that is exactly what makes them so charming .The stories are always fairly simple with many laugh out loud moments in them and everything falls in place at the end,with valuable lessons learnt along the way.Simple observations like this one"If you wanted to know what people would actually do,then the only way of finding out was by watching them and seeing what they did.Then you would know what they might do in the future-because most people did what they had always done."or when Mr J L B Matekoni talks about refusing to change for the sake of modernity-"We want to stay exactly where we are,because there is nothing wrong with that place.That place is the place we have always been,and if you think that where you have been is where you should be,then why go to another place that you do not know at all and may not be as good as the place you were in before somebody came along and said to you that you must go forwards-which is not what you wanted to do?"These lines really did stay with me.This book is a delightful read and I am eagerly awaiting the next one.

My Rating  4 out of 5.

THE ALL YOU CAN DREAM BUFFET

Just how do u pick up a book?Well,I for one read the dust jacket first,then open it randomly to any page and read a paragraph or two just to get a feel of the writing and if that enagages me I go ahead and buy it.However lately I have been in a strange kind of phase wherein i am picking up books just by looking at the cover.I hope this phase sorts itself soon because I usually feel compelled to read what I buy and inevitably toil through it refusing to put it down even if it is an average read.Most of the time,it is and by the end of it I am usually left annoyed and grumpy.

Like I said,I picked this one up because I liked its cover.This is a story about four friends,women in different age groups who meet each other through their blogs.There is Lavender Wills,the owner of Lavender Honey Farms who connects with Ginny,a cake blogger,Ruby,who blogs about organic eating and Valerie, who has a popular wine blog.Lavender is soon to celebrate her 85th birthday and extends an invitation to her three friends to come to her farm and join in the celebrations.However there is more to Lavenders invitation.She wants to leave her farm and its successful business of honey,lavender and organic produce to one of the women,instead of her nephews who she knows dont really care much for the farm and will eventually sell it to a developer and she cant bear the thought.

Ginny,Ruby and Valerie have their own stories.Ginny is travelling from Kansas for the first time in her life in an attempt to run away from an unhappy marriage.Ruby is a young pregnant woman trying to sort her own issues and Valerie is trying to connect with her teenage daughter after a family tragedy.

My views:It is a fairly simple story and I did like it for that.It also includes pages of blogs that the women post.Somehow that didn't strike a chord with me.However it was alluring to read about the the farm and the lavender. I could not relate to the addition of magical realism in an otherwise ordinary story.Also the cover is very misleading and so is the title.At no point while reading the story could I imagine something like the picture depicted in the cover.The romance is raunchy and something totally unexpected in a book like this.
Some lines did stay with me though,especially when Ruby says---"Sometimes things just are.There's no message from the great beyond or God or whoever.Life evolves."
and also"Whenever I am going to leave one place for another,it is as if every corner and light switch and scent of the old place suddenly becomes unbearably unique and precious beyond measure.And of course they are.Every moment of our lives is precious and unique beyond measure."

All in all,the story is predictable.Sometimes I couldn't relate to the characters.The romance is unnecessary and cheesy.

My personal rating:2 out of 5

GONE GIRL

Title: Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn

Price: Rs 695

Whoa!! What do I say about this book!!!!!It was a wondrous read,a journey I enjoyed thoroughly.What a ride!!I did nothing for two days but just read this book to reach till the end.I could not do any other task in between.Some books do that to you and this book is definitely recommended.

I picked this one up,due to curiosity,I was ready to give it up mid way had it been anything less than what it was.But what can I say !!It proved me totally wrong.Oh !I can go on and on .Now writing a review for this one without including spoilers is a  tough feat to achieve,so I am not going to go into crucial details which reveal the plot.

Lets just say that this story is about a couple Nick and Amy and their failing marriage.The book opens the morning of Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary,it is told right at the beginning that their marriage is declining steadily .Nick comes home after receiving a call from a neighbor to inform him that his front door is wide open and the cat is outside.Nick returns home to find the signs of a struggle and his wife gone without a trace.

The story progresses thus alternating between Nick's day ,telling us how things were from his point of view and Amy's old diary entries.It weaves a rich tapestry including many characters and gets so interesting that it requires a lot of restraint to not turn the pages and quickly sneak a peek to see how it ends.You try to figure out  and judge as to what or who is justified but a page later you find that things are not how they seem.

As for the end,I felt a little dissatisfied with it at first but then after much thought ,I felt it couldn't have ended any other way. I am sure this book will be turned into a movie,It has all the elements of one.Pick it up ,if you haven't already.It is a thrilling ride!

I had written this review almost two years ago,I just saw the movie this weekend and it failed to create the same impact.In fact,I was disappointed with the movie or maybe I was expecting a bit much.

I rate the book a 4 and a half out of 5.

IF I COULD TELL YOU

I picked this one at the airport book store on my way back home from Bangalore.The author is Soumya Bhattacharya.

It is an epistolary novel ,the story is narrated in the form of letters from a father to his daughter.The father adores his little girl,but a lot of things go wrong in his life and he feels that he owes some kind of explanation to his daughter,who is too small to understand what is going on.So he keeps all these letters addressed to her,hoping that one day she will read them and forgive him,for the way their life turns out.It is a melancholic story about the absolutely fragile relationship between a father and his daughter.

I dont really know what to say about the book because I did hope it would end differently.I felt the narrator was trying to seek some kind of redemption through his letters.It is a story which starts with dreams and then goes on to show hopes being thwarted,dreams being shattered and short-lived happiness.

Do not pick it up when you are feeling particularly low,is all I have to say.

Of course Bhattacharya does justice to the title......taken from Audens verse.."If I could tell you"

If I Could Tell You

Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.

DORK

Did I mention that..im a huge fan of books and have quite a neat little collection myself?!.The last weekend after cursing the interminable Summer heat for the millionth time I decided to distract myself by reading something new.I feel I just cant pick up any book ,at any time of the day and read it.The setting has to be just right.

Its not like the monsoon when its pouring outside and you have this neat little gallery space open to let in the cool breeze with the amazing smell of wet earth,the bed and comforter ready and a steaming hot cup of chocolate.Now in this setting I can read any book,without prior contemplation.

This time however,it was a hot ,muggy afternoon with soaring temperatures.So it would have to be a light read.So I picked up DORK......and the rest as they say is ....History.I couldnt have been more pleased with myself for choosing right!

It is a fantastic book,totally hilarious and a mood-lifter.It tells the story of this bungling management graduate Robin 'Einstein' Varghese and how he manages to get in the most weird of situations and how efficiently he gets out of them.I read the book over the afternoon and it left me with a good feeling.Very few books can do that.Moreover even the ending couldnt have been more perfect.

Ive heard its the first book in a trilogy so now I will most certainely be reading DORK 2 and 3.Sidin Vadukut has written this book to much acclaim.He is a blogger too and blogs at http://www.whatay.com .So if you chance upon this book do not give it a miss.Definitely recommended.

THE PRAYER ROOM

When I picked this one up,i thought it was going to be yet another book about the Indian diaspora but as I kept turning its pages,I was pleasantly surprised.

The Prayer Room is a very engaging debut novel by Shanthi Sekaran.It tells the story of Vijaya (Viji),a small town tamil girl who is married to a foreigner for getting into a relationship with him and is packed off to London with a husband she barely knows.George her husband is equally clueless and we are told in the beginning of the story itself that "he had a habit of regretting his purchases".

It goes on to tell us of their journey from England ,to Sacramento,in America,where they decide to settle.Viji tries to adjust herself to her new life and also tries to keep a little of her old by having a small prayer room,where she keeps pictures of all those near to and no longer with her.She seeks solace by holding conversations with the people in the picture frames.George is also trudging on in life,wishing it were something else. Life of course doesnt stop amidst all this and twelve years and three kids later (triplets) Viji finds herself dissatisfied and questioning everything about her life.

She therefore packs her bags and goes off to India to find all her answers and this is where the story catches pace.What happens in India?Does she get her answers? and does she come back to her life in America? is what makes up for the rest of the book.

This story tells us about the need we all have at some point in our life to come to terms with what has happened,the need to make peace with ourselves.How sometimes there are a lot of things buried inside our soul and we just cannot stifle them any longer.How everything appears smooth on the surface but there are deep cracks within.About love,relationships,family,lasting bonds and duty.

I liked the book for its honest approach and beautiful prose.It is a page-turner and I could not guess what would happen next, until the end and that was what I liked most about it.

ROOM

I wouldn't have known about this book,if a friend hadn't tweeted about it.I picked it up randomly because I was intrigued as the book by itself hadn't revealed much in terms of the plot.



I began reading it as soon as I got it home.It is written by Emma Donoghue.



It is a very different sort of a book as its narrated by a five year old kid.Everything is seen through his perspective.It takes a few pages down to realize what is actually happening and then the whole plot hits you.



A young woman imprisoned in a modified garden shed somewhere in America, regularly raped by her captor, but otherwise left alone, with enough food, a few books, a television. She becomes pregnant, gives birth and trains her son Jack to the best of her ability in a 12 ft by 12 ft room.Jack has no idea that anything at all exists outside “Room”: the sun and moon are God’s two faces, and Jack is always safe asleep in “Wardrobe” when “Old Nick” comes in through “Door”.Jack describes things as proper nouns, such as Room, Table and Rug as he does not know anything beyond this make believe world.The rest of the story describes how they both flee from their captor after years of staying cooped up in this cloistered existence and how they finally start a new life in the outside 'real' world.



I cannot say I liked this book as much as I was hoping I would.It left me with an eerie sort of feeling.I heard its based on the Elizabeth Fritzl case and when I looked it up,it sent a chill down my spine.To think that something as ghastly as that could have happened somewhere in this world!!

In the book however ,as much as the author has tried to build a story ,after a while you realize that its just another work of fiction you are reading and you see it as that.Its a little too hard to digest at times.



I did like the way the relationship between a mother and son has been portrayed but that's about it.I could not relate to a child narrating the story.It just didn't work for me.

Its one of those books short-listed for the Man Booker Prize,probably because its somewhat based on a real life story.It was just something very different from what Ive read before.Wouldn't rate it too high.

LAST MAN IN TOWER

So...i have been reading.I just don't make the time to post reviews.That's going to change very soon.Its funny how every book I pick up has a small story attached with it.Its funny how every book i am hesitant to pick up at first ends up being the one I like the most.The same happened with Last Man in Tower.I had delayed picking up the book.Having read Adiga's 'The white Tiger' and his second book 'Between the assassinations'.....I wasn't too keen in reading this one.Not that I don't like his work.In fact The white tiger was an enjoyable read.However ' Between the assassinations' did not quite live up to my expectations.Also I had begun predicting his style of story telling.So when the book was first released I totally ignored it.Then there were reviews in newspapers which caught my attention.On my next visit to the bookstore I picked up the book and carefully scanned it,but put it back promptly as I had decided to not buy it.Then a few months passed and I was looking for something good to read on one of my trips out of town.Walking the streets in another city,I came across these street book hawkers and each one of them was waving Adiga's 'Last Man in tower' in my face.Now I dont believe in signs and all that stuff,so I walked past them too.The same day I stopped for lunch in a small cafe with a bookstore by the side and there at the entrance was the same book staring at me .I could not ignore it anymore and so picked it up and having nothing better to do in a different city I promptly began reading it.To my surprise I stopped only after finishing the book in two days.I loved it and that prompted me to write this small review.

Those of you who have read Adiga before would know that he never paints a rosy picture and prefers to tell the story as it is in all its gory details,he tells us about the India he observes.Last man in tower is about a housing co-operative in Mumbai called Vishram and its residents.Dharmen Shah, the property developer wants to redevelop it into a stack of luxury apartments.H0wever there is a group of residents in the building who look beyond Shahs lucrative offer and vehemently oppose the redevelopment plan.Shah is not a man to give up easily and tries every trick in his book to lure these people till each one of them slowly gives in.But one man remains unconvinced and holds on to his memories in the building and refuses to place a price on them and he is the retired teacher Yogesh Murthy and so he is the Last Man in tower.This story becomes a little darker towards the end . Adiga speaks about how money changes all equations.How all relationships,friendships crumble .How each resident has a story and a past which is a major factor in influencing their decisions.There are so many beautifully etched characters besides the residents of the building and as you read the book you become a part of their lives,standing by,watching the story unfold.

When I put down the book,I was left with mixed feelings but most of all it left me with a lingering feeling of reading a good story after a long time.

84,CHARING CROSS ROAD

What do I say about this book!!!?I read it in a few hours yesterday and found it to be utterly charming.
I am so happy to have found a book which talks about the love of books.

84,Charing Cross Road is written in epistolary format.The only other book I have read so far in this format is Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and while that was macabre and somber ,this turned out to be absolutely endearing.It is just a series of letters spanned over twenty years written by Helene Hanff and posted to 84, Charing Cross Road in London to a lovely little book store Marks and Co.The letters are replied to by Frank Doel,chief buyer of Marks and Co.Hanff, is in search of obscure classics and British literature titles she had been unable to find in New York and therefore orders them from this antiquated book store in London and a lovely friendship develops between her and Frank Doel and all the other people working at Marks and Co.Helene also sends Christmas packages,birthday gifts and food parcels along with the letters and her kindness and thoughtfulness are appreciated by everyone especially at a time when there is a food shortage in London post world war 2.

I loved the way Hanff talks about books.She says ,she does not buy a book she has not already read and she refuses to read fiction which according to her "is a book about something that didn't happen to someone who doesn't exist".I found that very different to the way I read or choose my books,but then I am not Helene, so I let it pass.

Frank Doel is very proper in his replies to the letters,in the manner of the English but he just warms up to Helene over the course of many years.

There are so many lovely bits I liked about this book.Like the way she talks about books, as if they are living things.When she writes back to say a book has arrived she says "The book arrived safely, the Stevenson is so fine it embarrasses my orange-crate bookshelves, I'm almost afraid to handle such soft vellum and heavy cream coloured pages. Being used to the dead-white paper and stiff cardboardy covers of American books, I never knew a book could be such a joy to the touch."

Also "I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone long gone has called my attention to."That echoes my thoughts exactly.

I loved Helene's feisty spirit and her passion for reading.The book describes how two people from different sides of the Atlantic Ocean can bond over letters and forge a friendship for a lifetime.I was curious up to the end and wanted to know if Helene finally makes it to London to visit the bookstore but the novel ends without telling us that.

However the good news is...Ive got a kind of Omnibus in which there is another book THE DUCHESS OF BLOOMSBURY STREET,which I am yet to read in which Helene does visit the bookstore.I am looking forward to reading it and finding out about her visit soon.

I wonder if the movie is as good.Hope to get a chance to watch it soon.

THE BOOK THIEF

I just finished reading this book and I m writing this review immediately .I got about reading this one as I had heard a lot being said about it and i m so glad that all of it was absolutely true.I loved the book.

This book tells us the story of Liesel a little girl and her life.The backdrop is the holocaust 1939-1942 in Nazi Germany and the narrator of the story is 'Death'.I found this a little strange in the beginning but I was pleasantly surprised to see the story so beautifully told,sometimes even with a sense of humor.

It tells us how Liesel comes to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann as her mother cannot afford her upbringing anymore.On the way to the Hubermanns ,her only brother dies in the train.Liesel sees death at close quarters right from the start and the story progresses with her stealing a book,the first of many.She does so,just as a reminder of her brother,as she cannot read.

Liesel's life soon changes as she arrives at the Hubermanns.Hans ,her foster father is very kind right from the beginning and Rosa too has a hard exterior but a big soft heart.She has to deal with change,abandonment by her mother and death at the tender age of nine.She is put in a lower grade in school as she cannot read and that is when Hans Hubermann,her foster father starts teaching her how to.Liesel soon develops a passion for books and reading.However this is Nazi Germany and the Hubermanns are not rich enough to buy books.So Liesel ,gets books by the only way she knows to,by stealing them.

As the story progresses,it tells us about her love for words,how they comfort her,how she loves them and how they save her.It tells us about her life on 33,Himmel Street.Her bond with her foster parents.Her friendship with the boy next door,Rudy.Her connections with the many people that constitute her life and how her life changes irrevocably when her parents decide to hide a jew in their basement.

Liesel helps Max Vandenburg ,a jew, and the power of words creates unbreakable bonds between them.It tells us how a little girl of nine fails to understand why jews are treated differently.Why she has to say Heil Hitler everytime.It is a heart-wrenching story.Everytime I read about the holocaust,I cannot help but say a silent prayer for the times we now live in.That our lives are only ours to live.I cannot even begin to imagine the plight of the jews.

I could not read all of it at a stretch but it still managed to touch the right chords in my heart.In the few days,I took to read this book,I think I actually lived Liesel's story.

There are a very few books,which change your perspective on life.They make you a different person.They compel you to think.The Book Thief,is one such story.I highly recommend it.

THE DUCHESS OF BLOOMSBURY STREET

Most often,it so happens,that I let a book choose me,instead of the other way round.After reading 84,Charing Cross Road,I did not immediately want to pick up the sequel.So I decided to pick up another random book to read.However ,after a couple of days,my attention wavered and I gave up on it.The same thing kept repeating itself with all the other books I picked thereafter and it reached to a point when I felt I was just not interested in reading anymore!That was when I panicked and resolved to find something to read  immediately .Incidentally my attention shifted to the copy of The duchess of Bloomsbury Street lying on the table and as fate would have it,I picked up the book and put it down only after having read it.

Needless to say,It is a charming little book.Something very different from what I have read so far.It is the sequel to 84,Charing Cross road and tells us about Helen's visit to London.I savored every little detail and felt I was right there with Helen!I loved her attitude towards travel in another country.I loved the way she made the most of her stay in London and how she trusted complete strangers to show her around a new country,one she had never visited before.Her free-spirited nature is truly admirable and she truly made the best of her stay in a foreign country.

This book fascinated me and held me captive.I loved to read about the different characters she meets,the places she visits and the food she eats.How she teaches a London bartender to make a martini 'HER' way!How she does not let anyone push her around and throws a tantrum,so that she can see the parts of oxford she wants to see.

In the end,Helen remarks on the plane "suddenly it was as if everything had vanished, Bloomsbury and Regent's park and Russel square and Rutland gate. None of it had happened, none of it was real. Even the people weren't real. It was all imagined, they were all phantoms.I could totally relate with her sentiment.I have felt the same way too.

I know I wont be doing justice to the book even after having written all this.It is just something you need to pick for yourself and discover.I am just happy to have this gem in my collection.

THE SECRET LETTERS OF THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI

I am not really a huge fan of self help books.I do come across them several times but I usually skip reading them.I feel they tell you stuff that you already know,but when you see it in print...it feels like a revelation.I picked up Robin Sharma's bestseller 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari' around seven years ago when I was in a completely different stage in life and gave up reading it midway.I dont really remember why I did that...but maybe the book did not captivate me at that time.So when my sis recommended this book to me saying that I would love it,I was a bit skeptical at first.I thought it was a sequel to the first and kept it lying on my desk for the longest time until one fine day I picked it up and read it without a break.

It is not a sequel but the book does have Julian (the monk) in the first book as the guide.The story is about Jonathan Landry,(Julian's distant cousin) a troubled man trapped in the inescapable rat race of modern life.With an over demanding job,a failing marriage and a disappointed son,Jonathan is a man in trouble.One day at the insistence of his old mother he agrees to meet his old cousin Julian who has expressed his desire to meet Jonathan . He is assigned with a task of collecting nine life-saving talismans from safe-keepers located across the globe from Istanbul to Japan to India. Thus begins his journey of rediscovering his life and the joys he had been missing in it as each talisman and its safe-keeper has an important message along with it.

We travel to various places with Jonathan and along the way learn important lessons in life,the importance of being true to ourselves and deriving pleasure from even the most simple things in life.

This book could not have come to me at a better time.I guess we need to be reminded time and again about what really is important in life and not get lost in the race.What made the book even more interesting was that it told us these truths while taking us on a long journey across the world.

I strongly recommend it.It provoked me to stop and think about where I was going.I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.