Books I have read and shall put up reviews soon!

The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time -Mark Haddom
Karl,Aaj aur Kal-Cyrus Broacha
The Great Indian Novel- Shashi Tharoor
The memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Greg Heffley

Shall update soon!

Have you read any of these books and if yes would you want to share your views/opinions please send them to me will put it up on the blog!

Until then!

I am not alone!

Hey all really been a lousy and lazy blogger.Sorry for being AWOL but work,home,kids seemed to have jointly conspired to keep me on my toes and away from blogging.But the good news is that I am back and I am not alone!

Kiran,a dear friend and a champion blogger took pity on my blog going wasted like that, has kindly agreed to post some of her book reviews on my blog.It's an honour to have her contribute to this blog.Thanks Kiran.

She has also suggested that I make this blog more interactive and get authors to share their book writing experiences with the readers.So will try and implement that shortly.I have also created a google group (http://groups.google.co.in/group/thebooklovers?hl=en) and a facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=298122441114

Do join these groups and do keep reading the reviews and discussions on the blog!Suggestions,feedback also welcome!

Terrified of this symmetry

Book: Her Fearful Symmetry

Author: Audrey Niffeneger

It has taken the author six long years to get this book out. Coming as it does, after the phenomenally successful The Time Traveler's Wife, the book had a tough act to live upto. And add to this the author takes a William Blake poem and twists it a bit for the title, makes this book one of those who pick up with the urge to read through it in a single night.
The book starts off promisingly. Gothic in its eerieness, it opens with death. Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer and leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. The interesting twist is that these nieces had no clue that their mother was a twin too, and that they had an English aunt. And this is the first of the many twists that the narrative will lead us to. The twins, Julia and Valentina are almost regular American teenagers, but strangely purposeless. A chance to live a year in London is something they leap at. They happily uproot themselves from their Chicago suburban home and move to London, to live in Elspeth's musty home with rare books and chintzy furniture. What they dont know however is that they are not alone. Elspeth, in her spectral form, is constantly with them. Appropriately enough, Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London is where her lover Martin does volunteer tours for tourists. The entire macabre atmosphere is accentuated by Martin, an OCD sufferer who never ever steps out of his home and must manically clean, but is also a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter. His wife, Marjike, has left him to go live in Amsterdam, unable to cope with his illness. In fact, for me, the triumph of the story was Martin's effort to overcome his illness and go to Marijke in Amsterdam. Living below the twins is Robert, Elspeth's lover, a scholar of the cemetery, who then gets involved with one of the girls. And the twists in the tale begin.
The twins are mirror images of each other, fearfully symmetrised, as the title goes, with reversed bodies. They sense Elspeth's presence in the house and even begin communicating with her. From this point on is where the plot, nice and taut, starts unwinding. The two twists at the end, the truth about Elspeth and Edie, and the final twist about body snatching was a let down, a debate with no resolution and one in which one cannot fathom whether Elspeth's ghost gets her come uppance at the end for trying to play God with everyone's lives. Did I enjoy it? I did. But to be honest, I had higher expectations from the writer of The Time Traveller's Wife.

(Posted by Kiran Manral)

My review :Nine Lives

The only book of his that I read before is 'The Last Mughal' and if you have been following my blog you would have realised how totally un-inclined I have been to history and I hate to admit Mughal history.I was almost pushed to read this book 'The Last Mughal' by all in the family (all history lovers!)...and I am so glad I paid heed to them.My fascination to read more about the Mughal history arose after reading this beautifully written book.This book was of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.His fall from grace,the end of an era.What came across after reading this book was Dalrymple's immense knowledge of history and more so the Indian history.
After reading that book I was eagerly looking forward to his next (I have in the meanwhile read 'Age of Kali' and 'The White Mughals' written by him which are also very well written).So Nine Lives as soon as it hit the stores was bought and read in 2 days flat.With this book Dalrymple has proved himself to be an accomplished travel writer.
This book has nine different stories,as he puts it are tales of the sacred in Modern India. Dalrymple goes deeper and deeper into the landscape of India in order to return with clearer images of the people who live there. And in trying to appreciate their lives, we enrich our understanding of our own, and this is why Nine Lives might well be William Dalrymple’s most important book to date.
The book starts with The Nun's Tale where he explores the Jain religion and also gives us an insight on Jainism through the eyes of a digambara nun.Non-judgemental and sensitively handled.Jainism was also extensively covered by Suketu Mehta in his book The Maximum City

The second story is about The Dancer of Kannur from Kerala the story comes alive through Hari Das who is an accomplished theyyam dancer in the area who during the months from December to February trades his job as a jail warden to a theyyam dancer playing the part of Lord Vishnu.He is a dalit (backward caste)and comes from a very poor background who becomes a temporary god during the theyyam season and gets the kick out of having the brahmins come and seek his blessings during the season.Dalrymple handles the caste divide which is prevalent in Kerala again very honestly without looking down at such practices.Just an in your face account of it.

The third story is The daughters of Yellamma which is personally my favourite.It is so heart wrenching and beautiful.It is the story of devdasis,the women are dedicated and 'married' to a god or goddess and then these women are pushed into flesh trade.This story is of Rani Bai who was dedicated by her parents to god at a tender age of six by the time she turned 14 she was sold to the highest bidder..She continues her life as a devadasi and how she dedicates her daughters to the same practice and ends up losing them to AIDS.
The devadasis are considered auspicious as well and are seen as symbols of fertility in Karnataka.Though there are acts put in place by the government against this practice it still prevails in rural and poverty struck interiors of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The other stories are also uncovers some facets of India that we as Indians are largely unaware of ...his story the singer of epics is of Mohan the bard (a bhopa) and a village shaman and his wife Batasi.they both are completely illiterate but are few of the last singers who can sing a 4000 line poem by heart!the poem is 600 year old.the poem is performed in front of a phad and the audience is usually the nomadic and cattle herding Rabri caste.His 5th story is from rural Sindh called the red fairyit is the story of lal peri who lives in a sufi shrine.It beautifully explains sufism. There is the monk's tale after that which is the story of a tibetan living in exile in Dharamsala in India.Did you know that some of the tibetans who were living in exile during the 62 war against China were taken into the Indian Army?This secret force,Special frontier force were trained by the CIA and India in a camp near Dehradun.Fascinating indeed!
These stories are followed by equally fascinating tales from different parts of the country there is 'the maker of idols' from Tamil Nadu,'The Lady Twilight' from a cremation ground at Tarapith in Bengal one of the most holy places in India and the home of the great goddess Tara.'The song of the blind Minstrel' is a story again from Bengal its the stpry of the Bauls meaning mad or possessed in Bengali.

Lovely and fascinating stories which show us how rich the Indian culture is and how while forging ahead in the world we as a nation are still bound by our beautiful and fascinating past!!Must read for all Dalrymple lovers!

What others say about Nine Lives

This is the reviews I picked up from Amazon from various noted authors.I'll put up my review soon!


Review
`William Dalrymple's Nine Lives takes the charm and natural verve of City of Djinns, marries it to the intellectual and spiritual engagement of From the Holy Mountain, and brings it off with all the narrative skill developed in his history books, combined with his ever more profound understanding of India.'
--Maya Jasanoff

"Any of these stories could make a great film or play, they are so full of passion, tragedy, violence, compassion, and religious fervor, and so vividly evoked; . . . Their human concerns, not unlike ours, melt seamlessly into the bizarre, almost unimaginable circumstances of their ritual life, and eventually we see that that,too, is quite human, that there is nothing weird at all about drinking
warm blood or pulling out your hair by the roots. Only a brilliant writer like Dalrymple could bring off this astonishing and unprecedented revelation of the humanity of people on the farthest extremes of religious ecstasy" --Wendy Doniger

"I was enchanted by these poignant and magical stories. By artfully weaving together travel, history, and legend--all without guile--he creates a compelling narrative, reminding us why India is one of the world's greatest story telling cultures, and why he is one of its greatest story tellers" --Gurcharan das

"Any book by William Dalrymple is good news, but a travel book after close to a decade calls for a dash to the bookshop instead of a click on Amazon. Nine Lives, Dalrymple's first travel book after two exhilarating expeditions into Indian history, is a risky enterprise.
It is difficult for anyone, let alone "Westerners", to write about Indian religious traditions without slithering into Orientalist, New Ageist or Hindutva tropes. It is even more risky to narrate Indian religious beliefs against the template of today's India, which is itself a half-mythical being in the throes of constant change. But Dalrymple has managed to do so, and with aplomb." --Tabish Khair, Hindustan Times

'His most ambitious yet, taking the reader into lurid, scarcely imaginable worlds of mysticism ... Dalrymple has an inimitable way of conjuring the Indian landscape' -- Financial Times

`This is travel writing at its best. I hope it sparks a revival' -- Observer

`Beautifully written, ridiculously erudite and, more than any of his previous work, reveals Dalrymple to be remarkably warm - and open-hearted ... a towering talent' -- The Times

`William Dalrymple's Nine Lives takes the charm and natural verve of City of Djinns, marries it to the intellectual and spiritual engagement of From the Holy Mountain, and brings it off with all the narrative skill developed in his history books, combined with his ever more profound understanding of India.' --Maya Jasanoff

'Full of passion, tragedy, violence, compassion, and religious fervor, and so vividly evoked...
Only a brilliant writer like Dalrymple could bring off this astonishing and unprecedented revelation of the humanity of people on the farthest extremes of religious ecstasy.' --Wendy Doniger

`I was enchanted by these poignant and magical stories. By artfully weaving together travel, history, and legend--all without guile--he creates a compelling narrative, reminding us why India is one of the world's greatest story telling cultures, and why he is one of its greatest story tellers.' --Gurcharan Das

`His characteristic wit and sympathy are fully evident in the interviews he has conducted ... as are his love and knowledge of the sub-continent ... this fascinating book ... beautifully illustrates the relationship between tradition and modernity in India.' --Lewis Jones, Spectator

`Beautifully written, ridiculously erudite and, more than any of his previous work, reveals Dalrymple to be remarkably warm - and open-hearted ... a towering talent.' --Brian Schofield, The Times

My review :My name is Red

There is a store I frequent often which is close to home.He has some awesome collection of books at very affordable prices.These copies are not pirated but I guess second hand thats why so affordable!I picked up Orhan Pamuk's book from there.So here is my take on the book.Good read but not an effortless read...It is sometimes very slow you almost want to read the end to know who the murderer is...(Yes, the novel is a murder-mystery -- though not a typical one.)

My Name is Red is written in many voices and from many perspectives. The short chapters are narrated by more than a dozen different characters.The first voice is that of a dead person, the just-murdered Elegant Effendi.

The setting is the late 16th century, in Istanbul. Elegant Effendi -- and his murderer -- are artists: miniaturists and illustrators. Other central characters include Enishte Effendi, a master artist, his nephew, called Black (also a painter), and his daughter Shekure. Twelve years earlier Black had fallen in love with Shekure, but Enishte did not agree on the marriage; Black left Istanbul and only now has returned. Shekure married three years after he left, and now has two sons, Orhan and Shevket but her husband disappeared years ago and is presumed dead. Now her husband's brother, Hasan, is pressuring her to marry him (as Black also renews his suit).The go-between in all the communication between the trio is a lady called Esther.

The premise is that there is a group of people who are working on a secretly commissioned work by the great ruler which is influenced by the European paintings.It is also a very confidential and secret project.While there is another group which feels that it is an attack on the philosophy long followed by the miniaturists and illustrators.So the miniaturist Elegant is killed by one of his colleagues who has started feeling that the series of paintings ( that they are working on ) commissioned goes against their lord and basic tenets of Islam.
My Name is Red is very much a book about art and reality, about what the purpose of art is -- and about its dangers. There is a good deal of discussion about painting and art, and about what makes real art . The book offers some splendid detail here, from what the miniaturists do to avoid going blind (face away from the sun when it rises, among other things) to the idea that only in blindness does pure art exist. The novel is the contest between the old and new, and tradition and change.

His narration is very descriptive almost gives you a feeling of being there and watching the events unfold.

My Name is Red is an enjoyable and often fascinating read...but very slow.Very different style of writing that I have never read before.Sensitive,beautiful,descriptive and informative.

The Palace of Illusions

]The Palace of Illusions is a book I picked on a whim at Crossword but I must say haven't regretted buying it even once!Many a times after buying a book and reading it I have instantly repented buying the book.I have a long list of badly plotted,over the top,over preachy books that I have bought and not enjoyed!

In today's times a good marketing strategy can sell any book at ridiculous prices too!The book that comes into my mind right away is 'The Mistress of the Game' which must have sold lacs of copies just because it had Sidney Sheldon written boldly on the cover but is actually written by another author as a tribute to the deceased celebrated author.I don't even remember the name of the actual author who has actually written it.It was supposedly a sequel to Sidney Sheldon's bestseller 'The Master of the Game'.I am sure even Mr.Sheldon would be squirming in his grave.

Ok so now to get to the point this book The Palace of Illusions has been written by Chitra Banerjee Divakurni and it is a guaranteed one sitting read.The story is about Paanchali (aka Draupadi) and the legendary Mahabharat through her eyes.What is unique about this book is that it is the first time that a book based on the great Indian mythology has been written through a woman's point of view.

The great war between the Kauravas and Paanchali's husbands the Paandavas triggered off because of Draupadi and the great humiliation she faced due to the Kauravas.It explores her relationship with Karna (who she deeply loved),Krishna (her friend and her guide),Kunti (her Mother in law-who she was always at loggerheads with) and her husbands (Yudishtir,Bheem,Arjun,Nakul and Sahdeva).

The book is easy flowing,riveting till the last page,insightful and more importantly beautifully written.

A must read!