Friday finds: Stupid Cupid

I’m not a fan of the cover nor the title but I loved Mamang Dai’s first novel ‘Legends of Pensam’ (Review). When I saw this book on Twistntales regular updates I knew I had to get it. Unfortunately I don’t think this book would be available here but its going to be the first book I buy when I go home for a visit.

Here’s what the book is about (from Penguin books)

‘I had set up as an agent. For want of a better name, let’s call it a love agency, to provide a decent meeting place where men and women, lovers and friends, could rendezvous without too much sweat…. People only want to be alone together. They need time to meet and talk. They want to find themselves through a moment of love.’

Drawn to New Delhi from the hills of the North East by hopes of adventure and the love of a married man, Adna opens a guest house for lovers and friends. In a small bungalow on a quiet lane, an unlikely assortment of couples and singles come together, for an afternoon, a day and sometimes for months. While in the big city death, like Cupid, stalks the streets and strikes at random.

This second novel by the acclaimed author of The Legends of Pensam is a graceful, quirky and ultimately moving story about relationships, complete with all their complications and joy.

Booking through thursday: Twisty

Jackie says, “I love books with complicated plots and unexpected endings. What is your favourite book with a fantastic twist at the end?”
So, today’s question is in two parts.

1. Do YOU like books with complicated plots and unexpected endings?

2. What book with a surprise ending is your favorite? Or your least favorite?

I’m not really sure what kind of endings I prefer. I think it depends on what genre of books I’m reading. When it comes to Romance books I prefer happy and neatly tied up endings, but then again I did love Love Story and Gone with the Wind.

I would like to think I like unexpected endings, take for e.g. My Sisters Keeper. That was totally not what I was expecting but I loved it. I’m sure there are books where I haven’t liked the turn the plot has taken but can’t seem to recall anything at the moment.

I don’t usually like complicated plots. I don’t have a lot of patience with them. I used to get only half an hour to read everyday. A complicated plot means trying to recall everything I’ve read a day before and too many breaks which is definitely not appealing. But then again I did love The Da Vinci Code which was complicated to me as I’m not a Christian. I had to struggle with basic concepts too.

See? I told you. I’m a very confused person or maybe I just don’t have a preference unless the ending and the plot is smooth flowing and not an attempt to be deliberately shocking.

But there is one kind of ending I absolutely DO NOT like. The ones that are incomplete.

What about you?

East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

Title: East of the sun
Author: Julia Gregson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Library
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Orion; Reprint edition (12 Jun 2008)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
A Richard and July book club pick

My thoughts:
At the center of East of the Sun are 3 women, Viva, Rose and Tor. Rose and Tor are childhood friends and are sailing to India for Rose’s wedding to a British military man. Viva is supposed to be their chaperon for the journey. Guy, a 16 year old boy is another charge she has to take due to shortage of money.

What follows is their journey from the U.K to Bombay (now Mumbai) and then their individual journey’s through India in the 1920′s.

While I really enjoyed the first half of the book, the second half felt a little too long for me. I’m not sure if it’s the book or the fact that I have very less patience with chunksters, blame it on library due dates and on the towering TBR pile. The stories of all the 3 women were interesting but very long. There were a lot of unnecessary details which does contribute to number of pages.

What I liked most about the book was the atmosphere created, whether it was Mumbai or Ooty, I could picture everything in my mind. One thing I would like to add here is that Poona (Pune) is not hot in November. I thought I could just correct that.

The book is set in 1920′s, during the British occupation of India, so I expected a bit of Indian-British clashes, but here it almost felt pro-British. But considering it’s a novel that is not based on the Independence struggle I let that go. There were also a few inaccuracies in the book, especially the translation of a few Hindi words, but again nothing that non-Hindi readers would mind.

Overall its a descent book with settings you might enjoy if you like reading about India.

Wordless Wednesday: Ooty

Ooty(India) Lakes

The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton

Title: The Camel Bookmobile
Author: Masha Hamilton
Genre: Adult Fiction
Setting: Kenya
Source: Library
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

My thoughts: This book is inspired by the Camel Bookmobile Project in Kenya. The books are carried on Camels to remote areas in Africa where children have little or no source for books. Fi is a librarian from New York who volunteers for this project. She is looking for an escape, a life very different from her own.

Mididima is one of the villages in Kenya where this bookmobile visits. These are the villagers who have their set ways for years. They worship nature, they think they are cursed if it doesn’t rain. They have ancient values and philosophies that have been carried down from generations. Obviously they are not too happy about the bookmobile. They think it will corrupt their children’s minds and show them a world which is above their reach, it will take away their traditions. But there are also children like Kanika and Scar Boy (who was attacked by a hyena when he was a toddler) who want to experience something different, who want to widen their horizons.

The author brings out the clash between the modern and the traditional world very well. We think the villagers would be thrilled to have an opportunity to read and learn, but we never think it will clash with their believes and culture.

This book has everything I love in a book, an African setting, lovely characters, beautiful writing, but there was something lacking in The Camel Bookmobile. I couldn’t really get into the book for whatever reasons. It does get really interesting midway but again it disappoints at the end. There were important threads that were left open. I am okay with open endings but here it felt really abrupt.

Nonetheless, it is a book I would recommend.

Author with the Camel Bookmobile

Weekly Geeks: 2010-1: Cleaning up!!!

I could not take part in Bloggeista because I didn’t have enough time on the weekend, but this Weekly Geeks is exactly about that, cleaning up the blog in the shortest time possible.

Broken Links: I don’t think there are any broken links on my blog. If have come across any, please do let me know.

Blog backup: I backed up my blog inspired by Jackie’s post. So that’s one more thing I wanted to do for a long time which took only a minute or so.

I want to make categories based on the place the book is set in. what do you think? Is that a good idea? I’ll try it for a few posts and see how it goes.

I cleaned up my google reader a bit. I have 257 subscriptions currently and I cannot unsubscribe from any blogs. So what I have done is created another folder called Frequent. I have moved all the blogs that I read and comment on regularly in that folder. It took me quite some time. I have around 50 blogs in that folder. But I do visit the other blogs as and when I have time.

I have my set ways of blog reading as it is. I first visit the blogs that have commented on my blog. Then I start with the Frequent folder and visit all the blogs there and then I visit random blogs from the other folders too. It still does take up a lot of time.

Now we go to Bookshelves in my house. Before I was married I had only 2 shelves where I had to stack 300-400 books.

Now I have more space but I could get only 50-60 books here. I still love my new shelves though

See? I told you I don’t have many books here in Singapore. Someday, it will all be packed, hopefully

Weekly Geeks says get rid of unwanted books and get a library card. Get rid of books? No way. There is no such thing as unwanted books. But yes, I do have  a library card. I got it the first week I came here. These are the books I got from the library last week.

I got a CD to learn Mandarin and it is very difficult. I can’t remember a single word of what I heard.

The other books are:

East of the Sun
Clay by David Almond
Desert
Liar and
The Camel Bookmobile. I don’t know how many books will I be able to read till the due date but I’m trying my best.

Oh…I almost forgot, I found a new Photo Editing Software. Isn’t it neat

Zero Percentile by Neeraj Chhibba

Title: Zero Percentile
Author: Neeraj Chhibba
Genre: Adult Fiction
Source: Author
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

My thoughts:

Zero Percentile is the story of a guy called Pankaj from Delhi, India. The story begins in 1997 Russia where Pankaj is about to board a flight to India and waiting for one phone call that could change the course of his life. This is just a 2 page prologue after which the story shifts to Delhi and then for the first half of the book we are taken through Pankaj’s childhood.

Although I think the childhood part was quite stretched out with unnecessary details, I do think it was necessary. Even though the tagline of the book says ‘Missed IIT Kissed Rusia’, IIT is a very small part of this book. Just because he misses the IIT exam due to an incident, he lands up in Russia for an engineering degree. After that it’s about his experiences in Russia.

What I liked the most about the book was the information it provided. I haven’t read a lot of books set in Russia and that’s why the setting of this book was very refreshing. I got to know a LOT of things about Russia and the education system back in the 1990′s.  Along with that he’s also managed to insert quite a bit of  Russian history in the book.

This book reads like a Bollywood Movie, a potboiler from beginning to end. It’s a book for the masses and I would safely put it into the ‘Chetan Bhagat’ category. It’s a quick read and it also costs less. The writing does need work but overall it was entertaining.

Note: If you happen to get the book, please skip the summary at the back of the book, it gives away almost all the turning points of the book.

This is my first book for the South Asian Author’s Challenge.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth.
Author: Carrie Ryan
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5

My thoughts:
I was thinking of doing a mini review for this one along with 2 other books, but then this book deserves a post of it’s own. I knew I would like this book but I didn’t think I would like it this much, love it actually.

Mary lives in a secluded world, a village which is surrounded by forests on all sides, forests that are infested with zombies and hence make it impossible for anyone to travel to and from the forest. Apparently the whole world is infected by zombies and Mary and her village believe that theirs is the only place that still has people, all because of the fences that guard the forest.

The sisterhood and the church has a very strong control over the village, so much that the villagers believe and follow everything that is said by the sisterhood. But Mary has different dreams. She dreams of a world outside her village, a world where there is an ocean and a world where there is no sisterhood to control every aspect of her life. But she is trapped in her village because of the zombies.

But one day, everything changes, the zombie defenses are broken and the zombies enter the village. What ensues is a journey to find a safe heaven and another village like her own, to look for her dream and find out if it exists.

I have one word for The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Intense. Other words I can use are dark, creepy, thrilling and beautiful. I would never have thought I would call a book that has Zombies in it beautiful, but trust me it is. The sheer beauty of Carrie Ryan’s writing and her ability to induce such emotions in a zombie story is what gives the story a different level altogether.

Although it’s YA, I would recommend it to everybody. The next book is called Dead Tossed Waves and I’ll definitely be reading it.

2009-in books and otherwise…

A year back I would have never thought that my life would be like this, in a different country and finally married to J. But somehow, most of 2009 has been a blur. I don’t remember much before my wedding which was in November, so almost an entire year is kind of hazy.

But if I think hard last year was a year of events. One of my close friends got married and now she is in Germany. I always wondered what her husband would be like and I’m really happy that she got the kind she wanted. Another of my close friend gave birth to a baby girl, I’m an aunt now I wish I could see her.

Whatever the case, life is never going to be the same, for them and for me, in a good way though.

Back to Singapore , I love this place but I also miss home a lot. Singapore is very organized, there are no surprises, everything runs very smoothly and apart from family and friends that’s exactly what I miss about home. The spontaneity, the feeling that anything could happen anytime.  I miss the constant buzz of energy, I don’t know how to explain it better. It could get a little boring after a while in Singapore but life is definitely easier here.

Anyway, I am looking forward to exploring more of Singapore, the neighboring places and just enjoy being with my husband.

Reading has always been a constant, but 2009 has been great in that respect too. I read a lot of books that I might not have if not for my blog.

If I have to list books that have stayed with me, they would be

Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe: A great way to look at old African traditions and culture.

Mommy I’m still in here by Kate McLaughlin: This was my first book on Bipolar Disorder and I was shocked at how some people live everyday without having any control over their lives.

Jane Eyre: Need I say more?

Cutting Loose by Nadine Dajani: This is one of the very few chicklits that has stayed with me after so many days. I cannot wait for the author to come up with the next book.

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran : What can I say? My favorite period in the history. I cannot get enough of Michelle Moran too.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton: This book was beautiful, I have no other words to describe it.

My Father’s Paradise by Ariel Sabar: I learned so much from this book- about Kurdish Jews and a dusty village called Zakho.

Behind Every Illusion by Christina Harner: I loved the atmosphere created by this book so much that even if I close my eyes today I can see it all. Although I gave it 4 out of 5 stars, this is one book that has had an impact on me.

A hundred and One Days: I love reading about war journalism and this one was really good.

Jasmyn by Alex Bell: Again a fantasy that was very different and it was based on a fairy tale. It was beautiful.

Carrie by Stephen King: My first Stephen King book.

Where the Heart is by Bettie Letts: A heart warming story about a teenage pregnant girl and how she finds hope and love at the most unexpected places.

The entire list of books read in 2009 is here.

I’m not very strict in my reading goals but last year read 45 books and I said it would be great if I would be able to read 50 in 2009. I read 90 without stressing about numbers at all. That according to me is GREAT reading year.

I hope 2010 is great for everyone in all respects.

A very Happy New Year from us to you and yours!!!