Books from East and Southeast Asia!!!

Since I have relocated to Singapore, I have been reading more books based in East and Southeast Asia. When I was living in India, I couldn’t differentiate between different nationalities, say an Indonesian and a Korean. But now I think I have a wider if not complete knowledge of these countries, mostly because I feel blessed to live in a place where I can experience, even from a distance, a wide variety of cultures and traditions, either via traveling or through a book. And trust me, it’s fascinating.

I’m surprised by the lack of reviews based in these countries around the blogspere (except maybe Vietnam and China). So one of my bookish goals in 2011 is to read more books that take place in these countries. I’m almost making it a challenge for myself. East and Southeast Asian countries include: Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, South Korea, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor (Timor-Leste), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam

See? These are a lot of countries right? If you are similarly inclined and want to broaden your reading horizon, join me in this Challenge. I’ll make it a proper challenge if anyone wants to join me (even if it just one person). Let me know in the comments.

The Volga Ruby by Peter Jobes

Title: The Volga Ruby
Author: Peter Jobes
Genre: Historical Fiction
Set in: St. Petersburg (Russia)
Rating: 4 out of 5

My Thoughts:
I had this book for some time on my shelf and the only reason I had been avoiding it was that it’s set in 1907 Russia and I have absolutely no knowledge about that time period. This being a story around true events and places, I thought a little knowledge would be helpful.

But one day I just picked it up and before I knew I was almost 70 pages in. I had been worried about nothing. The Volga Ruby is a novel that instantly pulls you in and keeps you turning the pages. It’s a story about an Englishman James who is in Russia working as a British Military Attach‚. When the book begins he requests for a meeting with the English Ambassador to let him know about a plot to assassinate the Tsar. The plot is possibly being hatched by one of Tsar’s closest associates and someone who has a lot of power in the court, Count Berovsky. The ambassador assures him that he will take the appropriate action.

When James gets in trouble with one of the bad guys, he is asked to leave Russia for London. Thus begins an adventure to save himself from possible humiliation and making a mark for himself. He also gets involved in blowing the cover of the conspiracy which endangers his life further.

I enjoyed reading the book immensely. I liked reading about a place and time I had never read before and spent a lot of time on the internet looking up Tsarskoe Selo, Church on the Spilled Blood, Troitsky Bridge, Winter Palace and so many other things including real events. I like it when a book does that, makes me want to know more about a place or an event, broadens my knowledge. On the flip side, there were a couple of printing mistakes but nothing that could spoil my reading experience.

Although The Volga Ruby is an adventure that involves the Tsar, Russian politics and the future of entire Russia, it’s surprisingly a very cozy mystery, the one that should be read curled up under a blanket with a cup of chai.

Note:  Peter Jobes is a very dear online friend. However, my thoughts are 100% honest and without bias.

Our First Wedding Anniversary today!!!!!!!!!!!

wow…time flies, I don’t believe it’s already been a year.

This is our Wedding Reception picture, I don’t have a better picture. So this is all there is

Chokher Bali or A Grain of Sand by Rabindranath Tagore

Title: Chokher Bali
Author: Rabindranath Tagore
Translated from Bengali by Sreejata Guha
Paperback: 287 pages
Set in: Kolkata (India)
Publisher: Penguin Books (January 1, 2003)
Rating: 4 out of 5

My Thoughts:
Chokher Bali is a Bengali novel written by Rabindranath Tagore. He needs no introduction to Indian’s but those who haven’t heard about him, he was a celebrated Indian writer who won the Nobel price in literature in 1913 for Gitanjali. He has also written the national anthem of 2 countries-India and Bangladesh. So I felt bad that I hadn’t read anything by him even after having his translated works around. When I saw this book in the bookstore, I couldn’t resist buying it.

Choker Bali or A Grain of Sand is a story of an extra marital affair. This is just putting it in a nutshell. But not really, calling it an extra marital affair story would be grave injustice. This is a story of love and what people can do for it. Mahendra gets married to Asha, a shy and timid girl who is an orphan and unaware of how the world works. She is just happy to be someones wife and is happy to finally have a home to call her own. She is extremely devoted to her husband. Mahendra is spoilt by his mother and is used to have everything placed before him at his command.

Mahendra and Asha are enjoying their life and are totally consumed by each other as newly weds usually are. Into this bliss enters Binodini, a young orphan woman who was widowed just one year after her marriage. Asha takes to her completely and treats her like her sister. Binodini is envious of Mahendra’s and Asha’s love and yearns to have a home and a man who is as devoted to her as Mahendra is to Asha. Driven by this jealousy and her own desire to be loved, she sets upon seducing Mahendra. Into this cast of characters is Mahendra’s mother Rajalaxmi who is responsible for spoiling Mahendra and Behari, Mahendra’s best friend, an overall awesome guy who is content to stay in Mahendra’s shadow.

Chokher Bali is not all black and white though. In spite of Binodini being the enchantress, she was someone I really understood. I’m not saying what she did was correct but considering she was an orphan and a widow, her need for love and affection was something that endeared her to me. In those days, widows had a lot of restrictions. They had to wear colorless garments and they could not enjoy the worldly pleasures like other woman could. Asha was a naive woman, a girl child who didn’t know disaster until it was right in front of her.

The only person I did not like was Mahendra. He was spoilt right from his childhood. He had a beautiful, devoted wife whom he loved. But he wanted everything. He could not understand why he couldn’t have Asha and Binodini both at his side. Believable and compelling characters is probably what the major plus point of this book is and someone who can create woman like Binodini and Asha is worth applauding. The book was very easy to read, I’m not sure if it’s meant that way or because it is translated from Bengali. Nonetheless, A Grain of Sand is a book I heartily recommend.

This one’s for The South Asian authors Challenge.

Chokher Bali-the Movie:

It’s a Bengali movie, so I watched it with subtitles. It is directed by one of the most celebrated directors of Bengali cinema: Rituparno Ghosh. I was surprised by how different the movie is from the book. While the book concentrates on all the characters and the relationship between them, the movie concentrates on Binodini. The movie is more of a Passion play as the tag line suggests. The movie shows Binodini to be cunning  whereas in the book she is simply a widow who is looking for affection. Suffice to say I didn’t like the movie as much and I wonder if I would have liked it more if I had seen the movie before reading the book.

This one’s for The South Asian Authors Challenge

Wordless Wednesday: Butterfly Garden, Singapore Airport

Prada And Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard

Title: Prada and Prejudice
Author: Mandy Hubbard (Blog)
Source: Library
Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: Razorbill (June 11, 2009)
Genre: Young Adult
Rating: 4 out of 5

My Thoughts:
Callie is a 17 year old average geek girl who has no friends. She convinces her mom to let her go to a London School trip hoping she could make new friends here. But things don’t change. To get noticed by the popular girls she goes shopping and buys a $400 Prada shoes. But the moment she is out of the Prada door, she slips, falls down and hits her head. When she wakes up it’s 1815 and she is alone in a forest.

She somehow manages to walk herself to something that looks like a castle and decides to ask for help. A girl called Emily, who is almost her age, mistakes Callie for her American friend Rebecca, who was to arrive a month later. Callie wanting someplace to stay and get help lies about being Rebecca. There she meets Alexander, Alex, who is a young and handsome guy about her age. But….he is the Duke of Harksbury. After some time Callie realizes that she really is in 1815. Emily is about to get into an arrange marriage with a guy old enough to be her father and Alex is an arrogant guy who seems more mean and arrogant every day.

Prada and Prejudice was such a fun book. I enjoyed seeing a 21st century girl thrown in 1815, in the world of balls, dances, carriages and corsets. It was fun when Callie showed off her knowledge from the 21st century, things which were not known in the 1815′s.

The Duke of Harksbury, Alex, is another Mr. Darcy. But I love how Mandy Hubbard has taken inspiration from a much-loved novel and come out with an original story. I loved all the characters but I wish I got to know a little more about Alex. Mandy Hubbard could convincingly switch from 21st century to 1815 in a split second without making it awkward or unbelievable. I was not a fan of the ending though. I wish it was different although I fail to come up with other endings on my own without turning it into a series which I’m glad she didn’t.

Read it if you want a fun, fluffy and light read or if you love YA.

Mandy Hubbard has written 2 other books, one of which is releasing in 2011. I am especially excited about Ripple, can’t wait to get my hands on both the books.

Sunday Salon

I usually don’t do Sunday Salon but since my husband is working this Sunday I have nothing to do. Blogging seemed like a great idea although I avoid blogging on weekends.

I had a hectic week as I have been setting up the house. I have also been busy exploring the new surroundings which is always fun. The first thing I looked for is obviously the library but I kind of don’t like this one. It’s very crowded and it also doesn’t keep audio-books. So I think I will be going to my previous library which is just 15 minutes bus ride away.

I just finished reading Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore and I quite liked it. I am thinking of watching the movie and then reviewing both together. I also bought a few YA books from the library but I could not get into those although they seem like good books. So I returned them and bought Dragon House by John Shors which is set in Vietnam and Breathing in Color by Clare Jay which is set in India. AS I recently discovered audio-books I have also borrowed Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos and The King of Torts by John Grisham for my husband. He thinks audio-books are great while jogging, I might try it sometime this week too. I did not finish Nemesis by Agatha Christie but more on that later.

Oh and challenges. I joined only one this year (I think)- South Asian Authors Challenge and I’m sure I have completed it. Again, I will compile the list for this year as well as the ones to read next year (oh yes, I’m joining for next year too). I don’t think I will join any other challenges though. I might join RIP. I didn’t participate this year because my husband was traveling at that time and I didn’t want to read horror when I was all alone in the house.

I think I have rambled on for too long. I’m off to read The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Gallant. Before ending the post can I shamelessly ask you to Sign my Guest-book? (thank you to those who already have).  It will take only a minute and I kind of like going through all the guest signatures. It’s always fun. Okay, I’ll stop now. How is your weekend progressing?

Paper Towns by John Green

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Genre: Young Adult
Set in: United States
Source: Personal Shelf
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

My thoughts:
I cursed myself for waiting so long to read it and to discover John Green. I can safely say it’s one of the best YA novels I have read. I don’t know what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting this. This book really make me laugh out loud many times, it made me fall in love with the characters.

Quintin (Q), Ben and Radar are friends who are in their final senior year. Q and his friends are not the popular kids , but they do have fun and are almost comfortable in their own skins which makes it a refreshing approach on unpopular kids in YA novels. Q is in love with this firecracker of a girl called Margo. She is everything Q is not. Although they were good friends when they were kids as they lived next to each other, they kind of drifted apart as they grew up. Margo became the popular girl. On the outside she seems perfect, but beneath that perfect exterior is a girl who is very different from what Q knows and loves. When she disappears leaving clues for Q to find her, he starts realizing that there is a lot more to her than what appears on the surface.

Q becomes obsessed with finding Margo and as the book progresses we get to know more about Q’s relationships with his friends and his parents. Paper Towns is the kind of book that makes you want to love the author for creating characters like these. The humor is delicious and as I said before I was laughing throughout. Even my husband was intrigued and asked me to keep my copy for him instead of taking it back home. What is the best part of Paper Towns is that even underneath all this humor is a sensitivity and warmth which very few authors can achieve.

If you haven’t read John Green, do so now. Even if you don’t read YA, you simply cannot go wrong with John Green. Cannot wait to read his other books.

Some Quotes from Paper Towns
“What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.”

“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”

“The rules of capitalization are so unfair to words in the middle of a sentence.”

“When you say nasty things about people, you should never say the true ones, because you can’t really fully and honestly take those back, you know? I mean, there are highlights. And there are streaks. And then there are skunk stripes.”

Wordless Wednesday: Diwali 2010

Lights from our Mumbai home balcony

Crackers Market

Thats me

I’m back or a filler post until I get back into the groove

So I’m back after celebrating Diwali with family and coming back and getting into the daily routine seemed a little boring. Thankfully I had the new house to look forward to. We had shifted all our stuff before we left for India so we simply had to set up the new house after coming back. First things first, I have a new bookshelf yay. It’s small but it’s gorgeous and I’m loving it. I had fun arranging it and all my books fit really well. I took a few books back with me to India and that probably helped. Here’s the new shelf.

The right corner is dedicated to movie Cd’s which we bought from India since they are a lot cheaper there. I have also arranged a lot of Cd’s in the TV cabinet.

I bought only 3 books, which I’m hoping to read soon. I’ve already started reading one which is called Choker Bali by Rabindranath Tagore. I’ve heard a lot about this book and recently there was a movie released which was based on the book. I didn’t get too many books because books tend to be heavy. Besides now I know where to shop for books in Singapore without spending much. Oh and I also have a new place to blog from. Not from the sofa or a random chair but a proper table. I like it.

I also have a mini temple in my house since it is considerably larger than the previous one. I might add some more bling to it but so far this is it.

Oh and Diwali of course. It was so much fun. We spent a lot of time just going around Mumbai and shopping. It’s where my husband grew up and although I have been there many times it was fun seeing Mumbai with him and listening to his childhood stories. Laxmi puja was fun although a little hectic which I spent with my husband, my mother in law and tons of other relatives. The next day we left for Pune for 3 days and it was so refreshing and cold after the hot and humid Mumbai. Again we ate a lot and burst a lot of crackers (the non noisy ones). I’ll have some pictures up on Wednesday I think.

Oh and we also went for an outing to our ancestral temple.

It was such a nice break. I didn’t realize how much I missed blogging until I clicked on the ‘new post’ option. Although I haven’t read much during the break I do have a few reviews coming up for the books I read some time back. I’ll stop now and try to tackle my Google Reader. I’ll try not to mark all as read. How have you all been?