Mundane Musings

The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had started reading Chitra Banerjee's The Forest of Enchantments with a casual detachment thinking this was a reproduction of Valmiki's Ramayan. Any self respecting Indian has in some time or the other gotten introduced to the story of the valiant and perfect prince Lord Ram and his suave, strong, utterly wronged wife Sita. I didn't expect this book to be different. I empathized strongly with Sita who had to keep proving herself to her husband and his praja (citizens), in spite of wrongs done to her . And though Valmiki's Ramayan is a colossus that deals with a lot of other stories including Ram's unfair banishment from Ayodhya, Sita's story demands empathy and just retribution. So Chitra's retelling of the classic is important and relevant. Chitra Divakaruni's Forest of Enchantment focuses on Sita's side of the story - from the time she marries Ram, taking her ...

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak My rating: 3 of 5 stars Spoilers ahead... Since The Book Thief was one of the most stirring books I have ever read, I was more than eager to lay my hands on Markus Zusak's recent book - Bridge of Clay. This book is 579 pages long, which could have been a good thing if the story was worth something. Unfortunately it is not. We don't get invested in the lives of the characters and feel like bystanders of the Surrounds - the now derelict race course which witnesses the lives of the Dunbar family. The story is told by Mathew Dunbar, a school drop out, the eldest of the five Dunbar brothers living in Australia. I don't know if it is intentional then, that it is written in bursts of prose and regular speech. Most of the time it's only his words that tell us to feel something, like - see, my brother is hurting and he is coping the way he can; see, my mother was a woman with some spunk; see, my father felt deeply for my mother. There are...

We are well into 2019 I know, but if I gave this post a miss, I wouldn't feel like 2018 was dusted and left behind. I have been distinctly absent from writing about books in this blog. The absence is not because of not reading books, but happily because of the opposite. I have been reading voraciously the past year. So much so that I was forced to change my Goodreads Book Challenge number from 24 to 27 books. I have been reading so much that I want to slow down and re-read some books. In the heady rush to complete the book in hand and start on the second one, my habit of re-reading favourites is slowly fading. But some of the books that I have listed here have been relished and read with great fervor. This year I laid my hands on an eclectic variety of books. Some of the stand outs have been written under the following headings: Unique and Memorable A Musicophile's Delight Heartwarming Comics Unique and Memorable Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders  -  Thi...

Just finished the last of the Inheritance series. What had started as a good page turner came to a befitting if not slightly boring end with this last book. I have found the Inheritance series to be unusual from the very beginning simply because this was the story of Gods enslaved by mortals inhabiting our world at an unknown period of earth's life. The very magnitude of this idea and the research that has gone in to present the story is commendable. The first book was the most interesting as it presented the state of affairs - of Gods having been chained as slaves by mortals (the Arameri) by the blessings of bright Itempas (one of the three). That book was mind blowing and as it tackled with a hereto never before attempted story line, I took to it with gusto. Even though this book was a Young Adult book and even when I had found the writing to be floundering at times. In this book, The Kingdom of Gods, Sieh, the son of the Three (one of the oldest and powerful Godlings) i...

This book came recommended on Senior Reading Raccoons, a group I follow on FB. I finished it yesterday and I am still wrapped in the warmth of the book, pretty much like how the main character, Rinko had felt by the aromas of her cooking. From the moment I had come across a mention of Rinko giving madeleines to her landlord to reduce the rent of her love nest, I was sold. When have I last read a book which wasn't a cookbook that featured a madeleine? Never.   And then on the 17th page I came across this passage - At first, the words my grandmother used to describe differing amounts of seasoning such as tekitou and anbai were like another language to me. But I gradually came to understand what they meant. They were soft terms with rounded edges that painted a vague picture of the appropriate amount of flavour, and only those words could describe the resultant state of perfection .  I have often felt this way too when I have wanted to express flavours in our...

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner My rating: 3 of 5 stars I finished The Queen's Thief series with this final book which traces Sophos' story. Like the previous book The King of Attolia where the story is said from the general Costis' point of view, this book too hardly has Eugenides as the principal character. I had liked the first two books purely because it was written with Eugenides as the focal point. This fourth book was not my favourite among the four. Still it made for a breezy read with the usual political intrigue and suspense and innuendos which fall in place as the plot moves on. This last book is about Eugenides' friend Sophos' rise to the throne of Sounis. There is not much action or adventure in this book, but there is a lot of good dialogues and suspense. I have been reading a lot of YA books even though I am so much older, and not the intended reader anyway. However, I think N.K.Jeminsin's books were much better than this serie...

R. D. Burman: The Man, The Music by Anirudha Bhattacharjee My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is almost a labour of love on the evergreen musician R D Burman. This is a music lover's must-have, a R D Burman fan's must-possess, a Hindi movie buff's must-read book. Though it has a lack luster title for a book about a man whose music has been relevant till date, it makes up for it in the well-written and researched content. The book is divided into 3 parts and it charts his musical journey from when he assisted his father (the great S D Burman) to his meteoric rise in the late 70s and then his subsequent fall in the late 80s and early 90s. I love reading books about our Bollywood actors and musicians from early days as there is so little known about the times they lived in and the magic they created. This book shares so many of those trivia and tidbits through interviews with people who worked with RD and whom he came in contact with while composing music. I especially love...

Nutshell by Ian McEwan My rating: 4 of 5 stars Nutshell - Ian McEwan What a marvellous conceit this book is. It tells the story of a woman having an affair with her brother in law,and of the two plotting something sinister. Only, the story is told by the most unexpected narrator - the foetus of the unfaithful woman. And far from being gibberish the language and tone of the narrative sways to the other end of the scale - it is eloquent, astute, perceptive and exquisite. How can the author get away with this you wonder? Right from the first part of book.. ."So here I am, upside down in a woman. Arms patiently crossed, waiting, waiting and wondering who I'm in, what I'm in for" we understand that this is no ordinary narrator. He is sharp and he peppers his monologues with exceptional opinions about things in life which he has experienced second hand through his mother's womb. "I'm hearing pillow talk of deadly intent and I'm terrified by...

I had a tough time choosing a title for this post, as everything short and interesting seemed to suggest a list of books of 2017 that I had read. Though this title is unassuming, the books that are listed here are not. 2017 was a great year in books for me, especially due to the Goodreads Reading Challenge . The Challenge gave me a sense of direction and discipline in choosing and reading the books for the year. I completed my target of 22 books, which I sneakily brought down from 24 when I realised I wouldn’t be able to complete on time, only to overshoot the target by exactly 2 books. Here are a few recommendations for interested souls :D Of the books I had read in 2017, the stand outs were: Room - Emma Donoghue Wild - Cheryl Strayed Anne of Green Gables - L M Montgomery Rules of Civility - Amor Towles A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman Our Souls At Night - Kent Haruf A Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood Some books inspire, some bo...

Howdy people! I have just beaten a bad flu and cold with a severe body pain to boot. Oh the pain...it gives me the shivers even now. I haven’t been able to do anything, leave alone exercise a few gray cells to make simple decisions. I am so glad the flu has flown away...hehehe. I have been gearing up for what was going to be a busy busy week for me with back to back training assignments happening and a content development deadline looming over my head. I had to cancel two of the training programs and have had to pump myself with antibiotics to not miss the rest. The author on the PCT Just as the flu took on its full blown avatar I managed to finish Cheryl Strayed’s amazingly written, bare-it-all book “ Wild – A Journey From Lost to Found. ” I had read the last few pages of the book just as my eyes had started watering (because of the flu, in case you were wondering) and my head started getting hammered from within. To think of leaving such a good book almost at the en...

2017 is underway and I am in a jolly land of books. I can sincerely say that books make me feel the way I do when S and Ana kutti are around – make my heart beat faster, in case you were wondering. I love the whole idea of meticulously reading book reviews and coming up with a list of books that I’d like to read or own, and then the wait to hold them in my hands and if it is a new book then to smell the pages and admire the covers and the fonts, and then to actually sit and read them. The last part has become pretty challenging with Ana kutti zooming around seeking attention. But my nights are for my books...at least that minuscule time frame I have between checking social media and almost dropping off to sleep. When you have an active, naughty 20 month old, you’ll be surprised how innovative you get to find ways to do things you like. That’s another post anyway. 2016 was a good year considering I surprised myself by reading quite a few books and enjoying many. In orde...

Reading is something that I still make the time for. The other vices would be watching movies, listening to music and writing something. All three have been rather hit after Ana babush’s arrival. While I was pregnant with her, I had difficulty reading even a mild thriller. I don’t know…it had something to do with the bile rising up, threatening to bring with it my breakfast or lunch and I also had an overwhelming desire to hold on tight to the little one growing in my womb. So I got into mild reading – Chicken Soup for the soul for new moms (a gift from a group of well-meaning friends), Mills and Boon, random books and articles on pregnancy and child birth, Susan Elizabeth’s book/s which I can read and re-read a million times. I tried and failed to read Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and also Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, but I hope to pick up both in the near future. Anyway, after a long time as I browsed in Madras Gymkhana’s Library, I happened on Gillian Flynn’s Dark Pla...

Yes, this blog post has been loooong in coming. Even I cringe when I see the date of my last blog entry. Where did the time go? Now let me see, there was Dussehra in between (and I did not do anything at all except catching up on some excellent Tamil movies on TV), then there was this nice, neat trip to Kolli Hills that a few friends and us managed to pack in to the long weekend and lots of reading…ahem…apart from this I know there hasn’t been much to not keep up with my blog entries. But the irony is that while I have been meaning to post on the books that I’ve been reading in the past month, it is also the reason why I haven’t been able to finish the blog. Books are very distracting. After being served a pretty dismal fare at the box office last month, with the exception of Lunch Box and perhaps Shudh Desi Romance , I found myself falling back on to the wonderful, trustworthy world of books. I was lucky to get some good books from my local library in September and F’s birthday...