January Book Haul

(A lot of generic content precedes the actual book haul. Feel free to skip all of this).

Well okay.

I haven’t blogged for ages, but I want to kick start my writing habit again, and I figured, no time like the present, yes?

Okay maybe now’s not the best time, because I’m kind of swamped with my exams.

I’m not going to update this blog with everything I’ve been up to and what all I’ve been reading and what’s been going on/off my TBR, et cetera, et cetera. However, I will let you know that the past year, personally, has been a pathetic year of reading.

In 2014, I read a decent number of books, finished my Goodreads challenge, and blogged about everything I read, diligently, till about March. I don’t even want to go back and check, it makes me want to close the Blogger tab- the modern day definition of shame. In June, I made a one-off, shitty post about not posting, and after that, here I am.

I didn’t get too much reading done in 2014 after March. Funnily enough, I’ve bought a huge number of books in the past year- 62. Alright, it’s not huge huge, but it’s enough to make me squirm when compared to how many of the 62 I actually read.

And it’s way too painstaking to write about all of my hauls, so I’m just going to start with January, 2015. In the middle of March, but better late than never, they say.

Here goes-

January, 2015

They’re not the prettiest copies, I’ll admit. But I got them dirt cheap, and they’re fairly decent looking, considering they’re second hand.

From left to right- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, Mercy by Jodi Picoult, Superstar India by Shobha De, and Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

Bottom to top- Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, Three Sisters by Bi Feiyu, Tales from Firozsha Bagh by Rohinton Misrty, and The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald.

Also, I didn’t include this book in the picture- The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell.

And these are the three library books I borrowed-

A Cambridge Introduction to F Scott Fitzgerald, Tolkien: A Cultural Phenomenon, and Journalism in the Digital Age.

I haven’t even looked at Unaccustomed Earth, Mercy, Livingston Seagull, or Tales from Firozsha Bagh. Although, I can’t wait to be treated to Lahiri’s beautiful prose, and Picoult’s combination of mystery and fine writing. I bought Livingston Seagull after the recommendation of a friend. Firozsha Bagh will be my first book by Mistry, The same friend once said, and I quote, “…hope that somewhere in IIT/IIM right now, some guy got a hold of a Rohinton Mistry before he did a Chetan Bhagat”. Which, in one sentence, explains the current situation of quality literature in India.

However, can we all take a moment to admire how absolutely beautiful these books look.

 Pink and black colour combinations, for the win.

Superstar India has been, well, a shock. A pleasant shock. It was recommended to me by my French teacher. She promised that whatever my personal feelings were about Shobhaa De or her writing, I would totally appreciate this book.

And I did! I don’t know much about Shobhaa De as a person. The only other writing I’ve read of hers has been her weekly column in the Mumbai Mirror, where her writing is unique, but edgy and opinionated.

However, I could completely connect with this book, for some reason. One of them is, of course, that I am an Indian. The other is that she writes about India in a very matter-of-fact way, without the glorification, sensationalism, and romanticism that most others possess when they try their hand at it. The writing comes across as simple, yet not dumbed-down (looking at you, Chetan Bhagat), and is devoid of any form of pretentiousness.

Second, The Bone Clocks. I’m not kidding, this is the most beautiful book I own. I am 95% sure I bought it just to gawk at the cover. I haven’t properly begun this, so I don’t know how to describe it. So I’ll link you to a Booktube review I really liked. It’s spoiler free.

Third, Gatsby.

I tried reading the Cambridge Introduction book alongside Gatsby, but I had to put it away.

I loved every minute of Gatsby. It’s one of those classics that’s not very slow, and with a well paced plot. The setting is beautiful, I can picture it so well, even with having zero knowledge of Jazz-age America. This is the kind of book that draws you in, and commands and deserves attention.

Here’s my favourite quote from the book.

Fourth, Shantaram.

I’ll admit, I haven’t begun this properly, either. That’s only because I’m slightly wary of it. I’ve been warned that it’s a tedious read, albeit a rewarding one. Also, the author and his story is apparently a fraud. However, I still want to get this book out of the way, considering its sequel, The Mountain Shadow, has been lined up for release in October, 2015.

And finally, Three Sisters, by Bi Feiyu. 

I’ll admit, I’d heard of neither the author, nor the book. I picked it up on impulse, and I’m glad I did. The novel is written by a Chinese man and set in a village in Communist China. This is something that helps with my goal to read more diverse books. I’m not very well-read when it comes to how Communist regimes were in the past, and my exposure to Chinese literature has been, at the most, minimal. But this book is engrossing and extremely insightful. I’ve paused several times during the course of reading, but when I’ve come back, it’s always been easy to pick up from where I left off.

Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ll be posting my February Haul soon. By then, I will hopefully have moved past this practice of staying inactive for months at a stretch, and then typing out 1000-word posts in one go. 

Review #6- Nefertiti, by Michelle Moran

This review does not contain spoilers.
I don't LOVE love historical fiction. Few books are more informative, and I have lots of admiration for the author’s who have to research extensively, use their imagination to write, and yet stay within factual boundaries. Some of them are so well written, I have a book hangover for several hours after finishing it, wondering about how it must have felt like, to be the person I just read about. And some others are like badly written Fanfiction.
Nefertiti is Michelle Moran's 2007 debut novel, which went on to becoming a bestseller. I picked this book up almost a year ago, without having heard of it; but just because the cover was really eye-catching, and I've always been interested in Egyptology. I came back home, read just a few pages, and for some reason, put it away.
A few days ago, I picked it up again and began to read it after a Twitter recommendation. Now, having read it, I look back to the time I put it down, and scream-
What the absolute hell was wrong with me?

Me, to myself.

On the cover below, there's a blurb by Diana Gabaldon that says "Compulsively readable!"
Oh, it is.
It is 1351 BCE. Nefertiti is a beautiful, deadly girl, daughter of the Vizier Ay, who goes on to become the Chief Wife of the young Pharaoh, Amunhotep. She grows to be Pharaoh’s main advisor and influences all of his actions even if it means breaking Egypt’s traditions. In what seems like no time, she has crushed Kiya, Pharaoh’s first wife and rival, and her father, Vizier Panahesi. Her life is traced right from girlhood to the time she becomes Pharaoh Neferneferuaten Nefertiti, one of Egypt’s greatest monarchs; all told through the eyes of her younger half-sister, Mutnodjmet, known to her family as Mutny. Mutny, in contrast, is a simple, quiet girl, who loves and admires her sister as much as she sometimes seems to resent her.
Amunhotep is a believer of Aten, not Amun. While Amun is the Sun God that every Egyptian holds sacred, Aten is the Sun itself. His mother chooses to marry him to Nefertiti in the hopes that she will curb his blasphemous talk, but she only aggravates it. Amunhotep commissions new temples to be built, dedicated to Aten. Amun temples are defaced and torn down. He decides to build a new city for himself, filled with glittering palaces and marbled pillars, and neglects the Hittites who are fast encroaching his borders. He angers his army when he uses soldiers to build his structures when they should be fighting a war. There are protests, there is anger, there is poverty.
Amidst this chaos, Nefertiti must keep calm and rule Egypt before it is completely torn apart.

Mutnodjmet is a keen observer of the opulence and extravagance around her, ever as she quietly tends to her herb garden, mixing pastes and curing women of several ailments. She and Nefertiti violently clash over several issues, but always manage to make peace with each other. Her life is often punctuated with moments of grief, but in the end, her life comes together and ends happily. Or well, as happily as it can end.
The plot and dialogue is riveting, but in some place, I wish there had been more descriptions of Mutny’s surroundings. What kind of clothes did they wear? What did they eat? How did the temples look? But then again, I’ll admit that paying attention to ancient Egyptian detail is not a simple task.
Like i said, I may not adore and squeal over Historical Fiction. I don’t LOVE love it, but I sure do LOVE love this book.

The Heretic Queen, also by Moran, follows the life of Nefertari, Mutnodjmet's daughter (not born in Nefertiti) and her life in Egypt. It's on my list!
Which I'll get to, as soon as I'm done with these cursed exams.

Review #5- Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

This review does not contain (major) spoilers.

In this video, J K Rowling says that her guilty pleasure when it comes to reading, are whodunnits. Gone Girl takes that to a whole new level.

 

The book opens with Amy Dunne's disappearance, on her and Nick Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. The couple had relocated to the mid-west some years ago, after having left New York's glamourous lifestyle in order to help Nick's twin sister, Go (Margo) to take care of Nick's dying mother and Alzheimer's patient father. Their house has been turned over, indicating an abduction and a struggle. After the cops investigate, all the evidence points again Nick. (Dunne dunne dunne dunne) (which is a pun on dun dun dun dun) (Because puns are awesome).

Okay so (not-really-a spoiler) Amy is not dead. But where is she? Who has her? Is she what she seems to be?A beautiful, intelligent woman who's perfect in every sense? And how do we know that Nick is truly innocent? Is he as clueless and dorky as he seems, or is he hiding way more than he should be?

Gillian Flynn

I'm kind of late in reading this book. After all, it released in 2012. And I might not have reading if it hadn't appeared on most 'Books to read before their movies come out in 2014' lists. And it turns out that the ending of the movie will be majorly altered. Outraged? I was, until I read that Flynn herself would be re-writing it, and I'm glad for that. I was vaguely disappointed with the ending. I mean, after putting us through all that,(Spoiler) Nick and Amy CANNOT just live happily ever after. And one character never received the justice he should have.

We have love/hate relationships with certain characters often enough, but I think this is one of the rare times I have had a love/hate relationship with the entire book. After I finished it, I couldn't help but noticing how the genre 'Mystery Novel' seems insufficient for this book. Much like Lace, which is a combination of sorts of a thriller, mystery, and some mean chick-lit.
Ben Affleck  and Rosamund Pike will play the lead pair and I couldn't be happier. Ben Affleck is a terrific actor, and most of Rosamund's most acclaimed movies have been book-adaptations (Jane Bennet, Miranda Frost) so she'll definitely do Amy justice. Read more about the movie and its cast (it also has Neil Patrick Harris, yo) here. It's gong to be interesting to see how they convert first person narration (alternate chapter Nick, alternate chapter Amy's diary) into a movie script.

Verdict? Read the book, then watch the movie, and then go blog about what they got wrong and what they got right.

Review #4- The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Review #3- The Cuckoo's Calling, by J K Rowling

To kick-start the new year, I'm posting an old review. I read this book in August, and wrote the review shortly after. Now, a lot of people had mixed but strong reactions to this book when it came out. This review is a positive review, because it turns out, I just CAN'T write a negative review. You can read alternate reviews here and here. 

Anyway, here it is!

When an anonymous tip proclaimed that Robert Galbraith, debut author of The Cuckoo’s Calling, was in fact a nom de plume for J K Rowling, the entire book world went into a frenzy. Breaking book news like this is certainly very rare. But everyone’s question is this- is the hype about The Cuckoo’s Calling, which increased Amazon’s sales by 300%, just because the true writer’s real identity was uncovered, justified?

First off, the genre. Crime fiction is one of the most popular categories of writing, and this book is like every other one. However, most crime novels are read in one go, the thrill enjoyed best the first time, and then the book is tossed aside, its tang long gone. In that aspect, The Cuckoo’s Calling is drastically different because of its writing style. You want to keep it, because you know you’re going to be able to read it again. Rowling has a very literary streak in all of her novels, Harry Potter included; but that goes unnoticed  because of the plot. Rowling’s Casual Vacancy was rather too prosaic, but in The Cuckoo’s Calling, she has managed to strike the perfect chord, restoring balance. A few might argue that her writing style slows the book down, but I say that the steady pace only contributes to the sudden whirlwind of an ending.

The plot isn’t remarkably exceptional. Your standard case of assumed suicide, suspected murder. The predictability of crime novels is in being unpredictable, and that’s exactly what the scenario is once you reach the last few chapters. The first half or so may seem like the storyline isn’t going anywhere, but in reality, the author has spent a long time weaving a complicated, criss-crossing, endless web, and takes her time to gently and deftly unravel it, which is one of the most delightful qualities of J K Rowling.

And finally, the characters. Our hero, Cormoran Strike (the name oozes Rowling-ness, doesn’t it) is a wounded war veteran turned private detective, who takes on the task of investigating the suicide, accompanied by his temporary assistant, Robin Ellacott. Strike’s years of army service have made him a hardened, blunt man. Adding to his woes are a prosthetic limb, an unstable financial situation, and a separation from his fiancée. Robin, on the other end of the spectrum, is eager, cheerful, and enthusiastically resourceful. And they defy all odds by being one of the most cooperative pair across all books. And you can’t help but love them. This is one thing I was afraid Rowling had lost after reading The Casual Vacancy- the ability to make her readers adore her characters like we did in Harry Potter. And she has now regained that. Robin is involuntarily affable, and Strike, with his complete aura of nonchalance, is equally admirable.

It’s hard to point out what exactly makes The Cuckoo’s Calling such a terrific novel. At first glance, it seems to be a simple, unexceptional, conventional book, but somehow, it wraps you up and drags you into it, becoming an utterly compelling read. Rowling has promised further installments in the future, and The Cuckoo’s Calling has inaugurated the first book of what looks like a hugely rewarding series.

P.S- The first page of the novel has all the lines from the poem, 'A Dirge', by Christina Rossetti. The title of the book is based on that poem.

  "Why were you born when the snow was falling?

You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,

Or when grapes are green in the cluster,

Christina Rossetti

Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster

   For their far off flying

   From summer dying.

Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?

You should have died at the apples’ dropping,

When the grasshopper comes to trouble,

And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,

   And all winds go sighing

   For sweet things dying."

This is what Rowling says about the title- "The title 

is taken from the mournful poem by Christina 

Rossetti called, simply, A Dirge, which is a lament 

for one who died too young. The title also contains a 

subtle reference to another aspect of the plot,but as 

I can’t explain what it is without ruining the story, I’ll let readers work that one out."

Review#2- A Storm of Swords, by George R R Martin

HOLY BOOK FEELS. I CAN'T EVEN. HOLY MOTHER OF PLOT TWISTS. BOOK HANGOVER, DAMN IT.

I've been reading A Song of Ice and Fire, on and off, since September. Volume one, A Game of Thrones, and volume three, A Storm of Swords, end in cliffhangers, but (for me) not the kind that makes you obsess over reading the next book NOW. But before I begin- what exactly is Game of Thrones about, you ask? Well, here's the best explanation I could find-

It's not as sordid as it sounds.
It's waaayy more sordid. In fact, there's this picture of post-its marking deaths in the entire series-

Post-its marking a person's death in Game of Thrones

The scariest thing is that it's not even over-exaggerated. I decided to try it myself, so I began reading A Storm of Swords armed with a thick set of post-its. Guess what? I ran out of post-its.
The series has several distinct marked characteristics. For one, there is no "main" character. You just cannot pick one. Everyone plays an important role. Every chapter is written in third person, but based on a character, and there are around 10-12 of these characters. Since they're scattered all over Westeros and Essos, they all have their bits to do. Which brings me back to the original point- there is no main character. The penalty for picking a main character of your choice often results in death. The character's, of course;not yours. Which brings me to the second marked characteristic- anyone can die. And heart-wrenchingly, everyone does die. What's amazing is the sheer bluntness with which GRRM kills off the guy. No drama, not last words, just a sword through the heart. The reader's too, in the process. And ironically, this is exactly what makes you react to it very strongly. We're talking crushing the abandoned post-its till your nails cut through them and pierce your skin and it cuts and you bleed but you can't be bothered because someone is getting beheaded. All in all, somewhat like this-

Having said that, A Storm of Swords is the best book in the series I've read so far. The book is sometimes published as one volume, but the one I have is split into two parts- Steel and Snow, and Blood and Gold. Blood and Gold is very fast paced compared to the former, and I liked it more. I tend to react strongly to books in general (read: curl up into a ball and weep on my pillow) and this was no exception. I wept six times- out of sorrow, fury, pity, and nostalgia. And in the end, I was so freaked out, that I couldn't sleep for two hours.This is the problem one faces whilst reviewing a book that's part of a series- revealing anything could end up being a spoiler, especially for those who keep up with the TV series. Not that a lot of you read this blog, but if you do happen to come across it and read about a spoiler, you'll hate me forever and never read anything I write. Which is not something my pageviews can afford.
Now, I also keep up with the TV series, and the biggest difference is that the book is hard-hitting. The TV series is gory. Do The Rains of Castamere ring any bells? Any wedding bells? It tends to romanticise people's deaths with all the sad background music and slow motion action. Plus it gets a dozen tiny little details wrong, which frustrate me just as much as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows did.

Daario Naharis: Book vs TV

Now, I have to go through A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. A Feast for Crows focuses only on the events at King's Landing. No Jon Snow. No Daenerys. No Bran. Very few Sansa and Arya chapters, and too much of the Lannisters. Unfortunately, I have to go through it before I can begin the 1000 paged Dance with Dragons.
But not now, maybe. I'll be reading Paper Towns for the time being, until my feels recuperate!

Review #1: Lace, by Shirley Conran

Alright, I haven't been here for a while. I have been very busy, though, with a college fest, and studying and (insert more lame excuses). Anyway, I though a review would be a fitting way to get back.
Lace was a book on my Pile, and I finished reading it a while ago. It might make it to my list of 'The best books I've read in 2013'. That really surprises me, considering I don't like reading chick-lit.That's another really difficult thing to do- categorising this book. Fashionable clothes, beautiful women, high heels, successful stories, handsome men, infidelity, and bitches- it has the markings of a chick-lit book. But it's not. It's full of unexpected plot twists and turns. It's so fast-paced, that I nearly finished it in one day. At the heart of the novel, it is a quest- Lili's quest to find her mother, who is one of these four women- Judy, Pagan, Kate, and Maxine.
The book opens in the present day, where Lili, a porn star turned actress invites these four women to her apartment, and poses a question that defines the theme of the entire book- "Which one of you bitches is my mother?" after which the book flashes back to the past, where the girls are students in a boarding school called L'Hirondelle, in Switzerland, and traces their journey throughout adolescence and adulthood. Their failed marriages, ruined ambitions, sexual encounters, (THE GOLDFISH SCENE. SHUDDER.) and how they overcome their problems and self-actualise. I didn't think the day would come when I'd advise people to derive inspiration from a chick-lit novel (snobby moment, sorry). All of it surrounding one question- which one of these bitches is her mother?
Something that confused me initially was the unclear timeline. It can be off-putting, but gets better once you get used to it. All in all, I think it's written excellently, re-defining the conventional chick-lit novel. That's something else I noted- it's not pure chick-lit. It's a combination of genres. Sure, it has the chick-lit theme and style, but at the heart, it's more of a mystery novel or a murder-free whodunnit.
Lace was made into a TV series, too. It was so popular amongst those who watched it, that they made a second season. If I had more time, I'd definitely watch it.
Has anyone who's reading this (yes, I know that's pitifully few) read the book or watched the TV show? What are your thoughts?
In one of my earlier posts, I had written about My Reading Pile, and how I'd keep updating it. I've read most of the books on that Pile, (Doctors, Prizes, Lace, The Fellowship of the Ring) plus a few more (A Storm of Swords, The Timekeeper) and I'm in the process of reading Gone with the Wing, A Feast for Crows, and Paper Towns. A diverse list, I know. I may not have time to do full reviews of all, but I'll mention them in my next Pile update.
Until next time!