Thankful for the year 2009

I am thankful for the year 2009. 2009 brought for me a faithful reader by name Mridula :) I'm thankful for her comments on almost every one of my posts! She has always said something nice which inspired to go on writing my book reviews.

I'm also thankful that I could be active on this blog and have not left it midway. I have made many friends through the blog world and now am an avid blog reader. I discovered Google reader this year and hence am up-to-date on all the blogs that I love :)

Hope 2010 brings good news for all of us!

In the Convent of Little Flowers - Indu Sundaresan

Indu cleverly potrays various insights into Indian society through this compilation of stories. In one, it is the story of an Indian girl who is adopted by an American couple and her real birth mother's sister writes to her later on after twenty years or so. Another is about a couple and their weird son Bikaner and how he cheats on them. Another is about a old couple who have nowhere to live after their 12 kids do not care for them. Hence they are sent to a retirement home. Different stories like this make this book. I was hoping for more actually that maybe the stories will come together in the end. I liked it, but not too much!

First Darling of the Morning - Thrity Umrigar

This is a lovely book written by Thrity about her childhood as a Parsi in Mumbai. I really liked the way she started with her as a child and how she grew up at home. The tension at home with problems in the factory her uncle and father were the boss of, the sadness when her uncle died and how she had to grow up. The book ends when she makes a decision to go to US to study and to learn to be independent. Really nice novel to read

The Konkans - Tony D'Souza

I enjoyed the beginning of this book. It is a nice one with customs from Mangalore basically Konkan people (people who speak Konkani). Towards the end, it dragged out a bit. This is a story of Babu who is the firstborn son of his father (father is also a firstborn son) and of his brother Samuel. Babu marries a white lady and goes to the US after sometime. His two brothers follow along shortly. It is a tale of Babu through his son's eyes. Good one!

Tiger Moon - Antonia Michaelis

I liked this novel. It is about Raka, a young bride who tells her story to Lalit/Lagan, a lowly servant in her husband's house. The story is about a young thief Farhad who is commissioned by Krishna to save his daughter from the clutches of Ravan who is in human form. Nitish, a white tiger, helps him in this journey. At the end, the lines between the story and reality fade and the two stories blend together. Really good book!

Sold - Patricia McCormick

This novel really touched me. It was about a Nepali girl and how she is brought into India and sold into the streets as a prostitute. At the end, she gets a chance to escape and to find out whether she escapes or not,read the book!

The palace of illusions - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

After reading the reviews by Mad momma, Mamma of twins and Mystic Pizza, I had decided to read this novel. It sounded really good according to their reviews. And boy oh boy was I pleased that I read the novel. It is an amazing potrayal of Draupadi's viewpoint starting way from her birth to the end in the Mahabharata. I really loved the way Draupadi had her own thoughts and it was really good. A must read for everyone!

100th post

Woo hoo! I've reached 100 posts :) Feels great to have achieved it! I knew I read a lot of books but my blog helps me track how many. I do leave out some books that I read on my iPhone and elsewhere but mostly try to include all books I read. Please feel free to add suggestions as to what books you liked and I will try to read them too!

Six Suspects - Vikas Swarup

I really liked this novel. It is about the murder of Vicky Rai ( a politician's son) and the six suspects involved. He entwines the entire story of the six people who are suspected of murdering Vicky. Really nice novel :)

Earth Song - Catherine Coulter

Philippa de Beauchamp hears that she is to marry William de Bridgport, "a fat old man with no teeth, and a paunch," she flees from home but somehow ends up as a prisoner to Dienwald de Fortenberry. The young woman's spinning and weaving skills, as well as her ability to read and calculate, soon earn her the household's esteem and the position of steward. She soon falls in love with him but her cousin Sir Walter de Grasse learns a secret about Philippa's past and tries to marry her. I did not like this book because I found it very crude. I would not recommend this book to anyone!

The case of the missing servant - Vish Puri mystery - Tarquin Hall

Amazing story teller. I was surprised to see a UK writer to write so in tune with Indian stories. I mean I felt like I was in India with the detective Vish Puri solving the case. Vish is a detective who is solving the case of a missing servant. The twists and turns in the tale make it a interesting read :P Really enjoyed this novel.

Lyon's gate - Catherine Coulter

Jason Sherbrooke flees from England when something bad happens and he can't forgive himself for it. He returns back to his homeland after five years and decides to try to live again. When he shows interest in buying Lyon's Gate, Hallie Carrick also wants the place. Finally, both of them end up being owners of the same place :) It's a love story then between both of them. :)

Jade Star - Catherine Coulter

Dr. Saint Morris reencounters a young girl from his past in Maui in an unlikely situation. He soon becomes her husband, but in name only. She loves him, but he sees himself as her protector and brother. They encounter many exciting trials in San Francisco. Ultimately, he gets married to her to save her name from being tarnished. It was an okay novel. I didn't like it much though

Mistress - Anita Nair

I really liked this book. It is about four people, Shyam, his wife Radha, an American Chris and Radha's uncle. Chris comes to India to meet Radha's uncle and to write about his life. The story unfolds that uncle is a Kathakali dancer and the way the book is written in stages of different poses in Kathakali. I really liked the way the book was written. Amazing! The emotions of Shyam when he knows Radha is seeing Chris was really good!

Cooking with my Indian mother-in-law - Simon Daley

I really liked going through this book. The pictures of Roshan's food was amazing! The recipes are very simple for a beginner and the guidelines were nice. Good book for learning to cook Indian dishes :)

The splendour of silence - Indu Sundaresan

A young American woman,Olivia, receives a trunk from India that contains secrets of her mother’s past. The letters in the trunk tell her the story of her parents Sam and Mila and their brief affair in 1942 India.The heart of the story takes place in pre-Independence India and war-torn Burma. Splendor of Silence is about love, secrets, and the tension between Indians and the British raj. I had read this novel quite sometime back and thought about including this here.

A good Indian wife - Anne Cherian

I really liked this novel a lot. It was so touching for me. It's about a young Indian doctor Suneel Sarath who was studying and now staying in the US. He has a sort-of girlfriend Catherine. He goes to visit India to visit his "ailing" Thatapa but on landing in India, realises that his mother tricked him into coming to India to see girls for marriage. Through an unfortunate mistunderstanding, he somehow gets married to Leila. Leila is a sweetheart in this novel. She is a typical Indian girl and comes to US with dreams. She is independent and soon realises what her husband was upto with Catherine. So the story goes on about how she and Suneel in the end ultimately reconcile. A really nice novel :)

Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

I read this novel yesterday and was quite happy reading it. It starts off very vaguely in the first few chapters. It is the story of the author as she takes off to travel for four months each in Italy, India and Bali. She starts her travel after she has divorced her husband and decides to take time off. In Italy, she has a lovely time learning Italian and tasting food :) She also gains a happy 23 pounds and is happy about it heheh I would never be. But in retrospection, she went through a bad divorce and hence would have lost a lot of weight.

In India, she goes to a Ashram and learns to pray and has unbelievable experiences. I wish I could talk to God like her.

In Bali, she gets a balance between everything. She goes to meet the medicine man she had met earlier, falls in love with a nice person and the story is so sweet!