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“You could have had me for free.”
She planted her hands on his shoulders and pushed, skittering away on her heels. “I…I was sent on a story. It had nothing to do with you, you egomaniac.”
Sold To the Highest Bidder by Donna Alward (Free Kindle Edition)
Ella comes back to Colorado to put her past behind. He goal is to get Devin to sign those Divorce papers. They have been married for the past 12 years as teenagers, and she had left him soon after to live her dreams. Every year she sent him the papers to sign and he refused to do that.
Now she is determined to get it done personally. So she lands up in Colorado and finds him standing in an auction block for charity. And ends up bidding for him. She is the highest bidder. She thinks that he will sign those papers in those 48 hours that she owns him! But he is determined that she has to work for that. At the end of it, she leaves happily enough..with one glitch! She finds too late that he still hadn't signed at the dotted line.
She doesn't understand why he refuses to do so. On the face value, it seemed like any other romance with lots of arguments but it does take an unexpected turn and made the novel worthwhile. Two childhood sweethearts, who married so young, it was inevitable that one walks out soon after. One tries to move on, the other is stuck in time. But is it what appears? Ella seems to have moved on, Devin stuck in time. But it is nothing like this. I liked the way author kept us hooked. By the twists and turns. It made a one good read for a lazy Sunday. I quite enjoyed. And available for free, it is well worth it. Click on the title/cover to get the free Kindle Edition.
“I’m not sure. I just wanted to have a conversation with my father – ”
“ – I thought your father was dead.”
“He is. I wanted to have a conversation with him in my head, to imagine the kind of advice he would give me – and I found myself here.”
Title: Blue
Author: Lou Aronica
ISBN: 1936558009
Publisher: The Fiction Studio/2011
Pages: 400
Chris's daughter Becky, a 14 year old, has a blood disorder and is not going to live long, Chris is divorced from his wife but loves Becky more than anything in the world. But Becky has drifted away from him. He used to tell her mazing stories and now Becky barely talks to him. Chris is unable to cop with that yet he can't let go of her.
Miea is a young queen, who has lost her parents at an young age and now trying to cope to look after her kingdom. There is some sort of blight in her land and nothing can cure that. By some quirk, Becky reaches the kingdom, which is a fantasy land, and finds that it is the same one she had created with her dad. Becky thinks that Chris, a plant genetist can cure the blight. Chris can;t believe the make believe world exist but he does when he too goes there with Becky.
Becky seems to be perfectly fine there with no trace of disease and also the blight seems to disappear in her presence. And then Chris realizes that he has to take the biggest decision of his life.
The novel is a fantasy one, yet it is filled with beauty of nature, love for fellow beings and about a world which can exist in our hearts and minds. Chris, Becky, Miea are all related in a way which seems impossible. Yet Aronica has made it very plausible. It is magical yet, so realistic. Father daughter relationship is so beautiful. Letting go is so difficult yet one has to do that when there is no other choice. One goes through a whole gamut of emotions while reading it.
I read the e-version of the book and enjoyed it very much. I recommend it for young as well as adult readers. Blue will totally take you over.
It seems to me now that Fanshawe was always there. He is the place where everything begins for me, and without him I would hardly know who I am.
Title: The Locked Room
Author: Paul Auster
ISBN: 9780940650763
Publisher: Sun and Moon Press/1986
Pages: 179 pages
The book begins with the narrator rceiving a mail from Sophie Fanshawe. Fanshawe has gone missing and after six months his pregnant wife, Sophia contacts the narrater who is a childhood friend of Fanshawe, so as to evaluate Fanshawe's work as per his instructions. Inevitably Sophie and the narrater, who too is a writer fall in love and eventually marry and he becomes the father of the baby.
The narrator publishes the work of Fanshawe, which is hailed as greatest piece of writing and many assume that the narrator wrote it as Fanshawe had not published anything when he was very much there. . Meanwhile the narrator finds himself unable to write anything. After sometime, he takes it upon himself to write Fanshawe's biography. And Sophie doesn't like it one bit. However, it doesn't prevent the narrator him from researching Fanshawe's life. He finds interesting bits about his childhood friend. His father had died of cancer, his sister is now in an institute for the insane and his mother hates him
In his quest for writing the biography of Fanshawe, the narrator's marriage almost comes to an end and he also has an illicit affair with Fanshawe's mother. In each frame, the disappeared Fanshawe's presence looms large. Our narrator seems to have been taken over by him. It seems, narrator, while researching the life of a missing writer for a biography, slowly begins to assume his identity. At some points, even the reader starts having doubts.
The title makes sense as one can see that, Fanshawe is the locked room. He can't express all that he feels. So he has to keep himself out. Only way he can do it by locking himself. In a way, it is he who designed that Sophie and the narrator should meet, fall in love and marry. Fanshawe knows that his friend is capable of sustaining power of love. Fanshawe, although a genius, doesn't have it in him to be a loving family man.
Reality and fantasy co-exist here. The short novel can be interpreted profane or profound, depending on the mindset of the reader. I think, it is what Auster intends in all his writings. One can call his work entirely absurd or the work of a genius.
Title: Ghosts (Book 2 of The New York Trilogy)
Author: Paul Auster
ISBN: 9780140131550
Publisher: Penguin/1986
Pages: 72
Ghosts is the second novel in The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. A short one at 72 pages, it manages to hold interest.
Named after colours, the various characters truly depict those alloted names. White hires a private detective Blue to spy on Black. Blue calls the future Mrs. Blue that he is going under cover for a while and moves into an apartment right in front of Black. Now Black doesn't do much other than sitting in front of his window, either reflecting into space or writing something. Blue doesn't like the inactivity. But he still sends reports to White. Those are sterile reports. None of those contain his thoughts.
Blue gets his weekly cheques and ought to be happy living in a fully furnished apartment, watching Black. However, he being a man of action, the lethargy does not become him. Blue disguises himself as an old man and contacts Black, who says he (Blue) looks like the poet, Walt Whitman. Yet, Blue can't find much about Black. Although he has doubts.
One day he breaks into Black's apartment and finds out that Black to is spying on someone and writing about it too. Things come to a head and the title Ghosts makes perfect sense.
Auster writes in no flowery prose, yet there is something which compels the reader to go on. The lucidity is astounding and there is much much more than the apparently simple story. The obseession of a private eye, his boredom, and his thought process go into many directions. We are with Blue, all the way, and want to know more about Black. And also about White. Blue also reflects about his mentor, Brown. All these colours kind of make these characters visual. And the colours merge making way fr new colours. The ending is left open for interpretation and the title has wide ramifications.
Those who like to think beyond the obvious, and can go into many layers of a story will like this short novel and will reach out for other Auster works. Just as I have. I will. Over and over again.
Title: A Worthy Legacy
Authour: Tomi Akinyanmi
ISBN: 9780615211169
Publisher: Tommie Books/2009
Pages: 101
Book Blurb
The Harmattan wind scorches across Nigeria, and an old man lies dying. His community gathers to pay its respects; their haunting songs echoing in the warm twilight. Around his bed his family is gathered and they listen as he speaks his last words. Yet in the face of death this old man doesn't talk of regrets, neither does he talk of petty grievances, instead he talks softly about life; how to survive, how to be happy and how to achieve self-respect.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The words of the dying old man makes an impact on his grand daughter even after he is gone. When she comes back after one year, she finds a Journal that her grandfather had written for her. By this time the family has drifted apart, with petty quarrels, yet the grand daughter returns to the village. Maybe to look out for her legacy and finds it in that journal.
A Worthy Legacy is not at all preachy or is a self-help book in any way. It speaks about simple acts, and how to find happiness in those acts. With insights in the form of poetry, we find spirituality in there, which tells us about simple pleasures, acceptance of ones self. This books isn't preachy and that is what made it a good read. Much to think about and follow too, if we want to. For myself, I really loved the poetry in it. Not surprising as I write it myself!
The story of Zenia ought to begin when Zenia began. It must have been someplace long ago and distant in space, thinks Tony; someplace bruised, and very tangled.
While in the cavalier guardianship of the forest of Marley, I first saw the lowland tapir. I was wenty-five or so, and still an idealist, ever faithful that Atlee and Keynesian guidance would protect the educated class from the spread of iniquity.
Title: Quiver--Poems and Ghazals
Author: Javed Akhtar/1995
Translated from Urdu by David Matthews /2001
ISBN-10: 8172235127
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Pages: 251
Javed Akhtar is one of my favourte Urdu poets. This book is a gift from my nephew. This volume is an English and Hindi translation of 'Tarkash', a highly successful book of Javed Akhtar's Urdu poems first published in 1995.
Here he talks about himself, his short comings, love and many more things. In first appearance, these poems seem simple. But contain deeper meanings. Each of his poems have many levels and a reader can discern it the way he/she wishes to. There are deep ironies along with philosophical ponderings. He tries to decipher the mystery of life and leaves it open for the reader to interpret it in her/his own way. As I read both the Hindi and English versions, I had not muc problem liking his verses.
A must read for all those who like good poetry. In India and Pakistan, Javed Akhtar is a well known name!
Tittle: The Blind Assassin
Author: Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 1860498809
Publisher: Virago Press/2001
Pages: 637
After reading The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood, I decided to read all her books. I mooched it from bookmooch long time ago. I started the book in January but somehow or the other, I could not finish it sooner. The beginning is very slow and tends to ge boring too. I have had moments of giving it up altogether. I am glad I did not. Yesterday, I started from page 81 and after reaching halfway through, I just couldn't leave it. I am damn glad I persisted.
The Blind Assassin is a story about two sisters, Iris and Laura Chase, the lives they shared and about their relationship, bonding and secrets. It is a novel within a novel within a novel. It has many layers. It goes from present to past to future. Initially it gets a bit confusing as I can't keep track. Then each and every detail gets at me. What starts as a story about Laura, who had committed suicide at the age of 25 years some 50 years ago, ends with her sister Iris' story being told. Why is Iris recollecting all this. That too, after 50+ years?
Because she cannot leave it unsaid for her grand-daughter Sabrina, who needs to be told about her legacy. The grand daughter who knows nothing about her. And who truly deserves to be told the truth.
The memories of Iris go hand in hand with writing or reading of the novel, The Blind Assassin for which Laura Chase is acclaimed later, much after her suicide. This is about a woman and her two unknown lovers. By letting her novel published, Iris has kept Laura's memories alive.. It ruins her(Iris') husband, Richard's political aspiration. And drives him to death. Does he deserve it?
Despite Iris's stocism, we see her shimmering anger. Her precise revenge. She is calculated too in what she is doing. When she is telling her story, we get to hear her inner voice too and her introspection. Or her reasonings. Her explanations about why must a certain event happened in the past. Itis like getting inside her mind.
It also has a love story, two girls loving the same man but differently. How differently? Iris might have been the older sister, Laura has always been mature one who understood things much beyond her age. Laura can't lie, she can't hide, she is very honest in her likes or dislikes. She completely abhors Richard. She can see through him. Unlike Iris, who only realises after it is too late. After she has lost everything, her sister, her daughter. However, she sees to it that Laura should live on forever. She owes it to Laura. All the three stories converge in the end effortlessly.
This book also touches child abuse. Implies that Laura might have been abused by more than one person while still a child. First by her tutor, next by..well..I can't say it without spoiling it for you.
Like in The Handmaid's Tale, here too, the heroine/s is/are shown to be helpless, almost powerless which they overcome. I think they should have done that much before. I truly loved the sisters.
Atwood's prose is superb. The use of various colours is brilliant. which denote various moods. To understand what and who is the blind assassin, one must read this book. I know it is a fat book and has a slow start but well worth the effort. Atwood never disappoints.
Also reviewed by:
Rhinoa
Juli
Kim L
Aria
Wendy
Trish
Title: The Second Journey: The Road Back to Yourself
Author: Joan Anderson
ISBN: 9781401303396
Publisher: Hyperlion/April 29, 2008
Pages: 224/Hardcover
I then sat down with a book, I had started earlier. I had received this for review purposes. The Second Journey is written by Joan Anderson and is about unexpected changes, which somehow come out of nowhere. That stops us on suddenly from whatever path out lives has been taking at that moment. and we are left to take stock of it before it is too late. It is about choosing. Whether to stay in the same rot or move to another direction. Most of us dislike change and do nothing. In a way that is detrimental for our life. We need to try to rearrange our life so that it is more fulfilling.
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Nearly a decade after the debut of her bestselling, life-changing classic A Year by the Sea, Joan Anderson is busy. When she's not on the road helping groups of women search for their true selves, she's working on her latest book. And when she's "not working," she's taking care of her husband, her grown children, her grandchildren, and her ninety-one-year-old mother. Joan is stretched so thin from being all things to all people that she doesn't even realize how out of control her life has become. Ironically, she finds she needs to listen to her own advice more than anyone else does. It takes a serious intervention--from her best friends, her doctor, and her husband--before she finally wakes up.
The Second Journey chronicles Joan's quest to restore her own equilibrium and find herself again. Suffused with her characteristic humor and warmth, this is a book for any woman who wants to know how to awaken her own independent spirit and set herself on a new path. Joan shares her musings on love, marriage, growing older, family, aging parents, and spirituality as she casts a watchful eye on her own life and helps readers find peace and inspiration within their own lives. She offers reassurance that the best is yet to come, and empowers other women to come of age in the middle of life.
The call to a second journey usually commences when unexpected change is thrust upon you, causing a crisis of feelings so great that you are stopped in your tracks. Personal events such as a betrayal, a diagnosis of serious illness, the death of a loved one, loss of self-esteem, a fall from power are only a few of the catalysts. A woman caught thusly has no choice but to pause, isolate, even relocate until she can reevaluate the direction in which she should head. Should she stay the course or choose another path? The goal is to come of age in the middle of life rather than live out our days lacking purpose and energy. It's all about rearranging our lives in our own image. "
Title: Twelve Red Herrings
Title: Half of a Yellow Sun
Title: Northanger Abbey
Author: Jane Austen
ISBN: 1853260436
Publisher: Wordsworth Classics/165 pages
This early Jane Austen novel is a satire of the reading tastes of the young, their near addiction to Gothic "horror" stories. Here Austen is overflowing with her unmistakable satiric wit, charm, and astonishing worldly wisdom.
Catherine Morland, aged 17, is expanding her horizons by visiting Bath with her neighbours, The Allens. She gets involved with the Thorpe family, who are not what they seem, and the Tilney family, with whom she forms genuine warmth that leads her to visit their family home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine has spent a good deal of time reading novels, and she allows her imagination to run wild once she finds herself in the dark corridors of the abbey. The appearance of Henry helps subdue her theatrics a bit but she still finds herself drawn into situations she does not understand. She expects the worst horrors because of her enthusiastic reading of Mrs. Radcliff’s novels. She feels certain to have stumbled upon a secret family shame or even horror. The General's odd behaviour seems to confirm her growing suspicious of dark deeds surrounding the death of the late Mrs. Tileny.
Without any explanation, the domineering General gets Catherine thrown out of his home defying all the rules of hospitality and decency. Henry is not present to protest, so Catherine is sent off in ignominy and secret tears back to her unsuspecting family.
.
Austen is mocking the meeting and mating customs of that period in Britain. She is also mocking the gothic novels of the day: Catherine, influenced by the lowbrow literature she reads, is forever attributing dark motives to her acquaintances and skeletons to their closets.
Catherine is easily manipulated and slow to learn from her mistakes, and she bumbles into her eventual successful conclusion completely by accident, none the wiser for her troubles. Austen makes clear right at the onset that she does not wish to attack the novelists who wrote the books from which Catherine derives many of her false ideas but that the error is Catherine's interpretation of the stories.
Much of the story fits in with typical Gothic novel, but the frightening and dismaying things Catherine eventually discovers are of a far from supernatural sort. Greed, selfishness and pride, these are the horrors of Northanger Abbey. The hidden motive of seemingly delightful friends is brought to light, teaching young Catherine as well as the reader a painful lesson in real life.
Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 0770428207
Publisher: Seal Books
Genre: Fiction/388 pages
The Handmaid’s Tale is my first book by Atwood. It kept lingering in my mind long time after I finished reading it. It follows in the footsteps of Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty Four creating a cold fear in the heart by imagining it to be true.
As the title conveys, it is a story of a handmaid, Offred in an imaginary place called Gilead, which was previously known as the USA. Every month on a day called the ceremony, she has to lie on her back in the bed of commander and his wife and pray for him to make her pregnant. In that bed, all three lay together, the wife holding her hands and commander doing the needful. She keeps staring at the roof while the ritual is being performed. Handmaids are valued only because of what they can provide via their wombs.
She is allowed a walk once a day to the market along with another handmaid in the neighbourhood. She keeps thinking of her husband, Luke, her daughter, her best friend, Moira and her mother. She has nothing to record her thoughts as reading and writing is forbidden for females. She keeps all those in her mind wishing to write those down some day. Does she escape? Only time will tell.
The male characters have no surnames, a few are guardians, or drivers or some such like for the commanders. Woman are either the Wives, Marthas, the working class, Handmaids—those who are there to produce babies. Others who are not useful in anyway end up in colonies or killed. The colonies shown here are like those concentration camps.
Offred flits from thoughts to thoughts. Despite her plight, we glimpse a rebellion streak in her. The story moves forward with irony, wit, sadness, and comical relief too. Contemplating it is too horrifying. Imagining a time when there are no children and only surrogate mothers in the form of handmaids can help bearing them.
A very chilling account and it can happen too if we are not careful. A must read.
