Quiver by Javed Akhtar

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!

The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra

Title: The Romantics
Author: Pankaj Mishra
ISBN: 033039276X
Publisher: Picador/1999
Pages: 277/Hardcover

It is not one of my usual picks. My nephew left it over at my place. So I gave it a try. It is set in Benaras, India in the omtemporary times. It is narrated by Samar, a Brahmin youth who comes to Benaras to study. He seeks solitude but the opposite happens. He is forced to face his desires and come into terms with it. Love and delusion walk side by side here.

Here he meets Miss West, an English expatriate who has her own demons to kill, along with Catherine, the Frenchwoman who is responsible for the events. We can also see student unrest and the casteist Indian social structure which is deeply embedded in the psyches of all Indian people.

It is growing up novel where Samar is able to find what he is searching. When he comes back to Banaras after seven years, everything, everyone he has known has changed yet the city remains same. That is dichotomy of Benaras, the abode of Shiva.

Pankaj Mishra's debut novel is worth reading once.

The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

Title: The Unconsoled
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
ISBN: 0571177182
Publisher: faber and faber/1995
Pages: 535
Rating: 3.5/5

I have owned this book for three years now. I only got around reading it this week. It has a small font and is a fat book. Maybe that put me off reading, despite it being written by Ishiguro.

The Unconsoled is an engrossing psychological mystery, a tongue in cheek satire on art, and a poignant character study of a man whose public life is no longer his own. It is set in a nameless Central European city where Ryder, a renowned pianist, has come to give the most important performance of his life. He cannot recall anything about himself. He has completely gone blank.

Ryder finds himself diverted on a series of weird and strange errands that nevertheless provide him with vital clues to his own past. He does have flashes of memory. This is a stream of consciousness book which is haunting and is filled with human quirks and wit.

In Ryder, we see a person who is completely removed from his surroundings. He lives in past and future, that too unknowingly. The people he meets are even more strange than him.

I skipped the long speeches and maybe someday I will get back to those. It is not a book for everyone. Read it only if you like Ishiguro. Otherwise safely give it a skip.

Perfect ..On Paper by Maria Murnane

Title: Perfect ..On Paper
Author: Maria Murnane
ISBN: 9780980042504
Publisher: Wink's ink/2008
Pages: 314

As I had seen this book being discussed in the the net world, I asked for it from Maria Murnane to read and review and she was kind enough to send to me.

For a lazy summer day, it makes one good read. It is racy, fast paced and keeps our interest alive till the end. The best part is most of us can relate to the story.

Waverly is ditched by her fiance at the last minute. She mops about it for a long time. Her two best friends try to make her come out of it but they do not make any progress. However, they are not one to give up. She meets someone one while she has gone on a exhibition of some sort. Although they do click, somehow she is always tongue tied in their subsequent meetings.

After her fiance had ditched her, Waverly had started making Honey notes. How do they help her? To find out, one has to read the book. With humour, friendship and heart break this book takes on the search for perfect happiness. Does it exist? Well amost. And on paper!

This is a fun read and I enjoyed reading it. It is kind of diffrent from what I usually read. A good change from all those difficult and heavy reads. A perfect book for an easy read! For a first time writer, Maria has done a good job.

Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors

Title: Mistress of the Revolution
Author: Catherine Delors
ISBN: 9780525950547
Publisher: Dutton/2008
Pages: 451/Hardcover

I won this book in a giveaway way bak in March and received it a while back. I seldom read romances but I am partial to historical ones. The period dramas and costumes completely hook me in. So I was eager to read this book. It is based in the time of the French Revolution and that truly makes it an interesting book.

Gabrielle de Montserrat is first brought up by a wet nurse and then in a convent. She is 11 years old by the time she returns home to her family, which consists of her brother Marquis de Castel, and her mother. Her mother doesnot seem to care for her much. But her brother loves Gabrielle in his own fashion. They are improvised although nobel.

At the age of 15, she meets Pierre-Andre Coffinhal, who is a commoner. He does have a social standing but Gabrielle's brother does not let them marry. She is forced to marry a wealthy cousin who is thrice her age. And is cruel to boot. She has a daughter, Aimee. She becomes a widow at the age of 17.

She finds out that her husband has not made any provisions for her and her daughter's future. She comes to Paris at the behest of a cousin where she meets Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Here she experiences a freedom she has not known before this. She strives to make a better life for her daughter and herself. She becomes the mistress for one of the Nobelman, Villiers. Meanwhile, France is in turmoil and now we see Pierre-Andre on the bench of the revolutionary tribunal. Gabrielle is taken to be a prisoner and almost guillotined. However, she is saved and in order to save her daughter, she reaches out for him. They redisover their love, even though it is short lived.

Mistress of the Revolution is a work of fiction but the characters in it are very much real. Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Robespierre are well known figures. Pierre-Andre Coffihnal too was a part of it. Only fictional character seems to be that of Gabrielle. This story has been narrated by her. She is writing her memoir for her children so that they know the truth about her.

A real to life work of fiction where one does learn a lot about the French Revolution, how the masses were far removed from the Royal families, how a woman had no rights, no matter in what station she was born into. And also it speaks of a world where taking a lover was so very normal. I am glad I read it. Go for it, if you want to know history of France.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
ISBN: 9780375842207
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf/2006
Pages: 550

This book is pegged as YA book. It is a Printz Award winner for 2006. A much talked about book in the blogging world.

The story has been told from the perspective of death. I found it very interesting. By the end of it, I changed my mind about death.

This book has been set in Nazi Germany in 1939. And it spans 4 years. A 9 year old girl, Liesel Meminger along with her 6 year old brother is being taken by her mother to be given for fostering. Her brother dies and in the graveyard, Liesel finds a book, The Grave Digger's Manual, buried in the snow. She picks it up. This is beginning of a book thief. Her foster father, Hans Hubbermann, although not very educated teaches her to read. Her foster mother Rosa, is aways abusing people. Liesel loves her foster father, she also comes to love her foster mother who despite her foul mouth has abundance of love to give.

Liesel develops a lasting friendship with a boy named Rudy Steiner. Hans and Rosa hide a Nazi in their home and Liesel is part of the secret. She comes to like the hidden man and he reciprocates it. And her stealing of books goes on, no matter what.

This book is meant to be read by all. It tells us about atrocities of the Nazis. Yet it tells us about hope, faith, belief in good people. Those who risked their own lives to save another. Those who are poor yet do not think twice about feeding another mouth. It speaks about those German people who were in no way responsible for the Holocaust. In fact they abhored it but had no say in the matter.

In no way this is a depressing book. The local people reach out to us, entering our hearts. Hitler destroyed his own country, own people along with the Jews. At the end of it, I came to love death, the narrator. Death has more compassion, more humanity than we humans.

Once Upon a Time When We Were Coloured by Clifton L. Taulbert

Title: Once Upon a Time When We Were Coloured
Author: Clifton L. Taulbert
ISBN: 0140244778
Publisher: Peguin Books/1989
Pages: 153
Genre: Non-fiction

The author writes about his life in Glan Alla, Mississippi. In a coloured set up. He fondly recalls his family, his cousins, friends. He tals about the feeliing of community along with segregation from whites. That did not affect the deep love he shared with his community, family, cousins and friends.

The picking up of otton, a job in the field of ice delivery, the arrival of minstrel show and festivities. All these sustain him. Despite hardships, he never lets go of his hopes and dreams and he does make something of his lie.

Those people he grew up with, might have been uneducated by our standards. But the most important thing they taught him was, family values and love. Being coloured in a white set up does not deter them. It fact it made them strong and self reliant. With underlying humour, this book tackles the irony of life rather very beautifully.

Booking through Readers

What, in your opinion, is the definition of a “reader.” A person who indiscriminately reads everything in sight? A person who reads BOOKS? A person who reads, period, no matter what it is? … Or, more specific? Like the specific person who’s reading something you wrote?

A reader according to me, is someone who reads anything. Be it books, magazines, newspaper etc etc. Some people can't read books. However, they can read through the newspaper from front to back. Then there are those who read magazines. It depends. I can read almost anything. But I can't read e-books! I need to hold my books.

Of course, here I must mention those who buy books and never read those. We obviously can't call them readers, now can we?!

Adventures of Spirou and Fantasio----The Robot Blueprints and other Stories

Title: Adventures of Spirou and Fantasio----The Robot Blueprints and other Stories
Author: André Franquin
ISBN: 9788128614804
Publisher: Euro Books 2007
Pages: 67/Graphic Novel

Spirou and Fantasio is a Franco-Belgian comic strip whih was first written in 1938. The series has many common elements with humorous adventure comics like Tintin and Asterix. It is one of the most popular classic Belgian comic strips and, unlike Tintin, new Spirou books continue to be published to this day. Spirou and Fantasio are the series' main characters, two adventurous journalists who run into fantastic adventures, aided by Spirou's pet squirrel, Spip.

I had read a lot of Spirou books and forgotten all about those, as I did not own any. I picked this book last Sunday when I bought 4 other books. Looking at these graphic novels made me nostalgic and I had to buy it. I will pass it on to my nephew as I did with my Tintin and Astrix books.

This book contains four stories: The Robot Blueprints, Spirou in the Ring, Spirou goes Riding and Spirou with the Pygmies.

The Robot Blueprints is the usual kind of story where certain bad elemments want to lay their hands on a bluepring of a Robot. It has been made by a mad scientist to help the mankind but those bad elements have other plans. Spirou, along wioth his friend, Fantasio foils their plan. Frankly it had nothing much new in this. However, the visual was good. The chase, the hiding, the beating, everything.

In Spirou in the Ring, Spirou is challenged by a well known boxer to fight with him. The other boxer is a bully and over-confident of his winning. Spirou takes the help of his friend Fantasio and starts practising for the Big fight which is the talk of the town. Meanwhile, Bert tries to stop him on his tracks. However, despite heating, Spirou wins and also wins over Bert.

Spirou goes Riding is funny where our dear friend goes riding on a eccentric horse. Read it and find out how! I adored this story! And fell in love with the horse!

And finally Spirou and the Pygmies has him and Fantasio visit a place called Rangapanga in Africa. There are two tribes, Browns and Backs there who are eternal enemies. A chance discovery leads to the fact that the blaks ar infact browns. The age old war is resolved! This story starts with a Leopard following Spirou!

All the four adventures are well depicted. One is pulled into the stories and comes to love the characters. I am definitely going for more Spirou books!

Booking through favourite authors and books

Think about your favorite authors, your favorite books . . . what is it about them that makes you love them above all the other authors you’ve read? The stories? The characters? The way they appear to relish the taste of words on the tongue? The way they’re unafraid to show the nitty-gritty of life? How they sweep you off to a new, distant place? What is it about those books and authors that makes them resonate with you in ways that other, perfectly good books and authors do not?

When I was younger I used to love Enid Blyton. Then it passed over to Agatha Christie. I liked those books not because I understood the nuances of language but because they created a world, I wished to live in. At that age, one is living in a fantasy world. Hence books were an escape to that world.

Now, I look out for authors who write well, whose writings can take me another realm, that is, the literary one. Priorities change with time. So does our reading. I like certain authors because they can make use of symbolism beautifully, certain authors create vivid pictures and some make use of metaphors effortlessly. A few have the ability to take us to a fantasy world. And then there are a few authors who are not afraid to write about difficult issues, or those who write with a wry humour. I like good characterisation. Charles Dickens was one author who could make weird characters believable.

I do have a few favourite books. However as I keep on exploring on new genres, I don't have favourite authors though I do like certain authors. The writing, characterization, subject matter, the way it is tackled are more important for me. Some books start great and fizzle out in the middle. Certain make you sleep in the beginning, however the endings are to die for. To know and understand all this, one has to persist in reading.

Any piece of good writing resonates with me. It hardly matters about the author. A case in point is Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why. No one had heard of the author. The books is unforgettable. Similar is the case with Down in the Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese.