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The last Tamil novel that I recall reading was Sujata's Ganesh Vasanth series, and before that, the whole Ponniyin Selvan devoured in a mad reading spree spanning over a few weeks. Beyond that, I have never gravitated towards Tamil works, even the multitude of Rajesh Kumar crime novels which lay scattered around our home. My dad is a big fan of Rajesh Kumar. He says that Rajesh Kumar is the James Hadley Chase of Tamil writing, of whom we both are huge fans.   So, after many many years, a colleague and a good friend of mine, gave me Jayamohan's collection of science fiction short stories called "Visumbu", which means sky. My friend, who is a die hard Jayamohan fan and an avid reader of Tamil literature, was appalled at my lack of exposure to so many wonderful works in Tamil. "How can you not read the brilliant works in our mother tongue? Some feelings, emotions and thoughts can be conveyed powerfully only in our own tongue.", he said and h...

It usually so happens such that I first read the book and then watch the movie. But in this case, I first saw the movie and after about 3 months, read the book. And ever since, "I will do a Gone Girl on you", has been my favorite expression to throw at my husband, to mock threaten him. The best part and also the worst part of reading a book after watching the movie is you just imagine the actors faces when reading the book. Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck are just perfect for the characters. Gone Girl is easily one of the best books that I have read till date. Gillian Flynn has so brilliantly captured the characters that you just can't believe that they are fictitious -even though Amy is someone whom you just can't believe that she actually exists. And there lies the brilliance of the author. By now, am sure you all know the basic outline of the story -Amy Elliot Dunn disappears from her house on her 5th wedding anniversary and her husband becomes a prime su...

Life is too short to read crappy books. Before I started on this book, I was pushing myself to finish a book called Angelology by Danielle Trussoni and gave up half way through. Then, took up The Shadow Princess and finished the book in two days -primarily because there was just too much description about the Taj Mahal, totally unrelated to the plot, that I happily skipped. Seriously! It was just getting boringly descriptive. For my honeymoon, one of our destinations was the Taj Mahal and the Agra fort. Seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time is definitely an experience to cherish. The grandeur just makes your jaw drop. Such perfection and such beauty! But more than the Taj Mahal, the Agra fort captivated me, because it gave me a glimpse of the opulent life style of the Mughals. We had such a wonderful and knowledgeable guide. I strongly recommend to take a guide when you are visiting historical places, because, they can really make you form a connection with ...

I rarely read Indian authors. One of the very few books that I enjoyed by Indian authors are Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and Two Fates by Judy Balan. The reason I don't prefer books by Indian authors is this -when I read books set in a foreign culture and locale, I can't really relate to it. I just take what is being written at face value and happily get carried away by the book. But, when the book is set in an Indian context, with Indian characters and Indian locales, I don't really enjoy the book if I don't relate to it. I am not saying that I am fully aware and conversant with the diverse cultural and socio economic strata of India, but this book by Manju Kapur disappointed, even irritated me in so many levels. Astha, a middle class Delhi girl gets married to Hemant -a foreign educated handsome boy who is working in a PSU bank, so that he can take care of his parents. They have an awesome sex life for the first two years of marriage, then they get...

The plot of this book revolves around horse racing and it is written by an erstwhile star jockey. I feared that the book will be too technical for someone who does not even fully understand how the betting odds work. But Even Money was such a breezy book that I felt as if I was reading a Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew book for grown ups. The protagonist of this book is Ned Talbot, an independent bookmaker who sets shop in all major horse races in England. One day, a man turns up and tells him that he is his father..the father whom Ned was told by his grand parents that he died 37 years ago. And promptly, before the astonished Ned could exchange more than a few skeptical sentences with the new found father, the father gets murdered. Why? By whom? And what does Ned do about it? This is the gist of the book. The book has very limited set of major characters. Ned's wife, Sophie, who is battling mental illness. Ned's partner Luca, his apprentice Douglas. The relationsh...

I didn't know that Robert Galbraith was the pseudonym of JK Rowling until I had almost finished the book. And, since I have not read Harry Potter, Robert Galbraith is a completely new author for me. And now that I am finally sitting to write a review, I realize that I have been reading only whodunit novels for quite some time now. Need to read a different genre soon! Maybe some drama or history or some breezy chicklit? The Silkworm features Robert Galbraith's protagonist -Cormoran Strike -Afghan veteran turned private detective operating out of London. Tall, bulky, with a boxer's profile and tight curly hair, he is short of a leg knee down. Cormoran takes up the case of finding Owen Quine, a not so famous author. His wife approaches Cormoran to track the errant author, who has the annoying habit of going off by himself and returning after a few weeks. But instead of finding the Owen Quine, Cormoran finds the horribly mutated body of the author, who has been murdered...

I don't really remember the last time I came across a character, whom you don't really know whether to like or hate. Except maybe for some of James Hadley Chase's protagonists, for whom you feel sad even though you know what they did was wrong. But as far as Deputy Sargent Dennis Milne goes, I kept swinging between love and hate almost till the end of the book. And I bet that all through the book, you feel a tiny bit smug, because, seriously, no matter how much our work or life sucks, it is not as bad as Milne's is. Milne is a jaded and cynical London copper who is tired of having his hands tied by the law and being paid peanuts for doing one of the most thankless but necessary job of that of a copper. He sides with a shady businessman called Raymond Keene and does odd jobs for him here and there to earn some extra bucks on the side. When Keene sets him up to assassinate three people by telling Milne that they are nothing but drug dealers, Milne remorselessl...

It has been quite some time since I chanced upon a book that actually made me think. And before I proceed further, I still don’t  take back most of what I wrote about Sophie Hannah here . I have been rotting in the sad premise of bedside reading for years now. Most of my reading is just scanning. I don’t pay real attention to individual sentences or words. I have even skipped chapters when the author resorts to mindless description or endless dialogues or boring arguments that really don’t contribute to the plot. But Sophie Hannah made me re read the prologue twice –so compelling was her theory about stories and memories that I ended up poking my brain for memories and stories and tried to distinguish between the two based on her explanation. The book satisfied me on so many levels. This book is a classic whodunit which keeps hinting who the perpetrator is and also confirms it midway. But the author keeps us gripped because we want to know how the 3 apparently rand...

Shantaram is based on the story of the author’s life, and what part of the story is fact and what is fiction is debatable. Some of it is on record, such as his imprisonment and escape from prison, and some are impossible to verify. The book begins with his arrival in Mumbai with a fake passport - a wanted man on the run after escaping from the Australian prison where he was jailed for robbing to finance his heroin habit. Leaving his friends, family and past behind, he makes Mumbai his home, serving as an unofficial doctor in the slums, making his living by guiding foreign tourists to the best sources of hash, and eventually joining the Mumbai mafia. He becomes fluent in Hindi & Marathi, spends 6 months in a remote Maharashtrian village, learns the ropes of all the black markets thriving in Mumbai, makes friends in the expat community, falls in love, and even fights in Afghanistan. Yet this book is about so much more than the story. There are fascinating descriptions of...

Genre: Period romance/cultural Unputdownable Quotient: Very High Overall Rating: 5/5 You know you have picked the right book when you feel as if you have been transported to a new world through it. And just when you thought you got lucky, you stumble upon the movie based on the book and get to actually see the various scenes that were described oh so beautifully in the book. That is when you know you have hit the jackpot. Memoirs of a Geisha is one such book. So eloquent and so poignant, you will be swept away by this beautiful love story. The book is about a little girl called Chiyo, who comes from a small fishing village. The book is narrated by her and she recounts her journey from a simple vil lage girl to a popular geisha. The transformation of Chiyo to the geisha Nitta Sayuri is so fraught with intrigue and hardship and some serious plotting by the various characters. The way the protagonist conveys her emotions to us are so poignant and moving that you cant...

You might think I’m ambitious for attempting to review A Song of Ice & Fire for my very first review. To make matters worse, it is also a wildly popular TV series titled after the first book, Game of Thrones. Also, I could be shot if there are any spoilers in the review. But I can’t think of another series/book since Harry Potter that captured my imagination and obsession so effectively, so here it is. For those who haven’t watched or read it, Songs of Ice & Fire is about a power struggle of massive proportions between kings & queens, lords & knights, conquerors & slave masters, set in a land where seasons can last for years. What’s new about this story of power and politics, intrigue and ambition, murder and betrayal? The mind-blowingly intricate tapestry of characters, locations and events, to put it simply. Each chapter is from the point of view of a different character, but the storyline is in many threads, spread across many miles and gorgeousl...