“The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children.” – Shakespeare So. Many. Thoughts. Where do I begin? Perhaps at the very beginning–when a little magical baby survived a deadly attack from a very cruel wizard setting in motion events that culminated in the Battle of Hogwarts in which the evil wizard was finally defeated. But what if the magical baby did not survive? Or what if that cruel wizard did not…
Book Reviews
J.K. Rowling’s foray into adult fiction was surprisingly good albeit a little depressing. I have enjoyed the Harry Potter series for its concept and plot and never from a literary standpoint. This novel on the other hand is stronger on the language and structure whereas the plot is tepid. Image Credit: Author So, Whats It About? “Things denied, things untold, things hidden and disguised.” ― J.K. Rowling, The Casual Vacancy The narrative starts with a…
For those not familiar with American history, the term Pioneers is used to describe the explorers who moved westwards in search of land and riches from the heavily populated East. Writers like Willa Cather wrote novels and stories to capture the trials and tribulations of this period of exploration. Most of the westward expansion was by settlers who worked on railways which were being built to connect mining towns. Any pioneer’s town population was often…
The Corner Shop has a lovely cover and that is probably the nicest thing to say about it. Elizabeth Cadell wrote light romantic comedies in the Britain and her books were fairly popular, so I feel bad about dissing it. When I picked it up I was looking for something similar to the likes of E.F. Benson or Monica Dashwood – light, sharp and witty notes on the quiet country life. Which is why I…
As I was just a few weeks away from my trip to India and Istanbul, I was itching to read something to get me into the spirit of things. I started with Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul, but the book wasn’t it. His Istanbul is black and white, always cold, and inhabited by jinns. I don’t know what it is with Pamuk and me. I love his writing; the prose is poetic, but I can never seem…
“A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.” ― Graham Greene, The End of the Affair Isn’t that a beautiful start? I fell head over heels in love with the novel the minute I read that opening sentence. However, as it often happens, it was easier to fall in love than to stay in love. So, What’s It About?…
Over the past one year, there are some books that I read and meant to blog about. However, they made so little an impression on me, either good or bad, that I never got around to reviewing them. I thought I would just mention them in a single blog post. Death At the Bar by Ngaio Marsh Marsh was a New Zealand writer, heavily inspired by Agatha Christie. I have read reviews of her works…
Someone at a Distance is a heartbreaking story of an ordinary upper middle class British family is so gripping. I have read no other work by Dorothy Whipple, so am not aware of her style of narrative. I enjoyed this from a literary point of view, but I found the book oddly regressive to feminism. Let me start with the plot, which, as the blurb shows, is ‘deceptively simple’. The Norths are a happy, self-contained family…
