Mr Penumbra's 24-hr bookstore - Robin Sloan

Saw this on a books about books list and thought it seemed interesting enough. Alas, i was a tad disappointed. The writing felt a little amateurish and I just skipped parts of the book, as they just werent that engaging. Overall though, the plot was not beyond redemption, and made for an entertainingly enough read.
Clay Jannon was hired as a clerk at an obscure little bookstore in San Francisco owned by an eccentric Mr Penumbra. The store sees few patrons and the few that came in, Jannon was tasked to record every little detail about them in a logbook. The patrons were like the owner, eccentric, and were part of a book club. Books were checked out and no money was transacted.
Jannon was told never to look at the books borrowed by the patrons but he could not resist one day and peeked. The books were filled with gibberish. Jannon decided one day to model the bookstore in his computer and sequenced the borrowing patterns of the patrons. He found to his surprise that the sequence of the book borrowing, actually led to a portrait of the Founder of obscure bookstores around the world. Penumbra and him then embarked on an adventure to an underground library in New York city to decode the codex vitae, which was believed to resurrect the dead members of the book club.
At the end of the adventure, involving google programmers, the truth was finally revealed. The real message was not found in books but on a letter punch for a popular font Gorritz-whatsitsname.

Ok actually now that I think of it, it's quite a silly read.

The Wine-Lover's Daughter- Anne Fadiman

What do I do to de-stress... write book reviews....

I basically gobbled down the book in hours... I felt drawn by Cliff Fadiman's (the wine-lover) love of wine and am fascinated by how anyone can be so knowledgeable and passionate over a fermented beverage. Cliff Fadiman was a famous host on a radio talkshow (Information Please), critic (of books), judge (book of the month club), editor, writer (Joys of Wine, etc), etc., a multi-hyphenated somebody.

Guess the book was sort of a tribute to him by his daughter. Born to a lower middle class Jewish family, Fadiman was ashamed of his family background and did his utmost best to crawl up the social ladder and denouncing any association with his faith. He was successful in doing so and was educated at Columbia and forged a lifelong career in the world of books (after failing to get a job as an academic), proving his parents wrong (they thought he would never make a single cent with his relentless reading). Although Fadiman was successful and wealthy enough,  he felt inadequate in the social grace department and felt as if he was beneath those who were born into money.

Perhaps as part of his effort to feel and look "cultivated", he threw himself deeply into the world of wines and literature, spending a fortune on his wine collection, journaling down all the wines he had tasted. The wines he loved were mainly the premier crus from the bordeaux region and cost a bomb now.

I admire his zest for life- he never stopped learning and working even when he turned blind in his late 80s but hated the fact that he was a misogynist. It must have been fun though being with an intellect and hearing what he had to offer.

A pity both his son and daughter did not turn out to be wine-lovers. Anne Fadiman at one point thought she might be genetically flawed when she could not for the life of her appreciate the taste of wine like her father. turned out she has a tongue full of papillae, more so than the average "taster", in other words, she was a super-taster and could not tolerate the strong astringent taste of alcohol. One would expect a super-taster to be able to discern and enjoy the complexities in wine more so than the average person, e.g. for me, I never could find >2-3 notes in a wine. I guess it's not so bad to be an average taster afterall.

The ending made me tear a bit, when Fadiman died. Guess I just cant deal with death very well.
Anyway the book made me wanna buy The Joys of Wine

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

An epistolary novel which consists of the main character Celie writing letters to God and later, correspondence between her and her sister, Nettie.
The book was an interesting enough read but probably nothing mind-blowing. Celie was raped by a man she thought was her father, and eventually gave birth to two children whom she gave away. She was forced to marry an older man who was in love with Nettie and so began her life of abuse and unhappiness. Celie never found her self-worth because the men in her life never saw any of her goodness that was hidden by a plain face. Then waltzed Shug Avery, a beautiful singer, and her husband's ex-lover, into her life. In Shug, she finally found her strength and beauty, and left her husband to build a life in Memphis with Shug (after finding out that her husband had hid all the letters from Nettie from her). We saw how Celie was transformed from someone who felt she was not worthy of anyone or anything to someone who was sure of her place in the world. I guess that's how love can change someone, lends strength to someone, help someone realise their self-worth. In a twist of fate, Nettie ended up living as a missionary in Africa with Celie's children, who were adopted by a local pastor. Nettie wrote Celie letters for decades, never giving up even though she had not received a single reply from Celie. At one point, Celie thought Nettie had perished after receiving a telegram that the ship she was travelling had sunk. The family was however, finally reunited at their old family home and when both sisters had greyed. 

This is the first book I had read in months. I guess with no more classes, I will have more time for books. What to read though...

Craving for steak and red wine... but alas I broke the bottle of the newly bought wine.. bummer..
Finished reading Alfred sommer’s ten lessons in PH. Very entertaining and inspiring read. It managed to bring excitement to the dreary epidemiological study and breathe life to data. Oftentimes when faced with a database, we tend to forget that behind each row of numbers, lies a person. Sometimes we detract from what’s really important -betterment of people’s lives and expend too much energy on KPIs- publications and what not. Perhaps we are just too far removed from patients to see the impact of our work (even if we just play a meager role).
Anyway Sommer made research seems like an adventure. He was a nomadic researcher of sorts and travelled and stayed in far flung places (at that time) and seeing first hand how his data transformed the lives of the beneficiaries. I also admire his tenacity in banging on doors and tables till real policy changes/ recommendations are made.

The high mountains of Portugal - Yann Martel

The book contains 3 short stories which are inter-connected; I find this format of writing rather interesting and reminds me of the butterfly effect. Obviously set in Portugal, the first story featured Tomas, a strange man who walked backwards because of his grief over the deaths of his lover and son. At the museum he worked, Tomas chanced upon a journal by a priest- Father Ulisees and was intrigued by a crucifix the priest created in a remote part of Portugal. Tomas was a man angry with God for taking away his son and wanted to find a way to seek revenge-the strange crucifix was the answer. Tomas was bent on locating the crucifix and bringing it back to Lisboa to mock God. Borrowing his rich uncle’s automobile (a strange contraption in that era),Tomas embarked on an arduous journey which became a little absurd and funny, with him getting lice, chased and attacked by horsemen and a village idiot’s mother, the car half gone after an explosion. On the last leg of his journey, Tomas ran over a small boy with fair hair and blue eyes, unusual for this part of the world. He left the boy on the side of the road and drove off.

After not finding the crucifix at several plausible churches, he chanced upon a small church which he had intended to skip and finally found what he was looking for- Jesus depicted as an ape on the crucifix. He was elated at first but then it quickly turned to grief: so what if he had found the crucifix? He was still a man who had lost everything he loved. He ran back to his automobile and cried, “father, I need you!” The priest of the church ran to Tomas and that was the end of the story.

The second story’s central character was a pathologist named Eusebio. In his office one late night, he received a visit from his wife, Maria, who began excitedly telling him of the link between Agatha christie’s Novels and the Bible. I got a little irked when the author got his facts wrong. Maria said none of the 4 canonical gospels ever witnessed Christ and had only written the accounts based on other eye witnesses. However, both John and Matthew were 2 of the 12 chosen apostles! Not sure how he could have gotten this information wrong. Of the three stories, this was the strangest. After Maria left, Eusebio received a visit from an old peasant woman also named Maria. In her suitcase she carried the dead body of her husband- rafael Castro and requested for an autopsy stat. What came out of her husband’s body were strange times like flute, dice, and whatnots, followed by a chimpanzee and a bear cub. The woman later asked to be sewn into her husband’s body together with the chimp and bear. Prior to the autopsy the woman had recounted how their son, given to them in old age, had been killed one day while with her husband for a job. The boy was of fair hair and blue eyes and loved by all. The death of the boy changed everything for the couple, with her husband so ridden by grief and guilt that he started walking backwards (he had seen tomas doing so).  The boy was killed by tomas’ automobile.

The third story although a little strange, was interesting. A Canadian senator, peter was visiting the United States, went to an ape research Centre and found an intense connection with an ape. He adopted the ape and dropped everything in Canada, and moved to the high mountains of Portugal where his parents were originally from. Peter had just lost his wife Clara and this move seemed to be a rash decision to escape grief. However, peter and Odo the ape formed a bond resembling love and were inseparable. As fate would have it, peter later found out that the house he was renting was his ancestral home. In the attic, Odo found a suitcase of strange items- a flute, dice, etc and a note describing the autopsy of Rafael Castro, which he found incredulous- a chimp and a bear in a dead body! Peter and Odo loved taking walks together and on one particular walk, Odo spotted the rare iberican rhinoceros and pointed it out excitedly to Peter. Peter then suffered a cardiac arrest and died due to the strenuous climb. Odo mourned for Peter and returned to the wild. I know I’m not doing the book enough justice. It’s a lovely perhaps obscure read, kinda refreshing.

All the light we cannot see - Anthony Doerr

The title of the book seems almost poetic. The story was set in france during WWII and I absolutely loved the book. It reminded me a tad of the book thief, with one of the central characters resembling to me, Rudy.
Marie-laure was a blind French girl who lived alone with her father in a small apartment in Paris. When france was invaded by Germany, father and daughter escaped to Saint-malo, a small coastal town to seek refuge with Marie-Laure’s eccentric grand-uncle, Etienne. On Marie-laure’s father, was a precious gem called the sea of flames which was entrusted to him by the museum he worked in. The gem was believed to be cursed, offering protection to its holder but misfortunes to those around them. The story moved between Marie-Laure and Werner, an intelligent orphan boy in Germany. Gifted in radio, Werner applied for military school to escape his destiny - a coal miner- something which he would live to regret. Fellow boys in the school were like predators, constantly seeking out the weak and eliminating them. Werner’s best friend ended up with permanent brain damage after a vicious attack in the school. This left Werner even more disillusioned with the military. Soon he was sent into the field to seek enemies through the scanning of radio signals. One operation which he was involved in left a young innocent girl dead.
When Werner neared Saint-malo, he detected strange familiar recordings which he once heard when he was a kid fascinated with science. The recordings were done by etienne and his brother. This eventually led Werner to Marie-Laure. He however kept his finding a secret and saved Marie-Laure when a German soldier who was in pursuit of the sea of flames found Marie-Laure’s residence. Although Werner and Marie-Laure only had a short meeting, he fell in love with her. Things didn’t end beautifully with Werner captured and subsequently died when he stepped on a land mine planted by the Germans. Marie-Laure however lived a long life and went on to become a director at the museum her father worked in Paris.
What did I love about the book? I’m not sure. It’s simple yet moving, juxtaposes the dark and light sides of human nature, love, sufferings, hope, death. It’s chilling how war pushes a normal human being into one who’s capable of killing fellow human beings in cold blood. Can I imagine myself being capable of such acts if the situation calls for it? When someone declares an “enemy”, when there is something precious to defend, do we naturally transform to killing machines? I don’t know.

Call of the wild - jack London

I've been seeing this title and author for sometime and decided to put it on the TR list. Finally got round to it and I enjoyed every single bit of the story of Buck. Born to a comfortable life, Buck was a typical pet dog, going on hunting trips with his young masters and being the king of the house. His life changed completely when in a twist of fate, he was betrayed by the gardener and was sold to the Harsh Northland. The story took place during the gold rush and Buck was sold to become a sled dog. My heart ached a bit when he was beaten to submission by the "trainer" with a club. Buck adapted quickly to the harsh condition of the bitter cold North with his wits, strength, and will. Buck was determined to take over Spitz as the top dog, which threatened spitz and resulted in many a fights. Buck with his intelligence and physical finesse finally won Spitz in a fight and emerged as top dog. The days blended into one another with the sled dogs traveling thousands of miles to transport mails and such. Days were good as the drivers were experienced and treated the dogs with care until one day, the dogs were sold to two inexperienced men (and a woman), who overloaded the sled, covered the miles too slowly, ran out of food, starved the dogs till one by one they died. Buck was only safe when the group landed in John Thornton's camp. Buck refused to leave the camp as he was exhausted and suffered from severe malnutrition, and Morton stepped in to stop the beating from his ignorant and cruel master.
Despite morton's warning not to travel across the precarious icy land in spring, the group ventured on and was swallowed alive into the vast, merciless landscape.

Buck adored the man who saved his life and seemed to be set for a happy-ever-after ending. All was good but Buck constantly saw and felt the past which belonged to his first ancestors. The wild called to him and he often responded to it by venturing alone into the forest for days. However his love for Morton always brought him back to the camp. Such happiness ended when the entire Morton camp was slaughtered by the natives. Buck was furious and similarly attacked and killed the natives, gaining him a reputation of ghost dog. Buck lived his life with wolves and acknowledged his ancestry as a majestic wolf dog and roamed the wild.
I love how jack London injected a touch of  humantiy into Buck and how wonderfully the emotions and thoughts of Buck were portrayed. I love the wit and strength of Buck and how his love for his master knew no boundaries. The story was heart-wrenching in a few places when Buck suffered from mistreatment from his owners and when Buck lost morton.
Fantastic piece of writing.

The strange library - haruki murakami

started reading Toni morrison's beloved but after reading a few chapters, I got bored and confused. Thank god this is not the first Morrison book that I read otherwise I would have excluded it from my reading repertoire.
Went on to read the strange library... it's more of a children's book albeit a dark one than adult fiction- a little puzzled why it was shelved under adult fiction in the library.
It was quite an interesting 15-min read-that's how short the book is. The story revolved around a boy of 11 who went to his neighborhood's library asking for books on tax collection in the Ottoman Empire. What he received was a nightmare. The mysterious old librarian gave him three books and insisted that he went to the reading room to read those books, as those books were not meant to be checked out. Being an obliging boy who couldn't say no, he agreed to follow the old man to the reading room which was in a maze of sorts. Alas, he was tricked and was imprisoned by the old man. The condition for his release? Memorization of all the three books in a month's time.
Together with the old man's "slave", the sheep-man, they planned their escape, as the boy realized the horrific reason behind his imprisonment- his brain. The old man had an appetite for brains that were made more delicious by memorization.
They made their prison break after a harrowing experience through the maze and a full frontal confrontation with the old man. The boy returned to his home, finding his mother nonchalant about his disappearance. It was like nothing ever happened except that his shoes and dog were missing- both victims of the old man's antics.

Moving on to jack london's call of the wild. It's kinda sad now that I can only start reading in the wee hours since there just isn't much time left after dealing with the many demands of life. 😂 I should really be sleeping....

Toni Morrison - Home

finished the book in one seating right after loaning it from the library. Morrison is a very visual kind of writer; the imageries that she created with her writing are sometimes shocking and vivid. I quite enjoyed her style. The novel Home is a relatively short one which revolved around the lives of a frank Money and his sister Cee. Frank and Cee came from an impoverished family in a rural town, Lotus, and grew up under the care of their evil step-grandma, Lenore and bummish grandfather Salem. Cee was despised by Lenore as she was borne on the streets and was regarded as a jinx but Cee was loved and protected by Frank. However when frank left to enlist in the army, Cee was left to her own devices and made the mistake of marrying Prince whom dumped her after leaving with Lenore's car to the city.
On another side of the world, frank suffered from PTSD after the war and took to drinking. Apart from Losing his two best friends from home, frank had a dark secret which he eventually revealed near the end of the book. Frank was on the way to self-destruction until he received a letter saying that his sister was dying and needed his rescue.
Cee had been working as a nurse for a nice doctor who eventually turned out to be Frankenstein of sort, drugging her and conducting experiments on her. Cee was on the brink of death until Frank appeared and both of them returned to the home they had abhorred in their youth. In lotus, the community spirit and love nursed Cee back to life. The ending was beautiful... the sense of losing something, finding it, and that peace of returning home.

Maya - jostein gaarder

i read the book halfway more than a decade ago. Decided to give it a try again. This is probably my least favorite among Gaarder's books.
The story revolved around John Spooke, an English writer, frank, a Norwegian biologist and his estranged wife, Vera, Ana Maria Maya, the title character and her husband, Jose. The plot unfolded on a relatively unknown Fijian island- Taveuni. Frank was taken by the Spanish couple when he overheard their conversation of philosophical quotes that mirrored his own thoughts. Frank and John both found Ana familiar but could not recall where they might have met her. John later managed to associate her face with that of a painting by Goya, which left him baffled. How could someone from the past paint someone from the future?
As with Gaarder's past novels, the core/purpose of the book is to toss philosophical questions to its readers. However, I don't find this book as "philosophical" and more, outlandish. Nearing the end of the book, a dwarf who could time travel was introduced and it was suggested that this dwarf took pictures of Ana and time travelled with the pics which were later found by Goya. I got a bit lost at the end. Was this section part of the fictitious work of John Spooke? There was an alternate ending in the last chapter.
Some of the questions the characters dappled with in the book were the purpose of life, eternal life, shared consciousness, etc  As a evolutionary biologist, frank thought that there could not have been an intention to creation/evolution and that living things were a result of accidents. However in the later part of the book when the characters were discussing above the universe, Frank said it would be a terrible waste of space if there was only life on earth. He knew then by stating this sentiment, it implied that there is a creator of the universe and a purpose behind the creation. Some suggested that the purpose of human being's existence was for the universe to experience itself through the human's consciousness.
Frank also had a fear of death. Both Vera and he talked about having an elixir of life and finding someone to share it with. There was also a sub story of a woman possessing this elixir but never finding anyone to give the other half to because she had the benefit of time and too many choices. It's a pretty frightening thought though, to live forever and to have the discernment to share it with the right person. Otherwise, the mistake lives with you forever.
Forever..... I'm not sure at this point in time if I like the idea of eternity, which is kinda funny coming from a Christian. Why are people obsessed with eternal life? I mean I do like the idea of having all the time in the world to do whatever I want, with no fear of time running out or that I would be too decrepit to do something. But eternity is so intense and immense, that it frightens me at the same time. What do you do if you can live forever? I just can't imagine a life like that.
I think the book also touched on reality- how do we know where we are now is real? But honestly can't remember much about this part except for a joker and elves. Only the joker was awaken from his dream and was aware of reality. The elves just continued living in their fantasy worlds.
I recently watched shutter island and it did blow me away. We could create our own realities and we would never know which are real and which are not. Another unrelated thing was what the fictitious Rachel said," once you are declared insane by someone, everything else that u say or do is part of that insanity." It gives me the shudders to think how true that statement is.

Gentlemen and players- Joanne Harris

The book felt more YA and a departure from her usual "Chocolat" style. I can't say it's a bad read but I did feel a little disappointed as the plot was a tad cliche. The book had two narrators- a psychopathic killer bent on revenge and a Classics lecturer due for retirement. I got a little confused in the first few chapters, not realizing that they were alternating between two characters. Julian Pinchbeck lived on the campus of St Oswald's grammar school for boys as his father was a caretaker. St oswalds was your usual stuffy, exclusive school for the upper class. Pinchbeck knew he would never get the chance to be a part of the St oswalds society but yearned to be there. He began pretending to be a student there and met Leon, the rebel. Together they were like Sundance and Butch, setting things ablaze in their trail. But all good things came to an end, when Leon fell in love with a girl one summer and Pinchbeck soon realized he was in love with Leon but obviously didn't stand a chance with him. A dare and a fight on the roof of st oswalds building left Leon dead and pinchbrck's father being accused of his death. Pinchbeck's father committed suicide thereafter. Pinchbeck blamed St Oswalds for the death of his best friend and father. He blamed the school for wanting to protect their reputation at all cost. He blamed the school for their traditions and exclusivity, that had him always looking in from the outside and never belonging.
Pinchbeck schemed to return to st oswalds as a teacher with the mission to bring down the school. One by one the school's teachers and masters were implicated in scandals and crimes...leading to the death of an innocent student. Pinchbeck's lust for revenge was finally curbed by the second narrator  mr Roy straitley, who loved cussing in Latin. Straitley finally "saw" Pinchbeck for who he was in the final chapter of the book. The readers realized then that the real reason for Pinchbeck's return to st oswalds was to be seen because he had been a "ghost" in st oswalds in his youth; wandering on the school grounds and never recognized. It was also then that we knew pinchbeck was actually Julia not Julian. That was the only element of surprise in the book.

3/5

A writer's diary- Virginia Woolf

I enjoyed Virginia Woolf's prose a lot; she had a flair for creating sentences that fill you with amazement at its creativity and beauty. The book is as the title exemplifies, all about her struggles with writing, books she read, her association with other writers, etc. it gives the impression that writing is her life, the sole purpose of her living. She was just so preoccupied with it- writing in her diary, drafting her novels, writing book reviews... she wrote of her anxieties over others' opinions of her novels- she cared too much whether others like it but eventually she managed to convince herself that what others thought were ic no significance to her.
I didn't manage to finish the book, had to return it to the library. I must admit after reading half the book it did get a little boring.
What I admired about Woolf is that she was constantly honing her craft and also had this deep interest in reading- oftentimes planing her reading list, ensuring to vary it and including Greek and French into her reading.

Sense and sensibility - Jane Austen

Didn't like the book although it was quite refreshing to read something different from the usual. The prose I am not sure, felt a little stiff and awkward. The plot felt frivolous. Nobody in the book seemed to have a real job. All everyone did was to hold dinner parties, play card games, getting engaged.... Elinor Dashwood and her younger sister, Marianne Dashwood were the main characters of the book. Elinor was the more sensible, rational, and austere one, while Marianne was the prettier and spoilt one. Marianne met Willoughby when she and Elinor were racing home and she fell- cue Willoughby to the rescue. Willoughby and Marianne soon grew close and Marianne thought that he was going to propose to her for sure. However, Willoughby went unheard from and subsequently Marianne came to know he had gotten engaged and was to marry soon. The reason he turned his back on her was that he needed money and hence, had chosen to marry a wealthier woman. Marianne had another quiet suitor in Colonel Brandon, a much older man who was less exciting that Willoughby. Marianne grew ill and Elinor kept watch by her side while she too was nursing a broken heart. She and Edward Ferrars were too meant to be engaged but she later learnt that Edward was already engaged to a dull and uneducated women- Lucy Steele. In a twist of fate and after some misunderstandings, she finally learnt that Lucy Steele had married Edward's brother instead. She was elated. All's well that ends well- Marianne married colonel brandon and Elinor married Edward ferrars.

I wonder what's the charm in this book? Why is it even popular? Really strange.

Battle hymn of the tiger mother- Amy Chua

Quite enjoyed the book although I found the tiger mom extremely ridiculous and perhaps bordering on insanity. The book's main focus strangely was on music lessons and not eg schoolwork, grades, etc. she did say though getting an A- was unacceptable and taking part in eg school plays is a waste of time. Her children were not allowed to learn any other instruments except for the piano and violin. I am not sure why this is so... neither do I understand why excelling in music was her topmost priority for her kids. To me music is a hobby, something that's meant to be enjoyed. However, for the tiger mom music was a source of pride and ego. Making her kids practice 6 hours a day is just insane. It's funny though how Sophia, the elder daughter could tolerate such harsh drills and still enjoyed the instrument. For her younger daughter, lulu, however, things turned awry. The hatred that was building inside her came to blows while on a family holiday in Russia- Lulu threw a glass and screamed at Amy Chua in a cafe- a totally brattish behavior that Amy Chua thought would never happen in her children. It was striking when Lulu told Chua one day not to ruin tennis for her the way she ruined violin.
Lulu had loved the violin and was enormously talented at the instrument-auditioning at Julliard and obtaining concertmaster status at a young age. Unfortunately the hours of practice she had to put in finally made her give up playing the violin. What a pity...

After reading the book, it was hard not to think that her daughters would turn out to be socially awkward weirdos but thankfully it was not so. Whether they are successful individuals or not, I can't say as success is truly subjective. What defines success? Bring on top of the social ladder? Being in an Ivy League school? Being kind? Being happy? Being rich? Being popular? Being Famous?

Wind-up bird chronicles- Haruki Murakami

Decided to read this book after seeing it on a 100 must-read books list. I can't really decide if I liked the book. It was interesting enough to keep the reader flipping page after page- the plot was uncommon and so offered a fair bit of surprise. The story opened with an ordinary Japanese couple - Okada and Kumiko, who led a pretty much routinuous life with Okada being the house husband after losing his job. Things started getting strange when their cat disappeared and Kumiko hired a psychic of sort to find the cat. Instead of finding the cat, Okada ended up losing his wife. Kumiko vanished one fine day and Okada only knew the reason why after receiving a letter from Kumiko stating that she had been having an affair and wanted a divorce. Okada was however, determined to find Kumiko. The psychic,  Malta reappeared in his life, this time, bringing her sister , Creta along. Creta had the ability to enter Okada's dreams and the line between reality and dreams began to blur. Creta eventually revealed to Okada that she had been defiled by his brother-in-law, Wataya, whom Okada abhorred. Central to the story was a cursed house in Okada's neighborhood- past occupants had all committed auicide. Okada was however drawn to the house and its well, which had laid dry for years. Okada decided to shut himself off from the outside world by entering the well and it was in the well where he received a burning "mark" on his face. The mark it seemed gave him the power to heal emotional troubles of middle-aged women. The twist and turn of the story ended with Kumiko killing her own brother for revenge as she knew that Noboru had caused the death of her sister by similarly defiling her.
The book borders on the occult and it felt just surreal reading it but it's probably not my cup of tea. I may however try to read Norwegian wood before giving a final verdict of the author.

Seven years in Tibet- Heinrich Harrer

Couldn't escape the snare of this book that I had to disrupt Long Walk to Freedom (sorry Nelson!) for it.
really enjoyed the book, especially at the beginning, when Harrer broke out of POW camp and started on his journey to Tibet from India. I remembered feeling my heart racing when he and Aufschnaiter(my god, the name!) ran into the Kampas (ruthless bandits of Tibet) and thankfully, outwitted them unharmed. Without a permit, Aufschnaiter and Harrer often had to travel in ungodly hours to avoid attention  and lie through their teeth to get from one city to another- their ultimate destination was Lhasa. I was truly amazed at how they could survive trekking through merciless terrain and weather, and at high altitude without proper equipment and clothing and with minimal food. When they got to Lhasa, the story fell into a lull, without much excitement but it was still entertaining enough to keep me going. Harrer eventually became a mentor to the young and curious Dalai lama who was eager to know more about the world outside of Tibet. After reading the book, I searched for the award winning movie and was duly disappointed. I didn't finish the film.
4/5

Left for dead - beck weathers

Got this book in the airport of Pokhara for usd4! Can't really beat the price of books in Nepal. 

I can't seem to decide if I like this book. It feels like a trashy tabloid at times and yet, it was relatively interesting enough to keep me reading (tho' some parts just felt like a couple whining about each other). The survival of Beck Weathers was an unexplainable miracle and I was quite captivated by that story. Both Yatsuko (a Japanese woman who was on her 7th summit) and Weathers were stranded overnight on Everest and exposed to a freak storm. Yatsuko didn't survive and it looked as if weathers wasn't going to as well, which explained the title of the book. However, Weathers suddenly awoke from his "coma" after "seeing" his family and despite suffering severe frostbite to his face and hands and being blind, he managed to make his way back to the camp. I enjoyed the part when Madan the pilot, wanting to test whether he possessed the heart of a warrior, agreed to go on the risky Med evac of weathers. It amazes me how someone would risk their own life for a total stranger. 

The exciting bits of the book were obviously the summiting of Everest and the rescue. The darker bits were when he talked about the "black dog" in his life, which drove him to his mountaineering madness. I guess subconsciously, Weathers did wish for death, thereby risking his life for that adrenaline rush and giving up his family in the midst. He himself mentioned that at one point in his life, he was seriously considering ending it all. A psychiatrist later confirmed the same and advised his wife to surrender all the guns in their home. I guess a lot of times when we are trying to escape that hollowness we feel in our lives, we busy ourselves with a million other distractions to deny that we have a problem. This is especially true I think, when we ourselves are convinced that with such a blessed life, we are not entitled to be depressed or to have that feeling of emptiness. We all have to face our demons some day although sometimes we may be too late. In the case of Weathers, it took a near-death experience for him to recognize his problems and to learn what were the truly important things in life-love. In a way he was lucky. Some people lose their lives before they could ever learn such truths. I guess the book deserves a 3/5 rating.  

Hundred foot journey- Richard morais

Very lovely read. Watched the movie first and I loved it; the book is equally good although a tad different from the movie.

The book is practically all about food. The Hajis ran a successful restaurant in India before it got burnt down during a mob attack, killing Hassan Haji's mother in the process. Grief-stricken, the entire family moved to London, where they continued to mourn their loss. When Hassan was discovered to have a "thing" going on with his cousin, the family yet again, was on the move. They drove through Europe till the car broke down in Lumiere, a small countryside, in France. There they settled down opposite a 2-Michelin star restaurant ran by a sharp and snobbish woman - Gertrude Mallory. Mallory displayed a sense of xenophobia towards the Hajis, especially when they decided to convert their mansion into an Indian restaurant. The garish decor and loud Hindi music did not sit well with the refined taste of the French lady. To check out her competition, Mallory decided to eat at the Hajis' restaurant and upon that first bite into Hassan's fish curry, okra, crispy liver dish, she knew instantly that Hassan was a bornt chef. Fearful that the restaurant would be a threat, Mallory began plotting to have the restaurant shut down. During one confrontation with Hassan's father (Abhas), a shove from Mallory caused Hassan to suffer burns at the stove. Mallory began to seek forgiveness from the family and begged Abhas to let Hassan be her apprentice. She succeeded after a hunger strike. For the next two decades, Hassan became a rising star in the culinary world and finally set up his own restaurant in Paris, where he went on to clinch the prestigious and rare 3-Michelin star status. 

What enticed me most about this book is the way the author described the food and wine so, I don't know, knowledgeably. I loved the part where he named the features of all the different oysters, with the best being (lurida) from Puget sound in America, much to the annoyance of Mallory who believed the best oysters were from Britanny. 

In Paris, Hassan befriended Paul Verdun, a top chef, who worked diligently to preserve the classic French cuisine, when molecular dining was all the rage. Verdun later committed suicide as he was in debt and his restaurant was flailing. Hassan fell into depression as he could see his future in Verdun's. Something then snapped in him and he decided to do away with all the fanciful and elaborate cooking style and to return to the true essence of the ingredients used in his dishes. This idea was what eventually won him his 3rd star. 

It's not a very "mind-blowing" story but I liked that it's simple, detailed and well-researched. Would give it a 4/5 rating. 

Up in the Air - Walter Kirn

Didn't really like the book but finished it nonetheless, albeit skipping bits and parts of it. 

I am not even sure where the author was going with this book. The protagonist was a Ryan Bingham, gunning for his million frequent flyer miles with Great West. He had created a world he termed Airworld, spending most of his life in the air, in airports' lounges, and at Homestead- his choice of hotel. Quite a strange and unlikely character, who I guess, couldn't commit to a person, not a place. Bingham worked as a career transition counsellor and he was one of the best. A CTC basically helped companies fire/retrench their employees, to shield employers from being the bad guys and for employees to leave as if they were being offered new careers/opportunities. Bingham had a troubled sister (Julie) who ran away from her soon-to-be held wedding, an extremely responsible sister (Kara) who tried  to hold everything together, a dad who was dead, and a mom who was what, I couldn't remember. 

Bingham was hoping to get a job at a mysterious firm called MythTech and grew paranoid, thinking he was being stalked, either by Great West or MythTech. MythTech at the end of the story, turned out to be pretty much a sham, Great West too seemed to be on the brink of closing down. 

The finale: Bingham got his million miles and that was when he revealed that he might have some neurological dysfunction/ brain tumor, with frequent seizures and memory loss. The story ended just like that. 

Didn't catch the point of book...

1/5 rating 

Elie Wiesel - night trilogy

Earnestly looking for this book and finally got it from the library. To be honest, I was a tad disappointed since the book had received rave reviews. Although it was a trilogy, I read only the "night" as it was a true account of what Wiesel went through during WWII. The other two parts of the book were novels written by Wiesel and I guess I didn't have much interest in that at the moment. 

After reading several accounts of WWII, I felt Wiesel's story lacked "substance" and it just gave the feeling that it was run of the mill book. Of course I am not discounting the horrors he went through, watching his father die and being separated from his family. The one thing I liked about this book was its raw honesty when Wiesel recounted how he had felt a sense of relief when his father died as this meant that he no longer had to take care of him or share his resources with his father.