Still Missing- Chevy Stevens

If there is a razzies award for books, this book should definitely be on the list. The plot is old, the writing is dry, and it doesn't engage the reader in any way nor does it seem too convincing a story.

Annie Sullivan was a successful realtor who was abducted by a Freak( as she calls him), who kept her locked up in a cabin as his make-believe wife. Anne Sullivan subsequently bore a child with the freak, only to have him smothered the baby to death. After her baby died, she finally plucked up the courage to put an axe through the freak's head. There werent too many suspects in the story to keep you from guessing who the mastermind was. Zero points for intrigue.

The writing was also pretty messy. The author jumped from one past event to the future and then to the present. Anne Sullivan was also constantly relating the entire story to a shrink ( the reader, if you will) but the dialogue seemed too contrite and unrealistic.

It makes me wonder how the book got published. Stroke of luck maybe?

A Homemade Life-Molly Wizenberg

This book reminds me of Julie Powell's Julie and Julia; both authors started out as blog writers with a passion for food. However, this book comes with a bonus!! Tons of recipes!! One of the better books I've read. Each recipe comes with a funny, sad, or heartwarming anecdote. I love reading the cute stories of wizenberg's quirky father- Burg. And the way the author met her future husband, brandon,through her blog, was pretty romantic. The book is honest and funny and feels like warm soup on a cold day!! A recommended read for food lovers, with or without a passion for cooking.

Missing

Have I lost it?
The tinkling in the toes
The tinkering of the heart
The twinkling of the eyes 
The ever changing tide
Washing ashore all my sorrows
But The darkness of yesterdays
Remained,
Never going out to sea.
The manic wind
Blew away all hopes
And still the dark sand beneath my feet,
Remained.
I'm half a person
Coz you have never arrived 
On the shore
Which I stood waiting
The soft whining of my heart
Begs to be still
And Still I wait
For that little hope
Called You. 

Those black diamonds in the sky,
That you once said you loved,
Disappeared like ninjas in the night. 
I could never find them
Just like I could never find you.
We are all lost souls
In the wilderness of life
Always searching
For that missing You. 

Custody-Manju Kapur

Manju Kapur is one of the female Indian writers that I liked. She has the flair to immense the readers in the Indian culture and makes me feel intrigued by such a culture. And sometimes, it is quite beyond me that some traditions stay on, despite influences and exposure to the West. Custody discusses marriage, affairs, divorces, and the implications of divorces on custody of children. I find that divorces that involve children are extremely sticky. It is difficult to find a way to dissolve the marriage without hurting the children.

Raman and Shagun are your typical couple, married with two kids. Everything seems fine. Raman's career was going well and he had a gorgeous wife who looked like a star. Until one day, Ashok, an Indian man with Western ideas, came into the picture as Raman's boss. He took a liking to Shagun and began pursuing her, despite knowing that she was his subordinate's wife. And thus began Shagun and Ashok's affairs, which ended in Shagun pressing Raman for a divorce. Arjun, a beautiful boy, who was already a teenager at the time of the divorce, pledged loyalty to his mother, leaving Raman heartbroken. Raman later met a divorcee, Ishita, who was infertile and was grateful for Roohi, Raman's daughter. She began taking care of Roohi and saw Roohi as the daughter she could never have. The venomous Shagun began fighting for access to both children, even though she was the one who had abandoned them for Ashok for a new life in New York. The story ended with Roohi going to Raman and Arjun going to Shagun. Can't really say whether this is a happy or sad ending. Parents get separated, so do children. It is rather sad in that children do not usually have access or control over what happens. Sometimes they do not have much of a choice and it is distressing for a child to have to make a choice between parents.

Manju Kapur created Shagun to be a beautiful but frivolous, materialistic,and selfish woman, who only seemed to care about her own happiness. She makes it so easy to hate this character. Yet on second thoughts, was she wrong to pursue the love of her life. She married Raman when she was very young, and as with most Indian marriages, it was an arranged one. It wasn't really a "love" union and she realised what she had been missing out, after being with Ashok. But no matter what, it still seems hard to like a character who could abandon her children for a man. 

Katharine McMahon- The Alchemist's Daughter

This book certainly isn't on my favorites list. The book was set in the 1800s but there was just something that was discordant with the book's characters and the era. I found Emilie Selden too modern and her language seemed more of our decade than that of 200 years ago. Anyhow, it was quite a well-written book. Emilie Selden was as explicitly stated in the title, the Alchemist's daughter. Her father, John Selden, was a student of Isaac Newton, and tried to raise his daughter to be a scientist and philosopher like himself. This was probably quite unheard of, in that era. John Selden kept his daughter in isolation, in an old house, with two servants. His plan of raising Emilie to be a true blue alchemist, was thwarted by the appearance of two men, one of whom, Emilie later married. Emilie was banished to London when she was pregnant with the child of Alsabie, the charming and philandering merchant. The child was later lost and Emilie began to regret abandoning her father and her scientist life.
The character of Emilie Selden was loosely based on that of the French female scientist, Emilie du Chatelet.

Richard Paul Evans- The Christmas List

James Kier was a real estate mogul, who one day, woke up to find himself in the obituary. The obituary was a revelation to how little love he had in his world. The only person who truly loved and cared for him was his ex-wife, whom he had abandoned for a younger materialistic woman. As he realised how much damage he had done to his life, he tried to make amends to the people he should have cared about. The plot isnt something original or new but I guess, it serves as a reminder to how we should live our lives, and a reminder of  the important things we should really care about.

Daniel Mason- The Piano Tuner

Quite a fascinating historical book, set in the 1800s, in the jungles of Burma and England. The story revolved around a French-made piano- the Erard and a piano tuner Edgar Drake. Edgar Drake was, unwittingly dragged into the politics of war when he was sent an unusual request by the British War Office to repair and tune the piano of a mysterious doctor- Anthony Carroll. How the piano had managed to cross the terrains between England and Burma, was a mystery in itself. More mysterious was what use Dr Anthony Carroll had for a piano in the jungles of Burma. It seemed as if Dr Anthony Carroll wanted to use music to make peace with the people of Burma but as Edgar found out too late, there was more than meets the eye. All that had seemed innocent, such as the strange sheet music sent by Dr Carroll, became evidence for treason, which Edgar was being accused of.
This was a strange and unusual story with a lot of hardwork put into researching the history of the wars between the British and Burmese. Not exactly what I could call leisure reading but definitely intriguing enough to capture the readers' minds.