Ash Talks Books

  There are well-travelled people, and then there is Sudha Mahalingam, who is in a league of her own by travelling to 66 countries! Her book ‘The Travel Gods Must be Crazy: Wacky encounters in exotic lands” clearly had to be written because here’s a woman with so many stories and anecdotes to share with the world that they must have come bursting out of her. The title of the book seems to have been derived from one of my favourite movies from my childhood ‘The Gods must be crazy,” which was a hit in the eighties. And after reading the book, you will be quite convinced that the title is suitable. She is clearly a traveller, not a tourist. Each chapter in the book describes a different trip that she has undertaken at some point in her life. Each chapter is independent and the book is a collection of these travel tales (not for the faint-hearted, I might add). She lands up in the Czech Republic without a valid visa and was caught without yellow-fever vaccination in Na...

I must say I loved this book from the very beginning. I liked the sparse writing style and how the author minimizes the use of quoted speech. I cared about the characters and wanted to know what would happen to them. Marianne shows us how an intelligent girl can go down a strange path due to family problems, which by the way, remains a shadowy backstory. Only her troubled relationship with her brother and mom is outlined. The relationship she had with her dad is up for conjecture, but the reader understands it was rather abnormal.  Some readers might be put off by the kinky sex scenes in the book, but I looked upon it as a part of the story of a troubled character with self-esteem issues. It also highlights the lengths to which a person would go for love. Even as Marianne degrades herself in her own eyes, the reader doesn't judge her but only wants her to redeem herself and do better. Connor comes across as a decent human being after he finds himself. On the whole,...

This was the book of the month in one of the book clubs I belong to. Although slow in the beginning, it picked up pace after about 25% of the book was over. There was tension in the story, so as a reader I wanted to know what happened next although I could not connect to the characters very well. I found the minor character Frederick interesting and somewhat of a true leader. The part about the cursed gem 'The Sea of Flames' was interesting. The 'love story' between Verner and Marie Laure seemed very one-sided ( from his side only). The book highlights how war changes the lives of everyone caught in its grip and how powerless they are over their own fate

I’ve loved books since I was a child. I vaguely recall the 'Ladybird' series of books that I read as a child, but the first novel I remember reading was ‘The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage’ by Enid Blyton that my mom brought home for me to read from the library when I was in Class 4. I then finished the children’s books section in library after library in my neighbourhood. Reading has served me well since I now work as an editor. Reading was what filled my hours as a child and kept loneliness at bay. Reading is what helped me find myself at age 40 when I got back to the habit after several years of reading sporadically. I now average about 25 books a year that I track on Goodreads .  I’ve had the opportunity to interact with quite a few authors online and offline. My cause for the Blogchatter #BloggingWithAPurpose campaign is "promoting authors." There is a popular joke in the publishing industry these days that there are more authors than readers. Authors a...

‘The Gurukul Chronicles’ by Smara (Radhika Meghanathan) tells the story of three boys and how their lives intersect— Eklavya of the Nishada hunter tribes, who dreamed of joining the Gurukul meant for Kshatriya princes; Karna or Radheya, he of divine birth who was adopted by a charioteer and who valued truth above all else; and Ashwatthama, a Rishi’s son. All three of them have often been told that they are special but feel isolated; all three of them feel like misfits. All three of them encounter a magical being in the forest at various points in time that reveals their destiny to them. All three of them want more from life than what they are entitled to. The book briefly touches upon the caste system and how the “high born” were privy to advantages that the lower castes were not. The issue of favouritism— of how some teachers are partial to some students— is also touched upon. The boys’ relationship with their gurus, how it changes them and leads to the part t...

I had bought ‘Born a crime’ on Flipkart during one of the sales. Instead of sending me the unabridged version I’d ordered, Flipkart sent me the ‘Adapted for Young Readers’ version. I didn’t want to get into the hassle of returning the book, so I kept it. I’ve seen Trevor Noah a bit as the host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central. Little did I know that he had such a tough childhood. The good thing about this book is that Trevor describes incidents from his past with a sense of humour. He seemed to have been a hyperactive child up to all sorts of mischief by his own admission. But when we find out that his very birth was a crime due to the Immorality Act of 1950, which prohibited romantic relationships between black and white people, it really makes you think. Trevor Noah describes his childhood and schooling and how race was something that was a constant determinant of life in Africa. We find out at the beginning of the book why his mom pushes him out of a moving c...

Debleena Majumdar's recent  # book  ‘A Marketplace for Murder’ by Vishwakarma Publications  is a short, taut read. It’s only 165 pages. In the story, Leena is a mother, wife, business reporter and friend. Two people in her life go missing: her cook Hiren and her friend, Abhimanyu. Both of them have one thing in common. Leena seems to be at the epicentre of a cyclone that’s going to sweep her carefully constructed life awash. What’s really going on at Loans 123? Is there more to the company than what meets the eye? What has Leena’s husband Mahesh, who is an archaeologist, stumbled upon? How do all these pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit in together? Play sleuth and try to figure it out on your own. The author is a storyteller par excellence who weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense and murder. Right from the first chilling page to the last, the reader is hooked. In her acknowledgements, Debleena Majumdar mentions the Queen of Crime Agatha Christie, ...