Cocktails for Three

There is one genre of books that I haven't mentioned here before. The light reads that you use to interface between strings of serious or attention seeking books, the equivalent of watching a gen pastime movie, Chick-Lit.

I discovered Sophie Kinsella (pseudonym of Madeleine Wickham), Mariam Keyes and (as an afterhtought) Susan Lewis sometime last year. At around the same time I read some of the same genre by Indian writers, 'Almost Single' by Advaita Kala, 'The Village Bride of beverly Hills' by Kavita Daswami. I like the ones by Kinsella and the one ('The Other Side of the Story') by Keyes much better than the Indian ones - maybe cos I dont mind western stereotypes. Also read 'The Choice' by Nicholas Sparks sometime back. It cant be classified strictly as Chick-Lit, maybe a separate post would do it justice.



Read 'Cocktails for Three' by Madeleine Wickam a couple of months back. Though Wickham (as Kinsella) is famous for the Shopaholic series, I've read only the ones out of the series (Can you Keep a Secret?, Remember Me?, The Undomestic Goddess) and enjoyed them.

'Cocktails for Three' was my first of the Wickham ones, the ones she wrote much earlier. And the writing showed it. The story is about Maggie, Roxanne and Candice three successful women who meet on the first of every month at a bar to bond over some cocktails. The story covers crucial, testing phases in each of their lives - pregnancy, love, ghosts from the past...Chatty, funny and a nice read but it comes nowhere near the three Kinsellas that I've read.

Well here's to Chick-Lit, may they rarely be read and when read prove to be very comforting!

Collected Stories, Shashi Deshpande

Volume 1 is a collection of 24 short stories that Shashi Deshpande wrote for different magazines at the beginning of her writing career. Simple stories of common people, everyday occurrences that explore relationships, multi-layered emotions all beautifully penned. Deshpande's tales portray all classes in the society, some full of nostalgia, all celebrating the resilience of the girl child. Though written decades back, her stories are very much contemporary.

Franny And Zooey

By J.D. Salinger. Pages : 202

I just finished reading this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was apprehensive about reading a book by Salinger. The only other I've read is 'Catcher In The Rye' and though I had liked it I wasn't looking for a similar read. This book is much better, all the more for the main characters and the all around picture it painted.

Franny and Zooey are the youngest of the seven Glass children all of whom were child geniuses, are well versed in literature, religious texts, philosophy. There are two parts to this book, the first titled Franny is a short read that plays a great role of introducing the character.

The second part Zooey is about what follows the weekend (part one) after Franny has a breakdown of sorts. When Franny gets home completely overwhelmed with ways of the world, disillusioned about her college education, Zooey elder than her by five years talks to her among other things about shooting for some kind of perfection on one's own terms and not anyone else's. He tells her that one has no right to think in the real sense about why others are the way they are - a boyfriend who is 'campusy', professors who have no real enthusiasm for their subjects, audiences that are not appreciative in the right way of her skills and so on. He wakes her out of indulging in spirituality without really understanding it, just as an escape from her duties.

What each reader gets out of this book would be very different, I'd highly recommend giving this book a try.

"Because it's there"

Archer's latest book must have found its way to the best-sellers list in India thanks to the popularity of his earliest works and more so for it's presence in the media. Thanks to numerous articles covering the book launches at Landmark and those stressing the Indian presence in the novel, one couldn't have missed the information that Paths of Glory is inspired by the true story of mountaineer George Mallory.

I found the book a hard read at the start. The pieces of Mallory's childhood, growing up years were badly written. Maybe the intention was to provide a small biography of sorts, but the result was terrible. I had to struggle through the first few chapters, with only the wondering about the prologue to push me on. Proved to be worth the effort though. Not having known about Mallory and how the expeditions went, I enjoyed the latter half of the book. Enjoyed it so much that I finished it in one sitting. I'd like to set aside all evidences gathered since 1924 and think that reality was just as what Archer paints it for us in his book.

I don't have more to say about the book except that I'm glad I read it, I particularly liked the few descriptions of India (very few, so much for the Indian presence!) in the 1920's under British rule, the contrast with those of England at the same time!

I'm still reading about what 'really' might or might not have happened, thoughts about ambition, history, progress running about in my head.

Why read a book, why write about it, why struggle with life's hurdles .. "why bother with climbing mountains"..in the words of Mallory, "because it's there."

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
-Thomas Gray

That all paths lead but to the same end only frees you to make a journey of choice and battle on till you can. And extraordinary people like Mallory remain long after their 'inevitable hour' just for that choice they made.

Gently Falls the Bakula

By Sudha Murthy (pages 169)

Bakula is the name of a flower whose fragrance lingers long after the flower wilts. Friendship between Shrimati and Shrikant grows into love under the Bakula tree. And like the flower, it lingers through the years though Shrikant becomes so involved in his career that he is indifferent to his marriage. Shrimati sacrifices her desire, aim to study further on History when she gets married to Shrikant. She remains stifled all through their life together. The ancestral rivalry between their families, Shrikant’s family’s ill will also takes more than a fair hold on their lives. 

But how long will a lone thrush sing its sweetest song when its mate isn’t about? How long until the withered Bakula falls?  

Written in a very simple style, trademark of Sudha Murthy, this book makes you wonder… whether temporary setbacks can often morph into habits, whether one’s love is the other’s vanity.. 

A tale originally written in Kannada in the 1980s, very much relevant in today’s IT enveloped world.