Some from the recent past

Some random thoughts about some reads over the last few months. Better unedited thoughts than nothing...
Madhulika Liddle’s The Englishman’s Cameo was also a book that I picked having read something good about it on a blog. It’s a murder mystery set in Delhi of the Mughal era, Shahjahan’s time to be precise. What I enjoyed was the lucid writing, the writing style fit the era. But somehow it wasn’t a page turner - maybe it was because of the language and the plot, a detective story set in an era where it can unfold with only the aid of the protagonist's keen observation - I just can’t put my finger on it now. But I remember being quite glad when I turned the last page over. The ending itself was quite disappointing, very rushed up - in contrast to the tone of the book. Muzaffur Jung, however, is an impressive creation.


The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri was a wedding gift. I wish I had jotted down what I felt when I read it because it would probably sound like I was on a high. An effortless read, a page-turner, an honest tale with characters well etched out. Every line breathes life. 

Invisible Lives was a light read thrown in between at the suggestion of the librarian. I'd call it chick-lit, but not a very good one at that. It's probably one of the better written ones in the Indian writing category, but that wasn't what I was looking for. 

Sister of My Heart by Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni was another wonderful read. Divakaruni is probably the only author whose works I will pick up without hesitation. Narrated alternately by two 'sisters' it takes one through their lives from the time they are born, through to their adulthood. Anju and Sudha's narration and perspectives of what they see around them is what adds life to the tale. 

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino is or was supposedly the rage in Japan when it came out. It's easy to see why. A must read for anyone who enjoys a tale, genre no bar. A fast paced page-turner this is a book full of surprises till the very last word. This is a lot given that the crime is perpetrated a few pages into the book with all details laid to bare for the reader.What's the suspense about then, you ask? Just read it. 

When I was out of books to read, and unwilling to commit myself to a library book, I eyed my husband's 'Thinking in Systems' a primer by Donella Meadows. This got me thinking, and I was glad to read something of a value of a different kind. Maybe I'll put down something on this book later on. 

And now, the trigger for this post which was like a head fake. These days I find myself unwillingly to (ok, chicken about) reading anything too 'emotional'. "Nothing too sad", seems to be an oft-used phrase at the library. The first time I said it, there was a pause before I was assured "that's fair enough". I don't know if it's a good change to become suddenly restrictive in what you read.Sometimes for no reason other than, I don't feel like reading a tale of this sort (this is really new to me, a look at my shelfari will tell you that) So there goes 'The Famished Road' by Ben Okri, its fate decided less than a day after it was issued. Just because I don't feel upbeat about reading something with all these innumerable spirits thrown in. Maybe, no, I'm sure from the books I've read in my previous reading life that there's more to the book than these spirits, but whatever it might be, it just isn't enough for me to keep reading it right now. I'm growing up, or old... I'm just growing. 

The Help

By Kathryn Stockett

Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s when segregation was at its peak, and the fight for 'integration of the races' had just begun in the US. The book plays out in three different voices, that of Aibileen, Minny and Miss Skeeter. The first two are black maids, and the last, a moral misfit, an educated white woman who gets wondering about the blacks' perspective of the way things were. Together they brave odds, and risk everything to chronicle black maids' stories - good, happy, ugly - bringing into print voices that had never been heard before. 

The story has real events interspersed - sit-ins at the Woolworth counter, killing of Medgar Evans, Kennedy's assassination, Martin Luther King's famous march in Washington, but the book is really just an entertaining read, and covers issues on a broad, top level.
It always seems ridiculous this suppression based on race, suppression of any sort for that matter. Just wonder what the future would find so about our times. A lot, hopefully.

The Twentieth Wife

By Indu Sundaresan 
Chanced upon this author recommendation a few months back in one of the blogs I read. Glad I remembered when I visited the library after a long while a few days back. The novel is about the eponymous twentieth wife, Mehrunissa (or Nur Jahan which was her imperial name when she married Jahangir), the happenings in the Mughal empire during her life up to the time of her becoming an Empress. Quite like the intelligent, industrious and the very strong woman that she is portrayed to be. Of course, this is part fact, part imagination, part accounts from the past - but it's a great way to be taken back to those times. The royalty, splendour, the riches, the patriarchy.. historic fiction is a good way of reading about the culture, politics of the past. To pick a tiny snip of the past and live through it for a little while. 

The author decided to fill the gap that existed in literature by writing about this famous queen Mehrunissa who is said to have really ruled the empire for 15 years though Jahangir was the Emperor. This the book does, and there is atleast one sequel to it. 
But even in general, very little (nothing, if I remember my history lessons) is mentioned about the women in royal families. There is only mention of heirs to the empire - (in this book-) of only the sons of Akbar, or Jahangir. What about Akbar's daughters, were there any, where were they? What did they train in? Were their tutors any different from those of the common-man's daughters' tutors? Could they marry (rather, were they married off) into Hindu families like the male heirs were in the Mughal empire for political reasons? Do you know of books that would answer these? Definitely a genre to read more of.
And I'm back!

Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell was the last read (and almost re-read). True story of Julie who gets out of a rut by cooking her way through it, but it's more than that really. Was hooked on to the book from the start (though it isn't a page-turner sort), for various reasons that I wont dwell into here. The key being this is the most honest piece of writing I've come across recently.

What I like about this book is somewhat akin to what Julie says about the Book. In her own words:

I didn't understand for a long time, but what attracted me to MtAoFC was the deeply buried aroma of hope and discovery of fulfillment in it. I thought I was using the Book to learn to cook French food, but really I was learning to sniff out the secret doors of possibility.
Sometimes, if you want to be happy, you've got to run away to Bath and marry a punk rocker. Sometimes you've got to dye your hair cobalt blue, or wander remote islands in Sicily, or cook your way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year, for no very good reason. Julia taught me that.

Oh, and Julie's admirable...but Eric's the star :)

Read It: March 2010

I'm going through a reading ebb now where the words and worlds I register are limited to those that The Hindu, magazines and random site-hopping introduce me to. And this at the end of a month when I bought a record number of books! Retail therapy, many call it.

I've also realised that I can't devote a post each for books that have been read earlier, I just don't have much to say about these except that if I had to own a handful of books, these would be vying for the space. So I'll just post lists of books a month, be assured that these come highly recommended (but follow the external links for real reviews! :) )

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Though I read this many years back, I still remember that reading the first two pages of this book just put me off. But it is in the third page that the narrator introduces herself. And that's when I went back and re-read the start - with the guiding perspective of six year old Scout Finch.

 It's through delightful little Scout, Dill and Jem that the reader enters Maycomb, a fictional town in Alabama in the early 1930s. Life in a small town, racism that was very much prevalent back then as seen by the children, like mixed up little pieces of a puzzle. Vividly etched characters -Atticus Finch, Calpurnia - the family's black housekeeper, Boo Ridley - and the very visual style of writing makes you wonder if this isn't an autobiography. It seems it isn't though the author has written about many events that happened during her childhood in Alabama. Just read it.
Wikipedia 

Amazon

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was a fairly recent discovery. She seems to be well known for The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart. The first was made into a movie, the latter into a Tamil serial (Anbulla Snegithiye)

The Palace of Illusions is a narration of Mahabharata from Draupadi's perspective. A contemporary one at that. Draupadi got me hooked on to the book from line one. Taken apart from the setting, the narration of her  birth, childhood and adolescent days are so  next door-like - even in today's terms ... the differences between the way her brother is educated and she is, her special friendship with Krishna, her infatuation with Karna (fictional..but well, who knows), her relationship with Kunti. The few lines on the disrobing incident that Draupadi is remembered for generally are amongst the best.

All this time I'd believed in my power over my husbands. I'd believed that because they love me they would do anything for me. But now I saw that though they did love me - as much perhaps as any man can love - there were other things they loved more. Their notions of honour, of loyalty towards each other, of reputation were more important to them than my suffering. They would avenge me later, yes, but only when they felt the circumstances would bring them heroic fame. A woman doesn't think that way. I would have thrown myself forward to save them if it had been in my power that day. I wouldn't have cared what anyone thought. The choice they made in the moment of my need changed something in our relationship. I no longer depended so completely on them in the future. And when I took care to guard myself from hurt, it was as much from them as from our enemies.

I'm sure most women will enjoy reading this book, it's one of the rare peeks at epics through a lady's point of view. Classic, contemporary, magical.
Amazon

All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot

This book takes me back to the time of an apogee when I spent some minutes browsing through a dog-eared copy while seated on mattresses, surrounded by many such second hand books. 

James Herriot was a country vet and the book is a compilation of true incidents he experienced during the initial years of his practice. Country-side England, 'English' writing, loyal pets, stubborn horses, insecure father dogs, ewes, pregnant cows, animal owners and farmers, pet contests, the starting days of a young vet's career and love life. What's not to love?! I laughed out aloud, turned a bit squeamish, even shed tears over an utterly devoted and trusting dog, just sat back and soaked in the beauty of Darrowby. I can't recollect what exact time lines are covered in each but they sure are books for all times for animal lovers.
Amazon

Read It: We The Living

"Kira Argounova entered Petrograd on the threshold of a box car. She stood straight, motionless, with the graceful indifference of a traveler on a luxurious ocean liner, with an old blue suit of faded cloth, with slender sunburned legs and no stockings. She had an old piece of plaid silk around her neck and short tousled hair, and a stockingcap with a bright yellow tassel. She had a calm mouth and slightly widened eyes with a defiant, enraptured, solemnly and fearfully expectant look of a warrior who is entering a strange city and is not quite sure whether he is entering it as a conqueror or a captive." 

Amidst the bleak surroundings that follow the Russian Revolution and faced with an unforeseeable future, Kira Argounova’s goal is to pursue excellence. Her aim is to storm the male bastion of engineering, to march into life like a Viking hero. And for this life "which is a reason unto itself", she is prepared to do anything, even to go with the communist way of life that she doesn’t believe in until she equips herself to fight it back. Kira is but one of the three protagonists. Through Leo, a free spirit like Kira and Andrei, an idealist, a communist party worker the novel brings to light the other tenets to the communist regime and dilemmas dogging the people.

According to Ayn Rand We The Living is the closest to her autobiography, and this is fairly apparent from the details it delves into. The writing transports you to Russia in the 1920s, the inequality, the treatment meted out to erstwhile bourgeois, the glaring poor state of affairs in general. And each of the three main characters strikes a chord. Kira is one of my favourite characters ever; her loyalty to life irrespective of what it throws at her and of how loved ones betray her. The way she sticks to her beliefs through to the end is simply awe-inspiring. “A moment or an eternity—did it matter? Life, undefeated, existed and could exist.” 

The book is different from Rand's other works in that the characters (the leads and the many other small yet vital ones) are alive and telling us a tale from post revolution Russia. That is, unlike Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead in which characterization is a sheer prop for philosophy and which are replete with lengthy sermons that can be unnerving if you don’t feel the same way (or as much) as Rand about individuality. I know this is precisely why many people stay away from her books. But I’d recommend reading We The Living for the story it narrates, just follow its wonderfully etched characters and take away what you wish to. This book doesn’t preach and it deserves a fair chance - no matter what you think of Rand’s philosophy.

Link to Amazon 
Wikipedia

Read It Series

Being an avid reader and loving to write, it seems obvious in hindsight that I should have put these two together and kept a journal of sorts for the books that I've read or at least those that I love. It's those new perspectives, thoughts that a book rouses in you right when you've put it down that matter the most. Later on, you already are a changed person for the reading and it won't add as much value. Nevertheless, that isn't going to stop me from venturing to write about some of the books that have made an impact, lingered long after the last page was turned.

Book lovers in general go into a frenzy while visiting book shops, wanting to gather them all. Strangely that isn't the case with me, I'd want to read it all, sure. But buying them all? The minimalist in me would press the panic buttons and I'd mostly surrender the stage to the obsessed self without even realizing it. But if I did let myself buy all the books [not relying only on gifts and the relatively rare self-treats] that I love, which ones would they be? That is the guideline for the books that will make it in this Read It series (aka Wishlist), sort of a list of Must Reads. Watch this space! 

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Published by Phoenix. 216 pages

Books open up different possibilities, take one into lives that we'd otherwise not experience. And many like this one challenge our habitualised perceptions and cause one to pause and take notice. 

Fifteen year old Michael Berg's chance meeting with Hanna Schmitz, an older woman who had helped him when he was ill, soon leads to an affair. He spends a lot of time with her, blames himself for any fight that springs up between them. Hanna however is a closed book, irritable and loving in turns and very eager to have Micheal read to her. Then one day she just disappears. All this has a huge impact on young Michael who takes upon himself the guilt for the way things turned out. Years later when he's in law school, Michael sees Hanna at a trial for war crimes and learns that she had been a guard at the Auschwitz camp. The guilt and anger at his parent's generation for being mere spectators to the Holocaust and so passively aiding it, is only enhanced by this discovery. He learns things about Hanna during the trial, some that pain him more and some that could actually help clear her of certain false charges. And that's all I can mention without revealing more of the plot. 

So The Reader is about .. adolescence, relationships, the German guilt about the Final Solution. An analysis of post war Germany, of society during Nazi rule and its impact on future generations. It does this in a straightforward manner. So while it isn't a Holocaust novel, this book attempts to address the aftermath. The narrative is from Michael's perspective, so we never learn why Hanna made certain choices, or get access to her consciousness except through the few direct conversations. We 'know' the Holocaust visually through movies like Schindler's List and through Anne Frank's journal, fiction like The Book Thief. A POV from the other side, like that of SS guards like Hanna or of ordinary stoic German citizens who lived through it all is what I'd like to read about.

It's a well written book anyway, simple style yet complex for the issues it talks about. One to be read and discussed rather than be reviewed.

Excerpts

I didn't like the way I looked, the way I dressed and moved, what I achieved and what I felt I was worth. But there was so much energy in me, such belief that one day I'd be handsome and clever and superior and admired, such antipication when I met new people and new situations. Is that what makes me sad? The eagerness and belief that filled me then and exacted a pledge from life that life could never fulfill?
~

Regaining my confidence had nothing to do with success; every goal I set for myself, every recognition I craved made anything I actually did seem paltry by comparison, and whether I experienced it as a failure or triumph was utterly dependent on my mood.
~

Never to let myself be humiliated or humiliate myself after Hanna, never to take guilt upon myself or feel guilty, never again to love anyone whom it would hurt to lose [...] I adopted a posture of arrogant superiority. I behaved as if nothing could touch, shake or confuse me.
~

'Did you not know that you were sending the prisoners to their death?'
'Yes, but the new ones came, and the old ones had to make room for the new ones.'
'So because you wanted to make room, you said you and you and you have to be sent back to be killed?'
Hanna didn't understand what the presiding judge was getting at. 
'I..I mean..so what would you have done?' Hanna meant it as a serious question.

Mahashweta by Sudha Murthy

Published by East West Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd. Pages: 171

One of the stories in Sudha Murthy's book 'Wise and Otherwise', a collection of the author's articles based on real life incidents, is that of a young man who retracts his engagement to the girl he loves because she had developed leukoderma. He later realizes his folly and marries her, the eye-opener being this book 'Mahashweta'. (The article 'A Wedding to Remember' is also published as Postscript in the edition I read)

That this book inspired a change for good in real lives speaks volumes about the  message it carries. We still live in a society that sets a lot of stock in external beauty, that in this age of information still ostracizes people with certain diseases. Anupama's life turns a full circle from acting in a play titled 'Mahashweta' (based on a work by Bana Bhata) to becoming Mahashweta (meaning White One in sanskrit) in real life. Anupama is an educated, bold, confident girl yet she is aware that the tiny white patch that first appears on her feet could just change her life. But nothing could've prepared her for the reaction of her orthodox in-laws, her vexed father and more than everything else her husband's diffidence and indifference. How she goes on to regain her strength, her vivacious old self despite the despair that surrounds her, which almost pushed her to consider death, is what this story is about.

The character sketches are drawn out well and the circumstances realistic. Yet there are certain dramatic lines that just don't fit with the characters or are plain senseless. Like when Anand says,
'Anu, the other day you gave me tickets and today I am giving you my heart. Please keep it safe.'
What sort of an absurd comparison is this??
Or when he says, ..'Anu, in my blood there is no haemoglobin. There is only a substance called Anupama.'
It's just so film-like and out of place.
And when Anupama worries about her husband's faithfulness it just is not her, it isn't becoming of the sensible girl we've read her to be. 
Her husband was going to an unknown country, and people had been making malicious comments that she could not ignore. 'One can have a wife here and another there as well. It seems white girls are very aggressive', they said. Anupama was afraid that something untoward could happen.

These instances are few, just that one would expect a writer like Sudha Murthy to translate or convey better. The book is written in very simple English, some lines appear like almost a literal translation from Kannada or very Indian-English-ish. But in a book with a strong social message like this I guess the simpler the language the better, for more is the reach and understanding across the society.

Definitely enjoyed reading this book, following the strong female protagonist's journey through misfortunes. Atleast she was equipped with education, what about women from poor, ignorant families who don't even have this lifeline? Hope this book (and many others) will sensitise people regarding their outlook on appearances and this "cosmetic" disease.

Lunatic In My Head by Anjum Hasan

Published by Zubaan-Penguin Books  (290 pages)

Firdaus Ansari, Aman Moondy, Sophie Das are dkhars (foreigners/non-tribal persons) in Shillong, though it is the only place they've lived in all their lives. Their personal accounts form Lunatic In My Head, a novel about life in Shillong, the invisible line between Khasis and migrants and among others about conflicts external and within.

Firdaus, an English lecturer in her thirties, is trying to focus on her M.Phil thesis on Jane Austen, to break up with her boyfriend Ibomcha who seems to be worlds away. His is a world of deals, Manipur, business, his mother, and his boys. Hers is one of loneliness, she lost her parents in a train accident as an adolescent and now lives with her grandfather.

Aman Moondy, a 23 year old is preparing for his second at with the IAS exams, terrified about his future, holding on to the IAS which he now thinks is his only hope to get out of Shillong. Pink Floyd is the only thing he is clear about, what he really gets. Like many of his friends. He writes to Roger Waters regularly about his opinions of the band's albums, about his dreams - that are very alike the world in Pink Floyd songs- which he thinks Waters would understand.

Eight year old Sophie Das knows that she and her parents are very different, odd from the rest of the world. The only way she can go about with things is by making up lies for everything. She decides that she is adopted and can't wait to get to her real parents. She reads voraciously, she looks out of the kitchen window to a white house nestled in the hills, which is Anna's. Anna is her favorite character in a novel she's recently read, Anna - who Sophie wishes to be.

The novel constantly shuttles between these three main characters, each chapter has three sub-parts. It is through up-close encounters with them that we get different perspectives of life in Shillong, of life in a small town, of the common vein that runs through people who are dkhars but know no other place that could be home and about Khasis. The story has a rich cast of other characters too, a refreshing cast I should add. The climate of this hill station (like that of many others) also weighs down on its inhabitants, it's cold, rains incessantly. People are lazy, inactive, sometimes cooped in their houses for days and are waiting for something to happen. Sometimes waiting to get out of this small town, at the same time fearing a large city and its complicated ways, but always loving Shillong and missing it even when they aren't away.

Firdaus's constant indecisiveness about her relationship, her despair, Sophie's need to create dreamy versions of her life to spice it up for herself more than to attract attention, Aman's panic and depression while preparing for exams, his confidence while organizing the Happening are all realistic. As in, it's all written in just the way it would unfold, no drama, simply persuasive. Particularly liked the portrayal of bird's eye view of Shillong and the closing lines. The narrative is absolutely one that will stand out in my memory.

The story is hemmed in by literature (Firdaus, college setting, English lecturers), rock music (Aman and his friends are obsessed with it, to state it mildly). The latter is a steady undercurrent in Aman's world, references to Pink Floyd are aplenty. The title itself is taken from Brain Damage (The Dark Side of the Moon). Familiarity (read a shared devotion) with Floyd, I think, will definitely add clarity to Aman's story. I've listened to few songs by Pink Floyd (The Wall, Pulse mainly) and have only heard (as Aman would put it) some others and had to be satisfied with identifying thoughts like 'Goodbye, Blue Skies', 'Who needs information'. Only after reading this book did I come to know that Shillong is a self proclaimed rock music capital of India, also ran into this interesting article on the same in NY Times.

Anjum Hasan grew up in Shillong, so this is an insider's view of life in Shillong and a special one because little is known in general about North East India apart from the frequent reports of clashes, violence, border issues. Funny, serious, reflective, this book made for a spontaneous-read.

Quotes

If she could clearly articulate what she felt, if she could find the right words, if she could speak them forcefully into the world, she would be able to make an impress on reality.
Sophie took especial joy in her parents' happiness. A open-mouthed smile would break out on her face whenever her parents expressed delight about something, and, as if she were unconsiously contravening the rules about the function of smiling, Sophie's smile could last for long stretches of time..
She thought that the nicest thing, the nicest thing by far, even better than being adopted, would be if she could somehow turn into one of them, somehow become Khasi. 
With one, tiny, still-unaffected corner of his mind Aman realised that he would not and could not bring any of his Floyd tapes with him. It would be unbearble, listening to them in a new place.

'Neti Neti' is a sequel to this book and is about a grown up Sophie Das working in Bangalore and it's on my TBR list!

Things Fall Apart

By Chinua Achebe. Published by Anchor Books. Pages 209.

(There are books that I randomly pick, out of the blue and don't even bother to check with the librarian about. 'Things Fall Apart' falls into this category, much more so because the book doesn't even have a descriptive blurb and I couldn't have chosen a better first book on African culture if I'd gone looking for it)

In a narrative akin to folklore, the first half of the book dwells on the way of living of an African tribe, the Ibo, who live in Umuofia. The reader is slowly initiated into the different beliefs, rituals and traditions of the tribe - mainly through Okonkwo, a famous warrior in the clan and his family; though the focus pans across the society.

The Ibo live in a closely knit community, are governed by leaders who've earned their titles solely through hard work with inheritance playing no role. It's a patriarchal society that practices polygamy, men make major decisions and women just obey (yet it's men who pay the bride-price to marry a girl) They worship the natural forces - Mother Earth, Hills and Caves, rain, thunder .. yam, their staple food also has its patron. Democratic, practical .. and charming, what with all the native proverbs and phrases bringing the story alive.

However ... the Ibo believe twins to be evil and leave the newborns in earthen pots in the Evil Forest. People who suffer from certain sicknesses are carried away to the Evil Forest and left there to die, for it would be an abomination to Mother Earth to bury these bodies. They follow some more practices that can only be described as macabre.

This brutality is presented in a straightforward and matter-of-fact-ly way from the perspective of a native, it's so endearing at times that when in the latter portion of the book the English missionaries arrive, you begin to fear for these innocent natives whose actions you 'know' are barbaric. But you're also thinking, who is to say what is right or wrong and are these standards universal? And in times of conflict between cultures, which one emerges the winner? Like Okonkwo's uncle, Uchendu says, "The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others."

The tribe tries to accept and cope up with the changes the missionaries bring forth. However things do fall apart. The last paragraph of this book packs volumes with a perspective shift.

The writing is extremely simple, portrays the Ibo culture for just what it is, with all its richness and faults. This is a story of a man trying to cope up with his fears and how his actions affect the tightly knit society that he's a part of. It's a story about the meeting of two very different cultures with one perceiving theirs to be the right and only right way of living.

And it's a very highly recommended read if you are simply looking for a well written book  and like to read about different cultures. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only after reading the book did I look up on it and found that not only is this book considered one of the most important books about African culture, it also has a sequel 'No Longer at Ease'. Plan to read it sometime soon.

While on the topic of conflicts between cultures and on why one nation appears/assumes itself to be superior to another, I'd recommend reading Jared Diamond's 'Guns,Germs and Steel'. It is a pretty involved, lengthy read though and you can get a preview before picking the book by watching the NatGeo documentary made based on the book (the 3 videos are available online, as is the book)

In this Pulitzer Prize winning work, Diamond attempts to find answers to why the Eurasian civilizations emerged victorious over other races, why they conquered others and not the other way around, reasons for their 'superiority'. The videos present a good gist of the book and really ought to be watched!
'Things Fall Apart' also reminded me of 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' movies,  mentioning it here just so you get a better idea about the book.

The Origin of a New Genre

Attended a poetry reading organized by Toto Funds The Arts in collaboration with the British Council at a Crossword store last Friday. Ruth Padel, a British poet, great-great-grand daughter of Charles Darwin read from her book Darwin: A Life in Poems. Padel is in India on the British Council Darwin Now research grant to complete her next novel Where the Serpent Lives. The event started of with a poem she'd written two years back, verses on global warming, a Now-and-Then view on climate (with mentions of India - Sunderbans, Shiv no longer holding Ganga in his hairlock, etc)

It set the stage for poems from Darwin: A Life in Poems (published last year for the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth) What's special about this biography is that it is written in verses, a sequence of poems merging Darwin's own words taken from his autobiography, letters and notebooks, 160 pages in all!

The poems revealed the personal side of Darwin ... his childhood interest in collecting as a form of expression to escape his mother's death when he was eight, his thoughts on marriage (the famous 'pros and cons of marriage' made it's way into the book as an aptly named 'The Balance Sheet'), his beautiful relationship with Emma, the divide between them regarding belief in God (an important aspect in times of Victorian Christianity when it was believed that if either in a couple was not a believer, they would not be together in the afterlife)

Presented in Darwin's voice, the poems portray an intimate, everyday side to the famous naturalist. Take for instance his reaction on first seeing a tropical land (voyage aboard the Beagle to South America)

He’s standing in Elysium. Palm feathers, a green
    dream of fountain against blue sky. Banana fronds,
slack rubber rivulets, a canopy of waterproof tearstain
    over his head. Pods and racemes of tamarind.
Follicle, pinnacle; whorl, bole and thorn.             ...

Vegetation he’s never seen, and every step a new surprise.
    ’New insects, fluttering about still newer flowers. It has been
for me a glorious day, like giving to a blind man eyes.’
(Read the full poem Like Giving to a Blind Man Eyes)

Darwin's famous 'to marry or not to' was a laugh riot at the reading ('The Balance Sheet').  Emma's letter to Darwin when she was pregnant, voicing her fears and Darwin's 'reply' left to be found after his death, the poem in the voice of the carpenter who made a plain wooden coffin for Darwin just the way he'd wanted it and then some .. all beautiful.

I hadn't heard of Padel before I went to the reading,  knew nothing about her except the Darwin connection. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature AND the Zoological Society of London. Her dedication to conservation efforts is inspiring, awe-inspiring. Am mesmerized by the way she writes about science with the knowledge that only comes with much research and yet the writing is so very lyrical. Definitely want to read the biography on Darwin, 52 ways of looking at a poem, her novel on tiger conservation Tigers in Red Weather, and more! Watch this space.

Padel also read from her next novel Where the Serpent Lives which is about King Cobra conservation and is based in India. A discussion with Bangalore-based novelist Anjum Hasan followed the novel reading, to be wrapped up by an interaction with the audience.
You can read a collection from Darwin: A Life in Poems here.

Netherland

Updated to add: Finished reading this book when I was away at home last week. Got lots of things to catch up on right now, so I'm going to pass this post off as the review one. Made for an enjoyable read the extremely non-linear and layered narrative.

I'm about half way into Netherland by Joseph O'Neil. So far the book has been about nothing in particular or about a lot of things, whichever way you look at it. The novel follows the life of a Dutch banker Hans van den Broek in a non-linear fashion. Set in around 2008 or later, the novel shifts in and out of Hans's childhood, focuses on his life in the post 9/11 USA and its impact.
The author talks about so many different things, one mainly being about how the protagonist finds solace in cricket. The writing leaves somethings unsaid, it's suggestive, leaving it to each reader to reach the depths he wants to. More on the book when I finish it. Here are some excerpts:

I can say quite ingenuously that I was attempting to counter the great subtractions that had lessened my life and that the prospect of an addendum, even one as slight as a new licence and a new car, seemed important at that time; and no doubt I was drawn to a false syllogism involving the nothingness of my life and the somethingness of doing.

~

The pleasantness of my Holland was related to the slightness of its mysteries. There obtained a national transparency promoted by a citizenry that was to all appearances united in a deep, even pleased, commitment to foreseeable and moderate outcomes in life. Nowadays, I gather from the newspapers, there are problems with and for alien elements, and things are not as they were; but in my day - age qualifies me to use that phrase! - Holland was a providential country. There seemed little point in an individual straining excessively for or against the upshots arranges on his behalf, which had been thoughtfully conceived to benefit him from the day he was born to the day he died and hardly required explanation. There was accordingly not much call for a dreamy junior your truly to ponder connections.

~

But surely everyone can also testify to another, less reckonable kind of homesickness, one having to do with unsettlements that cannot be located in spaces of geography or history;

~

Netherland was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2008. O'Neil's writing reflects familiarity with cultures, it doesn't come out as purely researched but with a grace that only someone who has experienced these different worlds can express. Curiosity sent me along to wikipedia (where else?!) to find out that the author was born in Ireland, grew up in different countries including Mozambique, Turkey, Iran and then in The Netherlands. He studied in London and currently lives in the Chelsea Hotel in New York (where this novel's protagonist also lives immediately following 9/11) with his family. No wonder.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Now I wish I knew enough French to read a novel.

A few days back I read Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth which was written in French, originally published in 1864. Apparently, there are many English translations varying in the narrative and even the character names (in the version I read, published by TOR, pages 258, the nephew's name is Harry)

The adventure is written in a 'hard' science fiction style where the characters are driven by knowledge and knowledge alone, mostly devoid of layman human reactions to discoveries which was a welcome change.

However I found the translation testing my patience many a time especially the parts where Harry introspects, worries about his plight (ever so often). The narration here left much to be desired, was disconnected and dull. Curiosity and a mood to indulge in the author's imagination propelled me through to the end. I did enjoy the voyage to Iceland; learn't of it's capital Reykjavík, of its simple, laid back and educated people, of eiderdown hunters; the giants at the center, the volcano ride..

This would make for an enjoyable read for young adults and the original work in French (or a t least a better translation) would be the one to read in order to appreciate the state of science, discovery and invention in Europe about 150 years ago. Maybe I'll learn to read it one of these days. I'll definitely keep an eye open for a better translation of Verne's other works.

Copperfield

It's been more than a month since the last book, partly due to time spent reading snippets from books that are not novels and mainly due to the the one that took up all space and forced itself with authority the last few weeks.

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (published by TOR, pages 1001)
The best I've ever read. Period.

I'll just leave you with the Author's words, from the preface to the 'Charles Dickens' edition.

I remarked in the original Preface to this Book, that I did not find it easy to get sufficiently far away from it, in the first sensations of having finished it, to refer to it with the composure which this formal heading would seem to require. My interest in it was so recent and strong, and my mind was so divided between pleasure and regret - pleasure in the achievement of a long design, regret in the separation from many companions - that I was in danger of wearying the reader with personal confidences and private emotions.

Besides which, all that I could have said of the Story to any purpose, I had endeavoured to say in it.

It would concern the reader little, perhaps, to know how sorrowfully the pen is laid down at the close of a two-years' imaginative task; or how an Author feels as if he were dismissing some portion of himself into the shadowy world, when a crowd of the creatures of his brain are going from him for ever. Yet, I had nothing else to tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess (which might be of less moment still), that no one can ever believe this Narrative, in the reading, more than I believed it in the writing.

So true are these avowals at the present day, that I can now only take the reader into one confidence more. Of all my books, I like this the best. It will be easily believed that I am a fond parent to every child of my fancy, and that no one can ever love that family as dearly as I love them. But, like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield.

To two years

It was a wonderfully fine thing to have that lofty castle to myself, and to feel, when I shut my outer door, like Robinson Crusoe, when he had got into his fortification, and pulled his ladder up after him. It was a wonderfully fine thing to walk about town with the key of my house in my pocket, and to know that I could ask any fellow to come home, and make quite sure of its being inconvenient to nobody, if it were not so to me. It was a wonderfully fine thing to let myself in and out, and to come and go without a word to anyone, and to ring Mrs. Crupp up, gasping, from the depths of the earth, when I wanted her - and when she was disposed to come. All this, I say, was wonderfully fine; but I must say, too, that there were times when it was very dreary.

It was fine in the morning, particularly in the fine mornings. It looked a very fresh, free life, by daylight: still fresher, and more free, by sunlight. But as the day declined, the life seemed to go down too. I don't know how it was; it seldom looked well by candle-light. I wanted somebody to talk to, then. I missed Agnes. I found a tremendous blank, in the place of that smiling repository of my confidence. Mrs. Crupp appeared to be a long way off. I thought about my predecessor, who had died of drink and smoke; and I could have wished he had been so good as to live, and not bother me with his decease.

After two days and nights, I felt as if I had lived there for a year, and yet I was not an hour older, but was quite as much tormented by my own youthfulness as ever.

- From David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Excerpt credit

Of black holes and rust

Last week I read this book that I had borrowed from a friend - George's Secret Key to the Universe by Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy Hawking.
The book is meant for children aged around 9 to 11 and does a good job of presenting science in a very interesting format. Concepts about the solar system are presented in a simple manner complete with pictures and data snippets and fit into a storyline full of adventure that children would absolutely enjoy.

One of the pictures in the book is this image captured by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit of a sunset in mars. The picture does look a whole lot more 'real' stretched across a full glossy page, so much that I must've spent minutes on this one view. Pictures of galaxies, computer generated images of moons, infrared pics of the sun inspire awe. A sunset in another planet made me pause and imagine.

Un Lun Dun

Written and illustrated by China Mieville. Pages : 521

This is a Young Adult fantasty novel set in Un Lun Dun (UnLondon), an alternate world residing alongside London and one among many like Lost Angeles, Paris'nt, No York.

UnLondon is where London's trash and discard find their way into and take up new, transformed lives. There are houses made of MOIL (Mildly Obsolete in London) such as steroes, fridges, table draws, etc. The inhabitants are varied - some very differently dressed humans, some strange creatures that are partly human, living garbage, ghosts, half-ghosts, animals, and so on. Mieville creates a horde of unusual characters that occupy a very imaginative world - one where buses fly, garbage tins are guards, where a bridge is just that - a bridge from somewhere to somewhere.


It's this world that Zaana and Deeba, two young girls find themselves in after following some mysterious signs from their London residence much to their fear. UnLondon however has been hoping and expecting the arrival of the Shwazzy (French word choisir- chosen one) who according to the prophesies will destory the Smog. The enemy that started out as a trickle from London grew to ungainly proportions and now threatened to destory all of UnLondon and London.

From here it's one roller coaster ride with some witty unforgettable characters through bizareness. The plot itself stands out from the usual hero-saves-the-world, I wont reveal more here, like any fantasy it ought to read to really know. I enjoyed this book, a fast-paced and unusual read. One ought to keep in mind that the target audience is mainly children while reading through certain repetitive details, it's sort of Gaiman's Neverwhere for the young lot. The illustrations are neat too, this book would be best appreciated in a graphic novel or an animated series version.

Un Lun Dun!

This read counts towards the Orbis Terrarum Challenge for England.

bookwise

In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

Picked this up to sail through a tough (reading) patch having only then started The English Patient.

Rose, Maggie and Ella, the three main characters stand out from the ones of this genre that I've read so far. Whether by the plot, the characterization or the writing style - this definitely isn't the route ‘chick-lit’ fare, absolutely loved it for this difference.

Multiple City: Writings on Bangalore edited by Aditi De

This is a collection of articles, stories and pictures/cartoons by different writers put together to give an idea about how Bengalooru came to be.

It is divided into parts demarcating articles on Bangalore's history - how it came to be ruled by Kempe Gowda, the arrival of British Raj and their influence on the ‘tota’ city, those on the different areas -cities- within the city, some dwelling on a select area like Majestic, Basavangudi and finally a set on Bangalore's transition (only in name) to a 24/7 city.

Numerous famous names figure in this collection - R.K.Narayan, Ramachandra Guha, Thomas Friedman, William Dalrymple, C.K Meena, Winston Churchill, Shashi Deshpande, U.R. Ananthamurthy, Claire Arni and more..

I particularly enjoyed R.K.Narayan's article on the 'pets'. Ramachandra Guha's article on the Premier Bookshop stands out too, and being able to recollect his fairly recent article in The Hindu magazine on the closure of the bookshop, this was all the more special.
Just skimmed (skipped rather) through the latter portions on the city today - what could they have to say that I can't see and live through everyday?!

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

Instead of putting off writing reviews completely, thought I'd just add a few words on the books I read the last month.

The English Patient is based in an Italian Villa, set towards the end of the Second World War era. The story shuttles around four main characters -the 'English' Patient, a Canadian army nurse, an Indian sapper and a Canadian thief and gradually reveals their pasts and what led them to the villa.

It's a sensual tale, a very interesting narrative - gripping and dragging in parts. To be read when one isn't stifled by a time constraint. It's one of the books you are bound to remember irrespective of your liking for it. Captivating.

This read counts towards Orbis Terrarum Challenge (for Canada) and for the bonus round (new classics) in the Classics Challenge.