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!