Nothing Will Ever Be The Same

Alas my hibernation in my blog-verse (the cliched term people use for their blogging world) is over, or so I hope. I haven't published a single post for a while now. Wonder how deep a slumber I got into. Au contraire, I have been as sleepless as I have ever been in my whole life. Those nights of nervous cram-as-much-material as you can studying sessions with a few snoozes here and there, now look like a walk in the park. Okay! So whats all the bustle about..? We have a brand new baby at home! He was born 6 weeks ago. My husband S referred to the occurrence just the other day as "when we brought  him from the hospital". It sounded as though babies are made available that easily and are given away at the hospital to take home...phew!
Ever since S Junior (SJ) arrived, the queen of the king-sized bed is now officially a sleep-deprived mom. Am I complaining? Maybe just a little. But all the lack of sleep pays off when SJ lights up as I walk into the room. And though nothing will ever be the same for S and me, it sure feels like exciting times are in store for us.

PS: I haven't had much time to read anything major lately. Just going through an old copy of The Adventures Of Malgudi, by R K Narayan, a collection of short stories and excerpts from his novels. And it sure needs no review.

The Millenium Trilogy: A Review

    Its been a while since I read these books. I wanted to write about them but have been putting it off. When I read the first book, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the first few pages felt a little weird. However, I was immediately captivated by these books. I was not aware how immensely popular these books were when I read the first of them. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could not wait to get my hands on the next two. I was in India at that time and had a hard time finding the third one in my home town, but was glad I did not give up, when I found a lone copy sitting on the shelf in a book store.
    The stories revolve around a journalist Mikael Blomkvist, and an unusual leading lady Lisbeth Salander, who is a mathematical genius/computer hacker/abused eccentric, unafraid of the law.
     In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mikael Blomkvist loses his reputation and his savings after a lawsuit against Wennerström. He faces the prospect of jail time, when he is contacted by a renowned industrialist Henrik Vagner, to investigate the disappearance on his grand-niece. He works with Lisbeth Salander to solve the mystery and in the process they get to know each other.
    In the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, Mikael comes across material with strong evidence of  sex trafficking of young girls in Sweden. He starts investigating  and is completely unaware that Lisbeth is following his work closely. She herself was abused as a child and is looking for revenge. But then she becomes the chief suspect in three murders and ends up on the run.
    In the last book of the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest, the author provides all the answers to Lisbeth's life. This is a true sequel to the second book, starting where the second leaves us. Lisbeth was shot in the head by her father, Zalachenko who is in the same hospital, trying to kill her at every possible chance all the while claiming that she tried to kill him. A conspiracy involving government officials, who wanted her locked up since she was a child is eventually unlocked with Mikael's help.
    The stories are complex pieces of puzzles waiting to be unfolded, which makes it thrilling for the readers. The narrative was laced with quite a bit of violence and though it was part of the plot it felt excessive at times. And every book contained facts and statistics sometimes irrelevant to the story. The Swedish backdrop felt fresh and interesting. Since these books have been translated from Swedish the prose falls short at places. These are definitely not great works of literature but the complex story leaves you wanting for more. Having said that I have to say that these books are certainly a level above most thrillers and books of this genre. I would certainly recommend these books to all kinds of readers. Let me know if you have read them and what you think of them.

PS: The author Steig Larsson planned to write a total of ten novels, but sadly, his untimely death prevented him from doing that. It was said that he wrote for his own pleasure and never attempted to publish them until a short time before his death. The Millenium Trilogy was also published posthumously, and the author never saw the great success of his books.

Today Is World Book Day!

Wishing all you book lovers a Happy World Book Day!! Read on, you wiggly bookworms!

As sad I was to see my neighborhood Borders book store close, I did score a few good deals. These are a few of the books I picked. 

I can't wait for spring and to return to my favorite bench by the lake on the grounds :-)
What have you been reading lately?

The Letters In My Name

Each year, the week before the start of my school term
mum and I would collect new books
Oh! how exciting it was returning home
getting ready for the ritual that would follow

Sitting on the floor strewn with books, brown paper,
scissors and glue, we would spend hours
covering and labeling books one after the other.
I would sit patiently for you to finish
and when you finally wrote my name on each book,
I would admire your meticulous hand letter by letter
For Daddy, my name looked best when you wrote it!

2 States: A Review

Fancy reading 260-something pages of movie script. Do pick a copy, OR just wait for the movie. Chetan Bhagat has once again delivered excellent material for a quintessential Bollywood flick. I am not implying that this is a badly written book. Though the plot is highly cliched the narrative is absorbing and definitely witty. There is nothing striking about this book, but its the kind of book that requires absolutely no effort to read through. And is perfect for those occasions when you are stranded somewhere and need to take your mind off the clock. Having  picked it up at an airport, while waiting for a badly timed connection, I enjoyed reading through. Had I read it on any other day, I would not have liked it perhaps.

The blurb says this:

Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married. 

In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married. 

A little boring isn't it? That's just the blurb. The book however, gets slightly better. Happy reading!

The Morning Report

As hard as I wanted to keep this blog purely literary, I don't think I can much longer. But I will try to relatively keep it that way. Before getting into that, where have I been lately? I have abandoned my home, my husband and of course my blog for a few months, in order to be with my parents. It sure felt really strange to see how much they needed me, and not the other way around. Only recently, things have been getting back to normal. No, everything is not alright. But then, I have realized that not being alright is also normal. And people just deal with abnormal and difficult situations. In general my life is getting back to normalcy.
I've mostly used this blog to dabble in short stories, poetry-of-sorts or for reviewing a book or poem I recently read. You might find a post here or there with none of those things. For instance, I might just write about nothing like I am doing today. Oh, though I have been away from my blog, I never left my books. I read quite a few recently. So, hang in there to hear about the books I've been worming through...

And now for The Morning Report

Pillars Of The Earth: A Review

    I have never been a great lover of Ken Follet's works. Sure he writes amazing suspense thrillers, excellent page-turners, but I have always felt his books a little too raw for my taste. That being said, I loved his epic story - Pillars of the Earth. The book came out in 1989 and made its way to Oprah's list in 2007.  I never heard about it until I saw Follet's TV interview recently about the new mini-series they are making based on this book. I am glad to have picked it up a little later than never. It is a riveting page-turner. Once I started the book, I could not put it down, and spent three sleepless nights over it. And it was a whopping 1000 pages!
    It is an epic work, true to the word, with magnificent characters, grand buildings and an excellent narration. Based in the medieval times, it rotates around the construction of a Gothic cathedral in a fictitious town called Kingsbridge. The story takes place from 1123 to 1174 A.D. The book reflects the political anarchy from one of the most contentious times in English history, when the country was ravaged by civil war, with self appointed heirs fighting for the throne after Henry I. The novel however, does not focus much on the war, but with the building of a church. It describes the lives of a few specific fictional characters that are involved with or are affected by the construction of the cathedral, with the backdrop of the political happenings of those times. The book describes in great lengths the development of Gothic architecture, and the typical growth and fall of market towns in medieval England, inter-laced with the political tug between the church and the state. The characters include stone-masons from two generations, a prior, the daughter of a knight, the daughter of an earl, and her brother who try to earn back their earldom- give life to the book and are greatly engaging. The narrative is quick and captivating, with lots of twists and turns and the political backdrop is exciting.
     The only complaints I have with the book, are the unnaturally conniving behavior depicted by some of the characters and  excessive narratives of unnecessary sex at times. But then it's a Ken Follet novel. Since its an old book, you should be able to get a used copy easily just like I did.
     All that said, my recommendation for you: Do pick it up! Do not be discouraged by the size of the book, since you will hardly notice how long you've been reading for. And at the end, you will be sad that it ended.

PS: There is a sequel to this book named, World Without End. I have yet to pick a copy.