The Devil Wears Prada

I am back after a long hibernation! Tons of things kept me busy with absolutely no time to read. Hope to keep this space updated more often now :)

While I was extremely busy in the last 3 months, I did manage to read this one book. I laid my hands on it by chance while travelling, due to lack of options. It had never been on my TBR list at all. However I did enjoy reading it a lot!


If you have read the book am sure you will agree with me that it is very cliched. It was no different than Bridget Jones' Diary and the like. Yet these chick-lit novels are quite entertaining and light. They are good to read when you don't want to work your brain much and want to have a relaxed time.....

About the book:
Set against the backdrop of the fashion world in New York city, Andrea Sachs a just out of college graduate, lands into a job with Runway magazine, which seems like a dream job to her. However, the editor of the magazine, Miranda Priestly who is also a major fashion icon, is a living hell to work with. As much as she hates Miranda, Andrea still continues to do her job continuing to hope that it will one day land her an entry into The New York Times...

Andrea as a character is quite interesting as you see her struggling to fit into a world which is completely strange to her as well as maintain her sanity while working with a highly demanding and eccentric boss. However, the plot gets very stale early on as you see that there is nothing new happening in every page that you read. Everyday of Andrea is quite the same as her previous one...the only thing that might hold you on is your interest to know what she might do at the end of it all...

One thing which was strikingly annoying in the book was the fact that Miranda Priestly's character was portrayed in a very uni-dimensional way. As an overbearing boss, she was shown to be absurd to the extreme which didn't seem real. And of course, not to forget the gossip part of the fashion world which seems to get a little overboard.

Waiting to watch the movie now!

Nine on Nine

Author: Nandita C Puri;
Genre: Indian Fiction (Short Stories);
Pages: 212;
My Rating: 4/5;

I wanted to give Indian Fiction a break, but I had to redeem the loyalty points on my Citibank Account and this was the only book I could order! When I read the reviews online it seemed quite ok and also it was a short story collection, so I thought - why not?! The fact that the author is the wife of Om Puri (the famous bollywood actor) and not an established writer, had made me more skeptical....I mean books written by these not so famous spouses of famous actors you know..

It's a small book, a collection of 9 short stories and a fast paced one...something that I finished in just one sitting in a few hours. All stories are women centric and most of them set in the backdrops of Bengal (reminds me of Jhumpa Lahiri, I had an overdose of it in her stories!). But thankfully these characters here are not extraordinarily rich & educated women from high society families, like in Lahiri's stories. But I could find a similarity in the writing style of these 2 authors. Puri, like Lahiri, has a style of ending her stories without a definite, happy or a logical climax. That brings the stories few steps closer to reality. Usually all the endings leave you with a lot of thoughts and questions and it is left to the reader's imagination. I love that aspect! Also they all have a dash of suspense in them to deliver the punch of the story, which keeps you engrossed till the end.

The first story "Arranged Marriage", which is set in a Marathi household is the best of the nine. Amazing plot and very well written, with a lot of vernacular lines which bring in realism. I also liked "At Jenny's" and "Flashback" which had very unique & intricately woven plots and a complicated ending... Other stories are enjoyable too, but these 3 stood out for me.

Overall, it's a good read!

The Bridges of Madison County

Author: Robert James Waller;
Pages: 170;
Genre: Fiction/Romance/Literature;
Rating: 4.5/5;

Ah! I am back here after a long break of 3 months...It's never been so long since I went without reading a book.. So that itself explains how busy and occupied I was! Hope to read a lot more and finish the pile of books lying in my shelf..

The Bridges of Madison County is a film made in 1995, which is based on this book and recommended by a friend. I had heard a lot of good things about it and as usual I wanted to read the book first before watching the movie...so picked this up

This isn't a kind of book I would normally read. It's a sad love story and a very short one but packed with full of emotions & extremely touching...I absolutely loved reading it. It is supposed to be a true love story between Francesca and Robert Kincaid, set in the state of Iowa. Robert is a small town photographer who visits Madison county to photograph the covered bridges. He meets Francesca, a farm wife there whose husband/children are away from the town. They instantaneously fall in love and the story unfolds based on the brief affair between them during those 4 days. Though the love between Francesca and Robert seems very idealistic and flowery, it still is very compelling and doesnt fail to impress you. It may not be the best written book - but it is quite a good read! I am waiting to get my hands on the movie...

My Friend Sancho

Author: Amit Varma;
Genre: Indian Fiction;
Pages: 220;
Publisher: Hachette India
Rating: 4.5/5;

I've been long following Amit Varma's widely read popular blog - India Uncut and I absolutely love his writings. A journalist turned novelist and blogger, Amit Varma published his debut novel 'My Friend Sancho' in May 2009. There was no way I was going to miss reading this one. Sancho which was long listed for the Man Booker Asian Prize, was definitely an engaging read..

I find Amit Varma's writing style to be extremely bold, candid, breezy, unique and entertaining. The book doesnt aspire to be a work of serious literature, but it's significantly above the ones like "One Night at the Call Center" (Chetan Bhagat) or "Keep off the Grass"(Karan Bajaj). In fact I wouldn't put these 3 books in the same category, though they are intended to be mass market fiction. The best part about Sancho is that it's not made of the usual cliches, stale humor or predictable silliness. It's different...It's unique...I have probably never come across any book which has so many swear words and dark sarcasm and yet didn't seem to be out of place. However, there are a few instances in the book where Abir (the protoganist inthe book) refers to Amit's blog (India Uncut) which did come across as narcissism and as if those references were deliberately included there to market his blog. Other than that, I didn't find any flaws...

Synopsis: The book deals with a lot of sensitive topics like the ethics of journalism, cross-religious relationships, communalism, corruption and police encounters. Abir Ganguly (the protagonist in the book) is a crime reporter who is called by the police one night to cover an arrest. The last thing he expects is a shootout and a dead man. Did the cops screw up? He has no idea. Abir's boss wants him to write a story of the victim, for which Abir meets the victim's daughther Muneeza to gather more facts and details. Over the next few days, an unlikely friendship develops between the two and an interesting story unfolds...

The book is no Rushdie or Amitav Ghosh but its definitely worth a read! It's interesting, offers good insights & the humor makes you roll on the floor with laughter....Above all, it resonates with you and makes you keep turning the pages till the end!

2009 - The year that was..

When I made a list today of all the books I managed to read last year, I was damn thrilled! I started 2009 with a resolution to read at least 2 books a month and am glad to see that I've managed much more than that! I love reading and my passion has grown much stronger over the last 2 years and I hope to continue and read a lot more this year...

Thanks to all the publishers/authors for sending across a lot of review copies/ARC's all the way across the world and all my wonderful book blog community friends for leaving comments and suggesting great books to read :) Because of time constraints I couldn't post the reviews for the books I committed for December...will ensure they are up in the next 1 week..

Here's the complete list-
(Click on the titles to go to the book reviews)

1. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
2. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
3. Black Friday: The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts by Hussain.S.Zaidi
4. Almost Single by Advaita Kala
5. Keys to Living Joyfully by Sheri Kaye Hoff
6. A Flight of Pigeons by Ruskin Bond
7. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
8. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
9. Keep off the Grass by Karan Bajaj
10. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal
11. Dont Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight by Rujuta Diwekar
12. Buddha Mind, Buddha Body by Thich Nhat Hanh
13. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
14. Princess by Jean Sasson
15. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
16. Everybody Wins by Gary Chapman
17. Dancing With Ana by Nicole Barker
18. The Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma
19. Brida by Paulo Coehlo
20. But then again I could be wrong by Jim Rising
21. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
22. To Sir with Love by E.R.Braithwaite
23. Two States by Chetan Bhagat
24. A Quiver Full of Arrows by Jeffery Archer
25. The Energy of Prayer by Thich Nhat Hanh (not reviewed)
26. 24x7 Marriage by Vijay Nagaswami (not reviewed)
27. Symbols of the Soul by Gina Lake (not reviewed)
28. 34 Bubblegums and Candies by Preeti Shenoy (not reviewed)

A Quiver Full Of Arrows

Author: Jeffrey Archer;
Genre: Fiction;
Pages: 270;
Rating: 4.5/5;
Challenges: Orbis Terrarum 2009; Country: UK/London

I usually dont read mainstream fiction and this is probably the second book of Jeffrey Archer I've read so far. As the name aptly suggests, the book is a collection of 12 impressive short stories (arrows) put together in a book (quiver). Each one of them is quite unique and leaves an impact on the reader. I feel it's always difficult to convey the right meaning and invoke the right kind of emotions through a short story as compared to a full blown novel 'coz there is no luxury to build up the plot and the characters in detail...but Archer seems to have a great talent for creating characters! The stories are intriguing & entertaining...though they somewhat seem to have a similar setting and flow they are unique with the unexpected endings and a few of them do captivate your heart....

I especially loved the "One night stand" and "The Luncheon". They are hilarious and bring out the different aspects of human nature and above all, they end with a pun which makes you laugh out loud!

Keeping it short, I'd say that it's a great collection of short stories and definitely worth your time!

Two States

Author: Chetan Bhagat;
Pages: 270;
Genre: Indian Fiction;
Rating: 3.5/5; (only for the drama & entertainment)

I remember when I read Five Point Someone years back I had enjoyed it a lot and I was eagerly waiting to read Chetan Bhagat's second book; but unfortunately One Night at the Call Center was a huge disappointment. I had decided never to read his book again and I didn't pick up 3 mistakes of my life. To me, his writing looks very commercial and soap-opera-like. Every book of his is being made into a Bollywood movie (which is again commercialized) and it seems like the books are written more like a script for Bollywood than a work of literature. I am not a writer to critique but having read books by a lot of authors across the world I feel his language & writing skills are very ordinary and something which I cannot appreciate. Well, for we all know he himself has never claimed to be literary. I have read much better Indian "writers" and I'm quite surprised to see New York Times calling him "..the best selling English-Novelist in Indian history..." Anyway, the books are priced so low (Rs.95) that no one would probably even think twice before buying the book, so am sure by the sales figures, his books are definitely the best-selling ones...

Not wanting to sound too critical, I did enjoy reading his latest book Two States a lot. Mainly because it's the story of his own marriage and it's very close to reality (he says the readers should still consider it as a work of fiction). It's always nice to read a true story...though it was full of drama and very filmy & spiced up, it was still entertaining and quite engrossing and managed to hold my interest till the last page. But I still stick to my point that the writing style was extremely ordinary and definitely not for literary fans.

The plot is quite predictable. The story is about a couple at IIMA, Krish (a Punjabi boy) and Ananya (a Tam Bram) who fall in love and struggle to get married. The catch is that they dont want to elope and want both the family's approval for the wedding. So they take turns to win each other's families and it doesn't end there 'coz in Indian you dont just marry the guy/girl, you marry the family! So they try hard to get the 2 families to like each other, which in reality, is a HUGE thing to accomplish!

What I liked is that the book draws your attention to the huge cultural differences and racism that still exist in India across various states. People still face the dilemma to marry someone outside their clan. Couples themselves wonder if it is worth it to marry by making the entire family unhappy?

Irrespective of the cliches, the book is worth a read once, to know what couples from different communities (esp north/south india) go through because of the society and family norms...

If you are looking for something to make you laugh or to lighten your mood between serious books, then this is a perfect choice!