Life Wordsmith - Book Reviews and Poems

When God Was A Rabbit : Sarah Winman

2012-01-29T12:06:00.000+05:30

Image Credit : Bookbath.blogspot.com Why do good things happen to bad people? This is how the New York Times begins its review of Sarah Winman's When God Was A Rabbit - a 'darkly comic' novel as the NYT describes it. When God Was A Rabbit however, asks the more traditional question : Why do bad things happen to good people? Haven't we all asked ourselves that very same question? But there

Revolution 2020: Chetan Bhagat

2012-01-23T22:50:00.007+05:30

Image credit: AmazonI finally gave in. I had eschewed from reading Chetan Bhagat’s novels until now because I really didn’t think they were worth my time. But after a couple of my friends assured me that his latest, “Revolution 2020” is not like his earlier works, I thought why not. Let me give a summary of the book before I go on to my review.Welcome to Revolution 2020. A story about childhood

Quicksand : Junichiro Tanizaki

2012-01-21T23:29:00.003+05:30

Image Credit: Bibliojunkie I have spent the past one hour shedding copious tears watching George Clooney play a miserable husband and father in this tear-pic called The Descendants. I was pretty much shedding tears yesterday as well while I was reaching the end of Junichiro Tanizaki's Quicksand. For George Clooney, those were tears of emotion. For Tanizaki, those were tears of

Dona Nicanora's Hat Shop : Kirstan Hawkins

2012-01-15T21:13:00.000+05:30

Image Credit: India Plaza I only read 30 books last year. A miserable figure, considering there are bloggers who read that many books in a month! Haha. Looking back though, I think I lost the love of reading a little. There was always too many things to do, too many thoughts to mull and too little time to reflect. I like to read when I am comfortable - when I am quiet and still in this little

The King of Oil: Daniel Ammann

2012-01-09T00:37:00.002+05:30

Image Credit:Amazon.com Reading a biography, to me, is always a "personal experience", and the biography of Marc Rich authored by Daniel Ammann was no different. Ammann's simple direct language at once captures and transports the reader to the era of 1970s through 1990s - which almost seems unreal in today's day and

In the Land of Invisible Women: Qanta Ahmed

2012-01-08T23:27:00.005+05:30

Image credit - sourcebooksI feel guilty. I haven’t been paying as much attention to the blog as I should have been. My reading pace has slowed considerably, from upto five books a month to barely two. Blame it on my Mandarin classes and work and life in general. But I also feel guilty, that I wasted my precious time reading “In the Land of Invisible Women” by Dr. Qanta Ahmed. Well, to be fair,

The Language Of Flowers : Vanessa Diffenbaugh

2011-12-18T16:17:00.001+05:30

Image Credit: Karma-And-Some Friends know that I love flowers. I go around trying to photograph flowers, and I fail miserably each time. Nothing you can capture in words or images can really illustrate the strength of beauty in each flower. Why, I even love the common weed! My favorite kind of flowers! The Language Of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh was kindly gifted to me by Vishy, a fellow

Goodbye Tsugumi : Banana Yoshimoto

2011-12-11T18:57:00.001+05:30

Image Credit : Tower I think Banana Yoshimoto is fast making it into my list of favorite authors. I remember reading her NP and loving it, and now the emotionally brimming Goodbye Tsugumi has captured my heart as well. Yoshimoto is known for writing fairly short novels, and I think I understand why. With the amazing power she has over words, she doesn't need too many convey the complexity of

Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth : Peter Kelder

2011-12-10T14:23:00.001+05:30

Image Credit: Booku Here's an unusual one on Life Wordsmith. After having spent a few weeks doing work I didn't like, and then allowing my head to wrap itself too much around this work I didn't like, I walked into my local library, unsure of which book to pick. I am/was in a stage of reading listlessness - books spoke to me for barely a page before I turned the lights off. What do I spot

The Complete Maus: Art Spiegelman

2011-11-22T23:05:00.004+05:30

Image Credit: nexternal A review has long been on the anvil but I didn’t get time until now to actually pen my thoughts. I had finished reading The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman around two weeks ago but with a new job and Mandarin classes, things got a bit busy. But Maus is not a book that’s easy to forget. This Pulitzer Prize winning book is the story of the author’s father, a Holocaust

Chinese Whispers : Hsiao-Hung Pai

2011-11-13T09:14:00.001+05:30

Image Credit: Borders After a long time, I picked up a book that didn't come from the library, but from my shelf. There was this wonderful sale at Landmark, my favorite book store, and I bought Chinese Whispers by Hsiao-Hung Pai for practically free, at almost 90% off its original sale price. Having spent a few years in China and interacted with many of today's young Chinese, I know that one

World Without End : Ken Follett

2011-11-07T18:40:00.001+05:30

Image Credit: Pilethemon The title of this book is rather apt. World Without End. I felt while reading this was a Book Without End. Phew, after 1237 pages, perhaps, you dear reader would not chastise this reviewer for feeling so. There are so many reasons why we read but there are days when I can go without reading. Usually, when my mind is not at rest, as it has been the past one month,

It Can't Be You: Prem Rao

2011-10-24T23:45:00.003+05:30

Image Credit: betweenthelinesMy Indian books phase continues. I just finished reading Prem Rao’s “It Can’t Be You,” for the book club. Termed as a psychological thriller, the book was a good read from start to finish. Here is a summary of the story:When Colonel Belliappa, Indian Army (Retd), a highly decorated war hero is found dying one night frothing at the mouth in anguish, there is no one

Unpolished Gem: Alice Pung

2011-10-21T10:48:00.003+05:30

Image Credit: Collins Books Whitford CityFor some time in the excitement of discovering a nice library I had neglected my personal collection of unread books. So now I thought I must alternate between one personal book and one library book. That’s how I chose Alice Pung’s “Unpolished Gem” from my shelf. Here is the summary of the book from the cover –With a home grown accent and an imported

Versedays: October by Robert Frost

2011-10-20T08:00:00.000+05:30

Image Credit: spectrumserviceOctober poetry continues this week on Versedays. This time we have chosen Robert Frost's "October" for its atmospheric imagery that conjures up a sharp fall morning even for people like me who haven't experienced one yet. The underlining feeling in Frost's poem, as far as I can see, is that of fleeting time. Since the days are short during this period, Frost beseeches

My Name is Gauhar Jaan!: Vikram Sampath

2011-10-16T00:05:00.004+05:30

Image Credit: simplybooksI am still in my Indian books phase and I am enjoying it. I am also going for my very first book club discussion soon and that’s another reason why I read Vikram Sampath’s “My Name is Gauhar Jaan!” I am pretty excited about the meeting and I am looking forward to it since the author himself is going to be present! But Gauhar Jaan is not an easy subject to discuss, a fact

Versedays: Clown in the Moon by Dylan Thomas

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000+05:30

Image Credit: BirdyVersedays is back! I had actually forgotten about it because I hadn't been very active on the blog. I missed the presence of poetry and my fellow bloggers also said that they were waiting for Versedays. So here it is. This week I have chosen Dylan Thomas, the famous Welsh poet who immortalized the phrase, "Do not go gently into the night..." I chose him because I wanted to

Her Fearful Symmetry: Audrey Niffenegger

2011-10-10T23:37:00.005+05:30

Image Credit: The VibeI remember reading Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife long ago and being enchanted by it. So when Her Fearful Symmetry became a bestseller I wasn’t surprised. The theme was otherworldly again just like her previous book and all I needed to see was if it was as impressive. Before I go into my review, here is a brief about the novel –When Elspeth Noblin dies she

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest : Stieg Larsson

2011-10-09T12:42:00.001+05:30

Image Credit: Penguin I have slackened my reading pace these past few weeks. Every day brings with it draining challenges, and at the end of a long day, the only thing I look forward to is sleep. Not to read. But to sleep. Ah, life and the changes it brings. Or rather, life is just the way it is. The changes we bring to ourselves, rather. We all love punishing ourselves and then convince

Give a Book!

2011-10-07T10:00:00.000+05:30

Image Credits: Above image from simongraygiveabook, image below from The Guardian“I could escape for so long as I was reading.” The famous playwright Simon Gray said it perfectly. The Give a Book project was begun in memory of Gray, who died in 2008, where books are given away to people who love reading but are too ill or old to procure books themselves. It’s an innovative scheme where they

Burnt Shadows: Kamila Shamsie

2011-10-05T23:58:00.007+05:30

Image Credit: Penguin Books IndiaNovels spanning decades, following family histories definitely catch my attention. So when I picked up Kamila Shamsie’s “Burnt Shadows,” I expected a rich story and more. Here is a glimpse into what the novel is about –Hiroko Tanaka loses her soon-to-be fiancé, Konrad Weiss, in the Nagasaki bombing of 1945. Shattered in more ways than one, she travels to Delhi to

Foundation: Isaac Asimov

2011-10-01T22:51:00.000+05:30

Image Credit: Critter.org I had always been loath to read the particular genre of Science-Fiction [or the more popular Sci-fi for short]. However, a couple of Asimov’s “Foundation” novels (presented to me some time ago by a good friend), collecting dust in my book cupboard, caught my attention the other day. In an attempt to rouse myself of a self-imposed inertia and to read "something

Difficult Daughters: Manju Kapur

2011-09-28T12:42:00.005+05:30

Image Credit: openlibraryI am somehow in the mood for Indian books now. So when I saw Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur in the library I thought I will give it a try. I had heard a lot about it and had wanted to read it for a long time. Here is the summary from the book jacket –Virmati, a young woman born in Amritsar into an austere and high-minded household, falls in love with a neighbor, the

The Girls from Ames : Jeffrey Zaslow

2011-09-25T13:37:00.000+05:30

Image Credit: Amazon It's a surprisingly hot day in Bangalore today. The skies are crystal blue, the air still and dull. And dull is a word that I would also use to describe The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow. This book is a perfect example of how you can take a seemingly great story and then reduce it to run-of-the-mill stuff that seriously should not have passed a publisher, let alone

The Postmistress: Sarah Blake

2011-09-22T13:28:00.005+05:30

Image Credit: sarahblakebooksLearning a language with all seriousness can be exhausting! Especially when your teacher gives you plenty of homework everyday. And this is the reason why I took so long to finish one book. But am enjoying it, I love the process of learning everyday and it refreshes me.The book in question is The Postmistress by Sarah Blake, which had been on my “to read” list for a