The Queen of Bedlam

This is the sequel to Robert McCammon's "Speaks the Nightbird". Matthew Corbett, erstwhile witch-saver is now in New York trying to find the identity of a serial killer. McCammon does wonderfully in describing the period and the setting of the story; however some parts now become slightly implausible, and not in a McCammon-like way.

This might be the second book of a series of the detective exploits of Matthew Corbett, and will therefore garner much readership because of it's relation to the first book, but I find the story more cobbled together and the characters less believable.

Not a good sequel, though some may disagree.

The Egyptian

I was 11 years old and bored. The weekend at my uncle's house was utter misery. I asked my uncle for a book to read, and was handed "The Egyptian" by Mika Waltari. I thought it was the most boring book in the world after reading five pages.

Fast forward two decades or so, and someone tells me that the most famous Finnish writer is Mika Waltari. Unfortunately the only thing I know is that he wrote a book that I tried to read. After a strong recommendation by aforementioned person (who also happens to be Finnish) I borrowed the book from the local library and set to reading it.

Wilbur Smith, go hide under a rock! "The River God" cannot hold a candle to this book. The subject matter is quite similar - both stories deal with royal physicians in the time of the pharaohs, but Waltari's book make the characters come alive. This is a translation from the Finnish, but the book has not lost anything at the hands of the translator.

Fortunately for me, Mika Waltari has eight more books translated into English.

One on One

After all those years of reading Stephen King - why did nobody tell me he had a wife? Maybe I avoided the whole "King" shelf at the bookstore and the library thinking that one more horror/fantasy would not make much difference. When a friend recommended Tabitha King to me, I did not even bother visiting the bookstore, but borrowed a couple of her books from the local library.

I was completely.blown. away. Her writing has such imagery and power, and reminds me strongly of Joyce Carol Oates. This story of a high school basketball star and his relationship with a girl from a broken home who is an outsider in school and on her team is one of the best books I've read for a long time. This ensures that I'll read the other books in this series, starting this weekend.

A book to savor.

The Lords of Discipline

I've read all the books Pat Conroy has ever written. Why do I choose to review this one? There are books more recent - "The Prince of Tides" or "The Great Santini". Both those titles I have read more than once, but even so it is "The Lords of Discipline" I find myself reaching for more often.

The editorial review on Barnes and Noble reviews the book: "This powerful and breathtaking novel is the story of four cadets who have become bloodbrothers. Together they will encounter the hell of hazing and the rabid, raunchy and dangerously secretive atmosphere of an arrogant and proud military institute. They will experience the violence. The passion. The rage. The friendship. The loyalty. The betrayal. Together, they will brace themselves for the brutal transition to manhood... and one will not survive." This review is about as full of purple prose as the book, but gets the salient points across quite well.

I think Pat Conroy's books should be read not while imbibing chocolates and tea, but with a tumblerful of alcohol by one's side. His writing annoys you, makes you laugh and makes you cringe...but I'll reach for my copy of "The Lords of Discipline" once more tonight.

Kristin Lavransdatter

This is a book which was recommended to me by a friend. As I make it a point to read all books that are recommendations (since I assume other people found them interesting) I spent some time reading this book at leisure. the author Sigrid Undset won the Nobel Prize in literature for this and other books in the series ( The Wife, The Cross) which chronicles the life of Kristin Lavransdatter, a young woman living in 14th century Norway.

The detailing is exquisite - the background is almost as wonderful as the storyline. It is a beautiful tale of love and family in Norway, of one girl's choices in love, which make her the woman she becomes and shapes the rest of her life.

This should be a book that all woman read. I highly recommend it, and the two sequels.

Castle in the Air

I picked up Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones on a whim from the teen section of the library simply because I had watched the movie. I found that the movie had little resemblance to the original novel as the characters in the book had voices and opinions that were not at all like breathy anime. I enjoyed the book greatly.

This book is the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, and I must say I liked it even more than the first book. The book is written in a most deliciously tongue in cheek manner which made me burst out laughing from sheer amusement. The character of Abdullah, though not as complex as Howl is extremely entertaining, and the dialog is sheer comedy.

The first two thirds of the book were wonderful, but the last part is a slight anti-climax. Calcifer, for example seemed to appear in the finale in a rather implausible manner, just to round off the story.

The Namesake

After being extremely impressed by Jhumpa Lahiri's first book of short stories "Interpreter of Maladies" (so much so that it was my book gift of the year to at least 3 people) I eagerly awaited her novel "The Namesake".

The Namesake details the life of the Ganguly family from their life in India, to a life as immigrants in the US. It also deals with how their son growing up as an American views his life both as an Indian and as an American, and how he comes to terms with these dual aspects.

The Namesake has been praised for it's own style and lyricism; however I cannot help but compare it with Lahiri's previous writings. Sometimes the book seems too long winded and the details are extreme, at other times parts of the story are glossed over quickly. The father (Ashoke) was a character much closer to my heart than the main character Gogol who spent most of the book being confused. Maybe it's just my intolerance of the "seeking one's identity" type of character, but the first half of the book was much more interesting than the second half.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

I confess I'm still in the middle of this 800 paged behemoth of small type and footnotes of an even smaller font. I had heard of this book many times, but the strange title and the inside jacket description put me off until a few days ago.

I find this book strangely entertaining, much as I find the works of Charles Dickens entertaining. Even the illustrations give such an impression to the reader. The descriptions are detailed, sometimes overly so, but adds to the strange charm of the book. This book combines English society of the 19th century with magic, a weird but engrossing combination.

I confess I'm not done reading the book, and I don't know if I ever will, but it is a book to be savored over time, paragraph by paragraph, with a steaming mug of tea at hand and a box of chocolates nearby.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia

Am I the only person in the whole world who didn't like this book? Lots of people I know rave about it, it has garnered great reviews on the web but somehow it didn't make me think "Wow! That's a great book!". In fact it seemed rather boring and blah.

I know that the concept of mediation, becoming aware of oneself as a person and self-discovery are important to many people, and these are some of the topics tackled in this autobiographical travelogue, but there was nothing new that hadn't been repeated by other travelers over the ages. Maybe this book became more popular because of it's endorsement by Oprah and because it was written by a woman who 'discovered herself'.

Boring. Blah. If you want a good travel book written by a woman writer I recommend anything by Dervla Murphy.

If Today Be Sweet

If Today Be Sweet is a novel that speaks of two cultures and their attempt at blending in a common household. The publisher's review writes, in part :"It is an honest but affectionate look at contemporary America—the sterility of its suburban life, the tinsel of its celebrity culture, but also the generosity of its people and their thirst for connection and communication".

This is a story of an Indian woman trying to make a new life for herself in suburban US. She is not used to the ways of her American daughter-in-law and the clashes between the women, and mirror the clashes between cultures and generations. What can be considered neighborliness in one culture can be considered interference in another, and this book describes the dilemmas that many immigrants face.

If Today Be Sweet would be a great book for a book club discussion. It has many thoughts that invite discussion between people. A wonderful read, though a bit marred by a 'pat' ending.

Bleeding Kansas

The newest bestseller by Sara Paretsky, who is the author of the V.I Warshawski series is a departure from her usual Chicago industrial crime novels. This book follows the lives of several farming families in a Kansas valley who have lived in the same area for several generations.

This books tries to handle storylines of the Iraq war and religious fundamentalism, which sometimes seem surreal and not connected to the central part of the story. These parts seem to have been added for the lack of anything more interesting to make the characters behave the way the author wants them to, and to provide convenient endings to plotlines.

Paretsky has very pared down and concise writing, somehow that same writing style that pulled the V.I Warshawski books together so effortlessly fails to work in this scenario. The book feels overly descriptive and the characters remain lifeless though sometimes their activities are entertaining. Most certainly not one of her better books.

The Soldier Son Trilogy

Shaman's Crossing:

This book describes the start of Nevarre Burvelle's career as the soldier son of his family. In a land named Gernia that is sometimes reminiscent of the midwest, the story revolves around Nevarre's childhood and his stint at the Cavalla Academy.

The character of Nevarre is built very well, as are the supporting characters of this tale. This book lays the foundations of Nevarre's future as a plague strikes the academy and he sets out on a journey.

Forest Mage:

Continues the tale of Nevarre as he leaves the academy and starts for home. He has recovered from the plague, but this recovery is not all what it seems to be. This book is more long winded than the first, but is very strong in world-building. Nevarre seems to lose some of his personality and is a rather stagnant character in this part of the trilogy.

Renegade's Magic:

In short: a disappointing ending to the series. Nevarre seems to lose whatever little character he still possesses and the storyline becomes very unclear and mystifying towards the end of the book. Everything ends satisfactorily of course, but this book tore down whatever was built up in the first two books of the trilogy. I much recommend the Assasin Trilogy or the Tawny Man series (both by the same author) to this one.

There is a somewhat 'go green' theme to this trilogy, which seems to be the one redeeming factor which I can see. And to think that I couldn't wait for the US publication of the final book and purchased it from UK!!

The Origami Handbook

Do you have bored kids at home? This detailed and colorful book is an excellent way to to make them interested in the art of origami.

Each page is filled with colorful photographs and detailed step-by-step instructions that guide both adults and children though constructing almost 100 models ranging from extremely simple to quite complicated. There are models of animals, people, toys and games, as well as modular origami.

A fun and exciting book that captures the interest of young and old alike. Highly recommended.

Red Mandarin Dress

I have been a fan of Qiu Xialong since the publication of his first book, Death of a Red Heroine. I faithfully read each of his books since then. His first books were very detailed in description, so much so that reading a paragraph would make me imagine the surroundings he was describing, the smell of the flowers or the flavor of the food. The main character of all his books, Inspector Chen Cao was very well drawn in the earlier books, and the political and emotional dilemmas he faced were thought-provoking.

Unfortunately, with each book Inspector Chen is losing most of the depth in his character and turning into Inspector AnyDetective. Each book has become progressively more Western; maybe it is the author's way of describing the increasing westernization of Chinese society, but his more recent books lost the distinctive writing that made Qiu Xiaolong's books stand out among other run-of the mill detective stories.

I especially did not like Inspector Chen's crime scene reconstructions, which remind me of the end of the Alfred Hitchcock film "Psycho". It's very annoying to have an inspector turn into a psychologist.

Speaks the Nightbird

I first started by reading "Queen of Bedlam" which I stopped reading because it seemed to be a sequel. After browsing online, I found that "Speaks the Nightbird" was the first book in which the protagonist, Matthew Corbett made his first appearance. Speaks the Nightbird has quite a few similarities to Boy's Life, which is one of McCammon's most well-known books. Each of them deals with a boy coming of age and gaining maturity, though Corbett is a few years older.

This was a book I enjoyed reading. The author can create a great sense of atmosphere, and I found myself with a wonderful mental image of Fount Royal and it's surroundings. The characters are believable and have depth, and the book has it's moments of horror which are offset by scenes which had me laughing.

Some reviewers say the book is too long, and could have been condensed to fewer pages, but I disagree. This book is 900 plus pages long, and I enjoyed every single page. I look forward to reading The Queen of Bedlam, which starts from where this book finishes off.

A Charmed Life: Growing up in Macbeth's Castle

I picked this up on a whim. Cawdor Castle, Macbeth, Scotland - all of these made my imagination take riot. Unfortunately this book did not live up to my expectations, simply because my expectations were quite different. The author, Liza Campbell seems to try to collect her thoughts and facts together but does not succeed. The book's central character, the author's father burdened with responsibility of running a vast family estate loses himself in drink, drugs and extramarital affairs. The characters do not seem to be very well fleshed out, and it is hard to obtain a good impression of what they were like in real life.

I did not enjoy this book. Lovers of Scottish history might enjoy the book, as it has descriptions of Cawdor Castle and other stately homes.