Reading on a Rainy Day

Posts

Showing posts from March, 2012

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (Short Fiction review)

With the Hunger Games hype that engulfed us last week, it was hard to avoid all the discussion of similar works that existed. Of the many titles that I came across, two stood out particularly - a short story called The Lottery and a Japanese novel (and movie) called Battle Royale (which I'm reading right now and just cannot put down). The novel will be fodder for another post, so for now, I just want to rave about the awesomeness that was The Lottery . In contemporary America, villagers across the country are gathering on the 27th of June (and some a day earlier) for an annual event called the Lottery. Children, women, men, all come to the main square of their village or town, where the lottery master keeps a black box full of paper chips. One of these chips is marked has a special mark on it to identify the winner (the person who draws that chip). Not everyone draws however, but only the head of the family. Husbands are viewed as the head of their families/households, and

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

"I do not mourn the loss of my sister because she will always be with me, in my heart," she says. "I am, however, rather annoyed that my Tara has left me to suffer you lot alone. I do not see as well without her. I do not hear as well without her. I do not feel as well without her. I would be better off without a hand or a leg than without my sister. Then at least she would be here to mock my appearance and claim to be the pretty one for a change. We have all lost our Tara, but I have lost a part of myself as well." The Night Circus is not your usual circus. For one, it arrives without any kind of announcement or hype. One day it is not there, and the next day it suddenly is. On the other hand, it is open only at sunset, and closes at dawn. And thirdly, the tents are all black-and-white striped, and not the usual colorful ruckus you would expect to see in a circus. Against this mysterious setting are two young magicians, Celia and Marco, battling out a challe

Cross Currents by John Shors

"What do you know about shame? You walk around fixing roofs and toilets. You don't need to swallow your pride. I swallow mine. Every day. I peddle food, drinks, massages, and anything else I can think of. I clean up messes all day long. So I know about shame. It's with me like my shadow." Lek and Sarai try to make ends meet, managing a small resort in Thailand's Ko Phi Phi island, but money is short, their buildings and surroundings need maintenance, and their children need to be put through school. In addition, one of their tenants, an American man named Patch, has already been staying at their resort for much longer than is allowed on a normal visa, making Sarai nervous. Patch, however, is trying to stay low after attacking a cop who had busted him when he was buying marijuana. His do-the-right-thing brother, Ryan is on his way to the island to convince Patch to turn himself to the authorities. Ryan, on the other hand, is having difficulties with his girl

Yet another Monday! (Mar 26 2012)

Sheila @ Book Journey wants to know what we're reading. I'm only too happy to oblige! It's been a month since I posted this meme! Right now, I am going through two books. I started Arcadia a couple of days ago, and since then I have come across the book a few times already in other blogs. They have been mostly raving, so I'm eager to see where this goes for me. Though, I should admit that I started it at the wrong time - when I was going to sleep, and Arcadia isn't a book you should start at such times unless you do want to be put to sleep. Which pages were turned... I'm also reading Catherine Ryan Hyde's When I Found You . I've been eager to read this one for a while, because the synopsis about an abandoned baby and the man who found the baby in the woods sounded interesting. Short Story of the week - In the Bed Department (click for my review) by Anne Enright. Since the last update, these are the books I read: Dance

The Sunday Salon: Post Hunger Games mania

Hello Sunday Saloners! After months of teasing, The Hunger Games movie finally arrived at the screens. Did any of you get to watch it yet? The husband and I went for the Friday night premiere, and watched it with hordes of teens and a few adults here and there. I guess I was more excited at this premiere than I was at the premiere of the last Harry Potter movie, because understandably this is just the beginning of a new franchise, whereas the eighth Harry Potter movie was the setting to say the final goodbye! The Hunger Games movie was so much better than I expected it to be. It was a good thing that I had read the book about 3 years ago and not in the recent past. From experience, I know that can ruin the movie for me, because I am such a stickler for details and I hate to see something from the book missing or some details changed. So, when I walked into the theater, only the main essence of the book and its pivotal elements were what I was looking for. I was glad that

In the Bed Department by Anne Enright (Short Fiction review)

It's been a while since I read a short story. Today morning, I picked Anne Enright's In the Bed Department , mostly because of the title, which I felt quite amusing, but also because I have been seeing Anne Enright's books a lot lately, ever since The Forgotten Waltz was published last year. In the Bed Department is a story about Kitty, a 40+ year old woman who worked in the bed department (there goes the bed reference) at a store. When the story begins, a pair of escalators had just been installed at the store, and she isn't too happy about it. Initially, it was the filthy and smiling men who built the escalator that bothered her. Sometimes she could be talking about beds and springs to a couple looking to buy one, when a dirty-looking worker passed in front of them, adjusting his zip. When the construction was over, the escalator itself troubled her - its ceaseless ticking and rhythmic movements dizzied her and she kept imagining a chain underneath the escala

Indie Lit Awards winners

On Monday, the winners of the 2011 Indie Lit Awards were announced. Finally, I can discuss the books with you! In the Fiction category, Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones took the cake while Dance Lessons by Aine Greaney was the runner-up, both books I enjoyed tremendously. Another nominee, The Night Circus , was also a huge favorite of mine. I did have a really tough time deciding between these three. Night Circus was beautiful - the imagery was vivid, the magic was clever, the plot was thrilling. But the characters aren't part of its strengths at all. Still, when I closed the book finally, I knew it was going to be one of my favorite books, even with its faults. Silver Sparrow was more grounded in reality. The first thought that comes to mind when I think of this book is its strong characters. They were flawed, yet very human, and not at all stereotypical. Even the plot was intriguing. Unfortunately, the ending tripped for me. It was somewhat unsatisfying. Dance Lessons

A late Monday Salon after a crazy week

Hello fellow bloggers and readers! It's been a while since I popped my head into the bloglandia! I can honestly say that I haven't even looked at the reader out of fear of all the posts that I have to navigate through. One of those times when the 'Mark all as Read' is dreadfully handy and necessary. It's been a crazy week out here! My brother and the husband's brother both came to visit us last week for spring break. It was pleasantly busy and fun out here, so much so that I miss the company now that all the fun is over and it's back to the usual ho-hum. It wasn't all fun though. Some of you probably remember (or maybe not) that my brother had once been admitted to hospital a year plus ago after he got some seizures. Although he recovered quickly from it (if you could call 5 weeks quick), one unfortunate consequence of that was that he now has epilepsy. He has been on medication since, but once in a while, he still gets seizures. It's been a real

A Village After Dark by Kazuo Ishiguro (Short Fiction review)

Last night, I picked Kazuo Ishiguro's A Village After Dark at random. Ishiguro's other works are a lot more popular, especially his Never Let Me Go , which I still see on someone's blog every month. Because of all the hype, it could be a while before I read the book, but I saw the story as a chance to sample his writing. When A Village After Dark begins, an old man named Fletcher is navigating his way through the streets of a village in England, trying to find something that jogs his memory. The village used to be like home to him once, in days of his youth, when he was also a very popular figure in the area. He used to give speeches and get people inspired to do something and work towards a common goal. But it is never mentioned what exactly the nature of his talks were - were they political, religious, or social? When he finally arrives at a door, he decides to knock, just in case it is someone who recognizes him . At the same time, a young girl who had pursued him

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment. In 1946, as London emerges from a war-torn history, Juliet, who wrote humorous articles during the war, is now looking for a new subject to write about for a new book. Unfortunately, an idea is nowhere near to be found. Out of the blue, she gets a letter from a Guernsey resident, thus beginning a long and warm association with him and other residents of Guernsey. She learns how they played a role in the war, how books became an important part of their lives, how the literary society came into being and why the potato peel pie was added to the name of their society. What starts off as an innocent exchange morphs into something bigger, something that eventually sends Juliet on a different

The Sunday Salon: A long month of books and TV

It's been forever since I did a Sunday Salon! Didn't help that I disappeared from the blog for a week. It was totally unplanned. Sort of. Blame it on these: I somehow ended up at a point where I had four committed reads to complete and less than two weeks to squeeze them in. So what's new, eh? Somehow that lead to the blog being abandoned and the books being devoured ravenously. They were pretty good books which made the effort worthwhile. ( Cross Currents is still in progress, but that's going good too.) Two months in, I haven't really completed as many books as this time last year. Which is okay by me, though I'm hoping to read more now. Some of my reading goals are going good however. I've mostly managed to read one short story a week, and I'm surprised that I had neglected this medium for so long. Couple of years back, I did the same thing with graphic novels - and that has become one of my favorite mediums ever. We'll see where t

In the South by Salman Rushdie (Short Fiction review)

I did something today morning that I am incredibly proud of; something that had humbled me once, the first time I tried it; something that I publicly claimed not to be interested in but was secretly very envious of all who had done it. I read a Salman Rushdie piece. Not an entire book - that's still a challenge, but a short story - In the South . And I have to say - he is not an intimidating writer at all; contrary to all my expectations, I actually enjoyed this story and loved the cleverness of his prose! The first Salman Rushdie piece I had ever tried was his Midnight Children - a book that basically left my gray and white matters in tatters. Needless to say, I didn't even finished the book, bruised as I was. That was about seven years ago. Lately, I have been meaning to revisit his works, just in case I have grown up. His story, In the South , was recently in the news when Booktrack released a digital version of this story, complete with soundtracks. In the South fe

First You Try Everything by Jane McCafferty

"Did you know both Kline and Nora think we'll get back together? Since we're the best-friend type who crack each other up?" She was out of breath. "And that Nora has always envied us? And can see us canning peaches when we're eighty?" "People think things." "Ah, yeah, they do." "People like to stand on the sidelines with their theories. I've done it myself. It's mostly bullshit." "And sometimes on the sidelines you can see better than if you're playing the game. Sometimes you have a vision of two old happy people canning peaches, and you trust it." Evvie and Ben had been drawn to each other from their college days, thanks to their similar dysfunctional childhoods and feelings of isolation. For years after they got married, they were figuring out their lives together and earned their living pushing pushcarts. A few years ago however, they closed their business and Ben took work as a regular