Tag Archives: Indian Lit

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REWIND! Had to Have These Books, but They’re STILL Languishing on the Bookshelf…

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

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Today’s Top Ten Tuesday Topic:
REWIND!!
Top Ten Books I Had to Have…but are STILL Languishing on the Bookshelf
(click here for original post)

  1. The Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson
    I bought the audiobooks when they were first released because my husband & I were both interested in them, and we listen to audiobooks together on road trips.  They are still on the shelf almost a year later…one road trip this year, and not long enough for even one of those books.  Sad.
  2. A Thousand Splendid Sons by Khalid Hosseini
    I bought the audio version of this and The Kite Runner at the same time.  Listened to The Kite Runner and LOVED it, but have not gotten to this yet.
  3. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
    This set has been on my shelf for at least 10 years, and has followed me through several moves.  I purchased it with the conviction that I should read it, because it’s an incredible shame that I never even knew they existed when I was an adolescent.  Still there…still waiting…
  4. Hearts in Atlantis & Insomnia by Stephen King
    I have loved Stephen King since I was in 9th grade, and have devoured 30ish of his books over the years.  For some reason these never made it past the bookshelf, and I eventually got rid of both, though I have since re-purchased Hearts in Atlantis in audio format.  The last several King books I’ve “read” were actually listening experiences, and that is proving to be my preference lately.
  5. If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
    Purchased for a book group read, I had grand hopes of finishing it.  I barely got started, and with the distractions of a new baby and home renovations, it was abandoned and is still on the shelf.  I haven’t discarded it, so there is hope that eventually it will make it into the pile of current reads.
  6. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
    I bought this book when it was causing a stir on the book scene, and it sat on the shelf for years.  I finally sold it to the used bookstore, only to repurchase in audio format.  Still there, but I’m hoping to get to it this year.
  7. The Bourne Series by Robert Ludlum
    These sat on my shelf for years until I finally sold them when I was getting ready to move out of state.  They were a recommendation from my brother, and for some reason I never got excited about reading them, even after having seen the movies.  They are still on my TBR list, so hope is still alive that I will read them one day.
  8. Everything Monica McInerney has written
    McInerney is an Australian author, and I stumbled across her books Family Baggage and The Alphabet Sisters through http://www.dearreader.com.  I devoured those books and started looking for more, only to discover that the rest of her books had only been published in Australia.  Thanks to my online book club, I had a contact, and over the next year I exchanged books with her…she sent me the McInerney books I couldn’t get in the States, and I sent her book club selections that were difficult for her to find.  I have read a couple more of them and I love them, but I hate the thought of finishing the and having no more to look forward to, so I space them out.  Silly, I know, but sadly true.
  9. Complete sets of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway
    For some reason, I thought I needed “the complete set” of whatever classic author was on the radar at the moment.  So I bought them…in fact, I bought the book club editions, which have virtually no resale value when one decides to part with them.  I have not parted with them, but I’ve not read them either.  They do, at least, look good on the bookshelf.
  10. The Space Between Us & If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar
    I have been on an Indian literature kick for the past couple of years.  It’s not a constant pursuit, but when I find Indian novels that look interesting, I can’t resist buying them.  Not only did I purchase these, but I bought The Space Between Us at full price, which is almost unheard of for me.  They are still on the shelf, and I will get to them, but I signed myself up for all these reading challenges this year…

Updates 6-5-12: 

  • My husband and I (finally) listened to the first Larssen book – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – last year on a road trip.  We loved it, and we’ve been saving the other two until we can listen together.
  • I listened to This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald last year.  I recognize how good Fitzgerald always is, but I didn’t love the book.  So four down…
  • Listened to For Whom the Bell Tolls last year – well, half of it – and I thoroughly enjoyed the half I got through.  It is a long and heavy book, and after 9 discs, with 9 still to go, I needed some lighter fare.
  • I got rid of the Stephen King books (both heavy hardback editions), and I have Hearts in Atlantis on my audio shelf.  I doubt I will ever read Insomnia unless I get a renewed interest in all things Stephen King.  I’m still a fan, and I have read enough of his books to know that I’ve (likely) read the majority of his very best work already (The Stand, The Green Mile, The Tommyknockers, It, Salem’s Lot, all of his books from the 70s & 80s).  What I haven’t read (and still want to read) is already on my shelves (Lisey’s Story, Hearts in Atlantis, On Writing, some of his short stories / novellas).
  • I have added to my collect of Monica McInerney books as they have been published in the US, but have not (yet) gotten back to them.  I’m sort of savoring the memory of what I have read so far, and enjoying the anticipation of reading more.

That’s it!  More updates to come at some point…hopefully…unless I get sidetracked with some other wonderful book.  Too many books, and not nearly enough time to read them all.

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REVIEW: Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Format:  Paperback, 322 pages
Genre:  General Fiction / Indian Lit
ISBN:  038548951X
Published:  January 2000
Setting:  Calcutta, India / San Francisco CA

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

From the award-winning author of Mistress of Spices, the bestselling novel about the extraordinary bond between two women, and the family secrets and romantic jealousies that threaten to tear them apart.

Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family of distinction. Her cousin Sudha is the daughter of the black sheep of that same family. Sudha is startlingly beautiful; Anju is not. Despite those differences, since the day on which the two girls were born, the same day their fathers died–mysteriously and violently–Sudha and Anju have been sisters of the heart. Bonded in ways even their mothers cannot comprehend, the two girls grow into womanhood as if their fates as well as their hearts were merged.

But, when Sudha learns a dark family secret, that connection is shattered. For the first time in their lives, the girls know what it is to feel suspicion and distrust. Urged into arranged marriages, Sudha and Anju’s lives take opposite turns. Sudha becomes the dutiful daughter-in-law of a rigid small-town household. Anju goes to America with her new husband and learns to live her own life of secrets. When tragedy strikes each of them, however, they discover that despite distance and marriage, they have only each other to turn to.

Set in the two worlds of San Francisco and India, this exceptionally moving novel tells a story at once familiar and exotic, seducing readers from the first page with the lush prose we have come to expect from Divakaruni. Sister of My Heart is a novel destined to become as widely beloved as it is acclaimed.

My Thoughts:

This book is a continuation of my love affair with Indian literature.  Divakaruni delivers in a sublime fashion, developing a story that is rich not only in Indian setting, culture & lifestyle, but also in multi-dimensional characters whose strengths and weaknesses are understandable and relatable.  How many young women, growing up in a generation rife with privilege and (Western) influence, do not seek to find their own places in the world, even if it means stretching (perhaps to the breaking point) the constraints, cultural requirements (and even taboos) of previous generations.  Anju & Sudha both try to do this in their own ways, and yet, when they are faced with making a decision to pursue happiness, they find the personal cost too great.

In some ways, I found both of these women ridiculously frustrating.  I thought Sudha was weak and selfish.  I I thought Anju was rebellious and smart-alecky.  That Sudha would not allow herself the happiness of marriage to her only love was something that made me nearly scream in frustration…until (at the end) he proved to be unworthy.  That Anju followed through on an arranged marriage when she learned her betrothed loved someone else equally frustrated me…because he was untrustworthy and she knew it.  In the end both of their lives were nearly shattered by these decisions.  And yet, it was very obvious that these (naive) decisions were (eventually) the catalysts that gave them strength to change their lives…to protect their loved ones, to reconnect with each other, and to allow for understanding and forgiveness to take root and grow.

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On Reading Patterns

I ran across this post on The Broke & the Bookish and immediately realized that I am a pattern reader.  There are times when I could call it a rut, because I get into a mood for a specific type of book, and I can’t seem to break out of that rut until I have read several in a row.  It has happened for as long as I can remember

There was the Rosamunde Pilcher phase, the Maeve Binchy phase, and (yes, I’ll admit it) the John Grisham phase.  Granted, in each of these there are some stellar books…and some stinkers.  I’ve read most of both categories, and everything in between.

Obviously I am not alone in this behavior, as the post that inspired this one does attest.  Unlike the author of that post, I don’t get in a holiday phase (though I do enjoy the occasional Christmas story).  Like the author, however, I do get in noticeable ruts, for which there is no particular explanation except that, well, that’s the mood I’m in.  So, you ask (or maybe you don’t), what rut…er…pattern is it now?  There are two that seem prevelant for 2011:

  1. Classics:  Though this was purposeful, directed reading, I have read close to a dozen classics this year, which makes it a banner year for me.  I’ve been enjoying them a lot, not only because they are filling the gaps in my reading history, but because they are, for the most part, damn good books.  I’ve been gratified with each classic to see that there is an obvious reason it has gained classic status, and I’m looking forward to continuing this particular reading pattern into 2012.
  2. Asian / Indian Literature:  I have been fascinated by both Asian and Indian literature for the past several years, and as a result I’ve read several Chinese & Japanese authors and several Middle Eastern or specifically Indian authors.  I have loved them all.  There is something very intriguing about these cultures that, in each and every instance, has sucked me in from the very beginning of the book.  If you are wondering which books are on my list (so far), here they are (in no particular order):
    The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
    Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
    Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet by Xinran
    Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
    The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
    The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
    The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa
    Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
    Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
    Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
    Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
    The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan (currently reading)

I’m curious!  Does this happen to anyone else…well, other than me and the author at The Broke & the Bookish?  Is there a type of book you can’t seem to get enough of?  A particular author?  A genre?  I’d love to know, and to have a recommendation for my next reading tangent (or rut).