Category Archives: Book Reviews

Anne of Ingleside

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Anne of Ingleside (Anne of Green Gables, #6)Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not sure, now, what it was that had put me off reading the sixth book in the Anne series. I was inclined to be querulous about it, to go all out and tear it to pieces. Perhaps it was the knowledge that this particular book was written years after the original six, and so I was afraid the old charm could not be maintained. Perhaps it was my experience of Anne of Windy Poplars which was the other book of the series that was written years after the original six — I had found it to be a bore, I had found it too saccharine, and there were just too many people and too many kindred spirits.

So, my experience through the first few chapters of this book was simply so-so. I had a moment of ranting when I wrote the following:

There are many times when I do dislike Anne Blythe. She is nice when it is convenient for her. And as long as folk are going along with her fantasies she is absolutely peachy. The incident of the obituary really put me off. So, here was a woman who wanted something pretty said of her dead husband. She obviously had loved him in her own way, and had understood that he was of a gentle, poetic nature, unlike herself who was something of a peasant woman. Wanting something special written about her husband, and not thinking the regular kind of obituary good enough for him, came to Anne Blythe. Anne writes a poetical piece, with no substance I might add, and gives it to the woman who says admiringly that it is 'sprightly' (which offends our poet who cannot understand a person who does not speak her language and interests). When the obituary is put in the papers it is found that there is an extra verse tagged on to the end of the poem, that is specific about what this man meant to his wife. Anne and the entire Ingleside household is offended. I thought that unfeeling and selfish. Anne Blythe gets on my nerves, she does! If a person isn't her kindred spirit then they are simply labeled unworthy of any consideration. BAH!

Looking back, I still see my point as valid, but…I realised that quite a bit of the episodes revolving around Anne (save the last one) I found rather annoying. However, most of the chapters in the books revolve around Anne's children. These chapters are an absolute delight. We grow to know the Ingleside children (except for Shirley, the third boy and last but one child of the family) deeply — their interests, their quirks, their little foibles, and troubles. Anne makes for a lovely mother. She always seems to know how to work with her children and help them solve their tiny-people problems. However, she isn't perfect, and I think the incident I loved best with Anne was the last one in the book with Gilbert. It was so normal. This was a normal marriage, where, when work takes over one's life, one can some times forget the simple pleasure of a loving spouse.

I think one can tell that once I was well into the book I began to relax and enjoy it all. I found I loved reading of the so many tales, the gossip and rumours about folks of Four Winds Harbour. I wondered what it would be like to live in the small town my parents have retired to. Exactly like Four Winds, no doubt! It's a place where one gets to hear what's happening in every single family. It's deliciously scandolour to go home and hear all the 'gossip'. This is the sort of book one should really enjoy for its everyday-ness, it's little stories that make up the lives of ordinary people in an ordinary society.

I am so eager to delve into the last two books of the series. Having got to know Jem, Walter, Di, Nan and Rilla in Anne of Ingleside, I am looking forward to adventuring with them through Rainbow Valley, and then re-acquainting myself with an older Rilla and Walter and Kenneth Ford in Rilla of Ingleside. This last book was my first of this series, and as I remember it, perhaps to remain my favourite. I hope.

 

On having read and then watched “Twelfth Night”.

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Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think Twelfth Night was the first story of Shakespeare I had ever read. I say story because it was just that. A prescribed paraphrase of Shakespeare’s play that I read for the first time at the end of December 2012.

The story is about disguises, mixed identities and love lorn lovers.

Viola and her twin brother, Sebastian, are parted from each other during a ship wreck. Viola is rescued and brought ashore onto a strange land. She believes her brother is dead, and as they had no parents she decides to seek her fortune in this foreign land. However, her plans are not particularly long term. She thinks of survival and Illya is a policed place lorded over by Duke Orsino. So Viola decides to become a man, and serve the duke. She becomes something of his court musician and his confidante. She learns that he is pining away for a beautiful woman called Olivia, but his love is unrequited. Loathe to give up, Orsino charges Viola (posing as one called Cesario) to makes his pleas to Olivia. But when Olivia sees Cesario is falls in love with him. Hers also becomes a love unrequited as quite naturally Viola is a woman and, in her turn, hopelessly in love with Orsino. The rest is for you folk to read. :)

There is a sub-plot as well. Olivia’s uncle, his friend and Olivia’s woman-in-waiting are all quite put off with the butler, Malvolio . They are annoyed with his superior airs and decide to teach him a lesson. They drop, in his path, a letter supposedly to have been written by Olivia. On reading it, Malvolio becomes convinced that she is in love with him and he makes a fool of himself with her. She is puzzled and think that perhaps her dear butler has gone insane. With concern she asks Maria to take care of him, and he is put into a dark room. The rest of the story pans itself out at the end of the play.

I must admit, I did not care much for the play as I read it. It left me cold and wondering if it had been worth it. It didn’t even give me, at the end, a sense of satisfaction of my having read yet another Shakespearean play . I was terribly disappointed with it, thinking that in many places it had been unbelievable, in others it had been to slap-stick for my taste, and there wasn’t a single character I had liked.

Then, I recalled having started reading Romeo and Juliet with much dislike. But once I had watched a couple of clips of the 1960s move with Olivia Hussey as Juliet, I realised how the play ought to be read — with the stage in my mind’s eye. Thus, the rest of my reading had become quite pleasurably. Sadly, though, I was not able to work with this reading concept while tackling Twelfth Night. However, I recalled mom having mentioned the 1996 movie version of Twelfth Night and decided to watch it.

Again and again, watching Shakespeare proves more and more profitable to reading Shakespeare. I loved this movie. The plots were no longer unbelievable. Imogen Stubbs (many Austen fans might remember her as the conniving Lucy Steele from the 1995 movie version of Sense and Sensibility) is an amazing Cesario (a.k.a. Viola), and somehow the make-up artists contrived to make her and Steven Mackintosh (playing Sebastian) look absolutely identical. Feste the clown is played by Ben Kingsley, and oh I just loved him! He portrays Feste in a way I simply could not imagine on merely reading the play. Orsino is played satisfactorily by Toby Stephens and Helena Bonham Carter makes for a passionate Olivia. While I cannot say that this play (as watched NOT read) did not send me into whoops like Much Ado About Nothing (1993) did, I thought it was beautifully made. I enjoyed the music, especially the pieces sung by Feste, and on the whole Twelfth Night back a very pleasurable experience.

Allow me to tell you that if you, at any time, find any of Shakespeare’s plays dry, boring, hard or incomprehensible, watch his plays in performance, either on stage or as a movie; you’ll understand them perfectly. Then, I suppose, going back to reading the play will make everything different, and allow you to comprehend other nuances of Shakespeare’s art.

Below is a video of the scene where Viola comes to plead Orsino’s case with Olivia for the first time.

On a side note: I watched a wee bit of a stage performance of this play on youtube with Helen Hunt playing Viola/Cesario. This version made the above scene a lot more comical. But I preferred this one a great deal more.

This play is the second one read for the Let’s Read Plays challenge.

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Around India in 80 Trains

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Around India In 80 TrainsAround India In 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had never read travelogues before I picked up Three Men in a Boat. And had I had an inkling that the book was something of a creative travelogue of the River Thames, I would never have read it. But since I hadn’t known, I read it and enjoyed it so much I gave it five stars on Goodreads. To know why, just check out my review.

Now, having got a taste of how interesting a travelogue could be with just the right amount of humour and creativity, I decided to give this non-fiction sub-genre a deliberate try. While browsing through my online book store I came across Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh. I figured it would be very interesting, especially as the writer travelled all over India, and this country is incredibly diverse geographically, culturally and linguistically. I slipped it into my wishlist, and finally took the plunge and got it delivered at my door on the last day of 2012. I couldn’t resist it.

Monisha is an NRI (Non-Resident Indian) who identifies herself as English having been born and brought up in England. Her experiences to India, before her 80-trains project, had been brief and mostly with family and relatives. She decided to on this project when she read in a new article that 80 cities and towns in India were connected through domestic flights. Knowing that the Indian Railways is the largest in Asia, and reaching into India’s vast interiors, she decided to journey by 80 different trains through India states.

Rajesh’s writing makes for light-hearted, enjoyable reading. Her language is spot-on, and her narrative is scattered with pretty phrases and sentences here and there — not too much that this book sounds over-the-top, but enough to make the reading a pleasure. She ventures out with a Norwegian friend whom she dubs Passepartout after the side-kick in Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. Their various journeys are not only frought with various peoples and kindly strangers, but also becomes a sprititual quest for Rajesh, especially triggered off by her companion’s pro-atheist outlook.

Personally, I thought the spiritual aspect of this whole book brought down my rating from four to three on goodreads. While one cannot separate India from religion (all its varied cultures are based heavily on religion), religion is always a controversial topic. It was inevitable that I would disagree with both the writer and her companion regarding spirituality. And that marred the reading for me. I will not go into detail about this aspect of the book. As I’ve just mentioned religion will always be a controversial topic and I do not want to get controversial now.

Something else about this book, or rather the writer, that struck me was her penchant for identifying herself as English, but getting quite offended if she was not seen as Indian. Does that make sense? I felt she was a bit like the proverbial cat on the wall. For the most part though, she identified her home and loyalties as England.

On the whole, this was an interesting read. I was so surprised at the various kinds of trains India has! I’d never heard of the toy trains in the north or the Lifeline Express, which apparently is a hospital on wheels that runs through the rural areas of India, providing free medical aid and surgeries for the poor. I really enjoyed learning about the various trains in my own country, and I’ve made a note of a few. I think I’ll be taking this book out to consult it for trains some time!

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Review catch-up: Alcott, Hardy, Sabatini, Heyer and Montgomery

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I think the worst thing a book blogger can do is sit on a review for too long. The effect of a book read gets stale and memories and thoughts of the story and style merge with books that have followed. As a result a “review” so late to follow can only be brief in capturing the essence of what was read.

Hence, I’ve decided to club together the reviews of the most recent five books I’ve read but one. If these reviews are going to be short I had might as well finish them all at one go. I sincerely hope, though, to recall as much as I can from each for I have enjoyed them all!

Little Women (Little Women, #1)Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book back in September as part of a read-along hosted at this very blog. We divided the reading into three parts of which you can find my thoughts here, here and here. As a summation of these three posts I want to say what a cozy read this was. When I organised this little read-along I had no idea I had never read the original. I knew the story like the back of my hand, but apparently, as a child, I was well-versed in an abridged version. Therefore it was a surprise (and not really an unpleasant one) to find that I was reading the unabridged version for the very first time. It was delightful reading about ordinary lives. And while I have read some complaints of how Alcott tends to be moralising, I personally did not find this a problem. This is a book that was written for children and I always think it a good thing if books catering to little ones have some good morals thrown in. It was really easy to relate to the four girls in various ways, and on the whole it was a book that left me feeling all warm and glowing inside.

Far from the Madding CrowdFar from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ah! I gave this a five on five and my mind is so hazy about it now. This was the last book I read before I was admitted into the hospital to have my second baby boy. I recall that I found this book quite humourous. I was pleasantly surprised at Hardy’s witty commentary, and I loved the character of Gabriel Oak. Our hero is so true to his name — steady and reliable yet not a push-over, a man who is always around at the right time and with the presence of mind to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. His love for Bathsheba is the kind that I truly admire. I liked how he was ready to move on and not pine for her, taking everything in his stride, and yet never feeling less for her than he did before.

Now that I think about it, I find one can really define Gabriel Oak’s love against that of Boldwood’s obsession and Troy’s lust — both of the latter being mistaken for love by one character or another. Bathsheba herself goes through much emotional turmoil before she is finally able to recognise love.

I loved these characters. They were so much alive! Hardy deals with real human emotions and I was so amazed at how aptly he portrayed those emotions — the intricacies of infatuation, doubt, guilt, perverseness, fear, defeat, confidence, inner-strength…they were all so clearly drawn. I was also quite taken in at how well Hardy writes of a woman. There is much respect for her strength and all things that make a woman a woman. Yes. It all comes back to me as I type.

To those of you who have never read Far from the Madding Crowd, I would urge you to read it. It’s about this young woman called Bathsheba who comes to a little village where she has inherited her uncle’s farm. She is strong and independent, being as good as any good farmer in managing her crop and cattle. But due to some mischief she plays and a handsome young man who comes her way, she finds herself in a pretty tangle. And all the while, standing firm and strong is Gabriel Oak, a man who truly loves her.

ScaramoucheScaramouche by Rafael Sabatini

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a swashbuckling tale of a young man who plays quite an important role in the events that lead to the French Revolution. (This is all fiction, of course.) I first watched the movie based on this book years ago. It’s an old old movie starring Stewart Granger and Mel Ferrer. I loved the movie and had no idea, until fairly recently, that it had been based on a book by Rafael Sabatini.

At the outset let me tell you, if you have watched the movie forget it. While the main characters share the same name and a few personality traits, a great deal of the story is different. André-Louis is the adopted son of a wealthy French aristocrat. Many believe that he might be a by-blow of the Lord of Gavrillac, but any discerning person can tell that this is not so. The book starts out with what has to be my favourite beginning of a novel to date:

He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.

We see a rather cynical André-Louis, who does not believe in the masses striving to be equal with the nobility. This is not because he believes the nobility to be superior but because he perceives that having striven for equality, a new class would form that would take the place of the nobility thereby coming full circle with an uneven balance of the rich and the poor. However, André-Louis is forced to fight that battle of the lower classes when his best friend is killed because of his revolutionary ideas. From then on he has a personal score to settle that makes him a very integral part to the liberty the common Frenchman speaks of. We watch as Andre-Louis seeks to run away from a responsibility he does not want while finding himself constantly in the thick of things just so that he can exact his revenge.

It’s a fantastic tale, constantly moving forward…or so, I think. I came across a couple of reviews where readers felt that the book could have been shorter. However, I truly enjoyed Sabatini’s commentary as much as I did the story. And personally, I thought he did a great job of blending it all together. It was definitely racy enough for me!

VenetiaVenetia by Georgette Heyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have read Venetia more than half a dozen times and I’m sure I will read it many more times. It is one of my comfort reads, and simply delightful. Venetia has to be one of my favourite characters/heroines from any book I’ve read. She is witty, charming and good-natured…and I promise you, not in an annoying way. She is a woman who is used to a certain way of life and never complains. But one day there comes a rake into her life, and things change. She is happier than she has ever been but marriage to Lord Damerel will never do since his reputation is tarnished beyond repair. And yet, he is the only true friend she has ever known…the only one in a tiny circle of acquaintances who understands her wit and shares a sense of the ridiculous; who is never shocked at the strange things she utters and does not consider her a blue-stocking for he is well-read too.

Having read through the previous paragraph, I strongly suspect this sounds like any other kind of regency romance that fills the shelves of book stores and libraries. How does one explain the charm of this book? How Heyer has this era and the people of this era down pat? How the language of that era comes through so naturally and effortlessly? How this book develops a romance so subtle and warm and sweet without leaving a bad taste in your mouth? If you have read a Heyer before then you might have an inkling as to what I am talking about. I would so recommend Venetia to any lover of sweet, subtle romances.

 

Anne of Windy Poplars (Anne of Green Gables, #4)Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Of the first five Annes I’ve read, the fourth book has to be the one I like the least. This books is mostly a lot of letters from Anne to Gilbert. In between there are a couple of letters received by Anne and then there is a spattering of narration here and there. The letters seemed a bit unnatural…I mean, who writes entire sections of conversation in a letter, and seems quite to remember what every single person said? I never felt like I was reading a letter; just a novel written in the first person.

But, besides this Anne herself was gratingly annoying. It would seem that she went into a town where everyone but her landladies hated her, and at the end of three years she leaves the place, being everybody’s favourite person. I think it would be lovely to know that at least one person hated Anne or disapproved of her or something. But it would seem that the crotchety old folk and the one person who seemed to truly hate her are the ones who end up loving her the most. Anne keeps saying that she wants everyone to love her and that is exactly how things end up. While I am aware that the case is so in all the other books as well, I don’t think it has been so blatantly obvious as in this one, and so tiresomely done at that! While I have enjoyed reading the others so far, I found myself plodding through this one half way through.

I’m surprised I gave this one three stars. Had Goodreads had the halves I would have rated this a 2.5.

So, have you read any of the above books? If so, what did you think of them? If not, would you read any of them?

“One Hundred Years of Solitude”

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One Hundred Years of Solitude

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

4.5 stars for the 'wow' moment at the end.

 

I was not quite sure what to expect when I began this book. The blurb behind my copy reads, “As the mysterious Melquiades excites Aureliano Buendia and his father with new inventions and tales of adventure, neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the old gypsy passes into their hands. Through plagues of insomnia, civil war, hauntings and vendettas, the many tribulations of the Buendia household push memories of the manuscript aside. Few remember its existence and only one will discover the hidden message that it holds…” From it I gathered that this was a tale that revolved around a manuscript — apparently, it is not.

 

It is about six generations of the Buendia family; how they found the little village of Macondo, that rapidly grows into a town in and then becomes a metropolitan city. The visits of the first gypsies and the lives of the first Buendia generation in Macondo have a strong vein of mysticism running through the telling. It was a texture, a quality, that excited me, holding me spell bound. However, as the story progresses we are shown the step-by-step process of man's inventions and greed till the village that becomes a town that becomes a city, begins to degenerate in the very hands of the descendants of Macondo's founders.

 

I have discovered that Marquez is a very good story teller. In fact, the entire novel is told to us in the form of a story very rarely containing dialogue. While, ordinarily, I would not have taken to such a format (I'm glad I knew nothing of this when I began this book), I found that Marquez was so much master of the tale he was relating that you don't really miss the dialogue. Another thing I noticed is that you can not skip a single sentence. Each sentence is packed with story. It would have to be considering Marquez takes us through six generations in a matter of only 422 pages!

I've been trying to figure out the exact meaning and significance of the title. “Solitude” is an oft used word in this novel, usually used in relation to the members of the Buendia family, and the story covers a century. Perhaps, it even refers to the solitude of Macondo in terms of its isolation from the rest of the world in spite of its being involved in wars and experiencing colonisation of sorts. I would contemplate this further except that I would give much away.

 

This novel runs the gambit of the foundation, growth and degeneration of human civilisation — the ideas and emotions that prompt man to invent and explore, to build and grown only to destroy without thought or reason.

 

[This book is one more read for The Classic Club.]

 

A hilarious journey up the River Thames with Jerome and friends.

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Three Men in a Boat Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Allow me to begin this review by saying I’ve given this book five stars because I found it hilarious, delicious, relaxing and informative at various times. I cannot say that everyone would give it a five, though I can’t imagine anybody giving it less than three stars.

So then, what is this book about? The title sums it up perfectly…it’s about three men (and a dog) in a boat. Jerome and his pals, George and Harris decide to take a fortnight off and go boating up the River Thames. Their adventures (or misadventures rather) are few but their trip inspires in our writer and his friends a lot of reminiscing that leads to the mini-novel being peppered throughout with interesting, and mostly hilarious little anecdotes. Here and there Jerome K Jerome let’s drop little pearls of life’s everyday paradoxes and we can’t help but laugh and agree with him. I wish I could put down a couple of quotes to show you what I mean, but I was reluctant to pause in the middle of my reading to take care of something as mundane as making notes.

Apart from the humour and the anecdotes there were passages that revealed the poet in the writer’s soul. Of the three friends Jerome is definitely the dreamer, and he describes the various places they see along the Thames with such freshness and delicacy that you can almost taste the scenery. Each place also has some interesting tidbits of history that Jerome happily shares with us. Really, in many places, the book reads as a travel guide for the River Thames. I kept wondering if, more than a century later, these places still exist with the same charm Jerome ascribes to them.

This books is really one to savour. And while I wouldn’t possibly read it from cover to cover again, I definitely would like to relish it piece-meal every now and then.

 

Anne’s House of Dreams

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Anne's House of Dreams (Anne of Green Gables, #5)Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Right now, of the four books I have read in the Anne series thus far, this one is my favourite. I suppose this is because this is the one I could relate to the most at this time in my life. Anne is blissfully married to Gilbert Blythe, moves to her ‘house of dreams’ and makes lots of fascinating new friends in her neighbours. In this book she also gets to witness and experience sorrow (unlike the unhappiness of her early childhood), and grows a great deal more.

As usual, after reading the book and rating it on goodreads, I went to check out other folks’ reviews. I noticed that many young, single women, still studying or pursuing a career, were not able  to reconcile themselves with the Anne of this book in the series. Many found it hard to understand that she would give up a promising career as a writer for domesticity. However, those who did give it 4 or 5 starts, for the most part, were women like me –married and having chosen domesticity over a career and are quite happy and content with their lot. Really, when you think about it, in spite of her competing with Gilbert for first place in Anne of Green Gables and studying so hard for a career in Anne of Avonlea and  Anne of the Island, Anne is mostly a dreamer and not a woman of ambition. She loves the simple things of life and delights in them. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that she gives up a career as a writer to be a doctor’s wife and a mother.

Yet, what sparkles the most in this book, is not Anne herself, but three of the secondary characters introduced in this book — a) Cornelian Bryant, a middle-woman spinster with a kind heart and a tongue made to cut all men in half; her oft repeated saying is “now isn’t that just like a man.” b) Captain Jim, an old seasoned sailor who mans the lighthouse at the Four Winds harbour. He’s a delightful man with so many tales to share and a heart of gold. c) Leslie Moore, a beautiful woman, not much older than Anne, with a tragic past and a sorrowful present.

These three characters liven up the story so much with the first providing the comedy with her strictures on men, the second giving the story soul and the third providing a vein of pathos that does not overwhelm the reader but adds to the charm of Montgomery’s story telling.

I will admit to missing the old familiar characters of Marilla and Rachel and Davy. They make very brief cameo appearances and then vanish. However, while I missed them, I didn’t feel their absence was a drawback. It was only natural, I suppose.

Again, Montgomery deals with themes of life and death in all their varying shades and colours. I love, so much, how she does this — with such finesse!

I have two more books to go in the sies (I’m skipping book six as I don’t have it), and I have a strong feeling that the best is yet to come. However, this book is definitely going to be special to me.

Allow me to leave you with quotes, whether lovely or pragmatic, from Anne’s House of Dreams.

On the woods and the sea

The woods are never solitary– they are full of whispering, beckoning, friendly life. But the sea is a mighty soul, forever moaning of some great, unshareable sorrow, which shuts it up into itself for all eternity. We can never pierce its infinite mystery–we may only wander, awed and spellbound, on the outer fringe of it. The woods call to us with a hundred voices, but the sea has one only–a mighty voice that drowns our souls in its majestic music. The woods are human, but the sea is of the company of the archangels.

On perfection

It’s so beautiful that it hurts me,” said Anne softly. “Perfect things like that always did hurt me–I remember I called it `the queer ache’ when I was a child. What is the reason that pain like this seems inseparable from perfection? Is it the pain of finality–when we realise that there can be nothing beyond but retrogression?”

“Perhaps,” said Owen dreamily, “it is the prisoned infinite in us calling out to its kindred infinite as expressed in that visible perfection.”

On Cornelian Bryant

Certainly, sentiment and passion had a way of shrinking out of sight in Miss Cornelia’s presence.