Changing times, changing tales

If my idea of a perfect afternoon is mostly about visiting a far out bookstore, I soon realize that I am still not in the extreme minority of Bangalore’s population as digital book lovers would have me believe.

This weekend I headed out to Phoenix Market City and was pleasantly surprised to find its well stocked and well located bookstore fairly buzzing with people. Okay, to be fair, some of them were checking out the music (ah but here, let me stop for a minute to tell you, that there was a whole rack of vinyls on sale at this book store too. For those who remember vinyls as the LP records of old, this was like going backwards in a time machine to circa 1980. I wanted to do a small jig for the love of old times but I was in the direct vision of a stern looking store attendant and had to stop short).

Reflections apart, there I was browsing through the books and watching my shopping cart fill up with alarming rapidity when suddenly it struck me that international authors are now exploring all kinds of far out subjects in their novels now. Even my chicklit du jour is as you will soon find out, is totally different from anything I have read so far. And since books are a reflection of our times, it is quite evident that authors today are seeking to thrill, delight and shake up their audiences, instead of lulling them into the peace and sweetness of time tried romances and suchlike.

Come to think of it, finding anything to thrill us is quite a daunting task these days. Here I want to quote author Gillian Flynn in her book Gone Girl (please read this amazing, amazing book if you can) when she talks about growing up in an age of TV, movies and the Internet...
"We are the first human beings who would never see anything for the first time. We stare at the wonders of the world, dull eyed, underwhelmed. Mona Lisa, the Pyramids, the Empire State building. Jungle animals on attack, ancient icebergs collapsing, volcanoes erupting. I can't recall a single amazing thing I have seen firsthand that I didn't immediately reference to a movie or TV show...and the second-hand experience is always better. The image is crisper, the view is keener, the camera angle and the soundtrack manipulate my emotions in a way reality can't anymore." (Gillian Flynn)
Flynn goes on to write that even the way we act, react and think has been conditioned by movies and TV serials. Her unspoken question seems to be... When are people really genuine anymore?

Sorry, digressed there for a bit. The point I want to make is that as new age authors try to dish up the most outrageous plots for us in their books, I wonder what the reaction of their readers will be. Will we, a jaded, seen-it-all audience be easily impressed? I can't help thinking that this will be no cakewalk and in times to come, authors will have to work twice as hard to sell their stories.

Chicklit of the week:

A Very Accidental Love Story by Claudia Carroll

Those who are looking for pure romance should steer away from this very enjoyable book, because though there is a love story in it somewhere, it is tucked away inside a larger tale which takes up most of the story. The book is about Eloise Elliot, a newspaper editor, who on the eve of her 30th birthday realizes that she might not be getting married but she was not going to give up on motherhood, just because of this one blip in her life.

Eloise's longing for a child leads her into making one life altering decision. She goes to a sperm bank, chooses the best donor from a dossier of donor profiles and decides to undergo artificial insemination. The donor she eventually chooses is her idea of the perfect man -- musically inclined, athletic, and had even written a thesis on Ireland's economic meltdown (and therefore smart too).

Soon, Eloise gives birth to her gorgeous daughter Lily, but her problems have only begun. Managing a high powered job and motherhood singlehandedly is not easy for anyone, but soon things get worse for this young mother when Lily starts asking about 'daddy'.

So Eloise sets off on a mission to find Lily's father. It shouldn't be hard to find the perfect donor, should it? He could be a TV anchor or an executive or a man in a high powered job, if his donor profile is anything to go by.

What she hadn't reckoned with however, was that after much searching and interrogation, she would find Lily’s dad in a prison cell. How perfect is that?

Carroll's unconventional book is so well written that you will not put it down and as you go along, you begin to admire the gutsy heroine and love her far-from-perfect ‘accidental husband'. Lily is a tad too precocious but the book is so enjoyable, you don't really mind as you find yourself lost in this gripping novel with its innumerable twists and turns.

Will it all turn out fine in the end? You will have to read the book to find out the answer to that one, but then, in the world of chicklit, things are never allowed to go too wrong, are they?

 

 

 

 

Join me on this journey of pleasant reading....

Reading Shaw in Goa and catching some glitter too...

I am just back from sunny Goa where people go to enjoy the surf, the sand, the sea, and since winter is the best time of the year to visit this coastal vacation spot, the beaches are fairly crawling with people trying to catch the last of the mild sunlight before the harsh heat of an Indian summer sets in.

So, after I did all that the regulars do, like paying my tributes to the sea ( here let me pause for a quick memory: I love Herman Melville's lines in Moby Dick where he says that a sea is a place where "stand thousands of men fixed in ocean reveries'. I could see that Melville was right as there were other literally that many people out here too transfixed by the water). I also spent some time reflecting on life and some deep philosophies, watching a sunset or two and checking out the folk who were eating the most spice laden fish fry ever (delicious enough to tempt even vegetarians like me) and feeling the sand in my toes along our beachfront resort. Then I headed out to what I love doing best... hunting for old bookstores in the vicinity.

I locate this old bookstore without too many problems. Though it is tucked away in a tiny alley, my savvy cab driver takes me there easily, though it is clear that he is puzzled as to why I am not interested in the many fabulous monuments and churches that Goa is known for. Why would anyone in their right mind head to a bookstore? How was I to tell him that a bookstore like this was for me like the finest jewel to discover in a tourist paradise?

This was no glass fronted shop, but an old and sprawling bungalow with a tiny garden that had wrought iron chairs where book lovers could recline and sip on the tall glasses of cold coffee that were on offer. Or they could head via the dilapidated front porch to a living room full of books, old and new, where they could sit on the frayed chairs and sofas that had seen better days and read for hours on end without being shooed off.

So I walk into this wonderland and take in the scent of old books (ah that fragrance that no perfumery can emulate) and cannot believe that such a relatively tiny place could hold so many, many books. And then to make the picture perfect, in walks Frieda, a golden Labrador (the owner's dog) who is more interested in any biscuits that I might have than in my delighted interest in her. She soon retires after a cursory search (no biscuits, sorry Frieda) and I go back to browsing through the books. To my immense and rapturous surprise I find books that I had forgotten about, like a tattered copy of Irwin Shaw's "Bread Upon the Waters' that I had loved as a kid and could now buy at Rs. 50. There are so many more, and maybe if you call me, I’ll tell you all about them.

Long story short, I bought far more books than I needed. And then I headed back to my hotel with my still intrigued cab driver who had to struggle to find place in his tiny car for all my purchases. And yes, finally I went back to all that regular people should  be doing while on a holiday...

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Which brings me to the new book that I read on the sea breeze kissed balconies of Goa ..

All that glitters

by Ilana Fox

All That Glitters by Ilana Fox is a novel that women's fiction writers would perhaps call pure escapism. Well, who wouldn't like a life like that of the heroine, Ella Aldridge? When she marries Danny Riding, one of the country's ace footballers, Ella's life changes and how! Her home is now a Georgian inspired beauty, with a swimming pool that turns into a dance floor, a dazzling driveway complete with an Italian style fountain in the middle, unending beds of roses and azaleas bordering the sweeping lawns and then the real oh-my-God moment --- a bevy of beautiful peacocks in the garden.

A valet takes her Louis Vuitton cases to her room and from then on, it is a life of a celebrity footballer's wife for Ella, where designer clothes, swanky cars and cool parties take centre stage. Ella, however, is no airhead. She soon gets a TV show of her own, a fashion column and everything else that is the stuff of girlhood dreams. She can hardly believe her luck nor can she get enough of her dazzling new world.

But can life really be all that perfect?

Is Ella and Danny's marriage all that it seems to be or do they have a little secret? If everything is so amazing, why is this newlywed gal falling for Johnny Cooper, the bad boy of British television?

You will have to read the book to find out, but it will be quite a roller coaster of a story. Fast paced and well written, the book does keep you engrossed. However, somewhere midway, you find yourself totally unimpressed with Ella. From being the smart and savvy go getter that she started off as, she becomes a lovesick woman who is hard to relate to. It is this transition that is tiresome and though the book is awfully steamy in parts, the narrative loses steam somewhere along the way. Read it for some moments of vicarious escapism and then wait for the twists in the plot to keep you going.

Thoughts to leave with you:

Nothing is quite as perfect as it seems to be and no-one really has it all. This really seems to be the premise of the book and the author goes on to show that all that glitters is never really gold. A truly comforting thought on all those days, when the skies are grey and gloom has settled like a cold blanket around your soul and everyone else’s life seems to sparkle but your own!

 

 

Change your life, one book at a time!

Are you a chicklit addict?






I have to literally whisper this question, because chicklit is the new bad word in some circles now, frowned upon by the book snobs and scorned by the intellectually inclined.

But I am not too worried about confessing that I love them. Ah...those delicious reads in covers that come in shades of sweet pink and juicy tangerine. The books that sprinkle names like Prada and Jimmy Choo as toppings for big brand addicts, the impossibly scrumptious stories where a lucky break transforms a life or the divine tales of a heroine who waltzes off to Venice, Tuscany, the French Riviera or the deeps of Alaska only to find a to-die-for man with picture perfect abs who decides to whisk her away into the sunset.




I am also a sucker for the glitter on these book covers, the sparkly kind that publishers now sprinkle lavishly on the title page to make a statement like highlighting the dazzling life of the protagonist or the world she walks into. All that drama on the cover of a book... such bliss!
If the heroine is described as a ditsy, crazy, funny gal on the book blurb, I reach for my wallet at once...(and here's when I must stop to add that some of these chicklit authors are seriously funny and each rupee I've spent in the pursuit of a a few laughs has been totally worth it).
And so, as the new year comes around and I embark on a new chicklit journey, join me as I explore the genre that has given me hours of escapism, entertainment and enlightenment. Enlightenment, you ask sceptically? Yes, enlightenment because believe it or not, most books have lessons running though them like gossamer threads in the weaves of the story. It could be a line thrown in about the vagaries of love, the futility of glamour, the perils of shopaholicism and there you have it... the thought that you can carry home with you, once you put the book down.
I hope you will walk with me down this road of exploration as I give you my thoughts on new chicklit titles and I hope you will add your own opinions to the mix and maybe together, we can check out some new and exciting discoveries on the way. 

 
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Though I plan to review current books, I have to make an exception this time, as some of my new book stash has not yet arrived and some are in the process of being read.
So let me begin with my one of my yesteryear favourites...



Little Women and Me'
by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

If you are anything like me, you would consider classics like 'Little Women' sacrosanct. Not to be messed around with. Not to be tampered with. Not to do anything with.
In short, no-one should destroy the memory of gentle Marmee, angelic Beth, bossy Jo, vain Amy and beautiful Meg.
I know that I squirm when I see books like Jane Austen and the Zombies that run amok with new ideas, so why would I be recommending a book like this one, which takes an old story and gives it a modern twist?
The answer, quite simply, is this. The book is hilarious, totally believable and enormously enjoyable.
Little Women and Me takes you into the life of Emily March, who is the surprising middle sister in the March family who, according to Logsted (the author), the one character that the original book left out.
Well, when Emily March, our contemporary heroine leaves our world and walks backwards in time into the 1860s world óf the March family, she thinks she is on a mission. She has to prevent Beth from dying (sorry for that spoiler if you haven't read the classic) and horror of horrors... develops a huge crush on Laurie herself and tries to kiss him.
If all these tidbits are not funny enough, the witty writing style will take you through the rest. The way the heroine stumbles in old world frippery, struggles with their skirts and hoops, refuses to understand all the moralism that Marmee spouts and then tries to set right all that is wrong in this fictional world, will have you caught in the grip of a whirwind of a story.
If there is a flaw, it is perhaps in the way Emily finds each of the sisters insufferable in one way or the other, everyone, except Beth, that is. For those of us who've loved and fashioned our thoughts around the many of the lessons that the original little women learnt along the way of their pilgrim journey, this would be like heresy. But the way it is explained and imagined is so delightful, that you forgive young Emily March who is probably voicing what the Millennium youngster thinks about the classics.Though the book is technically for young adults, anyone who loves Louisa May Älcott will definitely enjoy this one.
And finally, there it is... the twist I was talking about. Who learns more at the end of the story and who changes more? Will it be Emily herself?

The thought to leave with you... when I try to change the world, do I need to change first?