The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh (Book).

Book: 10/52
The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh
My Rating: 5/5

I am in love with Mr Ghosh’s writing after reading his Sea of Poppies last year, although I must say his books are not easy to read, but as much as I could grasp from them, they are turning out to be beautiful reads. This one was no exception as it gives a terrific account of life in Burma (now Myanmar) from 1880 till the late 90’s and in between 20 years from our own town of Ratnagiri too. Unbelievably detailed account of an Indian expat Rajkumar’s life in the then Burma, where he falls in love with a teenage maid Dolly of the then queen who he meets only once. The most important character of the story is the Glass Palace itself, where the royal family resides. How this young guy's life takes a turn from working on a ship which lands him in Rangoon in late 19th century, after doing odd jobs how he becomes a man of substance and ends up finding his love after all is the rest of the story. The way Mr Ghosh has shown the life of the King and Queen who get ousted by the British Empire in search of Teak wood and how they end up living their life in Ratnagiri under house arrest, also what happens to the princesses, was totally heart-touching. Another important character gets involved while they are under house arrest in Ratnagiri: the collector and his wife. It's not only the rags-to-riches and back to rags story of Rajkumar, but also of the three generations of his own family, parallel to the royal family too. Fortunately, I had spent a few weeks in Ratnagiri a decade ago, and this book took me back to that town with its beautiful visuals, especially the jetty mentioned in the story, as a lot of the story takes place around the rivers and sea too. One of my close friends great grand father was the then Governor of Ratnagiri. I kept looking for a known reference in this fictional story, too. Mingblowing is the way he has captured the politics of war, imperialism and the British invasion of so many countries, the plight of the people affected by the same and the politics of ever-changing loyalty of the Indian army was shocking. And he does all that with half a dozen characters only from all walks of life, an expat Rajkumar from India, Saya John a local from Burma who comes to his rescue, Burma’s last King and Queen with their two daughters and third on the way, an Indian Civil Servant taking care of King and Queen in India and last but not the least his Wife followed by three generations of all of them, while so much goes in the world around. 

What I loved most about his storytelling is the way he refuses to give a clear timeline of the story but lets you capture it through his love of cars back in the day :). I consider myself a very passionate car guy, but after reading this book and the way he showed the beautiful cars from our own history, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard a majority of their names, let alone the details he shares of V6S or V8’s, trucks and the much important Daytona too. Post India’s independence, he started giving the years. The entire story is spread between Burma, Ratnagiri and the Malay region with terrific detailed accounts of what locals wear, eat, their houses, work culture, dialects, and so much more. No doubt Mr Ghosh is a genius, as the way he has woven this story with so much going on in India back in the day, but he never makes it so political that it loses steam and goes away from his characters. I was totally engrossed in both the central characters as they and their generations go through so much with the tumultuous times. Ofcourse it all was spread over 550+ pages and it took me a good 15+ days to finish it, but loved it to no end. I am definitely looking forward to reading so much more from him now and will come back to his latest outing the Ghost Eye, by year's end, I guess. 

Do let me know if you have read the Ghost Eye and loved it too. Also, let me know if you have a favourite Amitav Ghosh book too. I would love to read it at the earliest. 

 

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë (Book).

Book: 9/52
Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë.
My Rating: 5/5

I had to read this one very fast because I wanted to watch the much-awaited adaptation on the big screen, which came out last weekend. And what a treat this one turns out to be for me. Now the latest adaptation has Jacob Elrodi playing Mr Heathcliff, and I totally loved Jacob in his last outing on the big screen as Frankenstein’s Monster, yet again with a totally new take which touched my heart big time, as the Monster always does, as many times I end up reading the Mary Shelley book. This one was no different, as I am sure you will agree if you have read Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is no less than a monster when it comes to this harrowing story of what he does to the family who adopts him in the first place as a good deed. How he rips apart the family in its entirety was totally shocking to me, as I guess I had forgotten it after I read it for the first time when I was in school. How shrued and cunning the man turns out was beyond me, the way he falls in love with Catherine and she for him, making me think this will be a rebellious love story of sorts but the way Cathy takes a stand to get married to someone else (why? you need to read the book) and then Heathcliff vanishes for a few years but as soon as he comes back the revenge drama of sorts starts. The entire story takes place between two mansions a few miles apart from each other, with the majority of it taking place in the family owned Wutheing Heights, the haunted mansion to say the least. I loved the way Emily carves out the house as a solid character in itself. The whole story is narrated as a flashback to one Mr Lockwood, who becomes the latest tenant in the second house and visits Wuthering Heights to meet and greet his landlord. A very simple yet totally intriguing story kept me hooked to the very end whereas the ending is dislosed right in the first chapter itself, but it works beautifully to know how and what all happens in the first place.


Do let me know if you have read and loved Wuthering Heights or if you have liked any of its earlier adaptations, as the current movie is getting a lot of negative reviews as of now. I am certainly going to watch it as soon as I get back to my town after a short vacation.  

The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion (Book).

Book: 8/52

The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion

My Rating: 4/5

After I finished “The Rosie Project”, I had to read this one at the earliest to know how life goes forward for Prof Don Tillman (PhD in Genetics) when he tries to win over his love Rosie by doing a proper research project on her. Now, this one takes the story ahead as they get married and move to NY from Melbourne, as Rosie has to finish her thesis while he finishes his study of drunken rats' liver :). This is all about how he makes himself a better husband and a perfect father. But Don being Don, he has to help so many other lesser mortals’ problems too, like his ex-rock star drummer who is having a tough time solving his Beer stock problem in a sealed room, with another friend Dave’s refrigerator business going downhill, with his wife not being too happy with him and all that. Much to Rosie’s annoyment his philanderer friend and mentor Gene also makes an entry into their household in the USA. In between, Don gets arrested too for a reason that was not only hilarious, but the way he solves his problem makes it even better. As I said earlier Graeme Simsion will show up somewhere between PGW and Frederik Backman in my reading ratings and this second book from the series was no exception, totally hilarious affair and egaging till the very end where Don almost becomes a terrorist of sorts and gets on the verge of getting arrested again, you’ve got to read this one for his histrionics which never come to an end whatever situation life may take him on. Having said all that, I must say this one, in comparison to its earlier coutnerpart wasn’t that great or maybe it didn't work for me the way Rosie Project worked, but even then it made a fantastically quick read without any doubts. And I loved the Indian connection, especially the way he makes a mantra to calm himself in tough situations. Now that I have finished this one, I am eagerly looking forward to the third and last from Don Tillman series to see how it all will end for him once he becomes a father. 

Since I started the first book and now that I am done with the sequel too, the character of Din Tillman keeps on reminding me of my own favourite, much-loved Forrest Gump for some reason. I keep on drawing parallels between them two, don't you think Don Tillman is almost as good or maybe even better because of his PhD than Gump, but is almost equally fantastic in everything he does with aplomb, finesse and to the perfect result. Have you read this one or any other by Graeme Simsion? Do let me know, as I am sure to check out a little more from him once I am done with this series. 

 

Better than the Movies - Lynn Painter (Book).

Book: 7/52

Better than the Movies - Lynn Painter

My Rating: 2/5

My daughter was surprised when I raided her room for this book, as I had run out of my own books and couldn’t go to the library last week. I had no expectations from this one, as going by the title, it did look like a teenage love story, and I wasn’t wrong. Turns out to be a teenage girl's story of finding a happy ending with her forever crush, how she gets to him after dreaming about him all his life is the gist of the story. Then comes along her handsome hunk of a neighbour with whom she has a permanent tiff because of a single parking spot in the neighbourhood where both of them try to park their car, much to the other's annoyance. Things take a good turn when this next door good looking neighbour starts helping her land her crush. What happens next was a pretty predictable teenage love triangle with loads of referneces of love stories (movies) and a plethora of love songs. Later, things fall into the right place with the ending confirming a sequel :). It wasn’t a bad read at all, thanks to the side characters, her dead mother, loving stepmom and a cool best friend, they all make it a good time-pass read. I would have definitely given it an extra star as the girl works in a bookstore (part-time) and the author somehow rated Julia Quinn (Bridgerton fame) at par with Jane Austen (like really??), thereby losing one star from me. Although I finished it in three sittings, and yes, it did make my to-be-seen movie list a bit longer and gave me 30-odd love songs, which made it to my Spotify list. 

So far, there is no movie based on the book, but it will definitely make up for a good TV series whenever it may come. Do let me know if you have read Better than the Movies and liked it too. 

 

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion (Book).

Book: 6/52
The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion
My Rating: 5/5

So I continue to read 5/5 books this year, and this one was no exception on that front :). I landed on this book in our little library in Pune, as I had read quite a few glowing reviews on the same in the past. I must say that I loved this book big time, and the story was so amazing that I wished it never ended. I am definitely going to put Graeme somewhere between my love for PG Wodehouse and Frederik Backman, his main character Don Tillman, an Aussie, is no less than Jeeves, Wooster and much-loved and adored Ove for that matter. Don is 40ish, PhD in Genetics and is not only a scientist but also a Prof of repute in a notable university, and on top of all that, he is an Aspie, as he calls all Asperger’s syndrome people with love. So that makes him a superhuman of sorts with a very set and organised life, but the way Graeme has written the story and character, it is not only hilarious but also made me emotional too. Now that's another thing that Don doesn’t feel emotional at all, and how? I can’t explain, but one has to read to know. So the story goes forward when one fine day he decides that he needs to get a life partner, and he starts “The Wife Project” with his best friend Gene, who is not only his colleague but a father figure too, with his much-loved wife Claudia, who is a Psychologist, so you get the hang of the people he goes around with. Unfortunately, his wife's project doesn’t do much help, but Gene finds a woman called Rosie, who is a total misfit, but then with Rosie, Don starts another project called “The Father Project” with her to find her biological father. And with many twists and turns, after intercontinental travel in search of her father, will they get him, or will they cook up their own story? is the rest of the novel. 

The book is hardly 300+ pages, and I found it completely compulsively readable, totally unputdownable, thrilling, intruiguing and so mushy, so romantic. I wish and pray they never make a movie on this one, as Tom Hanks is too old and Jacob Elordi is too tall to play Don’s character and won't look like a PhD guy, either, and I could not imagine any other actor playing that amazing character as of now. I am amazed by the way Graeme has written such a beautiful story around Science and technical terms, yet it works wonders with the readers who do not know the field, especially the way it revolves around the University Campus with 50-odd doctors (PhDs included) being examined for the father project, most hilariously. And the way Don, who is an accomplished cocktail bartender and a licensed server of alcohol, goes through his days alone with such finesse is to die for. I am so much in love with him that it will be very hard for me not to get the rest of the two books in the series at the earliest, hoping and praying that our library has all the parts :). I loved the bookcover too, with a lobster in prime focus, I wish I could eat a lobster every Tuesday just like Don did all his life till he met Rosie. 

Do let me know if you have read the Rosie Project and loved it too. Also, let me know who you would love to see as Don and Rosie in the movie, if one ever gets made. I will pick Emily Blunt for sure as Rosie.