The Bridges of Madison County: Robert James Waller

This book was a 1992 best seller and was made into a movie starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. I had heard this book being mentioned in some discussions but never laid my hands on it.
This book is about Franseca, an Italian based in Madison County Iowa. She lives with her husband and two kids, [...]

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The Little Stranger: Sarah Waters

It’s been ages since I read a ghost story, so when I picked up ‘The Little Stranger’ and it said ‘… chilling ghost story’, I immediately decided to read it. Now that I have finished reading it, I am not so sure it was a ghost story.
Sarah Waters is a great story teller. She has [...]

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The Book Thief : Markus Zusak

This book is, hands down, the best book I have read in 2009 so far. Considering the number of days left in this year and the amount of time I get to read these days, this book might remain the best book of the year.
What is the book about? Here is what the publishers say:
It’s [...]

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A Sleeping and a Forgetting : William Dean Howells

I won this book in a giveaway hosted by John Self. I have been following his blog since a long time now and find his reviews insightful. He is one of those readers who doesn’t stop at just ‘I liked it’ or ‘I hated it’, but goes on to tell us what the book is [...]

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The Lovely Bones : Alice Sebold

Almost everybody on my book forum was raving about this, so I had to read it to know what all the hype was about. It often happens that a hyped book fails to impress me and this is so true about this book.
The Lovely Bones is about Susie Salmon, who is raped and murdered by [...]

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What I have been upto

Before some people start wondering if I am dead or haven’t read a book in a long time, let me come out in the open and say neither of it is true. I am pretty much alive and I have been reading quite a lot. Since time is a luxury these days, I prefer to [...]

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A new start

I challenged myself to read atleast 50 books last year. I could achieve only half that number. Last year was a good one for me when it comes to reading and writing. My blogs were fairly regularly updated and my reading saw a good mixture of books.
The Secret Life of Bees has to be the [...]

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Man Booker 2008 Shortlist

The Man Booker 2008 shortlist is out.
Aravind Adiga -  The White Tiger
Sebastian Barry – The Secret Scripture
Amitav Ghosh – Sea of Poppies
Linda Grant – The Clothes on Their Backs
Philip Hensher – The Northern Clemency
Steve Toltz – A Fraction of the Whole
How many of these have I read? Zilch!
Surprisingly, the Booker favorite Salman Rushdie is not [...]

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Better – Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande is a practising surgeon in one of the hospitals in the US. His parents are both doctors. His debut book, Complications, was well received for his honest insight into the medical world. His second book, Better, carries the same theme. Gawande gives us glimpses of the troubles, dilemmas, difficulties that professionals in the [...]

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Journey with a hundred strings: My life in music – Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma with Ina Puri

I hesitate to pick up a memoir or an autobiography. I really don’t know what to expect. Will it be a series of incidents plainly stated in chronological order? Will it be like sitting with that person and having an informal chat and sharing his or her life over a cup of coffee? Since I [...]

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