The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society- Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows



How could you resist a title like this? I couldn’t and I am glad I succumbed. It was delightful to read an epistolary novel after such a long time. There- that is the first and obvious thing about this reading experience but it needed to be said. Now I can move on.


The bonus is that it is written with wit, elegance and lightly worn erudition.

Briefly- It is 1946 and author Juliet Ashton is in search for a subject for her next book. A chance letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey leads her to the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and its members. Soon Juliet gets involved in the lives of its members and moves to Guernsey, where she finds not only the subject for her next book but also her destiny.

The characters are charming and original- there- I found a good substitute for the over used quirky- and the story is heart warming. This is perhaps one of the rare stories of the war which is about human beings in the war and their everyday life where even the darkness is treated with a light hand.

Read it- This is a book that is filled with hope and joy. It touches you without being maudlin. and you will go back to again and again. I already did.

© Maya

THE POISONWOOD BIBLE- Barbara Kingsolver

What can I say? Congo at the cusp of liberation comes heartbreakingly alive in the hands of the immensely talented Kingsolver. She does it with cleverness as it comes alive through the narrative of the self- centred Rachel, of Leah who years to be daddy’s darling, of Adah who refuses to speak and of the baby of the family Ruth May. Through the narrative it is not just Congo, its history and culture we discover but also the four sisters and their father who never speaks to us directly. The mother, Orleanna speaks to us later and when she does for the first time leaves a smear in our heart and questions in our mind that keep us going until the last page.


In a sentence- it’s a book of tragedies and triumphs, personal and national and a fitting ending. A final thought- Poisonwood Bible could not have been better named.

Read it- it’s brilliant, powerful and you wouldn’t want to miss something that’s definitely going to become a classic.

©Maya

The Monochrome Madonna – Kalpana Swaminathan

There comes a time when the writer you follow, arcs over the curves and rises to a new, higher level, delighting and greatly satisfying the faithful reader. That is what Kalpana Swaminathan does in her new book, the latest in the Lalli Mystery series.


Sita gets a call from her friend, Sitara declaring she is dying. Sita reaches her house to find a body, only it’s not Sitara but a strange man. Who is the man? What was he doing there? Why is Sita drugged? Why is there a Madonna hanging in the living room, that bears Sita’s face and is in monochrome? Why does Ramona turn nasty? And how did Sitara’s gleaming gold toe- nails become plain and grimy? Most importantly who really murdered him? Is Sitara’s husband who she claims he really is?

Swaminathan takes you on a journey that is highly readable; where the tale is well--plotted with a slice of psychology that will satisfy even the most stringent of the readers. The regular Lalli readers will find the characters more finely etched the crime more sophisticated and the narrative more assured. Swaminathan travels from humour to emotional to gritty with ease, keeping the interest hooked to the end.



Read it- one of the best detective books of Indian writing.



©Maya

Salt and Saffron- Kamila Shamsie

                                                                


Shamsie weaves magic with words. Here’s a sample:

“I could mention the spices, so perfectly balanced you could almost see the mustard seed leaning on the fenugreek, the cumin poised on the dried chillies”

And with this delicately poised, evocative prose that is laced with dry wit she weaves such a fine web- about Aliya, her family the Dard-e-Dils, and their family legend that you never notice that it is after all just a love story about falling in love with boys from the other of the tracks. The characters and their eccentricities, the aristocratic society they inhabit, the thin edge of class borders and the bigger boundaries between countries all come alive without burying you under their weight. You close the book with the feel of having had a sumptuous feast.

A fine blend of salt and saffron.

©Maya

The Bellini Madonna- Elizabeth Lowry

                                                               

Sigh. The blurb was so promising- a libidinous art historian, the search for an uncatalogued painting, a woman with possible sinister motives.


But within just a few pages, so many things went wrong. The art historian is just a little bit gristly and difficult to like, the book ends and you really are un clear as to who has hood winked the other, and the narrative drags. I had to skip read and after mid- way through the book, i really stopped caring what happened and to whom.

Read- why would you want to?

© Maya

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie- Alan Bradley

                                                                       

This one is going to be tough to write about because the book consumed me. And now I have to make sense of it. So I am going to do this the old- fashioned way- talk about the story a little bit and tell you what works and all that.


11 -year- old Flavia is obnoxious, precocious and a nightmare as a sibling. Her passion is chemistry and her specialty poisons. She lives her enigmatic father and two annoying sisters. Then there is the colourful odd jobs man, Dogger.

A stranger dies in their cucumber patch and no points for guessing who finds the body. The police arrest her father but Flavia is sure her dad is innocent. So she does some sleuthing on her own and we have a brush with poisons, prestidigitators, and philately and past- murders. And of course pie.

Tight plot, quirky characters, quiet humour and taut narrative. Original, fresh voice and characters you will fall love with. And an absolutely delicious murder

Read it- the pie’s crust is flaky, the stuffing perfectly tart and there is definitely a sweetness at the bottom. As perfect a murder novel as one can get post Christie.

©Maya

The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment – Isabel Losada

Okay. The Big Thing- I am going to stop telling you why I picked up this or other books- the reasons are the same- recommendations, interesting title , captivating blurb. If there is a story behind the why, I promise to let you in on it.


This book- one of the books that may well have influenced my life, I admit. How? When I tell you about the book, you might get the answer.

The book is about, as the title tells you, the author’s search for enlightenment. She tries everything- Insight Seminars, Rolfing- yeah I wondered too what the heck that was and I am going to resist the temptation to tell, tantric sex- I can see that smirk and tai`-chi.

The account is funny, candid, honest, informative and sometimes even inspiring. What you notice is how she open-mindedly embraces every experience, is willing to give it a fair chance and fair-minded in talking about it while being truly humorous. She launches into each one with whole heartedness and her account of it reads like a dizzy ride. So ehilarating that after every workshop she describes, you have to catch yourself from rushing off to try it. Even the colonic irrigation. Didn't mention earlier, did I? oh there are more in that book.

Read it- even if you are not seized by inspiration you will be hugely entertained. and definitely be better informed.

© Maya