Difficult Pleasures - Anjum Hasan

Difficult Pleasures is a book of short stories by Anjum Hasan.

Contemporary stories depicting urban lives, the stories are well-crafted, though some of them were in the danger of feeling just about adequate.

Her writing style is not too flowery, at the same time not the unnecessarily crispy, cut and dry type that so many tend to admire nowadays. This is good for my taste. Some parts of it, reminded me of Anita Nair, however, Anita Nair tends to lean towards creating slightly more surreal settings - more ephemeral.

One thing is for sure, hundred percent talented. 

The Water's Lovely - Ruth Rendell

I have been a slow reader, despite knowing I have forty two more books to finish before the year ends. I know it is not possible to do it. But if I stop now, I won't cross 12.

Ruth Rendell's The Water's Lovely is a crime fiction novel, focusing more on the psychological aspects of the crime, on the perpetrator and the victims. I had never heard of Ruth Rendell before, and I discovered her via Book and Borrow, my online library.

I liked the book. I can't say I loved it - the writing is very good, but book is too long. On second thoughts, the meandering story is probably intended to be so, as to delve into the minds of the characters - what they do and why they do so.

The story is about two sisters, Heather and Ismay, whose stepfather was killed thirteen years ago, supposedly by one of them. Now that Heather is getting married and settling down, Ismay has to figure out if she ought to speak about the crime that happened thirteen years ago.
There are many characters (Beatrix the mother, Pamela the aunt, Irene the mother in law, Marion the caretaker, Edmund the honest lover, Andrew the boyfriend, etc) and almost all the characters have been explored and developed, with the exception of the mother who has lost her mental balance after the death of her husband and other minor characters. It is almost funny how everyone is out to deceive/manipulate/exploit the other.

I may borrow her books again, but I will need enough patience to go on till the last page.

It's official! - I am a book borrower

The librarian showed up today and I paid him the money!
In came the two books - I am so thrilled, I cannot stop admiring them.

Okay this was supposed to have been published long ago and I wonder why I didn't!

So here's an update.  I have become a member of an online Library - a wonderful thing, now that I have already spent six months or more accurately, nine months, I still feel the same way about the library. They have wonderful collections and I have been borrowing, although not regularly.

So, for this year's resolution, I have many books to add.

Completed ones:
1. We have always lived in a Castle - Shirley Jackson
2. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
3. The Wildings - Nilanjana Roy (Indian Writing)
4. Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi
5. The White Teeth - Zadie Smith
6. The Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories - Ruskin Bond (Indian Writing)
7. The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins

Addendum

As always, there will be addendum to a list, or a resolution. This time, it is expanding on the plans for 2014.

I am planning to read a bit of non-fiction as well. I am generally not a fan of no-fiction and there is hardly anytime to cover what has already been written in fiction, but, with the higher aim of expanding my horizons and thoughts I have decided I will read a minimum of FIVE non-fiction books.

I have found a nice online library - basically a library that allows me to queue up my books online, pay online and wait patiently for them to come home and deliver the books. I checked quite many of them and I was not too happy with the books listed. Too generic - the popular and the cliched. Or, to be politically neutral, let me say, not my type. But this seemed pretty decent ( I wont yet say good). I have registered myself there, it will probably take a few days to activate and then I will be back in the world of library books.

There is something wonderful about reading library books. Quite different from the pleasure of owning books. The choices, the easy access, the ability to discard (i.e. stop reading) if one does not really like the book etc etc.

I am really looking forward to getting a lot books from there. Hopefully, I will not be disappointed.

Meanwhile, here is my planned list of reading for January - considering we are already half way:
1. We Have Always Lived in a Castle - Shirley Jackson (fiction) --- COMPLETED
2. White Teeth - Zadie Smith (fiction) --- IN PROGRESS
3. Selected Short Stories - H.G.Wells (fiction) --- IN PROGRESS
4. Freddy Mercury: A Definitive Biography - Lesley-Ann Jones (non-fiction: biography)
5. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (non-fiction novel)

There we go! 2014, I am well equipped to tackle you this time :)

2014

The year 2014 is going to be the harbinger of change, so to speak. Personally, professionally and emotionally.
While all that need not and will not be of any interest to anyone save a couple of friends and self, let me focus on what I want to do in this blog this year.
I have never been able to stick to resolutions - ever. However, life is lived on hope and I am a human too, so I will try it once again. After all, the adage/proverb (don't exactly know, which)  says - try, try till you... (shut the blog down?)

First off, I have a couple of resolutions:
1. Read one book per week - minimum. That makes it 52 books for this year.
2. Write about every book I read in this year. They will not be reviews, definitely not  - I don't think I have the ability to write a review (I admit, I do admit things I cannot do, growing old helps in that way). However, I will jot down whatever I feel after I read about the book.

Secondly, I plan to take up reading motivators (also known as reading challenges/memes/whatnots in the blogosphere) that are posted in many a book blog. This will open up many possibilities and the window to read new books.

Happy New Year!