The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble

I read this book in December - last year.

I was too exhausted mentally to write my thoughts about the book. So I decided I will take it up later.

The story is about a group of women - friends - who have formed a reading group, discussing a book every month. It is essentially about their lives obviously, more than about the actual book reading, but then, that is fine by me. However, the book hopped, skipped about so much from one character to the other that it was highly distracting. The main characters plus their spouses/boyfriends/daughters - too many people and too much importance on everything.

It seemed like the attempt was to make it more substantial than what it actually was. In a way, it was worse than being a plain chick-lit.  What I mean by that is, the issues faced by the characters were not serious for me as a reader to care about. I admit that the author very deliberately wanted to keep it that way, and that is fine, so as to not make it dreary, but it just didn't push me enough to feel for them. I know, I am being extremely harsh here. And I hope she does not mind. Perhaps these things happen in the debut novel.

Throughout the book I kept wishing the same story could have been said in a crisper form. I guess I am being the fussy one here, asking for too many things..

Mrs. Sinclair's Suitcase - Louise Walters

Sometimes, a book that you thought would be a light read may end up making you think about a lot of other things beyond just the satisfaction of finishing a good book.
I am, like many other readers, plagued by a slight bias against light reads - the assumption is that a light, fluffy story equals to fluffy, superficial writing. I hate to admit it, but it does happen sometimes, that you read a couple of books that fit such description and skew your perception for the entire segment (if I can call it a segment/genre). Chick-lit is another category that gets such a treatment by many readers.

It is indeed the time to correct such biases and set the course right, else I might lose out on some good books. Mrs. Sinclair's Suitcase by Louise Walters was one such book. I am glad I read it. The book has two story lines told in parallel, one from the time of second world war, and the other set in contemporary London. It was smooth, although at times, I wanted the current story line to run a little more descriptive than the WW II one. But I guess, it is just a question of taste.
The book raised many questions on motherhood - why it is so important to some people and not to others. It wasn't preachy although the story definitely veered towards championing of the emotions and how sacred and essential it is for most women. It also made me think of my own situation. Do I like kids? Do I want them so badly like Roberta's grandmother Dorothy or is it more of a social function, like how Roberta's mother felt?
I still haven't found answers to it, and it bothered me - the many ways in which women react towards maternal instincts, motherhood etc.

Now a book that can make a reader think beyond just the story line, is definitely worth watching out for. It is another thing that the story itself was quite nice and romantic. Added to that was the fact that Roberta, the heroine of the book (one of the heroines, the other was her grandma, Dorothy) was thirty five plus, single woman working in a bookshop made it all the more charming, for me.

Snake and Other Stories - Premendra Mitra

I had earlier read short stories from Premendra Mitra, way back in 2011. It was one of those lucky encounters with a good book in the library, like how one might meet a stranger in a train that turns out to be a wonderful companion for your journey.

This one too, is from the library, in a different city and in a different year. But the joy was the same.
Premendra Mitra wrote in Bengali - he was a well known author in 1930's. This book is a translated version of course, although I am pretty much sure it has been successful in bringing out the essence of those short stories.

The language is lyrical yet not obscure and often takes you by surprise due to its vivid descriptions, insights on the human condition and emotions. In a country like India where the social fabric has pretty much stayed the same, at least in rural settings, the stories feel surprisingly contemporary.
Many of the stories have 'slice of life' feel to them - a phrase that I do not like very much, but use here for want of better description. But some of them do have spooky, ethereal quality, almost giving you a feel of magical realism, making it a style that was used in writing much before the famous Marquez did.

It was definitely worth the time. I shall try and get my hands on some more of his stories. 

Hello 2016

2015 was not a very bad year for my book burrowing but not great either. I had a target of 50 books, but I could just manage 26 books of which, three were non fiction. The idea was to read about five at least in the non-fiction segment. I was better with the books from new authors (i.e. authors new to me). I managed to read 17 new authors. Again it is not surprising considering I took a library membership.
That was another highlight of book reading - my library books. I have realized how good it is to have a membership to a library, this way we explore so many more genres and authors without having to worry about buying them and finding them not up to our taste.

This year again, I am being ambitious.
What is the point of anything if I am not ambitious, at least in reading and writing?

• I want to read one book per week, if not, make it to 50; I am sticking to last year's goal.
• I want to read more Kannada books. This year I have raised the bar to ten.
• My reading/writing group suggested we read at least 5 books from authors who are not around anymore. This goal has plenty of scope so reading a minimum of 5 books is not going to be difficult.
• I want to track how many Indian authors I will read this year.
• I also want to track how many books I read from authors I have not tried before. 
• I want to read classics, revisit some older ones which I probably read in childhood, for 'Alice in Wonderland' taught me the beauty of re-reading when you are an adult and you think you have grown past the book that you read in school or college.

Looks decent enough to me.
Currently, I am reading two books in parallel, one American and one British:

1. Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
2. Mrs. Sinclair's Suitcase - Louise Walters