Kannada Books: Bettada Jeeva by Shivarama Karanth

This is honestly a re-read. But the first time I read this book, I was just a teenager, highly impressionable, so I wasn't sure I even remembered the parts correctly and, if I was right about being impressed by the book.
Contrary to my earlier, somewhat faulty belief, this is a very small book. But I was relieved to find out that I wasn't wrong at all, in assessing this book. I absolutely loved the book, all over again.

The story is about a young wanderer who happens to lose his way during one of his travels and lands up in a farmer's house on the foothills of Kumaradhara mountains. The story revolves, slowly, around the life and times of the old couple living there, and their yearning for their lost son who abandoned them for a city life.  This place is not fictitious. The experiences to a large extent is also based out of the then young author's travels.

To me this holds a very very special place because I always felt this book had the capacity to transport us to the 1930's (the period when it was written) and to the wild foothills and to the small villages that barely can be called villages with three or four families settled looking after their paddy fields, areca-nut plantations. The human emotions captured across the story are relevant even today.

I would like to call this as one of my comfort books in Kannada. (The English one being 'The Adventures of Sally by P.G. Wodehouse)

Library Books - Blue Dahlia and When We Were Orphans

Blue Dahlia - Nora Roberts
I had never read books by Nora Roberts before this one. Whenever I went to book fairs, sales or bookshops, I would see a lot of books from Nora Roberts. Shelves and shelves dedicated to her books. I was curious, although I am no reader of romance novels, I wanted to try and see how these are. Blue Dahlia was a step towards this.
The story is about three women, at three stages of their lives, coming together to find love, family and companionship. A garden/nursery uniting them all in this quest.
I would not say I disliked the book. The writing is pretty decent. However, the story line is quite boring and didn't really capture my interest. A lot of attention has been paid to research on the plants, flowers, and the processes that goes in a nursery but then, it cannot be the main frame of a story. It may interest a garden enthusist, but others will find the descriptions and the exuberance of the characters towards the garden quite boring and puzzling in that order.
One thing that bores me in a romance novel is how the sexual tension between the hero and the heroine are crafted. After a point, it gets terribly boring. It could be my personal issue with the story, and others may actually enjoy all that description about sex.

When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro
A book that disappointed and bored me no end. I had earlier read The Remains of the Day by the same author and had found it to be tender and evocative. But this one just meanders on and on and on. So much so that I just could not push myself to finish the book.

Library Books - Authors Maeve Binchy and Terry Pratchett

This post should have come long ago. I have lazed around and not done my part.
Also, my reading speed has gone down way below my desired mark.

This Year It Will Be Different - A short story collection by Maeve Binchy.
This was a surprise read. I had no clue it was a short story collection. However, the stories turned out to be pretty good. Quite soft and mushy - many of them were, but  very well written. Many of them were centered around holidays (Christmas and holidays and family ties) and the romantic in me enjoyed them quite a bit. It should be note that these are like a packet of sweets. One cannot have all of them at one go.

The Dark Side of The Sun - Terry Pratchett
I had long long ago read books from Terry Pratchett and I had enjoyed them so much that I did not think twice before I picked this book. However. This was a bit too much of science fictiony for me. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. On the other hand, the second book was far better. The story revolves around Dom Sabalos, the future chairman of a planet 'Widdershins' who survives attempts of assassination and starts his journey finding more about 'Jokers' (a mysterious, highly evolved species who probably are equal to Gods or could be, Gods)

Strata - Terry Pratchett
Strata was far better in terms of humour, story line and made me want to read till the end.
The protagonist is Kin Arad is a senior official in the 'Company' that creates new planets and sells to various civilizations across the galaxy, enabling resettlement of species. She finds out someone has been creating fake currencies of the company, which are absolutely 'genuine' and she also learns of existence of a flat earth. She travels with two unlikely companions (Silver, a she-bear of the species Shand, and Marco, a highly paranoid and aggressive frog like creature from the species Kung)  to investigate.
The book is extremely engaging, funny and flows smoothly.