There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
Thirteen year old Cecil Grey and her siblings, sixteen year old, Joss, ten year old Hester, and the littles, Willmouse and Vicky are taken to Compiègne, France one hot summer by their mother. Mrs. Grey whose husband is a botanist and is usually busy in expeditions abroad, feels that the children are becoming unruly and … Continue reading Growing-Pains: The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden (1958)
This year, I read only three books in translation. THE DOGS AND THE WOLVES (LES CHIENS ET LES LOUPS) by IRENE NEMIROVSKY (1940) Ada Sinner, from the wrong side of the fence, has a glimpse of her wealthy cousin, Harry and falls in love with him. This is no childhood infatuation because even in her … Continue reading In Translation: Three Novels
The Cry by Helen FitzgeraldMy rating: 1 of 5 stars Do people really like such books? Peopled with unsympathetic character; alternating narrative by hysterical women; it being thrust down our throats that in an extra-marital relationship, the man is the villain - not the wife, not the mistress who, poor things, are nothing but victims … Continue reading Waste of Time: The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald
The Boy That Never Was by Karen PerryMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Another book that promises more than it delivers. Harry and Robin are coping with the grief of losing their three old son. Though it was a natural calamity that took him away yet both are full of guilt and resentment which is … Continue reading Review: The Boy That Never Was
It is time for the first check-in of 2016 as we climb the mountains of books, purchased before this year.Well, I have taken a small step towards conquering those mountains, having read Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch. And my fave character of that book (to ans a ques asked by Bev @My Reader's Block) was the … Continue reading Mount TBR Check-In
"When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers."Only Oscar Wilde could have come up with something so bleak and so subversive. And so true, as Nuri el- Alfi, would have added in writer Hisham Matar's poignant bildungsroman Anatomy of a Disappearance.Living in Cairo, young Nuri, finds himself unable to fully comprehend his … Continue reading Arriving into Absence: Hisham Matar’s Anatomy of a Disappearance
Little Bruno's world changes when he shifts from Berlin to a place called Out-With as his Father has been posted over there. But what exactly his Father does,Bruno has little idea. All he knows is that his father was a man to watch and that the Fury had big things in mind for him and … Continue reading His Father’s Thoughts: John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Since this is the season of good cheer, it seems appropriate to review a book that embodies the season's message of hope, and forgiveness.Tucker Mason (Tuck) is a world-renowned photographer who puts all his energies in his work, staying on the road and hardly ever returning home. A chance encounter with a woman who is … Continue reading A Book for Christmas: Charles Martin’s Wrapped in Rain
"Just because you've never met them doesn't mean they're not real. There's more things on earth than you ever dreamed about."Though I had heard a lot about Emma Donoghue's Room, I was wary of picking it up since I thought that the writer was simply cashing in on certain screaming headlines that hit the world's … Continue reading Nightmare or Real? Emma Donoghue’s Room
I had never heard of the title or the author, but I didn't care. The decision had been taken. I took the book down with great care and leafed through the pages, letting them flutter.What to do when books that are virtually unputdownable finally end on a false note? It happened with Sarah Waters' The … Continue reading Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
a hot cup of pleasure 