After having reading the entire series of LOTR and Harry Potter,and never taking a liking to Terry Pratchett, I believed that I had read all there was to be read in fantasty fiction. At the end there are only so many underdog heroes, dark lords and imaginary worlds that you can take. But the beauty of fantasy fiction has always been in the power of magic and the belief that such a world could exist. And I missed the craziness and wonder of it all.

I thought it was time for me to go back and pick up something from the genre – so I spotted this book on the library shelf and brought it home with me.

The first thing that I realized when I was through 30-40 odd pages was that this was a romance – a mills-and-boons romance no less – and the whole fantasry world is woven around it.
There is this drop dead gorgeous , heroine, Princess Maricara and then there is this drop-dead gorgeous hero , Lord Kimber. They both bristle with beauty and arrogance and are rulers in their own world whose lives come together when they need to defend their race. The Drakons.

Drakons are creatures who can turn from human to smoke to dragons and vice versa.The Sanf imincus have risen are out to slay the dragons and erase them from this world. The two surviving kingdoms of the drakons  must join forces and fight against these.

All the ingredients of a good fantasty fiction world are there – the mythical creatures , the power of magic with the drakons, the ring to bind them all (oops..in this case the drumer..the stone that can rule the drakons). There are loyalties to be questioned, there is jealousy an betrayel.But in admist all this tension and mounting crisis – the leaders must seduce each other because the law demands that they be together(seriously??!!), make love and when time permits prepare for the battle!

I do get that its a romance novel, but the romance is so cliched and sort of comes in way of whole crisis in the dragon world. I mean if the end of your kind and your carefully protected world was near would you seriously be romancing the first hot female dragon you see. Sheesh.

Needless to say I am disappointed. And I dont mean this as any offense to the writer or fantasy fiction readers. This books is a page turner and gripping too. But in this category – there are so many more better writers and stories out there.

Verdict : Skip it

When I picked this book from my local library I missed “A Novel” part of the title. I thought these were some actual journal diaries or letters of Jane Austen. So I was a tad disappointed when I came home and actually started reading the novel.

I do agree it is always interesting to speculate on the disposition of a famous character and do read a story woven around her. Jane Austen has inspired so many Regency romances that its only natural to expect that she may have had one similar romance in her life. And this forms the premise of “The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen”. Jane Austen decides late in life to chronicle some of the key moments in her life, her one true love and her journey in becoming a published author so that at some day in the distant future someone might discover this facet of her life. Some part of the books are based on true incidents and some are entirely fictionalized. I was totally gripped in the love story between Jane And Mr. Ashford. How wonderful if it had been true! I liked reading about the various places where Jane stayed and being a part of her daily life.

However, overall, I was honestly quite disappointed. And I dont know why. The book is well written. James’s Ausetn is what you would hope she would be – very much like Lizzie Bennet. But I think that is the main problem.You don’t want her to be Lizzie Bennet, right? As a reader you want Jane to have a personality entirely of her own and not that of her created characters. In the narrative,James borrows heavily from the Jane’s novels in both dialogs and situations. And yes we know life inspires art and its quite possible that Jane created stories out of what she saw around her but it starts getting annoying at some point .It also gets distracting  beacuse instead of focusing on the book you are more interested in trying to connect what you are reading to where you have read it before. It also reflects lack of originality on the author’s part. I was often wondering, if she was running out of ideas to what could have happened in Jane’s life,as she has to pick up instances from her books to create Jane’s world.

Well I did not like it. But it doesn’t mean at all that it was a bad book. I would reccommend it to anyone who must compulsively read everything written by and on Jane Austen

Revolutionary Road is not a movie that you watch for entertainment. Based in 1950s,  this story of the suburban couple April and Frank Wheeler, hits you below the belt.
Never having read the book, and just having heard about it, I stumbled on this movie on HBO. And I was gripped in 5 seconds. April , a desparate housewife, yearns to run away from the monotony of her surroundings.  Frank, stuck in a dead end job, tries to infuse some excitement in his life with a fling at work.April and Frank are ordinary people, who, like ordinary people believe that they have the potential to be special.April decides that the only way to get out of their stifling environment is to go to Paris – where she can support the family and Frank can discover his passion for whatever he is good at. Enamoured by this idea they start planning their life around Paris.Love is back in their marriage and they feel young and foolish again. Somehow, as an audience , you know that they will never make it Paris. Frank suddenly gets a lot of recognition at work and his job does not seem that hateful anymore. April conceives and that becomes a more obvious reason to not to go to Paris.

Both April and Frank are remarkably self-centered and both are in the illusion that they have sacrificed their lives for each other. April is convinced that Paris is what Frank needs and she has given up her steady neighbourhood so that he can live his dream. But as the movie progresses , you know its April who really wishes to be someone else and be somewhere else. Frank just adds to her guilt complex. Their meetings with the crazy neighbour only brings out the insanity in their lives.

The story is such a tragedy and there are scenes that are such remarkable representations of human nature. For example, the scene where April is apologizing to Frank about getting pregnant and telling him that she can get rid of it and it wont come in the way of his dreams. Or where Frank , when confessing his affair to April, makes it sound as if its her fault. The most moving scene of it all – when Frank suggests that April needs a shrink because of her obsession to go to Paris.

Kate Winslet is remarkable , though her American accent is not very convincing. I like the way she plays the role of the troubled April in such a calm and sophisitcated manner. I have been a huge Di Caprio fan since I watched Blood Diamond. With age his boyish looks have gone giving his features a hard-edged quality – which are ideal for this role. His acting is obviously incredible.

Verdict : I recommend this movie if you are willing to get out of your daily comfort zone and think

Having seen this book hugely recommended on various blogs, it did not take me long to get this on my library request queue. Did I think it was worth the reviews? Absolutely.

Based in post-war British , this is the utterly delightful story of the friendship of Penelope, Charlotte an Henry. And that is just one layer of the story. Eva Rice transports the reader into the 1950s high society London and you can almost hear the  clink of the wine glasses and smell the perfumes.

Penelope Wallace  is the main protagonist of  the story and the reader is instantly engaged with her character from the first page. You remember your teenage obsessions as she swoons over Johnnie Ray, you empathize with her shyness as she is overshadowed by a gorgeous and glamorous mother and your heart aches for her as she struggles for her own confused feelings of love.

Milton Magna  , home to Penelope and Inigo,  is clearly a symbolic substitute for their dead father. Falling apart in disrepair , with no means to keep it standing, Magna is the albatross around their neck. There is this constant sense of repression inside its walls. It is no wonder that Penelope is always escaping to London to spend time with Charlotte and Harry.

“We were young and the world spun for us alone”  - My favorite line of the book ,it most accurately captures the essence of youth  and the book. The constant light headed dizziness of being young and knowing that your whole life is in front of you, when being noticed and loved is what you can ask for most! And nothing changes that – not being in post-war england, not poverty , not rationing and not even living in a dying house.

Eva Rice’s literary style though breezy is fun to read. Character development is beautiful and that makes this book more classy than the others. The best part is that you don’t want the story to end where it does..you wish you could spend another day in the lives of Penelope and her friends.

Verdict : Must read

I almost squealed with delight when I saw this book in the library. No, I had never heard of it nor anyone had ever recommended it to me. But what made me happy was that this book was written by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. Till I read this book , I had no clue that they were colleagues or even friends!!

The novella tells the story of a the crew and passengers on the ship The Golden Mary that is sailing towards the Californian coast. There is a motley group of passengers – a man looking out to make money in the gold rush, an estranged fiancé, a mother and her child heading to meet the father. The ship is tragically struck by an ice berg and sinks. Luckily all the crew and passengers are moved safely to two life boats.The people though alive are far from safety as they float stranded on the open sea with minimum food and water between them.

Apart from the captain and the first mate , through whose eyes the story is told , an extremely important character is Golden Lucy. She is the only child on board and everyone’s favorite. She presents purity and happiness when the ship was afloat and hope and spirit when survivors hung between life and death in the lifeboats.

Dickens brings out interesting aspects of human behavior under this severe living condition and creates vivid characters in such short story telling. One of the steps the survivors take to keep their spirits alive as days pass by without the sign of another ship , is to tell each other stories.  5 such stories all contributed by 5 different writers form the body of the novella.

Verdict : Read it

Thought I have not made much of progress for my Lost in Translation project I am going to go ahead and check off Ireland and India off my list. And here’s how

I have read several Irish writers but  would put up Frank McCourt’s book on the top of my list. Read Angela’s Ashes to get an understanding on certain ethos of Irish culture , but beware, several critics have aimed at this being biased.

There are so many great Indian writers that I could have read and talked about, and I am ashamed to admit, that I am not even familiar with some of the bodies of literature written by Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh ( please forgive me taking their names in the same breath). I would want to recommend a book written by an Indian writer here, that I recently read and enjoyed . This would be the Palce of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee. Thought not in the same league as the aforementioned writers, she writes well with a certain ‘Indian’ flair.

So thats 5/257 countries of the world – hmm- not very encouraging!

I really looked forward to getting this book from the library.This would be third party of the Trilogy Fitzwilliam Darcy , A gentleman by Pamela Aidon.
This book covered the next critical phase of the Darcy – Elizabeth relationship – the proposal, the rejection and the turnaround.
The story opens with Darcy and Colonel’s carriage flying on its way to Rosings Park – for their annual and much dreaded trip to see their aunty, Lady Catherine.Little does Darcy know that Elizabeth would be at Hunsford visiting her cousin Mr Collins and her closest frined Charlotte Lucas , who is now Mrs. Collins.
All the conflict in Darcy’s heart about Elizabeth resurfaces again and as he spends more time with her at Rosings Park , he is convinced that “she is the one”. Then comes the landmark proposal – so haughtily made and so haughtily rejected.

Darcy returns to London a changed and a distraught man. We see Lord Brougham assuming a more significant role in the book – as Darcy’s confidante and Georginana’s friend. His feelings towards Georgiana become more apparent and as a reader you are not shocked at his confession – you had already seen  it coming. Darcy decides to move from London to Pemberly to escape the political chaos and it is there that he chances to encounter Elizabeth again.From then forth the narrative sticks strictly to the orginial PnP story line.

What I really liked is that Aidon has stayed true to the script of Jane Austen for dialogues between Eliza and Darcy. There are sections in PnP when we wanted to know more details – as of the frequent visits Darcy made to the Collins’s home, the several times he met Eliza on her walks – Aidon supplies them beautifully.

We see the transformation of Darcy from the well-meaning but conceited gentleman to the benevolent yet prinicipled person that Elizabeth can admire. Its  intersting to see how Georgiana also contributes to this transformation.

This book largely focuses on the relationship between Eliza and Darcy – which is both the best and the worst thing about this book. Best, coz dont we all want to know what happened inside Darcy’s head as he was falling in love with Elizabeth, worst , coz we know the inevitable and there is nothig new to discover in the PnP world ( unlike Duty & Desire)

Recommended for all Regency Romance readers.

I have been reading on various blogs about books that are extensions of Pride and Prejudice – books that show Darcy’s perspective or books that go beyond the timeline of the story. I had been waiting for quite sometime to get hold of such a book and it was with great excitement that I picked up Duty And Desire by Pamela Aidon at the public library.

Pamela Aidon has written a trilogy on Fitzwilliam Darcy, the story from his perspective, from the time he met Elizabeth to their marriage. ‘Duty and Desire’ is the second book in the perspective and probably the most imaginative and speculative one as it takes us in that time frame of Pride and Prejudice where Darcy disappears from the story line. Aidon takes us in Darcy’s world after he leaves Hertfordshire post the Netherfield ball and goes back to London. Darcy is already in love with Elizabeth but does not know it yet and he tries to run away from his confused feelings. He busies himself with his sister , his friends , his estate responsibilites and also takes the quite shocking decision of hunting for a wife so that he can get over his infatuation for Elizabeth.This search takes him to Norwycke castle ,where, in a large gathering of eligible ladies he is sure to find his future wife. The story then becomes rather dark and you almost forget that you are reading a sedated period drama.

Aidon quotes heavily from Bard and makes out Darcy to big fan of Shakespeare! She obviously quotes Austen in a few places and her reference to ‘Sense and Sensibility’ is a lovely tribute.What I enjoyed most was extension of the personality of some of the characters that we are familiar with – we see Georgiana, Darcy’s sister, growing upto become the lady of the house, we see fantastic and cheerful relationship between Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam – as ideal a relationship that can be expected between two cousins.

Aidon successfully creates a parallel world to Hertfordshire with characters as interesting and diverse. One of my new favourite characters is Lord Brougham , Darcy’s college mate,and now close personal friend who is quite an influence on Georgiana but has a sense of mystery about him.A very good potrayel of the lifestyle, social gatherings and fashion of Regency England makes it also informative enough.

The book was a tad long in places and Darcy’s musings on religion a little tiresome. At some places I found the relationship between Darcy and Georgiana a little weird -  but that could be since sense of expression of sibling love has changed so much over the years – that what I find a little perverse is maybe perfectly normal.

On a whole, if you rank Pride and Prejudice as one of your favourites, you might enjoy reading it.

 

Note: We are back from our long hiatus – a lot has happened in the past 3-4 weeks. We have relocated to a new continent and are now residing in the state of Missouri, USA. How long we are going to be here – well really don’t know .

The only thing that I love about transcontinental flights is movies on my personal screen.The 14 hour flight from Qatar to Washington was made so much shorter by the four movies that I watched on it. The only one that stuck in  my mind 500 Days of Summer(5DS).

5DS is certainly an unexpected ‘almost a love story’.This post-modernistic look at relationships is grounded in reality. The premise is simple – boy meets girl, boy falls in love and the girl..well she does love him..but not so much. Yes, thats 21st century for you.

Tom ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt) , works in a greeting card company, believes in soulmates and true love.Summer, who joins as a temp,is soon the object of everyone’s attention. Tom is clearly smitten and luckily finds his interest reciprocated.The movie continues in a non-linear fashion showing snippets of their relationships in different times – as it grows and as it falls apart. One part that I did not like was a lack of reason on why their relationship falls apart. Summer has always been clear that she does not want to fall for a serious relationship , but you see are getting involved over time. But she pulls away abruptly – she clearly has not found what she was looking for. But why?

The story is as narrated by Tom. Marc webb uses these interesting color tones in direction that make everything look so vintage. Or maybe its just the costume design.The cinematography is very pleasing. The soundtrack fits well with the movie.

The movie is bitter-sweet and very contemporary in its outlook.

I thought the acting was brilliant.Joseph Gordon-Levitt is very cute and very believable as the ever optimistic lover. Zooey Deschanel convincingly pulls a free-spirited, honest performance.

I would recommend this for atleast a one time watch.

As part of my Lost in Translation  project I am striking of the following three geographies of my list.

Afghanistan : The Kite Runner , Khaled Hosseini Birlliant storytelling – must read for everyone. Our review is at http://shadesofwords09.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/the-kite-runner-a-novel-by-khaled-hosseini/

 

 

 

Australia – 48 Shades of Brown , Nick Earls A funny coming age of story based in Australia. Not one of the best written but definitely a good light read. Our review at http://shadesofwords09.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/48-shades-of-brown/

 

 

 

United Kingdom - The Code of the Woosters, PG Wodehouse Needs no introduction – probably most representative of wry British humour – if you havent read Wodehouse then you haven’t laughed. Really. Our review at http://shadesofwords09.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/the-code-of-the-woosters/