and what have i been reading?

Loretta Chase: Miss Wonderful.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. And I look forward to reading more by Loretta Chase. Maybe it just happened at a needy moment- when more susceptible than ever to books that end pleasantly predictably. Or maybe it just was a book with interesting people and a hint of a story.

Not that the book was anything like what the link to follow talks of. Nothing that had you sniggering at it.

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/random-thoughts-from-anonymous-reader-on-men-of-danger/

updates of a general nature

fresh from a trip to turkey (so beautiful- but iffy about some of the food- why were so many things served cold?) and dubai (iffy about the place but oh- the food!).

and what have i been reading?

Moonraker's Bride by Madeleine Brent (Peter O'Donnell)
Was sure that i had read this before- but forgotten the story. All very predictable and very fun.

Master's Of Illusion: The World Banka and the Poverty of Nations by Catherine Caufield.
I haven't finished this yet, but I will, once my mother returns it. I allow myself to read no more than 50 pages a day because any more will cause an attack of some sort. caused by total horror.

Reviews. More

Ishq and Mushq- Priya Basil
I like books like this one. About people who live in places other than those accorded to them at borth. About women who have difficult relationships with other women. About food. With speciific references to Indian food.
There was a lot of cooking in the book. Though it felt like Basil had read Like Waster from Chocolate and thought, thats nice, I'll have my heroine cry into the food andmake it salty too. Other than for this it was much more palatable that most of the other stuff being churned out about diasporas.

Solo- Rana Dasgupta
The blurb had nothing to do what was in the book. There was a stray mention of a parrot, and no one gypsy- not tribe whowse lost language we pursued in the story. Despite the disappointing lack of parrots it was fun. Yet another person who read Amitov Ghosh and thought- ha.

The Harmony Silk Factory

I can see this being made into one of those really lovely glossy world war two movies. With the Malaysian version of Keira Knightley playing Snow. It would be the sort that might be Oscar nominated for cinematography, costume, music and supporting actor. It would be the sort of movie with one really involved sex scene and long pauses in conversation, during which characters exchange meaningful glances while sitting around a breakfast table while servants shuffle in the background. You know the kind I mean.

I liked the first third of the book. When it seemed to be like the boy was in search of his mother. I liked the second part of the book when the father was established as not so much of a monster after all. But I got got a bit tired of the third narrator's voice, when it became clear that it was still a story about a boy hunting for his father (another one- yawn). I am tired of books about boys hunting for fathers. I am tired of boys who are hunting for their fathers. Mothers are important too. More boys should be hunting for their mothers.

Also, while I got the whole, pastel-watercolour approach to detail that Aw seemed to be doing I would have liked a little more explanation for why people do things. For example- this is a really wealthy family. It wasn't ok for them to allow their daughter out with just anyone. Now that she's married they send her off on a trip, in a boat with no servants, with no chaperone or maid, to an island retreat with no constructed shelter on it? Where they have to go hunting for food and cook it on their own- two Englishmen, one Japanese spy and two of the richest locals in this little Malaysian outpost. Sounds very fishy.

Aside from the obvious logical loopholes, of which there was more than one, I felt like the book was an anaemic version of a better draft, that must be lying around somewhere. If only in Tash Aw's head. It also seemed to draw a lot from the work of Amitav Ghosh, and tryig to be magical in the same way. It comes sniffingly close.

More books

And then after that I read

1. The Guardian of the Dawn, by Richard Zimler
Which, set in early 17th century Goa, claimed to be ' a riveting historical mystery', 'impeccably reasearched' and ' a powerful reinterpretation of Othello'. It was none of these things. It was, in the beginning, a detailed description of Jewish customs four hundred years ago, nof of a way of life that Jews on the west coast of India might have had come centuries ago. And later it was a whine about the persecution of Jews during the Inquisition, and not in any way an examination of a set of historical factors, actions and circumstances. A large part of it was a justification for religious intolerance (as Tiago's impossibly intolerant father is the moral centre of the book).

And no, just because Tiago got to sleep with a Hindu that does not make it all better. That only happened because the author cleverly manages to have the Hindu girl convinced of how Hanuman is a character from a Judaic tale. No recognition of her seperate religious identity. She needs to be assimilated. And the Muslims of course are evil and must die. Even addressing the issue of self-loathing and guilt, as the book tried to do in the end couldn't salvage it for me. By about half way through I'd had it with the irritating family, and was completely unsympathetic to all but the Christian wife of the converted uncle (who the book was intolerant of). Anyhoo. I finished it. And I will not be buying Richard Zimler again.

2. Brilliant- Marne Davis Kellogg
This was not published by Penguin. And it had no pretensions to historical accuracy, 'spark of genius'(yes I'm still quoting the cover of the Zimler book) or profound exposrations of human nature. It was a fast and funny flighty little book about crooks who are past their twenties and still attractive. I haven't read all those many books with middle aged heroines, who like their food, sex and beautiful jewellery. I wouldn't read it again, but I would recommend it to someone who had to spend all day in bed with a cold, or recovering from a nasty ex boyfriend.

And now i am part way through The Harmony Silk Factory. I shall wait until I am atleast one third in to form an opinion.

So this is what I have been reading

1. Black Swan Green- by david Mitchell.
I loved Cloud Atlas, despite tiring a bit at the end, and not caring enough about the last story. All the other bits were great. I must read everything else by this man. And according to wikipedia he looks pretty nice too.

Black Swan Green I enjoyed a lot too.


2. The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

Did not like this much. Am now suspicious of things that have an Oprah's Book Club sticker on them. The last few have turned out to sentimental American pap.