JLF 2015 Day 1

Too Much of a Good Thing...


Ok, I confess, I might be a JLF junkie, given that this is the sixth time that I am attending the fest!  Though in my defense, I do have to admit that I was planning to skip it this year, but then my friends arm twisted me to Jaipur with them in tow.  Can't complain though as I am having a great time hanging out with them.
As for the festival, as always there are great speakers and not so great speakers, intelligent moderators and inept ones.  The ones that stood out are: Molly Emma Aitken, William Pinch, Jung Chang on Cixi, Llewelyn Morgan, Daud Ali, Tom Holland, and Bettany Hughes.  More on them later.
At the end of the day, I did feel like an old-timer at the fest unhappy with the changes this year.  Entry to the fest disappointed me as chaos reigned supreme...disorderly lines with the lack of information guidance resulting in a mess at the registration counter....a brutal change from the previous years of seamless entry.
At the bookstore, I had a heart attack....my familiar faces of Full Circle had been replaced by the mechanical ones of Amazon.  Yes Amazon does give discounts, but shouldn't a lit fest support bookshops???  That too when they were their original book partners?
And finally on a slightly trivial note, my frozen yogurt store had been replaced by a tea shop, boo hoo.
Well, I guess one can't have it all!

PS: have woken up to rain in jaipur....hope the venue is not swamped!

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

For a review of Life after Life by Kate Atkinson proceed to the Easy Reads page.

Book of Rachel by Esther David

For a review of Esther David's Book of Rachel proceed to the Quiet Reads page.

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

For a review of Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds proceed to the Overrated page please.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

For a review of  The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce check out the Quiet Reads page.

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin

For a review of The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin proceed to the Amazing page.