It's December now and one is nearing the end of 2020, please let the good times recommence! While one is waiting for an end to Covid, I figured this was a good time to take stock of my readings since the last post.
Continuing with the theme of travel writings I picked up Rory Stewart's The Places in Between alternating it with Frederick Starr's Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane which proved to be a real serendipitous pairing: reading about the dazzling past of Central Asia in Starr's book juxtaposed with the grim present day reality of one of the most traumatised areas of the region—Afghanistan—as recounted by Stewart. With Stewart's book I was delighted to have finally found a travelogue this year that does what it should: transport one to another land—so needed in the these times of house arrest.
After this pair of books, I reverted back to fiction and read the following:
The Secret of Santa Vittoria by Robert Crichton
This book had been highly recommended by my aunt MP and was well worth the read. This was quite a rollicking yarn about an Italian village hiding their precious wine from the Nazis. While The Secret of Santa Vittoria could have just remained a facile tale, Crichton does not shy away from the grim realities of World War II, thus reminding the reader that sorrow and laughter can co-exist, a lesson that proves to be all the more relevant in these times.
A slender novel set in Christian Kerala. This was an interesting read about all that can go wrong in a family, all the while providing a window into life in Christian Kerala.
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
I picked this up looking for a mindless but entertaining book. A story of three sisters forced to embark on a trip by their deceased mother, this read more like a rather boring travel blog. Jaswal does manage to redeem her novel with a twist at the end which anchors the book in the sombre reality that is the Indian patriarchy.
Straight to Normal: My Life as a Gay Man by Sharif D. Rangnekar
A brutally candid memoir that made me realise how sheltered and unaware I have been about Delhi and her LGBTQIA+ community. The book showcases how difficult it is for the LGBTQIA+ community to find a loving companion. Both laws and societal norms have been stacked against members of this community from finding a partner in the normal course of life. Instead, they had to depend on furtive meetings in parks after dark, helpline groups or specially organised parties where there were always unscrupulous people waiting to take advantage of an innocent. I think this is a must read for any Delhiite to understand the different harsh and cruel realities of one's city.
BearTown by Fredrik Backman
This was not the feel good book that I was looking for. It was a book that made me angry, so very angry. A tale about date rape and a town's reaction to it. At the end of the day, no matter where in the world one is, women are always vulnerable and considered fair game.
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
Great expectations are often not a great thing as they have a tendency in resulting in great letdowns, such was my experience of The Lying Life of Adults. On its much anticipated release, I rushed to the bookshop to pick it up and started reading…and soon I found that I really had to push myself to read the book as it wasn't very engaging. While it is, I guess, a coming of age story, it seems to be more about how parents' divorces mess up their kids who then lash out through sexual escapades; basically, a rather Freudian take on teenagers. Ferrante seems to write more to shock than to engage and at the end I was left confused and wondering what was the point of it all. Read only if you have nothing else to pick up
Happiness, As Such by Natalia Ginzburg
Would this be the redemption of Italian novels? Having heard a lot about Ginzburg, I figured I was in safe hands…or was I? I kept turning the pages, waiting for everything to make sense, only to reach the end and wonder, so? This book might work for many, but not for me, sure the randomness of events may mimic life…but it did not make for a very interesting read.
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
A book that numerous writers referenced at the various sessions at JLF, that when I had to read a banned book for my book club, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to read Waugh. Yes, Waugh has that typical British command over the English language and I guess captures life in Oxford in the inter-war years rather well and does bring to life rather eccentric characters. Its facile ending, spoiler alert, of conversion to Catholicism by a protagonist who had no interest in the faith, was rather trite and just did not seem very realistic. At the end, I guess the virtues of this novel lies in the nostalgia it evokes of life at Oxford in a bygone era.
Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants by Mathias Enard
This is such a gem of a book, which made me fall in love with fiction all over again, especially since the past few books I had been reading had not really struck such a chord. It was a book that made me re-read it—-and being such a slender novel, that was not a problem. And on re-reading, I found more treasures in this book along with the discovery of what a clever craftsmen Enard is; drawing his raison d'être from the preface of Kipling's Life's Handicap to weave this layered tale. Look carefully at the narrative voices to unravel his message. A Renaissance tale set in the Ottoman Empire, with Michelangelo and poetry thrown in makes this novella a clear winner for sure. While Pamuk & Shafak work with similar ingredients, Pamuk's Red is too bulky and dense losing the reader at times and Shafak's weaving of the contemporary with the Renaissance results in a book that is good in part. Enard's slender volume rises above the latter two by avoiding any distractions from his tale and simply focussing on a taut, evocative narrative. Definitely my favourite read of this past year!!!
Circe by Madeline Miller
Miller is a gifted storyteller who weaves a compelling narrative; granted myths always make for interesting narratives but her alternative tellings just make them all the more entrancing. This time she takes the so called witch Circe who turned men into animals and weaves a far more fascinating tale around her than the conventional references to her in mainstream mythology.
His Father's Disease by Aruni Kashyap
Sometimes, Amazon can get it right. This book popped up as a recommendation, and so I downloaded it. It's an anthology of stories set both in America and India that tackles diverse issues: big city intellectual snobbery, the immigrant experience, metal-health, rural life, same-sex love, living under military rule, insurgency with a special focus on Assam. Everyone of these stories was a thought provoking one. This was a book that ended too soon. I will definitely be picking up Kashyap's other books.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces: A Historical Novel by Karma Ura
Bhutan is a magical place and in an attempt to relive my holiday in there I picked up The Hero with a Thousand Faces during this time of Covid. This book is hailed as the first Bhutanese novel, which inevitably leads to a let down for the reader, as this book has no real plot or conflict per se. Instead, it is a record of life in the mid-20th Century Bhutan and how Bhutan was brought out of feudalism into the new world order courtesy the foresight of its monarchs. Therefore, this book is of interest to those who want to know what life in Bhutan was like in the past; it is certainly not meant for anyone looking for a good story.
French Exit by Patrick Dewitt
Supposedly a brilliant satire, this book left me questioning my intelligence as I did not quite seem to find these witty episodes. Yes, the novel did have its moments—especially the first section set in New York, thereafter, however I found myself turning the pages in search of the brilliant satire only to find myself at the end and wondering what was the point of this book beyond the obvious critique of the jet-setting crowd. To placate myself, I decided that this was just an absurd novel and that was that. So not a recommended read—a rather avoidable book.
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
This book was a gift—and a great one. Like Donoghue's Room, I just could not put down this book and devoured it in 2 days. A book about the 1918 Spanish flu that hit the stands in 2020 during the Covid 19 pandemic—talk about timing! This novel is crammed into a tiny space both spacial and chronological and yet is jammed with so many issues. Set in Ireland, it offers a glimpse into so many matters: maternal health, same-sex love, the Irish struggle for Independence, the Catholic Church and its failings and of course the Spanish Flu. The Pull of the Stars was an engrossing read and is highly recommended.
Eat the Buddha by Barbara Demick
Of course, I guess it was only matter of time before the history lover in me would pick up a non-fiction book; this time the book of choice was Eat the Buddha by Barbara Demick. Tibet has always fascinated me, so when I chanced on this book I just had to pick it up. It's a book about Tibet under Chinese occupation told through individual narratives which makes this book read like a novel. In fact, it could easily be one of those troubling novels set in communist China that I had to remind myself that this was reality and not a figment of someone's imagination. Focusing on one town in China, Demick begins her narrative with the start of the 20th Century and brings us all the way to the present day. It's a story that we all know, one of how China had taken over a land that is not its own and has systematically proceeded to exploit it. It is a tale of how a population has managed to survive and adapt in the face of a daily adversity. It is the tale of an oppressed people who have chosen extreme forms of protest—that of self-immolation—and a writer's quest to understand what has driven such protest.
Read if you want a clear and lucid understanding of Tibet.
And now I find myself in no-man's land again…not sure what to read next, starting books only to drop them after a chapter or two. Hopefully, I will find an engaging read pretty soon :)
