I am writing today after almost a month. The book I am writing about today was purchased from Sapna Book Store in Bangalore during my Christmas vacation last year and I finished reading it in a day.
The book, How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories (HITMGTR and OS), is a series of real life anecdotes and stories compiled by Sudha Murthy. Now, this is the second book of Sudha Murthy's that I read, the first one being- Wise and Otherwise. To be very honest, and I know a lot of you will disagree with me or will come out in defence of Sudha Murthy and her writing, but I just hated Wise and Otherwise, as it comes across as a book that treats/talks about the current generation of people as flawed and a bunch of good-for-nothings and Sudha Murthy epitomises herself as an embodiment of perfection and actually comes across as arrogant. It is tolerable in the beginning but when it becomes the theme of all her stories and one has to keep reading it story after story, the book comes across as a bitter box of complaints. I know people will hate me for saying this but this is exactly what I felt about the book. Having said what I have, I have a great respect for the lady and her contribution to the society.
This particular book (HITMGTR and OS) too has a few stories with a similar theme. However, it is relatively refreshing compared to the first one as some (only some) of the stories are quite captivating and have a positive vibe in them. My most favourite ones are the title story and saving for the Rainy Day. The title story is easily the best and I could really imagine all the events in my head and the grandma's earnest to read and be independent. All other stories can be ignored as they are similar to Wise and Otherwise, where she is boasting about herself, her achievements and her family (all of whom are supposed to be perfect) and makes her look arrogant. There is just one story in the entire book which is quite hilarious, but easy to forget (I've forgotten already).
The writing is quite simple (as it was in Wise and Otherwise) and probably meant for Children's reading. It can qualify for one in teaching them morals and about life. However, I would not recommend it even for children as I would not want to pass on other things to them such as excessive pride in one's education, achievements and family. On a scale of 5 (5 being synonymous with Excellent), I would rate it at 3 and the rating is solely for the title story. I am planning to pick up another book of Sudha Murthy's soon and I really really hope that it would extremely different from the ones I have read so far, as I feel she has so much more to her than what she has shown in the 2 books mentioned here- do let me know if you have a good recommendation.
The book, How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories (HITMGTR and OS), is a series of real life anecdotes and stories compiled by Sudha Murthy. Now, this is the second book of Sudha Murthy's that I read, the first one being- Wise and Otherwise. To be very honest, and I know a lot of you will disagree with me or will come out in defence of Sudha Murthy and her writing, but I just hated Wise and Otherwise, as it comes across as a book that treats/talks about the current generation of people as flawed and a bunch of good-for-nothings and Sudha Murthy epitomises herself as an embodiment of perfection and actually comes across as arrogant. It is tolerable in the beginning but when it becomes the theme of all her stories and one has to keep reading it story after story, the book comes across as a bitter box of complaints. I know people will hate me for saying this but this is exactly what I felt about the book. Having said what I have, I have a great respect for the lady and her contribution to the society.
This particular book (HITMGTR and OS) too has a few stories with a similar theme. However, it is relatively refreshing compared to the first one as some (only some) of the stories are quite captivating and have a positive vibe in them. My most favourite ones are the title story and saving for the Rainy Day. The title story is easily the best and I could really imagine all the events in my head and the grandma's earnest to read and be independent. All other stories can be ignored as they are similar to Wise and Otherwise, where she is boasting about herself, her achievements and her family (all of whom are supposed to be perfect) and makes her look arrogant. There is just one story in the entire book which is quite hilarious, but easy to forget (I've forgotten already).
The writing is quite simple (as it was in Wise and Otherwise) and probably meant for Children's reading. It can qualify for one in teaching them morals and about life. However, I would not recommend it even for children as I would not want to pass on other things to them such as excessive pride in one's education, achievements and family. On a scale of 5 (5 being synonymous with Excellent), I would rate it at 3 and the rating is solely for the title story. I am planning to pick up another book of Sudha Murthy's soon and I really really hope that it would extremely different from the ones I have read so far, as I feel she has so much more to her than what she has shown in the 2 books mentioned here- do let me know if you have a good recommendation.
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