Money for Nothing by P.G.Wodehouse

I bought this book at the Blossom Book Store in Bangalore years back and never got around to reading it until July-2016. I read it partly during my commute to work and partly at home.

I started reading this book right after Innocent Erendira and Other Stories. After the depressing atmosphere of that book, I needed a strong dose of P.G. Wodehouse humour to bring me out of the gloom, and Money for Nothing really delivered.

The story is about a rich miser Lester Carmody who along with his acquaintances- Dr. Twist, Soapy and Dolly Molloy try to orchestrate a robbery of certain antiquities at Rudge Hall (owned by Lester Carmody) and cheat the insurers and make money. Dr. Twist, Soapy and Dolly in turn plan to rip Carmody off his insurance money. There are other characters at Rudge Hall- John and Hugo, Lester's nephews who are completely unaware of the grand scheme brewing. There is also Pat Wyvern, who is the lady love of John and a smart-ish dog Emily who is John's pet.

Hugo is a young man looking to set up a club in London but does not have the necessary funds for it and Carmody who is entrusted with Hugo's share until he is mature enough to handle his own affairs, refuses the money to Hugo and thinks of Hugo's best friend, Ronnie to be influencing him for the worst. John's pursuit of Pat and Hugo's pursuit of funds for his new business, unfolds the wretched scheme of Carmody et al in the most humourous manner possible.  In the end almost everyone is happy as expected.

The book really keeps one on tenterhooks right from the inception of the fraud, all the way to the end.  One really looks forward to turn the pages over and eagerly devour the story. The food descriptions in the book are not aplenty but whatever exists is sufficient to feed my appetite. This book is yet another gem by P.G. Wodehouse. It came to me especially at a time when I really needed a good laugh due to the stress I was undergoing at that moment.

On a scale of 5 , where 5 is excellent, I rate this book a 5.

Innocent Erendira and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 I got this book at the Hyderabad Book Fair last year. The description seemed good. I did not have a chance to read it for a long time. I read a big part of the book during my commute to work.

I have never finished any book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez before, though I started reading a few. I own 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', started reading it but never finished it. I was a student back then and my exams got in the way of finishing the book. Innocent Erendira and Other Stories is the first book by Marquez that I actually finished reading.

As the name of the book suggests, this is a compilation of short stories. Most of the stories have a common theme of supernatural and some of them are single active character stories. Most of the stories came across as a drag, some of them were good but not memorable. I have actually already forgotten them. I liked the story that made its way to the title- The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother. This story is about a young teenage girl who is forced into prostitution by her grandmother and how she finds her freedom from the dreadful life. This is not a modern day story in terms of setting. From the description, it is either an ancient or a medieval times setting. There is a lot of superstition, intuition and a very small bit of super natural element in the story. I think this particular story was the best in terms of writing when compared to the rest of the book. My heart really went out to Erendira and I would think of ways to rescue her from the predicament. Truly, this is a story worth reading but you can easily pass up on reading any other story without feeling guilty.

Marquez's books are originally in Spanish, which have been translated to English. It could be that it is a brilliant book in the original language of writing but may not be the same when translated. Sometimes, the magic can be created only in the original work and not in a translation, no matter how good the translator is or how best he has done the translation. So, it is quite possible that this is an amazing book in Spanish but lost its charm in English.

Another possible reason why I may not have liked the book as much could be the amount of negativity in the stories. When we lead stressful lives, we look for strands of positivity to hold onto. Most of the stories in the book are depressing and I do not think I was mentally prepared for the volume of negativity.

On a scale of 5, I would rate this book 2/5. Innocent Erendira is the only reason for 2. All other stories are pretty ordinary.

Drop Dead by Swati Kaushal

The first book of Swati Kaushal that I read was A Piece of Cake. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book and that made me pick this book for a read. My husband gifted this to me back in 2013, if I am not mistaken, but I never got around to reading it. It was ordered on Flipkart.com.

I read this book in June,2016. I read most of the book during my commute to work during very stressful times and it made my commute quite entertaining and interesting.This book was quite different from the 1st book of Swati Kaushal's that I read. While A Piece of Cake is a chick-flick book interspersed with office politics which many can relate to, Drop Dead is a mystery novel. The write shows two different aspects of writing- one part is cheesy and cheap, and another one is that of a well-read literati. It almost feels like two different people have written the book.

The story is based in the beautiful hills of Sonargam with a dashing and savvy protagonist Niki Marwah, who is a cop. Niki has a team of officers who are investigating the case of a high profile individual, Rakesh (Rak) Mehra. While the story for the most part is quite engaging, there are a lot of technical flaws in it. For example, as soon as they become aware of the death of Rakesh Mehra, Niki insists that it is not necessarily a murder or an accident and that they are yet to establish it; however, she calls the scene of the event, "crime scene" and the people they interrogate as "witnesses". It would have been still a little bit okay, if she termed them "suspects" but time and again they are referred to as "witnesses". Also, how they conclude on the murderer is also a little bit weird but not implausible so I am not going to argue on that front.

I love descriptions of food in books and this book did not disappoint me in that aspect. There is also a glimpse of Niki's family who is bent up on getting her married, which does not add any value to the story or character development. Some of the characters just disappear quite suddenly without making any significant appearance again, like Niki's best friend. Though it is quite entertaining, it is a very average read. It feels like reading a Bollywood masala movie script. Maybe the writer, did have a movie in mind with Priyanka Chopra playing the lead as Niki Marwah. The cover art definitely resembles Priyanka Chopra.

If I have to rate this book on 5, I would rate it 2/5 just for the entertainment value. I hope the next books by Swati Kaushal would be much better that this one and that she can recreate the magic of "A Piece of Cake".

Make Me By Lee Child

This was the first book I completed reading in 2016. I have set some lofty reading goals for 2016 and I know it is not going to be easy. However, I am quite confident and positive of achieving my reading goals in the second half of this year.

This is my first book by the author. I bought this book from Sapna Bookstore in Bangalore. I chose this book based on a friend's Facebook post. It seemed interesting from the posts and I thought I will try reading someone's work that I have not done before.

The writing style is quite different. The sentences are broken down unusually into phrases as stand alone sentences, which I have not seen with many writers. I am unable to explain it properly in words....Maybe there is a word for it which I am not aware of. An example below might explain my point better.

The plot of the book is quite dark and gives a deserted feel for a big part. It all begins with Jack Reacher, the protagonist, travels to a place called Mother's Rest, intrigued by its name. He meets a former FBI agent on a mission, Chang, who is looking for her untraceable colleague Keever. Together, they decide to unearth the mystery of missing Keever and one thing leads to another and they soon discover the dark "happenings" at Mother's Rest, leading not only to Keever's whereabout but also many others who suddenly seemed to be missing. 

The biggest takeaway from this book for me is- being aware of something like Deep Web. I was quite naive and could not imagine for such a thing to exist and also the horrific end that is meted out for some people. 

Though the story in the book was well-written and fast paced, I do not think I would pick up another book by Lee Child. I did not really enjoy how the author described physical fights that happened. I found them unnecessarily descriptive. However, I think people who enjoy Action books and movies may enjoy it much more than I did.

On a scale of 5, where 5 is excellent, I would rate it at 3.

The Girl in Blue by P.G. Wodehouse

So much time has passed between my reading this book and writing this post that it almost feels that I have read the book over 10 years ago. Due to my hectic work schedule, I have not been able to read to much between Sept,2014 and now. I have read just 2 books, both by Jeffrey Archer- Twist in the Tale and To Cut a Long Story Short. I would be writing about the two sometime soon.

I have been a fan of P.G.Wodehouse ever since I read the 1st Blandings book. My dad owned all the works of Wodehouse but I never got around reading them for various reasons. My first Wodehouse book was Piccadilly Jim. At that time, I was not aware that Wodehouse was synonymous with humour. I really did not know what to expect.

I first saw The Girl in Blue at the British Library but could not subscribe to it. My mind was set on the book and one fine day along with a few other books, my husband gifted it to me.
The Girl in Blue came as a welcome stress relief to me. I read the entire book during my commute to and back from office. It is a really light book to read and like any P.G. Wodehouse books, would guarantee a smile on your face throughout. 

The entire story revolves around a statuette that goes missing. It is the statuette after which the book is named. A hilarious series of events leads to its recovery. There is also a subtle romance in the background which in a way contributes to the recovery of the statuette. I just think one must just get the book and read. If I write anything further about the book, it would definitely be a spoiler. All I can say to sum up the book is- Wodehouse has created isolated events and tied it very beautifully in the end. Another attraction for me is- Food...well described. ;)

In terms of writing, it is typical Wodehouse use of language that tickles your funny bone. It is an ideal read for people of all ages, especially earl teens. It is quite different from the Young Adult genre of books that is available in the market and will help them appreciate this form of literature more. 

I know it is not really much of a review, but, like I said before, I do not want to spoil the fun for any reader.

On a scale of 5, I would rate it 4/5.

Come On Inner Peace...I don't have all day! by Sachin Garg

In my experience in reading Indian authors, most of them are quite good but they do not get read enough or their due credit. However, I will say no such thing about this particular book. It is probably one of the worst books I have ever read. The only thing catchy in this book is its name and that is it. 

When I spotted the book at a store and wanted to buy it, my husband had warned me by saying that it does not look like a good book and I lectured him on how he was judging the book by its cover and that he should read Indian authors as these days they really write very well..blah blah blah...but after I was done reading, I had to apologise to him as he was very right this time.

The story starts with a disturbed guy after he has lost the love of his life and is seeking inner peace and lands up at an ashram looking for guidance and the Swami there puts this guy and another of his disciples on a trip to look for that peace by getting a proper closure with a former friend of his and on this journey they face a lot challenges. (I think I am making the book sound much better than it really is.) The challenges they face vary from - getting into an exclusive bar to cooking meth (which I understand is plagiarised from Breaking Bad- the popular TV show. I do not follow Breaking Bad on TV so not sure how far it is true) and selling meth, rescuing a meth addict and raising money for cancer. It still sounds better than what it is. The only thing which slightly inclines towards being the good thing about the book is that it is quite fast paced (thankfully!) due to which you do not waste a lot of your time reading it. Having said that, reading the book in itself is a big waste of one's time.

The book has a lot of incorrect grammar and the author gets confused with the character names at many occasions. He forgets which character is a part of the conversation and which is not, in many places. The editor has also failed to pick these up and have it rectified as well. 

To be honest, I read this book just because I paid for it and did not want to it to go for a waste. Had I borrowed it from a library, I would have returned it on the same day.

I would rate this book no more than 0.5/5 and the 0.5 is for the title.

The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

This write-up and next few to follow are going to be brief. It is just that I have decided to keep this blog as up to date as possible and I have quite a bit to update and I am determined to do it today.

Coming to the book and the author- 

This is the first book of Katherine Mansfield's that I have read. Her writing style is quite different from the kind I am used to. Due to this, I had a slow start and struggled a bit to finish a couple of stories. I guess, once you can see through a couple of stories, one becomes more familiar with the writing style and is able to finish the rest of the book quite quickly. I would recommend anyone who plans on reading this book, to start with the story, 'Miss Brill' as it is short and easy to read and will help in 'acclimatise' oneself to Katherine Mansfield's work. I picked the book up at the British Library and what attracted me to it was the word 'Party' in the title. I just thought there would be amazing descriptions of food in it. Though there is some description, not enough :).

As I already mentioned, the writing style is quite different to the one I am used to, I went an extra mile to understand her writing initially. I read about the life of Katherine Mansfield and also read through the critical analysis of some of her stories. It helped me appreciate her work better. Some of the stories in book have been televised and the videos are available on Youtube. These are extremely helpful as well and played a vital role in my appreciating the book.The ending of some of the stories is left to the imagination of the reader.

I also read a lot about comparison between Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf. For me, the writing styles of Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf is quite similar, the major difference being- Katherine Mansfield wrote short stories while Virginia Woolf wrote novels. This work from Katherine Mansfield is indicative of her in-depth study and observations on the society and human behaviour in the early 1900s and reflects in the way the characters have been built in all of her stories.

This is definitely not a book to start reading if one is trying to develop reading as a hobby as it could have a repellent effect. Also, I personally think, that people would like her stories but not necessarily her writing style. Some would label many stories in the book as slow-paced and a drag. 

Will I pick-up a Katherine Mansfield book again? I would only if I want to do some very serious reading. I would rate this book 3.5/5.