Me & My Bookshelf !

Kalki: Selected Stories

At a Glance....

Title: Kalki: Selected Stories

Author:Kalki

Publisher: Penguin Books

Pages:290

Genre : Collection of selected short stories

Format : Paperback

ISBN :0-14-029043-5

I think this book was picked up from a garage sale many years back and only this month that I was able to pick it up to read.

The original work is in Tamil and it has been translated by Gowri Ramnarayan,Kalki's grand daughter. Kalki ,whose real name is Ramasamy Krishnamurthy, was a Tamil Writer, critic, poet, Indian independence activist.

I picked up this book because mom is a huge fan of Kalki's work and seeing this in my bookshelf prompted me to read it.

Though I can read Tamil, I started off with this book and will later move on to the original Tamil versions of Ponniyin Selvan, Sivakamiyin Sabafham and Parthiban kanavu, all of which are sitting on the bookshelf.

Now about the book...

This book is a compilation of 12 short stories .The themes of these stories reflect the social issues of his time and some of the ideals were way ahead of his times. Back then, these stories would have created a stir in the society!Most of the stories have a twist in the end and all the stories are engaging.

These are the stories,the original titles in tamil and the magazine in which they were published.

The letter - Kadithamum Kaneerum [Ananda Vikadan 1937] - Talks about education for women and life of childhood widow.This story is based on a real life protagonist who dedicated her life to the upliftment of women.
The poison cure - Vishamandhiram [Navasakthi 1925] - One of the earliest stories written by Kalki, talks about untouchability and this too is based on real life incidences and that which Kalki was a part of!
The rebirth of Srikanthan - Srikanthan Punarjanmam [Kalaimagal date unknown] - It is a tale of love and misplaced trust.On the background we read a lot about the various stages of the freedom struggle and how women were looked down on when they appeared in a public platform and addressed a gathering.
The Governor's visit - Governor Vijayam [Navasakthi 1925] - This story line is apt even now and one can relate to the current day political situation!!
Rural fantasy - Kanaiyazhiyin kanavu [Ananda Vikadan 1934] -In the translator's words, Kalki wants the reader to chuckle and chortle with him over the madness that has infected a small sleepy village where each day brings in new stuffs and no two days are similar!!
The Tiger king - Puliraja [ Kalki 1941] -This is one of the most translated stories of Kalki. The story is fun from start to finish.
Sivakozhundu of Tiruvazhundur - Tiruvazhundur Sivakozhundu [Ananda Vikadan 1939] - This story is through the voice of Kandappa Pillai.He tells us about the tale of a Nadaswaram genius who retired at the peak of his career.
The Big swelling sea - Pongumankadal [Kalki 1948] - This is the only story in this book which is the abridged version and the translator felt this was the toughest one to translate.
The S.S. Menaka - S.S. Menaka [Kalki 1942] - The evacuation of Burma in World war II is the backdrop of this story.But this is not the story about war and destruction but about love binding two hearts amidst all the destruction.
The Ruined fort - Idindha Kotai [Anantha Vikatan 1940]
Veenai Bhavani - Veenai Bhavani [ Kalki 1942]-It talks of the Devadasi system which is passe now but it is a good read.
Madatevan's spring -Madatevan Sunai [Kalki 1950] - A historical romance themed story that acclaimed him to be an exponent in this genre!

Each of these stories pass on a social message or portray the life of people in the 1930's and 40's.

Now after reading this translated version, I am going to search for the original one in Tamil and enjoy the stories in Kalki's own words.

Linking this to:

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea | Book Review

At a Glance....

Title: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Author: Jules Verne
Publisher: Xist Publishing
Pages:290
Genre :Sci-Fi
Format - E- Book
ISBN - 978-1-62395-839-8

I remember reading this in my school library years ago. That was the abridged version. Over the years, I forgot most of the story line but still remember Captain Nemo.When I saw this on my kindle cloud, I wanted to read the unabridged version and see what this book was all about.

This is the story of the French Naturalist Dr.Aronnox who sets out on a journey to hunt down a monster at sea which seems to destroy anything and everything that comes in its way. The ship in which he is traveling is attacked by the monster and he is overthrown along with his servant Conseil and an ace harpooner Ned Land.

They find themselves on the a submarine,Nautilus, which is the 'monster' that they were hunting. Together with the Captain Nemo, Aronnox explores the depths of the oceans and all the while Ned plans to escape from the Nautilus.

My view on the book:

It is a good book and the theme and technologies mentioned in the book was way ahead of the times it was written in!But to me it looked more like an underwater exploration rather than an adventure story. Some parts of the book really dragged along.I was so tempted to skip the pages that went on and on about the the geography of the ocean,the underwater forests, the sea urchin and other creatures of the sea! I got bored in between and was about to even abandon this book!

There are books that I would love to reread but I don't think this book falls under that category[in my opinion]. I liked the children's version better!

Linking this to:

Monthly Keyword Challenge where the keywords for January are Thousand, Court, Of, Fall, Way,Deep
52 books in 52 weeks
Mount TBR Reading Challenge
Ebook Reading Challenge
Review Writing Challenge
What's in the name reading challenge

Until Next post

Brain - Book Review

At a Glance....

Title:Brain

Author:Robin Cook

Pages:306

Genre : Medical Thriller

Format - Paperback

ISBN -0-451-11260-1

This is one of those books which has been sitting on my bookshelf way to long!

Ever since I read the first ever Robin Cook's - Sphinx,I was hooked on to his books. This one is a medical thriller and it surely gave a thrill reading it.

The story revolves around a medical center , 2 doctors-Martin Philips and Denise Sanger, who work there, a bunch of young women and William Micheals,Martin's researcher partner.

The story starts with a young woman going for Gynaec check up at the Hobson University Medical Center ,New York, and then suddenly disappears from the face of the earth! This continues and several young women who come to the gynecology department go missing.Before they vanish, they display certain weird behaviors,mental breakdown and shocking sexual behaviors.

William Micheals and Dr.Martin together have been working on developing a program to enable the computer to read the skull X-ray and William presents the work to Martin where he spends hours working with it and trying to see if the program is efficient / has any shortcomings.

Dr. Martin, who is actually the Asst.Chief of Neuroradiology along with the the second year resident Denise, come to notice the missing brain in one of these women who has had brain surgery and died on the operation table.

Despite the several threats from the management to stop his involvement in other areas, Martin is dead set to find out why the women he has been examining through the reports exhibit such odd behaviors. He tries to meet these women and find they are all missing and each one had a gynaec checkup before they disappeared.

One fine day Martin follows the hospital coroner-Werner to see if he is involved in the missing women case and in his apartment,Martin is attacked by Werner and is saved by someone who we later find out to be a FBI agent. Later Martin learns that he was being followed by this agent and was sent to protect him!

Everything goes out of hand and he reaches out to William for help who promises to get him out of the situation.But soon Martin realizes that there is a bigger conspiracy involved for which he has unknowingly played a part!!

He sees the missing women but in a totally different form! That's when he learns about human experimentation and realizes what has been happening all along! He also comes to witness the power of the human brain!

My view of the book:

Yes, it is thrilling to read, especially to know why the women behave so weirdly and also to know where ,why and how they disappeared.The plot is gripping and makes you read on and on. Until the end I kept guessing what would have happened to all those missing women and the end sure came as a surprise!

On the other hand, some parts of the book dragged on a bit, like the way Martin uses the program to read the X rays etc. The end seemed a little hurried and looked like it was written to get it over with!

Linking this to:

Until the next post....

ABC Murders - Book Review

At a Glance....

Title: ABC Murders
Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages:331
Genre :Mystery / Fiction
Format - Paperback
ISBN 13 -978-0-00-728245-6

After a really long time, I am reading one of Agatha Christie's novel. As always I enjoyed reading this Mystery / Thriller novel..And as always,Hercules Poirot teams with Hastings and solve a crime,or rather a series of crimes.

As the name suggests this books has around 4 murders.And the people murdered have a similarity - it goes on in alphabetical order. That much is easy to figure out through the title.

The story starts with Poirot receiving type written letter from one Mr.ABC informing him about the date and place of murders that are about to happen. At first he does not take them seriously but later he is forced to look into the matter when Alice Ascher, an aged shop keeper at Andover is found murdered in her shop and there is an ABC railway guide on teh counter.

This pattern continues with Betty Bernard at Bexhill, Sir Carmichael Clarke at Churston found murdered and before their murders,Poirot receives the same sort of letters with the date and place!!

Wanting to avoid the murder forth time round, he forms a special legion with the family / relatives of the previously murdered people.They all go to Danver to try and stop the murder or catch Mr. ABC but fail miserably when another person is found murdered at the theater!

While all this is going on, we read about Mr. Alexander Bonaparte Cust,a war veteran with head injury and epilepsy who is also a stocking salesman. Just around the time the fourth murder takes place, Cust's landlady's daughter and fiance suspect the murderer to be their tenant.

Soon everything points to Mr. Alexander Bonaparte Cust as the cold blooded murderer and when he is arrested, he accepts to the crimes.

Even then Poirot believes that he is not the murderer and silently and in his own method works out to find out if Mr. Alexander Bonaparte Cust is the murderer or not.

What I liked about this book:

It is an Agatha Christie Mystery / Thriller, so what is not to like! But if we are looking at something apart from that, then read on..

It has you hooked on right from the time Poirot talks about the letter to Hastings. It is a page turner for sure!The thrill increases with each murder and most of the times I felt I knew who the murderer was.And as usual AC proves there is a twist to the ending!!

A very good read that can be finished in a day or two.Go for it...

Linking this to:

Until Next post

November & December Book Haul

For the past few months I haven't purchased that many books!This comes as a huge surprise even for me! But that does not mean I have not been reading! I have been reading a lot and that habit is catching on to my 8 year old who now loves sitting in our cozy corner with a Secret Seven / Famous Five book!

In the past 2 months, these are the books that came to live with us...

This is the book that I won through Better Butter Instagram giveaway and it arrived right in time for my birthday!

These two are through the Goodreads giveaway.

The below two came in for review...

Last but not the least, these books came through a gift coupon! Oh how I enjoyed shopping these.Along with these 4 the kids too got some book as a part of the deal.

That's all for this month..

Meet you all next year!!

Reading Challenges 2017

Last year I signed up for several reading challenges. Though I completed some of them, I was not able to post reviews of the books I read for those challenges. This year I have been tempted yet again to join the reading challenges and this year I am challenging myself to complete the ones that I am signing up for.

I will be updating my reads and review on the Reading Challenges- 2017 page.

Here is my list...

1.Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge @ Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book

2.Dystopian Reading Challenge @ My Soul Called Life - 1-5 books

3.E-Book Reading Challenge @ Book Dragon's Lair - I have chosen Byte- 10 books

4.Foodies Read @ Based on a true story Sous Chef- 9 - 13 books

5. Monthly keyword Challenge @ My soul called life

6.Review Writing Challenge @ Delighted Reader - Challenging myself to write reviews for at least 40 books by the end of the year

7.TBR Challenge @ The Misadventures of Super Librarian

8. Wild Goose chase Reading Challenge @ The bookshelf gargoyle

9. What's in the name reading challenge @ The worm hole

10. Mount TBR Challenge @ My Reader's Block - Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books for the TBR pile

11. 52 books in 52 weeks hosted by Robin Mc Cormack

If you are interested in joining other reading challenges then be sure to check out this Master List @ Girlxoxo.com

Fingers crossed....

The Eleventh Commandment - Book Review

I remember buying this book a long time back and then I read it a couple of times. Then suddenly the book went missing from the book shelf but never from the thoughts.

The other day when I was looking for something in mom's attic I found a few treasures and this book was one of those! I wanted to read it again and there I sat through the night and day, turning pages, biting my nails, sitting at the edge of the seat,living alongside Connor Fitzgerald!

The thing with Jeffery Archer's novels is that you will be sucked into the plot or story within a few minutes and within a few pages. This book will not disappoint you for sure!!

The eleventh Commandment is an espionage thriller where Connor Fitzgerald who served the country during the Vietnam War, a man devoted to his wife and daughter, a CIA operative and it takes us through the world of spying,politics,espionage across countries in a fast and thrilling manner.

I am not going to outline the story here because you need to read it to experience it. This is a very engrossing book which leaves you hanging at the end of chapter and you will literally biting your nails to know where it will be continued, which happens after every chapter!!

The plot is good with a lot of twists and turns at the most unexpected places. In one chapter you will find Connor being hanged to death and you will wonder how the story would proceed.Well... I will not talk any further, else I will be tempted to tell you what happened!!

So grab the book and give it a go. I am sure you won't be able to put it down till you reach the last page...

This is a part of Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge and the Full house Challenge, where I am crossing off -Book that couldn't put down.

Until the next post....