Sarra Manning - Pretty Things

Pretty Things by Sarra Manning
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I must confess I do not remember how I came by this book. Did I buy this book off a second hand book stall? Did I order it off some online book shop? Was I gifted this book? My memory being what it is, I should go back to writing the date and venue of purchase on the fly leaf. It is a good habit that I have lost in recent times.

This novel is touted as a Splashproof beach read and has a 100% waterproof cover. By rights it should be something you read and feel faintly dissatisfied with. Or you should feel like you just wound up wasting a precious day or two of your life. But that does not happen.

Despite its ditzy appearance, the book gets to the core of the matter and keeps you chuckling and turning the pages with pleasure.

Brie, Charlie, Walker and Daisy are four 17 year old London kids. Charlie does not want to spend his summer watching inane television shows with his best pal Brie. So he joins a drama club for the summer and persuades Brie to go along. Walker is genuinely interested in movies as a career and feels the drama club will help him. Daisy is opting for this as she wants something good on her college application.

They get to train with Lavinia, who was big on the Stage at one time.  She chooses The Taming of the Shrew to play and our foursome land the four lead parts.  They start hanging out together and a chain of events is set in motion that changes (somewhat) their attitude towards life.

Brie has self-image issues. Charlie is gay but likes only straight people. Walker is nicknamed Shagger and Wanker but has fallen hard for Daisy. Which is no use as Daisy is the super-bitch Lesbian.

Brie, Charlie, Walker and Daisy get a chapter each by turns to describe the progress of the summer through their own eyes. As we can see, all these characters have a different voice and a different way of looking at things.

Despite the story being a teen-lit, it is not all fluff. The problems and the issues they face are real. The author maintains a light tone which is appropriate for a beach read and also manages to slip in enough seriousness to keep you engrossed. The language is very witty and she is really best at describing things comically.


If you are in the mood for a light read which is not aimed at airheads, this is a perfect book for you.

I re-read the book especially to be able to write about it.

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Alexander McCall Smith - La's Orchestra Saves the World

La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I discovered Alexander McCall Smith via his Sunday Philosophy Club series, also known as Isabel Dalhousie series. He is better known as the author of the No. 1 Detective Agency series.

He seems to like writing series of novels on a set of characters and places. He also wrote (or is still writing) the 44 Scotland Street series.

I love his series. It is nice to settle into a familiar world of characters and curious stories that surround them. But I am afraid they are a strain on my pocket.

You see, Alexander McCall Smith is not found widely in the libraries that I visit. I fall so deeply in love with his stories, that I wind up buying the books, which puts a strain on my pocket.

I have just finished buying up the entire series of Isabel Dalhousie. Now it looks like I will have to start buying up the 44 Scotland Street series as well. They are so good, I just HAVE to read them.

In the meantime, I found La's Orchestra Saves the World in my Library.

La, short for Lavender, was brought up on the hills of Norfolk. After completing her school, she moved to London to study at Cambridge. This was in 1930. She wanted to do something with her life. But she found herself being courted assiduously by Richard Stone. She married him and found herself settling into a comfortable domesticity.

After a few years her husband leaves her. She is heartbroken and moves to Suffolk to start her life over. By now, the war is upon them and she finds she is better off in Suffolk. She tries to help with the war effort as she can. In the process she meets Feliks, a Polish Air Force personnel who has relocated to England.

She falls in love with Felix but her love is unrequited. Yet they enjoy a friendship with each other. A friend suggests that she start an orchestra as a lot of people are keen on it. The orchestra becomes a part of her way of coming to terms with a lonely life.

This is an unusual novel from Alexander McCall Smith, whose characters are usually laid back, artistic and easy going. This novel is very concerned with the times it is set in. The war is very real here. It depicts how people try to keep going on with their lives despite the huge upheavals that are taking place in their world.

La reminded me of Isabel Dalhousie in some ways. They were both well-to-do women, who don't have to depend on anyone financially. They both like speaking their mind and often find their foot where their mouth should be, even if their intentions were good. But Isabel is a very well sorted woman as far as her personal life is concerned, and poor La is very vulnerable.

Alexander McCall Smith is always very rewarding to read.

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Bill O' Reilly, Martin Dugard - Killing Kennedy

Killing Kennedy by Martin Dugard Bill O'Reilly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is no disputing the fact that John F. Kennedy was the most charismatic President the USA has seen. He came at the right time, when the 'social media' was Television, Newspapers and Magazines. The slower media was amenable to the good looking couple that found themselves in the White House.

We were yet decades and decades away from the more ruthless 'Right Now' social media of the 2010s.

This is not to say that Kennedy was unworthy of the adulation. He was hardworking and he knew what moves he had to make.

Reading a book about the Kennedy assassination, where the audience KNOWS what is about to happen could be unexciting. Yet Martin Dugard and Bill O'Reilly bring a thriller like feel to their book. It is well padded by the political happenings that lead to the assassination.

The authors avoid the conspiracy theories and keep to the facts as known to the world. As far as known, Lee Harvey Oswald was alone responsible for the killing. This is what the authors wisely stick to. They try and justify all the moves that others pointed to as fishy. For instance, Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey, and Jackie Kennedy crawling on the back of the car towards her Security Service officer.

The book is interesting to read, especially for someone like me, who was not in the know of the complete story of Kennedy in the White House. However, the authors again stick to the story of JFK as President and there is little mention of his entire family. Only the brothers who were with him in the Government are mentioned. There is no mention of his mother Rose, who was supposed to be bossy.

A wise move as the topic of the book is Killing Kennedy and that is what the authors relate.

The book is great for a non-stop read, as it is unputdownable.


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John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

John Steinbeck's name appears on lists of best books ever so often. Not having read him ever, I picked up a slim volume with some misgivings. Some of the classical, renowned authors are not easy to read.

"Of Mice and Men" was a slim book of 186 pages, in bold typeface and double space. "This should be easy to get through", I thought. It was.

At the start of the book George and Lennie are on their way to a farm that is some way off. They rest by the riverbank and eat. George wants to spend the night in the open as he finds it restful.

I could tell right away that George was the smart on and Lennie was thick. He needed a lot of coaching by George to not give away that he was a simpleton. George wants to make some money and move on. He wants to own a bit of a land somewhere. Lennie likes this dream of his and wants to able to pet rabbits on that farm.

Lennie is simple, but he is also very strong. He does not know his own strength and sometime ends up maiming the things he pets. George knows that he has to keep an eye on Lennie to keep him safe from harm, keep him from harming things.

This is a brilliant book. The story is narrated mostly in dialogues between people. The language is that of ranch hands, rough and basic. Despite the language being unrefined, the emotions of the protagonists are very well conveyed. The characters are quickly sketched and filled out in bold strokes that only a master artist has.

The story is short, but powerful. It is almost play-like. Despite its brevity, it has layers. It is about poor people who are barely a step above animals. It is about disadvantaged people who are not fit to mix with good folk. It is about dreams. It is about loneliness that comes from being a drifter.

It is a book that is going be in my mind forever.


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John Grisham - Sycamore Row

Sycamore Row by John Grisham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

We are back in Clanton, Mississippi. It is a lovely little town. And it has some characters that we like. Harry Rex, Willie Traynor, Lucien Wilbanks, Judge Attlee are all here.

Jake Brigance gets a handwritten will and a covering letter by mail one Monday. It is by Seth Hubbard who committed suicide by hanging himself from a sycamore tree on his property. Seth Hubbard was a divorced man, alone, and battling cancer. He found it hard to face his illness and took his life.

Jake can see immediately that the will is going to cause a major stir in Clanton, and will be contested hotly. Seth left all his fortune to his black housekeeper Lettie Lang and cut his two children out completely.

There is an uproar on many fronts. Lettie Lang's husband, who is a drunkard, causes trouble by hiring some hotshot lawyers who are up to no good. Hubbard's children also hire lawyers to contest the handwritten will as well. Jake Brigance is supported covertly by Harry Rex and Lucien Wilbanks. With their invaluable help, he sets about trying to win the case for the Estate of Seth Hubbard.

The crux of the story lies in reason Seth had for leaving the fortune to Lettie Lang. Although that is not seen as central to the case. What is central to the case is whether Seth was in right mind when he made the will. But as the case progresses and the sleuths on the side of Seth's children uncover some facts, the reason for the strange bequeath becomes a moot point.

When we do find out the reason Seth had for giving the money to Lettie, we feel things could have been simplified by just stating the reason in the will. It was a horrific story, but it was in the past and not something that needed to be hidden. It is at the fag end of the book, that we feel the story gets weak.

For the major part of the novel, the story is very interesting and a real page-turner. At the end, with a lot of heavy duty legal descriptions, the lay reader is bound to feel bored.

I liked the Last Juror much much more.

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Kanika Gahlaut - Among the Chatterati

Among The Chatterati by Kanika Gahlaut
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The first few chapters of the book were very readable and very interesting. By a weird chance, every book that I picked off the shelf from my library, for the past month or two, were very depressing. Which is why I picked this one. I was hoping it would be peppered with some light, amusing writing.

I was not disappointed there. It was amusing. A newbie journalist, Aby, gets thrown into the world of Page 3 reporting. We get a funny account of how she tries to handle this new assignment.

Kanika blends some fictional names with real life ones to add pep to the story. The Jessica Lal murder pops up the first thing in the book, thinly masked as the murder of an ex-model at a high profile party.

Aby also gets to date the delectable Arjun, scion of a royal family and also son of a cabinet minister.

About the time the Arjun episode starts, the story falls down a well. Well, there is no story thereafter, so to speak. Even the Arjun love affair is a bland report of some unexciting conversation, description of food eaten and restaurants visited.

The author launches into her categorization of the kind of people she finds in society gatherings, and no dope on what they do.

After a few descriptions of parties attended, the book whimpers to a stop with a tantalizing hint that Aby's love life is in a full swing.

What a sad end to such a promising start.



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