On my bookshelf

Despite all my attempts not to buy anymore books, I landed up with five more. This time the book shop came to the office campus. With discounts. Now how can anyone resist a good bargain? Picked up Afterwards (Jaishree Misra), River Dog: A Journey Down the Brahmaputra (Mark Shand), Yadav: A Roadside Love Story (Jill Lowe), 52 Weekend Breaks from Bangalore and a city road map.

I recently finished Ancient Promises by Jaishree Misra and loved the book. She writes evocatively about falling in love when she is seventeen, getting into an arranged marriage at 18, reuniting with her first love many years later, separated from her mentally challenged daughter for a year, going off to England to study and then coming back to India. The novel is set in Delhi, Kerala and then England and is auto-biographical in nature. While reading it I got the feeling that the writer had gone through the experiences herself and only read afterwards that most of the incidents had happened in her life. If you happen to come across the book, it’s worth a read.

Another book I finished is Dave Barry Does Japan. Written in his truly inimitable style. It’s pretty howlarious. Provided me good company on the way to work. His take on their culture, food, society, cities will keep you in splits. Not a book if you’re looking for a serious insight into Japanese culture, as Barry himself admits!