A Mystery Book From The Past & Others

Crooked House by Agatha Christie
Before I knew about genres, about mysteries, about Dame Christie herself  I had the chance to read a book that I had appropriated from my brothers' room. The brothers in question are right above me and my sister in the pecking order -er.. birth order- and shared a room at the other end of our house. The room contained a variety of books which was a constant source of fascination for yours truly. Oh.. they tried to lock it up and stuff in an effort to keep the pest of a little sister away. Me, I was rather resourceful and knew where the key was kept, what time they were likely to return etc and made a clean sweep of any books present as soon as the coast was clear. More than anything else I guess they did it out of a sense of personal space that we all acquire around the early/late teen years.

Coming back to our book, it was a Library book in Malayalam but the story was so foreign that I still remember it quite vividly. Books from the past are playing catchup with me now-a-days. First The Cardinal and now this. There was hilariously delightful book called "Vellappokkam" (flood) that I still remember from one of those forays. Only a few years back did I figure out that it was written by none other than Thakazhi Sivasankarapillai.

Few months back a book friend of mine gave me three books to read. Since she was not particular about getting them back anytime soon I had put off reading 2 of those by Agatha Christie for a later date. I had a bunch of Library books to finish off you see. The time finally came for me to pick up Crooked House and give it the read. On my way into the 50th page or so it dawned on me that I am familiar with this story and in fact had never forgotten it! Having read it in Malayalam by the name of "Ajnatha Khathakan' (Unknown Murderer) and not remembering the author's name at all it never occurred to me that they could be one and the same. Though I knew the mystery's answer Dame Christie's intriguing ways kept me a captive till the last page once again.  This is not a Ms. Marple or M. Poirot story by the way.

Aftermath: I finished the 2nd Agatha Christie in one sitting (The
                 Murder of Roger Akroyd) and fished out  "Ordeal
                 by Innocence" from the Library. Ordeal by Innocence
                apparently is one of two all time favorites of Agatha
                Christie. Crooked House being the second.Christie is
                a beloved writer who can get you through boredom
                 without fear of any long lasting effect and so what have you
                 got to lose? Get off that sofa and go get some for there is
                 no better medicine to cure a reading block:-)


A Death In The Family by James Agee

Memories always take precedence over exemplary writing. Mea Culpa. The subject/story is morbid as the title implies but the book is a literary treasure. What puts this book on the pedestal is not the all too familiar storyline but the evocative, moving pros describing the love, angst and care of all in the family when faced with a beloved person's death. It is autobiographical which I didn't know when I read the book. Young Rufus and deaf Grandma Catherine alike will take root in our hearts and refuse to go away with the last page.

That James Agee was gifted does not need to be said by the likes of me. The book was posthumously published and had an editing team arranging the manuscript in chronological order. The manuscript itself was finished before Agee died. A true classic and a must read. You will be a better person to have read it and I beg of you to do just that.


Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander trilogy

I know by now most people have heard of Larsson's  Millennium series. The saving grace is the heroine Lisbath Salander who is very contemporary and accounts for the wider spectrum of empathizers. I read all three books and while it is awfully boring where Blomkvist descriptions takes on a larger than life form,  it is quite an entertainer that could get you through train journeys and airport waits in a jiffy.  I  think the story could have been better told in 2 books instead of 3. The strength is the tightly woven dark story albeit with a more Utopian view of the world for certain aspects of living.

It is to Larsson's credit that he wrote the stories while living under threats to his life and was always an advocate for what he believed in. He also did not live to see the phenomenal success of his books.
I am not sure if he intended Salander to be the main character but that is what caught the imagination of the public and the reason for the success of the books. I feel Salander lives in the background except maybe in the 2nd book while Blomkvist looms large everywhere. Another all important fact is the window into Sweden's darker side which had remained relatively unknown to the outside world.I really enjoyed the first one esp taken as a mystery of the missingVanger heiress. There is a certain naivete to Larsson's writing that could be endearing or tiresome depending on the reader. To read or not to read is left up to you.
    

The Devil's Advocate

You have to agree that the title is intriguing. Reading the preface will interest you even more because it will tell you all about the Devil's Advocate hereafter to be known as the DA. The Catholic Church has allocated this title to the person who will argue against making someone a saint. His edict is to study the saint-to-be's life and purported miracles and turn the skeptics' eye on  it. On an aside, reading Morris West's book took me back some years.

My father used to be the member of a book club called Book-A-Month (BAM) club. I have no direct memory of this because I never saw books arriving once a month. Based on some search links that turned up it could be a publisher rather than a club even. When I turned a book worm I hankered after every single book at home regardless of caste or creed. Luckily for me it was a large horde accumulated over the years by my Dad and older siblings. The encouragement to the reader in me was from my Mom and Mom only. MAB books were mostly great works of literature from other languages translated to Malayalam. One book in particular from that time stayed with me a lot and I have been looking for it for a while now with no results. 'Cardinal' was the name. It was about a priest named Stephen Fermoil who rose to become a Cardinal in the Church from his humble beginnings as the son of a trolley driver.

Definitely the styles are not similar between the two books but the general environment around the characters sort of are. I am so glad to have found this book to give me a certain closure:-)

I can't just believe it! I wrote up to the above line and saved and started searching again for the Cardinal on a whim. Contrary to what happened the umpteen times I tried, the Search Goddesses (aka, key words) aligned and brought out a whole bunch of links from the woodwork! So even if I had only intended to write on West's book this has now turned into one on The Cardinal too!!!! Apparently it was a very popular book and was even made into a movie. Note to self : watch movie. I also know the author's name now. Henry Morton Robinson. So it is official. I now have total closure over this hitherto unresolved issue..

Getting back to the DA, it is all about the DA himself under threat of imminent death from a terminal illness who is sent to investigate the path to saintdom of a man named Giacomo Nerone in rural Italy. You will find an unlikely hero in Father Blaise Meredith and will come to admire the man for his honesty and lack of flowery speeches. A good read doubtless.

Windfalls

Jean Hegland's book starts out describing a photograph. It is of a tree that has been split almost in two with the living part covered in blossoms against a storm charged sky. Hegland's gift for vivid descriptions is not the only reason to like this awesome book about two mothers living quiet different lives. When they meet at the end they willingly learn from the other's life and keeps on going.

I think Jodi Picoult does a good job in describing personal angst or deep feelings of the heart despite the popularizing aspect of her books. Yet, the subtlety with which Hegland approaches emotions has simply blown me away. And I quote : "We're all so alone, in mothering, " Anna went on , her voice low and raw.  "We can talk about how our kids are doing in school and the cute things they say. We can even complain about how they're driving us nuts. But we can't talk about how much it terrifies us to love them as we do, or talk about how much we scare ourselves, trying to stay sane while we raise them, We can't talk about how much they teach us, how much they cost us, how much we owe to them, Or- " She shrugged. "Maybe it's just me".

I bet each of you parents who are reading this will think how aptly Anna describes your own feelings. Hegland's is the credit! Hope to read her other books and you should too.

On July11, 2010 on the World Cup Finals Day
Wanted to add another book that I am reading right now on loan from my husband's cousin.
Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Covin
This is very similar to Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. Some themes even run in common with The World Is Flat and so don't want to make a separate post of it. Good read about what goes on with the practical lives of this world. i.e, when we get the time to think/ponder such things. If there is no time then reading this book will give insights into some parts of it for sure. Talent in itself is likely to be a perception and if we look at the successful people in any field including music we could see that the linearity is along hard work rather than just plain talent. I happen to agree with this but with many corollaries to factor in personalities, open mindedness etc. There are other angles too that I hope to read about by the time I finish off the book.

Giuseppe Pontiggia's Born Twice and other such books.

I had finished reading Tilt written by author and poet Elizabeth Burns and meant to do a post on it. Unfortunately it's been a while and I have forgotten the nuances and the immediate feeling which usually makes for a good write up.  I'll just write down what I can now since it is not to be missed. Burns has proven she is as good an author as she is a poet. The sufferings of a couple in a nuclear family with 2 kids where one is a disabled child only gets worse when the father's schizophrenia lifts its ugly head and the Mom takes refuge in deep depression. There is a sort of redemption in the end which helps the reader to feel better for the Mom who is the narrator. A good book that makes you take a step back and count the myriad of blessings that are yours without asking.

Born Twice has an interesting hardcover and since I like works of translation I just couldn't resist this famous Italian author's first foray into the American market. I was well rewarded with a masterpiece! At times the style reminded me of Umberto Eco. Not sure if that is because both are translated works from Italian. It happens to be a style that I love anyway but mostly the book has its own splendid style. Oonagh Stransky did the translation. The story/theme resembles Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Haddon has the kid narrating his life while for Pontiggia it is the father who takes us into the realms of growing with a disabled child.

What took my breath away in Born Twice are the snippets of analysis/philosophy on the various situations in life, be it related to the disabled child or not.  It was a pleasure to read through all that the father puts forward to make sense of his own and other's actions. I thought I alone had the need for this sort of analysis:-) Giuseppe Pontiggia has the unique ability to put feelings from the deep recesses of the mind onto paper keeping the reader's interest and pique the said reader's mind at the same time. Dostoevesky was especially gifted in putting his Freudian points accumulated from a hard life into readable form but I'd say Pontiggia has simplified the process and makes it more accessible to readers. So don't say I didn't tell you. Include this in that short list of books to add to your personal collection. It will remain a cherished asset.

Some Cherries & a Movie

Enjoy these cherries from the orchard. Not ours of course! We went cherry picking on the Memorial Day weekend and this year the harvest was exceptionally juicy, firm, sweet, ripe and scrumptious all at the same time! Must be the season. Our neighbors as well as colleagues agreed whole heartedly when offered some.

Coming to the movie, the four of us went and watched Karate Kid this weekend and I have to say that it is the most wonderful family movie that I have watched in a while. Reminded me of Spielberg's Jurassic Park I even if they belong to different genres. It is a remake of the original and I really loved this version. Will & Jada Smiths's son Jaden Smith is awesome and is perhaps the reason why the story and the triumph was so persuasive. Jackie Chan was his usual charming self and Taraji P Henson wasn't too bad. So watch it with kids and you have a home run.

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior

Ori &Rom Brafman are brothers and did some broad research before coming up with this book. Like other books of its genre it states something that is obvious to most but a little difficult to overcome. Very easy to read as one can identify with many of the situations. Although easy to read, the authors sometimes follow a train of thought, then trails away from it and fails to come back in time. By the time they do, the reader is engaged in the new events. You may not learn anything new but it could be interesting/comforting to know that most people in the world are in the same boat as you when making irrational decisions:-) The power of sway is somewhat similar to 'first impressions are the best impressions'. People are easily swayed by outward appearences as evidenced by how they totally ignored world class violinist Joshua Bell playing on his 3.5 million worth Stradivarius because he was playing on the New York Subway dressed as a street musician. They would pay through the nose to hear him if only it was in a concert hall! Or how an investor refuses to sell a stock that is slowly going underwater against the advise of his agent and lost all his investment in the process. I know many can empathise with this one including me.

All of this reminded me of a story I had read in India when little. I believe it was about Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar but I have heard many variations of it. The story : One day this well respected scholar was travelling in a train with a youth. The youth did not find it amusing to go with this person in simple attire and showed his displeasure in many ways. The guy was going to attend a lecture by the famous Vidyasagar after all and belonged to the higher echelons of education.  Imagine his surprise and remorse then, when on reaching the destination he saw people waiting to garland the simple guy who travelled with him as the famous scholar! To  my delight I found a version of this story as well as more details on Vidyasgar here. I love telling this story to my kids. So the book Sway is a collection of many such instances helpful for the new generation where the old adages 'all that glitters is not gold' or 'think before you leap' etc. may not suffice.

Kaffir Boy & Lying Awake

True, I'd been MIA the past few weeks but books were never far away. Reading is my favorite form of relaxation. Yes, above eating, sleeping and shopping!  I see at least a few heads nodding in agreement. So I got to finish a bunch of extraordinary books which will be shared as time permits. Time to go to the first of the two books featured today.

Kaffir Boy By Mark Mathabane

Mark Matahabane's Kaffir Boy strikes you with such force in the first paragraph that you feel as if you have no choice but to read it. And read is what I did. A visiting relative brought it with him and me being me, could not keep my hands off the book. He kindly decided to leave it behind. It is a painful read but you are forced to go on wanting to know how this incredibly strong person survived the tough life he was dealt.

This is an autobiography and Mathabane's is a success story but the pitfalls and sufferings he had to overcome simply blows the mind. Born in Alexandra, South Africa inside one of the numerous black ghettos that surround the city Mathabane had to live each day as it came. Apartheid was at its height and if it was not for his Mom & Grandma he sure would have ended up dead in some tsotsi gang fight or another. As it was, he managed to put himself through school, developed a voracious reading habit and had the lucky break of being introduced to Tennis through his Grandma's white employers. Tennis was the ticket that got him to America. The land where he knew black players like Arthur Ashe were admired and roamed freely. He has written a few books since then but none compares to the forcefulness of the events of his difficult life in this book. His relationship with Mom & Dad are also explored in depth. It simply had to have been cathartic for him to finally be able to express all the pent up feelings of living as a black man in oppressed South Africa.

Each page takes us through the abject poverty and utter cruelty  that the black people had to weather just for the bare minimum of survival. Think Dharavi and add to it a totalitarian state against the black people.

Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton has long been a favorite of mine for the story it tells as well as the almost lyrical, down to earth portrayals of both the beautiful country and its people. Hands going up. Yes I own it. Beautiful, beautiful book. In contrast, Mathabane's book talks of a similar plight but with a force that makes it impossible to look away. It took me a while to finish but couldn't dream of abandoning it. To do so would be a betrayal. The book is being used as school reading material as well as at College levels I believe.

Lying Awake By Mark Salzman

Having read his Soloist before I didn't hesitate one bit to pick up this Mark Salzman book. And what a read it was! If you liked "To Kill A Mocking Bird" or "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" then I need to say no more. Just find the book and read please. As for the content, Cronin's "The Keys of the Kingdom" comes to mind. It might appeal to you only from a certain stage in your life. It came to me at this right moment and I loved every single line. It reads like King David's Psalms. Sister John of The Cross goes through duelling phases of total faith and serious doubts in a cloistered Carmelite Monastery.  Salzman seems very attuned to spirituality in general. His portrayal of Zen Buddhism in The Soloist was revealing. I'd be getting any of his books that are available with the confidence of a fulfilling read.