I read Now a while ago and I was not impressed. When Too Small to Fail caught my eye, I realised that it was by the same author, Morris Gleitzman, so I put the book away again. When I visited the library, it caught my eye again. And again. It was time to read it.Too Small to Fail was sweet and pacy. I am not a fast reader. I like to mull over books I read as I read them. I don't devour books, unless they capture me wholly.I read Too Small to Fail in one sitting.Oliver's parents own a bank, but he wants more. Not squillions of dollars. He just wants a dog. When the dog is used to blackmail Oliver, he gets immersed in the murky world of investment, banking, liabilities, assets and credit default swaps. He realises that being "nice" and "kind" are not part of an investment banker's job description. The problem is that he wants his parents to be nice and kind. Unfortunately, they are … [Read more...]
Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Café
What takes you back to old remembered places and half-forgotten memories? What makes you revisit forgotten parts of your life?Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Café explores the idea that taste can make you go back in time and visit parts of history. A contraption that looks like a coffee-machine, fed with the right ingredients, can recreate in your imagination a time that is so vivid that you go back there yourself!In this sweet book set in Monsieur Moutarde's French café in Montmartre, we meet a white cat called Camembert who wears an eye-patch, a young girl, a scientist - and of course, Madame Pamplemousse herself. A quick and easy read, it uses a lighthearted style of storytelling to take you on a crazy adventure.Title Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling CaféAuthor Rupert KingfisherGenre Adventure/FantasyRating (out of 5) 3Age-group 7+ … [Read more...]
Being Billy
When I started reading Being Billy, I felt uncomfortable, but I did not know why. I just could not lay my finger on what made me draw into myself and step back from the book.After a few pages, I realised I was supposed to feel uncomfortable. The book wanted to reach within me and squeeze something that I had buried deep within. For as long as I resisted that, the book made me uncomfortable. The moment I allowed it to touch me, I sobbed my heart out. Sitting in a train, oblivious to the world around me, I sniffed and licked the salty tears that poured down my cheeks.Billy is a young boy forced to be older than he is. A 'lifer' at a home, surrounded by carers whom he calls 'scummers', Billy has only one soft point: his twin siblings six years younger than he is. Other than that, Billy is just a mix of violence and anger, unwilling to be loved, deliberately shoving people out of his … [Read more...]
Clover Twig and the Incredible Flying Cottage
Clover Twig is a very tidy girl with very neat hair. She is very particular about things being clean and proper. She won't do anything she is told not to do. In other words, she has a little bit of an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.When Clover begins to work for the witch Mrs Eckles, she welcomes the challenge. But working with a witch is never easy, however nice the witch may be. Worst of all, good old Mrs Eckles has a nasty sister who wants to steal Mrs Eckles's cottage! It could all have been a nice domestic legal dispute if it hadn't been for the fact that 'stealing' the house in witch language is actually stealing the whole thing and taking it to Castle Coldiron.When you try to summarise the story of Clover Twig and the Incredible Flying Cottage, it sounds incredibly like the kind of boring, outdated fairy tale that should have been lost to collective memory years ago, but it is … [Read more...]
Witch Fire
I always judge a book by its cover, and this one said: Ancient witchcraft. Modern world. And then the title Witch Fire.It intrigued me immediately, and it did not let me down. I did not do any research before I started reading. I did not find out whether Witch Fire was part of a series. As I read on, I realised that the book either had an awe-inspiring back-story, or it had a prequel. I only just discovered that the second is true, and therefore the first too.Witch Fire makes a world come alive. Lucas Stearne and Gloriana Starling are worlds apart, almost cruelly drawn together in the world of witchcraft. Fae is not something that one can choose to have, in the world of Witch Fire. Lucas, coming from a long line of Inquisitors, is nearly ashamed of possessing fae. Gloriana, on the other hand, delights in it, brought up as she is in an East End coven. Bravery, truth and circumstances … [Read more...]
Apache
It's been a while since I wrote about what I was reading for some reason. I did read quite a bit, though. Some of the books were worth sharing, but I was too lazy to talk about them. Some were important for me to read - like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Perks of Being a Wallflower taught me, finally, what a 'coming-of-age' novel is. Honestly, I was not old enough to read it when I was physically coming of age. Maybe children today are; maybe they aren't. I could, at best, have read it seven years ago, definitely not in my teens.The novel that now brings me back to writing about books is Tanya Landman's Apache. With a workshop on books coming up tomorrow, I have been reflecting again on how little we read. There's so much variety in the world, and we put everything into little boxes that we label 'fantasy', 'historical fiction', 'school … [Read more...]
Jatayu Moksham
The Kalakshetra troupe performed in Pune for the first time last evening. Finally.When I watch them dance, I understand. I understand why Kalakshetra is such a reputed name in the dance world. I am awed by the vision of Rukmini Devi, and her incredible imagination. I see dance as architecture, performance and storytelling. I am moved to laughter and tears, empathy and revulsion.I don't particularly like the Ramayana as a story. I find Sita a rather insipid character, whimsical and petulant. Rama, to me, is too good to be true. Too much of an unbelievable mixture of human and god. I am revolted time and again by the way Rama and Lakshmana taunt the rakshasi Surpanakha before shaming her. There is too much wrong with the story, for me. Yet, on stage, it is divine. The characters are living, breathing individuals. Sita, roused to anger, is formidable. In love, she wins my … [Read more...]
Lari Don
I was introduced to Lari Don thanks to the Mythical Maze Reading Challenge, and if for nothing else, I'm glad of the challenge for that! Of the First Aid for Fairies series, I read the last one first, and then I had to read the others.Once again, I realised why children like series. A single book is not like a short story. A short story delivers what it promises to deliver - a picture. A book makes you want more - a sequel, a prequel, a continuation. If you fall in love with a book, you fall in love with the characters. When the characters are your friends, you want to spend more time with them and get to know them better.That's how it was with this series. Despite the fact that I did not read the series in order, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I love brave, loyal Yann and Lee who cannot be trusted. Helen Strang with her violin - I could hear the melodies … [Read more...]
David
I rarely read something that is 'Not Suitable for Younger Readers' and, to be honest, I did not notice that David had this warning. Yet (or maybe because of that) David struck a chord with me.In Florence in 1501, it was essential to know what your political inclinations were. Either you supported the republic, or you supported the de Medici. Yet, things were not as simple as they seemed on the surface. Gabriele, drawn into politics against his will, found himself adhering by principles he did not entirely agree with. He found himself aligning himself with political ideologies that he did not quite endorse.More than anything else, what hit me was how similar things seem to be today. Everyone must have an opinion. You may know nothing about politics, and you may care less. But somehow, you have to have an opinion. If you don't you are somehow heartless or unfeeling or selfish or stupid … [Read more...]
Frederica
I was standing at the bank reading Frederica because even though it is not true that I 'cannot' put the book down, it is true that I don't want to put the book down.There is nothing like a book that is addictive. It makes you want to read: during that one minute when the computer is booting, during the thirty seconds when your bottle is being filled, during the twenty seconds it takes for someone to pick up the phone.Back to the bank story. I was standing in line, waiting for my turn and I read about Felix, who is not a 'little boy', but an abominable 'thatch-gallows'. Felix's sister Frederica warned him not to plague Alverstoke into taking him to see a balloon ascension. But, you see, Felix was not 'plaguing' Cousin Alverstoke; he was just 'asking'. And that's not the same thing, is it?A bubble of laughter rose to my throat, but how could I laugh, standing there in a mundane … [Read more...]