"Where are you, Varsha?" "I'm not here!" I call back. "It looks like you are." "No, I'm inside here." (pointing to my book) That's the way it was with The Story of Cirrus Flux. I enjoyed the ride through 18th century England, with Matthew Skelton's small liberties with historical facts. I wondered again at how far science has come, but how cruel the human race is. We're such a bunch of contraries. We are capable of great kindness and great cruelty. We are capable of infinite selflessness and inhuman selfishness. We want revenge, but want to forgive. We go to any lengths for people we love. The Story of Cirrus Flux, while making you gasp and shiver, also has all these contraries melting together. … [Read more...]

When I picked up Olivia's First Term, I was more than a little sceptical. The book was light purple, with splashes of silver on it. It did not promise to be the kind of book I would like. I don't like books that run on crushes and fantasies and lipstick and shoes and make-up. And lavender, purple and mauve books are often filled with just that.   Happily, Olivia's First Term was nothing like that. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I experienced after a very long time the joy bordering on addiction that I felt when I read Malory Towers the first time. When I read Malory Towers now, I cringe with embarrassment at the fact that eighteen-year-old Darrel behaves as if she is eleven. But I cannot deny that when I read the series the first time, I devoured each book and wished Enid Blyton had written more. Olivia's First Term gave me that same simple, childlike happiness. I … [Read more...]

I love novels that read like short stories. I don't like it when the plot is so complex that my excitement reaches its peak too early. When I read a book like that, I'm just waiting to find out what happens in the end, not enjoying the journey. The book I read before this, The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43, was like that. In the last two chapters, you're just waiting for resolution, no longer anticipating what could happen. The Court Painter's Apprentice was nothing like that. In many ways, I found its telling old-fashioned, and I liked that. I liked how different incidents come together to create a story. There was a build-up with no unnecessary crests and troughs. One story after another, with very few sub-plots. Didn't Aristotle say that that was the making of good literature? A young painter's talent is discovered when he is still very young. Apprenticed to Hugo, the leading painter of … [Read more...]

As a child, I did not like anything about anything awkward. I did not like dirt (even though I asked my father where the Famous Five went to the loo and how they had baths when they went camping). I did not find 'dirty' humour funny, even humour aimed at children. I liked politeness and neatness in all. No burping, no rude signs or gestures, nothing. The Red Dress is one of those books I certainly would not have liked as a child. Even now, I find that I cannot quite understand why ugly things find their way into literature. From where does this need to be 'true' to reality come? Smelly chicken rotting in the heat, worms of snot - why do I need to know? Yet, I liked the story-line. Engagingly written, The Red Dress made me continue reading despite my quarrels with it. The realistic elements did not change the fact that there are sudden, unexpected character changes and movements from an … [Read more...]

If you go to the moon, you would go up. But when you reach the moon, you land. You go down. And if you are on the moon and you look up, you will see the earth. That means that somewhere between here and the moon, up becomes down and down becomes up. I started reading Sophie's World when I was about twelve. I was impressed and intrigued - but I could not finish reading it. There was just too much intensity that I was not prepared to deal with. Perhaps if I had read Hello? Is Anybody There? first, I would have tried harder with Sophie's World. At first glance, Hello? Is Anybody There? is a bit like The Little Prince. At second glance, it still is, and in a good way. It is a book that reminds us that the question is far more important than the answer. It is a beautiful journey into our minds and our realities. I am sure that every time I read it, I will take something else out of the … [Read more...]