Seraglio August 29, 2006
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Eighteenth century Turkey is wonderfully recreated in this engaging novel of sultans and harems as seen through the eyes of Aimée du Buc, a thirteen year old girl who is kidnapped by pirates as she travels from her school in France to her home in Martinique. Renamed Nakshidil (“embroidered on the heart”), she becomes part of the sultan’s seraglio in Topkapi Palace, where she learns new sets of rules for etiquette, for survival and for happiness.
It is the first novel for Janet Wallach, who has earlier written a number of biographies. A very enjoyable and fast read, I finished it in one day. Read it if you like history, the mysteriousness and politicking inside harems and most especially romance.
Summer Reading August 29, 2006
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Some of the books I have read lately.
Five Point Someone—Chetan Bhagat
Five Point Someone is an engaging book depicting the intense competition, struggle and adventures of three students at IIT Delhi. The tone is quite unlike what one would expect of an IIT-ian and therefore unexpectedly enjoyable. The title is a take on the rigid rating system that immediately labels all students on the basis of their grade point average.
The Broker—John Grisham
A thoroughly enjoyable light read. This one has the barest minimum about lawyers in the deep south of America. Instead, it is about a lawyer on the run with the world’s smartest bad guys after him. The setting is Europe and so there is quite a bit history, folklore and language thrown in the background.
The Inheritors—Aruna Chakravarti
A family saga written in great depth about the Vaidic Kulin Brahmins of Bengal, their traditions, marriages, education system and children. The narrative starts in 1996 in Germany and through an assortment of letters, memoirs and characters.
The Conquest—Yxtra Maya Murray
It is a story within a story. A rare book restorer delves into the lives of the characters of a book she is working on, evoking memories of her past and of turbulent times in Mexico after the conquest of Mexico by Cortes.
The Koh-I-noor Diamond—Iradj Amini
The story of the Koh-I-noor Diamond and its momentous passage through history.
The five people you meet in Heaven August 29, 2006
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Some excerpts from Mitch Albom’s book, The five people you meet in Heaven.
“There are no random acts. We are all connected. You can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind.”
“Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.”
On Sacrifice:
“Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to. Little sacrifices, Big sacrifices.”
On Forgiveness:
“No one is born with anger.” (We accumulate it in our lifetimes.) “And when we die, the soul is freed of it.”
On Anger:
“Holding anger is poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.”
On Love:
“Love, like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes, under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive. “
This is an incredible book. The storyline, the language, the examples used are so straightforward making it easy to understand, relate to and apply to ones lives.
The fine print August 29, 2006
Posted by Shel in Books, Quotations.add a comment
In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.
–Mortimer Adler; American philosopher and educator
