• The Eyre Affair

  The Eyre Affair is a quirky fantasy, science fiction and literary novel that captures the adventures of a detective called Thursday Next while trying to capture her arch enemy Acheron Hades. This novel is based on an alternative universe where neanderthals co-exist with humans (having been reverse engineered) and people keep Dodos as pets. It is a very humorous book and quite “unputdownable”. You will appreciate it a lot more if you are a fan of English Literature Classics - especially of Jane Eyre. I loved reading it.

• The World According to Garp

  The World According to Garp is about an author and his famous mother who find themselves the object of adoration and insult as they are crowned as radical supporters of feminism (even though they are not). In the book, the protagonist (who writes in first person) finds himself famous as a feminist when his novel becomes popular as a feminist novel even though it was never written that way. Similarly, this novel too, evokes questions about feminism even though it is a piece of fiction. The novel features an extreme radical wing of feminism called Ellen Jamsians (who cut their tongues to show their support to a rape victim Ellen James whose tongue was cut by the rapists) - all this fictional of course. And how they hate the protagonist with a passion (even though other feminists adore him). Ironically, Ellen James herself hates the Ellen Jamesians. The radical Ellen Jamesians slowly lose their support and are even ridiculed by the end of the novel. Surely gets you thinking about feminism and its role in society.

• The Lost Cosmonaut

  Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist is a travel book where the author visits states in Russia (Tartarstan, Kalmykia, Mari El, and Udmurtia) that no tourist would ever want to visit. It is a fun book but occasionally drags through because there is not much to describe in these zones of anti-humanity. But there are a few fun facts about these places: Did you know that the Head of the Republic of Kalmykia is also the President of FIDE (chess organization) and that chess is compulsory as part of education? The last of the pagan believers of Europe live in Mari El and are believers of Marla? Udmurtia is where Mikhail Kalashnikov (inventor of AK-47) lives?

• The Vintage Book of Indian Writing

  THE VINTAGE BOOK OF INDIAN WRITING 1947-1997 was quite disappointing. I think the tragedy of Indian fiction is more apparent when all these famous authors are put together. All their words sound similar - melancholic repetitive Indian recollections (except those by Satyajit Ray, R K Narayan and Vikram Seth). It seems all you need is a description of Indian habits and occurrences with a family plot to keep the story moving. Most of the stories are extracts from books, which don’t seem to make much sense on their own. I was deeply disappointed by the choice of the story by Satyajit Ray (Big Bill), he has written numerous other creative stories. Likewise for R K Narayan. I have NO IDEA what Kiran Desai was doing there in that book (Maybe she was featured just because her mother (Anita Desai) was featured?). Best not to read this one.