Tis' the Time for Lists!

Continuing the trend of lists, here's another called The Top 100 Notable Books of 2010 from the New York Times!

I didnt want to include all of them here but just hand-picked a few that I'd love to sink my teeth into:

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS. By Tom Rachman. (Dial, $25.) This intricate novel is built around the personal stories of staff members at an improbable English-language newspaper in Rome, and of the family who founded it in the 1950s. --This should be interesting given how English has become so prevalent...wonder if we'd have to go through something similar when say, Swahili becomes the go-to language for the world.

ANGELOLOGY. By Danielle Trussoni. (Viking, $27.95.) With a smitten art historian at her side, the young nun at the center of this rousing first novel is drawn into an ancient struggle against the Nephilim, hybrid offspring of humans and heavenly beings. --Coz we've all got a little bit of an angel within each of us :)


THE LOST BOOKS OF THE ODYSSEY. By Zachary Mason. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24.) The conceit behind the multiple Odysseuses here (comic, dead, doubled, amnesiac) is that this is a translation of an ancient papyrus, a collection of variations on the myth. --As an ode to the Black Ships ;)

What makes your top 100?

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

I’ve bolded out the ones that I’ve read…leave your list in the comments section...abridged versions are TOTALLY acceptable :)



1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen



2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien



3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte



4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling



5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee



6. The Bible (not completely)



7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte



8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell



9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman



10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens



11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott



12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy



13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (not completely)


 
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (not completely)


 
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier



16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien



17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulkes



18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger



19. The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger



20. Middlemarch - George Eliot



21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell



22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald



23. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy



24. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams



25. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky



26. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck



27. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll



28. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame



29. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy



30. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens



31. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis



32. Emma - Jane Austen



33. Persuasion - Jane Austen



34. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis



35. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini



36. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres



37. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden



38. Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne



39. Animal Farm - George Orwell



40. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown



41. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez



42. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving



43. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins



44. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery



45. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy



46. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood



47. Lord of the Flies - William Golding



48. Atonement - Ian McEwan



49. Life of Pi - Yann Martel



50. Dune - Frank Herbert



51. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons



52. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen



53. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth



54. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon



55. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens



56. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley



57. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon



58. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez



59. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck



60. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov



61. The Secret History - Donna Tartt



62. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold



63. Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas



64. On The Road - Jack Kerouac



65. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy



66. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding



67. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie



68. Moby Dick - Herman Melville



69. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens



70. Dracula - Bram Stoker



71. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett



72. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson



73. Ulysses - James Joyce



74. The Inferno – Dante



75. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome



76. Germinal - Emile Zola



77. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray



78. Possession - AS Byatt



79. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens



80. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell



81. The Color Purple - Alice Walker



82. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro



83. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert



84. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry



85. Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White



86. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom



87. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle



88. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton



89. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad



90. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery



91. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks



92. Watership Down - Richard Adams



93. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole



94. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute



95. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas



96. Hamlet - William Shakespeare



97. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl



98. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo



99. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand



100. Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom

Authors that Just Totally Do it Man!

So this comes via a recent spate of Facebook forwards...Who are the top 15 authors (poets, and screen-writers included) who've influenced you and who will always stick with you? List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. 

Here's my list...as with all things, I'm desperately wishing it was the top 20 or wait top 25! There are so many more that I want to add in...like, Ken Follet, J.D. Salinger, Jeffrey Archer, Robin Cook, Ayn Rand, John Grisham, Eric Segal, Vikram Seth and the most recent addition, Aravind Adiga hahaha :) 

1. Khalil Gibran
2. Vikram Seth
3. Enid Blyton
4. Virginia Wolf
5. Fredric Forsyth
6. Jane Austen
7. J. K. Rowling
8. P G Wodehouse
9. Emily Bronte
10. Clive Cussler
11. Khaled Hosseini
12. Maya Angelou
13. Edgar Alan Poe
14. Alexandre Dumas
15. Stephenie Meyer

Look forward to your thoughts readers!

Book Review: The Mango Season

Following is a review from of the BC members...also, a little tweety told me that there are other books being read such as Pillars of the Earth and the Golden Compass to name a few. Hoping that this first review will be inspiration for others to send their thoughts on their person reading lists :)

As my fellow book club friends know, I'm new to reading and of the few gems I've read, Mango Season is one of those that you want to finish as soon as you start reading--my personal best in coming in the under-two days mark! And as with all page-turners, this book has the perfect blend of being small, easy to read and visualize, a character you can get behind and a light tone that gets you hooked all the way through to its twisty end.

I could relate to it more, not just because it's a story of an Indian girl but, more so because it's a story of an Indian girl living in the United States. After reading a lot of serious books, this one was a good change and made the reading even more enjoyable.

So instead of telling you bits 'n pieces of the story let me tell you what the book is about...It's a story of a woman (Priya) who lives in America and is returning home to inform her family that she wants to marry an American man (Nick),something that most Asian families would probably dread! As soon as she declares her intention, all the melodrama starts to unfold...the big fat Indian family members picking on each other to the eldest male in the family struggling to hold his position as the head of the family, the traditional bride seeing ceremony, all the drama that the girl staying in America will do when she returns about the way her city has developed..And the best part are the Mangoes that all Indians relish to the fullest, and the pickles we make from mangoes...yum!!


I think the part of the book which still makes me smile is that after all the melodrama and the struggle to make the family agree to the union of the Indian and the American there still remains a surprise in the end which the family still doesnt know about. Just when the reader cheers on the uber-conservative Indian family for coming along the acceptance route and becoming progressive, the author throws the reader a curve ball that makes you wonder whether prejudices are confined to certain countries, or are there some gaps that are just too vast for any family to overcome?
 
I don't want to give away the suspense so you guys have to read on and discover the funny twist....I think it is a good light read for everyone...enjoy!

Slaves and Oracles--Up Next

In an effort to keep things easy, breezy and beautiful, Cover Girl style, the BC will be reading The Black Ships by Jo Graham

As debut books go, I'll reserve my judgement until I reach the last page, and may be less demanding of her than with a more veteran writer. Synopses and reviews online look interesting though with slaves, abandoned ships and Oracles describing fates of the damned. Historical novels make the perfect time machines no? Who needs Back to Future!

PS: Apparently, Wikipedia, my personal Oracle says: Black Ships is the official name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan between the 15th and 19th centuries. The word "black" refers to the black color of the older sailing vessels, and the black smoke from the coal-fired power plants of the American ships.

From XL to XS

While we usually don't feature book reviews, I just had to talk to you about this book, From XL to XS by Payal Gidwani Tiwari--the first and (I could be wrong) only true celebrity fitness expert in India.

Check it! She's most famous for Kareena's size zero notoriety and Sridevi's awesome 50+ come back as the reigning post-cougar siren of Indian cinema. (Cinema so quaint right? Right up there with talkies...I do believe I should be born in another era.)

You've got to hand it to them crazy Bollies, apparently Ms. Payal helps them fight their inherent fat DNA, delivering perfect bodies, 21st century style...you go girl, eek!

For a sweet under-Rs. 200 price point, you know I'm hollering for my personal copy.


PS: I loves me some cross collaboration...the dual promotion of Golmaal 3 and the book launch pretty smart thinkin' yeah?

Justify Murder?

What a gruesome thought right? But, the ladies of the Book Clubbers (BC*) had an extremely impassioned discussion yesterday at the monthly meeting on whether "Balram" Munna, protagonist of White Tiger ought to be castrated for building a life on a single act of inhumanity.

Seems like a given does'nt it? Murderer once = murderer always and henceforth, shall forever be proclaimed as "scum of the earth" as one fiesty BC declared.

While not novel, the character potrayal by Adiga and the sarcastic voice of Balram made everyone push their boundaries on age-old questions of, does the end justify the means? With a better motive, would Balram have been more likeable? Was Adiga extremely unilateral in his portrayal of the backwaters of India and as a reader do we owe the writer an open mind that doesnt shy away from harsh realities?

Ripe for discussion...you bet! Whether you empathize or get disgusted by Balram's open greed and shocking ability to be completely selfish, it's definitely worth a read.

*Not a democratically agreed upon truncation of the official name...but heck, as the editor, I got some mad "pull" as they'd say in India. Hells bells yeah!

Hot on the Reading Shelf

An ambitious running list of the current books being perused by the lovely readers of Book Clubbers. These run the gamut of being adapted into movies, screen plays and some, that are just fun beach reading. As half the joy is in discovering new authors and tastes, please dip in through these links for some interesting reviews and varied takes on the subjects.

Most importantly, check off books you've read and enjoyed (or loathed!) in the comments section. I'll work on compiling your thoughts into a collective review, piecing together different view points on each of the books...should be an interesting project and of course, the more colorful the language in your commentary the better! Who else, but yours truly would give you an opportunity to use explitive feedback!!

Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strouts
Where the Heart Is, Billie Letts
Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
The Brass Verdict, Michael Connely
The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory
The Island, Elin Hilderbrand
The Alchemy of Desire, Tarun Tejpal
The Last Song, Nicholas Sparks
Cutting for stone, Abraham Verghese
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson
Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom
Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann

Oh no! He DIDN'T!

So long, way too long! Forgive me won't you?

Gosh I've totally been slacking on my editorial duties!! Blame it on social media, theater and life in general!! So, we had an awesome first meeting of the Book Clubbers...great food (if I say so myself ;)), lovely company and the conversation---scintillating!! I just love that word...brings twinkly diamonds to mind for some reason!

We discussed Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner and even with some general apprehensions about the topic and genre being too banal, the ladies brought it home.

Highlights of discussions include: (can't help the suit in me and have to deliver highlights in bullets...maybe I'll make a PowerPoint preso one day? Gasp!)

• What is it about women that make us want to forgive our wayward men? Some say it's our innate capacity to forgive (not forget!) and take a "why can't we all just get along" approach. Others of course think it's the history built together that's too important to throw away on one indiscretion. My beef is can cheating really be called an "indiscretion" isn't it more like a life altering decision? And there was a group that asks: is forgiving a euphemism for turning a blind eye? Hmm, no wonder Mr. Shiva keeps his third eye closed all the time on us humans eh? :)

• Over achieving nature of first borns--why oh why do you torture the rest of your siblings so?! This was a tough one as we wrestled with questions like should first borns take the blame for their younger siblings not being able to cope? Does being a first born really drive you to feel responsible to take charge and pave the way for the family name? As expected, only the first borns in the Book Clubbers took the time to discuss these issues as the rest of us later borns snoozed :)

• Why are women so eager to find their identity in identifying with their partners and their family?! And if they do make the choice to spend their life nurturing and building the nest, should they fault the family for taking them for granted? After all, don't women do that to themselves by making place for others?! This was discussed as every lady checked to make sure the person on their right was well fed and taken care of.

• And lastly, can you ever make a valid excuse for being an addict? Isn't that just an excuse for doing the hell as you please with your life with no sense of accountability? Reaction to this question you ask?! (Slurrrrrrrrrp) Excuse me while I drain out the remnants in my glass :):)

Not meaning to trivialize (maybe ever so slightly 'coz there is nothing that you have to take that seriously after all right?) but, plug in your thoughts in the comments section... Fly away and in the words of Ari Gold, "I love a liar but I hate a cheater." Until later!

Celebrities Worth Reading

Just came across this article on some books written by celebrities that may be worth reading!

Let me know if you have any celebrities you'd like me to keep an eagle eye out for!

Excerpt from the Online Universities Article here:

1.Ellen DeGeneres: After a long career as a comedian, actress, Academy Awards host and TV talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres now enjoys a large, loyal following of middle Americans and respecting colleagues, many of whom tune into her talk show Ellen everyday. Fans love DeGeneres for her quirky, self-deprecating sense of humor and her penchant for poking fun without being cruel. Her two books, My Point…and I Do Have One and The Funny Thing Is were written in 1995 and 2003 respectively, and mirror her signature comedy style. Readers will find jokes and commentary about the humor in everyday life, from parallel parking to the way we act in elevators.

2.Stephen Colbert: On his TV show The Colbert Report, host and writer Stephen Colbert is a silly anchorman who points out the absurdity of the day’s news. But beyond the jokes, Colbert is an intelligent man who mixes political commentary with comedy. He has won four Emmy awards, as well as other awards for work on his own show and The Daily Show. Colbert is also a New York Times best-selling author, thanks to his overwhelmingly popular satire I Am America (And So Can You!)

3.Ethan Hawke: During the late 1980s and 1990s, actor Ethan Hawke was slated to be the next hottest thing in Hollywood after appearing in movies like Dead Poets Society, White Fang and Reality Bites. But while the dark, sensitive actor continued to work regularly, he wasn’t interested in being a high-profile movie star. Instead, Hawke chose smaller roles, returned to theatre work, and even wrote two novels: The Hottest State in 1997 and Ash Wednesday in 2002. Both were critically acclaimed successes.

4.Henry Winkler: Happy Days star Henry Winkler continues to appear on TV shows and movies even today, but the Fonz is also a children’s book author. And while lots of celebrities, from Madonna to Spike Lee, have written kids’ books, Winkler drew on his own childhood struggle with dyslexia and school life to create the Hank Zipzer Collection of novels for the nine-to-twelve-year old set.

5.Woody Allen: Director, writer and actor Woody Allen’s life has been riddled with controversy and complexity, but he is nevertheless one of the most successful and influential filmmakers of the 20th century. Allen has been working steadily since the 1960s, and has written, directed, and/or starred in a number of films, including What’s New Pussycat?, Play it Again, Sam, Manhattan, Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and others. Allen has also written plays and short stories like "Side Effects" and the novel Without Feathers, which spent four months on the New York Times Bestseller list.

6.Carrie Fisher: While actress Carrie Fisher was once most well known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies in the 1970s, she is now more often cited as a successful novelist and screenwriter. She has written five novels, including Postcards from the Edge, which was also developed into a movie in 1990. Her sole work of nonfiction Wishful Drinking is an autobiographical story that was turned into a limited-run show on Broadway.

7.Steve Martin: Steve Martin has been a part of the entertainment industry since the 1960s, and a very public part since his appearances on TV with The Gong Show and Saturday Night Live in the 1970s. Now, Steve Martin continues to work regularly as a TV and film actor, awards show host, producer, musician and writer. Martin has written several screenplays and plays including 2001′s Shopgirl, which starred Claire Danes.

8.Hugh Laurie: House star Hugh Laurie has won countless awards, including Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards, for his work on American TV, and he also enjoyed a successful career on stage, TV and in films in Great Britain. The talented actor also experimented with novel writing and even submitted the book The Gun Seller to a publisher anonymously. His agent convinced him to admit that he was the author to help with publicity for the book, a thriller about a retired Army officer propositioned to assassinate an American businessman. Laurie has also written another novel, The Paper Soldier, which is currently unavailable.

9.Martin Scorsese: Film director Martin Scorsese is responsible for creating cinematic masterpieces like Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear, Casino and The Departed, as well as documentaries and several short films. The award-winning filmmaker has also written and compiled several books and collections about cinema history, directing and the entertainment industry. Additionally, books like Casino reveal the original story created before the movie version.

10.Quentin Tarantino: Another cutting-edge American director on our list is Quentin Tarantino, the creative genius behind movies like Pulp Fiction, Sin City, Reservoir Dogs and the Kill Bill series. Tarantino and his projects have cult followings and have enjoyed widespread commercial and critical success, making him one of the most influential artists of his time. Besides directing films, Tarantino has also written many of his screenplays and book or comic book versions of his movies, like Grindhouse, Natural Born Killers and Inglourious Basterds.

Bookworm: The Fashionista Edition

Reading is so fun as a solitary act! But like all solitary hobbies, it can be more fun if accompanied with the right accessories and the perfect ambience.

Here are a bunch of feel-good sides that make for a perfect summertime reading haven. What are some of your must haves for your special reading nook? Feel free to pepper your thoughts in the comments!

A cute tote to carry your essentials...bright is a recurring theme

The Most Comfortable Couch Ever!! And that too in lovely orange...doesnt it just ask to be sunk into?

Yummy ginger float drinks to stay hydrated

Bright, juicy nail paint to make every page interesting as you flip through the pages.

Dream on Dreamer

Whenever talk of books and opinions come up, I'm always drawn back to one of the most inspiring books Reading Lolita In Tehran by Azar Nafisi. Set in Tehran under the "veil" of political tyranny, this character-based book makes you appreciate the value of free speech and democracy.

Especially as she narrates her experience using the four great books and writers: Lolita, The Great Gatsby, Henry James and Jane Austen, it paints such a vivid picture for the life and culture of the women in Tehran. As only a sensitive writer could, she draws parallels between the books and the characters in her life so vividly that you cant help but get lost between the pages of today and fiction.

I was even more excited when I got to see her address the students at Boston University a few years ago where she faced some questions regarding her political point of view, on being neoconservative and pushing the Bush propaganda. As Nafisi said it best (paraphrased)...my interests like in literature not politics. All I asked is to be allowed to read, what I want, when I want...too grand a dream for some?

On the Book Shelf

Some of the books we're planning on hitting up in the next couple of months:


Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner not to be confused with the movie with the same name starring Anna Paquin, who I personally think is a tad bit off...somewhat batty which probably adds to her appeal?! Anyways, off topic!

So Fly Away Home, summer reading at its best with intricate relationship drama, high-brow life of a politician's wife with tons of smart humor peppered in. Perfect no to gear up for the Real Housewives of D.C? The show incidentally also stars the famed White House gatecrasher in the red sari. Hello summer I love you so!!


The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Love debut books that turn into stellar success stories. You cannot help but want to encourage the budding writer. I mean, what would J.K. Rowling be today if not for her first wave of enthusiastic pre-teeners. A book teeming with good old-fashioned guilt, seeped in Southern tradition, and tons of smoking, drinking, women! Definitely high on the must-read list.

Two for two! Will circle back with more updates on the hottest book shelf in town.

Inspiring Jane Austen

What's a book club without a dash of Ms. Austen eh?! Oh wait since we're not in the 19th century and known to be spit fires ourselves...a dash of FightClub makes perfect sense!

Of New Beginnings

The idea of a book club is as old as the formation of society...well maybe not that old but definitely goes back to the days when people wanted to get together and talk through ideas, new ways of thinking, fresh perspectives and all the goodies associated with Renaissance living. Even if not super old, it definitely pre-dates Oprah's Reading Club which we will be sure to discuss in future posts.

Against overwhelming criticism of this book club being more of a "kitty party"?!!! (shudder! reminds me of yummy food and heavy set women who'd stare down their noses, pinch my cheeks and scare the living bezeejus out of me) the Book Clubbers book club has been launched.

You really have to say "Book Clubbers" in fast repetition multiple times to get what it means. And sadly no it doesn't really sound like Baklava like one very hungry member of this group imagined. The comments section is available for you to leave your take on what it stands for/means.

Well, this is just the start. We expect to have a lot of fun, animated discussions, passionate views and a lot of silliness mixed in.

While you may not get to actually be there in person to witness, we're hoping you can participate through this blog...share your views, give us suggestions and generally appreciate us for being as awesome as we are (Barney Stinson reference get it?)! :)

Talk soon lovely readers!