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The title was catchy enough to lay my hands on this book as I kept my laptop bag on chair and found this book newly come in for review! I finished the book in two days flat, that is because, I had to sneak time from my sleep and morning breakfast. I could not have read the book in the office hence, two days.

About the author – this is Maya’s first novel and surprisingly it is good , funny, wild humour and full of masala. I must congratulate her on her work at the onset. I hope that she keeps up the good work.

The story is set in Singapore and Chennai. Of late, the Tamilians seem to be hot favorite characters of the writers, not sure though as to why.

So, we have Mira Iyer who is almost 30, single and kind of ready to mingle but the problem is that she earns well, has a mind of her own, fiercely independent and cannot seem to gel with the boys or men who are set up by her mother to meet her. Hence, the usual ma-beti tussle “when-will-you-marry” continues. It does form an important plot of the story. The boss ignores her; the pretty colleague seems to always ahead of her no matter how good work Mira does. The only person who seems to care is Vinay, a friend in need is a friend indeed. He is her team member and a friend.

After being ignored for so long Mira decides to shed her Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes image and gets a new avatar “Bitch Goddess”.  Thus begins a roller coaster ride for Mira. During this ride, she demands a promotion, some good work for her team, she shocks her pretty colleague Sanya, almost loses her friend Vinay, gets wooed by Rohan (Sanya also likes him). As if this was not enough, the plot thickens when her half-sister lands at her doorstep unannounced and insists that she be given shelter; circumstances force her to meet her estranged father too!

So, as readers, you will have some unanswered questions – Did Mira get a promotion? Did she get the projects for her team? What happened to Rohan finally? Who wins Rohan – is it Mira or is it Sanya? So on and so forth. I do not want to give the tidbit details of the entire story, I want people reading this to pick the book and start figuring out themselves. The book gives you a message, a little make over doesn’t harm anyone though it should not be overboard and hurt people.

Sometimes we all need to stop being always nice and make people around us notice and set the things right. The book is all about this and more. Thankfully, there is some dark humour thrown in so that a reader will not get bored.

So, all you people out there, go ahead, pick the book and read it; Oh yes! For ladies, it’s a must read book, some of you will identify with Mira.

Ginger Chai gives a “garam chai – masala maar ke” verdict for Bitch Goddess for Dummies.

Nilanjana Roy is a popular journalist and writer. She is a regular columnist at Business Standard. The Wildings is her first novel. Not since reading T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cat” have I enjoyed a book about the feline species so much. Nilanjana Roy has woven a magical tale describing the lives of the wildings (stray cats for uninitiated) and other assorted city animals. This lovely book is written without a shade of condescension.

Spoiler Alert: Please skip the following two paragraphs if you don’t want to know the plot.

The story revolves around the wildings of Nizamuddin, which includes several clans that live by strict rules. The cats communicate with each other by linking to a psychic cat network through their whiskers. One night their network is interrupted by the calls of a strange, new cat, called Mara. The calls are very potent, indicating that Mara is a sender, with exceptionally powerful linking skills. The community gathers together and decides that this intruder must be killed. Beraal, an experienced hunter and the clan-queen, is entrusted with this task.

The plan goes of off-kilter when Beraal realises that the sender is a tiny orange kitten, who doesn’t even know that she is linking. Beraal takes Mara under her wings, and teaches the kitten to control her sendings so that she doesn’t disturb the cat networks. Under Beeral’s tender guidance, Mara begins to hone her linking skills; soon she is able to travel to distant places through the psychic link. She even ends up befriending the tigers at the zoo. When a large clan of blood-hungry house cats attack the community, Mara helps the clan in the most unexpected manner.

The story-telling is fast paced and captivating. While Mara and Beeral are the most detailed characters, we meet a host of other wildings, including the naughty kitten Southpaw, The blue-eyed Siamese Miao, and the villainous Datura. Other animals including a reticent mongoose, Kirri, and a brave mouse, Jethro also make an appearance.

Interspersed with the text, are illustrations by Prabha Mallya. These black and white, mixed media images blend beautifully with the text. My favourite is the small drawing of Mara and Southpaw rubbing noses, and the full-page rendering of Mara looking at the Royal Bengal tiger, Ozymandias.

The most delightful aspect about The Wildings is that it is indeed a world of cats, and not an allegorical reference to human societies. In fact, the book rarely talks about humans except to refer to them as awkward, “bigfeet.” However, some of its themes will resonate with all readers, such as Mara’s fear of venturing outside her house, Southpaw’s unquenchable curiosity, and Beraal’s strong maternal instincts.

This book raises serious questions, such as the dangers of isolation and the cause of insanity, however it’s done so subtly that you never even realise the seriousness of the issues. Reading the book is a complete journey of wonder and thrill, right to the action packed ending. However, it lingers long after the last page has been read.

This curious assortment of cats is sure to win your heart, especially if you are an animal lover.

Book review written by Seema Misra is a Bangalore-based freelance writer and artist. When she is not writing, she spends her time reading books, comics, and graphic novels. She is also an avid movie-watcher, and reviews independent cinema, world cinema, and animation. She blogs at http://lalalandandreellife.blogspot.in/ and http://lalalandandreellife.blogspot.in/.

E.L Jame’s 50 Shades of Grey is simply put – an enigma frowned by critics but read by millions and an international all time best seller. Myriad of thoughts floats in my mind while reading the book. The first question that popped out ‘How could a porn stuff like this become a mainstream sensation and a national best seller?‘ and then more I dug into the darker shades of love, sex and the dark pink room and the intriguing, troubled and mercurial billionaire male protagonist, Christian and the much flushed in her first love and sex, the innocent, strong and hopelessly in love, Anna I realize yes, sex sells but then writing sex in itself an art else it might get boring like in many bedroom realities. To her due credit, E.L James takes us spiralling down into a dark world of sex with a detailed, articulate and in a captivating or simply put orgasmic writing.  Everyone can fantasize sex but few would be able to live the fantasy and E.L James got her act right in the Fifty Shades of Grey, trilogy. And then floats a thought ‘damn! here is nothing but porn laced with love!‘ and then yet another thought ‘ A trilogy of porn stuff is not just enough to stimulate it to be a national best seller unless the author has taken advantage of the dark shades of human psychology that makes the book endearing to the millions of readers‘ Probably right, after all Fifty Shades of Grey is not your regular romantic fiction nor your regular mills and boons stuff. It’s an adult erotica and it 50 shades darker in it. Not the regular vanilla sex but bondage, pain, sex between a dom and sub caught between a wounded past and anguish of unspoken love.

E.L James, author Fifty Shades Triology

Welcome to the Fifty Shades of Grey, the latest book phenomenon that has women across continents swoon in sex literature. The numbers speak volumes of its mass appeal. 4 million copies and counting in UK and another 2.5 million reprint now, making it the fastest selling book in UK, 15 million copies shipped to US and Canada and the throw in millions across the world and you know E.L James has hit a literary G-Spot bang on. Puritans might frown, the blue-blooded literature fans might cringe but millions of readers especially women are devouring the 50 shades of Grey. It is literature’s sexual liberation for whatever reasons and would make a good subject for modern-day Freud.

So what is Fifty Shades of Grey, the first of the trilogy all about? Ok, those who want to stay away from the shades of book summary can make a one para-leap here.

Anastasia Steele, a young final year collegian gets to interview the young, self-made billionaire  entrepreneur Christian Grey for the college newspaper when her best friend and roomie and newspaper editor, Katherine Kavanagh falls ill. Christian Grey is totally overwhelmed and intimidated by Grey’s greek God looks. Events follows and they meet again and by now Anna is flushed with love over Grey in spite of him warning him he is not a heart and flowers kind of guy and being a control freak. In spite of warning, the duo hooks up and Grey insists he does not make love but only fcuk hard and in a business like fashion offers her a contract that would take her into a vortex of dominant and submissive bondage, pain and lust in spite of  unspoken love simmering underneath.  She also realizes Christian is not a shining knight but a troubled man fighting his own inner demons and a troubled past that he would not share with her or anyone. So does love conquer the erotic dark cloud hanging over the couple? Where does the dark path of erotic desires lead Anna to? Did she able to unlock the troubled past of Grey makes the first book in the trilogy.

Now coming to the narrative, E.L James has no pretension of spinning a tale in a language that would be lauded by literary critics but its appeal lies her ability to make this erotic fiction appeal to men and largely women and bring them out of the closet of shame and unabashedly talk about it to others and read it in public. After all it is indeed a sex book in essence, not a romantic book laced with sex but other way around. Writing sex as I mentioned earlier is the most difficult part if you would ask any writer and to bring an erotic fiction with sex as the focal point and to explore the darkness of the erotic side of a troubled protagonist who in his own words is Fifty shades F%CKED up and gets his satisfaction in pain and pleasure of BDSM. To explore the fifty shades of darkness in a pretty ordinary and even slack language where  page after pages in detail and in-depth and managing to climax the reader’s anxiety (and imagination) is where E.L James succeeds.

My final word when I began reading Fifty Shades of Grey I had no idea what to expect but only the fact it has taken the bookshelves across the continents by storm. What I read shocked me, it was unexpected. It was over-the-top erotic sex that am not sure if I enjoyed it or not but one thing for sure E.L James did strike the imaginative g-spot somewhere that makes this book such a hit. If you like an orgasmic reading, go shamelessly indulge in it.

Tea for two and a piece of cake by Preeti Shenoy, her third novel is a story of a plain-Jane Nisha and her turmoils in life due to the vagaries of love and marriage  relationship.

Spoiler alert: Skip the next four paragraph, if you want to keep a blind eye on the book summary

Nisha is a 26 year old female working in a travel agency.  A plump, girl next door look and of course she has no boyfriend yet.As luck would have it, one fine day she gets a chance to go out with the hottest guy in the office to attend a dinner event in one of the biggest travel parties; lady luck shines again and she ends up spending a night at suave Samir Sharma’s house. He is one of the rising stars in the travel industry.

Due to some turn of events when she loses her present job, she gets into another one as a personal assistant of Samir. Soon, she finds herself drawn more and more towards Samir; being good at her work definitely helps her. Samir also starts liking her and finally they get married.

Marriage marks a turning point in Nisha’s life; being married to a big shot had its own advantages and disadvantages. She had no need to work in office but then she had nowhere to channelize her energy so she joins cookery course much to the dismay of Samir. In eight years of time, two kids later life moved fast forward for Nisha only to be jolted out with a shock that Samir has moved on. He no longer wants her to be a part of his life.

Two kids to support and nowhere to go, Nisha heads back to her old house, leaving the mansion of her husband. As she and the kids get adjusted to the new routine, Akash, an old friend of Nisha from her first job enters their lives. Soon her life starts taking a new turn under the firm but kind guidance of Akash; thoug he is younger to Nisha, yet a matured man to take care of things. In middle of all this, her neighbor Mrs.Billimoria pitches in with her tea and cakes to watch over her kids when she goes out and delivers food. Yes, her old culinary skills came to her rescue at this time. She starts her own catering business and amidst all these starts discovering a new life, a new Nisha. She realizes that she loves Akash and so does Akash.

The topsy-turvy narration of the story and the way each events unfolds layer by layer would definitely appeal the readers. Nisha moves to the new city with Akash but whether they tie up the knot or not? Well, I will leave that for you to find out.

The plot is compelling and Preeti has managed to weave a story like a maze and makes you glued to the book till the end. The emotions of the characters are well described and beautifully written down. Many of us might be like the plain Nisha in the beginning and over a period of time, many of us will come out with flying colors in life and learn to move on. I believe, this is a story of almost every second Nisha in our streets, in our offices, in our relations!

Tea for two and a piece of cake by Preeti Shenoy is a simple story, written for simpletons like me and probably you too. Do read it, makes a goozd time pass.

Are you a writer? Publisher? Want to get your books reviewed here? Just write to us to get reviewed. Write to sip[at]gingerchai[dot]com or contact us here

One Day, I’ll Marry You

Okay I don’t know how to put this into words….

I’ve finished reading One Day (by David Nicholls) one year ago n and I was remembering this book now, and it’s so….it’s so fantastic, totally brilliant! I give 5 stars and it is the best book of the year.

Writing a review here is going to be difficult, you know, when you love a book this much there doesn’t seem to be enough correct words to do it justice. This is one of the most hilarious, perceptive, witty, moving and heartbreaking books I’ve ever read. I insist you guys to get this book and read it!

Spoiler Alert: Next three para contains the story knot, skip it if you want to read the story on a clean slate of mind.

Dexter and Emma meet in 1988. Em has just graduated from university and hooked up with that boy she’s seen around for ages. He’s Dex, handsome. They’re so different but they really have one thing in common: they’re both mad for each other. The frustrating thing is though, that however much they love each other, they maintain a “friends only” status.

Distance, missed opportunities, and even a letter that never gets sent, are all obstacles that determine their romantic fate and life that they may have led together when they’re young. They don’t always get along but they do think about each other every day in some way.

They only confess their feelings after so long they’ve been friends, and finally get married. But after 2 years of marriage, with no child, Em dies in an accident on a day when Dex wants to surprise her with a new house. Emma remains in Dex’s heart forever.

This is ultimately a love story. I would say an epic love story.

Love is really difficult, yet beautiful. Now I’m telling you, don’t limit yourself and if you truly want something, don’t hold back. If you’re in love, go for it, tell that person. Missed opportunities are hard to overcome. Don’t let the years go by in vain. You wouldn’t want to wait 20 years to be with someone you love. We never know what will happen in our 40′s. Life happens and it doesn’t always go as planned. But if you think that love would make a difference, so be it.

And for sure One Day, I’ll Marry You ♥

Titbits:

• Each chapter of the book covers the life of the Dexter and Emma on 15th July, for twenty years.
• The book was also adapted into a movie of the same name and released on August, 2011.

Book review submitted by guest writer Helen Thaila

The book is a simple tell tale of an Urban Couple thrown together in an arranged marriage, stresses of their life and how they strive together to meet their dreams. Along with this couple, there are few more people woven in the plot to make the book complete.

Spoiler alert: Next three paragraph contains partial spoilers on the story plot. Jump the paras, if you want no trace of the story before reading.

Mohit Sinha is a young marketing executive with one of the food companies who is settled in Mumbai suburbs, much to the dismay of his landlord who believes that the outsiders like Mohit Sinha have eaten into the space available in the city! His landlord’s son is his colleague who occasionally rides with him. Landlord’s large family lives peacefully in a pigeon hole and they are happy folks and they swear by all Indian productsJ.

Mohit accidentally meets his college classmate Cedric who adds some spice to his otherwise dull life by enrolling him to his dance academy. Cedric is a guy who believes in living life to his own terms and conditions and he is one hell of a guy who freaks out everyone through his dressing style and otherwise. He and his roommate, a lady journalist with not a very high class TV channel make a couple with a different league altogether. As the story progresses, Mohit gets married to Neha, a banker by profession and slowly their lives go topsy-turvy when Neha starts chasing her dream of becoming an actress and work starts keeping Mohit too busy.

Things go out of hand when Mohit loses his job and both of them start living separate lives under the same roof. He utilizes this time to visit his ailing mother and reflecting upon things that went wrong. Whether Mohit and Neha get together again is what readers’ need to find out.

The books makes an interesting read with lot of action on corporate front, the verbal repartees between boss and executives, little bit of drama thrown in through the reality TV show, impact of such shows on the lives of common man, altogether a subtle reflection of the lives of common people who are simply our next door neighbors.

Are you a writer? Publisher? Want to get your books reviewed here? Just write to us to get reviewed. Write to sip[at]gingerchai[dot]com or contact us here

You are 30 plus something, you are a suburban housewife in one of the busiest city of India – Mumbai, you have a hyper active kid who keeps bouncing off the walls as if he has springs attached to his shoes, you are a person who has a knack of sticking her nose in the manner ‘what-come-may-I-will-get-to-the-details” no matter what in everybody’s day to day affairs, then if you get inspired by Kanan Mehra’s a.ka. Kay’s story; you are very well on the way of becoming a detective!!!

Jokes apart but if you are looking for some fun loving, rib ticking book with a wry humor which also makes you connect with the daily lives of a common man, ‘The Reluctant Detective’ (TRD) is the one you should spend on. It is a story of Kay who lives in Mumbai, has a 5 year old kid who keeps her on toes, who is overweight like couple of us, struggles as a jogger to knock of those extra pounds, worships her maids who come to clean her house and cook; doesn’t it remind us of as one of the amongst us? She has a habit of poking her nose everywhere including where it is not required to. Her purse is more of make-up kit and you will never find something useful which one requires in emergency like a safety pin! She has to shop for XL size and suffers from the jealousy pangs whenever she has to look at friends who are size zero. So how she goes on to become a detective and that too a reluctant one is the story all about….

The story moves at a fast pace, Kay takes the readers through a daily routine of a bored housewife with apt details, not to miss the ‘dreaded PTAs’, ‘the girly gangs out for lunch’, ‘a handsome husband who has put a limit to her debit card’, and of course ‘the full wardrobe of dresses still nothing to wear when it comes for an occasion’, ‘daily calls to the parents who have  it is all out there in the book and much more. The sarcasm with which Kiran has written about the daily soaps actors, the page 3 parties is really humorous. There are two murders in Kay’s locality in quick succession and her mission gets decided. She becomes a detective albeit with a realization that she may actually be not cut for this kind of job. Her detective friend Runa helps her in this mission. Whether Kay is able to find out the murderers or not is a different story altogether and how? Please read the bookJ. Oh yes! Kay is also haunted by the spirit of the dead and she truly believes that the ‘spirit of dead’ is giving her some message!

The characters are lively and very much next door neighbors whom we all might bump into on daily basis. The portions involving Kay’s kiddo are really hilarious and funny! I am sure each of us as a mother would have experienced all those anecdotes. When Kay asks Kabir (yes, that’s the kid’s name) as to what he did in school, pat comes reply ‘Fusht I hit Arman, an den I pushed Ronak, an den Miss tole me tu sid quiedly in the notty corner.” So, the hapless mother asks if he got the time to study in midst of all this, Kabir responds ‘nopes’. The mother truly believes that the kid is honest! This book is a must read for all those who actually believe in going by the funny titles and cover page of the books! It is attractive, funny, light on your mind and makes a good time pass with the tongue in cheek humour.

“The Reluctant Detective” should not be read reluctantly on any one’s part, you should feel it to read it. Not sure if the above line makes any sense but it did sound good hence, I am going to retain it as it is

Are you a writer? Publisher? Want to get your books reviewed here? Just write to us to get reviewed. Write to sip[at]gingerchai[dot]com or contact us here

Does the likes of CIA, KGB, Federal cop finds favour with you as a reader? If yes, then ‘The Second Lady’ satiates your desire to read political fiction with lots of turns & twists thrown in.

Billie Bradford is the First Lady of United States of America; beautiful, intelligent and enchanting and married to Andrew Bradford. As she is preparing and throwing herself in the preparations for the next upcoming President’s election and conferences, there is another First Lady who is also getting ready for replacing the original First Lady.

This lady is the Second Lady, who steals the thunder from Billie and she is the one who sleeps with the President, just long enough to know the state secrets and about the steal the power from West. She is Vera from Russia, a theatre artist and who is plain lucky to have the same features of Billie rather to put it correctly a lookalike body double. The Russian counterparts spend enough time to train and mould Vera into Billie, almost 3 years. The preparation of lookalike is so precise that they even did the touching to her teeth and vagina so that no one can make out if the First Lady is Billie or Vera.

Billie is supported in her day to day schedules by her secretary Nora; she has to find time to be Guy Parker who is working with Billie on her autobiography. These two people play a pivotal role from beginning to end in the lives of Billie and Vera. Then there is Alex who loved Vera and who was crucial in turning Vera into Billie. As the story progresses, readers get involved more & more into the preparations on both sides namely USA for the upcoming Conference with Soviet, Russia for replacing Billie with Vera. How it happens is what readers need to find out? The story moves at a rapid pace with the standard rhythm of thrill & drama thrown in. There are enough explicit love scenes to make readers going through the book and hold their attention. No, these love scenes are not just thrown in for the sake of ‘sex sells’ tag to the book but rather these intimate scenes hold too much of the story in themselves and actually make the story come to a standstill stage and make readers’ think – what next?

The replacement happens and from then on it is a roller coaster ride for the readers. It doesn’t take much of time for Nora & Parker to find all about the plot but whether those two are able to convince the President of the truth is what makes the story a worth read. Will Andrew Bradford believe them? For Vera, it was a performance of the lifetime and a live one! Will she be able to perform flawlessly and will Billie be able to come alive from the prison? All these questions and much more keep teasing the readers till end.

As we near the end of the story, there is only one person who knows in the end whether she is the First Lady or not….the First Lady herself.

Do read the book; it will sure keep you on tenterhooks.

A Night To Remember

‘Night‘ by Elie Wiesel is not a book for the faint hearted or for those looking for a casual read. The book maybe thin but don’t judge it by the size. Its profound impact on the reader goes beyond its volume.

The book deals with the Holocaust-one of the brutal genocides in  20th century. Wiesel was just a teenager living in a nondescript town of Sighet in Transylvania when the Nazi troops came and bullied all the Jews into ghettos and eventually the concentration camp. Wiesel was separated from his mother and sisters and had only his father along with him.

‘Night‘ is a heart wrenching autobiographical account of Wiesel’s own horrifying experience in several concentration camps-from Buna to Auschwitz and eventually to Buchenwlad. It talks of unimaginable horrors that Wiesel himself suffered and saw all around him, being meted out to countless Jews in the camps. It records Wiesel’s own struggles, his gradual disillusionment in God, his numbness towards all the suffering around him, his love and support for his father and the eventual disappearance of that support, of innocence and the appearance of a self centered thinking that was sowed by the brutality he witnessed in the camps.

The reader sees the transformation that Wiesel went through and how life in the concentration camps made animals out of humans, how it sapped the hope of the most optimistic person and sapped the most devout person of his faith.

Page after page will make the reader cringe, force him/her to feel the pain, ponder on how anyone could survive such colossal pain, ponder on how such a mass genocide was allowed to take place. Hopefully the book will etch the story in the reader’s mind forever so that they never forget-Wiesel’s aim in writing this book in the first place. Hopefully, readers will remember the Holocaust, because as Wiesel puts it,”to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”(pg. XV,’Night‘ by Elie Wiesel,Hill and Wang Publication, First Edition,2006).

Moreover, what I hope the readers will take away from this book, is that we, as readers, should intervene if and when such genocides happen because Holocaust is by no means the last such genocide. They keep happening and continue even in the 21st century-the so called progressive age. It is imperative that we learn from history, from one man’s ordeal that such horrors must never be allowed to happen because that strip humans of the humanity that we are all entitled to.

Plot

Certain people in law and secret police circles are involved in morbid sex slavery and the like. Lisbeth Salander gets  into this mire and soon half a dozen people want her dead and six feet under.

Review

In the second installment of Stieg Larsson’s “Millenium trilogy”, asocial hacker Lisbeth Salander is on the run as she is a marked person. She is hunted by several parties all of which have a unique tie with each other — sex slavery. The girl who played with fire delves a little deeper into Lisbeth Salander’s morbid childhood in a broken home as her father regularly abused her mother. The last straw was when Lisbeth’s mother was knocked senseless and with a hemorrhaging brain when Lisbeth made sure that “the evil happened” to her father; picture a Molotov cocktail being tossed in after you into the car.

There are several characters and a few meandering story lines so I will break this down for you to the best of my codeine addled brain:

1) Bjorck and Bjurmann attorneys, together with Zalachenko in the seventies were part of the Swedish secret police, Sapo.

2) Zalachenko and Salander and a Molotov cocktail made from a milk carton in the early nineties, met. This resulted in Salander was thrown into an abusive asylum

3) Now Bjurmann was Salander’s guardian in the new millenium. The circle was complete.

4) Bjorck, Bjurmann and Zalachenko were all involved in sex slavery at some level or the other.

Lisbeth Salander was the woman who hated men who hate women and, by her very existence, threatened to rip the net of sex slavery wide open and hence is marked and obviously she had to be silenced. Bjurmann eventually took Zalachenko’s help to wipe Salander off the earth. Along the way our protagonist Blomkvist’s friend and fellow journalist Svensson and his wife Johansson were shot.

But why? Who is Zalachenko? How is he related to Salander?

My cryptic review aptly ends as abruptly as the book itself. I will get my hands on the final denouement and be back with a review soon, that much I promise! Until then, happy holidays!

Author: Stieg Larsson

ISBN 978-0307269980 (English)

Pages: 503