The Hotel Majestic

I just found another amazing and addictive mystery novel.
It's a Maigret series from 1930's.
So.. it's not really a new find. I'm actually almost 80 years too late :P

I am really looking forward to reading more Maigret series by Georges Simenon.

I finally have time to read books again

I haven't posted in this part of my blog for a while mainly because I haven't had time to read.
Now, ever since I've moved further away from my work, I finally had time to read again.

So far, I've read Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, all by Khaled Hosseini.
Both are very engaging books. I still remember a few weeks ago reading the books till 3 in the morning just to try to finish it. I also remember almost crying in the subway while reading parts of A Thousand Splendid Suns.
I really recommend you to read it. It's a work of fiction, but it helps you understand more about the history of Afghanistan.

I also had a chance to read Watchmen, which is coming out soon. It's a really good comic and the movie trailer seems to be pretty close to what the comic book was like.

Currently, I'm reading India A Million Mutinies now by V.S. Naipaul.
It's very interesting. Stay tuned!

Shopaholic Ties The Knot

I still can't believe that I read this book.
I guess I needed a break from reading the Agatha Christie books.

It's a story about a girl from England who moved to New York.
She apparently really loves to shop and in her world, that doesn't seem to be a problem at all since her fiance is a millionaire anyways.
She works as a personal shopper at Barneys.

The story is about her making up her mind about her wedding.
Clearly, since she's a shopaholic, she can't just pick 1 wedding dress. She had 10 dresses in mind.

In the end, as you can guess.... she lives happily ever after.
Sorry for spoiling the ending?

I don't know what the fuss is all about, but this book is really asinine.
I don't even consider this as a good commuting book.

Overall, thumbs down for entertainment value.

Appointment with Death

I finally have time to read again!!!
This is the only thing busses are good for (just kidding)

I'm back to being addicted with Agatha Christie books, especially the Poirot ones.
This one is pretty good.

The only thing that you have to bear in mind when reading her books is that make sure you take a break from reading all of her books, otherwise they will all seem the same.
After reading other books, when you start reading her work again, you'll fall in love with it all over again.

This particular book is about a weird American family called the Boyntons.
The head of the family was the mistress of a prison and she treated her family member the same way. You can tell from the beginning of the book that she will die, just because every one in the book hates her. Therefore, it'll be harder for you to guess who killed her. On top of that, she also has a heart disease. She could've died from that. I will let you find out for yourself.

Another great commuter book!

Memoirs of a Geisha

This novel was a very good read, the story was very engrossing, and the characters were interesting.

The story is a fictitious biography of a geisha named Sayuri in the 1930s, which is based on an interview with a real geisha. She was sold to an okiya (a dorm for geishas) to become a geisha at the age of 9. She struggled through life and fell in love with the chairman of an electric company because he helped her when he saw her crying by the river side. She devoted her life to finding this chairman again and became a pretty successful geisha.

I believe that this novel sheds some light on what it felt to be a geisha and the rigamarole that you have to go through in order to become one. But I strongly disagree that a geisha would be so silly and only think of kimonos and pretty things.

I am mildly annoyed at the ending. It seems that everything worked out quite perfectly for sweet Sayuri and not for everyone else around her. I guess the author felt that Sayuri had endured enough hardships so she deserved a happy ending.

I definitely recommend this book. I don't consider this book as a commuters' book, but you can definitely read it while you are commuting if you want to.

4 chopsticks out of 5!

The Terra-Cotta Dog

The Terra-Cotta Dog was the second book of the Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri. As I commented before about the first book (The Shape of Water), the author was sexist. In the second book, he decided to take it a step further, he was racist too.

The story was mainly about 2 bodies that the inspector found in a cave accompanied by a terra-cotta dog, a jug of water, and a bowl full of coins, all positioned to make an isosceles triangle with the 2 bodies in the centre of it. What did it mean? How did the bodies get there? Who killed them?

As usual, the inspector was a jerk, a "vulgarian" (my new word for someone who's vulgar), very passionate about food (had a really strong dislike of women who can not cook), and always lucky in his search to solve the mystery.

You must wonder why I would, yet again, read such a sexist novel. My reasons were because it was an easy read and the book was around when I needed a distraction.

In conclusion, a good commuters' book.
Warning: Don't read and drive.

Midnight's Children

I've just finished reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. All 463 pages of it.

What has possessed me to read a book by Salman Rushdie you asked?
It all started in my last year of high school. I had to read Haroun and the Sea of Stories, also by Salman Rushdie. His writing style was so unique and his stories were so imaginative that I one day I promised myself that I would read another book by him.

Midnight's Children is a fictitious autobiography of a man named Saleem Sinai whose life is the embodiment of India. Basically what happened to India, analogously happened to him.

I think this book was a clever way of telling the story of India's history under Jawaharlal Nehru until Indira Gandhi, his daughter as Prime Minister.

There were many references to Indian culture that might be lost on me (although, I personally don't think so), but it is still a great book to read. His writing style by itself is just worth reading. Although, I had to force myself to read the first 100 pages before I was absorbed into Saleem's world and care about the rest of the characters.

Let me end this post with a quote from the book:
"On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact. Clock-hands joined palms in respectful greeting as I came. Oh, spell it out, spell it out: at the precise instant of India's arrival at independence, I tumbled forth into the world."