Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Oh boy.......I did not anticipate taking such a long break from the books!

But hopefully now that summer is upon us and the hours of daylight are extended, I'll be able to get back on track!

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Book Description: "It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured." 

So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear. 

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere. 

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power. 

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.

Sitting down to write out my thoughts about Shantaram has made me realize that I have a love/hate relationship with this book. It took me through a whole slew of emotions ranging from giggling at the ridiculous behavior of Prabaker to quiet crying at the fate of some of the men in the mountains of Afghanistan. Unfortunately  the further away from having read the book, the more I seem to dislike the story even though as a whole, I enjoyed the book. Confused yet?

My first reaction when asked what I thought about the book is that it was long. Really, really long.  When the description of this books reads "So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay." they were not kidding. In all honesty I felt like this title was too long. At 900+ pages, there were times where I felt like I was reading on auto-pilot and didn't really retain much of what I had just read. Part of me feels like it would have been better served had it been broken up in to two books so we could really digest what we were reading.

To keep this review from following in the same footsteps of being epic, I'm going to stick with bullet points:

• The style of writing was a bit "odd" in my book. Most of it felt like we were reading the heros journal, which would have been a brilliant way to tell this story but there were times where it felt like the author tried too hard to be lyrical (especially during the intimate scenes between the characters) and it just didn't flow. 
• The star of the book was India herself. The way the author wrote about the country and her cities made it feel like she was a living, breathing soul. 
• The characters of this book were just slightly eccentric enough to make you believe you were reading an autobiography. While the book was "based" on Roberts life, there were times it felt almost too real which for me is the sign of a great storyteller. 
• The number of characters was a little ridiculous. I just don't feel like we needed to be introduced to every single person he encountered, especially when they weren't all needed to work with the flow of the story. 

I think my biggest "issue" with this book was my own inflated expectation of what I would get from having read it. It had been on my "to read" list for a very long time and came highly recommended by a friend whose opinion on books I value immensely I wanted to feel different for having read it. I wanted to feel changed. Neither of those things happened and it was obviously, disappointing. Plus, it is not a book I could recommend to just anyone to read. It got to be pretty heavy at time, tedious even, but worth the challenge if you are up to it.

The Facebook Diet: 50 Funny Signs of Facebook Addiction and Ways to Unplug with a Digital Detox

The Facebook Diet: 50 Funny Signs of Facebook Addiction and Ways to Unplug with a Digital Detox by Gemini Adams

Hysterical!

A well written and drawn interpretation of our (a.k.a. societies) addiction to all things Facebook related. I think it is safe to say we've all been sucked down the Facebook rabbit hole a time or two and need a little help recovering from it. There were definitely more than a few illustrations that I could relate to but my favorite was the first one,

"You know you're a Facebook addict when you open your account to check for messages but find you're still sitting their five hours later".

This book would be a great gift for friends or as a coffee table book to remind us that may we all may need to step out from behind our computers a little often.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free of charge for review purposes only. Receipt of a book does not guarantee a review or endorsement. My reviews are my honest opinion and are not biased for the purpose of personal gain.

Vacation Reads

The time has come for my much anticipated vacation to the Dominican Republic!

While my original plan was to go out, see the sights and have an adventure a few things on the home front have made me restructure my time away. And while I may not be out cliff-diving or exploring the local culture, I will be spending some quality time on a sandy beach or poolside soaking up the rays and catching up on some reading!

As much as I love the convenience of my iPad Kindle/Kobo/Indie Reader apps, there is something about taking an actual book with you to the beach to read. On my last trip to the tropics, I took Bleak House by Charles Dickens with me. I never made it through the first chapter.

This time around I taking some titles with me that are a little less depressing......I hope.

First up is Beach Music by Pat Conroy.
Description via Goodreads:
PAT CONROY, America’s preeminent storyteller, delivers a sweeping novel of lyric intensity and searing truth–the story of Jack McCall, an American expatriate in Rome, scarred by tragedy and betrayal. His desperate desire to find peace after his wife’s suicide draws him into a painful, intimate search for the one haunting secret in his family’s past that can heal his anguished heart. 

Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life’s pain and glory. It is another masterpiece in PAT CONROY’S legendary list of beloved novels.

One of my best friends read it ans has insisted that I read it as well. And since it has "beach" in the title, well, it just seems like it's screaming to be read during a beach vacation.

The second book I am taking with me is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
Description via Goodreads: "It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature. 

I must confess, that of the two books I am taking with me, I think I am the most excited about reading this one. It has been on my "to read" list for such a long time and a friend who is currently reading it said it is absolutely amazing!

What kinds of books do you like to take on vacation?

Citizen Insane by Karen Cantwell

Citizen Insane by Karen Cantwell
Description via Goodreads: If you think PTA meetings are boring, then you haven't attended one in Barbara Marr's neighborhood, where MURDER is on the agenda. Always one to stumble into trouble, Barb learns the hard way, that a seemingly innocent yearbook scandal is actually part of a seriously sinister and deadly plot. Join soccer mom and movie lover Barbara Marr in this second laugh-out-loud, chaotic mystery, where high-profile crime and suburban living collide in an unexpected fashion.

Citizen Insane is the second book in Cantwell's Barbara Marr Murder Mystery series and like the first book in the series, tells the tale of Barbara and her friends wacky adventure while trying to solve the mystery of who shot a parent from their kids school.

While this series does remind me a bit of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, Cantwell does a wonderful job of making her characters fresh and extremely likable. There were a number of laugh-out-loud moments at some of the over the top hi-jinx Barbara and her friends find themselves in, but all in all another fun read.

Glitter by Mona Darling

Glitter by Mona Darling (editor)
Description via Goodreads: Glitter is about the female sexual experience, which contrary to what the media would have you believe, is not all bubble baths and chick flicks. 

Women are constantly judged as slutty, or uptight, but the reality is somewhere in between those two, and sometimes, nowhere near either. We have secret shames and private desires and we all feel we are the only one. We are good church-going girls with a fondness for the paddle, PTA moms who hire escorts, feminists who like to bottom in the bedroom, slutty virgins, bi-curious married laddies and women with a past. We are gay, straight, and undecided. We are all over the map, and we are amazing.

Ok-honesty is the best policy right?

I am more than a little impartial in my review of this one. Why? Because I'm one of the Glitter Girls. One of the woman who submitted a story.....their story. Doing so was one of the most terrifying, therapeutic and empowering thing I have ever done.

So here is the deal. If ever you take my advice on any book I write about, take my advice on this one.

Pick up a copy.

Read the stories and support woman everywhere.

Glitter is a compilation of stories written by women (real women) ranging in topics from struggling with identities and desires to  nervous first experiences and current relationships.

This is one of those books that as soon as I received a copy, I devoured it. Not because of the subject matter, but because it reminded me that I'm not alone. It reminded me that despite all the trappings of a small town and small town thinking, there is a bigger world out there and that it's good.....NORMAL to want/desire what I want/desire without feeling weird or guilty about it.

Some of the stories the women shared made me laugh. Some of their stories made me cry. But each contribution was open and honest, offering a new perspective and understanding of the strength and wisdom each of them possess.

Take the Monkeys and Run by Karen Cantwell

Take the Monkeys and Run by Karen Cantwell
Description via Goodreads:
Film lover Barbara Marr is a typical suburban mom living the typical suburban life in her sleepy little town of Rustic Woods, Virginia. Typical, that is until she sets out to find the missing link between a bizarre monkey sighting in her yard and the bone chilling middle-of-the-night fright fest at the strangely vacant house next door. When Barb talks her two friends into some seemingly innocent Charlie’s Angels-like sleuthing, they stumble upon way more than they bargained for and uncover a piece of neighborhood history that certain people would kill to keep on the cutting room floor. 

Enter sexy PI Colt Baron, Barb’s ex-boyfriend who would love to be cast as new leading man, filling the role just vacated by her recently estranged husband, Howard. When Colt flies in from out of town to help Barb, events careen out of control and suddenly this mini-van driving mother of three becomes a major player in a treacherous and potentially deadly FBI undercover operation. It’s up to her now. With little time to spare, she and she alone, must summon the inner strength necessary to become a true action heroine and save the lives of those she loves. The question is can she get them out alive before the credits roll?

Sometimes I need a break from some of the "heavier" titles I tend to lean towards and spend an afternoon reading a fun, slightly over the top mystery.

Enter Take the Monkeys and Run, the first book in Karen Cantwell's Barbara Marr Murder Mystery series.

This was a fun book to read. It was really well paced, the writing was good and I adored Barb, the heroine of the book which was the best part. She was a character that I felt like could be my neighbor and someone I could absolutely go sneaking around the neighborhood with in the middle of the night.

Sure, the plot was a little over the top and at time ridiculous, but that's what made this book so much fun. It was a classic version of a murder mystery carried out by how we might think we'd handle ourselves if thrown in a similar situation.

I will definitely be reading the rest of the books in this series. I can't wait to see what Barb Marr gets herself into next!

Kingdom Series: Books 1-3 by Marie Hall

I am a sucker for alternative fairy tales. They are some of my favorite books to read. So, when I came across this series by Marie Hall, I was pretty stoked.

All in all, the three stories come to just under 300 pages. There was little overlap between each of the stories, but regardless of that, they did mesh really well together.

Her Mad Hatter was the my least favorite of the three. It was a quick read but I felt like it could have had some real potential had the author stuck with it a little longer. The Hatter could have had a really interesting backstory had the author taken the time to really develop the story. How did he get to Wonderland? Why was he Mad? Regardless of my hangup on the lack of written depth to the Hatter, the story was well paced which always makes for a fun read.

Gerard's Beauty was a whole new take on the story of Beauty & the Beast. The characters were (thankfully) a little more developed that those in Her Mad Hatter. Betty was fantastically nerdy/geeky and Gerard was.....well......a hunky guy that any girl could fall for. The quintessential bad boy with a tender heart. What's not to love?

Red and Her Wolf was my favorite of the three. Even though it was a short story, Hall did a wonderful job of creating a complex character in Red--good but evil. And creating a dynamic between Red and Ewan (the wolf) that showed the complexity of the situation.

As a whole, books 1-3 gets 3 stars. They are all quick reads and a great selection for anyone wanting to read the afternoon away.

Her Mad Hatter by Marie Hall
Description via Gooodreads: Alice is all grown up. Running the Mad Hatter's Cupcakery and Tea Shoppe is a delicious job, until fate--and a fairy godmother with a weakness for bad boys--throws her a curveball. Now, Alice is the newest resident of Wonderland, where the Mad Hatter fuels her fantasies and thrills her body with his dark touch. The Mad Hatter may have a voice and a body made for sex, but he takes no lovers. Ever. But a determined fairy godmother has forced Alice into Wonderland--and his arms. Now, as desire and madness converge, the Hatter must decide if he will fight the fairy godmother's mating--or fight for Alice.

Gerard's Beauty by Marie Hall
Description via Goodreads: A not so classic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, as seen through the eyes of the villain... Betty Hart has had it with men. Jilted in love, her life now consists of shelving books by day, watching too much Anime by night, and occasionally dressing up like a superhero on the weekends with her fellow ‘Bleeding Heart’ nerds. Men are not welcome and very much unwanted. Especially the sexy Frenchman who saunters into her library reeking of alcohol and looking like he went one too many rounds in the ring. Gerard Caron is in trouble. Again. Caught with his pants down (literally) he’s forced to seek asylum on Earth while his fairy godmother tries to keep Prince Charming from going all ‘Off with his head’. Maybe, messing around with the King’s daughter hadn’t been such a great idea after all, not that Gerard knew the silly redhead was a princess. But his fairy godmother knows the only way to save his life is to finally pair Gerard with his perfect mate, whether he’s willing or not. From the moment Gerard lays eyes on the nerdy librarian he knows he must have her, but Betty is unlike any woman he’s ever known. He thought Betty would come as willingly to his bed as every other woman before her, but she is a woman who demands respect and even… horror of all horrors… love. Is it possible for a self-proclaimed Casanova to change his ways? 

Red and Her Wolf
Description via Goodreads: Long ago there lived a beautiful child. Her name was Violet. Fair of skin, with blonde hair and large blue eyes. Born of wild magic, she was a woman with a child’s heart. Innocent and lovely, but not at all what she seemed--you see Violet went by another name: The Heartsong. She was the child of fairy magic, the physical manifestation of all fae kinds unbridled power. Cosseted and pampered, she grew up in isolation, never knowing who she really was, or why there were those who’d seek to harm her. Ewan of the Blackfoot Clan is a wolf with a problem. He’s been sent to kill the Heartsong, but the moment he lays eyes on the blonde beauty he knows he’ll defy the evil fae he works for to claim Violet as his own. This is the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, as it really happened.

Current Selections

It never fails.

I go along swimmingly, picking titles to read that grab my attention without a problem and I'm off and reading! But then out of no where, everything sounds dull and repetitive and I can't get through the first few chapters.

This is where I am at now. Struggling to find something to read. Part of the issue is that I leave for vacation in two weeks (a week and a half on a sandy beach--yes please!) and am saving the books I really want to read for my trip. I'll be unable to buy any backup books while I'm gone so I feel like I have to save those titles. Of course the downside to that plan is if the books end up not being so great and I'm stuck with them anyway and my Kindle is packed (packed I tell you!) with at least a hundred others books that I could read, but that is besides the point.

Right now, I am slowly making my way through the following titles:

Starvation Lake by Brian Gruley

Description: In the dead of a Michigan winter, pieces of a snowmobile wash up near the crumbling, small town of Starvation Lake—the same snowmobile that went down with Starvation's legendary hockey coach years earlier. But everybody knows Coach Blackburn's accident happened five miles away on a different lake. As rumors buzz about mysterious underground tunnels, the evidence from the snowmobile says one thing: murder. 

Gus Carpenter, editor of the local newspaper, has recently returned to Starvation after a failed attempt to make it big at the Detroit Times. In his youth, Gus was the goalie who let a state championship get away, crushing Coach's dreams and earning the town's enmity. Now he's investigating the murder of his former coach. But even more unsettling to Gus are the holes in the town's past and the gnawing suspicion that those holes may conceal some dark and disturbing secrets secrets that some of the people closest to him may have killed to keep.

Thoughts thus far: I'm about a third of the way through this book. I really, really want to like this book. I had the pleasure of hearing this author speak at an event last November which really got me excited about this series. The problem is that it just keeps dragging on and on. And we still haven't even gotten to the big event which the story is supposed to be centered around. I'm not saying that every book has to start off with a bang, but at this point there seems to be more focus on the fact that Gus (the hero of the story) missed a big-game play in a high school hockey game than we are that there was an apparent murder.

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Description: Somewhere in the not-so-distant future, the screwed-up residents of Ennet House, a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts, and students at the Enfield Tennis Academy search for the master copy of a movie so dangerously entertaining that its viewers die in a state of catatonic bliss. Explores essential questions about what entertainment is, why we need it, and what it says about who we are.

Thoughts thus far: Admittedly, I may not be far enough along in this one to have an actual opinion on the story BUT this is an intimidating read to say the least. Mostly because of its size. This 1000+ page behemoth has been on my to-read list for quite some time and since I've given myself a little extra padding in my reading goal for the year, I figured now was the best time to start reading it. Well, that and because I may be trying to impress a dude (sad, I know) by reading it but I digress. Here is to hoping I enjoy reading it as much as my friends who've recommended it think I will! 

One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis

One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis
Description via Goodreads: 

An apparently happy marriage. A beautiful son. A lovely home. So what makes Emily Coleman get up one morning and walk right out of her life to start all over again? Has she had a breakdown? Was it to escape her dysfunctional family - especially her flawed twin sister Caroline who always seemed to hate her? And what is the date that looms, threatening to force her to confront her past? No-one has ever guessed her secret. Will you?

One Step Too Far was full of twists and turns right from the start. The story alternates between the past and present Emily's life: life in Manchester vs. life in Lonon. Admittedly, I had a hard time connecting with Emily's character. I could not imagine there being anything that would/could make a mother leave her family. But like "real life", we aren't always privy to the intimate details of someones life behind closed doors. Even when the big secret was revealed (which  might I add, getting to this big secret was a bit tedious).

Seskis did a wonderful job of creating a cast of characters that seemed genuine in their flaws. A mother who couldn't quite find enough love for both daughters. A father who wasn't quite ready to take on fatherhood. And twin girls, opposites in every respect trying to figure out their place in the family.

Up until the last quarter or so of the book, I really enjoyed the story, even if I wasn't really rooting for Emily in the end. Like I said, the big build up to the reason why Emily left was a bit much after awhile.  I just wanted to know why she left and in the end just wanted to be done with her (this was mostly from my lack of connecting with the character from the start) and found myself disappointed in the ending. It wasn't an ending I would have chosen.

Welcome!

It never fails.

The worst post of a new blog is always the worst.

I never know what to say.

So I'm going to keep this pretty brief.

I wish I could I have been a bookworm all my life. Despite my love of books, one of my greatest childhood regrets is that I didn't read more. How could one love books but not read them?

I was always the kid in class who read slower than the rest of the class. Stumbled over the words when reading out loud but always loved the books. Loved getting lost among the characters and stories.

It was that love for the characters and stories that turned me into the bookworm I am today.

Inside the Book Nook is where I will be sharing my love of all things book related! Mostly reviews. Sometimes a recap of a trip to my favorite bookstore. And maybe even the occasional rant about how bad a movie based on a book was.