Cuckold

Book : Cuckold
Author : Kiran Nagarkar
Award for this Book : Sahitya Academy Award
Other books by Author: 
1. Ravan and Eddie
2. Extras : *ing Ravan & Eddie
3. God’s Little Soldiers
4. Seven Sixes are Forty –Three
5. Bombay
6. Black Tulip and Bed Time Story: A Play

About the Book: A Historical Fiction set in the early 16th Century of  Rajput kingdom of Mewar, India. According to the author, he had started with a fiction but to put some geographical accuracy in his story, he started his research and ended in this beautiful life story of a fictional character Maharaj Kumar. This character is based on the real life ruler Bhojraj Singh, son of famous Rajput king Rana Sangram Singh or Rana Sanga. The character of his wife, who is known as Little Saint in this story is based on and resembles the wife of Bhojraj, Mira Bai.

The book is written from the perspective of the narrator, i.e., Maharaj Kumar himself.  Here Little Saint is shown having jealousy for her husband's second wife and behaving in childish manners many a times. But in Indian history Mira Bai was considered as one of the pillars of the Bhakti Movement in India and many legends are attached to her, making her Divine. She was a devotee of Lord Krishna and there are little known facts about her.

In the Book, The History is depicted beautifully.

Rajput kingdoms, the internal politics of the Palaces, power of moneylenders in small Rajput kingdoms of that time, values and honours of Rajputs, Hindu Muslim disturbances, attackes of Mughals and battles, the Society of that time and the fight of a Crown Prince for his right, his sacrifices, his love for his wife; who considered Lord Krishna her husband, the struggle of the prince to change the old habits and values of Rajputs in battlefield. His calling himself a cuckold in spite of his courage and thus this title of book.

My Take: While took the book in my hands, I thought it to be a fiction set in Rajput Kingdom. I don't like a fiction which seems like real and plays with the historical facts. But when started reading it, I came to know about the research gone in writing the book. And how I learnt some more reading about Rajputs and their history. Mesmerizing and captivating novel. 

Brunch Book Challenge 2014

In the year 2014, I had taken the Brunch Book Challenge 2014 to read 24 books. This challenge was started in 2014 by Hindustan Times on Twitter as @HTBrunch #Brunchbookchallenge. The Books read by me in the year and the star ratings are as follows

01. Bougainvillea House by Kalpana Swaminathan **

02. Wicked Widow by Jayne Ann Krentz **

03. Calculated in Death by Nora Roberts ***

04. Indulgence in Death by Nora Roberts ***

05. Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee *** 

06. For the Love of a Son by Jean Sasson ***

07. The Kill Switch by Tucker Wayne **

08. Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel García Márquez ***

09. The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike 2) by J. K.Rowling ****

10. The Cuckoo's Calling by J. K.Rowling ****

11. Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi  ***** 

12. The  Secret Of The Nagas by Amish Tripathi *****

13. The Oath of the Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi *****

14. Don't Loose Out, Work Out! by Rujuta Diwekar ****

15. Women & The Weight Loss Tamasha by Rujuta Diwekar ****

16. Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight by Rujuta Diwekar ****

17. Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore *****

18. Losing My Religion by Vishwas Mudagal  **

19. Ten Thousand Miles Without A Cloud by Sun Shuyun ****

20. Barbarians At The Gate:The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar ***

21. Prison Diary: Purgatory by Jeffrey Archer ** 

22. A Prison Diary by Jeffrey Archer **

23. As The Crow Flies by Jeffery Archer ***

24. First Amongst Equals by Jeffery Archer ***

25. Twist in the Tale by Jeffery Archer ****

26. The Fourth Estate by Jeffery Archer ***

27. Best Kept Secret (Clifton Chronicles 3) by Jeffery Archer **

28. A Time To Kill by John Grisham **

29. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett **

30. The Alchemy of Desire by Tarun Tejpal *

31. Worth Dying For by Lee Child **

32. A Tug on the Thread by Diana Quick **

33. To Kill a Mokingbird by Harper Lee ****

34. Bankerupt by Ravi Subramanian ***

35. Devil in Pinstripes by Ravi Subramanian **

36. On a Clear Day You Can See India: The Little World of the District Official in India's North East by C. Balagopal ***

37. Srinivasa Ramanujan: Man of Mathematics by Sridar Elumalai ****

38. Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger ***

39. Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger ***

 

and other books in 'iBooks' of my Phone

1. After Dark by Wilkie Collins ***

2. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins ***

3. The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins ***

Books Read in 2013

The Books I read in the year 2013. List with names of authors is given for reference. To make the choice more clear, I have given the star rating. 


01. Disclosure by Michael Crichton ****
02. Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm **
03. Salim Must Die by Mukul Deva ****
04. The Road by Cormac McCarthy -- Review available ***** 
05. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown ****
06. Inferno by Dan Brown ***
07. White Mughals by William Dalrymple --Review available *****
08. The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple --Review available *****
09. Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan by William Dalrymple ****
10. On Balance (Autobiography) by Leila Seth ***
11. The Purple Line by Priyamvada N Purushotham ***
12. The King'S Speech by Mark Logue ****
13. Mafia Queens of Mumbai by Jane Borges and S. Hussain Zaidi ****
14. Indian Summer by Alex von Tunzelmann ****
15. The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt ****
16. Love In A Torn Land by Jean Sasson ***
17. Desert Royal by Jean Sasson **
18. The Take by Martina Cole ***
19. The Jump by Martina Cole ***
20. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.James **
21. Fifty Shades Darker by E.L.James **
22. Fifty Shades Freed by E.L.James **
23. The Land of the Invisible Women by Qanta A. Ahmed ***
24. Complications by Atul Gawande ****
25. Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith **
26. The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian ***
27. If God was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian ***
28. The Incredible Banker by Ravi Subramanian ***
29. The Better Man by Anita Nair ***
30. Sea Of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh ****
31. Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ****
32. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee ****
33. To Kill Rasputin: The Life And Death Of Grigori Rasputin by Andrew Cook ***
34. The Autobiography of a Sex Worker by Nalini Jamila ***
35. Last Man In Tower by Arvind Adiga ****
36. The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga ****
37. Timeline by Michael Crichton ***
38. The Last Child by John Hart ***
39. Surrender by Melody Anne ***
40. The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story by A. Revathi ***
41. Om Puri by Nandita Puri ***
42. Three Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat
43. Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat

The Road

Book : The Road
Author : Cormac McCarthy
Prize : Pulitzer Prize, James Tait Black Memorial Prize 
Other Books by Author :
01. The Orchard Keeper
02. Outer Dark
03. Child of God
04. Sutrree
05. Blood Meridian
06. All the Pretty Horses
07. The Crossing
08. The Gardner’s Son
09. Cities of the Plain
10. Border Trilogy
11. No Country for Old Man
12. James Drake
13. Counselor

About the Book: This is a story about a father and his son, who walk alone through burned America after some unspecified disaster. Much of the book is written in the third person, with references to "the father" and "the son" or to "the man" and "the boy". 

The Last Mughal

Book :  The Last Mughal
Author : William Dalrymple
Awards : Duff Cooper Memorial Prize and Vodafone Crossword Book Award
Other Books by Author :
01. In Xanadu : A Quest
02. City of Djinns
03. The Age of Kali
04. From the Holy Mountain
05. Intrepid Arabia
06. White Mughals (Review available)
07. Edge of Faith
08. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India
09. Tacticks: Scholars Choice Edition
10. World Monuments

About the Book: As title suggests,  this book is about the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II. Till date Zafar was depicted as failure among the great Mughal emperors of India. But after reading the account of the 1857 mutiny by the Author, we are forced to change our perspective.

Award-winning historian and travel writer William Dalrymple researched this book for over 4 years and accessed sources, which were until now, never used to narrate the history of those times. The chits, papers, pleas, complaints, orders, receipts, notes from spies, letters of lovers, the newspaper of that time etc. formed the "The Mutiny Papers", which were found on the shelves of National Archives of India. Letters of British soldiers, accounts of British Governors etc. tell a different story then what we are used to hear till now.

We learn that Zafar was a mystic, an accomplished poet and a skilled calligrapher. But while his Mughal ancestors had controlled most of India, the aged Zafar was king in name only. Deprived of real political power by the East India Company, he nevertheless succeeded in creating a court of great brilliance, and presided over one of the great cultural renaissances of Indian history.

Then, in 1857, Zafar gave his blessing to the rebellion, thereby transforming an army mutiny into the largest uprising any empire had to face in the entire course of the nineteenth century. Though British were able to siege Delhi, it was reduced to a battered, empty ruin, and Zafar was sentenced to exile in Burma. 

My Take: Here the author has been able to give a fair account of the events, but he creates our sympathy for the king. The account of Mutiny makes us to believe as if we are wandering in the then city of Delhi. 

What we are taught from the beginning and what the research reveals. For history lovers this book is a must read.

White Mughals

Book : White Mughals
Author : William Dalrymple
Other Books by Author : 
01. In Xanadu : A Quest
02. City of Djinns
03. The Age of Kali
04. From the Holy Mountain
05. Intrepid Arabia
06. The Last Mughal (Review available)
07. Edge of Faith
08. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India
09. Tacticks: Scholars Choice Edition
10. World Monuments

About the Book: This is the romantic and ultimately tragic tale of a passionate love affair of James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa. He was the British Resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad and she was the great-niece of the Nizam's Prime Minister and a descendant of the Prophet. Kirkpatrick, while on Indian duty, fell in love with Khair and overcame many obstacles to marry her—but she was locked away in purdah and engaged to a local nobleman. Eventually, while remaining Resident, Kirkpatrick converted to Islam. A true and captivating story.

Here we discover a world almost entirely unexplored by history, where Britishers acquired Mughal religion, culture and preferred to settle amongst Indians. 

This book is the product of five years' writing and extensive research. It involves secret assignments, court drama, harem politics, religious and family disputes, then society. On another level, the story is about trade, military and political dealings. Author has researched through letters, diaries, reports, and dispatches to England. Out of these sources he draws a fascinating picture. He talks about the racist attitude of the British ruling class towards mixed race off springs. The 'white Mughals' who wore local dress and adopted Indian ways were a source of embarrassments to successive colonial administrations. 

My Take: In the background of an unusual love story, we find a new perspective to the British Raj. How young boys were sent in the British Army and how the Mughal grandeur attracted them. For me a book to cherish.

Books Read before 2012

Before 2012, I had not kept tag on the books read. But now I am trying to recollect and put it in a list. The books I could recollect are

English Books
01. The Exodus by Leon Uris
02. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostovyeski
03. Insulted and humiliated by Fyodor Dostovyeski
04. The Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
05. Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
06. I Dare by Kiran Bedi
07. Biography of Charles Sobhraj by Marie-Andree Leclerc
08. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R.Covey
09. Guide to Investing by Robert T.Kiyosaki
10. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T.Kiyosaki
11. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
12. Portrait of A Killer--Jack The Ripper Case closed by Patricia Cornwell
13. Perfume -- Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
14. My Japanese Wife by Kunal Basu
15. You Can Win by Shiv Khera
16. It Happened in India by Kishor Biyani
17. Prey by Michael Crichton
18. The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
19. It's Not about the Bike by Lance Armstrong
20. A Painted House by John Grisham



Hindi Books
01. Saat Phere by Chandrakishor Jayaswal
02. Maa by Maxim Gorky

Gujarati Books

01. Saurashtra ni Rasdhar by Zaverchand Meghani
02. Sorath tara Waheta Pani by Zaverchand Meghani
03. Radhiyadi Raat by Zaverchand Meghani