Come On Inner Peace...I don't have all day! by Sachin Garg

In my experience in reading Indian authors, most of them are quite good but they do not get read enough or their due credit. However, I will say no such thing about this particular book. It is probably one of the worst books I have ever read. The only thing catchy in this book is its name and that is it. 

When I spotted the book at a store and wanted to buy it, my husband had warned me by saying that it does not look like a good book and I lectured him on how he was judging the book by its cover and that he should read Indian authors as these days they really write very well..blah blah blah...but after I was done reading, I had to apologise to him as he was very right this time.

The story starts with a disturbed guy after he has lost the love of his life and is seeking inner peace and lands up at an ashram looking for guidance and the Swami there puts this guy and another of his disciples on a trip to look for that peace by getting a proper closure with a former friend of his and on this journey they face a lot challenges. (I think I am making the book sound much better than it really is.) The challenges they face vary from - getting into an exclusive bar to cooking meth (which I understand is plagiarised from Breaking Bad- the popular TV show. I do not follow Breaking Bad on TV so not sure how far it is true) and selling meth, rescuing a meth addict and raising money for cancer. It still sounds better than what it is. The only thing which slightly inclines towards being the good thing about the book is that it is quite fast paced (thankfully!) due to which you do not waste a lot of your time reading it. Having said that, reading the book in itself is a big waste of one's time.

The book has a lot of incorrect grammar and the author gets confused with the character names at many occasions. He forgets which character is a part of the conversation and which is not, in many places. The editor has also failed to pick these up and have it rectified as well. 

To be honest, I read this book just because I paid for it and did not want to it to go for a waste. Had I borrowed it from a library, I would have returned it on the same day.

I would rate this book no more than 0.5/5 and the 0.5 is for the title.

The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

This write-up and next few to follow are going to be brief. It is just that I have decided to keep this blog as up to date as possible and I have quite a bit to update and I am determined to do it today.

Coming to the book and the author- 

This is the first book of Katherine Mansfield's that I have read. Her writing style is quite different from the kind I am used to. Due to this, I had a slow start and struggled a bit to finish a couple of stories. I guess, once you can see through a couple of stories, one becomes more familiar with the writing style and is able to finish the rest of the book quite quickly. I would recommend anyone who plans on reading this book, to start with the story, 'Miss Brill' as it is short and easy to read and will help in 'acclimatise' oneself to Katherine Mansfield's work. I picked the book up at the British Library and what attracted me to it was the word 'Party' in the title. I just thought there would be amazing descriptions of food in it. Though there is some description, not enough :).

As I already mentioned, the writing style is quite different to the one I am used to, I went an extra mile to understand her writing initially. I read about the life of Katherine Mansfield and also read through the critical analysis of some of her stories. It helped me appreciate her work better. Some of the stories in book have been televised and the videos are available on Youtube. These are extremely helpful as well and played a vital role in my appreciating the book.The ending of some of the stories is left to the imagination of the reader.

I also read a lot about comparison between Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf. For me, the writing styles of Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf is quite similar, the major difference being- Katherine Mansfield wrote short stories while Virginia Woolf wrote novels. This work from Katherine Mansfield is indicative of her in-depth study and observations on the society and human behaviour in the early 1900s and reflects in the way the characters have been built in all of her stories.

This is definitely not a book to start reading if one is trying to develop reading as a hobby as it could have a repellent effect. Also, I personally think, that people would like her stories but not necessarily her writing style. Some would label many stories in the book as slow-paced and a drag. 

Will I pick-up a Katherine Mansfield book again? I would only if I want to do some very serious reading. I would rate this book 3.5/5.

Between Then and Now

If my blog was a reference to the number of books I read, it may be inferred that I hardly ever read as my last post was almost a year ago I think. Between then and now I have read a lot of interesting things but unfortunately did not care enough to post. I have made a promise to myself that I will keep this blog   up-to-date. Also, before I started writing this blog, I have read a lot of wonderful work- so much that I cannot even recall what from the top of my head. It is only when I go to bookstores/fairs or look at my own collection or even browse Flipkart that I realise how much I have read in the past. 

Anyway, some of the books that I read between the last time I wrote and now:

- Katherine Mansfield: The Garden Party and other stories
- Sachin Garg: Comeon Inner Peace, I ain't got all day
- P.G. Wodehouse: The Girl in Blue
- Jeffrey Archer: Quiver Full of Arrows
- Agatha Christie: The Caribbean Mystery
- Agatha Christie: Thirteen Problems

In addition I have started reading some books but have not been able to complete:

- Steve Jobs' autobiography
- Jaya

I am currently reading an interesting book called Drop Dead by Swati Kaushal.

I intend to update my blog with my thoughts on all of the above books (except of course, the ones I have not finished reading).

What I also did for a large part of last year since I wrote my last blog post is, watch a lot of televised/dramatised versions of some of my favourite books. Some were very good adaptations, some ordinary and some below ordinary. Irrespective of the quality of the adaptations, I loved to see my favourite books and characters come to life. 

So much for now. I will update this blog soon as promised.