Lucky Library Picks #11 ~ 1Q84 by Murakami

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Book 1 and 2)

This is a belated post of my Lucky Library Picks series. I was supposed to publish it on the 15th of this month. But, due to my illness, I couldn't. I had picked up this book early this month.

This book has been on display in every book shop I have been in the last couple of month and I have seen many good and bad reviews of the book. It intrigued me and I have been looking for it in the library for quite a time. I had spotted the Book 3 many a times. But, I wanted to read the book in sequence. Hence, when I saw this volume, I picked it up.

I am very much looking forward to reading it. 

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Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer ~ #4 Twilight Series

Breaking Dawn is the fourth and the last of the much acclaimed Twilight series. I am not much of a paranormal fantasy book reader. In fact, the twilight series is the only what I have read in this genre. That too, after my friend recommended it to me.

Breaking Dawn is a continuation from the last book of the series, Eclipse. The first  part of the book is all about the marriage of Bella and Edward followed by a honey moon in the lonely and far off Esme Island. It is during the honeymoon, Bella realizes there is something seriously wrong in her. It comes as a surprise to her that she is pregnant, actually very pregnant and that too in a span of time that is humanly impossible. But, then the thing growing inside her is not human. It is a culmination of vampire and human. No one knows what it would be. But, one thing is for sure, it is slowly devouring Bella inside out. This little thing growing inside her changes the equations of relationship among people around her. Friends become foes and enemies becomes friends. The relationship with Jacob takes a whole new dimension.

The author has used a lot of imagination and the story is full of twists and turn. I can't really delve into details of the story line. That is very much a thing to read in the novel.

But, I do have some issues with the story. First thing, the story by the end was neatly tied in a bow. There were no loose ends. Every one gets what they want. I don't mean I like sad endings but, to me the ending seemed too perfect to be true. That took away a lot of charm and awe I had for the series. Bella had never been my favorite character nor had been Edward. Bella had always been portrayed as a clumsy, inefficient being and after being immortalized, she is the most gifted one, as if she was born to be immortalized. In fact, I have read that the cover page of the book signifies exactly that. From being the most insignificant player, she becomes the most powerful one. The title of the book also signifies Bella's new life. My problem with Edward is that he is too good. I mean loving one is fine. But giving in to the irrational demands of your beloved is not the right thing. I loved Jacob Black's character. He was the only one who seemed to be real to me but then I lost him when he imprinted!
Also, I couldn't digest the fact that the battle with the Volturi ended without much of a combat. I wish there had been more action on the ground rather than in the mind.

Of the whole series I liked the first book most. It was a page turner for me. In the following books, there was too much of sulking on Bella's part, too much of eternal love from Edward. Only Jacob Black kept me glued to the series. I give it to the author for her incredible imagination. The story came a long way from the point it started. It had been a tumultuous journey for Bella. So, it has been for the reader. All in all it was a different experience reading the series. Good for easy and light read, nothing more.

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Egg less Vanilla Cake (With Condensed Milk and Coke)

It has been a while since I shared a cake recipe here. I do bake often but not all get posted here. I had clicked these pictures quite a while back. Only now it is making its way to this space. When ever I have a cake craving, it is usually for chocolate cake or a brownie. But, DH loves plain vanilla cake. So, when ever he requests me for a cake, it is plain vanilla only. Anything else should come with an icing.

I make the plain vanilla cake in a couple of ways, sometimes with yogurt, sometimes with vinegar. But, my favorite way is with condensed milk. So, if I have condensed milk can at home, I go this way.
There are many recipes floating around the web for a cake with condensed milk. Even, I remember my mom making  cakes with condensed milk. I can say it is the most traditional way of making egg less cakes. For the liquid content of the cake, I like to use coke or soda water. It really makes a difference to the texture of the cake. However, it can be replaced by milk or water if you don't have aerated cold drink at hand.

Eggless Vanilla Cake (With condensed milk and coke)

11/2 cup AP Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup soft butter
1 tin sweetened condensed milk (400gm)
2/3 cup coca cola at room temperature.
2 tsp vanilla extract

Butter and flour for greasing and dusting the pan

Process:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 C. Line a 9" square tin. Please note that baking time may vary if you choose a smaller or larger tin. So, adjust accordingly.

2. Shift the flour, baking powder and baking soda twice. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl whip the condensed milk and butter till the mixture is creamy.

4. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture in 2-3 parts. Keep stirring while adding flour mixture. Add the coke in the end and whisk for another 2 minutes. The batter will have a pouring consistency.

5. Pour the batter in the prepared tin and bake it in the preheated oven for 15 minutes at 180 C. Then lower the temperature to 160 C and bake for another 25- 30 minutes.

6. The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for at least 15 minutes before turning the cake out of the tin. Slice and enjoy!

Notes:

1. Add the aerated drink at the end only and be fast in pouring it into the greased pan and get baking.

2. Aerated drink can be replaced by room temperature milk or water. But, I find aerated drink gives a lighter texture to the cake.

3. If you are using a smaller pan, it make take longer to bake it. Similarly, if using a larger pan, it will get baked quicker. So, adjust accordingly and keep an eye.

Linking it to Bake Fest #6. This event is the brain child of Vardhini.

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Lingering Tide and other stories by Latha Vishwanathan

Lingering Tide and other stories by Latha Vishwanathan is a collection of 12 poignant short stories. I am not a big fan of short stories. In fact, I can count on my fingers the number of short story books I have read. The good thing about short stories is that they are short and at times you want to read something short, they come in handy. For that fact, I read short stories real slow, one story at a time.

What the blurb says about the book:

"Fiction. These poignant short stories depict the lives of immigrants through the theme of family adjustments, loss, setting afresh in a new place. Set in suburban Toronto, New Jersey, Texas and India, they draw out the conflicts in three generations of Indians whose lives interconnect even as they straddle the old and the new. What we sense is both the anguish of loss and the thrill of discovery. Viswanathan's quiet prose imparts powerful emotions that ring true and her rendering of cultural clash is truly skilful and nuanced. The depiction of her characters’ interior lives is so full and vital that they breathe and walk off the page. The reader is drawn in and completely absorbed into her world of transitions."

All the stories in the collection have a mystic element to it. They have a lingering feeling, a thoughtfulness and sometimes even a sense of incompleteness. After I read one, I just kept thinking about it. I didn't like all of them or may be I should say, I couldn't connect with all of them. My eyes moistened as I read 'Brittle'. It is a tragic, heart wrenching story that will leave a lump in your throat. I liked Attar, Eclipse and A Couple of Rouges among others. All of them had a different story to tell and the characters were well etched and vivid. I found 'Cool Wedding' sort of funny. It is in the form of a letter which a lady living in the US writes to her friend ranting about her life in the foreign land. It was interesting to see things from the point of the protagonist.

 I found the last 3 stories least appealing. What I find difficult understanding is why the author tries to portray characters who have left their homeland to settle in foreign shore in gloom and doom. Why there is always a feeling of wrong doing on their part?
Some of these stories will put you in self contemplation mode, some you might just forget. I give it a balanced 3/5.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Latha Viswanathan has worked as a journalist, copywriter, editor and teacher in India, London, Manila, Montreal, Toronto and the United States. These stories have appeared in major American literary magazines and won awards. Her work received a grant from the Texas Commission of the Arts in Fiction, was published in Best New Stories from the South and broadcast on National Public Radio. She currently lives and writes in Houston.

I received a free eBook from TSAR publishers for review.

Linking it to the South Asian Challenge

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I had bought this book from the library the day I spotted it on the shelves. Yet, it had been sitting on my shelves for quite a time before I picked up to read. Why? I was wary. It has happened quite many times that a book that has been winning rave reviews failed to make a strong impact on me. I have had the feeling of being on the wrong side so many times that I was darn skeptic to read it. But, I am proved so wrong. I really loved the book and believe all the hype around this book is actually worth it.

The book has a strong and heavy storyline. It is about the rampant racial discrimination that was prevalent in the United States in early and mid nineties between the coloured and the white people. Despite the strong subject line, the story has been treated with great care. It is brave, warm and often witty. As a reader, not for a single moment I felt bogged down by the heavy subject of the book. It is not a sad book, but a heart warming one with a lot of hope, faith and love.

The book has very strong female characters, white and coloured. There is 22 years old Miss Skeeter, who has just returned home with a degree. Her mother is more interested in her marriage rather than her career. But, Miss Skeeter is restless, because her beloved coloured maid who had lovingly raised her, has disappeared. There are questions in Miss Skeeter's mind that no one wants to answer. There is Aibileen, a black maid who works for Miss Skeeter's friend - Miss Leefolt. She is raising her seventeenth white child. But, something has shifted in her heart since the death of her own only son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. And then there is Minny, Aibileen's best friend. She can cook like nobody's business but she can't mind her tongue. This puts her into a lot of trouble with her employers and she can't stick to a job for long.

Seemingly as different as can be, these women will come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk.

The story is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the time when the civil right movement in United States was at its peek. That was the time when Martin Luther King Jr went up a podium in Washington DC and said 'I have a dream'. Things have changed a lot ever since and the world has come a long way. That is evident from the fact that Barack Obama is the present President of the United States of America.

This book is about the lines which human created based on colour and how people who nurtured a dream, set out to voice their opinion and overstep the man-made lines. It is about ordinary people who can be courageous in their own way. It is interesting to know that the writer drew inspiration from her own experience for writing this book, even though the book is largely a fictional account. I took some time to get used to the Afro American slang that is used generously in the book. It surely works for the story.

I really liked the quote  by Howell Raines, which the author includes in her personal excerpt at the end of the book and I believe these words sums up the feeling behind the novel in a concise way.

"There is no trickier subject for a writer from the South than that of affection between a black and a white one in the unequal world of segregation. For the dishonesty upon which a society is founded makes every emotion suspect, makes it impossible to know whether what flowed between two people was honest feeling or pity or pragmatism."

Although, I do not fall in either of the sides as far as colour is concerned, nor I have been through any incidents of racial discrimination, I can connect to the issue in a whole different way. I have seen discrimination on the basis of caste and creed in my own country and it is in many ways similar to the issue in context in the novel. It makes me realize that the things I take for granted today were not the same years back. It takes courage on the part of ordinary people who want to change things to step out of their comfort zone, voice their opinion, make an impact and initiate the change.

Don't miss this one, it is not a literary piece but a heart warming tale that can tug the chords of your heart. Highly recommended.

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