Book aweek: Book25, The Witch Elm"

 I don't know why chose that book to read. Think, it was available to borrow right away and the title sounds nice.

The first chapter got me hooked. Toby is a charming young PR person for an art gallery. He has a good life: a nice job, great family, a very good girl friend... He is a charmer, who knows to get his way around. 

In the beginning, Toby tells us how he almost messed up with his job. By providing solutions to get out of the mess he had co-created, he was able to keep his job. Then, his life took a turn and he got attacked in his own home. The attack caused neurological damage to him. 

Toby moved in with his uncle Hugo while recovering. Hugo is diagnosed with brain cancer and not much time left for him. 

Then the story was moving slow, at a crawling speed. Half way through it, I almost abandoned reading. Then, the skeleton was found by Zach. It became so interesting to find out how the skeleton got inside the hole of the Elm tree. Toby even got confused he might have done the crime. But, the way his cousins tells the story and let him know he didn't do anything wrong. But that didn't  bring any comfort to him. He thinks about uncle Hugo and how Hugo might have known the truth years ago. 

I was wondering the criminal mind of Susannah and how she can get away with everything. 

After Hugo's death, Toby happened to kill the detective. In the end, Toby lost everything of his happy go lucky life. But, still he is lucky: in in several other ways. 

The economic disparity is mentioned in the book  a few times. Toby's friend remembers getting in trouble at school. While Dec got suspended for three days, Toby got detention for a day. Toby does't even remember the incident. When he killed a cop, he got sentenced to recover in a mental hospital. If it was some one with a not so privileged background, the verdict would have been different. Toby thinks about it. 

When Toby is out of hospital, he got a PR job because of his family connections. He still don't have to struggle economically, even though he has trouble with his neurological damages.

 If you can handle the slow pace, it will be a pleasure. It was not a great one for me. This is the first I am reading a Tana French novel.

The Witch Elm by Tana French
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It is a murder mystery, a thriller. But moves in slow pace.
People keep a lot of secrets. They are not the ones they appear on the surface.


View all my reviews

Book a week: week 24, Breath

 It is just 5.30 in the morning. I am washing the cups after morning coffee. The pink rubber glove adorned hand feeling the warmth of the water. I am aware of my breathing too. Yes, breathing through the nose.

Last week I was reading the book "Breath : The New Science of a Lost Art" by James Nester. 

The book is fascinating to read. Nester tells the story struggling to breath to becoming an expert in the science of breathing. 

His writing style makes us follow the page after page of information. With so many experiments, we learn how breath can affect our body. 

While, we can see how breathing techniques improved Nester's life, we will doubt about its power to cure Cancer and Schizofrenia.

If you are just interested in the techniques alone, skip to the last part of the book and read that one alone. 

If it is breathing though both nostrils, or through one, or  holding it, breathing is an important part of our life. We do it all the time, till we take the last one.

Breathe, fill your lungs!

Happy reading!

Reading and Me

 I started reading books when I was very little, like age 5. There was no cell phones, computers or internet to make myself engaged. 

But, my parents were bringing a lot of printed material. We were getting 2 newspapers every morning. My dad subscribed several periodicals. Kids have kids magazines, and then ladies magazines and other ones with good literature. 

We, the kids were allowed to spent a lot of time reading all those publications. Then the school had a great library . Teachers were encouraging my reading habits. So, by grade 7 I had finished all books from the books there. 

Parents were willing to buy the books to tame my curiosity. 

It was always a dream to have a library of my own as well as living near a library to get books all the time.

When I first visited a Toronto Library, I was feeling giddy with happiness, because, I was allowed to have 50 books to take out one time. Wow! 

Weekly trip to library was a great fun ritual for my family. When I found the craft books, I got hooked on crochet, wire and bead jewelry and other crafts.

Then, TPL started the online collection of books, audio books, magazines and videos. Wow! I am glad a library can do so much!

I get most of my books from their ebook collection now. 

It is an ever going hobby: that is my reading.

Book a Week: Week23 "Such a Fun Age"

 "Such A Fun Age " is Kiley Reid's debut novel. Once i finished reading it, I couldn't believe it is her first novel!

It is really a contemporary story, which can happen anywhere is America. 

Emira is Briar's babysitter. When Briar's mom asked to take care of Briar on an evening, Emira was in a party. She was offered twice the regular pay to come and take Briar out of the house so that the parents can deal with an emergency situation at home.

Emira took Briar to an upscale grocery store. There she got confronted by the security guard, accusing of kidnapping the white baby. The event was all recorded by a customer in the store. Emira was allowed to go only after Briar's father came to the store to explain the situation. 

With several racially biased situations in the news, we can relate to that incident. 

At first we think that Emira will go with releasing the recorded video. But, she is an aimless young girl and her family don't know she is babysitting. She have no idea what to do with her life. So, she don't want tShe don't want her experience to be known by family and friends. 

After the incident, Alix the boss wanted to make Emira her family. She wanted to project how she is not racially biased at all. But, the story takes an unexpected turn when Emira showed up for Thanksgiving dinner to Alix's home. 

Emira's boyfriend is a white guy who went to high school with Alix. They had a bitter past. Alix tells Emira that Kelley fetishes black people and advised to break up with him. To Alix's surprise, Emira has her own opinions. 

Then Alix leaked the video secretly, by getting in to emira's email. To make Emira feel better, Alix bring a news team to do an interview to tell the world Kelley released the video without her permission. But, she figured out Alix is the one behind releasing the video just before the interview. During the interview, Emira reveals that she is not going back to work for Alix. 

At that moment, I was thinking Kelley and Emira were going to get back. But, Kiley Reid surprises us with story. 

After several years, Emira thinks back to see what life lessons she gained from her babysitting experience. She saw Alix with the kids again while walking on the road. She thinks fondly of Briar and wonders how Briar will be when she grows up!

The story makes us think about our own biased thinking in everyday life. Do we even realize we are so much biased with our behaviour? 

Book a week: Week 22 "The Hunting party"

 

"The Hunting party" is a novel by Lucy Foley.

 The story begins with a group of thirty something friends going for a winter vacation. It is a tradition started 10 years ago when they were studying in Oxford. 

This particular time, they chose to go to a remote place in located in Scottish highland. The place is not easily accessible. They are supposed to stay and celebrate New Year there.

At the beginning, everything seems fun. But, the group has secrets. They are not what we see on the surface. There are secret grudges.

Miranda seems to be the star among the friends. As the story goes on, we realize, their inner secrets and fears.

Then after New Year celebrations, one of them is killed. One of them is the killer.

When the story unravels, we understand who killed whom. 

What happens when friends have secrets? 

An interesting book to read and kill time. 

BinduDesigns: Book a week:Week 20

Re -blogging to add the list of books finished reading. 

BinduDesigns: Book a week:Week 20: Oh yeah!  My 20th book is finished!!!!! "Long Bright River" by Liz Moore is the 20th book.  I got this book because my friend Viv...

Book a Week: Week 21 "A Town Called Solace"

 

"A Town Called Solace" is a novel by Mary Lawson. The story happens in a northern Ontario town. 

Clara, an eight year old, is holding vigil for her older sister Rose. Rose ran away from home after a fight with her mom. Clara is missing Rose very much. 

The neighbour Mrs. Orchard, has asked Clara to feed her cat Moses when she is admitted in the hospital. 

Clara's parents try to protect her by not telling what happened to Mrs. Orchard. Now, Mr. Kane, who is having a middle age crisis, got the house as a gift from Mrs. Orchard. 

The story is narrated by all three of them. 

The mysterious thread connecting them is revealed as the story goes on. Mary Lawson creates beautiful characters. The style of writing keeps us engaged in the book. 

The writing style made me finish reading the book in three days. 

After finishing reading, the characters keep coming back to my mind. 

I felt like some precious thing was taken from me when I finished reading. I was feeling the love, grief and regrets of those characters. 

I didn't want the book to finish!! That is the success of the novelist!

Book a Week: Week 11 "Recipe For Perfect Wife"

For week 11, I read "Recipe For a Perfect Wife" by Karma Brown.

Alice is fired from her job. But she lied to her husband about it. Actually, she was not honest to herself, when she agreed to move to suburbs. 

When Alice was agreeing to Nate about having a baby, she lied again. She was not ready for it. 

She was "writing a novel" was another lie she was telling everyone. 

But, things changed with Alice when she discovered Nellie's cook book. She started cooking. Then she learned more about Nellie. Then, she gained more information about Nellie  from her unsent letters to her mom. 

Karma Brown narrates two parallel stories of two women lived in the same house on different times. It is full of twists and turns. Both women had their own struggles. Actually, women still struggle to have ownership of their own body and mind, it seems. 

Throughout the story, I was questioning why Alice had to lie to her husband? We can understand Nellie as a victim, but who is Alice? Why can't she tell the truth about events happened in her life to her husband? 

I have to agree that it was a page turner. In the end Alice decided to stand for herself. A relief to my curious mind!!!

Bindu

Book a week: week10

 I wrote this entry last Sunday. But, forgot to publish. 

 I finished another thriller: title is "Blue Moon" by Lee Child. It is one of the Jack Reacher series. 

This is the first time I am reading a book by Lee child. Obviously, my first of Jack Reacher book. 

Jack Reacher was in the bus. He could see a pick pocketing waiting to happen. He tried to prevent it and protect the victim. 

Trying to protect an old man led him to a different story. There are so many levels of injustice, and to the rival gangs of Ukrainians and Albanians. Finally there is a Russian involvement too. 

After many fights and killings, the story comes to an end by justice being served. 

It is a book to distract you from the day to day grind. It was a fun book to read. If you want fun and some time to kill, this is book you can count on. 

I love the way Lee Child writes the story to keep us turn pages.  I will sure give another chance to Jack Reacher series. 

I leaned to use Canva. It is really easy to use. All the Book A Week photos are created on Canva.

If you like to try Canva, you can use this link and get some free perks.  

 

Bindu

Book A Week: Week8, "The Silent patient"

This last week I finished the book "The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides. 

Alicia Berenson killed her husband by shooting him 5 times on the head. Then she didn't talk. 

Alicia, a famous painter and her husband were having a good life. No one understands why she killed him and refused to talk.

The psychotherapist, determined to help her, made her start talking. What happened when she started talking?

This is a psychological thriller  and page turner. It gets the readers interest till the end. 

Very captivating story and end is the real twist!

I am not giving away the plot. You must read to get the full fun of this book!

There was another book, I started to read: "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tart. It was highly recommended by the librarians. I saw myself skipping the pages to finish it. The book is interesting, don't get me wrong. It was making me go faster to see what happens in the end. 

 

Bindu

A Book A week:Week 9

Last week I finished Emma Straub's "All Adults Here".

The novel starts with Astrid witnessing a bus accident. It happened just before her hair appointment. 

The accident make her think over her life. She was thinking about her past, her kids and then the future.

She realized she was not a great parent to her 3 kids. Now, her grand daughter is here to live with her. 

She realized, she has to do certain things now, or she will never get a chance. So, she decides to stick with truth. That is a lot of courage. 

I really loved reading this book. The style is capturing your attention. 

 

Bindu

BinduDesigns: A book a week: Week7

BinduDesigns: A book a week: Week7: The last week I finished reading "The temptations of Forgiveness" by Donna Leon. The story is taking place in Venice. It is the m...

BinduDesigns: A Book a week: Week6

BinduDesigns: A Book a week: Week6: Hi  Yes, I did finish reading another book last week.  This time it "American Dirt" by Jeanine cummins.  The story begins with Lu...

A Book A week: Week 4

"Elevator Pitch" is the book I selected for last week. It is written by Linwood Barclay.

It begins on a Monday with the death of 4 people because of an elevator accident in New York. 

Then, there is the body of an elevator tech with finger tips off. 

The following days, other buildings had same type of elevator accidents. Mayor locked down elevators to figure out what is happening. Reporter Barbara Matheson is very keen about reporting all the mishaps of the mayor. No one knows about her personal life. Not even her daughter knows who her father is. 

The story has police detectives searching for clues about the murdered elevator tech. A right wing extremist is also happened to be in the city at the same time, arranging more terror. 

Te story develops by going back and forth between all these characters.  Barbara finally found some sort of connection with all the elevator incidents. But, before she could convince the mayor about it, they had a new high rise building inauguration. 

Each chapter takes us to different parts. The novel holds the suspense till the end. while reading, I thought may be this is the killer. No, not that one, the next chapter says. The author holds the suspense till the end. When it was finally revealed and the reason for the killings, I was really surprised!

This one really hold my curiosity till the end. 

It is worth the reading. I will definitely read more from Barclay in the future. 

Bindu

Book A Week Week 3: Little Fires Everywhere

Book A Week Week 3: Little Fires Everywhere: On the 3rd book for reading a book a week. Last week I finished reading "Little Fires Everywhere", by Celeste Ng.  The story begi...

Book A week: week2

What is your soul is not ending with you? What if there is a database of the souls kept by government? What if the scientists can find out  if a soul is reborn? what will happen your soul previously belonged to a criminal? 

 Soul Print dwell in to that scenario. 

As a part of my reading a book a week, last week I finished "Soul print" by Megan Miranda. 

Alina Chase is held in an island for all her life. Why? Because her soul belongs to the whistle blower and blackmailer June. Alena is held there for her own protection, authorities told her. 

On her 17th birthday, she wanted to get out and wanted to have a normal life. Other three teens are trying to help her escape. 

June broke into the soul database and used it to blackmail people. That is what every one thinks. Everyone sees Alina as June. But, in her heart, Alina knows she is not June. She wanted to be different from June. She tried so hard for that. But everyone saw her as June.

Her rescuers wanted her to break in to the soul database. They all went through high adrenaline events. With all the tense circumstances, Alina started to trust Cameron. Eventually she fell in love with him too. 

Megan Miranda takes us for a ride with Alina Chase's journey.  Alina  follows the clues left by June to find out who was actually responsible for the black-mailings . That journey led her to find love too. 

I loved reading this book. For a person who was not a fan of sci-fi, this one was fun. 

 

Bindu

Book a week: week 1

I was actually writing about my book reading in the other blog. 

It feels like it needs a home of its own.

The background story is I started reading one book in a week as a fun thing in October 2020. I was an avid reader before too. But, not really documenting my reading.

I found that if I am choosing novels, I tend to finish the book faster. 

So, I chose my first book "The Reckoning" by John Grisham.

The story unravels a murder mystery. A local veteran killed the local priest, and refused to answer why. His wife is in a mental asylum. His two kids are away from home studying at universities. 

I was so hooked by the story. John Grisham was recommended by my husband. 

One lie and the consequences for many people: that is the story. In the end, two families are disturbed and 3 people were dead.

I never thought of war zone and war crimes before. Grisham takes us through the sufferings of prisoners under the Japanese army during World war 2. that is what a talented writer do with words!