Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Another English classic I picked up this year  - 'Jane Eyre' is a novel by English writer 'Charlotte Brontë', published in 1847 under the pseudonym 'Currer Bell' to disguise the fact that the author was a woman.

An enduring love story and undisputed classic, 'Jane Eyre' is full of passion, mystery, tragedy, and most importantly a strong-willed beloved heroine.

it is ironic that at a time when the Charlotte felt compelled to hide her true identity, Jane Eyre provided a story of individualism for women.

This masterpiece introduces one of fiction's most memorable protagonists ie Jane. As a child, orphan Jane Eyre suffers under cruel guardians and harsh schooling, but her indomitable spirit shines through against the greatest odds. When she takes up a position as governess at Thornfield Hall, she meets and begins to fall in love with mysterious and brooding master of the house, Mr Rochester. The secrets of the house and from Mr Rochester's past are soon revealed causing a heartbreak for Jane. Her life takes few turns in the course and as they say takes a full circle at the end.

Though it falls under genre of romantic classic, the romance is very very suttle and deep without any explicitly. A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzled me with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.

The classic has been adapted in many other forms like opera, film, theatre plays. The most recent film adaptation was released in 2011, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, and starred Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre and Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester.

The Second Lady

 'The second lady', written by famous American author Irving Wallace, is a fascinating USA-Russia cold war thriller.

When I read this book for the first time, I was in 9th or 10th standard and ofcourse I read the translated version back then.

The plot of the story was so intriguing that I had to look for original book when started reading English novels.

The story goes like this - To grab an inside information over a politically critical matter, KGB (Soviets intelligence agency) plots an unbelievable plan to replace the American First Lady with a look alike, a Russian actress with  strong resemblance who has been tweaked and trained to perfection over the period of three years.

The replacement happens as planned but un-foreseen hurdles keep cropping up in the secret mission.

We have to keep in mind that this book was released in 1980. The secret services of the time had been small force then. The internet, mobile phones were atleast fifteen years away from becoming mainstream reality. So the story has to be lived in the period it has been told.

This book has everything that a perfect novel demands - gripping plot, love, drama, action, entertainment.

Irving's writing style is not very tricky but the overall storyline and continuous twists keep readers hooked till the end. 

The nail biting and unusual climax left me absolutely stunned.

Certainly an entertaining and unput-down-able page turner read, wonder why it didn't get converted into movie or TV series.

#2023readinggoals

आम्ही मुंबईकर

आम्ही मुंबईकर कारण  - 

* 'अ ' ठिकाणाहून  'ब' ठिकाणाचं अंतर किती आहे हे आम्ही मिनिटं -तासात मोजतो , किलो मीटर मध्ये नाही 

* ५-१७, ८-४२, ७-२४ ह्या वेळा कशाच्या आहेत हे कळायला आम्हाला अजून काही स्पष्टीकरणाची गरज नाही 

* वडा - पाव ही आमची अत्यंत आवडती डीश आहे आणि तो नाश्ता , दुपारचं जेवण किंवा 'असच काहीतरी ' ह्या सर्व कारणांसाठी खाऊ शकतो 

* संकट काळी आम्हाला सिद्धी विनायक , हाजी अली  आणि माउंट मेरी ची एकत्र आठवण येते 

* मुंबई च्या वरचे सगळे ;नॉर्थ इंडियन ' आणि खालचे सर्व  'मद्रासी ' हे आमचं अर्वाचीन मत आहे 

* जगातली सर्वात शांत, आत्म परीक्षण करायची  जागा म्हणजे मरीन ड्राईव्ह चा गजबजलेला कट्टा 

* मुंबई च्या स्वतःच्या अशा खास भाषेत - ज्यात बॉस , घंटा , निकल ले , जुगाड, मांडवली  असे विविध अद्वितीय शब्द आहेत - आम्ही पारंगत आहोत 

* आयुष्यातील नकार पचवायची दैवी शक्ती  आणि मनोबल वृद्धिंगत करण्यात इथल्या रिक्षा वाल्यांचा मोठा हातभार आहे 

* जगात कुठेही असो , 'गणपती बाप्पा ' ची आरोळी कानावर पडली की लगेच  'मोरया ' असा जयघोष मनात उठतोच 

* एकदा तरी 'ताज ' मध्ये जेवायला नाही तर किमान चहा प्यायला  तरी जायचं हे आमचं बालपणाचं स्वप्न असतंच 

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

 Written by Alex Michaelides, this book was the Winner of 'Best Mystery & Thriller of 2019'. 

It was appearing on all online forums, social media channels  as well as leading book stores as 'a 'must-read'.

It is a psychological thriller - story of a woman's (Alicia) act of violence against her husband and her therapist (Theo) who is obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia is caught after killing her husband and who has remained silent ever since.

The narration of story is split between these 2 leading characters, Alicia through her diary pages and Theo's POV.

The book is easy read, its not very fast paced but doesn't get boring either.

Though the plot is gripping, the twists and ultimate turn was not much convincing.

In my humble opinion, it is a bit over-hyped novel but certainly one time read if you are mystery lover.

Consequences series by Aleatha Romig

 Todays blog is about 'Consequences' novel series, set of 5 books, by American author Aleatha Romig.

This is a mixed-genre novel. It can be categorized as a psychological thriller, dark romance, mystery. 

It tells a story of battle between a protagonist and antagonist which plays out like a battle of wits and it starts as dark as well as disturbing one. In a nutshell,  it is a story of 'Stockholm syndrome' (Google it if you don't know what it is). 

Clair Nicholas  wakes up in a suite owned by Anthony "Tony" Rawlings, a charismatic manipulative powerful man. She is told she signed an agreement with Rawlings that if the money she owed him is not paid back, she would become his property, She had no way to pay him.

Tony tells Claire it's simple: Follow my rules, actions have consequences.

She is trapped in a very strange, abusive relationship with Tony. 

But it is not a typical alpha male dominating submissive lady kind of storyline at all.

The entire plot is quite original, completely unpredictable and intriguing. It's a full bundle of emotions thrill,  anger, sex, lies, obsession and a complete roller coaster ride through n through. 

When I started this series and managed to complete few chapters,  my immediate reaction was - what the Hell? I loathed Clair and hated Tony. During the course of first book itself I really considered giving it up and thought it's not my cup of tea to survive reading such a dark story.

As a woman the violence, brutality and humiliation Clair faces was thoroughly unsettling, infuriating for me.

But Aleatha Romig definitely knows how to keep her readers hooked!  

   
It took me from 2 weeks to 1 month to finish each one of the books. And I still don’t know how I managed to pull through this experience. I can only blame author's talent and my  curiosity. At the end, it was worth pondering how story started and where has it landed. 

So if you want to experience a novel that will stick with you for a long time,  go for this series. As they say, get yourself Aleatha'd.

Jack Reacher

Few years back, I stumbled over 'Jack Reacher' accidently and unexpectedly.

While wandering through library shelves, I picked 'him' up randomly without knowing background, character as such.

But post that first encounter, he had been in my system forever and my immense liking for him only kept on growing with every next rendezvous.

so who is 'Jack Reacher'? 

Jack Reacher is a fictional protagonist by British author 'Lee Child', who has featured in series of crime thriller novels and short stories.

The uniqueness of this character is - he is ex-military, extreme minimalistic-living lifestyle, a drifter who wanders America with no destination on mind and invariably gets himself in dangerous situations.

The only belongings he has are a toothbrush and an ATM card. No house, no mobile, no wife, no ties. He has an internal clock and knows precise time without looking at the watch. He doesn't own pair of clothes, he simply discards the in-use ones and buys a cheap new set when needed.

He is a well-balance of physical strength, primitivity and acute deduction skills. (probable recipe :) - James Bond minus fancy gadgets and fights, add super investigation skill of Sherlock Holmes).

His personal motto 'Hope for the best, plan for the worst' is my favorite tagline too and have used it umpteenth times in my management gyan sessions. 

Reacher's family background, military days are revealed in some of the books in bits n pieces, but every book is a stand-alone read in its own and you don't have to read them in particular sequence.

Two novels about Reacher have been adapted into Hollywood films, namely 'Jack Reacher' and 'Jack Reacher - never Go Back' starring Tom Cruise as Reacher. Another novel has been adapted into an Amazon Prime Video television series starring 'Alan Ritchson' as Reacher.

BTW, Tom Cruise's casting as Reacher was severely criticized by fans (like me!!!)

If you are still newbie to the aura of Reacher, can start with any of these novels 'Killing Floor', 'One Shot', 'Without Fail' and thoroughly enjoy the 'Reacher' phenomenon .

Eat, Pray and Love

Finished reading 'Eat, Pray and Love' 2 months back. I wanted to write about it ever since. the reason it took so long to pen down my thoughts was mainly due to fact that I was unable to conclude my own opinion about this one. this happens rarely with me as typically while reading the few chapters of any book, i either like the book or dislike it.

I had read the Marathi translation of this around 8-10 years back. somehow it didn't make a lasting impression that time. Either the emotions and gravity of Elizabeth's own words was lost in the translation or may be I was too young that time to be able to relate her exploration towards E-P-L.

EPL is memoir of American writer Elizabeth (Liz) in her thirties, who after her divorce decides to spend next one year in Italy, India and Indonesia searching for 'everything'.

She eats well in Italy, experiences prayerful meditation at an ashram in India, and meets a variety of loving individuals in Indonesia.

Like I said, this book took me on a whirlpool ride, i honestly could not decide if I loved or disliked it.

At one hand, I was thrilled to read about her multi-country, multi-culture, "looking at rest-of-the-world through American eyes" experience. but at the same time, at many spots it would force me to think this writer as the most self-absorbed person.

My biggest problem with this book was I had difficulty at times believing if Liz actually achieved the enlightenment she talks about because most of the times she is so internally focused. 

Italy part was quite ok. 2nd part of India experience - being Indian and Hindu, I have fair idea how tough & how long it takes to reach the state of igniting your kundalini and to even experience the glimpse of out-of-worldly experience which Liz claims she had in Ashram. The 3rd part in Indonesia - was again quite believable for most of the part.

In the end the overall effect on me was rather like sitting at a party listening to someone telling a long involved story all about themselves, and you're alternately annoyed and fascinated, so you want to get up and leave. But she's just so entertaining that you keep telling yourself you'll leave in the next minute--but you end up sticking through the whole story.

When the fascinating journey of reading this memoir ended,  I couldn't help rolling my eyes and thinking "huh, this is a tale of a privileged but emotionally self-indulgent woman who is unsatisfied with her life." but at the same time it also tipped me to think if I get an opportunity to spend one year as all-advance-paid job to explore the world on my own terms, would I do anything differently?

The book became more famous after the movie was released with same title as of book starring Julia Roberts as Liz.