​Strange Girls and Ordinary Women

​Strange Girls and Ordinary Women is a novel on interconnected stories of three women - one having an extramarital affair, a call girl, a woman protective about her male friend and finds in due course of her friendship the truth of her feelings.

The book drags a bit and some parts are predictable.


While reading some questions kept ringing back in my head - Why do stories about women always tell about suffering, heartbreak and injustice? Where are the women who can have fun and skip around? Where's the 'bromance' like stories of women bonding? I am not complaining here but speaking out thoughts. Of course there's room for all kinds of experiences here but are books truly a reflection of the real state of things? Has fiction become nonfiction in today's time​​s?

The Ballad of West Tenth Street - a book review

The Ballad of West Tenth Street

by 

Marjorie Kernan

I was curious to read a book that takes me in the streets of New York. I keep seeing these enviable pics of NY in IG and it's a place of my dreams - literally, without being cheesy. And I'm also watching Suits currently which is only adding to my agony. Oh all those well dressed people walking down the chic streets!

So though I liked the New Yorky casual tone of the book I felt Kernan could have brought out the New Yorky zing too. In the characters and in the absent plot I didn't see much in it. It could have been a story set anywhere. But when you set it in such an enigmatic place (yeah its a personal opinion but still its NY!) there needs to be something holding you to the book.

A West Village house is where the Hollanders live - Sadie, a modern mom, a widow of a singing star has her teens Hamish and Deen with her and her twenty something Gretchen is in a rehab place because she tends to harm herself. Then there is a Colonel's Guatemalan who comes to stay next door to them and his charming housekeeper Ellie who bring the cheer on the story. Add a few more wonderful characters - the raggedy Captain Meat, the plumber guy and Mrs. D and of course Uncle Brian (uncle to the children) who is hopelessly in love with Sadie. 

The story of all of these people weaves through the streets of NY and their past and their thoughts are drawn out. Its a very feel-good, cozy novel. Though I do wish Kernan had brought out more of Sadie and Brian. 

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The Little French Bistro - explore Brittany and a woman's heart.

The Little French Bistro - a novel by Nina George

This has to be my 2019's self aware book. That's how I felt while reading the protagonist Marianne's journey of escape to finding herself.

                                                    “Death is not free. Its price is life.” 

The book starts with Marianne, a sixty year old standing at the banks of Siene, jumping in to die after 40 years of loveless marriage. She is saved by an onlooker and then she decides to go to Brittany and find another suitable moment to die. There is a whole new world of people there who change the course of her life and make her question the motive to die. The funny chef Jean Remy at the bistro who pines after the Laurine the waitress. The aged couple Pascale and Emile who through their eccentricities show Marianne that life doesn't have to be perfect and never is.

Coast of Brittany

A fun host of other characters who have little pocketful of stories of their own fills up this book and balance out the darkness of Marianne's mind. A failing marriage,inattentive partner and feeling of self pity are matters of concern for a person enough to fall into depression. These issues are subtly portrayed through her voice as well as through others in this novel.

“I don't know why we women believe that sacrificing our desires makes us more attractive to men. What on earth are we thinking? That someone who goes without her wishes deserves to be loved more than she who follows her dreams?” 

Of course there is a  good looking guy for her right there in Brittany and who else could he be
but a painter. I wish Yann as a character and her light-through-the-crack was developed more and here is where the book becomes sort of a chick flick, a moony romantic story. However, I'm glad the focus on issues faced by women, importance of self and bits about Brittany is all well written.

A Brittany village

I've already got Nina George's The Little Paris Bookshop and I'm looking forward to reading that.

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Blue Shoes and Happiness - Book review

Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith may not be an engrossing detective story but it is a delightful overview of life in Gaborone, Botswana for a few characters created by the author. The book is seventh in the series of No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.

The central plot of the book is about two main incidents which Mma Ramotswe has to investigate. One is about blackmail and the other a medical wrongdoing. Pretty harmless and commonplace, especially if you have read King, Flynn and Connelly. Alexander McCall Smith however brings the life of Botswana, its beliefs, culture and social life through small time incidents in the town.

Mma Ramotswe isn't pondering over evidences, making chases and taking notes. Most of the time she gives a tribute to bush tea, remembers her dad and reminisces about the changing pace of her childhood town. A gentle but firm woman who states her viewpoints on accepting her body in its 'traditional build', the eccentricities of the people she has known and the altering human moralities.

                                Image from Youtube

Mma Matuksi, Mma Ramotswe's assistant is fun-loving, innocent but also vociferous at times. She isn't too worried about ethics and evidences of the world around her. Her concern is about her fiance and how to prove to him that she is not a feminist as she blurted out.

For Mma Ramotswe and Mma Matuksi is there anything that soothing bush tea and a pair of beautiful blue shoes cannot fix,respectively?

                                                          tea illustration from Pinterest

This quick small story may not be for one impactful novel. It is a lovely story in myriad shades of daily life with adequate amounts of twists where needed. I loved reading it and I hope to collect the entire series soon. There are no memorable phrases or reading takeaways. Nevertheless, beautiful things do come in small packages right?

My Solo Date in busy Doha

Will the waiter judge me for not knowing the finer differences between a latte and a cappuccino?
Will my mother-in-law's friends spot me in the cafe alone and introspect over it?
What if my son asks for me at home?
Will I live through this solo date?

These were the questions churning in my head as I went for my first solo date - just me,a book and a bundle of nerves. This was in my head for some months but I felt ridiculous at first picturing myself alone in a crowd,stationary at a table not talking or conversing with someone and not even buried in a smart phone. Psychopath no? 

But then kicking off one mental obstacle after the other, I finally decided to go for a half yearly resolution. 16 fortnights remaining in 2018 and every fortnight I plan to visit a different cafe in Doha with a new book or a book by a new author. Not just any book in my TBR(to be reads) or wish list but specifically those I -

- wasn't comfortable in terms of genre (horror and crime - Stephen King here I come)
- avoided a topic because I didn't relate to (politics and magic realism - give me all the Gabriel Garcia Marquezs)
- tucked away because of general procrastinating. (I will hold the heavy hardcovers till my wrists break and evaporate!)

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Also each of these solo dates will be in different cafes or restaurants so that I don't get comfortable with a particular area in the city ( I love the Pearl ) or my favourite corner (window with a view) and will help me to know the city where I have been 6 years but never thought of venturinng out without borrowed eyes.

So my first solo date happened last weekend. Yayy!

But before delving into the details of that you must be probably thinking if the idea of going out alone was something that I needed to consult/ convince/ sermonize/ debate /call 911 with regard to my husband/ family/friends. Well my husband is an amazing and supportive person. His care is limitless but he also understands my space that as long as I can take care of myself , its ok. So I didn't need to explain or justify myself at all. I did brief him about my 'self project' and that was it. All hearts!

So, as it is Ramadan time, the restaurants and cafes here in Middle East do not open to public until evening. So on a warm, yet pleasant evening I went to Figaro Coffee here in Doha. An adequately spaced cafe, cozy and with a compact menu, its at the Ghanim Business Centre near Hotel Westin. The quiet neighbourhood and distant hum of traffic is both relaxing and also assuring. I opted for an iced tea and opened my first book - A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark.

Published in 1988 the book is set in the 1950s of West London. Narrated by a young lady lodger about her life and the adjoining characters, this acclaimed novel recounts daily life in post war London. This is my summary from the brief I read online and on the back cover. ( Do you also read up a little on an author and the book before starting a book? Let me know in comments )

I had bought the book more than a year ago. In my various bouts of pensiveness and floating moods, I kept picking it and keeping it back in the bookshelf. Though the cover was interesting enough to remain in my mind.

I read about 15 pages in the cafe,sipping on my orange iced tea. The book has certainly has piqued my interest, Ali Smith's introduction notwithstanding. However, before I could get lost in the interesting narration of Mrs. Hawkins, I decided to finally go back home. Plus my refreshing iced tea had finished!

So how did it feel to be out alone?
It was interesting and weird.

Interesting because I pushed away a habit of mine of being too dependant on everyone when it came to spending time and going to places. I was never comfortable taking a taxi. Till date I'm not familiar with Doha roads. The primary reason being that I never ventured out alone. You know a city well only when you start to use your own feet and eyes right? I could tune into my breathing, note the world around me when its busy and when the shadows lay still. I could even feel my heartbeat vary with my mood. I learned to talk to a waiter and not just 'order' and that people need smiles and kind words often.

And it felt weird because I missed my usual company - my husband and my little brat. The usual talks and joint fun commentary on people and things around. No no I didn't cry but I know it will take me time to get used to these solo dates but that's the point right?...to get used to being uncomfortable. The brain should complain a bit. And also makes you appreciate yourself, your time, your space and your loved ones even more.


Plus, books and cappuccino are always great company!