Books I've read lately

I have always loved to read. I learned to read a very young age. In my memory it is something that I have always been able to do. We moved a few times when I was in elementary school, and regardless of where we lived, I always could find a friend in a book. I read all the Babysitter's Club books and Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I also remember reading books that were called "Choose Your Adventure." In those books, you'd get to a crucial moment in the plot, and you would choose what would happen next. I liked to read the book and then go back and read it again and make different choices. The story turned out quite different sometimes. However, it was a little odd that it didn't always finish the story on the last page of the book.

My love for reading has never disappeared. It went into hiding for a while during and after I attended college, but that was because I was reading books that were chosen for me, and that left little time for pleasure reading. I love to get lost in a story. I always feel like Mr. Scrooge observing the action taking place, but no one can see me. :) I always have to take at least one day off between books. It takes at least one day for me to recover from a book before I can start another. There are some books that never quite leave my mind, like The Kite Runner. One mention of Afghanistan, and the whole story comes back to me.

Anyway, lately I have been reading some random books that I picked up at Borders before I went on vacation last month. You can't go on vacation without a book, right?

I read The Whispering Season by Ivan Doig. It was a really fun story, and it was a great read for vacation. It is an episodic novel, so it was easy to put it down and go have fun. Doig writes beautifully. I've never read anything that he has written, but I'm sure I will again. He paints the landscape with his words, but without tedious descriptions. I've never been very good at summarizing a story. I always give too much away, so I'm not going to ruin it for anyone who may read it in the future. It was a nice casual read.

Yesterday I finished reading The Dowry Bride, by Shobhan Bantwal. This is her first book, and I believe her writing is a work in progress. While the story itself was intriguing, the writing style was very juvenile. The story is an attempted-murder mystery. Describing the atrocities surrounding the dowry system in Indian/Hindu culture, the story is dark and depressing in places, but hopeful and happy in others. The hope in the story comes as Megha is able to make choices for herself. Isn't agency a wonderful thing? In the hands of a better storyteller, this book would be extraordinary. Bantwal repeats herself and emphasizes the obvious -- especially in the beginning. The emphasis makes the foreshadowing clear while it would be more effective if it were subtle. For an adult theme (dowries, abuses in marriage, attempted murder), the writing style lends a Nancy Drew-like tone. Overall, though, it is a good story.

Sorry, this turned into a really long post. :)