Saturday, February 27, 2010

2/100

Book: The Marriage Bureau for Rich People - Farahad Zama

The mangalsootram, a chain of yellow thread with two gold coins, is, along with the vermilion dot on her forehead, the symbol of a Hindu woman’s married status. It is tied around the bride’s neck by her husband as part of the wedding ceremony and is only removed on her death or when she becomes a widow. Mrs. Ali knew that for a Hindu woman to give up her mangalsootram is a sign of desperation only considered after a couple has exhausted all other possibilities.

Note: A nice, relatively easy read. A fair bit of drama and romance goes on (it is a marraige bureau for rich people after all), but unfortunately it didn’t hit the right note with me in that regard. I didn’t have any emotional response except at a particularly pride and prejudice-esque moment. Very interesting detail about Indian tradition and culture though. Features like-able characters.

1/100

Book: The Host - Stephenie Meyer

“Why not? Haven’t you subdued the human yet?” She laughed loudly. Laughing at me.

I turned my back to her and concentrated on calming myself. I tried to pretend that she wasn’t there. That I was all alone in my austere kitchen, staring out the window into the little patch of night sky, at the three bright stars I could see through it.

Note: Her first “adult novel”, grammar is not Stephenie Meyer’s strong point, but for some reason I really like this book. Following two characters but one body (Mel and Wanderer - human and alien respectively), this book is about an alien race that take over the minds of human hosts, only to discover that we’re not as evil and destructive as they first believed.