Only the Gist - fantastic books I should have written about as soon as I read them...

A long petal of the sea - Isabel Allende

Storytellers from my childhood - that is who Isabel always reminded me of. Long, winding stories; a dash of everything human - sadness, elation, intrigue, drama, love, hate, lust, more sadness; all shared with a reverence to her people and her country.

This is a story set in the heart of Spain’s bloody civil war & the following strife in Chile and a family that faces the upheaval; the length and breadth of the upheaval is solely dependent on who they were born as - Roser and Victor’s story spans about seventy years.

The war

The Hummingbird's Daughter - Luis Alberto Urrea

Teresita, the protagonist says, "Miracles are bloody and sometimes come with mud sticking to them."

This book is a story and is told in the best way possible - slow and irresistibly. Its how you would read a book you don't want to end. This book does that for you.

The true story about a girl who became a saint in the late 19th century when Mexico was in the clutches of one of its bloodiest rebellions.

The Arsonist - Kiran Nagarkar

I discovered Kiran Nagarkar accidentally and over the years have grown to appreciate his work. The first book I read was 'The Extras', the writing took me a while to get used, not sure why. But as the years passed, I would pick up his books, especially the older ones, and grew to appreciate his delivery of a story. So when I saw he had written about Kabir, I was like who better?

It was an interesting read, for sure. His style was in the background, the story of Kabir in the fore. The challenge with someone as popular as Kabir is that there is too much out there and for people like me who seek Kabir out, there is much more. Kabir is 3-dimensional in parallel universes, the one Nagarkar wrote about was jarring. A rebel without a cause, well, you have to look closely to find a cause. Kabir maybe have been who Nagarkar imagined him to be, but I couldn't imagine it - his poetry was the highest rebellion and so to me everything else was unimportant.

Read it, it was also one of his last books And for the writing.

The Orchid and the Wasp - Caoilinn Hughes

A first time author and a compelling story. Ireland was a bonus. Was a bit frustrating to read about yet another set of negligent and self-absorbed highly talented parents who royally screw up their children, but the narrative was riveting. I went slower, took sometime with the language, was a good change of pace.

A few statements that made me pause and think: 1. ‘Lack of understanding leads to resentment’.

2. ‘In an age where worth wasn't yet wed to perception’.

3. ‘Nothing to live for is the same as nothing to lose’?

4. ‘Is this how I forfeit my choices’? (By saying what I shouldn't really be saying)

5. ‘His freedom is her restraint’ - newton's 3rd law.