The Far Field

The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay is the book I've been most disappointed by this year, probably because of all the hype around it and how much I was looking forward to reading it. Although parts are beautifully written, I never understood or liked the main character, Shalini.

She is a wealthy, naive young woman from Bangalore who goes to live for a time with a family in Kashmir, this part is semi-autobiographical. However, the choices she makes are hard to understand and they endanger all the people around her. At the same time, I never really learned anything about the real situation in Kashmir from reading this book. I felt frustrated and disappointed and I don't understand all the praise this book is getting. There are far better books coming out of India these days in my opinion.

Mama's Last Hug

Mama's Last Hug, Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves by Frans De Waal is a book about the study of chimpanzees and other animals over the course of many decades. De Waal, one of the worlds leading primatologists, concludes that we should be treating animals better since they too have emotions. That this is still unknown to so many people is baffling to me.

I'm glad this book is out if this is what is needed to help change the minds of the majority who treat animals as if they are machines, and if it helps bring awareness to the horrible way they live in factory farms and laboratories, for it is truly a crime. Anyone whose spent any real time with animals understands this.

Practical Magic

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman is the original book about the Owens family, of which the more recent The Rules of Magic is the prequel. I really enjoyed The Rules of Magic, but was disappointed in this book, it felt dated and indeed it was written in 1995. Too little magic, too many abusive relationships, it just wasn't a very good book and it was turned into an even worse movie.

I still think Hoffman is a great writer, but this is not one of my favorites.

You Think It, I'll Say It

You Think It, I'll Say It:Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife, reminded me why I don't read short stories. Even when written by writers I like, they almost always disappoint. Here were several stories with unlikable characters that made me wonder why I wasted my time reading about them. Skip this collection and pick up one of Sittenfeld's novels instead.