Welcome a New Year of Reading with THEBOOKJEANIE

Celebrating our one year anniversary!

I would like to thank all of my readers for the support and encouragement that you have offered over the past year. 

This has been an amazing adventure for me and I am so happy to have had you along for the ride!

Some glowing reviews to warm your wintery January

In 2000, Jhumpa Lahiri was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies. In subsequent years her writing has only become richer and more eloquent and her most recent novel The Lowland is bound to be nominated for numerous awards. Set in India and America, Lahiri once again draws on her knowledge of the immigrant experience, herself the child of Indian parents who lived briefly in London where she was born and then eventually settled in Rhode Island. Her novel traces the journey of Subhash and Udayan, two brothers growing up in Calcutta, so close in many ways yet ultimately so different in the paths they chose to take. As a graduate student Udayan allied himself with the Naxalite Movement,  a Maoist-inspired organization created as a reaction to the bloody 1967 peasant uprising against repressive landowners in West Bengal. Subhash, fearful of his brother's political involvement with a group advocating violence but conflicted over how to maintain his brother's respect, made the decision to oppose his parents, who had no idea of Udayan's activities, and accept a graduate fellowship in marine ecology at a university in Rhode Island. The lowland in the title is the muddy plain near the Ganges formed by two ponds that overflow after the monsoon rain, slowly evaporating in the humidity, home to egrets in the autumn and always thick with water hyacinth. As young boys, the brothers would use the lowland as a shortcut to a field where they met their friends to play soccer. Ultimately it would become the symbol of Udayan's fateful journey. Subhash himself discovered another lowland, the bogs and marshes possessing a beauty and stillness that served to comfort him in his self-imposed exile. But his wife Gauri who joined him after a hasty marriage in Calcutta is not comforted by the cold and wet of Rhode Island. Instead she is constantly haunted by the events that occurred in the lowland far away and struggles to be a wife to Subhash and a mother to baby Bela. Lahiri creates such a clear and exquisite voice for each of her characters that the reader can't help but feel an intimate connection to Subhash, Gauri, his parents,  and their daughter. In a recent interview after the publication of The Lowland Lahiri commented, "The novel is very much about what a family is, what a family means." This was probably the best book I read in 2013, a sweet dessert to the year. 

      

Over twenty-five years ago I visited the dazzling Indian city of Jaipur and have always wanted to return. Here is a good excuse to attend one day.  Jhumpa Lahiri is a featured speaker this year.

Jaipur Literature Festival

As the largest FREE literary festival on earth, the Jaipur Literature Festival brings together some of the greatest thinkers and writers from across South Asia and the world.

From Nobel laureates to local language writers, Man Booker prize winners to debut novelists, every January the most remarkable, witty, sensitive and brilliant collection of authors come together for five days of readings, debates and discussions at the beautiful Diggi Palace in the Rajasthani capital.

JLF, which began in 2006, is now regarded as a cultural catalyst within India and around the world, exposing audiences to a constant flow of ideas. Featuring live music sessions and interactive workshops, the Festival provides a space to dare, dream and imagine.

Alexander McCall Smith treats us to another installment of his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series with the publication of The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon. The title itself is enough to make his devoted readers laugh, being such a perfect to-the-point description of a Botswanan ladies' spa. McCall Smith's subtle sense of humor and overlying philosophical outlook is expressed through his lovable protagonist Mma Ramotswe. Precious Ramotswe, a "traditionally built" woman,  opened the country's first ladies' detective agency in a small building in the capital, Gaberone, next door to Speedy Motors, operated by Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, now her devoted husband. Growing from a losing proposition into a thriving business with the practice of "optimistic bookkeeping, "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency has been able to break even in recent years much to the owner's satisfaction. Mma Ramotswe and her able assistant, Grace Makutsi (top graduate of the secretarial college with a 97% exam score that she never lets anyone forget) thoughtfully pursue two new cases while Grace awaits the birth of her first child. A prominent citizen has recently passed away and his lawyer, Mma Shiba, is questioning the appearance of a young man claiming to be his nephew and heir. Mma Ramotswe agrees to visit the farm and interview the "nephew"and the deceased man's unmarried sister who had been living with her brother for many years. During this investigation an acquaintance, Mma Soleti, asks for help in identifying the source of malicious flyers that have been posted throughout Gaberone defaming her business, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon. Although these cases provide the framework for his latest novel, McCall Smith choses to examine more closely the marriage of Mma Ramotswe, as Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni enrolls in a self-improvement course, determined to be a "modern husband." Matekoni eventually comes to realize that he does not need a course to improve his loving relationship with Precious Ramotswe while she begins to see her husband in a new light.  At the same time, Mma Ramotswe deeply feels the loss of her assistant while she is on maternity leave and begins to understand how valuable Mma Makutsi is not only as a insightful associate but as a close friend as well. As usual, the land and culture of Botwana play a major role in this new addition to the series, helping the reader to more fully understand the traditional values that guide the characters throughout these novels. Once again, McCall Smith has produced a superbly written novel that extends well beyond the mystery/detective genre. 

Although not as suspenseful as her first novel, Oxygen, Carol Cassella once again takes us inside the medical profession but this time from the perspective a doctor who finds a career as a physician at odds with her role as a wife and mother. Claire Boehning failed to complete her residency in family medicine after the premature arrival of her daughter Jory fourteen years ago and within a few years became wrapped up in the fast fortunes of her husband Addison, a brilliant medical researcher and biotech entrepeneur. With the discovery of a cover-up of negative results from the final trial of a potentially life-saving cancer drug, the Boehning's financial status  quickly plummets due to Addison's risky investments to bolster his company. Selling their lakeside home in Seattle as well as most of their belongings, Claire and Jory move into an old farmhouse in central Oregon that was intended for renovation as a vacation home while Addison zigzags across the country attempting to garner financial support for his faltering project.  While trying to pacify her disgruntled daughter, Claire hides her own worries about mounting debt and dwindling resources. Determined to be the realist of the family, Claire takes her outdated résumé to various hospitals and clinics in the area only to find that although she possesses a medical degree, without certification no institution will hire. When she had almost given up hope, she receives a call from a doctor that she had met in passing at one of the hospitals she visited. Dan Zalaya operates a non-profit clinic catering mainly to migrant farm workers, dependent on grants and donations. He is willing to hire Claire as he is overwhelmed with patients and is not concerned about insurance or lawsuits. As Claire becomes involved in the lives of her patients, she begins to question the choices that she and Addison have made and the materialistic lifestyle that became the norm for their family. A fascinating read from a practicing physician as well as a skilled storyteller.  

Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return begins with the sad ending to Marjane Satrapi's education in Vienna as she loses direction after graduating from the Lycée Français. Drifting away from her friends and  losing at love, Marjane turns to various drugs and fails to attend her classes at the University. After a dispute with her landlady, she finds herself sleeping on the trams and in parks, eventually becoming ill and collapsing on the street. Awakening in a hospital, Marjane decides to contact her parents and return home to Tehran. The war with Iraq is over but the political situation is still the same, a repressive Islamic regime allowing little freedom especially for women. Whereas the first volume of this memoir focused on a child's reaction to the political events of revolution and war, Persepolis 2 chronicles Marjane's struggle to fit into her own country again, feeling as much a foreigner as she did in Vienna. Angry and alienated, Marjane pushes the limits of the minor freedoms allowed to women in Iran. The other young women she meets are shocked by the revelations of her sexual past and her radical political opinions. Sinking once more into depression, she hits bottom but eventually manages to set her life in a new direction and with the help of a new friend Reza, passes the exam to enter art school in Tehran. Marjane finds it difficult to accept the narrow thinking and absurd restrictions at the art college but she spends more and more time with soulmate Reza.  Thinking marriage will allow her to be happier without having to hide her relationship with Reza from the "morality police", she quickly plans a lavish wedding but shortly after the ceremony she realizes that she cannot live with the compromises that her husband expects. Her loving and extremely understanding parents urge her to leave the country to pursue her dream of being an artist, free to express herself in any way she chooses.  Her narrative ends at the airport, saying goodbye to her family, off to France to face life as an outsider once again. At times it is difficult to understand the motivation for Marjane's seemingly egocentric and bizarre behavior but her engaging memoir does give the reader a rare glimpse into Iranian society and the almost schizophrenic lifestyle that Marjane's family and many others have been forced to adopt. Highly recommended to those who read Persepolis 1.

Keeping me up late at night . . .

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure - Julian Smith

No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet - Molly Knight Raskin

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND REMEMBER:

KEEP READING!