The Sandalwood Tree

The Sandalwood Tree

Elle Newmark

It is 1947. Americans Martin and Evie have come to India because historian Martin has won a Fullbright scholarship to study the Partition. Evie has insisted on coming along in the hopes of bridging the distance that has grown between them ever since Martin returned from the battlefields of Europe.

Things don't go as Evie had hoped, however, as the distance between them seems to widen as they try to settle into their new surroundings.

One day, as Evie is cleaning the bungalow in which they've been staying, she finds a tidy little packet of letters that had been hidden away behind a loose brick by one of the bungalow's long-ago tenants.

In her loneliness and isolation, Evie becomes obsessed with the story of the two unconventional Victorian ladies who were the letters' correspondents. Adela and Felicity had come to India during the 1850's, ostensibly as part of the Raj's "fishing fleet", but in reality, in an effort to escape strict Victorian societal constraints.

I loved The Sandalwood Tree. The writing flowed beautifully. The two stories were masterfully interwoven together with the backdrop, creating a gorgeous, luminous tapestry.

I definitely give The Sandalwood Tree two thumbs up!

Black Mamba Boy

Black Mamba Boy

Nadifa Mohamed

Jama is a young Somali boy, living the life of a street urchin in Yemen/Aden in 1935. His mother's death is the catalyst for his odyssey across North Africa in search of his father, who had left the famnily in order to find work.

This is more than the quest for Jama's father. It is also very much the story of Jama's journey to manhood.

I love how the character of Jama was so completely rendered. I loved how he grew as a person as his world expanded. Each new experience seemed to change him and become a part of him.

This book caused me to reflect on how our experiences change us, become a part of the fabric of who we are.

Major Barbara

Major Barbara

George Bernard Shaw

Barbara, a major in the Salvation Army, is in the business of saving souls. Her father, a wealthy arms dealer, is in the business of war, death, and destruction. He sells weapons to anyone who wants them, without regard for the aims or ideals of the buyer.

The conflict between Barbara and her father is at the heart of this play, which addresses social and philosophical questions in a brilliant and witty manner.

This play made me both laugh and think, which had to be exactly Shaw's intention.

The Night Bookmobile

The Night Bookmobile

Audrey Niffenegger

This is a very, very short graphic novel which seems to be made to look like a young child's picture book. It is clear, however, that this is definitely a book for adults, as it touches on some very complicated, dark themes.

How could I not love a book about a mysterious book mobile that appears at random in the night, and whose only collection consists of every book a person has ever read?

I defintely did love it, but even so, it left me feeling a bit...disturbed and off-kilter. It may be because I felt like a 5-yr-old sitting with a picture book open on my lap, while at the same time, the book becomes very dark and a bit morbid.

Miss Timmins' School for Girls

Miss Timmins' School for Girls

Nayana Currimbhoy

It's 1974. Charu has just been hired to teach at Miss Timmins' School for Girls. She is a first-time teacher, nearly as young and impressionable as her students.

Moira Prince also teaches at Miss Timmins'. She is unorthodox, a bit older, worldly, and troubled. Miss Prince, nicknamed Pin, has a mysterious connection with the school's director, and seems to have cast a spell on Charu, who becomes deeply involved with her and the group of bohemians who are her friends.

One night, Pin seems especially disturbed. she is found dead at the foot of a cliff, under a rock formation known as The Needle.

The police determine that she was pushed, leaving many questions about her death.

That night, there were many others up on The Tablelands, near The Needle, including Charu. Each has their own secrets, and each is a possible murderer.

I loved this book! Currimbhoy is very talented, especially when it comes to speaking in a character's voice, and for description.

This book drew me in immediately. The back stories of the characters, and their distinct voices made them seem almost real. The setting was magical...a Hogwarts for girls in one of th4 most fascinating, exotic locations with fantastic rock formations and a cave/den of illegal activity, all set in an Indian hill station.

This was Currimbhoy's first novel. I hope and expect to see much more of her. I definitely think she is a rising literary star.

If I noticed any flaw, it was that the plot's resolution was a bit weak...signalled too strongly and too early. Everything else, though, more than made up for that. It's possible I felt that way about the ending because I finished the book after a night without any sleep. Flawed or not, I loved this book, and as this was the author's first novel, the author's writing will be even stronger in the future.

The Way to Xanadu

The Way to Xanadu

Caroline Alexander

Caroline Alexander, in the thrall of Coleridge's poem, Kubla Kahn, seeks to visit the sites that inspired Coleridge's opium-induced dream and romantically exotic poem.

She, of course, visits Mongolia, but also Ethiopia, Kashmir, and, surprisingly, Florida.

I enjoyed this book very much. I've loved the poem since I first read it in my early teens, and it made me realize how much this poem has contributed to my own love of the romatic and exotic.

I loved her travels just for the sheer adventure and exoticism alone, but I was also fascinated by the connections she made to Coleridge and what inspired him to write the poem. I believe that most of her conjectures about what inspired Coleridge are accurate. After all she does have a PHD, and has been fascinated with this poem for most of her life, so she would have extensive knowledge of the subject. It seemed that she almost entered Coleridge's head at times.

I found this book to be a wonderfully readable hybrid of flights of fancy to the most exotic of realms and down-to earth historical and biographical details, etc.. This was a unique little book that was a pleasure to read

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Helen Simonson

Major Pettigrew is a stolid Englishman, a widower living in the village of Edgecomb St. Mary, nearly the last of a dying breed. He is proud of his heritage and the Pettigrew name, as evidenced by his nearly obsessive love of a pair of rifles that were given to his father for an act of bravery by a Maharajah.

Mrs. Ali, a widow who owns and operates the village shop, is often snubbed by other village residents because of her Pakistani origin.

When Mrs. Ali accidentally intrudes upon Major Pettigrew during a moment of weakness after the loss of his brother, the walls that would normally divide them begin to come down, and they begin to find companionship in each other's company, which grows into friendship and then to romance, despite the many obstacles thrown in their way by the villagers, and by their own families.

I loved this story! It was a sweet and charming love story, but it also had quite a bit of substance. It was just a lovely read altogether!

Wandering Star

Wandering Star

J.M.G. Clezio

Wandering Star is the story of Esther, a young Jewish girl who has been displaced by the war in Europe during WWll. Eventually, after the war, she emigrates to Palestine, which is soon to become the nation of Israel.

It is also the story of Nejma, a young Palestinian girl who has been uprooted by the conflict that was created by the founding of a new nation in that region.

Even though Esther and Nejma have met only for a brief moment, and were unable to communicate, that moment remains important to both of them for the rest of their lives.

Le Clézio's writing is strong. He does not focus on placing any blame, and tells each girl's story in a straight-forward manner without being overly sentimental. Those factors, IMO, make the novel even more powerful than it might have been in the hands of a less skillful writer.