Book Review: Sikander by M.Salahuddin Khan

Title:Sikander
Author: M. Salahuddin Khan
Publisher:Karakoram Press
Price: Rs 1417
Pages: 588
Genre: Historic fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Borrowed
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Summary:
Sikander is the tale of the son of a Pakistani middle-class family. It's 1986. Seventeen-year-old Sikander, dreams of studying and living in America, but after a family quarrel, he leaves his Peshawar, Pakistan home. Encountering mujahideen warriors, he joins them in their fight against the occupying Soviets in neighboring Afghanistan. American assistance is stepped up with advanced weapons, like the Stinger missile, and the mujahideen are able to neutralize the Soviet military advantage. After just two years following Sikander's arrival, a Soviet withdrawal begins. Amid the turmoil, Sikander finds love and marries a young, sharp-witted Afghan village girl. With the fighting all but over, the couple decide to move to Sikander's Pakistan home where he hopes to reconcile with his family. But his dream of living in America endures. It's a dream that is shattered in the aftermath of 9/11 and in seeking to help his Afghan relatives, Sikander, now a successful entrepreneur, finds himself on an unavoidable collision course with the America of his dreams.

Review:
In a quiet household of Peshawar Sikander was a normal teenager pumping high on adrenaline, but then one day  as a result of an argument with his family wherein they choose to sort things out through physical violence..Call it fate or play of destiny he stumbles upon a Afghan Mujahideen group who brain wash him to fight against Soviet..Torn between turning back to family to face their wrath or to play along , he chooses the later..Living through the war zones he realises how it is to be actually living a life of war rather debating staying in the comfort zone referring various intellectual theories and philosophies..But good part was he meets a girl who captivates his heart and mind...Later he is chosen for a training on Stinger Missile funded by Britain...In heaven (Scotland) he learns to create hell (war) rather an irony that he slowly discovers as the way of life..With America's helpful indulgence in terms of weapon all that ends in a positive note as far as Sikander is concerned..Sikandar returns home for the delight of the family with his Afghan  girl.. Sikandar dreams for a beautiful life and it starts of that way with his ever loving wife and his flourishing career until 9/11...Sikandar is also falsely convicted like many others as Taliban...
Confused and distrust spreads like a wild fire..Afghan becomes a victim of yet another suffocation life, after Soviet they (Afghan people) hope for a life of that of peace and happiness expecting a base line of normalcy but Taliban brought with a harsher life style stricter for women Afghan people in general..Pakistan was dictated to snap off all ties with Afghan and US taking over it in the name of restoring peace only worsened things..Even withdrawing the troops from the country by Obama last year raised many questions all around..Yet the way things disrupted  a common man's life is beyond any nightmare..
Sikandar is gripping and absorbing tale for a person who wants to learn about the side of the coin...From a life of a priviledged family of Pakistan Life of Sikandar goes all over globe, from his hometown Peshawar to Soviet war torn Afghan, to beautiful Scotland to the camps of Gauntanamo  finally to America The country that always fascinated him... This book opens us to world of love, freedom,constraint, discrimination, hate, violence, war, loss, aspiration, disgrace, honor, hope and salvation..
First part of  the book deals gets us the glimpses of the cold war fought between the Soviet led Afghan and the against multinational insurgent groups called Mujahideen, the effect on the civilians and the consequence of the war itself...This books leaves many questions unanswered that would leave us desperate and saddened..The extreme actions taken in order to strip of terrorism ,can they justified?? Did that really work to serve the cause also about the atrocities upon the common man in Afghan their plight that they had to live for no real reason, though these actions could never been undone still they would serve as a reality check..

Book Review: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

Title:Wives and Daughters
Author:Elizabeth Gazkell
Publisher: Penguin books
Price: Rs 250
Pages: 816
ISBN: 9780141389462
Genre: Classic
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Source: Personal


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Summary
Seventeen-year-old Molly Gibson worships her widowed father. But when he decides to remarry, Molly's life is thrown off course by the arrival of her vain, shallow and selfish stepmother. There is some solace in the shape of her new stepsister Cynthia, who is beautiful, sophisticated and irresistible to every man she meets.

Review
I wanted to read something in classic and I chose this book for no good reason and to be frank I wasn't really looking forward to it...Like that of the tale of Cinderella with a differemce that our  widowed father Mr.Gibson has a teenage daughter Molly Gibson rather than a kido like Cinderella, and he decides to remarry and predicatably a bad choice...
Life of seventeen year year old Molly is that of super contend and quiet well that is how we can describe it until her fathers decision to remarry, though not entirely happy about her father's decision , she is only too happy to learn when Claire or Hyacinth Kirkpatrick , Mrs Gibson to be daughter Cynthia Kirkpatrick..Utterly beautiful who carries an air of charm around her somehow also carries an air of mystery and secret naive and plain Molly seem like an opposite pole to her step sister..Far from being happy Molly's life begins to tumble down with feelings of despair about Mrs Gibson's attitude and her own father's happiness she is also intrigued by the secret thread between Mr. Preston and Cynthia..Still the step sisters hit it well and their love, friendship, gossip and drama makes a good read...Though not completely vicious Mrs Gibson turns out to be ego-centric, and self-indulgent, evn when manages to speak sweetly to Molly something just doesn't seem right about it..
Set in 1830's English land of Hollingford, this book is a treat to a person who finds it fascinating like that me except for the matchmaking process..Molly world that changes with her father's marriage keeps up with the changing Victorian era beautifully intertwined...I was reminded of Austen's work time and again , I guess largerly because of the era both authors where romancing with...Right from the beginning what appealed to me was the contrast of ideology between the generation depicted and aptly presented through the characters while Countess of Cumnor Tower is a torch bearer of aristocratic conservative British society quite an opposite to  free thinking Molly Gibson .. We are also introduced to Roger second son Squire Hamley and his elder son who also moves through that track...Hamley household treats Molly one among them yet there is a secret that might shatter Dr.Gibson..
 Hamley's sons stay true to the modern young crowd who are ambitious, inspired by science, philosophy away from the old stigma and theories, they question the practice that are in practice for the sake of it..Attitude of people reflects through dialogues and thoughts, for instance Roger, who is well known for his work and travel, still Mrs Gibson takes notice of him when he is included into the inner circle of Hollingford..Even as Mr. Gibson preaches on science and developments thinking progressively, at the very same time he asks his governess to teach Molly the things that would make his daughter an obedient wife rather than an free soul...All along Molly is taught to curb her feeling never to open up her thoughts and in case she has her thoughts she has an options to spend in on solitude..While her step mother is all set to push her into a life of false pride and aristocratic immunity with no space for a person's character and personality but just the family name and hierarchy in society..I almost lost my cool when I read the ending of book man but well I don't want to spoil the suspense, but the truth is there is no ending because Gaskell didn't complete this book though you get an idea of how it might end....What I loved about Gaskell is her brilliant dramatics and portrayal of each and every character throughout the book...
For me Wives and Daughters is my cup of classic with drama, mystery, romance, love, friendship in an era that had the essence of transformation breaking free from tradition...I would definitely give a try on her other works...

Book Review Howard end is on reading by Susan Hill

Title: Howards end is on the landing: a year of reading from home
Author: Susan Hill
Publisher: Profile publisher (gb)
Pages: 236
Price: Rs 750
Genre: Non-fiction/ on reading
Rating:4 out of 5

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This is just not another list of books she has loved ,liked and disliked but more of a memoir of years that she has been through with books...Memories and life attached to the same people , place are all part of it..All this begins when Susan goes searching for a particular book which she fails to find , in the process she discovers many books she hasn't read or re-read as she had planned to , this makes her  to spend a year not buying any new books rather spend her time reading all that she wanted to from her shelf..
Love for reading reflects through every expressions of her..Husband and wife sleeping in different rooms just to be wrapped around the books they wanted to read only supports that thought...Her interest are varied and she has tried to cover vast collection, though her dislike for Austen might put off many, she discusses till Rowling and Harry Potter with much ease like she recounts reading classic..Reading this made me think about the books that I loved reading and that was were things..From poets to short stories her interest in books somehow matches mine still there were points were I just couldn't connect with her and that is when I had to remind myself that the books is her personal ramblings and like me..But we all love books except for few all of us mortal might go through this phase, then how does this particular book  set apart ..This is not the kind of book that explores her life and her reading life completely though it does in a larger way nor it takes us into her world of books but it does all of these in a different note...There are also glimpses of her childhood and teenage reading and the authors who inspired her....I didn't know why the author with so much of freedom of choice didn't explore varied cross continent literature, her list seemed quite partial to British..Though she had a section dedicated to woman authors that seemed written in a hurry rather being savoured
Her rendezvous with great such as Benjamin Britten, T.S Eliot, E.M Foster, Iris Mudroch, and so on are spread across the book...Still somehow I felt that the emotional connection that she could have made with the reader wasn't that great...May be for the reason it went quite superficially..I loved her attitude towards books though her views may not go by mass...At the end of the book there is a list of 40 books she would happily die with..And why I loved book is that all through the line it made me probe into my fray of reading books and the way I see books and their contents..It also made be feel why books are one of the best friends a person can ever have and the habit of reading a real blessing in itself...Personally I have made many a lists that I have been able to fulfill and many a times failing pathetically...Still I have never fell out of love with my books its a kind of love affair for eternity that I would treasure upon for many years to be...

In the name of honour : A memoir by Mukhtar Mai

Title: In the name of honour
Author: Mukhta Mai
Publisher: Little brown book, group
Pages: 191
Price: Rs 395
ISBN: 9781844084838
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Personal



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Summary:
It is an exordinary journey of Mukhtmai's fight against the odds against a crime ...A fight that she battles with courage and true spirit..Her life makes you wonder if you were living in a modern or have you stepped back in time...

Review:
There was a period where  I was reading reading books on the atrocities done on women back to back..This was one among the collections..Though I loved the book it took sometime for me to complete... Procrastination has taken up on me, and I have decided to fight back...

Breaking the suspense right in the beginning let me state that I'm in awe for this lady Mukhtar Mai, who like phoenix rose from ash...Mukhtar Mai in late twenties,is divorced yet leads a respectable life, teaching Quran to the local kids of Meerwala..She belongs to Gujar clan , lower caste of tribe to whom literacy is out of their reach..Her younger brother (in  early teens) is falsely accused of talking to a girl belonging to Mastois (higher caste).Like a wild fire matters gets worse in few hours, the accusation takes terrible turn from stealing sugarcane to rape...Naturally the family is shaken by the whole event like any other oppressed and supressed feels,  the boy is taken to police custody..Mukhtar is the now his brother's soul hope to freedom hence gathering courage she decides to confront the people of higher caste to seek their forgiveness, instead she is met point blank with rifles and utter disgust for her...
She is dragged through streets to a stable and through the watchful eyes of onlookers she is gang raped by four men and left to herself naked  in agony but alive..She is expected to kill herself as that is what expected from such women under such circumstances...Mukhtar too in her usual line of thoughts  plots various means of suicide, but for her caring mother she would have even succeeded..As the initial agony wears out, anger, resentment consumes Mukhtar...Her rage to fight back upon crime done overcomes her slender self..From there begins Mukhtar's battle for justice...From a faint and a feeble peasant she becomes a powerful voice of oppressed women..She describes rules in Pakistan or a muslim country  in general for a case to be named as rape , to me it appeared as though they were framed for a woman to lose the case...Still she fought hard against all odds..

Her endevour was something unexpected from a weak gender..But unlike other incidents and books I had come across on similar events, the local Imam was quite supportive , but couldn't do much against the powerful people of higher caste..Mukhtar makes persistent effort much against the enormous death threats and honour allurement from all around...Her assiduous actions makes the government and the judiciary to take necessary actions against this terrible crime...Her case attains international attention and help flows from NGO's ...Though nothing can make up for what was done to her, the government awarded her money that she extended in building a school for the children of her village and for those  willing to gain education irrespective of gender and caste..Now she travels far and wide not only in her country but all over the world as an ambassador of woman's right and  over the years she has employed more teachers and been successful in getting aid for the school..She has even invited the children of higher clan to visit her school...

The book is a sad recount of her ordeal through rough water, through all this her undying spirit stands tall..  Her fight. her hurdles through every step made me to sit erect and continue my reading...Honour killing is something very hard to believe in present century yet they happen every now and then..Even in India these take place, I remember coming across a case in December 2012 in Kolkata ,a man (Mehtab Alam) beheading his younger sister in the name of honour killing...All these incidents and books makes me to think where are we heading to?? When at one end we boast of all the achievements mankind has on life, medicine, in terms of education, at the very next turn  theses incidents (few being from much educated class ) makes me wonder how to define real progress of a society with all this ..But the truth is through all this, life goes on and we get used to all these events as a part of our life until and unless they hits us right in our own eye in terms of someone close to us...

Sunday post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer..It's a chance to share the news...A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received  and share news about what it is coming up on the blog  for the week ahead..

The popularity of speed of reading is so wide that reading is always clubbed to the number of books you read...I too was by this plot when I was young, went on reading without relishing the soul of the book until my mother came to rescue one day by asking what I didn't like in a book, now you can go on and on about what you liked in a book but to answer the later you need to read not just browse through..unfortunately for me I somehow picked it along the way that reading is a habit, a way of life that should be loved to the core, for the customized personal reasons and that could be anything..For me books are my buddies who let me have a dull time, there is always something happening in my horizon in varied shades when I am reading...I get the an edge of years for experiences of a person reading a book which I wouldn't have otherwise could ever experience myself, isn't that a brilliant to go for??? plus it improves a keen observation, wide imagination and reflective analysis..So never force a person to read,that it seem like a chore...Once tasted the sweetness of reading, it becomes a lifelong love, and for me it started with fifteen minutes a day to cultivate the habit in me...Reading like any other habit takes its own sweet time to get into you just like learning to play an instrument, dance or music it has to be learnt to stay there forever..

That being said ,its very important to learn to read a book...Never think twice to abandon a book that doesn't strike a chord in you...Never force to read for great reviews, I have tried that myself but somehow it never works....So have fun choosing the books that appeal you , the ones that flints a smile across your face, that make you think and ponder on...Its great to stand my a horizon with changing vantage with every new book....
I would close my train of thoughts by quoting W.Somerset Maugham:

"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life"
Have a great ahead..I'll be seeing you around more this week..

Book Review:The Stoning of Soraya M :A true story by Freidoune Sahebjam

Title:The stoning of Soraya M:A story of Injustice in Iran
Author: Freidoune Sahbjam
Publisher:Arcade Publishing
Price:Rs 741
Page:144
ISBN: 978161145025X
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Source: Borrowed



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Summary (from back cover)
Soraya M. s husband, Ghorban-Ali, couldn t afford to marry another woman. Rather than returning Soraya s dowry, as custom required before taking a second wife, he plotted with four friends and a counterfeit mullah to dispose of her. Together, they accused Soraya of adultery. Her only crime was cooking for a friend s widowed husband. Exhausted by a lifetime of abuse and hardship, Soraya said nothing, and the makeshift tribunal took her silence as a confession of guilt. They sentenced her to death by stoning: a punishment prohibited by Islam but widely practiced.Day by day sometimes minute by minute Sahebjam deftly recounts these horrendous events, tracing Soraya s life with searing immediacy, from her arranged marriage and the births of her children to her husband s increasing cruelty and her horrifying execution, where, by tradition, her father, husband, and sons hurled the first stones. A stark look at the intersection between culture and justice, this is one woman s story, but it stands for the stories of thousands of women who suffered and continue to suffer the same fate. It is a story that must be told.

Review
Rizana Nafeek was beheaded in Saudi for allegedly killing a baby..Rizana was a house maid from Srilanka who was 17 yr old at that time..After eight futile years of endless effort by many countries and activists the news of execution on January 9 came as a surprise to me..I was reminded of this book then..
For good or for bad, women in Muslim countries do not enjoy the freedom like in other countries.In Saudi men who consider themselves to be their wife's guardian receive mobile alerts when his wife leaves the country.. A girl has to get approval from her guardian for every class she chooses ..Though they sound very strange to me, I cannot really comment on it as I don't know a thing about their culture and tradition..Every community has a culture and tradition that seem to work for them...
That being said The stoning of Soraya..This particularly made me to read more on stoning to death in Iran,
Accordin to which the convicted usually for infidelity is wrapped head to toe in white and buried onto their waist, stoning is a large event where people gather up and there by the stoning begins, stones are chosen in way to cause maximum pain but not instant death.
In this book Shahebjam iterating the life of  Soraya, thirty five year mother of nine, devout and a faithful wife, whose life was taken away barbarously when her husband decides to remarry, and no much details about that woman is given in the book though, he then goes to the extend of  prove her unfaithful to her father and her sons also gains the confidence of the local Mullah who seems to be taking up religion for individual benefit..Though the evidence where not fulfilling yet she was condemned and the stoning took place by a mob that included some of her family members..This book was a difficult one to fathom..The bigotry of a society that carried out such treacherous guile was beyond my horizon of reasoning..How can a religious head carry out such a preposterous act was my thought  reading through, well you cant help much when your own husband is trying all his might to take things against her..Through all this Soraya's aunt doesn't shy away from her responsibilities, she is the only person who tries to defend her and Shahebjam gets his story from her..
I loved the part where Shahebjam writes from Soraya's vantage, her thoughts on the atrocities bestowed upon her for no reasons..Her agony through the monstrous circumstances..Her silence in her inabilty to defend herself were all well done...Shahebjam begins the book giving his reasons and thoughts behind his step to write this book and the approach adopted to channel through..The name of the village is changed for obvious reasons and like I had mentioned before, Shahebjam was not there to witness the death, yet the author leaves no room to imagination, he takes the liberty in detailing the event which is pathetically painful to read through... He takes you through the attitude of the villagers, their reflection and the support to the event..This was again a difficult part to read through..
This book may not be the one you'll end up reading over and over again, but had you read it once you may not find the need to read it again ...

Book Review: The agony and the ecstasy by Irving Stone

Title: The agony and the ecstasy
Author: Irving Stone
Source:Borrowed
Rating: 5 on 5

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Read this book and you'll get a Que on how to write a biography that it almost feels like an autobiography..Renaissance is one the most interesting era in history were immense changes took place in the form of art, architecture, music and the whole thinking-thought process and ideologies...It was during the twelfth century spanning across the whole Europe starting from Italy....Leanardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare, Vasco Da Gama are the ones that come into my mind instantly...With all these great men craving a niche for themselves, Michelangelo  stands tall with his masterpieces through his Sistine chapel and creative art... I only wish that I could get a chance to see them in person along with his Pieta at the Basilica...

This book is an extensive attempt to bring about the life of a great artist of all time right from his childhood... Michelangelo is a Renaissance star-vault..Right from his first stroke of art at Ghirlandio's studio to his career in Florence under Medicis, he showcases his brilliance very early impressing his masters right away, but his true love remains sculpture, It was as though he could feel life in cold stone that he created ...It is Ghirlandio's studio he meets Torrigini who stays  his enemy for life..He also meets Contessina Medicis's daughter who has great influence on him till death...His journey shuttles from Vatican to Florence through various turbulent priod where his love for work remains intact...The book not only explores his work but also his relationship with his family..His father who didn't really approve of his son taking up art as career, his step mother who was always kind to him treating him no less than her son, his grandmother who was there to guide him through confusions..Grannici with whom he had a friendship for life, and he shares a strong bond with his brother...

The book slowly unwraps his life in terms of his love for painting, poetry and sculpture..His hatred for imperfection is phenomenal all through..Michelangelo comes across for his sheer excellence at  work , but he is a true artist who knows his limitation and work on it...His talent and wisdom radiates through each perception...The euphoria for his work that he undertakes, the intoxication while working on it, a trance that he relishes surfaces like a perfect sonnet..The anguish, and the melancholy that his passion puts him through is wonderfully portrayed by Stone...

Stone has very cleverly dealt with his love life be it Contessina, Medici or Clarissa , his bisexual life in a politically correct way putting in more focus on art than on his controversial flings..

It is in the Palace under Lorenzo's impact that sets the course of his ideology on religion, philosophy,thoughts, creativity, spiritualism and the nexus of all these...His Christian beliefs also had a great impact on him ...His rebellious actions in the dark dissecting human body to understand them better there by help him excel in his work portrays the agony of the art that puts him through blood and desperation..It is from here his passionate other affairs takes off..

It is in Rome he finds fame rich and success , bringing him close to Pope ..His fame spreads far and wide..It is here he creates Pieta..He also gets a chance to connect to to Da Vinci, Raphael his peers were good ones...His unfinished work of Moses his love with Tomasso his apprentice illustrates how it influenced him for years...

I eagerly awaited to read on his work as the head architect at St.Peter's basilica..The dome of it that still stands tall at 335 feet is for sure true masterpiece by this exemplary artist of all time..Dying in the arms of Tomassa my heart felt heavy wanting to read more about the greatest artist...