The Millennium Trilogy by Steig Larsson was a revelation in itself, for me. The trilogy that consists of the books- The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who played with fire, and finally The Girl who kicked the hornet’s nest- are probably some of the best crime thrillers I have come across in sometimes. Perhaps a little bit unrealistic, but engrossing all the same, the book brought forth for me many aspects of Sweden, a country about which I didn’t know much. The characters in these books are well sketched out and the plot is well laid out. The plots reminded me a little bit of Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels. The books are mostly divided into three parts. What really appealed to me was that the author did not merely want to write a work in crime fiction but also deal with crime statistics, women’s development and increase public consciousness about the underhand developments that can take place even in one of the safest country. A must read.
The Age of Shiva by Manil Suri was a book I picked up from Daryaganj book market simply because I thought that it was another book like Chanakya’s Chant that drew parallels between the ancient and modern. While that wasn’t the case, it was one of those books which proved to be a realistic read though not always an extremely compelling one. The Age of Shiva based in post independence Delhi (Daryaganj, incidentally and Nizamuddin) and the suburbs of Bombay, deals with the struggles of a couple whose marriage has gone sour, after marrying in haste, about their struggles to build a life for themselves and not depend upon rich relatives, about rebellion of a girl from an autocratic father and the love a mother finds in her son when her marriage is struggling on bare threads. This book deals with communal conflict and class lines and deals with friendships and relationships against all odds. A brave work.
Happiest in Transit 