I have been meaning to share this haul with you for a little while so today is the day. I went with the boys to The Used book Superstore to look for some bargains and found these three beauties. Only one (The White Tiger) was on my TBR list so I snatched it up quickly and then I found another by the same author and thought for this price I will grab it too.
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga according to Amazon is about:
A stunning literary debut critics have likened to Richard Wright’s NativeSon, The White Tiger follows a darkly comic Bangalore driver through the poverty and corruption of modern India’s caste society. “This is the authentic voice of the Third World, like you’ve never heard it before” (John Burdett, Bangkok 8).
The white tiger of this novel is Balram Halwai, a poor Indian villager whose great ambition leads him to the zenith of Indian business culture, the world of the Bangalore entrepreneur. On the occasion of the president of China’s impending trip to Bangalore, Balram writes a letter to him describing his transformation and his experience as driver and servant to a wealthy Indian family, which he thinks exemplifies the contradictions and complications of Indian society.
Recalling The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, The White Tiger is narrative genius with a mischief and personality all its own. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international publishing sensation—and a startling, provocative debut.
I wanted to read it to explore more about India. I have read several books about India and wanted to add more. It also will fulfill one of my 2015 reading goals.
The second book by Aravind Adiga is called, “Between Assassinations” and according to Amazon is about:
Welcome to Kittur, India. It’s on India’s southwestern coast, bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Kaliamma River to the south and east. It’s blessed with rich soil and scenic beauty, and it’s been around for centuries. Of its 193,432 residents, only 89 declare themselves to be without religion or caste. And if the characters in Between the Assassinations are any indication, Kittur is an extraordinary crossroads of the brightest minds and the poorest morals, the up-and-coming and the downtrodden, and the poets and the prophets of an India that modern literature has rarely addressed.
A twelve-year-old boy named Ziauddin, a gofer at a tea shop near the railway station, is enticed into wrongdoing because a fair-skinned stranger treats him with dignity and warmth. George D’Souza, a mosquito-repellent sprayer, elevates himself to gardener and then chauffeur to the lovely, young Mrs. Gomes, and then loses it all when he attempts to be something more. A little girl’s first act of love for her father is to beg on the street for money to support his drug habit. A factory owner is forced to choose between buying into underworld economics and blinding his staff or closing up shop. A privileged schoolboy, using his own ties to the Kittur underworld, sets off an explosive in a Jesuit-school classroom in protest against casteism. A childless couple takes refuge in a rapidly diminishing forest on the outskirts of town, feeding a group of “intimates” who visit only to mock them. And the loneliest member of the Marxist-Maoist Party of India falls in love with the one young woman, in the poorest part of town, whom he cannot afford to wed.
The final book I picked up let’s face it, was a total ‘cover love’ that sucked me in so I added it to my basket. But look at the inside of the jacket cover:
Who could seriously pass this book up? Not to mention the very low price of $4.00. This book is called, “Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern and according to Amazon is about:
One of the world’s most popular writers of women’s fiction—author of the beloved international bestseller, P.S. I Love You, basis for the popular film starring Hilary Swank—Cecelia Ahern now gives us Thanks for the Memories, a heartwarming tale of déjà vu and second chances. Reminiscent of The Time Traveler’s Wife, Thanks for the Memories is a love story brimming with hope and feeling and enlivened with an enchanting touch of magic.
How is it possible to know someone you’ve never met?
With her marriage already in pieces, Joyce Conway nearly lost everything else. But she survived the terrible accident that left her hospitalized–and now, inexplicably, she can remember faces she has never seen, cobblestone Parisian streets she’s never visited. A sudden, overwhelming sense of deja vu has Joyce feeling as if her life is not her own.
Justin Hitchcock’s decision to donate blood was the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time. He chased his ex-wife and daughter from Chicago to London–and now, restless and lonely, he lectures to bored college students in Dublin. But everything is about to change with the arrival of a basket of muffins with a thank-you note enclosed–the first in a series of anonymous presents that will launch Justin into the heart of a mystery . . . and alter two lives forever.
Apparently this author has written a lot of books and this will be my first. I will be sure to put reviews up as I read these lovely selections.
Happy reading!!
Belinda
