Shantaram - Gregory Roberts David

"Shantaram" is a novel based on the life of the author, Gregory David Roberts. In July 1980 he escaped from Victoria's maximum-security prison in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia's most wanted men for what turned out to be the next ten years. For most of this period, after an interlude in New Zealand, he lived in Bombay. He set up a free health clinic in the slums, acted in Bollywood movies, worked for the Bombay mafia as a forger, counterfeiter, and smuggler and, as a gunrunner, resupplied a unit of mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan. This is the setting of "Shantaram". It is a compelling tale of a hunted man who had lost everything - his home, his family, and his soul - and came to find his humanity while living at the wildest edge of experience.

This book is a whopping 900+ page autobiographical saga, but don't let that deter you as it was one of the most enjoyable and fast-paced 900 pages I have ever read.

One of the things I loved most about this book is that it gave such an insight in to a side of India that I will probably never see personally, and to be honest, one I never really ever thought I wanted to see. It shows the extremes of the city from the unwavering love and loyalty of the Indian people, to the depth of the corruption and power that ultimately runs the city, as well as showing what life in the slum would be like compared to the rich who live there. If I ever did go to India one day I would be going with my eyes slightly more open to my surroundings than they were previously. 

The characters were complex and vivid and even the most despicable characters displayed some endearing quality. There were some pretty gruesome parts to this story (at some sections I actually covered by eyes and felt like screaming out!) but for most of the book the characters were smart and lyrical and I enjoyed reading their witty dialogue. Towards the end of the book when the new mafia was coming in to rule, I found the new characters not as agreeable, so am glad he ended the book where he did. Apparently there is a sequel coming but I would hesitate to read it as I had such a good experience with the first book, I would hate for the second one to not live up to the standard and ruin it for me.

I was a little thrown with the trip to Afghanistan but also enjoyed reading about another culture that is so foreign to me. 

It was a long read but one I definitely recommend - definitely the most confronting yet amazing book I have ever read and I would be lucky to find another book I enjoyed as much as this in the next 5-10 years. 

Those Faraday Girls - Monica McInerney

As a child, Maggie Faraday grew up in a lively, unconventional household in Tasmania, with her young mother, four very different aunts and eccentric grandfather. With her mother often away, all four aunts took turns looking after her – until, just weeks before Maggie’s sixth birthday, a shocking event changed everything.

Twenty years on, Maggie is living alone in New York City when a surprise visit from her grandfather brings a revelation and a proposition to reunite the family. As the Faradays gather in Ireland, Maggie begins to realise that the women she thought she knew so intimately all have something to hide…

Those Faraday Girls is a rich and complex story full of warmth, humour and unforgettable women. Spanning several countries and thirty years, it is a deeply moving novel about family secrets and lies – and how the memories that bind us together can also keep us apart.

There is a lot of story to get delightfully lost in here…McInerney does a lovely job of setting up a family as an outsider would see it and she does so in enormous, painstaking detail, so that by the time she starts revealing the true colours of the family’s dynamics, things become very interesting indeed.  And while the family dramas are deeply serious, McInerney always keeps her light and lovely humorous touch throughout this sprawling book, which truly typifies the tag “great holiday read”.

The conclusion is particularly satisfying and somewhat unexpected.  Overall, a great story and a great read: recommended for all women’s fiction collections.

The Courtesan and the Samurai - Lesley Downer

1868. In Japan’s exotic pleasure quarters, sex is for sale and the only forbidden fruit is love ...

Hana is just seventeen when her husband goes to war, leaving her alone and vulnerable. When enemy soldiers attack her house she flees across the shattered city of Tokyo and takes refuge in the Yoshiwara, its famous pleasure-quarters.There she is forced to become a courtesan.

Yozo, brave, loyal and a brilliant swordsman, is pledged to the embattled shogun. He sails to the frozen north to join his rebel comrades for a desperate last stand. Defeated, he makes his way south to the only place where a man is beyond the reach of the law - the Yoshiwara.

There in the Nightless City where three thousand courtesans mingle with geishas and jesters, the battered fugitive meets the beautiful courtesan. But each has a secret so terrible that once revealed it will threaten their very lives ...

This novel is historical romance at its best. Full of fact, fiction, fear and fantasy it had me staying up late in the night as I couldn't stop turning the pages!

I have read a few similar novels set around the Japanese  geisha and this one by Lesley Downer didn't disappoint. It was beautifully written an made me feel like I was transported to Japan.

A good book for any kind of reader!

Drop Dead Beautiful - Jackie Collins

Lucky Santangelo is back with a vengeance--still every bit as strong, sexy, and seductive as ever! But Lucky is older and wiser, and hot to reclaim her power position in Las Vegas. However, a deadly enemy from her past has resurfaced--a person determined to take everything from her, including the family she holds so dear: two sons and an out-of-control teenage daughter who is just as outrageous as Lucky herself. Like mother, like daughter. And if that old saying holds true, it's going to be one wild ride.

Drop Dead Beautiful is the 6^th instalment of the Lucky Santangelo ‘Vengeance’ series and it doesn’t disappoint!

True to Jackie Collins style there are many, many subplots, lots of tangential characters, and loads of steamy sex.

This book really surprised me. I thought I was in for a bland, casual read, but I soon found myself reading it at a rapid pace because it's so trashily addictive. There is something about her books that suck you in and get you hooked.

Another good thing about this book was that you didn’t necessarily have to read the previous 5 books to understand what was going on, although I would strongly recommend it if this latest one is anything to go off!

I will definitely read her next instalment in the future!

The Other Woman - Jane Green

What’s the only thing worse than a mother-in-law who can’t stand you? One who wants to be your best friend.

Ellie and Dan are living proof that opposites attract. She’s impulsive; he follows all the rules. He loves sports; she’s allergic to any form of exercise. Ellie doesn’t have a mother. Dan does — a very involved mother.

At first, Ellie is thrilled to be accepted into the loving Cooper clan and have Dan’s mom, Linda, as her “adopted” mother. But then Ellie starts to wonder, how has the intimate civil ceremony she always dreamed of turned into a black-tie affair? And what can Dan and his mother possibly have to talk about on the phone twice a day?

Ellie’s problems have just begun. When she discovers she’s pregnant, she realizes that Linda has only been rehearsing for the real takeover. Linda seems to want to live her life through Ellie and, in the words of the immortal Princess Diana, there are three of them in the marriage.

When a crisis strains family bonds, Ellie turns to her friends — glamorous Lisa, who always looks like she’s just stepped off a runway, and wonderfully frazzled Trish — and tries to rediscover the independence she once had and the man she still loves. But it seems that having a child and saving a marriage means growing up in ways she’d never imagined.
In The Other Woman, Jane Green delivers a warm, witty, and touching look at mothers-in-law and marriage and what they teach us about ourselves.

The Other Woman is the story of almost every married woman's nightmare: the Mother-In-Law. A tender, engrossing read about love, family, and friendship written with spark and humour. The characters were likeable and the story moved along at a good pace, but there was something lacking that would put it on my ‘must read’ list to recommend to friends. This one would be good to take away on holidays when you want something to read occasionally, not something you really want to get involved with.

The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho

This is the story of Athena, or Sherine, to give her the name she was baptised with. Her life is pieced together through a series of recorded interviews with those people who knew her well or hardly at all -- parents, colleagues, teachers, friends, acquaintances, her ex-husband. The novel unravels Athena's mysterious beginnings, via an orphanage in Romania, to a childhood in Beirut. When war breaks out, her adoptive family move with her to London, where a dramatic turn of events occurs! Athena, who has been dubbed 'the Witch of Portobello' for her seeming powers of prophecy, disappears dramatically, leaving those who knew her to solve the mystery of her life and abrupt departure. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy and sacrifice.

Paulo Coelho is an amazing writer. On reading the back of the book I immediately had an idea of what shape I thought the book would take, and as usual with his novels, is the exact opposite of how it really turned out.
This book tells the story of Athena through the point of view of her friends and family, and Coelho is so good at what he does that you never realise you don’t hear from Athena herself, even though by the end of the book you feel like you know her really well.

This book does not follow the usual path you would expect from a story of modern day witch craft, and it has subtle twists and turns that still keep you guess right until the  very last page, without being over dramatic about it.

Loved this book and Paulo Coelho is fastly moving up the list of my favourite authors.

Unsticky - Sarra Manning

High fashion, high art, high expectations – this is Pretty Woman for the twenty-first century. 

Money makes the world go round – that's what twenty-something Grace Reeves is learning. Stuck in a grind where everyone’s ahead apart from her, she’s partied out, disillusioned, and massively in debt. If she’s dumped by another rock-band wannabe, squashed by anyone else at her cut-throat fashion job, or chased by any more bailiffs, Grace suspects she’ll fall apart... So when older, sexy and above all, wealthy art-dealer Vaughn appears, she's intrigued against her will. Could she handle being a sugar daddy’s arm candy? Soon Grace is thrown into a world of money and privilege, at Vaughn’s beck and call in return for thousands of pounds in luxurious gifts, priceless clothes – and cash. She’s out of her depth. Where's the line between acting the trophy girlfriend, and selling yourself for money? And, more importantly: whatever happened to love?

I picked this book up from a second hand book shop in Mount Tambourine for a bargain and my expectations were not ridiculously high, so I was surprised when halfway through the second chapter I found myself really addicted to the story, even to the point where I thought about it during my work day and looked forward to the 1 hour train ride home so I could see if my predictions came true.

It was so easy to read and become involved with the characters – their bad choices and cringe-worthy situations. And I liked that the ending was not overly melodramatic or predictable.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a cheap laugh, a good giggle, and an unpredictable love story for the 21^st century girl. I will be looking out for more of Sarra Manning’s novels in future.