Reading beyond recipe books

This book was long listed for the 2019 Booker Prize, which makes it a must-read for me. The story is set in Lagos, Nigeria. It is a story of a family of 2 girls from an upper class family. Koreda, the narrator of the story, is a nurse in a famous hospital. Her younger sister, Ayoola, is beautiful beyond description but beneath the beauty lies a dark character. The story commences with the murder of Ayoola's 3rd boyfriend and Koreda was called up to clean up the aftermath of the deed. The reader does not know exactly the childhood horrors experienced by the angel murderess and her sister except that behind the facade of a gracious family lived an abusive father until he died. The insinuation is that the murders of Ayoola's boyfriends is a psychological retaliation to her past abuses by powerful and lustful men. Sisterly relationship  made the two partners in crime until the affable Dr Tade becomes attracted to his Ayoola, his head nurse our narrator, who als...

This is a heavy weight, by the size of the book and the technical contents. Despite this, it is a page turner. The book tackles the history of the discovery of cancer and how it was treated or interpreted from ages past to the current times. The approach of treating cancer has also changed with the times, from total aggressive excision to a measured approach aimed at maintaining the quality of life of the patient.  From the technical front, it explains how clinician scientists pursue the rogue cell with the relentless determination of detectives and  how there is no one standard reason to its origin. A very interesting read. The author has made medical investigation palatable for the medically uninformed.  I read it on a ebook because the book was too much of a 'heavyweight' to be read in bed.

Atwood is at it again, coming up with another Booker Award Book. This book is a 35 year follow up to The Handmaid Tale for those who wanted to know what happened to Gilead. The narrative in Testaments was made by Aunt Lydia, a captive judge turned powerful Aunt in Gilead, Agnes, a girl who barely escaped an arranged marriage to the most powerful Commander Judd by becoming an Aunt, Agnes' sidekick, Becka who joined the order of the Aunts to get away from men in general and Baby Nicole, Agnes' half sister and living in free Canada as a adoptive refugee. Religion was exploited for power and control in Gilead ,with men changing wives and having babies through Handmaids. Households among elites were dysfunctional as parents were merely custodians of children through surrogate births. By a twist of fate and willful manipulation of Lydia, 2 half sisters on both sides of the border met. They were sent to free Canada to expose the hypocrisy of those in power in Gilead. The downf...

This is a trilogy of fruitless love in the twilight of China's 'new era' from the feudal lords. Different groups of people, mostly academics and students, wanted to make a brand new world where traditions are abolished and socialism is feted. The only problem is the activists forget that their basic needs some sorting out before spear heading a new social order; the need for love. Love interests continues as old comrades in arms die for the cause and love becomes a stumbling stone between ideology and practical needs. There is a lot of dying from consumption, declaration of lofty ideals (immitating the west) and a headless stoic struggle for new freedom. Reading in today's context and seeing how the world Bajin envision it to be, I would think most activists in his time could have died for nothing.

Moriguchi sensei was a teacher in a middle school. She had just suffered a loss; her young daughter died in the school pool while waiting for her. Moriguchi knew that the 2 boys in her class was responsible for her death. On the last day at school before her retirement, she gave a parting story to her class and insinuated that she knew who the culprits are. To avenge her daughter’s death, she injected HIV+ tainted milk into the free milk packs which the boys drank. After her departure, the class meted out their own form of revenge on the teacher's behalf. One of the boys spiraled into fear and isolated himself, convinced that he had contracted Aids and would die soon. A new zealous teacher took over Moriguchi and unaware of what happened earlier and manipulated by Moriguchi, triggered a series of events that caused the boy’s mother to commit suicide. The other culprit figured out that he had remained HIV – and continued to live his life. He continued to ...

This novel is a translated work from Kaneo Minato, which is said to be written in between housework. The story spans more than a decade, starting from the time a 10 year old city girl from Tokyo came to live in a rural countryside because of her father’s transfer. There, Emily befriends 4 girls of the same age as her. Emily was a victim of rape and murder, under the eyes of her 4 young friends, by a man who who had more motive to kill than covering up his lust. Emily’s mother, Asaki,   threatened the young witnesses with revenge and asked that they do penance because none was able to identify the perpetrator. The 4 girls never completely emerged from their trauma. Sae married a boy who had eyes on her since the time of the murder and was in constant contact with Emily’s bereaved mother. Sadly Sae ended up killing the new husband when he turned violent in their new home overseas. Maki, the girl who felt neglected all her life, was never offe...

Rachel’s father was suffering from Alzheimer’s and his condition caused him to lose his teaching job as History professor. She moves back to be with her family, at the time of her breakup with her boyfriend. There were many undercurrents in the family; her demented father’s past affair long time ago, Linus, her younger brother, had left home because of the father’s drinking problem, and Rachel’s mother who was divorced with her father but still staying under one roof. The story of the Rachel’s relationship with her father was unfolded through letters and notes her father wrote to her while she was little. A deep love for his first child was the saving grace in her relationship with her father despite his earlier failures as husband in the family. Linus had refused to be part of the family until he also broke up with his girlfriend. He returned home as his father’s condition worsened. The result was a family which healed together even as the mental faculties of...