Minia's Mundane Musings

    I love autobiographical accounts. The best ones for me, are the ones that are unbiased and make me empathise with the narrator (writer) This one was rather simple and straightforward. The author lays bare the facts and allows you to make your own impressions about the events that unfolded, rather than thrusting upon you a pre-formed opinion. We get a front seat view of major events in history from the first world War onwards, up to the Nixon scandal and a further few years beyond that. Katharine Graham was born at the fag end of the first world War and that is where her narrative begins. There is a little segue into previous years, to explain her ancestry. She describes a difficult relationship with her mother, without looking for sympathy and a beautiful one with her father, with love and pride. She grew up in a world which had just weathered major strife and was in her early twenties when the second world War rolled around. In the intervening years, she sha...

    This book belongs to the revenge trope and I enjoyed reading it for a reason, other than just the story or the thrills, it was for the delicious turn of phrase, that the author employed. Here are some examples: “It didn’t seem fair for a man to mourn someone so deeply, whom he had loved so miserly!” “Wound on his cheek was weeping like a broken-hearted bride.” “As careful as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” “Give a man a clipboard and watch his true nature come out.” “He smiled; it was like watching an icicle form.” The story is about two men who are bound by destiny, when their sons who were married, are murdered. The tapestry is enriched by the fact that one family is black and the other is white. Throw in the fact that both the fathers are ex-cons and you have an intrigue on hand. Other than the language I liked the way the conversations were handled and how the characters were revealed by thought, word and deed, rather than extrapo...

A Prayer for Owen Meany. John Irving. This book was picked up by me because it was very highly recommended by a leading author of historical romances, although to date I know not why! The synopsis of the book didn't do anything for me, but now that I was in possession of the book, I wanted to check it out.  I was engulfed from the very first sentence"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice" The prose was so evocative that the book just carried me along. Each individual, incident, emotion and object is described in such beautiful detail that you are transported to that realm. Nothing is as it seems and each thread gets neatly tied up, though you do not realise this foreshadowing whilst actually reading it. A standout feature for me, was the unemotional way in which the author announces the most momentous of occurences. There is no suddenness to the events, they are allowed to creep up on you gradually making you a bystander as the characters hurtle towards an in...

Hey guys. Of late I have been bingeing on books by Karina Bliss. The stories and plots are ordinarily with plenty of loose ends. But the binge worthy reason are the moments in her books where there is self discovery and those are so beautiful, so angry that it makes the read worthy. Her average book size on my reader is abt 700 pages, so the reads are fast and fun. Currently i am reading one of her rocker books called Rise. Am just abt 100 pages in, and it's a longish book, abt 900 pages. But it's beautiful. Never have I read a protagonist of a romance novel being so unlovable and I am looking forward to how she redeems him. Also just a heads up. Today is the release of a new book by one of my fave authors - Mary Balogh. Another author who creates the most unlikely romance scenarios and I am particularly looking forward to this one, as it involves an older woman and a younger man. My fave trope....wink wink nudge nudge... This is the latest in her series of the Westcotts. He...