The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Author - Mary Ann Shaffer and Angie Barrows

Genre - Fiction, World War II

Source - Print

Rating - 4

January 2015

May all books have a soul like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.
I have become choosy and selective in my appraisal. Maybe even a bit snooty. That's the only reason I can think of why I would not rate this a 5. But I didn't. 
But read. Do read. 

সেই সময় (Those Days)

Author - Sunil Gangopadhyay

Genre - Historical Fiction, Bengali

Source - Print

Rating - 5

June 2014

A monster of a book. Very strong writing. Te history comes alive. I hope this is as good in English translation as in Bengali, though (I read the original) - this is about more than anything about the rise of the Bengali people and the Bengali language.
Do tell me, friends, if the translation works.

তুঙ্গভদ্রার তীরে (Tungabhadra'r Teerey)

Author - Saradindu Bandyopadhyay

Genre - Historical Fiction, Thriller

Source - Print

Rating - 4 

May 2014

First: About Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. He is a fantastic writer of bestsellers that are NOT devoid of literary merit. If one has to make the parallel to an English writer, it has to be with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (and Sharadindu's Byomkesh is almost the equal of Doyle's Sherlock).
Second: About the time and place. You'd say the novel has not dated very well. You'd say that some of the sentiments some characters display are rather out of our times (reg: religion, sex). But hey, this is historical fiction, and that too medieval history, how do you expect it to be in with the times?
Third: Sharadindu creates such amazing plots. And has such a strong, clean writing style. Two hundred odd pages finished off in one go. This is good stuff! 
Fourth: I am lucky that I can read Sharadindu in original Bengali. This is one of the first few non-Byomkesh novels of his that I read, and I am itching to read more.Fifth: Nice to read about the history of Karnataka. This is about the Vijayanagar Empire.