Pop Babylon

First line : 'Kylie Minogue is sitting on my face'

Imogen Edwards-Jones have come up with ‘Pop Babylon’ by the information obtained from some folks of Pop industry. This book tells about a year long work of ‘The One Management’, a music company in building a boy band.

Though it tells about the building of ‘Band of Five’, the interesting part of this book is not the story but the anecdotes and the gossips about the pop industry. It tells about the problems involved in forming the girl band, about the drugs and scandals in this industry and the reasons for the failure of most of the bands. The author had brought the evil face of the industry into lime light.

I have read some non fiction but this one is different from them. This book is completely filled with information like ‘How much they spent for Spice Girls album?’ , ‘What is the share of manager, distributors and blah blah’ and a lot like this. This book was not so catchy to me as I’m not interested to know about Pop industry. I recommend this book to the people who are interested to know about Pop world.

The Virgin Suicides

First line : ‘On the morning the last Lisbon girl took her turn at suicide – it was  Mary this time…….’

The Virgin Suicides is a non-fiction by Jeffery Eugenides. The story tells about the life of five Lisbon girls who end their lives by suicide. The story is narrated by the Lisbon’s neighbourhood boys who were in infatuation with the Lisbon girls.

Even though the climax was revealed in the first line, the author made me to read the full book at one go. The book was rich in its description. Jeffrey brought the transformation of Lisbon’s house after Cecilia’s death live before my eyes.

The book is the collection of the things which the nearby people know about Lisbon girls. This also contains the views of various experts about this suicide pact. This book made me to think deeply about the reason which forces the person to suicide. In the case of Lisbon girls I think they were trying to free themselves from this world to live a new life in some other world which they alone can see.

On the whole the book is dark. 

Two for the Dough

First Line : I knew Ranger was beside me because I could see his earring gleaming in the moonlight. 

‘Two for the Dough’ by Janet Evanovich is a detective novel. Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter. Vinnie employs Plum to find Kenny Mancuso who disappeared after getting the bail. Morelli(cop), cousin of Kenny is also looking for him while working in a case to find some missing guns and ammo from a military base. Plum and Morelli decides to work together. After sometime she gets another work from Spiro (Undertaker) to find his 24 missing caskets. Plum gets dead threats and some gifts from Kenny regularly. The rest of the story tells how Plum and Morelli resolve the mystery in this case.

The story had a slow start. First I thought that Kenny was hiding himself from someone who is a threat to him. I thought someone have stepped into the shoes of Kenny and playing the game but to my surprise he suddenly shows up to Plum. Then the author slowly enlightens us the attributes of Kenny and how dangerous he is. And then onwards the author made me to expect what Kenny will do next and who will become his next victim.

I should mention about Grandma Manzur character. This is the most interesting character in this novel. She also plays an important role in the story to find the culprit. On the whole the novel is interesting.

The God of Small Things

First Line : May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month.

The God of small things by Arundhati Roy is a well crafted heart breaking story. This tells about the life of two egg twins Estha and Rahel and their mother Ammu. The consequences they face by breaking the love laws. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how.

This novel is a non linear narrative type. The novel had a very good story but the main plus point of this novel is not the story but how she tells the story. The conversation between the two egg twins are so realistic. She had unveiled the caste problem existing in certain parts of our country. Roy’s description was witty in many places and she had adopted her own style. She has the power to stir our emotions through her writing. Roy made me to live with Estha and Rahel for those four days.

This is one of the best novel I have ever read. This novel made me to wet my eyes. It is simply a magnum opus.

The Avenger : Time Raiders

First Line : The dead woman sighed.

The Avenger:Time Raiders by P.C.Cast is a novel based on time travel. Alex is a women with a special gift of speaking to dead people. Professor Carswell want to use Alex for a time travel mission. The mission is simple, Alex should go back to Boudica’s period(60 AD), get the medallion in Boudica’s torque and bring it to Carswell. This medallion is necessary to save the future generation.

Alex goes back to the past as per plan but she falls in love with Caradoc whom she used to see in her dreams in normal life. She wants to live with Caradoc but at the same time she don’t want to betray the people of her time.

This is the first novel which I read about time travel. P.C.Cast made it quite interesting. This novel had thrill, fantasy, romance and action. The novel had so many twist and turns. Till the end I didn’t have a clue of how Alex will accomplish the mission and what will happen to her love life?. Especially the plot which Alex uses to escape from Suetonis is very good. This is the very good sign for this kind of novels. I liked this novel a lot.

The Trouble with Magic

First Line : I don't know what it was that made me abandon my usual path to work on that particular October Tuesday.

The trouble with magic by Madelyn Alt is a mystery novel. In this story Maggie joins an an antique shop which is owned by Felicity Dow, a witch. Isabella was murdered on Maggie’s first day of work. Stony Hill cops considered felicity as the main suspect. But Maggie’s instinct convinces her that Felicity could not be the murderer. Is Maggie’s instinct right?

The title “The trouble with Magic” made me to read this novel. I expected a fantasy treat but I was greatly disappointed. In the whole book they didn’t use any supernatural powers for their rescue. Felicity was hooked in a murder case at the beginning of the novel but nearly half the book is over before Maggie begin the investigation. Madelyn tells a lot about magic and super natural powers in the first half when it had nothing to do in the second half.

The good thing about Madelyn is the way she tells the story eventhough there is nothing to tell. Her description is interesting. I don’t know to which genre this novel belongs. I saw this novel under fantasy list in a blog but it has no fantasy stuff. According to me this is a crime novel by an amateur crime writer.