Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: Queen of dreams

Rakhi, a young artist and divorced mother living in Berkeley, California, is struggling to keep her footing, with her family and her world in alarming transition. Her mother is a dream-teller, born with the ability to share and interpret the dreams of others, to foresee and guide them through their fates. This gift fascinates Rakhi, but also isolates her from her mother's past in India and the dream world she inhabits, and she longs for something to bring them closer. Caught beneath the burden of her painful secret, Rakhi's solace comes in the discovery, after her mother's death, of her dream journals, which begin to open the long-closed doors to her past.

A good book with some key incidents and world history. Unfortunately, the second half of the book was slightly disappointing as it lacks the mysticism of other Divakaruni stories.

Chitra Divakaruni: The Mistress of Spices

Tilo, an immigrant from India, runs an Indian spice shop in Oakland, California. While she dispenses the classic ingredients for curries and kormas, she also helps her customers to gain a more precious commodity: whatever they most desire. For Tilo is a Mistress of Spices, a priestess of the secret, magical powers of spices.

I came across this book and its author through the film "Mistress of Spices", which was so fascinating that I wanted to read the book, too. The film was very close to the book, but even so, the storyline and the more detailed descriptions of the spices and their powers were well worth the read. Mystical, magical and gripping...

Roopa Farooki: Half-life

It’s time to stop fighting, and go home! - Those were the words that finally persuaded Aruna to walk out of her East London flat to get on a plane to Singapore, running back home to the city and her old life she had run away from. Aruna is about to discover that running away is easy. It is coming home and making peace that is hard.

This was a very evocative story without being too descriptive. The reader can identify easily with Aruna and Jazz and it is the reader's feelings, too, that are confused and confounded like those of the main characters'.

Roopa Farooki: The way things look to me

At 23, Asif is less than he wanted to be. His mother's sudden death forced him back home to look after his youngest sister, Yasmin, and he leads a frustrating life, ruled by her exacting need for routine as a consequence of her Asperger's syndrome. Everyone tells Asif that he's a good boy, but he isn't so sure. Lila has escaped from home, but she leads a wayward existence, drifting between jobs and men, obsessed with her looks and certain that her value is only skin deep. And then there is Yasmin, who has no idea of the resentment she has caused. Who sees music in colour and remembers so much that sometimes her head hurts. Who doesn't feel happy, but who knows that she is special and that she has a devastating plan.

This story was a great read. The story lines were all well developed and researched carefully and each character's viewpoint makes it clear to the reader that even if we are "neurotypical", we might have some "non-neurotypical" traits within us. The ending of the story leaves some aspects open so that the story doesn't end like a cheap chick-lit story, but a serious and wonderful literary achievement. A fantastic read!

Monica Ali: Brick Lane

Nazneen is a teenager forced into an arranged marriage with a man considerably older than her--a man whose expectations of life are so low that misery seems to stretch ahead for her. Fearfully leaving the sultry oppression of her Bangladeshi village, Nazneen finds herself cloistered in a small flat in a high-rise block in the East End of London. Because she speaks no English, she is obliged to depend totally on her husband. But it becomes apparent that, of the two, she is the real survivor: more able to deal with the ways of the world, and a better judge of the vagaries of human behaviour. She makes friends with another Asian girl, Razia, who is the conduit to her understanding of the unsettling ways of her new homeland.

This is an interesting story about Asian culture and life-style in a western country. Although for a western reader it is difficult to follow in places due to the cultural differences, the book provides a brilliant insight into the trials of an Asian and half-Asian family making their way in England.

Roopa Farooki: Bitter sweets

Shona Karim is in love. When she first sets eyes on Parvez at the age of ten, she knows he is the man of her dreams. Just like her father – tricked into marriage by her shamelessly deceitful mother – she is a hopeless romantic. Years later, lying to themselves and their families, the young lovers elope to start a new life above a sweet shop in south London. But Shona’s inheritance is one of double lives and complicit deception. As time passes, and her children are born, it appears that she too has dark secrets that are about to be exposed. Can a family built on lies ever shake off its legacy? And can love ever be strong enough to right the wrongs of the past?

This is an epic story about Asian people living between two cultures and trying to find their way in western civilisation. At the same time, it is about Shona learning to deal with truth and lies. A brilliant read...

Xinran: Miss Chopsticks

This is the uplifting story of three sisters who, like so many migrant workers in today's China, leave their peasant community to seek their fortune in the big city. The Li sisters don't have much education, but one thing has been drummed into them: their mother is a failure because she hasn't managed to produce a son, and they themselves only merit a number as a name.Women, their father tells them, are like chopsticks: utilitarian and easily broken. Men, on the other hand, are the strong rafters that hold up the roof of a house. Yet when circumstances lead the sisters to seek work in distant Nanjing, the shocking new urban environment opens their eyes. While Three contributes to the success of a small fast-food restaurant, Five and Six learn new talents at a health spa and a bookshop/tearoom. And when the money they earn starts arriving back at the village, their father is forced to recognise that daughters are not so dispensable after all. Xinran has become known for her wonderful ability to take readers to the heart of Chinese society.

This is a lovely story with fairy-tale quality and lots of humour. Although Three, Five and Six come from the same family they are very different, yet in their own ways they are all successful. Surprisingly, perhaps, it is Five who is usually considered as "dumb and no-brains" that seems to have learnt best how to cope in the city and how to flourish despite the lack of education she experienced in her home village. However, this book also gives a great insight into Chinese culture and how China is now opening up to the Western world and in many ways seems trapped between ancient traditions and modernity.

Vikas Swarup: Q & A

Former tiffinboy Ram Mohammad Thomas has just got twelve questions correct on a TV quiz-show to win a cool one billion rupees. But he is brutally slung in prison on suspicion of cheating. Because how can a kid from the slums know who Shakespeare was, unless he is pulling a fast one. In the order of the questions on the show, Ram tells us which amazing adventures in his street-kid life gave him the answers. From orphanages to brothels, gangsters to beggar-masters, and into the homes of Bollywood's rich and famous, Ram's story is brimming with the chaotic comedy, heart-stopping tragedy and tear-inducing joyousness of modern India.

What a fantastic read!
I really enjoyed the stories that lead to the answers to the W3B questions. Also, it was great to learn so much about India, the country, its people and its history. I've always been fascinated by the Taj Mahal, but having read the book, I really want to see it now... And what was best about the book was that it is like a big Bollywood fairy tale with a great ending!! I cannot wait to see the film now...

Alma Alexander: The Embers of Heaven

In "The Secrets of Jin-Shei", eight women pledge themselves as sisters in the name of jin-shei, the unbreakable bond, the promise that lasts a lifetime. This sisterhood shapes their lives, their country and their world. "The Embers of Heaven" begins four hundred years later. In eighteenth-century Syai, and its capital city of Linh-an, things have changed beyond recognition. On the face of it, women are more equal than they have ever been. But the men run the machines, the factories, and the technology. Women have lost the ability to weave their fates and influence the course of events. Amais is heir to her poet-ancestress's manuscripts and journals in jin-ashu, and Amais has the clear vision of an outsider looking in. She determines to reinvent the Women's Country and bring the jin-shei back. But just as her crusade begins, she and her family are caught up in the whirlwind of the Golden Rising - a people's revolution that is fated to destroy much that was once valuable, gracious and beautiful.

This sequel to "The Secrets of Jin-Shei" was equally evoking and upsetting, and although I again dreamt about Jin-Shei and Jin-Ashu, I did not find it as mysterious as the first book.

Banana Yoshimoto: Tsugumi

Zwei Mädchen, die auf der Halbinsel Izu eine idyllische Kindheit verbracht haben, erneuern hier jeden Sommer ihre Freundschaft: die Ich-Erzählerin Maria und die wilde Tsugumi, deren Temperament nicht so recht zu ihrer fragilen Gesundheit passen will. Es ist der letzte Sommer einer engen Mädchenfreundschaft. Und auch die Inselidylle nimmt ein jähes Ende. Denn im Ort wird ein großes Hotel gebaut, das den Ruin der kleinen Gasthöfe bedeutet. Tsugumi lernt einen jungen Mann kennen, der im Ort heftig angefeindet wird. Er scheint der einzige zu sein, der das eigenwillige Mädchen zu erobern vermag. Aber die zarte Liebesgeschichte endet beinahe in einer Katastrophe.

Die Geschichte der Tsugumi, ihrer Schwester Yoko und ihrer Cousine Maria war fesselnd und mitreißend, wenn auch stellenweise etwas übertrieben. Ich hatte zwar anderes erwartet, war aber sehr positiv von den Personen und der Beschreibung Japans und seiner Kultur überrascht. Eine sehr unterhaltsame Lektüre über das Erwachsenwerden.

Sabriye Tenberken: Mein Weg führt nach Tibet: Die blinden Kinder von Lhasa.

In Tibet sind sie Ausgestoßene: blinde Kinder. Seit die damals 27jährige Sabriye Tenberken in der Hauptstadt Lhasa die erste Blindenschule Tibets gründete, gibt es Hoffnung - und eine Zukunft. Kelsang Meto, "Glücksblume", wird sie von den Kindern genannt. Und sie weiß, wie ihre Schützlinge sich fühlen - sie ist selber blind.



Eine sehr interessante Geschichte über die Höhen und Tiefen im Leben einer blinden Frau, aber auch beim Aufbau eines Projektes. Wie immer und überall gibt es Neider und Querschläger, die einem alles zunichte machen wollen. Ich konnte Sabriyes Frustrationen gut verstehen und nachvollziehen. Schade, dass man über den Ausgang des Projektes nicht mehr erfahren konnte.

Nury Vittachi: Der Fengshui-Detektiv/The Feng Shui Detective

Eine Reihe von Kurzgeschichten, die allesamt sehr unterhaltsam und zum Teil sehr unwahrscheinlich und weit hergeholt sind. Der Humor und die asiatischen Weisheiten im Bezug auf Fengshui waren sehr interessant und eine tolle Kombination. Ich werde sicher noch mehr von Nury Vittachi lesen.

CF Wong is a geomancer - or Fung Shui expert, but also a detective; thus giving us the best of a fascinating mystery, within an unusual context. This 'trendy' art is taken very seriously as the author shows his knowledge and expertise in this area; so it is possible to learn a lot about Eastern culture while laughing your socks off!
CF Wong, a serious, contemplative character is lumbered with a loud sassy Australian, and their cultural diversity causes many hilarious moments as they struggle to understand each other.

Christopher West: Der rote Mandarin. Komissar Wang ermittelt

Die Geschichte als Krimi ist nicht schlecht, allerdings mochte ich die anderen Aspekte nicht so besonders. Da ich noch nie in Hongkong oder China war, weiß ich natürlich nichts darüber wie realitätsnah das Buch ist, aber alle Übel (Korruption, Prostitution, Menschenhandel, gestohlene Software, etc...) in einem Fall integriert zu haben, scheint mir doch etwas übertrieben.Und dann ist da noch dieser Kommissar Wang selbst, der meines Erachtens kaum glaubwürdig erscheint. Ich kann mir schon denken, dass es Leute gibt, die zwischen Tradition und modernem Leben gefangen sind, aber ein Mann, der nicht weiß, was eine CD-Rom ist und dann plötzlich sehr geschickt bei Computerspielen wird? Ich stimme merkur007 zu: kein Buch über das ich mich ärgern musste, aber vom Hocker gerissen hat es mich auch nicht.


Eine Wasserleiche in Handschellen wird gefunden. Der Tote ist ein hoher Beamter und so muss Kommissar Wang mit seinem Vorgesetzten nach Hongkong reisen, um zu ermitteln. Die Spur führt zur chinesischen Mafia, den Triaden, aber Wang gibt nicht auf.

Alma Alexander: The Secrets of Jin-Shei

At the beginning it was a little slow and I wasn't sure whether I would actually like this book. However, it became more and more intriguing and captivating and so I read the whole story rather quickly as I wanted to know what would happen to all the jin shei sisters. I can truly recommend this novel and I would think it would make a fantastic film, too...

This story takes you on a Journey from a child into old age of a young girl named Tai and her Jin-shei circle. Each sister features her own special talent. Each sister in the Jin-shei circle is living for the other sister. Apart from one sister who expects to be obeyed by her Jin-sei sisters to fulfil every dream she has and orders that must be met at any cost-after all she is the dragon Empress. This is a special bond and takes these girls on a journey in medieval China as they become sisters of the heart. They are not born as family, but chose to be sisters through this special jin shei circle. Tai is the poet or embroiders' daughter she is soft and the most genuine sister, Nhia has a fasination with the temple and the gods and is the washer womens daughter again similar to Tai and has a heart of gold, Yuet is the healer, Quiaan is Guardsman's daughter with a gentle touch and wants to live for the needy and the poor, Xaforn is the Guard-the best trained guard that the guard chamber holds, Tammary, also called Amri is the Gypsy girl that is a fantastic dancer, Khailin is the daughter of a father who has links to the courts - she is fascinated with immortality and death, the gods and the temple sages and then there is Luidan who is the Empress the 'Dragon Empress'. She becomes the dragon Empress after she declares she will run the empire without an Emperor. She takes her Jin shei sister through the most difficult and agonising task to achieve her goals and to defend her Empire against the Ninth Sage Luihin.

Xinran: Verborgene Stimmen - Chinesische Frauen erzählen ihr Schicksal

Ein sehr interessantes Buch mit vielen einzelnen Geschichten der Frauen in China. Die meisten der Geschichten waren wirklich extrem tragisch und erschütternd; keine leichte Lektüre. Allerdings habe ich dennoch etwas vermisst. Ich hätte gehofft einen besseren Einblick in das Leben in China zu gewinnen, und war daher etwas enttäuscht. Obwohl man einen Eindruck in Einzelschicksale gewinnen konnte, wurde der allgemeine kulturelle Hintergrund, vor dem sich das alles abspielt meiner Meinung nach zu sehr ignoriert. zB. die Geschichte der Familien am "Rufenden Berg": wie konnte es dazu kommen, dass diese Familien sich so derart von der Aussenwelt abgeschlossen hatten? War diese Abgrenzung einst eine bewusste Entscheidung oder wurden diese Familien aus ihrem eigentlichen Umfeld dorthin vertrieben? Warum gab es keinerlei Versuche, diese Familien nach und nach im modernen China zu integrieren? Und dennoch fand ich das Buch sehr lesenswert, sodass ich es innerhalb von ein paar Tagen ausgelesen habe....

Jahrelang gab Xinran Frauen in ihrer Radiosendung die Gelegenheit, das zu tun, was in China immer noch ungewöhnlich ist: über ihre Sehnsüchte, Wünsche und ihre Gefühle zu sprechen. Die Schilderungen eröffnen unfassbare Welten, wie die der Frauen vom "Rufenden Berg", die verkauft werden, um in einer Familie nicht nur einem, sondern mehreren Söhnen als Ehefrau zu dienen. Xinrans Buch gelingt etwas ganz Besonderes: Die verborgenen Gefühle der Frauen erheben sich gegen das erfahrene, nahezu unbeschreibliche Leid.