Sunday Salon

Well, this has been quite a week -I was frantically trying to wrap up a ton of things at work while also preparing for my trip to India over the holidays. While I am very much looking forward to the trip - a 3 week vacation with friends touring fascinating India - the excitement got overshadowed by the long pre-departure "To Do" list. Needless to say, I didn't get much reading done. The only book completed this week was Jessica Brody's Love Under Cover: A Novel. My review will be posted shortly so check back soon!

Our trip in India will consist of a two week tour on North India (check out the intinerary here). After the tour we will spend a couple of days in Mumbai and finally to Kerala to a beach resort for our final 5 days. As you can see in the itinerary, there are a lot of train/plane/bus transfers on the tour so I expect to get a lot of reading done. In fact, I have brought a few books targeted for the South Asian Authors Challenge. I love to enjoy fiction set in countries that I have or am traveling to so this challenge dovetails nicely with my vacation plans. Here are the two books I brought that meet the challenge requirements:

The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) - This won the Man Booker Prize and has been on my TBR for quite some time

The Age of Shiva: A Novel :- I have heard a lot about this author (Manil Suri) who also wrote Death of Vishnu and am looking forward to reading this one too.

I also brought a few books from other genres along to keep things interesting:

Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story- I loved Wally Lamb's first two books (haven't read the third) and since I will be away for Christmas, I wanted to read one Christmas-themed book to keep me in the spirit.


Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office - I read Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie Is Not the Answer some time ago and found myself laughing throughout - I thought some humor might come in handy while dealing with the challenges of traveling India

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time - I feel I may be only person who has NOT read this book - with all the great things I hear about it, its time to remedy that!

I'll see how I get along with these and if I need more I know I can pick them up in bookstores here or trade with fellow tour members. I will try to post reviews as quickly as possible but that will be limited by my ability to get an internet connection. I am sure I will be able to get online at least once per week. So, if you are interested in the journey (or just the books I am reading on the way) follow me!

Happy Holidays to everyone!
Namaste