P.S I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Done with another book.. But I miss my usual feeling of accomplishing something after every book.. I wish P.S I Love You had lasted longer.. just as Holly wished Gerry’s cards kept coming on all the remaining months of her life..

Holly and Gerry, the 2 names which I woke up and slept to will never leave my thoughts, when anything related to Love appears.. A book apart from the Chicken Soup series which had my eyes constantly filled from the first chapter, and yet I never regretted reading it.. It is more about a mourning story of a young widow and still it never felt so. Every card from Gerry made me wish Holly woke up from her dream to her loving husband beside.

It depicts the Love of a Marvelous man towards his wife, how they love each other and how they fight over silly stuff and how all the imperfections no longer seem imperfect once the final date is nearing, and when it arrives, how the sad-struck Holly deals with the empty house and the uninterested challenges Gerry posed on her, how she demarcates the true friends from the not-so-true ones, how she manages being amidst a crowd of couples evolving, breaking up or ditching each other, how she evolves as a stronger woman every day and making us go weak as pages fly.

Amidst all these, you would really be satisfied with lot of smiles, laughter, love and curses for Cecilia Ahern for not getting impressed by the Dream chapter we have in most of our Tamil movies.

There is a movie available on this novel. But, pls do read the book and for sure, you would hunt for a copy to experience more of Holly and Gerry..

P.S: I miss you Holly

2 States by Chetan Bhagat

*(31-Dec- 2010)

There are books of Chetan Bhagat which were No.1 Best Sellers initially and then taken to movies. But this time, Chetan’s book is inspired from the Kollywood movies, Poovellaam Kettupaar and Jodi.(Ya. If 3 Idiots is copied from 5 pt someone, 2 states is also from these movies).

 Simple storyline.  An IIT, IIM Punjabi lad and an IIM Tamil gal fall in love. Unfortunately, they decide to get married. And there starts the drama.

Even cracking the IIM Entrance tests would not have pressurized them as much as uniting a North Indian and a South Indian Family in the name of Marriage. The way they had to impress each other seemed far too easy when they decided to impress each others’ parents.  The pains taken by Krish, struggling in Chennai with his first blood-sucking job, with his craziest room mates who remain as new as the 1^st day even after years, his IIT Entrance Tuitions for Ananya’s bro, a wiz kid who ends up teaching Krish instead, a computer illiterate Ananya’s Dad(his may-be-or-may-not-be FIL) who has to be molded to present before a CEO, a well-settled groom with a Bungalow in Texas to whom Ananya’s parents are all ready to marry her off, his constantly bugging Father, etc will make any guy to choose a guy instead. :P

Still, its surprising that they never fight. Not even a small misunderstanding until their marriage is taken to the next step. Whereas, these days, couples fight and fight and fight such that no effort is required from the parents to part them..:)

As Krish impresses Ananya’s parents and when they are all ok, 3/4^th of the book is over and Ananya impressing Krish’s parents is all in a jiffy and gives a dramatic feel with little logic. However, the marriage preparations and the differences between the North Indian and South Indian rituals, especially the Kasi Yatra make people LOL. I now understand why Chetan had to travel so many Colleges assuring all South Indians are his family (and he can take the liberty of criticizing anything and everything South Indian from Idiyappam to Carnatic Music).

As a whole, it’s a casual read, which does not require much of your efforts, remembering too many characters or undisclosed hints in the initial chapters. Even if u forget t first half, doesn’t matter much. The other pages are equally interesting and will make you move further.. A best book to carry during a travel, especially wen u cant run for a dictionary. Thanks to Chetan’s choice of simple words.

As always, Chetan’s Preface makes a person grab the book instantly and I was not an exception. Though, there were no plans to impress any parents, I was giving my heart and soul to finish this book, even on my New Year Trip to Chikmaglur. I started in Tamil Nadu(1^st state), carried it all the way to Karnataka(2^nd State) and finished it before my unrealistic deadline (Yippee… 1 book in 2 days, dat too amidst 10 fun loving guys, 1 cutie pie and 1 dogg in an awesome homestay, Nature’s Abode).

Wish Chetan titles his next book as “2 Countries”… :P

This book has to be a real biography of Chetan and will help all those youngsters in love to make their parents smile in their Wedding picture. Even in Chetan Bhagat’s generation( just 5 yrs back), ppl have taken love 2 seriously. And, now guys have different ways to simplify things like Living Together, Friends with Benefits or a simple “At the end, we realized we are just 2 different”.. ;)