Truth is stranger than fiction

Given the current lockdown mode due to the Corona Virus, it is almost next to impossible to venture outdoors.  Yes, in California, we are still allowed to go out for a run/walk/hike if we maintain 6 feet distance from the next person. However, seeing the increase in the number of cases every day, I didn’t want to take a chance. Even though I love and miss running, I wanted to act like a responsible human being.  I resorted to some indoor workouts instead with a drastic reduction in my diet.   I decided to satiate my appetite for running by watching a delightful movie on running a marathon.  While browsing through Amazon Prime last evening, I stumbled upon this movie titled ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon.’ I recollected one of my runner friends having mentioned about this movie on one of the Facebook groups. Brittany runs a marathon is about a journey of a 28-year-old woman named Brittany and how she takes up running to get her health in order.  Like most New Yorkers, Britt

Title: Then She Was Gone Author: Lisa Jewell Genre: Thriller Then She Was Gone is a gripping story of a fifteen year old girl who goes missing.  Ellie Mack is loved by her parents and teachers, has a steady boyfriend and gets straight As at school. One fine day she leaves home and never returns. Ten years elapse and Elli's mom Laura is still unable to come to terms with it. Her marriage has ended seven years ago and her other two children are leading separate lives.  One fine day Laura meets a handsome stranger named Floyd and succumbs to his flirtatious charms. The relationship develops into something deeper and over time she meets Floyd's daughters. To her surprise the younger daughter named Poppy bears a striking resemblance to Ellie.  Laura tries to put the missing pieces of the puzzle and attempt to solve the mystery behind Ellie's disappearance. What actually happened to Ellie? Who is Poppy?  Right from the word go, the plot hooks th

Wrote this based on a word prompt.. The first time that I saw an icecream , I was on a merry go around ride at a mall.  I was 3 years old then.  From my little pony I spotted my mom holding a cone topped with a green blob. It looked delicious. As soon as I got off my ride, I rushed to my mom and demanded a bite from her cone. Later I learnt that it was pista flavor. As the days went by, icecream became an integral part of my life.  Those different flavors melted in my mouth, literally speaking. Be it Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and butterscotch. I soon relished the rainbow icecream which I learnt was called cassata. Over the years ice cream became my favorite treat for doing well in studies. An A grade was rewarded with an icecream sandwich. This friendship continued over the years from being a comfort food to a dessert. Little that did I realize that it was this ball of ice and cream that would lead to the expansion of my waist line. Yet that didn’t stop me. The me

Title: The Turn of The Key Author: Ruth Ware Genre: Thriller The Turn of the Key is the story of Rowan Caine who stumbles upon an ad for a live-in nanny while looking for something else. Deciding to grab this offer, she arrives at Heatherbrae House -a smart tech savvy house which oozes victorian opulence and a seemingly perfect family of four children.  Little does she realize that she is stepping into a living nightmare.  Creaking sounds in the attic, shadowy silhouettes, mysterious doorbells and  strange messages give her sleepless nights.  It almost seems like the work of some supernatural force.  Things take a turn for the worse when one of the children end up dead and she is arrested by the police.  While awaiting her trial for murder, Rowan writes series of letters to her lawyer. She unravels all the incidents that took place in that house. Admitting some of her mistakes, she manages to reveal some of her hidden motives and pleads not guilty of murder. Wh

Title: Where the Forest Meets the stars Author: Glendy Vanderah Genre: Fiction Where the forest meets the stars is an interesting story of two scarred individuals and a mysterious girl whose lives get intertwined by fate.  Joanna Teale aka Jo is a research graduate  doing a study on nesting birds in the countryside of Illinois. The loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer compels her to immerse herself into her work. One fine day she finds a mysterious girl at her doorstep. The girl introduces herself as Ursa and claims to be an alien descended from the galaxy of stars to witness five miracles on Planet Earth.  Jo reluctantly helps her along with the help of her neighbor named Gabriel Nash. Over time, the three form a strong bond. It  ultimately helps them unveil the past and also prepare themselves for the choices that they eventually have to make.  The book starts off as a heartwarming fairytale, exploring the little miracles of life amidst

Good to catch up on some Oscar nominated movies that we had missed watching. Set around the summer Olympics in 1996, Clint Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ is a story about a security guard who stumbles upon a suspicious backpack in the stadium. He is hailed as a hero for a while for his ability to successfully evacuate the crowd and save lives from the explosion. Until the FBI begins to frame him as a prime suspect. A well made film that evokes a lot of emotions. Moving and evocative performances by Paul Walter Hauser as Richard Jewell and Kathy Bates (Richard’s mother) who was nominated for best supporting actress for the academy awards.  Showcases how baseless assumptions with lack of proper evidence and impulsive journalism can cause a person’s life into a living nightmare.

Title: Man's search for meaning Author: Victor E Frankl Genre: Non Fiction/Philosophy This was highly recommended by my Stanford professors and some of the members from my book club. Finally got around to reading it now.  As humans we are prone to suffering in life. Its up to us as to how we cope up with suffering.  Psychiatrist Victor Frankl talks about the varying degrees of suffering and the several coping mechanisms that individuals adopt. Having worked in 4 different labour camps including Auschwitz, he pens down his experiences and stories of his patients in these camps.  Being subjected to brutal and inhuman conditions, prisoners gradually migrate from shock to a state of emotional blunting. It eventually makes them numb to the treatment meted out by the Nazis. Even as death lurks around them like a dark cloud, each one finds their own way to seek that silver lining. Some find solace through food which compensates for the lack of other physiol

It was on a cold December morning that I woke up to this horrifying news-a 23 year old girl was gang raped by 6 beasts on a bus and murdered in New Delhi.  Yes I term them as beasts and savage ones that too as they do not deserve the status of being addressed as men.  It shook the nation and I recollect how there were several protests made demanding justice for her. My heart went out to her parents. What must have they gone through? Losing an offspring is heartbreaking and losing them in this manner must have been even more devastating.  Her parents have been on this non stop pursuit for justice for years. After 7 years and 3 months, justice finally prevailed. The 4 men have been convicted this morning.  One committed suicide in 2013 while the one considered 'juvenile' was set free after serving a 3 year sentence. Old enough to rape a woman but too young to be sentenced? Strange are the ways of the law. Hopefully the law of Karma catches up with him.

Wrote this based on a word prompt. The word was Paper.  It was a rainy afternoon. I looked out of the window and watched the pitter patter rain drops fall delicately on the leaves of the tree outside. The overcast sky looked like a grey blanket that had been draped over the earth. I watched the raindrops collectively form puddles on the ground. As time elapsed, they began to look like small lakes. If I was a tiny creature, I’d have probably liked to go on a boat ride.  It was then that an idea struck my head along with that flash of lightning that momentarily lit up the sky. An idea that would quench the spells of boredom that was beginning to engulf my restless mind.  I looked at the notebook that was lying on my table. Tearing a sheet from it evoked a disapproving glance from my mother who looked up from her reading. In her opinion, papers in notebooks were as precious as probably pearls in the ocean.  She looked at me quizzically as I folded the paper multipl

Title: Tell No One Author: Harlan Coben Genre: Thriller Tell No one s a high octane thriller about a man who gets notes from his supposedly dead wife.  Dr David Beck still remembers that deadly incident by the lake.His wife Elizabeth's earth shattering screams, he being hit with a baseball bat and almost drowned to death. When he wakes up at the hospital, he is told that Elizabeth is dead.  8 years elapse and he is still grieving over his loss. One fine day, he receives code messages on his computer-codes and phrases which only he and Elizabeth know. It forces Dr Beck to believe in the impossible-that probably his wife may still be alive? And he has been ordered to tell no one.  Does Dr Beck get to the bottom of this mystery?  Tell No One is an absolute page turner with non stop action. The several twists and turns keeps the readers hooked with bated breaths. It feels like going on a roller coaster ride as the author craftily weaves the tension and s

Title: The Glass Woman Author: Caroline Lea Genre: Thriller/Gothic fiction It was interesting to read a thriller set in 17th century Iceland.  The Glass Woman is a story about a young woman who travels with her husband to another strange village and survives some bizarre experiences.  After her father's death, Rosa and her ailing mother are struggling to survive. Rosa receives a marriage proposal from Jon-a trader and a headman of another village. Since this alliance would help in saving her mother, Rosa agrees and accompanies her husband to his village. Rosa encounters strange vibes in her new home. Her husband is cold, aloof and away for long hours. He warns her against acquainting herself with anyone from the village. She begins to hear noises in the attic, which she is forbidden to enter.   She is also privy to the rumors by the villagers regarding Anna's (Jon's first wife) mysterious death.  Who or what is in the attic? How did Anna d

Title: The Elephant Whisperer Author: Lawrence Anthony Genre: Memoir Nature and animals have a remarkable manner of teaching you about life. Lawrence Anthony transcripts his learnings from a herd of rogue elephants in this beautiful memoir.  Set in the wilderness of Africa in a place called Zululand, Anthony is asked to accept a herd of troublesome elephants on his reserve. His failure to do so would result in them being shot down.In order to save their lives, he takes them in.  After the initial hiccups with this herd creating a havoc and trying to escape, Anthony manages to build a bond with them. In his adventures with this 'rogue' herd. he takes the readers into a different world altogether. A world where dogs attack crocodiles, snakes kill zebras,  animals manage to safeguard themselves against danger. A world where he has embraced danger with torrential rains and rivers, temperamental tribes and their customs and supernatural forces trapped behind

It’s the time when the entire world is plunged with the deadly Corona Virus. People are quarantined, schools and offices are shut, flights are reduced and events are getting cancelled. So it felt like a breath of fresh air when the organizers of the Napa Valley marathon did not cancel the run scheduled on March 1st. There was no need to panic at the moment at least according to President Trump. So off we set on Friday afternoon to this beautiful wine country.  .  I had signed up for the Napa Valley marathon in 2018 and 2019. Due to an injury and illness, I had to miss both the editions. I thought 2020 was headed the same way when I fell sick in January and couldn’t put in the mileages required for a full marathon. I then decided to switch over to the half marathon distance instead. It took a while to build back my strength after a bout of viral. And it’s still work in progress. We reached Napa by Friday night after wading through the infamous Bay area traffic

Title: I found you Author: Lisa Jewell Genre: Thriller I found you is a psychological suspense story alternating between the past and the present. Set in the British seaside town of Ridinghouse Bay, Alice Lake, a single mother of 3 children, finds a strange man on the beach. He seems to have no idea of who he is and how he got there. Lily Monrose is a newly married  woman whose husband fails to return home from work one day. When she attempts to find him, the local police tell her that her husband had never existed. The story rewinds 23 years ago. Gray and Kristy Ross are on their annual vacation with their parents at Ridinghouse Bay.  A  handsome man takes a fancy to Kirsty much to Gray’s suspicion. Who are these people and how are their stories intertwined? The author builds up the tension and suspense beautifully. Like an onion peel, the layers are gradually unveiled before the readers can get to the core.  At one point I sort of ended up guessing the character’s

Wrote this as a part of a word prompt. The word was mirror. She stood in front of the mirror in her vanity van and gazed at herself. Her thick black hair was set in curls and fell down her shoulders. Her eyes were heavily lined with kohl and pink eyeshadow. Her skin was glowing and the pink lipstick added to the glamorous finish. Dressed in a chic black dress with boots, she was looked the confident and suave urban woman that she was supposed to play. It was her debut film and she had managed to bag this role with great difficulty. To an outsider, she looked every bit of the city lass. Yet when she looked at the reflection- she saw the real person hidden behind the facade of that makeover. A timid and under confident girl from a small town in the hills who had just recently learnt the English language. Coming from humble beginnings, she wanted to make it big in the city and earn a name for herself. As she rehearsed the dialogue, she stuttered and stammered. She shook her h

Title: The Miles and Trials of a Marathon Goddess Author: Julie Weiss Genre: Memoir/Sports/Running Running 52 marathons in 52 weeks. 2 countries, 17 states. 'The Miles and Trials of a Marathon goddess' captures Julie Weiss's tumultuous journey from her turbulent childhood to an inspiring marathoner with a purpose.  Julie spent her growing up years in Santa Monica, California. Her constant yearning for love which she didn't receive from her father initially, made Julie go beserk. She drank, smoked weed, shop lifted, dropped out of school, entered wrong relationships and ended up being a mom in her teens. Over the years, she piled on those extra pounds which made her sink into depression. A vacation at Hawaii made her discover running which ultimately gave her a purpose in life. Her running achievements made her father proud of her and eventually reconcile with her.  When he loses his battle to Pancreatic cancer, Julie decides to turn her

Title: Evvie Drake starts over Author: Linda Holmes Genre: Fiction A delightful way to start Spring-the season of new beginnings with a book that prescribes the importance of starting life all over again.  After her husband's death in an accident, Evvie Drake hardly leaves her house. Everyone including her best friend Andy think that it’s due to her grief. Meanwhile Dean Tenney, Major league pitcher and Andy's childhood friend is battling with a condition called 'yips'  where he is unable to throw straight anymore and can’t ascertain the root cause. To escape the media hounding, Andy invites him to stay in the small town of Maine as a way to reset his life again. Dean moves into the apartment behind Evvie's house as her tenant. The two of them initially strike a deal of not talking about her husband or Dean's baseball career. However as time elapses, the rules are broken and an unexpected camaraderie develops between them. Both get an opportuni