“Secret Daughter” by Shilpi Somaya Gouda

This book is about a girl adopted from India to the US by an Indian father and American mother. It was very readable, and the nuance increased as the book progressed. I loved what it had to say about family, about different cultures, and about the strength of impoverished Indian mothers. The ending brought tears to my eyes… the Indian mother, on her deathbed, learned that the daughter she had secretly given up to save her from being killed had prospered, and had looked for her biological parents. The secret daughter had even left a letter at the orphanage for her parents. All the main characters in the novel grew as human beings.

“The Eye of the World” by Robert Jordan

This was an ok book and better than the tv series. However, the first part of it was very derivative of “The Lord of the Rings.” And I found the writing style irritating, because it tended to be wordy and unclear. It made me realize just now great a writer Tolkien was. Tolkien made it look simple, his writing style so amazingly precise and alive. Jordan’s book pales next to it, though I do like the way he handles the idea of there being a weaver, a pattern to the world.