Sisters of the Sari is a light and entertaining read that reveals the strength of women, regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds. Kiria Langdon is a high-powered and driven American CEO of a major gaming company and Santoshi is a poor working woman in Chennai, India.
Together these two women explore one another’s idiosyncracies and cultural differences, bond over language barrier by learning one another’s mothers tongue and free each other from the invisible chains of who they thought they were suppose to be.
Each chapter in Sisters of the Sari are written in alternative perspectives – one of the narrator and the other of Kiria Langdon. The bond between Kiria and Santoshi isn’t merely a bond of friendship but of admirable respect for one another over the struggles the both of them have endured and overcome.
Sisters of the Sari makes the reader feel that potential can be hidden in anywhere and in anyone. Strength can be found in the weakest link. Courage can be ignited and surprise the one it came from.
The book is humorous (thanks to Kiria’s witty and sometimes unfiltered words), charming, real and touching. The stories of every supporting character is just as interesting, although short-lived, as the main characters. Any book that can make me chuckle out loud in public and not care is definitely worth a read.
A free copy of Sisters of the Sari was provided to me for this review.
Hike Your Own Hike by Francis Tapon is a self-help book disguised as a travelogue. Or is a travelogue disguised as a self-help book? I’m still not sure. The book doesn’t just teach you how to be a backpacker or how to hike the Appalachian Trail. It doesn’t give you a formula that says if you do A + B, C will occur. Instead, Francis uses charming anecdotes to paint a much bigger picture. It opens up your eyes to small, doable alternatives on how you can shift the current static course of your life without making dramatic changes. Francis does this by telling you how his experience hiking from Maine to Georgia can be applied to your own life.
Atlas of Remote Island is beautifully presented with a vivid and captivating story on the left and paired with a colored map on the right for each of the fifty islands. Each island comes to life and gives character to these far off places. What makes this book so intriguing is that it demolishes the image of what we often think an island is – white sand, clear waters, blue skies and lush greenery. Instead, there are stories of infanticide, rape, murder, cannibalism, colonialism and human rights abuse.
