Thor: Myth to Marvel by Martin Arnold

 When you say Thor, the most common reaction is the Marvel superhero. Yeah, that one.

But Thor is much more than that. He is a God, and there are multiple aspects of his image, how he came into being, where he sits in the hierarchy, and over a period of time how he evolved from a pagan God to a symbol of national/cultural identity.

I did read the Edda earlier and that was one piece of work but this book puts the whole narrative around Thor and goes deep into how the whole psyche of a God to superhero evolved.

Do read if you want to understand the myth behind the Marvel superhero.

Love

The Weather Machine: A Journey Inside the Forecast by Andrew Blum

 Let's not go into the details but did you ever wonder how this weather get's updated in your phone. Or how you plan of going out to the beach or not based on what you know about the weather today. Well, the most common point is that the weather scientists are never taken seriously until recently when there weather forecasts alerted us about the torrential rains or typhoons.

But after reading the book you will appreciate the way you check weather on your phone. It is a complicated system of data, hardware, software and global cooperation.

It may be a bit boring to read but only complaining about the weather was the most entertaining thing.

Peace

Outgrowing God: A Beginner's Guide by Richard Dawkins

 Well, this was what I expected.

Given that I've already read some of his works previously, this was not giving a new point. But this did give a lot of example that can help you understand the whole idea in a larger set. This actually counters a lot of points which are given in favour of some higher power. Just because we don't understand it yet, can't be an excuse to attribute it to god.

In fact, the positive thought would be to nurture that curiosity, and point in the right direction rather than believing into something that is an easy way out.

Worth read, and yes, a quick one too!

Love

Tales from Russian Folklore by Alexander Afanasyev

 Who doesn't love a good story!

This is a collection of about 200 stories from Russian folklore. Looks like a big project for the collector and bigger for the translator.

The stories are not long, in fact, a lot of them are very short. A lot of them don't make any sense specially which are very small. They are more like a pun rather than a story.

But overall it has that rustic charm of storytelling.

Of course, you can see some common themes which are found in such tales across the cultures like wicked step mothers/sisters, poor family, brothers fighting, marriage, dragon and speaking animals.

The number three is also very important like three days, three years, three sisters, three brothers, three riddles, three tasks, don't know why?

And yes the Baba Yaga. It's funny that to read all the wicked portrayals of Baba Yaga and the famous house on one leg. She is mostly addressed as Granny, and she does provide with food, rest, and bath before expressing her evil intentions.

Worth a read, and since this is a collection you can read piecemeal.

Love!

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

 Picked it up to read something lighter after the recent pounding.

Well, this was pretty light with all the elements of a fun read family, deaths, mystery, action, romance and yes lots of sex.

The title clearly mentioned what a reader was getting into, and it was all on the good side of the fun. I was really amazed at the writer's capability of using euphemism for the words and body parts ;)

~400 pages was a bit of a stretch given the plot but than its always a writer's/editor's call but I'd have preferred it a bit trimmed.

Love

The Final Solution: Origins and Implementation Edited by David Cesarani

 This is a collection of 17 essays by different writers who explore different sides of Holocaust.

Honestly, this is my second on this topic since I read the Anne Frank long back. However, this did come up with a lot of analysis that it intrigues you further to pick up more.

This is a bit difficult read irrespective of what you've read or heard about Holocaust. I'll say this is a bit brief but gives you the larger picture of all the different elements.

One of the points which is emphasised well is that a lot of records/documents were lost/never found. And a lot of the instructions were never really recorded in a formal way. With the opening up of archives of different countries there will be better understanding of many obscure details.

It is not very academic even if there are is a very large notes section for each of the essays. Which simply means that one book can't really help us comprehend the scale of the larger events.

Peace

Empires of the Mind: The Colonial Past and the Politics of the Present by Robert Gildea

 The title comes from Churchill's famous quote in 1943 'The empires of the future would be the empires of the mind'.

This is an amazing book exploring the colonial pasts of Britain and France. This systematically breaks the colonial idea of global peace and harmony expected out of this colonisation. There was so much to hide that all the colonial atrocities were masked under the lame excuse of liberation, and civilisation. The whole narrative of freedom and equality which was mythically created by these powers never saw the light in the their colonies. The colonies only knew the brutalities and exploitation.

I'll not go into the details which are already given in the book as how the two colonial masters kept the colonies (Africa, India, Egypt etc) under their domination by power, manipulation and lie. They not only refused to let go of the colonies but also created new devices to keep the control over them even after the transfer of autonomy.

The narrative extends to the roles of UN, world wars, new financial systems, neo-colonialism (under the garb of supporting and later keeping the national assets under direct control), and even to Brexit and the new superiority theories. This led to massive unrest when the people revolted against the puppet governments, and loss of sovereignty.

The power unfortunately remained among the larger nations who used it to serve their own vested interests. This unnatural distribution of power gave birth to the aggression in the suppressed societies and its population, which in turn generated the sense of exclusion and alienation of masses in native population and immigrants alike who started looking for the meaning in the religion and radicalisation.

This is definitely worth the read.

Peace