Keeping the Jewel in the Crown: The British Betrayal of India by Walter Reid

 This one talks about the last few decades of the Raj in India.

I've read on this topic, and everyone of them has given some insights on the situation, and aftermath of those times. However, this one gives a more factual records quoting some of the reports which were not quoted earlier. So this comes up with a deeper analysis of the British policy of colonialism. You can take a look and you can see that the only policy was procrastination. Just to delay any action as much as possible. And unfortunately, nobody had an idea what this delay was for.

Now when more details are out, we can look at this decay of majestic level where the delay was the only recourse to keep the colonies under British for as long as possible and for the sheer non-sensical pride of it. This also stress the point that to delay any action, the policy which was employed here was to pit the two communities against each other. The seeds sown at that time are still bearing the bitter fruits of hatred even today.

Another point was the self assurance of superiority of British culture. It was never a point of consideration, forget about the discussion, that the indigenous people have the ability to run their own country. It was portrayed that keeping the colonies was more of an act favour, and not the denial of the rights which people had the claim to. But this was the age old race supremacy idea which still has a lot of takers.

Even if you've read something on the similar lines earlier from other authors, this one is still worth the time.

Peace

The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey

 The title may sound scandalous but the book is not. In fact, a lot of reviews which I read afterwards are more of scandalous in nature.

It was surprising to see that a lot of readers (?) mentioned this book to be written to take a ride on anti-christian narrative. Another accusation was that this mentioned only the bad things of Roman days but if you read the introduction it stated very clearly that the songs are already sung on high notes in the praise of those good things, and this book tries to find a balance between the two extremes, which it did well.

Not everything can be proved by the records, and books of which only the few survived. And it is not an understatement that zealots always tipped the balance in favour of the stronger one who was left behind to tell the story. A lot things had be read in the peripheral texts, and signs of demolition.

Faith is not a bad thing in itself but it can drive people to do the unimaginable deeds. Specially, when it is against any type of reason, argument or rationality.

Banning the common practices, and persecuting the people for what they believe in was approved by law. There was a selective bias behind what is to be kept safe, and what is to be burnt. And later what is left to be used as a proof point of good intentions which were never there. Also, a lot of things were brushed under the carpet for the saints. If in doubt take a closer look at what they  preached.

Peace

The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 by Władysław Szpilman

 This is one book where I watched the movie first, and later read the book.

I watched the movie long back but after finishing the book it felt like the movie did a justice to the book. However, reading the book was still a better experience.

While reading the story there were points where it sounds like that the writer was not talking about himself but about someone else. The narration was so plain that it doesn't really creates any passion but that simplicity is the beauty of the book.

There are many instances which could have been a strong statements of accusations but somehow this got clouded by the human grit or like he mentioned the animal instinct of survival. But that was a bit crude or should I say emotional way to take the blame. This sounds almost like a result of self pity conceived by the helpless situation of saving your loved ones.

Well, even if you've watched the movie, try this book. Worth the time.

Peace

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

I read this. And this has been one of the good reads after the recent serious books.

By that I don't mean that this is not serious. It is pretty serious if you look at it. The whole plot can be summarily written in 5 sentences but then it's not always about the story. It has more to do with how it was told and that's where a classic differs from a contemporary book.

The book is about love, and perseverance. Young lovers who got separated at very young age but were united after 50 years. This is the time when someone might not be thinking about the lost love, forget about finding that lost lover. However, Florentino never lost his love. He was always waiting for it.

This has a lot of sex, infidelity, stupidity, and travel. Which summarily describes any normal life. The only thing which is not normal is how long love can last. A common thought among the readers about this is that this book is full of sex. Somehow, people are not able to accept the fact that the protagonist was having a lot of sex while he waited for all those fifty years. This can be due to the fact that a lot of people don't see the two things (love and sex) separately. It is a common belief that one precedes another. This can be attributed to how the idea of love and sex has been taught and understood by the larger society. What it will look like if we remove all the pieces of his going to other women. Imagine, Florentino might have chosen to be a priest which might have made a lot of people happy, and I don't think it's impossible that there might be a novel version of it where he devoted all his life to charity, and died of cholera. And all those readers who objected to the real version might actually cheer it up!

A second doubt is about the reality of love as defined here. This is very much obvious that for all practical matters the kind of love shown here is not something which we encounter everyday (or maybe in a lifetime). But a lot of time the idea of love is lost on Florentino. People ignore the love of Fermina and her husband which endured the most difficult obstacles of a real life love. The mesmerising story of longing overshadowed the real story of a married couple.

If you're a fan of GGM's other works, you may be disappointed because it doesn't have the magical realism of "hundred years of solitude" but a reader should be glad that it doesn't have it.

This is a bit long one but worth a read.

Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

 Of course you're an amazing story teller. His stories are full of life, and grit of the characters.

However, Deen doesn't seem like the strongest of his characters with all his dual mindedness, and habit of giving up so easy. But what a character he is. And I think he looks like more realistic, and hopelessly romantic.

One thing for sure is that this is full of dramatics, by which I mean that this has so many twists and turns and of course so many co-incidents. It was on a borderline of dream sequence in lot of subplots but as always, all the things fall in place.

One thing which I couldn't connect with, unlike his other works, was the pace of the story. It did increase the pace a lot like a thriller which looks like more of a style of Dan Brown. Maybe it was for me since I was habituated to a particular pace of your other books.

Anyways, must read, and yes a lot of Italian.

Love

The Sea by John Banville

 I do accept that I picked this one when I saw the Pulitzer prize winner. I didn't know the writer earlier but after reading this I might pick some of his works.

About the book, this is a memory of a kid who is now an old man. The narration revolves mainly around three major parts of his life which are one childhood summer, marriage, and the current situation.

The whole plot is full of deaths of so many people that it becomes a bit depressing by the end. You do feel like connected with the characters, and their disappearance is not something which you can digest easily.

I'm not saying that this is not for faint hearts but it can make you feel low for a couple of days specially if you're sensitive about death.

Worth the read, and a quick one too.

Love

One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism by Rodney Stark

 You can't judge a book by its cover, and neither do I.

I picked this one, and thought it to be interesting which it is "partially". However, this is one of those books where the writer has quoted extensively himself. I don't really mind it but this really got on my nerves when in a lot of instances it was only "like I mentioned in my other works". I was not really looking for a compendium or a cheat sheet of your work.

As far as the rest of things this doesn't offer anything new. In fact, I was surprised how it tried to low ball some of the casualties in the history. I never fall for numbers but the extent to which it tried to normalise the things was on a border of dehumanising a lot of historical incidents.

And yes, if you look closely you can find the bias in the whole narration. There were things about other religions like Buddhism, Hindu etc which were summarily rejected in a line. So much justification of missionary work, and there was a whole dissection of strategy why it didn't work in some countries/communities. Also, I was also surprised with how frequently the words barbarians and pagans were used in such a derogatory reference.

There is no theology in it (don't fall for the title), and there is definitely no place for rationality.

Peace!

The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe by Patrick J. Geary

 This is such an amazing account of historical Europe. And more than that it gives you some new thoughts.

If you're interested in the facts than this has a lot of details. However, the more important thought which is rightly emphasised is that the history of countries is not a fixed idea. It's evolving and keep changing. Anybody who puts it in just one perspective is most probably trying to gain something by its improper projection.

A larger thought is that the people who are trying to write the historical account for a country or culture etc have a grave responsibility of staying neutral and recording only the facts or hypothesis which can be proved independently. However, the sorry state is that a larger chunk of such exercises were completed based on half truths and rest on imagination. This was a dangerous mix because this gave the people a fake sense of belonging or being biased against others who were or could be left out of it.

This thought corruption in the records lead to so many conflicts that there was a whole army of such writers who were/are hellbent to provide people with the wrong/imagined detail. And once this was out, it was difficult to disprove it. Not because this was right but because this was repeated and realigned so many times that it become a truth in itself which was a dangerous situation.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to judge between real and imaginary accounts, and eventually it lands on the consciousness of the people to decide. It is not an easier task but can be done with some proper training of faculties. The key is that you look at everything with an open mind and filter out the undesirable elements.

Definitely a great read, and yes a quick one.

Peace

The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age by Martha C. Nussbaum

 Someone once said that the good books are the one which teaches you something new. But the better ones are which give you a feeling that you already knew it but this book gave the words to it.

Well, this is that kind of book. I definitely got stuck with a bit of legal history where some older cases were mentioned but apart from that it more or less echoes the thoughts.

Let's agree to the point that a narrow vision doesn't get you the right picture. All we need is empathy, and we'll understand everything from than onwards.

Just because we don't know the rituals, and traditions of the other culture is not a good enough reason to oppose it. In fact not knowing it should be treated as an opportunity to know something new.

People should have to follow or observe what they want to, and everything else should be treated as law and order problem if it poses one (which is unlikely the case).

Peace!