The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

This is an amazing book based on the memoirs of Holocaust.

The story revolves around Sage who is a baker with some bad memories. She has a Holocaust survivor grandmother. In a support group she meets an old man who comes up with a weird request for his own murder.

There is sub plot of grandmother writing the story and you couldn't have asked for more. This sub plot blends so well (I must say keeping in different format really works) that the reader moves in and out of plots effortlessly.

The gist of the plot is about forgiveness. Who can forgive and who can be forgiven?

After finishing the book I took some time to think about this question. And one thing that struck me most was from the book only. The grandmother didn't talk to anybody about her survival in those camps. She didn't want to pass the pain to the next generations and she was not even thinking about revenge or forgiveness.

I think there was always a chance when we can forgive or be forgiven.

I'll go with peace. Easier said than done.

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Again a book which makes me think to leave the book after 15 pagers. But I've to do it and see it till the end.

A big waste of time. I could have read some cheap pulp on road side rather than reading this book. This book is an irrational headless erotica which doesn't stand anywhere to be counted as a book.

No story line, no character and definitely no flavor.

This book could have been better titled as "In Search of Long Lost Orgasm".

Not going to say anything else just DON'T READ IT.

If your friends are recommending it then its time to think who are your friends.

River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh

This is the second book of Ibis trilogy and after finishing this I crave for more. I'm eagerly waiting for the third book, Flood of Fire, which may be released in 2015.

The story moves forward from the Ibis to the city of Canton. The same characters are moved to canton and story revolves around the opium trade in China which later became the first opium war.

The characters are as strong as in the first book and there was not a single instance when a sequence seemed extra. There were some new characters added out of which I remebered Seth Behram Modi as he seems so natural to me that he looks like a person I know very well.

Another thing was there was a lot of plants and botany included and it actually added to the flow of the whole narrative, I'm feeling like start tending a small garden for myself :)

-Puneet

The Oath of the Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi

This is the third book of the trilogy. I read it after a long time since it was released and I must say that I am disappointed.

The final part talks about how Parvati died and Shiva moved to destroy the whole city with  Pashupathiastra.

The more I got into the book more I realized that the narration was getting shallow and it looked like the end was written for the sake of the formality that the book is complete.

I don't want to sound harsh but after reading the first book I had lot of expectations with the whole series which got lower and lower after the second and third book. This could have been a great series but sadly it is not.

If you're a lover of fantasy and read the previous parts than go for it otherwise it is not something that will be missed.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I want to confess one thing, I love Russian literature. I love Tolstoy,  Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Turgenev, Gorky, Pushkin and all of them. I simply love the way they've written and it feels like so connected to all there writings. I've never been is the situations of the characters in these novels but definitely these are so strongly created that I automatically feel like I understand them.

The Brothers Karamazov is the latest novel I read. It is quite big and took me almost a month to finish it but it was such a pleasure. After finishing it I came to know that this was the last novel of Dostoyevsky and I must say that this was quite strong in terms of plot as well as narration.

The plot is quite simple. Its a story of three brothers (Karmazov's) and their relationship with their father. The father gets murdered and the blame goes to one of the sons. There are some subplots which are equally engaging like the one of a dying boy, jealousy of two women etc.

The novel if full of philosophy and typical Russian character sketch.

Loved it and a must read for all the fans of Dostoyevsky.

A Virtual Romance

I watch a lot of movies and recently I watched this new movie HER which was well received by the critics and audiences and really brought in a new plot.

But I'm not going to talk about the movie here. I'm more interested in the plot and the thought behind it.

The movie revolves around a person who falls in love with an OS. This is a virtual person which interacts via voice and so programmed that it actually sounds like a real person.

The question that I asked myself was if it was possible to be in love with somebody/thing of whose physical presence you are not aware of. I've read some stories where the people fell in love with each other only by writing letters (Pan pal is one of my favorite) but even in this condition you know for a fact that there is somebody who is actually writing those letters. You know that there is somebody who is breathing may be on the different side of the planet and in touch with you. I know some people who are friends with people from other parts of world on social networking platforms without knowing them personally.

I'm not saying it is weird but not really able to understand those circumstances when a person falls in love with someone from virtual world (or totally imaginary). For me to fall in love with someone it is required to know the person as a person not as a social networking profile or a mail id.

It is more like a person who is committed to nothing and it literally makes sense.

Pehla Girmitiya by Giriraj Kishore

A hindi book after a long time and this one is really big.

The book revolves around the Gandhiji's stay in South Africa and the activities at that time.

He went to South Africa on a one year permit and after seeing the conditions fo the indians and how they were treated he made a point to fight for a difference and that too with non-violence. We can say that SA was the laboratory for Gandhi to test out his hypothesis of non-violence and it really gave the results with no blood shed. This put the stone for the movement in India which he led later.

The book is a mix of facts and fantasy where he tried to keep the things as close to the reality as the information available. There are some invented dialogues and there are some genuine speeches delivered by Gandhiji.

The book is pretty big (almost 900 pages) and I finished it in 2 months. But somehow I felt that there are better accounts on Gandhi's life other than that and this book can be a stepping stone who wants to explore his philosophy.

If you want to go for a visual account of it than you can go for the movie "Making of the Mahatma".

I wish if you start it and finish it you'll have better understanding of what made him so great.

Peace

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

After reading two books by Reza Aslan on religion this is the third book I read in the sequence and this one actually opposes the religion by all means (rationally or otherwise).

Richard Dawkins is one on the most famous (notorious) writer who proposes the atheism to be followed and validates that any religion is going to create the problems at some point of time.

The best thing I loved about the book is that the author is nowhere  biased towards any religion and opposes all with full force.

The next thing I liked was that he asks to raise the question against anything that has no proof. I can quote that if there is no apparent reason for something happening around you doesn't mean that you start believing anything which convinces you without any proof just because you are conditioned or taught so. Asking the questions and validating the existence of anything is the most important part of being an aware creature.

One thing that I want to quote here is that it is a general understanding that some religions are good and some others are bad, it all depends on where you are standing. But if we think rationally we can clearly see that to be a good person you are not supposed to belong to any particular religion. A good person is good irrespective of the religion s/he follows and that closes most of the doubts.

There are lot of examples and anecdotes from the author which points in the direction of rationality. A thing which can be reasoned with correct examples is the only one that needs to be believed and there are great chances that people may end up believing something which has no base, just conditioning.

Definitely a great book to read even if you are for or against the religion.

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan

This is the second book by Reza Aslan that I've read.

I was never very fond of books related to religion but his books are more than the religious books. These books are myth breakers.

This book tells the story of who the Jesus was and the Jesus which we hear about these days in the sermons is the same person who actually started it all.

The book gives a lot of examples from the scripts and letters of the era around which the Christianity evolved and I must say that it is a very well thought and explored narrative on the topic.

I really don't want to get into the debate around the credibility of the whole narrative but I'll really love to see that people agree to disagree and respect the freedom of thoughts.

The books raises very basic questions and justify the whole narrative in a very rational manner.

Must read whether you like religious books or not.

-Peace.

No god but God by Reza Aslan

I'm not really fond of books on religion but this is definitely an exception and the first words are I LOVE THIS BOOK.

The book is about the history, evolution and future of Islam and I must say that it so unbiased and well searched.

Reza Aslan gives a fine print of how the Islam started and later on what were the circumstances that mold it into its current form. He has given a lot of examples about the Islam being the most tolerant religion as founded but the followers and the interpreters twisted all the words of Muhammad Saahab to what fulfills their own interest in the name of God's words.

I can't give the much details here but if you want to know about Isalm this one is a must read.

This book has really made me curious to know more about all the religions. Hope some more will be following soon.

-Peace 

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

A novel which was pending from a long time. The only reason why I was not very keen on writing here is that the novel is the first in the series of a trilogy (Ibis trilogy).

But lets talk about Sea of Poppies only.

This is the first novel by Ghosh that I've read.

The novel is definitely a must read and waiting on starting for River of Smoke.

The story line is based on the slave and opium trading in times of East India Company. The narrative is quite full (by which I mean its quite exhaustive and there is no scope of feeling as if something was amiss). It is a story of different people from all walks of life whom the destiny brings together on a ship name Ibis (yes, its a name of a ship) headed towards Mareech (Mauritius). This group consist of a widow (and her escape from Sati), a royalty (who was the owner of a large Zemindary), an orphan gril (who is more Indian but not Indian), a second shipmate (searching for his own identity) and others.

These people who come close because of the circumstances gives a glimpse of human behavior of human endeavor and the whole narrative looks more like a narrative.

Not giving much details of the whole plot as it will ruin your interest in the novel later and if you know it than a large part may seem boring which is actually the writer's effort in developing the characters.

This book is totally dedicated to the development of the characters and the description is so wide that you really feel like connected with the characters and that is definitely a big plus.

Will start with the next book soon. And this is something I don't like about series of novels that you have to wait for the next series.

Hope unpublished book in the series is worth waiting for.

The Bernini Bust by Iain Pears

I am not a great fan of art thrillers but this book caught my eye when I was in the market for old books. The book was published in 1992 and this is not quite old for me to put my hands on. In fact, most of the books that I’ve read were old and if it is one of the latest titles mostly it is borrowed J

The whole narrative revolves around a Bernin bust, a murder and the will of a millionaire. The whole story telling is a lot witty and it humors you in its own peculiar way. The book is small so it didn’t take much time to finish.

As it is a thriller I’m not giving much details of the plot here but if you get a chance read it (it will take some 1-2 hrs) to get to the end. Loved the style of author crisp and fast paced with all the spices of a thriller.

The Chouans by Honoré de Balzac

This is one of the novels that I read just for the description given on the back side of the book about the author Balzac. And I was not really disappointed after finishing it (it took me more than a month).

Balzac is a famous French novelist (I came to know it later) and this novel is considered as his first successful novel. I’ve not read the other titles by him but I can say he is a good writer.

The narrative is quite descriptive (which I think is a kind of style of writing for all the classics). The scenes are described in such a detail that with a little bit of imagination you can actually put the whole scene together and that is a beauty of the writing.

The plot is simple as a love story of lady (Marie de Verneuil) who is trying to find love and respect and a leader ( Marquis de Montauran) with revolutionary idea to change how the things working in the country (the scene is set in 1799 during the post-war uprising of France). The whole story has a lot of twist and turns involving love, betrayal, misunderstanding and an army. The story ends on a sad note but it shows that the doubt is a poison for any relationship. If you don’t believe than there is no escape and future for such relationships.

I loved the overall flavor of the book but I’m sure that most of the readers who don’t have a taste for long narrations and classics may not like it or will tag it as bore.

A good book indeed. Looking forward to read some more from Balzac.

The Sucker’s Kiss by Alan Parker

The writer of this book, Alan Parker, is a film maker and this was his first book. I must say that reading the book seems like reading the script of a  picture as there is lot of visual scenes are there which are described quite well frame by frame.

The story line is simple, there is a pickpocket Tommy, his adventure and a love story weaved around almost all US at the earlier part of 20^th century when the Prohibition was in place and the economy was taking a nosedive.

The book is quite racy in narrative and full of twists and turns as we can expect from a movie. But the main part which was written quite skillfully was the current situation of the country, common outlook towards the economy where the author gives the signs of development can be measured by how much a pickpocket is getting out of a common laborer.

There are some comic moments as well specially Tommy’s encounter with the Blind Sisters and their rendezvous. On the serious note his relationship with his sisters and search for his younger sister were quite a touching moments.

It actually comes out that even when he is unburdening a lot of people (habitually or professionally) he ends up being a good guy but may be that was not enough to have everything he wanted in life.

Life never comes to us the way we want it to. In fact most of the time it will come out from the long forgotten cupboards in the backyard and take you by surprise to the unknown lanes.

Book is a light read and definitely can be taken up.

Jaya : Mahabharat by Devdutt Pattanaik

Another book of myths and history based on the Hindu scripture Mahabharat.

This book is an interesting illustrative retelling of the stories Mahabharat. It strats from the beginning of the yagna by Janmejay and how he was told the story of his ancestors who made the similar mistakes and end up badly.

Devdutt has given a good account of the whole Mahabharat with some additional commentary which I assume is his own view.

The narrative is as lucid as it can be in a translation and the illustrations are very good. The writer has tried to include as many aspects or variations available around the world which is quite interesting. But in the end it lost being a simple précis translation of the epic while covering a large number of stories.

A person who has watched the tele-series Mahabharata can connect to all the narrated stories and it was given in the appendices as well as one of the sources. But it doesn’t belittle the efforts put by the author in finishing the book.

One common thought which reverberates through whole narrative is that whatever we do or say comes back to us and as long as we’re attached with it we’ll keep going through the whole cycle of life and death. Only the complete surrender to God can set us free from it.

If you’ve not heard the stories of Mahabharat and don’t have enough time to read the original text this is quite a good book to start with. But I’ll request all not to harbor any opinion by reading this book only otherwise you will end up with uncooked knowledge which will do more harm. Keep all your options open before coming to any conclusion because it is these prejudices which are the root causes of the all problems.

India: The Siege Within by M J Akbar

After a long time got a book written by a journalist on India's conditions before and after the Freedom.

The book was first published in 1984 and even after repeat prints Akbar refused to make any changes. There are few things that have changed a lot but there is still a lot to know the roots.

I really felt happy and sad together after finishing the book.

Happy that the book was full of information and cleared a lot of myths that I was having in my mind but never had an argument to back that up. Nehru being not so great leader was one of them.

I was sad because I realized that there are so many small things which are negligible in life but because of the personal belief and interest resulted in a disaster which could have  been avoided for sure and India would have been here at least 20 years back where it is currently today.

The narrative is fluent and the points are backed by references rather than being based on assumptions. Akbar’s non-biased tone was a big plus for the book as he was able to put the things together without being biased towards any prejudice whatsoever.

The book is a collection of facts and commentary on the socio-political conditions of India before and after the Freedom.

It talks about three events of Indian history Creation of Pakistan, Separation attempts for Punjab and Kashmir.

I’m not giving details here but one thing that I realized was that there is no really any reason to fight on the basis of Cast, Religion, Community, Nativity et al. It all ends in a disaster some way or the other and the people with the wrong intentions and belief will only benefitted from it and everybody else will remain with the memories that haunt for the lifetime.

There is no opinion like mob opinion. People are simple minded and it is very easy to fish in a turbulent water but the question that arises is why to fish at all. Let the people be what they are (simple) and the things will fall in place. Having the wrong belief and spreading the hatred against the non-believers is a crime and the worst part is that the wrong people never get punished for that. Its only the common people who end up paying extraordinary price.

Let there be knowledge and peace.

Book is a must read.

Typee by Herman Melville

Recently I was becoming an adventure books enthusiast as this was the second book after Solomon’s Mines by Haggard.

Typee is about the writer’s experience with a cannibal tribe in Nukuheva (South Pacific). It is an autobiography with loads of imagination.

He started on a ship and after getting bored (and tormented by captain) left the ship and ran into the jungle with a fellow shipmate named Toby.

The two men walked into the jungle and making way to reach the French army ships. After a run for 3 days they reach to a small colony of Typee (the tribals) hungry and wounded. Both of them stay with them for few months and after that Toby leaves to get the help for him as the wounds were not healing. The writer gives a long narrative on the lifestyle and rituals of the tribe which is neither entertaining nor informative.

The book is ~200 pages and after finishing it there was no real feeling of reading a book. In fact, it was so boring that I wished to leave it and don’t read it further but I did continue and it was very disappointing. Most of the narrative sounds like the imagination of the writer with all the fantasies included in it; from the Royal treatment to hanging out with the tribal beauties at will and even ending with having a sort of Platonic relation with the most beautiful girl on the island (Freud was quite right).

The most irrelevant part and badly written was the narrative around his escape. It was one of the most bizarre escapes that I've ever read or seen in movie.

Apart from it there was never a conclusive reason on why the Typee wanted him stay and serve like a royal (the writer talks about giving some information about the French army which doesn't make sense at all) rather than roasting him and Toby on the very first day of arrival.

Herman Melville’s most famous book is Moby-Dick and I’m so reluctant to read it after reading this one first. Let’s see if some day I can put my hands on this book as well.

My point: go out, pick a hobby or do anything but don’t read. It’s not worth the time.

King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

It has been a long time since I posted last. I was reading few things here and there and I stumbled over this book. I don't remember when was the first time that I heard this title but stayed in my mind and the moment I saw this book I wanted to read it badly and finished it in one sitting (its not a big one for sure).

So first thing first, the book is not anywhere nearby what I thought it to be.

Its a twisted tale of a tomb raider who is in search of Solomon's mine. The book has some great moments but somehow you will always guess where all the narrative is leading to.

One thing that I'll like to specially mention here is that Haggard has some misconceptions about the people. He claims to have seen all the world and indirectly boasts about it but he is not really good at it. He even sometimes sound biased towards the white. He praise the beauty of a black woman (Foulata) and tries to create a romance between her and a white guy Captain Good but it conclude on her death.

I was definitely looking for more but it was not having that much to offer but definitely it was the starting of new genre called adventure and Haggard can take the credit to be early starter in it.

Looking forward to have some more from Allan Quatermain. But this one is not really a good read.

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

This is the second book by McCourt  I read, Angela's Ashes was the first one which I didn't mentioned in my blog. Will write about that as well. But Teacher's Man first.
It was a mix of autobiography where McCourt talked about his experiences as a teacher in US in a funny and witty style. It is full of anecdotes how he dealt with all his students and authorities. 

This book reminded me of one of my teachers who was a lot like him and we should admit that after family its a teacher who plays an important role in our life, affect our personality and shapes us in something what we are. The worst part is that not all the teachers are good but it takes only one to make you good.

Don't know what to write about the book as it is something which you can get only if you read it. Only thing I want to say is that I wish I could have been the part of his class.

PS: This thought fall on my conscious lot many times if the movies based on a book or literary piece can really do the justice what an author wants to convey. And I think that even if the cinema is a terrific medium there are few things that it can't propose the way it was meant to be.

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

This is the third book by Rushdie which I’ve read after Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses. The book is good and narrative has such a catch that if you don’t read it in one sitting it will keep calling you to finish it till the last page. The story is a mix of reality and imagination as some anecdotes of Akbar are quite famous. It makes the book sometimes unbelievable but who wants a history record and it is definitely an entertaining one. There is some lack of seriousness as we’ve seen in some older books by Salman but it still has his signature style. Sex and illicit relations are abundantly used in the whole story (I must say that it has been a major part of all his books I’ve read till now).

The story about a lost princess Qara Köz who is characterized as an enchantress of high capabilities. She is claimed to be enchanting the whole city. The dwellers worship her like a messiah first and later they realize that she was not what they thought her to be. First they think of her like Christ and later an evil enchantress. She went through a lot of trying conditions and always had to make a choice which was a difficult one. It is really difficult to judge her on the basis of her judgments as she was not having much choice. She made the most favorable ones and for this we can’t call her selfish also. Even being an enchantress comes with its own curse.

The book is definitely a good read and entertaining one. But it can’t be taken for the historical characters and events it depicts, Rushdie has definitely taken a writers freedom for using the anecdotes to fit it into a proper narrative and it really fits well which is generally coined as Magic Realism.