The Awakening by Kate Chopin

 The biggest news is that this has an introduction from Carmen Maria Machado, and after reading this you can actually skip the rest of the book. You know on the very first page what is going to happen.

I'm not into thrillers where you don't want the secret to be out until you reach the last chapter. I always appreciate introductions because it gives you a perspective on what you're going to get into. You can have a same or different impression after completing the book but introduction is good to have. But not the one written like this one.

I read the introduction, and lost the urge to read the rest of the book. But I still pushed, and unfortunately I started looking at the whole narrative in the light of how it was going to end. And another thing where I think the whole introduction falls flat is to connect it with feminism but I look at it from a point of unfulfilled desires, and maybe some psychological issues which applies to a character irrespective of the gender.

So much for the introduction!

For the book, it is a dark read but worth reading for the style Kate Chopin was able to portray the mindset of a lonely woman who needed a companionship but felt rejected from everyone she had the expectations from. Edna is no Anna but she is a strong character in her own narrative.

Love

Juliet Naked - Nick Hornby

 I never heard of Nick Hornby until I saw this book, and yes the title got me curious to pick this one up. Why so weak :)

Well, turns out there is no such thing in this one, apart from the title of an album.

The story largely spun around the three main characters Tucker, Alice, and Duncan.

I'll not go into details of a 200 pager but it has some really witty lines, and situational comic elements. And yes a lot of Gooleness and a dead shark.

Quick and light read after the recent heavy lifting.

Love

In the Name of God - The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence by John Teehan

 Don't go with the title.

This is fairly limited to Judaism and Christianity with a small mention of the other religions. And this was very clearly mentioned as a scope of this work.

So, if you thought you're going to talk about everything than you may be disappointed.

This probes the current form as well as history of two monotheistic religions over a period of time in the light of how the human evolution affected these developments.

I may not be very convinced by all the arguments presented here, and in fact a few of them looked like a force fit into the narrative to drive the point backward. But this definitely gives some key points which we can use to understand how these two religions evolved.

One more thing that I noticed was that it was quite critical of Judaism but the Christianity got a bit lenient treatment. But this can be very personal perception because there were instances where the author openly mentions that he is not in favour or against any one religion.

Its quite scholarly read so will be more suited for the readers who are looking for some serious discussion around this topic.

Peace

The Lies That Bind - Rethinking Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah

 I'm thinking of stop going to the humanity section of the library. This is so full of such titles which pique my curiosity.

But yes I never regretted picking any book from that section.

So, here is this one, and again I didn't know about the author when I took it but this was really good.

The whole narrative was very well defined, and a lot of points/arguments brought forward resonate with the understanding of a common person. It gives you a wide perspective of how different identities were built, and eventually got established over a period of time. I might not agree with the idea that these identities were catered by falsehood even if we don't understand the complexity these were built on.

The identities are largely divided into gender, religion, nationality, class and culture. That is a very wide range to cover because every single one of them fill volumes. But this balanced approach here does justice to all these identities.

Best part is that the author writes about a lot of these from his own experience which is very diverse.

This may not tell you everything about identities but that is not even the aim of this book. This gives you a fair idea, and arguments to construct your own take on identity.

Peace

The Apocalypse - A Brief History by Martha Himmelfarb

 This one was picked up because from the cover it looked like a critical examination of the idea of Apocalypse. And I was not looking for a literal one.

The book does pick up a lot from the apocalyptic literature which someone can really use to dive deeper into it. However, I couldn't add much apart from the different names who defined apocalypse in their own terms.

Which means there is a lot more reading to do before I say if this book was good or good enough.

I'm unsure if I'll go that deep in understanding the whole idea of apocalypse but if you're looking to start from somewhere or want to have an overall perspective, this is a good one to start with.

Peace

Power by Bertrand Russell

Here is another from the philosophy section.

I can't really call it philosophy but more like thoughts on power. And the power is sliced from all the possible angles.

This is really good to give you some food for thoughts as this talks about the wide range of powers that are exercised in the society. Some are good but most of them are unproductive or bad when left untamed. Also, the idea here is to identify when the power is pseudo. It may not be the power but an idea of a person or thought being projected as powerful.

However, the power is a very local or you can say a relative thing. Different things, ideas or people gain power in relative terms. Which means that they are not powerful in isolation but in comparison. And this comparison actually drives how the power is going to used and pursued.

Charlie Chaplin's quote can be added to bring another dimension to power "You need Power, only when you want to do something harmful otherwise Love is enough to get everything done" but we're free to choose what we accept it to be as long as we don't forget that its always relative.

Peace

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis

 I don't know why this one was picked.

First thing, this is super old (2003) so most of the information is outdated or verifiably available through other sources.

Secondly, the title is so wrong.

The book talks about how the current (in 2003) terrorist activities came it to be what it was. It tries to explore the historical events but fails miserably in bringing anything new. Most of it is rhetorical, and some of it will sound absurd if you've read some of the recent books on similar topics.

Not worth the time.

Peace

Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism by Adrian Kuzminski

Philosophy needs training similar to any other subject out there.

This one was picked to see how much I understand, and I'll say that this was a difficult read. It did took a lot of time to understand what was said, specially when it goes into the abstract thoughts (they are abstract of a first timer but may be coming easily for a trained student).

Anyways, this is a comparative work of philosophy which compares Buddhism with Pyrrhonism (You'll not get the definition here :)

The prime object is to establish the point that Pyrrho visited India with Anaxarchus, and during his visit he interacted with some of the thinkers/practitioners of Buddhism who influenced his philosophical ideas which led to the birth of Pyrrhonism. The philosophy which largely differs from the other branches because it offers a lifestyle and thought process but not really an argumentative kind of philosophy which proves to a particular point.

The idea was to suspend the judgement on anything, and avoid any mental perturbations that these judgements, if made, can possibly produce. This is a difficult thought to understand but the explanation comes from the perception of everything around us, and how it comes to be what it is.

Not the place for such a discussion but if you've recently been disturbed by any thought that doesn't go away than this is going to help.

Peace

Ataraxia

Origins: How Earth's History Shaped Human History by Lewis Dartnell

I picked this one out of curiosity. And, yes it was a good pick.

This talks about how Earth's evolution over a billion years shaped the existence of life (human life) on the planet. How over the years the Earth went through various transformations creating the things/elements which will eventually support the human sustenance. Of course, humans were responsible to identify the use of each of these elements and exploit it.

One thing which is also a central point is that cooling comes more naturally to Earth as compared to heat. Human activities in the last 200 years (largely after the industrial revolution) has been responsible for the heating of Earth (global warming) disproportionately. But cool is more natural (that's why the Ice Ages, and yes that is plural) so one fine day its going to be unbearably cold but not in a lifetime.

Larger point is that human life has always been looked down upon as a speck at the astronomical levels. And that's more than true. Even after all the scientific developments the existence of life as we know can be wiped in a moment, and the cycle of life starts again from null.

So, next time you're worried about something than think about it at a tectonic level :)

Peace

Childhood, Boyhood, Youth by Leo Tolstoy

 Nothing beats Tolstoy.

This one is an autobiography where he has written about the three stages of his early life as Childhood, Boyhood and Youth.

All the three stages have a same detailed exploration of people and situation of his life which he is famous for. One thing which may pose a question is about remembering all this so clearly after such a long time but a close look and you can see that most of the stories are woven around the people which most of us remember from our lives. We may not remember a lot of situations  but we do remember the people (specially the teachers, friends, family etc).

Tolstoy intended to write another part for the Youth but he couldn't do it. What a miss for us!

Well, its a must for fans but for others as well who can initiate in his writing.

Love!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I knew Maya always from her quotes. I came across a lot of them specially around struggle of woman, African Americans, repression, rape etc. 

But I never read any of her work, and this is the first one I read. And this is her first autobiography. Yes, there are seven of them so this is not the end.

This is an amazing read. The power of the book is how it can help you to relate with the characters even if you don't know anything about them, and this does a pretty good job. You will immediately feel how that Store would have been like or how that god fearing Grandma would have treated you. Of course, she was brilliant and successful that she could tell her story because I was thinking of all the kids who were not that brilliant academically or got a scholarship. Their story would have been more frightening.

It doesn't make sense to narrate an autobiography but if you jump into it you will come out wiser or more empathatic.

I may not be actively looking for her other books but if I come across another one, I'm definitely going to pick that up.

Love

Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom Editor: Ostling Michael

 This is a classic textbook, full of references, and covering a larger range. It consists of essays from different scholars who specialises in knowledge of wide range of cultures, and countries.

Fairies was something which you know from the Disney movies. There are some folklores but they are mostly treated as entertainment, and not really a scholarly discussion. It may not even worth it as well.

Firstly it covers that to show the seriousness the scholars to prove that they exist, they build a whole catalogue. And all these mythical creatures are divided into different categories like somebody defining the flora and fauna of planet earth. There is a catalogue of these creatures who don't exist. What were you thinking.

Secondly, it talks about how the local gods were painted as demons or local minions under the influence of Christianity. To prove it to be the only god, everything else was to either go or marked as demon. Which happened and so went down the history of a whole culture. And, it did later created some tension when people started recalling the values that they have grown with or inherited from the ancestors.

The one thing which was a bit strange was an argument that you can't prove the older thoughts/beliefs wrong in the light of new discoveries (specially scientific ones). Well, if you were so serious about it than those older arguments would have never brought into the discussion. They should have been marked as redundant in the light of new knowledge. However, its unfortunate that they are not only used as a prime argument but put as a self proven truth which no rationality can question.

Complicated to read but maybe worth the efforts if you're into it.

Peace

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers

This is a record of conversation between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers for a documentary, and later Bill Moyers edited those talks to present in a book form. But this is still the record of conversation and not a regular book.

The book format is more like to present the complete talk in a written format so at times it feels like you're listening to two people talking which is a beauty of the presentation.

As far as the narrative is concerned, this was not a good read after Richard Dawkins :) 

This book stands in contrast to what Dawkins says. I've read Joseph's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and that was a good one as long it talks about myths. However, once you believe those myths to be more than myths than the problem starts. Myths are good to know to understand the cultural nuances as these are the building blocks. These are good for imagination and at times it is a healthy entertainment. It can even build the character to an extent but than we need to toe the line on how far we're going to believe these myths. There are a reasons for calling those literary works as epic but that doesn't dictate the terms in real life.

Myths are good to know, remember, cherish and share. Every era has its own myths, and the best one survives to tell a story. It is good to have healthy myths but more important is to know where you segregate myth from a reality. The path of taking myths for truth is a road down the hills, and it will be a speedy descent.

Peace

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