Under the Wave at Waimea by Paul Theroux

This is a story of a surfer Joe Sharky whose best days are behind him. A surfer who didn't anything in his life apart from surfing. Surfing sounds exotic for the story but if you replace him with any other trade the story would have left you the same way.

The turning point of the story is definitely an accident and how it jolted his routine life to bring him to introspection.

There are some minor characters who are portrayed as eager to exchange lives with our surfer because he is presumed to have the best of lives. But that again comes back to the point that he might have been an singer, dancer, painter or what not and people would have said the things (in the novel too).

The downside was that in the 400 pages it was a bit repetitive a lot. But that can be the writer's style as well.

Maybe not the best one but I did get to know some words in Hawaiian which has a really deep meaning. And yes, Pakalolo :) 

Love

The Food of the Gods by H.G. Wells

 Not a fan of science fiction but why not sometimes.

So, I picked this up and any fan of sci-fi fantasies would swear by Wells. He brought up so many of the concepts which were not only ingenious but also philosophical in nature. It brings a different kind of reality to the forefront which leaves you comparing your current reality to it, and being successful in finding some of the definite matches.

This one revolves around a scientific invention which make the ordinary subjects of giant size. This chemical is called food of the gods because this puts the mere humans to an inhumanly growth.

It was all going fine until one day the humans start seeing these giants as their rival. A threat to their own existence. A crisis which can end the current form of humans as the giants roam the earth.

If you look closely the giants are just humans with a bigger body. They have the same thoughts, feelings, and hunger as any other human of a different size. But this difference goes deeper than just being the physical one. It brings out the fear of a society which only understands the language of power. A grammar of victor and the loser. And before it goes out of hand they want to do what power tells you to do - crush what you don't understand.

Different species on the planet respond to their survival calls. Which is one of the reason that we see the clash between the hunter and the hunted. But it is not always the strongest that survive. It is always the adaptable who see it to the end.

But that is more rational thought and in the real world people go with prejudice and group thinking. Which means that there is no thought.

I don't consider this last line as a spoiler but the book doesn't have a traditional ending which gives you a champion but it ends on a note that opens up the possibilities of choice, and that is a fine ending.

Peace

Chances Are... by Richard Russo

 Hell we love a story well told.

This sounds too dramatic sometimes with love, friendship, college days, vacations, a lot crazy and music all mixed up in one with a bit of suspense in between.

But it is all worth reading the book.

How far do we go for our love and friends. It may take a lifetime to know the value of it. Also, does the unsuccessful love stories make the lives better. Maybe just that one unfulfilled desire keeps you going. Not waiting for anything to happen but still waiting that if it ever comes to happening you are still around to witness it.

Worth a read if you're looking for a good story.

Love! 

The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood

Just because its a big name doesn't mean it can't go bad.

This is the case here. I was never a fan (I didn't get Handmaid's Tale) and this was too flimsy to be called even a decent one.

I later read some of the reviews which talk about it being the beacon of feminism and what not but I could just see a badly connected plot. In fact, I thought that you can change the genders of all the characters and it will still sound equally stupid so don't get carried away with it being feminist.

I guess I had enough from Margaret Atwood and will not be coming back for more. But I don't know if I could lay my hands on another one and pick it up.

Love!

The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way: On Writers and Writing by Charles Bukowski

How does a writer write or what inspires a writer to write?

These questions are not answered in this book but if you are looking for a personal account of a prolific writer like Bukowski than this is going to help.

To be a good writer you need to be a writer first. Which means writing a lot even if not all of it sees the light. Also, be prepared to not making a lot of money from writing. It is not that people don't pay for the good books but the answer lies in the fact when was the last time you actually bought a book.

Second thing is don't be to harsh on yourself and better lean on to a good editor. Not all the good writers are good editors so if you're not the later (which you will know soon if you are open to listening) find one.

Lastly, there is nothing like a great thought. I believe that you start with very basic ones and one of them will eventually with become big and by that I don't mean complicated. In fact, it is going to be so simple that it wouldn't require any interpretation from the writer. Most likely everyone will connect to it on their own terms and that is the best writing.

On a lighter note I never really understood too much of a poetry but that doesn't mean that you can't. Most of the times it is going to be like if you ever tried. 

Caution - don't get carried away with the alcoholic episodes and start thinking that it is some sort of shortcut to get to good writing. It is not, no matter how many times you hear it.

Love!

The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes

 I read this for the Barnes since I read "The Sense of an Ending" earlier, and what a marvellous book it is.

It talks about the life of Dmitri Shostakovich a Russian composer who was put out in front of the world as a representative of art and culture on behalf of Stalin's Russia. It goes deep in the thoughts of the artist and how it shifts from being artistic to survivalistic.

There are different ways to look at it and the easiest is to call the people opportunistic. They can be criticised for getting moulded to the external factors and not being true to their art. This sounds moralistic but until you get down to the basic idea of staying alive. Dying for the ideas or not abandoning your ideas sound heroic but is it possible for everyone to do that?

I'm not a connoisseur of music but after reading this book I actually listened to some pieces from Shostakovich, and I couldn't find them to be following any pattern that it might have been pushed into. Maybe I need more ear training and exposure to a much larger repertoire.

Read this one. It is small but gives you some big idea on how not to judge people on their life choices. You are not in those shoes and never going to be because we come with our own shoes.

Peace!

The UnAmericans by Molly Antopol

 If you write well the readers are going to love it. I was never a fan of complications specially when it comes to telling a story.

The one here is so simple and beautiful that you can breeze through them. They are fresh, and all of them leave you with a thought.

I don't have any favourite here as all of them are equally good. Read it for the simplicity of storytelling.

Love

Amnesty by Aravind Adiga

 Why I even picked this one? The answer lies in the second chances.

He lost me on White Tiger but I was still interested in reading one more before I say no more.

So, going forward nothing from Aravind.

This one was equally haphazard and incoherent as the white tiger. Trying to push the pace and pack one day of an illegal immigrant, a murder, a lot of details in 200+ pages and it failed to register anything.

Peace

God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

 I did read the Beloved so this was an easy choice because as a writer there is no comparison for her.

However, what I didn't get was the idea of your childhood defining who you're going to be. I understand that a difficult childhood (specially in dangerous living conditions) can affect your thought process but the whole idea of missing love sounds too romanticised to be true.

This is exactly the case here and it was a difficult for me to connect here. It might not be fair to compare it with a film script but by the end of it this is what it looked like. Not like that film scripts are any less scholarly than any other format but this one failed to make the mark.

I would have skipped this one and picked something else but then I read it all and realised skipping was the better option.

If you're a fan of her writing, skip this one, and maybe pick something else from her writing.

Love

Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy

I am not sure if this is a different way of writing or my brain is wired to avoid over complicated writing.

I read this but don't understand a single character in the whole book. I have read books which have an open ending and they leave you with a thought to ponder. But not this one. It was written all over the places and I couldn't focus on what was told here.

I couldn't connect with the whole Arjun and Karna analogy here.

Maybe not a book for me!

Love

Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif

This is what you call dark comedy.

A lost pilot, a prematured kid and a bunch of misfits in a war torn camp. And, yes, there is a dog with the thoughts of his own.

While reading this one a lot of situations look so comic until you realise that they are sitting in a war zone. War is never a solution and it pushes backs or wipes out the generations.

It is written with all seriousness on a lighter note.

Worth a read!

Love

Maps by Nuruddin Farah

 This is the first one in the trilogy but I'm not sure if I'm going to read the other two.

What I gather is that the whole trilogy is around the people who are searching for an answer to the question "who am I".

For quite some time I used to think that this is more of a thought gymnastic, and I've not changed my thoughts much. I still think that these thoughts are amusing and even entertaining depending on what you're going through in your life but if you look closer these questions sound non-consequential. Which means you're going to answer it as per your current mind set. Most probably your answer will differ (if you're giving it a serious thought) at different point of time. And this is not a bad thing because we are mostly wired to react and not respond.

I'll not be looking for the other two books in the trilogy but if you're looking for a different narrative on life and interested in hearing a different version of somebody's take on life, this might be a bit different in terms of treatment from anything you've read/seen/heard earlier.

Peace

Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story by Bernadette Murphy

All I was looking for was a new take on the events when Van Gogh cut his ear.

But a lot of this book goes into details of how difficult it is to get information around a century old event. I did like some of the information but that was not what it looked like from the title. Another thing, I was not looking for anything sensational.

So, if you already know the story from some good sources (Not Lust for Life) than this one has not much to offer.

Van Gogh was a painter with exceptional talent, and it is well established now that he had the mental health issue. Read this sentence again, I'm not saying he was mad. Unfortunately, the patients didn't get as much care and medical support at that time. And it is a surprise that Van Gogh ended up with such an amazing work even with those health issues.

So, next time when you hear a painter gone mad for Van Gogh, you would better come up with a right answer rather than writing things off.

Love 

Japan: The Paradox of Harmony by Keiko Hirata , Mark Warschauer

I wanted to read Hirohito and the making of modern Japan, but I still have to start it and instead I found this one and thought that this would be a good commentary on the modern Japan.

And yes, this is a real good one covering various topics from culture to economy and aging population. The arguments presented in this book are well backed by research and reasoning. It has been a bit critical to many things which has been traditionally followed in Japan as a culture or tradition, but it is not possible to judge the effect of such things in just one book. It would require more volumes, but this will help you understand the basic issues that Japan is facing, and aging is just one of them.

Another thought was that every society is unique, and the rise of Japan was exceptional after the World War. There are things which look a bit like marching backwards but eventually that can't be the only index, and in that sense a lot of progress which came with discipline, subordination, and longer work hours can be maintained with a fresh approach rather than attributing the slow changes to traditional ways.

Worth a read, and don't expect you to be a specialist in economics, culture, or social sciences. Bonus point, I got to know so many new words in Japanese which might be helpful in further readings.

Peace

Ragnarok The End of the Gods by A S Byatt

I was stuck with a lot of changes recently which doesn't mean less time for reading but less intent of reading. On top it I picked up one which is utter rubbish. I'm still reading it and when I'm finished will post it here.

Meanwhile I picked up another one in parallel and this being rather thinner got completed sooner. I've read a few of them on Norse mythology and I do look forward to read some more on the same topic.

Even with less interest in knowing how it all ends, I did pick this up (yes, I can pick the real ones again). This is about Ragnarok but this comes with a thin little girl who is speaking about Norse gods and Ragnarok in a personal narrative. There were some passages where it sounds more of an autobiography or coming of age but it is less of that.

Raganarok is technically known as an end of Norse gods but if there was an end than they were not god. This is a catch phrase but a closer look does reveal the point that they never claimed to be gods. Maybe with some superpowers but never an inhuman existence. Or you can differ on this point as well.

Coming back to this one, it tries to bring all the stories together and ends on Ragnarok. There are not much details of everything here but that was not the target in the first place. Actually, I'm still struggling with the whole idea behind this book but one thing which I felt was that this is not a book about mythology but a scrutiny of author's own thoughts while growing up with the Norse mythologies. It tries to draw some parallels in the stories and the real life but that doesn't mix well.

Nevertheless, if you're looking for a retelling with more human commentary than this is a real good one.

Love!

 

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

This was not a fan moment or the Nobel aura but I saw this on the isle, and since I already read the other works earlier so this was an easy pick.

I didn't understand what AF (artificial friend) stands for until it was explained later in the book. Same is the case with "lifted". It could've meant anything but here it was for the people whose DNA was altered.

The story is in a dystopian future, and the narrator is a robot Klara (AF) who was bought by a lifted girl. The girl is having some life threatening issues due to the lifting.

Well, the AF is sensitive, and a good observer. Since it takes its power from sun, it believes that sun is the nourisher of the world, and can actually bring the dead to life.

And there is a love angle of dying girl (Josie) and a not lifted boy (Rick). There is a scientific subplot as well but that will be a spoiler.

Nobody can say anything about author's writing style, and this one does a justice to his reputation.

It is very much possible that some readers might find it stretching or boring but I looked at it as a story of life even when death was just around the corner. I was not really looking forward to the end of it (like in case of a detective novel) but for me it could have ended anywhere but still complete.

The larger thought is that with all the scientific advances if we end up somehow preserving the human consciousness than it is not going to make much difference in isolation. We all have a personality/consciousness but this doesn't belong to us only. It is formed by the people and environment around us. You take it away from those people and out of the environment than it is not what it was.

Sounds complicated! But yes worth a read.

Peace!

The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel

This took some time to digest. It does ring a bell but will not say that it echoes my thoughts.

Fairness is an unfair word, and there is nothing like an equal opportunity. But the one thing which was very clear was how the politicians sometimes pick up a wrong tagline, and try to mould everything around it. You can't bend a lot or you will break it.

So, the idea here is that does merit is the new oppressor. It is very much evident that the society claps for the success which actually influence everything to a rat race. If we're going to change how the meritocracy works, the first task would be to change the perception of it. And this is not just for the higher education, where the book starts and ends, but also for all the other criterions of the success.

Maybe the whole idea of doing good in life has to be separated from the money you earn. I'll not go into who should be taxed more or the wage equality but a lot of these ideas need a closer scrutiny before forming any opinions.

Peace

Human Origins by New Scientist

This one is a collection of different experts of evolutionary biology and Anthropologist and Archaeologists.

It is dedicated to the evolution for humans, and tries to explain a lot of points from evolution biology perspective. The one thing it does not do is to try answer everything. In fact, it claims that everything that we know about our evolution is changing fast with all the new evidences, and technical advances that we have made in the last two decades.

This is a well balanced book, and avoid creating any hype around the subject. I remember reading Yuval Noah Harari's books which kind of left me with unease. I'm not saying that they are any less important but Yuval's books go too much into interpretation with an storytelling structure. Which is not a bad thing but the one thing it does is that it dilutes the message of science, and adds more of a fictional record.

Hence, Human Origins has done a better job with not sounding very sensational.

Evolution may be a subject for scientist to find out but it gives us a better perspective of where we come from which I believe will make us appreciate what we've now.

Definitely worth a read, and don't try to memorise all the dates because they are still evolving too :) 

Peace

The Science of Mythology by C.G. Jung, Karl Kerényi

This is a collection of four essays by Jung and Kerényi which put together their thoughts on Mythology and Psychology to establish how the two fields can be analysed from a common point of view.

I didn't buy the title for the first time because it sounds so counterintuitive because there is nothing in mythology which can be called as science. Even the dictionary definition is "a collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition". Which I think is well defined because those myths represent a particular thought or narrative which is more imagined rather than found naturally.

So, the myths are treated like that beautiful story. Any further dissection to find out some hidden meanings are going to remove the essence of why it was created in the first place.

I also don't agree to the point that these myths define human psyche. Myths were a collection of thoughts of a smaller group (myth-makers?) which was adopted by a larger group later by different channels (mostly art - poetry, drama, sculpture, paintings, books etc), and became the part of society. But that doesn't mean that they started having a life of their own. Force fitting some of the psychological conditions with a myth was not the best thing. It actually complicated the things much more with some imaginary accounts and characters.

This one really needs an open mind before you start accepting a lot of things here as normal or logical.

I don't have any expertise on any of these two subjects but defining everything within the two myths of Divine Child and Maiden Goddess may be a good idea for religion but it can't go beyond that.

One thing which I missed badly was a pronunciation of a lot of Greek words here which were given as is.

Love

Babur: Timurid Prince and Mughal Emperor, 1483-1530 by Stephen F. Dale

This one is a short biography of Babur based on his autobiography and the accounts of some of his contemporaries. It does include a larger part from the actual translation of the autobiography.

Being short/concise this does cover most of the aspects of Babur's life in short, and doesn't try to overwhelm the reader with a lot of historical commentary which might not be very useful for a non-academic reader.

I didn't read much about Babur actively earlier, and this was my first book which was dedicated to him only. I never liked the idea of putting the soft side of such raiders like Babur who would just kill a few thousand and go back home writing some poetry or praising natural scenery or building next garden. A common argument is that those were the times of hardship, and it was a dog eats dog world but this is a lame excuse. There were poets, artists, astronomers and what not who were not responsible for mass slaughter, and their work was much superior than anyone else.

His autobiography which is the base for all the myths around him can be really read as a narcissistic account. Here he talks only about himself, and never gives credit to anybody or praises anyone who is better than him. And, yes, most of his biographers end up eating out of his hand. The skull towers get a mention in footnote or a blink-miss but the poetry gets the whole limelight.

After completing it I realised that he was just a person low on self esteem who was always looking for acceptance and approval from others. He was less of a dynastic founder but more of a raider who was interested in anything from a sheep to a gold coin. And his whole idea of being special was that he was related to Genghis Khan which in his opinion gives him the right to greatness.

Worth a read if you're into history.

Peace