Book Reviews

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

read on 2025/04/07 | rating 5 (avg. 4.34)

A descriptive story about Korean women and their family in Japan, Pachinko resembles ‘Wild Swans’ by Jung Chang. It touches all the right sensitive spots to make the reader not only deeply invested in life story of the Korean protagonists, but also draw comparisons to their own life in some aspect or the other.

The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus

read on 2025/03/05 | rating 5 (avg. 4.18)

This essay by Albert Camus captures his entire philosophy of Absurdism. He concludes this essay with an examination of Sisyphus under this philosophy. Its only some 25 pages long but took me more than 2 weeks to get through it. Every sentence is pregnant with meaning and requires not only the readers’ full attention, but also their willingness to participate in a philosophical exercise with oneself.

Yoga and Cardiovascular Management - Prakashanand Saraswati

read on 2025/02/16 | rating 5 (avg. 4.00)

Ever since some blood was found in my cholestrol system, I’ve been genuinely concerned about my ticker. The psychosomatic impact of the report had me scamper to this used books stall for a book or two on how to clean pumps. Naturally I bought this book, for the Bihar School of Yoga is mighty learned.
This book nonchalantly assumes the reader knows her or his pawanmuktasan from their shrav asan. Clearly I didn’t so it was like Morrison and Boyd’s organic chemistry all over again. Why 5 stars you might ask, because there are only so many at my disposal! The language is articulate in a very sophisticated yet simple way. The approach might look pseudo scientific, but I would say it’s probably due to its brevity. If you are in sync with what the book is really telling you, it’s pretty pragmatic like science. A lot of it is selling yog nidra that swami pioneered in, with direct applications for cardiac problems. But the book has an ulterior motive, to elevate the reader into the spiritual plane where they are cognizant of human pathology and physiology as a whole and cardiac or hepatic issues are mere manifestations of an unnatural lifestyle.
Why is this or his other books not printed more than the Bible of why swami didn’t eclipse croesus in disposable income ? Poor marketing. Yoga needs to be rebranded. The Indian govt is doing its bit but the vibe is not right. It’s seen as a thing boomers did to pass time before tiktok. I don’t have a solution, let’s wait for like 2-300 years before it’s rediscovered and rebranded to save the capitalist paradigm.
Feel free to read this book, you will either discover yourself and be enlightened or speed read it and post a silly review.

The Lowland - Jhumpa Lahiri

read on 2025/02/05 | rating 4 (avg. 3.87)

This is only the second book by Jhumpa Lahiri that I am reading, first being The Namesake, and I really love the way her writing makes me “feel”. The Lowland distills one’s emotions in just the right concentration to make one nostalgic over moments that they were never physically part of. The author has a very good grasp on what is remembered and what not over a span of life. I sincerely think she may be a 3000 year old vampire as only that amount of time is fair enough for inculcating such a talent. I’ve no right to review a craft thats been honed for so long, yet, 4-stars because the narrative gets recursive really quick and it loses its freshness after a while. The curse of diminishing returns has blighted the realm of literature!

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein

read on 2025/01/20 | rating 4 (avg. 4.15)

Science fiction is a vital exersize in creativity. It allows us to test our reasoning sans the manifestation. Moon is a harsh mistress belongs to a unique genre, a branch of scifi that will be, despite our wishes, rendered incomprehensible a century later. Footnotes and commentary will surpass the actual content and interpretations will vary. A representive literature of its time, i am glad i not only read it but also enjoyed. My condescending recommendation is please dont try to read it, you are probably not worth it.

The Design of Everyday Things - Donald A. Norman

read on 2024/12/11 | rating 5 (avg. 4.15)

The Design of Everyday Things is the gold standard for Design fundamentals. Products and technology change fast, people not as quick. Despite being written over 30 years ago its aged well, still relevant today.
I found it particularly refreshing as its perhaps first book on design I have read. It quantifies the aspects of design which I considered intuition. This book has gifted me a much needed set of eyes with which to evaulate design of everyday things.
Highly recomended non-fiction book that is not only quite insightful but practical.

Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe

read on 2024/11/17 | rating 3 (avg. 3.51)

The complete title of the book “The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders” sums of rather verbosely that this pretty much is a biography (for it was realeased as a supposed autobiography!). Moll Flanders is set in middle 1600s and provides a pretty good insight into the general life England and newly settled America. What was important, what people ate, what they wore, the sociology of the working class. However the book isn’t a classic for any of the other reasons, Moll Flanders challenges gender roles of 17th centure England, it provides a very personal view of a woman who navigates the social mores and customs of the society while marrying almost 5 times and even “act like they were married” in bed on multiple occasions.
The first half of the book is mostly about her personal life, the latter half is when it gets interesting with her life turning to criminal activities.

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China - Jung Chang

read on 2024/10/06 | rating 5 (avg. 4.29)

‘Wild Swans’ is a very personal and intimate history of a family over three generations, primarily the author her mother and her grandmother. This book happens to be my introduction to the Chinese recent history, something curiously omitted from my academic curriculum. Due to some strange design of my school syllabus I know unnecessary details about Steel industry in Kobe in Japan and Ruhr in West Germany, even scraps about Congo, but all my academic acumen wouldn’t have helped me pin Sichuan on the map, forget Chengdu its capital. Thanks to Wild Swan, not only do I understand the geography of our neighbours better, but also what the people have been through in last 100 years. Calling it medieval doesn’t do justice to describe the inhumane life they lived in contemporary to relatively modern 1960s-70s. It even makes the magnitude at which it operates very impressive. China is an example to study in detail, from politics to economy. We don’t know yet whether it has cast off its medieval armour in terms of society, but the present results are phenomenal. I am very curious to go and visit our neighbours to see this miracle for myself.
I loved the intimate details of their lives and a superb account of their daily lives under the communist and Mao’s regime. I look forward to more books on China to understand the People’s story better!

Life behind the Great Wall - Christopher; Falkus Falkus

read on 2024/09/14 | rating 5 (avg. 3.80)

A graphical insight into the history of China, this book was an excellent introduction to the essence of Chinese culture. It provides a much needed context into the journey of China. It’s surprising how many educated Indian’s can point out Scotland or California on the world map, but somewhat confused on where the much closer regions of Schichuan or Guangzhou are, or even the fact that Shaanxi and Sanxi are two different regions! Geography aside, the knowledge of history of China is deeply disturbing. I believe it could be a great example of how a ritualistic culture can grow to be counter productive to growth as the country. And then, even a bigger lesson in how this very same culture can turn tables and almost dominate the world economy. Much to be learned for me, for some very unfathomable reason I was never taught much about China beyond Confucius and paddy fields in Yunnan.
This book made me visit almost two millennia of Chinese culture without leaving my chair! I am very curious to Chinese history after 1912, for this book abruptly end at this point.

The Flowers of Evil - Charles Baudelaire

read on 2024/09/12 | rating 5 (avg. 4.20)

I can’t put a finger on what circumstances in my childhood made me fall in love with gothic and macabre things, for my favourite poet is Charles Baudelaire. It’s not the first time I finished this book today. But this time its a copy I bought in Paris, and happened to visit Charles Baudelaire’s grave in Montparnasse cemetery. Each poem is a nightmare I am blessed to read.

Silas Marner - George Eliot

read on 2024/09/12 | rating 4 (avg. 3.69)

A fable that will not so much as strike you immediately, but keep coming back to you every now and then all your life. Silas Marner is one of George Elliot’s easier reads and a classic everyone appreciate. The characters of Silas Marner and Eppie are embedded deep inside me, facets of them glinting in people I meet. I quite liked this book.

Gravity’s Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

read on 2024/07/07 | rating 3 (avg. 4.01)

The sheer density had made me abandon this book a few times in the last decade. I finally succeeded this time, ploughing through the initial 100 or so pages to achieve the required mental state to process the chaotic smorgasbord of technology, philosophy, science, history, and of course perversion, drug abuse, absurd fetishes, among other undefinable subjects. It’s a work of art you have to be ready for, you can’t just ‘read this book’ and enjoy it too.
The narrative is chaotic, quite often diverging long discourses on orthogonal topics (which were almost always entertaining). As an engineering student I did get many technology references, but I am afraid not everything made sense. Published in 1973, a lot of context has dissolved in obsolescence, so its natural you don’t understand half the references. Fortunately, having visited Berlin and Munich earlier this year, I was surprised by how much more engaging the book became once I related to the different places mentioned in the book.
Anyway, I wouldn’t recommend this book to just anyone. It’s probably the hardest book I have finished reading. It took me over a year and a half, reading it on and off between other books.

Life on the Home Front - Tim Healey

read on 2024/06/29 | rating 5 (avg. 3.87)

While most of us aware of the political hostory of the WW2, seldom do we find a book dedicated to how life was actually like for the 90+% civilians not directly involved in the war. For every man or woman on the war front their was a mother, a father, siblings and relatives at home. This book is their story. Illustrated with actual photographs and anecdotes, its very much in league with Diary of a young girl or WW2 movies or any other art at depicting the real life. A life of perpetual shortage and uncertainity, fear of losing a loved one, or eveything! They were testing times and this book is a good account of what humans do during testing times. Loved it.

The Persians - Aeschylus

read on 2017/11/01 | rating 3 (avg. 3.60)

Its always refreshing to read a fossilized classic like this. Lamentations aside, this tragedy is peculiar in the sense that though its written by the victors (Aeschylus himself had fought the Persians at marathon), its entirely from the Persians point of view. A tragedy from the losers point of view written by the victors !
What I enjoy the most about such classics is about the society and its priorities that reflected in the language, in the very words they choose to use to describe otherwise ordinary situations. In this play I lost the track of how many times Persian women and their marriage-beds are mentioned, and how they are void of their men. Either Persians were real hotties or Aeschylus had some serious hots for them .. OR .. not so different from modern day movies .. perversion sells. They are outright described as vulptous in one ‘lamentation’.
I observe that many classics have taken bits and pieces from here and I particularly liked this one quote by Darius’s ghost (yup, ghost .. Greeks like it spooky) : “Give yourself some pleasures everyday since wealth is of no use at all if you are dead”. Words from a dead man so I have complete faith in its validity. Underlined and bookmarked.
Pardon the parsimony surrounding my ratings .. I used to be a generous man … used to

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way - Bill Bryson

read on 2024/03/17 | rating 5 (avg. 3.91)

Hilarious and Thought provoking at the same time, Bill Bryson’s “The Mother Tonuge” does what most books on linguistics fail at; entertain the reader! I have always been fond of Bill’s way with English and when i discovered that he had written a book on that exact matter, I read it right away.
Well researched and full of examples, the book is a good collectible. I loved how he didn’t care to conceal any explicit content in the ‘Swearing’ chapter. While entertaining this book does give a rare perspective on the quagmire we know as the English language, specially on “How it got that way”, something I have rarely found myself pondering over.
I have seldom chuckled while reading books, but man this had me giggling even hours later. The chapter on Wordplay was my favourite! Highly recommended for all fans of Bryson, and any linguistics buffs out there.

The House of the Dead - Fyodor Dostoevsky

read on 2024/02/10 | rating 0 (avg. 4.06)

A pragmatic account of life in a Siberian prison, Dostoevsky heavily borrows from him own experiences. Characters can be analysed in surprising depth under such extreme confinements. Priorities and innermost insecurities are revealed and a convict’s life soon becomes a reality in their life, even normalized. True challenge if and when they are released into a world very different from what they have ever known.
No flowery language or inspirational excerpts appear in this book, neither is there any description of morbid punishments or acts of depravity. Its a fairly rational account of what life was really like in a prison. It’s amusing how I can relate to some of the experiences mentioned in the book to my own 8 years of ‘incarceration’ at a boarding school .. and making me feel less embarrassed about the pet lady bird when i was eight :-)

An Explorer’s Adventures in Tibet - Arnold Henry Savage Landor

read on 2023/12/18 | rating 3 (avg. 3.90)

Keeping in context that this book was authored in late 1800s, Arnold Landor’s account of his adventure in Tibet is coloured with white supremacy. However, it is approximately honest in chronically assessing the events that transpired in his excursion in 1897 into the forbidden kingdom of Tibet (via Maium Pass). One has to also trust British India’s enquiry into the incident by J. LARKIN to backup Landor’s story. Tibetan’s are primarily described as poor and in a state of perpetual wanting. Corruption is rampant. Landor’s account shows him as a hero, saviour of his hindoo bearers Chanden singh and Man singh, which are also shown to display exceptional qualities. Regardless, his observations have an honest tone.
This book is a refreshing read, a time machine into himalayan adventures over a 100 years ago.

Down Under - Bill Bryson

read on 2023/12/15 | rating 4 (avg. 4.08)

Bill Bryson seldom likes anything, but his way with words lets him belittle places and people while praising them intimately. His humour is of exceptional quality, peak british and cocky american.
Down under takes the reader to all big habitations of the continent, delving in history, politics and sociology in an entertaining way. It feels i have visited the vast continent without leaving my chair!

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson

read on 2023/10/27 | rating 5 (avg. 3.93)

Hilarious at his worst, Bill Bryson is a delightful blend of british humor and american morals. Having read a couple of his other books, The life and times of the thunderbolt kid gives a intimate insight into characters that interleave his books. A grounded description of 50s and 60s America made me nostalgic for a time I never knew. I highly recommend this for all Bryson fans and haters alike, his play with words is a spectacle worth witnessing.

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail - Bill Bryson

read on 2023/06/26 | rating 5 (avg. 4.07)

Bill Bryson has his way with words that make the book appealing, no matter the content. His description of the AT trail might not be as vivid or as professional works on this topic, but his personal account is deeply intimate yet quite light hearted and more often than not, humorous. I certainly look forward to reading the stack of Bill Bryson paperbacks my storage trunk regurgitated last weekend.

Notes from a Big Country - Bill Bryson

read on 2023/03/27 | rating 4 (avg. 3.90)

British cynicism applied to american lifestyle (90’s, but still relevant). Bill Bryson’s works are something I choose for casual travel read, some light company compared to an engaging narrative of a fiction. Bryson can be trusted for some light banter, never disappointing.

Tales from Yerwada Jail: Translated from the Sindhi Yerwada jaila jyu kahaniyoon (1999) - Rita Shahani

read on 2023/03/12 | rating 2 (avg. 2.71)

The title is a bit misleading, this book only uses Yerwada Jail as an introduction to Vishnu Sahani’s personal account of the struggle for independence. So be cognizant of the fact that it is a singular, mostly sentimental, account of Vishnu Sahani, the Sindi’s and thier contribution to India’s struggle for independence, as retold by his wife, Rita Sahani. A bit of a mistake on my part as I did not read the back cover in its entirety when purchasing the book, there is no particular incident involving Yerwada except for Vishnu and his fathers brief incarceration during the struggle for independence. I appreciate the account highlighting Sindhi’s and their personal stories during the partition, but of Yerwada Jail there is nothing of significance in this book.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

read on 2023/03/11 | rating 5 (avg. 4.39)

Well, I happen to be a certified book thief myself (Yellow Card, April 2004), so reading this book was only a matter of respect and validation. There are very few books you KNOW you are going to love even before you read them, this book is one of those. I wished to read it for many years but never had the opportunity, but last week I had both the time and opportunity to borrow it last week, without the owner’s permission but that’s a different matter.
I loved the book, I knew I would, so I will not sit here to convince you that I really loved the book I very well knew I was going to love. It’s similar to All the Light We Cannot See, but better. I liked that one a lot too. Such books help me taste real misery, remorse, war, poverty, struggle etc. which tend to these days completely ignore an urban middle class adult in most parts of the world. I love the style of narration, how honest and pragmatic it is when talking of so emotional topics. The story almost goes meta in the end when the protagonist is described as writing the very same book. Very impressive. Loved the movie too.

Politics: A Treatise on Government - Aristotle

read on 2023/03/02 | rating 4 (avg. 3.98)

It’s upon visiting such classics that we realise how limited our thoughts are. Aristotle’s Politics discusses forms of governments very honestly, taking examples of city states from his time. He covers various types of oligarchies and democracies, detailing benefits and harms minutely. What I found particularly appealing about this almost 2400 year old book is how it has the liberty to discuss such a fundamental concept. A book like this today can only manifest itself in the form of fiction books with alternate realities and universes. We are conditioned to think about system of governments in very broad terms .. monarchies, democracies, communist regimes, dictatorships etc. But we are not brave enough to question fundamentals of each. In certain circumstances an oligarchy or dictatorships can actually be more helpful ! Examples tell us otherwise so we don’t dare inspect deeper. I think we have completely let go of our power to imagine what we feel is right rather just copy paste a system of government that has been known to work. I personally believe we have not experimented with enough forms of government, we just settled for something mediocre. In fact Aristotle himself is popularly known to have believed that democracy wasn’t the best but rather least worst form of government. But then I also believe that good we settled soon on something that works, even if mediocre. Individual life is too precious to waste on ‘experimenting’ ! Now that we have AI may be we can let them run amok on isolated servers and see what they figure out after an equivalent of a billion years. I won’t entirely be surprised if it enters a recursive loop of sorts.

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

read on 2022/12/24 | rating 2 (avg. 3.81)

The large cast leads to superficial character development, and needs a sincere read to appreciate the subtle inter personal tensions that this book explores. Was a tough read for me and I confess, at times very boring as I failed to fathom the deeper undercurrents of the narrative. I probably need to revisit this when I am 40 (i know it’s ironic, this book is my personal lighthouse i suppose)

Cakes and Ale - W. Somerset Maugham

read on 2022/12/24 | rating 4 (avg. 3.78)

Nostalgia in sensuality, Maugham does this exceptionally well. Characters are memorable and at times even relatable. Highly recommended for a weekend read.

Competitive Programmer’s Handbook - Antti Laaksenon

read on 2022/11/28 | rating 4 (avg. 3.92)

Fairly concise and yet quick to cover niche topics as well. A good manual to begin with, but its the grind that’s going to see you through when you need to perform under stress.

Do Epic Shit - Ankur Warikoo

read on 2022/10/23 | rating 1 (avg. 3.74)

Less of a book, more of self-help instagram posts printed out and bound into a book, complete with eye popping large font and no coherent links between topics. I suspect that a fraction of young readers might feel a hint of inspiration, so its not entirely a futile effort if it helps but one person in this world. I get the inspiration Warikoo is trying to get across, but a lack of sincerity makes it hard to take any of it seriously. Personally, I am devastated by waste of such good quality paper (certainly above 80 gsm).

Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained - Lao Tzu

read on 2022/10/15 | rating 3 (avg. 4.29)

Distilled wisdom in its simplest form. So simple you might feel helpless without annotations. Yes it helps that it was written over 2400 years ago in ancient China where human lives had not yet become complicated, but this is an insignificant time for humans to evolve socially so much of what this book talks about can be related in some for or another. We have not magically evolved into a supreme conscious being, we still have the same problems we did then, in principle at least. Tao is not a religion, it claims that itself. To put it simply it is a way of experiencing the world around you, a way of life. No wonder you come across books like ‘Tao of Physics’ and ‘Tao of Pooh’ etc. Everything can have an interpretation as per Tao. I personally resonate with its zen like principles more than any spiritual school of thought. Being ancient, it does need some creativity to scale to the modern sociology. Fundamentals remain same, but its hard to put into practice the teachings of Tao Te Ching as it is. I read this heavily annotated version (the work by itself is too simple and borrows heavily from ancient Chinese customs and symbolism). There are also multiple translations, but this one I read was very satisfactory in my opinion.

Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse

read on 2022/09/19 | rating 4 (avg. 4.08)

I had to re-read it after a gap of ten years because one day in a conversation I realized my memory of the book was entirely different from what I had actually read. I was recalling my own version of Siddhartha rather than what Herman Hesse had composed. Somewhere down the line I even reiterated original thoughts from this book as my own, things had got that bad ! So here I am rereading a book, something I seldom do. Regardless, it was a different experience considering I am a different person than I was 10 years ago. ‘Siddhartha’ is a take on oriental thought with an occidental flavour. Herman Hesse is lucid in his narrative, crisp in delivery of his ideas. A short read, and a good use of spare time.

The Nigger of the Narcissus - Joseph Conrad

read on 2022/09/10 | rating 3 (avg. 3.66)

A very descriptive maritime novel. The Nigger of Narcissus is often considered Conrad’s best work from his early years. The seafaring life is very well described, specially the bonds the shipmates shared. I consider this book an excellent candidate for junior /high school English reading; Great language and characterization and a meaningful plot with beautiful imagery. Perhaps it’s the N word in the title that makes it an uncomfortable addition to a curriculum, but one can adopt one of the many alternate titles since Nigger here is used in literal sense to indicate a certain black man called James Wait from the West Indies, the word holding no significance beyond that.

The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel

read on 2022/09/09 | rating 5 (avg. 4.29)

This book deserves its popularity. Among the most compelling reads I’ve read so far. “The Psychology of Money” lays bare the truth behind intuition regarding money, how personal it is and how unpredictable. The language is the book’s single most appealing point. Simple and captivating, Morgan has mixed plenty on anecdotes to make the statistics digestible, something Kahneman didn’t do as well in “Thinking Fast and Slow”.
This is one book I would highly recommend to everyone. The ideal time would’ve been when you are early in your career and fortunate enough to invest some of your income. I wish I had read it earlier, I would’ve invested in Index funds a lot sooner for sure ! It’s interesting to find out how I have let my meagre experience with money define the entire narrative I tell myself on how money works, and believe me, you’ve done this too.

Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship - Robert C. Martin

read on 2022/09/06 | rating 3 (avg. 4.37)

Thumb rules of programming which can seem a bit arbitrary at first, but with experience one will realize consistency is more important than which particular paradigm you subscribe too. Some methods have proven benefits in some tech stacks while others are known to be suboptimal, you have to take a call and stick to it. ‘Clean Code’ stresses on discipline to adhere to your set of thumb rules.
The practical examples are exclusively from Java but that doesn’t matter, the core message translates to all languages.
The topics covered and understandable for even a beginner, but I would not recommend this to them yet. This book is optimal for folks early in their career who have written or seen their fare of bad code. This book needs you to realize the significance of the practices it implores one to adopt, which can only come with a little bit of experience in the wild.

The Art of War - Sun Tzu

read on 2022/08/30 | rating 2 (avg. 3.95)

The fundamentals of war never change. However, this book has not aged well into modern warfare where numerical strength doesn’t matter and significance of information is paramount. The significance of this work will only regain its importance in post nuclear war when humans are back to sticks and stones as primary weapons of violence. Some of the wisdom translates directly into management and administration, so that’s something worth reading about in the 21st century.

Tomb of Sand - Geetanjali Shree

read on 2022/08/26 | rating 4 (avg. 3.68)

A beautiful exercise in magic realism, Shree’s (and Daisy’s) playfulness with hinglish onomatopoeia is something refreshing and unique about this book. Trading lucidity with fluid commentary, The Tomb of Sand is very poetic, painting a very colorful picture of Delhi, Punjab and Pakistan. So rich in metaphors and visuals, there was not one moment in the book where the reader will not reread to admire the beauty of Shree’s words. Slow, this book isn’t fast, yet never boring. To enjoy this book in its entirely, you have to commit a good deal of time to it. You can’t rush the beautiful. It helps if you are from South Asia, for there are too many references to Cricket, Bollywood and local cuisine etc. that is very difficult for an outsider to grasp and almost impossible to appreciate.

The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran

read on 2022/08/20 | rating 3 (avg. 4.23)

Crisp and compartmentalised wisdom with a liberal use of metaphors. The topics cover high level concerns in life, and The Prophet wastes no time fabricating an elaborate story to make its point. Great short book for anyone sincere enough to read for spiritualistic pleasure but not enough time.

The Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason

read on 2022/08/15 | rating 4 (avg. 4.23)

In antiquity, handling one’s debts played a major role in one’s financial well being. “Richest Man in Babylon” brings practical knowledge in that domain with anecdotes from Ancient Mesopotamia and Syria. Surprisingly, something so fundamental is for some reason is still not taught in schools.
Besides the practical tips, the stories also illustrate how money still has the same impact on man as it did then. From cowrie shells and gold coins to credit cards and online wallets, our spending habits and intuition around money is still the same. The book also makes a point to differentiate between hard-work and accumulating wealth, for the latter is not always the given consequence of the former. You only need to see the people with obscene wealth to realize that !

The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff

read on 2022/07/31 | rating 5 (avg. 4.01)

“The Tao of Pooh” derives its sophistication from its child like simplicity. Well, it’s a book for kids so it only makes sense, but anyway, very lucid. It does a beautiful job at un-abstracting philosophy of Taoism with examples from Winnie the Pooh series to illustrate its primary themes. I loved Piglet and Tigger and Pooh and Eeyore as a kid, so it was a delight to come across this book, mixing my recent inclination to philosophy to my persistent love for children’s cartoons (the Hanna-Barbera type). Believe me, I have my own personal philosophical notes from Spongebob Squarepants and Courage the Cowardly Dog, so I genuinely appreciate how Pooh has been used to demonstrate a facet of eastern philosophy which is otherwise easy to obfuscate and make esoteric.
The book is for children but i sincerely doubt I would have appreciated this book as a child. Regardless this is an excellent introduction, for 8+ year olds I’d say, the absolute minimum, to get started in Taoist philosophy. Compared to “sour” Confucius and “bitter” Buddha, I find the simplicity of Taoism the most appealing. My haphazard pursuit into philosophical texts has put me at a certain vantage points to come to a conclusion that it is Taoism that alone is sustainable and harmonious with long term benefits. At places my weakness makes me seek a compromise in some of its principles, but my gut feeling tells me the path is here. Like Vinci said “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.
While we are here, I think “Bitter Buddha” sounds like an excellent name for a drink, something like a Mint Julep with a hint of Coffee. Not a good drink, I agree, but an excellent name regardless. Perfect to remind you of the cycle of suffering and death, and the mintiness to remind you of your fragile existence and mortality. I’d drink it on Mondays, preferably before 6pm as I am oversensitive to caffeine even in trace amounts.

Annihilation of Caste - B.R. Ambedkar

read on 2022/07/29 | rating 4 (avg. 4.61)

A thorough and unapologetic examination of the Hindu Caste system, by none other than economist, professor, lawyer, reformer, anthropologist and writer; BR Ambedkar. This straight-to-the-point delivery was too vitriolic for the times and he was prevented from delivering it at Lahore. However, he got it printed at his own expense (and for some reason Gandhi was touchy that it was priced 8 annas instead of 2-4 annas that he would have preferred). I do not completely agree with Gandhi in his indictment against BR Ambedkar’s writing. Ambedkar’s insight into the comparison of social and political reformation in India is really well researched and is almost as relevant as it was in 1930s. There have been improvements but not as radical as he had idealized. What this work taught me is to have the audacity to examine the things we consider unquestionable, to identify problems that we fail to acknowledge, and to have the courage to seek reform.
I always wondered why Ambedkar Jayanti is so enthusiastically celebrated in the chawls, and now I think I understand how important he is to the underprivileged in India. His teaching has seen a mutation in each generation and place, but his motivation remains clear today as they were then.

A Modest Proposal - Jonathan Swift

read on 2022/07/23 | rating 5 (avg. 4.02)

Jonathan Swift has a radical solution to end world hunger and poverty; feed the poor people to hungry people. Yeah this is a satire but I didnt know that when I started. I was actually caught up in his articulate expressions for solving a public crisis, a pedantic rigmarole of the most sincere type. Splendid short story.

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

read on 2022/07/23 | rating 4 (avg. 4.14)

Nothing makes one perceive time better than reminiscence, and for a long time I was of the opinion that it is practically impossible to miss a place and time you have never inhabited. This books proved me wrong. Ishiguro storytelling is finely crafted to insinuate the reader with fragments of almost 30 years of personal experiences of a post WWI butler in rural England. I’ve never known England, and neither have I been a witness to the 1920s or the 1930s. Yet there is something I remotely reminiscence through a honorable 50 year old butler. Perhaps what appeals to me is how the tokens of his reflections easily translate to counterparts in any one’s life. Often its trivial memories that he recalls in his older years, and I too have non-essential memories from my own that for some unfathomable reason never wish to leave me.
This book will probably be more appreciated if you have put some years to your life, then after having read it you will feel you’ve lived another.

Quantum Computing Since Democritus - Scott Aaronson

read on 2022/07/08 | rating 4 (avg. 4.15)

Spanning over Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, this book is an excellent overview of the computing complexity as it is understood today. It starts like any other popular science book, with the historical and philosophical background for a complete perspective. It then introduces fairly simple undergraduate topics but very soon catapults into the quagmire of theoretical complexity classes and quantum mechanics. Every conjecture or proof is provided a link that the reader can visit to read more upon. Simpler derivations are left to the “non-lazy” reader. Penrose like Lucid conjectures are not entertained, only proofs and sincere effort of pure theoretical rigour of complexity theory. Add some randomness and dimensions to P and NP and we have so many more complexity classes that English grammar has no longer Alphabets for. AM, BQP, BQP(CTC), PostBQP, BPP, PostBPP, BPPpath, PPQ, CMA, AC, AC0, AM, QAM, QIP, QMA, QMAM, the list is just endless. Its like for every paper collapsing two classes together, there are 10 introducing new complexity classes, scaring the delicate physicist with subscripts and postscripts to classes they are already confused about. One has to admire Aaronson for sticking to the theoretical rigours in his popular science book. To be honest the latter portions of the book were way too technical for casual reading, I got the gist but I will not be able to explain if your cocktail-napkin-algorithm is in Bounded-Error Quantum Polynomial class.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche

read on 2022/06/28 | rating 2 (avg. 4.07)

Supremely dense. I took over an year to read this one book, for it’s archaic prose wouldn’t allow me read more than a 2-3 pages at a go. Nietzsche’s perspective is Euro centric, despite using the main prophet of Zoroastrianism to articulate his philosophy. All themes primarily deal with Abrahamanic faiths. Devoid of logic, as a philosophical text might demand, I felt almost entire discourse is like a sermon from a higher ground. Replete with an excess of exclamation marks, ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ did not give me an opportunity to think for myself, rather it shoves down the throat of the reader what all is wrong with humanity and it’s overcoming by being a superior being. It does not propose how one might practically overcome our flaws as a society, rather he asks us to step over and realize our individual potential (which is of course what the capitalist society welcomes). Only a maniac seeking a society for supremacists would find an iota of logic in this book.

The Problems of Philosophy - Bertrand Russell

read on 2022/05/09 | rating 5 (avg. 3.90)

A modest introduction to the fundamentals of philosophy. Despite being written just over a a 100 years ago, it captures the essence of questions raised in philosophy. All sciences today are specializations of questions that were once raised under the dominion of philosophy. Bertrand refers to the basic theories since Plato that have got us where we are today. Besides knowing the history, its equally important we continue to be curious at a fundamental level, and this book helps one cultivate it again that we once have lost in childhood. What was once obvious has probably been proved otherwise today, facts change ! Question the facts you hold dear and attempt to prove them false, and if you get (un)lucky, you are in for a surprise how two mutually inconsistent set of rules can satisfy a single hypothesis.

Funeral Nights - Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih

read on 2022/05/02 | rating 4 (avg. 4.09)

It’s huge. 1000 pages render an encyclopedia like undeniable depth to Funeral Nights. To put it ‘simply’, it is an assortment of anecdotes, facts, folklore, history, geography, civics, culture, etymology, sociology and linguistics of Khasi culture, and of course, a lot about “Kyiad” (Alcohol), “Khalai” (Gambling) & “Kynthei” (Women), the three vices of the Khasis, narrated with an uncomfortable amount of scatological humor. Woven together with a contemporary storyline where a group of friends visit an elaborate traditional funeral ceremony ‘Ka Phor Sorat’ spanning 10 days (inspired by one such ceremony that was recorded in Feb 1992 at Nongshyrkon). They stay up late all 10 nights narrating everything there is to know about the Khasi culture. One would imagine a 1000 page tome to lose focus at times and talk about irrelevant topics, but not here. Kynpham ensures all 1000 pages of the book are singularly focused on Meghalaya, never going beyond Kamrup in the north and Sylhet in the south. I think I would have to write a small book of my own just to list the subjects in this book.
An engrossing novel since the entire book is mostly story telling so in a conversation format. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to know everything there is know about the people of Meghalaya.

The Body: A Guide for Occupants - Bill Bryson

read on 2022/04/21 | rating 5 (avg. 4.32)

It is never too late to learn things you think you know about your body. Be particle physics or physiology, the things we don’t know persistently outpace the things that we know. Discovery after discovery edging towards a precipice over a bottomless abyss. Some muster courage to take the plunge and pursue research and a doctorate, but most satisfy themselves with approximate knowledge of many things. My predilection to take a bite from every dish in the buffet is in line with latter school of inquisitiveness.

Bill gently explains in this book how medical science is still in its embryonic phase. There is quite a lot of knowledge we have acquired, very painfully and patiently, and oftentimes accidently, in the last 100 or so years. But its paltry compared to how much we don’t know. It’s astonishing how recent some medical practices are and how hopeless mortality rates were just a few decades back.
There is also an unsaid fact in the book, in my opinion, on how humans lifespan today is more than what ae bodies have evolved for. To make matters more difficult, a maximum of 10 or so generations have passed since the industrial revolution, which is not enough for evolution to adjust us to our new lifestyles. Quite a few modern old age diseases are non negotiable since we just aren’t designed to live this long. Another scary fact Bill highlights is how this will impact retirement. The number of years the elderly are living is increasing due to improved healthcare, but the number of years they are part of the workforce is constant. Its exceedingly becoming difficult and uncertain to fund 35 years of your retirement with just 40 years of working actively.
The book celebrates the works of great men and their research that went into medical science. Its emphasizes in detail how personally invested and passionate they were in their work. Often, actually almost always, putting their personal lives at risk.
Loved the perspective this book gives on the state of medicine today. All the more relatable as I am reading this book through a global pandemic.

The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield - Katherine Mansfield

read on 2022/03/11 | rating 4 (avg. 4.14)

I hope you read this book in spring weather, preferably in the early morning or late afternoon (the latter if you ask me). Also, do not read it too early in your life. Mansfield has created magic with words and you have to make sure you are ready for it. The visuals are only appealing if you understand the depth in her words, in her characters. The stories focus more on feelings than on a compelling narrative. Some subtle shades of agony and violation, but in general a sense of satiety and societal wellbeing. If you didn’t like her stories i would say you were not ready for them.

INSECTS - M S Mani

read on 2022/01/13 | rating 4 (avg. 4.00)

One needs to just sincerely observe to conclude that the truly dominant order on Earth is that of insects. Creepy, crawlies, and the occasional cuties, over past 400 million years have inhabited remote corners of the planet in trillions. Humans haven’t even begun to comprehend the diversity. With specialised anatomy and life cycle patterns, insects have adapted to unimaginable living conditions. Unlike humans, who can withstand only a narrow range of atmospheric conditions, insects have actually evolved and moulded themselves to the conditions that they inhabit.
With no natural predators, humans have successfully stepped out of the food chain ! Remember the last time this happened in the history of the universe ? Yep, me neither. Cockroaches and the mosquitoes will continue to thrive till long after the hairless apes go silly and wipe themselves out. To an alien observer (which i am not, I asked my mum), insects are the true conquerers of life. They breed in trillions so that a million survive. No human craft can compete with the exquisite craftsmanship of their anatomy, evolved over millions of years. It’s a humbling experience to read about these creatures, their bravery and their misery. Their maternal instinct puts the emotional depth of humans to shame. Ever since reading this book i am finding myself always staring in dark corners and damp ground or under leaves and under grass for pupae, larvae and other fascinating things that I got introduced too. Insects are cool !

Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

read on 2022/01/07 | rating 5 (avg. 4.51)

If anything comes close to instruction manual on raising a child, this is it. Adichie’s anecdotes may be from Nigeria but the message is universally applicable. She makes one realize how equally depraved all societies have become, and proposes suggestions for a better society. Adichie’s gentle articulation makes this an emotionally appealing letter to young parents.
Every few years I come across a gem of a book, this is one such I will remember forever. If you are expecting or just had a kid, do your child and yourself a favour and read this short book.

Discourses and Selected Writings - Epictetus

read on 2022/01/06 | rating 3 (avg. 4.41)

Together with Marcus Aurelius’ ‘Meditations’ and Seneca’s ‘Letters’, Epictetus completes the trilogy of stoic literature. A lot of his wisdom comes from his years as a roman slave. He isn’t very dogmatic about his ideas and it takes the readers some thinking of their own to digest his discourses.
Often choosing examples more relatable to Rome of two thousand year old, Epictetus is not a peddler of quotations but ideas and wisdom.

Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich Nietzsche

read on 2021/12/19 | rating 2 (avg. 4.03)

Intensely dense, this is not the usual book in philosophy. Ideas are often presented in very convoluted articulation. Despite being a collection of small bite size snippets, each such snippet is more like a gravel to gnaw upon. It just took me under 15 months to plough through 200 or so pages. Unfortunately it lacks universality and is tersely focussed on European idea of ethics and morality. To make it further unpalatable, Nietzsche’s tone is very arrogant as if his word is the final word in philosophy !

Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life of an Actor - Kabir Bedi

read on 2021/12/06 | rating 3 (avg. 3.87)

An intimate account of everyone and everything thing that touched Kabir Bedi on a personal level. Reminiscent of his stardom in the 70s, india and abroad. The bits about the story of him mother and father were a revelation, surpassing in impact his own story in a way. The book also gives us a detailed account of his troubled relationships with Protima and Praveen Babi. Reading this story was my mark of respect to the only celebrity I have shaken hands with !

The End of Nana Sahib: The Steam House - Jules Verne

read on 2021/12/02 | rating 3 (avg. 3.57)

Steampunk science fiction written by Jules Verne in the aftermath of 1857 British-Indian revolt, must I say more ? This book describes in significant detail the late 19th century British-India. A lot of it would be difficult to interpret for a regular western bookworm, which explains why I had not heard of this book until I chanced upon a copy in a local bookshop. ‘The Steam House’, also sold as ‘The End of Nana Saheb’ in India, is a classic Victorian adventure story set in British India. The plot is weak, but the details of places and Hindoo traditions has remarkable depth. The story unfolds across entire indian subcontinent. One from Calcutta to Moorshidad, Gaya, Patna, Sasaram, Gazipore, Benares, Allahabad, Lucknow (Oudh Kingdom), Cawnpore, Bareilly (Rohillkand), right upto the foothills of Dhaulagiri in Nepaul !!
The Nana Saheb story unfolds in the deccan around Bheels and Konds around Nagpaur, Punnah, among Satpooras and Vindhyas hills, its a fascinating tale of 19th century imagination.
This is a geography and history book first, a story book later. I loved the ideas and traces of interesting plots but fails to put it together for some compelling story telling.
Regardless, adventure stories by Jules Verne are original fictions a mind can imagine.

The Poison Belt (Professor Challenger, #2) - Arthur Conan Doyle

read on 2021/09/23 | rating 1 (avg. 3.49)

The most dramatic aspect of this story was the energetic dialog between the main characters, dribbling with unwanted urgency. In contrast, the primary storyline is very plain. Its difficult for the reader to share the same enthusiasm as them. Reading over a century after it was written, the science is archaic and closer to fantasy (as on 07:04:33 UTC Friday, 24 September 2021). I would hopefully save you some loss of respect for Sir Arthur Conon Doyle by suggesting you skip reading this story.

The Theory of Interstellar Trade - Paul Krugman

read on 2021/09/21 | rating 2 (avg. 4.22)

Best described in the author’s own words “a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course what is the usual in economics”. The application may be too far into the future, but this does not limit Krugman to apply modern trade economics to something as hypothetical as Interstellar trade.
The special and general theory of relatively is applied on the study of interest rate on goods sold between two distant planets in the same inertial frame. More assumptions are made to simplify the equations even further. Finally two theorems are concluded, useless at present but technically valid.

Letters from a Stoic - Seneca

read on 2021/09/20 | rating 5 (avg. 4.34)

Fermented with discourses on virtue and vices, Seneca’s letters to Lucilius is the basic substance of the stoic gruel. Concise and deep, like zen kaons at times, diverse topic are touched upon and the edition I read has titled all letters appropriately, rendering the collection a useful reference book. Together with Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, the stoic gang is complete. I could go on indirectly patting myself to have read and understood the great works, but from what I have learned, I must stop drinking from the fountain and continue my journey. Reading gets you started, but cultivating the wisdom is what the actual contract is about.
I have happened to germinate just enough of wisdom to recognize that Seneca died over 2000 years ago, and times have changed a bit since then. His discourse is primarily targets the wealthy educated elites of the roman politics. His reasoning is sound but limited to being practical mostly by the rich and influential. Its good fundamentals, but stoicism needs a revision to be practical for different socio-economic backgrounds today.
Statesman, Philosopher, Bad Ass. I don’t think Seneca has ever failed to impress any reader by the way he signs all his letters.
Farewell.

Life at the dawn of the 20th Century (Journeys into the past) - James Cochrane

read on 2021/07/30 | rating 5 (avg. 4.00)

Like the other works in this series, ‘Life at the dawn of 20th century’ gives a much needed perspective of how things were, how things are and how things will be. The social and technological scene in the ‘la belle epoche’ (1890-1914) was astonishingly similar to early 21st in the impact it had on social life.
We know New York is the city of sky scrapers but rarely we question why that particular place. Motion pictures are ubiquitous now, but imagine the astonishment and amusement of the public in 1902 on seeing a 12 minute (the longest then) movie ‘The train robbery’.
Book has amazing illustrations ! Interesting facts on each page. Did you know Toblerone was the first patented chocolate and it was signed by Albert Einstein ! (When he was a patent clerk).
These are the kind of coffee table books that you never wish to let go off.

Les Misérables - Victor Hugo

read on 2021/07/12 | rating 5 (avg. 4.21)

I read the abridged version of course. The original showed up as a 3000 page monolith on my phone, I didn’t have the courage. But I must confess, I now wished I had read the unabridged version, spending months cherishing the unadulterated classic what otherwise I chose to gulp in three days.
I read the Norman Denny translation, which I believe was a good choice. The dialogues are not as anachronistic, rather easy to comprehend throughout the book.
Fantine and Cosette, the first two books, are my favourite. Jean ValJean is without a doubt among the most memorable characters from 19th century literature. Together with Javert, their chemistry is a thing countless movies, plays and novels have tried to imitate. Overall a melancholic and sad book, with sparks of courage, hope and love. I was enthusiastic to see what movies were made on this brilliant book and was quite surprised to find a musical ! Of all things I did not expect that. I honestly believe it robbed it of the raw sadness so inherent in the story. I saw bits of the movie and did not relate to the book at all, completely different experience with not a bit of emotional familiarity.

The Religion of Ancient Egypt - William Matthew Flinders Petrie

read on 2021/07/09 | rating 5 (avg. 3.61)

A concise introduction to fundamental Egyptian theology. There is history, but this is prehistory.
Ancient Egypt is unarguably the cradle of all modern civilisations. Religion was a fundamental fact in all aspects of life, not just from the cradle to the grave, but even beyond !
Study of religion is to study the evolution of the human psyche. Which is pretty damn interesting. Many beliefs and traditions have their origins in 6000BC beliefs when humans had just started settling down and farming. Egyptian civilisation spans an enormous span of time. Segmented into dynasties, it’s possible to track how beliefs and religion evolved over 4000 years, and how modern religions came out to be.
This book talks about beliefs that were already ancient to people we consider ancient. Well, like an analogy goes, In time cleopatra is closer to the moon landing than to the time the great pyramids were built. This stuff is old. It’s mind boggling to imagine Egyptian beliefs in preislamic Arabia and preroman or prehellenic Europe.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin

read on 2021/07/06 | rating 3 (avg. 3.86)

A highly practical man, Benjamin Franklin’s popular autobiography is completely worth it’s popularity. An inventor, philosopher, statesman, author … the roles he excelled at doesn’t seem to end. His book gives a glimpses of an early life that made him such an influential person. Anecdotes that defined and tested his character, experiences that shaped his morals. He doesn’t get very preachy but does concisely touch upon principles he held dear and routine that he followed with sincerity.
The minimum we can do is try emulating him in certain fields, and leave the rest to circumstances.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami

read on 2021/07/02 | rating 4 (avg. 3.87)

A man of sheer will and dedication, I didn’t quite anticipate myself describing Murakami as such one day. Do not let his fiction and fantasy storytelling lull you into a belief that the author is a lackadasical dreamy fellow who would be rather out drinking and exploring instead of a monomaniac athlete so passionate about running. Well he is both, of course.
Though I myself am not a runner, I suspect a lot of serious runners will relate to this athletic memoir, an insight into his marathon running, it’s preperation and his personal challenges. Moreover it also lets the ordinary reader peak into his fantastic mind, the thought process and lifestyle that results in his storytelling.

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

read on 2021/06/28 | rating 5 (avg. 4.28)

Dostoyevsky loves to take his readers into the very depths of despair, only to show them that there are yet a deeper abyss stretching hopelessly beyond the spectrum of human emotion, and then he drags the reader there ! And just when the reader manages to raise their nose outside the pages, the preciousness of mundane and ordinary life looks like the best thing that could happen to them. That’s Dostoyevsky for you.
Преступление и наказани was authored in 1866 right after Dostoyevsky’s ten year exile in Siberia, so if the book seems grey and gloomy, now you know why. Digging into the psyche of crime and its subsequent psychological torment (the ‘Punishment’), the emotions, psychology and thought process is as relevant today as ever. Characters are so well formed that one could infact anticipate how a particular person would react in a situation. This gives the story so much volume when one can feel and empathize with characters beyond the pages.
Brilliant books are often subjected to fragmentation into popular languages, each adding its own flavour, shinning in its own brilliance. I happened to read the Penguin Random House standard edition (mine said 2014 reprint), which was remarkably better than the free one online which is translated by Constance Garnett. Some phrases sure did sound anachronistic but overall the translation i read was very readable unlike some 100 year old translations of most classics. So do your research on available translations before jumping on this one.
The sadness is worth it :-)

Time And Clocks: A Description Of Ancient And Modern Methods Of Measuring Time - Henry Hardinge Cunynghame

read on 2021/06/25 | rating 4 (avg. 3.75)

Mechanics, in its purest form, is indistinguishable from art. Something akin to art and philosophy has been lost* with commercialization and digitization of watches and time keepers. The modernization is a wonderful achievement of science without a doubt, yet a feeling has been lost; the curiosity at ticking of a clock, the miniscule fragments of metal and plastic ticking in all sincerity, to measure something quite conceptual, ephemeral yet perpetual, as time.
Cunynghame gives a nice description to the science and history or watch making, from pendulum based grandfather clocks to modern spring loaded watches that tick without gravity. Modern by 1906 standards, he even discusses the use of tuning forks to measure sub second intervals of time. Different escapements are discussed in detail and meaningful illustrations (I spent an entire evening just staring at Fig. 45 !). I particularly liked how the book progresses from ancient arts of time keeping and the fundamentals of Astronomy and Newtonian physics to gradually complex sections on escapements, actuator and compensator mechanisms, pulleys, electricity and pure practical mechanics. Its hard to come across good books like this.
The book finishes with the author’s personal views on science of time keeping, he stresses on instilling a scientific acumen and building a personal discipline towards research and engineering.
Highly recommended for those who don’t mind indulging in vain anachronistic curiosities from time to time.
* - By lost I do not mean a complete destruction, its only transmuted to a million other genres of curiosities : in physics and astronomy, from quantum physics to black holes, there has never been a more fascinating time to be alive. Yet I am nostalgic for a feeling I never possessed, a simple inquisitiveness for how a watch ticks. tick, tock, tick, tock, tapping into the silent heartbeat of existence.

Twelve Stories and a Dream - H.G. Wells

read on 2021/06/05 | rating 5 (avg. 3.63)

I had almost forgotten how vivid and imaginative H. G. Wells could be. This book is a classic that forgot to get famous.
Each of the stories is a master piece in itself, fragments of brilliant storylines that netflix has not got to yet. Stories like “The Truth about Pyecraft” and “The New Accelerator” are uniquely original and authentic to the Victorian scientific fiction of late 1800s. Domain of science fiction heavily borrows themes from popular sci-fi classics, yet all missed the originality of twelve stories and a dream.

Seeing Like a Feminist - Nivedita Menon

read on 2021/05/26 | rating 5 (avg. 4.26)

Its an enormously complex task to try and explain feminism in the Indian context, with its intricacies involving caste, religion and lopsided smear of socio economic spectrum. And Nivedita attempts exactly that. She opens a can of worms only to find the worms came with their own tiny can of yet more worms. A sticky quagmire of gender and politics. Its complex yes, the least we can do is make an effort to understand it.
The title “Seeing like a feminist” is accurate regarding what you would find yourself doing after finishing this book : you question some obvious choices, phrases, actions and opinions you never gave a second thought only to find it riddled with sexism, sometimes subtle, often not. Its embarrassing that fundamental human rationality needs to be championed under the umbrella of feminism, its common sense which is unfortunately not so common. You have to acknowledge the problem exists before you can begin fixing it.
This is the one of the few books that color your perception, for the better, for the rest of your life (hopefully). I am lucky to have read it. Thanks for the recommendation.

Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope - Mark Manson

read on 2021/05/21 | rating 5 (avg. 3.68)

My sincere opinion regarding this book its a f*cking good book. I recall having admired Manson for his earlier book that brought advanced concepts of personal development in a street vernacular that the target audience could relate more to. Once again he brings advanced philosophical ideas in a language rarely used in its usual circles.
The book is primarily regarding Hope: its power, its limits, its usefulness and when its pointless or even harmful. Counter intuitive deductions from real life examples you will find fairly obvious. Witold Pilecki, Thích Quảng Đức, Kant, and other personalities are used as proofs as well as examples.
Books can become compelling and convincing when expletives are strewn around like confetti. What I personally like about THIS book is that the fluid narrative doesn’t run amock the pages like a monkey looking for a fan to fling its shit at. Ideas are well drafted and there is even a useful 20 page appendix at the end of the book.
Accept it or not, Manson is the future of philosophy. Philosophy need not be an erudite topic to be discussed only in Academic circles. Manson shows us that a 3am soliloquy at a seedy bar can be equally deep and thoughtful.

The Lost World (Professor Challenger, #1) - Arthur Conan Doyle

read on 2021/05/01 | rating 4 (avg. 3.93)

I am biased towards adventure books so I was really looking forward to this classic. Splendid affair, badass Victorian heroism and gothic imagination. Rexton and Challenger are the prototype to the action hero of movies today. Jungles, dinosaurs, ape like men, dystopian landforms, drama, warfare, love, science. This book puts in all the jazz except for aliens. Loved all bits. Surprised how consice the story was. Read it before you start thinking Dinasaurs aren’t cool, so that you can read it once more after and recall how awesome Dinasaurs are (not were, are).

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life / The Little Book of Hygge / Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living - Héctor García

read on 2021/04/22 | rating 3 (avg. 3.85)

Introduces a range of Oriental (specially Japanese) forms of meditation and living techniques, each time coaxing them towards the concept of Ikigai. The term is used too frequently, even for remotely related concepts. I admired the conciseness of the book, byte sized sermon on an ideal life.

The conquest for happiness - Bertrand Russell

read on 2021/04/19 | rating 3 (avg. 4.02)

Textbook approach to happiness. Reiterates what we all individually know but fail to practice as a society. I particularly enjoyed how the idea of happiness has evolved over time . Interesting read, though not as insightful as would’ve preferred.

Number: The Language of Science - Tobias Dantzig

read on 2021/04/12 | rating 5 (avg. 4.10)

This book describes Maths like no other. Well maths is a big subject, this focuses on Numbers entirely. Its mythology, mysticism, secrecy, tragedies, developments, spiritualism, all rolled into a narrative from history to the modern day, or at least 1950s when the book was written.
I am at a loss of words to describe my second most favourite book I have ever read.
Believe me, it’s a good book. Around 70 years old yet as relevant as ever. I bought a tattered copy at a flea market, best of luck finding it in print.

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

read on 2021/04/03 | rating 2 (avg. 4.17)

So now I know what inspired tacky bollywood movies in the 90s. The play format makes it readily adaptable to screen. Delightful, we can all use a bit of laughter.

2BR02B - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

read on 2021/03/22 | rating 3 (avg. 3.95)

A thought exercise in population control. Nice. Assumes the laws were laid out in the year 2000. Wow. We can’t live forever yet. Damn. Smol stori.

Life during the Industrial Revolution: How People lived and worked in new towns and factories - Richard L. Tames

read on 2021/02/21 | rating 5 (avg. 3.50)

If you ever feel you haven’t enough to appreciate in life, I have just a book for you. This book fills in the gaps in your knowledge you never knew existed. Some fundamental things we do or use today had their origins in the industrial revolution, but did it ever occur to you at what cost was it adopted, and what was the alternative before ?
At what point exactly did people kick around a ball for fun and at what point did we decide that only the goal keeper could touch the ball with her hands ? (And why some might still be amused that I said ‘her’ hands ?) At what point in time did it become possible to walk into a house and pay for eating food they cooked ? what contraceptives were used before modern day solutions, how safe were they ? how effective ? When was the first jacket made that you could zip up ? At what point in time did one have to qualify an exam to start practicing medicine ? How domestic appliances liberated men to focus on working outside the house for a living and why it burdened the woman to a role of an unpaid domestic help. What people drank and why alcohol was safer than milk or plain simple water ?
This coffee table book gives a bigger picture of where we are and where we come from and perhaps a vision of where we will go, with magnificent illustrations ! Exactly the book you might want to curl up with on your sofa under a lamp.

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living - Ryan Holiday

read on 2021/01/30 | rating 5 (avg. 4.37)

A systematic collection of core concepts of what we now know as stoicism. Dominated by excerpts from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations and Seneca’s various works, this book attempts to categorize the concepts and feed the reader 365 byte sized chapters, one for each day of the year.
Of course I failed at one core principle; discipline, as you see I finished this book in 6 months when I ought to have paced myself at 1 chapter a day for 365 days. Each chapter begins with a quotation followed by a more relatable explanation to the 21st century reader. One can make most of the book by pondering over each chapter just like the author indented us to do, but probably by the time you realise the importance of that you are likely to find yourself in middle of the book in a matter of a few days.
The book end with a note that there comes a time when one must put books aside and put into practice all wisdom one has acquired in life, and so that’s exactly what I am going to do. Action.

Slowness - Milan Kundera

read on 2021/01/29 | rating 3 (avg. 3.61)

Some light philosophy with generous amount of humor, irony and sensuality. Good bits of wisdom in most unlikely places, reader is often lost in the three parallel narratives only to be rescued by frequent philosophical ejaculations. A good light read.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

read on 2021/01/16 | rating 4 (avg. 4.11)

A deeply personal tale that unfolds over the Soviet Union’s invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The relationship between Tomas, Tereza and Sabina is anything but conventional, yet the complication is exactly what gives the story its depth. Tomas’s and Tereza’a inner dialog almost reaches philosophical proportions towards the end.

Life In The Age Of Exploration : - Christopher Falkus

read on 2021/01/01 | rating 5 (avg. 3.45)

If you do get the opportunity to time travel, do checkout late 1500 to mid 1600s Portuguese and Dutch maritime expeditions. While your leave application is being scrutinized by the Ministry of Time Travel, I highly recommend you to read this book !
A race to find new routes to South Asia, spiced (!) the imperialist policies of European powers that came to be the defining characteristic of world history in latter half of the millennium. Its the zeal to convert bigots & infidels to Cristian ways and obtain spice to stop their meat from rotting in the process. Colonies were established. New routes discovered. New World in-fact. Explorers/Colonists found interesting people and killed them. Found some more people and enslaved them to grow sugar on a entirely different continent. Later cotton.
Its perfectly ‘normal’ today to eat a pineapple, or sip some hot chocolate, and put that leftover in the refrigerator for a snack later. I would give anything to experience things yet unknown. Sip a drink I have never seen before or get puzzled over a taste I never knew existed. See a land which exists on no map and meet people who speak an unknown language. That excitement ! Wars have happened, genocides committed, generations of servitude, rise and fall of empires, over trivial things like salt, sugar, spice and not everything nice. A whole world discovered, natives enslaved, trade, commerce and exploitation of unimaginable scale .. to put that ketchup on your table and shirt on your back. Crazy !

The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1) - Liu Cixin

read on 2020/12/22 | rating 1 (avg. 4.08)

A stillborn classic, or perhaps the worst translation ever. It lacks a soul that makes a good work memorable, rambling tripe stitched together and sold as sci-fi. What insults my waste of time is this book was awarded Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015. I had already lost my faith in Booker Prize, and now out it goes for Hugo. I am now solely responsible for deciding what books i spend my ever diminishing time on, Awards cannot be trusted.
Now, about the few good bits; really admired the excesses in imagination. References to Chinese Culture are a bit difficult to interpret but certainly translator tried his best. Lots of references to astronomy and physics, a bit too much but it has the license as a sci-fi.
I will be quite surprised, and definitely sad, if this survives another five years in the market.

Micromegas - Voltaire

read on 2020/11/20 | rating 3 (avg. 3.65)

A SciFi from late 1700s by Voltaire, and if thats not fantastic enough, it’s a philosophy book with aliens !
The background to this book is even more interesting. Voltaire was introduced to the world of science by Newton’s neice and later fell in love with a mathatician lady, making him keener. He went on to author this book shortly after.
A refreshing read considering he talks about space travel and aliens two centuries humans seriously started considering space travel.

In the Year 2889 - Jules Verne

read on 2020/11/18 | rating 2 (avg. 3.26)

What can one learn from reading about what the people of 1889 thought 2889 would look like. Nothing and yet a lot. Reading this in 2020 I can say with some certainty that a lot of it will never transpire and we don’t really have to wait till 2889 for the few remaining promises. We are already living in another generation’s paradise. The end of the 19th century was full of scientific progresses and one cannot blame the imaginations it fueled. However, one is limited by their imagination indeed ! All the visions of the next thousand years are defined by circumstances of that time, which are honestly very primitive. We have already outdone in communications and engineering, a lot in medicine as well. Now imagine outdoing the most celebrated science fiction novelist regarding the very thing he is celebrated for, his outlandish science fiction. And then imagine surpassing his imagination in 100 years what he imagined would take a 100. We are already living in another generation’s paradise indeed.

The Exploration of the World (Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part I) - Jules Verne

read on 2020/11/16 | rating 4 (avg. 3.72)

A pilgrimage in time. Just as mountains and seas makes one realise the limits of the diminished self, this tome educates the reader of the sliver of our existence occupies in time. On reading decades are like days and centuries feel like weeks. Generations pass before a place or region is mentioned again. Its an entirely humbling experience to learn about how we as humans overcame our fears, and more importantly how great our greed and self-righteousness condemned our ancestors to discover regions and corrupt them. Unlike most historical works, this book is quite neutral and wide in coverage. It wastes no words on condemning or praising conquerors, it states facts; what date was a voyage commissioned, what problems they faced, what was the ship manifest like, what discoveries made, what strategy employed, what natives encountered, etc. etc.
General perception, uptil 1600, looks like entire enterprise of discovery was due to trade and commerce. A bit about religion upto about AD 1000, but then its mostly used as a excuse for plunder and colonisation. World history is the definite lesson in economics.
The first part of three dedicated to exploration, mostly-maritime in 1400-1600, covers voyages up to the seventeenth century. No work, of fiction or otherwise, has come close to riveting me in maritime history and voyages. From De Gama’s to Magellan and beyond to discoveries in the polar regions, its like witnessing the worlds past unfold for your pleasure only.
With all worlds discovered, and the era of invention and science to begin, looking forward to Part II ! Highly recommended for all adventure and travelling enthusiasts.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, #1) - Lewis Carroll

read on 2020/11/12 | rating 5 (avg. 3.99)

My favourite book of all time.

Moby-Dick or, The Whale - Herman Melville

read on 2020/11/11 | rating 3 (avg. 3.56)

“Out of the trunk, the branches grow, out of them the twigs. So in productive subjects, grow the chapters.” So begins chapter 63 and I think I couldn’t have described the the book better. Its an encyclopedia on the subject of whales with a thin narrative thrown in for amusement. Initially it starts of as a novel with much potential for seafaring adventures but quickly descends into a tome about an only singular subject, whales. Its history and biology, economy and habitats, everything that can be possibly be known about whales, is here. Its admirable how much in depth a subject can be explored.
Due to lack of a compelling narrative, it is a slow read. I enjoyed the latter half of the book where chapters are shorter and hence not as rambling, bite size pieces to devour over tea. And so, many teas later, I know a bit or two about whales.

The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire - William Dalrymple

read on 2020/11/01 | rating 5 (avg. 4.20)

A book of history that is more relevant today than any contemporary book on politics and economics. The delivery is inflammatory and in general would leave an Indian reader with excesses of emotions, but even if it were stripped of adjectives, the facts very well explain themselves on how a corporate entity left unsupervised could develop imperial ambitions, and in it’s singular goal, of creating value for its share holders, commit the atrocities we know all to well.
Almost 20% of the book is just the appendix, its that well researched. Dalrymple isn’t taking us on a ride on what he thinks EIC was. He quotes and paraphrases official accounts of historians and correspondences to tell a story so vivid, its remains the 18th century in your head for a day or two after you finish reading the book.
The Epilogue connects the history the EIC to the 21st century. How Capitalism is the new socialism (or something to that tune). From Jagat Seth bankers in 18th century Bengal to modern Cash strapped corporations, war is always about the money. It takes money to wage wars. Who controls money controls wars.
I am reading this book in parallel to Celebrated Travels and Travellers (Part 1), and about 15-16th century deep in it. So I am really enjoying the vantage point to observe an era unfold, how the west came to dominate the Americas. The echoes are astonishing. Its the same story year after year. Tipu Sultan here, Montezuma there. Robert Clive here, Hernan Cortez there. Its. the. same. story. They all were businessmen looking for profit. Exploration was discovery is always only a fake disguise, its business and conversion and subjugation. Marco polo had no ants in his pants to explore the east, its always about the money ! Everything else is just amusement.
Wellesley conquered more of India than Napoleon did in all of Europe ! The Bengal Famine was the biggest genocide we never help anyone accountable for.
A piece of land not being exploited is being “wasted”. The world might be coming to an end, but at least it would create some value for the share holders.

The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

read on 2020/10/11 | rating 5 (avg. 4.08)

Rivetting, too short, madness.

Walking the Walk – A Karma Yoga Manual - Tyagananda

read on 2020/10/08 | rating 2 (avg. 4.43)

Concise. Eighty four pages of abstract wisdom (discounting the appendix). Explores practical methods of detachment as a path to ‘freedom’, also teaches to discern between love and attachment. This introductory manual acquaints the reader to the possibility of a more spiritual life. A bit religious undertones with concepts of rebirth, and though it talks about God, it is in highly abstract terms, often just referenced as a consciousness. I personally discredit the axioms upon which idea of rebirth is constructed, but respect its utility as a tool for giving moral or ethical direction to one’s life. I liked the bits on work ethics and its commentary on praise. A good read for the sincere.

Knowing the Knower: A Jñāna Yoga Manual (Practical Yoga Manuals) - Tyagananda

read on 2020/10/02 | rating 5 (avg. 4.69)

“Knowing the Knower” is a concise introduction to Gyan (Jñāna) yoga, focusing on the Vedanta Philosophy of discernment via reasoning and enhanced perceptions.
The book doesn’t focus on any specifics, its a short and to-the-point book. It plays around with the idea of a meta-knowledge, discernment of what’s important and what’s not, on understanding how information is something very subjective, an interaction between the observer and the observed, the knowledge and the knower. Every supposed fact we hold so dear is in fact an opinion, either yours or someone else’s. It’s our responsibility as the ‘knower’ to authenticate everything we know. Just because something is reasonable doesn’t mean its true.
Swami Tyagananda has helped make this important concept more relevant to the present generation by necessary changes in examples he uses to simplify this philosophy. The language is surprisingly modern with references to the internet and netflix, something one might not expect from a book of eastern philosophy. Crisp and quick, no concept is stressed more than required.
Highly recommend this book to everyone from a petty shoplifter (for reading) to an accomplished astronaut. This is the kind of literature that isn’t heavy on your intellect yet flavour’s your thoughts forever.

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty - Abhijit V. Banerjee

read on 2020/09/26 | rating 3 (avg. 4.28)

If you are reading this, congratulations ! you are neither illiterate nor poor. Perhaps the lucky one billion people on this planet. Abhijit Banerjee has painstakingly collected data over the years to support his arguments for and against policies for the poor, policies and implementations involving subsidies, scholarships, cash transfers and micro finance. The depth of his research is astounding.
I had hopes that Abhijit would simplify the complex world of economics and public policies, he did at simplifying the problems for the reader, but exposes the underlying worm infested underbelly of solutions that address this problem, promising solutions that are making situations worse !
I am not sure if I am the only reader left with this sad feeling that often the most difficult thing in helping the poor is making them realize that they need help ! Surprisingly not only is it enough to vaccinate and educate the poor for free, they must be rewarded to pursue these activities that otherwise only benefit them. I think the more you read and research on the poor, you realize how less you understand them.
A must read for policy makers and entrepreneurs.

Little Women (Little Women, #1) - Louisa May Alcott

read on 2020/08/31 | rating 4 (avg. 4.16)

Wholesome ! Each character is explored in depth and the narrative is neither too slow nor gushing. I had put off reading this classic for an embarrassingly long time. Glad I came around just in time for its positive and overall optimistic vibes. Despite somewhat overindulging in the typical female stereotype, it’s a powerful and empowering story revolving around almost entirely female characters. A must read classic.

Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

read on 2020/08/23 | rating 4 (avg. 4.28)

The most cited book among stoic literature doesn’t intend to be a sermon or collection of principles, in fact it wasn’t meant for publication at all ! Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius composed his thoughts, in what we know as his ‘Meditations’, as a diary, notes to none but himself.
He stresses on the fact that life is short and things don’t matter as much as we think or want them to mean. He uses various metaphors and allegories to refrain on this point. Another principle he comes back to again and again is how everything repeats and nothing is ever new. He says a man of forty has seen everything in the past as well as the future, for things don’t really change. They repeat under different circumstance using different tools etc.. just the cast changes.
Personally I agree to my father’s opinion that western philosophy is rather pessimistic and Meditations in no exception. Perhaps Marcus’s lifetime spent on the northern borders of the Roman expire, in perpetual conflict, had a deep impact on his philosophy. So much death and dying. Coupled with his humble origins, Marcus Aurelius had a wide range of experience to give weight to his ‘philosophy’.
I somehow have fallen in with the idea on how same events just repeat under different circumstances, in different lifetimes, that the primitive nature of man has not changed at all for the entire known history, and we are no different today. Know history and you will have seen the future.

The Waste Land - T.S. Eliot

read on 2020/08/09 | rating 3 (avg. 4.11)

It’s embarrassing how inadequate my knowledge is to fully comprehend this marvel of 20th century poetry. Not only must the unsuspecting reader have knowledge of great works in Latin, Greek, Italian, German, French and Sanskrit, but a good knowledge of Shakespearean drama and the Bible !
Its a unique feeling, like you know someone is saying something of ambiguous importance, without urgency, yet you cannot quite understand the meaning. Your mind is blurred, your senses an indeterminate state of immaturity, uncomprehending, yet seeking. Like (pardon my computer science reference), you have a pointer to a memory, but that memory is missing.
I found myself ashore this exotic literature from an emotional shipwreck i owed to the book “When Breath Becomes Air”. I will revisit this when i do. Everything is understood when its time.

When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi

read on 2020/08/08 | rating 4 (avg. 4.41)

Profound and melancholic, an autobiography of a man who chose to test his morals not in petty indifferences of life but in theaters of surgery as a neurosurgeon. One of the reasons why i don’t hold a scalpel today is my escapist decision to pursue a less stressful, unfortunately less fulfilling, career outside of the theaters of incision and resection. Everyone acknowledges how difficult the life of a surgeon is, but prefer to overlook the details on exactly why it is that way. The physical and emotional stress is only aggravated by issues in a personal life, in relationships, in everything we consider ‘normal’.
An inspiring story on his journey from english literature to an acclaimed neuroscientist and neurosurgeon. Kalanithi’s story takes special meaning when he develops cancer in his mid thirties. It takes a toll on everything he held dear; his career, his relationship, his life. A man in such situations sees life like no one else, up close and intimate to what really matters. Despite the emotions the book is a pretty practical read, complete with medical jargons and logistics of a hospital and medical school.
Highly recommended for anyone devastated by medical issues, personal or in family.

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

read on 2020/08/04 | rating 4 (avg. 3.99)

There is a very fine line between the funny and the absurd, Catch-22 is the story between those lines. War is absurd. Yossarian is stuck serving missions as a Bombardier in Italy during the Second World War. Every time he is due for release from active duty, the minimum number of missions is raised. He practically (and probably, actually) goes insane on trying to avoid the battle fields. Together with the Chaplain and Milo, these three make most memorable characters in the story.

Babbitt - Sinclair Lewis

read on 2020/06/29 | rating 3 (avg. 3.69)

Exclusively revolving around a middle class American businessman in the 1920s, Babbitt might have lost some relevance today, but the unsaid has never been more relevant. The subtle and not so subtle story about the hollow pursuit for money and fame is the unspoken narrative here. Vanity and avarice in middle class society isn’t unfamiliar to us today, hence the relevance is retained.
Superficially, Babbitt is an intimate look into the 1920s America. The dancing, the parties, the mens’ clubs and the luncheons, the cars, the drinking, prohibition, and the need of a typewriter that could add and multiply. Read it for the nostalgia of an age you never lived.

The Museum of Hoaxes - Alex Boese

read on 2020/06/10 | rating 4 (avg. 3.45)

Humans love to lie more than they love being lied to. This book game me a crisis of sorts on what i believe is true or someone’s deliberate effort to make me think its true. From hoaxes towards social criticism and enlightenment, to plain cruel jokes, this book lists all sorts. Enjoyed reading all the interesting lies we have collectively believed so far. Makes me want to wear a tin foil hat and ponder over what lies I hold dear truth right now. Didn’t expect this book to give me a sweat !

Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart - James R. Doty

read on 2020/05/10 | rating 5 (avg. 4.22)

Here is a book that leaves you with more question than when you had started. It teaches you some things but also uncovers a lid on the bottomless abyss of things we do not know yet. The reader finishes wiser after fully acknowledging how, despite our astounding progress in science and technology, are clueless about ourselves, on how we feel, reason and make decisions. Brain is the obvious organ to seek these answers in. But Dr. Doty here considers, with facts, not only the figurative role of the heart, but the neurological role as well.
Compassion, connectivity and intuition are as important to healing as conventional medicine. Dr. Doty has an impressive story to share. Complete with secular approach to mediation and compassion, he involves the reader into his practice in the form of point wise tasks (Magic tricks). There is a lot to acknowledge, learn and practice in this book. I believe it could be cleaned up (unnecessarily theatrical at times) and presented as a curriculum read in medical schools. Must read for medical and nursing professionals.
From hearing about this book (from papa), to finishing it took about twenty four hours. Not many books I have read can boast of this enthusiasm from me.
One hilarious typo was when Hippocrates is described as living 25000 years ago. He meant 2500 I know, but was hilarious considering how he dramatizes things sometimes in the book.

The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri

read on 2020/05/07 | rating 5 (avg. 4.02)

I will not compare it to the movie, primarily because i haven’t seen it (yet). Lahiri abstracts ‘life’ in her narrative to just the level where one can experience its ups and downs without being bogged down by the petty trivial events. As if the entire story is one long flashback, highlighting only what mattered. It kind of makes one see one’s own life with those stability goggles, that what matters in the end.
The characters are few and very very well defined, a book in themselves. The recurring Mashis and Mashos are never dwelled upon. People have complex and impermanent lives and Lahiri shows just that. How one can be a center of someone’s life one moment and gone the next. And this can happen repeatedly will you die. I was surprised how Ashoke (the namesake’s father), despite being the primary character for the first half of the book, is removed from the story with such haste, leaving not only his family mourning but the reader melancholic as well. The later half of the book has a lot to teach about loss.
Big respect for Lahiri on her character development skills.
I must now watch the movie now to pay my respects to Irfan Khan, brilliant actor.

The Lower River - Paul Theroux

read on 2020/04/23 | rating 0 (avg. 3.61)

Knowing Theroux’s non fiction I anticipated a feel good factor on finishing this book. Was i wrong ? Lets find out.
Started as what looked like the beginning of an inspiring tale of a man returning to a village in Nyasaland (Malawi) four years of which he reminiscenced all his life as a businessman in America. On actually executing things don’t turn for worse all at once. The problem (?) with Theroux is his narrative is too real, none of the drama associated with tragedies, he just puts it as it is and the reader is free to interpret the helplessness. This way the story is only as tragic as the reader’s ability to handle situations the protagonist is going through.
Middle of the book resembles a sinister parody of The Lord of the Flies.
A wall map of central Africa in my room helped me visualize the landscape of the story. From realising how important Blantyre is to southern Malawi to how forlorn is Nsanje district on river Shire bordering the Mozambique, it helped quantity the efforts in various escapes and journeys.
But i think i still prefer Theroux’s non fiction. This was scarring.

Educated - Tara Westover

read on 2020/05/01 | rating 5 (avg. 4.47)

Yet another demonstration of the liberation an education is capable of. Every now and then I had to remind myself that this is not an inspiring fragment of someone’s imagination. It’s as real as anything in one’s own life. Despite being a central theme of the book, Mormonism is neither demonized nor idolised, it’s just a personal experience of a deeply complex and somewhat dysfunctional rural Mormon family, which contrasts immensely against how Tara overcomes the odds to liberate and educate herself. The regressive society and family had shaped her very instincts, yet she struggles, emotionally and mentally, to fight for her right to learn and make something for herself.
The father figure of Gene is something straight out of fiction, too unreal to believe. But that’s probably how mental illnesses are. It’s impact on his family is devastating. Being a work of non-fiction, I couldn’t help but identify traits, good and bad, in real life people i know, friends and family. It taught me what would have otherwise taken me a few restless nights of contemplation.
Personal takeaway was that no matter how convinced one might be of their righteousness and authority over something, they can never be completely sure of themselves. Every now and then they must step in someone else’s shoe and see things as they see. Put more simply, no one is good or bad. Everyone is both all the time. Good people are capable of hurting you and bad people can do good too, its a matter of circumstances. Sure some are more of one that other, but one must not let someone’s bad wipeout their good, or vice-versa. As one popular saying ends, “… the one you feed”.

Life in the Victorian Age - Andrew Kerr-Jarrett

read on 2020/04/29 | rating 5 (avg. 3.79)

Exactly what i needed to get some context to the fascinating 1800s. I also found myself concluding that the Victorian age was not very different from the late 1900s. Unsurprisingly, I also grokked the significance of the era I am living in, how mind-boggling and different it is from premordial Jurassic to modern Victorian.
The illustrations were my favourite part. Countless mornings I found myself just staring at 200 year old pictures and illustrations of ordinary life. Its fascinating how time can make some unassuming activity, a captivating pleasure to observe a century or two later.

A Sorrow Beyond Dreams - Peter Handke

read on 2020/04/26 | rating 3 (avg. 3.75)

The author intensely focuses on getting a singular agenda across to the reader; his mother’s life story. Neither exaggerating poverty nor luxury, he paints a honest picture which just so happens to be tainted with unfortunate circumstances since its based during Nazi Germany during the World War 2.
One cannot help but reflect upon one’s own mother, their life journey, how much it relates to or differ’s from the author’s mother’s, how unique it is and how ordinary yet so precious.

Heavens to Betsy!: And Other Curious Sayings - Charles Earle Funk

read on 2020/04/21 | rating 3 (avg. 3.31)

This books takes etymology one step up by investigating the origin phrases we take for granted. Painstakingly researched over 500 years of literature and history. Funk is really fond of referring to his other book ‘A Hog on Ice’ which only makes the reader to want to read that too. Clever. Funk’s passion for seeking the origins of the Stoughton bottle is inspiring.

Flights - Olga Tokarczuk

read on 2020/04/20 | rating 3 (avg. 3.75)

An unusual combination of Travel and Anatomy, both sufficient in their own right to get me curious about a book. The style of narration is quite fragmented, which suited my slow burn pace for this book. It almost interleaves between talking about anatomy (often preservation and embalming), and travelling, latter in the most unusual of styles. The fragments are amusing and usually never part of the bigger narrative. There is no coherent storyline, except for some characters in few fragments. Philosophical injections are what i believe help secure the Booker for this, sometimes original and sometimes not. I loved the unorthodox insights into space and time that come up in many fragments. Original and deeply thought provoking. The title ‘Flights’ doesn’t really do justice to the diversity in the book. After having read it, I would have expected something along the lines of time and space.
Some fragments/excerpts make this book worth reading.

A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman

read on 2020/04/10 | rating 3 (avg. 4.38)

A Bittersweet tale of loss and hope, not much unlike a few Disney stories I have come across. The story unrolls in a Swedish suburban row house society, the characters are few but well developed. Despite its wholesomeness, its sort of unidimensional, almost as if its entirely written from prologue to epilogue to be adapted into an animated movie by Disney. Its warm and fuzzy, simple yet satisfying.

Salmonella Men on Planet Porno - Yasutaka Tsutsui

read on 2020/04/05 | rating 2 (avg. 3.67)

Yasutaka is a Murakami on certain restricted drugs. More raw yet more unreal. His stories take are very organic, confronting the reader with many surprising twists. Surreal at its simplest, the absurdity of the story lines is similar to random dreams one might have. Some of his stories have an underlying motive and conclusive narrative, however, most do not.
My favorite one is perhaps the shortest in the book, “The Very Edge of Happiness”. It’s nihilistic undertone is in sync with the trend of ‘pleasure trip’ seeking among middle class people.
The title story, last in the book, also the longest, is as absurd as absurd stories go; an unexpected mix of SciFi and Perversion.

Tales of Ancient India - Guy Tétreault

read on 2020/02/17 | rating 3 (avg. 3.00)

Concise yet makes its points by folk tales and their careful interpretations. It might not be used as-it-is since vedic times, though spiritually enlightening, had its fare share of sexism and discrimination.
A keen insight into mores and values of vedic times. Fundamentals haven’t really changed.

The Book of Tea - Kakuzō Okakura

read on 2020/03/08 | rating 3 (avg. 3.85)

Though primarily a book of Japanese aesthetics, it goes beyond tea to flower arrangement, pottery and poetry, even ethics and religion. It gives a viewpoint about man and nature adoring the sordid existence of everyday life. The book inculcates purity and harmony, and romanticism of the Japanese social order. Essentially worship of the imperfect.
Kakuza’s style of narration happily includes the reader as one the Japanese folksmen, as he goes about different schools of tea and flower arrangements and their popular masters.
In essense it celebrates the ordinary through the philosophy of zen. As expected philosophical ejaculations are commonplace here.

From Fish to Philosopher - Homer William Smith

read on 2020/03/08 | rating 5 (avg. 4.27)

Overwhelming at its humblest, I gave my second favourite book a read over the holidays. A book on natural history and evolution of the kidneys. Its strange how much I like this book for its fiction that I usually devour. Strange how this nephritic adventure about excretion in ostracoders swimming in their muddy Ordavician-Silurian Lakes captivates me to such an alarming degree. This author might have made a mistake in saying this book is primarily for physicians treating edema with diuretic agents, perhaps too technical for popular science book but it’s primordial thrill is nonnegotiable.
Its fate I think how I never find myself recommending others my favourite two books. Most might be turned away by its technical density, but the take away, on where we fit in the bigger picture, is important. How transient we are, yet not so special nor final. All things we hold as absolutes nothing but ephemeral realities. Millions of years, is a long time, it’s difficult to even put into perspective the great eras like the Permian and the Cretaceous. Another dimension was the geographical history of earth, besides dealing in incomprehensible scales of time , it humbles the reader how fluid our crust is. Over time, the tallest mountains and the deepest oceans are nothing but crests and swells on the surface of earth.
We come from nothing and to nothing we shall return, but let’s take a moment to enjoy the journey, not just of our life, but of life itself.

Intimate Relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality - Sudhir Kakar

read on 2020/02/25 | rating 4 (avg. 3.73)

Leave it to Sudhir Kakkar to apply Freudian psycho-dynamic voodoo to the naagin dance and split open unconscious drives that make movie villains appeal to the Indian audience. Among India’s finest psychoanalyst, in this book he invests some time delving into the ethos of indian sexual psyche, how its moulded from religious text to modern movies. He also elaborates at length on Gandhi’s experiments with truth, his fight against desire.
His insight inspires the reader to tilt their head a bit and wonder why we do things the way we do. “What’s the story ? .. where’s the trauma ? .. where’s my phone ?”
Midway through the book Kakkar’s flamboyant delivery gets technical with phallic symbolisms, quagmire of genital desires, Ego and the Id, and then goes completely bananas introducing naughty Oedipus and what he did and why we Indians want to do it too.
I am very suspicious about what he has to say about Swami Vivekananda in his book ‘The Inner World’.

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

read on 2020/02/12 | rating 5 (avg. 4.31)

Words are indeed inadequate to convey my appreciation for this book. It’s not a work to dissect and probe to critique and cherish, it’s an experience.
Werner’s curiosity is something I could closely relate to. The characters have that certain depth that pulls you in so deep into the narrative that its quite thrilling to find yourself in their shoes (or oversized loafers, if at all); in bunkers, on the road, fixing radios, contemplating facecuts of diamonds, looking for snails, deep sea diving with Jules Verne, raiding villages, getting bombed.
I must acknowledge I let this book hijack my senses for a while. I will need some time to get used to the pleasures I take for granted today.

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

read on 2020/02/01 | rating 4 (avg. 4.14)

Think of the most scrupulous and scheming person you love to hate. Now imagine being the victim married to one.
That’s not enough, then imagine some more, this time being that hell of a person.
Was recommended this book by a person who loved the movie. Though this isn’t really an insight into a typical practical relationship, it sure is one hell of a clever story. Solid motion picture material (which did happen!).

Congo - Michael Crichton

read on 2019/12/19 | rating 5 (avg. 3.63)

I must acknowledge the intense research that goes into Crichton’s novels. From having the latest technical insights into technologies of 1980, to socio-economic conditions of Central Africa (specially Zaire), his books are encyclopedic thrillers densely packed with drama and action.
Completely satisfied with my last read of the decade.

Origin (Robert Langdon, #5) - Dan Brown

read on 2019/12/04 | rating 5 (avg. 3.90)

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me seven times, its okay … i am probably a fan.

Finally, I can say I have read EVERYTHING Dan Brown has to offer. From ‘Digital Fortress’ to ‘Origin’, everything. Dan Brown holds a very special talent in mixing History and Drama. Edmond Kirsch’s ‘presentation’ in Origin is perhaps the best work of theatrical cinematography that I have never ‘seen’. Its exhilarating how one can conjure such rich content in just the reader’s minds.
In essence, Origin is typical whirlwind Dan Brown thriller involving Robert Langdon with a beautiful damsel among medieval European real estate, dripping with mysteries, secrets, symbols and surprisingly, technology! But there is little you can do if you love his style wholeheartedly no matter how many times you let it assault and tantalize your senses.
Having been authored just 2 years back (2017), Origin is very relevant to contemporary technology, which plays a important role in the narrative, well researched just like European / Christian / Spanish history.
The conclusion focuses on science and a prediction on where its headed. The book had me on edge right till the end as its mostly in the chapters 91-95 monologue that we learn what the whole urgency is in the book.

A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy - Karl Marx

read on 2019/11/24 | rating 2 (avg. 4.06)

Production. Consumption. Distribution. Circulation. Reproduction … in a Hegelian fashion are stitched in a never-ending economic cycle. Surprisingly Marx doesn’t give in to idealism and acknowledges differences in cultures, and supports arguments pertinent to Western Economy. He goes in quite some depth, really deep actually, in dissecting production and consumption in their minutest details. Different types are elaborated on complete with examples from different economies or times. Production and consumption might seem like the two ends of the economic see-saw, but on closer inspection they are nothing but two economic realities holding hands running towards a bourgeoisie sunset. You cant really separate them.
Appendix by Engels focuses primarily on the German State and summons logic and theory of the philosophers Hegel and Kant for necessary validations.

Lihaf / لحاف - Ismat Chughtai

read on 2019/11/20 | rating 3 (avg. 4.08)

Short story. I happened to read this in Hindi so some archaic urdu vocabulary was lost on me, but did follow most of it from context. Embarrassingly, I had someone else explain it to me what the story was all about. The hints are very subtle, or maybe, i am too naive.

Dept. of Speculation - Jenny Offill

read on 2019/11/19 | rating 2 (avg. 3.76)

Fragmented and incoherent, but not rambling and confused, exactly like how memories are.
Inarticulately describing things we hold most dear. They fade in and out, sometimes without context yet never without meaning.
Dept. of Speculation swirls the reader among the drudgery of a domestic life, with dreamy interjections from Kafka to Keats to astronomy. A quick read, like an afternoon nap dream half remembered.

Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1) - Michael Crichton

read on 2019/11/12 | rating 5 (avg. 4.12)

Almost always the book is better than the movie, and Jurassic Park was an amazing movie ! So I hope you can understand my excitement to read this book.
A lot of science and action, intense drama. I was surprised how high fidelity it had towards describing primordial dinosaurs to modern computers, from RAM intensive gene sequencing algorithms (of the 80s) to genetic engineering enzymes, everything was well researched. Interspersed with philosophical ejaculations from Malcolm, the chaos theory expert, this book is difficult to put down till the very end. The drama and gore is typical 80s but that’s just a remnant of the time it was written in.
This book will stand the test of time, a modern classic.

The Principles of Communism - Friedrich Engels

read on 2019/11/07 | rating 4 (avg. 4.08)

It begins as an insightful commentary on definition of the proletariat and how private property is the root of all discontent, but the momentum doesn’t hold when Engels underestimates the effect of the abolition of Private property on religion, or for that matter, completely ignores effect on caste based classes in the Indian subcontinent. Engel trivializes many other complexities, but don’t let that hold you from hearing him out. He has put some solid thought into the collateral damage of Private Property to society.
A bit ideal but the direction seems right, we must find some middle ground.

Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives - Brian L. Weiss

read on 2018/08/29 | rating 1 (avg. 4.17)

utter trip. don’t bother.

The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1) - Robert Galbraith

read on 2018/11/19 | rating 2 (avg. 3.89)

a lot of dialog leaves less room for action. Been like 30 pages into it but didn’t get the vibes to pursue it further. I quite liked ‘Casual Vacancy’ so do not write me off as yet another potter fan anticipating a muggle adventure. I knew what i signed up for, not disappointing, just not something I wish to read. Sorry JK !

Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished, The Story of Ravana and His People - Anand Neelakantan

read on 2018/05/04 | rating 1 (avg. 3.71)

I am a fan of genre/style where a popular story is retold from the antagonist’s or another character’s POV. Have read quite a few Fan-Fics to satisfy my urge for that particular kind.
This book is utter tripe, it was promising to have the greatest story in hindu mythology retold in a way as to provide a complete story, but the style of writing is horrible and immature, absolutely unfit for a story of this magnitude. I trudged for a good ten chapters before quitting, if it does get better AFTER that, it’s unlikely to be worth it.
Such promise .. so little delivered .. time wasted.

Rat in the Skull - Rog Phillips

read on 2019/11/06 | rating 3 (avg. 3.88)

The good old sci-fi classic horror type that got me into reading.
Refreshing to read this every once in a while.
Gets your own imagination rolling.

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

read on 2019/11/05 | rating 2 (avg. 3.90)

After ploughing through this behemoth for over 4 months, I think I fathom its significance now.
A milestone in literature, perhaps the first parody ever written. Quite a bit is dusted with time and some lost in translation, so a lot depends on which translation you happen to be reading. I started with a collector edition having the Choen translation, however switched to Ormsby (first scholarly translation) midway, better coherency.
Though entertaining in its own quaint way, most of its references are lost on the 21st century reader.
Not for the casual reader.

Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea - Tami Oldham Ashcraft

read on 2019/10/12 | rating 3 (avg. 3.75)

Yet another maritime disaster novel, but focuses more on the emotional turmoil and survival at sea rather than the traditional swashbuckling seafaring adventure.
It romantisizes the story a bit to make the gruesome story more palatable. Despite the prettiness its very factual and realistic on what survivors have to go through.

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea - Sebastian Junger

read on 2019/10/05 | rating 5 (avg. 4.11)

The finest maritime novel i have read till date. More scientific than emotional, Junger understands the sea like no other. From the intricacies of cold and warm current fronts to the formation of waves and the impact of surface wind speed, the reader doesnt only understand the sea but over the novel can actually ‘feel’ the sea and ‘understand’ its motions.
The science doesnt stop at single sideband, VHF or other early 90s radio communication, but goes in the biology and psychology of dying. What races in a drowning man’s mind as darkness starts closing in from the sides like a constricting aperture, and then some about the dive reflex, laryngospasm, alveoli surfactant, etc ..
Junger has an undeniable talent in making the reader “experience” adventure. The sword fishing in the atlantic and the life of parajumpers in the US Navy, these two professions are described exceptionally well. Not bad for a freelancing tree climber !
Best novel that i have come across in a really long time, all thanks to my seafaring uncle for the movie VCD fifteen years ago !! Had i read this book then i honestly wonder if i would have made some big choices differently in life.

Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential - Barbara Oakley

read on 2019/09/18 | rating 3 (avg. 3.88)

I came across this book in quite an unconventional way, speed post from papa. Its not every other day that I have self help books urgently seeking me, so i gave it a read.
The content iterates over various real life people in real scenarios where they overcame challenges to pursue new unrelated careers after abandoning supposedly successful careers. It evangelizes the need to develop skills in more than one career for a wholesome life experience. However I didn’t share the same enthusiasm so I just nodded through most of the book. Towards the end I arrived at the chapter which possibly papa thought i could relate to; a chapter on MOOCs. Being aware of my predilection to devouring medical courses online, he assumed i might get consoled into not feeling guilty about salivating over other careers. It did work to a degree, but possibly not the way in which it intented. I realised that all the pharmacology, anatomy, oncolgy, neurobioliogy course videos that i binge watch on weekends doesn’t amount to any ‘learning’ if i don’t pursue or use them in some manner. Its sort of hard to study fMRI scans of roadkills or peer through microscopes in my free time so i don’t really see (yet) how useful its for me to know fun facts about clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats among our prokaryotic friends.
This book is definitely helpful in giving confidence to multi talented people, but not much use for mediocre ogres like me who are already bad at the one thing they do for a living, they don’t need to be bad at two!

Birthday Girl - Haruki Murakami

read on 2019/09/13 | rating 5 (avg. 3.56)

This consize short story by Murakami is like a slice of the pineapple cake you loved so much on your 11th birthday. Its an applause to his skill as a master story teller. Mysterious, yet wholesome, it leaves the reader in an unsettled pleasant mood.
Neither too little nor too much, Murakami only unravels the characters just enough to convince the reader that they are genuine human beings, earthly and flawed.
I happened to spend an entire lunch break discussing this one short story !

Normal People - Sally Rooney

read on 2019/09/09 | rating 4 (avg. 3.81)

Is it even possible for words to invoke a sense of a cinematographic Color Palette as you read a book ?
Teal, China-blue, matte-green and off-white ?! Colours are not even mentioned and yet the reader can effortlessly colour in the characters and emotions like it were a painting on a sunny cloudy autumn morning.
All of 28 years old, Sally Rooney paints a first hand contemporary “millennial” account of relationships. Though British flavoured, its core story of very human emotions is relatable.
This book doesn’t lie in the usual genres i partake in, but I believe reading should be approximate knowledge of many things over detailed knowledge one.
Was made a bit more relatable for me by the fact that the characters (including the author !) are all 90-92 born so in their early twenties in the story (Roony herself is 91 born !) and their academic milestones almost exactly matched mine ! (high school - college - job).

We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

read on 2019/09/04 | rating 5 (avg. 4.40)

Looks beyond the stereotypical view of Feminism with personal examples. Feminism isn’t about giving more power to Amazonian women, but sharing the ones the male take as their prerogative.
With years on social conditioning we have come to terms with what we now consider “normal”. We desperately need a reset if we are going to get anywhere near a social utopia.
We should all be Feminists indeed !

The Tempest - William Shakespeare

read on 2019/08/18 | rating 5 (avg. 3.78)

“Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming,
The clouds me thought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.”
I never expected a play to stretch my imagination so thin. I insist this play be read, rather than watched, for a better experience. The story is very different from what i would imagine a Shakespearean play to be. The magical narration is very ethereal and dream like, no coherent visuals yet it all makes sense. Unfortunately I could not visualize a theatrical adaptation that could harbour the same appeal as one’s imagination, the true canvas for any story. Caliban is a character i personally feel impossible to manifest in theater or movie without risking elements of parody. Such characters can only be subconsciously perceived or understood, and at best be hallucinated in a psychotropic dream. Believe me folks, this is science fiction.

Othello - William Shakespeare

read on 2019/08/17 | rating 5 (avg. 3.89)

I am not going to lie, he had me at ‘hello’ ! Focusing on relatable emotions, the play is highly adaptable to any language and time in human history. ‘Omkara’ is a popular adaptation in Hindi cinema and has forever etched ‘Omkara’ (Othello) and ‘Langda Tyagi’ (Iago) in our memories.
Also called ‘The Moor of Venice’ (a better title in my opinion since he is usually referred as the Moor throughout the play rather than ‘Othello’), this play is congenial towards contemporary readers since it addresses very human emotions, treachery, deceit, jealousy and love … and spares us the Venice-Cypress politics that’s unfolding in the background.

Antony and Cleopatra - William Shakespeare

read on 2019/08/17 | rating 1 (avg. 3.71)

love and politics don’t go well together, this play tries to do exactly that. Entertaining for a medieval peasant perhaps, I found it impractical and honestly, over-dramatic.

The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe - Stephen Hawking

read on 2019/08/16 | rating 4 (avg. 4.18)

I knew this, that despite the phenomenal advances in science and mathematics in the last century, there is a lot we do not know yet. ‘The Theory of Everything’ makes me realise how forsaken we really are, how innocent. The universe doesn’t owe us an explanation for anything it supposedly does, yet here we are digging at it with toothpicks.
This somewhat technical book leaves one with more questions than answers. A clear sighted reader is turned into a messy muddle-head at the end of this flimsy 100 or so page collection of lectures, not necessarily confused, but awed by the amount of knowledge that is yet beyond our reach, and a unwelcome horror at the fact that it might be theoretically impossible to know everything there is.

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

read on 2019/08/15 | rating 4 (avg. 4.02)

To review or not to review, that is the question. Such things require no justification or judgement by literate peasants like us, it lives by its own accord, immortal.
Among my favourite of Shakespeare’s works, some characters are impossible to forget. Claudius is the typical person one’s mind conjures all hatred for, Gertrude (Hamlet’s mom) is the typical person who one adorned once but has since seen them turn into something else altogether, for worse. The aesthetic appeal of Ophelia is something i will never forget. I think Shakespeare might have inadvertently spawned off the entire emo culture by this one mostly insignificant character in his popular work. Her grief upon her father’s accidental death manifests very poetic images, like her handling flowers to everyone mindlessly as she walks and her falling into the water and singing the entire time she was drowning. One doesn’t forget such characters !

To-morrow - Joseph Conrad

read on 2019/08/08 | rating 4 (avg. 3.46)

Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski ! i wasn’t ready for this assault on my emotions so early in the morning. A resolute old man so hopeful of his runaway son returning, for over 16 years, that its really melancholic how the conversation flows over the yard fence with the ever-patient Bessie, the parting note never changing, that his son would be here ‘to-morrow’. This story was adapted into a play early on given the entire plot unfolds over conversations over a garden fence. Tinged with pity for the old man, the story takes a interesting turn when the son actually does turn up but his father refuses to believe it. Weird. Sometimes we spend all our lives wanting something and never know what to do when that moment comes.

Falk - Joseph Conrad

read on 2019/08/07 | rating 4 (avg. 3.77)

Falk will perhaps be the most memorable character ever spun by Conrad. Pitiless resolution, endurance, cunning, and courage, Falk is the complete classical hero package.
His unfortunate incident at sea is told in brief yet packs a whole lot of punch. Marooned on a debilitated ship in the southern Pacific, he battles every despair from boiling his boots for soup to depraved cannibalism and comes out the only survivor. You can’t really deprive this man of anything, yet when he falls in love he confesses to never have suffered so much in life (in want of his beloved). A weird love story of sorts, much loved reading this.

Amy Foster - Joseph Conrad

read on 2019/07/29 | rating 4 (avg. 3.46)

A short tale of distilled emotions. Amy’s melancholic existence and the alienation faced by Yanko are narrated anonymously over the backdrop of xenophobic 19th century rural Britain. Conrad has a good understanding of the plight of European emigrants. Tinged with uncertain sadness, this book made for a perfect over on a rainy evening.

Typhoon - Joseph Conrad

read on 2019/07/28 | rating 4 (avg. 3.64)

Joseph Conrad rules the sea as far as english literature is concerned. Typhoon is a story of a unremarkable captain of a ship that gets caught in a typhoon. A story on how ordinary men behave in the face of adversity. More importantly, how much havoc incapable men can cause in a position of power. The captain’s ineptitude during the catastrophy is appalling and down right scary. Conrad describes the sea like no other, now imagine a typhoon.

Kim - Rudyard Kipling

read on 2019/07/27 | rating 2 (avg. 3.70)

Though obtuse at times regarding dialogs, Kim references plenty of relatable places like Lahore, Ambala, Lucknow, Benares etc.. Insightful in providing a down to earth feel of life a hundred years back.
The chemistry between Kim and the Lama is perhaps the highlight of the book. One might forget the Russian-British ‘game’ that unfolds subtly in the background, but the lama and chela duo are unforgettable.
On a more personal note : I realised today that my uncle wasn’t the first person who referred to Lucknow as ‘Nucklow’.

Naked Lunch: The Restored Text - William S. Burroughs

read on 2019/07/22 | rating 2 (avg. 3.46)

Dense, dense, and then some more .. Dense ! Incoherent and hebephrenic at its best parts, the medical jargons had me googling every now and then only to find out that the word indeed wasn’t made up ! Burrough’s technical grasp on his chemical dependencies is astonishing. The appendix is replete with the technicalities one might happen to question during this hallucination of a book. Besides the elliptical fetish for barbiturates and psychotropics, this book is perhaps the slimiest perversion to appear in text. His creativity in describing such puerile and coprophilic content strangely pulls you in like a disgusting scab you cant get enough touching of. This book actually makes you feel the kind of dirty where no shower can help, such is his talent (?). Good i read it while my stomach is still strong enough for this blackness.

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

read on 2019/07/17 | rating 5 (avg. 3.97)

A very focused Dystopian novel, Bradbury primarily focuses on the state of books in the future. Literally, physical books. Possession is criminalized and firefighters employed to burn them (which they do at 451 degrees Fahrenheit, earning the novel its name). A quick read, his prose style is vivid and charged with urgency. Guy Montag is a classic character that’s going to stick with me for a while. Beatty’s monologues are quite insightful and worth quoting. The descriptiveness was so graphic that i could see the whole novel unfold in my head like a movie. Highly recommended.

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? - George Carlin

read on 2019/07/08 | rating 2 (avg. 3.82)

Its only funny if you read it it in his voice, and then its very funny. I am not a fan of stand-up comedy, neither do i imagine myself in the near-future seeking performances that congratulate me on my superficial knowledge on getting the vague ambiguous references.
Carlin has something for everyone, plain government services and whitecollar jokes to outright coprophilic slapstick. Oddly enough its not the funny that pulled me in into finishing this conflagration of verbal diarrhea. Its the insights into euphemisms. They are the central core to much of his humour, and rightly so because he makes absurd revelations by highlighting the very obvious. Not all is golden though, some conjectures are just his personal opinions thrown in for mirth, but whom i to judge, a man has to win his bread.
I recommend it for the one liners. He’s funny. And dead. Still, funny.

Men Without Women: Stories - Haruki Murakami

read on 2019/06/27 | rating 5 (avg. 3.74)

Murakami says things we often dismiss as indescribable. A mix of raw emotion and philosophy in the most unassuming daily activities.
A brilliant collection of short stories with one common theme, men who have lost their women or are on their way to losing them. Tinged with sadness and thoughtful quotations, this book was a pleasure to read.

And Another Thing (World According To Clarkson, #2) - Jeremy Clarkson

read on 2019/06/20 | rating 5 (avg. 3.79)

If its a sin for a man to love a man, find me guilty. Clarkson is the new Wodehouse, and I loved that guy too. Since i read this a decade and a half late, bits and pieces are almost fading into obsolescence, reading upon the early to mid 2000’s is almost nostalgic now !
Too British for most, a lot is out of context but his gibe and sarcasm are evergreen. He might be bashing Tony Blair or David Beckham, but it might as well be present contemporaries, bashing never changes.
His lackadaisical delivery is very charming, like a bloke who is never tired of criticizing in crafty ways.
Now that Top Gear is in the bin, I really miss this bloke, and his humour.

Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India - William Dalrymple

read on 2019/05/29 | rating 5 (avg. 4.07)

Makes you ponder on how homogeneous we have become, how we accept and practice remote practices that have no origin near us, also how spiritual our country is.
A fragment of India’s spiritual diversity is beautifully spans 9 chapters in this book, from Sindh to Kaveri, personal tales of how practices live on despite fading into indifference.
Dalrymple inspires me to dig deeper into the stories of daily events i take for granted, maybe even become a bit more spiritual.

The Whistling Schoolboy and Other Stories of School Life - Ruskin Bond

read on 2019/04/29 | rating 5 (avg. 4.35)

Nostalgia is a wicked thing. Having written in his later years, its much more contemporary that his other works. Very relatable.
His simplicity in writings distills the purest of emotions. Along with Roald Dahl he completes my childhood.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life - Mark Manson

read on 2019/04/11 | rating 4 (avg. 3.87)

The content is golden, but the delivery is too casual for serious consumption, but yet again, life is not to be taken seriously. Mark boils down age old wisdom to contemporary parlance of most millennials, so its something millenials can ‘dig’.
One must not let his lackadaisical commentary make you feel you are listening to some bar banter, his stuff is ‘solid’. I really commend him for bringing this stuff in the foul language for the people who really need it.
A quick read, i happened to acquire a second hand copy with plenty of underlining. Quite a few highlighted parts had ‘false’ written next to them, so .. you know .. take it with a pinch of salt. Entertain the ideas and practice what works for you.

Brief Answers to the Big Questions - Stephen Hawking

read on 2019/04/08 | rating 5 (avg. 4.27)

The answers may be brief, but it will plunge the average reader into an abyss of scientific curiosity and perhaps at the end leave him feeling less knowledgeable that he started reading it, not less intelligent, but less knowledgeable. This book comes to the embarrassing conclusion that all we know, all science that we so religiously revere and vouch for, pales in comparison to what we don’t know, or rather, that is yet to be known.
Hawking’s effort in not only theoretical astrophysics but in popularizing science among the general population has met with much success. I personally got hooked onto soviet era paperback popular science books (MIR Publications), and there has been no turning back, turning me into an evangelist of not only science but imagination.

A Perfect Day for Bananafish - J.D. Salinger

read on 2019/04/07 | rating 5 (avg. 4.27)

superb short story, the deux ex machina is quite surprising. So many questions !

Himalayan Blunder: The Angry Truth About India’s Most Crushing Military Disaster - J.P. Dalvi

read on 2019/04/07 | rating 3 (avg. 4.30)

Almost an encyclopaedic account of the War of 1962.
JP Dalvi doesn’t shy away from articulating the exact shortcomings of the Indian reaction to the Chinese incursion. With a distinguished and impressive career in the armed forces spanning across the second world war and the Indian Independence, his account holds more weight than most third party literature. He held the insightful vantage point to the whole story right from the political ineptness to battle ground realities.
Highly recommended for anyone serving the armed forces or for anyone having important assets and responsibilities in the NE Frontier provinces.

India Since Independence - Bipan Chandra

read on 2014/05/24 | rating 3 (avg. 3.90)

A comprehensive guide to India post 1947, I found it more biased than the author’s other work: “India’s Struggle for Independence”. Significant focus is on the politics involved at the center, and its struggles with the economy, poverty, land reforms, internal uprisings, communalism, bureaucracy, party politics etc … It does discuss Land and Agricultural Reforms in depth but the chronology is bit messed up, and sometimes incoherent with the discussion. At places the authors starts a statistics monologue, which in spite of being crucial to the content under discussion, is a drag after a point. My favorite bits were the chapters on international relations, brief and crisp.
A “maybe” read for CS aspirants who have enough time at hand (with two additional tries from 2014, that shouldn’t be a problem !).

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two (Harry Potter, #8) - J.K. Rowling

read on 2019/03/24 | rating 1 (avg. 3.48)

A poor effort at milking the Harry Potter fandom, this adaptation was worse than the most depraved fan fic this universe could have inspired. It entirely relies on the reader’s depth of knowledge of the characters from the actual series, dont add much color and rather dramatically changes the personalities of the characters themselves; more casual and contemporary than a reader might have expected.
Stop milking a dead goat … Harry Potter is done and dusted, have some respect !

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

read on 2019/03/17 | rating 3 (avg. 4.06)

3 star for poetic justice to tragedy of the mind and high fidelity to the feelings of mental illness.
There isn’t much take away from this book for the sound minded, a custard of confused feelings and verbs, the protagonist’s lackadaisical attitude towards her mental illness isn’t quite appealing to someone actually looking for support. It might even tempt some into pretending they are mentally troubled to earn a poetic license for their adventures and get some much needed attention, something our god forsaken society craves every moment.
I will however credit poor Miss Plath for reconstructing fairly accurately the inner turmoils of mental illness, this book somewhat helps the reader understand mental illness better.

The Secret Sharer - Joseph Conrad

read on 2014/10/29 | rating 4 (avg. 3.63)

Short and intense, especially towards the end. Looking forward to reading ‘THE HEART OF DARKNESS’.

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus - John Gray

read on 2019/01/27 | rating 3 (avg. 3.58)

An incomprehensive guide to something more complex than complexity itself. Essentially a How be good guide. This classic hasn’t age well considering how important social media is today to relationships, however the fundamentals are solid and doesn’t spoon feed you specific to situations.
Good read if you find yourself in a soup, or happen to find it lying discarded at your colleague’s desk :-/

The King in Yellow - Robert W. Chambers

read on 2016/09/10 | rating 3 (avg. 3.52)

Perhaps the origin of macabre and grotesque, it is raw, primitive, and leaves quite a bit to the imagination. The first few stories are more than subtly linked and together give the enigmatic story of the yellow king a satisfying mysteriousness. Targeting Parisian artists and decadents, the main themes have not been forsaken to obscurity today, clearly this book has inspired many popular works of the 20th century. A classic.

Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling

read on 2018/11/27 | rating 3 (avg. 4.06)

Suitable for kids aged 7-10.
I happened to find myself finishing it one insomnia laced night. I would have frankly enjoyed it had i read it two decades back, at least now i have a few readymade tales to tell the multitude of nephews and nieces that haunt me for stories.
I must acknowledge that Kipling’s works have aged well !

The Sea Wolf - Jack London

read on 2018/11/25 | rating 4 (avg. 4.06)

A Nautical tale of human psychology. An urban effeminate ‘gentleman’ all of a sudden finds himself among the masculine world of hunters abroad a sealing vessel for months.
What makes this tale truly remarkable is the Captain Larsen, ‘Sea Wolf’ himself. His philosophical intellect and Nietzsche like nihilistic masculine qualities make him among the most memorable characters in a fictional book i have read.
The story however takes a turn south post the introduction of a woman character in the last quarter of the book. All who fall in love with Wolf and his story will be appalled at the love-story like turn this book takes. I felt cheated that all this was at the expense of the parallel story that plays about regarding Wolf’s confrontation with Death Larsen and his loss of hunters to the Macedonia. I had a hard time accepting the last few pages of this book, but I will not condemn the book for this deviation, its a lovely book at the end of the day.

The Lexus and the Olive Tree - Thomas L. Friedman

read on 2018/11/20 | rating 3 (avg. 3.60)

Honestly, no different than the other book oh his i read “The World is Flat”. Globalization is a fact but Friedman beats the pulp out of it example after example. The same words appear again and again .. Beirut Bangkok Bangalore. Maybe it was indeed a novelty to gawk at Japanese Television in Sub Saharan Africa in the 90s .. but its more or less taken for granted 20 years later.
This book hasn’t aged well. I am probably not exaggerating when i say that what was considered a ingenuity or luxury two decades back is now the obvious and rather a necessity.
The book is more to do with history than the future now.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

read on 2018/11/18 | rating 5 (avg. 4.34)

A melange of biology, psychology, economics, politics and of course, history. Harari traces the the rise of humanity right from the primordial soup to its anticipated decline. Replete with original insights into the ‘why’ of origin of things, he compels the reader’s brain into not only questioning how things came about to be, from foraging, agriculture, building empires to revolutions, but also ponder on ‘why’, something our classrooms left out.
He is unapologetic into defining in text the harsh reality we are so indifferent to today, dares to question the very concept of happiness and humanities pursuit for it.
Highly recommended for all homo sapiens, and that occasional curious goose.

Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

read on 2018/11/11 | rating 4 (avg. 3.98)

Dense. Dense. Dense.
A whirlwind of exquisite vocabulary and mystical imageries.
The widespread use of Indian colloquial terms makes it an unusually difficult read for non-Indian/Pakistani readers.
Almost cinematographic in appeal, the imageries are original and possess dream like like incoherence, magnifying and diminishing irrationally.
Not a quick read, this “Booker of Bookers” deserves its redundant title, I will probably need to read it a hundred times before i grasp all its subtleties.
The intricately intertwined tales are each rich enough to spin off a book or movie series in themselves (X-Men comes so close, I don’t know who inspired whom though).
Of all chapters i likes the ones in the sunderbans the BEST !! If only some bugger could only write a whole series based on that chapter. I would forever live in this anticipation.
This particular book has lost some of its original relevance (published 1981) as a LOT of the story involves the social-political circumstances of India/Pakistan/Bangladesh at that time. A good and unlikely insight into post-independence India !

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

read on 2018/10/11 | rating 4 (avg. 4.13)

Forgive me, I skipped Part-I.
A collection of tales circumlocuting lives of Bengali-Americans. Jhumpa Lahiri’s aetherial style of writing brings about a fascinating level a realism in her stories. Merging small things with the big in just the right amount, mimicking the exact means our minds employ to make memories .. highlighting the most mundane of things and sometimes skipping big events entirely.
After skipping a few of the disconnected tales in Part I, I particularly enjoyed the continuous tale in Part II (Hema and Kaushik). It is further neatly divided into three segments, the first two of which are from Hema and Kaushik respectively, using yet another unique style of narration; they are addressed to each other as if in a letter ! The third segment mixes multiple styles on narration without the loss of coherency. Each segment has a big jump in chronology which helps keep the entire plot concise.
Do not feel guilty if you jump to Part II directly, in-fact i highly recommend it !

Macbeth - William Shakespeare

read on 2018/10/07 | rating 3 (avg. 3.89)

‘Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair’, the righteous have their follies and there is hope for every sinner. Macbeth is full of murder most foul, often just done for the sake of fidelity towards the prophecies. Shakespeare is surprisingly honest towards executing prophecies in his plays, Macbeth does die from a man not born from a women.
I like how over the development of the play the roles of Macbeth and his wife evolve, foul intentions turning to sincere morals and vice versa, yet another refrain to ‘fair is foul and foul is fair’.
Among the better works by Shakespeare, perhaps all the bloodshed makes it more consumable to the bloodthirsty insatiable modern day man.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster - Jon Krakauer

read on 2018/10/05 | rating 5 (avg. 4.25)

Riveting ! This book is propelled by its sheer action and drama density. Most works of fiction i have read to date pale in comparison to the brutality accounted for in this book. My brush with the amateaur mountain-climbing industry last year made this account more relatable and authentic. I don’t recall reading a work of non-fiction as sincerely or as quickly as this.
Krakauer lists down not only the chronological order of tragedies on May 10 1996, he also highlights about the internal thought process and moral dilemmas of fellow climbers there that day. A good psychological insight into human nature under challenging circumstances, its an excellent case study in (mis)handling crisis in conflicts or natural disasters.
Highly recommended for all mountaineers and anyone even remotely related to the outdoor adventure industry.

While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

read on 2018/09/25 | rating 4 (avg. 3.84)

Vonnegut’s short stories are among the best I have ever read, and I find myself recommending them to others quite often.
With ‘Jenny’ as the first story the curator set a very high bar for the following stories, for ‘Jenny’ turned out to be my favourite !
Among other favourites were ‘The Girl Pool’ and ‘Out, Brief Candle’.
The title story ‘While Mortals Sleep’ wasn’t quite impressive in my opinion.
Though I firmly believe my toaster was Picasso in its past life, the illustrations in this book were quite abstract even for my understanding.

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

read on 2018/09/24 | rating 4 (avg. 4.00)

Replete with splendid quotations, finally i got context to so many quotations from this book i have come across on the internet.
Heavily influenced from Catcher in the Rye, Murakami doesn’t shy from indirectly acknowledging it when Watanabe, the protagonist, is commented upon by one of his friends in the book as acting like Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of Catcher in the Rye.
Not exactly a coming of age story, but it does deal with similar emotional drama. Though a bit exaggerated in some aspects and often too ‘Japanese’, overall a satisfying weekend read.
Murakami always leaves the reader with some thinking to do after the novel has ended.

The Lurking Fear - H.P. Lovecraft

read on 2018/08/19 | rating 2 (avg. 3.66)

There is a reason why Lovecraft dominates the ever popular genre of horror fiction, or as he himself admits to addressing it .. the ‘weird fiction’.
Perhaps the most articulate of all early twentieth century authors decomposing poetically in their graves, his stories have original elements that captivate the imagination of its readers and one can in fact observe similarities between modern day literature of similar genres, borrowing excessively the fundamentals from his works, oftentimes ruining it to stereotypes.
Personally I am afraid I decided to explore Lovecraft a bit too late, for now I believe real life can be far more tragic and scary than the most imaginative fable. I would however recommend it for its lucid eloquence and vivid victorian imagery.

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ - Daniel Goleman

read on 2018/07/29 | rating 5 (avg. 4.05)

The single most impactful book i have read in years.
The book doesn’t beat around the bush whining about emotions, the message is clear and unambiguous … we need to get our sht together. We can lament over how millenials are entitled to being the emotional fcks that we are or we can pull up our collective socks and do something about it.
The book is well written, though perhaps a bit America oriented, but the crux is transferable to any society, they are all equally fcked. The book, besides elaborating on what the problem is, lists out suggestions for practicing and spreading emotional intelligence in children and adults, in schools and workplace, for parents and friends.
In my opinion this topic, not necessarily this book, should be a mandatory practice for young couples .. broken peeps can’t raise emotionally healthy kids .. gotta start young .. you cant unfck their minds when there is no mind left !
Lets bake this right :-)

Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century - Shashi Tharoor

read on 2018/07/23 | rating 3 (avg. 3.87)

I had the privilege of reading a signed copy of this book , and i must confess, it encouraged me to do more than just read the book.

Tharoor emphasises on the blurred international borders today and the growing indifference between domestic and international matters of concern. Replete with relevant anecdotes and facts, there is an unambiguous message in his rational diatribe supplemented by his own opinions and suggestions.
Being an experienced, knowledgeable and covetously articulate statesman, most proposals in Pax Indica are diplomacy oriented, and as signed on my copy of the book, “Help Build Pax Indica!”, Tharoor implores that we help do our bit for a more secure, stable and prosperous India.
Despite it being his personal opinions and suggestions, I think this book ought to be supplementary material to be used by Think Tanks and Policy forums in India and abroad.
Lets build Pax India !

The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

read on 2018/07/03 | rating 5 (avg. 3.96)

I wish i knew malayalam, I wonder how many subtle emotions i missed due to this shortcoming of mine. The book is overflowing with surreal sylvan imageries and it pulls you into its zoo like wet world with overabundant insects and crawlies and communism and pickles and people embedded with very human emotions. Estha and Rahel reel the user in into their unsophisticated twisted realities, where the natural order of things is anything but real.
I can’t particularly point to what makes me sad after reading this book, no particular lump in the plot. Its a kind of sadness that lingers among a swarm of flies on a quiet wet and dark-green monsoon evening.
I highly recommend you read this among the trees on a cloudy and dark monsoon day. I did most of my reading listening to the ‘slow drummer’ play his solo on the tin roof at night :-)

Bart Simpson’s Guide to Life: A Wee Handbook for the Perplexed - Matt Groening

read on 2018/07/01 | rating 4 (avg. 3.89)

wow .. i got hold of this book fifteen years too late. The cogging stuff is legit man, and the multi-lingual swear list too …
Old prunes get your kid this .. your kid can buy it himself someday, but then he won’t be … you know .. a kid.

Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel García Márquez

read on 2018/06/28 | rating 4 (avg. 3.94)

Imagine living a whole another life, in a completely different time and place, the entire gamut of the highs and lows, eighty years of it, imagine living that .. in a week. This is it. Marquez’s best work in my opinion. The ‘L’ word in title is very obvious to what this book is about .. from adolescent lust to geriatric compassion, its the whole deal. For most today it’s also an anachronistic adventure to the post industrial developments in the carribeans of early 1900s. Marqueuz doesn’t spare the political environment of the time. Interwoven exquisitely with a very personal story of love, honour, shame, passion and family. One can’t help but feel growing up with Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza as they go about their inhibited lives and even mature along with them towards the end. Quotable phrases pepper this book with matrimonial wisdom, I particularly admired how he handles the topic of love among the elderly. I think i read this book a bit too young :-

The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia - Ursula K. Le Guin

read on 2018/06/22 | rating 5 (avg. 4.25)

Popularly known as a book on a fictional ‘ambiguous utopia’, I was delighted to find that this book is about so much more than just that. Ursula Le Guin stretches one’s imagination to impossible dimensions composed of hardcore sci-fi, philosophy, physics, public administration, capitalism, Anarchism, and of course, love. One underrated aspect that I particularly admired was the linguistic subtleties, particularly the manifestation of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis among the Iotic and Pravic speaking Cetians, specially the way their respective languages mimic the difference in the concepts of ownership and possession (crucial themes of the book) between the Urrasti and the Annarans. That added a much relatable depth to the entire story. Loved it !

Prometheus Bound - Aeschylus

read on 2018/05/25 | rating 2 (avg. 3.93)

The discredited work by Aeschylus .. a profoundly historical tale of the Titan Prometheus and his punishment following his crime of stealing the fire from the gods and giving it to the humans. Despite the lamentations this work didn’t contain many of Aeschylus’s signatures, hence the discredit.

The Suppliants - Aeschylus

read on 2018/05/22 | rating 2 (avg. 3.42)

Finally .. Aischylos’s famous “Hiketides” !
He has been kind enough to have an in-built poetic TL;DR on women fleeing weird matrimony laws :
“So I indulge my grief here in Greek pastures,
and I rend my soft and sunbrown cheek
and heart not used to misery.
I feed upon the flowers of sorrow.
fearing there may not be a guardian,
for these friendless exiles
from the misty land.”

The World According to Clarkson (World According to Clarkson, #1) - Jeremy Clarkson

read on 2018/05/22 | rating 5 (avg. 3.70)

Years of watching Top Gear has given me a particular liking for Clarkson’s humour (or like some may say, the lack of it). It was only imperative that i devour this collection of his wittiest articles to my complete satisfaction. I am yet to conclude whether he hates everyone, or, everything.

THE PIRATE BOOK - Nicolas Maigret

read on 2018/05/16 | rating 5 (avg. 3.64)

An overview of digital piracy in the developing world since the 1980s. It focuses on sociological and economical perspectives rather than the technical. A good work on an informal yet massively disruptive industry, it helps fill in gaps which are otherwise left out by the mainstream news. Disclaimer : May be N057@lg!

< for readers from West/Saharan Africa, Mali, Ghana, India, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, and a few more “developing countries” :-)

What Ho! The Best of P.G. Wodehouse - P.G. Wodehouse

read on 2018/05/13 | rating 4 (avg. 4.46)

Dense Dense dense wodehouse for the attention-span deficit insatiable soul. Every page oozes the best of his work and though it leaves one a heretic for having forgone the story between the pages, this guilt trip is a boon for people who don’t yet realise they were better off reading his entire set of omnibuses.

Naked Pictures of Famous People - Jon Stewart

read on 2018/05/11 | rating 5 (avg. 3.58)

The FUNNIEST book I have read in ages ! unlike subtle British humourists like Clarkson and Fry … Jon Stewart is unapologetically hilarious. Hitler, Kennedy, Princess Diana , mother Teresa, Martha’s V-yard, he has it all covered !
I feel naughty happy having read it. so will you :-)

The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka

read on 2018/05/07 | rating 5 (avg. 3.70)

An overwhelming tale of the Japanese immigrants, especially women, in the early 1900s America. Researched in an astounding depth, it has minutest of details in the most subtle manner giving the story the very feel of being realistic. Written in the most exquisite style, it doesn’t follow one particular set of characters but rather the entire community as a whole and the style of writing reflects that by jumping between experiences for an identical circumstance. The reader is made omnipresent by this elegant interweaving of tales.
It’s just those kind of sad books that ironically make you feel better on having read it.
The chapters on the women and their children were too emotionally charged. Wasn’t prepared for that :-(

Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual - Michael Pollan

read on 2018/05/05 | rating 5 (avg. 3.99)

Anecdotes and thumb-rules, often quite personal, primarily in context with western (American) diet. Since a lot of urban diet around the world is beginning to mimic the same, this book becomes increasingly more relevant everyday.
Reading it is pointless if you don’t go ahead and choose some realistic rules to apply in your daily life. If you indeed are planning to read this, I believe you are already in the state of mind that would be open to serious changes in your diet. All the best !

A Separate War and Other Stories - Joe Haldeman

read on 2018/05/02 | rating 3 (avg. 3.67)

‘A Separate War’ and ‘Diminished Chord’ were my favourites among all 15 stories here. ‘Foreclosure’ was particularly humorous and similar in style with ‘the restaurant at the end of the universe’. A refreshing breath of hard core 70s-90s Sci-Fi in a stagnate 21st century science genre.
The last two “out of phase” and “power complex” are a tough read, maybe incohorrent. But super original.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark - Carl Sagan

read on 2018/04/05 | rating 3 (avg. 4.29)

Carl Sagan laments over the decline in scientific curiosity among the Americans in the 90s. But the book isn’t all crying and whining, he gets to feed us with amusing trivia and facts in between the whining. The scientific situation he describes is a nightmare but I think we have come a good twenty years or so in the future and science has fared well, at least regarding information technology if not the theoretical science. With technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain etc .. challenging traditionally non-technical sectors, it surely draws the general public attention to science. Of course people are as stupid as they were in the 90s, netflix/internet has replaced TV. Overall, a bit outdated and focuses more on the American experience, read it for your respect for Sagan’s enthusiasm.

A Hunger Artist (Short Prose of Franz Kafka) - Franz Kafka

read on 2018/03/05 | rating 5 (avg. 4.10)

Hunger may not be an artform yet but history has only taught us how absurd art and public infatuations can get. And in the peculiar kafka style the story does not lose touch with realism, people change and tastes change, the story shows the decline in the public interest towards such exhibitions of austerity. Another facet was the hunger artist’s psychology and his loyalty to his ‘skill’. I like to believe that the Hunger does not only give meaning to story in its literal sense but also figurative. I pondered over this deep enough and arrived at the conclusion how everyone is a hunger artist today, we take pride in our exhibitionist ‘hobbies’ and the hunger for approval (social media or otherwise) has turned us into hunger artists.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch - Terry Pratchett

read on 2018/02/23 | rating 4 (avg. 4.25)

Loved the absurd juxtaposition of the ordinary practical world against biblical dark humour, only an amalgam of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman could pull this off as a seamless patchwork of parallel tales with a definitive story line.
The idiosyncrasies and materialistic tendencies highlighted in most characters give a brilliant touch of realism to an otherwise completely ridiculous fictional story.
The events are vividly described, I could almost imagine the novel unwind in my brain like a movie. The characters so well developed, I almost cast my favourite potpourri of actors and actresses to justify those roles. In my mind I have already given this movie an Oscar for its cinematographic appeal !

Romance of Lust - Anonymous

read on 2018/02/21 | rating 1 (avg. 3.21)

The title is only half correct, the latter half to be more precise. Romance has been abandoned at the expense of injecting this book with only one single emotion : Lust.
Lust among the 19th century affluent either had a very high bar of eroticism or we have really mellowed down and watered our libidiousness in the 20th. This book indulges in every imaginable taboo of pornography .. incest, pedophilia .. you imagine it (or don’t) and this has it, often the family tree is coerced in elliptical obscene trajectories to make the already vulgur unappetizing. I was honestly surprised why such a dense literature on biomechanics bothered about a coherent timeline interweaving a confusing web of generations, which then again indulged in the same mechanical excesses as their parents, and often with the parents !
If you think yourself open minded and liberal regarding such content, this blast from the past might do some harm to your opinion.
A bit too adventurous for me, at least i discovered some french and Italian words for otherwise delightfully disgusting things.
If these kind of fantasies gets you on, that’s cool, Please keep it to yourself.

The Awesome Egyptians - Terry Deary

read on 2017/12/14 | rating 5 (avg. 4.05)

I can safely say my humour derives from Horrible History’s hilarious illustrations that I grew up reading. The awesome egyptians is informative as well as hilarious. A treasure.

Maktub - Paulo Coelho

read on 2017/12/08 | rating 4 (avg. 3.44)

Quick staccato anecdotes and micro fables make this work a comfortable travel read. Like a disembodied head the reader follows the wanderer witnessing a multitude of unconnected yet somewhat related stories and often they are accompanied by morals. There are some not-so-obvious similarities between the oriental and the occidental philosophies and they have been subtly highlighted here, giving the reader something to do while they hop from one tale to the next.
Surprisingly I haven’t come across much information about this collection. Underrated in my opinion, or perhaps this genre needs some more baking time.

Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy - Sadhguru

read on 2017/12/05 | rating 5 (avg. 4.20)

Allow me to elaborate an experience I had never imagined I would owe to a simple composition of words. Perhaps the most heavily underlined book I own, beating my sixth grade chemistry textbook by a breadth of a unbalanced equation.
It surpasses the concept of a book, just to bow down to the comprehension level of a standard issue humanoid like me does it manifest itself in text. Pardon my exaggeration but it has been quite an experience. It would be almost heresy to try to explain my perception of this book. Moreover its not something that needs to be talked about, but rather practised.
I accept that the remote end of the book on occult and the metaphysical is still beyond my comprehension, I can only interpret that I am not ready for those parts yet.
I had never imagined this kind of genre would appeal to me so much. Surprise !

Introducing Capitalism: A Graphic Guide (Graphic Guides) - Dan Cryan

read on 2017/11/12 | rating 4 (avg. 3.79)

Superb introduction to historic and contemporary world economies, it builds up chronologically, discusses their merits and demerits, and highlights works of pioneers in this field (Marx.. what a guy!). It approaches the concept of Capitalist economies and even predicts its future. Obviously, the topic is very large to cover in such a tiny book but an excellent job none the less, some works described there-in could have entire graphic novel to themselves (Luckily there is one on Heidegger, that buggers next on my list). Made a nice commute time read. (Gave it a 4 star, saving my 5s for later)

The Monster at the End of this Book - Jon Stone

read on 2017/11/07 | rating 5 (avg. 4.46)

A graphic tale of persuasion and desperation. The entire cast revolves around the resolute Grover from the Sesame Street. Its unique in the sense where the role between the antagonist and protagonist is blurred and at the end swapped ! Grover is typically assumed the protagonist as he persuades the reader against progressing into the book, and reader is the antagonist as he or she rages on with page turning enthusiasm and no regard to the pleas of Grover, but as the last graphic reveals, he claims to be the antagonist, a monster. But is he really !
Its the reader that repeatedly ignores the most sincere warning of a loveable character and with minds full of malintent trudges unsympathetically to the deep end of the book. Grover, framed in the title of the book itself, takes the full responsibility of the readers’ misdemeanour and claims himself the monster.
He who helps and wishes the best for you is a monster, and they gladly be allowed to be called so though the real monster is .. you ! :)

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

read on 2017/11/06 | rating 5 (avg. 3.81)

A story of desperation and determination, poetic at times but doesn’t hide the uneasy bits. A seasoned seaman against a gigantic marlin, it would have been an ordinary sea tale had it not been for his wisdom and soliloquies that interweave the expedition with emotional depth. And if the delicate charm of the resolute old man doesn’t appeal to you, his bad ass shark-stabbing/clubbing, raw-fish eating (while talking to them), and other scaly adventures will impress you out of your slimy skin.
When our ‘old man’ returns to his ‘newspaper bed’, the reader too is also exhausted and ponders over the entire expedition, its outcome and its worth as if it were a personal episode … the reader can’t help but be completely involved in this marvel, fin and tail.
Beautiful book.

The Seven Against Thebes (Dover Thrift Editions) - Aeschylus

read on 2017/11/04 | rating 2 (avg. 3.72)

Last of the Oedipodea trilogy, with more emphasis on dialog than action. Characters are revealed and lamentations abound. The verbose dialogues by Etokeles give depth to the nature of hostilities at the gates. I am unamused to having read Aeschylus in second hand English, a tongue native to neither the author nor the reader. It might take a few decades but I will be back for justice .. reading Hepta Epi Thebas in the original !

The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

read on 2017/11/02 | rating 4 (avg. 4.33)

It starts like any other literary nonsense (that’s the technical nomenclature) which I admire exceedingly (my favourite being Alice in Wonderland) but when it turns coherent enough to narrate the Prince’s journey to the other planets, it hovers over a much more serious topic … ‘life’ as we know it today.
The businessman,the conceited man and the geographer, etc .. all are manifestations of typical ‘modern’ society members. The reader cannot help but wonder which one he or she relates to the most. So, like any other masterpiece, this book reveals to the reader more about themselves than any fictional character in the book.
It took real pains to accept that i am the ‘lamplighter’ from the book, condemned to witness 1440 sunsets in a day :(

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

read on 2017/10/27 | rating 4 (avg. 3.89)

A simple tale with not so simple ending .. dramatic is an understatement. Relatively unspoiled by my childhood education for I never heard of this book for embarrassingly long years, the psychological quagmire at the end left me more shocked than a book has the right to or reader a reason.

Introducing Kant: A Graphic Guide (Graphic Guides) - Christopher Kul-Want

read on 2017/10/22 | rating 3 (avg. 3.22)

A metaphysical what-the-funk-did-I-just-read … I am too young for this ‘Kritik der Urteilskraft’ and whatever condiments go with it :-/
Kant’s Prussian fingers lather readers’ mind with awesome philosophical soap and some is bound to get in readers’ eyes … but Kant is much more than a wise man of ethics and morals, his scientific works are admirable and once again gives me reason to believe that philosophy and science go hand in pant with with each other.
Illustrations are not the strong point of these series so don’t expect too much, the content of the book is not really meant for graphic illustrations either. Only the whimsical pretenders are seen with a graphic guide to philosophy, I will be darned if the purty-girl-with-ripped-jeans beside whom i read this in the flight was not impressed … you “kant” say i didn’t try :-P

Buddhism For Sheep - Chris Riddell

read on 2017/10/22 | rating 5 (avg. 3.77)

Love the illustrations !!! Adorable pictures to go with meaningful text, as a fan of everything unconventional, i quite admired this ovine spin with a philosophical context. It makes for a beautiful gift … so I gifted it to myself :-)

Dr. Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick

read on 2017/10/16 | rating 3 (avg. 3.70)

There is something queer about 60’s dystopian fantacies, despite an account of time yet to arrive it reveals more than intended of the time it was written in. Science fiction with its mind boggling possibilities has never compared to what reality has in hold for us. Dr. Bloodmoney is a very narrow account concentrating on personal accounts rather than a global view. Allowing it to flaunt the 60’s chauvinistic and racist seasoning, the plot jumps a lot from character to character, some of which I believe deserved an arc of their own. Towards the end the book approaches the much anticipated dystopian sci-fi macabre, specially regarding Eddie and her ‘brother’ Tom. Dr. Bloodmoney, despite lending the book its title, does not have much of the plot to himself, facts like this annoy me a bit. Till his very demise I was expecting some psychoanalytic punchline to his character.
Satisfying, yet leaves your imaginative horses untied, racing full hilt in the dystopian landscape pulling strings together and finishing arcs for itself. Reading the book is only half the experience.

Elektra - Euripides

read on 2016/05/11 | rating 4 (avg. 3.95)

Orestes’s protracted recognition was as amusing as it sounds (Euripides never seems to have used enough of that !) , coupled with the relevant neo-Freudian psychology of matricide, Elektra is a tad bit more caustic compared to Sophocles’s Elektra, she actively participates in the matricide, unlike Sophocles’s version. The unnamed farmer husband is an impressive character, so is the unnamed old man, Agamemnon’s tutor. Undoubtedly the finest play by Euripides, a master of tragedy indeed.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

read on 2017/09/24 | rating 1 (avg. 4.00)

Wow. Is this book really popular ? For what ? I must have missed something. Utterly depressing , not in a good poetic way, its so bad its depressing. The storyline tries to follow a post apocalyptic curve but misses all the good bits, its the boring part of any postapocalyptic prose. The characters are underdeveloped .. i had no clue as to why the boy and man are so cold to each other .. wasn’t the boy the entire reason for his existence ? He couldve uttered more than a syllable at a time, that couldve helped. But no, the author had to give them an “okay .. okay” dialog to fill pages. the conversations were annoyingly empty. Just descriptions of whats happening and not one insight into their history or feelings. Dont know, maybe its some new kind of literature. Too bad it sucks. 3 hours of my life i am never getting back.

The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia - Paul Theroux

read on 2017/09/04 | rating 5 (avg. 3.90)

Paul hates trains, and Asians, and he is British, he is also funny, and he wrote a book on travelling through Asia by train.
Its the kind that makes you fall in love with reading, remanding a repeat as soon as you finish, there is no slow ascent to an awaited climax, not a rapid page turner that leaves one at the edge running through the book, its the kind that pours out instant gratification in each phrase, each line can be taken apart, admired, pondered over, laughed at, shared and appreciated even out of context. The neo-British humour had me smiling like an idiot on every, otherwise painful, commute to my workplace .. that is when I primarily read this book, a page or two a day over the last eight months. I can attribute my love for commuting through obnoxious city traffic to this hilarious book. Paul Theroux has a new fan … and he is coming to get some more !

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

read on 2017/06/02 | rating 5 (avg. 4.12)

I stand by my previous review on Murakami, and I quote myself “Who needs cocaine when you can read Murakami!”. Talking cats, timeless parallel dimensions, a harlot majoring in philosophy who quotes Hegel and Henri Bergson and has Colonel Sanders as her pimp, Johnny Walker who makes flute out of cats’ souls and of course, the Oedipus complex, this book is the full psychedelic package.
I usually do not get attach to any book and hold a distinction of not having read any book twice, but this book is a promising counter-example candidate. I was surprised to find myself rereading lines and phrases and pondering over the depth of some quotes, its quite well written. The two alternating stories are beautifully connected. And if you ever feel tempted to indulge in psychedelics, this book is a guaranteed cheaper (and legal) alternative. I will be re-reading this one.

Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri

read on 2013/12/26 | rating 3 (avg. 4.18)

more like 3.5-ish

The Man-Eater of Malgudi - R.K. Narayan

read on 2017/05/14 | rating 3 (avg. 3.84)

delightful, not my usual genre, but i wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone with time to spare. I particularly loved the way a reader has full insight into the protagonist’s thought process, relating oneself to surprising bits of his personality. The antagonist is introduced as a human manifestation of all things another human can possibly detest, towards the end one may actually begin sympathizing to some degree or another , he is a complex character. Maybe its not a common observance but this piece of literature is a masterpiece in dark humor.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

read on 2017/04/15 | rating 2 (avg. 3.93)

Interpersonal complications in the roaring 20s against a backdrop of the Jazz Age … I was surprised to find myself reading this book on this lovely warm Saturday. Perhaps the most unique aspect of this book is that the things a reader likes about this book tells more about the reader than the book itself. I will leave it at that, discuss this book with me and I will know your story.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Gabriel García Márquez

read on 2017/04/14 | rating 2 (avg. 3.97)

The narrative is winding and the conclusion itself confusing. Marquez’s reputation tempted me to pass my day off from work reading this. A quick short read but do not expect a concrete story with a definite beginning, a middle and an end, the meandering is the aspect of the book that ought to be enjoyed and is vaguely similar to the more popular ‘100 years of solitude’ by the same author. Read if you like Marquez’s style else this is not a regular cup of tea.

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

read on 2017/04/13 | rating 5 (avg. 4.23)

A sci-fi manifestation of a tear-jerking emotional rollercoaster. I was not prepared for this, no one is. The beauty in the storytelling is how the language, grammar and punctuation improves and deteriorates over the course of the novel to reflect the mental state of the protagonist, Charlie. Towards the end when the reader is already overwhelmed with his mental and moral decline, the impact is aggravated when his language slips back to his original style, his thought process does a rollback and a reader cannot help but feel involved in his hallucinations and deliriums till the protagonist is lost to himself.

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein

read on 2017/04/08 | rating 3 (avg. 3.92)

Its a wholesome experience to read a retro science fiction evolve into a philosophical insight on religion. Having grokked it over a three month period, I now believe it has been worth the luxurious pace. Luddites had me believing its nothing but Heinlein’s personal expression of his sexist and atheist opinions, and as unpopular as it might seem, I wish to hold my own opinions on this work; considering the time it was written its rather progressive and despite its sexist remarks at almost all places women are referenced, the ladies themselves appear in dominant roles throughout the novel and all key characters are women, something i do not expect from a pulp fiction of this genre of that time, so this dichotomy is rather confusing.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking - Susan Cain

read on 2016/08/27 | rating 2 (avg. 4.08)

Though this doesn’t provide any new insight into introversion (but on the few occasions the author backs up with facts and references), its an excellent guide to relationships, professional success and parenthood. It almost stigmatizes extroversion while patting the backs of introverts, I don’t know what I expected … it does its job I suppose, whatever that may be. I would classify this as a book for new parents, infact highly recommend this book for them. (Though most parts of the book may be irrelevant). I wished the publisher/author could target their audience better, perhaps split the book into multiple self help book, I will leave that to the professionals, I wouldn’t fall in any demographic they might target.

Introducing Heidegger: A Graphic Guide (Graphic Guides) - Jeff Collins

read on 2015/10/18 | rating 2 (avg. 3.54)

Heidegger is a complex person and his philosophy even more so, tainted with nazism, inspired an equal number of philosophers as many opposed his views. I will be lying if I said I understood his philosophy of self sein and desein, his obsession with grammar is pickled this graphic guide with a significant German vocabulary, adding to my incompetence in trying to understanding him. If Sartre values him obviously I am missing something, a graphic guide is probably not the best way to understand heiddeger.

Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse

read on 2016/12/23 | rating 5 (avg. 4.13)

Words will only diminish the love I have for this book. This is the BEST book I will ever read (no exaggeration). Who needs cocaine when this book exists ! … though I would probably never recommend it to you, if I did, they have problems mate. I am afraid this has made me very choosy in what I will read next and single handedly rendered all of my unread books collection useless. Once a reader has tasted this, there is no going back to the bullsh*t that’s passed off as literature.

Introducing Linguistics: A Graphic Guide (Graphic Guides Book 0) - R.L. Trask

read on 2015/07/12 | rating 5 (avg. 3.90)

A dense series of Graphic Guides, its intriguing that they can pack so much information into so little text space. This particular guide gives an overview of linguistics and is constant supplier of stimulating lunch discussions. Who knew .. as per Greek concept of time (lets not get into their concept of money :-P), one faces towards the past and therefore explains why a person can see the past and not the future, this is in contrast to western of any other concept where you look forward to the future…. hmmm. The illustrations are usually not informative (as in graphs, diagram, … well the “graphic” part of information) but speech bubbles and funny looking neuro-nerds kinda make up for it.

A Short History of the World - H.G. Wells

read on 2016/12/06 | rating 2 (avg. 3.86)

The promising oxymoron in the title coupled with the author’s reputation compelled me to give this a long luxurious read … and look what it did to me … Nothing. Its a good compendium of what we’ve been up to last few hundred years but this book is more of a novelty than a textbook, riddled with eurocentric evangelism and whatever comes along with it. Perhaps they should consider renaming the book to indicate its finite content for it comes to an abrupt end right after the first world war, missing some of our juiciest debauchery .

My Gita - Devdutt Pattanaik

read on 2016/12/06 | rating 3 (avg. 3.98)

A uniquely clinical interpretation of mythology. its impact depends a lot from reader to reader on what they choose to take away from this book. I found this unassuming quote deeper than probably what was intended …
“We are not rational creatures who feel … We are emotional creatures who rationalize”.
A Quick read, make it a part of your myth marathon if you are on such spree, else doesn’t give much food for thought if read in isolation. Completely worth the late night delayed flight.

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

read on 2016/12/04 | rating 5 (avg. 3.86)

Lovely indeed. Every once in a while you come across such books that you cannot place among any particular genre, this is uniquely beautiful. The narration is a clever hack of third person while using first person narrative. This book is a darkish exploration in death and adolescence. Its strangely fascinating how the head protagonist observes her relatives and friends and the curious observations she makes, genuinely insightful into how priorities work in misery and adolescence, and death! The movie was nice too, which lead me to this gem. Recommended for those who don’t have a hell lot going on in their lives.

The Trojan Women - Euripides

read on 2016/05/24 | rating 2 (avg. 3.88)

(WARNING : YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY !)
Master of tragedies proves yet again … the melange of characters, both mythical and mortal, give this play enhanced sentimentality and emotional volume. Somewhat deep, this inspired Sartre to write an edition highlighting the existentialist aspects so prevalent in lamentations by Hecuba and Andromache (so tragic characters that they have a play of their own each!). But a lot has been faded over time and most references are obsolete, it is no wonder that it has been reinterpreted multiple times and in multiple languages. Despite its flaws, the underlying adversity of war and the vicissitude among the citizens, iterating yet again that war, war never changes.

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins

read on 2016/11/26 | rating 5 (avg. 4.16)

Violently insightful. Its mind boggling how much more there is to evolution than I had myself believing … this text provides quite an insight into the larger picture of genetics, unit and mode of inheritance in a collective ensemble of organisms rather than individual. He tries his best to not challenge ‘human’ dogmas but makes it a point to give his justifications on how we are inherently selfish and that altruism is something that must be taught artificially. An amusing bit was when he elaborates on the genetic basis of sexism in ‘battle of the sexes’, don’t miss this one. The knowledge steps up a level by describing a universally applicable laws of replication and inheritance. I read sci-fi quite regularly and indeed, truth is stranger than fiction. Richard Dawkins in brutally honest when stating facts regardless of how it will be accepted by the community, i think its the brutality that he enjoys.

Walkabout - James Vance Marshall

read on 2016/11/01 | rating 5 (avg. 3.48)

I am glad that I didn’t dismiss this book as a “children’s book”. The untold eeyorish story between the lines is disturbingly dark and ends abruptly … of course the story itself is a 50 year old adventure story for children, but coupled with the impressive description of the aboriginal outback, the story has a dreamy dark texture which i absolutely loved. I am intrigued as to how the ‘Lord of the flies’ fandom missed this one.

Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

read on 2016/10/31 | rating 3 (avg. 4.37)

I loved the fact that Frankl doesn’t merely give an account of events and routines of the camps at Auschwitz and Dachau, but rather how all this affected the psychology of the inmates, about how it felt to have one’s entire existence reduced to a number, an insight into how priorities change with circumstances and how its indeed the little things that matter.
A legitimate account of human psychological plasticity that we can get used to anything no matter how inhumane, nothing is ever out of the ordinary. Frankl’s experiences are disturbing and a reader cannot help but observe their own existential vacuum. Right there among the contributions of Freud and Jung, Frankl has the honour of making logotherapy and its allied sciences the Vienna Third School of Psychiatry, the latter part of the book is full of case examples and doesn’t feel textbookish at all.
A quick read that helps one appreciate little things in life a little more. Its mind boggling how much we take for granted in day to day life …

A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5) - George R.R. Martin

read on 2015/04/25 | rating 5 (avg. 4.34)

FINALLY … its been ages since i read anything other than about drowned gods, soiled breaches, dwarfs with crossbows, sers and lords, snow, fire, blood, the color grey, slavers and slaves, pride and vanity, dragons and sheep. Its been an adventure and I hope it does fade when I pick another. GRRM, please. dont. die.

Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen (Jeeves, #15) - P.G. Wodehouse

read on 2016/10/08 | rating 0 (avg. 4.19)

splendid. The capital weekend PGW affair I came to expect of it. British humour for breakfast always makes my day.

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez

read on 2016/10/05 | rating 5 (avg. 4.12)

Beautiful. One of its kind, the story generously spans multiple generations where the names of characters and the events themselves keep iterating, playing with the timeline. The elements of magical realism is present in optimally appropriate amount that one doesn’t really think of it to be out of the ordinary. The story taken in isolation doesn’t make much of itself, like all great works, its the story between the lines that is memorable, so again another book that has to be felt because reading is not enough. How the reader perceives this book tells more about the reader thank the story, so yeah … its one of those types. Needless to say : Your experience may vary.

American Gods (American Gods, #1) - Neil Gaiman

read on 2016/01/20 | rating 5 (avg. 4.10)

very descriptive, informative, I did not at all mind its meandering. Not recommended for the quick reader. Loved the minor details, among my favourite book of all time!

Summer Moonshine - P.G. Wodehouse

read on 2016/09/06 | rating 4 (avg. 4.10)

“As snug as a bug in the rug”. Satisfied. Any Wodehouse creation is a splendid capital affair, and this doesn’t fail the stereotype. Its entertaining throughout, there is no anticipation of a punchline, or rather, this book is an amusing cascade of punchlines. A delightful beach read (which, coincidently, was the exact place where I finished reading it ! )

The Museum of Innocence - Orhan Pamuk

read on 2016/08/15 | rating 4 (avg. 3.78)

An involving and deep account of sentiment without really talking about it. It instead describes the action of obsession and over-indulgence that preoccupies this late 70’s Turkish upper class businessman. The story does become monotonous between 1975 - 84, but on trudging through 700 pages of the biography of obsession, the end kind of makes-up for the time invested. Though a bit anachronistic, one can relate to some or the other minor habits of the protagonists, pulling one deeper into the forgotten lanes of 80s westernized Istanbul with an unexplained longing to visit the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum. The meta twist at the end was a pleasant touch to the whole book. Its surprising how much it resembles the movie “Lila Dit Ca”, but can’t really point out why.

Myth = Mithya (Hindi) - Devdutt Pattanaik

read on 2016/06/02 | rating 5 (avg. 3.84)

Hindu Mythology condensed into something deeply innate to human nature, unfastened from the erudite rhetorics, Devdutt Pattanaik’s interpretation transcends all chronology and distills the quintessence of the Indian ethos. Mind boggling !

The Giver (The Giver, #1) - Lois Lowry

read on 2016/06/27 | rating 3 (avg. 4.12)

A quick and gentle introduction to a very popular theme in sci-fi, the dystopian/utopian future. Some adult readers might even look through the story and notice the subtle dystopia that permeates the otherwise utopian circumstances. The story lacked depth but that is expected since the content is targeted towards a pre-teen/early-teen audience.

Kingdom’s End: Selected Stories - Saadat Hasan Manto

read on 2015/09/30 | rating 5 (avg. 4.19)

A gem! I have used and abused the word before but never meant it until today. Manto is a classic and its infuriating that he is not recognized like Gogol or Oscar Wilde, not the kind of classic that one pretends to read but the classic that will live for ever by its own accord. I wish I could ride a review for each of the twenty eight pearls therein, but I fear I will run out of adjectives even before i begin.
He is an amalgamation of Gogol, Camus, Nabokov and Wilde, only better than each, perhaps because as an Indian reader I can relate more to the underlying concepts and the backdrop of the partition, undeniable richer experience than to an alien.
I firmly believe Hindustani is a superior language of expression in literature, and reading Manto in English is a crime I will have to live with. Khalid Hasan has done a good job, but one will only be satisfied to read Manto in the original. So that is on my queue by default.
Stories like ‘Odour’ and ‘On the balcony’ are among the best descriptive short stories I have read. ‘The Return’ (originally “Khol Do”) is another tragedy that is so heartbreaking, it was quite embarrassing that such a short piece of literature can impact so deeply. What Khaled Hosseini managed in a full novel, Manto did in a three pages.
Its been recommended that I carry on to Ismat Chugtai, and I will be a fool not to take this advice.
Needless to say, 5 stars.

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

read on 2016/06/18 | rating 4 (avg. 3.90)

Like all good stories, this one too begins at the end. It starts with an upbeat style of writing and is very misleading. When Mrs. Dean begins her story telling the tragic details come out. The author teases the reader by keeping the reader engaged while Heathcliff goes about his brutal and unpredictable ways, abusing the reader’s psyche that seeks for a compelling story of misfortune. The primary tragedy of the Linton siblings is left a little to the imagination of the reader. Both caught in a loveless marriage, with not even one instance where their love has been reciprocated. Factually the book is just conversations, the actual story that plays out in the mind is distressing, and the reader, on completing the book, is often left wondering what exactly distresses them. I know this book has been a subject of academic curiosity for quite sometime, but its a wonderful experience reading it just for pleasure.

Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1) - William Gibson

read on 2016/06/12 | rating 5 (avg. 3.89)

“If God made anything better, he kept it for himself”, this line from the book accurately describes itself. Nothing worth reading is easy to read, if its easy, its not worth it. A classic in cyberpunk, its difficult to wrap ones head around Gibson’s hallucination laced with a wild wild imagination. I see that the movie matrix was heavily inspired by this, a much toned down, viewer friendly sci-fi. I would pay a fortune to see how this book played out in my mind while I read it, Gibson’s dream like delirium regarding the future is utterly complex and the descriptions too vivid. Its quite amusing something so convoluted and vivid can be written in words. No wonder I had to take a third go at this book to actually finish it, its not for the casual reader. It scares me how demanding Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash will be.

Sophie’s World - Jostein Gaarder

read on 2016/06/07 | rating 5 (avg. 3.97)

I am convinced that the cumulative sequence of all events in my life have been a concerted effort towards this moment that I have read this book. I am not being over-dramatic here, I knew i would regret one day for being too callous with giving five-star rating to any sufficiently good book I came across. I can safely announce that I have a definite answer to the question often thrust upon readers :”Which is your favourite book ?” It is only imperative now that I will forever suggest this book to every teen or young adult I happen to have a engaging conversation with.
Now about the book itself : I could go on forever, but I now realise that the more words I write the more it diminishes in value. Besides the obvious philosophical journey through time, I particularly liked it when the story turned meta around the time Hegel and Kierkegaard were being discussed towards the end of the book, absolutely loved it ! The way the entire philosophy transcends one level up is quite a psychedelic experience to any reader, subtly hinting that the reader may herself/himself be mere bagatelle spun in somebody else’s consciousness.

How to Be Alone (The School of Life) - Sara Maitland

read on 2016/06/05 | rating 2 (avg. 3.32)

The circumstances involving my possession of this book involes a 90% discount, how could I refuse :-)
Now to those who might be genuinely interested in this book, if you are expecting a philosophical insight into solitude, this book may leave you a bit disappointed, however this book does point to a plethora of literature on solitude and is gregarious enough to list down multitude of famous personalities to drive home it’s point. A quick read and isn’t the typical circle jerking inherent to books on sensitive or taboo topics (“Quiet” is one such example).

Suppliant Women - Euripides

read on 2016/05/10 | rating 1 (avg. 3.54)

Polinices and all meet a not-so-nice end and women cry … a lot. The Political aspects of the Argon-Theban conflict is pretty squalid when juxtaposed against the social outcomes of the war, the Athenocentric rhetoric is oftentimes Ironic and depending on the quality of actors playing roles of Athera, Adrastus and Theseus, this play can reach bitter-sweet proportions reserved for most classic of tragedies. The quantity and quality of lamentation in this play would probably give opportunity to capable actresses to showcase their skill but it makes for a lousy read.

That Bringas Woman - Benito Pérez Galdós

read on 2016/05/04 | rating 3 (avg. 3.67)

The not-too-flattering account of Baroque Madrid and the feminine psychology of obsession was quite hilarious when i expected it to be tragic. Another satisfying second hand classic experience, there comes a time when one is tired of translations. “La De Bringas” is a realist Andalusian classic and Galdos is accurately called Spain’s best kept secret, second only to Cervantes himself ! The translation was okay in my opinion but remained loyal to the overall plot. Women are the same everywhere I suppose.

The Green Room - Nag Mani

read on 2016/04/30 | rating 4 (avg. 3.90)

Nostalgia usually comes in waves, today I am drowning. Every fiction contains elements of truth, inspirations, events, people, places and I am lucky to experience most of them in this book firsthand, so this book was more personal to me than an ordinary reader would identify. I fear my views of this book are biased and I often found myself reading between the lines. Its a whirlwind of nostalgia for any student of the ‘Victoria School’ :-) , Nag has maintained utmost fidelity in replicating some real life events, characters, right down to the logistics and architectural deployment of key scenes.

I Am David - Anne Holm

read on 2008/01/01 | rating 5 (avg. 3.96)

never has a bar of soap seemed so important before, along with other things we take for granted … brilliant book!

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Emmuska Orczy

read on 2016/03/25 | rating 4 (avg. 4.07)

Surprisingly relevant today, I confess I was a bit apprehensive about indulging in a century old classic, considering archaic language that makes the language and references more or less unrelatable.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is safely in league with any of the multitude of superheros that swarm the media today. A quick read and delightful, I feel embarrassed that as per my perception it was the Blackleys’ love story that stood out against the entire plot, so yes, I think its a fine classic on post-marital love; adorable and satisfying, with all its imperfections. I wouldn’t mind giving it another read in the near future.

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

read on 2016/03/06 | rating 4 (avg. 3.99)

The text and story is as squalid as any other sci-fi, riddled with impressive vocabulary, generic utopian ideas etc… What makes it a masterpiece is what one takes away from it. I happen to read it at a very unique personal state of mind of which I will spare the details, there is a subliminal message that is embedded into ones mind and difficult to get rid off. Quite a few quotable quotes occupy the most unexpected of crevices, so reader beware, do not dismiss this novel for its unimpressive depth. It does have a sudden end so I wish to continue onto “Brave New World revisited” sometime soon.

The Biology Of Belief: Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter And Miracles - Bruce H. Lipton

read on 2016/01/20 | rating 3 (avg. 4.15)

A game-changer. Confirmed my belief that modern science has a long way to go. A MUST read for to-be-mothers, doctors as well as patients, practically all humans. I rarely read non-fiction but I am glad I made an exception for this book.

Hecuba - Euripides

read on 2015/12/29 | rating 1 (avg. 3.98)

Plagued with a narrow dimension and over-dependency on lamentation dialogues, even for a greek tragedy, made this piece slightly unpalatable. Hekabe’s misery is highlighted sufficiently but Euripides takes it to heart to iterate it over and over again. Climax murder is a thinly veiled morality evangelism, though the play ends on an Ironical situation, it is not apparent from the play itself but from supplementary notes. This play cannot be read or seen in isolation, it is imperative to have knowledge of the political circumstances during the creation of this play.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami

read on 2015/12/26 | rating 5 (avg. 4.12)

“Who needs Cocaine when you can read Murakami”, not my words but I seem to agree with the sentiment. The interleaving commentary of two parallel stories needs a little getting used to, each equally bizarre, touching upon sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, action, existentialism. I had a tough time placing this book, coming closest to ‘Cather in the Rye’. On a personal level I closely related to protagonist (the Calcutec), specifically his train of thought which jumps and collates seamlessly blending incoherent thoughts, perhaps its our affinity for self reservation or maybe something else.
Its not apparent how much share of the credit the translator deserves for this beautiful piece of art, its unlikely that some of those brilliant constructs, analogies and quotes manifest themselves identically in a foreign language. The book seems to define its own soundtrack in the form of innumerable references to jazz, rock, blues classics [ToDo: Create Playlist].
I suspect this maybe a turning point in what literature I consume here onwards.

A Pelican at Blandings (Blandings Castle, #11) - P.G. Wodehouse

read on 2015/11/21 | rating 4 (avg. 4.17)

“Capital ! Capital ! Capital !” (quoth Lord Elmsworth, Chapter XI).
It bothers me to dissect humour and PGW’s works is the splendid English fare I would not consider suitable for “analysis”, such craftsmanship is to be admired and basked in. Clarence’s infatuation with his pig, the imposters Johnny and Vanessa, heartless Connie, Miss Polk, and the pelican himself … are parts of the colorful melange this book is. Though I have read better works of PGW, this is beautiful in its own right.

Andromache (Drama Classics) - Euripides

read on 2015/11/01 | rating 3 (avg. 3.84)

Euripides has every right to be called the master of tragedies, challenging his own contemporaries by introducing unorthodox practices that have survived till today, two and a half millenia later. Its a glimpse into the Greek life and values during that time. The story itself is but a small slice in the life of Andromache, following Hectors death during the battle for Troy, she is held captive as a concubine to Neoptolemus (Son of Achilles). It focuses on her lamentation of her present slave like state and her enmity towards Neoptolemus’s lawful wife, Hermione, daughter of Helen and King of Sparta, Menelaus. A typical greek tragedy with ample lamentaions and chorus. Euripides has infused significant hatred for Menelaus and Sparta in general, this is understandable given the times when Athens was at war against Sparta in the Polyponesian War. In contrast, Menelaus gets more noble recognition by other Greek playwrights. Hermione’s sudden change of behaviour is a bit unexplained and the end is sudden. Tethis’s entry to tie loose ends seems like cheating and Andromache does in fact end up at a much better and dignified place, as lawful wife to king of Mollosia, Helenus. So, not much of a tragedy regarding Andromache but instead Peleus … Neoptolemus dies, and old man Peleus (Achilles father, Neoptolemus’s grandfather) has no heir to Phthia, as Andromache was not his lawful wife and Hermione was barren. Looking forward to Hecabe and Elektra.

Fantastic Voyage - Isaac Asimov

read on 2015/10/26 | rating 2 (avg. 3.91)

A voyage into the human body, its a captivating mix of biology and adventure. Tinged with 70-80s thriller sci-fi, the intertwined romantic understory cuts into the core sci-fi involving cardio-pulmonary-circulatory-auditory-neural adventure. It presents certain physiological processes in a more fascinating way than a student may be used to, for what its worth, I will never forget what an Arteriovenous fistula is !
The political setup is weak and fake, and occupies unnecessary amount of wordspace. Romantic substory is not engaging enough, and the entire story is a bit rushed. I loved the theme, it reminds me of the movie ‘Osmosis Jones’, which is among my favourite.

Anthem - Ayn Rand

read on 2015/10/25 | rating 4 (avg. 3.61)

Anthem is a preamble to Ayn Rand’s works, concisely using a tale to build up upon the last two chapters wherein lies the ‘anthem’ to the self, a prayer of sorts to the human individuality, a central theme in much of her works. The story itself is an echo of Orwell’s 1984, a post apocalyptic world devoid of individuality and creativity. Though brief, I enjoyed it more than the former. Its a quick read and any one who has a little time to spare will definitely finish nourished.

Jaya: 9 - Devdutt Pattanaik

read on 2015/09/09 | rating 5 (avg. 4.22)

Mahabharat will forever remain the greatest story of humans ever told, in volume as well as content. Countless fictions and non fiction composed in innumerable languages over centuries have caught tiny reflections of the true nature of our existence, this epic alone in its unfathomable verbosity acquaints us with ourselves, our true nature, something timeless or ‘sanatan’. Having said that, One can be quite skeptical of having to read a mere paperback on this subject and successfully enjoy it, but the author puts this fears to rest in Jaya, its a classic in its own right and one of those books that make me reevaluate everything. Author’s snippets of explanations in boxes was very welcome and helpful, though sometimes just wild speculation. It distresses me to see this book labelled as mythology, it sits equally well along self-help and management books, books on psychology and sociology. (Warning: do not consult for science, especially biology !)

No Longer at Ease (The African Trilogy, #2) - Chinua Achebe

read on 2015/08/28 | rating 1 (avg. 3.87)

I realised I was ‘no longer at ease’ when i started into post-colonial African literature with this book :-P . Many references and customs are missed by an average consumer of western literature, and the author often does not consider translating native words (Ibo). I was able to draw minor parallels between post colonial nigeria and india, but for the most part it was completely different experience, oftentimes a bit unfamiliar. Moreover the theme is generic and nothing out of the ordinary. I guess this trilogy may have come to an abrupt end for me.

In Xanadu: A Quest - William Dalrymple

read on 2015/08/08 | rating 3 (avg. 3.98)

Among WD’s earlier works, it instills an urgency within the reader to travel so I will not recommend it for uninterested couch potatoes. Its convincingly good! WD loves to portray himself as a comic, almost never failing to criticize the natives (lightheartedly, of course), but he stays true to “The Travels” and covers Marco Polo’s footsteps with accuracy, being among the first westerners in years to have an inside look at Acre, Kashgar and the Uighur stronghold regions.

Something Unspoken - Tennessee Williams

read on 2015/07/12 | rating 1 (avg. 3.21)

An obvious inspiration for Desperate Housewives, somebody please remind me why did I plan to read this. I am done with Tennessee.

Baby Doll - Tennessee Williams

read on 2015/07/10 | rating 2 (avg. 3.74)

Good old southern household drama salted with sicilian persuasion, Mrs. Meagan aka ‘Baby Doll’ doesn’t exactly have a strong character but Silva’s more than makes up for the entire cast. Aunt Rose Comfort … looks like they had an extra seat.

The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer Is Wrong - David Sally

read on 2015/06/27 | rating 4 (avg. 3.72)

A statistical study in football, many traditions are challenged by counter-intuitive ideas, supported by statistical proof from over two decades of data over four leagues. Its filled with examples and sometimes the authors are outright brutal in challenging decisions made by popular managers. Interesting read, must read for football enthusiasts.

Coraline - Neil Gaiman

read on 2015/05/26 | rating 5 (avg. 4.13)

Neil Gaiman’s Alice is an octave darker, his use of simple language to describe Coraline’s world is impressive. I particularly liked the way he abstracts complex emotions down to match Coraline’s maturity, holding together the entire theme from her perspective. Some imagery is near-gory and even the Burton-ish adaptation (which, by the way, I loved) kept away from referencing.
The cheshiresque no-name cat was a brilliant touch though, nothing new, but nice none the less. Neil Gaiman wound up the story really quick and at the same time doesn’t leave readers unsatisfied. American Gods next!

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams

read on 2015/03/22 | rating 3 (avg. 4.06)

Sometimes you got to read a classic and decide for yourself whether it qualifies, and this definitely does. Intense with emotions, and a surprisingly lot of shouting … I am afraid lots of actors and actresses would have disappointed T.W.
Brick’s detachment is initially boring until the Dialogs with Big-Daddy’s ACT - II. Maggie’s ACT-I was brilliant, I am afraid the actresses playing her had a hard time to follow her style. The publisher was generous to provide the New York Production version for ACT-III, which was horrible … I sympathize with T.W’s rant against Directors and Producers having their way with plays. Big-Daddy’s re-entrance in ACT-III was unnecessary, many things were said explicitly while they were to be only understood as per original script.
Anyway, enjoyed it. Loved the southern drawl. Looking forward to the controversial Baby-Doll.

Something Fresh (Blandings Castle, #1) - P.G. Wodehouse

read on 2015/03/03 | rating 4 (avg. 4.12)

British Humour at its best! My first wodehouse … definitely more to follow.

The Pearl - John Steinbeck

read on 2015/01/25 | rating 5 (avg. 3.55)

Short novel with a deep message. Steinbeck’s language is simple yet full of emotion … looking forward to his “Grapes of Wrath”.

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

read on 2015/01/24 | rating 4 (avg. 3.43)

After ploughing through this I must say I am satisfied. Dense stuff. Turned me overnight into a fan of Marlow’s style of commentary, and the description of enigmatic Mr. Kurtz was pretty slick. The multitude of quotable passages leave a lasting impression on the reader, do recommend!

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream - Hunter S. Thompson

read on 2015/01/17 | rating 5 (avg. 4.07)

A Doctor of Journalism and an Attorney in Law rip the Strip laced with an alphabet soup of drugs, its the most sinister trip you will ever have sober. Humourous in its own ways. The movie adaptation does not deviate much from the book, moreover, Johnny Depp brings whole another dimension to Duke, pretty much explains why I have a poster on this movie on my wall. Will read again!

Polar Shift (NUMA Files, #6) - Clive Cussler

read on 2015/01/14 | rating 2 (avg. 3.94)

Maybe I read a decade too late, artificial, preteen adventure stuff. Not for serious readers, my first Clive Cussler and probably the last.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick

read on 2015/01/03 | rating 4 (avg. 4.09)

I found the fascination with animals and pets very amusing, the story has so much more potential, so sad it didn’t develop further than the blade runner. Infested with a lot of ‘kipple’ some parts were a drag. Overall a typical classic sci-fi, pretty satisfying.

Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

read on 2014/12/02 | rating 3 (avg. 4.15)

Another idyllic-sarcastic product of Vonnegut’s imagination, “Bokononism” is thinly veiled hippie philosophy, providing legitimacy through religion. Interesting concepts of “krass”, “graafaloon”, “wampeter” etc… The story line itself has nothing much to offer, loose ends and underdeveloped half baked characters, definitely not a book on the apocalypse, which I think was just a convenient end to all loose threads in the story. Excerpts from the “Calypso” was kept me from putting the book down. Will recommend to fans of Vonnegut … “Vin-Dit” might just be page away :-)

Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1) - Arthur C. Clarke

read on 2014/11/20 | rating 5 (avg. 4.12)

Another page-turner, paced faster than the space odyssey series, not a single dull moment. I will ignore the astro-politics facet of Arthur C Clarke’s writings, descriptions are crisp and original, I am surprised there isn’t a movie adaptation based on this. The ‘sci’ checks out, did the math :-) . A bit disappointing ending but concept has potential for an entire 10 season primetime television show, 10/10 will watch !

Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1) - Margaret Atwood

read on 2014/10/22 | rating 3 (avg. 4.01)

A jewel among Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian novels, Atwood has hit the sweet spot among all Nihilistic-techno-fetishists, that of civilizations advanced in biological sciences rather than the usual electro-techno trash that some call sci-fi. No good book since the Neuromancer has given this sub-genre a serious thought.
However, much was left wanting … a lot of loose ends, Oryx’s character was not as developed as the Jimmy and Crake’s, which itself wasn’t enough, Lot of unnecessary subplots with dull ends (Jimmy’s Mom, Crake’s Dad, Killer). Oryx is almost a guest character in the book. Many things remain unexplained but I can’t yet complain before I read the rest of the MaddAdam trilogy. five stars for awseome concept, minus two for the dull story line, and immature sounding nouns she came up with (its annoying ! could have borrowed a few from Neuromancer).

Flash Boys - Michael Lewis

read on 2014/10/05 | rating 3 (avg. 4.14)

The primary focus stays on how front running of orders and predatory strategies employed by HFTs and prop shops against the interests of investors have created a toxic environment in the world of trading. Not my usual genre but an excellent insight into the psychology of investors/brokers, its amazing how little the people running the complex system know about the system itself. I look forward to reading more about Aleynikov and Katsuyama.

Shah of Shahs - Ryszard Kapuściński

read on 2014/09/28 | rating 5 (avg. 4.23)

A veteran journalist of 27 revolutions, this is Richards best work so far. He tones down the sarcasm (which was so prevalent in “The Emperor”) and has a more mature thought on the origin of revolutions. The Shah’s case is indeed interesting but beneath all the chaos there is the fundamental concept of public discontent and science of fear which Richard has so nicely put forward in this book. The description of the Savaks is very realistic, sometimes I felt he has begun describing the Gestapo. Whats even more interesting is that I found this book more relevant to today than it could ever be; all major revolutions of this new century follow the exact pattern which Richard takes the pains to elaborate in this book. Must read for all Despots, Totalitarians and politicians-who-never-leave-office.

The Emperor: Downfall of An Autocrat - Ryszard Kapuściński

read on 2014/09/07 | rating 5 (avg. 4.08)

Journalism at its bloody best, down to earth accounts of H.S. by various palace workers up to the abolition of the monarchy, the subtle sarcasm involved is just brilliant. Richard doesn’t burden his readers with the details of the administration, instead provides very personal accounts on H.S., his daily routine, unwritten rules of governance, his idiosyncrasies etc… The translation is very good and I can only imagine how outstanding the original Polish novel would be. A “must read” for every one. Looking forward to reading his “Shah of Shahs” next.

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4) - George R.R. Martin

read on 2014/08/29 | rating 4 (avg. 4.17)

After the Red Wedding, things seem to slow down a bit in Westeros, downright boring at times. The far east is almost completely ignored. GRRM has confessed that he chose to write in depth about only few of the characters rather than superficially write about them all. Though the red wedding and Baratheon’s conquest over the Mance Rayder still remains the only notable events during the time frame, this book is filled with minor details, which might annoy some but satisfy others. One star short of Five because, “Where in the Seven hells is Benjen Stark ?!”

Dongri To Dubai : Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia - S. Hussain Zaidi

read on 2014/08/16 | rating 3 (avg. 3.95)

An interesting insight into the organised crime in Mumbai. As expected from a seasoned journalist, the facts are very well researched and the author doesn’t shy away from reproducing the tiniest of details. A bit over dramatic at places and even seems to glorify infamous personalities.

Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

read on 2014/07/06 | rating 4 (avg. 4.17)

Kahneman is precise in his approach to behavioural psychology, slightly more scientifically oriented than Malcolm Gladwell. Themes are a bit repetitive and suffers overelaboration at multiple places but overall a good read. Highly recommended for Managers and other people involved in decision making.

The Stranger - Albert Camus

read on 2014/05/26 | rating 2 (avg. 4.03)

Holden Caufield in French Africa, doesn’t like the heat, kills an arab, court case, guillotined. Two stars to the first half, one star to the other half.

The Dark of the Sun - Wilbur Smith

read on 2014/05/23 | rating 3 (avg. 3.85)

The first 75 pages were a drag, I quit three times but my obsessive compulsion to finish a book took over, and that made all the difference. After Bruce and his entourage of mercenaries reach Port Reprieve, the plot picks a surprisingly fast pace. Wilbur Smith does not spare any details of the violence and killing involved, some of which are really graphic, I was even surprised by his liberal use racist and chauvinist comments. The book is riddled with stereotypes, and has received a lot of criticism over it too, but I personally didn’t mind classic 60’s pulp. The romantic subplot is predictable and but what makes this 267 page beer promotion pamphlet a page turner is the multiple high drama incidents and “whatever bad can happen, will happen” atmosphere. I have heard that this book is unlike the authors other works, but certainly I have a new Author to explore.

India’s Struggle for Independence - Bipan Chandra

read on 2014/05/04 | rating 3 (avg. 4.12)

A concise and well researched book to describe what is termed as India’s Struggle for Independence. It begins with the revolt of 1857, its aftermath and the myths surrounding the formation of the Congress. An alternative source of history, with respect to school textbooks ( which have been criticized for being influenced by political motives),for example, it underlines the role of the Left, Tribal and Peasant uprisings, Communal Politics, the Opposition, etc.. in shaping the nations destiny, which a majority of curriculum around the nation give a pass.
Rumored by some to be pro-congress, I found it to have praised and criticized the congress in equal measure, highlighting its failures where required and giving credit where its contributions recognized. (A entire section is dedicated to the failure of Congress in tolerating communal politics leading to the partition in 1947).
However, mere 600 pages do no justice to the topic under discussion. The entire book is a very brief discussion on the series of events and decisions that led to independence. A mature book of History, it plays a significant role in Indian Independence related literature.

The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets - Simon Singh

read on 2014/03/19 | rating 3 (avg. 3.89)

A perfect book to gift youngsters. It is never too overwhelming, creates genuine interest in theoretical maths and physics. Once again proves the universality of creativity, be it science or arts.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - Max Brooks

read on 2014/02/20 | rating 4 (avg. 4.02)

WWZ provides practical insights into the possibility of world wide pandemonium following a pathological outbreak of the zombie kind. Its an amalgam of personal experiences and changes in the political scenario. A tad bit over-dramatized ,however, there is a lot to take away from this book. problems in logistics to leadership are all covered by the multifaceted coverage of the pandemic, largely free of the monocular first person novels. Its unique style may not appeal to all but the content keeps the pages turning. I personally enjoyed the global coverage involving third world countries and the unlikely heroes therein.

The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane

read on 2013/12/29 | rating 2 (avg. 3.29)

after i got used to the accented speech … its an interesting piece on the psychology of fear.

Desert Hunt - K.S.R. Menon

read on 2013/09/15 | rating 4 (avg. 4.37)

“Desert Hunt” is fast-paced novel providing not only an insight into the gulf’s political situation but also a classic action-thriller experience similar to James Bond novels. A bit slow in the beginning and a tad bit over descriptive, but 40 pages into it the characters are in place and events begin to rapidly unfold.
The characters are well developed (at the expense of the over descriptiveness). Taking into account all the dramatic action sequences, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a movie were to be based on this novel.
This book delivers what it promises in addition to leaving a tail hanging to be picked up by a sequel.