BLINKERS OFF by ANDALEEB WAJID(book review)

Pacy, simple and entertaining.

It is okay if a book isn’t mind-blowing or life changing and just tells a story as long as it is well written and engrossing. Blinkers off may not make you forget everything else around you and transport you to another fantastic world, but it does entertain and is a fun book.

Any well written book has elements that represent reality without making you feel it is real. The trick is to knit a story with the right characters, information and narrate it in an engaging manner. Andaleeb manages this with enough thrill in it to ensure you don’t want to keep the book down!

You can relate to the characters and understand their sentiments. There is no exaggeration, albeit the story having the potential to have enough fake Yankee accent to put your US-return aunt to shame. The author keeps it simple and tells us a story without any pretense or airs.

The book is about a girl who decides she wants to become a writer a screenplay writer no less. It is her first step into that world, we get to see she joins the film classes in her college.

Noor, soon becomes quite a favorite. Though being from a ‘traditional’ family, she learns how  to use the freedom she has been given in the right manner. She becomes a better person, from that girl who everyone seems to ignore to a person who has the confidence to step up and take on the world. There are enough stereotypes in the book to have made it drab, yet Andaleeb goes beyond using them as mere tropes and brings them to life.

A past paced, quick and thrilling read. Simple and elegant. I wouldn’t mind seeing what Noor does after this, in fact I am curious!

Rating:- 7/10

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RIVER OF SMOKE by AMITAV GHOSH(book review)

Intricate, detailed and beautiful.

The details they hit you, they tickle you and they mesmerize you. The book is like that statue which holds your breath and makes you forget yourself. Yet there is something lacking- the warmth, that which makes you curl up in your bed and forget everything else, except the tranquilizing world of the book. The problem is with expectations, Ghosh to me is not merely an author- he is a writer, he is a storyteller; He is that boy, that uncle, that aged R who you love to listen to.

One can’t but help being lost in the pidgin speaking world of Canton. The Pearl River, the avant-garde paintings and the opium all seem to spin around the ball room, pulling us, swaying us. We are at his mercy- we want more, it does not matter what awaits us, yet just when we think we are about to be hung or lost in ecstatic love, we are shoved rashly into a different world. Familiarity breeds contempt- if only I hadn’t read Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide and The Shadow Lines(currently reading).

The book takes us across oceans, rivers, cultures, people, love it has it all. The trilogy is no doubt is an adventure like never before yet none is there to haunt me like Laakhan, make my heart beat faster like Ila and Piya or make me wonder what Tribid would say. Each character is so fit for his part that I am left wanting that imperfection that makes him human and brings him alive. The character who for me is trademark Ghosh is Paulette aka Puggly. She is quirk, beautiful and smart. If only we could have had more of her.

The artist Robert Chinnery and his letters while being a very clever way to give a different perspective, do seem to yearn the secret ingredient and at a couple of places had me longing for more of Bahram Modi.

Neel, the erstwhile ruler turns into a Munshi and is a man of his own. Nowhere do you find evidence of a fall in station; The time spent locked in a cell seems to have sucked away the royalty and yet he maintains a poise which speaks of his breeding. Bahram Modi, his employer, paces him room, brilliantly dressed and imposing with Chi Mei, always lingering, haunting and comforting him.

The characters make the story. Considering the amount of intricate detailing and the gargantuan information thrown in, the book is inspired. It is amazing how he manages to make us sympathize and hate the same person- to narrate and to be unbiased is restraint which is worth admiring.

The book engages and presents a city like none other where men stride across a maidan and smuggle opium in boats. The author enunciates the sing-song language used to trade in Canton and recreates a melting pot like none other. The city with the awe-inspiring Commissioner Lin, who takes it upon himself to try to end the opium trade, its friendly locals, stuck up Englishmen, Indians and people from around the world, is an enchantment, painted in Chinnery’s grotesque ways.

The book is a must read. Especially if you have read The Sea Of Poppies. I have refrained from talking about the story, simply because it isn’t about what happens, but who make it happen. But, there is a part of me, that wishes he wrote like how he did before. It feels like my favorite teacher has become the school principal.

Rating:- 9/10

FATE, FRAUD AND A FRIDAY WEDDING by BHAVNA RAI(book review)

Fast, exciting and thrilling!

The book begins with a flurry of activities, skipping across various places both home and abroad confusing, but nevertheless exciting. We dwell into the lives of various people and we reach the climax at the wedding. The book gives us what it promises Fate, Fraud And A Friday Wedding.

One thing I liked about the book was the simplicity. The  demography chosen is what we are familiar with Higher middle class/Rich Indians. The author has avoided long descriptions and tells the story- and pretty well at that. The beginning was slightly nebulous and confusing, but this adds to the excitement and has you wondering. The chain of events take shape pretty well, albeit the chapter where everything merges, seems badly edited(not badly written the editors could have given better spacing and had demarcations when shifting from one person/scene to another).

The style is simple and the voice suits the characters. There are times when you can feel the tension and sympathies with the characters. The book flows without any inhibition and does not meander.

A thriller which is thrilling. A book which I would recommend, if you want something light and entertaining to read, probably when on the move.

Rating:- 6/10. There are places where I feel the editing could have been better. I read The White Tiger before this book and  this book was surely more engaging(as is this book).

P.S:- The author’s website.

INCEPTION(movie review)

Brilliant, thought provoking, entertaining, awesome, well executed and mind-blowing stuff!

Click here to continue reading.

THE LIAR by STEPHEN FRY(book review)

image from here.

Filthy, funny and unpredictable.

The book is about ‘ The Liar’ and his compulsive obsession to lie. It does take you a while to understand the book- at times it seems disjoint and unrelated, but as you grow into it, a ragged sense appears.

Click here to continue reading.

THE KARATE KID-movie review

Image from here.

Last minute call from friends and I found myself in Sathyam, on a leather chair, having paid 30Rs. for parking, rushed through the traffic, dressed up hurriedly-was it worth all this? …..Yes, the movie is awesome!

click here to continue reading.

MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN BY SALMAN RUSHDIE(book review)

Image from here.

Well rhetoric is an Indian right. Exaggeration and  stories are the India intelligentsia’s right. Coming up with absurd ideas and becoming a best-seller is a well a best-sellers right?

An enjoyable book. How screwed can you think anyway? His English is good- at least that’s a concession in my case, for reading the book, after all English is supposedly dead.  The previous post, had a few shades of his style I guess(without the undesirable parts, I guess ).

History redefined. The book talks about Saleem who is born on the stroke of midnight. It is an autobiography of the character, who tells his weird and pathetic and messed up(add many other negative adjective you want) life.

I can’t reveal the story as such, for even the glimpses of it, might rob this sight of it’s universal rating. The book can have other impacts as well, like it can drive you crazy. You might wonder what’s happening in the world around you.

This is the second book of his I read and the more I read, the more I am convinced that trash sells(er..a certain Bhagat comes to my mind, but at least that fellow writes small books and stops with being a racist). The ideas are amazing and almost Satanic in certain ways.

See I am in two minds, whether to trash the trash or say that the (almost) empty perfume bottle in it, gives out a good smell to it. This doesn’t even seem like a review. But what do you expect to write?  And yes, there aren’t many around, you have read his books, my advice to you people- if you like nonsense and absurd, exaggerated(there is some truth in between it all) and the like, read it.

It’s been an awesome journey reading the book, I feel absolutely enlightened. So much so, that I have a halo around my head and am three feet above the ground. So run fast and grab the book, enlightment awaits you. *ugh

Rating:- 3/10 (or) 9/10 (he is the cause for the confusion bug, as simple as that and now I am done with it, or am I? er.. 😐 ) 😛

P.S:- Only 6 comments, in my previous post? Tsh..tsh… 😛

The google story by David A.Vise(book review)

GOOGLE is an household name , at least something which everyone who has a “virtual” life knows .

Picture from here

And at some point or the other , we have all wondered about how on earth , rather how in the cyber space do they do it?  This book takes tells us how by the name of the google , they did it .

Some grey cells decided that the world of internet , one with a lot of potential wasn’t alright ( it was messy(with a Y) ,ore like row-naldo)  so they decided that it was time to just send the right signals -not just to the other parts of the body , but to the entire known universe – at least virtually if not literally 😉

Reading the book , got me really inspired (as in to believe in myself and in my head,heart etc etc) . And the guys behind it Sergey Brin and Larry Page , well just wish I get the chance to meet them one day and talk to them . And it is not just creating a search engine but the way the stood by their idea ( ya ya many rejected google when it was up for a million dollars { and I am damn happy that no one bought it!!! } ) and how today it rules the cyber space .

And of course the way it is written is fantastic ! It surely deserves three woots  😉 Just loved the flow and the way the author has managed to make it more  like a (as it says in the book cover) ” detective story” .

For those who want a peek into , one of the greatest inventions of our time , just run faster than a google search and get this book . And for those who are curious about what went into the making of your googling , well just run and get it .

Rating:- 10/10

The Fountainhead-Ayn Rand

A master piece. 

A book which is profound and well amazing! What is your value as an individual? Howard Roark is an architect, for whom architecture is everything.Creation is the hightest virtue of mankind.Those who scumb creation and consider it the property of everyone except the creator,are second handers ,the parasites.And Roark has to face them all,the great ‘society’ against a single man.Goodness,will always remain in those,who believe in it and in themselves and whatever the cost maybe,their is more joy in sticking to what you believe than in giving up and accpeting the tag of ” nobody”.

That love is reverence and worship and glory and the upward glance.Not a bandage for dirty sores.But they don’t know it.Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who’ve never felt it.They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy,compassion,contempt and general indifference and they call it love.Once you’ve felt what it means to love as you and I know it-the total passion for the total height-you’re incapable of anything else

One can’t love man without hating most of the creatures who pretend to bear his name.It’s one or the other.One doesn’t love God and sacrilege impartially.Except when one doesn’t know that sacrilege has been commited.Because one doesn’t know God.

The book is one of the best if not the best i have read till date.The book makes you realize that humanity will always have the two classes,those who create and those who eat the creation and the creator.It shows you that belief in yourself is more important belief in anything else.Life is what we make out of it.

The egoist in absolute sense is not the man who sacrifies others.He is the man who stands above the need of using others in any manner.He does not function through them.He is not concerned with them in any primary matter.Not in his aim,not in his motive,not in his thinking,not in his desires,not in the source of his energy.he does not exist for any other man-and he asks no other man to exist for him.This is the only form of brotherhood and mutual respect possible between men

The book gave me the confidence that I am right.Thinking is the way to live and for us to survive we need to think.The book showed me that the path is the same for everyone,when one desires to achieve something,there is always the society,one which doesn’t have a particular source,except within each and everyone of us.There maybe a lot of parasites but our aim is to create.The parasites can feed on and on,yet they can never drain out the energy of those who are born to create.

man cannot survive except through his mind.He comes on earth unarmed.His brain is his only weapon.

I love this book,for all that it says.And the truth is that we all here for a purpose and that purpose,is the goal of the self.It is not the goal of the masses we are here to fulfill but THE GOAL- to do what we want to do the most.If you haven’t read this book,read it.And think while you read.

Picture from here.

I exist because I think.

The light shines the brightest

Atlas Shrugged-Ayn Rand.

This book surely has influenced me.Undiluted and straight forward,it makes you think about so many things.Why feel guilty about your virtues? Why should we give something to someone who doesn’t deserve it?What is the value of money? IS need important or ability?

“Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us.”

“Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it.”

The book is about a man who decided to stop the world.Through out history, people of ability have been the ones to be discriminated and been made to feel guilty about ,so the book tried to show where we will be if the “mind” goes on strike.

It is a splendid book.Every word,makes sense and shows us,what we all already know.It shows why we need to have freedom to produce and own things.It also shows you the real value of money.It also shows that there in no contradiction.We need to work for what we need,is the message,here.We cannot live on others and be supported.

What is ours is ours.No one has the right to take away that from us.And love can be shown when we have something to show it to.

There is so much in the book,that it would take posts and posts to tell everything.I know a few of you have read the book,others get it now! It is a big book,alright,but it is worth it! But be ready to think and feel a few of your principles being put to the test of fire,Don’t shrug it away! I will give it a 1000/100 🙂

Ayn Rand,in my new favorite! She has an amazing way to hold you and affect you so much.It is as good a test as a staring match!

P.S: I took those quotes from Divkiran’s blog.There are a few more points which i wanted to write about,but i was already more than a month over due,so had to return the book .Will be getting my own copy soon i think ,though 🙂

photo from here.