Johnny Gone Down

Writer: Karan Bajaj
Genre: Fiction

The second book from Karan Bajaj is a whirlwind tour and you would not keep it down for its extremely fast paced. And yeah, he keeps it real short, which is an added advantage.

Nikhil Arya and Sam are bosom buddies who have just graduated from MIT. On Sam's insistence they decide to vacation in Cambodia without realizing what they were getting into. The vacation turns sour as the government is overthrown by rebels and the country fights a civil war where Nikhil is almost killed. He manages to escape to the Thai border and tries to find peace in a monastery. But there is not a still point for our protagonist; he becomes a successful Brazilian businessman (reader drug peddler) and decides to settle done with a model. Something changes again and he is again on a run, this time to America. Sharing a room for the homeless he ends up creating a successful networking site before his daemons find him again. He ends up where he started - India!

Nikhil's journey is mind boggling and though I thought that the climax wasn’t really exciting as much as his journey I must say the end was definitely good. Nikhil's roller coaster ride is fun to read and I like this book better then the author's first one :)

Little Women

Writer: Louisa Alcott
Genre: Children's book/Classic


Go ahead and tease me if you want but I still like reading children's books and from the past many days I wanted to read an English classic. What better book than Little women!

The story of the March family has been told and retold for years but yet manages to keep new and old readers glued. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are sisters who lead a poor but happy life along with their mother and maid Hannah. Mr. March is away, fighting a war. The girls soon become close friends with their neighbor Laurie and the fivesome have a blast in spite of their economic differences. They fight with each other but realize that they can’t live without each other; they crib about their poverty but learn that there are many other things that matter more than money. Repeated plot, did you say? Yeah it is, but it started here and the simplicity of the narration is probably very enticing.

Said to be the author's biography where Jo is modeled against herself, Alcott manages to create a beautiful portrait thru her writing.

And yeah, this book is just the first part. The second part is named 'Good Wives' and is set in the teenage years of the girls.

Wings of Fire

Writer: A P J Abdul Kalam with Arun Tiwari
Genre: Autobiography

What happens when a former president of the world's largest democracy and a rocket scientist decides to pen down his life for us? We sit down in rapt attention and absorb every word and syllable that he lets out. A small book and an engaging one too!

The book starts with the life of Mr.Kalam as a child in Rameswaram. The characters in this section are some of my personal favourites because they seem so ordinary, as exactly as our neighbors and relatives. How this young lad from a small town village finds inspiration and takes on the space science program in the country can captivate every person to finish the book in one sitting. The space program spear headed by Vikram Sarabhai and carried forward by Prof. Dhawan has some great narrative and you personally miss being in the era when the country was indigenously making waves loud enough to let everyone notice.

The poems, lines that the writer uses in between the chapters are so very apt! Beautiful and long forgotten pieces most of them were :)

I am left wondering why I hadn’t read the book before. It’s a great book, especially for someone like me who as a kid would religiously follow the test fire of every missile from Sriharikota aired on Doordarshan.


p.s. Somehow this book also reminded me that I need to hunt down some un/official biography of Vikram Sarabhai. Any pointers would be appreciated



Update: Some poetic excerpts from the book -

For all your days prepare
And meet them ever alike
When you are the anvil, bear-
When you are the hammer, strike.

----------------------------------

Don't worry and fret, fainthearted,
The chances have just begun,
For the best jobs haven't been started,
The best work hasn't been done.

Eat Pray Love

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Memoir/Autobiography

When Liz realizes that her life is going in a downward direction she decides to embark on a journey to get back her equilibrium. Her journey takes her to the places she always wanted to visit - Italy, India and Indonesia. She leaves her life in New York and uses the advance that she received to write a book to sponsor her trip.

I presume that an introduction like that is enough to garner your interest in this book. Reading a friend's copy, midway I decided I should be having my own and hence I bought a copy. Must say I am not repenting it. There is something familiar about the way the author narrates. They are everyday situations that each one of us encounters and we all know how to handle them. We just enjoy reading someone else's crisis probably.

My favourite part of the book is her stay in Italy and yeah I slept through the India part. Must say that I agree with the critics.....there is much more to my country than spiritualism yaar!

A great read because it's so much real. No dramas here ;)


p.s. It has already been converted to a motion picture of the same name starring Julia Roberts

Ford County

Writer: John Grisham
Genre: Fiction, Short Stories

A quick book from Grisham which consists of 7 short stories set in Mississippi. Lacks the page turning, complex plots attributes that most of his books have. Simple and straight - that’s how all the stories are. At times the simplicity and no-fiction kind of feeling irks you but after the book is done you probably think you have read something from everyday life.

Good book but non Grisham readers can skip it.

Heidi

Writer: Johanna Spyri
Genre: Fiction, Classic, Children's book

Probably the best known book in Swiss literature, it still remains my personal favourite after I got its abridged version as a prize in my 5th standard. My teacher, Ms. Elizabeth's personal line on the first page of the book is another reason why I still hold the book extremely close.

Alright, back to the story! I wonder if classifying this book as a children's novel makes sense. You can read this well past your childhood, probably even when you are into your ripe old age. The story haS been made re-made a thousand times in Bollywood and Hollywood.

Heidi is an orphan raised by her aunt. When her Aunt Dete can no longer take care of her because of her job she drops Heidi to her grandfather's place. Her grandfather is a rough old man who is against odds with the villagers and stays up in the mountains. Heidi however manages to penetrate his heart and lives a delightful life with her friend Peter. As she is enjoying her stay, in comes Aunt Dete again and whisks her off to Frankfurt as a companion for a disabled and wealthy girl, Clara.

The stay in Frankfurt is the second part of the book. Heidi enjoys being with Clara who is also very kind to her. But the strict disciplinarian housekeeper Ms.Rottenmeier disapproves of her village ways. Heidi ends up throwing the well managed household into peals of laughter and chaos with her innocent acts, much to the dismay of Rottenmeier. But Heidi misses her life with her grandfather and Peter and becomes homesick. She is soon sent back home owing to her failing health.

Back home, Heidi manages to convince her anti social grandfather to visit the local church and thus gets him on talking terms with many of the village folks. She also teaches Peter to read and write. Clara soon joins them for a stay. Peter gets jealous of Clara and pushes her wheelchair down the mountain. Without her wheelchair and owing to a better clean climate Clara manages to start walking. And that’s how this beautiful novel ends.

I think I managed to put the whole plot, usually I don’t do it but this time I couldn’t resist. The story may be boring for many because as I said it has been narrated a million times thru different mediums but believe me the book is a classic. A must have in your collection

The Appeal

Writer: John Grisham
Genre: Fiction

Back to my fiction reads ;) I had stopped reading Grisham after a few recent misadventures and I guess i ended up skipping his most interesting book in recent years.

When Mary Grace and Wes win a verdict against Krane chemicals for wrongful dumping toxic wastes in Bowmore, they have won a second life because they have lost everything in a trial that has taken up years. However, Krane's owner Carl Trudeau won’t give up without a fight. He hires extra elements to rig the Supreme Court election to elect a justice. Whether or not he succeeds is what the the book is all about. The climax is pragmatic and probably very well written.

One of my favourite writers, Grisham keeps the book interesting enough with his writing style. In his elements completely ‘The Appeal’ makes you forget you are reading a fiction novel. At times, you start wondering about the election process and if it really makes sense.


With another book to go I would yet again reach a state where I have read every single book written by an author. Grisham is probably the only one who has managed that first with me :)

Outliers

Writer: Malcolm Gladwell
Genre: Non Fiction

Another top notch book from Gladwell, where he tries and brings before us the factors that contribute in making somebody famous.
What’s common between Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs apart from the fact that they created millions with computers? How much of a person's IQ really matters in making him a celebrity. Ever heard of Christopher Langdan! He is the man with an IQ that ranges between 192 - 200...even Einstein didn’t have that much, then why doesn’t that name ring a bell in our ears?

Compelling questions and a strong statistical analysis to get the answers. Outliers does more than make you think. It shakes a lot of faithfully adhered concepts.

On a personal note, the book was so overwhelming that I had to compulsorily google 'Gladwell Criticism' to let my mind think about the other side of the coin!

Must in your collection but again heavy on statistics. Read the first 5 pages, if it entices you (I am sure it would) buy it :)

Blink

Writer: Malcolm Gladwell
Genre: Non Fiction

The writer probably needs no introduction but it was not so for me. I picked up the book after reading the first paragraph at a friend's place . Yeah, it was effective enough to compel me to buy it!

The book describes the ability of our sub conscious mind. Although we all presume that we do things according to our consciousness, the sub conscious mind plays a big role in our spontaneous decisions, conflicts and even prejudices. The author terms this as 'thin slicing'. So in short, even the most spontaneous response is actually an organized and planned one. That’s the reason some people are so good with their guess work because they are good at thin slicing. That’s also the reason when given too much of information we generally lose our intuitive self and run around in circles often taking the wrong decision whereas less information could have been processed better and accurately by us. The author points out that better judgment can be executed from simplicity and frugality of information, rather than the more common belief that greater information is needed.

There are citations of various techniques, experiments used all over the world to help us understand the thin slicing. The ability of the sub conscious mind is very strong and it can be trained to help us in being a better judge of a seemingly hopeless situation is the note that the book ends on.

The book is a heavy read in spite of being tiny with respect to the number of pages. It requires some amount of patience to go through all the examples provided and yet keep on turning the pages. However, its definitely a great read. Hope to catch his other best sellers - Tipping Point and Outliers soon!

The Lost Symbol

Writer: Dan Brown
Genre: Fiction

Ok, Angels & Daemons and Da Vinci Code were great but that’s because it was the first time (at least for me) somebody ventured into the lost world of symbols, ambigrams, secret sects,etc. Too much of anything is definitely boring!

In the Lost Symbol, you have Robert Langdon again, trying to avert a national crisis and at the same time help his friend Peter Solomon, a very prominent freemason. The setting, however, is Washington D.C. The book then essentially is running around all of the US capitol uncovering hidden symbols and secret rooms with a lot of symbology thrown here and there. The freemasonry ideas are distributed all over and Noetic Science makes its presence felt. As with his many books he again tries to bridge the gap between religion and science saying they are essentially one but have lost their meaning as humans progressed.

The book is huge and someone who hasn’t read brown would lap it up because the chase around Washington with all the secrets is fun. The problem is - I have done all that already! His previous books were the same. To add to woes the climax is not so riveting either.

No harm in reading it but do not expect something spectacular. It is same in-line as his famous two books.