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Aditya's book-list 2011
message 51:
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Mansee
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May 18, 2011 10:47PM
:P :P :P
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u r right abt friends bcoming partners, but wrong abt rich vs poor
Mod
I have a feeling u will like the book Smitha...u should def skim through it once more (I think the rich vs poor was hinted in Mahashweta by the same author but then it went on to another path)
yes, even i demand for a re-read Col.
Mod
Mod
i'd rather wait n check how many stars u r willing to give...if it's less than 3 i'd change my date of birth :-P
Mod
.."
I am reading it. Reached around 2/3s and cannot tear my eyes off the book. Thanks a lot for putting up the review and tempting me to read it. I had started once, found the first few pages not to my liking and had left it at that
Smitha wrote: "checked, Aacharya first. Sorry Mansee"Its Ok Smitha...that may also signify that I have a more interesting birthday present ;-)
Mod
Smitha wrote: "yeah, now will have to spend my grey cells thinking up an appropr present for you"Good good :)
11) The Japanese Wife 3.5/512) The Veteran Still reading this, cudnt help post the review...i've started reading this quite a long while ago, abt 2 yrs when i first bought this in the Kothi market thinking it's a novel. Later, learning it's a collection of short-stories, i wasn't able to read past the first few pages. After multiple attempts i finished the first one, title story, the veteran, and it was an ok read. I shelved the book and picked it up again a week ago. Re-read the first one and finished the second too. A Matter of Art or something like that..it sounded a lot similar to JA's Not a penny more not a penny less, donno which is the first one to come out.
Continued further and just read The Miracle, its no.3
And this is the best of the lot. I cudnt take my eyes off the pages as long as i was reading this story and the ending.....oh man, i shudnt talk of it even lest the suspense is out! Forsyth is THE master storyteller and no-less!
Smitha, u'll love the third story, read it as soon as u can, won't take more than an hour, and lemme know wat u think
12) The Veteran 4/5Done with it. I loved this one. I like stories and Frederick Forsyth knows how to tell them...engrossing! I couldn't read the Whispering Wind with a sane mind (at 2 in the night with a disturbed mind). Planning to re-read it again, esp from the part where Ben settles down at the Castle/Fort. But yeah, these are the kind of stories i'd love to read
Mod
Try The fist of God by Forsyth. Its awesome!
13) The Broker 4/5A vivid description of Bologna in Italy is all it took to impress me :) Ok, into the details, it's the story of a corrupt-to-the-core 50 yr old power-broker/lobbyist who was released by the CIA into big bad world out there just to see which country kills him first! There is no super-spy in the story who runs around saving the day, but there are super-assassins who'd be too eager to lay their hands on the broker. And the broker is but a broken man who just spent the last 6 years in solitary confinement in a small cell.
The story is about the redemption and survival of the Broker. Can't reveal more. Oh yeah, btw there is a 40 yr old femme fatale who helps save the day for the Broker and aspires to be his fourth wife provided her first husband dies early, of cancer! I know it sounds like shez a complete b***, but not, it's an interesting story, read it and you won't be disappointed :)
Negative: I found the character of the Broker, having turned around from the dark to the good side, has also become extremely intelligent to the point where he escapes assassination attempts by the world's deadliest spy agency, Mossad and the most dangerous assassin, Sammy Tin! It's sort of unbelievable in the super-man way, but yeah, u grow to like the Broker more, by then and u really wish he survives!
It's friday, night 1 30 am and i just posted the review of my 13th book this year, think this will jinx my reading further this year???
Aacharya Didn't wrote: "It's friday, night 1 30 am and i just posted the review of my 13th book this year, think this will jinx my reading further this year???"yeah- u will not be able to read any further books - some reason or the other u will leave them halfway ;-)
All the books you choose to read will be very bad and boring to the core.. :P
:( So far i didn't have a single <3star book, i wish to keep that record!
Chintan wrote: "have you read 'The Rainmaker'?thats my fav john grisham book"
Nope, haven't read it. I think i read one more of his court-room thrillers, The Firm i guess, dnt remember..
Mod
Painted house is a collection of stories?
No - its a novel - somehow I did not like it; I liked the courtroom books like "firm" and "a time to kill" better
yeah i've read it already, but there is a re-read pending
14) The Unlikely Spy - Daniel Silva 4/5I liked this thriller. Read a condensed version of the novel as published by Readers Digest. A good story, keeps u on the toes...nothing undecipherable in there, but interesting nonetheless. It's a thriller set during the world-war II when the allies are preparing for their first attack against the Germans. Subject of the novel is "the place where they are landing in Europe" Aim is to deceive the Fuhrer, so it's all about protecting that secret and double-crossing the German Spys in Britain into believing the place is not Normandy but Calais! It's not a war fiction, it's just a story about simple double-crossing methods employed. What's striking here is the way spies are depicted to be so human! Even German spies are humans with emotions and a good side, it's just a job given to them!
Aacharya Didn't wrote: "yeah i've read it already, but there is a re-read pending"seen the movie?
Ive not read the book but have seen the movie..It was beautiful!
yes, it's a significant digress from the book, the movie is more dramatized to create the effect! More importantly it plays down the effort of Nash's wife in actually reviving him back to sound health!
Aacharya Didn't wrote: "yes, it's a significant digress from the book, the movie is more dramatized to create the effect! More importantly it plays down the effort of Nash's wife in actually reviving him back to sound hea..."hmmm...true...I've heard that there is more than just one version of the book...
15) Beyond Recognition 3/5Crazy arsonist sets high intensity fire to houses in mysterious way where the detectives fail to even nail the chemical/fuel used to start the fire. Fires are so intense that it's hardly a couple of teeth or a piece of a bone that are left of the victim. Things are not easy for the lead detective, as he is going through a difficult time in his marriage at the same time, wife wants him to spend more time with her than his job. Throw in some mysterious messages from the arsonist including quotes from the bible, a small kid, who is the only one to recognize the arsonist, a cheating psyche and a PD, both of whom love this kid and want to protect him.
One more of Reader's digest Condensed edition novels. Quick and interesting, but nothing special, nothing that i can say, stands out!
16) Lazarus 4/5One of the best i've read this year. I wouldn't say this is a perfect novel, it has lots of shortcomings, but the crux, the main concept is engaging, at least to me. I loved those long reflections on life by the Pope, his conversations with Anton Drexel and the others in Vatican. I agree most of it didn't make sense to me, but still at least the parts that i could make sense of, really enthralled me :)
17) Premier Murder League 3/5Another indian crime fiction this time in the backdrop of IPL and ICL. Beware, this isn't a cricket book, its a regular murder mystery thriller with a lot of sleuthng around. It all starts with the suspicious death of Union Sports Minister SN Rao. Super cops Ravi n his assistant Rahul are asked 2 investigate it. An investigative journalist suggests 2 more murders, one that of a housewife and anthr dat of a nurse, might b linkd 2 d same case. The story takes off from there, lots of intvws, deductions etc. But the suspense is nt abt whoz d killer, its abt whoz d mastermind. There isnt enuf suspense 2 make u hold on to the book. Nonetheless, glad 2 read one more indian attempt at detective fiction
Also bought three other booksDaylight Robbery
by Surender Mohan Pathak written originally in Hindi, translated to English by one of our members Sudarshan Purohit (met him in B'lore group meet)
the adventure of the missing dancing girl
A random pick, interesting mystery story set in 2500 BC in the times of Indus Valley Civilization
The Rozabal Line
By author Ashwin Sanghi, mentioned by Sundip Gorai in the B'lore meet. Book was written back in 2007 under the pen name Shawn Haigins (anagram of Ashwin Sanghi) and released internationally. After becoming a besteller, re-released in India in 2008 with the author's original name. This is supposedly a thriller too!
Reading Daylight Robbery currently, don't let the cover-art put u off, it looks very interesting!
18) Daylight Robbery 3/5A nice travel read, so similar to James Hadley Chase's novels.
Am loving this weekend, sans laptop, sans any work at home. Just me and my books! :)
Looking fwd to the adventure of the missing dancing girl next!
19) the adventure of the missing dancing girl 4/5A very gud read, recommend it to all Enid Blyton fans. Can't help but draw the similarity with the famous five! A similar story, just the backdrop is changd, its the times of the Indus Valley Civilization amidst the Harappa, Mohenjadaro and d present day Lothal in Gujarat!
3 books over the weekend!!! Not bad Adi!! :P
20) The Rozabal Line 2.5/5It's an OK read. The way Indian roots to Jesus and Mary are presented is good. But this book has far too much information and the narrative style is very irritating. Would have been better if the author had concentrated on one or two important concepts and elaborated on them. The climax esp is sort of vague, any discussion of it wud be a spoiler here, will do it with ppl who already read it!
Reading Chankya's chant currently. And with that i hope to put an end to Indian fiction for the time-being!9 of my 20 books so far this year happen to be Indian! Not bad, but dont wanna topple the 50-50 equation
21) Chanakya's Chant 3.5/5a better book than his first one. Liked the story. Writing style is better too, no more journal kind of writing. But still the author has a long way to go to in improving literary quality. Its nt a children's fiction or a murder mystery to write in simple, broken english in a dialogue format. There is a lot of scope in the story to make this one a literary masterpiece, now its a squandered chance. Coming to the details, the narrative comprises of two parallel threads intertwined, one in d past abt chanakya and one in d present abt gangaprasad sharma. I likd the present wallah thread more for its twists n turns. However i believe hasnt had much freedom to include more twists in the past to make Chanakya's story interestng! I felt the story draggd a bit in the middle, but later pickd up pace towards the end for a befittng climax!
22) The Fourth Deadly Sin 4/5A quick read, psychological murder mystery. Description of the procedural investigation is great. Just learnt there are three more prequels namely the first, second and the third deadly sins featuring the same lead detective Edward X Delaney.
Mod
23) Dream's Sake 3.5/5It's a story about 4 friends, a couple of love stories entwined together, with some triangles thrown in too. Abhi's character is likeable, his sister Priyam is too goody good. Sid, love of Priyam and child-hood friend of Abhi, is a volatile guy! Major surprise is the characterization of Aashi and Raj. [spoiler] Was able to make some sense of Aashi's negative shades in order to achieve her dreams, but Raj's total turn-about towards the end was totally unexpected.
Coming to the story it all starts with rosy romances n dreams, but gets tragic page by page before Mr.Vardhan comes in and changes things for good, but hold on, a major twist is scheduled for the end, that might end you up in tears. [/spoiler]
I have read Mill on the Floss a long time ago, don't even remember the story, but this one reminded me of it.
24) Single & Single 3.5/5It took me nearly 3 weeks to complete reading this, it wasn't an easy one to read, esp not in bits n pieces. John Le Carre's writing style is quite different, difficult to comprehend, needs lots of concentration, that's true at least in my case.
Coming to the novel, it wasn't so much a complex plot as it's a complex narrative. More than half the novel is full of gibberish thoughts going through the minds of different ppl, predominantly the chief protagonist Single Jr. Most of the places i enjoyed that gibberish, but there were some, where i thought it was a bit of an overdose..
25) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold 4/5Read this sometime earlier this year, couldn't remember exactly when, but remember that i loved the plot, made my day in office!:)
26) Recoil 4/5Looks like a pretty unknown book. I liked it a lot. A regular action thriller story. A crime mob head was convicted based on a testimony by a honest man along with 3 other guys. Now after 8 years the mob head was coming out on parole and wants revenge on these 4 guys who testified against him. But they are already under witness protection program, the mob still manages to find them but they manage to escape before he could hurt them. Rest of the story is about how these 4 guys, esp the honest guy of the four, get rid of the mob, so he can live peacefully with his family without any more running about. It's not about cold blooded killing and revenge, it's about playing with the head of a person, allbeit a crime lord, and creating fear in him..
I scavenged this one from a cousin's house, it's already in tatters, and i had to literally re-arrange all the pages in numerical order before i read them, felt like am actually reading a manuscript :P Sadly missed the last few pages in the novel, by then, i believe the main plot is already done with.
Indian Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
The Calcutta Chromosome (other topics)The Positronic Man (other topics)
Prelude to Foundation (other topics)
The Emperor's Ring (other topics)
Delhi (other topics)
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