Northanger Abbey

With this, I have read all of Jane Austen :). The only sad part is that I perhaps read some of them too early to appreciate them. I read Emma when I was 14, and I think that was too early an age. There is an age and a time to read certain books. I possibly had access to too many books that were beyond my level of maturity at a very early age. I remember reading the Grapes of Wrath while still in school. I remember feeling depressed by it. With Jane Austen, I think the trouble is that I have missed the characterization. While still in school one cannot appreciate the thought process of a twenty something woman. Things that seemed like trivia back then now looks serious enough. Funny, isnt it ? When you are young, you can just say things, or imagine saying things, just like that. As one gets older, there are more and more restrictions on what can be said. There are so many things to consider. So many people to consider. One really has to grow quieter as one grows old :).. I digress..

Good book, as Jane Austen is, always. Enough has perhaps been said and written about it anyway that I possibly wouldnt add even $0.02 with anything I say. So I am going to leave it unsaid :P

The Handmaid's Tale

I so liked The Blind Assassin that I decided to buy another book from the same author - and this one was just as engrossing. I decided to buy after reading that it was a sci - fi novel. I had imagined this would be like Asimov - turned out it was anything but that. Either way, I liked the book - very imaginative, with implied references to historical events all over. It gives a good third person perspective into events ordinarily seen in a different light.

The story is very imaginative, perhaps that is the reason why it got classified as science fiction. I would perhaps classify it more as fantasy. More on the lines of Midnight's Children. Well.. not really, but somewhat.

Good Read.

The Blind Assassin

Normally, I dont  bother buying books with glamorous looking women on the front page. To me that somehow symbolizes cheap trash, and I steer clear of it pretty much all the time. This book however had won the Booker price, and that is how I decided to give it a try..

I wasnt disappointed,  the Man Booker price committee definitely knows how to select books :) - the book had all the things I look for - style, story and structure. I wonder where the author learnt to write like that - it is almost like watching a painting come to life - a little bit of each character and each event at a time. The story itself was something any trashy writer could have made up - but the difference is in the narration. Great read. 

White Fang

I wonder why I chose this book, given that I hate dogs. Usually, even the cutest looking members of the canine family leave me unmoved, so it was surprising that I liked the book enough to finish reading it. Perhaps that shows how good Jack London is as an author.

White Fang is not a cute dog - it is a cross between a dog and a wolf, and is a feared and ferocious creature. Yet when you see things from his side with the help of a powerful writer like Jack London, you start to feel for the dog-wolf, to the point where at the end you are sickened by the thought of it being shot to death. Strange that I would have such feelings for a mere dog. 

Totally recommended, for people who like classics :) Oh, and for people who like dogs, of course.

Cutting For Stone

This was the first book I read on a Kindle. I chose the book because the author seemed interesting - he belongs to my community, and is a professor of medicine. My only prior experience with doctors who write books has been A J Cronin, and since I like A J Cronin, I thought this would be just as good. 

Well, the book was not bad - it was just not great. I have read better books, surely. The themes were new though - and it gave some insight into Ethiopia and the political background there. And ofc, there is a great deal of medical detail. As I have mentioned before, I look for style, structure and story in a book. Style and structure were ordinary, the story was ok. So it wasnt a great read, it was just an ok one. I did however notice some very Mallu thought processes in the book, and I felt it was interesting that Mallus retained their thinking even after having emigrated to Ethiopia nearly a generation earlier. 

Perhaps his later books which are not really stories may be better. For now, I dont feel like spending $10 on this author so soon again, so I am not going to read the rest of his books. 

How We Decide

Nice book about the workings of the prefrontal cortex. Apparently the prefrontal cortex and our emotions help us make the bulk of our decisions. It discusses what happens when the prefrontal cortex does not work well and how it becomes adept at making certain types of decisions.

One complaint I have about the book is that it seems to be a compilation of various research done by other people rather than original content from the author. It is of course nice to have all the material assembled in one place, but I thought when you write a book one should have something new to say? Or have the rules changed?

Interesting read though.

My Guantanamo Diary

I would say this is a must read, not because it is a literary achievement, but because of the importance of the subject matter. In a climate where tolerance is an exception, such books bring to light the culture and thinking of a people who have been misunderstood and considered warlords for centuries. It is perhaps true that there are warlords among the Afghans, but most of them are simple people who manage their daily lives as best as they can, without any animosity towards westerners.

My biggest shock was in finding out how a large number of Gitmo prisoners ended up there - the Americans had declared a $25,000 reward for anyone who gave them information regarding members of the Taliban. In a war torn and famine ridden country, that amount tempted the not so morally upright into pointing at anyone they had even slight greivances against, resulting in mass arrests of ordinary people who had no connections to the Taliban. Americans will possibly never understand that such a thing could happen, because they dont live in the level of poverty that Afghans do.

The sad part is that once reported against, the poor suspects were immediately arrested and brought to Gauntanamo. There, they were not even allowed lawyers, were tortured continuously, and denied connection with their family for years. It is sad how an innocent person's life is affected by an event that was beyond their control. Who can compensate them for the lost years and hardship caused? Who can compensate for what their loved ones missed?

The Girl Who Played With Fire

I cant believe I actually spent $16 on this book. I picked it up impulsively, after seeing the words "# 1 National Best Seller" on it. Those words should actually have been a good indication that the book would be a bummer. Apparently the average reader's taste in US of A is bad, and being a best seller means it is going to read something like Sidney Sheldon, whose books unfortunately I cannot bring myself to be interested in.

I slept a number of times while reading it, not because of lack of action, but because all of it seemed so contrived and stupid. The first two pages were a clear indication that this was a book that was intended for people who had not studied enough algebra. The first page had the title "Irregular Equations" and explained what linear equations were, complete with an example : 3x - 9 = 0 has the root x = 3. Apparently this was part of a very advanced book that Ms. Lisbeth Salander (the main character of the book) was reading. Lisbeth Salander apparently likes very very advanced math (such as linear equations and slightly more advanced algebra such as (a+b)^2 = a^2 + 2ab + b^2), is a chess grandmaster, a boxing champion, a star hacker, and of course, although she looks pathetic, manages to attract every male she comes in contact with.

I might have bought the character if the advanced math was not made so pathetic. At least the author could have chosen second order differential equations or some such thing... that might have made it appear a little less stupid. Worse, the author goes on to hint at the later half of the book that she comes up with a solution to Fermat's last theorem - without of course, giving any kind of hints on what exactly the her sketch of the problem might have been. And of course, she had only worked on it for about a month or so, and she arrived independently at the solution that had taken poor Mr. Andrew Wiles 25 years to get to. Monster brain.

Next time, I will make sure I stay resolutely away from #1 National Best Sellers.

Btw... I noticed today that most movies portray math in a similar fashion. They use things that appear complicated to them, and it ends up looking stupid to somebody who has  been through grad school.