Thursday, June 30, 2005
Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
This was the first time I read an Ishiguro and was not as moved as others seem to be with him. It was a fabulous book though. One point here .. that with most books loved by EVERYONE and you read it after great reams of deliberation are done on it and you don't like it.. your first thought it .. something must be the matter with me.. but since it has happened numerous times with me.. I don't get as surprised anymore.. digressing again.
It a typical love story - poignant and unrequited. I loved Mr Stevens and his importance of retaining his dignity and Miss Keaton and her quirks. Its very lovely to read and somehow right from the beginning there is a certain despondency to it.
The layers in the book are superb which delicately touch the politics and politcos of that time along with the delicious lifestyle. Unfortunately for me, I had seen the movie earlier and each time I read an acerbic word by Mr Stevens, Sir Anthony Hopkins came rousingly out of my memories and I think on how Emma Thompson did more than a half decent job of Miss Keaton.
Reading the book after seeing the movie.. seems to have done it for the book. But now am thoroughly intrigued with the author and cant wait to read more of his work..
It a typical love story - poignant and unrequited. I loved Mr Stevens and his importance of retaining his dignity and Miss Keaton and her quirks. Its very lovely to read and somehow right from the beginning there is a certain despondency to it.
The layers in the book are superb which delicately touch the politics and politcos of that time along with the delicious lifestyle. Unfortunately for me, I had seen the movie earlier and each time I read an acerbic word by Mr Stevens, Sir Anthony Hopkins came rousingly out of my memories and I think on how Emma Thompson did more than a half decent job of Miss Keaton.
Reading the book after seeing the movie.. seems to have done it for the book. But now am thoroughly intrigued with the author and cant wait to read more of his work..
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Woody Allen's The Whore of Mensa
I was emailing this link to a friend .. when I realised it was worth a read by all those who love reading and may one day stumble onto the link on this big not-so-real world..
Expecting Somebody Taller - Tom Holt
Go read Tom Holt's Expecting Somebody Taller.
Riotously funny.. disturbingly real.. and has a great theory on why we humans.. mmmm... procreate.. I do wonder too why is that such a complicated manoeuvre.. ok.. will leave that for some other discussion.
Back to his book... Its about a ring.. and who wears (and the Tarhnem) controls the World and all within.. including Gods, Giants, Valkyries, Norns and humans too. Nope not mistaking it for LOTR but yeah its a lighter and a much much thinner version of a the RING story.
Women try their wiles and older women try their experienced wiles but our Malcom does not give up the ring. Witty and a quick read, a good first book of this author.
here is his bibliography
Riotously funny.. disturbingly real.. and has a great theory on why we humans.. mmmm... procreate.. I do wonder too why is that such a complicated manoeuvre.. ok.. will leave that for some other discussion.
Back to his book... Its about a ring.. and who wears (and the Tarhnem) controls the World and all within.. including Gods, Giants, Valkyries, Norns and humans too. Nope not mistaking it for LOTR but yeah its a lighter and a much much thinner version of a the RING story.
Women try their wiles and older women try their experienced wiles but our Malcom does not give up the ring. Witty and a quick read, a good first book of this author.
here is his bibliography
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Another must read
A Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is a lovely tale of Christopher Boone, in first person narrative, trying to solve the mystery of the murder of the dog Wellington.
Its a poignant tale of a child, his world ( one with a form of autism) and he trying to come with anwers. He goes about it in a methodical fashion and makes some very telling statements. The book is very simply written and has used images and different formatting styles that makes all kinds of wonderful statments echo around even minutes after reading them...
I had forgotten that I had left my book on the ktichen table because I was interested in the Blue Planet video. This is what is called Relaxing Your Guard, and it is what you must never do if you are a detective. (page 471)
************
And Father said, 'I love you very much Christopher..Do you understand?'
I didn't know whether I understood. So I said, 'I don't know.
And Father said , 'Christopher, do you understand that I love you? and I said , 'Yes, because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father looks after me when I get into trouble, like coming to the police station, and he looks after me by cooking meals meals for me, and he always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me. (page 481)
I saw a lot of parallels in this book and the movie Mercury Rising - murder mystery with autism but the book is much more classic and tender because a kid is exposed to delicate human relationships and its trails rather than gore. And on a different note, do watch the film.
And yes go read the book.
Here is a spoiler of a review. And here are some more reviews.
Its a poignant tale of a child, his world ( one with a form of autism) and he trying to come with anwers. He goes about it in a methodical fashion and makes some very telling statements. The book is very simply written and has used images and different formatting styles that makes all kinds of wonderful statments echo around even minutes after reading them...
I had forgotten that I had left my book on the ktichen table because I was interested in the Blue Planet video. This is what is called Relaxing Your Guard, and it is what you must never do if you are a detective. (page 471)
************
And Father said, 'I love you very much Christopher..Do you understand?'
I didn't know whether I understood. So I said, 'I don't know.
And Father said , 'Christopher, do you understand that I love you? and I said , 'Yes, because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father looks after me when I get into trouble, like coming to the police station, and he looks after me by cooking meals meals for me, and he always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me. (page 481)
I saw a lot of parallels in this book and the movie Mercury Rising - murder mystery with autism but the book is much more classic and tender because a kid is exposed to delicate human relationships and its trails rather than gore. And on a different note, do watch the film.
And yes go read the book.
Here is a spoiler of a review. And here are some more reviews.
Friday, June 10, 2005
White Mughals - William Dalrymple
A relic from my bookshelf and I was determined to read this time around! It has been languishing ever since I bought it and overwhelming me with (what else?) but the foot notes! And cross references to appendixes and glossaries and all such.. located towards the end of the book.
It weaves a love story set in early 1800s with wot else but foot notes indexed to letters written in that era, along with other books and pictures taken then. Simple enough story, aggrandized with emphasis on the Britsh cultures, the impact of "Hindooism" and Islamic culture and so on and so forth.
Simply put its a story about James Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa. One is the Resident of the British in Hyderabad (or the Nizam's territory) and she is a the daughter of a well know politico. It has all elements of a love story - its grand, involves a lot of intrigue (or what must have been intrigue at that time), many people helped make it a successful if tragic tale, even borders on filmy and in the grand scheme of things hardly matters and ends on a sad note.
The story is in third person and is actually the author narrating it. He tries to makes sense from so many documents that after a while, unless you give up trying to remember where he sourced what from, it would be very difficult to enjoy the story. Just read the top half of all pages!
I don't have anything fundamental against research and we, as journalists, were always told that you should be able to back up what you say and with documentation. But this book by William Dalrymple, takes it to a new level.
Am digressing, as usual. Back to the story. Its colourful and vivid in its description and makes me want to look all other possible liasons and such affairs of that time. White Mughals - would I recommmend it? I dont know... because for me it was a case of liking the author but not his latest offering (this book released in 2002 and as far as as I know other than making inflammatory remarks, Dalrymple has not released any book since).
The language in this book is a lot like his other books - colourful, very descriptive especially for clothes, jewellry, food, architechture and art. The finer nuances of the relationships are still hazy. Perhaps because he only has letters dated over two hundres years ago and has to read in between the lines and beyond nick names.
I always wonder two centuries after our lives, how would the history get documented? We do not write long rambling letters (or even emails) about daily happenings. There may be a few blogs but none of so called famous persons. Also Dalrymple stumbled on a decrepit structure which was one of Khair and James's houses. Which perhaps led to this tale. I just wonder how will little details of our day to day lives get recorded?
On a more personal note.. even here over 200 years ago.. women STILL could not try and make it on their own. In Khair's case, despite a much publicised affair with James which resulted in children who were banished, houses that were lost and familiy members alienated, she still took on another beau within one year of James passing away. Only to be sidelined by him for a more well connected wife. She perhaps died pining.. for love.. for children or may be just for company. And all this happened before she turned 30.
It weaves a love story set in early 1800s with wot else but foot notes indexed to letters written in that era, along with other books and pictures taken then. Simple enough story, aggrandized with emphasis on the Britsh cultures, the impact of "Hindooism" and Islamic culture and so on and so forth.
Simply put its a story about James Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa. One is the Resident of the British in Hyderabad (or the Nizam's territory) and she is a the daughter of a well know politico. It has all elements of a love story - its grand, involves a lot of intrigue (or what must have been intrigue at that time), many people helped make it a successful if tragic tale, even borders on filmy and in the grand scheme of things hardly matters and ends on a sad note.
The story is in third person and is actually the author narrating it. He tries to makes sense from so many documents that after a while, unless you give up trying to remember where he sourced what from, it would be very difficult to enjoy the story. Just read the top half of all pages!
I don't have anything fundamental against research and we, as journalists, were always told that you should be able to back up what you say and with documentation. But this book by William Dalrymple, takes it to a new level.
Am digressing, as usual. Back to the story. Its colourful and vivid in its description and makes me want to look all other possible liasons and such affairs of that time. White Mughals - would I recommmend it? I dont know... because for me it was a case of liking the author but not his latest offering (this book released in 2002 and as far as as I know other than making inflammatory remarks, Dalrymple has not released any book since).
The language in this book is a lot like his other books - colourful, very descriptive especially for clothes, jewellry, food, architechture and art. The finer nuances of the relationships are still hazy. Perhaps because he only has letters dated over two hundres years ago and has to read in between the lines and beyond nick names.
I always wonder two centuries after our lives, how would the history get documented? We do not write long rambling letters (or even emails) about daily happenings. There may be a few blogs but none of so called famous persons. Also Dalrymple stumbled on a decrepit structure which was one of Khair and James's houses. Which perhaps led to this tale. I just wonder how will little details of our day to day lives get recorded?
On a more personal note.. even here over 200 years ago.. women STILL could not try and make it on their own. In Khair's case, despite a much publicised affair with James which resulted in children who were banished, houses that were lost and familiy members alienated, she still took on another beau within one year of James passing away. Only to be sidelined by him for a more well connected wife. She perhaps died pining.. for love.. for children or may be just for company. And all this happened before she turned 30.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
A book meme now...
Have been tagged for book meme now and I swear now - no more of these. Can't remember one person's favourites from another! Annie tagged me (almost in revenge eh?) so here goes:
Total Number of Books I Own: Some in one cupboard, some more in place of clothes, some under my bed, some out in the hall and some which my mum gave away.. and do I include the ones owned by dad? No number coz it forever changes!
Last Book I Bought: The Hungry Tide by Amitava Ghosh and Tokyo Cancelled By Rana Dasgupta
Last Book I Read: White Mughals by William Dalrymple - a long tiresome read which seems to make no new point really! Its even taking me time to write down what I thought about the book.
Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me: I just cannot contain them down to five.. its too small a number...will try and keep it in a single digit.
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins - my first Tom Robbins. Totally loved his acerbic style and picked up half a dozen of his others. None of others I have read so far lived up to this one but I still look at a beetroot and think of immortality wistfully.
The Five Run Away Together (of Enid Blyton's Famous Five series number 3 I think) - it was one of most memorable ones to me because they ran away to Kirrin Island and played house in what read like perfect settings.
The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor - His only book worth mentioning and never again can u read the Mahabharata without thinking about this fabulous satire.
The Faraway Tree series again by Enid Blyton - May be I should just include ALL her books here.
How To Eat by Nigella Lawson - one of the primary reasons I got interested in writing about food. Its much more than a ready reckoner.
India Unbound by Gurcharan Das - A superb walk down memory lane.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - a much more palatable Rand here and the title kinda still fascinates me.
LOTR by Tolkein - Dont know if I can write much by way praise but love reading it over and over again.
Tag Five People And Ask Them To Do This On Their Blogs: Most people I know have done this and those who have not, wont so no point...
Total Number of Books I Own: Some in one cupboard, some more in place of clothes, some under my bed, some out in the hall and some which my mum gave away.. and do I include the ones owned by dad? No number coz it forever changes!
Last Book I Bought: The Hungry Tide by Amitava Ghosh and Tokyo Cancelled By Rana Dasgupta
Last Book I Read: White Mughals by William Dalrymple - a long tiresome read which seems to make no new point really! Its even taking me time to write down what I thought about the book.
Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me: I just cannot contain them down to five.. its too small a number...will try and keep it in a single digit.
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins - my first Tom Robbins. Totally loved his acerbic style and picked up half a dozen of his others. None of others I have read so far lived up to this one but I still look at a beetroot and think of immortality wistfully.
The Five Run Away Together (of Enid Blyton's Famous Five series number 3 I think) - it was one of most memorable ones to me because they ran away to Kirrin Island and played house in what read like perfect settings.
The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor - His only book worth mentioning and never again can u read the Mahabharata without thinking about this fabulous satire.
The Faraway Tree series again by Enid Blyton - May be I should just include ALL her books here.
How To Eat by Nigella Lawson - one of the primary reasons I got interested in writing about food. Its much more than a ready reckoner.
India Unbound by Gurcharan Das - A superb walk down memory lane.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - a much more palatable Rand here and the title kinda still fascinates me.
LOTR by Tolkein - Dont know if I can write much by way praise but love reading it over and over again.
Tag Five People And Ask Them To Do This On Their Blogs: Most people I know have done this and those who have not, wont so no point...
Monday, June 06, 2005
The Binding Vine - Shashi Deshpande
Just finished a really quick and brief read of Shashi Deshpande's The Binding Vine and while the the book is not perhaps the best written work of Deshpande, it still hits too close to home. And by home here I mean, today's settings.
A book about surviving, perhaps, the worst kind of traumas a woman can undergo. Yes there is rape, but rape under the shelter of marriage, especially the kind that never gerts reported. Also the loss of one's child and coming to terms with grief and life after that. And in typical Deshpande style, there are many other issues simmering below the surface - dynamics in a marriage, filial relations, the fear/fright of a first night for a comely young bride (I could write a whole post on that but will refrain).
Urmila and the various people who help her, directly and indirectly, to get over the grief of losing her daughter Anu. She, in turn, consoles, Sakhutai, whose daughter Kalpana, a victim of a brutal rape, lies lifeless in the hospital and no officia records on this rape are encouraged. The end is , in one way, very open ended but on another note, Urmila does find a closure to her grief.
One thought that I came away with was despair. Women take such crap just so that we will not be alone. I do not understand whats the point of living with some one who is more trouble than not, takes your money, beats you, rapes you, disowns you for other women or neglects you. And then turns around and supposedly protect you. Protects from what am still trying to understand.
This is most definitely a book that will be appreciated more by women than men and if I am not wrong, it is/was at one point, in the syllabi for feminist writers/writings in the BA course from Mumbai University.
A book about surviving, perhaps, the worst kind of traumas a woman can undergo. Yes there is rape, but rape under the shelter of marriage, especially the kind that never gerts reported. Also the loss of one's child and coming to terms with grief and life after that. And in typical Deshpande style, there are many other issues simmering below the surface - dynamics in a marriage, filial relations, the fear/fright of a first night for a comely young bride (I could write a whole post on that but will refrain).
Urmila and the various people who help her, directly and indirectly, to get over the grief of losing her daughter Anu. She, in turn, consoles, Sakhutai, whose daughter Kalpana, a victim of a brutal rape, lies lifeless in the hospital and no officia records on this rape are encouraged. The end is , in one way, very open ended but on another note, Urmila does find a closure to her grief.
One thought that I came away with was despair. Women take such crap just so that we will not be alone. I do not understand whats the point of living with some one who is more trouble than not, takes your money, beats you, rapes you, disowns you for other women or neglects you. And then turns around and supposedly protect you. Protects from what am still trying to understand.
This is most definitely a book that will be appreciated more by women than men and if I am not wrong, it is/was at one point, in the syllabi for feminist writers/writings in the BA course from Mumbai University.
