The Great Gatsby

March was a slow month, in terms of reading. A lot going on at my end, so was able to read one book amidst all that life has brought.

Lesson learnt : Never be fooled by Amazon reviews. If 1000 people find it a 5-star rated book, you need not.

If you watched Bollywood flicks, then this story comes as no surprise. The heros, heroine, affairs (extra-marital ones) and so on. No character in this book is a hero to celebrate except the author himself. The setting is good, prose is great and the story has been re-told several times.

A short book, took me longer than expected to read, but give it a shot! Not much to lose there.

Sold

If you have read Memoirs of a Geisha (one of my favorite book) or watched Umrao Jaan (a Hindi movie), this is the same in a much more simpler form. But the topic of human trafficking is never a simple one. It does make you cold, especially if you have kids of your own. This is a story of a Nepalese girl sold by her step-father for a few rupees. It is a story, in first person, about how she felt each moment. It does not have a fairy-tale ending and leaves the reading wanting to know a little more. But it sure delivers its point and leaves you a little disturbed. It is a Young-Adult book. So it is spaced and a very quick read. Maybe one afternoon, at the most.

Tuesdays With Morrie

Yet another book, that says nothing new, but kicks you in the butt, just in case you forgot how to lead your life. This one, like the Last Lecture, has nothing new to offer. It is the same inspirational kind. But you need one such book every year to realize that a mechanical life does not lead you anywhere, and that there is a huge difference between "want" and "need".

Good quotes:

Love each other or perish.

People are only mean when they're threatened.

When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.

Death ends a life, not a relationship.

Once you know how to die, you know how to live.

You're not a wave, you're part of the ocean.

If you can accept that you can die at any time - then you might not be as ambitious as you are.

Three Cups of Tea

Have you ever sat through a movie because so many people said its good and you thought the best is coming yet? That's exactly how I felt about this book. 1200 people on Amazon cannot give wrong reviews. I trust them. So I kept pushing myself to read this book despite the fact that skipped a few paragraphs here and there. Then I reached page 333. Nothing yet! Mr Mortenson's work is absolutely laudable. But the book, awful! painful to read!

The whole book is in third person. A first person report would have made it more personal and a pleasure to read. Too many adjectives to describe something simple and finally, too much of deviation from the whole point. It could have easily been several pages shorter. Maybe the young reader version is better. Try that one.

Five Point Someone

I just finished reading this ebook online and well, it deserves an ebook only! Very breezy read, thanks to amateurish writing. Complete fiction. I mean rosy endings, Bollywood style!

So much for criticizing. Then why did I read through it. Well, it was hilarious. You could relate some of it to your own college life. Bunking classes, ragging, hating the strict Profs, hanging out with friends etc - Some of these moments, you relive through the books. Thats what kept me hanging. You just wish he had kept the love life part of it out of the book and did not go into much detail there. But what you desperately wish, is some reality check and a good writing.

Read it online free.

Unaccustomed Earth

This is another set of short stories and they are good. That is all I can say. Her stories have gotten too monotonous for me, and except for the surprise endings, there is not much. They are again descriptions of Bengali families that grew up close to MIT or Harvard and the differences in generations. Ms Lahiri is a good writer. She has talent, but I think after a certain point, descriptions of sari, vermilion, fish curry etc becomes plain boring. I was looking forward to something a little more than that but was disappointed. If you can ignore or skip these trivial things, the stories are not bad. I particularly enjoyed the second part which has one story in 3 parts.

If you want more detailed review, go here : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/books/review/Schillinger3-t.html

A Long Way Gone

This is one book thats a must read!

It is about the author's childhood in Africa. He starts the book with what seems like a normal childhood when his village is attacked by Rebels. He loses his family and run from village to village, as the rebels keep attacking the villages. He stays in a forest for sometime and eventually joins the army to fight the rebels. His transformation from a young innocent boy to this monster teenager that can kill people is pretty painful. He writes about how easy it was to brainwash a little boy into killing so many innocent people. This book is a page turner and is extremely honest. The language is quite simple, that you feel someone is telling this during a friendly chat. The first part where he runs and learns to live independently but the second part, where he becomes a normal child again seems a little rushed. I wish he had written a detailed ending about his life after. But the author sure leaves you wondering and seeking more.