So here we are at the last leg of the BYOB Party. If you haven’t read the rest of parts- here they are again– Parts 1 , 2 and 3
Umakant Soni, Director at Science Incorporated, read Mrityunjaya, by an Indian author Shivaji Sawant, and was quite taken by his very sensitive rendition of Karna of the Mahabharat epic. (Myths can never be excluded from a BYOB party) Karna is one of those tragic heroes who readers and listeners alike can never sympathize with enough. The quintessential outsider, Karna was abandoned by his own mother and raised by a charioteer- he’s a hero without the halo of caste and privilege to protect him. Sawant explores the epic through this hero’s eyes; renditions of the epics will be woven as long as story telling is loved.
Abhaya read an interesting book called Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman. The author writes about worlds where time behaves differently than time in our plant – in one it runs backwards; in another it runs at different speeds in different parts of the world; in yet another, people live forever.
“I found the book to be a mixed bag. Some of the worlds are very intriguing and provide lot to think about while others seem forced. I also think that some of the worlds are repetitive but perhaps there are subtle differences that I have missed out on.”
Just when I thought that all the books discussed were utterly disconnected, Sanjana Kumar, an endodontist, talked about book called A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, where time was the essential theme. It’s a fantastic tale that touches on a variety of ideas- from the ills of bullying in Japanese schools to the tsunami that could wash up a young girl’s diary in to the hands of a writer suffering from writer’s block on a distant Canadian shore. This is a rich book that is filled with so much knowing that at the end of the book you feel like you have gone on a journey through time and back.
A young visitor Aanya told us about her favorite book called The journey to Atlantis, one of Thea Stilton’s popular books of the Geronimo Stilton series. And with that this BYOB journey comes to an end.
Tell us what books you liked in the BYOB series of November and what books you are reading now.
