Blog

Short Book Review: The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

The Twentieth WifeSBR: The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan is a well-written book, but it falters as historical fiction. I’m pretty sure that the court language by the time of Akbar and Jehangir was Persian and not Turkish, hot chai was not partaken in India at that time, and Mehrunnisa wouldn’t have been affectionately addressed as ‘beta’ by her parents. Salim’s character development doesn’t make sense and romantic situations between Salim and Mehrunnisa are created forcibly by arbitrarily playing with the norm of purdah. Although sufficient research seems to have gone into the life events of the characters, the settings and details are anachronistic.
To read or not to read: No need to go out of your way to get the book. It can be an entertaining read, but is not a must read.

Short Book Review: Hello Bastar by Rahul Pandita

Hello BastarSBR: Hello Bastar: The Untold Story of India’s Maoist Movement is a brave and important book. Whether you are a supporter or Maoists or a criticizer, whether you are ambivalent or opinionated, it is important to know things before taking a stand. This book can help you do that.
The only issue with the book was its haphazard narration, which kept going back and forth for no obvious reasons. It read like a collection of journalistic pieces instead one coherent book. That made the stories difficult to follow, and characters difficult to keep track of.
To read or not to read: Yes. It is on an important issue.

Hindi and Mythology @ BYOB Party in IIIT-Delhi in September 2016 (Part 4)

rag-darbariProfessor Dheeraj talked about a Hindi book called Rag Darbari by Shrilal Shukla who won the Sahitya Akademi Award for this book: a satirical story of the loss of moral values post independence. He shows rural life in India as it was in the 60s and 70s.  It has also been adapted as a televised series starring Om Puri, but it doesn’t seem to have made its way to the ubiquitous Youtube yet. You can listen to the author speak here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ2SX0sQkDg

Most of the students were more familiar with the Hindi writer Munshi Premchand only. Reading Hindi does not seem to be very much in vogue at the student level.

sitas-sisterAlthough reading Hindi is not in vogue, mythology is. Khyati is a mythology buff and recommends books by Kavita Kane such as Sita’s Sister and Menaka’s Choice. Kavita Kane likes to study overlooked characters like Lakshman’s wife and the desirable apsara Menaka. If mythology interests you, you might want to check out A.K.Ramanujan’s work, a student advised. For more commercial spins of ancient times, Chanakya’s Chant by Ashwin Sanghi is a good read, said another.

The famous retelling of Illiad by Madelline Miller called Song of Achilles was discussed. It’s a brilliant retelling of an age old epic in lyrical prose.

a-thousand-splendid-sunsAs it is with almost every BYOB gathering we’ve had so far, Khaled Hosseini was not forgotten and his beautiful and relevant prose was discussed. Both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are favorites.

Anand talked about Paper Towns by John Green. Anand liked the intellectual nature of the love story mystery. This book has won the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery.

Some other books the students at IIIT Delhi talked about included Sherlock Holmes and there was even a diversion to the nature of Indian geography. All in all it was a session brimming with life and curiosity.

Short Book Review: The Light of His Clan by Chetan Raj Shrestha

the light of his clanSBR: Chetan Raj Shrestha continued to shine as a writer in his second book The Light of His Clan. This is another Sikkim novel, affectionate but unsparing with its subjects, which brings a smile to your lips even when the characters act like complete losers. Even at their absurd best, they are always relatable. Despite the pervasive Sikkim-setting, the protagonist, Kuldeep Chandanth, could have been an aging patriarch anywhere in India who is clinging to what he sees as the past glories of his own self as well as his clan, while the world is passing him by.
The writing in the book is also delightful. The novel is a worthy successor of author’s debut book The King’s Harvest, which is one of the recommended book on Worth a Read.
To read or not to read: Yes, it is a delightful read.

Graphic Novels and Pottermania @ BYOB Party in IIIT-Delhi in September 2016 (Part 3)

green-lanternNot surprisingly some graphic novels and fantasy made an appearance at this BYOB Party. Siddharth got  Green Lantern/ New Gods Godhead by Robert Venditti. To understand Green Lantern, you need to know a lot of back story. For instance you need to know about Highfather who is the high priest of the DC universe.

 

 

Aniket talked about the bestselling manga series (over eighty books in the series) One Piece written and illustrated by Eiichiroone-piece Oda. The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a man who has the properties of rubber because of a fruit he ate. He teams up with a crew of pirates to find the world’s greatest treasure called One Piece. The manga series has been adapted in an animation, a card game, video games, etc.

wardstone-chroniclesArpit spoke about The Wardstone Chronicles, published as The Last Apprentice in the US. It’s a dark fantasy series by Joseph Delaney and the theme is about the seventh son of a seventh son apprenticed to John Gregory to become a figher of supernatural evil. In other words he becomes a Spook. What Arpit liked about the book was the way Delaney approached the topic in a highly original way with his knowledge of chemistry.

harrypotterandtheprisonerofazkaban

Fantasy is a favorite, with Riya talking about the Harry Potter series and how JK Rowling gets her formula right because she talks about the importance of love- be it between friends, teachers and their students, parents and their children, the crux of the world is based on this. There was mention about how Harry Potter was probably the most under-developed lead character of all time, as he hardly ever changed. Things always happened to him without agency on his part. Of course, this led to an overheated discussion about Harry Potter characteristics.

More books in Part 4.

Dystopia and Young Adult Fiction @ BYOB Party in IIIT-Delhi in September 2016 (Part 2)

I had read an article recently about the secret appeal to teenagers that lies in George Orwell’s dystopia 1984 and sure enough Orwell was not excluded from this gathering. Animal Farm that describes the secret ministrations of hierarchy was mentioned. “It’s not just a parody of communism, but a parody of any system, even the corporate world.”

if-tomorrow-comesRamya, an ardent Sidney Sheldon fan, talked about If tomorrow comes, Tell me your dreams and Master of the game. What the students surmised from reading these books was that the books revolved around a central female and ideas about the inherent power struggle in a man’s world remains a relevant topic even today. Turns out adolescents like dark fiction. You can read more about this here: http://time.com/3697845/if-i-stay-gayle-forman-young-adult-i-was-here/

da-vinci-codeIf there is a Sidney Sheldon, then a discussion about Jeffrey Archer cannot be far behind. The all time favorite seemed to be Kane and Abel and The Prodigal Daughter. Dan Brown was another favorite, with students heatedly arguing over whether Inferno had the edge over Da Vinci Code. Incidentally, there is an illustrated version of Da Vinci Code as well.

Lectures and Love @ BYOB Party in IIIT-Delhi in September 2016 (Part 1)

LitSoc, whose coordinators were Vrinda and Taneea, co-hosted the BYOB Party at IIIT-Delhi. It was Professor Dheeraj Sanghi who facilitated it. The party threw light on what twenty first century teenagers read in Indian cities these days. There is a strong feeling among youngsters today that reading books is an inevitable part of success and this is good news for publishers everywhere.

if-this-isnt-nice-what-isWisdom was a theme. The party kick started with a book that Vrinda got by Kurt Vonnegut called If this isn’t nice, what is? The book is a collection of self-deprecating funny commencement speeches that are inspiring for students. Not surprisingly,Vonnegut was a speaker much in demand in his time. He was one of those writers who achieved success later in life. Some of his humor can be lost on you if you don’t understand the milieu in which he wrote, but most of what he says can be understood and enjoyed.

You can listen to him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Toxp0OJNc

the-last-lecture

Katyayani spoke about The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. If you want to get teary eyed about a man who has six months to live and who comes up on the podium of Carnegie Mellon to speak, think again. His last lecture is filled with humor and practical wisdom about how to achieve your childhood dream.

Here’s a snippet of the poignant lecture:

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

Here’s the link to his lecture which is long and worth your time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo.

me-before-youTaneea read another book with life’s philosophy entrenched called Me Before You. It’s the story of how love can help you overcome something as devastating as paralysis and the joylessness that ensues from losing a part of you.

More books in Part 2.

Short Book Review: The Girl from Krakow by Alex Rosenberg

The Girl From KrakowSBR: The Girl from Krakow is yet another second world war book, but sets itself apart because of its Eastern European setting. There is history in the book and there is philosophy, apart from the fiction. History appears to be good. Philosophy is something I identify with, but the craft of fiction writing falters. Hence you have the same philosophy being spouted by too many unrelated characters as if the author can’t stop himself from pushing it down your throat. So despite identifying with it, after a while I could not stand it. The fiction is too fanciful at times, too many convenient coincidences happen. The language is also awkward in places, perhaps because the author is not a native English speaker.
To read or not to read: Yes – for the history and philosophy, not for the fiction.

Kindle Deals on Books: Booker Prize Winner The English Patient, Chasing the Monsoon, The Raj at War and more

Here are some interesting current deals on Kindle. The prices are likely to change. Do check them before ordering.

The English Patient

A Booker Prize Winning World War II Novel

Rs. 55.80

 Chasing The Monsoon

A curious adventure as the author literally chases the monsoon.

Rs. 70/-

 The Raj At War

Rediscovering Indian History in World War II

Rs. 159.60
Sirigannda

Contemporary Kannada Writing in English!

Rs. 59/-

 Greatest Bengali Stories Ever Told

Bengali stories in English translated by the master of the craft Arunava Sinha

Rs. 99.80

 West Of The Tularosa

Western Stories by L’Amour

Rs. 25.80

 

Books based on Gandhi

gandhi-01

 

Want to embed this post on your blog or website? Use the following code.

<div style="text-align: center; margin: auto;"><a href="https://wortharead.pub">
<img src="https://wortharead.pub/2016/10/11/gandhi-01.jpg" alt="Books based on Gandhi"/>
By Worth a Read
</a></div>