I ve been reading like crazy! in spite of the hectic shifting schedule last week - i managed to finish 3 books - white mughals (finally!!), 3 mistakes of my life and prisoner of birth....this was managed by reading till late in the night even though i was dead tired....stealing a couple of pages in between making rotis for dad, and pushing off office to the last possible moment....my take on these books....
WHITE MUGHALS (William Darlymple) - I have already written a lot about this book in my blog so wont try peoples' patience much (esp my NON reader friends).....the book is superb from start to finish....it not only gives out historical facts in a very interesting manner but also provides a thorough analysis of the attitude and actions of the characters....moreover, the analysis is not a closed statement but guides the reader up a path and leaves you to go ahead, your imagination being your only limitation......the descriptions are very vivid and the pictures get automatically painted in your mind.....they sort of swim into your conciousness and you dont even realise it.....the theme is riveting - the blending of british and mughal cultures and the resulting hybrid.....however you need to have an interest in history....
one point of note was that the heroine's daughter - kitty is sent to england at the age of three - and she never sees her mother again - and later on kitty is quoted as saying that she still remembered her mother tearing her hair and weeping inconsolably when she (kitty) and her brother were leaving for england....i found this a bit intriguing as i was almost 6 when my mom passed away and try as i might, i am never able to recall any scene, any moment with her....and she being half the age remembers the separation....i am envious....
THE THREE MISTAKES OF MY LIFE (CHETAN BHAGAT) - his third book....and i think a good improvement on his second (one night at a call center) which was too verbose (which i am also accused of being on my blog! - and i plead guilty to the charge....) and too slow for my taste....it took a long time in coming to the point.....although all his books are set in our generation (or maybe the one after us!) but i feel this book truly captures the youth in contemporary India....the love interest also - which seemed a bit outrageous in five point someone (his first book) rings true in this book.....for people who are skeptic of the govind vidya episode happening in truth - i can only say that somehow these kind of things are possible in gujarat - and although i have lived in many parts of india, i have witnessed such incidents only in gujarat....with really outrageous stories travelling around during the time of navaratri ....(no offence meant to anyone...this is my personal opinion/experience of my 4 year stay in the state).....coming back to the book.....though there were moments when the author was carried off in fantasy, the chilling reality in the end show how ephemereal our life, hopes, dreams, passions, relationships really are....
i wonder why he calls amdavadis as ambavadis!!
A PRISONER OF BIRTH (JEFFREY ARCHER) - a funny thing about this book....somehow i had it in my mind that it was a john grisham book....halfway through the book, i started feeling that this was more like an Archer rather than a Grisham, and the feeling persisted so much that many a times i got distracted into thinking about how grisham would have read archer's books and thought of changing his style....only after finishing the book and complaining to my sis, i saw that the author was indeed archer!!
the book was good....although typical archer with typical archer masala....but then we love him for what he is!!though i felt that in this book, he has given his protagonist more 'luck' compared to other books....maybe he is growing old and soft!!!! he gets it bang on target when he says " they are both oaks, even if they were planted in different forests. But then, we all suffer in our different ways from being prisoners of birth"...how true....how much we get (or not get) just because we were born in one particular country/family.....the results are so different for two people with same qualities but different environments....
on a different note - now i realise what is the difference between a pirated version of a book and an original one - my brother in law, in a cost cutting mode, forced me to buy the pirated version,and it had too may pages mixed up and i had to keep checking the page numbers....and the print was such that many a times, i had to literally take it close to the light to understand the words! but i think pirated books are a boon to our society (sacrilege!!)....i remember how, in college, i used to pile up pirated versions of all books imaginable in my pune visits.....and they have helped me get lost in my world of books.....whose original versions i wud not be able to afford even today.....
that was on the book front....planning to start with jhumpa lahiri now....
WHITE MUGHALS (William Darlymple) - I have already written a lot about this book in my blog so wont try peoples' patience much (esp my NON reader friends).....the book is superb from start to finish....it not only gives out historical facts in a very interesting manner but also provides a thorough analysis of the attitude and actions of the characters....moreover, the analysis is not a closed statement but guides the reader up a path and leaves you to go ahead, your imagination being your only limitation......the descriptions are very vivid and the pictures get automatically painted in your mind.....they sort of swim into your conciousness and you dont even realise it.....the theme is riveting - the blending of british and mughal cultures and the resulting hybrid.....however you need to have an interest in history....
one point of note was that the heroine's daughter - kitty is sent to england at the age of three - and she never sees her mother again - and later on kitty is quoted as saying that she still remembered her mother tearing her hair and weeping inconsolably when she (kitty) and her brother were leaving for england....i found this a bit intriguing as i was almost 6 when my mom passed away and try as i might, i am never able to recall any scene, any moment with her....and she being half the age remembers the separation....i am envious....
THE THREE MISTAKES OF MY LIFE (CHETAN BHAGAT) - his third book....and i think a good improvement on his second (one night at a call center) which was too verbose (which i am also accused of being on my blog! - and i plead guilty to the charge....) and too slow for my taste....it took a long time in coming to the point.....although all his books are set in our generation (or maybe the one after us!) but i feel this book truly captures the youth in contemporary India....the love interest also - which seemed a bit outrageous in five point someone (his first book) rings true in this book.....for people who are skeptic of the govind vidya episode happening in truth - i can only say that somehow these kind of things are possible in gujarat - and although i have lived in many parts of india, i have witnessed such incidents only in gujarat....with really outrageous stories travelling around during the time of navaratri ....(no offence meant to anyone...this is my personal opinion/experience of my 4 year stay in the state).....coming back to the book.....though there were moments when the author was carried off in fantasy, the chilling reality in the end show how ephemereal our life, hopes, dreams, passions, relationships really are....
i wonder why he calls amdavadis as ambavadis!!
A PRISONER OF BIRTH (JEFFREY ARCHER) - a funny thing about this book....somehow i had it in my mind that it was a john grisham book....halfway through the book, i started feeling that this was more like an Archer rather than a Grisham, and the feeling persisted so much that many a times i got distracted into thinking about how grisham would have read archer's books and thought of changing his style....only after finishing the book and complaining to my sis, i saw that the author was indeed archer!!
the book was good....although typical archer with typical archer masala....but then we love him for what he is!!though i felt that in this book, he has given his protagonist more 'luck' compared to other books....maybe he is growing old and soft!!!! he gets it bang on target when he says " they are both oaks, even if they were planted in different forests. But then, we all suffer in our different ways from being prisoners of birth"...how true....how much we get (or not get) just because we were born in one particular country/family.....the results are so different for two people with same qualities but different environments....
on a different note - now i realise what is the difference between a pirated version of a book and an original one - my brother in law, in a cost cutting mode, forced me to buy the pirated version,and it had too may pages mixed up and i had to keep checking the page numbers....and the print was such that many a times, i had to literally take it close to the light to understand the words! but i think pirated books are a boon to our society (sacrilege!!)....i remember how, in college, i used to pile up pirated versions of all books imaginable in my pune visits.....and they have helped me get lost in my world of books.....whose original versions i wud not be able to afford even today.....
that was on the book front....planning to start with jhumpa lahiri now....
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