Booksssssssssssssss

No wonder he is the greatest...aye presenting Mr. Sherlock Holmes

2010-05-08T01:08:00.000-07:00

I had almost given up reading and writing had gone out of the window as well. Not any more. I am getting back to my reading and getting on with writing. Well when I decided to get back to reading I did not have much choice. I was not too keen in buying a new book for I was not sure how much time i would be able to devote to one. While I though my eyes fell on this volume of collections of all the short stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his brainchild Mr. Sherlock Holmes and am I complaning? Nah.

There is just something so nice and refreshing about this detecteive that makes you smile in the end. There is intrigue and crime and the simplest of cases solved for you. Be is murder or be it a theft, Mr. Holmes knows how to convince you to look at the small and fine details and try and deduce the end of the mystery.

Well...to Mr. Sherlock Holmes...you were, are and would always be the best that lived.

THE FIRE DREAM

2008-01-01T07:52:00.000-08:00

After a very very long time I am updating this blog. Though I did read a couple of books in the meanwhile, I never thought about writing about any of them. Some were really good, (the last of the Harry Potter Saga and a couple of more,) yet this one book I would wish tomention for I would, (surprisingly!), recommend this book to all who enjoy books. The book was handed over to me by a friend of mine, a thick hardbound of nearly 600+ pages...based in Vietnam. And I started reading it. Have to admit I took my own sweet time finishing the book. And that too after I was continuosly threatened of dire consequences. And I tried, with all my heart to like the book. It was not a bad book...but I was not, shall we say taken in by the book. And then...I heaved a sigh...after almost three months I was finally nearing the end of the book. And it happened before I could realize...I was finally there, turning the pages with a certain enchantment you would associate with a well written book. A book that transcends the boundary of fiction and characters become you. And while I read about people dying without any great emotion, the moment I reached the last 15 pages I realized to my great surprise that I was crying. Tears seemed to fall without prelude and by the time I kept the book aside I was beyond help, crying like a baby, feeling the loss of great men, and more than anything feeling hollow.

The only thing I wish to say about this book is, pick it up and read it...if only to understand life in its basic form. Glory...the word meant so much more after I had completed that book and one day I wish...I wish to heaven I can write a book that would make people keep it aside and wonder...is life really that simple?

To the man who gave me that book...it helped more than that movie you made me watch...and I can not put that book in words...one day I would. And to all who would read this blog...read the book...it would help you...how I don't know but it would.

The Inheritance of Loss.....OUCH!

2007-01-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

Ok here is a book I would review without ever finishing it. Infact I could not go beyond 2 chapters....

Simply stating...It is totally horrible...whatever happened to good old story telling...I really wonder why people would write a whole lot of big big words and never really mean anything...It's a total loss of money and time and everything. The moment I read the first two lines i was like....Excuse ME!!!! Seriously pal. I dont care if critics love it or decided to give the woman a booker's price...All I want to say is if people want to understand why books sell...try reading Harry Potter....thats what I call Story telling......

People I wish I could even give it a 1 out of 10....I just cant.

The Broker...

2006-11-23T09:40:00.000-08:00

I am happy. For after a long long time I actually finished a book...And it is a book that i did not keep down with a frown...instead when I closed the book I had a smile that spelt satisfactopn. A John Grisham book...The Broker. Honestly this guy lacks the adrenaline rush which a Frederick Forsyth promises, nor the racing heartbeat guaranteed by a Robert Ludlum or the exquisite simple story telling of Jeffrey Archer...yet the guy has style and a way with simple words. I loved the book not because of the way he described the CIA...they were as good as shadows lurking in the background. I loved the way he described a small town in Italy. It left me dreaming. I could feel travelling in those buses, could feel my steps guiding me through the porticoes, could sniff the cigarette smoke in the small cafe's and feel the pride of people as they talked about their country.
A good book. Not much of a thriller...just a nice bedtime read about an old man finding love and himself as he runs away from himself...
A 7 out of 10...

My Love...

2006-11-04T03:39:00.000-08:00

Women in my life.....

This is a confession. I am in love. Not with one or two but so many women that they can not all be named on this blog. But I would start to narrate them all....:)

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...Who's the fairest of them all...

Right. I am talking about Snow White. (Did you for once think it was a post about a person? Its my world of books:) )
My fascination with Snow White is very simple...the sweet adorable Seven Dwarfs. How cute were they?

Be Back by midnight...The ever so pretty Cinderella. And the whole enchantment of the Glass Slipper...it can never leave me.

Nancy Drew....my first relationship...I read her across 6th 7th and 8th grade. She was simple, intelligent and her friends were awesome...Bess the slightly plump flirt and the athletic George.

Sleeping Beauty....Woken with a Kiss...(sighs)

Rapunzel...Personally I think her hair were better short. But what amazed me was how she returned eyesight to the prince's eyes with her tears.

Elizabeth Bennett...How can I forget this splendid woman?

Mrs. Bennett...the notoriously funny and melodramatic Mrs. Bennet...her flutters in the bosoms...ah!

Beauty...the girl who had it in her heart to love a Beast for he was kind to her!

Castallano...the pediatrician of Doctors...her fight with her life and her incredible fate with relationships! What a winner!

Joe..the playful and thoughtful Little Woman...

Kate Blackwell...the Master of the Game!

Hermione...the sweet little witch...brightest in her class...God knows Harry would not be the same without this book worm!

Mrs. Weasley...the lovable quintessential mother...can never get enough of her nagging for sure!

And then My girls...

Jenny...my first book's protogonist...for simply being the first.

Iris...the beautiful dancer...

Sarah...the picture perfect...

Preeti...the common girl...

And the latest love and my pride...Gauri. For being the Queen she is!

And the list is long. I can't pick a favorite...I love them all. Some perhaps more than the rest....

There is however this one woman who has been always the top of charts. She is too a fairy tale character but not many understand her. Not many like her for she ain't the sweet girl...but infact...The Snow Queen.

I have always been fascinated by this woman of ice with no mercy in her soul...I don't know why but i perceive such warmth in this character that can not be defined.

TO all the women in my life....I love you all

The Feel Good Books

2006-10-08T00:06:00.000-07:00

I recently had a long discussion on a certain category of books with a friend and then another friend said that Its been too long I have not updated this blog for such a long time. So I realized I should write about the very books. All the women and also all the men would know them. Few love them, few hate them....yet a majority of people have read them. I am talking about the notorious MILLS&BOONS.

They are generally the same. One is very rich, the other not so...both of them are gorgeous, there is always a disagreement between the two before they finally confess their love and live happily ever after. Yet you have to admit...they carry their own charm. To young gang of girls, who highlight certain stanzas and keep giggling as they make their friends read, they are the stepping stone to adolescence. To the young boys, a sneer and a chortle. To those girls with beady eyes it is a dream.

The books would always make you...happy. Whether you laugh with derision, or mockingly or with happiness when they finally say I love you...it brings a smile to your face.

I started reading them in 9th standard and as I was recounting to this friend....man it was such a huge scene at school!. "Kanika reads MB's," they used to whisper and then say out loud. But they never really embarassed me. They were...well just another set of short stories.

188 standard pages. That is the length of a M&B.

I have graduated to a wide variety of books post my MB days. Yet even today...when i have nothing better to do I like reading them. Not for any other reason than to smile after one and a half hours when I would finish the book and keep it away. To all the women (though hardly anyone visits this page!!!!) who are reading and remembering their MB days (such a weird phrase yet it is apt!), pick one up again. It would be nice to feel like a 'little woman' again! And to all the men...

You can smile. For all of you in your teens would have seen a friend reading the books and laughed. Then somewhere in a small corner of your house read the book...

Own up guys...

Pride and Prejudice...the perfect book

2006-08-21T04:13:00.000-07:00

People love Pride and Prejudice. And all for good reason. I...love it for more than one. For many the simple writing style does the trick, and then the perfect end of a long drawn love affair. I guess for me the best part about the book is the inscrutable Mrs. Bennet and not to forget the incorrigible Mr. Bennett. They are simply awesome and Mr. Bennett's derision of his wife and life in general is worth reading over and over again.

I was very young when I read the book for the first time and ever since then i guess I have read the book for a record thirteen times. I also own the 6 episode sries of the BBS's picturization of the same novel and have watched the whole series for a total of 10 times atleast (including the 3 times it was telecasted on Star Movies while i was still in school.)

Now that I have described my ardent love for the book I guess I need to talk about the major disappointment. The latest movie made starring Keira Knightly was a felony of the biggest order. How could they do that? For once it does not even have a britisj accent. Then the characters are portrayed rather ill and my two favorite characters, Mrs. and Mr. Bennett are reduced to nothing. Just stupid old people who have no character whatsoever. The screen play is awful and the picturization makes it an object of contempt.

Shameless Odious people...

Out of hibernation I say

2006-05-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Whew...Went through a bad phase...stopped blogging...what to say.

But I am back. The winters were too long but I decided to pick up another book and let it thrill me. One disappointmnet after another, exams and what not. Not anymore I say...I am back with a vengeance.

I was wondering what to write, about which book to talk about and then I decided to write about FOUNTAIN HEAD. People have read it, people have liked it. I...Hate it!

Why did i pick this book? A friend of mine is reading it...and when we were talking about the book...it brought back memories. Not honestly good ones but interesting in their own right.

FOR ALL THOSE WHO LIKE THE BOOK....I APOLOGISE. But I HATE IT.

Two very strong reasons....

A....NO WRITING STYLE. It was too much of mumbo jumbo, tooooo lengthy and way too out of its league. What Howard Roark stood for? FREEDOM....what was he? A SLAVE OF PERFECTION!!! HIS OWN EGO!!! AND SADLY A SLAVE OF LOVE.

And not to forget this woman totaly screwed up LOVE. I mean...whatever kind of a man falls in love with a woman and rapes her? And what kind of a mental creature loves a man and goes and gets married to his arc enemy so as to set him free? So as to punish him for loving her?

PLEASE. LOVE is not sadistic, nor is it anger and frustration and lust. Love is...simply Love. Lets for once get real....lets for once understand that you don't become a hero if you dont do what you preach. Howard hated the fella for he was a prisoner of the society, and then he pitied the person who was enslaved by money. What was he? ENSLAVED by his own prejudice, his righteousness...his false ego and that belief that he is right.

I love beautiful architecture...Not that i really understand the arc and the domes and the difference between them...But i feel them speaking to me. Why not make a beautiful house? Why not accessorise it with pillars? Why not? Whats wrong in that?

And not that tall straight buildings aren't sexy or anything. I completely love big spaces, nicely done corridors and straight no hassle building.

They speak. The curved architecture (referring to the old school...please dont be mad for my technical know how is very very limited!!!!) is a symbol of dominance with humility. Imagine a King living in a straight jacket catle...what does the castle convey? Rigidity. But a small arc, a humble dome and the magnanimous pillars...they suggest Leadership. He is courteous and welcoming yet stands on his own ethics that hold up his pride. Its like...I am here to serve you...yet I will guide you!

And then lets talk about the straight tall buildings that defy gravity? They are amazing cause they symbolize raw power. They talk about the ruthlessness of perfection, of a human spirit that can soar up to the sky!

Everything has its own perspective...Howard Roark and his dear Dominique have none. Sadly Sadistic and VERY VAIN....

I can go on and on about it. But it would not do. All I want to ask Ayn Rand is...

If her idea behind the book is to awaken the people who run blindly after all the wrong things...why does she choose a protogonist who is soooo POWER CRAZY. Why does he want the office on the tallest building? Why does he crave recognition? WHY???

Again people who like it....NO OFFENCE

Harry Potter....And MORE.........

2006-01-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

I have not any new book. For now i was re reaing Harry Potter and the Order of Phonix...by fa the only book in the Harry Potter series i can read from cover to cover time and again. The rest of the books...no doubt are excellent yet there is something about the fifth book that hooks me on to the book. And it gives me something which the others lack....An excellent writin style. The maturity of that book, the portrayal and the hints are lovely.

I love HP books. They have me all smitten yet i would not be so fastidious as to include it as my all time favourites. For it gives me some dreams and a whole lot of awe. Yet it is more about the story than the thrill of reading. I guess i need to explain it further....

Here is the thing....my other favs...Pride and Prejudice....Wuthering Heights...Eleven Minutes....these are books that narrate a very simple story like HP's. Those are love stories...HP...Ramayan revisited...essentially...yet the former add that sparkle to the reading. The way they have been written adds to the awe of the books. Simple books, written simply yet something about the writing style that would entice you. And HP gives me only a story and the magical tales to turn the pages. The characters are not dwelled on....you get no strong insights into the characters....except the OOTP where i think JKR has done an amazing job. Brilliant insight into HArry. And i want more of that. I am hooked on....yet...there is just something missing...and i am not able to point as to what it is. The portrayal of the protogonists...the various characters.....she ought to elucidate more....talk more about them other than the greasy sketches!! A beautiful book.....a book i completely love...characters i am totally in love with....yet something....the way she wrote about love...choices....something more that would give us more than just the fight between HP and Voldemort......something more. I guess because i am so much in love with JKR's work i want her to do more than just Exceed Expectations now that she is in NEWT stage of her exam....she ought to do an Outstanding.....

By the River Piedra I sat Down and Wept...WOW

2006-01-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

I recently read the book by Paulo Coehlo and well....it was nice. More so it was beautiful...this person really has a flare for beauty. But my excitement when i had started reading the book was dampened....reason...the cry about the feminine side of god. BEing a Hindu I never imagined my reliegion to be so forward. It is perhaps something i am proud of...we have always worshipped goddesses...it is second nature. Woman has always held a great place in our religion....sadly not in our society. This made me wonder about the book and i somehow lost the excitement...I would say it is a good book...till the time he starts about religion. I would rate it a 4 on 10.

But i honestly think this man is a wonderful writer....i don't love his Alchemist as much as i love the ELEVEN MINUTES...anyone and everyone should read it....its amazing...a 10 on 10 book by my scales.

Bad Books

2005-12-19T21:24:00.000-08:00

I am in a particular mood of talking about books that i do not approve of, books that were bestsellers. I can not start without mentioning oh so torturous The Fountain Head by Ayn Rand....i have never ever taken three months to finish any other book...no matter how bad it was. I hated it...yet read through the book. There was no brilliance in the plot, neither the way she wrote it. You just can not begin to say anything nice about the book. The character reminded me of a vertain conceited person who does not live on this planet, the female was...what to say...some deluded head she was. Somehow, the whole book was nothing but a painful experience and i ended up deciding that critics had said it was good because they were too shallow. To concur with the writer was the only way out for them, not to be categorised as one of them...It was brilliantly disgusting and for some reason i could never really understand just why the hell people like it? Are they too scared? Everybody have different needs and live life n order to fullfill it. Everybody is a slave to some desire...Who gave the Howard Roarke the authority to call everybody enslaved when he too was enslaved by this strange desire to have it his way........he wanted to make him name, be known as a worthwhile architect.....was he inspiring...not in the least.

The other i do not like much is Jeffrey Archer's Kane and Abel....i simply love his writing style, the plot and the story is brilliant and it is a very nice book. But, but but...it became predictable and maybe that is the reason i do not like it. It is not that i do not like reading predictable books...its just that i was a tad disappointed by Jeff Arch....he is way too brilliant to become so lame towards the end of the book. Not a book i hate...just a book i do not agree with.

That would be it for now as i have to rush. And thankfully the list is not that big.

The Inscrutable Americans....What to say

2005-12-15T04:40:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading the Inscrutable Americans and I have a certain mixed feeling. Firstly, It was refreshingly original...yes i gues that is the word that best describes the book. Not to mention the great honesty about the book. It was witty, fun and dragging at times. Well....I don't know what else to say but i just wish people could induce a story into the whole thing...it could have been so much more than just a journal of a small town boy out to get some sex...i mean education....

Well I would rate it 3.5 out of 10.

The door in the Department of Mysteries that is always Closed

2005-12-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

I am fascinated by Harry Potter, not because it is an exciting literary work but rather because it has the power of transporting me to a parallel world where magic exists...where people are not unlike us yet so different...where love is still the most important emotion. I think i became such an avid fan after reading the Order of Phoenix....when she tells us about the room in the department of mysteries which is always kept locked. The greatest mysteries in the world...LOVE. And after that everything fell in to place, like a jigsaw puzzle i could make out the metaphors....suddenly it was a love ballad with a beautiful bird singing in the background...a symphony whose lyrics were being written by a soul...the magical journey into the land where everything is plainly simple....yet said metaphorically. the Pensieve...the Phoenix...the lion and the snake...the dementors...all made sense and well...i was bewitched.

I have tried shouting at people, telling them that they are wrong about their speculations and all but i forgot the most important factor of any good book is that the writer has the right to twist it the way she finds it fit. I mean why should i ponder about what will and what won't happen next. What i need to do is marvel at Harry Potter...the magical journey of a little boy, trying so hard to just fit in...find his place. And i would devote this blog entirely to appreciation....not on speculation. This is the blog where i would go rant about the books i love...why i love them and what i love about them...I hence am changing the name of my blog...still have to figure out how to do it but i would...

So it is going to be my arcade of my thoughts about things i feel most strongly about...books and stories. I add stories to include movies as well...

So all the book lovers and movie fans are welcome....no speculation...just thoughts and opinions....a book club...I invite all the people to share the magic...

Hello

2005-12-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

I have gone through so many posts and websites on Harry Potter, always trying to find a small place to put a comment. Then..i tried to put an article on my blog about Harry Potter and then i realized...Harry Potter deserves a blog.

I am amazed by the power Harry Potter have on people...not to forget the way it has completely enclosed my mind. I love it...i can go on putting reasons and everything but i am not going to do so...all i want to say is i am a fan. I simply love them...and that's that.

I would add my theories, my views and my simple adoration of Harry Potter on this blog and anyone who wants to discuss a certain point, away from the clutter...i am all ears.

Thats enough for saying hello i guess.