Well, maybe not new but what I mean is that I have bought, yes BOUGHT, an audio book of Great Expectations over the Internet. Its an unabridged version of the book read by Frederick Davidson, so the book takes 18 hours and 42 minutes to finish (I have reached chapter 23 of 59).
The experience of listening to an audio book has been great especially since the reader, tries to talk in different voices for each of the characters. I also felt that as Pip grows up as the book progresses, his voice changes from a high pitched tone to a more mature one. However I found that I had to have more concentration while listening than while reading a book.
The book was available in 59 DRM (Digital Rights Manager) protected WMA files, which were not compatible with my Sony mp3 player. However, since I had bought the book, I was able to contact the support team (it's nice when people listen to you if you pay for stuff) and they suggested I write audio CDs (it would take 12 CDs) and then rip them to mp3. Thankfully I didn't have to follow this painful process, but was able to create images of the CDs using Nero software and rip the virtual CDs to mp3.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Drained...
Heck, I haven't been able to update my blog (to the dismay of thousands of my readers) and worse I haven't been able to read anything much. I blame it all on my job, you feel so drained after getting back home that all you feel like doing is sleep, or in my case flip aimlessly through channels on TV. Maybe I'm not meant to be working, after spending so many years (20 yrs) in school.
However, I plan to change all that. I went and bought a couple of books recently using the money I make. I bought Crime and Punishment to educate myself (and also because on the cover it said it was one of the most readable classics). I also bought Adverbs by Daniel Handler (the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events) because I found what was written on the back cover funny.
Adverbs is a collection of episodes happening to different people that are loosely linked together. But it wasn't a funny book as I expected after reading the back cover. It's a more serious book, where each chapter is based more or less on a single emotion. However, though beautifully written, I felt that the author gave more importance to the style of writing, rather than content.
However, I plan to change all that. I went and bought a couple of books recently using the money I make. I bought Crime and Punishment to educate myself (and also because on the cover it said it was one of the most readable classics). I also bought Adverbs by Daniel Handler (the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events) because I found what was written on the back cover funny.
Adverbs is a collection of episodes happening to different people that are loosely linked together. But it wasn't a funny book as I expected after reading the back cover. It's a more serious book, where each chapter is based more or less on a single emotion. However, though beautifully written, I felt that the author gave more importance to the style of writing, rather than content.
Monday, July 23, 2007
A Confederacy of Dunces
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole starts with this quote. After reading the foreword by Walker Percy, I began wondering whether the same thing happened to the author itself. After writing the book he could not find any one to publish his work. Disappointed by this he committed suicide as an unsuccessful writer. Later when the work was published thanks mainly to the persistence of his mother, the work went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. I cant imagine a more dramatic story surrounding a book.
I was looking around the a bookstore, to see if anyone is actually buying the new Harry Potter book when I came across this book and couldn't resist buying it. Guess I will wait till a cheaper HP7 comes out before buying it.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
After a Storm, Before a Feast
I have just completed A Storm Of Swords, book three of George R R Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series, and it ends with a very nerve wrecking suspense. Some of the major characters are killed and some have even been brought back from the dead and all the other major characters are in a very critical situation.
However before starting the fourth book A Feast For Crows I have been reading Fragile Things, a collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman. I must say that I am not impressed by the stories. They seem to be very ordinary and feels like ghost stories told around a campfire.
However before starting the fourth book A Feast For Crows I have been reading Fragile Things, a collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman. I must say that I am not impressed by the stories. They seem to be very ordinary and feels like ghost stories told around a campfire.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Graphic Novels
Comics may be kids stuff but graphic novels are definitely not. There has been increasing interest in graphic novels and lately even The Hindu's Literary Review contains a section on graphic novels. I became interested in this thanks mainly to my friend who has, at the time I felt, a "strange" habit of collecting comics. Even though I have been reading comics for a long time, I never gave them much thought until I read three of them recently. These books which were so inaccessible are now, with the world wide web, not very difficult to find for anyone who knows where to look.
The first of these is A Contract with God by Will Eisner. It is a set of short stories taking place in a tenement building in the 30's. While not the first, this is regarded as a classic graphic novel. There is nothing special or extraordinary happening in these stories like the usual comics. Just the everyday lives of ordinary people, but still they are made interesting. To keep this blog informative here is a random fact, the awards for comic book excellence are named after the author and are known as "The Eisners".
The second set of books I read was the Akira manga (japanese comics) vols. 1-6. These comics and the subsequent anime movie were what made japanese comics famous. I remember watching the movie long ago but didn't understand much of it. The comic explains many of the issues left unanswered in the movie. The first half is set in the ultra-modern and ordered Neo-Tokyo, while the second half, which I don't remember in the movie at all, is chaos and anarchy. I get the feeling that the creator, Katsuhiro Otomo, likes the second half with more of chaos. Maybe that is the same reason why it is still a teenage cult fiction. It also shows that creating good graphic novel is much harder than usual novels. The whole Akira series is over 2000 illustrated pages long.
The most different and the one I liked the most is Watchmen by Alan Moore. It is a 12 volume series about a set of very human super heroes. I didn't like the graphics very much but reading the series was a whole new experience. Each volume ends with either an article written by one of the characters or one that appeared in the paper. It even has a side tale in the form of a comic book which one of the minor characters reads. Overall a very new experience and it is no wonder that it got a Hugo award which is usually given to Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels. There are plans to make a movie based on this comic book series and is expected to be released in 2008.
Even before all this, good comic books have been available in India. I think I learned most of the Indian mythology from the "Amar Chitra Katha" series. They even brought out illustrated classic novels, and I remember reading Sherlock Holmes stories and Charles Dickens novels for the fist time in comic book form when I was little.
The first of these is A Contract with God by Will Eisner. It is a set of short stories taking place in a tenement building in the 30's. While not the first, this is regarded as a classic graphic novel. There is nothing special or extraordinary happening in these stories like the usual comics. Just the everyday lives of ordinary people, but still they are made interesting. To keep this blog informative here is a random fact, the awards for comic book excellence are named after the author and are known as "The Eisners".
The second set of books I read was the Akira manga (japanese comics) vols. 1-6. These comics and the subsequent anime movie were what made japanese comics famous. I remember watching the movie long ago but didn't understand much of it. The comic explains many of the issues left unanswered in the movie. The first half is set in the ultra-modern and ordered Neo-Tokyo, while the second half, which I don't remember in the movie at all, is chaos and anarchy. I get the feeling that the creator, Katsuhiro Otomo, likes the second half with more of chaos. Maybe that is the same reason why it is still a teenage cult fiction. It also shows that creating good graphic novel is much harder than usual novels. The whole Akira series is over 2000 illustrated pages long.
The most different and the one I liked the most is Watchmen by Alan Moore. It is a 12 volume series about a set of very human super heroes. I didn't like the graphics very much but reading the series was a whole new experience. Each volume ends with either an article written by one of the characters or one that appeared in the paper. It even has a side tale in the form of a comic book which one of the minor characters reads. Overall a very new experience and it is no wonder that it got a Hugo award which is usually given to Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels. There are plans to make a movie based on this comic book series and is expected to be released in 2008.
Even before all this, good comic books have been available in India. I think I learned most of the Indian mythology from the "Amar Chitra Katha" series. They even brought out illustrated classic novels, and I remember reading Sherlock Holmes stories and Charles Dickens novels for the fist time in comic book form when I was little.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Crabs ALIVE!!!
Its been a while since I posted something on the blog. I have been too busy/lazy in the past few weeks. Also it was too horribly hot in Chennai to think, let alone sit up and write something. Now I'm back home and it's raining almost everyday. I also find that I'm not expected to do anything around here and the rain stops me from doing anything anyway. So I find I have no real excuse not to update my blog that all you thousands of virtual (in the true sense of the word) readers cant live without.
So anyway let me get to my story. This is a true story and so a lot of the characters are alive but a few have been cooked and eaten. What happened was that a few days back, mom asked the fishmonger to bring fresh crabs. When they arrived they were a little too fresh, a little too alive and jumpy. They started running all over the place with us chasing them. In the end we caught all except the one that went and hid itself in the drain. It's been there ever since and only come out at night. I wonder what it eats and what life in a drain is like. I guess it must be better than getting cooked and eaten. Life in strange like that, one moment you are complaining about how dirty the sea is and the next you are living happily in the drain.
So anyway let me get to my story. This is a true story and so a lot of the characters are alive but a few have been cooked and eaten. What happened was that a few days back, mom asked the fishmonger to bring fresh crabs. When they arrived they were a little too fresh, a little too alive and jumpy. They started running all over the place with us chasing them. In the end we caught all except the one that went and hid itself in the drain. It's been there ever since and only come out at night. I wonder what it eats and what life in a drain is like. I guess it must be better than getting cooked and eaten. Life in strange like that, one moment you are complaining about how dirty the sea is and the next you are living happily in the drain.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Judging books by their covers
I know that you are not supposed to but I find I do judge books based on their covers fairly regularly. Just recently I bought this book Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, an author I had never heard of before, just because I liked the cover design. Its got a black cat with green eyes on the cover looking at you, as cats usually do, with mild condescension. Also I liked the fact that it had 'Kafka' in the title and that it was by a Japanese author. I don't know why but ever since watching the movies Lost in Translation and Kill Bill (vol1 not 2), I have been fascinated with Japan - the samurais, hello kitty, tea ceremony, technology, karaoke, crazy anime cartoons...
Coming back to the topic, my friend told me an extreme case of how covers of books affected him. He said that until second standard he never used to do well in class, he even got 0/20 in math. Then in his second standard the cover of his science textbook had the pictures of space ships, galaxies and microscopes and he got really interested in the book and did well ever since. He also says things like part of the reason he did badly in school till second standard was that his father insisted on teaching him (I imagine something like the cartoon where Dad explaining the workings of a carburetor in Calvin and Hobbes); and that he means to learn swimming, violin, karate and get a dog as a pet all in the next few months, so I don't know how much credence I should place in his statements.
Coming back to the topic, my friend told me an extreme case of how covers of books affected him. He said that until second standard he never used to do well in class, he even got 0/20 in math. Then in his second standard the cover of his science textbook had the pictures of space ships, galaxies and microscopes and he got really interested in the book and did well ever since. He also says things like part of the reason he did badly in school till second standard was that his father insisted on teaching him (I imagine something like the cartoon where Dad explaining the workings of a carburetor in Calvin and Hobbes); and that he means to learn swimming, violin, karate and get a dog as a pet all in the next few months, so I don't know how much credence I should place in his statements.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
The GREATEST movie EVER!!!
O boy! I just finished watching one of the craziest and weirdest movies ever - Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny starring none other than the GREATEST band EVER (according to their website). It is a musical comedy, but unlike the genre, the music is rock and the comedy is very very weird. Also its got great music, especially the song Classico which is a blend of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and rock.
I know that many people will find the movie stupid or even disgusting and I definitely don't expect it to be a big box office hit, but I love it and urge you to go buy a DVD first thing tomorrow, at the crack of noon.
I know that many people will find the movie stupid or even disgusting and I definitely don't expect it to be a big box office hit, but I love it and urge you to go buy a DVD first thing tomorrow, at the crack of noon.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Books, movies and the weather
I have finally completed A Clash of Kings, book 2 of the A Song of Ice and Fire series and can now hopefully move on in life (it was very hard to put down such an un-put-down-able book and do other things). A very strange thing about the book is that the author doesn't seem to show any qualms in killing off well developed characters. While I was reading the book, I began noticing some changes. I never used to notice such things as hot food or warm clothes, but as I read more about sleeping in the open and eating dried meat, I began appreciating things more. Maybe I should stop reading fiction and spend more time on news and things that are actually happening!
I also watched a very interesting movie called Brick recently. It is a teen-druggie-school-mob-detective story, but what was interesting about it was the don't care attitude of the main character, even when he is beaten near death, he just seems to get up and says the first thing that comes to his mind. That and the strange camera work and the overcast-about-to-rain sky when it can get really windy and interesting. That is the weather I like the best, just before the rain when the sky is overcast and it gets very windy. I remember imagining as if we were on a ship caught in a storm and running around on the terrace of the house when it gets like that. Maybe that's the real reason I liked the movie.
I also watched a very interesting movie called Brick recently. It is a teen-druggie-school-mob-detective story, but what was interesting about it was the don't care attitude of the main character, even when he is beaten near death, he just seems to get up and says the first thing that comes to his mind. That and the strange camera work and the overcast-about-to-rain sky when it can get really windy and interesting. That is the weather I like the best, just before the rain when the sky is overcast and it gets very windy. I remember imagining as if we were on a ship caught in a storm and running around on the terrace of the house when it gets like that. Maybe that's the real reason I liked the movie.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Some classic movies
I watched some classic movies recently ('cos I have so much time on my hands), like Rashomon, 8½ and Sunset Blvd.
Rashomon, one of Akira Kurosawa's most famous films, was as expected a great movie. I found the concept of the movie very interesting, and later found out (through Wikipedia, the source of all trivia and knowledge) that there is actually a psychological term called the Rashomon Effect.
8½, by Federico Fellini, on the other hand was the most boring and confusing movie I've seen. I should have listened to the comment on IMDB - "Somebody who is looking for a movie as a two hour piece of entertainment will not enjoy this." I feel that it is like the Ulysses (guess I really have it against that book), which is regarded as a classic more for technical reasons rather than entertainment value.
But for me of the three, the most interesting and the most entertaining movie was the Sunset Blvd. I was really surprised to see that a film made in 1950 could be so stylish and still be interesting for someone like me.
Rashomon, one of Akira Kurosawa's most famous films, was as expected a great movie. I found the concept of the movie very interesting, and later found out (through Wikipedia, the source of all trivia and knowledge) that there is actually a psychological term called the Rashomon Effect.
8½, by Federico Fellini, on the other hand was the most boring and confusing movie I've seen. I should have listened to the comment on IMDB - "Somebody who is looking for a movie as a two hour piece of entertainment will not enjoy this." I feel that it is like the Ulysses (guess I really have it against that book), which is regarded as a classic more for technical reasons rather than entertainment value.
But for me of the three, the most interesting and the most entertaining movie was the Sunset Blvd. I was really surprised to see that a film made in 1950 could be so stylish and still be interesting for someone like me.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
A note on software for mobile phones
Nowadays with j2me and highly powerful mobile handsets there are a lot of free software available. Here is just a couple of applications I found useful:
E-Book reader: This free program is very easy to use and supports a wide variety of handsets. it is available here.
Webster's Dictionary: This is the complete version of the Websters Dictionary. It requires about 11Mb of space and is available here.
(I just realised that anything simple and/or useful has already been made, and moreover it is available for free!)
E-Book reader: This free program is very easy to use and supports a wide variety of handsets. it is available here.
Webster's Dictionary: This is the complete version of the Websters Dictionary. It requires about 11Mb of space and is available here.
(I just realised that anything simple and/or useful has already been made, and moreover it is available for free!)
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Free offline dictionary for mobile phones
I have a Sony Ericsson k750i phone, but the sad thing is that unlike Nokia phones I can't install freely available software on it (*.sis). I have been searching for a dictionary I can use on my phone for some time now, but since I can only use java programs I couldn't find one anywhere.
So I finally got a small dictionary, the Barron's GRE wordlist (available here), and wrote my own dictionary program. It is not very elegantly written since I don't know how to use j2me very well, but it works and serves my purpose.
If anyone is interested in trying out my free offline dictionary, it is available here: Wordy.jar(279kb). Just copy the .jar file to your mobile phone (should be java enabled).
I guess I have wasted enough time already. Got to get back to my actual work.
So I finally got a small dictionary, the Barron's GRE wordlist (available here), and wrote my own dictionary program. It is not very elegantly written since I don't know how to use j2me very well, but it works and serves my purpose.
If anyone is interested in trying out my free offline dictionary, it is available here: Wordy.jar(279kb). Just copy the .jar file to your mobile phone (should be java enabled).
I guess I have wasted enough time already. Got to get back to my actual work.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
A Pathetic Life... and Death
I was reading The Understudy by David Nicholls at I was surprised by how pathetic the main character was. I mean, whoever writes about an actor whose recent acting includes stuff like 'dead body 1' in a TV show! Also it is as if Fate is out to get our hero (?) all the time. Overall it is a mildly funny but frustrating book (frustrating because you can't reach in and hit the hero when he makes dumb decisions).
I am currently reading How the Dead Live by Will Self, and it is one of the most difficult books I've tried to read (other than Ulysses, which I gave up half way - the patience required for reading that is beyond me). I have just read the prologue and it is really confusing, also the imagery is not very pretty.
I am currently reading How the Dead Live by Will Self, and it is one of the most difficult books I've tried to read (other than Ulysses, which I gave up half way - the patience required for reading that is beyond me). I have just read the prologue and it is really confusing, also the imagery is not very pretty.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
The Kite Runner
I have seen this book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni, in book stores and road side book sellers for a long time now, but never bothered to take a second look. Finally two weeks back I got myself involved in digitizing one of our hostel libraries (the list of books is now online and can be accessed here), and was surprised to come across some very interesting books and The Kite Runner was among them.
The book is about Afghanistan and is written in the first person. It talks about the life in Afghanistan from the monarchy before the soviet invasion to the present situation, and also about how the rest of the world reacts to all this. I was so engrossed by the book, the way it was written and the haunting images it throws up, that I began believing all of it, taking all this to be autobiographical. I was so relieved later to find out that this is indeed fiction. This is apparently, according to wikipedia, the first English novel written by an afghan, but the events in the book could very well have been true.
The book is about Afghanistan and is written in the first person. It talks about the life in Afghanistan from the monarchy before the soviet invasion to the present situation, and also about how the rest of the world reacts to all this. I was so engrossed by the book, the way it was written and the haunting images it throws up, that I began believing all of it, taking all this to be autobiographical. I was so relieved later to find out that this is indeed fiction. This is apparently, according to wikipedia, the first English novel written by an afghan, but the events in the book could very well have been true.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Shantharam
After a very long time I've finally finished Shantharam, and it left me a little unsatisfied. It is the actual story of an Australian who escapes from a high security prison and comes to Bombay in the 80's. He then learns Hindi and Marathi, lives in a slum for 2 years, starts a free clinic for the slum dwellers, joins the mafia, gets in and out of a heroin habit and even fights with the Mujaheddin. It is as action packed as you could ask for, and it is all based on a true story!
I really liked the first half of the book (around 500 pages of a 936 page book), where it focused on things we take for granted in India. It was nice to see how a foreigner takes them. But then the amount of action in the book just put me down. So is a foreigner living in the slums the only thing amazing about the book? No! It is much more and I would really recommend this book to anyone. It must be because I am reading The Kite Runner, another great book and comparing with it that I'm feeling this way.
I really liked the first half of the book (around 500 pages of a 936 page book), where it focused on things we take for granted in India. It was nice to see how a foreigner takes them. But then the amount of action in the book just put me down. So is a foreigner living in the slums the only thing amazing about the book? No! It is much more and I would really recommend this book to anyone. It must be because I am reading The Kite Runner, another great book and comparing with it that I'm feeling this way.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Year
Happy New Year everyone!
But really what is there to feel happy about? I mean, we are in 2007 now and still we don't have teleportation or invisibility or colonies on other planets or even talking refrigerators! It is so sad that science is so far behind science fiction.
But we do have youtube and blogs and the diet coke+mentos experiment to entertain us. So I guess there are things to be happy about.
But really what is there to feel happy about? I mean, we are in 2007 now and still we don't have teleportation or invisibility or colonies on other planets or even talking refrigerators! It is so sad that science is so far behind science fiction.
But we do have youtube and blogs and the diet coke+mentos experiment to entertain us. So I guess there are things to be happy about.
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