Punishment??

I finally finished Crime and Punishment and my roommate borrowed it from me. For him reading it seems to be the greatest punishment, but still he perseveres. He tries hard to read ten pages a day before sleep finally overcomes him. For me, the book wasn't such a strain thankfully. However I found that it required some patience on the part of the reader. It is mentioned in the notes that the book is not so much a whodunit as a whydunit which is true, but it was also described as an easy to read classic.

Currently I'm reading You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers. So far the book can be described as strange, but it has been an easy read when compared with Dostoevsky.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Old Man And The Sea

I've been worrying about too many things recently so I decided I should take my mind off things by doing some light reading. So I borrowed the Old Man and the Sea from a friend and it looked like a very small and easy book. IT WAS ANYTHING BUT EASY AND LIGHT. I really wonder whether I was in the right mindset to appreciate the whole book, but I did like it and learned some interesting things. Like for example

'Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.'
'I fear both the Tigers of Detroit and the Indians of Cleveland'
'Be careful or you will fear even the Reds of Cincinnati and the White Sox of Chicago'

I realise now how close I was to fearing the Reds and the White Sox.

A low trick

I was given A Game of Thrones as a gift by my friend and I feel that it was a very low and dastardly thing he did. I mean, this humongous (around 800 pages), un-put-down-able, compelling fantasy fiction is just part 1 of a 4 part series, and now that I've finished reading it (now I have all of last week's work to be completed), I just have to have the rest. The best thing I liked about the book is that it is strangely a story about men and not about elves and orcs and the rest, like the usual fantasy fiction.

In other news, a new bookstore has been started in campus and now I don't have to go outside campus anymore. Guess given a couple more years, I won't even be able to find my way back from Adyar.

One more thing, if you have time to read all this, then you should definitely read this. It is one of the funniest blogs I've come across.

IQ

Just finished Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes and really liked it. It is very well written and it makes you feel everything that is happening to the main character, Charlie Gordon. The only flaw I could find in the book is the human testing after testing only on mice. But I guess it should be allowed as artistic liberty. The best thing about the book is that it makes you question whether intelligence is really good for anything. Other than boosting your ego and making you feel supercilious towards others, a high IQ doesn't help you make friends. As a genius or as a retard you can't really relate to others, but you may be happier as a retard since you don't know it. It may be better to be mediocre and blend in.

Here is what my brother thinks about the book.

Absence and some good books

I took a three week break from college and went to my brother's place. It is so strange that when you are out of the college and facing the real world, things like blogs and emails become so insignificant. When in college I check my email(s) at least every hour, but in the last three week I have checked only twice. But then you are not so jobless when you are outside the college (you actually have to do some work and not just sit in front of the computer and pretend to).

During this time, I finally finished Of Human Bondage and liked it very much. But I think that if you are going to read only one of Somerset Maugham's books then you should read The Razor's Edge because that is a much better book. Never mind all the hype surrounding Of Human Bondage.

I also read Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie which was highly recommended by my brother. It is a very colourful and imaginative tale. I think the author was having a lot of fun while writing it and so it contains lots of amusing lyrics. But in the end, I think it is just a children's book and not one of Salman Rushdie's serious works.

But the best book I read during this time was Not the End of the World by Geraldine McCaughrean which is about what might have actually happened aboard Noah's Ark. The main character in the story is Timna, Noah's daughter, but the book also provides the perspectives of the rest of the family and also of the animals on board the Ark. The book went on to win the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award. But I really think that the book is for grownups too. It is very brutal, especially the scene of the birth of the wildebeest calf on board the Ark, and very thought-provoking. By giving the perspectives of the people and the animals on board the Ark, it makes you question whether there is really any difference between them. It is a very short book but will keep you thinking for a long time.

Gratification

I got my hands on Wuthering Heights from a friend recently. This classic was such a failure when it was first published that the author Emily Bronte went to her grave believing her only novel to be a failure. It seems like such a terrible punishment to an author, especially when the work is regarded as a masterpiece after his/her death. It brings to mind one of Oscar Wilde’s famous quotes:

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about

Yesterday, I finally finished A Tale of Two Cities. Even though there were quite a few coincidences in the book, I think it is one of the best I’ve read, and are essential to the tale. Truly, this book has the most famous starting and ending lines in literature. Just before the end Sydney Carton, the most unappreciated character in the book, is said to be at peace and to have enough a sense of being gratified to think:

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known

But in the real world, the public can be so ruthless, letting a great author like Emily Bronte die unappreciated during her lifetime.

?!!

In 'A Tale of Two Cities', Mr. Dickens (or Charles but never Mr. Charles) writes,

... I love your daughter fondly, dearly, disinterestedly, devotedly.

This is the first time I have come across a usage of 'disinterested love'. I have heard of disinterested opinion and a disinterested judge but never its usage with love. I don't even know whether it is a nice thing to tell someone, still I like it a lot!

Hey Maugham, what the Dickens?

I had been reading ‘A tale of two cities’ as an e-book on my mobile (hope Mr. Charles doesn’t turn in his grave). But then I went and bought a real book – Of Human Bondage. The temptation of holding a book and reading it (kind of like having a cake and eating it too) was too great for me to resist. Thus I began reading two great books at the same time.

The styles of two authors cannot be more different. Maugham is extremely descriptive and the book is often described as an ‘autobiographical novel’. The characters are so alive since they are written from life. I could really relate to Philip, maybe not his tempestuous, obsessive love, but his shyness, love of reading, obstinacy and vanity. Then again, I found the book very similar to ‘The Razor’s Edge’.

On the other hand, Dickens is full of satiric humor, that is at the same time very thought provoking. I do not think I have understood all that is implied in the book or that I will after a second or third reading. Each sentence seems to have been written after a lot of thought and deliberation. The book makes me feel like I have been sleeping all these years (this is my first Dickens) and makes me want to read all of his books.

In ‘Of Human Bondage’, Mr. Maugham writes,

… there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action. In France you get freedom of action: you can do what you like and nobody bothers, but you must think like everybody else. In Germany you must do what everybody else does, but you may think as you choose. … But in England you get neither: you’re ground down by convention. You can’t think as you like and you can’t act as you like. That’s because it’s a Democratic nation. I expect America’s worse.

Makes you really wonder about India if the ‘land of the free’ is so restrictive, or wonder about France and Germany.

The Bookstore

Over the ages, the bookstore has always played a central role in shaping the human society. The place has a certain charm about it. Really when you stop to think about it, you realize that all human activities have been, are and will be associated with the bookstore. A place of desire (when you see a book that you really want) and wonder (when you see its price). But the bookstore also has a soul, only you may have to search for it. Take yesterday for example, I went to this great bookstore (quite near the college too), and saw ‘Of Human Bondage’ which I’ve always wanted to read. When I looked at the price I was literally shocked - Rs. 508. Hmmm… how can I ever square it off with my conscience? But I was in luck yesterday, I found a low cost edition of the same book (after a lot of (soul?) searching) for Rs. 120 which I can explain to my conscience. So that’s my story - the soul of a bookstore.

hmmm... maybe I should go out more often and go some place other than a bookstore or a library.

ps. I haven’t started the book yet. Been reading ‘Tale of Two Cities’, my first ‘Dickens’. Still, better late than never.

Depression

Some made the long drop from the apartment or office window; some took it quietly in two-car garages with the motor running; some used the native tradition of the Colt or Smith & Wesson; those well-constructed implements that end insomnia, terminate remorse, cure cancer, avoid bankruptcy, and blast an exit from intolerable positions by the pressure of a finger; those admirable american instruments so easily carried, so sure of effect, so well designed to end the american dream when it becomes a nightmare, their only drawback is the mess they leave for relatives to clean up

These are from 'To have and have not' by Ernest Hemingway, I guess it is to be expected from an author who later does the same thing, but this time uses a shotgun. I was trying to figure out which was the most depressing literature I've read, I guess it has to be 'Love' by Toni Morrisson (even though there were quite a few close contenders like 'Mrs. Dolloway', 'Catcher in the rye' and it even beat 'Desperation' by Stephen King). 'Love' is about a dying resort town and the two women who live there, but really the book is about depression.

Not so great

I've been reading 'Inkheart' by Cornelia Flunke (suggested to me by a friend as a great fantasy fiction). Well he was wrong, Inkheart is not such a great book (too kiddish and girlie) . The thing is, I do like fantasy - not only great stuff like TLOTR but also new works like the Inheritance trilogy. Maybe the book wasn't ment for me, but I really did not like it. As with any other book once I start, I can't stop until I finish it. So it was a complete waste of time. But then again I found this quote at the begining of a chapter

A strong and bitter book-sickness floods one's soul. How ignominious to be strapped to this ponderous mass of paper, print and dead man's sentiment. Would it not be better, finer, braver to leave the rubbish where it lies and walk out into the world a free untrammeled illiterate Superman?

With books like these I do see some point in the quote