Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Book review: The curious incident of the Dog in the night-time


The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-TimeThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book is seeing the world from 15 year old teen with his keen sense of observation and apathy to strangers.. His Brain is wired to not able to connect with people but that same neurons firing in the brain gives him the photographic memory, a maths wizkid and utter keen observation which would make a simple place very lively one ..wonder if Sheldon (from BBT) has been modelled on Chris or vice-versa as both have few of similar traits..

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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Book Review: Masooma by Ismat Chughtai (translated from Urdu by Tahira Naqvi)

MasoomaMasooma by Ismat Chughtai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Masoomiyat of Masooma becomes lofargiri of Nilofar..the transition compels you think as to whether the high living was so necessary as to force this change.. or could her mother lived a frugal life, did odd jobs like washing/ cooking/ cleaning and sustained their family..once in the trade, Nilofar keeps on stumbling from one Seth to other Raja to other Colonel, people who are masters of money..her own identity is lost..wish i would have known to read Urdu and read the book in the original text rather than this translated version from Tahira Naqvi..the force of Urdu words were missing from the translation..story not a shocker for me since bits and pieces of it is captured in many bollywood movies..


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Friday, September 06, 2013

Book review: Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The carefree and adventurous nature of Tom and Huck take you many years yonder to the childhood. Pirate today, Robinhood tomorrow, and hero of town (by clever exchange of things) the next day. 

Getting the job done through sheer cleverness by creating a heightened status of same (whitewashing the wall) to wooing the heart of the new girl in the town with the tomfoolery; the boy know it all. 

Daring to go to places without fear, speaking up the truth and standing up for your friend, the story weaves adventure and morality at places which is only realized as we think of Tom's myriad hues. Huck towards the end clearly shows as to what it is to change a lifestyle suddenly but is drawn in the grand persuasive scheme of Tom.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Book review: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo

Book based on empirical research and revealing that there are lot of hidden issues around which Poor people make a choice in their daily lives. Arm chair policy makers and economists should think through and understand the impact of their policies over long period and incentives around same alongwith implementation methodology.

Monday, May 06, 2013

Book review: Raag Darbari (राग दरबारी) by Shrilal Shukla

this book is one where each line is laced with satire and witty humor bringing smile to your face..you would read and smile slowly being bowled over by the wit..one would wonder as to whether the book was set in 1960s or recent times..the mentality of people, the agri scene in village, not much has changed..it was my first hindi book reading after a long long time and loved every word of it..highly recommended..(warning: some words are of pure hindi origin and one won't know meaning of same though would easily get the context from the sentences)

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Book review: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

will need to re-read and re-read to write a review for this book.. so so many characters, as would truly be in any person's life while growing up.. from caring Mother, lovely Pegotty and her family, muderous Murdstones, innocent Li'l Emily, striking Steerforth, lovely Agnes, manipulating Heep, doting Dora and the dramatic Micawber.. we all have characters in our lives who are like those enacted by those in the nowel.. a humongous read.

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Book review: Whatever the odds: The incredible story behind DLF’ by K P Singh

this is the worst autobiographical book one could imagine..K P Singh boasts each and every aspect of his life..on reading the book it seems like he is an egomaniac who cannot get enough of himself and had poured all the good words about himself and his every actions to torment the readers.. recently there was Vadra-DLF controversy which has now died down..if anyone wants to know how close DLF a.k.a K P Singh was with Rajiv Gandhi, they should read the book where he himself boisterously goes on about his chance encounter with RG..

Book is severely severely badly edited..a time truly wasted..