Books 2007 - The List So Far

December 2007

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John Le Carre



Travels With Fish - Y.S. Gopinath
A gastronome's hilarious adventures through Cairo (aubergine=betingan), Jerusalem (Felafel, Tabbouleh, Challah bread), Bhusaval (Bharit curry by Leva Patils), Sydney, Liverpool (Scourse accents & Beatles trail), Chicago, Paris, Firenze (Florence), Kerala (Vaiduryam=Chrysoberyl; 'Syrian Christian Coconut'), Bangkok (chasing the ingredients of a perfect Green Curry - galangal ginger, Kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass stems).
Memorable.


November 2007

Doraemon - AaAa Nobita-kun
My first all Japanese book. Laborious reading but worth the trouble.


September - October 2007

The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen
A tough one...the language is simple, though. The section on China-India was absolutely fascinating; beyond the 'argumentative Indian' thesis, most of the book is a rehash of lectures delivered in recent years.

August 2007

The Jaguar Smile... A Nicaraguan Journey - Salman Rushdie


July 2007

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Two little boys in inter-turmoil Afganistan - honorable Hassan the poor Hazara and spineless Amir, the master's son. A great story that got goofed up in the end with a bollywood-ishtyle action ending..

May 2007

My Name is Red- Orhan Pamuk
Shekure, sweetheart, I miss you! :)


April 2007

Who Moved My Cheese – Dr. Spenser Johnson
A bestseller built on metaphors. The story of a maze and its four inmates - two little mice, Sniff & Scurry and two Littlepeople, Hem & Haw. They all want to enjoy Cheese. The mice survive on their instincts but the Littlepeople paint themselves in a corner with false hopes and fears coming from their ‘superior, complex’ brains.
Ultimately, survival depends on two key questions – “What would you do if you were not afraid?” and “Can you imagine yourself eating New Cheese?”. Very Vedanta.


The Man Who Planted Trees – Jean Giono
I found this book perched on a shelf at People Tree, Sansad Marg. Apart from the title, what attracted me to this book was its beautiful woodblock prints. It is also a quick read – in fact I read this sitting atop a flight of stairs at Jeevan Bharti Building – a sunny, breezy place overlooking the Banyan trees of CP.
Set in the inter-war period of Europe, It is the story of Elzeard Bouffier, an old man who stays by himself in a remote, barren region of Provence, France, devoting his life to planting trees.

The Namesake – Jumpa Lahiri
So-so. Guess the hype around Mira Nair’s film got me carried away. Reading this book seemed like the rail journey from Delhi to Trivandrum – mostly long and boring with short spurts of good writing. I liked the parts that covered Ashima’s longing for her Kolkata home; Gogol-Nikhil’s introduction to Maxine and her parents; the beginning of Moushumi’s infidelity (restaurant dinner, Bengali waiters) – but the rest of the book is a big yawn.


March 2007

The Overcoat – Nikolai Gogol
A short story --- so it doesn’t really fit in here. I had started to read Jumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake” and since the entire novel is built around Gogol’s story, I had to read this first.
Story of Akakii Akakievich Bashmachkin, a poor government official in St. Petersberg whose life revolves around copying official documents. The Russian winter drives him to get a replacement for his tattered overcoat, which, in turn transforms his dreary life. Great story…No wonder Gorky said, “we have all come out of Gogol’s overcoat pocket!”


Only The Paranoid Survive – Andy Grove
Makes you wonder at Intel’s ability to “turn on a dime”. But I guess everything ultimately boils down to that nebulous thing called Great Leadership. Would a lesser general have nurtured a culture of constructive confrontation? Would he swallow his pride to admit that he had to learn something anew?
The book is a bit dated about the Internet but the analogy of “riding through the Valley of Death” is timeless.


Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
Gregor Samsa, an overworked traveling salesman wakes up one morning to discover that he has been transformed into a bug…incredible story – nightmarish, complex, bizarre and, well, Kafkaesque.


Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
This was course material last year for a cousin at IIT-Delhi. A smart idea -- its just the sort of book that can trigger a good discussion among teenagers about growth pangs, sexuality, relationships and other assorted dilemmas.
The story of Kath, Ruth & Tommy, students from Hailsham - an institution that ‘breeds’ clones who (which?) grow up to be “Carers” and then “Donors”. Vital organs from the donors fuels medical scientific research; but the society that benefits from this is in denial about their being normal people..


How to Speak & Write Correctly – Joseph Devlin
A peek into the past…an Anglo-Saxon’s view of English language 200 years ago. Sample – “There are many hybrid words in English...In Asia it follows the British sway and the highways of commerce through the vast empire of East India with its two hundred and fifty millions of heathen and Mohammedan inhabitants”…
Wonder why this one figures in the Top-100 downloads from Gutenberg.


February 2007

Light on Yoga – BKS Iyengar
More of reference manual…made on the premise that a good book is better than a bad teacher.
I have benefited immensely from Pranayama and this book was needed to get the theory right. Every winter, for the past five years, chronic Sinusitis had given me breathing problems and sleepless nights. I had tried everything to get rid of it – Allopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurveda…nothing had worked. It is such a relief to discover that simple breathing techniques could help solve difficult problems!


Autobiography - Benjamin Franklin
I liked this giant for his honesty – he admits to be being a prodigal son and a selfish brother; to sleeping with whores and attempting to seduce best friend’s wife. But the “Errata” in his life has been overshadowed by his achievements as a pioneering printer, inventor, businessman, diplomat and politician.
The autobiography does, at times, seem disjointed – critical parts seem missing; his most celebrated achievements are left for others to write about. It is also difficult to believe that he had no personal opinion about slavery or about the Indian Wars.



January 2007

The Pursuit of Excellence – M V Kamath
Maybe the good columnist should stick to his columns. The book seems more like a half-hearted collection of quotes and borrowed themes than a pursuit of excellence. Disappointing.


Chronicle of A Death Foretold – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Amazing narrative! A slaughter is about to take place…the whole village knows about it. The only person who is taken completely unawares is he victim himself.