Rijuda Samagra (Part 5)

Author: Buddhadeb Guha
Genre: Thriller, Young readers, Wildlife, Shikaar
Source: eBook
Rated: 4/5
Read: March 2015

Review alongwith the review of with Ruaha

CivilWarLand in Bad Decline

Author: George Saunders
Genre: Short stories, novella, dystropian
Source: Print
Rated: 4/5
Read: Feb 2015

Saunders is a magician of the written word. These are superbly well crafted stories, each a decidedly original take on the world around us, and each does the work of holding up a mirror of our world in all is darkest (Bounty, the novella, is a miracle). Where is separates from the later 'Tenth of December', Saunders' masterpiece in my opinion, is that even though dark, somewhere is Tenth is something very hopeful and life-affirming, while all that you will find in Civilwarland is a sense of overwhelming bleakness and hopelessness. The mirror showed such depressing images that sometimes they made this reader want to just close the book and prefer the placebo of turning away.

The Shadow of the Wind

(The Cemetery Of Forgotten Books, in Spanish)

Author - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Genre - Fiction, Thriller, Adventure, Modern Classic

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

January 2015 (started ages back)

Magnificent. Sprawling. Meandering. Rambling. Confusing. Contradictory. Infuriating. Grandiose.
Doomed, defeated, flawed characters. Caricatures. Swathed in Black and White.
This is the novel that Dumas, were he alive today, would have written. and Dumas is (almost) the reason I read.
So... so read. It's a 3.8 on 5 that I will recommend more highly than most 4.8s.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Author - Mary Ann Shaffer and Angie Barrows

Genre - Fiction, World War II

Source - Print

Rating - 4

January 2015

May all books have a soul like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.
I have become choosy and selective in my appraisal. Maybe even a bit snooty. That's the only reason I can think of why I would not rate this a 5. But I didn't. 
But read. Do read. 

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Author - Haruki Murakami

Genre - Fiction, Short Stories

Source - Print

Rating - 4

October 2014

Dated Review:
You know that I am fairly ambivalent about Murakami. I do not get him. 
That is going to get rephrased now.
You know that I am fairly ambivalent about Murakami's novels; I don't get them. 
I do get his short stories. They are special. 

তুঙ্গভদ্রার তীরে (Tungabhadra'r Teerey)

Author - Saradindu Bandyopadhyay

Genre - Historical Fiction, Thriller

Source - Print

Rating - 4 

May 2014

First: About Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. He is a fantastic writer of bestsellers that are NOT devoid of literary merit. If one has to make the parallel to an English writer, it has to be with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (and Sharadindu's Byomkesh is almost the equal of Doyle's Sherlock).
Second: About the time and place. You'd say the novel has not dated very well. You'd say that some of the sentiments some characters display are rather out of our times (reg: religion, sex). But hey, this is historical fiction, and that too medieval history, how do you expect it to be in with the times?
Third: Sharadindu creates such amazing plots. And has such a strong, clean writing style. Two hundred odd pages finished off in one go. This is good stuff! 
Fourth: I am lucky that I can read Sharadindu in original Bengali. This is one of the first few non-Byomkesh novels of his that I read, and I am itching to read more.Fifth: Nice to read about the history of Karnataka. This is about the Vijayanagar Empire.

A Place Of Execution

Author : Val McDermid

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Detection

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

April 14

The problem with reading two detective novels that are absolute all-time greats by masters of their games (namely 'The devotion of Suspect X' by Keigo Higashino and 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn), is that a perfectly good, rather well-written detective novel such as this, would still leave you with a feeling of 'that's all?' after you are done with it. This is a fine example of a detective/police-procedural novel, really. Finished it in one go, and wasn't disappointed really. Just felt that it's not ... ah... how do you put it .... not in the league of the other two. Not saying that this one is bad, not at all. .... in fact, I would gladly read other stories by McDermid. Just cognitive bias, I guess.
 A high 3, this one. Almost 4. So, round off to 4.

The Devotion of Suspect X

Author - Keigo Higashino

Genre - Mystery, Crime, Thriller, Murder, Japan

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4 (a high 4)

December 2013

The most brilliantly convoluted plot for a murder mystery story you will ever read. Not a whodunit (you know who is the murderer in chapter 1.. or do you?), not quite a whydunit (pretty obvious), but a masterful howdunit, probably the most difficult to convert to a very good book, and indeed the best of its type you will ever come across. You will find mystery stories that are better-written, you will find mystery stories that are better, fullstop; but you will struggle to find another with a more incredibly labyrinthine plot-twist.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (short story)

Author - James Thurber

Genre - Short Story, Adventure

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

December 2013

The most melancholy of stories, and Ben Stiller does a great job reading it, in a rushed at times, slow and lugubrious at times way. Great listen

Dune

Author - Frank Herbert

Genre - Science-Fiction, Fantasy, fiction

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

July 2013

The fault is probably in my expectation that I didn't go absolutely crazy about this book. But this is immaculate, a work of high art. Frank Herbert has created the world of Arrakis and Caladan to perfection -- they are there somewhere, or will be. And are there greater creations in all of science fiction than the Fremen? The audiobook performance is brilliant. Paul Atreides is a little unreal, and the sequence of events are a tad predictable. But this is a high 4. I'd love to read the following parts.

Family Portrait

Author - Jon Ronson

Genre - Fiction, Humour, Short Stories

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

June 2013

Excellent. Very Funny. Everyday. And endearing. The soup incident totally made me laugh out loud. Request to Audible: More such free snippets please.

Our Lady of Alice Bhatti

Author - Mohammed Hanif

Genre - Fiction, Pakistan, Religion, Humour

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

May 2013

Very well written. Incredibly bleak and bereft of hope, depressing even -- and this is just next doors, in Pakistan. But Hanif knows how to do humour, some parts are laugh-out-loud funny. Definitely worth a read.

The Club Dumas

Author - Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Genre - Fiction, Thriller, Book-about-books, Mystery

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

May 2013

Excellent! This is a thriller for the book-lover, yet isn't a highbrow one like Eco. Not as thrilling as an 'Eye of the Needle', say, but mazy and intelligent.

The Virgins

Author - Siddharth Tripathi

Genre - Indian English, Fiction, Thriller

Source - Print

Rating - 4

May 2013

Written by my Bschool friend Tripathi! Well done, am very proud of him! The book flows through quickly, does not get boring, and is rather busy and eventful. Things keep happening. I liked it. Captures the psyche of testosterone-driven high school kids quite well, as well as that of life in the 'wild north'. As for his depiction of Banaras, which I've never visited, I am not the best judge of. 
If I have to critique something: Sid should have gone easy on the capitals and the italics. 
I say this with no trepidation, I would have complimented this book even if it weren't written by my friend. There's quite a bit of good in this book.

Anita

Author - Keith Roberts

Genre - Fantasy, Magic, Fiction

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

May 2013

Fine, fun short stories. Sixties witch, a bit of a wild child, is this Anita. But good. Breezy read. 

Norwegian Wood

Author - Haruki Murakami
Genre - Fiction
Source - Audiobook
Rating - 4 (skewered towards 3. A 3.8-ish 4)
Feb 2013

 

Not crazy about it. It was nice, wonderful even, to visit the world of Toru Watanabe. But it didn't evoke great feelings either way. Little aftertaste.

The Brotherhood of the Rose

Author - David Morrell
Genre - Fiction, Thriller
Source - Audiobook
Rating - 4
Feb 2013

As Ludlum-esque as a non-Ludlum book can get. And one of the top 5 thrillers read, all time. Slightly unsatisfactory ending, though.

Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power

Author - Niall Ferguson
Genre - Society; History

Source - Audiobook
Rating - 4

Sep 2012

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Author - Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
Genre - YA, fiction, romance,

Source - Online
Rating - 4 (almost 5)

Oct 2012

Duct Tape Marketing

Author - John Jantsch
Genre - Marketing, Business, Society;

Source - Audiobook
Rating - 4

July 2012