"Some books are to be
tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested"
reads an
old quote attributed to Francis Bacon. I move to make an alteration to the
same- Some, if not all MUST be shared! Paulo Coelho believes in not owning more
than a fixed number of books in his collections because he thinks a book has
its own journey to make, from one hand to the next, like how the writer's mind
wanders from one idea to the next as he wrote the book. While I am not so
generous, I feel that I should at least spread ideas about the books I read in 2013 and
feel others should read
Ten books. So, here goes.
ENGLISH
I found
this a tough read. Rajiv Malhotra, an
eminent Indian intellectual based in Princeton, USA has been championing the
cause of an Indic perspective to India for almost three to four decades. He
feels the academia is full of Western interpretations of Indian philosophy, so
he turns the table and dissects the same from the Indian point of view,
extending the same to Western or Abrahamic philosophy. A very serious read, but
rewarding.
A
sensational debut by the unknown Robert Galbraith, this
crime thriller has a very languid, lazy pace to it. Proceeding largely through
interviews of the same incident from multiple characters, Det. Cormoran Strike
tries to piece together the suicide of a starlet- Lula Landry. Although not racy,
the plot the writing is charming, packed with details and an unexpected twist
at the end. Hope we see more of Galbraith in the coming years.
A
short set of science fiction stories by American author Ted
Chiang. These stories have fetched him multiple Hugo, Nebula and
Sturgeon prizes. No wonder they are real gems. All novella lengths. The subjects
range from Babylonian cosmology to linguistics; from mind-control to medieval
time travel. A fascinating range of tales, all told in a very engaging manner.
An unputdownable this!
Suketu
Mehta return to the Bombay of his childhood to find not just its
name changed, but quite a lot. Yet, some things never change. He chronicles the
city's dizzying pace of life, the gang-wars, the Shiv Sena, Bollywood. The
narration is lively, interspersed with history and anecdotes. The parts about
the '93 blasts make chilling read. Overall, an outstanding piece, on India's
financial capital.
Dan Brown's latest offers a 600 odd page
guided tour book to the city of Florence, Venice. Langdon runs against the
clock trying to retrace the events of the past few days, with his memory
failing him. He must refer to the Italian master Dante's works to find his way
out of all the travails that are invariably directed with him at the center. A
very engaging read, with the climax faltering. Better watched as a movie.
This is probably my favourite read
of this year. A translation of SL
Bhyrappa's Kannada autobiography. Prof. Bhyrappa needs no introduction- a
bestselling Kannada author, Sahitya Academy winner. How often do you find a
Southern Indian regional writer feature in the top five of Hindi bestselling
authors? In Bhitti, he traces his life from his birth in a poor inner Kannada
household to his ultimate success as an author. But this journey, as in all
cases, isn't without setbacks. Losing his father at an early age, being abused
by his uncle, having to starve for days without money after being defrauded,
everywhere we see Bhyrappa confront the challenges life throws with an
indomitable will and ultimately triumph. More than anything, it is amazing how
he delineates the lessons he learnt from all these experiences. Words can't
describe this long book. Please read.
Jhumpa Lahiri weaves a tale of love and
revolution in Calcutta of 50s and 60s. Two brothers from a lower middle class
family are the focus. The younger is a daring guy, while the elder is reticent.
In college, their paths diverge. The younger brother is idealistic and gets
involved in the Naxal movement. The elder moves to America for doctoral
studies. They grow apart, both in distance and in world view. He gets in to a
relation with a divorced women only to be deserted by her. One day, he learns
the his brother is no more. He goes back to his homeland to find the reasons.
What he gets there, what happens form the crux of this very emotional tale.
Paul Adrian Maurice Dirac is without doubt, one of
the greatest physicists in Britain after Newton. An engineer by training, a
mathematician by ability and a physicist by choice, he made fundamental
contributions to the development of Quantum mechanics and the mathematical
machinery underlying it. Yet, he was a strange man. This biography explores his
personality quirks- his extreme reserve and literal-mindedness. He spoke very
little. A humorous unit of measuring speech is dubbed the Dirac, with one Dirac
meaning one word per hour(!). We get to see his human side as well- his
upbringing and his routines. A very refreshing book this by Graham Farmello.
TAMIL
I did not read too many Tamil works this year. The
few I read were not all great.
Tamil writer Jeyamohan has carved a niche out for himself with his wide ranging
works. This is a collection of his short stories. The tales are based mostly in
and around his hometown of Nagercoil. The setting is rustic and the characters
are not too layered. Makes for casual read. The tamil is a bit difficult to
get, because of the local dialect words used.
