India From Midnight To The Millennium

Author: Shashi Tharoor
ISBN13: 9780143103240
Edition language: English
My Rating: 4.5/5

If you like non-fiction and can read about India and its political history from a 400 pages book then this book is for you. Its largely written from the view point of an expatriate Indian, a Keralite and that of a Hindu. It was quite surprising for me as I never thought of Shashi Tharoor having such a patriotic inside view of India as he had spent most of the time outside it. Even when he speaks about Kerala its as if he has first hand experience of it.

His writing is very convincing. Each issue is talked about with accuracy and certain places he takes sides too. He always has proper explanation for his stance and expresses it openly.

What was more surprising about this book is that there is a lot of Indira Gandhi bashing and in some places Congress bashing also in it. Now, this was some thing that I never expected from someone who belonged to the same party. And this is what has elevated Shashi Tharoor's place in my mind. He is not criticizing anybody without a reason.

I really did like this book but reading non-fiction that too history is not that easy. I had gotten bored in between because of the genre this book belonged to and not because of the book in itself. The book is very well written.

Sorting Out Sid

Author: Yashodhara Lal
ISBN13: 9789350296912 
Edition language: English
My Rating: 2/5

I have read the author's first book and had liked it a lot. Thought that it was written in a very realistic way and that's why I had bought this book from the bookstore nearby when it was released.

But alas....

This second book of her's misses the non-masala touch of the first book. Maybe because the first book was fairly autobiographical and this is just a piece of fiction. After reading this one I think the author is slipping into the Chetan Bhagat clan. If there is a third book by Yashodhara Lal I might be a little skeptical about buying it.

The story line is about a modern day Sid's life before, thorough and after divorce. A very predictable story flow written in an above average English language (Though the use of the "bad words" unnecessarily did startle me a little bit). When we say modern day there comes beer, a female friend, flirtatious colleague, keeping parents at a distance etc etc. Not to forget the entry of the divorced single mother. Rest of the story can easily be guessed- I guess!!!

Though the author claims to have a good sense of humor, I don't think the book contains much of it. The jokes are really not the "laugh out loud" kind and rather the "shruggable" (if that is a word) kind. 

So bottomline, the book is much better than many of the Chetan Bhagat's books. So if you still want to check it out, do go ahead and buy it.

Pride & Prejudice

Author: Jane Austen
ISBN13: 9789380848051
Edition language: English
My Rating: 5/5

How can anyone not like Pride & Prejudice?? I wonder....

Why I picked up this book?

I read a lot but most of it had been genres other than the classics. So I decided that if I want to be known as "THE READER" then I must start reading the classics. As I had seen some adaptations of "Pride & Prejudice" I thought that it will be the right book to give start with. And thus I started the journey.....

The experience

The experience of reading Jane Austen was a beautiful one. The diplomatic writing, the use of words, the expression of sentiments, the very relatable characters, the silent romance.... ah... I am in love with this book. I love this book so much that I find it difficult to express my love in words. I now wish that I had started reading it earlier.

The storyline

The title of the book relates the adjectives that best suits the main characters- Elizabeth (Prejudice) and Mr. Darcy (Pride). Both are brought up in different family setups. One in an aristocratic family (Darcy) and the other as a free bird by a careless mother and father among a family of 5 sisters.

The book is about their union and how they are made for each other. Their pride and prejudices get in way of their life. Though the story was written in the 18th century, it is applicable even in this modern age. It beautifully explains how the behaviour of each person in a family effects everyone else.

This is a book for everyone.

My Experiments with Truth : An Autobiography

Author: Mahatma Gandhi
ISBN: 9788128013768
Edition language: English
Literary awards: none
My Rating: 4/5

To understand Gandhi through his own words was a wonderful experience. There is a kind of a picture that is painted into our minds during childhood by our elders of Gandhi as an ideal person. Reading this book changed my perception of Gandhiji. Now what I see is a person who has strong principles/belief systems and someone who admits to being a human with a weak side but strives to make it strong by relentless efforts.