The Dalai Lama's Cat

Would the Dalai Lama have a cat? Well, if he did, the cat would probably sound very much like the "I" in The Dalai Lama's Cat.

This book is a multi-layered narrative that shows the world-within-a-world that is Dharamsala, from the perspective of a cat rescued by the Dalai Lama. It is a great way to start learning about the Buddhist way of life and thought. The tone is very warm and cozy. At points it positively purrs at you, just like the protagonist would!

Some parts of the book are really touching - I especially loved the one where the hugely successful self-help guru realizes that true happiness comes from helping others be happy, and not making oneself the centre of existence.

I enjoyed reading this one, but I did feel that it got heavy at some places. Agreed, the basic premise of the book is that of a self-absorbed being bettering oneself by constant contact with positive examples, and a live insight into Buddhism's core principles. But sometimes the explanation ceases to be part of the story and acquires a life of it's own. This is the only small drag in the narrative.

Most of the time though, you just bask in the glow that comes out of this book. All in all, it was a good read.

Oh.. and Happy Diwali everyone!!

Shakespeare On Toast

"You've never heard a Shakespeare sonnet until you've heard it rapped..."
Wait..what?? Shakespeare and rap? In the same sentence, in connection with each other? Yes, that's right.

At a fundamental level, no matter how much most of us who want to sound intellectual spout quotes from Shakespeare's work, most of the spouts are actually scared to pieces if faced with the prospect of actually reading on of his plays.

I studied The Merchant Of Venice for my 10th grade board exams - read it, dissected it, learned parts of it by heart, and tried to score as many marks in the test as possible. But, I confess, I didn't enjoy it. The whole experience kind of put me off Shakespeare. Until I read Shakespeare On Toast.

Ben Crystal tries to remove the ordinary reader's apprehensions about getting into Shakespeare's work, and largely succeeds. By the time you finish the book, you'll probably be raring to go and get your hands on a copy of The Tempest, Hamlet, or maybe even (gasp!!) a Collected Works edition.

The appeal of this tome lies in the treatment. It is humorous and witty, without dumbing it down. It's very easy to read, the sentences flow with a very casual conversational style. I like how there's usage of conversational expressions like "wanna". It is almost like the writer is sitting across to you and telling you why  you shouldn't let the almost mythical stature of Shakespeare scare you off. It's like he's saying "Hey, you're missing a good thing, buddy!" over a cup of coffee.

The author tries to de-mystify Shakespeare, who has been put on a pedestal and more or less deified. This intimidates most prospective readers. But Shakespeare was not writing for a bunch of elitist Eng.Lit. professors, he wrote plays for the populace. These plays were watched by ordinary people with little or no education or exposure to diverse people and cultures. This is the point Ben Crystal makes - he doesn't seek to explain or analyze, but to convince readers that Shakespeare (whoever he was), wrote for the people; and if you by-pass all the critical analysis and put the plays where they really belong - on the stage - they make much more sense (and they're way more enjoyable, too!).

Anecdotes and interesting facts bring Shakespeare home to the reader, and show how profoundly modern English is influenced by his work - 1700 words, and a plethora of expressions. The book also explains how most of Shakespeare is not as difficult to understand as one would think. Only 5% of the words used by him are unfamiliar to those living in the 21st century.

The author also tries to give readers an idea about theatre in Elizabethan times; the stage,the lives of the actors, the extent and scope of their rehearsals, the costumes, and much else. What emerges is a vivid picture of the whirlwind schedule of Elizabethan actors, who had very little time to rehearse (if any), and how Shakespeare used meter and other hints in the text of his plays to indicate how the scenes should be acted.
Which brings us to two of the most dreaded words in English - iambic pentameter. This is the fearsome dragon that guards Shakespeare's verse. And Mr. Crystal (my hero..!!) tames it to a nice little cuddly pet with his amazingly lucid explanation of the meter and it's use in Shakespeare's verse.

The division of the chapters into acts and scenes is a nice little touch, one of many, in fact. The liberal use of pop-culture references makes this book that much more appealing and approachable. And there are these cool little boxes interspersed throughout the text. They contain the most delicious little snippets: how much did it cost to go to the theatre in Elizabethan times?, Shakespeare and soap opera, A day in the life of an Elizabethan actor, "I think, therefore I iamb", and my personal favorite - Colorful insults in Shakespeare's plays.

This is a charming, insightful and well-researched book that manages to keep your attention until the last page - and leaves you wanting for more. Maybe I will have a go at those sonnets again, eh? Cheerio!! :)

Oh Shit Not Again - Yes, very crappy indeed...

I didn't waste much time on this and didn't want to spend any time at all writing about it- but I just wanted to warn off anyone lured to this so-called book.

It is utter rubbish, and I couldn't bring myself to read beyond the second page because
a) The writing is worse than abysmal. You get way better from schoolchildren's compositions.
So,
b) I was genuinely afraid that I'd end up forgetting whatever little I know of the English language.

The crap-fest begins with the title itself, and I would imagine from the little I subjected myself to - goes on and on until the book mercifully ends.

What self-respecting publisher would even want to touch this one, even with asbestos gloves on? Answer: None. The publishers of this "National Best-Seller" advertise at the very front of the volume that those who want to have their work published can just email them and Voila! become a "best-selling" author themselves. Pathetic.

I don't know what justification the publisher has to call it a best-seller. It sure seems like a great big lie, a publicity stunt to make people actually just pick up the book from the shelf. Or maybe the author himself just bought enough copies to have the fame. The guy seriously makes Chetan Bhagat look like the Messiah of Indian writing in English.

You don't need to use complex words and literary constructs to be a good author. You need a story and enough conviction and command over the language to tell it. But you do need to have atleast the standard of English that a 5th standard English-medium student would.

Do not, I repeat... DO NOT read this book, even out of curiosity to see why people are saying it's so bad. The authors wants desperately to ape (and become the next) Chetan Bhagat; but even that is too high a standard for his capability.

So when you see this on the shelves in the book-store - hold your nose, say "oh shit!" and pass on. Life is too short to waste even a few minutes on this one.

The Wish List

I read The Wish List at a time when I was feeling low and wondering whether there was any point in being nice and good to people. So I picked this book up because I needed to chase the gloom away, and I had found Artemis Fowl entertaining. I was expecting more of the same brand of tongue-in-cheek humour, and I wasn't disappointed.

The basic premise of the book is a girl who is balanced on the hair's breadth line between being good and being bad; and has a chance to go back into the world and try to make amends for her misdeeds in order to get a chance of going to heaven.

But it's much more than a humorous tale of the afterlife. It's a story of regret, redemption and second chances. It deals with the oldest war in the world - the one fought inside every person who has to make a choice between good and evil.

The book is a refreshing read. It's funny, light, profound, thought-provoking, page-turning - and though there's a moral backdrop, not preachy in the least. I found echoes of Good Omens in the relationship between St. Peter and Beelzebub. The techie consultant of hell is a stroke of absolute brilliance.

On the whole, it makes for a very nice and pleasant read, leaving you refreshed and hopeful for the promise that tomorrow holds.

The Name Of The Rose

In this age of digital communication when almost everyone is reading books online, there is still a huge market for printed books. There is something about opening a book for the first time (or the nth for that matter). The touch, the solid feeling your hand, the smell of the paper and printers' ink, the visual appeal of it - as you turn the pages of a good book, you are drawn into its world. It is a seduction in itself.

The Name Of the Rose is a book about books. It is also a thriller, a who-dun-it, a coming-of-age novel, a piece of historical fiction; it manages to be many things at once. And how!

I was literally unable to put it down once I started reading. And unlike many mystery novels, it doesn't lose it's charm and appeal at the second or even subsequent readings. Rather, nuances and subtleties which you may not have noticed in the grip of the crime solving become clearer and stand out in glory - a little like the myriad details in the background you begin to notice if you observe a Renaissance masterpiece closely after having a cursory first glance.

Umberto Eco transports the reader into a world where knowledge, and the possession of it in the shape of a book - is literally power. A book is not just a source of information and/or pleasure, it is an object of obsession and desire. Men - holy men, monks - kill, and are killed, over it. The climax is a scene out of the Arabian Nights, with a poisoned page and a burning building.

It is a gripping narrative whose story-line beats most routine pot-boilers - there's a body half-buried in a landslide, there's one dumped upside down in a barrel of blood, there's another drowned in a bath-tub and yet another one with the head bashed in.

Yet it's not all gore. Eco recreates medieval Europe, with it's power struggles between church and state, when the church is powerful enough to suppress scientific inquiry. It is a time and place where books are rare and secret; but also a world where a young boy on the threshold of manhood falls in love and explores his sexuality and what it means for the rest of his life as a monk.

The characters are human, with real failings and real strengths. There are echoes of Sherlock Holmes in both the name and characterization of the sleuth-monk William of Baskerville (ring any bells? hear any barks?)

The book is peppered with erudite philosophical discussions - these are learned monks, after all. Some very profound thoughts are expressed in beautiful words, and also in seeming nonsense garbled by an unfortunate inmate of the abbey.

Ok, reams have been written by many greater minds than mine about this book and it's appeal and impact. All I can really add to it is say how much I enjoyed it and how I would recommend it to anyone who wants a suggestion of what to read next (if they haven't read it already, that is).

So here you are, one of my all-time favourites.

Final words - If you want a murder mystery with real substance, here it is.

Fifty Shames of Earl Grey

Didn't like Twilight? Couldn't stand even a few paragraphs of Fifty Shades? Don't even want to know what this is about? Want to set your vampire friends on me for insulting your holy books? Well I have one for you.

Fifty Shames of Earl Grey - this book is a brilliant (albeit a little crude) satire on the Fifty Shades trilogy, as well the original Twilight "saga". It makes you wish you were clever and witty enough to write parodies of all the books you have ever hated in your life.

The pace sags a bit in the middle but picks up again right at the end. The humour isn't very delicate but it tickles in all the right places, and believe me, it's really outrageous at times.

Everything from the graphic design of the cover page to the last rib-tickling sentence is a jibe at the original. And the original's original. Speaking of original, the humour most certainly is (Sorry, couldn't resist!). The reader doesn't have to go through the ordeal of reading Fifty Shades to be entertained by the Fifty Shames of Earl Grey.

Word of caution though - don't read this one anywhere near strangers, they're going to think you're out of your mind with you snorting/giggling/having a good belly laugh at frequent irregular intervals.

I won't say anything about the plot, it would just spoil the fun. Besides, plenty of people have already posted half the book in quotes already anyway. Why bother?

If you're looking for a light read to relax at the end of the day (or anytime during the day or night) this is a safe bet. If you're looking for edifying literature to uplift your mind and broaden your horizons, lighten up and take a break from the edification. Sometimes you just need a good laugh.

Final verdict - A nice light read..

My General Opinion On A Lot of Things Bookish

Since I seem to read a lot and own a lot of books, people sometimes come up to me and ask what to read next, or what I think of any given book(s). Here are a few general pointers:

1. No. Sydney Sheldon may be great at all the "good" bits but no. You cannot say that "reading books" is your "hobby" if you have only ever read The Other Side of Midnight and/or Rage of Angels. 

2. If your comeback to point 1 is that you have also read something by Chetan Bhagat: one word. Eeeuuuuurrggghhhhhhh. People who like the books, and Chetan Bhagat - no offence. 

3. Vikram Seth. Wonderful. Go and read A Suitable Boy immediately. I can even lend you a copy if you promise not to make it all dog-eared. 

4. If you're in a bad mood, read P.G. Wodehouse. If you're in a good mood and want the fun to go on, go ahead. Read Wodehouse.

5. Harry Potter is pretty good. Eragon is okay too. The Lord of the Rings is better. No, the best.

6. The Twilight "saga" (I'd like to make up a pun here using the Telugu word for stretch - saagu. But I'm afraid it wouldn't translate well. But you get the basic idea, don't you? There you go!). Ditto the Fifty Shades series. But then again, suit yourself. I'm told there are an untold number of fans out there.

7.  Dan Brown. (You were just waiting for this, weren't you?) Sure, take a mish-mash of little-known scientific or wannabe-scientific fields of study, doomsday conspiracies, interesting ways to kill people and dispose of the bodies artistically, end each chapter with a sentence filled with vague promises that the next chapter will be a revelation - and there you have it, a Dan Brown masterpiece. Read The Name of The Rose instead.

8. The Great Gatsby. The operative word here is.. drumroll please... GREAT!

9. Orhan Pamuk is the real stuff. 

10. I'll be putting up reviews pretty often from now on, so keep watching this page! If you don't have the time to go through the whole post just go with the last line. It'll tell you what kind of read the book is - Good, Bad or Worse. 

Happy Reading, everyone!! And me too!!!