Blurb!

Last sunday, I was on my usual mall crawling and shoppin spree, and out of my inclination, I stepped into the corner bookshop. My idea was to pick up the new Chetan Bhagat novella, the 3 Mistakes of my life. When I was about to pay up, I discovered to my delight, as his earlier books, this one too..cost very little just 95 bucks...! These days, a movie in a multiplex in delhi costs about 200 bucks, add to that a bucket of popcorn and a mug of cola, and with that money, I could buy all three of his books, still saving me some for my grub! But quite unlike the movie at the multiplex, the book is delighting, fresh and just out of the stable...and as usual, just like in his earlier books, Chetan Bhagat indulges in some preaching too and yes of course on his fav topic.. self-development. if on first time it was the Three IIT'ians, and then it were the five Call Centres', this time it is the turn of three friends from Ahmedabad, who are inturn bonded together with the three things ...

...if you ask me the author whose books that i read recently, then it has to be Khaled Hosseini . Here, ofcourse, i have to discount the books that i read anew (I do have this habit of going back to a book, reading it in a differnt way, from the first time), and here when i talk of Hosseini, I must mention, the u-turn that has happened to me regarding Hosseini, from the time i heard about 'Kite Runner' and the time i finished ' A Thosand Splendid Suns ' ..."One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls..." One can see many things corresponding to Hosseini's earlier novel ' Kite Runner '. Two things united Afghanisatan, in its pre-70's era - Kite flying, and Kabul's Cultural space consisting of its Musicians and Poets. ...Khaled Hossieni, predictably, obviously for his second novel, goes to this umbilical cord, and takes out the title from this poem...'A Thousand Splen...

' Blogito, Ergo Sum !' ...yea...i have been Blogging!... and more than that.. i have been reading too.. I thought its time i wrote something on my favorite author of all times.. the writer with no paralells... Micheal Crichton! Micheal Crichton....call him a science fiction writer, or film script writer and producer or even film director...he does justice to all the roles that he had taken in life...the underlying part is...his film related works starts from his books...talking of his book... or rather sci-fi thrillers, ...a harward medical graduate, he is a member of the prestigeous american Phi-Beta-Kappa society during his study days. during his medical school days, he wrote books under the pseudonym John Lange and Jeffery Hudson. It says...this pen name was adopted to reflect his amazing height (he is 6 feet 9 inches). Lange in german means "Tall" and Hudson is a famous dwarf in early england. Most of crichton's works ends in tragedy in a way... inten...

Other Colors & Essays .... by Orhan Pamuk Orhan Pamuk once famously quoted..."when i speak of writing, what comes to my mind is not a novel, a poem or a literary tradition, but it is a person who shuts himself up in a room, alone, sitting on a table, turning to himself...". And yet his writings are loneliness filled to the brim with memories, the sights and sounds of his surroundings, people's voices, dreams etc. The idea of loneliness of the writer is an important theme in Orhan Pamuk's writings and he goes back to this theme repeatedly. As an occidental turkish, influenced by Foydor Dostoevsky, Pamuk's "Other Colors & Essays" depicts every shades of life. Even the Black, Grey and the White are colors here... ...The book starts with "...for 30 long years i have been writing..." for those who read his previous book 'Istanbul' would remember how he wrote the finis for it. He concluded it by "...I dont want to be an ar...

Ira Levin (27.08.1929 - 12.11.2007) We all die a little when we loose our dear ones... On Nov 12, 2007, I too died a little. Ira Levin is no more.... he was one of the most exciting horror novelists of our times... be it his first novel 'A Kiss before Dying', or 'Rosemary's Baby' or 'The Boys from Brazil' or 'Stepford wives' or his latest one 'Son of Rosemary'... he continued to thrill and make us shudder with its emotional horror... may he live till eternity through his books....

Fear of Freedom - A Book Review Author : Erich Fromm Publisher : Rouletedge Fear of Freedom – What caught my eye when I saw the review of this book on my ‘British Council Recommends’ email was indeed the title. We humans live with all kinds of phobias. But do we fear freedom? That intrigued me…and as it normally happens… I then decided to get into the skin of it… and that’s what I did… it took me a while, for no bookstores in Delhi had this book in its stock. But thanks to a very close friend of mine, I got the same as a gift…out of the blue. It was a pleasant surprise, indeed. Well, Fear of Freedom is a great book and as it always happens with such great books, it takes a hell of a time to finish them…(to get into the depths I mean)…I am still reading it and is yet to finish the book (figuratively)…though I had covered the ‘finis’ twice! The main topic that is covered in this book is that ‘Man’ , being the most ‘Deformed’ creature in the universe and freaky, and is only beca...

has anyone read this wonderful novel written by Khaled Hossieni... ever since i read him in this book, i have been a fan of his writings... ... the book is all about life in afganistan with all its stuggles... narrated through a life in barren terrain, at times frozen by teh chilly winds.. or other times.. heat waves with dust... with only cannon shots to hear inbetween.. .. its really horrific at time... and it tempts us to think the horrors that foreign armies caused in that country!

Rhonda Byrne's 'The Secret' is one of the 'Off-the-shelf' inspirational books i have read in recent times... her philosophy of people manifesting thought is nothing new but psycologist's Carl S Jung redescribed with lots of salt and pepper.... books like these does nothing but cause some very real world problems by immersing people in a dream world, where material possessions can be gained by simply visualising them. it adds, if bad things happen, then you are to blame... and its all our fault... else it is the 'power-behind' and ur thoughts... how can that be...? you are over-rating God with this....Rhonda Byrne..!!!! certainly a thumbs down..>!!!!!!!

well...its one of the best in my library... well.. i wouldnt call it a novel or any book... its basically... the author's diary notes.... his scribblings.. as the caption or the book says... its truy his 'struggle to become a person'..and as we read it, quite amazingly, we find it that it was our struggle too.... Sample this..... ....The more i attempted to "be me.." the more "me's" i found there were.... ...the whole book is a collection of such one, two three or four liners....scribbled in his solitude... and is a worth while book to own...and read it when one is alone...

...a very small book written by Richard Bach...like 'Who moved my Cheese'... but the philosophy applicable to the peanut seller to the CEO of Microsoft... its a small book.. so small that one can finish it in 15 minutes!!!!

about espinoage books... i think the greatest in that genre is the one by Tom Clancy 'The Hunt for Red October'...there is a movie too.. based on that book.. and played by Sean Connery... the movie is as good as the book....! it all starts with the US Navy spotting a Submarine on its Sonar..heading towards US Coast... it turns out to be 'Red October'... the most advanced nuclear submarine in the world...The US is worried... it thinks Red October is coming to attack .. to drop a bomb... and more to it.. the sub is commanded by one of the most fearsome naval officers.. Marco Ramius.... But Ramius is not attacking... he is Defecting... along with the most advanced ship USSR ever made.. along with its officers... so Soviets have a plan.. they inform US embassy that a nuc sub with a mad captain is on its prowl... Ramius has his own reasons for defecting... Now.. US has only one option.. hunt down the submarine...and destroy it... (thats what USSR wants... better than US ...

.... one of the greatest books i have ever read... when i first saw it... seeing the size.. i said... 'Ummmm.... I dont think'...but somehow i started...and i soon found the idea of objectivism... was just what the doctor ordered for me.... thus began a journey with Ayn Rand... she managed to create a whole group of followers with her "Atlas Shrugged" and "Fountainhed".. .. the philosophy that u get from this book is amazing... one should read this book at every stage of one's life... and the philosphy that one gets each time is different... amazing no....?????