Quick Reviews

Of late, much has been consumed in the form of books and movies. Here’s a quick look at which measured up and which didn’t:

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson

When the subject grants you complete access, the information will be insightful and thorough. And Isaacson does justice to a subject who perhaps lived four lives in one.

What comes across is the fact that Jobs was no saint. He wasn’t the best human being who lived. But he was honest in his work (if not his personal life) and a visionary to boot. Isaacson doesn’t idolize Jobs but does a great job of bringing out the human side to the man we have come to idolize.

The detail in the book is fascinating and if anything, it reads more as a thriller than a biography. At the time I was reading this, I had glanced through a couple of other books and there was a 5-hour marathon reading I went through of this book.

One-word review: unputdownable!

Hesher (film)

I normally wouldn’t condone violence. But towards the makers of this disaster, I would. I don’t know why I sat through this ‘coming of age’ film. No one comes of age. All that happened was I aged.

IMDB excerpt says:

A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.

Oh my god. How misleading. Seriously, watch this movie if you enjoy the sound of nails on a blackboard. Or if you love to see paint dry.

Yes, I know that IMDB users have rated this 7.1/10. I’m in the 2.9 category! It’s definitely not appealed to my cultural sensibilities. It’s just f****d up.

Book Review: Valley of Masks

Tarun J Tejpal, best known as the founder-editor of Tehelka weaves an intricate parallel world that separates ‘our’ current world with his fantasy one at a higher plane — physically and in other senses as well.

The Story

I almost gave up the book during the first chapter. That our protagonist took about 6 pages to brew a cuppa tea, to me, seemed ominous. I dreaded the pace at which the book would progress. Mind you, I’m not averse to the tomes or the slow moving books, but this, for some reason, set alarm bells ringing.

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Having a threesome

For the last few days, I’ve been courting two lovelies. One a child of Alistair MacLean and the other of John le Carre. All right, I am talking about books. “A Perfect Spy” by le Carre and “Where Eight Bells Toll” by Alistair MacLean.

Admittedly, both are potboilers and spy novels in the best manner of the cold war mould or thereabouts. This post, though, is not about the contents of the books. They are above average in their genre. Entertaining. That’s about it.

My question is about reading two books simultaneously. I recall an ex superboss who did it. He was considered “a great mind”. Still is (considered). I have no such certification. And unfortunately, reading two books at a time doesn’t make me eligible for it. 

So while I await my greatness certification in another manner, let me share some experiences of reading two books simultaneously.

Characters seem to find their way in and out of novels. So Mr Philip Calvert who is a spy and has hitherto nothing to do with the disappearance of Mr Magnus Pym is now a prime suspect. Incidentally, both are British spies. And one has a wife. Right now, I can’t recall which one.

It’s an interesting experience. Le Carre is a slow, plot-building kind of writer. Pages upon pages are spent creating the characters and giving their life a background or their current actions a purpose. In the case of MacLean, it’s pretty much like reading a screenplay. Things are always happening. The descriptions are elaborate. So much so, that I have an image of the west coast of Britain around Torbay ready in my head. I can’t get lost there if I ever visit!

The most challenging part of doing this – so far – has been keeping a track of which book I am reading. It may work better if I read two books from different genres. Maybe. But in my current case, there is much scope for confusion and mixing up. MacLean’s novel should be over soon… just abour 300 pages in all. Le Carre’s will take some time. About 700 pages, that tome has!

I do recommend this threesome to those who have time to spare daily to manage two books. The trick is to have one book in one location and one in another. You figure where!

Next on the agenda: A foursome!

Book review: True Dummy

True Dummy

Indian authors excite me. After years of searching for good Indian authors whose writing one could relate to, it has been a great ride for the last few years to find young authors with new stories to tell. So everytime I pick up a book, I try to find the early work of an author. It’s usually not jaded or typecast by himself/herself.

So when the opportunity arose to read Ashish Jaiswal’s debut novel “True Dummy“, I wasn’t going to pass. With no idea of the story line and little expectation (as I always maintain from debutante authors), I took the book along on a a trip. With about three hours to kill at the airport in the evening, I figured this was as good a time as any to start. Continue reading »

For myself

This is a post more for me than anyone else… a list of things I’ve done recently and would like to blog about… when time permits!

1. Review “The Enchantress of Florence” by Salman Rushdie: He is one of my favourite writers despite his long-drawn and often contrived manner of writing. In many ways, the book doesn’t disappoint, but honestly, it can’t even hold a candle to “Midnight’s Children” and “Shalimar the Clown”.

2. Review “The Dark Knight” by Heath Ledger!: One of the best movies I have seen in a very long time. So good, that I saw it twice in three days! Heath Ledger shall be missed… and I also wish they don’t bring back the Joker again. Continue reading »

Love in a Torn Land

Struggle is often associated with life in the Middle East. Saddam Hussein, the tyrannical ruler of Iraq from 1979 was tried, convicted and executed for war crimes he committed during his reign, but his trial for crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan never saw its logical conclusion. Saddam’s committed an equal amount of atrocities on the people of Kurdistan including the chemical attacks of 1987, known as the Al-Anfal campaign. Although the campaign was masterminded carried out by his cousin “Chemical Ali“, the freedom given to Ali was Saddam’s doing. Continue reading »

Pottermania is nigh

June 29 and July 21 could well be two defining moments in human history. For 2007, anyways! The first date marks the launch of the much-anticipated, over-hyped, over-reported Apple iPhone while the second one is for the launch of the last book in the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). The world could well be divided over which on to concentrate on and as the book launch draws closer, Harry will definitely be top of the charts, er, headlines again.

But with over a month to go, there is already a claim about the ending of the new book. "Gabriel", a hacker claims to have broken into the computer of Bloomsbury Publishing and obtained a copy of the book and has put on the ending on his site (we shall not link to it!). I remember when the earlier books were being released, a lot of spoilers would make the rounds. Some believable and some, not so! I even had a boss who emailed the whole company with the ending to "save precious time"! Gabriel the hacker, too, has similar intentions:

"We make this spoiler to make reading of the upcoming book useless and boring," Gabriel said in the posting.

One of the main points of contention with book seven is who will die. From being a children’s fantasy book, the more recent Potter books have grown darker as Harry gets older. And there is speculation that Harry or one of his close buddies is going to die. Gasp! And the popularity is definitely higher than that of network security topics according the host of the ‘spoiler’!

Our bandwidth graph shows that Harry Potter is a little more popular than our normal topic of network security[!]

What is certain is that the PR machine has kicked in and starting July, one can expect a whole lot of spoilers, hack attacks, reported leaks and stolen books!

Photo: Wikipedia.org

Tags: Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows, Hack Attack, Spoiler, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, iPhone

To smoke or not to smoke?

We really don’t need to be told that smoking kills. It’s well known. It’s best to stay away from the vicious stick. But despite these and many other warnings, the world continues to puff its life away. Doctors have for long warned against smoking but evidently, not many are listening. What is it that makes people smoke? In a new book about smoking, ‘The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America‘, Allan M Brandt argues against the habit. But according to this article, there are rather compelling reasons as to why people smoke:

… But tobacco has its benign advantages and seductive charms: It kills boredom, promotes sociability, controls anxiety, offers consolation, and, when elegantly done, as in movies or advertisements, it can be seen to be an activity of Promethean beauty, an elegant juggling of fire, ash, and smoke.

Gee. That’s fancy! Whatever your reasons for puffing, stop it! But that’s quite a description, eh?

Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

With no office to report to at 9.30am daily, one does have a little extra time at hand. And this extra time is best had battling away with books. The entertaining, exasperating, frustrating… any kind… so long as they are books. As a result, in recent days, one has read many more books than previously possible in a month! Ah the joy of books. I shall now recommend at least one per week.

Upon strong recommendation, I picked up Tom Robbins’ Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas. The jacket described it as “The ride of your life”. And like the main character in the book, Gwendolyn Mati, I did get a ride! At first, it was bizarre… then a little enjoyable. There were moments when one could have just thrown up! But as the book neared its end, the plot came together. Rather nicely too.

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