Beautiful

Read today, while commuting to work, among the endless chatter of my fellow commuters, a beautiful story `Home' by Anton Chekhov. An advocate comes home in the evening and is informed by the governess of his 7 year old son that she has noticed his son smoking. The rest of the story deals with how a father is unable to convince his son that smoking is bad. Until in the end it is bedtime for his son and as usual he tell him a story, which he usually improvises, like most fathers. In that story the emperor's son, who was just twenty, was a good boy, but had a bad fault of smoking, dies because of smoking. The advocate son shudders on hearing this and vows that he will never smoke again. These lines from the story are really good: Medicine should be sweet, truth beautiful, and man has had this foolish habit since the days of Adam . . . though, indeed, perhaps it is all natural, and ought to be so. . . . There are many deceptions and delusions in nature that serve a purpose." Very true. You can read this story, which is on-line.

Another good read

After finishing The Perplexity of Hariya Hercules by Manohar Shyam Joshi, I felt hungry for more books written by Joshiji. I search and found that one of his book T’ta Professor has been published by Pengiun. Feeling little impatient I looked if I could purchased it from an online bookstore. I was pleasantly surprised to come across Flipkart.com, and purchased it immediately. T'Ta Professor made for some good reading over last weekend. It is comic-tragic-erotic-sad in turn and the first few pages are really hilarious. The translation, by Ira Pandey, is excellent. I would recommend this book. You can read the full-fledged review of this book here and here.

I would also recommend Flipkart, which seems to have excellent stock of books, both in English and Hindi. If one buy books worth more than Rs. 100/-, there is no shipping charges, within India. And they give discount on most of the books. It is India's answer to Amazon.com.

Just out of curiosity I searched Flipkart two days ago to see if they have T'Ta Professor as written in Hindi by Joshiji. It was indeed available with them, but was currently out of stock. I clicked on the notify me button. I was pleasantly surprised to receive email from them that this book has become available. Needless to say I ordered it immediately and am waiting eagerly for it arrive. The Hindi version is priced at, believe it or not, just Rs. 30/-, while the English translation version is at Rs. 199/-. Curious.

Good read

Yesterday I finished reading `The perplexity of Hariya Hercules' by Manohar Shyam Joshi. It has been translated from Hindi. It made for a good reading and since this was slim book I was able to finish it in a few days. Though something is lost in translation (for exmaple `.... something wasn't right, there was something black in the lentils', which would have read in Hindi as `Dal main kuch kaala hai'), the translation was quite fluent.

The book tells about adventures or rather mis-adventures of Hariya, who is a clerk in the home department in Delhi, and Hercules in his name refers to the brand of cycle he used to ride. He selflessly attains to all the needs of his invalid father. After his father dies, he is left with a trunk, the contains of which which leads to perplexity of Hariya and to his misadventures and sudden disappearance. This leads to various tales about his disappearance based on hearsay and half-truths and various accounts are recorded in this book.

I particularly liked this part which appears towards the end of the book `The more we investigated and theorized the more facts and theories piled up, making it all the more difficult to determine what was true and what false. Was something false that seemed true or what it a truth that looked false?' Is'nt this true of people around us or what we read in the newspapers. Truth seldom comes out and we have draw our own theories.

Book is highly recommended.

Reading record

Yesterday I finished reading `Difficult Daughters'' by Manju Kapur. It is the first novel written by her. I had started reading it on Feb. 26 and it took me some time to read it. The book tells the story of Virmati, who is the eldest of the 11 children, and tells the story her younger days, and of her marriage with a professor, who is already married, and ends during the time of India's independence. Most of the story is set in the pre-partition days and is well written in some parts, but I found the ending of the book quite abrupt. Anyway, I am glad that I was able to finish it.

An uncanny thing happened when I was reading the book. Near the end of the book, an incident is narrated during which the father of the heroine of the book, Virmati, dies after he is pushed around by the crowd. I do not why I felt sad after reading that particular part. Immediately after I got a call from my niece, telling me that her father, who was under treatment in a hospital, has died suddenly and unexpectedly. I was quite shaken to hear that sad news, and it put me off to reading this book for a few days.

The next in line is `The perplexity of Hariya Hercules', by Manohar Shyam Joshi which is translated from Hindi. It is a silm book (only 155 pages).

Quick reading

Yesterday I was delighted to come across a slim book (after reading fat books over the years, I have become partial to slim books), Twitterature, at the Strand Book Stall. It is the World's Greatest Books Retold Through Twitter. They are retold by Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin. I was surprised to know that both of them are just 19 years old. When did they got the time to read the world's greatest books. Anyway, it make for some wonderful and delighted reading. Here is a sample of two chapters of Great Expectations by Dickens (twitterature version):

I have to sit in the crazy woman's house. She lives in the basement sits in the same clothes. Her fiance really dodged a bullet there.

Her granddaughter Estella is pretty hot. She's is ten. I'm ten, too. All she does is make fun of me. Maybe it's my name.

Quite funny.

A charming tale

Finished reading `An Unsuitable Job for a Woman' by my current favourite P.D. James. I must say I found this book, though it is a crime thriller, very charming. It features Cordelia Gray, and it is her first case. My heart went out to Cordelia as she tackles her first case to prove a suicide is a murder. Do read this if you get a chance.

Yesterday I visited my favorite bookshop and asked for P.D. James titles. They had none. I then went for a hunt on the pavement booksellers near Fountain in Bombay. I was very lucky to find five PDJ books in very good condition. Needless to say I grabed them immediately. The tittles are: A Taste for Death, Devices and Desires, Death in Holy Orders, A certain Justice and The Original Sin. On reaching home it was difficult to decide which one to begin first. I settled for Death in Holy Orders, which I am reading currently. The title appealed to me for some reasons, maybe because I am an atheist.

P.D. James has now become a habit with me. With so many titles at hand, this monsoon I will be preoccupied both at home and in the train. Thanks P.D. James for writing so well and telling a good story, every time.

Finsished reading ...

Last week i finished reading The Private Patient by P.D. James. This was second James book which I had read. I must say I found it quite engrossing and it made for a good read while commuting. I had borrowed this from a kind blogger, who happens to work in the same place where I do, and had mentioned about this book in her blog.

Now I had become a fan of P.D. James. Last Friday, I purchased, from the pavement stalls, near American Express Bank in the Flora Fountain, Bombay, two second-hand books by P.D. James: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, and Shroud for a Nightingale (which I am currently reading and is making my train commute a pleasure). These pavement book stalls have many other James books, and I plan to build my complete library soon.

1349- pages !

Started reading A Suitable Boy (1349 pages) today. Wish me luck.

The author of the book is Vikram Seth. This book was published in 1993 and I rememberit had good reviews. Naturally, one tends to praise longish book, as one has done superhuman task of going through it. 1349 pages is bit too much for a fiction. It certainly is longest Indian fiction book. I had hesitated to buy this book for long time, I was sure that it will lie in my bookshelf unread. A few days ago, I happened to see this book lying around in an office in our department. On enquiring to whom this belong to, it was revealed to me that the previous owner, who I know was voracious reader, had now left our department, had left this book in case some one is brave enough to pick it up and read it. So far, no one has been brave enough. But I had mustered enough courage to picked it up, and am its temporary owner, until I finish it.

I have braved myself read this book. Maybe I will finish it in two or three months or maybe more. I hope it will be a goodl read. And it will certainly will be a personal achievement, I mean reading it till page 1349.

Goodbye, Mr Shanbhag

I just read the sad news in papers today that Mr T. N. Shanbhag, owner of my favourite bookstore The Strand Book Stall is no more. He died after a brief illness. Strand Book Stall is a unique institution in Bombay. My only hobby is buying books and reading them, and Strand never disappoints me in finding the book which I want. Even if I could not find a book I wanted, I invariably spot a book which appeals to me and I end up buying that. In that way I never left without buying a book. Just a few weeks ago, I visited Strand as I wanted to buy The Empires of the Indus. On enquiring, I was told that this book is out of stock and may be available in a few days. I was disappointed, but was happy when I spotted Six Suspects (which I am reading presetnly) by Vikas Swarup. Strand is indded a treasure trove for book lovers like me. No bookshop in Bombay gives 20 per cent discount on books.

Goodbye Mr Shanbhag. May your soul rest in peace.

Bioscope man

By Indrajit Hazra
Publisher: Penguin India
Pages: 308, Price: Rs 299

Finished reading The Bioscope Man by Indrajit Hazra a few days ago. Mr Hazra writes a weekly column in the daily newspaper The Hindustan Times. The book made for some good reading. When I had spotted this book at my favourite Bookstore, the name Indrajit Hazra sounded familiar. Then I realized I read his column in the Sunday edition of HT.

The start, in particular, was quite funny and hilarious. Though some time the book tended to get dense and I lost track of the going ons. I found the chapters entitled `Interval' which occurs between chapters, quite uncomprehensive and off the track.

The book tells the story of Mr Abani Chatterjee. In fact it is written in the first person and Abani is telling us his story. [bioscope, dictionary.com, informs me means an early form of motion-picture projector, used about 1900.] So it is story about early times of movies, and the story is set at early 1900s, when the movies used to be silent. What I found funny about the story is that Abani Chatterjee, like his fater, is shown to be personal disaster prone, and what happens to him, off the screen, could well have happened in a movie. This particular sequence of Abani meeting his personal and absurd disaster is quite well written and is very funny. Here is an extract `I panicked. Instead of turning the tap off and proceeding to explain matters, I tried to move away from and towards her at the same time. In the process, one of my legs caught the other and fall on her like a lizard that had just lost its grip on the ceiling.'

What I also like about the book, besides its beautiful cover, is the font used in the book. The chapters entitled Interval, had different font, which is also very good. Also the books is typeset in one and half space, which made for easier reading, especially in the train, while commuting, where I read most of this book. I wish all the books had beautiful font and one and half spacing to add to the reading pleasure.

A detailed review of the book, which appeared in the Hindustan Times, is here.

Disgrace

Yesterday I finished reading Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. It is a sad and beautiful book. I found I had a lump in my throat and a wet eye, as I put it down. It is really a sad book, but it is very very well written.

Mr Coetzee conveys a lot with a minimum of words, he writes almost to the point. The first lines of the book are:

For a man of his age, fifty-two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well. On Thursday afternoons he drives to Green Point. Punctually at two p.m. he presses the buzzer at the entrance to Windsor Mansions, speaks his name, and enters.

The book has only 220 pages. Other author may have stretched it to more and more pages.

The book is set in the post-apartheid South Africa. It tells the story of a fifty-two year old professor, who teaches romantic poetry at a university of Cape Town, South Africa. But I should not tell you more. Please do read this book. You will feel enriched by reading it. BTW, Disgrace was awarded Booker Prize in 1999.

The first chapter of the book is here.

And the review of the book is here.

Favourte Bookmark

The image on the left is that of my favourite bookmark. And lucky bookmark too, for me. Whenever I had used this bookmark, while reading a book, I have been able to finish it and appreciate it too. I have gone through such fat books, Brothers Karamazov, for example, using this bookmark.

I had lost this bookmark somehow, and I had lost hope of finding it again. I thought maybe I must have given it in a book which was borrowed by one of my friend. I was very happy to find it again among one of the book, a few days ago. I am now using it for Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee, book which I am reading presently.

The charm of this bookmark is quote by Desiderius Erasmus . Wikepedia tells me that he was a Dutch humanist and theologian.

More quotes by Desiderius Erasmus are here

Tashakor, Khaled Hosseini

Recently I finished reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
I had seen this book a few months ago on someone desk, and liked the story line, as was described on the back page of the book. Oh this book is about redemption, I had said to myself and I must read it. Since I purchased the book to which I take fancy to, instead of borrowing it from someone, I purchased it during my next visit to my favourite bookshop. I finished reading it recently. I really liked it. It made for very good reading. I would recommend it strongly. The plot summary of the book is here.

Tashakor (which means thank you in Persian) Khaled Hosseini for writing it.