On and on and on...

I think I probably think about writing a new post once every week... at least. Just havent got around to it lately. I guess most of April and May went in working out the details of Li'l S's birthday party. My son turned 5 in May, and we had a blast of a party. Thanks to brothers and friends who travelled distances to come down and make the day special. My parents, my grandmom, they all came down to Bangalore. Its a rich feeling to have people you love around you, and it made my boy's 5th birthday truly special.


Other than that, work as usual kept my all wrapped up. There were a couple of good books i read though. Finished Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel, last years Booker prize winner. It was a really good book, and also kindof challenging. Its densely populated with characters, full of the atmosphere of 16th century England, there isnt as much happening as you would expect from a book this size.. its close to 700 pages. But what it provides, is a wonderful character study of Thomas Cromwell, who grows from being the son of a blacksmith, to the king's right hand man, the most powerful man in England.

One section of the book is called Arrange Your Face, in which Cromwell realizes the importance of never showing his internal emotions on his face. Whether it is fury or sorrow, triumph or defeat, arrange your face to only show the emotion which is apt for the occasion, which will not allow anyone to truly judge what you are thinking. It is the one key point i took away from this magnificent book. Beautifully written and captivating.

Read Josh Bazell's "Beat the Reaper", excellent fast paced thriller about a former hitman trying to avoid being caught by the mob men he has been trying to avoid through the witness protection program. Its very funny and full of shocking details, most of them about the medical profession as our hero goes about his day as a doctor. A patient recognizes him from his past life and threatens to let his pursuers know about his location unless he can ensure that the patient doesnt die! But this would require a miracle since he has stomach cancer, all our hero can do is try to make him live a little longer than the 6 hours of life left for him!

Re-read "The Green Mile", Stephen King's wonderful novel about the happenings in a prison during depression-era America. Stephen King has a wonderful talent for making his stories believable, making you empathize for the characters and here he builds such a wonderful portrait of the guards who work at the prison, whose job is not just to guard the prisoners, but also ensure their last few days on earth arent any worse than they need to be. And in the middle of this, comes a new prisoner convicted of the most hideous of crimes, but who seems strangely unlikely to have really done something so awful.




Right now, I am re-reading another wonderful novel - "To kill a mockingbird" by Harper Lee, courtesy of a friend who loaned it out to me. Had read this book ages ago, probably in my teens, and always remembered its wonderful characters and the precocious naration by the little Scout Finch. But now that I have a child of my own, i can truly feel wonder at how perfectly Harper Lee captured the essence of childhood - the games which the kids make up together, the bravado of the older Jem Finch, the tiny Dill being forced to play character roles, Scout's complaints about her nanny Calpurnia and her teachers who always seem to misunderstand her. More than anything, I can understand the difficulty children have in expressing their opinions or feelings to adults, who arent all as bright and clear-headed as Atticus Finch. And this difficulty is also captured so beautifully by Ms. Lee. I truly feel its one of the greatest books ever written from the perspective of a child.




On to music then! My brother brought a few albums down for me, recommendations included Slash's new album, Kasabian, Chickenfoot and Chicane!


I have to say, I think Slash is just brilliant. The album consists of collaborations between Slash and a bunch of mostly comparatively newer musicians - including Adam Levine of Maroon5 on "Gotten", Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother on the brilliant "By the sword", Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge on the excellent "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". My favourites from this album are "By the sword", "Back from Cali", "Promise" with Chris Cornell providing the vocals, and a brilliant number called "Saint is a sinner too" which features indie-rocker Rocco De Luca. Brilliant album, check it out!

I have been listening to a lot more music too, and just want to add a song which I am completely possessed by at the moment. Its by the strangely, but fantastically named band Death Cab for Cutie and the song is "I will possess your heart"! Did you ever hear "Every breath you take" by Police back in the 80's and get the feeling that this has got to be the anthem for all stalkers?? Well, here is the new anthem for stalkers, circa 2010! At one level, i guess the lyrics could be thought of as relating to never dying love! But at another level, it sure seems a bit creepy! But as Brian Tellis, one of the first RJ's playing rock music on India's FM channel once said, enjoy the music but dont take the message to heart!

Here's the brilliant song by Death Cab For Cutie, with the fantastic moody intro. This intro has to be the longest ever, the vocals only start around 4.40 into the song! But love this song!

	Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Re-re-re-repeats and general rants

I dont know what its about, but I have really been into re-reading, re-listening, re-watching and all things re ! Maybe this nostalgia is a sign of advancing age??

I have a bunch of books I bought lately which I havent read yet. Instead I find myself constantly trying to decide which of my books to re-read. Should it be the adventures of Rumpole, barrister-at-law, or the long journey of Frodo Baggins carrying his precious cargo? Will it be Ian Rankin's rugged Scottish mysteries or Satyajit Ray's Feluda stories set in often exotic parts of India? Neil Gaiman's Sandman volumes steeped in obscure histories, or Alan Moore's V for Vendetta set in a bleak, hopeless future? Even the contemplation brings me joy.

Coming to music, I was going nuts trying to find a few CD's I had misplaced. A bunch of Led Zep albums, which were once my regular listening, had been misplaced in an avalanche of electronic media. Sometimes, you keep the things you love the most in a place you feel is the most secure, and then you cant find it just coz its not where all your other stuff happens to be! Luckily, I did remember where it was, and with it found the wonderful unplugged Nirvana album, a collection of Hindi music I didnt even remember owning, REM's Monster and the wonderfully hard and heavy MI2 soundtrack. So, there it was. Audio nirvana!

I have just not had time for movies lately though. So what I have seen is just what was on tv, but then you still need to select which one you wanna watch, right? And again, I find myself preferring the ones I have seen before. Saw Seven recently, and was waiting for it with bated breath, although I have seen it at least thrice.

Apart from all this nostalgia though, hasnt there just been too much cricket lately? The IPL was great fun to begin with, but surprisingly as it came closer to the final stages, I found my interest waning somewhat. There is such a thing as overkill, and the IPL doesnt seem to get that, what with that Lalit Modi looking to add two more teams into the league.

But the beginning of the T20 World Cup has been interesting though. The last ball win for the Netherlands over England, the strong showing by Scotland against NZ, and the Windies beating the Aussies; all go to show that the 20-20 format is the one which has the most likelihood of producing upsets as there is simply no time to recover sufficiently from a bad period in the game. Lets hope for a few more interesting results. Maybe if Netherlands or Scotland go out and win the damn thing, the cricketing world will come to see the 20-20 format for the lottery it really is!!

(Image courtesy cricket.yahoo.com)

Dame Agatha's return

I was 12 years old, maybe 13. Not quite bored of Enid Blyton but ready for something a bit more intense. The school library was not quite as vast as I would have liked it to be. And anyway, reading recommended by teachers was bound to be boring, wasnt it? So then one day, my English teacher (whom I loved, by the way) digressed from the lesson at hand to discuss what she thought we should be reading. I still remember her words, when she said "I hope you are not wasting your time reading trash like those Agatha Christie novels!".

Of course, that was all that was needed. I devoured most of Dame Agatha's novels with relish and became an ardent fan of Hercule Poirot especially. The first Christie I read happened to be "The Big Four" and my 12 or 13 yr old self was thoroughly impressed. But the Christie phase ended as reading tastes matured.

Anyway, even though I havent read a Christie novel over the past decade or so, I have always had a fond place in my favourites list for her mysteries. I still own half-a-dozen of them, and thats after having 'loaned' a bunch of them to friends, never to get them back. So, when I recently found 40 Agatha Christie books, the nostalgia itself egged me on to collect them.

And the first of the books I decided to read was "The Big Four". The same story which so thrilled me as a kid, seemed like one of Agatha's worst this time around. Hercule Poirot just does not seem the type who would have cigarettes which would double as a blow-pipe containing a poisonous dart. Although it does work in bits and pieces, overall - bad decision Dame Agatha.

I followed that up with the truly excellent "Mystery of the Blue Train". Perhaps this book is one of the best constructed of the Poirot mysteries. I was a bit dissappointed to find that I was able to guess the culprits identity well before the end, but I guess being a lot older than 13 has something to do with that. But it didnt take anything away from the pleasure and charm of reading a classically constructed Agatha Christie plot again. This story is also probably one of the less common Poirot stories which does not always follow Poirot around, making it necessary for the great detective to be constantly on the scene. He is very much in the periphery for great parts of the novel, and does not even make an appearance until well into the book. This book also differs from many other Christie novels in the build-up to the crime - which is a lot more detailed and complex, reminding me of PD James and Ruth Rendell. Much more than the usual dinner party with suggestive small talk during the main course! I dont think Agatha's fans will like that description!

But whether it be the antics of super-spy Poirot, or the intricate laying out of red herrings in the second book, the charm of reading an Agatha Christie novel once again has me in its embrace.

The Leaky Cauldron?

This iconic writer spends the better part of 2-3 years (i honestly don't know how much time she spent on it... talk about research) writing the last of a record-breaking series. She lives with her family but cannot share her work with her husband or kids. Her agent sits on the manuscript when she needs to take a trans-atlantic flight, perhaps fearing for her job if she lets the manuscript out of her sight for even a second. The editors are sworn to secrecy, and probably several clauses in their contracts ensure they keep their promise.

The publishers have to sign heavily loaded legal contracts ensuring they will not leak the contents. They cannot talk to the media or boast about the history-making event they are involved in. The type-setters are made to work in dim lighting, trying to keep them from reading the story. The printers are watched closely by armed security guards, their lunch boxes are checked, their bodies frisked. The packers again work under dim lights and are hand-picked to ensure the precious manuscripts mystery and mystique is maintained. They pack the books into individual boxes labelled "Do not open before July 21st 12:01 AM" and each box is tracked by satellite. The trackers watch every movement of every box ensuring none go astray. The shadow of the deathly hallows is on them all.

Millions await with bated breath for the book's release. Tension grows as major bookstores around the world run their countdown to the biggest moment in publishing history since the Gutenberg bible. Fans everywhere repeat the same questions which has had them mesmerised since the moment they finished reading part six. There is debate, conjecture, excitement.

And then, someone, somehow, gets his or her grubby hands on the precious. And with Gollum's growling possessiveness proclaims "Its mine!" and shall be no one else's. This hateful Gollum proceeds to put every page on the internet, his/her's only concern being the demolition of the joys of millions, snatching away their right to read and uncover the mystery for themselves. Will shabby pictures of the precious pages on a background of a red and green carpet be a substitute for the book itself?

You, Gollum, shall not succeed.

Salman - The Great

No, not the shirtless wonder. The bespectacled, much-married, much-reviled but also much-admired writer, Salman Rushdie.



After running through the gamut of Enid Blyton, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Hardy Boys, Sidney Sheldons etc, one of the first "literary" books I read was Shame by Rushdie. This was followed in a matter of weeks by Midnight's Children. The second still remains one of my all-time favourites and the one book i have re-read the most (hmm.. except maybe the Harry Potter books. Dont think thats anything to be ashamed of!). Its the only book I have bought twice, after having lost my first copy to a bunch of borrowing friends who probably never read it. He was the first writer I called my "favourite writer" after I got over Dame Agatha.



Though he still counts among one of my favourites, the only other book of his that I have read is "Satanic Verses". Maybe this was a factor on my not having read any of his other books, not because of the controversies attached to it, but because I found the book a complete drag! The words were as beautiful as ever, and a Rushdie book is never one which you abandon half-way. But one craved the magic of his art. Was this the same writer who created the marvelous scene at the beginning of Midnight's Children where Aadam Aziz hits his nose against the ground while performing his prayers in the frosty winter of Kashmir? The drops of blood become rubies before they touch the ground, his tears turn into diamonds... This was the same magnificent writer who left this wide-eyed, young reader mesmerised with "knees and a nose, nose and a knees". The high suspense as the midnight hour approaches in the chapter aptly named "Tick Tock". I would probably end up with a post the size of the book if I keep going at this!



Compared to Midnight's Children, the controversial Satanic Verses felt like a let-down. But yet, its been in some ways the defining point in Salman's life. Ever since the fatwa, he has lived in constant danger of assassination and persecution from Islamic extremists. In 1989, a plot to blow him up was foiled when the bomb exploded prematurely, killing the terrorist instead. The recent Glasgow burning-car-in-airport-terminal incident was said to be inspired by the rage of the extremists on Britain awarding knighthood to Rushdie.



Salman was the first writer from the Indian sub-continent who dared to write not in the Queen's language, but in the queer mix of regional tongues and English which is the true Indian English. This use of the colloquial language itself has inspired a generation of writers ranging from Rohinton Mistry to Chetan Bhagat in accepting and writing in their own language, rather than aspiring to the prose of their western counterparts. He is also considered one of the masters of the "magic realism" genre although his more recent books have not been strictly of this type. More than this classification though, the magic of his stories come from Rushdie's insistence to get to the origins and get to the roots of his protagonists. Saleem Sinai's story would never feel the same without first having learnt of his quaint antecedents.



Through all the persecution, Salman has maintained his dignity. When Britain decided to ban the Pakistani movie which had Rushdie as a villain plotting the downfall of Islam, and is shown as vanquished by the long arm of erm.. Allah himself, Rushdie himself requested that the movie not be banned. His logic was succinct and street-smart - a banned movie would have become the hottest video in town. He has appeared in many discussions and has always upheld a reformist view on Islam.



He has spoken in support of women's rights to not wear the burqa and has spoken in support of free speech. He has maintained a certain amount of self-deprecating humour at times. When asked by a journo about how he felt when he first heard about the fatwa declared by Ayatollah Khomeini, he replied that his first though was: "I'm a dead man!" Every time he speaks about the reforms needed in the Islamic world, fresh death threats are issued. But Salman continues to speak out on the same topics. Maybe a few will hear.



To a smaller extent, his shrouded, turbulent life recalls the same kind of persecution as Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi faced. His every move needs to be protected information. As he mentioned in an interview with Salon magazine, "(if) you ask me where I am going tomorrow, I can't tell you". But inspite of these, he had it in him to give the below answer to the same interviewer -



Q: Fiction is not taken very seriously in our culture and yours has been taken so much more seriously than most. Having been sentenced to death for the content of a novel, how seriously do you think fiction should be taken?


Salman: Very. I think there is nothing wrong with the idea that fiction is a matter of life and death. Look at the history of literature. Look at what happened in the Soviet Union. Look at what's happening in China, in Africa, and across the Muslim World. It's not just me. Fiction has always been treated this way. It does matter and it's often very bad for writers that it does. But that just comes with the territory.


I bow to you, Sir Salman Rushdie.

That Library Thaang...

One of the things I constantly gripe about is that I dont get enough reading time nowadays. I am probably down to about 2-3 books a month. Really need to do better, especially as my To-Be-Read list continues to grow and grow.

I came across this fantastic website though. Its a great way to keep your library catalogued, and also provides good suggestions based on books you rate. Need to browse more into the website to check out all the tools it provides. You can also browse through other people's libraries and rate/review books. Neat!

Book fest at work last week. There was a literature based quiz contest as well, and I won two prizes. One was a nice little pen-and-business-cards stand, useful desk decor. The other was a Rs. 250/- gift voucher for one of the stalls at the book fest. Unfortunately, this was the stand which had obviously decided that what the techies must need most are books on technology. Blech! Anyway, they did have Freakonomics, so I picked that up. The other book I bought was "Motherless Brooklyn" by Jonathan Lethem which I have been planning to read for a while now.

Currently have a bit of a back-log though. Reading "My name is red" by Orhan Pamuk currently. I'll probably jump to Lethem's novel after this one coz I really am very excited about it. Orhan Pamuk, though, has me completely engrossed in his 16th century world of Turkish miniaturists. Wonderful stuff.

Other books I have on my reading list (the one's I already own that is) are Wally Lamb's "She's come undone", Tom Wolfe's "The electric kool-aid acid test" and James Ellroy's "American Tabloid: A Novel".

Pleased to meet you...

If I was more of a pious guy, I guess I'd probably be ringing the ghanta of my neighbourhood temple (there's one right next to my house) a lot more, thanking God for the wonderful things he has given me the capacity to appreciate and enjoy. But I missed that bus a while back.

And then there's the undeniably un-godly nature of some of the music I appreciate a bit too much of course. Case in point, as the title of this post suggests is the terrific Stones number "Sympathy for the Devil". Of course, the Rolling Stones were not to blame for the hue and cry from the clergy and the moral police who related rock 'n roll to satanism. That argument goes a long way before Mick and Keith paired up. But this song, along with several other Stones numbers, have had their fair share of controversy.

But who cares? What a great song! Great lyrics penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, great music which, according to rumour, had Led Zep's Jimmy Page pitching in with a guitar solo. Page, of course, was a well-known occultist and probably begged Mick for a bit part in this ode to Lucifer. Also, the lyrics are said to be inspired from Mikhail Bulgakov's great masterpiece "The Master and Margerita".

Bulgakov's book has its own colourful history, taking him almost a decade to complete. In Socialist Russia, Bulgakov had to go through a great deal of censorship and harrassment as his book was seen as inflammatory and satirical about the bureaucratic system. Three years into the writing, Bulgakov one day decided to destroy his work and burnt the entire document on his kitchen stove. Boosted by his wife's support, he again re-wrote the entire book and finally managed to get it printed, though in a censored form. The book is now considered a great piece of literature of course. I've got to get me a copy sometime soon!

Coming back to the song, I can't resist printing the lyrics here, with due regard to Mick and Keith who wrote it.

Sympathy For The Devil

Please allow me to introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

I've been around for a long, long year

Stole many a man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ

Had his moment of doubt and pain

Made damn sure that Pilate

Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game

I stuck around St. Petersberg

When I saw it was a time for a change

Killed the Czar and his ministers

Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank

Held a general's rank

When the Blitzkrieg raged

And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name, oh yeah

What's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched with glee

While your kings and queens

Fought for ten decades

For the Gods they made

I shouted out

"Who killed the Kennedys?"

When after all

It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

And I laid traps for troubadors

Who get killed before they reached Bombay

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah

But what's confusing you

Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal

And all the sinners saints

As heads is tails

Just call me Lucifer

'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me

Have some courtesy

Have some sympathy, and some taste

Use all your well-learned politesse

Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, um yeah

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, um baby, get down

The song is from the point-of-view of the devil, with references to the mysterious deaths of the Czar and the Kennedy's. The vocals are brilliant, as you would expect from Jagger. The song was later covered by Guns 'N Roses also.

Themes inspired from Bulgakov include the references to the Czars and also the lines "And I was 'round when Jesus Christ/Had his moment of doubt and pain/ Made damn sure that Pilate/ Washed his hands and sealed his fate". The story of Pontius Pilate meeting Jesus and reluctantly handing him over to those who wanted to kill him forms a second strand in the novel.

So, some great music, intelligent lyrics, intellectual inspirations. What more could you ask for? So what if it deals with themes that are considered controversial. Go, listen and read. I already am.

Alan Moore's Classic "Watchmen"

I loved comic books as a kid. I bet everyone did. Superman, Tarzan, Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom and countless others which fascinated us as kids. Plus the fantastic Disney comics which I loved - Donald Duck, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Huey, Dewey and Louie stories which were great if you get sick of the super-heroes. Then the comics for teenagers who longed to be residents of Riverdale along with Archie, Jughead and his gang, not to mention Betty and Veronica.

But most of us grew out of it. Lately, there has been a spate of literature from the boys-at-heart authors like Michael Chabon (The Adventures of Kavalier and Klay) and others who have written books telling of their love for comics. Neil Gaiman has not only expressed his love for them, but has given himself to creating comics with a gusto, and a writer of his caliber comes out with some pretty good comics i hear, haven't read them yet.

And then there is Mr. Alan Moore. Universally considered one of the best comics writers in the history of the art-form. And when we talk about Alan Moore's comics, they are ART. I can vouch for this after completing "Watchmen". Incidentally, "Watchmen" happens to be the only comic which is listed in the Time Magazines list of the top 100 books since 1923 till 2005.

And "Watchmen" lives up to that kind of hype. The story is very literate, complex and layered with hidden meanings. The art work is breath-taking always, and sometimes just plain mind-blowing. The artist is Dave Gibbons, and must be credited for some of the most intricate and impelling art work I have ever seen. The title is taken from the latin "quis custodiet ipsos custodes" which literally translates as "Who watches the watchmen". The implications of this become clearer as the story begins.

The story is set in an alternate reality New York in the year 1985. A death has taken place. A man has fallen through the window of his high-rise apartment. Detectives investigating his death conclude that he must have been thrown and his death is a murder. However, the cops are not the only one investigating this death. The other person investigating the death of Edward Blake is a masked adventurer who goes by the name Rorschach. Masked adventurer - as opposed to a superhero. Superheroes have super-powers. Masked adventurers are costumed do-gooders who rely on their ingenuity and athletic prowess and are basically human in all other respects.

This bit of information takes us deeper into the world Moore and Gibbons have created. We hear about the one-time popularity of costumed adventurers who were feted by the media, the people and the government. But once they had eradicated most big-time criminals, they ended up being considered as nothing more than vigilantes. Finally a law was passed which required that these heroes proclaim their true identities and agree to work for the government or to give up their "vigilantism". Only two of this group still function and both of them work for the government.

Rorschach though has just discovered that one of those two has just died. Edward Blake, better known as The Comedian, has been murdered. Rorschach is also a wanted criminal, since he was the only one of the costumed adventurers who never compromised and continued his vigilante career. He is wanted by the police not just for his status as a still-functioning vigilante, but also for the sheer violence with which he deals with criminals. There is a sense of the psychotic about Rorschach. And his character is perhaps the best among a group of pretty brilliant characterisations done by Moore and Gibbons.

Without detailing much more about the plot, I would like to focus on the structure of the comic (I am trying to avoid the term "graphic novel" as Alan Moore himself does not prefer the term). The comic consists of 12 chapters, at the end of each of them is a non-comic section. These sections are used to fill in the back stories and also to provide more depth to the characters. Besides this, each chapter also contains layered, parallel threads of the complex plot - sometimes chronologically separate as seen in the final chapters. And as if there was not enough going on, there is a comic within the comic which is so compellingly gripping and intriguing that it blows the mind. A single reading of the book will probably not allow the reader to grasp all the information that Moore and Gibbons cram into each frame of the comic.

And that brings me around to the frames. Each and every frame of the comic has a meaning to it. If it shows a man walking down a street, it also shows the newspaper blowing past him with a telling headline, it also shows the reflection of something on the dirty wet street which is important. And notice the smiley face on the cover, with an odd shaped blood stain... the shape of that stain will be reproduced in ways which will be completely unexpected and unforeseeable. There is a fantastic amount of payback to the reader for the time he spends reading this comic. And there are other ways in which symbology is used. Rorschach's mask is made of material on which the dark stain behaves like a fluid, changing its shape with his emotions and Gibbons makes wonderful use of this. And the comic book medium when used intelligently as it has here, has the advantage of merging the book-form and the visual-form. So its a treat for the mind like reading Kurt Vonnegut or Thomas Pynchon, and a treat for the eyes like an Akira Kurusawa or Tim Burton movie.

I guess I have gushed enough. But Messrs Moore and Gibbon have probably opened my eyes to comic books and the force they can have. Already picked up Moore's "V for Vendetta" (made into a so-so movie I haven't seen). Also picking up two other comics which are known as the best in the genre - "Dark Knight Returns" and "300" both by Frank Miller, another great comic book writer. Will also be getting "From Hell" by Alan Moore soon. So keep watching this space for more comic book reviews. And go get a copy of this brilliant work of art. Beg, borrow or steal!!

Weekend Movies and Reading

First thing I did this weekend, I returned the books I had checked out from the library. I tried, but none of the three were keeping me interested enough. For the record, these books were -


1) Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck is a good writer, he has it in him to deliver a shock. But sometimes, the shocks can just make the reader numb. Ya, so there goes Chuck delivering another supposedly shocking fact, and you dont feel there was any need for it anymore. This book made me feel that way. Haunted, is basically a satire on reality TV like Survivor and Big Brother, except this is a bunch of wannabe writers who are trapped within Big Brother's house. So each one of these has a "shocking" tale to tell. Well, it just got boring.


2) The Return of the Dancing Master - Henning Mankell

Henning is a very very talented writer. His books are written in Swedish, and translated into English. I am a big fan of his series of murder mysteries. His main characters are excellent. His stories are very bleak and dark, atmospheric, and he tackles issues which are very relevant. But reading this book, I just probably overdosed on the bleakness. Blame Chuck for this as well I think, coz this is not a bad book at all. But combined with Haunted, it just left me hollow-eyed!


3) Three Witnesses - Rex Stout

My first attempt at a Nero Wolfe book. I guess it was too old-fashioned and archaic in its structure for me to get too much into it.


So, I went down and picked up some more books. My reading list now has the following -



1) Stephen King's latest - Lisey's Story


Just started it, not bad. The reviews are rave, so i'm looking forward to this one. I believe King is one of the most under-estimated writers ever, and though all his books are not brilliant, when he is good, he is very good.




2) Silence of the Grave - Arnaldur Indridasun


Arnaldur is a brilliant Icelandic writer, and his books are crime thrillers in the police procedural style. But his writing style is very good. This book is his second to come out in an English translation after "Jar City", a gripping thriller which started with the killing of an old man, but moves far beyond that scope. I am looking forward to reading this one and will definitely post my review.


3) The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edward Abbey


This book is highly recommended by several people, its considered an underground classic. In fact this book is responsible for coining the term "monkeywrench" which usually gets thrown into the smoothly turning wheels.



4) Finally, I picked up two graphic novels I have been waiting to read. Both are written by Alan Moore, who is famous for his complex themed comics. The specific comics are probably two of the best graphic novels ever written - "V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen".






Currently, I am absolutely absorbed into "Watchmen" a book so good it sometimes just takes the breath away. I will have to write a separate post for this one. It deserves at least one, maybe more. Just the tag line itself "Who watches the watchmen" grabs you and pulls you into the heart of this story. Just brilliant.


Also watched a few movies this week.

1) Snakes on a Plane - good for a few laughs, sometimes for the wrong reasons.

2) Rear Window - saw this fantastic Hitchcock classic again, brilliant. Based on Cornell Woolrich's short story.


3) In the line of Fire - one of Clint Eastwoods earlier directorial ventures, with John Malkovich playing a sublimely creepy villain.


4) Sholay - eternal Hindi favourite




Not a bad weekend. Also, didnt need to work this weekend after a long time!!

Kiss Me, Judas

Alright, no football action till the weekend, so lets talk books.

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. One of the books which left a haunting image on my mind was Will Christopher Baer's "Kiss Me, Judas". This is the first in a trilogy about the misadventures of Phineas Poe, erstwhile cop, recently released from a psychiatric hospital. On his first night out Poe meets Jude, a prostitute, who unaccountably agrees to spend the night with him - only to wake up to find himself in a bathtub filled with ice and staples on his skin where his kidney was removed. A little note says "If you want to live, call 911."

The book is exactly the way it sounds - dark, atmospheric, surreal. Add to this the fact that Poe cannot remember clearly the details of his wife's death - she was found dead on a boat. Either it was a boating accident, or it may be suicide, or Poe might have killed her. It doesn't help that another lady shows up whom Poe mistakes to be his wife back from the dead. Somethings awfully screwy about Poe and the stuff he is going through.

Poe decides he wants his kidney back. But he cant shake off a dark fascination for Jude, and starts pursuing her. It doesn't help that he needs to keep taking morphine to ease the pain. There are too many painful gaps in his memory and Poe may be hurting more people than he knows, people he does not want to hurt.

Baer is fantastic at building the suspense, and his writing evokes Poe's dreamy, incoherent state very well. He builds the story up to a conclusion which asks as many questions as it answers. On the flip side, the reader will probably want to take a break from the bleakness and go back to the next part of the trilogy only a couple of months after completing the first part. You don't want too much of Phineas!

Definitely recommended for folks who like to delve into the dark side once in a while.

The first one

Alright, so i guess this blog might just be doomed to be visited only by fans of George R.R. Martin and his super fantasy series "The song of ice and fire". Cool!! ;)

Jaime, the King Slayer, might just be one of the most complex literary creations I have yet come across, not just in the fantasy genre, but in all literature that I have sampled thus far. When the series starts, Jaime emerges as the first and foremost hate figure. He remains a shadowy character through the first two books, and then GRRM could not resist giving him a voice. And then the reader gets into the mind of this character, so incredibly wrenched between his hated public persona and what he knows of himself and his motives. Jaime represents all that is brilliant and unique about GRRM's series - the making, and then the breaking, of myths; the refusal to paint any characters as good or evil; making his readers re-think their opinions about liked or not-so-liked characters - and the author's sadistic glee in making the reader lose his bearings by throwing surprise over shock at him/her. His story is made even more fascinating due to the fact that initially you only hear about his terrible deeds, and you take him to be the true son of his diabolical father, Tywin Lannister. And gradually GRRM examines each of those dark deeds and shows us Jaime's view, and sometimes you think that maybe I would have done the same if I was in his place. Things are not always the way they seem. Only GRRM knows what other surprises he has in store for his faithful fans in the next episodes of his series.

I took a long time to complete Book 4, just because some of my favourite characters like Jon Snow, Dany and above all Tyrion were missing from this book. Even Sansa and Arya's stories had lost a little bit of steam, and Samwell's journey was getting monotonous. So the book starts off well, but gradually declines. But I have to say, trying really hard not to give away any spoilers for those who haven't read it yet, the book ends in a tantalising fashion. And since the next book will only concentrate on the characters missing from Book 4, we will have to wait even longer to find out what happens next to Cersei, Jaime, Arya et al. But I am looking forward to finding out what Tyrion is up to. Tyrion is another fantastic and brilliant creation. Pathetic at times, but his moments in this series hugely contribute to the superior nature of this series.

Well, that's enough for a first post.