Nikhil's awesome book thread

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Nikhil

Skilled
Similar to Chiron's awesome movie thread here...

http://www.techenclave.com/general-talk/the-awesome-movie-thread-126947.html

Let's keep this thread mainly for reviews rather than discussions. We can always have a separate thread for discussions.

My first review:

A fine balance --- by Rohinton Mistry.

I've read a lot of books I've loved. I've read a lot of books which have had a lasting impression on me, but this one takes the cake.

It basically deals with the lives of 4 Indian during the Emergency of the 1970s. It's heartwrenching. It gives you such a realistic picture of the lives of these people that you can choke up at the end.

This book has had a lasting effect on me ever since I read it about 3 years ago. I've never forgotten this book.

You can read more here --- A Fine Balance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But please dont read the entire plot. Enjoy it while reading the book.
 
Well I won't give any teaser/review as I suck at that but I would do add names of some books which I like, if someone wants to provide a review for the same I would be more than happy:

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Sigma Series - James Rollins

The Host - Stephenie Meyer
 
It basically deals with the lives of 4 Indian during the Emergency of the 1970s. It's heartwrenching. It gives you such a realistic picture of the lives of these people that you can choke up at the end.
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Thats very fascinating, we in the south were pretty much sheltered from what went on up north, going by what my elders tell me. Mostly because its a period where info was completely wthheld, nobody knew what was going on anywhere.
 
A book every Indian must read: "Everybody loves a good drought" - P. Sainath, about the plight of the poorest villagers of our country. In spite of the title, it's an excellent read, the overall tone is a little dark but the stories are brilliantly told. Makes you wonder who independence really benefited.

Another recommendation for any technically minded person is "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman" about the cavalier and extremely unconventional Nobel laureate. The biography takes you through his life, and sometimes deep inside the mind of a brilliant physicist. Cam be a little technical at times so is best avoided by those petrified by jargon, but a very interesting account of a person.
 
India After Gandhi -- by Ramachandra Guha.

A fantastic book dealing with the story of India from 1947 to the present age. By present age, I mean about 2004 or so.

It is quite objective, but there is some pro-Nehru bias. It gives details of all the problems India faced and faces. The Naga movement, the naxal movement, the Telangana movement, the formation of various states based on language, etc....

A truly fantastic book for people interested in history. There are plenty of books about India's freedom struggle, but very few detailing what happened in India after that.
 
Roxtin said:
Well I won't give any teaser/review as I suck at that but I would do add names of some books which I like, if someone wants to provide a review for the same I would be more than happy:

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Sigma Series - James Rollins

The Host - Stephenie Meyer
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Have heard a lot about Kite Runner, never was able to read it. Will do it after exams.

I felt 'The Host' was a bit dragged on in parts. But it still was nice. Also I felt the plot was kinda similar to the Animorph series.
 
The Kite Runner --- by Khaled Hosseini

A brilliant, tragic book. Deals with the lives of 2 young boys as they grow up in a turbulent Afghanistan. The book shows how the Russian invasion and then the rise of the Taliban affect the people of Afghanistan.

Amir is the son of a very wealthy business man. Hassan is the son of Amir's father's servant, Ali. Amir and Hassan become best friends. As with any childhood, they have their share of fights with other boys. But it all starts to go wrong though.

Read it and dont be surprised if you find tears in your eyes. I didnt cry, though some of my friends did tear up.

I havent seen the movie(and hope to never watch it) but the book is simply epic. Most people focus on the emotional aspects of the book, but dont forget the history lesson in there. It's a very nice account of Afghanistan's transformation from aa relatively poor but happy country to an even poorer but miserable country.
 
A fantastic read for any adventure lover - "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer.

Its the story of a young man who quit his job and family to venture into nature and try to discover his own self. The book is written like a journalist writing a report as the author retraces the path taken by the youngster.

I also want to read "Into Thin Air" by same author - its about the disappearance of 11 mountaineers on an Everest expedition.
 
Kashmir: behind the vale by M. J. Akbar

everything that you want to know about how kashmir became what it was now - right from kashmirs own history, india's political mistrust and blunder to pakistans greediness

short, well researched and interesting read...recommended
 
Similar to the above book.

Shalimar the Clown -- by Salman Rushdie.

It's a fictional story interwoven with the history of Kashmir. Really engaging. It tells the story of almost 2 generations. Starts from Europe's WW2 and ends up in Kashmir. It's a fantastic book. Again, a must read for all history buffs.
 
@Jith: Is it also unbiased?

I recently finished reading "I Too Had A Love Story" by Ravinder Singh. Its a simple, honest and nice little book based on authors real life experience. Its a tragic love story of 2 people who fall in love on the internet while searching for a life partner on Shaadi.com, its very predictable but the content is really heart touching at times. Its a short book, you can probably finish it in one or two sittings. And at Rs.99, its easy on the pocket as well.
 
Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirzig

Philosophical read, while the author takes his son on a motorobike tour from Minneapolis to San Francisco. The central question is to understand the concept of 'quality'. His followup Lila is a little more esoteric, an enquiry into morals.

And another but this one is strictly for those that want more inspiration to pump iron
Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder by Sam Fussell

True story about an Oxford educated scrawny American who after graduation gets bit by the building bug and decides to go pro, with all its trials & tribulations.
 
No one's mentioned Lord of the Rings, or is it too old now.

on another note, Freedom at Midnight is another decent read on the events of around the Independence Day. It also describes lots of stuff on Mountbatten, Jinnah and Gandhi, and how the country was divided.

Someone read SNOW from Orhan Pamuk ?
 
diabloReigns said:
No one's mentioned Lord of the Rings, or is it too old now.

on another note, Freedom at Midnight is another decent read on the events of around the Independence Day. It also describes lots of stuff on Mountbatten, Jinnah and Gandhi, and how the country was divided.

Someone read SNOW from Orhan Pamuk ?
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Havent read SNOW. I have Freedom at midnight, but havent read it yet!

LOTR is not too old! It's never too old! But so much has been said about it that I dont know what else to say! Maybe you can write a review on that!

Anyway.....

The Last Mughal -- by William Dalrymple.

Quite simply one of the BEST books I've ever read. This is one of the saddest and most tragic books I've ever read. It's right up there with 'A Fine Balance'. When I ended the book, I was blank for a few minutes. I was dazed.

The entire title of the books is "The Last Mughal: The fall of a dynasty. Delhi. 1857".

So, now you know what it is about. It describes the 1857 war of independance purely from Delhi's perspective. I thought the author would at least mention in brief the other battles going on, but apart from a few scattered references to Lucknow, Cawnpore:)P) and Meerut, there is no reference to Jhansi ki Rani, Tatia Tope, etc...

But my god! What a description. The best part about this book is that it has been written taking the Indian perspective into account as well. Most books dealing with this subject deal with only the British accounts of the war. Not this book. The author along with his colleagues went to the National Archives of India where they found a huge treasure trove of manuscripts, newspapers, petitions, etc all dealing with the uprising. Complete Indian accounts are preserved in the NAI and till this author went there and countless days researching, this treasure trove of knowledge was untapped.

It is a truly heartwrenching account of the atrocities committed by both the British and the Indians. It also details the destruction of most of Delhi in the aftermatch of the uprising. This is extremely painful.

" Four things kept Delhi alive. The Fort, the daily crowds at the Jama Masjid, the weekly walk to the Yamuna bridge and the yearly fair of the flower-men. None of these survives, so how could Delhi? Yes, there was once a city of that name in the realm of India.". ​

------ Mirza Ghalib.
 
@everyone - Why so serious? :p

Go read the ebenezum trilogy by Craig Shaw Gardner. Its about the world's greatest wizard, who unfortunately develops an allergy to magic. So he travels around the world to find a cure, while fending off the evil rhyming demon Guxx. He is aided by a warrior with a cursed club called headbasher, a demon who can only speak the truth, a dragon who wants to perform on broadway, and other interesting characters.
 
zhopudey said:
@everyone - Why so serious? :p

Go read the ebenezum trilogy by Craig Shaw Gardner. Its about the world's greatest wizard, who unfortunately develops an allergy to magic. So he travels around the world to find a cure, while fending off the evil rhyming demon Guxx. He is aided by a warrior with a cursed club called headbasher, a demon who can only speak the truth, a dragon who wants to perform on broadway, and other interesting characters.
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in that case why not recommend the master of the game ...Terry Pratchett :hap5:

its difficult to recommend any one book in particular..but perhaps his most famous discworld novel would be MORT

"it is the fourth Discworld novel and the first to focus on the Death of the Discworld, who only appeared as a side character in the previous novels.

In the BBC's 2003 Big Read contest, viewers voted on the "Nation's Best-loved Book"; Mort was among the Top 100 and chosen as the most popular of Pratchett's novels"

Mort - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

among his non discworld story GOOD OMENS is a good pick ..
"
The book is a comedy and a quasi-parody of the 1976 film The Omen (as well as other books and films of the genre), concerning the birth of the son of Satan, the coming of the End Times and the attempts of the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to avert them, having become accustomed to their comfortable situations in the human world. A subplot features the gathering of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse — War, Famine, Pollution (Pestilence having retired in 1936 following the discovery of penicillin), and Death — the last of whom is characterised in a manner reminiscent of the personification of Death in Pratchett's Discworld novels and calls himself Azrael before his final exit."

Good Omens - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
jith77 said:
its difficult to recommend any one book in particular..but perhaps his most famous discworld novel would be MORT
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My fave are the night watch books. The characters are just too good - Vimes, carrot, nobbs, colon; and we get to see a lot of the omnipotent patrician as well :)

Next I prefer the witches of ramtop hills. Granny Weatherwax is a force to reckon with!

The books on death - mort, soul music, hogfather - I found a bit slow and dragging in parts.

But on the whole, I'm yet to come across a more consistent author. The entire discworld series is a must read!
 
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