1001 Books You Must Read

I just came across this list : 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. It is a literary reference book compiled by over a hundred critics.

I immediately fell into the obvious trap - how many have I actually read! And I was dismayed to find have read too few, even though the list includes some very well known classics.

I have read about 20:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
The Godfather – Mario Puzo
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham
The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
She – H. Rider Haggard
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Pity I didn't have a blog sooner ... as early as I started reading!

And read abridged version of these in schooldays:
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
Emma – Jane Austen
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe

And saw a few movies ....
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell


Surprises:
- Nevil Shute's 'A Town Like Alice' made it to the list, but not 'Requiem For A Wren'. I have always maintained that the latter is far better than the former.
- Likewise with Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn made it, but not Tom Sawyer. Wonder why ...
- I was rather surprised to find 'Alice in Wonderland'. I mean I have enjoyed it since childhood, but a must read?

Disappointments:
- Anne Frank's 'Diary Of A Young Girl' is not there. But perhaps it is an autobiography, rather than a nove.
- So with Henri Cherriere's ' Papillon'
- What about 'Gulliver's travels'?

False impressions

False impressions - Jeffery Archer

A gripping thriller, one can call it a typical Archer - prodigious protagonists (quick on wit as well as action), unscrupulous antagonists (greedy for money and power, and callous about lives), and innumerable twists and turns (so obviously contrived). The difference is the background - Art. Well-known, and not-so-well-known works of the maestros represent a great amount of money, and forgeries are not uncommon. I have read some fact and some fiction based on this context, but even then, this one introduced me to some new things. This is one thing I like about thrillers by Archer, Follet, McLean, etc - that they are thorough in the research on the background, so you get to know something about it in the bargain.

This novel opens on the 9/11 attack on WTC towers - there is a brief but captivating description of the tragedy. It is cleverly used as a means to cover her trail, by the protagonist, art expert Anna Petrescu; however, it has no bearing on the subsequent events. Anna sets to correct the wrong done by her unscrupulous boss, to an English lady; what follows is a fast track chase through three continents, involving an unaware Anna, a ruthless killer Olga Krantz(who has been a former Olympic level gymnast) hired by her boss, and a FBI agent Jack Delaney who is keeping an eye on both.

The plot is interesting, though there are too many coincidences, and there are times when the story becomes predictable. The story covers a lot of ground, but does not delve deeply anywhere. However, it moves at a fast pace, and keeps up the interest through a lot of action, and I guess that is what matters for a novel of this genre.

Bashir Badr - VI

This is the last post on Bashir Badr [for now, at least :-) ]

*** *** ***

Isi shahar mei.n kaii saal se mere kuch kariibii ajeez hai.n
Unhei.n meri kuch khabar nahii.n mujhe unka kuch pataa nahii.n

Many of my near and dear ones reside in the same city since years
They have no news of me, and I have no knowledge about them

Ah, how true. It is indeed a selfish world – people forget all about others until they need them …

*** *** ***

Kabhi dhoop de kabhi badliyaa.n dil-o-jaan se dono kabool hai.n
Magar us mahal mei.n na kaid kar jahaa.n zindagi ki havaa na ho

Tere akhtiyaar mei.n kya nahii.n mujhe is tarah se navaaz de
Yuu.n duyaaei.n meri kabool ho.n mere lab pe koii duaa na ho

Give me sunshine, give me clouds, I accept both whole-heartedly
But do not imprison me in a palace that does not get the breath of life

What is beyond your power? Bless me in such a way
My prayers are accepted so that there is no prayer on my lips

These couplets depict another beautiful aspect of [urdu/hindi] poetry – an address to the Lord, whom you believe in, whom you accept as all-knowing, all powerful, and yet to whom you can complain, request about His world …
The idea of the first couplet here is not a novel one, but the presentation definitely is. And it reminds me of another thing about which I have wondered a few times – in Indian poetry, ‘dhoop’ (sunshine) represents hardships, while clouds are synonymous with relief or pleasant times. From my impression based on a rather limited knowledge, the symbols are used in an opposite way in English poetry. Something to do with our tropical summers? ;-)
The second line in the second couplet is quite interesting, I could make two different interpretations out of it (which seem rather opposite) 
- Accept my prayer so that I do not have a need to have more prayers, i.e. all my wishes are fulfilled before I seek their fulfilment
- My prayer is that I do not have any prayer – I want to be completely content with what I have, and do not wish for anything more

*** *** ***

Ik dooje se mil kar poore hote hai.n
Aadhi aadhi ek kahani ham dono

Mai.n dehleej ka deepak hoo.n aa tez havaa
Raat gujaarei.n apni apni ham dono

We are complete when we meet each other
We are two halves of a story

I am the lamp of the doorstep, come o strong wind
Let us both spend the night in our own pursuits

*** *** ***

She

She - Henry Rider Haggard

"She" stands for "She who must be obeyed", as the local African tribesman call Ayesha - the immortal, extremely powerful and incomparably beautiful queen, whose name they are afraid to speak.

The plot summary from wikipedia:
A Cambridge professor, Horace Holly and his ward, Leo Vincey, travel to Africa, following instructions on a potsherd (the "Sherd of Amenatras") left to Leo by his biological father. (Haggard made a physical copy of the potsherd which is now in the collection of Norwich Castle Museum.) They encounter a white queen, Ayesha, who has made herself immortal by bathing in a pillar of fire, the source of life itself. She becomes the prototypical all-powerful female figure. She is to be both desired and feared. She is a breathtakingly beautiful creature who will not hesitate to kill any one who displeases her or stands in her way. The travelers discover that Ayesha has been waiting for 2000 years for the reincarnation of her lover Kallikrates, whom she had slain in a fit of jealous rage. She believes that Vincey is the reincarnation of Kallikrates. In the climax of the novel, Ayesha takes the two men to see the pillar of fire. She wants Leo to bathe in it as she did so that he can become immortal and remain with her forever. His doubts about its safety lead her to step into the flames once more. However, with this second immersion she reverts to her true age and immediately withers and dies. Before dying she tells Vincey, "I die not. I shall come again."

The book was first published in 1887, more than a century ago. So the style, specially that of the dialogs, becomes tedious. Nevertheless, the story itself is quite captivating. Even though it is primarily a fantasy and an adventure story, it gives an insight into the human nature that one cant help wondering about. The eternal life of the supremely powerful queen is a life of loneliness and yearning. She despises the people whom she rules by force of terror, precisely because of their fear. The explorer Leo starts on a mission to avenge the death of his ancestor on the queen, but ends up enchanted by her beauty. The professor is wise, but still affected. Quite a story of desire and contradiction!

The book belongs to the genre of 'Lost World', not a kind usually favored by me. So there is quite a story behind how I landed up with it. For more than 15 years now, I am more or less a regular on the TOI daily crossword. For a stretch of time, I do it everyday, even looking at the answers next day, and then for a period I give it up altogether. When I was in college, I even used to tear up the crossword from the paper in the morning, to fill it up in the classes. They tend to repeat the clues, so, quite a number of times, I came upon the clue "Rider novel" which had a 3 letter answer; after a while I learnt it was "SHE". This intrigued me a lot ... if the book featured in the crossword so frequently, it must definitely be very famous. So, when I saw it at the book fair last year, and found the description at the back cover interesting, I got a copy for myself.

Daughter of the Ganges

I am as good as my word ... so here is the first "review" ...

Daughter of the Ganges - Asha Miro

"Daughter of the Ganges" is one of the few non-fiction books I have read, and liked. It is a memoir of Asha, who is adopted from an christian orphange in Bombay at the age of six, by Miro couple of Barcelona. Her adoptive parents have adopted another daughter, and chose to retain the given names of both their daughters; the mother maintains a diary for each daughter, describing her thoughts and feelings as they bring up the daughters from another part of the world. The book starts with Asha's memories of the distant past, interspersed with excerpts from her mother's entries.
In her growing-up years, Asha is troubled by the thought why her biological parents abandoned her, while strangers showed her so much love as to make her their daughter. As with many adopted children, her desire to know more about her roots increases with time. She joins a group going to Bombay to work with the poor, to seek answers and discover her past. In the orphanage in Bombay, she meets a nun who remembers her, but could not, or does not, give her much details about her birth parents. She just tells Asha that she is a daughter of the Ganges. Asha returns, unsatisfied, and still a feeling that her father had disowned her (her mother having died in her infancy).
She writes a book on her experiences, and a few years later, returns to Bombay to film a documentary based on it. This time, she is able to trace back her journey much farther, and circumstances of her adoption. After her mother died, her survival became doubtful. Her father, a very poor farmer, unable to look after two young daughters, requests nuns of a Bombay church to take care of her, thinking that they would nurse her back to health, and he will bring her back once she is older. However, nuns agreed to care for her only if he would agree to giver her up to the orphanage. Desperate to save her life, her father consented.
A helpful man from her village tells Asha that her elder sister still lives in their native village. He brings her brother-in-law to meet her, and then they take her to their village. A sentimental reunion of the sisters follows, even though they cannot understand each other's language. Asha is striken by the poor conditions her sister lives in. From her sister, she is able to learn much more of her father and her family. She also meets her half-sister, who had nursed her for quite a while after her mother's death. As Asha prepares to leave, the people from her native village are unable to comprehend that she wants to return even when she has found her family. But Asha's sister wants her to go back to the family she has known for years, to the life she has been living, life that is not full of hardships as her own. All she asks for is Asha to call her up some time, so that she can hear her voice, even if she is not able to understand what she says.

The book is simple, but poignant and touching. Her reunion with her sisters and family is specially moving. As are her experiences in Bombay, where she stays with a poor but caring family...
... she finds that people are amazed to find that she cannot speak their language although she looks like them
... she tries to discover familiarity with her native languages, but is unable to do so
... she tries to look for something, someone in the population of Bombay who might be her family, but not realistically expecting it, yet filled with a longing
There are points when one is surprised by her astonishment at the way of life in India, specially that of the poorer people - the poverty, the warmth of strangers, the oppression of women ... unexpected indifference, as well as unexpected love and sharing .... hey, come one, all of it is "normal" in our "culture". And then you remember, that although the book is a story of an Indian in India, it is through the eyes of a person who is not familiar with it.
A good read, over all.

Long time no see

I have been away from the blogging world, and more so from my blog, for a long while. I have visited a few blogs now and then, read posts in my reader for most part, but haven't yet found the energy to get back to posting myself. I hope to gain back the pace now on :-)

In this long absence, since I had nothing better to do, I read, and read a lot. Though I could get a few books that I had not read earlier, mostly I re-read many books, some of them for the nth time. Many times people wonder how I can read a book, even a mystery, again and again. I usually say that I do it just to pass the time, but I think that is not the real truth, certainly not the complete truth. Even though I don't have a definite answer myself, I believe it is just for the pleasure - I enjoy reading. I started reading quite early (I remember reading hindi edition of the Readers' Digest when I was 6 or so), and since then, if I have nothing (necessary) to do, I can usually be found with a book (though more than a few times I have been guilty of neglecting tasks for reading).
Then they are people, who don't read at all (except for a little of newspaper, and some religious text) - they just cant stop wondering how can I read all the time, and why do I have such a collection of books (even though it is not a large one from my perspective). I am amazed how can anyone NOT read? As I said, I read primarily for pleasure, but there are other benefits - you enhance your knowledge about people you will never meet, places you will never visit, and times you will never live in. When you appreciate others' ideas, you broaden your own mind and understanding of humanity - perhaps it is not as good as traveling and meeting real people, but I think it is the next best thing. After all, there is only so much you can learn from the newspaper, and hardly anything at all from the television.

Well, so much for contemplation. I have been reading a lot, but most of it was re-reading. But I read quite a few new ones too. Some of them were Perry Mason series by Gardener, and Three Investigators - they are really good timepass (specially if you dont want to read something serious), but one of them is quite like another, nothing much to write about. On the rest, I'll be posting my impressions, as I have been doing earlier. I dont think of myself as a reviewer, but it is good to collect ones perceptions in perspective. At any rate, it gives me something to write about ;-)

Bashir Badr - V

Socha nahii.n accha bura, dekha sunaa kuch bhi nahii.n
Maangaa khuda se raat din tere siva kuch bhi nahii.n

Jis par hamaari aankh ne moti bichhaaye raat din
Bheja wohi kaagaz use hamne likha kuch bhi nahii.n

I didn’t think of good or evil, didn’t see or hear anything
Day and night, I asked God for nothing but you

On which my eyes dropped pearls day and night
I sent her that sheet without writing anything

*** *** ***

Mujh se bichad ke khush rahte ho
Meri tarah tum bhi jhoothe ho

Separated from me, you keep happy
You are also a liar like me

Another of Badr’s masterpieces, and beautifully sung by Jagjit singh!

*** *** ***

Koii phool sa haath kaandhe pe tha
Mere paanv sholo.n pe chalte rahe

Wo kya tha jise hamne thukra diya
Magar umra bhar haath malte rahe

Muhabbat, adaavat, wafa, berukhi
Kiraaye ke ghar the badalte rahe

A palm like a flower rested on my shoulder
My feet kept walking on embers

What was it that I rejected
But kept regretting the whole life

Love, enmity, loyalty, indifference
Kept changing like rented houses

*** *** ***

Yuu.n dil ko gududaayaa ki har gham jagaa diya
Usne hansi hansi mei.n hamko rula diya

Poocha bahut jo hamne kis or ab miloge
Chutki mei.n ret lekar usne uDa diya

She teased my heart so as to awaken every sorrow
In jest, she made me cry

When I asked a lot, where to find you
She took a pinch of sand and tossed it away

*** *** ***

Dhadkanei.n dafn ho gayee ho.ngi
Dil mei.n diivaar kyu.n khadi kar lii

Heart-beats would have been buried
Why did you erect a wall in the heart

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility
[by Jane Austen]

I had not read before classics of the 18th century, at least not in the original form; I had only read abridged versions of a few of these quite famous novels, like 'Pride and Prejiudice' and 'Wuthering Heights', but could not find the patience to read the complete versions. I mostly read contemporary fiction, so getting a novel written in early 1700s was rather out of character for me. How did I happen to buy it, is quite another story.

This is the story of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, who represent Sense (rational thinking) and Sensibility (emotional and impulsive behavior) respectively. The plot is very precisely outlined on Wikipedia.

The story is good, and the characters are finely described, which is perhaps the reason that Austen's works are still popular. However, I found it difficult to identify with, because the complete context is of a culture alien to us, and mannerisms which are outdated even for the current generation of people belonging to that culture. The language, of the prose, as well as the dialogues, was quite flowery, so that it was rather unnatural to me, and difficult to follow in some places. I found it difficult to understand why would people address their own family members in such a formal manner, and why one's mother and sister think it improper to ask what troubles them. Once or twice, it tired me so much that I thought of abandoning it; only the curiosity about the story stopped me from doing so. :-)

In all, I think it was fairly good read, but for now I am cured of "period classics". :-P

Now to the story - and I am still laughing at myself at this - although I knew that it was not my cup of tea, how did I happen to get it. Quite some time back, a book was recommended to me. By the time I went to the book fair, I had completely forgotten the name of the book, as well as that of the person who recommended it. Browsing in the fair, I saw Sense and Sensibility, and thought that the name sounded familiar, and thought that perhaps this was that book. I was also keen to see what it is in these works, that they continue to enthrall people for almost three centuries. So, I went ahead with my purchase. Shortly after I searched my Inbox, to realise that what I had intended to look for was 'Wise and Otherwise' on a recommendation by Cuckoo.

What flower are you

Came across this fun-to-do quiz while blog-hopping.

This is what it told me ...

This is What Kind Of Flower You Are

You Are a Daisy

"You are just a sweet person. When a friend needs a shoulder to cry on, you are happy to offer yours with a box of tissues as well. Once in awhile, you wish you could be a little more dramatic but then sensibility sets back in and you know that you are perfect the way you are."

What flower are YOU?

The Book Cover Tag

I have been tagged by Cuckoo. And it was quite an interesting one.

Rule (there is only one):

Go to the advanced book search on Amazon, type your first name into the Title field, and post the most interesting/amusing cover that shows up.

I expected the search for my Id [Sigma] to yield interesting results. But contrary to the expectation, it threw up hundreds of references to "Six Sigma" amongst the top results., which was definitely not an interesting subject. Filtering off the "Six Sigma" results, I still got a lot of results referring to Data converts [Delta-Sigma Data Converters: Theory, Design, and Simulation and Continuous-Time Sigma-Delta A/D Conversion], and also a number of scientific, theological or philosphical organizations/groups [Delta Sigma Theta- society, Sigma Nu Fraternity and Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity]. It was quite difficult to find an article of interest amongst these :-) My real-life name, as expected, yielded no interesting results :-)

Editorial Review

Robert Ludlum's trademark skills of intricate plotting, breakneck pacing, and high-wire drama are all on display in this gripping thriller. After his twin brother dies in a plane crash, Ben Hartman reluctantly takes his place in the investment firm started by their father, a Holocaust survivor. But then an old college buddy tries to kill Ben on a crowded Zurich street, setting off a chain of events that ultimately leads Ben into the thick of a worldwide conspiracy. Behind it is Sigma, a multinational cartel built on the rubble of World War II by industrialists and financiers bent on exploiting wartime technology and protecting their wealth from the threat of communism.

Accompanied by a beautiful American justice department agent, Ben eludes the assassins on his trail and follows Sigma's tentacles across Europe, to Brazil, Washington, and finally to a sanitarium known as the Clockworks in the Austrian Alps, where the horrifying agenda of a perverted new world order is revealed. Ludlum, who died between the writing and publishing of this book, was a master of the genre he helped popularize, and The Sigma Protocol shows him at the peak of his craft.

Reader Review [By Geert Daelemans]
The least you can say about Number 9 is that it is a remarkable book for many reasons. Not a lot of non-fiction books have the guts to address mathematics in such a personal way. The author Cecil Balmond even creates the character of Enjil to accompany the reader during his search for the truth behind the number 9. The claim of the author that it reads as detective story is certainly true for the first half the book. But be warned, you will not get a definite answer to the questions posed. Although more than once the author claims that the riddles have been solved, she does not seem to be aware that her so called solution is actually a redefinition of the same questions. But then again, you can ask yourself if a real solution would have fitted together with the magical atmosphere nourished by this book.
The weakest point, without doubt, is the fact that Cecil completely ignores to place Number 9 in its true context. Never during the whole narrative does she mention that number 9 is only magical in a decimal system. For the same reasons that number 9 is special in a system with ten digits, 15 will be magical in a hexadecimal system. It is clear that this kind of information will diminish the magical power behind number 9, but that cannot be enough reason to just ignore the facts. From an academic point of view such a denial is unforgivable.
But maybe this book was never intended to be an academic thesis and must be perceived as a declaration of love to the exciting world of numbers. Cecil has definitely succeeded in putting her passion for the subject on paper. After reading Number 9, even the most ignorant soul will have difficulties in trying to deny that mathematics is truly the science of beauty.


And now for the victims though Cuckoo has already laid her hands on most of my potential ones :-D]
BendTheRulz
LeziBlogger
Maverick
And anyone else who wants to try it for fun ...