The Immortals of Meluha

The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Shiva Trilogy, all about how he moved on from being a regular Human to being called the GOD - 3 stars because to me it is not some great piece of literature.. but yes it is definitely a commercial page turner, one that made me turn pages as well.. what i like about the book is that it takes you back and updates your knowledge of the gods and your history. I finished this book in flat 3 days of night reading.. It is a very very simple read and therefore will engage a whole lot of readers who are not regulars and find getting into books difficult.. this book could be a good start.

I find it commendable that Amish could think of a concept like this and the fact that his writing is so easy makes it even more approachable for everyone to read his work. He has done a good job of making the book a complete page turner and i have thoroughly enjoyed it in that sense. All of us have heard gazillion stories in our childhood at least from our grandparents. I used to wait for vacations so i could hear stories and all that my grandparents did was tell us stories from Mahabharat, Ramayana, and the stories of all other gods. The fact that Amish made that his strength and came out with this is amazing.

My only put offs were the interaction between Sati and Shiva.. That sometimes seems downright corny.. Also the language of the book is extremely today and so having been used to expecting a certain kind of tone and manner from the gods.. :) it's a little weird to read stuff like 'yeah right' and 'for god's sake man' along with 'lord and highness'.. it just sounded a bit confusing in my head at least because i kept going in and out of time while reading this book. But that's just my personal opinion.Maybe the fact that history has been fictionalised and written in today's language has also therefore helped this book become the success that it has.

I have already moved on to the second part now - SECRET of the NAGAS and the fact remains that the first book leaves you wanting to know more.. I was lucky enough to start the first book once the second was already out but now even for me the third book would be quiet a wait as i know that the book will end in a way that would leave me waiting.


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Jaane Bhi do Yaaro - Jai Arjun Singh

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro by Jai Arjun Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was one of the few non fiction books which i could not put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I had been following Jai Arjun's blog for a while now since he reviews a lot about books and movies and some very interesting stuff. That's how i got to know that he was now writing his own book and to start with it was a very interesting concept of covering the background of an entire film. the history of the film, cast crew how it got to be made and finally where everyone related to the movie along with the movie itself stands today.

Jaane bhi do Yaaro is a historical movie in it's own right in the Indian film industry and while it always remained one of the most loved and funny movies for me to go back to, the thought of knowing about it was even more exciting as the star cast of the film (stars now cast then) is superb. All of them were in the making and trust me i would recommend this book to everyone. Jai has done a fantastic job of capturing the perfect nuances of the film, it's people and his narrative throughout the book keeps you going. It's extremely enjoyable very very informative and it was one of those books that i pre - ordered, waited for and finished in 2 days thoroughly satisfied.


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Persepolis

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Persepolis has been an enjoyable read. While i have heard a lot of the movie i still haven't watched it and on the recommendation of a friend picked up the book. It's an autobiography of the author Marjane Satrapi who is an Iranian and shares her growing up years with the readers in the first book and then her return to her country in the later years in the second book. While many would think that it is probably no great shakes as we have seen many such books written by or written about so many women from that region but what makes this book different from the rest is that the format of expression which is illustrations or comic strip style in itself is very sweet and different. Also in a very simplistic manner, i thought i could read a very honest and balanced point of view of the author of both her country and then later on Austria where she studied. Her exposure to various mix of westernization in her country to going to being a religious fundamentalist country to her moving out of the country and getting exposed to western culture yet again. All the mixed and the genuine reactions or agonies or surprises that we all go through our growing up years.

The fact that it is illustrated makes it an extremely fast and smooth read and also breaks the monotony of reading heavy handed autobiographies. Instead here is a very simplistic way of expressing and also informing the world about Iran from an insiders perspective who has seen both the worlds.

The next step is to watch the movie as well.


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The perfume called BOOK

The smell of a new book, in fact the smell of a book itself has always made me go mad since childhood, It does till date. Every time I walk into a bookstore i can't keep my nose off one and the result is that I always walk out buying at least one. even though Flipkart has become my new bookstore but it's never the same just the way I feel an e-book can never replace the joy of holding the actual book in your hand.

I remember as a child I used to wait for the beginning of each year where in we would go to school a few days prior to the beginning of that session and get our books from school. oh the joy of looking at those books, smelling them and wrapping them with brown paper was always more exciting that the exams I had to eventually give thanks to those same books. I would always pounce on the books in my English course for the year and would have polished it off in a day straight. I already knew all the stories even before the year had begun and eventually yes i did get bored of the fact that i had to keep going through it again and again through the year but every time a story would end in class to go onto the next one i would look forward to that change and re - visiting it. Though the textbooks of other subjects never garnered such response from me except for smelling them, I never even opened them until the night before my exams. But the feeling would always be the same of welcoming a new book no matter what subject it was.

The obsession continues even today and thankfully today I read books because I enjoy them and not because I am forced to read them. and the fact that I can choose my own book to read also makes it more exciting. That is why a bookstore to me would never go out of fashion as that is one place that gives me ample scope to go wild with this obsession of mine :)

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