Ernest Hemingway is considered by many as one of the masters of English literature. The Old Man and the Sea is stated to be this master’s masterpiece. Despite such a reputation that the book carries, I had somehow managed to not have a reading tryst with it. Until last weekend that is. The Old Man and the Sea is a story, in fact it seems like a short story, a novella in better terms, that takes you on a journey you just didn’t anticipate. The Old Man, a nameless, faceless old man who is one of the protagonists of...
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Good books usually reach me on their own. They always find me. I am not one of those people who goes into a bookstore, carrying a long list with me, looking for particular books. I am not even sure such people exist. I like books that I just know I have to read. Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger is a book I have wanted to read for a long time. It has been staring at me from my bookcase just how a Barbie doll or a teddy bear would look at a kid in a toy store. I have...
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You must have done business with the Chinese . You must have your own business . You must be in manufacturing or in sourcing. Or you could read a book to give you an understanding to what kind of behemoth we are dealing with. Paul Midler gives you the sarcastic, cynical, humorous, practical and many other views of the Chinese culture and business. Why this book & why Paul Rarely does a business book (as Amazon classifies it) keep you enthralled for the whole time, but his style of writing makes it into a keen story. There are many...
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Back in college days, there were equal amounts of disgust and fascination I reserved exclusively for Life of Pi. Disgust, because everybody I knew who was a so-called ‘art-fart’ raved and ranted about the book which made me hate it. The fascination came from that curiosity that one associates with something one loathes without experiencing it: what is it that these people are going on and on about? And so, recently I decided to experience it. Yann Martel’s a true tale spinner, I give you that. So much so that when I discovered that Pi’s life was nothing but...
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To most people, Meg Cabot is synonymous with two words: Princess Diaries. Having been of the same opinion till I stumbled upon another book of hers at Blossoms Book House, I now think she’s brilliant. I picked up Boy Meets Girl almost seven years ago. And in all these years, I’ve read and re-read the book more times than I care to count on my fingers. Two things worked for me wonderfully: one, that it’s different from the formula ‘love at first sight-ups and downs-followed by happy endings’ reads that one expects to find in such books. Two, the...
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Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a known combination. A combination that has enthralled millions of readers globally with its tag line ‘A Trilogy in Four Parts’. (In fact, there was a 5th book released too and that is for the trivia pursuers). Hitchhiker’s was a fabulous book with its quirky characters. But for someone who does not really like science fiction and fantasy, the series failed to hold its appeal after the second book. I read the final book with a mutual sense of goodbye and repeated its title “So long, and thanks for...
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