Five Weeks in Amazon - Sean Michael Hayes

Five Weeks in the Amazon by Sean Michael Hayes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

After Ketkar's "Tales from the Road...", amazon.com was throwing random travel book suggestions at me. I opened a few that looked interesting, many of which were titles by Indian authors. The short descriptions seemed extremely interesting : some were talking about dirt cheap hitchhiking through India, others talking of conversations over chai in various parts of India, or a motorcyclist's journey through the country. We do know how to come up with wacky projects! Among all those titles, Sean Michael Hayes's "Five Weeks in the Amazon" popped up. I debated a long time whether to get this one or not, but since I have had Peru on my mind for a long time and since the book highlighted ayahuasca ceremonies which I was interested in knowing more about, I decided to give it a shot.

I picked this book up with next to no expectations. I had not even checked the goodreads rating or reviews for this one. But the first few pages of the book were quite gripping. So I went forth without much further thought. Hayes knows how to write, that's for sure. He has structured the book as a candid mention of the more important of his daily activities and thoughts. But somewhere after the first three weeks into his five week journey, you come to realise that this truthful account of events in the authors life has turned rather dull. The thoughts are more or less on a similar pattern and the author's belief in his own goodness and the goodness of humanity in general sounds somewhat redundant and pontifical. I would have loved the book had it been a third shorter but it dragged on and lowered the sheen of the more relevant parts as well. The most important audience for the kind of writing that Hayes did would probably have had been his self but there is a big difference between what you write for yourself and what you write for others.

The book starts with the author looking for a cab outside Lima airport. He had landed in Peru with very little knowledge of Spanish and an idea of what he wants to accomplish in his time there. He spends the first week in Lima, partying and skateboarding through the streets of the city. Then he moves to Iquitos in search for a recommended shaman with whom he wishes to undergo the ayahuasca treatment. Hayes is looking to heal from his heartbreaks and go on a spiritual journey that would help him find his place in the world. He lives in the amazon jungles for close to three weeks, undergoing various treatments prescribed by his shaman and taking part in multiple ayahuasca ceremonies. He eventually leaves the jungle cured of his depression and ready to take on life with a new vigour.

My biggest complaint with the book was that it was not what it advertised itself as. It was supposed to be a backpacker's journey through the Peruvian jungles, his experiences with ayahuasca and his observations of life in the jungle. These themes made up less than half of the book. It was more about a man's spiritual healing and discovery. Five weeks could have been much more eventful had the author not had a completely different agenda. That Hayes was there to heal himself and that was his primary goal needed to be mentioned somewhere in the description of the book. Hayes knows how to use the language but I am rather skeptical about picking up another work from the author. This one seemed to be a general rant.

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Remote: Office Not Required - David Heinemeier Hansson & Jason Fried

Remote: Office Not Required by David Heinemeier Hansson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was told about "Remote: Office Not Required" when I had first started mentioning the lifestyle that I was planning to experiment with. A friend's friend mentioned this book in the passing, stating that the founding members of 37signals were the authors of the book. If anyone really knew about remote working, it was these guys. Though remote working was not really what I had in mind, the more I read about the book, the more interesting it seemed and I decided to give it a shot. I recently acquired a kindle and thought I would add this one to my digital library.

Throughout my professional career thus far, which I admit has not been very long, I have been involved with startups in India of varying sizes. One thing that I can say with an immense amount of surety is that the country does not believe in remote work. There might be a few exceptions to the rule but I am talking about a generality that exists in the over enthusiastic startup frenzy that the country is seeing. The problem exists because of both : the employers as well as the employees. The employers have trust issues and the employees give them no reason to think otherwise. It is perhaps this personal experience with working in such environments that made this book especially interesting to me. Of course it is not a treasure chest of knowledge where you will find the recipe to get remote working right. It is just a handbook of the 'why', and a pretty good one at that. The 'how' is for you to figure out, for it will differ from one institution to another.

The book talks about what remote working is and why it is the way forward. It lists out the reason why people need to be enabled and even encouraged to work remotely - in the interest of time, efficiency and personal life. It covers many angles and challenges that remote working involves, some very obvious and some that might not have crossed your mind unless you have actually been there and done that. It also talks about the common apprehensions against remote work and the common pitfalls that might lead to those apprehensions. The book mentions some impressive businesses who are already riding the "remote wave" and successfully so.

I personally found the book rather interesting. It affirmed quite a lot of things that I already believed and added quite a few new perspectives. Apart from remote working, I believe that it is a good handbook for general attitude pertaining to work and maintaining a healthy balance between personal and professional lives. But I am not a big fan of such "self-help" books, although I can now see why people are so charmed by it. They tend to affirm your suspicions. Who doesn't like that! No more such books for me but that's a matter of taste.

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An Unsocial Socialist - George Bernard Shaw

An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was back in the days, when I had a compulsion for buying books, that I found myself in the back alleys of the famous M.G. Road in Bangalore. I was wandering without purpose when I found myself in front of a second-hand-book-store. I was in love with graphic novels then, having discovered Moore recently, but my browsing through the shop resulted in this book. I made a mental note to come back to the shop again when I needed books but, as happens with most notes, it got lost and I never went back to that shop. However, the book persisted in my collection; hopping shelves in Bangalore and Delhi before I picked it up recently, almost two years since I had picked it up from the small store in Bangalore.

I was introduced to G.B. Shaw in Roorkee through "Candida", one of the plays that was a part of an elective course. I liked his writing then and I had remembered this book being mentioned by a then close friend over our endless telephonic discussions. Hence Shaw's novel was something that held an intrigue and I was looking forward to what lay in store. The novel proved to be quite amusing. The story was interlaced with dollops of humour, so subtle that I still wonder about what it was that the author tried to mock! I initially thought he was mocking socialism, but later it seemed his views on socialism were in the earnest. Maybe the Victorian society as such. Or maybe there was no mockery at all, the humour being a result of the ridiculous nature of the conflicting demands of society from individuals.

The story revolves around a certain Sidney Trefusis who is introduced as an eccentric character. Having found his marriage unbearable, he flees his wife and hides from her. He takes up the life of a common wage worker and is introduced to the young ladies in Alton College, in whose vicinity he has chosen to hide. His social conduct is appalling and he tries his best to cause outrage in social settings and gatherings. His grooming, which he tries to shun so, comes back in his dealings with the ladies of the society, who he never fails to charm. The story twists and turns with Trefusis's socialist propaganda and his resumed social contact with a three ladies of Alton : Jane, Getrude and Agatha. There are flirtations and outrages and absurd social meetings. With Sidney nothing is ever quite simple!

The novel lived up to any expectation that I might have had from it. It was fast paced and thoroughly entertaining. I specially liked the subtle humour and the complete unassuming way that Shaw had weaved it with his story. This will definitely make me look up more of Shaw's novels in the future.

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The Good Person of Szechwan - Bertolt Brecht

The Good Person Of Szechwan: Vol 6 by Bertolt Brecht
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had been looking for something fresh to read and came upon my little sister's collection that was part of her course material in Delhi University. Most of the books were too "theoretical" to interest me. I am barely interested in the poets of yore, but there were some dramas in there that I picked out. "Good Person of Szechwan" seemed interesting enough to start with. So I borrowed the book and started it a few days later.

My consumption of the book was quite slow; but it was wholly due to my own lack to time. I would pick up the book irregularly during the final hour before sleep overcame me. Even in the state of drowsiness the book was able to keep me hooked. The story was slow paced and interjected with dreamy songs. I imagined the drama being played out on a stage of my imagination. The characters, colours and lights acted as a lullaby and I closed the book after the scene was over. It was thus that I read the book, one scene at a time; relishing and digesting the scene before I went to the next. But none of my imagination would equal Brecht's in recreating how the story would be played out on a stage. Brecht has kept the plot quite simple and focused on the moral quandary that he wished to show. Consequently, there are very few profound moments in the play. It is adorned with a touch of reality that most can relate to easily. Brecht argues that goodness cannot exist by itself in this world. For good to exist, it must be aided by evil and ruthlessness.

The story begins with the gods entering Szechwan. They are on their quest to find enough good people on the earth. They are turned down by many before finding a host in Shen Teh. She is a poor prostitute but good at heart. The gods are impressed by her hospitality and make her a gift of a small fortune. This she uses to set up a small business but her goodness is coming in way of her managing to keep the business profitable. People leech on her and swindle her while she keeps giving with both hands. Her cousin, Shui Ta, steps in from time to time to take control of her failing business. The story narrates how Shen Teh's goodness needs Shui Ta's ruthless business acumen to survive.

I liked Brecht quite a lot for the kind of scenes he created. They seemed akin to the Greek dramas of Euripedes and his contemporaries in their construct; the scenes and the musical interludes. But the story was significantly different and (perhaps) original. The way Brecht leaves the issue open without passing a 'final judgement' on the moral question that the play poses is again a very realistic end to the issue. Overall I liked how the play was built and would definitely like to read more of Brecht's works if I ever get a chance to.

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Tales From the Road... - Aniket Ketkar

Tales from the Road... by Aniket Ketkar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was during the period that I was waiting to implement the change of lifestyle that I had decided on that this book was recommended to me. The recommendation came from a friend of a friend, whose friend had done something of the sort that he thought I was about to do. I looked up the book and was a little surprised at finding only a Kindle edition. At that time I did not own a Kindle and was, as I still am, a paperback fan. But once I did get a Kindle, it was not long before I went back to the book and ordered it.

The book is a memoir of the experiences of the author while he was on the road. There is a disclaimer right in the beginning of the book which warns the reader not to nitpick grammatical errors. Ketkar gives a brief introduction of himself in the opening pages and tells us that he is (or was) a charted accountant by profession and his aim in the book is to tell the story, rather than aim at establishing himself as a master of the language. But language contributes as much to making a book engaging as it's story. And the fact that Aniket Ketkar managed to write such an engaging book with such a simple language makes his story-telling all the more laudable. What appeals most in this travelogue is the personal touch that the author has added to it, but it's a right balance of personal emotions and travel information.

Aniket was a charted accountant in a big multi national firm but he always had a penchant to travel. And travel he did, but in a way that most of us Indians do : on a limited leash. On one such vacation, in Mongolia, he was reminded of his childhood dream to be a traveller. He then decided to take up travelling more seriously, quit his job and hit the road. The book is a product of the eight months he spent exploring various parts of south-east Asia.

I quite liked the book. It was thoroughly enjoyable and quite a light read. I read it slowly, a morsel at a time. There were many points on which I could relate to the author, there were many incidents where I was amused at how his experiences matched mine. There was quite a lot of information in the book that I explored further. I will definitely look forward to Ketkar's next set of experiences.

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The Masque of Africa - V.S. Naipaul

The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief by V.S. Naipaul
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was in Manali, on my way back from an exhausting road trip. I had taken a break for a couple of days and, quite strangely, found myself without a book. So I went to the friendly neighbourhood bookstore near my hotel and started browsing the shelves. I had thought of picking up a book on Mahayana Buddhism but I failed to find any that offered an interesting back page teaser. The next best thing was a Murakami book which picked up with the intention to buy. But I had not yet scanned all the shelves. Driven by compulsion, I went through the ones that remain and found a beautiful hard bound book with the name of Naipaul on it. It said : "The Masque of Africa - Glimpses of African Belief". Going by the storekeeper's recommendation, I ended up ditching Murakami for Naipaul.

I had never read Naipaul before, but I had heard his name in passing quite a few times. The bookshop's owner, Piyush, had recommended the book strongly. In his opinion, Naipaul had a power of observation that gave him his edge over the other writers. This sense of observation gave his writing a very personal touch and made it opinionated. Piyush was appalled at how people had started criticizing Naipaul for his opinions. According to him Naipaul was entitled to them like anyone else, the reader had a choice to agree or disagree. This discussion had got me curious about Naipaul and his writing. I immediately went to a cafe and read a few pages. What Piyush had said became quite evident. Naipaul gives a very personal touch to his writing. It is his perspective and some research added on to it, but it is more of the former than the latter.

In "The Masque of Africa" Naipaul has tried to explore the beliefs and religious systems of Africa. He travels in six countries across the continent : Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon and South Africa, and tries to dig into the local culture and traditions of these countries. All the African countries had faced colonization and as a result had had Christianity and Islam forced upon them. But the cultural undercurrents were still strong. There is magic and spirituality, mixed with the vastness of forest and its bounties, ancestors and witchdoctors. Some condemn the old African beliefs and some crawl back to it despite generations of disconnect. The book provides (true to it's title) mere glimpses of what was the traditional African system of beliefs, with each tribe still holding on to the ghosts of its roots.

What I liked most about this book was Naipaul's writing. It was easy to see why Piyush was so fascinated by him. However, as I had read in another review about this book, Naipaul's research left a lot to be desired. He travelled as a VIP and received such treatment. His hotels were lavish and his company political and powerful. Though it is easily understandable given his age, it is difficult to see how he could have gotten close to the real deal in such a simulated environment. Perhaps the project would have been done more justice in the hands of a younger and more daring researcher. But Naipaul wins me over with his writing. His "A House for Mr. Biswas" goes on my list.

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The Book of Imaginary Beings - Jorge Luis Borges

The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was smitten by Borges after our first encounter. So much so that even his name could make me jump around and ramble in excitement. More so because of the rarity of coming across his name. It was thus with a mild surprise that I pulled out the book bearing his name in a small and endearing cafe in McLeodganj. It bore the title of "The Book Of Imaginary Beings" and I immediately started fantasizing about what the pages might be like. Unfortunately I did not have the time to read the book then so I made a mental note about it and ordered it when I got back to Pune.

The book is something of a modern bestiary indulging in the imaginary creatures from across the world and over aeons of time. Borges has curated a list of the most remarkable imaginary creatures that titillate the readers imagination. He presents these beings with his bit of research on their origin and mentions. His commentary not only serves to educate, but also incites one to think and imagine. The small book is crowded with wonderful creatures. Some are often read in popular and classic fiction, like the Centaur, the Minotaur, the Dragon, the Phoenix or the Gnomes. Some are rarely found mentioned or come from folklore, like the Tin Pig, A Bao A Qu, Hochigan, Kujata and more.

I read the book as it prescribed : in small morsels. To bite off a few creatures at a time and chew on them, savour and swallow them before biting off the next lot. It was not just the collection that was brilliant but also the research and commentary associated with each creature. Borges still remains somewhere on the top of my list. He has the power to preempt any book when he comes along.

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The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I chanced upon this book when I was talking to a friend about a recent Bollywood movie, "Drishyam" and he told me that he had already read the book. The movie being an adaptation of a book was not much talked about so, curious, I decided to check it out. Since I recently bought a Kindle as well, this also served as my first Kindle book. I am now a tech savvy reader. Yay!

Turned out that the movie was very vaguely similar to the book. The premise was shared but the movie could not match the book's level of suspense. Higashino had done a brilliant job in creating the plot and since this was a detective story, that is what counted the most. The writing style, unfortunately, was a bit too unadorned for my liking. The uniqueness of the story lay in the fact that the culprit was already known. It was the cover up that was a mystery. Higashino revealed the mystery bit by bit through his characters and as a result, I, the humble reader, was hooked till the very last page. Higashino kept the entire plot extremely rational and believable while twisting it around in unpredictable ways. As I found out later, this book is part of a detective series which is quite popular in Japan.

The story revolves around a high school maths teacher - Tetsuya Ishigami. He is in love with his neighbour - Yasuko Hanaoka, a single mother with a daughter. Yasuko has a turbulent past which she is trying to shake off but the ghost from that past, her ex husband, keeps reappearing and troubling her time and again. On this particular occasion circumstances lead her and the daughter, Misato, to accidentally kill the evil ex. Ishigami then steps in to offer his help in getting rid of the dead body. When the murder is reported to the authorities, the body is a John Doe with fingerprints burnt off and face smashed in. Kusanagi leads the investigation and Manbu Yukawa - Detective Galileo - finds himself being sucked into the case. The deeper he digs, the more formidable the challenge appears. Until he realises that he is up against an old friend, the genius Ishigami.

Although the plot was brilliantly made, I found many a parts entirely far fetched. Plus the weak character building and simple language did not help much. The only reason I got through the book was the suspense, which, as I have already mentioned, was brilliant. I might have been much more impressed in another age but now, it came across as a brilliant story, nothing more.

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The Dilbert Principle - Scott Adams

The Dilbert Principle : A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions by Scott Adams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had found "The Dilbert Principle" two years ago in a previous flat in Bangalore, stowed away in a shelf with other scrap paper. After inquiring as to whether any of the flatmates owned it, I pulled it out, dusted it, smelt the yellowing pages and kept it in my shelf. But for the gain in status, the book achieved little else. It travelled to Delhi when I moved and sat in a shelf there for a really long time. I found it sitting in silent anticipation while rummaging through the shelf to find something to read with an unexpected free week in front of me.

My Dilbert experience had, quite strangely, started with another borrowed book : "The Dilbert Future". I was still in college back then and could not really appreciate office humour to the fullest. But I could certainly appreciate humour. And Scott Adams's was the king that I preferred. It was insane and dry, just the kind that I liked. But in the many years since that first Adams book, I have read more of Dilbert and started appreciating it for the office humour as well. I picked up this book with quite an expectation which mellowed as I turned the first few yellow pages. The book was more than twenty years old! Surely office humour from the nineties would be irrelevant in the current world. I couldn't have been more wrong. The only thing out of date about the book was the way the characters were drawn. Everything else, including the humour was strangely fresh and relevant.

"The Dilbert Principle" like all other Dilbert topics, deals with the stupidity of people. In particular, it focusses on the stupidity of people in the corporate environment, right from the upper management down to the lowly engineers. Scott tries to explain to the baffled audience what the corporate world is all about. He picks out various concepts like 'Business Plans', 'Budgeting', 'Meetings, 'Team Work', etc. and explains the difference between their apparent and perceived meanings. He explains how and why the real motive of 'Business Communication' is to hide information and confuse your co-workers rather than conveying clear information, as many naive corporate employees mistake it to be. Adams illustrates his points with the help of short strips and pickings from the fan mails that he receives.

Adams is a riot. I always have liked his work, and his writing is no different. What was most surprising was the relevancy of his humour after all these years, though that is not something that Scott can take credit for. It is amazing to see how the corporates have managed to stay so stale in the fast paced business environment of today. As for Scott, I do continue to read his work on his blog and will readily pick up another of his book if and when I come across one.

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Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

'Persepolis' was, if I remember correctly, a recommendation on goodreads. I don't quite remember what about the book had caught my fancy. Perhaps it was the cover image, or maybe the plot seemed interesting. Anyhow, the book was there when I was looking for something fresh to read.

Slowly, yet steadily, I have come to appreciate the graphic medium of story telling. It is perhaps less intense in it's plots than it's purely literary cousin but it too has it's own charms. It tends to bring together multiple forms of arts together and the beauty lies in how seamlessly they integrate rather the intensity of one. 'Persepolis' is Satrapi's autobiography between the ages of ten and twenty four (1980 - 1994). Unfortunately, 'Persepolis' is also a one woman show with Marjane Satrapi playing the author, the subject and the illustrator, the three main components of a graphic novel (colours are important to but 'Persepolis' does away with it). Satrapi talks of a childhood in the war infested Iran, a child's naive reaction to political upheaval, her brief separation from her family and life of a third world person in Europe. Thence she talks about her return to Iran and life in times of "peace". There are glimpses of Iranian life, of the horror of war and sorrow of life without family but all is in context of our protagonist. Satrapi has made no special effort to portray a life or section of the society that she did not come directly in contact with. Every third person who could have had a story of his own is touched only briefly. Her only forte is her ability to add humour to almost every situation.

'Persepolis' starts in 1980, at the end of the Iranian revolution and the introduction of the veil in the country. Satrapi recounts the revolution and her understanding of it. Her family was quite progressive and educated her about the history of the revolution. And by the end of the Shah's regime, the government landed in the hands of religious fanatics. Iraq invaded soon after and Iran suffered a catastrophic hit to it's population. Dissenters of the religious government were prosecuted and taken prisoners within the country. Young boys were promised heaven and sent to the battlefields to be blown up. Women lost their rights. Marjane's family sent her to Austria to continue her study away from the oppressive air of Iran. She suffered as a third-worlder amidst her European friends. But she managed to get good grades. Teenage heartache and cannabis led to her eventual wrecking. She eventually returned home to Iran admitting herself as a failure. After a period of depression she got hold of her life again and eventually left Iran promising her mother that she would not return this time.

I really liked the first part of 'Persepolis', where Satrapi talks more about the Iranian revolution and the population's oppression under the new regime. In the second book she gets more self centered. The life of a third world child in Europe and her pains might interest readers in the "first world" but it was a mighty drag to me. Anyhow, I am glad that I read this book, if even for just the first part. As for the author, I did not find any special attraction to her style.

Yuganta - Irawati Karve

A friend posted on facebook that she was giving off her books. Of the list only this one caught my fancy enough to make me look it up. 'Yuganta' was a treatise on Mahabharata, an epic that had captured my imagination to the hilt in my childhood. So I rode half way across the city to her "small" going away party, realised that it was a too big a gathering of unknowns for me to feel in place, wished her luck and got the book with a warning that I was not to expect much of it. Since then it was stowed away in my shelf and came up at last when I was running out of options.

I had picked up the book idly to flip through the introductory pages of the book. It was interesting enough to make me keep it on the desk as the primary read. Karve had compiled together a bunch of essays on Mahabharata in this book, so the structure of short independent pieces was appealing to my current taste in books. As I read on, I gradually came to like the way the author had approached the entire subject. Karve warns the reader in the very beginning that what follows is her interpretation of the Mahabharata and its characters; an interpretation that she is wholly entitled to and which she does not presume the reader to agree with. Karve then picks up a few of the main characters of the story and scans them in an analytical light, trying to identify their wisdom and follies. In her belief that the Mahabharata (or the original form of it : Jaya) is a recording of actual history, she tries to pry out the most realistic meaning and interpretation of events.

The book starts with a short piece on Gandhari, one of the lost characters of the epic poem. Karve tries to put life into the character and tries to tell her story; her pains and sufferings. Then she goes on to pick out other characters from the story, Kunti, Bhishma, Karna, Draupadi, etc. and tries to tell the story from their point of view. She tries to draw connections and relations between the characters that are rather lost in the grandeur of the current Mahabharata. She also treats various events and themes from the epic in a similar manner. The book ends with a tone of regret of how the 'bhakti' movement had led to the loss of the objectivity and self confidence that was shown in our great civilization at the time of Mahabharata war; the end of which marked the end of an age.

I have mixed feelings about Karve's writing. While I was wholly in awe of her attitude and the way she had treated the epic, I found the writing style too heavily lined with feminist themes. The entire book also had a didactic undertone that puts one off. And then there was the raving about "our grand ancestors" towards the end. I liked the content, I did not like the presentation. But the one thing that Karve left me with was 'Jaya'. I think Devdutt Pattanaik has a book by that name. It definitely goes on my list.

Batman : The Long Halloween - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

It had been a while since I had read a graphic novel. I was more or less craving for a light and easy read; something that would not be too much of a burden to finish along with my recent hectic professional schedule. I was looking at Moore's 'Promethea' series but then I have something against series or probably it was cost that worked in favour of Loeb's 'The Long Halloween'. This one had been on my list of Batman essentials since I had read Nolan's review of it. So, swearing to myself that it will be the last of my Batman graphic novels (at least for now), I ordered the book.

There is a conversation with Nolan and Goyer right in the introductory pages of the book. They talk about how 'The Long Halloween' had been a major influence in the scripting of 'The Dark Knight Trilogy'. One thing that they mention in particular is how in this book Loeb brings to life the several characters around Batman who inhabit and shape Gotham but are remarkably characterless in most other works. In 'The Long Halloween' Batman is more human, more attached and more helpless in the face of the numerous adversaries he has to face. He needs his friends in the department, he needs an ally in the Catwoman. He seeks help from the lunatics in the Arkham Asylum. He is a lost man in an abyssal world trying to hold on the the bleak light of hope in any form, man or phantasm.

'The Long Halloween' is the story of Batman, Gordon and Dent trying to bring down Carmine "The Roman" Falcone and his empire of crime. They decide that they will do so without breaking the laws that separate him from them. But starting that Halloween night, a serial killer starts murdering the ballasts of Falcone's system. He ruins Falcone's business, kills his son, kills his muscle. All on public holidays, hence gaining the name "Holiday" killer. Roman and Batman both look to Arkham to gain clues to this killer's identity. But the Halloween drags on, long and cold, for almost a year.

I liked the book. So much so that I finished it the same night that I started it. The way Loeb had brought out the human in Batman and Sale's dark artwork are astounding to say the least. All the auxiliary characters are made more complete and real, specially Selina Kyle, the Catwoman. It is to this touch of realism (I know it is a superhero story) that I credit this novel's wonderful enchantment. But for now, I have had my fill of Batman and Gotham.

Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin A. Abbott

A friend had told me about 'Flatland' quite recently, after Nolan's recent movie about space and dimensions : Interstellar. It sounded quite fascinating but (as the introduction asserts) higher dimensions are very much a layman topic now. So I was in no rush to get to this book although it remained in my list. One fine day while ordering Borges's 'The Book of Imaginary Beings' I decided to add 'Flatland' to the order and picked it up almost immediately.

The book was way more succint than I had imagined it to be. The edition I read had a mere eighty-two pages and since I am currently a sucker for short and gripping stories I had no qualms in pushing it to the top of the list of pending books. To be honest, I did not have much expectations from the book. I had imagined it to be another treatise on the philosophy of higher dimensions and I had read enough crap about it recently to expect nothing more than a modification of the same old story. So imagine my surprise at finding myself immersed in the book and reading it cover to cover on a lazy Sunday. It is downright the most amazing book I have read in quite some time! And to think that it was written more than a century ago! I read the book with a stupid smile on my face that was a result of the incredulity of Abbott. He treats the idea of multiple dimensions with such crude simplicity that one wonders why dimensions is an abstract science anyway.

The story is narrated by "our friend Square" who is an inhabitant of Flatland. This realm of his is two dimensional and has various classes and sects of society not very different from our own (or atleast similar to what it must have been in later 1800's). There are also laws : natural and social, that govern a creature's existence and conduct in this two dimensional "Space". He addresses us, the readers in the three dimensional world, Spaceland, and tells us all about his flat world. And he talks about his vision of meeting the monarch of Lineland and receiving visions of Spaceland.

Abbott's genius is evident in every line of the book; his prose exposed in every sentence. It is the rare comination of good authorship and logically sound writing that one rarely finds in scientific literature or fictional writing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the eigthy-two pages of this book and marvelled at the comprehensiveness with which the author treated the subjects that would have been obvious questions while switching dimensions. I do not know much of Abbott's other works but I am sure enough to start digging.

The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus

'The Myth of Sisyphus' had come up in a discussion I was having with a dear friend of mine (one of the many we had had). She had suggested me this book when I had told her that I had read Camus's 'The Outsider'. The topic, as she had described it to be, did interest me. So I got hold of a copy but I was not expecting an essay. Not having the appetite for it back then and feeling myself rather lost in Camus's reasoning, I had put the book back on the shelf using the excuse that his arguments were rather difficult to follow because I had no idea about the references that he was making My friend did assure me that the references did not matter, and that if I persisted it would all be lucid in a bit. But I shelfed the book anyway. It was only when I recently read Sartre's 'Nausea' that I thought of getting back to this book.

I would like to believe that I now had the required existentialist knowledge to follow Camus. He builds up on the theory of Absurdism and looks at the possible options that an absurd man has for himself. He tries to argue the futility of suicide as an answer to the existentialist question. Camus recognises the absurd and advocates the acceptance of the absurd as the only reasonable option to counter it. He uses the works of other philosophers and writers, like Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Kafka, etc., to make his case against suicide as a viable option. He argues that ending one's life serves only to reinforce the absurd. He even dismisses the leap of faith as shown in the works of Dostoyevsky and Kafka as a philosophical suicide and suggests that it does nothing to defy the absurd. His solution is acceptance and rebellion; to live out the absurd as an act of defiance. Camus does make a convincing case of it. Though I think that he (and probably others) disregards other options that are present to the "absurd man". Sisyphus, who has been condemned by the Gods to the task of pushing a boulder up a hill and watching it roll back down as he sets to repeat his effort again, strikes Camus as the quintessential of absurd. The acceptance of his fate by Sisyphus, says Camus, is his true freedom; his rebellion against the absurd that he has been condemned to.

The other essays in the book were pieces on his Algerian travels. These were far easier to assimilate than the main one. They were also far more personal and engaging. Camus describes, not so much in events than the emotions stirred in him, a summer spent in Algiers, his travel to Oran and a nostalgic return to Tipasa. Any travel writer could look for inspiration in these short works.

Camus was as brilliant as I remember him to be. I think it is the personal touch that he lends to his works that make them even more endearing; more real. I am not sure whether I which of his works I will pick up next, fiction or non-fiction; but I surely will read more of him.

Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

'Love in the Time of Cholera' was recommended to me by a friend. I usually disregard books that blatantly seem like love stories. I am simply not a big fan. However, her last recommendation was Pamuk's 'My Name is Red', one that I thoroughly enjoyed. So despite the name, I decided to give this one a shot as well.

I could not have been wronger about the book. It was absolutely not a love story. It was rather a romantic story, and disgustingly misogynist. Fortunately I had read a pedantic work by A.L. Basham between this and Khushwant Singh's 'Company of Women', else it would have been an overdose of sexual fantasies of old men. Gabo's version was much more polished though. But his virile fantasies were staring back at me through the pages. His story is full of "selfless women" who were willing to please Florentino Ariza at any hour of the day. Women whose door our dear protagonist knocks and is received with great love. A womanizer who can make prostitutes fall in love with him, get married women killed for infidelity and stir passion in the hearts of widows. All this he does without the help of good looks. Gabo had created an amalgamation of every man's fantasies! On the other hand was Fermina Daza who time and again kept contradicting her own character. Gabo ties these two in a timeless love (?) and a Dr. Juvenal Urbino is thrown in to make things more interesting.

The story is about how Florentino Ariza falls in love with Fermina Daza. His pathetic self moves Daza to accept his proposal and they fall in a feverish young love. Daza's father tries to intimidate Florentino, failing which he takes away Fermina for a long vacation to her home land, in the hope that she would forget Florentino, but they manage to keep in touch and remain in love. However, when Fermina returns, she is another, more mature, woman and on the first meeting with Florentino, she refutes him and their engagement. Dr. Urbino is a local hero and the saviour of the city from the grips of cholera. He sees Fermina and falls in love with her "plebeian charms". Fermina keeps on turning down his various advances and one fine day she changes her mind and marries him. They have a stable marriage where they travel and have two children and are the center of the town's affairs. Florentino Ariza, on the other hand runs amok and keeps laying one girl after another in the hope that they would cure him of Fermina's love. But none do and he is still in love with her when Dr. Urbino dies of an accident fifty years after Daza had said no to Florentino. He woos Fermina again, makes her fall in love with him and their "young love finds a new life in the twilight of their lives".

For multiple reasons I did not like the story. The characters were inconsistent, the plot was too unrealistic at times. However, the only ting that made it bearable was Gabriel Garcia Marquez's writing. His style was rather simple but the way he connected his stories was very seamless. There were fillers that did not seem so and in no part was I actually bored, despite not liking the story too much. People tell me that his 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' is better. But I don't think I am picking up another Gabo unless I have nothing else on my plate.

The Company of Women - Khushwant Singh

I admit it. I had always been curious about what Khushwant Singh wrote like. He was openly lauded as the 'dirty old man' when I was growing up. But since I had never read any work of his apart from a small snippet (which turned out to be from this very book) in a magazine, I remained curious. So when I was browsing around for a new set of books, I suddenly recalled my curiosity. The result of which was this book which I chose since Khushwant Singh is known for his 'expertise' on the matter. It sat in the shelf for a few months before it was its turn.

I developed an apprehension in the opening pages of the book that turned into mild amusement when I was a couple of scores down. I think it was the puerility of my mind that had led me to be intrigued by the snippet in the magazine years back. But when the cover boasts :

Khushwant Singh is India's best known writer and columnist.

and 

This book is a triumph.

then one can do little but shake his head at the sorry state that India's literature has been in for so many years. No wonder people hail the likes of Chetan Bhagat as a writer in India. Half baked stories and mindless plots grab the country's interest. Our brains have been rotted over the ages. Anyway, back to the book, it was one of the most pathetic attempts at literature I have ever read. Though it was not exactly literotica, it failed to match up to the standards of the free pieces available online as well. I breezed through the 230 odd pages in a couple of days and put the book back in the shelf.

The story is about a certain Mohan Kumar who went to went to Princeton and was a lauded scholar. He comes back to India to his widowed father who gets him married. He calls it quits after a few years of tumultuous married life and his wife goes to her parents with their two children. He places an advertisement for female companionship in the newspapers. The story is about his recollections of his trysts in Princeton and the women who respond to the advertisement. Oh, he also has a huge penis.

Now I am not too sure what made Khushwant Singh's books so popular. Maybe this was a bad specimen to judge by. But even the fact that it was a book published by a reputable publisher in his name makes me doubt a lot of things now. Even though he adds a disclaimer that it was just his fancies, it could have been done better. I am not even remotely inclined to try any of his other books now. Good bye and good riddance.