More books

by oBelIX

So, I read a bunch of books over the last few months. Here go some reviews …

Oh and fuck wordpress – it just lost my entire post.

1984: This is a great book. It’s not one with the happiest of endings but it is very very immersive. Definitely a must read. It will have you think once, twice and then some more. You’ll keep turning the pages. This is also the ideal gift to someone you know who loves Twilight 🙂

The Assistant: Its set in an older time. The imagery in this book is beautiful. The writing is great. The best part though are the characters. They are described so beautifully, it’s so easy to understand them. Not just that, its the way they are described, like each chapter reveals a layer of their personality and you just have to keep reading.

Lord of the files: Another great book, about what happens when a bunch of children are left on an island. This is just a must read book for the story. I think it is spot on – even if some of the parts are a little queasy. Again, must read.

The Art of War: I got this just to see what the whole fuss is about. It turned out to be a collection of most obvious aphorisms.

Asterios Polyp: This is one of the few graphic novels I’ve read. At the very heart of it is a very routine love story. Wrapped around that is a layer of sardonicity (is that the word?). The outer covering is this beautiful imagery, the comic panels themselves that are vivid and deep. You can go through this quickly, read all the panels and feel that it is all moo. You will be missing a whole bunch though. It deserves time and energy. You need to read the pictures (so to say) and then you’ll see the beauty in the panels and the masterpiece this is. (Keep in mind – this is from someone who hasn’t read a whole bunch. It’s like a child unaware of the mona-lisa calling his drawing of a hippopotamus a masterpiece).

Scat: This is a ho-hum-tum-dee-dum story. Nothing spectacular. Worth a read but not worth buying – better to pick it up from a friend. I got this expecting the same wit as one of the author’s earlier works but it was a disappointment.

Innumeracy: this is one of those so called Mathematics books. It talks about how most of us are illiterate in common Mathematics, how we don’t reason correctly. Unfortunately, to most of the (5-10?) readers of this post the stuff in the book will be obvious.

Johnny Gone Down: This book moves too fast. Its action packed. I don’t mind such books, except that the scene and the reasons for moving fastly should be well thought out and presented. It fails on that count. It’s I think the author’s first book and I’m sure I’ll buy the next one because I think there is a potential of great storytelling, its just not there yet.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: This is like my Catch-22. I tried several times to read it but gave up. The trick is to persevere for the first 100 or so pages. The read though is totally worth it. The feeling you get after reading it is amazing. I warn  you outright – it is challenging and hard to read. You’ll find yourself flipping back and forth trying to make sure you grok what the author is saying. Overall though, invest the time to read this sometime in your life. It is so awesome that for a moment I was convinced that I had made a mistake in choosing Computer Science and should have studied philosophy instead.

 

 

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