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Showing posts with the label Book talk

The Book Thief

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The Book thief,  Markus Zusak The story of Liesel Meminger, an orphan living with adoptive parents in Nazi Germany during World War ll, as narrated by Death..."when Death tells a story, you listen.." Liesel has an irresistible affinity towards books and words. Though Mr. Death is extremely busy with his work that is collecting souls, during the war, he somehow irresistibly follows her. Liesel's love for words and books turns her into a book thief.. Death first meets her when he comes over to collect her little brother's soul.. There he sees her first theft, " The Gravedigger's handbook". And that's the book her papa ( adoptive father) uses to teach her words, later. Death follows her through her childhood, other thefts, adolescence, friendship and a tender bud of love that is charred by a bombing attack.. It is a wonderful book.. Set in a very dark time yet hopeful.. The narration is unique as the narrator himself and makes the book in...

Catch 22 , Joseph Heller

Incredible book!!! But not an easy read at all. The plot is an island in Itali ( Pianosa), during World War II. I could get hitched to the book only in my second attempt. When I attempted to read it years back, I couldn't progress beyond some twenty odd pages. It seemed so haphazard and complicated then. This time I was determined and as I progressed found it incredibly humorous and satirical. At the beginning I thought Yossarian, the protagonist, was completely mad, even psychotic. People around him too thought so. But as he tried to get out of combat citing mental instability, there was the 'catch 22'. Catch 22 was a very straight forward clause as follows: Catch 22 specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real immediate was the process of a rational mind. A crazy person could be grounded.( taken out of combat duty). All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missi...

The Help, Kathryn Stockett.

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The Help, Kathryn Stockett    The book is about the black helps and their white bosses in Jackson, Mississippi during early 1960s. Story unfolds in three women's viewpoints, 22 year old Skeeter who aspires to become a writer, Aibiline and Minni two coloured helps. It is Skeeter's idea to write a book about the helps and their perspective of their work is what brings these three women together and changes their lives..   Of all the characters, Aibiline stands out, being wise, kind and dignified. Just out of the trauma of the tragic death of her own son she is attached to the little girl she is looking after. She is raising her seventeenth white child, Mae Mobley, a chubby 2 year old, who is deprived of her own mother's love and care. The bond between Aibiline and Mae Mobley is the most touching part of the novel. Aibiline tries to make the 'baby girl' a confident young lady and also tries her bit to pull out the seeds of racial discrimination from the min...

A Minute to Midnight, David Baldacci.

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That is the thing about crime thrillers.. You might not remember a thing after some time..But, they keep you tethered.. You have this urge to turn the pages to know "who did it"? That exactly what "A Minute to Midnight" by David Baldacci is. Weed, meth, porn, multiple murders, psychopaths and a 6 feet tall muscular and gorgeous female FBI agent.  Preetha Raj

Why I am a Hindu, Sashi Tharoor.

Why I am a Hindu by Sashi Tharoor. I started reading this book to look for reasons not to feel guilty being a Hindu, practising  rituals and festivals that have become habit. Because these days, people can't be just an ordinary Hindu without bring judged politically. We are now such a highly polarised people. The book helped me in that respect. Starting from the philosophical basis of Hinduism and it's practices and slowly moving to the political hinduthva ideology. Philosophy of hinduism being very difficult to absorb, it may be interpreted in many ways. Also it could be the maladjustment of a predominantly introspective philosophy being converted into a social, political and nationalistic ideology.  Anyways, if a group of people defined their hinduism and propagating it, well, that is not my hinduism. I align myself to the philosophical and spiritual hinduism of which tolerance and pluralism are the most prominent aspects. Thank you, Dr. Tharoor for providing the...