Paris - a city shrowded in mystery. Atleast the numerous books written describe it so. I have read 3 books till now, written at different points in time, the plot has it's foundations in some or the other famous monument of Paris.
The first of the series was Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown based built on "La Louvre". This was also made into a movie, as you already know. It caused quite a sensation due to it's religious association! However it does have a love track running along with the mystery track.
The second was Hunch back of Notredame by Victor Hugo. This was a love story of sorts among the inhabitants of the famous Notredame church in Paris. I read an un-abriged translation. Found the original fench book too much for the little french that I know.
The third and the latest that I read was The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. This is also another love story and the setting is The Paris opera house.
I enjoyed reading each of these books....in their own way they were quite thriling! Parisans and the thrill they get out of love shrouded in mystery....Would love to visit this place some time...
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
Oliver twist
The first time I heard this, was on TV, there is this cooking show that is called Oliver Twist (cute guy with a funny accent and nice style of cooking). In one of my visits to landmark, and the usual browsing through classics, I saw this book. I was wondering what it was all about when my friend told me it was a very good book. So, yup you guessed right, I picked it up.
It’s actually a slow book; I have fallen asleep numerous times while reading it. At times I even cussed myself for liking classics!
The story is about this young orphan, who is brought up in the cruelest of conditions, in a typical English country side. It talks of how he escapes the clutches of the middle class people of that times, and reaches London, how he gets cheated in London by a gang of robbers, of the assistance of some elderly gentleman and lady of the upper class, and the change in his luck and finally of his becoming happy and experiencing a much desired and wanted love and affection by the people surrounding him.
It is a book with a typical happy ending, which all of us would want in a book but then, one which makes the book a “typical book”. To me it was a decent read, quite touching at times of Oliver’s misery and happiness but not something that had a “punch” to it.
It’s actually a slow book; I have fallen asleep numerous times while reading it. At times I even cussed myself for liking classics!
The story is about this young orphan, who is brought up in the cruelest of conditions, in a typical English country side. It talks of how he escapes the clutches of the middle class people of that times, and reaches London, how he gets cheated in London by a gang of robbers, of the assistance of some elderly gentleman and lady of the upper class, and the change in his luck and finally of his becoming happy and experiencing a much desired and wanted love and affection by the people surrounding him.
It is a book with a typical happy ending, which all of us would want in a book but then, one which makes the book a “typical book”. To me it was a decent read, quite touching at times of Oliver’s misery and happiness but not something that had a “punch” to it.
I remember the day, a couple of months back when in one of my visits to forum's landmark, I was as usual browsing throught the classics section and I happened to notice this book. I picked it up to confirm that it was the un-abriged version, which it was, and I just bought it. Simple, didn't even see the reviews or previews. I had been hearing about this book a lot and voila, now Ive got it! After 2 months and 2 books read in-between, I got to find out what it is all about.
This is a tragic story of a beautiful girl, who was loved to the brink by 2 persons, one an old priest - who was the cause of her death, a murderer - and the other a ugly hunchbacked bellringer - who was even willing to get her a lover just to see her happy. She in her turn was in love with an army man, who being handsome and "of the society", looked at her - a nomad - as an object to be used for pleasure but nothing else. The story is about the tragic death of the 3 lovers and the good life of the 'society man'. It very vividly show the insanity of the European people of those times towards people from other parts of the world (I still believe this exists but may be to a slightly lesser extent) and of the recklessness of the kings (read today's politicians).
It was a good read, specially after the initial half! The first half is a little too slow but it gets exciting after a point of time. Go on, get yourself this book.
This is a tragic story of a beautiful girl, who was loved to the brink by 2 persons, one an old priest - who was the cause of her death, a murderer - and the other a ugly hunchbacked bellringer - who was even willing to get her a lover just to see her happy. She in her turn was in love with an army man, who being handsome and "of the society", looked at her - a nomad - as an object to be used for pleasure but nothing else. The story is about the tragic death of the 3 lovers and the good life of the 'society man'. It very vividly show the insanity of the European people of those times towards people from other parts of the world (I still believe this exists but may be to a slightly lesser extent) and of the recklessness of the kings (read today's politicians).
It was a good read, specially after the initial half! The first half is a little too slow but it gets exciting after a point of time. Go on, get yourself this book.
Monday, September 11, 2006
The kite runner. This was one of those books I saw was being discussed on one of the Orkut communities. And when Yams told me about this movie she saw of a group of people reading and discussing books, we decided we would maintain a blog to do the same. Though we both seem to the only ones to be writing on this, lets see how it goes. Specially considering Yams is becomming fatter in the brain devouring books at an unbelievable rate. My thoughts of this book...are yet to be typed out. It shall appear soon. For now, I sign off with the resolution of reading atleast 50 pages per day of the book I am currently reading - Oliver Twist.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Hassan -
*For you, a thousand times over.
Amir's father -
* verdict on sin - There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft.
When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father.
When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth.
When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing.
* Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.
Rahim Khan -
* There is a way to be good again.
* Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors.
Amir -
* In ref. to Hassan
- If I was going to toy with him and challenge his loyalty, then he'd toy with me, test my integrity.
- He was so goddamn pure, you always felt like a phony around him.
* In ref. to father -
- Baba and I lived in the same house, but in different spheres of existence. Kites were the one paperthin slice of intersection between those spheres.
- I'd write him a hundred stories if I thought he'd read one.
Maybe he'd call me Amir jan like Rahim Khan did. And maybe, just maybe, I would finally be pardoned for killing my mother.
* I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running was that 'Nothing was free in this world'. You had to pay a price whether its fair or not.
* There is only what you do and what you don't do.
* Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence.
* Perspective is a luxury when your head is constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons.
* Forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.
* Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the VOLUME knob on life. Silence is pushing the OFF button. Shutting it down. All of it.
yelda - longest night of the year. Compared to : The starless night tormented lovers kept vigil, enduring the endless dark, waiting for the sun to rise and bring with it their loved one.
These are just few samples. I found lots of them in the book - which ripped my heart. Cried over several passages in the book. I know sounds crazy. I keep telling Raghu, when I like a book or a movie, I need to feel the characters. I'll get so involved that I'm amidst them as a onlooker. And the characters in this book without doubt moved me.
*For you, a thousand times over.
Amir's father -
* verdict on sin - There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft.
When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father.
When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth.
When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing.
* Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.
Rahim Khan -
* There is a way to be good again.
* Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors.
Amir -
* In ref. to Hassan
- If I was going to toy with him and challenge his loyalty, then he'd toy with me, test my integrity.
- He was so goddamn pure, you always felt like a phony around him.
* In ref. to father -
- Baba and I lived in the same house, but in different spheres of existence. Kites were the one paperthin slice of intersection between those spheres.
- I'd write him a hundred stories if I thought he'd read one.
Maybe he'd call me Amir jan like Rahim Khan did. And maybe, just maybe, I would finally be pardoned for killing my mother.
* I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running was that 'Nothing was free in this world'. You had to pay a price whether its fair or not.
* There is only what you do and what you don't do.
* Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence.
* Perspective is a luxury when your head is constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons.
* Forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.
* Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the VOLUME knob on life. Silence is pushing the OFF button. Shutting it down. All of it.
yelda - longest night of the year. Compared to : The starless night tormented lovers kept vigil, enduring the endless dark, waiting for the sun to rise and bring with it their loved one.
These are just few samples. I found lots of them in the book - which ripped my heart. Cried over several passages in the book. I know sounds crazy. I keep telling Raghu, when I like a book or a movie, I need to feel the characters. I'll get so involved that I'm amidst them as a onlooker. And the characters in this book without doubt moved me.
The Kite Runner
When I first heard of this book by Sundar, I didn't even know what a kite runner meant and the author was unknown. So, with my curiosity piqued I started reading this book.
I felt the characters in this book alive - I had a complete picture of the events unrolling throughout the entire book like a movie - scenes kept flashing by. The childhood of Amir, Hassan with all its innocence brought back memories from my childhood.
The relationship between Amir and his father is interesting. His father considers Amir to be a weakling, one who cannot stand up for himself. He wants his son to take active participation in sports - the games in which he himself had excelled during his childhood and youth. Amir on the other hand loves his father v much and craves -
for his attention - to reach out and understand. He wants to be considered important in the eyes of his father.
I was thinking how so often it happens that adults want to relive their life or some unfulfilled desires of theirs - forcing them on the kids without letting them be the individual they are and nourishing whatever they are.
In this book, Amir gets his encouragement to write stories from his father's friend Rahim. When Amir writes his first story and tells it to Hassan, the reaction and feedback from Hassan is amazing. The thoughts of the two boys are clearly differentiated in this instance. Hassan, a son of a servant who has been serving Amir's father since a child is an illiterate - loves the company of Amir and shows complete faith and loyalty towards him. I cannot forget the words 'For you a thousand times over' - the emotion that swells up in me when I think of these words is indescribable.
Also I wonder how childhood choices affect our adult life. In this book, look at Amir, Hassan, Assef - how their life turns out to be. Basically, you grow up to be what you are as a child with a little variation but the core principle would remain the same(?) Debatable - yes. I was remembering Raghu's words when had told me that - he feels that he is the same person as he was when he was a child when we were going through his childhood photos. Then, I had argued with him that it cannot be so - it changes with environment and experience and you aren't the same as u were. But I'm rethinking abt this. Would love to here comments from others on this.
I must confess I didn't know much abt how Taliban rose to power in Afghan and how different the country was before that. The book presents a rich slice of Afghan culture too.
And one other thing which reminded me of Raghu's thoughts were when Amir comes back to Afghan to get Hassan's son Sohrab. He looks at his house and wonders it doesn't look as big as it was when he was a child. Raghu was mentioning that how as a child he use to ride his cycle to some circle in the city - which he considered to be huge b'coz of big wide roads and lot of activities. And later he didn't find it as big as he once felt. Even I share this feeling.
I'll put up some words later from this book which struck a chord in me. All in all, loved this book a lot.
I felt the characters in this book alive - I had a complete picture of the events unrolling throughout the entire book like a movie - scenes kept flashing by. The childhood of Amir, Hassan with all its innocence brought back memories from my childhood.
The relationship between Amir and his father is interesting. His father considers Amir to be a weakling, one who cannot stand up for himself. He wants his son to take active participation in sports - the games in which he himself had excelled during his childhood and youth. Amir on the other hand loves his father v much and craves -
for his attention - to reach out and understand. He wants to be considered important in the eyes of his father.
I was thinking how so often it happens that adults want to relive their life or some unfulfilled desires of theirs - forcing them on the kids without letting them be the individual they are and nourishing whatever they are.
In this book, Amir gets his encouragement to write stories from his father's friend Rahim. When Amir writes his first story and tells it to Hassan, the reaction and feedback from Hassan is amazing. The thoughts of the two boys are clearly differentiated in this instance. Hassan, a son of a servant who has been serving Amir's father since a child is an illiterate - loves the company of Amir and shows complete faith and loyalty towards him. I cannot forget the words 'For you a thousand times over' - the emotion that swells up in me when I think of these words is indescribable.
Also I wonder how childhood choices affect our adult life. In this book, look at Amir, Hassan, Assef - how their life turns out to be. Basically, you grow up to be what you are as a child with a little variation but the core principle would remain the same(?) Debatable - yes. I was remembering Raghu's words when had told me that - he feels that he is the same person as he was when he was a child when we were going through his childhood photos. Then, I had argued with him that it cannot be so - it changes with environment and experience and you aren't the same as u were. But I'm rethinking abt this. Would love to here comments from others on this.
I must confess I didn't know much abt how Taliban rose to power in Afghan and how different the country was before that. The book presents a rich slice of Afghan culture too.
And one other thing which reminded me of Raghu's thoughts were when Amir comes back to Afghan to get Hassan's son Sohrab. He looks at his house and wonders it doesn't look as big as it was when he was a child. Raghu was mentioning that how as a child he use to ride his cycle to some circle in the city - which he considered to be huge b'coz of big wide roads and lot of activities. And later he didn't find it as big as he once felt. Even I share this feeling.
I'll put up some words later from this book which struck a chord in me. All in all, loved this book a lot.
Reading group
A set of friends with a common passion to read decided to start a reading group and to share thoughts on the book we read. Hope this platforms turns out to be as fulfilling as the idea promises to be to each member.
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