Reviews on books

A Maidan View

I am not merely writing this post here to rescue this thread from being blocked, but the book is so GOOD that I couldn't resist the temptation of sharing it with you.

'A Maidan View' is book written by Mihir Bose on Indian cricket. For a diehard fan of the sport, it is a must-read, for a so-so follower of the gentlemen's game -- like yours truly -- it's again a must-read and even if you don't have anything remotely to do with cricket -- and I am talking about a section of the society dominated mainly by the fair sex tribe -- it is, still, a must-read!

There are few Indian journalist who can match Bose's pedigree. He has worked with many of the prestigious UK newspapers including Times and Telegraph. He has worked with Wisden and is now BBC's sports editor. Fabulously written book providing not only an insight into Indian cricket but Indian society as well.
 
This is such a wonderfull thread.On Jit's request this thread is being made lively again for jatlanders to write reviews, read reviews and share their ideas about any book they have come acroos.

Good Luck!!

:)
 
Thanks Samar for opening this invaluable thread . :)

Red Sun: Travels In Naxalite Country by Sudeep Chakravarti, This very book catched my eyes, recently in a book fair here in Jaipur .. I found it quite good so thought like sharing a lil review about it yet, thou haven't started reading it seriously due to lack of time .. :)


‘The Maoists are patriots, by their own admission . . . India’s Maoists do not want a separate country. They already have one. It’s just not the way they would like it—yet.’


In 1967, Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal, became the centre of a Mao-inspired militant peasant uprising guided by firebrand intellectuals. Today, Naxalism is no longer the Che Guevara-style revolution that it was. Spread across 15 of India’s 28 states, it is one of the world’s biggest, most sophisticated extreme-Left movements, and feeds off the misery and anger of the dispossessed. Since the late 1990s, hardly a week has passed without people dying in strikes and counter-strikes by the Maoists—interchangeably known as the Naxalites—and police and paramilitary forces.


In this brilliant and disturbing examination of the ‘Other India’, Sudeep Chakravarti combines political history, extensive interviews and individual case histories as he travels to the heart of Maoist zones in the country: Chhattisgarh (home to the controversial state-sponsored Salwa Judum programme to contain Naxalism), Jharkhand, West Bengal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (where a serving chief minister was nearly killed in a landmine explosion triggered by the Naxalites). He meets Maoist leaders and sympathizers, policemen, bureaucrats, politicians, security analysts, development workers, farmers and tribals—people, big and small, who comprise the actors and the audience in this war being fought in jungles and impoverished villages across India. What emerges is a sobering picture of a deeply divided society, and the dangers that lie ahead for India.

PS: Review taken from penguinbooks website .. :)



Rock on
Jit
Samarkadian said:
This is such a wonderfull thread.On Jit's request this thread is being made lively again for jatlanders to write reviews, read reviews and share their ideas about any book they have come acroos.

Good Luck!!

:)
Click to expand...
 
Thank you Jit, for putting "life" back into this thread...:)

My favorites, all rated 5 of 5..
1) Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda: Modern Spiritualism at its best
2) The Animal Farm, by George Orwell: Satire at its best
3) The motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara. If too impatient to read through the book, then watch the movie by the same name...: Cause at its best

you can read all three either as a novel or a philosophy....
 
i am also in to reading books and my favourite is cerventes' ''don quixote''

it relates how a simpleton can teach us useful lessons in life.
the is quite long , incidently the first novel of the world,so one has to read it to discover for themselves.
 
Cervantes' Don quixote is a very amusing novel indeed. The character of Don Quixote who sets out to as a knight errant is both hilarious and touching. A kind of person who has lost his own sanity and still questions the sanity of society and of people inhabiting it, is a very powerful tool of satire in the novel. The episode of windmills is very hilarious especially. The novel should be read to get an insight into the falling values of society through the eyes of a man like Don Quixote who psychologically inhabits a different time and space.
praveerdhaka said:
i am also in to reading books and my favourite is cerventes' ''don quixote''

it relates how a simpleton can teach us useful lessons in life.
the is quite long , incidently the first novel of the world,so one has to read it to discover for themselves.
Click to expand...
 
thank you poonam for being so articulative in putting through the message of the novel .
though most people are aware of the windmill episode, there are many incidences in the novel which are lessons in morals .

my favorite is the don's speech to the earl where he exhorts him not to force his son to have education according to his choice. he requests him to let the boy follow his own interest.

i think this is unique as most parents even today pressurize their children into the fields they do not like. i think cerventes here has given the very first lesson which every parent is supposed to follow!
this is amazing in the first novel of the world.
 
i think deeps whatever you have written in your comments is not in good taste.
after all you must realise that criticism has to be positive in order to be heard.
first establish yourself in the critical circles, then even your crass comments may pass in as the voice of authority.
you can be the chaos queen but you have to undertake these simple steps.
i believe you have major talent lying in you and this place is the last to waste it.
i hope you won't disappoint in future.
your friend
 
You are right Pravir! this novel, though a prototype of modern novel, is well ahead of its time because the concerns it has taken up are so very of our own age and Lionel Trilling has rightly said..."all prose fiction is a variation of the theme of Don Quixote". Well this novel gives insight into so many issues like class, morality, chivalry, illusion and reality and that too with the help of protagonist like Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza. Its full of hilarious incidents..like windmills, battle with wineskins, blanket tossing of Sancho Panza and so on. At the same time there are stories with morals such as that of the man who could not keep himself from prying. Its really worth reading!
praveerdhaka said:
thank you poonam for being so articulative in putting through the message of the novel .
though most people are aware of the windmill episode, there are many incidences in the novel which are lessons in morals .

my favorite is the don's speech to the earl where he exhorts him not to force his son to have education according to his choice. he requests him to let the boy follow his own interest.

i think this is unique as most parents even today pressurize their children into the fields they do not like. i think cerventes here has given the very first lesson which every parent is supposed to follow!
this is amazing in the first novel of the world.
Click to expand...
 
poonam u have got a wonderful knowledge of books.

quoting trilling here shows your critical insight.

i think we share the same critical passion.
thank for being here with me.
kudos
 
Mindblowing Book: SHAKESPEARE’S WIFE by Germaine Greer

This is a compelling, insightful book that already goes some way to right the wrongs done to Ann Shakespeare. It steps off the well-trodden paths of orthodoxy, asks new questions and opens new fields of investigation and research. It combines literary-historical techniques with documentary evidence about life in Stratford, striving to re-embed the story of Shakespeare’s marriage in its social context...!!!
 
poonamkhokhar said:
Thanks Pravir! Books and literature are my passion too and interacting with people of same passions and interests is always a pleasure.
Click to expand...
dear poonam thanks for accepting me as your friend.
let me here describe a a small incident from the novel we are discussing and take our discussion to a further level.

don is sitting on his lame horse,girding up his lance and getting ready for adventure.
sancho ,who is nearby, is requested to remain close to hold the horse. the squire urgently wants to anwer the natures call but is detained by his master . after a time he does the thing in his pants and begins to stink. this is where the don comes up with his hilarious comment that proximity sometimes leads to contempt.
cerventaes here kills two birds with a stone. on one hand he provides farcical homour ,on the other he gives a subtle moral lesson on the necessity of being reserved at times.
 
Dunno , but i cant real novels and similar stuff .. the only two books i have read other than course work are Biography of Ramanujan... its great!

And the novel : Only love is real .. its also nice ...


Am trying very hard to finish this book by our CEO Mohamed El Erian : When markets collide !

It gives u a great insight into investing etc...
 
Books Review

When I was a child there used to be books all around everybody used to read a lot, but sadly It the culture of reading books is disappearing in India. While I was discussing this issue with some senior members in my team they asked me "Do you know how books are selected in some of the homes in India?" After seeing that I am not offering an answer they told me that the books are being chosen by interior decorators… by interior decorators! If you have brown-coloured furniture and carpet, you must have brown-coloured books. It is the “sad story” of disappearing languages and book-reading as well as newspaper reading habits, which are being rapidly subsumed by English and television and also by Internet and SMS

The young will read anything on the internet. More so, they get their information from their peers rather than from the press.

When asked to a young student as to "Who reads the editorial pages? “Those who take IAS exams,” he enlightened me.

However, there is another aspect of declining reading habits, that is nobody knows what to read, because nobody suggest another person.

So all respected members, here is a sincere effort to know the better books, you are requested to share the information about the book in following format:

Title:
Author:
Publisher:
Few words about the book:
(any other important points that you like to mention, please add up)

Hope to get valuabale suggestions.

PS: No discussion or leg pulling in this thread PLEASE
 
Thanks a lot Samar Bhai for the update but the bools listed at the link provided by you are only four and I hope that otehr persons may be reading a lot of books hence the thread...... so that we can be benefitted by the reading of others and know about the nice books
 
Dhawan, C.L The Godman has Feet of Clay

This book is a stunning depiction of the sacred and not-so-sacred activities inside a cult ashram.

Susan and Lawrence are American tourists on a visit to India. They become followers of Swami Vilasananda who preaches that spiritual salvation can be achieved in a state of heightened sexual ecstasy. Later Lawrence leaves Vilasananda and Susan to become a disciple of Maharishi Mohnish Mahaprabhu who preaches mediation and abstinence to achieve salvation. While Lawrence religiously follows the precepts of his new guru, Susan is heart broken by his chastity and tries all means, including seduction, to win him back.

This wickedly funny novel lifts the hallowed veil of secrecy from the lives of gurus and godmen to present a disturbing insight into their reality
 


Title: Mein Kampf
Author: Adolf Hitler
Publisher:
Few words about the book:A very controvertial book but it shows how to achieve great things by sheer determination. A bit boring , very hard to maintain the continuity in reading. But if one can go through it, will get some hard fact and truths about life.Though the book is banned in many countries but available in India.
Quotes: A very famous Quote "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live."

Title: The story of my experiment with truth
Author: Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi
Publisher:
Few words about the book:May be the best book to learn about truth and non-violence in the best way possible, by observing Gandhi's actions as he goes about matters small and big.But the book was written before REAL GANDHI came into existance.

Two completely different books. One can choose his way if he is facing the dilemma of violence and non-violence,truth and manipulation,agression and peace,making a nation superpower and taking freedom peacefully and many more things.

"A book is good one if you take something out from it but the best book is one which takes something out from You."
 
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