Dear all ,bAfter a very long time want to share some book reviews and see what others had to say. During my 10 day whirlwind trip to India got to catch up on lot of reading, some interesting books
Indira Soundarrajan's Kottaipurathu veedu and Vikrama Vikrama - very interesting fast paced novels. Kottaipurathu veedu is regular masala story but is well paced and interesting. Vikrama Vikrama fascinating story of reincarnation, somewhat cliched but difficult subject handled well.
English - People of the book by Geraldin Brooks, fascinating tale of an old jewish book's travails through history. Must read for all history fiction lovers.
Some re reads - Na Pa's Kurinji Malar - again what an impressive tale and despite some typical stereotyped views which are considering the times it was written it is hugely inspiring, wonder anyone else has read it?
Sivasankari's Nandu - wanted to throw the book away. Have vague memories of the story while i was in 6th or 7th grade of a suffering cancer patient and her travails, upon reading again not sure what the author's motive was, it neither inspires nor is an honest story (full of cliches).
Dear Madam, I hope now your health position might have improved. I request you to go through my Karthigai and send your remarks- I am enclosing the story for making your valuable comments
Anyone read 'A Toss of a Lemon' by Padma Vishwanathan? I'd love to know how accurate it seemed, from the view-point of our more enlightened readers. I found it very moving, but also very sad in its depiction of a Brahmin widow's extremely restricted life. Kathie
Dear all ,speaking of books I was able to obtain some Tamil books from the Milipitas Library near Sunnyvale.The Library has a section for international languages and 4 rows for tamil books.`Managed to pick up Su,Samudrams Sotru Pattalam (well written ,was he a well known writer of the 70s)also Kalki's short stories --some of it lwere real gems but' 'why did he ever write "Rangoon mappilai" and "Kailasam Iyer gabra".Also picked up Ganga Ramamoorthy's Uravugal Thodarkathai--it is a copy of Maharishis( late 60's writer) story written in Ananda Vikatan or Kalki. Yes malathi--nandu was a real tearjerker . If iremembe r it was made into amovie and a very depressing one too. While on the subject of books can somebody remember a historical novel titled 'Adimain Kadhal'(serialised in Kumudam in the late 60's set in early 1900's).The hero was referred as Kanchipurathan throughout the book.Has Sundar Krishnan heard of this book?--Regards,P Narasimhan.
On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 6:59 PM, Katherine Brobeck
It is written by Mohini (a) RA.KI. Rangarajan. Published by Vanathi. At present no stock. It's under reprinting. It will be available for the CBF 2010.
> Waiting to hear other people's book stories. > > Malathi
Hi Maloo
am half way thro dan browns THE LOST SYMBOL .
had to wait for a month before i got used to my reading glasses'
dropped umberto eco's The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana half way as it was too alien to my thought process though the subject of a amnesia patient- a book seller getting his roots back was fascinating.
The Lost Symbol was real let down. I pre ordered the book and it the plot was very week with glaring holes all through the book and half way through reading i guessed the identity of the villan. This one stands no where near Angels and Demons or The Davinci Code
Dear Sir i read the story, it was very absorbing and intersting, congratulations!! Just some thoughts -
Karthigai character is impressive, very smart and commited woman. Mayavan starts out as a villian but ending is somewhat lame, he admits to the crime and it is not clear how a smart person like him was unaware of faithful spies overhearing him. The sub story of Karthigai's mother surviving death etc seems like a bit of a distraction from main story. Other than that very nice tale, only ending could have been bit complex.
Venkat, Dan Brown dropped off my favorite author list after Angels and Demons (funny he wrote that before Da Vinci Code but i read it after) and i was so fed up at the artificial cliched story. But A&D intrestingly is a very absorbing movie compared to the film version of Da Vinci Code.
Interesting contradictions. I highly recommend trying Geraldine Brooks. I have read two books of hers so far Year of Wonders on the london plague and People of the book. Appears very well researched with absobing story line, in the end she also explains how much of her story is fact and how much fiction. Truly creditable.
Kathi, thank you for recommending that book on brahmin widows. I have ordered it on Amazon and will write more after reading. Just from the look of it looks good and yes it is true that they had a very restricted in fact unbelievably horrible life.
Hi, thank you for the comments, i have heard a lot of Sotru Pattalam, goes on my list of books to read.
Nandu was not just a tear jerker, i was shocked at how dumb and cliched the story was. I dont mind tear jerkers some of literature's best novels are like that - i can make a long list but most recently read a book on the london plague called Year of Wonders. Really amazing story of what people found positive at a time of death of pestilence. Another example Na Pa's Kurinji Malar. Story of an idealistic man and woman which ends with man dying and woman dedicating her life to social work. Normally sounds pessimistic but the author has packed so many social messages and observations around their saga that it becomes a classic.
ut again coming back to Nandu..really what was the author's intention? To describe how many times a cancer patient can throw up and which organ is affected after which organ in the slow process of death? How many cancer patients have their kids adopted by friends so easily like the heroine? Sivasankari amma was and is someone i greatly admire so vayatherichalai thavira no other feeling to describe this.
Dear madam, Thank you very much for your excellent remarks. Deficiencies noticed will be taken care in the historical novel at present I am attempting. Once again thank you for your comments.
I read all the previous 4 novels from dan brown and was eagerly waiting for this one (from the day they announced that the next book is named "the Solomon key"). I too was amazed when I started reading the book. However, as the pages pass by, I got bored and when I finished the book it more than just disappointing. If you haven't yet read, try Digital Fortress from Dan Brown, it is his first book and one of the finesh suspense thrillers I ever read.
Now, I am waiting for the next book from Michael crichton - Pirate Latitudes :)
dan brown tickles your brain if you are a trivia hunter. in the passing he mentions that the founding fathers of USA wanted to name their capital as rome and the river potamac a tiber.
the next thing i knew was i kept the novel down and started hunting for more matter on this.
I agree with the trivia - the problem though with writers like Brown is that you really do not know how much of that is true and how much of that is the author's own fertile imagination. Like in Da Vinci code the painting shows the 'lady' seated next to Jesus looks like a woman, well lot of men dressed like that in those days and he made it look like it was unusual while it wasn't. I heard that a lot of stuff around churches in Angels and Demons was also his imagination although it *sounds* hugely real and well researched when you read it.
Hi Maloo there is indeed a river called tiber renamed during the building of washington. and I loved the time when he says an ancient ceremony that still happens today on the day of sun god ra where people bow before an ancient tool of torture and partake in symbolic foods of flesh and blood. to the horrified audience he says join me for mass in the chapel this sunday.
Yes Malathi. Not sure if you are aware, this novel is found from him computer after his death. There were two novels found from his computer, One is completed and the other one is yet to be completed. The publishers and Crichton estate is looking for suitable author to complete the same.
Completed novel is "Pirate Latitudes" and that is what makes me excited as a crichton fan.
Dear Malathi The churches and landmarks in A&D are there having chased them all ...the wind symbol as you have seen in the movie is a bit of a let down though it feels like it is fixed into the story... There is a DaVinci Code tour which Americans flock which starts in Paris goes to London and Finishes in Rosslyn near Edinburgh.... If you really see both the last supper and lady of the rocks you will if not anything appreciate the author's gift of using those to his needs even if you dont beleive in what he says Sri
Dear Dr Sri, i actually like his interpretation of Da Vinci code, the movie was not that great but i really enjoyed the book. The problem is generally that Brown is not regarded critically as a great writer of historical fiction, for his liberal usage of cliches' and hard-to-believe situations. Lot of people seem to get very carried away and not appreciate more serious writing in the process - some examples Marcus Zusak, Geraldine Brooks and so on.
The latest one is veru boring but the other four are really intresting.
The more he describes about the christianity in angela and demons, davinci code and how it developed from a religion to an order which wanted to control the government, people is intresting.