The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

I couldn't have gotten back on track for reading had I not picked this book to read next after what a debacle Choke ended up being. This book is much hyped and talked about considering its movie adaption is already being premiered in many countries and is much well received like the book. In all the reviews that I read through and watched, everybody attributed it to be quiet a tear jerker. And the sadist in me did look forward to shedding a tear or two.

Two hundred pages went by and the downpour was yet to happen, thanks to all the Hindi movies, that kind of insensitise you to all things cancer (read: Anand, Kal Ho Na Ho, Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se etc. etc.). The subject of cancer is a much trite and banal theme in most Hindi movies, ending with the tragic death of the protagonist. I agree I did feel sad when the boyfriend, Augustus Waters, of the protagonist, Hazel Grace's (who is herself a cancer victim)  dies of the same affliction and I did share quiet a copious tears, but it wasn't a book that would stay long enough with me. I have shed equal or more for other books having death in them. Having said that, what resonated for me in the book was the chemistry between the two. The writing is sensitive and even though it is about the plight of cancer patients and how their affliction encumbers their everyday life day in day out it does connect with you. What I liked best about the book, is how a book by the name An Imperial Affliction actually brings the two of them together. Fault in our stars is not aimed at garnering sympathy votes for the cancer victims but instead only offers a peak in to their lives and how they go about trying to be as normal as possible with their suffering.

There is quiet a bit of beautiful writing in the book and I recommend that it be read, not for the hype but for the beauty of the in between. 

Choke - Chuck Palahniuk

I need to make this confession upfront. This book just didn't work for me. I skipped pages, it did not get me hooked even though I read it till the very end. The humour didn't work, the writing style, the story... Nothing worked... There were probably a couple of lines that did kind of resonate with me, but nothing else. The whole sex addiction part did not add much to the script either. I don't feel like even narrating the story, for it frankly only made me dislike it. Even though I liked the movie Fight Club and that is what made me pick this book up, I don't think I will pick any other Palahniuk book up ever again. Probably its the kind of book or humour rather that works for men, but I don't think a girl is ever going to enjoy this genre of writing. This is a weird book. Some of the stuff the author was writing about just made me feel squeamish and on top the story did not make much sense to me, so this goes down into the list of books that I never want to read again. I will give this a pass. 

Jaya - An illustrated retelling of the Mahabharat : Devdutt Pattanaik

What stood out for me when I read this book, was how every character including Krishna is shown to have not been spared the hand of destiny. It shows the duplicity of the human nature, the double standards, the follies and fates governed mostly as a result of past karma. It analyses each character at arms length, giving roots and reasons to their actions. Nobody is shown as perfect. Everybody is dealt the hand of fate due to their past actions or their inability to adhere to dharma. 

The ignorant me, would think that most of us are aware only of the outlines of the Mahabharat. We would all be inclined to believe that the Pandavas were the all ideal and Kauravas at fault. But the book dissects them for the layers they have. How Pandavas would easily fall prey to conceit and adharma till the very end even though they suffered the death of their brothers and sons. It lays emphasis on the fact that people who might appear to be your enemies, might not be so and their actions not necessarily bad. Even your altruistic actions might not be best for the flow of life, even though done with best of intentions. 

The discourse of the Gita, is something one should read again and again to grasp the essence of how life needs to be led. It is lucid and stays with you. It speaks of human attachment to the flesh of our body and the fear of death as a manifestation of it, making way for ego (Ahankar). The aim of human life is to make the soul grow materially, intellectually and emotionally for it is the only thing immortal.  Only humans that can differentiate between the soul and the body, and therefore it should make us better than animals who are governed only by the animal spirit of survival. It propounds the importance of empathy as a necessity to dharma. It talks of measuring scales of right conduct or behaviour and their being no set standard for the same because of us being mere puppets at the hand of destiny. And therefore one should not take pride in our good deeds because it is all a turn of fate and nothing else. 

There is a lot more to the book, and I haven't done justice to it all. But I hope the above does make you want to read the book, for it did make me reflect on my life.

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

I noticed this book at an oxford book store when out with a couple of friends of mine and what caught my eye was the "Thriller of the Year" by the Observer accolade for it. I was not even aware there was a movie being made of it staring Ben Affleck. On a whim I asked Him to buy it for me, but it he did. :)

So just after Norwegian wood I picked this one since I wanted this reading marathon thing going. And I was pleasantly surprised by how gripping it was. The story is divided into 3 parts, with the first starting out with the disappearance of Nick Dunne's wife Amy Dunne (Elliot) who was once famous for her Amazing Amy books. The story is narrated in turns by Nick and Amy in first person. The first half is the build up of the state of affairs of their married life and what has led to its near about break down and to of course Amy's disappearance. Like any murder/disappearance stories of wives, the prime suspect is the husband and pointing fingers at Nick are also the evidences that the police lands up on. Except that all is not what it appears to be. By the end of first half you do smell fish and the whole brilliance of the plot line unfolds in the second. I don't want to give any spoilers and therefore I am just alluding to what the story might be.

This book is gripping and absolutely unputdownable. I actually read through about 250 pages in one go in trying to know what happens next. JK Rowling's Cuckoo's Calling just pales in front of this. I highly recommend this book, if you are stuck in a log jam of not being able to pick up reading. This will definitely make you want to read more and more.

My only complaint from the book is the ending. I would have wanted a better end to it all. 

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

Whilst discussing this book with a friend, who had already read it, I was told it was a very depressing book and apparently suicides had increased in Japan after the release of this book. I was almost half way through when I got to know this, but that in no way deterred me in stopping mid way. I am kind of a sucker for sad books. Humour in books has in very rare occasion appealed to me. Anyway I feel I am very low in the order of evolution of humour in human beings. 

I had bought this book when I was visiting family in February and picked it up only in May after my attempts at reading Mammaries of  Welfare State failed. I had picked it about 5 times already and the maximum I had read was a 100 pages. Not to say it wasn't a good book but I had not gotten my act together of showing patience with a book. 

And after these failed attempts, when I picked up Norwegian Wood it appeared like a breeze. I was turning pages after pages wanting to know the life of Toru Watanabe (the protagonist) and his story of love and loss. The story starts of him being on a flight to Germany, where they are playing the Beatles number 'Norwegian Wood' on the flight which makes him sick in the stomach and reminds him of his past. There in starts his story of his childhood friendship with his best friend Kizuki and his love for Kizuki's girl friend Naoko. Very soon you get to know that Kizuki commits suicide for mysterious reasons and Naoko is left emotionally fragile at her loss. Toru and Naoko stay in touch discussing Kizuki, trying to recover from their mutual loss. But while Toru somehow gets around to it, Naoko is plunged into a abyss and has nervous breakdowns. Toru moves on to a private university where he meets Midori (his classmate), a girl full of life and spirit, very different from Naoko, who even though has suffered loss in her life, has chosen a different way of dealing with it. She is like a breath of fresh air for Toru, who finds himself getting attracted to her and missing her when she is not around. It then becomes something of a time travel, with Toru visiting his love of past, Naoko in Tokyo and his present, Midori. 

There are quiet a few suicides in the book because in Japan apparently suicides are a respectable way to die. And this does make this book sad, as you realise that love could fail you no matter how faithful you are, no matter how ready you are for it. 

I had read Murakami's Kafka on the shore before, but in my opinion it does not come anywhere near to Norwegian Wood. It's a wonderful book, which I think I will re-read it some day in my life again.