My Reading List of Oct '13

Reading list of July '13

Tawny, ageing books send me reeling into a nostalgic old world charm. They remind me that someone gazed into this very book and spiralled into a world quite different from what each one of us lives in. Someone grazed through these very pages that I hold and emoted similarly as I move from emotion to emotion. So if I'm sure of it being a good read, and if it's economical I would definitely buy second-hand books. And I came across just what I wanted when YMCA gave space to some second-hand book dealers space in one of their halls in Thiruvananthapuram. I grabbed a copy each of Don't Blink by James Patterson and The Girl who played with Fire by Steig Larsson.

Before reading about James Patterson I had heard about him inCastle, the television series(I'm a huge fan!). I kept muttering that dialogue of and from Castle, "Oh, I'm not James Patterson rich, but I do ok" for all the few days I had Don't Blink with me but didn't read it. So finally I dig into it and I finished Don't Blink in the blink of an eye. And now I'm a James Patterson fan too, waiting to lay my hands of another book of his. Inspite of having read it in May this book deserved a mention here more so as this helped trigger my insatiable thirst for good books all through the month of June. Come June I had finished that and moved on to a bunch of interesting books.So here goes the tiny list of books that took me through Oct-Sept 2013.

The Shiva Trilogy:

Mythology has always been my favorite genre next only to crime-thrillers. I fell in love with the genre with Devdutt Patnaik's Jaya. Through I had issues with the passive language, the narrative and the inner meaning of the stories left me spell-bound, that I went on to read The Pregnant King, also by the same author. And no, I wasn't disappointed. But after the two books I never found anything worth my time in the genre till the Shiva Trilogy. Though I was reluctant to read it, The Immortals of Meluha reached me through a friend who insisted that I read the book.So I started the month with The Immortals of Meluha, the first from the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi.

While I dug into the book I heard many a friends, interested in the genre themselves, express their reservations about Shiva being depicted as a casual, pot smoking, free-willed mortal. They didn't want their beliefs about Lord Shiva to be questioned or influenced after turning a few leaves of the book. Frankly being an agnostic myself, I found the books a logical explanation of why Shiva is revered the way he is. Tripathi made me respect the intricacy with which myth is woven into a logical story, with the right amount of magic sprinkled on it. 

The language is plain and the story a melodramatic strain. Its runs a risk of sounding like a mythological drama somewhat like your everyday K-brand of television serials. While the war description is painstakingly long and laborious, Tripathi's language is simple and sweet in handling emotions and relationships.

Rating: 4/5

The Girl Who Played With Fire
I had read the 1st book from the Millennium series, 'The Girl with the Dragon tattoo,' a long time back. This girl, Lisbeth Salander fascinated me with her complete mysterious ways of detachment from the society. The 2nd installment in the series, 'The Girl who played with Fire,' gives you answers regarding her peculiar behavior. This book here is less about Mikael Blomkvist & more about Lisbeth Salander. Go, read it for her.

Gives you a better picture of why Lisbeth is the way she is.

Rating: 3/5

They Do It With Mirrors
They do it with mirrors pretty much refused to move. It gave me sleepless nights & restless days. This one being my first Agatha Christie book, I'm not sure I'll go back to one. Having said that, though the book was not all bad the exercise seemed oh-so-trivial.

This one is a neatly written slow story that dragged on to meet a rather flimsy climax.

Rating: 2/5

The Adventures of Sherlock Homes and his Funny Bone!

Watching movies could be the best way to idle away one's time. Movies not only take your thoughts away into an entirely different dimension, they also give you an insight into things you never gave a thought about. More so in the case of mystery, thrillers and fantasy movies. Mystery and thrillers not just keep one's brain engaged they also give you a fantastic adrenalin rush. So, nothing like watching something out of this genre when in blues as that is exactly when you need a distraction and an adrenalin rush to give you the pseudo rush of the happy hormones!

So here I picked this movie based on a character who even in literature fascinated me since a

very young age. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock

Homes could possibly be my first stint with literature. And oh boy did I enjoy it! My fascination led me to buy the books to posses them. And even set hands on the entire collection which I preserve till date. But sadly as age advanced I read Sherlock Homes no more. But I did some research on Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Homes. Like any Homes enthusiast would know I stumbled upon a few facts on Sherlock Homes and his characteristics. So all this grew on me and painted a picture of how Sherlock homes, if alive, would be. A maverick as he would have been, I also pictured him to be a pensive man of a rather austere demeanor with a pipe tightly held between his lips. As many a people have expressed anxiety on his sexual preferences, I would always try and imagine a woman who could excite Homes enough for him to pursue her. Now this is what brings us to this movie.

This is not the first time that Sherlock Holmes is being painted into the silver screen. But there are stark differences from one Holmes to the other. Sherlock Holmes is British and hence is perceived a stereotypical Brit with a crisp accent and clean and disciplined lifestyle. But here the script-writers have taken a creative liberty to portray Holmes as an untidy maverick, who prefers boxing for a stress buster.The movie Sherlock Holmes has a narrative style most suited to literature of the same name. Showing the events happening in it's natural flow and then to go through it again with a proper explanation of things. But my personal favorite were the fight scenes where Holmes starts by analyzing the potential harm he could cause and then going about the act in a jiffy!The movie is no creative marvel. But it sure excites any Holmes enthusiast for the sheer creative imagination and ideation of characters.The movie is all about Sherlock Holmes finding his match. When many Holmes enthusiasts raise questions over his sexual orientation, the movie take a creative liberty of setting things right. Here in the movie, where Holmes obsession over Watson is not hidden, the fact that both have separate love interests is a laudable creative twist to the story.The background scores for the entire movie blends in with ease.Although I don't find many glitches in the movie, neither can I call it a marvelous movie. But the story is sufficiently gripping and has a good flow of events. The most apparent aspect of the movie that sets it apart from the literature is that unlike the literature, it is perceived as a comedy.

First and foremost, Robert Downey Jr. is pretty ugly for what I would have imagined Sherlock Holmes to be. I pretty much imagined Holmes to be a clean-shaved man. But the way Robert Downey Jr. sported a stub bringing logic into the untidiness and erratic lifestyle Holmes has in the literature has fascinated me. Robert Downey Jr. definitely is a breath of fresh air for an adaptation. He succeeds in giving a dash of his personality to the character while retaining the true essence of Sherlock Holmes. Unmistakably, that is true Robert Downey Jr. style where his mastery lies in portraying men the public has an assumption about. He brings to us a Holmes who is not a stereotypical British gentleman, but an extremely erratic intellectual who so much life-like. In Downey Jr. Holmes looses the larger than life package and gets closer to the logic of a viewer. The man shows a controlled acting reflecting the maturity he gathered through his many attempts to come clean. The actor has an amazing chemistry with every other actor he is paired with.This is most evident with Dr. Watson.

Jude Law, who plays Dr.Watson is quite a dish! But apart from that there is no magic in comparison to what Robert Downey Jr. has done to Holmes. But unlike literature, the movie has treated Dr. Watson as an equal to Holmes, if not less. And the way Jude Law carries it off deserves applause. Dr.Watson's medical skills are put to use from time to time, increasing his prominence in the movie. I doubt if Holmes was so evidently against Watson getting married in the literature. But here the relationship between Holmes and Watson is much more colourful and life-like. British himself Jude Law retains the flavor and culture of the nation throughout the movie.
This movie has deviated from the original literature in many counts. But the most significant deviation would be in the case of Irene Adler, Holmes' love interest. Rachel McAdams is absolutely breathtaking for Irene Adler.Although in literature she is the only woman who Holmes takes any interest in, the movie adds character into their relationship.Given that the literature has many discrepancies in terms of the chronological order of the events, the movie follows on and does not give us any time, date or event when the two of them first met. Although it might show us how exactly Holmes was beaten by Adler.i e if the 'beating' is not physical, but intellectual.

 "To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex....”

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Homes

Robert Downey Jr as Homes

The movie urged me to watch the old Sherlock Homes television series with Jeremy Brett as Mr. Homes and Dr.Watson portrayed by David Burke. The whole series was meant for a thoroughly British audience. As a comedian once said..."it was so cold & boring". I do not deny that the television series did more justice to the literature than the movie. But the movie is appreciable as a creative extension of the literature. It suits any viewer, irrespective of their nationality, race or gender. Jeremy Brett embodies Sherlock Homes and, if I might say, immortalises him. But Robert Downey Jr. goes on to add spice to the character making the experience a a brand new one, without losing its flavour.
The movie is enjoyable for the comic timing of the duo and the storyline. Performances have been good but could be better. The script was good and adds to the enjoyability of the movies. Kudos to the team...but I expect you to do better the next time. My hopes stands justifies as the directer, Guy Ritchie has not done any noteworthy movies as of yet.( the reference depends entirely on my discretion!) So I'll be waiting until the next Sherlock Homes movie!

No Marley for Me...NOT!!!

My uncle has a dog. It's white in colour, with grey ferocious eyes, viciously sharp tooth & claws. It has attacked almost every family member who has ever visited them & played with it. So I do neither play with it, nor like it! I cant stand street dogs. No, not because they are dirty or untamed, but because they are dogs.The only dog I can stand is a pug. (Yes, the ol' Hutch dog) But that too when it doesn't come near me! So note to whoever reads this: I HATE DOGS & I AM TOO SCARED OF THEM!!

But my uncle seems to like them. Particularly his dog. Inspite of being an absolutely lovely person, my uncle would not get rid of his attacker dog, He would take him out, feed him & all.I failed to understand his concern until now. Now that I've seen Marley & Me I am able to reason with his point of view.(click on the title for the synopsis of the movie)To start with, my prejudice against dogs did not stop me from enjoying the movie. Infact, the warmth & the depth of their relationship with the dog, actually moved me.The movie begins with a dog breaking loose it's collar & running away jumping hither thither. This kind of gives you a feel of what's in store for you. Being the exact opposite of a dog enthusiast, I wasn't really keen on watching further. But the way the movie unfolded got me interested. (yea..the cast did help!) Maybe the trailer would help you!

This movie is based on a book by John Grogan

named Marley and Me.And the movie directed by David Frankel is narrated from John Grogan's point of view. The man started off as a reporter,but took off as a feature writer. Marley was his one-point source of articles for a very long time.Grogan's articles were received so well that he wrote the book . Now the man is out with his 2nd book, a memoir, titled The Longest Trip

Home. You can get a whole lot of the John Grogan experience from his website which is a portal to his books and blog.

Being a budding Journalist myself it's a huge relief to know that it's okay to not know what exactly is going to

click for you. It's natural to think that you know what

suits you best and still go wrong.And that something, somewhere will work in your favor (too optimistic?! What can I say..am an optimist!)Infact that goes for not just any profession, but for life!

John Grogan could never tame Marley,though he always wanted to! He tried his best to train him, but in vain! So when not at home, John would never..and I mean NEVER let his leash loose. Owing to his behaviors Marley soon became sort of an impediment for the couple to have a baby, let alone have a vacation. But they worked things out patiently overcoming those rare thoughts of giving up on him. So the puppy unintentionally taught the couple to be patient about relationships. It made me think how difficult it could be to hold on to a relationship. And yet how wonderful it feels to look back at the years well spent. It made me think how easy it is to give up on someone or something. But to hold on to it means a hell lot of love, passion, adjustments and wit. And it's not wrong to adjust as long as it weighs less than your desire to make it work. And that is exactly what Jenny Grogan,played by Jennifer Aniston, does.

Jenny, wife of John Grogan, a journalist herself

wrote for the Post when she got married to John. She was a feature writer there.

As and when their family grew she decided o give up her job because bringing up the family was her priority. Sounds much like a trademark Ekta Kapoor K-series serial doesn't it?(Those of you who are

unaware of the Ekta magic may fondly click on her name.) Jenny relentlessly supports John in his career despite the fact that a career like his was something she had dreamed for herself. And she never tried to fulfill her dream through him by forcing him to do anything. And yes, she was constantly pregnant in the movie.Not once or twice, but thrice.Juggling her time between the three kids and Marley can't be as easy as it sounds. But Jenny manages to sail through all this with some patience, tolerence and a lot of love. To me Jenny Grogan sounded like a true blue bharathiya nari who is often picturised as the one to sacrifice her career for her family. As I may reserve my comments on the matter, this is not the only part I felt was probably larger than life.

The variety of troubles Marley puts the

Grogans through sometimes catched you by surprise. One tends to wonder if Marley was actually 'the world's worst dog'?! There were even some who wondered if Marley's erratic and high strung behavior was due to some psychological condition. There is a scene when Jenny asks John to get rid of Marley immediately. To be frank my heart goes out to Jenny just as it does to Marley at that point. Here is a list of some of Marley's

naughty feats.

• Eating the sofa cushions and every other piece of furniture edible to him.
• Wrecking the couples relationship with all the babysitters, mailmen and sorts in the locality
• Swallowing a necklace John intends to gift Jenny when she was pregnantthe 1st time(It eventually gets gifted..dogs poop u know!)
• Pooping on one of the only beached open to dogs leading the cops to find it out and shutting it for dogs.

But all is not bad. Marley did a lot of good deeds to the family too!Here is a list of those.

• Getting John to realize that it's time to move on with the 'plan' and have a baby.
• Sort of console Jenny when she miscarried their 1st baby.
• Helped John from freaking out when the Grogans actually had their baby.
• Being the same ol' Marley when the whole world was changing around John and he wanted to be grounded.

The biggest grief that Marley could give the family was his death. The columnist John Grogan once said that the most response he got for his column was for the eulogy he wrote for Marley after his death.

So a journalist by profession, it is but natural that John Grogan writes about his experiences with 'the world's worst dog'. But what are the odds that it gets made into a motion picture?! But as OwenWilson(who plays John Grogan) says in the movie, "I have a tendency to surprise myself!" Well, that seems to be the story of his life!(Read John Grogan's 2nd book for reference.)

The trend of the time seems to be making movies from either real life incidents, books or both.

I wouldn't start taking names, but you can just look around

for names!Is it because it's an easier to get a good story that way? One doesn't have to churn their brains a lot for an appealing story. Or is it because we love slice-of-life stories these days?

The best thing about this movie is that you would enjoy it irrespective of whether or not you own a dog. It is about the love and patience that goes into building a relationship. Though humans might not need to have such a hell lot of patience to get to stand one another, it got me thinking that how often we give up on each other. There is little though on why and how we gave up, on be it an idea or a person. But does that mean that we work on impulse? I think not. But just as a Karan Johar movie would say, the heart can seldom go wrong(oh wait! He says the heart can never go wrong. But I beg to differ)

I don't feel the urge to comment on any of the performances except for Marley. The dog who played Marley was fabulous. He really brought out the essence of the movie& the dog. The marvelous actor would be a labrador retriever named Rudy/Brownie. Let us not forget to appreciate his trainer, when we congratulate Marley. So kudos to his trainer Jim Warren who has been in the trade for quite some time now. One cant expect it to be as easy as it looks! Here is this interesting read about training animals in movies. Click!

All this about Marley leaves us with an urge to see the real marvel, Marley. The real Marley acted in a movie called The Last Home Run.

So here's signing off with a thought. A quote from the movie. "How many people can make you feel rare, and pure, and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?"