Book Review

I've been doing a lot of reading during and before the holidays. Here's a low down on some of the ones that stood out.

The World According to Garp

By John Irving
This is an amazing novel. First of all, I'll outrightly say I'm biased. I love any piece of fiction that deals with writing, or writers. But this was good all on its own. A highly imaginative plotline, combined with exceedingly interesting characters. For the likes of Manav and Vinay, yes, there was also a lot of hot passionate sex. It also contained in it a critique of fundamentalism, and extremism, in a manner that I have never read before. All in all, an engrossing read, which challenges you to think, and also, as I have previously mentioned, challenges you to write.

Five-Point Someone

By Chetan Bhagat

This is a book about what goes wrong in I.I.T. Its an account by an ex-IITian, of the type of people you never hear about in I.I.T, the bottom of the grade curve, the five-point someones. More than that, its a story of how three guys struggle with freedom in college, especially a college of the likes of I.I.T. I reccomend it to anyone who's always believed that I.I.T was the perfect place, and has devoted their life and energy into getting in. You should know all the good, and bad that you are getting yourself into.
For the rest of us poor mortals, who don't even dream of the above, its a good read, and reaffirms my desicion to not even try.

The Ramayana of Ashok Banker

This is a seven part series, retelling the Ramayana. I have read the first two parts, with the third coming out sometime this year.
This book is a sort of amalgam of The Ramayana and star wars, not in terms of Characters, but in terms of Style. The narrative is fast paced, and thrilling, and this retelling does what quite a few simply have not. Pay attention to detail. All the stories are included, as each book is long, over 500 pages. Thats 3500 pages for the whole thing, so one can be assured that not one tiny bit has been left out.
I enjoyed that. A lot of stories were in there that I hadn't heard, and a few that I must only have heard from my grandmother when I was wee lad.

Well, thats about all. The rest were crap.