Summer reading - fiction

This has been a whirlwind of a summer! Lots of developments at professional front (wrapping my postdoc and starting my new faculty job!) and personal front (moving to my new home and setting it up) dissolved days into strings of hours that passed in a blur of activity. Looking back at the past couple of months, I find it incredible how much can be done each time the Earth completes a single spin on its axis!

One of the things that made this transition doubly amazing is that I re-'kindled' my romance with books (pun intended!). I guess it almost comes with the territory of packing and unpacking books into neat stacks, mulling over the color of new bookcases, fussing over bookends and creasing out tired-looking book dividers out of brown boxes. So it is only natural that I resume my blogging in this year sharing the titles (with my ratings and brief reviews of them) which provided me cozy corners amidst their pages when none existed outside.

1. The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: 3/5
Review: Part of the Inspector Alan Grant Series. Okay for patient readers, as all the action is strictly cerebral.

2. The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
Genre: Detective fiction
Rating: 1.5/5
Review: Frequently hailed as one of the greatest american detective writings but hugely overrated in my opinion. The protagonist Samuel Spade conjures information out of 'thick' air and leaves you feeling like a fool.

3. The Kindness of Neighbors - Matthew Iden
Genre: Thriller/suspense
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: Short and crisp. Worth a quick read.

4. Behind Closed Doors - B. A. Paris
Genre: Modern thriller
Rating: 3/5
Review: Debut novel of the author. Fluid prose, well written. Not in the same league as Paula Hawkin's The Girl on the Train though.

5. After Anna - Alex lake
Genre: Modern thriller
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: Suffers a bit from Hannibal Lecter complex. But overall an okay time-pass read which does not require too much attention.

6. Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Patchett
Genre: Satire/Humor
Rating: 4/5
Review: Antichrist has arrived and has been kind of ..er .. misplaced! Angels, fallen and otherwise, take it upon themselves to locate him and try to avert the apocalypse as they have got too attached to the imperfect ways of humans. Oh my god good (especially Mr. Crawly!). Do yourself a favor and please go and read it now. Note to self: read it again asap.

7. The Codex - Douglas Preston
Genre: Thriller/Treasure hunt
Rating: 3/5
Review: Good. If you like lost manuscripts, ancient tombs and trails, survival tales sort of things, this is for you.

8. Murder with Peacocks - Donna Andrews
Genre: ..er?
Rating: ..er?
Review. You got it. Forgettable!

9-15. Joe Dillard series (Books 1-7) - Scott Pratt
Genre: Legal thrillers
Rating: 3/5
Review: Ranges from average to some flashes of interesting twists. Definitely for fans of Grisham (I am not one of them).

16. The Professor - Robert Bailey
Genre: Legal thriller
Rating: 3/5
Review: Thoroughly american writing, enjoyable in parts. Passable.

17. Between Black and White - Robert Bailey
Genre: Legal Thriller
Rating: 2/5
Review: Continuation of characters from The Professor. Could have been an engaging story but writing is a let-down. Merely passable.

P.S. I wanted to try out legal thrillers once and I think I have had my fill with them for some years with 9-17.

18. Breakthrough - Michael C. Grumley
Genre: Scientific thriller
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: First book of a 3-part series. Involves conversations with intelligent dolphins, nuclear submarines, aliens, and apocalyptic undercurrents in shifting ice of Antartica. Engaging read.

19. Pines - Blake Crouch
Genre; Post-apocalyptic thriller
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: First book of wayward pines trilogy. Gave me a major divergent deja-vu. Will rather go for the TV series (if at all).

20. Diamond Dust - Anita Desai
Genre: Fiction (short stories)
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: Amazing as always, Anita Desai tells tales about flawed people in her flawless prose.

21. Sweetness at the bottom of the pie - Alan Bradley
Genre: Young adult detective fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: First book of series about the 11-year old charming and precocious Flavia De Luce, who goes about unraveling mysteries armed with her chemistry set and unbridled energy. Highly recommended especially for young girls. I am definitely going back for a second helping of this pie.


Currently reading:

1. Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
2. One more thing - B. J. Novak

Blog about my favorite blogs

On the science side, I have found iflscience quite entertaining -- whose editor is Elise Andrew, creator of the hugely popular I fucking love science facebook page. Its articles are pretty accessible too and you don't need any formal background, but just a healthy interest in science. Quantum Pontiff and Quantum Frontiers (run by Caltech's Institute of Quantum Information and Matter) are also interesting but rather technical and focused mostly on quantum information processing, so some may not like it as much as I do.

For Mathematics, I simply adore John Baez's blog Azimuth. The description of the blog actually clarifies that the focus is broader covering Physics, Earth science, Biology and technology too, but personally I find his maths posts most appealing. One of the absolute gems I have read from him is this beautiful exposition on relation between symplectic and unitary structures (okay I digress..). It is really amazing and has profound implications across fields. I was awed into stupefaction for full two weeks during my Ph.D. when I understood and used it in my research.

For a life in academia, I like the blog from Xykademiqz the most, where a full professor in Physical sciences at a major US research university shares her experiences (some might know her from blogger as Academic jungle). Scientopia which is a community blog on science is also worth checking -- personally I do not visit it super-often, as its dominant focus and contributors seem to come from biology. But people who worry about NIH grants, ethics in medical research etc may find it more engaging.

On the social and financial impacts of economics in our lives, mathbabe Cathy O'Neil and very much opinionated Noah Smith take the cake. Mathababe also runs an advice column Aunt Pythia on saturdays where she answers nerdy to kinky questions with equal panache.

One of my absolutely favorite blogs in recent time is the bad advisor --- who gives the advice people "want" to hear. This example shows why I love her blog so much. Also this. She sometimes even has interludes of giving good advice, which can be actually useful for some one. Keep rocking bad advisor!

Plus, there always is goodreads to go and wander amidst my loyal and comforting friends (a.k.a books).

And for my occasional indulgence in urdu poetry, I follow urduwallahs (it has a few gems such as full text with translation of Kaifi Azmi's composition "Aurat" but they need to be searched for!). A collection of poetry by Faiz Ahmad Faiz along with full texts and translation can also be found at this webpage hosted by Columbia University.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

 Book: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Author: Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist has been one of my overdue reads. I finally spotted it in the Carnegie Mellon Bookstore on a visit to my husband's office, and picked it up encouraged by the significant discounts offered on textbooks. I find I am still reeling under the effect of the three hours I devoted reading it in one-shot.

It is actually an easy one to finish soon --- partly due to its modest length shy of 200 pages; But mostly due to its vastly identifiable narrative, which gets even too close for comfort, repeatedly!Written in first person, it charts the life of a Pakistani immigrant named Changez in New York City, and the irrevocable changes the 9/11 attacks bring for him. Starting out as a princeton-graduated successful financier in New York City, he narrates the extinguishing of his American dream both professionally and personally, and his almost inescapable plummet into something the world would/can only identify as fundamentalism. His initial denial that anything can go wrong, the ensuing tension, doubt, self-reproach and final transition into a dark world outside neon lights of Times Square is described with heart-rending simplicity. It is the inevitability of this evolution, which Hamid conveys so masterfully to his readers, that makes the book so alarming yet so un-put-downable.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a chilling reminder that the emotional debris of WTC attacks extends far beyond ground zero; a poignant message that the fault-lines it created in hearts and minds will take much longer than 12 years to be healed. But it must be done before the fundamentalism takes over the reluctance...

Review Roundup

This is a list of reviews for the latest books and movies I have recently watched.

1. Book: Inferno
    Author: Dan Brown

This book again finds Brown's character Robert Langdon, Harvard symbologist, in a situation straight out of an action thriller, hardly a regular occurrence in the life of an academician (not counting the grant deadline weeks!). The extra touch is Langdon being a savior of the planet this time, against brilliant semi-mad scientist Bertrand Zobrist who has designs to unleash "hell" (hence the name Inferno) on the human civilization which just refuses to stop growing. Additionally, the backdrop constantly derives from Dante Alighieri's epic poem 'Divine Comedy' of which Inferno forms a celebrated first section. In the process, Brown frequently slips into a travelogue spirit where he spends paragraphs after paragraphs giving the reader a "wiki-like"  description of  cathedrals and museums in the Italian city of Florence (birth place of Dante), some of them not even relevant to the plot. Quite typically as in his previous works, this takes the readers into the regime of reading between the lines, deciphering symbols, and navigating dark corridors of medieval history and even futuristic science. I think this is an essential component of Brown's style of writing which makes him tick with such a wide audience --- of making the reader feel as if  'he/she knows' while keeping a pace which precludes the question 'how' or even 'what'. Add a dash of conspiracy theory, which Brown specializes in and you have a bestseller on your shelf. This is what Inferno manages to achieve quite successfully, especially as compared to Brown's previous effort 'The Lost Symbol' -- where reading the fine print only leads to an empty head throbbing with pain. So go ahead and pick Inferno; you will enjoy it if you flow along with Brown's spirit of crashing head long into historical tidbits, but do not question much.

2. Movie: Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani
    Actors: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone et al.

I am not surprised this movie is doing well, but I am not happy about it either. It is easy for a movie with lead actors like Kapoor to be saleable hits these days, unless the story line is irretrievably retarded. This movie exploits the presence of its lead actors to its full advantage, but unfortunately neither of the characterizations seem genuine. The misplaced view of self, the main protagonist Kabir (Kapoor) seems to champion throughout the movie and almost gets away with it, seems absolutely contrived to say the least. If the contemporary generation is finding a resonance with this so called "devil-may-care" attitude, this portrayal goes from being annoyingly superficial to downright disturbing. Unlike the movie, where Kapoor manages to salvage all his relationships and sings/sobs his way into hearts of family and friends whom he has trashed, real life can be pretty stingy in offering redemption opportunities. The other stereotype this movie promotes is that unless you are a wastrel in your school/college days, you would turn into a self-bashing, forlorn wretch with little meaning to your life. This is what 'padhaku' Naina (Padukone) seems to personify when she yells at her mother and says "I want a holiday", before running off to Manali with her cool friends. When she comes back, the ugly duckling has turned into a swan, shed her number 5 glasses, is comfortable flaunting her waist along with her legs, and has fallen in love with the cool Kabir. The reinvented Naina then even dares to sermonize foreign-returned Kabir on 'how to lead a life' (with whom she is still in love for some god-forsaken reason), sharing pearls of wisdom like importance of viewing DDLJ at Maratha Mandir over Phantom of the Opera at Broadway. Cliched does not even begin to capture it.

If you want better worth for your popcorn, go and watch DDLJ at Maratha Mandir. Seriously!

Unaccustomed Earth

Media: Book
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Genre: Fiction

I had resigned myself to spend long hours at the San Francisco International airport. I was tired after a long and hectic day and was hoping to catch up with some good sleep on my flight. The announcement that my flight would get delayed by a good three and a half hours made me resume my battle against boredom half-heartedly. I was browsing through news-stands for some beam of interest to save myself from falling into usual torpor of such situations when I came across this one. I have not really followed Lahiri's work in any depth though she is frequently credited with churning out bestsellers.

It is a collection of short stories centered around NRIs, mainly people of West Bengal in India, and their experiences on the U.S. continent (Lahiri is from Bengal herself and currently lives in Brooklyn , NY). It makes for a tolerable read. I quite liked the first story and it remained my favorite of the collection even after finishing the book. The author is definitely adept at capturing emotional dilemmas and intricacies of human mind and heart. The last three stories which form the second part of the book are also quite moving. They are independent accounts of experiences of two characters - Hema and Kaushik. Eventually the reader discovers deep connections in their stories as their paths cross unexpectedly.

I will recommend this book for a one-time read. But like many others in its league, it brought me yet again to this unanswered question - do the stories that aim to touch our heart necessarily need to be sad ... ? Most of them failed to do so but I still wasn't able to have a sound sleep on my flight.

Banker to the Poor

Media: Book
Author: Muhammad Yunus
Genre: Non-fiction

This was a present from my family on my M.S. graduation. The book is the story of an idea that started small and evolved into a movement, that aims to provide a novel economic solution to one of the most practical problems of the world --- poverty! The crux of this tale is about provision and impact of microfinance for the poor --- the idea that a little and timely help to the poorest of the poor can help them break the vicious circle of poverty and lead a life of dignity is really quite simple and practical. However, it has more to it and hence I abstained from restricting it to the genre of books on rich theories of microeconomics.

The first two chapters are totally autobiographical in nature. The childhood reminiscences of author leave you with a Malgudi-day like feeling (most of us R.K. Narayan fans would be familiar with this). The tale is so simply and wonderfully told that I didn't feel even a tinge of bitterness at the author's description (then a child) of partition of India in 1947 amidst chants of Pakistan Zindabad. He amalgamates you completely in his journey and you are hooked.

The real story of Grameen Bank* - the movement which has lifted millions of people out of poverty since its inception - starts in chapter 3 with author's return to Bangladesh in late 70s. You and I who have the luxury of reading and writing blogs in our spare time without worrying about two square meals a day are introduced to an existence which has to battle, struggle and win over the threats imposed by ruthless poverty everyday. The evolution of Grameen, starting from a small project in the village of Jobra to an international movement covering 2.5 million people worldwide is charted out with the ingenuity of a master storyteller. (You have to trust me for that, I am the first one to doze off on seeing reams of data and figures .) The author weaves an engaging tale of human triumph over the most hostile circumstances with application of concepts of banking and microeconomics as aides in this battle against poverty - of course with a twist. The reader is able to maintain the same level of involvement with the narrative be it the description of extraordinary lives of the ordinary people which were touched and changed by the Grameen movement or an account of bureaucratic and financial hurdles Grameen had to overcome to reach where it is today (anyone who has walked the official corridors in India would be painfully aware of this).

It also breaks some important and persistent myths, - I subscribed to some of them too before reading this book. For instance, contrary to the popular perception the repayment rate of loans by the poor is the highest. Most of us suffer from a subtle social arrogance which may sometimes manifest itself as distributing cash or alms to underprivileged on religious occasions or the like and any thought of such people recompensing our 'charity' is almost unthinkable. This book gives a reality check - the poor can be most ardent of workers and most faithful borrowers. They respect and cling to a ray of hope which can pull them out of their harsh reality and this makes them infallible to many temptations which, in fact, the privileged lot is more susceptible to.

I think this book should be read by one and all . Even if someone is not interested in the philanthropic aspects, it surely holds some lessons for all of us.



* 'Grameen' is a Hindi word which means 'of the village' (village is called 'Gram' in Hindi).