Tag: Book Review

  • The Notebook by Roland Allen

    The algorithm seems to have worked overtime to recommend this book to me again and again. This is a Eurocentric history of the notebook that sometimes seems to be endowed with powers like saving us from doomscrolling to helping get things done.

    I read about the book first on Julian Hess’ Substack called Noted. I then heard his interview on YouTube with Parker Settecase.

    The book showed how the notebook that started with helping many Italian city states keep accounts affected many areas of European life. It helped artists make drafts, it helped people write about important life events, it helped novels be copied into notebooks as commonplace quotes, and as a diary. I found more fun reading the last chapter on The Extended Mind, a paper written by Clark and Chalmers in 1998.

    I have not been very focussed with my note taking and note making so far. I intend to get serious now.

  • Moustache – S. Hareesh (translated Jayasree Kalathil)

    A Bookstagrammer accused me of reading Murakami and not S. Hareesh. I was indeed reading Haruki Murakami’s latest book, The City and its Uncertain Walls at the time and felt guilty.

    It took me a couple of replays to get the name right. A search revealed that S Hareesh was a Malayalam author. He had written Meesa in 2018. It seems to have been controversial at first but which then won much acclaim.

    The book was translated as Moustache into English by Jayasree Kalathil and the Audible version was available when I searched for it in January 2025. To be fair, I wanted to consume S Hareesh just the way I had consumed Murakami. I enjoyed the narration by Mary Joseph.

    The story, at its heart, is the story of one man who grows up in Kuttanad in Kerala. He grows a moustache to play a role in a drama staged there. His acting strikes fear in the hearts of the people who watch the play.

    The moustache then gets endowed with fantastical powers. People make sightings, associate the moustache with various mysterious events, and create a myth that grows through the story.

    Add the magical pre-electricity Kerala as a backdrop, you get a mixture of the magical and the fantastical. Add people’s ego, imagination, and fears, and I think you get a good idea of what Moustache would read like.

    Listening to this book made me realize that I had such an imagination when I was a child. I was mesmerized by the customs, temples, and traditions followed in Kerala that I witnessed on my summer vacation trips there.

    But, I too imagined magical and fantastical stories behind temple paintings and wooden carvings. That same imagination kept me company when I walked with my father and mother at night along the paddy fields which stopped the road from reaching my father’s ancestral home. The swinging arcs of the torchlight in my father’s hand was the only tenuous link to reality.

    Education seems to have filled me with rationality that made me lose touch with that wild imagination. Reading this book seems to have rekindled it.

  • The City and its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

    I mentioned in Weekly Notes 51/2024 that 2024 wasn’t a good year for reading. I found out in 2011 that reading Murakami helped me get back into the habit, and I often use it as a trick. I chose this book with that aim.

    This book is interesting because it is a new version of his first story, which was a novella (a long short story, as Murakami calls it).

    I listened to this book on Audible. The narrator’s voice was very calming for me.

    I loved the worlds Murakami creates in this book – a town surrounded by tall walls and a town surrounded by mountains. There are some music mentions, but not as many as in his other books. The worlds also felt like they were connected to each other.

    I didn’t enjoy the first part of the book because I was trying to figure out the metaphors, and my mind was full of questions. Once I stopped doing that, I enjoyed listening to the book. I made a few notes during that time that I should tear out and burn.

  • Ronnie Screwvala’s book

    Dream with Your Eyes Open: An Entrepreneurial Journey by Ronnie Screwvala
    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    I listened to an interview with Ronnie Screwvala on the podcast episode of The Filter Koffee podcast. Screwvala is the founder of UTV which he sold to Walt Disney. Among movies, he’s the producer of Rang De Basanti.
    In the book, he shares stories about his entrepreneurial journey. He shares why he believes the next generation of entrepreneurs are the answer to most of the problems that plague India. He shares that dreaming big, not believing in luck and working hard is the key to entrepreneurs to achieve success.

    View all my reviews

    I would suggest listening to the episode on the Filter Koffee podcast and if you enjoy it to get the book.

  • The Guardians by John Grisham

    The Guardians

    The Guardians by John Grisham

    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    The book is about a lawyer who helps people in jail who have been wrongly convicted by the judicial process. The story is based on two partly true stories and I realised the possibilities are so many in India which has an overburdened judicial system and made me ask if we have something similar to Guardian Ministries.

    I recollect watching similarly themed Malayalam movie which did not trigger similar questions in me.

    The book also gave some very rare health advice: “Years ago he told me that the secret to a long healthy life is to consume as little food as possible. Exercise is important but cannot reverse the damaging effects of too many calories. I have tried to follow his advice.”

    View all my reviews

  • Share: Review: ‘Salam – The First ****** Nobel Laureate’ (2018)

    VM has been prolifically blogging the past few days. In this piece, he reviews the book about Pakistan’s first Nobel laureate and physicist, Abdus Salam. The book traces his work as he fumbles to make a mark in Pakistan’s history and is denied it because of his religious identity. I love VM’s observation on how he could have been Pakistan’s Abdul Kalam.

  • Book Review: Who Let the Dork Out? (Dork Trilogy #3)

    November 19, 2012
    11:26 pm

    Dear diary,

    Today I finished that book that was written by that dude Sidin who thinks of himself as if he is representing all Malayalees. What gives him that right, I ask? He is no representative of Malayalee culture living all that distance away in bleddy London and all.

    I brought this book from the Kitab Khana bookstore in Mumbai when I had gone there on Diwali vacation. Srinivas uncle was waiting outside for some time so I had to leave quickly. I had told him I had spent two and half hours in that bookstore. Coming out with nothing in hand makes sense to bookworm like me but not to him who do not understand the economics of spending time at a bookstore instead of bleddy buying and reading the book. Being in Bharuch also means that I can download nothing but email over the Internet. So, I brought this book.

    Srinivas uncle eyed me suspiciously when he saw the book that I had purchased but I diverted his attention by asking him about idli sambhar at that udipi joint opposite Bombay House.

    Anyway, I am writing here to tell you about the book.

    It was good in some places. It was bad in other places. It was okay in all places. He was just showing off writing Malayalam words in English all over the place. Ente Devame.

    He is just publishing someone’s diary just like that. Now I am really afraid if he publishes my diary like this also. And I have password protected my computer and you also diary. But what if Sidin is hacker or something or Anonyomous. Who knows? And then making money.

    But I identify with his humour in some places and I like it. Sometime Malayalam words only are the best way to express ones truest feelings. First time I read acknowledgements section in the book also and liked it. He is totally funny.

    In some places he exaggerates a bit and that makes me slightly mad only. Too much it is. Would I recommend this book to others – yes. So, that they can also suffer and we can all laugh about it over a can of beer. I will, ofcourse, be having a can of Coca-Cola.

    Hmm. Must work on that book I was writing. How about if I publish you diary saying it was written by somebody else? No? Okay.

    Rating: 4/5

  • South of the Border, West of the Sun

    This article originally appeared on my blog http://lifeofpradeep.wordpress.com. I recovered the post using Wayback Machine.

    Title: South of the Border, West of the Sun

    Author: Haruki Murakami

    Translated: Philip Gabriel

    Publisher: Vintage International

    ISBN: 978-0-679-76739-8

    Pages: 213

    Source: K J Choksi Public Library, Bharuch

    Rating 4/5

    I first heard about Murakami’s name in 2008 while reading Hugh MacLeod’s blog, gapingvoid. He had written a book about his experience as a marathon runner called, “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running“. I had looked for a book by him in libraries in Mumbai without any luck. So, it was really stunning to find this book in a library in Bharuch. I finished this book in three days flat.

    The story is simple. The changes in the man’s life are complex. The feelings of a man even more so. The man, Hajime’s feeling swings were almost similar to me although Hajime seems to be more lucky with the girls. It was interesting exploring these things myself and by myself. I do not think that these explorations bear sharing here.

    I do not know how different these books are in Japanesse, the original language it was written in but the English translation is pretty plain. Perhaps this is what I found beautiful in this book. It does not try to be really exquisite about everything and is a rather average telling throughout.

    It was a nice catch and an interesting self-brooding read. There are other Murakami books here as well and I hope I can get my hands on them soon.

  • Chanakya’s Chant

    Just last October, I purchased and reviewed Ashwin Sanghi’s first book, The Rozabal Line. When his latest book came out, I wanted to purchase his book but had a huge back log of books to read. Hence, I held off. In the meanwhile, I signed up for BlogAdda’s Book Review Programme as well. Sanghi’s book Chanakya’s Chant (Amazon Affiliate Link) came up whilst I was in the last few pages of How Starbucks Saved My Life.

    I really enjoyed reading Sanghi’s latest offering. The book has a nice balance of historical facts and fiction. It weaves these in magnificent ways to bring out the political realities of today and the life of Chanakya, 2300 years ago. The repetition of Chanakya’s chant throughout the book gets a bit weary as one reaches in the middle, but after all it is the title of the book, and one learns to skip that part when it comes. Keeping the explanation of the chant towards the end of the book was a nice touch. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the book and I have already recommended it to someone who is reading the book now. 🙂

    As I have said before, the book is an inter-weaving story between the present and a time 2300 years ago. The storyline follows the rise of Chandini Gupta to the position of power in New Delhi and Chandragupta Maurya to the position of power in Pataliputra in Magadha in an India 2300 years ago. Their rise is backed by the two ‘godfathers’, Pandit Gangasagar Mishra for Chandini and Chanakya for Chandragupta.

    It is towards the middle of the book that the link between how the story was progressing in the present and 2300 years ago becomes clearer. Both proteges almost have similar names – Chandini Gupta and Chandra Gupta. The story moves slowly to the centers of power, New Delhi in modern India and Pataliputra in the India from 2300 years ago. The involvement of Pakistanand China for political gains within India parallels the help taken from the fictional kingdoms of Gandhar and Kaikey which share the geographical location by Chanakya. There was nice symmetry in the stories as well. Having a man achieve power in India 2300 years ago and a woman do the same in modern India.

    The storyline is filled with political tactics employed by the godfather of the protege. I am not sure many of the tactics would work in the modern world. I am also not sure if many of the suggestions suggested or used to solve modern problems are practical. It was a nice instrument to offer suggestions in governance. The book also points to the idea of being okay with a little corruption for political gains while ensuring the work gets done mindset that several people in India have. I was a little uncomfortable with that suggestion. I understand that the idea was not to portray a clean Prime Minister but rather paint a more realistic picture of the position of Prime Minister.

    I think the book is well timed, fast and inspiring read. At the back cover, the book asks a question, does Chanakya’s chant succeed in modern day India? I think that is for every reader to answer for himself.