Back to Books!

So, after a long hiatus, i get back to what i love the most. Reading. Picked up a couple of books from the ISB library and got busy!

Midaq Alley (Naguib Mahfouz)
I picked this up from the ISB library only out of curiosity because this work had won the author the Nobel prize in literature. 30 Pages into the book and i was bored and decided to give it back and try my luck with some other book. But then met NM on the way and was told about how it gets interesting, so decided to give it a second shot and boy, was i surprised?This one starts slow but picks up pace towards the middle and then leads you into a vortex of emotions running through the mind of the central character of the book - Hamida. For me, she is one of the most strong-willed character that i have ever come across in all the works that i have read till now.Yes, she is enchanted by the pleasures in the world and doesnt consider the sanctity of means for her to achieve her ends. Yes, she chooses the lure of money over a committment of love. She gives in to the thinnest of possibilities which could get her out of Midaq Alley.But the way in which the author has been able to balance the extreme aspects of her character is mind blowing. It is almost like a Shakespearean play - whatthe audience sees and what the characters on the stage believe are totally different!So we have Hamida who thinks she is wielding power over Ibrahim when the latter was courting her, but it is so evident to the reader that, in her eagerness to extract herself from her pitiful existence in the alley, she was simply playing into the hands of the pimp.What strikes you about the book is the fact that you can imagine the street and visualize the characters taking shape, once you are through with the book and not many books are able to achieve this feat - at least in my experience.

Miguel Street (V S Naipaul)
Avoid.

Fasting Feasting (Anita Desai)
Started off well, but i lost interest towards the mid. Disjointed stories, it seemed, although the characters were part of the same story. One part ended rather abruptly and the other...well, what was the essence of it?

Riot (Shashi Tharoor)
Masterful. Shashi Tharoor weaves a story which captures your imagination for the way in which he blends it into the political backdrop of a village in India some years back and the happenings during that period. What stands out here is the way in which the author presents compelling arguments for opposing ideologies. From the perspective of a Hindu about the muslims, from the perspective of Muslims about the hindus, from the perspective of "real indians" about "spoilt, elitist and over-educated" indians who doesnt have a clue about the real india and then for the other side, etc. And if the book is able to convince you about each of these arguments when you are reading them one by one, then you know the mastery of the author on his material.Although i did feel that the romantic/sexual undertones could have been little lesser and more space was provided for the ideological debates and commentaries.

Definitely worth a read!

The five dollar smile (Shashi Tharoor)

These are short stories which was written by the author when he was in his late teens. Some of them are really nice and some of them, you could feel are amateurish.Good for a read though!