Saturday, December 29, 2018

Book Ideas for Popsugar Reading Challenge 2019

The printable/downloadable version of the 2019 Popsugar Reading challenge is here.

Here I've presented three books in each category with at least a thousand book reviews on Goodreads for each book. The title URLs open on Amazon dot com.

1. A book becoming a movie in 2019
2. A book that makes you nostalgic
(Can't say what'll make someone nostalgic but here I'm listing a few books which are strongly associated with a place)
3. A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction)
4. A book you think should be turned into a movie
(Searched around to check what popular forums say)
5. A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads
Here's a list of books with more than a million ratings. I've listed books which I've hardly heard of.
6. A book with a plant in the title or on the cover
7. A re-read of your favourite book
(Leaving this one out. I think I'll be reading The Jurassic Park)

8. A book about a hobby
(Leaving it out too - for me it is Liar's Poker and Beating the Street)

10. A book with "pop", "sugar" or "challenge" in the title
11. A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover
12. A book inspired by mythology, legend or folklore
13. A book published posthumously
14. A book set in space
15. A book by two female authors
16. A book with a title that contains "salty", "sweet", "bitter", or "spicy"
17. A book set in Scandinavia
18. A book that's published in 2019
19. A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature
20. A book recommended by a celebrity you admire
(Had to spend a lot of time googling this because first I had to decide upon the celebrities)
21. A book with "love" in the title
  1. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Fiction, Magical Realism)
  2. The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (Horror)
  3. Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan (Memoir)
22. A book featuring an amateur detective
23. A book about a family
24. A book written by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America
25. A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title
(One can think about Chinese signs which are simply animals or read books about your sun sign for this year)
26. A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie
(I had the most fun doing this. I remembered the songs and had a tough time figuring out the books what with poor vision not helping me much.)




27. A retelling of a classic
28. A book with a question in the title
29. A book set on a college or university campus
30. A book about someone with a superpower
31. A book told from multiple characters POVs
32. A book that includes a wedding
(Ugh... I'm not liking these romance candidates anymore)

33. A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter
34. A ghost story
35. A book with a two-word title
36. A novel based on a true story
37. A book revolving around a puzzle or a game
38. Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
Saving the advanced challenge for later. 
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Friday, July 21, 2017

'The Dark Forest' by Cixin Liu translated by Joel Martinsen

(Pages: 512)
Goodreads, Amazon

A considerable time (Goodreads whispers, 'Nine months') has passed since I finished reading 'The Three-Body Problem' - the first book in the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" series. The first book, while being exciting, wasn't really thrilling except may be in the last 50 pages. Besides, I kept losing track of the characters while reading it.

Having gone through a lean patch of unexciting books (I have joined a library which houses mostly classics), I decided to give this one a go. I had also read that the second book is much better than the first one and kept delaying picking it up.

'The Dark Forest' starts with the protagonist Luo Ji conversing with Dr. Ye Wenjie at her (Wenjie's) daughter's grave and sets the tone for the things to come. The entire conversation is described from the point of view of an ant. The stark contrast between the tiny size of the ant and the subject of the conversation between Luo Ji and Dr. Wenjie - cosmic sociology - is really remarkable. The conversation touches upon topics like 'chain of suspicion', 'relationship between civilization and matter' and 'technological leap' (which hardly made any sense to me at that time).

Taking the plot ahead from the last book, the aliens from Trisolaris are coming to wipe out the bugs (i.e. humans) and take over the planet. They'll be reaching in 400 years and their omnipresent sophons (subatomic particles which are actually supercomputers) have locked down research and development in Physics. Sophons are also transmitting every written and heard word back to Trisolaris. The only hindrance to Trisolarians is their inability to read the human mind.

Humans are in panic mode and, in their effort to defend the planet, appoint four Wallfacers (an ex-US Defense Secretary, an ex-President of Venezuela who is also a nuclear scientist, a neuroscientist and cosmic sociologist Luo Ji) who are given extreme liberty to use resources to develop defense plans. In their efforts, they are allowed to deceive the rest of the world so that their real plan is never known to Trisolarians. (First whoa moment of the book!)

Meanwhile, Trisolaris is quick to appoint Wallbreakers - who are assigned the task of figuring out each of the Wallfacers' plan.

The plot takes the reader through the plans of each of the Wallfacers. While three of the Wallfacers are working hard at developing their plans, Luo Ji uses his Wallfacer status to live a life of extreme pleasures - moving to a home of his dreams and striving to find the love of his life.

There are other characters (mostly astronomers and defense forces folks) who are trying to choose a line of development to be used against the Trisolarian fleet 400-years down the line. (Massive scale of time!)

How the plans of the four Wallfacers shape up and what happens when Doomsday arrives is best left to the reader and will be a crime to reveal, it's simply fantastic how the author takes the reader towards the climax.

There are so many things that I loved about the book. First, the plot itself is so satisfying, that I am in awe of the author's thinking process. The book has one of the best practical applications of game theory and it makes immense sense in the plot.

Second, the references to historical events, books, and movies are so aptly placed, that it just shows of the author's preparation and application. Special mention for the tremendous impact left by Goethe's 'If I love you, what business is it of yours?' and the author's twist. (Successfully avoided spoiler)

Third, though the characters aren't as dense as a fantasy, the plot unfolds as if the author let the characters shape it instead of them being forced in the plot. Even, nondescript old people with nothing but a page or two, while comparing old days to new ones, lend a strong hand towards the plot.

Fourth, the futuristic technological ideas of the author are simply amazing (exception: For some reason, I just don't love flying cars) - mental imprinting, nuclear technology, light-speed travelling, and the forest-like structure of cities.

'The Dark Forest' has lifted this series among my most favourite ones. It's been more than a day since I finished the book and I am not going to stop thinking about it any time soon. I have spent all my free time today googling about Cixin Liu and this book but sadly, I haven't clicked around much for the fear of spoilers of the third book. I have also watched this interview of the author which talks about his thinking process and where he thinks science should proceed. Also, this article about how it'd be dangerous to send out signals to space is a good read. I can't wait to start the last book definitely hoping that it's a thrilling end to a fascinating saga. 
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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Top Three Books Read by A Few Tweeters in 2016

So, yesterday on Twitter, I asked people to name the best three books that they've read in 2016 and this is the list:

@PunsNProses 


@mindkhichdi


@Romaticize 


@Kerouacrow


@kapilk1210


@samosawallah


@selurus


@retardEngineer




 @idealistIdiot


@shutchup




 @Munchin_JugHead



@supaarwoman


@salonimunot



@Pushkarr



Thanks a lot to all those who responded. Apologies for the shitty formatting. Tried to link the books to their respective Goodreads but didn't happen. Enjoy your 2017!
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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

'The Last King of Scotland' by Giles Foden

Pages: 345
Goodreads, Amazon

I picked this one at a second-hand books store. The discount was really good and quite honestly, among all the books, this was the only title that I had heard of.

The book is an account of the Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan who is appointed as the personal physician of the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin. The book recounts his journey from being a general doctor to that of being a close confidante of Idi Amin. The doctor gets a close encounter with the lives of people in Uganda who initially look forward with great optimism to living a better life under Amin's rule after he overthrows the previous President Milton Obote but are finally left languishing to a bad fate under the abusive rule of Amin. Besides painting a picture of the landscape of Uganda as well as the lives of people, the author does a commendable job of giving a close up view of the chaotic mind of Idi Amin.

Throughout the book, Dr. Garrigan is shown as someone who is averse to take even the slightest of risks. This is understandable given how unruly Amin is. But given the circumstances in the book, it is difficult to imagine that someone will always be as timid as Dr. Garrigan. By the end of the book, the character of Dr. Garrigan is simply so frail an attitude, that any incident without Amin in it, seemed like a pushover to read. It is also difficult to understand why Amin will even confide in someone like Dr. Garrigan just because he is his doctor albeit blessed with a superior skill.

Until quite late in the book, I kept believing that the entire narration is entirely based on facts and that a Dr. Garrigan really exists. It took me a while to realize that the book is a fictional account based on news reports. The book could have been much shorter had it focused on Amin rather than the non-events in the life of Dr. Garrigan. I am sure a biography of Amin would make a better read. 
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Monday, November 28, 2016

'The Unexpected Guest' by Agatha Christie

Pages: 287
Goodreads, Amazon

I read 'The Unexpected Guest' on a lazy day with nothing much to do. I shortlisted it brilliantly by going by its cutesy little length as I wanted something light to read and wanted to be done with it in a day.

The book reads rather like a play what with the setting of the house described with a handy map at the beginning. It begins with the much-cliched scene of a stranger having his car stuck in the rains and he arrives at a house only to discover that a murder has been committed at the house. The stranger finds the murdered man's wife and suspects her of having committed the crime. However, as more and more characters emerge (including a servant, the murdered man's wife's lover, and a rather obscure old enemy of the man), the mystery deepens.

Written with the fast no-nonsense speed of Agatha Christie, there is never a dull moment in the plot. There is an incredible amount of planning gone in writing this short page-turner. There are many twists all through the book and the most important one is when the most suspected characters are revealed to be innocent. However, the motive behind the crime lacked the essence as I had expected from the entire buildup.

Overall, the book is a fun read and can be a great companion on an off day.

[WHOA! It just struck me while writing this post (the second paragraph) that the 1973 Hindi movie 'Dhund' is based on this book. Googled and Wikipedia confirmed. Filing this sudden realization under 'Benefits of writing'.]
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Sunday, November 27, 2016

'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald


Pages: 180
Goodreads, Amazon

I don't really remember exactly when I had bought F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' though I remember that I had bought it from a second-hand book store and most probably around the time when its latest movie adaptation (2013) was released. The intention, as always, of course, was to read the book and compare it with the movie. Like every reader, I consider myself an authority on certifying whether every movie adaptation lives up to the quality of its book. After three years of ripening in dust, I finally picked it as a quick read between books.

'The Great Gatsby' is set in USA during the 1920s - the era of tremendous excesses and a foreshadow to The Great Depression. It starts on a very promising note with the narrator, Nick, quickly introducing himself (someone who preserves his judgment according to his father's advice), the main characters and the main parts of the location of the plot. There seems to be an undertone of being an underachiever to the narrator's description with the constant comparison of himself with the rest of the characters.

The plot involves the narrator's mysterious neighbour, Mr. Gatsby, who keeps on hosting opulent parties seemingly for no real reason but really to gain attention of Daisy, the narrator's cousin and his friend, Tom Buchanan's wife. It turns out that, before her marriage, Daisy had promised the then poor Mr. Gatsby to wait for him after the war but ended up marrying the wealthy Mr. Buchanan instead. Thus, a throbbing romance (at least throbbing in the heart of Mr. Gatsby) is at the heart of the book. The plot speaks about how people have evolved into collecting material possessions while getting alienated from their true emotions. The descriptions of the frequent parties bring forth the opulence and the grandeur in the lifestyle of the characters while they themselves are hollow and struggling from within.

Though the author has not dedicated a lot towards character building, he succeeds in bringing forth the qualities of the main characters. My favourite character was the narrator who finds himself torn between his friends and their lives while aspiring to make a mark in his career. He is the only one who seems to undergo a transformation throughout the book's length - initially desiring to be like the rich and famous but finally learning that riches do not arrive without the company of misery.

The author's style of introducing sarcasm and dry humour in dialogue is very appealing. His writing is poetic and reminded me of 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'. Though the book is known for bringing out the American way of life, it seems to have a wider timeless appeal that concerns any person in a capitalist world. The book ends on a sad note that seems to suggest that though wealth can be achieved, the real dreams remain distant. Heavy heavy stuff. 
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Friday, October 28, 2016

Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem" translated by Ken Liu

Pages: 400
Goodreads, Amazon

Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem" is a widely popular recently published book in the science-fiction genre. It spans across several decades and planets and captures many important aspects of the Chinese history. As most of the action in the plot is based in China, the book was an introduction to Chinese sci-fi for me.

The plot revolves around two scientists - Ye Wenjie and Wang Miao. Ye is a pioneer scientist who has seen her father die during the revolution for his path-breaking ideas. She takes up a position at a secret army observatory. With the passage of time, Ye realizes that the unit is not a mere observatory but is a powerful communications centre whose reach goes beyond earth.

Wang Miao is a present day scientist who has stumbled upon an inconvenient truth and must play a game to unravel the mystery of it all. While he meets emperors, scientists and philosophers in the virtual world, he meets a myriad of people in the real world. The meeting of both the worlds is when Miao completes the game and is made privy to the secret of the existence of another planet complete with intelligent creatures (Yay! Aliens!)

The book is a grand in its setting - in terms of both time and space. The journey from the first to the last page is as if witnessing history unfold with lots of politics and drama sprinkled along the way. There is also a healthy dose of science talk that speaks in detail about black holes, relativity and time travel.

Though the translation is excellent, the only loose bits seemed to be when the action takes place on the other planet. The entire strategy of contacting and attacking humans seems sort of comical. 

However, I loved the lyrical prose of the book. Even the plot was interesting enough to make me feel like picking up the next two books in the series.
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