I recently started reading a lot of books (going through 1 book a day sometimes!), so thought it was a good idea to keep track of what I read. Here are some of the books I read recently:

• What is the What

  What is the What is written by Dave Eggers based on the true story of Valentino Achak Deng who was a refugee who got amnesty in United States. What is the What is a proverb of Sudanese origin which keeps recurring throughout the story. The whole book is very heartbreaking. The image that remains in my mind is that of an Ethiopian soldier who beckons the child refugees to come closer calling out “Come to Mother!”, only to shoot them down when they are close enough. The depravity of human nature shocked me. This book covers similar areas like Emma’s War only more personal and in the point of view of child refugees.

  A book to read for sure, just to be aware of the violent nature of man and be thankful for the placid existence that most of us have.

• Gods and Pawns

  Gods and Pawns (The Company) is a collection of stories about time traveling by the cyborgs of the future to preserve and create items of value from the past to be sold for big profit in the future. Some of the stories are quite funny and the very idea of cyborgs who occur like Gods to normal human beings is very realistic and offers quite a variety of stories. Kage Baker’s knowledge of history is quite extensive and this novel offers a good view of life in the times past.

• The Towers of Trebizond

  The Towers of Trebizond (New York Review Books Classics) is a really comic but sometimes emotional book on the travels of Laurie in Turkey with her aunt Dot and a priest Father Chantry-Pigg who are looking to convert Turkish muslims into angelican christians. The book delves in detail about Angelican Christianity and about adultery. I didn’t realise “Laurie” was a woman till I read the wikipedia review on the book :) Some of the action described are very far fetched but then it is fiction.

• White Man Falling

  White Man Falling is a humorous book about the travails of one R S Swaminathan, a retired police office in a small town of Tamil Nadu when a white man falls before him and dies. I am amazed that a “white man” could write so much in depth about the Tamizh milieu so accurately. By the middle of the book, the “Indian English” used in the character’s dialogues was irritating and blocking the description and the story. If at all, Indian English must have been used, it could have been “Tanglish” which would be more suited for the story. I guess the author did not know that much about Tamil Nadu after all. Also, Tamilians dont squeal “Adaa daa daa”, they go “Ada ada ada ada”. I liked the sub-plot of the villain who, after realising his wrongdoings, atones his sins in a temple rather than face legal justice. That is truly the way it happens in India.

  But overall, a good book to pass time with and if you are looking to poke into the psyche of tamilians.

• The In-between World of Vikram Lall

  The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a novel of a 3rd generation Indian-Kenyan who is on the run from his country following a conviction for corruption. Meanwhile, we get to glimpse forbidden love between his sister and his Kenyan Kikuyu friend, the gradual degeneration of Kenya, from a country of hope, to a country of loot and corruption. Also glimpsed is both the sides of the Mau Mau Uprising. It is a good read and I managed to read it within a day, it was that compelling.

I am planning to make my reviews a more standard feature of my blog. Look out for the next 5!