Liar's Poker - Michael Lewis

Liar’s Poker is an extended autobiographical essay of a misplaced investment banker. A BA in art history and masters in economics from London School of Econmics speak volumes about the utter confusion of what kind of a career he wanted to pursue. It’s a battle everyone can relate with it.
The book traces the journey of Michael Lewis from him joining Salomon Brothers as a trainee to his exit after establishing himself as a “Big Swinging Dick”. And along with his own journey, the author provides insights into the chaotic world within Salomon Brothers. Right from the rise of the company along with the mortgage bond market in the early 80s, and it’s opportunity loss during the junk bond bubble during late 80s. Even if as a reader you’re not financially savvy, you do not need to feel intimidated by the book, because Liar’s Poker does a brilliant job of keeping things simple.
The book is essentially about the people in the whole crazy financial world. It talks about the things that the people go through, right through the value chain. It talks about the graduation of a worthless trainee to a gawky geek to a mature man, eventually to the ultimate coveted title – “Big Swinging Dick”. The author does a brilliant job of showing the human side to the those ridiculously rich investment bankers. Well, a lot of them do not have a human side, as it turns out. Their greediness is as innate to them as the stereotype of a investment banker makes it out to be. But then, there are some, who do not start out the journey that way. Especially the kind of people who have art degrees. Sure they get corrupted with so much money flowing around, and so many money hungry people telling them the things they should be doing. ‘One-bad-apple’ phenomena. But these humans amidst the vultures is what makes Liar’s Poker a great story.
You will love this book if you have anything to do with the world of finance. May be you can identify with one of the guys in it. If you are one of the greedy folks, well, that doesn’t make you a bad guy. You probably still have a lot of people who look up to you. So don’t take anything written in this book about traders and bond salesmen and equities brokers and others too personally. Read it for what it is. A series of facts and one man’s opinion on them.
And even if you do not have anything do with the world of finance, but are enamored with the houses that the investment bankers live in and the cars they drive, you definitely should read this book, to get a glimpse into what they really are like.
Lastly, Salomon Brothers went through a lot more turbulent phase after the publication of the book. That’s just to give you some perspective. If you thought Salomon Brothers trading floor was a hell hole… it got worse. So stop cribbing about your job… unless you are one of them.

Eggs, Beans and Crumpets - P.G. Wodehouse

A collection of Wodehouse short stories are always a delight to read. Bingo Little, Bertie’s childhood friend stars in many of the stories in his book. He is married to a novelist named Rosie M. Banks. How he managed to pull that one off, I will never really understand. Anyways, granting that as one of those things that have to be for a story to be told – like superman can fly for all the superman stories – Bingo has developed this gambling habit (don’t remember him having that in any of Wooster/Jeeves stories) and keeps getting into trouble by betting on horses which finish last and those sort of things. Of course at times he does win, like this historic moment at the roulette table which you can read about in the book and it really makes you feel happy for him, regardless of his dog-napping antics. Eventually he does turn a good leaf and finds himself a respectable job. Wonder if he would ever publish a book that I might write.
There are some other stories featuring one time stars – or at least people who I don’t really recognize from other stories – in their romantic tangles and trust funds and inheritances. These are as rib tickling as any Wodehouse stories.
And then to top it off the book concludes by some stories of the most delightful conman, Ukridge. Corky and him make a great inseparable twosome. His “Buttercup day” day scam in the book is pure genius. Not that he is too well off after that, but what the heck, Corky will keep him afloat so no worries. Had the Ukridge-Corky stories been popularized enough they might have rivaled Laurel and Hardy in their own way. Well for now, I am fine with enjoying them in the books.

The Lord of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

I was always fascinated by the quote: “There are two types of people in the world, the ones who have read Lord of the Rings, and the ones who are going to.” Till recently, I was in the later group.
LOTR has the potential of becoming a mythology in its own right. It has all the necessary components. Quintessential battle of good versus evil. Strong characters teaching virtues of humanity. And well, creation of a world so detailed, that in distant future, when LOTR has lost its association with fiction, the middle-earth might just seem real.
The story of LOTR is well known, and I don’t have to summarize it here. Reading the book with hazy memories of the movie gave a bit too vivid imagery to the entire book. I could see Ian McKellen and Sean Austin and Elijah Wood and others throughout.
They say never judge a book by its movie. But LOTR the movie was the most amazing movie ever made for me. I loved it and love it still. And most of the deviations from the book are excusable considering it was a movie. The biggest drawback of the movie is that focus is given perhaps only to the fellowship. But then there are other characters that play very big parts in their own portions. And they are very memorable in the book. But then there are limitations that a movie places on a director and conscious choices have to made about what has to be left out. What makes the movie so great is that things have been left out without impacting the continuity. And some modifications are actually better in the movie. One that immediately to mind is Gandalf going to get Eomer in the movie before the battle of Helmsdeep. In the book I just couldn’t figure out what happened and which army did Gandalf go to gather considering that Eomer was always by Theoden’s side. Also, I thought that the book’s ploy, where Wormtongue simply throws out the Orthnac stone at Gandalf was a bit lame. I preferred the movie’s timely death of Saruman (in extended version). That said, I sorely wished that Peter Jackson had found someway to include Tom Bombadillo in the movie. I really loved that character in the book. And he is important and strong enough that the wise men of middle-earth thought of entrusting him with The Ring. He deserved a place in the movie.
The book also has a very real sense of time. Where days and weeks pass before people get somewhere. Though the movie might imply that fact, they obviously can’t show that. In the movie it feels as if Helmsdeep and Minas Tirith battle happens barely a week apart.
I guess this has been reduced to a comparison of the movie and the book. I couldn’t help it. In their respective domains both are at the pinnacle of artistry. I am too small to review anything this brilliant.

The Adventures of Sally - P.G. Wodehouse

When you enjoy Wodehouse for what it’s really worth – the wonderful phrases, the multi-layered (even if similar) plots, the endearing if not exactly heroic protagonists, etc. that’s all you want from his books. And I thought that’s all his books would ever be about.
But then I read The Adventures of Sally. And it is totally different from any of his other books. Well not totally different – the writing is still as rich and amusing. But the plot! It is an out and out love story. And for once, not one of those love-at-first-sight stories which are so rife in Wodehouse books. This one is spread over several months… in fact more than an year, in which characters develop, people get over their flaws, they evaluate their feelings, businesses are built and destroyed, and what not!! This is a Wodehouse book like no other.
Having inherited 25000 dollars, Sally sets off on a holiday in France, where she runs into Ginger, an amateur pugilist, office assistant, and among score of other things, a dog trainer, and one with an uncanny talent of screwing up everything he ever does. She also runs into a sophisticated businessman wise with the ways of the world, and Ginger’s cousin brother, Bruce Carmyle. Both fall for her over a period of time. Mind you, a period of time and not at the first sight. Well Ginger does somewhat fall for her at the first sight, but truly realizes his love only later. When Sally gets back, she becomes the financier for the production of a play, which is owned by her brother Fillmore. The playing becoming a runaway success, and with Fillmore finding his love in life, all seems to be going okay, except for one little thing: Sally’s betrothed, the playwright Gerald Foster, has gone and married an actress. Though broken hearted, she is not alone, for pining for her affections, both Ginger and Bruce come to America. And Sally flees to London to escape the haunting ghosts of the romantic adventures that she had with her Gerald Foster in the streets and restaurants of America. The peaceful and idyllic London sway her heart one way as she picks a man for herself. Meanwhile there is a ruined marriage of Gerald Foster with his actress wife, a betting business in boxing which goes awfully wrong. And of course, everyone knows one another they way they do in Wodehouse novels.
So you get the picture. The book is about the love story of Sally Nicholas, complete with love letters and tears and everything. I never had an appetite for mushy love stories. But this one was quite delightful. Not that the characters grow and mature and all of that they way they do in Booker prize winners. They do, but in a more Wodehousian way. And they sure as hell make you smile by their quirks and eccentricities like Wodehouse characters always do.

Globalization and Its Discontents - Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Laureate for Economics, 2001. And I thought, well, if he has an opinion on the problems of globalization, I might as well listen. The blurb says – From a leader of the anti-globalization movement, a statement like this [how globalization is not working] would not be remarkable. But coming from Joseph Stiglitz – former Chief Economist at the Worlkd Bank – it is startling and challenging. Exactly my opinion. And the Chief economist was also the Chairman of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors. And if anyone would have a pro-globalization agenda, it would be him, considering his loyalties.
But the author doesn’t have any loyalties so to speak. And he raises his voice as an economist working towards the “greater good”. He analyzes the failings of globalization in varied situations; which leads to the revelation that it is not globalization in itself which has failed, but the manner in which “Globalization” has been imposed on countries not ready for it, through economic and political pressures, or downright blackmail if one were to not mince words.
At some point the book does tend to get repetitive and feels like it is basically a vent to bash IMF. But then whatever the motive of the author, the theories as proposed by the author do seem very credible. I would love to read a counter-view of the author’s allegations against the IMF.
The most disturbing chapter would be the “The IMF’s other agenda”, where the author suggests that IMF, more than acting to bring about a global financial stability, is working for the benefit of “international financial community”. And international financial community for all practical purposes translates to the global mammoth banks and other financial organizations. This does provide a lot sense behind the actions of IMF during the financial crises across South East Asia, Mexico, or Russia. The stand of IMF on trade deficits, fiscal deficits, interest rates, monetary policies, etc. which seem without any reason or logic, with the new agenda in mind, seem perfectly logical. And this is alarming. If we have an international organization working with a bias, it cannot be good for the world.
The book ends with the hope of promise, which is just as good, since the overall picture looks extremely grim and gloomy. A lot of things that matter so much to us seem so paltry and trivial in the larger scheme of things. And the world desperately needs who have the intent and the authority to set things right at the larger stage. It’s a question of yours and mine daily bread.

A Pelican At Blandings - P.G. Wodehouse

Things are stirring up at Blandings castle again, disrupting the peace in the life of Clarance Threepwood, or Lord Emsworth.
The first ominous signs are when his formidable sister Constance, shows up. As if that wasn’t enough, she has invited a Duke Dunstable, a loud and rude mustached walrus who loves throwing his weight around. And to add to that company, Dunstable brings his niece, Linda Gilpin, along. He also invites Wilbur Trout, a habitually marriage-and-divorce addict who is pining for his last wife. Of course Duke’s intentions are not to give Trout the necessary distance and healing touch of a new place and new air, but to make money out of his misery. He plans to sell a painting of a woman, referred to as the reclining nude, which reminds Trout of his last wife and something that he’d pay anything for to possess. And in the spirit of treating Blandings Castle as his own home he invites a John Halliday around who is supposed to observe Lord Emsworth and suggest psychiatric treatment to cure the whims of nightly prowls in pig sties that Lord Emsworth was so prone to. Lastly there is a Vanessa Polk, daughter of the American millionaire J.B. Polk who Connie invites along hoping she could marry old Duke of Dunstable. That’s quite a few characters. Oh wait, there is one more, a friend of Clarence’s son, Freddie Threepwood, This is not mentioning some other peripheral characters, who while not important will still make you laugh, doing their good deed for the day.
Ok, so let’s take an imposter count.
Freddie’s friend, is not really is friend but an American crook come to make merry in foreign lands. Vanessa Polk is not J.B. Polk’s daughter but his secretary and has the same last name by mere coincidence. John Halliday is not a psychiatrist but a barrister and a sleeping partner at an art gallery from where the Duke has bought the reclining nude to sell to Trout.
And now let’s list down the tangles.
John Halliday is actually the heart broken lover of Linda Gilpin, Duke’s niece, who has turned him down because of professional reasons. And when they do make up, they realize that Linda is a court of ward of the Duke, effectively giving the Duke the veto power to decide who she married. Vanessa Polk is an ex-flame of Wilbur Trout, and is being wooed by the Duke. And she plans on stealing the reclining nude from the Duke for Trout while their romance rises from the dead and sways its merry head. The crook who is enjoying the English weather is in danger because John Halliday knows his identity and could bust him. And John Halliday’s art gallery has accidentally sold the fake painting of the reclining nude putting the reputation of the art gallery in a grave danger. So he is after the painting as well, wanting to replace the fake with the original.
That is all too much to handle for Clarence alone ofcourse. So he calls in for reinforcements, or back up if you prefer US Police lingo. Enter Galahad. And sit back and enjoy as he weaves his magic to lead to the eventual happy ending.

Strangers - Dean Koontz

Horror reading, while I enjoy it tremendously has mostly been limited to Stephen King. There have been few other one off novels like Shadowland, Walkers, etc. not written by King that I have read, but there is no author that I have really read on a consistent basis. And Dean Koontz is, well, popular in the genre, and I thought why not.
So I picked up Strangers.
Firstly, at 700 pages, Strangers is a big book. It is classified in sections on the basis of dates at which events occur in the lives of the central characters. And while you do not pay any attention to the dates whatsoever, you do understand what the author was trying to achieve. So there is Dominick Corvaisis – a writer who has sleep walking incidents which escalate to frightening nightmares, Ginger Weiss – a surgeon with a lot of promise whose career is threatened by blackouts and violent fugues, Father Brendan Cronin – who suffers a loss of faith and starts exhibiting mystical curing powers, Jack Twist – a ex-military ops, wronged by his country and ends up being a highly sophisticated thief, Ernie Block, who runs a Tranquility motel with his wife and suddenly develops a phobia for the dark and some other seemingly inconsequential people, as far as their import in the world is concerned, whose life is unraveling with similar disturbing symptoms.
The build-up of this part of the book is great. The way Koontz breaks on to the reader the causes for the above disturbances, and how the characters, at least some of them discover, which all seem psychological in their origin, is exceptionally well handled.
So then these ‘Strangers’ gang up and try to determine the cause, and correct it, not realizing the scale of the foes that they are up against… which is where the book starts its downward slide.
Climax of the any book, more so horror books, is vital. A bad climax will leave an extremely bad after taste in your mouth after you have turned that last page. And if the climax is as long drawn, and eventually as bad as it is in Strangers, the feeling of regret of reading 700 pages is overwhelming and takes away most of the good aspects of the book that you thought were there. There are some well thought out characters, but filling up volumes of pages so you can build them and losing the plot in the purpose does not serve any purpose.
And plus the book is not scary at all, primarily because it is not really a horror book. So the choice went wrong all the way.

Hot Water - P.G. Wodehouse

Ex-flames, murder, blackmail, break-ins, imposters… you might associate the adjectives better with a Sidney Sheldon novel. But when you mix all that with light hearted humour, you know it could only be Wodehouse.
Hot Water is an exceptional novel amongst all Wodehouse novels. Firstly, it’s more international than a normal Wodehouse novel which centers either in England or U.S.A. This one has France as the land of the crimes.
So there is a Wellington Gedge, an oppressed husband of a domineering wife who insists on him becoming an Ambassador of America to France. And with a phobia of all that is genteel and diplomatic, Mr. Gedge’s pining for his homeland America increases all the more. He breathes with relief as he finds out that his wife is planning to travel to England, which would give him the opportunity to participate in the merriment of the local carnival. And he is determined to do so despite being saddled with uncharitable guests like anti-alcohol senator Opal and his daughter Jane Opal, along with the proprietor of his rented Chateau Blissac, (his home for the non-French speaking audiences) Vicomte De Blissac.
A Packy Franklyn, the millionaire American football star, engaged to a Lady Beatrice Bracken, a sublime but scathing beauty, both get dragged into the plot when Lady Bracken asks his beau to befriend an intellectual novelist and a part time sound impressionist, Blair Eggleston, who in turn, is engaged to Jane Opal, the daughter of Senator Opal. Packy Franklyn finds himself increasingly drawn to Jane Opal, ever since he takes up the assignment of cutting Senator Opal’s hair. And as an additional favour to her, he agrees to withdraw a damning letter from the safe of Mrs. Gedge, who is using it as a device to blackmail the Senator into granting ambassadorship to her husband. And since Vicomte De Blissac is a friend of Packy, the footballer manages to get an admission when apparently Mr. Gedge murders the Vicomte.
That’s just the tip of the confusion, really. See, the problem is that Senator Opal thinks that his daughter is really engaged to Packy, and ends up hiring Eggleston as his valet. And then there are other people like a safe blower and a stick-up man and a con-man, Soup Slattery and Oily Carlisle, with their own twisted and sad love stories, who are after some jewels in the safe. Add a cook and her lover, a menacing secretary who could potentially be a detective, a butler who pronounces ‘Madam’ as ‘Modom’, and Lady Bracken and a boat, it certainly is an eventful book. And boundlessly funny I might add. You really ought to read up to find out who gets to the safe and which guy ends up with which girl. It’s a guaranteed stress buster.

Blood Sport - Dick Francis

If you’ve got a Dick Francis two-story omnibus, then you might as well read both the stories at one go.
Blood Sport, as far as Dick Francis stories go, had quite a convoluted plot. And for the first time amongst the four books of his that I have read, I felt at a loss as the racing terminologies started raining. And that did have quite a ruining effect for me despite the story itself being quite fast paced.
The hero, Gene Hawkins, is a ‘civil servant’. The implications of the job title and what he really does for a living are never really clarified. That aspect of Gene hangs like a constant mystery throughout the book, which really adds a lot of appeal to the character. Is he an assassin? A spy? Espionage agent? Police? It’s anyone’s guess. His talents, though not up at par with, say, Jason Bourne, are still pretty damn good at uncovering truths. But his objective is not, as he says, to punish, but to prevent. I wish Gene wasn’t as suicidal however. But Dick Francis does a splendid job of imposing a suicidal trait on such a strong and determined character. And when you read the story you really do realize how the internal struggle of Gene impacts the direction of the path he takes, and the flow of the story. Dick Francis gets down to being poignant. Can’t say I expected it from a writer of horse racing thrillers. But he does a good job at it.
So Gene, given he is some sort of a spy or something, is asked by his employer, Mr. Keeble to look for Dave Teller’s missing horses. He lands in America, in a conquest to find Chrysallis after a murder attempt on Dave Teller, which probably prompted Gene to take the assignment up. Gene, with his half thoughts of killing himself, takes it up with a shrug as one more thing to keep him from killing himself, probably thinking that if he could live and save a life, it might just be worth it.
Chrysallis is the third world class stallions to be stolen in a fairly short space of time, the other two being Alyx and Showman. And Gene, as he retrieves Chrysallis, unearths a shocking and an elaborate fraud, which would shake up the world racing community and risks his as much as his friend’s lives. It’s good that he carries a lugger around in an under-arm holster. You never know when you’d need it. Especially in Gene’s line of work!

Forfeit - Dick Francis

Horse Racing, a brilliant protagonist, and firm, dark, writing which sounds exactly like the narration of Sin City or Max Payne in your head. That makes a very palatable package. And that’s the formula of Dick Francis. His writing is not complicated, but he creates an air of a sort of a calm thrill. If you know what I mean. You don’t exactly imagine a double-woofer, stereophonic death metal music when you read the climax of Dick Francis novel. Nor are deaths unnecessarily graphic. But the thrill is abundantly present.
Forfeit is about James Tyrone. He is a scandal stirring, scam busting reporter at a magazine called Blaze. But this time, the scam that he is trying to prevent threatens to get a bit too nasty for his taste, and a bit too personal as well.
The scam is brilliant in its simplicity. Get a horse piped as a favourite. Gather huge amounts as bets in his favour. And then prevent him from running the race and pocket all the bets since the race counts as a forfeit. As James Tyrone, or Ty, tries a hand at preventing it from happening one more time, he finds himself at the receiving end of physical harm, blackmail, and overconsumption of alcohol. And it’s up to him to get out of the situation he finds himself in. I say, that’s a complicated job to have!
Again, as in most Dick Francis books, the plot is nothing sensational. I mean, you’d think, it’s eventually going to be a plot about horse racing and how sensational it’s going to be? There are obviously not going to be any nuclear missiles that will be fired between nations. But Dick Francis keeps you interested throughout. And that’s where this book succeeds as well.

Blandings Castle - P.G. Wodehouse

This collection of short stories begins with a lovely preface from Wodehouse and his inner workings which led to this book and for that matter, any of his ‘series’. Well, it’s good for us that Plum likes his characters like Bertie and Jeeves, and Lord Emsworth and Mr. Mulliner, and the rest of them as much as we do. It would have been so sad if there had been only one story of each!

Bladings castle, well it is a misleading name, since the short stories are from Blandings Castle as well as elsewhere, as it is made clear right from the table of contents. In the Blandings Castle, we go through an important phase in Lord Emsworth’s life, where he finally gets rid of his young son Freddie who gets married to the daughter of a dog-biscuit tycoon. And even excluding that, the book highlights some important chapters in Lord Emsworth’s life, like him winning the contest for the biggest pumpkin and the fattest pig; and then getting punched in the nose as he took a pleasure swim and lastly mustered enough courage to confront and overpower his virago sister Constance. Amongst these adventures he even witnessed, and I am sure he would have been surprised, a substantial professional success of his son who the Lordship believed was the most confounding menace on the planet.

From these adventures of Blandings, Plum takes us to a brief chapter in Bobbie Wickham’s life who successfully averts marriage with a highly undesierable certain Mr. Gandle. Her display of ready with leaves you wanting for more.

And from there, we get transported to Hollywood. And get a sighting of the darker, murkier side of the glamour world, where gorillas go loose, where people have to take up demeaning jobs of simply nodding their agreement to their boss, to being forced into bonded labour of writing dialogues. Mr. Mulliner, with his vast insight and steady contacts into the workings of the movie industry in America highlights how his relatives found love, togetherness and success in such a malaise stricken environment.

The stories are pure brilliance, and will keep you smiling and chuckling as you read. I loved this book!

Mirror Mirror - Mark Pendergast

This book took a long time for me to read. Somehow, work, inter-city travel and some more work kept digging potholes and constructing road blocks to stop me from getting through the book. But I fought it all and kept going. And it was worth every bit of it.
Non-fiction books will always be a tricky affair. I don’t think someone who doesn’t read books could have got through a book like this, or for that matter any science history book. But for any bibliophile, this book would be immensely pleasurable. If you are an astronomer then too, this book will serve up a history of your subject in an entirely different perspective.
The book is essentially a history of mirrors. And what a fascinating history it is! The author explores the topic beautifully, right from the BC era to the 21st century, the journey of the mirror from being an extremely rare, expensive and a prized possession when mirror makers were imprisoned to keep their talents within Vienna, to something extremely commonplace; from being a simple reflector of Roman orgies to a devastating weapon. And along the journey, the evolution of human interaction with mirrors in various stages is equally fascinating. The impact of mirrors in painting, literature, astronomy, optical sciences, communications, psychology is astounding. Legend has it that Archimedes burnt enemy ships using a concave reflecting mirror by focusing sun rays to an enemy. It’s not exactly proven whether mirror was used as a weapon then, but now, lasers are quite a popular in weapon sciences. Telescopes have got bigger, better, and are equipped to capture more than just visible light from million of light years away, or light emitted as early as the big bang. And lastly people have changed the way they look at mirrors. From being a simple polished metal, to a scrying for psychic knowledge, to an inseparable fashion accessory, and finally to a ‘true mirror’ which reflects us as we are seen by others is a long journey indeed.
The book charts all these territories and more. The heroes and villains of the story are enumerated exceptionally well. And there are too many of them to mention here. But various people have contributed to the development of mirror, be it in terms of manufacturing them with various materials, or giving them a particular shape, to their applications in earth and space, in various wavelengths of emissions.
Last word is that it is a truly fascinating book about something so commonplace that you hardly think about it. Imagine, there are ‘true mirrors’ which are available which actually do not show a reversed image when you stand in front of it. So that, it shows you how you would appear to other people. That is so extremely against the intuition as far as gazing into a mirror is concerned, and at the same time so novel an experience! I wish I could see myself in a true mirror! The book is an excellent product of some tremendous research and great writing style. Without adequate research the book would have ended up being a hodge-podge mixture of arbitrary information about mirrors. And without great writing style, it could have been reduced to a boring, soporific history text-book. It has all the necessary elements to make a fun read for anyone with a curious mind.

Big Money - P.G. Wodehouse

Berry Conway and Lord Biskerton make for very different kind of Wodehouse heroes. While we are used to the suave and glb talking PSmith, and the helplessly dependent on the faculties of his buter, Bertie, these are very likeable guys whose characters are without a blemish.
The same can not be said about Berry Conway. Because playing an imposter of an officer of the law is a serious criminal offense. Though he had good reasons to play the part, but that does not excuse him of his felonies.

And Lord Biskerton, or Biscuit as he is called, is worse off. He is one of those money swindling characters who can never have a meal of their own sweat and toil. And he seems to have inherited that from his father!

There is a Patterson Frisby who is the miserly employer of Berry Conway, who is interested in a copper mine held by Conway. And he employs his aide, more of a sniveling, servile, yes man who performs any duty a rich man will ask him to perform to be in the rich man’s good books. But the yes-man, Hoke, gets his brain cells working and spots a money making opportunity of a lifetime in the mine.

And if you are thinking Big Money is only about the money, you are gravely mistaken. What would a Wodehouse book be if there was no love at first sight and angels singing romantic songs on their harps? There is an Ann Moon the girl who makes men weak in their knees wherever she goes, who Berry Conway loves like a dog loves his master. But she is engaged to the Biscuit and Conway is not a friend who can inflict misery on his pals. Biscuit and Ann came in contact through Biscuit’s aunt, Vera (somehow there are a great many Vera’s in Wodehouse books, possibly the only name he has ever repeated) who is playing chaperone to the American Ann in London. And Ann is also Frisby’s niece which brings Aunt Vera and Patterson quite close.
The fundamental problem however, remains that Berry has no dough and Biskerton is an impoverished Lord, and for their love tangles to be sorted they will need some lucre in good time. And the copper mine, while an asset is a dud hole in the ground, which Berry can not get a lot of cash for, but Frisby’s acute money making mind has some different plans with the “Dream come true”. Oh that’s the name of the mine.

And in resolving this problem come the hilarious tangles and misunderstandings and violence which will leave you with an aching tummy. This is one of Wodehouse’s best!

If - Neeru Nanda

I have always found short stories very appealing. And while I started writing them, a very naïve prejudice, that a short story is simple to write, has been rethought of. It is extremely difficult to build characters, show relationships and narrate a story.

Neeru Nanda, through various settings, achieves that end goal quite satisfyingly as a reader. But if you are the kind of a reader who likes reading a short story with a traditional framework of a beginning, a twist and a conclusion, then If might not be the book for you. Because while the stories are beautifully depicted, they are meant to touch your emotional sensibilities rather than introduce a problem and take it to a logical conclusion.

The writer explores different settings in her stories with the flair of an accomplished writer. You’d expect a debutant writer, to stick to his sphere and write stories on them. If I ever came out with a book, it would be difficult for me to write a story about a monk and do justice to the character and the story.

The writing is definitely that of an accomplished writer. A lazy writing style turns me off immediately and getting through the book feels like reading an essay of a twelve year old boy has written it simply out of the fear of a cane snapping on his knuckles if he didn’t write it.

If you are the more sensitive sorts, then you might run the risk of getting into a depression for some time going ahead since the stories in the book talk about solely the rough side of the protagonist’s lives. Some stories are hopeful, like Lonely, Not Dead, and The Ghost Writer. But those are all. The rest of the nine are so grim that they will rub away all silver linings you are capable of seeing.

The book is a quick read that you would get through in a 3-4 hour journey between cities or something. And the book will keep you entertained for the duration. On the other hand it is nothing too spectacular to rave about either.

The Girl in Blue - P.G. Wodehouse

I imagined The Girl in Blue, knowing Plum’s romantic side, to be that angel of his dreams conjured up in words. It turned out to be a miniature statue of some sort of an ancestor of a certain Will Scrope with enough money to waste on such cravings. Not that I was disappointed, since there were other pretty girls to take her place! And while one of them was Vera Upshaw, a devil in Prada so to speak, the other was an airhostess going by the name Jane, with her figure and her heart in the right place. Our protagonist, Jerry West, falls in love, and as always, in first sight, with the airhostess, but is deterred in making a move by the fact that he is engaged to be married to the former girl. Jerry, also happens to be the nephew of Will Scrope, and by extension, the poor Scrope brother, Crispin.

If only the cast stopped there. But it’s good that it doesn’t.

Tying all of them together is a kleptomaniac American woman, Barney and her rich lawyer brother Homer Pyle, who know Will Scrope. And they travel to England, the brother for a writer’s gathering, and the sister, to get away from the shopkeepers whose wares Barney might have inadvertently stolen.

And then, the pricey, or priceless if seen from the rich Scrope’s eyes, goes missing. And the ensemble gathers at the poor Scrope residence, which is a Mellingham hall, which is kept above the red financial line through the money doled out by guests who can acquire the status by paying a fee. And adding some spice to the story is the fact that Homer Pyle, like many other men before him, falls in instant love with the lovely Vera Upshaw. And while he has no greek God body to boast off, his financial muscle is considerable and enough of an incentive for girls to take him seriously. And then there are some other miscellaneous characters, like Vera’s mother, and a broker’s man posing as a butler, and a hefty policeman which bring as much delight in their limited roles as any of the other prominent members of the story.

This is a tale of treasure hunting, mystery, and as usual, love, both pure and adulterated.

So go ahead, find the Girl in Blue for Mr. Scrope. Two Hundred Pounds reward is up for grabs!

The Plot to Get Bill Gates - Gary Rivlin

There must be sundry books on Bill Gates. And most books on other Information Technology luminaries will have a mention of their tussle with him. Bill Gates is an extremely well marketed a commodity. Not that he needed much marketing with his tagline of ‘the richest man in the world’. But one of the four P’s of marketing, packaging, was a crucial element. And that is one of the things the author dwells in in one of the chapters.

The book, if you really go to see about it, is about the success of Microsoft, and Bill Gates, with a twist. It focuses on the adversaries and builds the identity of hero by describing the foes he fought. And while it is up to the reader to decide this, but I genuinely felt that it wasn’t a book written with the Microsoft agenda at the back of the mind. Or it could have been the part of Bill Gates ver 4 that the author talks about. You never know.

The book starts at 1994 with ‘The Agenda’ an annual technological event which attracts the who’s who of the technology world, and where Bill Gates is a constant celebrity despite the power quotient of the attendees. From there the book goes back to the genesis of Microsoft and the a rapid coverage of Microsoft’s ascendance in the industry. Again, the spotlight is not on Microsoft as much as on the competition of IBM and Digital Research and Novell and the rest of them, which gives a fresh perspective to the battles of the bytes. Maybe it would have been more fun if the duel between Microsoft and Apple had been brought out better. But it probably wasn’t as much of a duel as Apple as a corporation and its cult followers believe it to be.

The second phase of the book is about the race in the internet-world where Microsoft was a late starter. Scott McNealy of Sun, Larry Ellison of Oracle and Marc Andreesson of Netscape were the primary enemies with their Java, NC (Network Computer) and Netscape browser. Again, the book livens up with the flamboyant lifestyle of Ellison, the raw aggressiveness of McNealy, and the arrogance of folks at Netscape as Microsoft bulldozes through the competitors.

The last section is an acknowledgement of the sheer dominance of Microsoft in the industry, a detailed write up on the anti-trust suit against Microsoft, and an actual Anti-Bill fund set up by his competitors. Well, it was actually called the Java Fund, but thwarting Bill Gates was the whole point of it!

The book is fascinatingly entertaining, as it narrates the anecdotes and the interviews. Anyone with a flair for business and interest in the computer world will surely love the book. Having been published in 2000, maybe it’s lost a lot of its relevance in 2009, but it sure would have made a great read the year it was published. Not that I regretted reading the book, but it does feel a bit incomplete to read a book which talks about Operating Systems, and internet and leaves out Google. A question of timing I suppose. But that does not make this book, considering the subject it was written on, any lesser a read. I would rate it highly, if not for its recentness, then for its historical perspective. (20 years back is almost dinosaur age in the hi-tech)

Lastly, the book is not all about gushing praise for Bill Gates. And Gary Rivlin doesn’t mince words when he paints a portrait of Bill Gates from Microsoft Co-founder to the Chief Software Architect of his company. And neither is the author overly critical of the business ambition that drove Bill Gates to be what he ended up being. The quote that the books opens with, says it all. And it was a delightful read throughout.

Cujo - Stephen King

I read a Stephen King after a long, long time. The last time was Carrie, a pure horror book, which was extremely tightly written, and therefore was quite a treat.

Cujo, is not so much a horror book as it is a thriller cum drama. In the sense, it doesn’t have your usual spirits, and ghosts, and apparitions out to capture human souls. It is about a rabid St. Bernard dog, Cujo.

There is quite a lot going in the book. It’s not your usual Stephen King book where really the ghost or the villain is the central theme of the story. In this book, Cujo, while an important element of the narration, is tied in to the other aspects of the character’s lives which are as vital in the continuity of the story.

The protagonists, Vic and Donna Trenton and their kid Tad, have their worries. Vic’s career is at a break point. Donna’s having an affair with a Steve Kemp, and when she tries to end it with him, he becomes spiteful and sends out a nasty note to Vic announcing that he had been fucking her while handsome hubby toiled at work. As if that were not enough to shatter Vic, his major client, Sharp Cereal Company has been planning on pulling the plug on AdWorx, Vic’s advertising company, and Vic and his partner have to travel to New York to try and salvage the situation. And with such life changing events happening all around, there are the daily chores that continue to hound, like a faulty valve in their family car, which Donna takes to Joe Chamber’s garage to get fixed.

Joe Chamber, the filthy, son of soil, mechanic, has his own life, with a subdued and dominated wife, Charity, and a son, Brett, who is increasingly taking a liking to his father’s mannerisms and way of life. Charity, in an attempt to get his son to see and adopt a more civilized living habits, takes him to her sister’s home in New York. That leaves Joe Chamber alone with Cujo, who by this time has got rabid from a bat-bite.

Cujo is dis-oriented, but continues to showcase his cunning, a reference that he might be possessed by the ghost of Frank Dodd, a serial killer from another of SK books ‘The Dead Zone’ who has a reference throughout this book. Cujo starts by killing Chamber’s neighbor. And just when Joe discovers his body, Cujo is on to him. And when Donna and Tad reach Joe Chamber’s garage, there is no one on the premise to warn them beware: Dog on premises. Sputtering, spitting and using up the last of the car’s life, Donna drives into the garage, leaving the car in no shape to make it back without repairs. As she is about to get off the car to hunt for Joe, the dog enters the scene, driving the mother and son back in the car, windows up, and fear gripping their hearts. The car becomes their prison. And Cujo stands guard. Vic is not in town to be of help. And the garage is at the end of the world for anyone to come around to help. And Castlerock, Maine has the hottest summer that year, which makes the car a furnace to live in.

It’s a fight for survival for Donna and Tad. And that is what the book is really about. The lives of all the characters converge to this battle.

Captivity and isolation are themes Stephen King employs extremely well. Remember Misery or Gerald’s game? And while Cujo, because it is about a lot more than just captivity and isolation, is not as chilling as some of the other books, has it’s tense moments. But then if you are reading a horror book to get terrorized, this is not the book for you, even though, overall it is fairly enjoyable primarily for the completeness of the characters.

Dog lovers might not dig this book, because Cujo is shown to be a real monster. The transformation of Cujo from a good natured, kid loving, docile dog to a blood thirsty devil is brought out excellently. The struggle in his mind, as he tries to be a good dog, makes you pray vehemently that Cujo doesn’t get rabid. But then, if he didn’t, Cujo would have hardly made a story. 

Stiff Upper Lips, Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse

Bertie Wooster is at it again, getting mixed up in affairs which he would do well to stay away from. But then with his taste for twisted situations in life, it can’t be helped that he lands up at Totleigh Towers, the infernal landmark that housed Bertie’s arch enemy Spode or Lord Sidcup, his prime hater, Sir Watkyn Basset, his mistaken love, Madeline Basset, and if that were not enough, he is not exactly in the good books of the butler Butterfield either. Plus there is a rugby player seeking explorer, Plank, who is in for Bertie’s head for stealing an eye-sore statuette from the ownership of the Bassets.

Yes, burglary is a skill for which Wooster is known in the circles at Totleigh towers. He has a history of stealing artifacts, and except for Madeline, is hated by one and all. But Wooster had to answer the call of duty. It’s for his old pal Gussie’s sake that he is prepared to brave it all. Gussie and Madeline, engaged to be married, have hit an iceberg in their relationship. And it is to save this Titanic from sinking that Bertie has taken on the mission. He has his selfish motives too, considering that Madeline has vowed to become Mrs. Wooster if things were to terminate with Gussie, and the our Bertie, the commitment-phobe that he is, wants to avoid that outcome at all costs.

So at Totleigh towers he runs into other people, Stiffy, an old friend, and her affianced, who is a Vicar trying to become a Curate, and a function for rowdy school boys, and a cook, who pours a lot of unwarranted care and love in Gussie’s direction, distracting him from patching things up with Madeline.

Bertie’s mission, should he choose to accept it, is to not get married to Madeline. And it’s up to him to survive the other adventures that cross his path in achieving this mission.

This book, while funny, doesn’t have too many intertwined plots. It has its share of mix-ups, which are more or less, disparate. And so the confusion, which is an essential part of a Wodehouse book is not present in as liberal doses in this one. Nonetheless, the writing is as funny as ever. And you will surely laugh out of pity for Bertie as he keeps getting pummeled page after page

Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories - Ruskin Bond

Short stories, since I was in school, have always had a special appeal for me. I loved reading English Text books because all they had were short stories and poems. I do wish I had preserved those books.
Anyways, Ruskin Bond, in the introduction to this book, claims his love for short stories as well, and admits unabashedly his unwillingness, and inability to write the more adrenalin generating stories. And most endearingly begins his introduction with, and I quote:

Gentle reader,

I use the old fashioned term to address you, because I like it, and because I know only the more gentle kind of person is likely to care much for my stories.

That captures for you, the tone and the heart of the book. Each of the story has something poignant about it which will touch your heart. And yes, if that kind of writing is boring for you, keep your hands off it. But there is a message about humanity in each of the stories. And really, you don’t have to be extra-sensitive or extra-intellectual to get that message.
I have always believed that the kind of stories Ruskin Bond writes, are best suited to the shorter version, that much he too believes. The problem is that a whole bunch of writers don’t get that and end up writing whole novels on this theme, which are invariably slow and boring.
A lot of the stories are autobiographical in nature. But not all of them. And Ruskin Bond covers a wide range of human life through the stories, including writers, of course, thieves, flute players, army people, commercial sex workers, and a lot of children. Nothing is too dramatic in any story. Rather, there has been no attempt to put drama in anything. It is a very simple, heart touching narration.
My favourite story, undoubtedly, is “The Boy who Broke the Bank” which I had also read during my school days. And it carries as much charm for me today as it did when I was twelve. That’s Ruskin Bond for you. He takes you away to the hills, amongst gentle breeze and flowers, and from there to an overpowering flood, and then to a waterfall where lovers might escape the wicked eyes of the world… all of it, in one book. And even if not all stories are fantastic, the book as a whole is immensely enjoyable.

The Small Bachelor - P.G. Wodehouse

I wonder if anyone would ever use the phrase “small bachelor” for anyone in real life. But this is a Wodehouse book we are talking about. And as always it depicts life in the rose tinted glass with an attached oxygen mask that really contains laughing gas.

George Finch is the small bachelor in this case. At least I think so, because there were in all three bachelors in this book, but the smallest one of them seemed to be George Finch. One of the other two, is the imposing, intelligent author of self help books, Hamilton Beamish – Jimmy for his near and dear ones – and George’s butler, Mullet. George falls head over heels in love, as usual, at first sight with a girl named Molly Waddington. The girl has a villainous mother, of course, who objects to the marriage and a father who dreams about the west and is generally ignored by everyone. Mullet is in love with an adroit pickpocket, Fanny Welch, who is in the business as much for the fun as for the cash. And then there is a police officer, Barroway, with an especially large adam’s apple who is a budding poet receiving training from none other than Beamish. See how the threads begin tangling? This is not all. Fanny Welch tries to steal a pearl necklace from the wedding of our Finch and Molly. Mr. Waddington is looking for Barroway because the former has sold substantial stock of a company he thought to be worthless to the later, and it eventually turned out to be quite a fortune after all. Mrs. Waddington is out spying on Finch because she thinks him to be what I would call a womanizer, but Wodehouse finds a bunch of other very amusing adjectives conveying the same thing. And while on her espionage mission, she messes with the law and hot on her trail is who else, but Barroway. Oh this is complicated, isn’t it? And believe me, I have left out a bunch plot threads out here for the sake of simplicity of summarizing. Needless to say, ending is happy as always.

This book is loosely based on a play co-written by Wodehouse. How would I have loved to see the play! The book also has a very honest preface to it, which is a delight, to be able to peek into Plum’s simple way of thinking.

Another highly recommended book for Wodehouse lovers!

A Beautiful Mind - Sylvia Nasar

It would be exaggerating to say that I have read a lot of biographies, but the fact remains that I do love reading them. The objective of reading a biography is not just entertainment that you would seek from a fiction novel, nor general knowledge of topics that interest you that you gather from non-fiction books. A biography gives a peek into the subject’s life. And a good biography will not just narrate the events of a subject’s life chronologically but will present the most significant events with sufficient background and detail to convey a message that is a learning for a reader to conduct his life. It is like reading a real live fable. Only the moral is a lot more complex and multi faceted than say “slow and steady wins the race”.

Whose life merits a biography? I guess no right answer there. Everyone’s life is interesting, noble laureate or not. But there are some who are capable on inspiring the readers with the tale of their lives like no self-help book ever can. Some are great exposes of political and other machinations which a layman will never otherwise learn. And these books more often than not end up being banned. Some are funny. And some are poignant and serve to sensitize the readers to things that they would be very indifferent to. A Beautiful Mind falls in multiple categories depending on your perspective. John Nash, by no means, is an inspiring character really. But his wife Alicia is. And the life of a schizophrenic person is something that people who have not encountered it will never understand. And making movies stereotyping schizophrenia forms a very harmful image of the disorder in the society. It’s a topic which needs to be tackled sensitivity. Something that the book conveys extremely well. And the rallying of Nash’s colleagues around him in his time of despair that just gives me so much hope that the world isn’t as bad a place as I sometimes think it is.

The story of John Nash’s life plays out like a novel. I will not comment about the research since I am not qualified enough for that, but as a lay reader, the entertainment quotient, for the want of a better phrase, of the book was like a fiction drama. No wonder it made for such a great movie adaptation. Nash’s history, his blossoming as a mathematician, decline during his disorder, and finally his recovery has been depicted beautifully. His relationships with his family, colleagues, students and how they impacted his life in both good ways and bad is borne out clearly. Nash is not played out as the hero. He only is the central character is the book. The author tells all about his life without trying to bring John Nash out as the good guy all the time. His flaws are plentiful, and there is no mincing of words while bringing them out. Most importantly, his paranoid schizophrenia is not over dramatized for the sake of gripping the reader. It is tackled with sensitivity and treated as an affliction that John Nash and the people in his life together battled out, not always agreeing about the course of action, but with a single aim nonetheless.

I will highly recommend this book for people who like biographies. If you don’t, maybe the movie will suffice, but be warned that the movie captures one-tenth of what the book has to offer. And if you think John Nash was just another scientist or just another schizophrenic patient, you are gravely mistaken. The fact that he is both together, and the fact that the scientist Nash won against the schizophrenic Nash, is what sets his life apart. If we can help anyone achieve that, you would have done your bit for humanity.

Summer Moonshine - P.G. Wodehouse

While I can sing an ode praising this book, let me get the one negative point away at the outset. The title… is chosen completely at random. It seems that Plum just ran out of titles for his stories and picked any convenient phrase out of the book.

The story… if one has to criticize it… is based on the usual Wodehouse formula. Someone has a money problem. Someone has a love problem. And everyone’s entangled in more ways than you can imagine. So I will commence upon my favourite exercise after reading a Wodehouse book, that is, trying to summarize the plot in a paragraph. I have had my Scooby snacks. Here goes.

Sir Buckstone Abbot, the apparently rich heir of the ancestral home, Walsingford Hall, is actually hard pressed for cash. And the only way out of his cash-flow problem is to sell his palatial house, which he runs as a sort of a motel, taking in spendthrift guests who are willing to pay a sum. The problem in selling the palace is that it has been hideously renovated, and it would take someone of eccentric tastes to buy a house like that. Thankfully Buck has found a customer, Princess Dwornitzzchek, who fits the bill. All of Buck’s hopes lie in keeping her happy. But the problem is that The Princess’ son, Tubby Vanringham, who is staying at Walsingford Hall, is sued by Buck’s secretary, and if the news reaches the Princess the deal would be off. So it is in the best interest of Buck that the paper server (for those who don’t know, paper server is the person who gives the court summons to the sued party. As it turns out, it is an adventure frought occupation) away from Tubby. The twist is that the paper server, Sam Bulpitt, is Buck’s brother-in-law, and while he goes about his job, also takes a liking to his niece, Jane Abbot, daughter of Buck. So another of Bulpitt’s agenda is to straighten out the love life of Jane, who is love with this Adrian fellow, who also secretly happens to be betrothed to the aforementioned Princess! Last but not the least, is our hero, if we can call him that, who also loves Jane and, without much success, tries to woo her. Our hero Joe, also is Tubby’s brother, and the estranged step-son of the Princess! That, pretty much completes the circle!!

Love triangles are all too common in Wodehouse books. But this one was exquisite. And the dynamics entirely different. I loved the way Joe went about wooing young Jane. While no single character is as forceful as a Bertie Wooster or PSmith or Galahad, the combination gives enough food for some extremely hilarious dialogue. The plot keeps getting more and more tangled, as only Wodehouse can manage. And gives a neat solution to all the problems in the end. There have been better climaxes to Wodehhouse books, but this one’s not far from the best.

Lovely book this one. A must read for Wodehouse fans!