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New authors, new horizons - Part 2

July 30th, 2007 2 Comments »

It been a while since I’ve been able to make a post. Travel, travel & more travel is the culprit. I’ve been on three trips to South Ease Asia in the last 5 months along with several trips within India. The silver lining, apart from the fact I’m a travelholic - I love to travel, is I’ve had ample opportunity to catch up with my reading - so here comes my second installment of new authors.

Prayers for the Assassin

The basic premis is a bit far fetched - imagine that by 2040 the Northern part of USA becomes an Islamic Republic at civil war with the Bible belt south! Once you can get over that with a long stretch of imagination the book becomes a good read. Islam as a religion is treated in a balanced manner. The text is well written and written from the alternate point of view. If you like conspiracy theories then you’ll like this book although the plot and story line is easily guessable. There’s a sequel in the works.

Bangkok Eight & Bangkok Tattoo

I picked up these books on a whim because the blurb on the back sounded interesting. It’s also just coincidental that after buying these I’ve made several trips to Thailand this year. Imagine a detective who, once he hits a dead end, meditates and in his meditation sees his dead partner provide him with some fresh avenues to look into. Meet Sonchai Jitpleecheep, Thai Buddhist detective extraodinaire. To me the mark of a good read is one which leaves me wanting more. Let’s just say, I’m looking forward to the paperback release of the third installment Bangkok Haunts. The books also do a lot to educate the reader about Thai & Buddhist culture. Definitely worth a read but be warned - it’s not for the faint hearted or squemish.

While on the topic of books I see Navin’s been shopping on the pavement of Abids in Hyderabad again. Abids on a Sunday is a book lover’s candy shop. Imagine a deserted section of the town with the pavements full of second hand book stalls. I had a chance to shop there last month with Navin and picked up close to 20 books - mostly established authors that I haven’t read much or have been meaning to. I’ve already read two books from that collection - James Patterson’s Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls - Both of them were good reads - the kind that keep me up till all night trying to finish it. I just finished Kiss the Girls yesterday morning at 5 am.

I’ve just started to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I picked up the book last week but avoided starting it because I didn’t want to be hit by the feeling of loss that there’d be no more Harry Potters to read. However if I delay it any further, I might come across a spoiler on line or during a conversation. Last week’s Sunday paper had already declared the fate of Harry Potter in bold headlines - I wasn’t even reading the paper - someone next to me had it open on that page. Grrrr!

New authors, new horizons - Part 1

April 10th, 2007 3 Comments »

One of the benefits of travel is it allows me to catch up with reading.

Of late I’ve felt that my old regular authors were becoming stale and were re-hashing their plots. Jeffery Archer, Tom Clancy, Robin Cook, Micheal Crichton are a few names that come to mind. Robert Ludlum continues to haunt from his grave with ghost authors writing in his name. I still read their new books out of loyalty but I no longer get the thrill of a good read.

Instead I’ve been trying out new authors and it’s been rewarding so far. The books that I’ve read in the last few months are

Adept by Robert Finn

Although this book is compared with the DaVinci Code and The Rule of Four, the book is nothing like either of them. However it ’s different and a good read if you don’t mind reading about supernatural powers and mysticism.

Bareback by Kit Whitfield

This book is about werewolves but with a twist: 99.6% of the population turn into werewolves once a month. The remaining 0.4% who don’t are called Barebacks. Barebacks are tolerated since they are needed to run the planet and police werewolf activity during that one day. Warewolves are supposed to lock themselves in a secure room (which every house has) since they loose all normal behavioural controls and are a threat to society.

Barebacks are, however discriminated against. They do not have a choice of professions. Once the reach their teens they are forced to work for the Department for the Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activity (thanks Vijay for correcting it) which policies Warewolves and investigates any crimes that take place on such nights.

At the core, the book is just a detective novel set is a strange world. It’s well written and an enjoyable read.

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