Vacation Recap

So, my vacation’s almost over. And a sad thing that is too.

What did I do this vacation, one might ask. Well, apart from the fun, fat wedding attendance in the first week, the second week has been dedicated to one of the things I love but don’t get to do as much as I would like. Sleeping.

In fact, it feels like that all the all-nighters that I did last year and all the anticipated ones will be made up in this one week.

However, before you get the impression that that is all that I have done, let me set you right. In between the bouts of sleeping, I have also been reading. Currently I am reading From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple, who is fast becoming one of my favourite authors – fiction or otherwise.

This book has Dalrymple tracing the journey of one John Moschos – a monk who travelled the silk route more than fifteen hundred years ago, in the then Byzantine empire. The journey starts from Mount Sinai, through Turkey and Syria and I am currently in a war-ravaged Lebanon in 1994 with Dalrymple.

Cover of From the Holy Mountain
Courtesy: Flipkart.com

What I find fascinating about Dalrymple’s style is that it is a beautiful and not-at-all simple blend of humour, knowledge, love and insight. So, while he is travelling though borders patrolled by militia, cities being shelled constantly, looking for places of archaeological interest, resurrecting glimpses of life from many centuries ago, he is also telling me, to what extent all the beautiful history is in the danger of being soon forgotten. The book is also supplemented with some heart-rending pictures – of the only survivor of an Oriental Christian faith, of the ruins of temples and shrines that once teemed with devotees and saints – both real and fake. The bazaars that would have been the envy of the richest businessmen today. All gone into the gaping maws of greed and intolerance. The essence of the book is summed up in the words of Pere Abbe Marcel abi-Khalil, a Christian priest that Dalrymple runs into unexpectedly in Chouf, Lebanon: “In this part of the world, for all our difficulties, religion has not just torn people apart. It has often brought them together. It is important to remember that.”

To temper the slightly heavy content of From the Holy Mountain, I am also reading some light-hearted romances in between and Bullfinch’s Age of Fable. The latter is a retelling of Greek myths, both popular and obscure. Reading through both Dalrymple’s book and Bullfinch’s compilation reminds me of how much I loved studying literature and how fascinating history can be.

I also managed to make time for a couple of movies – The Hunger Games (not as good as the book, too slow and tedious in parts) and The Amazing Spiderman. The second movie was good timepass. Andrew Garfield suffused the character of Peter Parker with a nervous, shy energy stirred with an innocent sense of wonder at his new power. And as Spiderman, he was wry, humorous, chivalrous and responsible. He admits to his failures and owns responsibility for them. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey was adequate and way better than Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane. I just could not stand Dunst.

Am religiously following the new Masterchef season but it’s too early for me to get a sense of the contestants yet. I truly hope that Emma does not turn out to be whiner like Dani in the last season.

So, that brings me almost to the looming end of my vacation. Excuse me, while I observe two minutes' silence for its demise.

Until next time, ciao.

Hunger Games: the Book Review

This one’s on special request from Scarlett. Since I read the Hunger Games trilogy more than an year ago, I might miss out on some details. Bear with me on those.

I first heard of Hunger Games on some blog or on Goodreads. I can’t remember. There were people raving about it. Saying how it is one of the best things ever written but that had also been said about Twilight series. So, my scepticism was justified, I think.

Nonetheless, I was looking for a new author to try and I picked up Hunger Games  - the first book in the trilogy. The book opens with Katniss Everdeen trying to hunt game illegally with her best friend, the rather hunky Gale. It then proceeds to describe the covered with ash and coal dust District 12, with people toiling under an autocratic regime. A new class system has arrived in a post-apocalyptic  USA. District 12 is at the bottom of the food chain since it produces coal – that which cannot be eaten, worn or considered precious (no matter that in reality, it is perhaps one of the most precious commodities that we have).

So, the beginning is depressing but soon we come to the annual ‘lucky draw’ for Hunger Games. These games are like Roman fight-till-death arena meeting the voyeurism of modern day reality shows. These are held annually in Capitol, to remind the masses who the real bosses are, instituted after a revolt years ago, when the Capitol routed the districts, wiping District Thirteen from existence completely. Two Tributes from each of the remaining twelve districts – a boy and a girl between ages of 12 to 18 – are sent to Capitol to fight for their lives in a specially built arena that is changed every year and the entire contest is televised live. This is compulsory viewing and literally the last boy or girl standing wins.

Katniss’ innocent younger sister Primrose has the misfortune of having her name drawn and Katniss volunteers in her place. Going along with her is Peeta Mellark. As the spectacle before the game begins – there’s primping and styling like in a beauty pageant – and progresses to the blood and gore of desperate survival, you see both Katniss and Peeta growing in stature. They are not always likeable but they survive.

The games’ are described vividly – the tension, the desperation, the scheming, the hunger – all of it comes alive. I know that in recent times comparisons have been drawn between this trilogy and Twilight, primarily because of the obvious love triangles, but let me tell you Hunger Games is far edgier, ruthless, stark and gripping. And let’s not forget the characters. Katniss is no simpering, idiotic, perpetually damsel-in-distress that Bella is. Katniss is independent and human. She is not always right, focussed that she is on her own survival. She is not very astute either, unable to understand her own feelings or those of Peeta and Gale. But she is tough and needs no knight in shining armour though I like to think that she might like the idea of having one. For company.

Peeta and Gale are also real. Gale is more stereotyped as the good-looking, brave-heart guy who has fallen in love with his best friend. He also suffers from a slight martyr, I-am-the-hero syndrome, which can grate on nerves at times. Peeta, surprisingly, is the deepest of the three leading characters. He has heart but is not without cunning. At any point in time, it is his thoughts that I am most interested in. He is no knight. He is just a regular guy, who first chooses his destiny and then loses control over it.

The secondary characters like President Snow, the drunk and tormented mentor Haymitch, the startled kitten like Effie Trinket, Cinna, the stylist with a rebel’s soul, the heartbreaking youngest Tribute, Rue with whom Katniss forms first an alliance and then a true friendship – they are all drawn with detail and with bold strokes. None of them are subtle. Some of them more obvious than others and then suddenly, they could say something that completely takes you by surprise.

The first book, with its gripping climax, is the best. The end of the games really hooked me and I kept on arguing and counter-arguing as to how it would end.

If it has to be compared, compare it to Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. There are first very obvious difference. The stories are very distinct. Katniss’s world and her people are more humane somehow rather than Blomkvists and Erikas of Lisbeth’s Sweden. Plus, Katniss is not dysfunctional like Lisbeth. The similarity actually comes from how the first book in both trilogies are the best. They promise you so much more in the coming two books but then slowly unravel into a giant conspiracy theory. That is my biggest grouse with the series and I cannot explain more without putting in spoilers.

Collins’ books are, however, more coherent and each character has some role to play, unlike Larsson’s, who all become mere props to Lisbeth. And I have to hand it to Collins that she managed to keep me on tenterhooks about how the end would come. On the way, there are wars to be fought, machinations to be thwarted, heartbreak and insanity. No one emerges from the Games whole and they would never be whole again.

I was also impressed with Collins’ writing. The entire series is written in first person, present continuous tense. It is Katniss’ viewpoint. While I am not a big fan of first person narratives since it robs me of what other main characters are thinking, unless they speak out, I though Collins’ use of the technique was quite brilliant. You see the world not just the way Katniss sees it but also when she sees it.

My final recommendation: Read it. It is not always easy to read, the characters not always likeable but in the end, you have to admire them for sheer guts.

Kid You Not

Book Cover of Percy Jackson & Lightning Thief 

Happy new year, folks! I begin 2012 with one of my favourite topics – Books!

I was reading Rick Riordan’s blog a couple of days ago. He is the author of very popular Percy Jackson series. And in this post he writes about how adults sometimes wonder if there are others like them who enjoy “Kids” books. For those who don’t know, Percy Jackson books are purportedly for middle school students.

I, for one, have never given a damn about who the books are meant for. So, this post is about those books which lot of people I personally know call “Children’s” books. I read all of these as an adult and enjoyed immensely.

• ·     Harry Potter, JK Rowling: This 7 book series is one of the best things I have read. It may have started out with a group of twelve year olds but by the time Deathly Hallows arrived, there was no way it could have been called “Children’s” fiction. There is much too darkness, even violence (remember Hermione being tortured by Bellatrix) for it to be read by kids. There is human psychology, at least thousand shades of grey in all characters, including our hero, Harry. If I had my way, I would perhaps not let kids below a certain age read the series at all.
•     Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan: I discovered this series through a colleague’s sons. They are great fans of the books and had the entire 5 book series. I had of course heard about the book through the movie but never been too keen on it. So, when my colleague lent me the books, I settled down for some light reading over the weekend. It was light, breezy and fresh. It was fantasy. It was mythological. Greek mythology to be precise and like any other Literature student, I had read and learnt a lot the Greek pantheon. These books are told from the point of view of Percy Jackson, half-immortal son of Poseidon – a demi-god like Hercules. Demi-gods are, to put it bluntly, bastards of Greek gods and goddesses who sire them randomly with any mortal who seems to catch their fantasy. The books are set in modern times and Olympus is at the top of Empire State Building, New York. And isn’t that delightful? I loved all the Greek references, re-learning some of them, recalling others and discovering new. The books are action-packed, fun and yet have character-development. I am so glad Riordan has started a spin-off series, featuring Jackson and some new demi-gods. If you haven’t read Percy Jackson, my recommendation would be to start now.
•        Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins: When I started this trilogy, I was a little unsure. This is what is called “Young Adult” fiction. It has a post-apocalypse sort of world with twelve districts, each with a special produce and it is a basis for a new class system. Districts rich in precious metal are higher up than Cotton District and right at the bottom is Coal District – District 12. And that is where our heroine, Katniss, resides. In the fine Roman tradition of Gladiators and champions, there are Hunger Games held every year in the Capitol, to remind the districts who the bosses are. These are fight to death games; no winner is declared unless out of twenty-four participants, twenty-three are dead. The contestants kill, maim, starve – do what they can in order to leave the arena alive. The games are televised and it is mandatory viewing.  Each district must send at least two contestants – a boy and a girl. The contestants decided through (un)lucky draw. The world is morose and terrifying but slowly I was drawn into the cunning game of survival. It is written entirely in present tense and in first person, Katniss being the narrator. Again, it is not a soft world of Enid Blyton where nothing worse than being mocked by your classmates generally happens. It is extremely violent, full of machinations and bloody politics.
•    Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jonathan Stroud: And here we have Arabian Nights meeting Egyptology. This is again a modern world but where you have magicians – masters and apprentices, charmed mythical amulets, golems, Ptolemy, afreets  and djinns. Bartimaeus is a djinn. He is clever, witty and almost entirely selfish. Summoned by a twelve year old magician’s apprentice, he does try his best to dupe the kid but over a period of time, the two develop an unlikely friendship. Mind you, neither of them has any selfless motive or philanthropic intentions but they are drawn against their will in being the good guys. The books are thrilling, fast paced and throw surprises almost at every turn. And the end, when it comes, is explosive.

Do let me know if there are any other so-called “kid” books that are your favourite.

Ciao.