Marathon reading session for the past 3 days:- finished 3 books today started at various times over the past month :-
The Book Thief – Depressing and set in WWII Nazi Germany. Brother of the main character in the film dies on the first page and then it is all downhill from there. Quite a spectacular read but did not enjoy the depressing details as narrated by death itself in the book.
ANATHEM – Did not understand. too complex. I was reading this and book thief alternatively. After getting depressed reading the book thief, I would read ANATHEM and get completely confused and end up depressed and confused. The book seems to delight in building a new language and not progressing the story. I guess I have to get used to Neal Stephenson’s style just like getting used to Pynchon. Difficult.
The Glass Palace – absolute delight after the two difficult books. straightforward narrative but Ghosh has a way with the words which makes everything so vivid. Loved it. Though have to confess that for me the story has a Bollywood feel to it but that is why it worked for me.
Next up is Scandinavian crime thriller by Lars Kepler – The Fire Witness. promises to be better than Larrson and Nesbo. Let’s see.
About the Author: Ashwini Mathur is a resident of Hyderabad. In the past he has worked at GSK Pharmaceuticals as a Senior General Manager and at Novartis after that. He has a Master’s degree in Mathematics from IIT Delhi, a PhD in bio-statistics from University and College Berkeley, California and an executive MBA from IIM Bangalore.
great going.