Mysorean

Books

The Da Vinci Code (Author: Dan Brown, Previous books: Angels and Demons, Deception Point etc.)
My Rating: 9/10

Dan Brown crafts a thriller which is gripping to say the least. Robert Langdon, a Historian and a symbols-researcher, becomes the main-accused of a chain of murders of 4 prominent French citizens. The route Langdon adopts to escape the Police and at the same time prove his innocence is what forms the basic strand of the book. Takes us through many interpretations of Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings. The most startling of them being the presence of a lady in "The Last Supper". The book also throws some light on why "Monalisa" is smiling. The book sounds very "anti-Christian". How would you react if you were told that Lord Jesus was actually not God, but a mortal who was happily married?

I have already included lot of spoilers in the above paragraph. Let me not spoil the fun any further. Buy the book and read it! I saw a hardbound edition (A collector's edition kind of) of the same book with photographs of all the places mentioned in the story. It gives you a super feel while reading the book. If you can afford, Rs. 900/- for the book, then go ahead! I will buy it sometime in the future, not now! The normal paperback book costs Rs. 350/- if I remember right. It's worth every penny.

If you are planing to read the book skip the paragraph below
I have taken one point (in my rating) away because I feel the ending was a letdown. Not that I expected Dan Brown to reveal all the secrets that people have spent years researching to lay their hands on. But atleast expected a decent ending that kept up with the substance of the remaining part of the story.

Five Point someone (Author: Chetan Bhagat, Previous books: None, This is his first book)
My Rating: 8/10
Chetan Bhagat is an IIT-IIM graduate. Five point someone refers to his life at the IIT or so we are made to believe. He claims its a work of fiction, but then also mentions that he has written this book based on his friends. Well, whether it's fact or fiction or 'fact'ion, one thing is sure, the book is a pucca timepass!

Humour seems to come naturally to the author. Writing style is good. The flow of the chapters is so good that I couldn't put the book down once I started. For Rs. 95/- it's a steal! Lay your hands on it, and you won't take your eyes off the book till you are done with reading it completely.

Wise and Otherwise (Author: Sudha Murthy, Previous books: Dollar Bahu, Mahashwetha)
Rating: Cannot rate, as I have not yet read the book fully.
This is a collection of short stories written by Sudha Murthy. From her vast experience of having visited 1000 villages all over the country and doing lots of philanthropic work, she puts down her experience in the form of short stories.

Lessons on humility, righteousness, honesty, etc: the virtues that we thought were lost in the today's world still exist in the rural confines of our country. That's what she tries to convey in the first few stories that I read. Liked her style of writing. Simple and straightforward. Can be used as a moral science text book in schools . Her description of the Indian way of life doesn't match RK Narayan's but then I musn't be comparing apples with oranges! ;-)

A piece of cake (Author: Swati Kaushal, Previous books: None, this is her first book)
Rating: 6/10
Have read 200+ pages as of now. Nothing great about the book. Written well but syle is loud and garish at times. It talks about how a 29-year old female, who is doing well in the corporate world, tries to get herself married. So far it's been about it. Don't know if the course is steered away at a later point!