The Books I've Read in the Year 2009

Following is the list of books I have read in the Year 2009:

1. Netherlands by Joseph O’ Neill 
2. Maximum City - Bombay Lost & Found by Suketu Mehta 
3. The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie 
4. Shesh Lekha (The Last Poems) by Rabindranath Tagore 
5. 2 States – The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat 
6. A Writer’s People by V.S. Naipaul 
7. The Cosmic Detective by Dr. Mani Bhaumik 
8. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh 
9. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahari 
10. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown 
11. Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch by Arindam Chaudhuri 
12. Mistress of the Game by Tilly Bagshaw 
13. Poems by Rabindranath Tagore 

Following is my personal take on each book I have read this year.

Netherlands by Joseph O’ Neill:

There is not a single boring sentence in the novel. That’s a great achievement indeed.

The story is about a Dutchman who takes to playing Cricket in New York post 9/11.

The book is not about Cricket, (and thank God it isn’t) it’s about the post-9/11 scenario and coming to terms with it living life in suburban New York. A greater part of the novel is lyrical writing and I wonder why the book was not shortlisted for the Booker.

Maximum City - Bombay Lost & Found by Suketu Mehta:

There is a little story behind my buying this book from Crossword bookstore in Mumbai Airport. Here is: I was flying from Bhopal to Hyderabad via Mumbai on a pre-booked flight. After landing at Mumbai’s Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, I was headed toward the Departure lounge. I hoped to stretch my legs for a while and catch my breath, then grab a cup of cold coffee (croissants included). Not to forget to keep sipping at the pipe for a little longer and munch on the comfy croissants before I catch my connecting flight to Hyderabad, I began to sense cool relief breezing in from the fine air conditioning vents of the Lounge area.

After a while, as I was window shopping I spotted Crossword and swiftly went in cursing in the same breath at the sheer forgetfulness with which I lost a copy of Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red on the flight. Anyway, while I browsed books, I saw the Bollywood film star Katrina Kaif walking into the store and picking up a magazine, I guess, Cosmopolitan. I liked that 'adaa', that slender and elegant Katrina Kaif-style, which is one of fumbling, mumbling, and grumbling - all rolled into a big-time highly celebrity-conscious Bollywood mover and shaker. I would have liked her, even more, had she bought a book or two! Nevertheless, in order to make up for her omission, I went ahead and bought the book Maximum City - Bombay Lost & Found and raised a toast to the elegant Miss Lovely and remember it as a day of my sheer luck to have seen her in the flesh. Well, bumping shoulders with a celebrity is actually a lot easier than I thought it was!

Back to the point - this non-fiction book is an extraordinary sweep of Mumbai city with a pen that is mightier than a sword. It is an intimate portrait of that big, bad, commercial city. The book is essentially a travelogue, memoir, and a fine essence of personal history; it also has stories of under-world dons, dance bar girls, and mafia games. A stunning book really. You will be stoned to know that never has Mumbai been painted in those colours ever before. I’d say one of the best books to have been written by an Indian author.

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie:

Salman Rushdie is one of my favourite authors.

I’m so very excited to know that he is working on his memoirs: about the years he spent in hiding from the fatwa issued against him by Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran or some such constipated out-of-work personality.

The Enchantress of Florence is a book of intrigue. It is about Akbar the Great, Amerigo Vespucci, Jodha, and of course the Enchantress of Florence.

Not a great book, but really a good one. You'd be surprised by the number of times the word 'Fuck' has been used in this novel. It's pretty amazing! Un-Salman Rushdie like! But I've had my moments of joy reading it.

Shesh Lekha (The Last Poems) by Rabindranath Tagore,

Poems by Rabindranath Tagore:

The last few poems were composed by the most beloved author of all time Rabindranath Tagore.

The Last Poems or Shesh Lekha are a collection of a lifetime.

So wonderful and lovely. The poems in this slim collection have been translated by Pritish Nandy, himself author of many books, mainly poems. I have dedicated my life to reading Tagore's works.

2 States – The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat:

It is by far the funniest book written by Chetan Bhagat. Perhaps, a good narrative that he ever wrote was Five Point Someone. It was very near being a good book. Nothing much.

Three Mistakes of My Life is a close second. His books are an easy read and quite simply not to be taken very seriously. People who don't read books at all could start by reading C.B. books.

One main aspect is that he manages to pull off the plot and then the sub-plots quite well, meaning the story propels forward into a simple and logical conclusion (if that’s all there is to it).

Nothing literary about his stories and none should be taken as one. If anybody like him is able to do 'something literary', then half of the battle is won, and voila! you can go ahead and call yourself a writer. (The other half is the publisher’s nightmare!). Tongue firmly in cheek. ;-)

A Writer’s People by V.S. Naipaul:

The most despicable book that I have read this year is this. The way he lampooned India and Indians is highly demeaning of him.

No wonder he is suffering from old age dementia maybe Alzheimer’s!

All his old spark is missing from the recent works that he brought out. I suspect he wrote this book to cock a snook at the people whom he appears to have major contempt for. Really bad.

Of late, V.S. Naipaul has been in the news for his brash and pithy comments made against women writers of repute. I feel pity for this old man. Get a life, Oldie; will you.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh:

The first book in the Ibis trilogy. What a book! I finished reading this novel in two weeks and was wanting more.

The main characters of the novel include Deeti, Zachery Reid, Neel Rattan Halder, and Benjamin Burnham, an evangelist trader of opium.

One has to wait for the next book in the series River of Smoke which is due in the year 2011. Read this book and feel richer.

Trust Amitav Ghosh and you will get rewarded with a fine work of fiction. The eminent author is well on his way to getting his Nobel Prize in Literature. He should get the award for he truly deserves it!

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri:

It’s a debut short story collection by the Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri. Each story is deeply felt.

The book is a Pulitzer Prize winner and is about India and Indian Americans who are caught in the world of Indian culture they have come to know from their upbringing in the West and the western life they are used to living. A must-read and I would strongly recommend it. New York Times review has been fantastic for this book. The writing is of "uncommon elegance and poise."

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown:

Another must-read. One is not supposed to compare his latest work with his most successful work to date The Da Vinci Code.

Though these books are of the same genre The Lost Symbol is a good book. I liked its racy style.

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is a global phenomenon. No doubt, The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling.

The plot is highly suspenseful and full of intrigue. I could never miss his books. I read his The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and now The Lost Symbol. I enjoyed reading all of them.

Mistress of the Game by Tilly Bagshawe:

Overall a good read.

This is the first book I picked up by the author.

The book is on the lines of Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon and she did a great job.

By writing books with Sidney Sheldon's book titles in mind, the author Bagshawe is keen to keep alive the worldwide phenomenon of Sidney Sheldon's franchise. Tilly Bagshawe is a New York Times bestselling author and her book Mistress of the Game is a sort of sequel to Sidney Sheldon's critically acclaimed novel Master of the Game.

Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch by Arindam Chaudhuri:

This is a good management book he has written. I think I now know how to count my chickens before they hatch! Alas, some skittered away and some found their way into my biryani!

His India-centric Theory i Management is quite appealing.

It basically says that Success does not come to you, you have to go get it. Just like his Theory i Management is India-centric, the theory z developed by the Japanese is Japan-centric. The book is for those people who want to go get success in life and not for those who have a hunky-dory euphoric sense of achieving it.

The Cosmic Detective by Dr. Mani Bhaumik:

A slim book. The book is packed with colour photographs and interesting facts about Cosmology meant to interest readers with many unknown facts about our great Cosmos. How and when did the universe begin? What are galaxies and how far are they from Earth? What is a meteor, a quasar?

This thin little kiddie book gives you a really good account of the Cosmos and is ideal for all ages.

I was attracted to this book mainly because I had read Dr. Bhaumik's previous autobiographical book "Code Name God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science". Code Name God chronicles significant events that have occurred in the author's life. The book moved me to the core.

By Arindam Moulick

Pix courtesy: Internet