Half a Life, V. S. Naipaul
The second novel of Naipauls' that I've read, and enjoyed much more than the first (A House for Mr. Biswas). Thematically both are similar, but the story of this one is much more touching. And the writing is, of course, superlative.

The Teachings of Don Juan : A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda
Finally decided to move this book over to the 'read' section, I don't think I'll be reading the analysis section at the end. I've been strangely fascinated by this book. On the one hand, its the most lucid description of mystical and metaphysical experiences of a novice I've read, and on the other most of this is what would be termed 'black magic' in India. Most religious writings are too dry and arcane, and don't address the learnings as systematically as done here. At any rate, I dug a little deeper, found a lot of stuff on the author's later activities, and I don't think I'll be reading much more by Carlos Castaneda - turns out he was quite a fraud....

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games, Laszlo Polgar

The Discworld Novels, Terry Pratchett

The Predictors, Thomas A. Bass
An interesting book about Prediction Company, a Santa Fe based firm that has supposedly made lots of money by developing accurate models for the markets(stocks, derivatives, etc). The thing I didn't like is that it was extremely stingy on just what the models were and how they operated. I can understand that the book is meant for laymen and most of this is going to be trade secrets, but it did leave me a bit unfulfilled.

The Plot to Get Bill Gates, Gary Rivlin
A fun look at Microsoft and Gates. The irritating thing about this book and the next one is the fixation on money. Sure, Gates has made a ton of money, but its his, and I don't really go for the breathless counting that was going on in these two books. How about a look at the politics of running the company, defending against the competition, challenges in the marketplace, etc? [e.g., the intel book].

The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams, David A. Kaplan

It Takes a Village Idiot: Complicating the Simple Life , Jim Mullen

I enjoyed this book a whole lot - not exactly literature, and not very original, but cute in its own way. And it does fit in with my ideals of slowing down and enjoying the moment rather than being busy all the time.

Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary , Linus Torvalds and David Diamond


Angela's Ashes , Frank McCourt
A must read. I would normally be depressed on reading what this guy and his family had to go through, but the way it was written is uplifting. And the writing itself too, is excellent.

Inside Intel: Andy Grove and the Rise of the World's Most Powerful Chip Company, Tim Jackson
I thought I knew Intel, and was I wrong! To be able to lead a large business today, one has to be ruthless - I knew this but didn't think it applied to intel too. This kind of adds to my current disillusionment - forget about landing up in such a situation, but I don't even want to be associated with this sort of stuff. Success today seems to be defined more by political manipulations and less by personal ability.

The Romantics, Pankaj Mishra
Disappointing. I liked "Butter Chicken...", and while the settings he describes are wonderfully done, the situations and the people are not. And of course, the finale is, to me, entirely unbelievable. Read Vikram Seth for how the end of an affair should be described.

Love in the time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez


The Death of Vishnu, Manil Suri


A History of India Part I, Romila Thapar

Amriika, M. G. Vassanji

Sixty-five Short Stories, W. Somerset Maugham

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
This book is hilarious! It depresses me that I can identify with Ignatious J. Reilly in some aspects, but I guess there's a bit of him in all of us. Its also quite well written, and though its easy to poke fun at the main character, he does seem pretty erudite, if misled.

The Running Mate, Joe Klein
I enjoyed Primary Colors quite a bit when I first read it, this book isn't as good but still a nice read. One thing that strikes me is the strangeness of the way characters react - its so alien, for want of a better word. I can't imagine dealing with people and picking up on nuances of conversation and body language the way these guys seem to do. Another interesting thing is that politicians are the same everywhere - though there won't be any kidnappings/murders/booth capturing etc in the states, they do seem to be as opportunistic and self-serving as the ones back home.

A Tour of the Calculus, David Berlinski
What a wonderful book! I haven't fully understood a lot of the intricacies of the calculus, but this book definitely cleared up a lot of things for me. Engineers merrily differentiate and integrate most functions we can get our hands on, but other than what we do by rote, what do those operations really mean? Again the old grouse - why didn't I understand this when I first learnt it?

The Book of Secrets, M. G. Vassanji
Another book that had been lying around for a long time that I finally read. And another book that really got me thinking about all my existential questions... our lives feel so insignificant when you realize there's an entire world - continents, countries, nations, millions of people that we know nothing of, who make no difference to our lives, (and vice versa). and I'm wandering again.
Good book, well written, nice read.

The Memory of Elephants, Boman Desai
A wonderful book, especially in contrast to The Glass Palace. The premise is a bit spurious, but imaginative, and the wonderful blending of three generations seen from individual points of view is amazingly well written.

Secrets & Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World, Bruce Schneier
This is a must-read book for anyone using networks in any form - the internet, lan, atm / credit / smart cards, cell phones, etc. I thought I was reasonably familiar with computer security in general, but this book opened my eyes. There's a *lot* of frightening stuff out there, most of which is being hidden from public view. I'm much less confident of doing any online transactions now, the only defense I seem to have is that no cracker would bother with the small amounts I move around :)

Funny Boy, Shyam Selvadurai
A very well written book set in Sri Lanka. It's made me rethink my position about what's happening there. I was initially critical about our involvement, but I'm not so sure now. The interesting thing is the difficulty in figuring out when one nation's interference in another's affairs is justified and when its not. Anyway, thats got nothing to do with this book, so I'll leave that for later.

The Glass Palace, Amitav Ghosh
I'm a bit underwhelmed with this book too. Surprisingly, it has only one continuous story, narrated in a single thread. Part of the problem seems to be the absolutely huge story - the author jumps forward in steps of a few years, or decades in some cases. Still, its very nicely written, and it made me think of expatriate Indians in the nineteenth century in quite a different light. I wonder how Indians today (thats us) compare to them....

The Mammaries of the Welfare State, Upamanyu Chatterjee
A bit of a disappointment after English, August. This does have a few hilarious moments, but even without comparison with its precursor I'd just say its okay. The one idea - of referring to India as the 'Welfare State' is milked for all its worth, and it stops being funny after the first hundred pages or so. Oh yes, its really depressing once I realized it was written by a bureaucrat, and he should know what goes on in India's government.

The Great Indian Novel, Shashi Tharoor
I finally read this book, after initially trying about 3 years back. I did manage to finish it this time, and a few irritants remain - the main premise is cute but it does get tedious after a while. The initial sections, when he describes Gandhi's first struggles are wonderfully written, they alone make the book worthwhile. Of course, if hindus were as fanatic as Muslims, Shashi Tharoor wouldn't just be dead, he'd have had unmentionable atrocities inflicted on him. From what it looks like, we're getting getting close in the intolerance arena.

Red Earth and Pouring Rain, Vikram Chandra
Read this for the nth time, and I still like it as much as I did when I first read it. This is actually the book that got me onto reading Indian authors, before they had just been an amorphous group that got written about in magazines. The writing is fascinating, and the author just brings the story to life in front of the readers eyes. The pattern of the novel is one that I've since seen in a number of other books - stories within stories within stories, so tightly intertwined that you forget where one ends and the other begins - but its done just beautifully in this book.