Rashmi bookmarks “Dying of the Light”

by George R. R. Martin.

Set on the rogue planet of Worlorn, this is a tale of a planet moving in Space towards its inevitable death, of planetary cultures that came together for a brief time, only to then drift towards their eventual annihilation.

As awesome as the setting of this story was, unfortunately far too much time was spent on the personal relationships of a few characters - which immediately loses me as a reader who really has limited patience for love stories in science fiction!

Here lies endless Space. Here spins the brilliant Wheel of Fire. Here is a planet that is being pulled closer towards a cold and dark region of space where no life can ever again survive. Here is a world built with the express purpose of celebrating the cultures of 14 different planetary systems. Here lie stones with the power to retain memories and relay messages. Here are cities where everything from taxi service to acquiring citizenship is fully automated ...

Yet, here we are, for the most part, pondering over the break-up of (the very weak) Dirk t'Larien and (the very annoying) Gwen Delvano. Actually I found the "secondary" characters way more interesting than the main protagonists - they had a richer story to tell, with their unique culture and code of behaviour.

Still, for a first novel, Martin certainly created an undoubtedly fascinating world.

Rashmi bookmarks “The Confession”

by John Grisham.

1998. An abduction of a high school cheerleader. A black boy who happens to be in the same school. Oh, and this is a small town in Texas.

After spending nine years in prison, wrongly convicted for a crime he had nothing to do with, Donté Drumm is just days away from his execution, when serial rapist Travis Boyette comes forward and confesses to the crime. Set against the backdrop of a rotting legal and judicial system, this story is a mad race against time as a few good people, led by advocate Robbie Flak, frantically attempt to set matters right.

The story - desperately heartbreaking at times, wonderfully victorious at others - was beautiful. A fast-paced narrative added that element of swift page-turning that a story like this demanded. Adding to this were some truly memorable characters; the dramatic Reeva Pike, whose greatest desire appears to turn her tragedy into popular reality television; Keith Schroeder, the Lutheran pastor, whose desire to be good and do good is put to the ultimate test the day a criminal shows up on his doorstep confessing to a rape and murder that someone else is on death row for; and of course lawyer Robbie Flak who faces perhaps the greatest trial of his life as he fights for justice in a town steeped in bias and injustice.

A great story that left me alternately happy, angry, and very sad.

Rashmi bookmarks “Neverwhere”

by Neil Gaiman.

Away from his home and family in Scotland, Richard Mayhew is trying to make a life for himself in London. Other than a dull job and an overbearing girlfriend, London has not granted him any of the fantastic dreams he had hoped to realize. Enter Door. In saving a severely injured young girl who appears out of nowhere, Richard is sent on a mission to find the Marquis de Carabas, the only man who can help Door. And just like that, along with him, we fall through the cracks of this world and enter the unbelievable world of London Below.

With “Neverwhere”, Neil Gaiman sets us off on a magical quest for life in an underground land of death, disease, murder, mayhem, and all things truly, truly fantastical. We deal with Rat-Speakers. We make our way through the terrifying Night's Bridge. We meet the legendary Hunter. We appear at the bizarre Earl's Court. We take vampires for guides. We test our mettle at ordeals set by Black Friars. We visit the unique Floating Market. We are visited by an Angel ... And in all this, we are constantly running away from the horrific duo of paid assassins, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar.

An overwhelmed Richard wants to get back to his ordinary boring life; Door is on a mission to find out why her family was murdered; Hunter wants to kill the Great Beast of London. Gaiman adds to his usual world of fantasy, a touch of the mysterious, as the tale weaves in and out of the labyrinthine underbelly of London, through several twists and turns and surprise revelations, as varied characters with vastly different goals join forces in that weird underground world.

“He had gone beyond the world of metaphor and simile, into the place of things that are...” Richard Mayhew's speechless reaction upon first discovering London Below is precisely my reaction - each and every time - to the wonderful world of Neil Gaiman.

Rashmi bookmarks “Gone Girl”

by Gillian Flynn.

Narrated alternately by Nick and Amy - either by means of relating present accounts, or by means of recounting the past - this is the story of a married couple and the mysterious disappearance of one of them.

Let me sum up my thoughts on this book in 4 short sentences:

1. Amy Elliott Dunne is one of the most irritating characters of all time. Reading those diary entries was sheer torture, and after a point I was skimming through most of it.

2. There is no payoff to this unnecessarily long book; things happen, and then they stop happening.

3. This does not fall in the crime / mystery genre - it is a psychological study of two people; and while neither of them is typical of the sex they represent, neither is unique or interesting enough to warrant such a detailed study.

4. There are stories which are based on a great idea but are expressed poorly. There are stories with generic ideas at the core, but are narrated so beautifully that one feels compelled to keep reading anyway. And then there are books which are simple both in content and execution. This was one of them.

There's not really much else I can add to this review. I didn't abandon it, so I suppose there was some level of interest that the author kept alive, to see me through to the end. Perhaps if someone could have edited out about 200 or so pages - preferably from the first half, it might have made for an interesting read.

Rashmi bookmarks “The Cuckoo’s Calling”

by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling).

The first novel in the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels, this investigation of a model's death takes us to the flashy world of multimillionaire movie producers, socialites and rock-stars.

In following up on the suicide of famous supermodel Lula Landry, we are introduced to an extremely wide range of characters from a homeless woman to a famous rapper to an eccentric designer. And for me, this was the highlight of the narrative. First we get a description of the clothes. Then come the mannerisms. Then they start speaking ... and slowly the characters come to life. The driver. The security guard. The make up girl. The store assistant. The poor birth mother. The rich adoptive mother. The actor. The model. I really felt like I was watching these characters move and speak.

I also really liked Cormoran Strike and his "temporary" secretary Robin - both individually, as well as their relationship. Robin's fast-paced, clever means of follow up formed such a perfect foil to Strike's slow but tenacious unearthing of clues.

The plot itself was generic. Very early on, I had correctly predicted who the perpetrator was, and I attribute that to a very standard mystery.

Still, it was an enjoyable read. Despite the simple plot not once did I feel the reading to be a drag.

Rashmi bookmarks “Death Note”

Written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata.

There are murder mysteries where no one knows the killer and both the investigator and the public slowly follow the clues and in the end figure out what is going on. Then there are murder mysteries where the reader knows who the killer is and in a cleverly written way, events - and the reasoning behind them - unfold. And then there is "Death Note" where both the investigator and the killer know each other and are working together to catch the killer, while the reader waits to see who will win.

Welcome to the fantastic world of Light (Raito) Yagami, whose accidental discovery of the "Death Note" - a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it - starts an unprecedented rush of events, most fascinating amongst which are the appearance of a shinigami (god of death) called Ryuk, and a brilliant battle of wits with "L", a world-famous detective.

Light's journey starts with a truly well-meaning desire to rid the world of its criminals. But right and wrong start to blur, when he appoints himself as "the god of the new world" with the creation of that utopia. Enter "L". And this is what I found the most fascinating aspect of this series: I loved how equally brilliant the two characters were - I loved that each person was immediately able to figure out the other's thinking almost to the point of being able to predict the other's moves. And I loved how - unlike average crime / mystery tales - this narrative did not hide the denouement till the final point of the grand finale. All tricks and plans are played and counter-played throughout this saga, and that made for a very exciting read.

Although, without a question Light and L are two of the stronger characters I have ever come across, I found it fascinating that this was not a story only about the one good guy and the one bad guy. The stories of many characters, with multiple layers, were woven in and out of the narrative. Their relationships added yet another dimension to the story. Light and his shinigami Ryuk; Misa and her shinigami Rem; TV host Kiyomi Takada and devout "Kira" follower Teru Mikami; heirs Near and Mello... With the possible exception of Misa Amane, who tended to get a little annoying at times, each and every character in this story was strong, fascinating and so unique.

Showcased through the actions - and their far-reaching results - of the two main protagonists, Death Note is also a great comment on society, its beliefs, its stand on right and wrong, good and evil. One of the marks of great writing is, in my opinion, its ability to present characters and/or a point of view, in such shades of grey as to have the reader constantly oscillate between admiring and loathing a character, constantly arguing for or against the stand, and never being able to put an easy, permanent label on any one. And that is exactly what this series does.

Also, for a narrative that spreads across 12 volumes, the action was quite fast paced throughout. Told through cleverly inserted flashbacks, there were some truly brilliant "reveal" moments. If there was one time where I felt the story to be lagging a bit, it had to do with events at Yotsuba Group. While the events at that organisation were an integral part of the story, I felt that at times the story lingered around the building and its people, and lost some of its power. A lag, however, that was more than picked up by the concluding events at Sakura TV and the follow-up events, leading to the conclusion at Yellow Box Warehouse; which were some more exciting concluding action scenes I have ever read.

I do have to say that I was a little disappointed with the conclusion insofar as it had just a touch of the didactic - which was more of an anti climax when you consider the brilliant storytelling that had preceded it. Still, overall, a fantastic read.

Oh, and this was my first Manga, so I have no frame of reference, but I thought the art was awesome. In some cases, the illustrations carried the story forward even in a complete absence of words, and that was pretty cool.

(Yes I realize this is an extra long review, but, like I just said, it was my first ever Manga and I did not feel like editing my reactions!)

Rashmi bookmarks “The Monuments Men”

by Robert M. Edsel.

In a special meeting held at the Met in 1941, the Fogg Art Museum's associate director Paul Sachs addressed the war and its impact on the arts community: "If, in time of peace, our museums and art galleries are important to the community, in time of war they are doubly valuable. For then, when the petty and the trivial fall way and we are face to face with final and lasting values, we...must summon to our defense all our intellectual and spiritual resources ... Art is the imperishable and dynamic expression of these aims. It is, and always has been, the visible evidence of the activity of free minds."

Along with every other physical and emotional plunder, Adolf Hitler had set about stealing the finest art treasures in Europe, a process wherein he and his armies took it upon themselves to judge what art deserved to be preserved, and what could be ruthlessly destroyed. Set in 1944-1945, “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History” is the account of a mission to save some of the world's greatest art from the Nazis.

Without a question this is a fascinating slice of history, and there were so many things here that I was not aware of. (For one, I did not think it possible to hate the Nazis any more, but after reading this book, I do). More importantly however, this recount sheds light on the extremely adverse conditions that the MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives) men and women worked under. With little or no official / political support, or access to arms and ammunition, a small band of American and British art historians, museum curators and academicians risked their very lives to save cultural treasures. James Rorimer. Lincoln Kirstein. Walker Hancock. George Stout. Rose Valland. Harry Ettlinger. It is a pity that these names are not more well-known as war heroes.

Overall, however, while this is definitely an important part of history - and something that is unfortunately not as common knowledge as it should be - just as a reading experience, the narrative left much to be desired. Perhaps an introduction to the mission and its background could have been followed by a report of a handful of missions and/or highlights. Detailing each and every mission became very repetitive, and I reached a point where I had to force myself to finish the book.