Ice Hunt

By James Rollins

I found the Synopsis interesting so ended up buying this book. This book is kind of an “edge of the seat” thriller—very interesting and fast paced. As I started reading the book, I was in an ebullient mood, thinking that this is going to be a refreshing story, unlike my other slow-paced novels. Well, it satisfied me till the half way, and then I could easily guess what’s going to happen next. It can pass for an interesting thriller, only if you forget the “easy to guess” climax.

I felt everything happening a little too early in the book. Or maybe the climax is dragged too long that I found everything early. Matthew Pike, a Fish and Game officer, also an ex-Green Beret, finds a plane crashing in the Brooks Range of Alaska. He rescues the lone survivor Craig, a news reporter. Trouble starts when a chopper shows up and drops two villains to kill Craig. Then starts the roller coaster ride of pursuing villains, intelligent escapes and a series of exhilarating plane rides. Matt manages to escape from the villains with the help of his ex-wife Jen and her plane.

American research vessel Omega, captioned by Perry, accidently bumps into an abandoned Russian ice station Grendel. Curiosity drives the scientists, geologists and researchers to research on the ice station. Amanda Reynolds, the research head, along with Captain Perry and a couple of others discover a chilling secret hidden inside the fourth level of the ice station. Determined to let the world know the truth, Amanda summons Matt’s group (as they managed to land the plane near Omega) to the ice station.

The story went well till this point. Then it becomes kind of repetitive—chasing villains and mysterious animals become boring after some time. The escapes were too easy to predict. After a dozen of hide and seek games, Matt discovers the chilling truth—but he knows little that the worst is yet to come until he finds who’s behind all those.

The group escapes and Captain Perry intelligently hides his submarine and brings it on time to help the escaped group. The story ends happily when Matt and Jen reunite. I liked the way the characters are portrayed, they are rich and vivid. The ones which are caught in my mind are the no-nonsense Russian Captain Viktor Petkov, waiting for a revenge for his father’s death; the smart dog Bane; and the cute couple at the Fuel stop.

It can be a good book if you can bear with too much danger-and-escape games. Its very fast paced and you hardly feel like keeping the book.

Read it once.

Dear John

By Nicholas Sparks

I liked few other novels by Nicholas Sparks and so I picked this one. Well, it’s not as enjoyable as his other works like “The Choice” or “The Rescue”. As with any of his other books, this book also deals with human emotions, love, and tragedy. The book was painfully slow and you get irritated with every character save a little pity for John’s father.

John Tyree, an Army officer on a vacation at his hometown Wilmington, NC, enjoys surfing in the beautiful local beach. Love flickers in his otherwise monotonous life when he deep dives into the Sea to retrieve the purse of Savannah Lynn Curtis, a student who builds houses for the underprivileged. He’s a big, tattooed, army guy and she’s a happy student and a teetotaler. He spends much of his vacation with Savannah and her group of friends at a beach house. John is particularly impressed with Tim, Savannah’s close friend.

John’s father strikes us as a peculiar yet an adorable character—a man of practice, regularity and patience (especially with John). He’s too obsessed with his huge coin collection to discuss anything except his “Okays”. All attempts of John in involving his dad in a friendly chat end up futile.

After a couple of friendly meetings between Savannah and John’s dad, Savannah reveals John that his dad’s suffering from Autism. John deciding that she’s curious on his dad as a matter of subject gets furious and flee the place. En route the beach house, he knocks a guy and breaks Tim’s nose. Unexpectedly, they make up for their fights too easily and spend rest of John’s vacation happily.

As the story proceeds, John goes back to his work and Savannah keeps writing as she promised. He comes on a vacation and they again spend a good time. Then the September 11 comes and John reenlists in the army as per his consciousness. Savannah assures that she’s very proud of him followed by a “Dear John” letter announcing that she’s found another love.

John, now depressed and lonely concentrates much on his dad. It's then he feels a pang of guilt for not spending enough time and not understanding his problems. Of whatever Savannah did, she helped him understand his dad better. Again, the tragedy strikes when his dad suffers a heart attack and is bed ridden. After a series of convincing, cajoling and begging he’s taken to a hospital where he dies after seven weeks.

Distressed and left with no one to love him, he decides to meet Savannah, only to find her married. Savannah is no better than John as her husband is suffering from Melanoma and her brother in law has autism. Finally, along with John, we also understand what true love means.

To sum up, the story is quite boring except for some chapters involving John’s dad and his disease. I liked the ending though it may seem impractical. I think for a goody-goody girl like Savannah, it’s too soon to fall in love and end everything so soon. And John seems to have as big a heart as his massive body. The only character portrayed interestingly is John’s dad but alas, he has autism! It’s a light read, not really romantic.

Read it if you are in a vacation or you have all the time in the world.

The Idea of Love

By Louise Dean

First of all, don’t get carried away by the book cover which is very romantic. I fell for the charming cover and the beautiful synopsis that was given at the back of the cover. The story is definitely not as romantic as the cover. I managed to finish the book partly because I didn’t want to waste money and partly due to the curiosity that something at the end might prove worthy. I finished the book all right, other than that there’s nothing special in this book, at least I didn’t find it tempting.

The author, Louise Dean is British novelist and her other books are 'Becoming Strangers' and 'This Human Season'. She received the awards Society of Authors Betty Trask Prize in 2004 and Le Prince Maurice prize in 2006.

The story was depressing and gives a feel as if the entire book is soaked in alcohol. The story is about family, relationships, love and, of course, depression. Pharmaceutical salesman Richard and his French wife Valerie live in a small French town. Their loveless marriage is survived by their son Max. Richard often travels to Africa for marketing anti-depressant drugs. Their odd lifestyle mainly involves drinking sessions with their neighbors Jeff and Rachael whose life is no different from theirs.

As the story proceeds further, we are encountered with self-obsessed parents, love-less children, and philandering spouses. Richard enjoys every other female company except for his beautiful wife and Rachael enjoys helping orphans in Africa than her family. What is expected as a cute romantic story becomes a shockingly true tragedy?

The tragedy strikes when the promising young business man Richard’s life takes a bend, moving from riches to rags, worse when he starts using what he sells. The situation worsens when Max gets affected by all this and his erratic behavior becomes a concern. You’ll feel pity for the angelic Maud. What follows is a story of self discovery. Finally, the parents overcome their self obsession and understand what matters the most.

It's a pretty OK book. It’s not particularly an enjoyable read, but read it for the moral, which is much required in the current situation.

The Language Of Others

By Clare Morall

I was scanning through a local bookshop when I found this book. It seemed like an interesting read, so I picked it up. Well, I don’t regret it. It was a pleasant read and I enjoyed it albeit it was depressing sometimes.

This is the author's third book after the famous 'Astonishing splashes of color' which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and 'Natural Flights of the Human Mind'.

The story paces back and forth between the present and past life of detached but musically gifted Jessica Fontaine. The book is moderately paced with strong emotional cobwebs. It's easy to sit engrossed with the book for hours together without ever knowing.

Her childhood years are portrayed in a beautiful country house called Audlands. She's a concern for her parents for not being social like her mom Connie or her amiable sister Harriet. Jessica has an exceptional flair for playing piano and she plays too much that it peeves her mom. She's always whittled away from others and spends most of her time on music. Jessica finds it hard to move around with people and she's constantly bullied by her cousins.

Jessica falls in love with Andrew, her college senior, an obstreperous person whose behavior is unpredictable. Innocent Jessica falls in love with his music and eventually marries him. As she's fighting to lead a normal life with Andrew and Joel, Andrew suddenly deserts her only return after few years pursuing her to reunite.

Jessica, who's 40 years at the present is quite content working as a librarian as well as doing concerts with her dear friend Mary. Mary has a beautiful life with an understanding husband and co-operative kids. Jessica often wonders why her life not so practical as Mary's or as beautiful as Harriet who's a designer and travels the world.

Jessica is frustrated with her son Joel, a successful Computer games programmer not being mature enough to find a home on his own and being still dependent on his mom and Andrew who's pursuing Marie on a reunion and has got a recent flair for climbing tall buildings and playing Violin.

One day, Joel suddenly brings her girlfriend Alice who seems to understand Joel better than Jessica. It's Alice who throws light on Joel and Jessica's paths to self-realization. Jessica always thought that the reason for her life being so dull is undoubtedly due to Andrew's preposterous behavior. Jessica falls in love again and the story ends when she realizes who's the reason for all the misery.

Slow paced but a must read.

To Kill A Mocking Bird

By Harper Lee

This is my first post in the book shelf. I was thinking on which book to start first. Out of all the books that I read, I found this book to be of unique style yet very simple. One of the best books I’ve read and it tops my favorite list. It’s a Southern classic and considered one of the best in American Fiction. It’s not that difficult to guess as many of us would have read it more than once. For people whoever have guessed it; Yes! You’re right; I’m talking about the all time favorite “To Kill a Mocking Bird”.

There are ample reviews by professionals for this book. There’s nothing much for a person like me without any experience in writing, to review about. But I personally didn’t like to leave this book out of my bookshelf. So here goes my version...

First of all, let me warn people looking for a book that’ll make them sit at the edge of the seat as they frantically flip through the pages. Sorry, this is not that kind of a book. If you like a leisurely read to sit alone relaxed, then this is the story for you and I’m one among you!

This is the only novel by the author Harper Lee, published in 1960. This book is a Bildungsroman, describing the growing up process of Scout, the charming, precocious 6-year-old narrator and her poised elder brother Jem. The striking feature that makes the book special is the innocence and down to earth narration of Scout. The author has a natural sense of humor and it flows freely throughout the novel.

The other main characters include the ‘little but old’ friend Dill, the too good to be true father Atticus, the amiable housekeeper Calpurnia and the scary Boo Radley. The book mainly focuses on racism and injustice suffered by Blacks during the sixties, but there are also other important aspects which are neatly blended into the story. The innocence of the children, the responsibilities of the parents, equality and compassion are to name a few.

The story happens in a ‘sleepy, lazy’ town (as described by our little Scout) called ‘Maycomb’ in Alabama. It vastly describes Scout, Jem and Dill’s holidays and mischief’s they play trying to bring out their elusive neighbor Boo Radley who’s always locked up in his home. Their favorite pastime is to imagine situations where Boo Radley involves in various atrocities (like stamping his father Mr. Radley’s leg with a scissor!) and to enact the scenes.

Scout is a tomboyish 6-year-old girl who seems to have a premonition that ladies are not as exciting and understanding as Men. The author’s opinions are voiced through her and at times she seems overly composed for her age. She’s the character who portrays the childhood innocence and it’s easy to fall in love with her cuteness. She’s notorious for her profane language, but the author is smart enough to make the readers too bedazzled to bother about this. Most of the town's people (including Jem sometimes) are disappointed with Scout not behaving like a 'young lady'. It feels as if Scout's holding our hands and touring the entire Maycomb when she describes the big Oak tree, Radley’s house, Post Office, Mrs. Maudie’s azaleas and many other taciturn places of Maycomb.

Scout’s school days struggling with her ‘pretty little thing’ teacher Miss Caroline and her abominable methods of teaching are interesting additions. She has a tough time coping with the town’s ladies, Aunt Alexandra and Jem, who’s visibly peeved by her infantile behavior. Every minute day-to-day activity is portrayed finely without boring the reader.

Atticus, father of Scout and Jem, a lawyer by profession is a prominent and plausible person of the town. His character vividly captures the effect of parent’s behavior on the children. He sets an example to his children by actually living his words. He’s loving, humble, honest, understanding and everything an ideal person can be. His endurance to fight injustice and compassion towards the black people are finest of all.

The ‘all angels and bones’ Calpurnia is their housekeeper and she’s a lovely motherly lady who insists on Scout’s proper behavior. She’s a very well learnt and practical black women and Atticus seems to appreciate this and preached the same equality to his children. He fights for justice for a black man named Tom Robinson who’s accused on a false charge by Mr. Bob Ewell. No words or deeds from Mr. Bob Ewell can faze Atticus. Though this character by Harper Lee seems too good to be true, it’s well worth to be cherished and followed forever.

Scout’s brother Jem is a fine gentleman like his father. From a curious child to a responsible adolescent, his growth is enticing. He, as his father, grows into a humble, honest and compassionate person. His encounter with Mrs. Dubose proves his poise. His deep sympathy and helpless vehemence on the acrimonious verdict of Tom Robinson’ case explicitly cites ‘like father, like son’

Dill, Scout’s sweetheart is a charming young little man whose innate imagination is the source for their furtive plans to bring Boo Radley out. He is a sort of caught in between Scout’s childishness and Jem’s adolescence. He’s a unique adventurous character who longs for true love and as Jem he’s also helpless and sympathetic on the prejudice towards black people.

The other characters which are unimportant but add strength to the novel's backbone are Mrs. Maudie, Uncle John, innocuous Mr. Dolphus Raymond and Mr. Heck Tate. The vicious Ewells and their livid plans to libel Tom Robinson and Atticus are fit enough for a thriller.

It’s very tempting to write more, but I don’t want to end up writing the entire story. I think I’ve given enough idea about the story line. Do read the novel to know what happened to the evasive Boo Radley, pathetic Tom Robinson and obstreperous Bob Ewell.

Harper Lee profoundly succeeded in making this a fascinating classic of all time. The story and the characters linger soothingly in our minds long after the story is finished. There’s no doubt that the characters like Scout, Atticus, Jim, Cal and Dill remain embalmed in our lives for days to come.