The Emperor of Lies

Its a semi-fictional novel by Steve Sem-Sandberg about the life of Jews of the Polish ghetto of Lodz in 1940. It gives a vivid picture of the harsh life forced upon on the Jewish population in the ghetto by the Nazis. This is the first book on this topic I read. I liked the book....its style and the mixture of fact and fiction. Its a written with wonderful subtleties. It makes the next book I am reading a bit bland.

Rating: 7.8/10

The things they carried

It's a book by Tim O'Brien about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam war. It is a collection of stories, woven around a central theme.... the platoon and their experience. For me it was more like listening to the other as he tells about fragments of his experience as it comes to his mind. I liked the style which is different. Also he writes it in a way that eventually you will never know how much was true and which part was fictional.

Rating 7/10

World without end

This is a sequel to "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follet. Though a sequel, the story happens at a later period, and besides some overlap with names of places and people, its an independent story. Its a fat book of more than 1200 pages. I like fat books since one can enjoy it longer, provided the book is a good one. And so is "World without end". Plotted in the medieval ages, it circles around life of a builder. But there are many sides to the story, all ends woven together. The end somehow got a bit tiring. Unlike "pillars of the earth" which dealt with one big mission of building of a cathedral, this book has many objectives. And that made the end a bit tedious. But overall I enjoyed it.

7.5/10   

The immortals of Mehula

Next in line is "The immortals of Mehula" by Amish Tripathi. My father liked it and recommended it. I read it during my vacation at home. I liked the book mainly because it was the first book which I read that dealt with Indian mythology. Its a fiction where the author blends mythology with technology. Writing style is very simple.

6/10

The Hobbit

After reading some serious stuff, the lucid, funny, simple book "The Hobbit" by  J. R. R. Tolkien came as a delightful relaxation. It is a book which gives you a fresh feeling.... like lying of the grass looking up at the sky, watching the birds fly, in the soft spring sun while the cool breeze passes by. The simple hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his enormous adventure involving a dangerous dragon, and how he longs to go back to the cozy corner of his home while he is out in the forest or inside a dank dark cave..... can just directly link to ones heart. It is a children story but equally enjoyable for people of all age.

I enjoyed reading it a lot and am looking forward to buy a few more books by Tolkien besides LOTR (which I already have).

8/10

Under the dome

This is a novel by Stephen King. The first thing you'll notice is the size.... its a 1200 pages book. But the writing is smooth and the story catches a fast pace. It took some time to finish it but I did not feel bored at any point. What the book offered was different from what I expected. I thought it to be a sci-fi with details about the dome, how it happened and why.... and other scientific stuff related to this. But the story focuses on the life under the dome. How the lives changed. Its a story about human relations. Of course he finishes with some explanation for the dome but I expected better in that respect.
Anyway, I admire King's skill in handling so many characters. This novel has a three page list of characters!!!!
 Rate: 7/10

 

The Silent Sea

Next in the list is "The Silent Sea". Another novel by Clive Cussler. It is one of the Oregon adventures. The story starts with a stone pit on a private island which hides some ancient secret. This eventually leads the investigating team to Antarctica revealing a deep conspiracy of Argentinians to exploit the natural resources, thus violating the Antarctica treaty.

It is a light read, but doesn't leave a mark.

4/10