the blooding

a true crime narrative by joseph wambaugh - murders set in small village in rural england - wambaugh has built the suspense very well, in the middle, i thought the narrative was sagging, but nice fast paced thriller - my first one by wambaugh

the fast buck

another fast faced thriller from james hadley chase - he never ceases to amaze me with his prodigous talent - again some india connections - suspense, murder, drama, thriller, kidnapping everything in it - fantastic. paul hater is an international jewel thief and knows the location of a stolen necklace. The police and other hoodlums are after it as are the insurers. It is a racy thriller. I will give 5/5 rating to it.  

red earth and pouring rain

just finished this first book by vikram chandra - what to say about this one - the narrative was good, therefore i kept on reading, even vowing at one time to finish it come what may - but overall it was a non-story, so to speak - it was part mythological, phantasmogical, cultural, weak parody, part history - all things rolled into one - a nothing kind of book - no story at all - not going anywhere - in short, 669 pages of crap.

Crooked House

just finished reading "Crooked House' by Agatha Christie - a typical Christie murder mystery set in rural england - she is the master of suspense - brilliant story - we don't know until the end who is actual murderer - though she leaves lots of clues on the other characters in the story.  

The Lost World of Hindustani Music

Just finished reading “The Lost World of Hindustani Music” by Kumar Prasad Mukherjee, an eminent musician himself – this book is a veritable storehouse of information about the giants of Hindustani music from Ustad Alladiya Khan to Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Mallikarjun Mansur, Bhimsen Joshi, Hirabai Barodekar, Mogubai Kurdekar – all absolutely brilliant vocalists and creators or followers of the various gharana system of music in vogue in Hindustani classical music. The narration is most of time technical with music terms, but otherwise it is very fluid, delving into the lives of these giants and their whimsicalities, family histories and personal lives with liberal doses of anecdotes.

glute exercises

Dare to Run

Just finished reading "Dare to Run" by Amit Sheth - his book on his conquest of Comrades Marathon in 2010, which was after an unsuccessful attempt the previous year. The book talks of his saga from television couch potato to a marathoner, nay ultra-marathoner. The narrative is beautifully interspersed with stories from indian and greek mythology besides his philosophical meanderings.