Bear Island

Just finished reading “Bear Island” by Alistair Maclean my favourite author.  Dr. Marlowe is a doctor on board a fishing trawler Morning Rose which is headed towards Bear Island in Barents Sea for some film shooting of which nobody knows what the script is about. Enroute, the film crew start getting murdered one after another in mysterious circumstances. The plot gets murkier when the crew lands on the inhospitable and alien Bear Island and the murders continue. Written in first person narrative, Maclean gradually lets the suspense out one after another taking the story to some connection in post war Europe. A gripping enthralling book, a typically pot boiler by Alistair Maclean. Rating 5/5 – Highly Recommended

Fathers and Sons

This is a brilliant book dealing with the love of fathers towards their sons. Arcady and Bazarov return to Arcady's father's house in rural hinterland of mid-19th century. They are idealistic and have developed a nihilistic approach in life where Arcady is in awe of Bazarov. Arcady's father Nicholas and Paul are old timers who have modernised by freeing serfs and Nicholas loves his son but is upset when both Arcady and Bazarov decide to leave their home to go to a neighbour where they visit Anna Sergeyevna who is a widow where surprisingly Bazarov falls madly in love with Anna who is older to him and Arcady has a crush on Anna but slowly moves towards Katya, Anna's sister. Falling in love was like an anathema to Bazarov due to his nihilistic leanings, so both of them come back to Arcady's house. In between Bazarov visits his old parents Vassily Ivanich and Arina Vlassyevna his father and mother. His parents are old and they are deliriously excited to have Bazarov back and shower him with blessings and love which Bazarov likes in the beginning but starts detesting later on, again his nihilistic leanings throwing him against his own parents. The interplay between Bazarov and his parents and their emotions which Bazarov so cruelly crushes is where "Fathers and Sons" achieves greatness. Turgenev has written beautifully and movingly and it would be difficult not to get emotionally involved in this father-son interlude. Love of a father towards his offspring is greater than any idealism that this world produces in mid-19th century or even now in the early 21st century and this is what makes Turgenev's book timeless. "He has abandoned us, he has abandoned us" quivered Vassily Ivanich when Bazarov leaves his home  - this was an absolutely gut wrenching part of the book. After Anna rejects his love due to her strong independence, Bazarov returns to Arcady's house and falls in love again with Nicholas's young mistress whom he kisses which is seen by Paul who detests Bazarov for his arrogance and his anti-authority views. Bazarov is forced to leave Arcady's house due to a gun duel with Paul. What happens to Bazarov, Arcady and their old parents - this book is highly recommended - a Russian classic - my rating 5/5

The Sacred Bones

The Sacred Bones by Michael Byrnes is a fast paced historical fiction book dating back to the biblical times. An explosion takes place below Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a melting point for three religions viz. Christianity, Islam & Judaism. An ossuary is stolen from that place which contains sacred bones, some fragments,  a scroll etc. The ossuary is ferreted out of Jerusalem into the Vatican to be examined by America's top forensic scientist Charlotte Hennessey alongwith Italian anthrolopologist Giovanni Bersei. As they proceed to examine the skeleton, they slowly come to realisation that it could be something very paramount. Meanwhile the Islamic faith ask a British archaeologist Graham Burton to examine the site which was bombed for clues. The plot unravels quickly with deep explanations about the biblical importance and significance of Jesus Christ crucifixion and resurrection after three days.  Vatican priests are involved with Islamic leaders and Jewish police in this plot. The narrative is bilinear involving the investigations at the Vatican level and at the Jerusalem level. But the biblical facts are little difficult to understand for somebody like me. But its a courageous book just like the Da Vinci Code of Dan Brown. I cannot comprehend what would have been the reaction had such a historically controversial fiction book been written about my religious gods. Goodreads 4/5 

The Accidental Billionaires

Just finished reading the brilliant biography of the founding of Facebook "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. The book cover says "Sex, money, betrayal and the founding of the Facebook". Sex and money are definitely not connected to the founding of the facebook though money is all pervasive connection because of the greed factor. Mark Zukerberg is portrayed as a near genius programmer but with little flair for business. Business ethics and gentlemen's agreement is the basis on which betrayal is suggested. But i guess any business has to be founded on the blood and guts of somebody and it is blood of one person and guts of another. I hope young entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs do not get ideas on how to found their business upon reading this book. But Indian readers might as well say - "aa ma soo che, aa tho bhadha normal che na bhai!!" Nice narrative style of Mezrich makes for compelling reading. Goodreads 5/5

The $100 Start Up

Just finished reading "$100 start up" by Chris Guillebeau - this guy is a successful serial micro entrepreneur and the book has lots of insights on building a business with very little investment, as low as $100 or even less. All it requires is ideas, a solid product, which people want and which gives value to people. So there should be a want and it should carry value. He takes the reader through the entire process of building a small business with examples from various such micropreneurs who have successfully built their businesses. Its an online world so all it takes is passion with a desire to build business. Some cases are accidental in the sense that people study for one thing, they have passion in another area and it is a cross between choosing a boring day job or pursuing your passion. Highly recommended for would be micro entrepreneurs. Goodreads 3/5

14 Hours - An Insider's Account of the Taj Attack

Just finished reading this book by Ankur Chawla - I had expected a gripping saga of the greatest attack on Indian soil since independence but not totally disappointed. He has tried his best to give a nice narrative account of his experience inside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba, Mumbai and succeeded also to some extent. It is obviously his first attempt at writing a book and being a young hotelier I will give full credit to his composure during the worst travail of his life. There are some genuine attempts at humour and it works very well. Goodreads 3/5

Turbaned Tornado

This book "Turbaned Tornado" is a biography of the famous Indian marathoner who ran a marathon at 100 years, Fauja Singh. The writer Kushwant Singh is not the same famous Indian journalist and writer of the same name. It is a nice narrative of the early life of Fauja Singh, how he travelled to London after the death of his loving wife and started running marathons at the age of 89 when most of us would rather be more comfortable walking with a stick!! Fauja is an indomitable spirit and his farmers' genes help him in becoming a rare sportsman and brand ambassador more famous than sportspersons three or four generations younger than him. His timing of 5.20 hours at the age of 94 is the stuff made of legends. He was denied the Guiness world record for being the oldest marathoner, due to lack of his birth documents.  Fauja Singh is truly a great sportsman of India and reading his biography is very refreshing.  Goodreads 5/5