anjali
Gothic wilderness, madness, first loves, betrayals, childhood best friends parting and meeting again, castles, the highlands, wild, unbridled, intoxicating passions.
Wuthering Heights is phenomenal. Emily Bronte only ever wrote one book during her lifetime, and died not long after this one was published, but as it stands, Wuthering Heights is rightly enough to put her on the list as one of the best writers in the history of English literature.
This book is moody, fierce, brooding, intense, tragic and very, very beautiful. The prose alone is a pleasure to read.
When I first read Wuthering Heights, I spent the first half despising Heathcliff and Cathy. They were whiny bitches for the larger part, and when I was finished with the novel I couldn't figure out just why it was that I put the book down having another perspective to look back at those same characters now. Of course, they still made you want to punch them in the stomach, but you couldn't really avoid liking them as characters. It was the first book that inspired such intense dislike and yet made wonderful reading all the same.
This book is one of my all time favourites.
Oh, this book is a trip. A children's story, no doubt, but a re-read at 17 actually left me open mouthed at its deceptive status as a ‘mere children's books.' Lots of hidden symbolism, meaning and metaphor, fun wordplay and overall just a delight to read. ‘Not just a children's book.' This one is very, very clever. How many people know that Lewis Carroll (actual name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was also a mathematician?
Awful book. Narrative all over the place, characters are a haze of blurry, one-dimensional, half-hearted caricatures, who seldom ever feel like real characters. The story is also outrageously lacking in terms of real plot development. I can understand that, especially when it comes to ‘literary fiction'; however, as much as it pains me to say this, I found nothing literary about this book. Horribly over-rated.
Believe me when I say: This book will change your life.
It can get challenging at times, but in the end, it's an amazing, amazing book. You will have at least questioned the basic and yet important tenets of intelligence, morality, and what it means to be good or bad and what it means to live, to really live, by the time you're done.
I first read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when I was sixteen...it changed the way I thought about the world and about ideas. I don't think i've ever read anything quite like it.
There are some that argue that Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is ‘mental masturbation' of sorts; or a ‘pretentious philosophical work' whose ideas are just all over the place. The truth is, this book is probably one of those few who deserve the oft-thrown around appraisal, ‘this book will change your life' - because, at its heart, the book is about ideas and covers tremendous mental territory. It's a challenging read, but highly recommended.
Heart-breaking and very, very beautiful. It left me awed, wondering how writing could achieve and create something as amazing as this. Two days is all it took for me to finish this book, despite my best efforts to read as slowly as possible. Very highly recommended. One of the books that just make you feel immensely.
This is a book about psychology, neuroscience, all the good stuff. Ramachandran is delightfully witty and approaches the big and small questions of psychology and neuroscience with curiosity and equal doses of scepticism and speculation alike. One of the truly good things about Phantoms in the Brain is that it is written with humility and humour. Ramachandran manages to expound whilst being hilarious and without ‘dumbing down', so to speak.
The book isn't an overtly serious-nature thesis so it follows a rather non-stuffy style, which is refreshing. It mainly consists of anecdotes and cases culled from wide-ranging medical literature, so it serves as a ground for inquiry into the nature, symptoms, effects and treatments of the various psychological anomalies. The book doesn't shy away from supporting the cases with evidence and providing the necessary scientific context and explanation for the problems at hand. I think that's the most crucial thing for any ‘popular science' book. Science shouldn't be downplayed or given the back seat at the cost of ‘making it easy.' A popular science book fails if it doesn't bring out the science bit in. Because, you know, it popular science after all.
What I also liked was that every chapter begins with quotes taken from sources as wide as the books of Sherlock Holmes, the Vedas and Shakespeare. That adds a nice touch.
But I think the most important thing I took away (when I read this at 16) was the spirit of scientific enquiry and sense of wonder that this book carries with it. At the heart of it, it's all about trying to understand Life, the Universe, and Everything. And that sense of wonder - that joy of scientific discovery - is contagious. I love science.
I remember being unsure as to how to feel about the fact that this was going to be the last Harry Potter book I would ever read for the first time. The previous book had done such a good job of imprinting the death of Dumbledore, and Hallows picked off from there, reinforcing Snape in all his nastiness as the book went on. But by the time you were done with The Prince's Tale, it was such a smack in the face, and turned the whole thing around. While it's hard to say that it was completely unexpected or that no one saw it coming, Snape's redemption and turn around and the way it was done really brought out what an awesome character he had been all along. There were lots of frightening moments too (Godric's Hollow, anyone?),there were laughs and scares in the exact right places; and towards the end, it sort of really came together. Bellatrix getting what she had coming to her (‘Not by daughter, you bitch!'), Percy coming around, the Battle of Hogwarts, the Resurrection Stone scene. But I think what she really did well was the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort (which, sadly the movie completely butchered) - ‘You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?'
The confrontation was awesome, but the actual duel itself was kinda disappointing. Expelliarmus. I mean, OH SHIT NOT AGAIN.
However, aside from that, reading this book for the first time was one of the genuinely best pleasures I've known.
I may have my issues with the prequel, but I don't think she could have done a better job with the book, or the series for that matter.
A nuclear physicist's ruminations on eastern philosophy and the parallels between physics and metaphysics. This book will be special to me always because it led me to discovering Heisenberg, quantum mechanics, Zen and Taoism. The sense I got out of this book was physics - science, even - is so much bigger, better and grander than what school textbooks could ever, ever tell you. Beautiful. Opened my eyes.
Richard Feynman is one of my favourite people who ever lived, and this is one of my favourite books I've ever read.
There are so many reasons why this book is awesome. Science is one of them. (That alone would be reason enough.) But it's not the rocket science kind of science. Not the big, movie-kind caricature kind of science.
But it's the science of beans and doors and hoola hoops. The pursuit of science for its own sake. If there's one thing you will take from this book it's the pure delight and utter joy of science.
And that's not all, though. Because Feynman, one of the most liveliest and colourful personalities of science, is both funny and intelligent in his thoughts and anecdotes. He manages to be both profound and irreverent, smart as hell and tongue-in-cheek.
A fun and enlightening read.
One of the very first books on the Holocaust I read, which since then I have made a subject for my study for years. The book revolves around ten year old Bruno, whose father works for the Fuhrer in the army, and his new found friend, Shmuel, the Jewish kid from the other side of the barb wire. Bruno and Shmuel begin to share a wonderful friendship, and reality has a way of getting in the way of things like friendships. The ending left me outraged and heartbroken.
A collection of letters from a mother to her six children. The letters are funny, thoughtful and at times touching. It was unnerving to see many of the things that so troubled and bothered my fourteen year old self set down, in plain sight, discussed, laughed at, and made easier by, of all people, a gasp parent. I cherished this book very much when I was fourteen, it made me laugh and think. These letters definitely deserve a wider audience.
I first devoured these stories and novels at the age of fourteen, curled up in my room on winter nights. It was a long winter, I remember. It was also quite a long book. Few points in my life have had circumstances come together and arrange themselves in such an agreeable manner so as to make a reading experience as memorable as this one.
Like most readers, I entered the world of Sherlock Holmes - at once stretching between the streets of London with in all its vividness, to the deeper, richer world beyond - into the mind of the man whose name this novel bears - with A Study In Scarlet. And from then on, there was no turning back.
Sherlock Holmes stories are interesting and endlessly entertaining. I still remember the initial scepticism (much like our dear Dr. Watson) and then the increasing awe and astonishment with which I read Holmes' descriptions of Dr. Watson without first having seen or heard of the man. (The awe and amazement that I speak of were provoked, of course, when Holmes explained how he deducted his findings. The findings were first greeted with scepticism when first pronounced in his typical, Holmes manner. ‘Every thing is simple once it's explained,' Holmes once famously complained.)
To this day I remain in awe of Holmes intellect, his passion for rigorous mental athletics, his laid back approach, his suaveness and his style. If there's one man to have come out of the Victorian era who had style - encompassing both his intellectual rigour and individual eccentricity - it's this beloved fictional detective who has entertained countless generations of readers for decades, and will for years to come.
I will always look back on the December of 2005 with fond recollections of the wonder, thrill, fear and ‘aha!' that I felt at various times, often simultaneously, and even after re-reads, while reading these stories.
There are few ways as good to spend long winter nights than escaping - for an escape is what these delicious stories offer us readers - into the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Here's to Holmes and Watson!
A delightful book I read in the 6th grade for fun.
Contrary to its title, this book is actually all about the delights and joys of maths. It might as well have been titled, The ‘I Love Mathematics' Book!
This book re-kindled my interest in maths and introduced me to many of its delights, years ahead of school. Topics that would later come back years and years ahead in college, I first stumbled across and devoured in this little book, among them probability, topology, permutations and combinations, number theory, and a lot of other good stuff.
I wish maths teachers everywhere would strive for communicating the real joy of maths to students instead of making it seem like a dry unenjoyable subject, which it most certainly is not.
What I loved about this book, is its choice in incorporating the ‘big ideas' - ideas that will make the 11 year old kid see the world in a new mathematical light. Maths as it relates to the world. I can definitely remember having my 11 year old mind blown by contemplating the mysteries of the natural world this book introduced me to, through the medium of mathematical ideas, puzzles and riddles.
Aside from all that, this book is spectacularly funny. There are lots of jokes splashed amongst numbers, graphs, and charts. It is also written with some really clever humour, lots of witty and sarcastic quips in between.
There is nothing kids enjoy and need more than having their curiosity whetted and fed. We need more books like these.
