Book review - Q1/2008

In addition to traveling our trip gives us an opportunity to read a bit more than when we were working for the sake of shareholders of our previous employer (and the sake of our trip of course :)) I am not exactly sure how it happens because both activities are almost equally time consuming.

Anyway - below you can find a short review of books we have read (this list could have consisted of only books by Haruki Murakami if it wasn't for the fact that we had read all of them before our trip).

1. Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth - was the first book we read. Somehow to get in the mood of India as it was our first destination. Initially we had mixed feelings about his views and deeds especially what concerned his family (and medical issues) but overall with time our reverence for him grew. His non-violence philosophy might seem totally out of place in todays world but yet he managed to unite such a big and diverse nation as India. Very interesting read - also about history of Indians in South Africa and their role in the British Empire.

2. Status Anxiety by Alain De Botton - an interesting book for anyone feeling that they need to change their house or car for a bigger model to match his neighbor. In fact the book goes through history and is thought provoking. The carving for more, fear of losing out is being treated in a philosophical way but in the end not telling you to retreat to an ashram for the rest of your life :)

3. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - an entertaining book but somehow had too many reoccurring themes from the book I read before which I really liked - The World According to Garp. If I were to choose between the two I would recommend the latter one. I do not want to be judgmental but the former book was kind of too religious for me and I got an impression that Irving suffers from kind of similar syndrome as Milan Kundera. Once you have read The Unbearable Lightness of Being it seemed to me all the rest of his books hit the same tone. This is not what I like.

4. Mr.Nice by Howard Marks - quick reading written by a guy who smuggled tons of marijuana around the world and enjoyed it since his time at Oxford University. I read the book in Nepal during our trekking and it was just the book I needed. It seems everything is possible in this world.

5. The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh - the novel I liked the most so far. It is great for better understanding the local perspective. As far as it is possible since the author has also now been living in the western countries for some time. Nevertheless, it is a great novel about Burma and about Indian's and their quest for independence. A complementary book to Gandhi's autobiography as it expands on the Indian's role in British conquest. Burma as described in the book fascinated as so much that after all we decided to buy ourselves plane tickets to fly in there. We missed Tibet but we will be in what is called in Myanmar for two weeks in June (we have the tickets but no visa - we hope in won't be a problem though).

The last book I have just finished is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - the book read a bit like Lonely Planet but for space travelling. A bit confusing but overall full of fresh ideas. I liked it much more that the movie I have seen some time ago. I sincerely hope that I can buy the next edition of the guide and our next travelling will take us to some other planets instead of only continents on the same planet.

Rita read some additional books which I have read before our trip.

7. We the Living by Ayn Rand - my favorite book by this author treating about Russia and the October revolution there. The way it has been written somehow is close to the way I feel about the whole thing...feel free to guess. The best part of the book is that all characters have their weak and strong points and it is impossible to pass a judgement on anyone. Somehow I really like this book - for Rita the book was very depressing...she liked the ones listed below much more. I think they are not comparable. Good read not so old times in Russia.

8. The Fountainhead by Any Rand - the author of the book did not especially have warm feelings about communism. "We the Living" was partially autobiographical and I guess served as the basis for her own philosophy of objectivism. Without knowing her past I guess it is difficult to understand how did she end up with developing such philosophical direction. I enjoyed the very long book, the characters and her way of mixing philosophy in a novel. I also like the fact that it dealt with architecture.

9. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - hits the same tone as "The fountainhead" just the industry and the main characters are different. Good read though again - I do not like when authors fall into the trap of certain way of writing and cannot come up with anything refreshing. On the other hand one can say that they develop a style which otherwise they would lack.

Rita loved both books in the end and I think I did too. It is just that I had to point out what bothered me.

Ok - that would be about it - I am on my way to find a new book - we are waiting for recommendations, please! Something about South East Asia by local authors would be great but any other suggestions for a good read will be appreciated.