Books of Sep-Oct 2009

1. It’s not about the Bike – my journey back to life by Lance Armstrong (non-fiction): fucking awesome – I loved the way Lance wrote and while reading this one, I got a lot senti a lot of times – may be because I realized Lance was kinda like I am – may be
2. The Story of my Assassins by Tarun Tezpal (Fiction): this was one of those stories that highlight how things work in India – the government, the goons, the poor, the lawyers, the journalists, the businessmen – the English seemed forced and the humor not so natural for the first 200 pages but later I got used to the style
3. Short Stories of Himachal Pradesh by Meenakshi (fiction): in the first page itself the writer had mentioned that those who know how to read Hindi should read the story in the original language than in English – well, that pretty much killed the fun but I read the book anyway – ten local folk tales from Himachal Pradesh – I read it before leaving for Himachal and as I am writing this post, I can recall only one story – so well either my memory is bad or the stories weren’t all that grasping – I leave that on you to decide 🙂
   
4. Recent Research of Ladakh 2009 (collection of recent essays): need I write any more? 😛
   
5. Ladakh Adventures – the snow leopard by Deepak Dalal (fiction): this was like an English version of an extended crappy story from Suman Saurabh (don’t tell me you never read it in school) – so yeah, I could have liked this book ten years back – I had loads of time in Leh and I didn’t mind reading some local story, however crappy it could be
6. Into Thin Air by John Krakaeur (non-Fiction): this book talked about an Everest expedition that went horribly and tragically wrong – the author was one of the lucky few survivors – after reading it I realized how much I want to do the Everest (will insh-allah do it some day) – I loved the way this book was written, kept me hooked till the book was done
   
7. Many Lives Many Masters by Dr. Brian L. Weiss (non-fiction): if this was non-fiction, this was scary – this doc who wrote the book was a psychiatrist who found a patient who could talk about past-lives when hypnotized – this book made me go crazy and I still wonder if what the doc wrote really happened, because if it did, then shit man, shit!
8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (fiction): I liked it because the entire book was so cutely narrated in first person by an eight year old kid – the kid was a stud in maths and logic but had some wiring problem in his brain because of which his emotions were all screwed up
   
9. Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran (non-fiction): I can safely proclaim that this book is a must read – one of those few non-fictions that really fascinate and educate you at the same time – read it to know how neurologists are trying to figure out how exactly does the brain work
10. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (fiction): have read only 1/3rd of this 900+ pages bestseller written in first person and have so far, loved both the style of writing, and the story – and omg, this book has just so many quotable quotes – I have collected 34 quotes already, so you can imagine

And now here’s a request – please be nice and recommend books to me. Please please please.