My reading list : “The Old Man and the Sea”

The Old Man and the Sea

Name : The Old Man and the Sea
Author : Ernest Hemingway
Category : Classic Literature, Novel
ISBN : NA
Published by : Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1961

How did I get the book :
I got this book from a famous bookshop in Bangalore. It was my first visit to there. And I was so happy when I got this book as I was looking for it a while. And when I got, it was an old copy printed in 1961

Reading experience :
It can be said as a story than a novel with limited number of characters, story of an old fisher-man narrated in a beautiful way. The central figure is a man of action, a man of wisdom, an old fisher man. He has a boy in aid. Even though he is a born fisher-man with a life time of experience he is struggling and at many occasions he is wishing if the boy was with him. Yet he is optimistic and happy. According to him sea is la mar and all sea creatures are his true brothers, he believes that killing them is justifiable if it is for right reasons. Santiago is confident about his abilities but he is mellowed with age. And when he fails despite of all his hard work, he is ready to accept it. And hope is all that he had left after his pain and disappointment.

Hemingway’s incomparable style of narration and characterization is brilliant. Obviously author’s life had some influences in the story. According to the author “The book is fiction based on many actual occurrences”. Story is crafted well to make it simple and elegant. Though the man seems to be tough he had primitive urges and prows of dreams, suffering, memories and love. His life was always related to sea and is inseparable from it. So the sea and fish are also important actors of the story. The book is very simple but literary wise a masterpiece which bonds with the reader instantly.

Hemingway in his Nobel prize speech said , “For a true writer, each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed” and he truly done that with this book.

The picture was taken from my copy of the book, somebody’s gift to somebody

Quotes :
” “But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated” “

My Rating :
8.5 out of 10. And it is going to be in my favorite shelf. A must read for all.

Tail piece :

The most beautiful adaptation of a literature work that I have ever seen – animation by Aleksandr Petrov.

My reading list : “The Lost World”

Name : The Lost World
Author : Michael Crichton
Category : Science-fiction
ISBN : 0-345-40288-x
Published by : Ballantine Books

How did I get this book: Well, I got this book from a second hand book shop near my home. I was just finished with the Jurassic Park then and I was getting addicted to Michael Crichton writing, So I never had a second thought on choosing this book.

Reading Experience : It was a smooth reading for me. With Chrichton’s style of writing I just got glued to the book.

Characterization was a pretty nice. Main protagonist  is Ian Malcolm, who is a mathematician specialized in Chaos theory, other characters are Sarah Harding, Doc Thorne, Eddie Carr and two children, Arby Benton and Kelly Curtis.

Plot of the story follows from where Jurassic Park stopped. It is starting after 6 years from the disasters that happened in  Jurassic Park. Dr.Malcolm and his friends are going for a rescue mission to a mysterious place called ‘Site B’. And from there the story is continuing with the adventures and dangers they are having. Entire story is about 48 hours of thrilling and breath-taking experiences of the characters. The plot was very clean and well-developed with each situation fitting in correctly and one can hardly find any flaws.

The book is written so well that the reader can imagine the full plot as if the reader was with the characters during their journey. It was very addicting and hard to put down. I am definitely going to re-read it and recommend to my friends.

Quotes :
“Approaching the chaotic edge, elements show internal conflict. An unstable and potentially lethal region.” – Ian Malcolm

“Order collapses in simultaneous regions. Survival is now unlikely for individuals and groups” – Ian Malcolm

“All your life, other people will try to take your accomplishments away from you. Don’t you take it away from yourself.”

“Life is wonderful. It’s a gift to be alive, to see the sun and breathe the air. And there isn’t really anything else.”

“Absence of proof is not proof of absence”

My Rating : 8.5 out of 10 and a must read for sci-fi thriller lovers. If you have seen the movie adaptation of this book I can assure you that you are going to hate the movie after reading this book.

Musings and blabbering

 

Sometimes I feel so foolish of myself

not for the decisions or actions I made.

I do plan things ahead and acts so.

Yet I feel so foolish

for the plans I am making.

when I am not even sure of my life and death,

unknowing whether it is near or far,

how can I be so sure of things ?

spending time for unworthy things,

or for so-called wise things.

(or at least I think so)

like a prisoner of my comfort zone.

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path”: Buddha

 

My reading list : “Notes to Myself: My Struggle to Become a Person”

Name : Notes to Myself: My struggle to become a person.  
Author : Hugh Prather
Category : Non-fiction
ISBN : 0-553-27382-5
Published by : Bantam Books

I got this book from a second-hand bookshop, where it was hidden under a pile of books covered  with dust. When I skimmed through it I had this strong urge to buy it, simply because the language was so strong and I was able to connect with it in that short period of time.

Hugh Prather authored this book as a series of notes, through which he described his experiences and visions. With his informal poetic style of writing, reading is quite interesting. The author presents vague word-pictures of scenes, events, experiences and visions relating his emotions and actions and the reader can feel that it is written as a kind of self talk.

The editor who discovered the book once said, “When I first read Prather’s manuscript it was late at night and I was tired, but by the time I finished it, I felt rested and alive.  Since then I’ve reread it many times and it says even more to me now.” but in my case I took more than one month to complete this book. Most of the times I felt like his experiences becoming mine.

Some of the words that I liked are given below :

“Forgiveness is the willingness to begin. Guilt is the love of staying stuck. Unless I accept my faults, I will unquestionably doubt my virtues.”

“I am not interested so much in what I do with my hands or words as what I do with my heart. I want to live from the inside, not from the outside in.”

“My prayer is: I will be what I will be, I will do what I will do.”

“Forgiveness lifts my curse on myself so that I no longer see it projected on another.”

My Rating : 7/10