The Most Prolific Nonsense. Ever!!

Really!
This is undoubtedly the most prolific work of nonsense i've ever read.
And i loved every single word!!

There is no middle path with Kurt Vonnegut. You can either love him or hate him. Same thing to this novel. Either you love this one or you absolutely hate it. There is no 'OK' to this one!
The concept itself is so crazy! You don't actually know (even after finishing the book) whether you can call this book a Biography, an Auto-biography, a Satire, a work of Philosophy, a Sci-Fi Novel or anything else.
At the library, i could not find anything worth reading. And honestly i picked this up only because of 'The New York times Bestseller' on the cover.
Kurt Vonnegut is a German - American author who lived from 1922 to 2007. He wrote Timequake in 1997, when he was over 75 years old! In fact, after writing Timequake, Vonnegut announced his retirement from writing Fiction.

The book itself is about the story of Kilmore Trout, who happens to be Vonnegut's alter-ego. All the crazy stuff in the book is attributed to a timequake which happens on Feb 13th 2001 and the world goes back by 10 years. So, people have to re-do all the things they've done in the last 10 years exactly as they did it once. They have no free-will and are bound by the Timequake.
When Feb 13th 2001 comes for the second time and the timequake is suddenly over, people don't really realise that their free-will has come back!
The story is absolutely non-linear. Vonnegut keeps swinging from thought to thought. So, unless you really are present, you'll miss one swing!

Trout's character is a master-piece!! In each of his quirks, you can read between the lines. There's a deep thinker behind that most illogical of people!
Quite a few times in the story, Vonnegut slips into his own auto-biography. And in a lot of his reminscences, he meets Kilmore trout!! Think about the irony - the creator meeting his creation!

Vonnegut takes us effortlessly into the world of the satirist. All the situations in the book are so utterly unbelievable that you'll believe them!

Enough of my nonsense. Go, read it :)

Managing Expectations! The Dilbert Style :)

As i said in an earlier post, Scott Adams is a genius!!
His 'Dilbert' series always gets away with poking fun at the most serious of topics - Work!!

Smile away!!

Cheers :)

It's a free world!

They say it's a free world! And in that free world, we pay for software, for internet browsers, for everything! In such an environment, real Kudos to Wikipedia, Firefox, Google, GNU, Open-source platforms like Linux, Open Office applications and the like, which are creating a BIG revolution in the world of computers and the internet.
Now, Firefox has become the undisputed choice in internet browsers, not just because it's free, but because it is so totally customizable according to the personality of the user!
When the new release Firefox 3 came out into the market last month, Mozilla decided to set a Guinness Record for the maximum number of downloads in a single day and asked people to register on their website and download on that day!

Boy, what a record they set - 8,002,530 downloads on a single day!! By far the biggest number to date! And Mozilla even sent me a certificate for participating in this record-setting event! As the file is in pdf, i can't upload it here!
If you still are not using Firefox, you must get your edition of Firefox 3 from here - http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/firefox3

Cheers to Free Software and the day is not far off when most of the paid stuff will be replaced.

Master of the Jigsaw!

There are a few names which are synonymous with Mystery, Detectives, Thrillers and the like.
As soon as you come to the suspense section in your library, Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason and Agatha Christie are the most likely to leap at you!

I started reading detective stories long long ago with Sherlock Holmes. Then came 'Murder on the Orient Express' followed by quite a few Christie's stories. However, the lack of a 'Hero' (Poirot is only in a few of her novels) made them slightly unappealing.
Then came Gardner with his brilliantly simple characterizations and intrigue which usually ends in the courtroom.

If you've read a few book reviews i've written, you'll know that i love court-room thrillers. And i love mysteries. The Perry Mason series are a mix of both!
This is probably the 7th or 8th Mason book that i'm reading, and all of them are absolutely top-notch!
Gardner is a master. He does not create big complex characters, so that you don't need to turn back the pages in the middle of your story to refresh your mind about some quirk of the antagonist.
The primary cast in all of Gardner's mysteries are Perry Mason - The Lawyer, Della Street - His Assistant, Paul Drake - Detective and friend and a couple of police officers like Lt Tragg and Sgt Holcomb. The rest of the characters change with each story, but these simple, endearing and very very intelligent characters are an absolute pleasure.

In none of the novels does Gardner take us into the personal life of any of them. In fact, even after reading many of his novels, i know next to nothing about Mason, where he lives, who are his family, and so on!
The usual skeleton plot for many of Gardner's novels is the same - Someone rushes into Mason's Law office asking him to take up a case. Before Mason completely agrees, something happens, which makes his client the number one accused in a murder case. Mason, Street and Drake try to find evidence which points otherwise, sometimes stepping over the line of the law. In most of the stories, Mason himself gets embroiled with the law. Finally in a court-room showdown, they manage to produce some fantastic evidence, which proves that his client is actually innocent and also gets the real culprit behind bars.
The beautiful part is that though we know the story is going to head up that way, we are still engrossed in each page!! It is sort of like Yashraj Films. We know where the story is heading, but still we watch it!

One thing i found out while reading 'The case of the lonely heiress' was that this one was written in 1958!! In fact, when i looked up mason on wikipedia, i saw that most of these mysteries are from the late 30's to the 60's. So, that's another big wow for Gardner!
Even after 50 years, if a book can keep a reader glued from the beginning to the finish - especially when it is a mystery, the author must be considered a master!
Gardner sure is one.
A master of the Jigsaw.

If you've read any of his mysteries, do drop in a comment.

When Insults had class

Thanks to Ramanan uncle for sharing!!
_________________________________________________

When Even Insults Had Class...

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."

*-- Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure"

*-- Clarence Darrow*

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."

*-- William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."

*-- Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."

*-- Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."

*-- Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend. If you have one."

*-- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill...followed by

Churchill's response: "Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second, if there is one."

*-- Winston Churchill*

"I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here."

*-- Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."

*-- John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."

*-- Irvin S Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."

*-- Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."

*-- Paul Keating

"He had delusions of adequacy."

*-- Walter Kerr

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"

*-- Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."

*-- Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."

*-- Oscar Wilde*

Double Tap - My Review

Excellent!!
If you like Grisham, you will Love Martini!
Double Tap is the first Steve Martini novel i'm reading and i'm certain that i'll finish his collection soon.
Unlike Grisham or any of the other popular court-room thriller writers, Martini doesn't introduce a protagonist who rises from the ashes and does something incredible to turn the jury to his client's side. He in fact, does not even get into the backgrounds of the lead lawyers. No Family, No flash-backs, No Skeletons in the closet, nothing on the personal front.
No Girl friend / Opposite number love interest either!!

The novel is pure court-room and not at one spot does he deviate from his story-line. That probably is Double Tap's greatest strength.
The plot actually is simple - One of the world's richest women is murdered and her ex-body guard is easily the number one suspect. Actually, he is too easily the number one suspect. Paul Madriani is assigned the case and he, along with his partner Harry and Investigator Herman get into defending Ruiz (the Ex-BG).
There are some very unique things about the way Martini takes us thru the story

• The whole story is narrated in Present Tense! It is truly incredible.
• The story does not end in the court-room. It goes on beyond.
• The Defendant has absolutely no hysterics.
• The Font is BIG, which makes reading a pleasure.

Actually, there are many more, but i'm trying not to divulge the plot, you see!!
The whole book is a ripper. Won't let you down at all.

The story takes you from war-sufferers to delta-force to contemporary glass art to many more things!
I absolutely loved the characters of Harry (Madriani's partner) and Templeton (The prosecution lawyer). Martini's skill lies in the fact that he managed to etch remarkable chacarterizations for people like The Honourable Samuel Gilcrest (Judge), Nathan Kwang (Congressional representative), Madelyn Chapman (The Victim) and Karen (secy) without delving into any of their backgrounds!! Wonderful.

Get hold of this book guys (and gals). It might start slow, but will grow on you big time!!
I'm off to find the next book Martini's written!

Sivamani - Ilaiyaraja - Tremendous!!

It is a known fact that Ilaiyaraja picked up Sivamani when he was just starting out and helped mould him into the Superstar that he is today.
When Ilaiyaraja had a show in Chennai, Sivamani came to pay his tribute.
Awesome music!! Must Watch :)

I picked this video up from the net. No idea of who posted it. Thanks!!