Week 4: The Second World War An Illustrated History - A.J.P.Taylor

This week's book was a selection from the history section. WW II has always fascianted me and was looking forward to reading this.

Things that could have been improved – I found some of the author's sentence structuring a little hard to follow. One of those where you have to read twice to get it right. Another aspect is that there is a lot of reference to WWI or prior events- almost in a casual name dropping way. For someone with sketchy, at best, knowledge of WWI, I had a little difficulty keeping up.


Having said all of that, I think the book is a must read for anyone interested in learning more about the World War II. The book gives a good account of the leadership of the 4 major leaders – Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, and the events that shaped the war. Overall good book – just wish I had more time to soak it all in.

Week 3: Foundation - Isaac Asimov

This is what The Telegraph had to say about the book "'Great Galaxy!' It is not for literary brilliance that one approaches the first in the Foundation series, but rather for the sweeping grandeur of Asimov’s epic universe-wide tale of the decline and fall of empires. Once you've finished this, 14 novels and countless more short stories await."


Yes, there is grandeur - the book is about the downfall of the 'Galactic Empire' and how one mathematician Hari Seldon- foresees this and sets up a sanctuary for the men of science to act as curators for all knowledge. He calls this the "Foundation"- hence the name.  The concept of an empire failing and another one 'blooming' is quiet the setting for a sweeping epic.  But somehow, the futuristic setting didn't really appeal to me all that much. Most of the time I was left thinking 'what makes this book so great?'

There were some interesting parts- his treatment of religion as a political gambit. The fact that there is no single 'hero' – the book is a collection of crisis which shapes the future of the Galaxy and the Foundation. The key players change with time – though there is some reference to the previous characters. However, there really isn't much to bond one with the characters. The dialogues are also stilted and rather predictably 'sci-fi-ish' like the way they exclaim 'by space' or 'by galaxy'. Overall a passable book, it made an interesting (somewhat) read but am glad I can move on to the next one.

Week 2: I, Claudius - Robert Graves

Absolutely loved this book! I must confess that when I decided to base my readings on a list of 'best books' I was a little apprehensive. I have never been overly fond of 'intellectual' books. Give me a good bestseller any day. Nothing like a good murder or evil plot to get the juices flowing. Anyway, I didn't expect to come across an awesome book so soon in the game. Maybe it is not much of a surprise that I will like a book filed under the historical fiction category. But less about me and more about the book.


It is a fictional autobiography of the emperor Claudius who ruled Rome from AD 41 to 54. It starts in the reign of Augustus till the crowning of Claudius. Claudius is the family fool- deformed , stuttering, drooling – which in a strange way is his ticket to not only life but also success. His infirmity undermines his intellect in the eyes of his enemies letting him survive two crazy emperors – Tiberius ,the crazy and Caligula , the insane. He is the sole survivor of his family – surviving by a combination of being underestimated, playing the fool, being inconsequential, intellect, and most of all by not being ambitious.

Claudius makes a very engaging narrator and Rome in its imperial days an equally fascinating story. My favorite characters were Livia and Caligula. Livia, is a central character in the story. Claudius' grandmother and wife of Augustus; she is a snaky, villainous, ruthless woman with a single minded devotion to further Rome and herself. Or should it be herself and Rome? Anyway I just love the way she poisons pretty much everyone who comes into her orbit. I wonder if there is any truth or maybe just fictionalized? I want to believe that she was really that evil- much more interesting that way.

My second favorite character was the downright insane Caligula. He loves his horse Incitatus so much that he made the horse a citizen, a senator and a consul. He would invite the horse to his dinners. Again, I am not sure if this was true but I completely believe it, because I want to. It is a wonder how Rome maintained its empire being ruled by such crazies. Maybe I will discover that when I read the other books in the list – like Twelve Caesars?

Week 1: Murders in the Rue Morgue - Edgar Allen Poe

This is the first of my weekly book review. I started reading "I, Claudius" but switched to Murders in the Rue Morgue because of the time crunch. I will review "I, Claudius" next week. I downloaded the book onto my new iPhone (which was the primary cause of my time crunch- wasting time exploring my new phone) using the Stanza app. More than the book I think I was more enamored by the application - I loved the ability to make notes, and add bookmarks. What I am not so pleased with is the dictionary. If you are reading a book on Stanza and want to look up a word use the browser, it is too slow and times out often. another disappointment was the quality of the book itself. There were numerous typos and grammatical errors - and it is a sorry day if even I can notice it.


As far as the story it is an unraveling of a murder mystery told by an unnamed narrator- much in the mold of Holmes' Watson or Poirot's Hastings. Dupin is the civilian -detective who unravels the mystery through his stunning deductive abilities while the narrator provides the foil of being the appreciative follower. A lot of times I felt I might be reading Doyle instead of Poe. I never realized how much Doyle must have been influenced by this story. Or was it a type of coincidence decried by Dupin as the excuse used by people who do not understand the law of averages? Well in any case, my personal feeling was that Sherlock Holmes was a very polished version of Dupin. The ending is not surprising and more so by the hideous cover- really if u are designing a cover for a mystery novel can you NOT put the reveal in the picture? Now who approved that cover is the true mystery in the book.