long delayed book review

i meant to do this almost as soon as i had the blog going actually. since i like reading so much (my wife can testify to that statement, i think it bothers her sometimes), i thought my blog posts will be heavily dominated by review of books i've just read or am in the process of reading. but surprisingly, i've done two slots of movie reviews and not a single one on my reading.

the best book i read in 2005 was definitely 'shantaram' by gregory david roberts. i wont say a thing about it, except that if you haven't read it yet then you're missing something. if you live in bombay and the city is in your blood, then you can't help liking it. especially, if you've hung out long enough in the colaba/south-bombay area.

in a moment of good fortune i happened to find an old classic that i've been looking for since a while now. neal stephenson's 'the diamond age'. this one's a futuristic story, thankfully without the trappings that befall science fiction. brilliant book. best 100 bucks i ever spent. it so happened that i took a couple of friends from out of town over to the british council library, this is when i scanned through their withdrawn shelves and found this one selling for what i thought was a ridiculously low price. anyways, its now a proud addition to my bookshelf.

i'm also halfway through 'white mughals' by william dalrymple. this one's a history lesson in the middle of the love affair between a high born muslim lady and the british resident at the hyderabad court during the days of the raj. this one's a little heavy and not exactly a page turner but it sure is captivating.

just to remove any misconceptions that you might have about me only reading good stuff here are the bad ones.

i'm very sorry that i read susan hill's 'the various haunts of men' and i especially regret having read 'the codex' by douglas preston. this was a particularly bad time since i followed these up by a really mediocre effort on the part of john grisham that goes by the name of 'the last juror'. this could have been traumatic but i was rescued in time by 'the curious incident of the dog in the night time' by mark haddon. this last one is a brilliantly written piece of work. it introduces you into the world as seen from the eyes of a fifteen year old autistic boy.

anybody have a different view on any of the above, please let me know. what would really be helpful are some recommendations.