The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series

My introduction to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was through the movie - which I found to be totally not-funny, and a waste of time. So I was put off by bothering with books as well. But recently when I was at a library, I decided to try it, because it is supposed to be one of the SF Masterworks books, which is a pretty decent list. And to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. It was funny, unusual, but more importantly it was an achievement as a writer (I'll come back to that in a minute.)

So I got the second and third book too. And as I am not that great at reviews without spoilers, I will share one paragraph, and if you find it funny, you will enjoy the book. This is from the second book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. 

Excerpt

Population: None
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not everyone one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divide d by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.

To come back to it from a writer's point-of-view. This series is completely unorthodox. It is crazy, full of exposition, and let's not even talk about POV shifts. My point is that all the rules of writing that you have ever been told, are all broken. Except one. It's a great story. 

Terry Jones said in the introduction of the book, "He's (Adams) the only novelist I know who can make ideas a page-turner." 

And  that's the key. This is not a plot driven or even character driven book. I wouldn't know how to define it. It simply is what it is. But it works, because of Douglas Adams' mastery of the writing craft. There may be exposition, but there are no wasted words. Every sentence serves the purpose of the story. Rules are broken but the story works, because it is handled by a writer who knows what he is doing.  

Book Review: The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)

We are doing a Book Review Blog Chain again on AW. It's quite strange that though I read far more fiction than non-fiction, whenever I am supposed to write a review, I am always reading non-fiction. I am not really much of a reviewer, so I write my own experience of the book. This particular book, "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank, trascends genres for me. It is simply remarkable, and no amount of adjectives are going to do justice to what reading experience it made for me. Okay, let's start from the beginning. Most of you have probably heard of Anne Frank, but if you haven't, she was a jewish teenager in amsterdam, who went into hiding with her family during WWII. Anne, along with her parents and sister, and four other people (another family, and a single man) hid in an annex of her father's office for two years before they were found on August 4, 1944. Reading about wars, especially about people's personal experiences is a difficult thing for many people. One of my colleagues owns this book but has never read it. I said to her that she must read it. She said she doesn't like reading sad stories. I dropped the topic then, but it has bothered me. I don't particularly like sad stories either, but we cannot ignore our past just because it is sad. And in cases like Anne Frank's Diary, it is about more than a short story. It is about a person's journey. It is about the life they lived, not the one they lost. I think it deserves to be read. Anne started her diary at the age of 13 when she got one for a birthday present. Soon afterwards, they went into hiding, but throughout those two years Anne kept the diary. What is remarkable is that it is a diary of a teenager, but also a very insightful girl who decided she wanted to be a writer. She called her diary "Kitty" and really treated it like a person, because she had never been able to completely confide in any one person. Kitty was the only one Anne could bare her soul to. Writing became her salvation. Along with the complains about family, and the teenage emotions, as the times passes, Anne's maturity is clearly in evidence. At 14, she is already on the road to search for self, to understand herself and to understand the world. War is of course part of her entries, but majority of focus is given to life; their life in the Annex, and Anne's own feelings and hopes for the future. Anne's parents put great weight on education; both Anne and her sister were clever and interested in learning. They continued to study by correspodence courses while in hiding. But I believe it was Anne's own nature, as well as the circumstances she lived in made her mature far before her years. The kind of things she starts thinking about at 14-15, I did not start thinking about until 20ish. Personally for me, this book touched me very much, because it is the first time that I have "heard" someone in their own words, whose experiences of feelings and of self-search match mine so closely that some of her entries mirror what I wrote in my diaries years ago. It was as if I was exploring my own mind, while continuing on Anne's journey. It's the person who spoke to me. War - while important - was secondary. I do believe that it is a story of a remarkably talented girl, and had she lived, she would have become a great writer. She said that "I want to go on living even after my death!" and she accomplished that with the diaries she left behind. Here are some excerpts: [still an ordinary life] Sunday, 21 June 1942 Dearest Kitty, Our entire class is quaking in its boots. The reason, of course, is the forthcoming meeting in which the teachers decide who'll move up to the next form and who'll be kept back. Half the class is making bets. [different form of fear] Thursday, 1 October 1942 Dear Kitty, Yesterday I had a horrible fright. At eight o'clock the doorbell suddenly rang. All I could think of was that someone was coming to get us, you know who I mean. But I calmed down when everybody swore it must have been either pranksters or the postman. [growing up] Saturday, 22 January 1944 Dearest Kitty, Can you tell me why people go to such lengths to hide their real selves? Or why I always behave very differently when I'm in the company of others? Why do people have so little trust in one another? I know there must be a reason, but sometimes I think it's horrible that you can't ever confide in anyone, not even those closest to you. [a writer] Wednesday, 5 April 1944 ...I'm my best and harshest critic. I know what's good and what isn't. Unless you write yourself, you can't know how wonderful it is... ...I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that's inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that's a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer? I hope so, oh, I hope so very much, because writing allows me to record everything, all my thoughts, ideals and fantasies. Rest of the Participants in the Blog Chain Are: PREVIOUS - Collectonian - http://collectonian.livejournal.com Lost Wanderer - http://www.lostwanderer5.blogspot.com NEXT - DavidZahir - http://zahirblue.blogspot.com/ RavenCorrinCarluk - http://www.ravencorrinncarluk.blogspot.com Jackie A - http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.com/ Forbidden Snowflake - http://alleslinks.com/ veinglory - http://thefleam.blogspot.com/

Night - A Book Review

Here is my book review for AW Blog Chain. Previous link in the chain was DavidZahir - http://zahirblue.blogspot.com/ Next link is RavenCorinnCarluk - http://raven.youareannoying.us Rest of the participants Vein Glory - http://podpeep.blogspot.com/ Shethinkstoomuch - http://shethinkstoomuch.wordpress.com Lady Cat - http://randomwriterlythoughts.blogspot.com Rosemerry - http://beyondtourism.wordpress.com/ Night - Elie Wiesel I don't make a habit of reading non-fiction books about wars. Occassionally I come across something but usually I tend to stay away from depressing topics. Though there are some stories which one simply cannot ignore, no matter how horrific or how uncomfortable because they tell us something important. Night is one such book. A tiny little thing at less than 100 pages, it is a memoire of a man called Elie Wiesel, who is one of the few survivors of Auschwitz concentration camp from WWII. Wiesel came from a small town where people thought the Red Army will soon defeat the Nazis and they would be safe. When they warned by one of their own people that Nazis will come, they called him a madman. It was near the end of the war, and Wiesel, a teenage boy was studying religion and living his ordinary life. Then Nazis came and everything changed. The whole town - they were mostly jewish - was emptied and people were taken to concentration camps. Almost immediately, Elie and his father were seperated from the women of their family, and Elie never saw his mother and sisters again. The book tells the story of Elie Wiesel and his father's life in the concentration camp. It took Wiesel 10 years before he broke his silence and told this story. It is a horrific story which shows us how cruel humans can be, and reminds us that though there are no concentration camps today, that nature of man is not non-existence. I love this book, because besides the suffering there is another message. Will to survive. Elie had it, and so did many others. It tells us that we as people are far stronger than we imagine ourselves to be. It shows us people's worst side, but also their spirit of endurance. It is also a journey of his faith. Before the camp, Wiesel was devoted to God. Things he went through and saw in the concentration camp made him question that devotion. As a writer, this book is beautifully written. It is very simple, but profound. One cannot help but feel the words and share a little bit of Wiesel's sufferings though I don't think any of us can possibly imagine what he truly went through. One of the main reasons why I love this book is because even though these concentration camps stories are hard to revisit and often we want to ignore the horrific past, it is good to remember that there are people who were strong enough to survive it. And that by knowing their stories, listening to how low human nature fell, we might learn something and improve as a race, be a little kinder and humane towards our own kind. Here is one of my most favourite passage from the book which gives us a glimpse of Elie's trials and the simplistic beauty of his words which I think makes the message sink far deeper, and has more emotional impact. "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my Faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

Book Review: The Year Zero

For Book Review Blog Chain for AW, which can be found here The Year Zero: The True Story of Life In Britain 2000 Years Ago - by Dr. Matthew Kleinman & Nicholas Davies The title in the subject line might have made you think you would be reading about a science-fiction novel. I doubt many people think of Year Zero (unless you are historian or something of the sort). I certainly never did. It is also most unusual for me to review a non-fiction book, because I read far more fiction than non-fiction. But this is recent in my mind, and I think it’s worth reviewing from both a reader’s and a writer’s POV. This isn’t a new book. It was published in Year 2000, but since we are talking about thousands of years old history, nine years is hardly an issue. As someone who used to cry before history exams in school, fearing total failure, I’ve grown to love history since I graduated from college. I am by no means a historically obsessed person, but I enjoy it – especially ancient history. The reason might surprise you. Old history presents a world quite far removed from our own – bit similar to fantasy or science fiction world. So in my mind, this is another form of alternate world, just based on facts. I don’t know much about ancient British history, but the last thing I wanted was to read an old text-book type history book that would put me to sleep. That’s where this is different. For a historical, non-fiction book, this is amazingly easy to read. It’s written in a causal style; more like an essay, rather than your typical history book. It is neatly divided into sections, and within it, written in short paragraphs and sections, so when you want to stop, it’s easy to pick up again. That’s the good point from a reader’s point of view. From a writer’s point of view, writing style or words or techniques is by no means brilliant. It is casual, yes, but it also gets repetitive sometimes and prose isn’t exactly poetic. So the writer in me doesn’t think of these authors as good writers. However, the repetitions have an advantage for the reader. You read something a few times; you are more likely to remember it. In my opinion, the book serves its purpose, which is to tell you about the life of Britons in the Year Zero, and times surrounding it. We start off with the background information of the original tribes on the Island of Albion. The authors have tried to recreate what life would have been like for those tribes, using several resources. One of the most important things to remember is that there are no written records from those tribes, because even the most educated people of that time – Druids – had the tradition of not writing anything down. Their knowledge was passed through oral re-telling. The first written records are from Cesar, when he invaded Britain. Fortunately for us, Cesar was very good, and by all appearances, quite honest in keeping his records. The rest of the evidence comes from archeological finds. What I find very appealing is that this book provides information about people’s day-to-day lives. How they lived, what they ate, how they survived, and how their politics worked. We learn about their relationship with other tribes, about their religion. We learn about the Druids, and their fierce desire to protect their knowledge, and keep it within selected group. We learn about the impeding threat of Roman Invasion. I would expect 2000 year old civilization (if it could be called that) to be vastly different from the world we know today. Yet, many of their customs and traditions exist today. The similarities between Druids pagan religion and some of the world’s religions today are unmistakable. From details of the business of slavery that boomed in Roman Empire, to details of marriage customs, the authors build a picture that is very easy to imagine. Then Cesar’s invasion, success, and changes. Over all, I believe for anyone interested in this particular era of history, this is definitely a useful read. It won’t make you an expert, but it will give you the background you can mull over, and then investigate further what interests you.