Catcher in the Rye — I had heard of the book title a zil­lion times before I actu­ally decided to buy it and unearth the rea­sons behind it being named as one of the great­est novel of all times. Too bad I did it after J.D. Salinger the author of the book passed away.

The main pro­tag­o­nist Holden Caulfield leads us into his thought and we see the world from his point of view. The ram­blings flow from one topic to another often unre­lated. The flow and lan­guage shows the time the book has been writ­ten in. It pro­vides insights into the mind of a teenager and their con­fu­sions and ratio­nale. The sense of being in between the ages, a sense of rebel­lion reflected in every­thing they do. Holden Cau­field ampli­fies this atti­tude through his lingo and mannerism.

A won­der­ful and grip­ing novel. It is a clas­sic not in the sense of being old, but for the style and insights that it pro­vides. A novel like this comes once in a cen­tury and for that we need to be grate­ful to J. D. Salinger. Thou art one of the best.

My thoughts com­ing soon.…

Jason & David’s book Rework is a col­lec­tion of thought­ful short essays accom­pa­nied by won­der­ful art by Mike Rohde. The pri­mary aim of the book is to offer bud­ding entre­pre­neur insights into the mak­ing of a suc­cess­ful Busi­ness like that of Jason & David — 37 Signals.

There is noth­ing fancy about their writ­ing, plain and sim­ple almost like a con­ver­sa­tion you have struck with a friend. It is this writ­ing that makes the book unput­down­able. Although some of these short almost blog length essays could be read on their blog at Sig­nal vs. Noise but, hav­ing them avail­able in this unique pack­age makes the book worth every penny.

The zeal with which Jason & David talk about being an entre­pre­neur, it really moti­vates to have a busi­ness of your own and that is what I think they set out to achieve. Inspire. Rework our thoughts.

My thoughts com­ing soon…

Never Before have I been bowled over by the writ­ing of an Author of Con­tem­po­rary India. Aravind Adiga does just that with The White Tiger. From the first page to the last, the story grips you, takes you on a safari of the Indian Con­crete jun­gle through the eyes of Bal­ram, a dri­ver from a vil­lage in Bihar, who becomes an Entre­pre­neur in the Ban­ga­lore. The third eye view of the con­tem­po­rary India through the eyes of Bal­ram makes the story all the more fascinating.

Very few can weave a world where they can marry the real­i­ties of the world with that of the fic­tional world and yet build a unique space for their char­ac­ters. Aravind does that with Elan. The unique nar­ra­tive style slowly sucks you into the story want­ing to turn every page as quickly as pos­si­ble to read whats ahead and yet want­ing to read and savor every word that is being said.

Being an aspir­ing writer myself, the book is a won­der­ful resource on under­stand­ing the great craft of con­struc­tion a Story and the jour­ney of the char­ac­ters along the way. The graph of each Char­ac­ter is impor­tant and Aravind does it with great abil­ity. I would rec­om­mend this book to any­one who loves to read a great story. Aravind the mas­ter story-​​teller please take a bow.

Side Note: A day after I bought the book, it was nom­i­nated to the Booker. Hon­estly this has noth­ing to do with the fact that book won the Booker in 2008.