Ode to the West Wind by P.B. Shelley

There are many words to describe the beauty of the wild, and in 'The Ode to the West Wind' finds all of them.

It has been raining these past few days, and also we have been learning 'The Ode to the West Wind' in school. Of course, this poem is not really about the rain. It is about autumn. However, Shelley is describing a storm coming on, and because of the gorgeous way he uses imagery and because of the rain outside, I've started associating this poem very heavily with rainfall. I love the way Shelley writes. His use of words makes even someone like me (a highly non-visual reader) imagine the gorgeous scene that is in front of him. As an example, look at the lines below, which will immediately conjure up before you a beautiful scene of water, and lightning, and a merging of the spheres of the earth and the water.

Shook from the tangled boughs of heaven and ocean,
Angels of rain and lightning!

Shelley often uses very hard to understand language, but once you understand what he's trying to say in a particular line you realize how wonderful the line actually is. There is an amazing rhythm to this poem, which you can feel if you start reading out loud, until you almost feel that this poem could be made into a beautiful song. There are lines in this poem, like the ones given below this paragraph, that chill you to the bone and make you feel like the thunder and the lighting and the hail are all around. Just feel the evocative imagery Shelley uses in the following lines, especially with the words, 'black rain and fire' as symbolic of the upcoming storm.

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: O hear!

In this poem, Shelley has used a lot of figures of speech. Through careful use of metaphors, similies, alliteration, personification and apostrophe, Shelley makes this poem a real treat to read. In this poem, Shelley uses a verse form called the 'terza rima' wherein there are 4 tercets (sets of three) followed by one tercet. The rhyme scheme, ABA BCB DED EFE GG is very distinctive and really adds to the aforementioned rhythm of the poem. All of these technicalities, even if you don't really notice them while you're reading this poem (as a student you don't have that particular luxury) really add to the atmosphere that Shelley has created.

But despite the fact that Shelley spends the first three stanzas explaining the effect of the west wind on the ground, the sky and the sea, this poem is not really about the west wind. It is, in fact, a lament by the author. He goes on to explain in his fourth stanza how he wishes he were a leaf, or a cloud or a wave, so that he could be free - pretty much like the west wind. He laments that he is not young anymore, and must implore the west wind in his hour of need to lift him away and save him from the thorns of life that he has fallen upon. Shelley was facing a great number of personal problems during this period, which is perhaps why he writes these lines.

A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd
One too like thee—tameless, and swift, and proud.

The fourth stanza fills you with a profound sense of sadness, as you see the struggles of the poet. You are able to imagine him as someone who has known and enjoyed freedom for the greater part of his life, and who is now broken by the sorrows and troubles that assail him. You feel very sorry for the pain of the poet. With these short lines, he is able to say an amazing lot. It is hard to be sympathetic with a purely wild human being, but easier to sympathize with a wild wind, and then to feel sympathetic for a human being as proud and as wild as this wind, and I think here Shelley does really well.

However, Shelley is after all a romantic poet, and his writings eventually have a sense of great hope to them. In the final stanza, the poet talks about how he would like his dead thoughts to awaken new buds, much like the dead seeds that the autumn wind lays in their cold graves are woken up by the spring when she blows her clarion. And in the final lines, Shelley expresses a feeling of hope that finally life will renew itself, and gives the whole poem a beautiful message which is one of the reasons that it is still remembered even today.

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Final words: This line has been running in my head since the first rain - "They say dreams disappear when faced with the bleak landscape of reality. But when it rains I cannot believe that. The rain makes me poetic." I think there's nothing better than watching the first rain falling out of the window, except perhaps a beautiful poem to read while listening to the soft pitter-patter of the falling rain. And 'The Ode to the West Wind' is perfect for that.

The Naughtiest Girl in School - Enid Blyton

The Naughtiest Girl in School, by Enid Blyton, is the stuff that childhood is made up off.

Strange statement?

I have grown up reading Enid Blyton. From the "Secret Seven" series, to the "St. Clares" series, I have read almost everything she has written. I grew up with the adventures of Fatty (Five find-outers and a dog) and Darell Rivers (Malory Towers), and I have great respect and admiration for Enid Blyton. However, despite the fact that I've read and I own most of the other series of Enid Blyton, I never quite managed to read the naughtiest girl in school series. So when I saw it recently at a bookstore, and failed to force my brother to buy it for himself, I finally bought it for myself.

Here's what I discovered - the naughtiest girl is one of the most enjoyable of Enid Blyton's school series. The things that make me recommend it over her other school series are as follows - the main character, Elizabeth, is a lot of fun to read about, the school sounds amazing (and is co-ed) and there's a lot of drama in it that prevents this book from getting as dated as the rest of Enid Blyton's books have sadly become. (I am one of her greatest fans, but sadly even I can't find them completely up-to-date anymore.)

We'll start with Elizabeth. Elizabeth is spoilt, and rich, and highly naughty, which in itself will recommend this book to most of my generation. She's smart, very willful and independent. She's not beyond disrupting a class to get what she wants. But despite all this, she is very, very nice. She goes out of her way to help a friend (even though she breaks a dozen rules to do this), she is intelligent and thoughtful, and she really and truly struggles against making things hard for other people. Besides this, she is also interested in varied things such as music, dance, and riding, which make her very human. Through most of this first book, she is trying to behave badly to be sent home (very Mirabel from St. Clare's, especially as Joan is amazingly similar to Gladys, but eventually Elizabeth is a lot more likeable than poor Mirabel ever turns out to be.)

The second is the school. Whyteleafe is a school I would love to attend. It's liberal enough to let the students choose their own monitors and head-boys and head-girls, who have a committee each week where they punish students off their own accord. The Principals, who Elizabeth terms, 'The Beauty and the Beast' seem content to let the students govern themselves (if you're looking for a Ms. Theobald like character here, you will be sadly mistaken) and the teachers and fun-loving and interested in the students. There is a jolly atmosphere, and most importantly as it is a co-ed school, it prevents this book from getting extremely dated. (Sadly I don't think this would work anymore...)

The characters in this book, though reminiscent of characters from other Enid Blyton novels (especially in the case of the aforementioned Mirabel from St. Clare's and Gladys from the same series, who represent Elizabeth and her only friend in the school - Joan) are very well-developed. This book deals with slightly more complex issues like the death of a sibling and arrogance which are not dealt with substantially in any of her other series. This book is a great read, which principles of morality and good conduct and honor that I wish were still as strongly upheld among children, but which is not by any means a preachy book.

This book is, essentially, a book that reminds me of childhood.

Final thoughts: This book is sweet and pretty much timeless. I read Enid Blyton when I want something simple, and just plain uncomplicated, with no 'evil' and no 'badness' and happy endings - when I'm tired of things that 'mean too much' or that I have to analyze. I really recommend this book to everyone. I mean, its just so hard to believe that this book was written in 1940!

Theodore Boone by John Grisham

Theodore Boone, by John Grisham, was a thoroughly enjoyable book.

A little background. My parents, when they got back from their trip, brought back two books: Theodore Boone by John Grisham and the White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga. I have wanted to read the latter for a long time, but since my father is currently reading it, and my mother recommended the former to me, I decided to pick up Theodore Boone. I started reading it at eight in the morning, before I had to go school. By eight-thirty, when I had to catch the bus, I had finished around a hundred pages. By about three, I had finished the entire book.

And I wasn't bored for a single moment.

Theodore Boone is a story set in small-town America, where one of the largest trials ever witnessed in the small-town is about a happen - a trial to convict a man who seems to have murdered his wife. The entire town is abuzz about it. Cue in Theo Boone, a thirteen year old kid, who knows more lawyers, judges, and other officials in the judiciary than any one else in the town, who wants nothing more than to become a lawyer, and who somehow ends up getting deeply involved in the murder case when a mysterious eye-witness contacts him about it. This book is about Theo's struggles between his promise to the witness to his desire for justice - while at the same time facing normal thirteen-year-old problems like girls, and school and teachers.

I think the best part about the book is the characters. The main character, Theo, is immensely fun to read about. He's intelligent, thoughtful, honorable, and knows "more law than most lawyers". He's friends with the judge who is going to conduct the murder trial. He has hacked into the website of the court recorder in order to stay abreast with the developments in the trial. He helps friends and teachers alike by giving them legal advice: whether it is on foreclosure, or a divorce settlement, or a case of drug possession. In short: he's rather cool. Despite all of this, however, he doesn't come across as a wonder-kid. He comes across as a normal, human boy who needs help, who messes up sometimes, and who loves law. And if you need one reason to read this book - its for Theo.

But Theo is not the only interesting character in this book. His father, Woody Boone, is a real estate lawyer. His mother, Marcella Boone, is a divorce lawyer. His uncle, Ike, is an ex-lawyer who can now only file tax statements. Even in a reasonably short book, Grisham is able to tell you about all of these people in a way that makes you feel like you know them intimately. He uses great descriptive skills to tells you a few things about all of them that make them interesting, and loveable, and make you want to read more and more about them. And yet these people are not super-human, either. They're simple, and make mistakes, and hypocritical at times. It doesn't matter. You still like them. Even other, smaller characters, are fun to read about - from Judge Granty to Theo's Government teacher, to the various other small characters who make up the judicial system are very interesting to read about, especially when you see them from the eyes of Theo.

The book is very well-written. Fast-paced and full of suspense, it is hard to put down this book for even a moment. The writing is clean and simple and very easy to read. The book is of a reasonable length. The plot is very interesting, and well-thought out. I like the motivations of all the characters. The setting is well thought-out. All in all, this book is a treat to read. I guess it was especially enjoyable for me as an aspiring law student, but I'm sure anyone who likes to read will love to read this book.

Final words: Prepare yourself for a few hours of fun as you see Grisham doing what he does best. Theodore Boone is truly the work of a master.

The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

I have mixed opinions about the Twilight Series.

My review is for all the four books in the Twilight Saga: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

A little background. I read the twilight series in December 2008, which is long before it even became the major hit that it was among teenagers in India. And unlike a lot of people who, for whatever reason, criticize the book, I have actually read each and every book and some of them even multiple times. I have thought for hours about Bella, Edward and Jacob. I have read hundreds of reviews on this book, good and bad. I've even seen the first movie (which I hated for a lot of reasons, which I won't go into here because this blog is not called 'in my dvd collection.') So before you kill me, know that I've made a pretty informed decision on this one.

Here's my verdict: I don't think Twilight sucked.

This book goes along at a fast pace. Its hard to find a place in the book where the action or drama lags (unless you hate romance, in which case - why are you even thinking about reading this book?) The plot is fairly coherent. Some of the characters (especially the more minor ones) are quite engrossing. Its hard to put down this book. In fact, I've read the second, third and fourth book of this series in practically a day each, because I didn't want to stop reading it half-way. In fact, as far as books to pass time go...this one wasn't so bad.

Here's the problem: I don't Twilight was all that good, either.

There were loads of obvious flaws in the story. The first was the author's love for purple-prose, long descriptions of the perfection of her main character, and the many other little flaws of writing Meyer unwittingly commits. Of course, since this is her first book this is easy to understand, and one can hope that she improved with her second, but the problem is how so many people have raised it to a pedestal of literary greatness where this book really doesn't belong. In style and structure there is very little to differentiate this book from a regular romance story, except that most romance stories have slightly more plausible reasons for their heroines falling in love with the main hero. The story is often let-down by clunky writing like the following example:

It seemed silly that this fact – the existence of his soul – had ever been in question, even if he was a vampire. He had the most beautiful soul, more beautiful than his brilliant mind or his incomparable face or his glorious body.

The second problem with this book is the characters. The heroine, Bella is a literary 'mary-sue' - a character who can do no wrong. Her only apparent flaw is her 'clumsiness' which is often used as no more than a plot device to move the plot forward (for example, in the first part of new moon). The problem with Bella is that she's so reactive instead of active that with time she infects the whole book with a languid aura that can be very boring to read. And she's not the only perfect character in this series. Edward (and the rest of the Cullens) are perfect just because they are vampires, as Meyer has swiftly removed every classical limitation on vampires in this book without making any new ones, thereby making them pretty much indestructible. Edward has loads of character flaws - like his extreme protectiveness and his often disturbing fixation to Bella, but because the narrative just can't acknowledge anything but how Edward is so perfect, it is very difficult to sympathize with him. Jacob, the third main lead of this book, is better. He is very sweet in New Moon, but he soon takes a 180 degree turn in books three and four to become an odd guy who is first crazy behind Bella and then her daughter. And don't get me started on Renesmee, Bella's daughter, who is perhaps the worst mary-sue example in the entire series and is one of the major reasons for me wishing that Meyer never writer a sequel.

The secondary characters, in particular Seth, Leah (both shapeshifters) and Emmett and Alice (both vampires) are much better - maybe because we don't see as much of them. Even here, by giving Alice special powers (the power to see the future) Meyer adds another super-power and risks making Alice even more god-like than she already is, which makes her highly unsympathetic towards the end of the fourth book as well. The other characters were so mono-dimensional (even when attempts were made to make them more sympathetic by telling their sob-stories) that I barely thought about them during the book.

Other problems with the book involve the often poor plot. The Twilight Saga is a romance series disguised as an action series, and that is often painfully obvious. For most of the series, the real 'action' seems to begin in the last 50 pages, where Meyer tacks on a fight with a vampire or a group of vampires. This is even worse in the last book, where no fight happens at all - the Volturi, supposedly a dangerous group of vampires, pretty much walk away from a confrontation, despite having good reasons to want a confrontation. At this point in the book I was wondering if Meyer really thought her readers were stupid and couldn't tell that she was avoiding a confrontation to avoid having a fight in which one or more of the 'good people' might die.

All in all, what with the group of mary-sues, the sparkling vampires, the purple prose and the poor writing, this story felt more like an amateur piece of fan-fiction than a real book. As far as I'm concerned, I understand people liking the book but its very hard for me to understand people loving it.

Final thoughts: This book was enjoyable. It was a great way to pass a few hours. It's just not a series I want to re-read again. Definitely not worth the praise and acclaim it has gotten. And its really, really hard for me to hear this book being compared with the Harry Potter series with a straight face.

Interesting links: Midnight Sun [I really enjoyed this...its twilight from Edward's perspective, and boy does he make a more interesting narrator than Bella.] The Movies [Which as mentioned above, I did not like, but all Twilight fans did love them - so what can I say?] Twilight Graphic Novel [A very interesting book...I flipped through it recently.] Twilight Companion [Probably a must-have for fans]

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride is a laugh-out-loud funny book.

But humor is not the only thing in this book. In the worlds of the author, this book has: Fencing, Fighting, Torture, Poison, True Love, Hate, Revenge, Giants, Hunters, Bad Men, Good Men, Beautifulest Women, Snakes, Spiders, Beasts of all nature and descriptions, Pain, Death, Brave Men, Coward Men, Strongest Men, Chases, Escapes, Lies, Truths, Passion, Miracles.

You tell me if this doesn't sound interesting.

I'll begin, as always, with a little background. I first heard about the Princess Bride through a series of quotes in Cornelia Funke's Inkheart Series (another great series that I mean to review someday), and they were mostly quotes on the love of reading, which I identify with greatly. Therefore, this year when I was ordering a set of books from america I decided that one of them should be the 'Princess Bride' by William Goldman. I didn't read a lot of reviews, and mainly bought the book just because it seemed really crazy and interesting, which is exactly how I like my books to be.

Crazy and Interesting: That's 'Princess Bride' for you.

The characters are a lot of fun to read about: from Buttercup (the heroine) who's the 'most beautiful girl in the world' and going to marry the Prince of the nation, but who still manages to be a selfish idiot and Westeley, her love, who can outfight a master swordsman, a huge giant and outwit a master tactician for his Buttercup, but who still is quite far from perfection. Their sweet, crazy relationship is a treat to read about, and the back bone of this book. But its the secondary characters who can really steal your heart: the spaniard Inigo, who is the best swordsman in the world and pretty damn cool, and Fezzik, a loveable, simple minded giant who loves rhymes, to even the main villian - Count Rugen, who has made a scientific study of torture.

The writing style can be a little bit difficult to follow (especially at first) for people who are used to reading books that have a linear narrative. The author skips around, first telling you his story about hearing the book from his father, and then cuts through S. Morgenstern's text to tell you stuff. However, this is also one of the best parts of the book, because the author's humorous interludes are really the cream of the cake when it comes to this book - the cake could be fine without the cream, but everyone knows its not a 'cake' if it doesn't have the cream.

A lot happens in the book. Good people die. Bad people die. There are heroic battles. There is a lot of bickering. There is a lot of love. But what you won't find here is a moment of stagnation, because after all this is a 'good parts version' of Morgenstern's original, and entire stages in the life of Buttercup are summed up by the author in a few words to ensure that readers (especially young ones) are always kept entertained by the narrative.

But this is also more than just a light-hearted book. If you dig deeper you can find that this book is also a book about life. It has, at best, a bittersweet ending - just like life. It has a lot of unfairness, just like life. Like in real life, bad things will happen in this book to people who are the 'good guys.' This book goes beyond being a fairytale in this respect. It doesn't give you great expectations that life will never fulfill. But despite all this, you will find that this book is hopeful. It ends on a note that gives you hope that somehow, somewhere, there is happiness in this world for these characters. A great lesson that kids all over the world should learn.

Last words: This is book I would definitely gift to my kid(s) on his/her tenth birthday. There can't be praise bigger than that.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud

I have written many reviews about the Bartimaeus Trilogy, maybe because I love it so much.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy consists of three books : The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate.

A little background on how I was introduced to the story. Like a lot of the best books I've read, this wasn't a really famous book. However, having exhausted all the books in my libraries 'teen fiction' section, I was really anxious for something new to read, and I decided to pick up this book. I think this was mainly because I'd heard of it described as similar to the Harry Potter series. As it happens, this book is nothing like the Harry Potter series. That doesn't stop it from being absolutely brilliant.

The differences begin with Nathaniel, the (would-be) hero of this story. At the onset, he's a young, in-training magician. But that is where the similarities with Harry stop, because Nathaniel has never been marked out for something special (in fact, he's an apprentice to one of the most pathetic magicians there can be), he uses magic by enslaving demons (something Harry, and of course Hermione, are sure to find highly abhorrent) and his first quest in the book, for the Amulet of Samarkand, is not at all to save the world but rather to take revenge on Simon Lovelace, a magician who humiliated him. Through the three books, Nathaniel acts like a pompous brat, going from bad to worse in the second and third books. His arrogance, his selfishness and his treatment towards Bartimaeus has caused many readers to hate him. This was not the case with me, and even the harshest of readers, I am sure, will be unable to hate Nathaniel after the third book of the series.

A direct foil to Nathaniel is Kitty, a member of anti-magician's group. The way it happens in Stroud's world, the magicians are selfish, cruel, and demeaning towards the 'commoners' or the people who do not have magic. Kitty is an introduction in the second book, and slowly becomes a heroine. She is much more likeable than Nathaniel (which appears to be the reason I don't like her) and even for people like me it is very difficult to hate her, simply because the cause that she is fighting for is so right. Also, her relationship with Nathaniel, which slowly progresses from hate, to dislike, to love, is so poignantly portrayed that it really provides an emotional background for this trilogy.

I have called Nathaniel the would-be hero, and Kitty the heroine. But none of them is the real show-stopper of this series. If someone were to ask me the one and only reason to read this story it would only be - Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus is a 5000-year-old-djinn. He's irascible, hates Nathaniel, and will do anything to just get away from earth and back to his own world. He's also the primary narrator of this story. Most authors don't have non-human narrators because they feel that humans may be unable to connect to them. This story puts all these people to shame. Bartimaeus, even when he's describing wonderful things, like being able to see in seven planes, or changing into different shapes or building (in a classic twist) the many wonders of our modern world, is altogether enjoyable. His saucy wit (especially in his wonderful footnotes) and his loyalty to a young boy called Ptolemy (the entire implications of which are revealed in the book) make him my favorite character of this series.

But the characters (wonderful as they are) are not the only reasons to read this book. The superb writing, the great plots, and the wonderful climax are all really good reasons to read this book. This book is full of humor, action, drama, romance, murder, fantasy and a hell lot of craziness, which makes it perfect for readers of all types. Stroud breaks nearly all common fantasy stereotypes (starting with "magicians are good and demons are bad") and with quotes like the falling which will make you laugh, cry and re-read the book:

One magician demanded I show him an image of the love of his life. I rustled up a mirror.

Final words: Recommended for children of all-ages, be it five or fifty. Read for a fun experience with unexpected layers packaged with brilliant writing and a great perspective on the world.

And Thereby Hangs a Tale by Jeffrey Archer

And Thereby Hangs a Tale, by Jeffrey Archer, was exactly as I had expected it to be: Fabulous.


A little background. I have read almost every Archer novel or short story collection. And naturally, when my mother mentioned that he had a new short-story collection that had come out, I was very excited. But I did forget about it at the time, until I went to the bookstore recently and saw the book. And then there was suddenly a light-bulb on my head, and I bought it almost immediately. But then I got to reading Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman, and my mom and dad started reading this book, so I left it alone for a while. Until yesterday, when I read the whole book in one day straight.

What can I say? The master has not lost his touch.

I love Archer first off all for his ingenious plots. He always has a unique story to tell (or at least a crazily unique twist on a seemingly normal story idea). He is able to right on a large variety of topics: from, to give you an example from this set of short stories, the story of a boy who falls in love with a girl as a light changes from red to green, to a story of how a golf ball can change a man's life, to a story of an amazing jewel theft with a stick of chewing gum as an accomplice. No matter what he's writing about, Archer never fails to astound. In this collection, there are a set of stories that seem, on the surface, pretty straight-forward, but really get you thinking at the end - not only about the plot but about the well developed, interesting characters whose story we are reading.

The writing, as always, is of amazing quality. Succinct, simple, and moving, his language is beguiling in its plainness. He writes tersely, keeping the plot moving (which is even more important in short-stories than in a full-length novel) and there is never a moment in the books where you feel like you're bored and want to skip ahead a few paragraphs - in fact, the book will often make you feel like you want to slow down and think a little bit about what's going on - only you will not want to stop till the final page is turned. While I was reading the book (and my mother has expressed a similar reaction) I would often stop for nearly ten minutes after each story just to process what all had happened, which is of course one of the characteristics of a good Archer story.

His characterization, as I mentioned above, is pretty spectacular. As an author who writes mainly about characters who are doing crimes, and that too in the relatively constrained format of a short-story, he is able to bring his characters out of cliches and make them unique, and (in the case of most of them) even like-able. Even though his characters often do bad things for bad reasons (love and money are the two top reasons - they are not in any way justified by stuff like "he needed the money for his little sister's heart operation) you can still empathize with them because of the way Archer writes - by making us go deep into the mind and the life of the character.

In this collection you will find love, crime, money, fraud, law and golf - all packaged very neatly in Archer's spectacular writing. Definitely worth buying for hours of entertainment, followed by more hours of entertainment after some time when you re-read the books and discover that you missed something crucial in your first reading. Read for a fun roller-coaster ride type experience, for page-turning suspense, and to be blown away.

Last words: Archer is one of the best fiction writers ever, and this collection proves that he hasn't lost his touch. Read only if you're prepared to look up at 1 am and realize, "I meant to sleep hours ago but time just flew away when I was reading the book."

And Thereby Hangs a Tale.