I see a pattern emerging. I have been ordering books from Library, after watching the movie or the show or trailer. My current set is pretty much that.
Except Father Brown, I haven't been disappointed so far. With Father Brown book, I gave up after starting the first book. Father Brown doesn't appear & even speak until after 100 pages, it felt like. The book was also old & musty hence didn't help with patience. But that is because it was created a century back (maybe). So the styles are going to be unimpressive compared to modern styles.
Almost all others have been interesting books as much, if not more than their movie/show counterpart.
The book is laid out like a modern drama, with lead characters being founders of Instagram, FB & Twitter and their first employees & more. Very intimate look at how everything worked, the startup, the deals in between. It's good to see the priorities of modern life in a book form - as if this new world and its complexities are worth acknowedging. Only old is not gold.
I love history and modern history (90s & 80s) but documenting the internet changes of 2010s is something else. Phrases & Terms which were born in that decade and many which finished/ended in this decade as well.
The characters of this books are like living manifestations of the apps they created. Twitter, Instagram, FB, Snapchat & more apps have noticeable and well-known personalities - and same is assigned to their founders.
Being a Project Manager at work, I can't resist but think throughout the book, that so much of politics & heartaches would have been saved, if they followed proper Project Management & Quality processes atleast the corporate side. I acknowledge that the tech deliveries would need the faster Agile model. But being unstructured and loosely bonded like some mom-pop store, is going to cause the political fallouts that happen.
Got to know of this book after the
movie trailer was out. Time reference-wise, the look in the trailer is ambiguous. Even the publishing date on the book was hard to make out. Until page 50, it was suspense on which year the story is based in? Even the decade - 40s, 50s. Then it's reveled, its 1993 life. The pre-digital era, right on the cusp.
Salinger is the selling point. But core of the story is the life & travails of young adult after passing out of college. Sad little salads or sandwich packages as expensive meals bought for lunch. Counting and trying to keep the daily meals count within $10 / Rs 500. Sudden load of bill payments, it's impact on everything. Changed dynamics with college BFF in this new working life.
Things like 5-minutes of vacation in hotel bathroom. Assessing other same age people in business suits & assessing their money & security, realm of currency & privilege.
This kind of poverty might not be the dramatic political-power kind. But it exists & is utterly painful part of a new adult life. Total influence of it is rarely acknowledged in pop culture, as much as say teenage angst.
All praises on the back-cover were worth it & perfect explanation of the book.
The Man in the High Castle - Philip Dick
The Season 1 of TV was oh so impressive. I signed out in S2 beginning, when I figured this is going the alternate-timeline-&-merging way. Oh the dread of messing a good series with timeline mishandling. But this show made me curious about the book and after a wait, I got it from my library.
Rather thin book compared to the heavy-duty show and various other books around. Not too much action, rather wordy. It proceeds with each chapter dedicated to a specific character and that's how the story moves ahead. Most of the main show characters are in the book. Rather all of the book characters are in the show. And then the show has more - Smith & Inspector Kido mainly and then a lot more are not in the book. I didn't reach the point of Man in show, so I don't know if he is similar to the book, but from the pics I have seen, I don't think he is. I didn't understand what Oracle was in the show, but it was explained so well in the book.
Kudos to the show creators - how they have transformed the book to such a multi-dimensional universe.
Rosie Result - by Graeme Simsion
Going with the pattern, I anticipated him landing in a huge mess & watching him get out of it in a complicated way. I never thought I would go for it esp after George Monkey. But with Don Tillman it works. This trilogy provides comfort on a variety social-interaction problems.
This book goes through a multitude of problem scenarios of the big-cast of characters and resolves them in a jiffy before landing in next. It was different & alright.
The Kalahari Typing School for Men (2002) by Alexander McCall Smith
Since November, I am wading through Gold Finch book by Donna Tratt. Its huge 771 page and I am at 438 . Its wordy, but not heavy. Its heavy on the pain of the lead character. I don't know how I will finish the rest of 300 odd pages. Its like another book in itself. Main reason I am reading it to unravel the conspiracy theory that entered by mind, while watching the movie. I want to decode if it's true & if alluded to, even if subtle in the book.
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