Books I read in November …

1. Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly

 

Yet another fast paced book by Matthew Reilly. The book was about racing and hence speed was an inherent factor. Surprisingly the book was not as fast-paced as his other novels. The book had its fair share of twists and turns (figuratively as well as literally) with the usual turning points spread across the book. 

 

Just like it happens to Jack West Jr. or Scarecrow or any other lead characters of MR, Jason Chaser (lead character of this book) also goes through a near-death experience where we are given a feel for a few moments that the Hero has perished and there was no way he could have survived, although MR fans know that the hero survived and are actually wondering how did MR manage it this time.

 

A very interesting read over all and now that I have exhausted all of MR literature … I am like .. Now What? MR has already spoiled the genre (this is something we keep saying to each other time and again – me and my best Friend). Any thriller or adventure novel appears slow and at times excruciatingly slow after reading the blitzering (or whatever the word is) pace of his novels.

 

So Mr. Matthew Reilly, when are coming out with your next novel. And do you have anything that you have not published but wrote it once upon a time and no one seems interested in publishing. I am interested in reading that stuff too. I think I should write to MR asking (or let us say – begging) for more.  

 

2. Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern

 

Guess this was the last Cecelia that I can read. I think I have read all of her books. This one begins with a very interesting premise and doesn't create suspense about how an individual stranger gets access to a host of memories of another person. The reason behind the occurrence is not the story. The story is how things take shape. The series of events and coincidences that take place and the way the story twists and turns. It's a simple mildly entertaining read with some bits of emotional stuff thrown in here and there.

 

It did make my eyes moist. They were on the verge of overflowing a couple of times but never really did. Even if this one was not very strong on emotion or story or action … I still liked it.

 

I completed the book 2 days before I flew off to Dubai. This means that now I will not have direct access to my best friend's library and hence I expect my reading to slow down a bit. But I will still be travelling with some books to read.

 

I tried to carry around 5 books in addition to Feluda Vol. 1 & 2 …. But I had to shed the weight during check-in where the girl at the counter did not allow me to carry any extra excess baggage. I have travelled international for about 5 years now and one complete passport is full of stamps now. I never faced such an excess baggage situation.

 

Anyway …. I managed to travel with Buried Fire and Feluda Volume 1 & 2. I was planning to read the entire Feluda series in 2011; maybe now I will have to begin in this year itself. For other reading, I will have to see how much I will buy / pick up in Dubai and how many trips I make to India. I will also explore the option of reading on the laptop although I have never preferred doing that.

 

3. The Three Investigators and the Mystery of the Fiery Eye

 

I started reading this before I left for Dubai and continued it in Dubai. I have read this one during my school days but I am on a repeat spree now as far as 'The Three Investigators' series is concerned.

It is fun to read the book because in spite of my poor memory and the fact that I have read those books almost 20 years ago; while reading the story there is a sense of déjà vu that I am getting. There are times during the reading where the particular thread or event in the story seems familiar. I do not remember what will happen next but the overall reading experience was a good one.

I loved the Three Investigators series as much as I loved Sherlock Holmes and reading them again was a delight during school days. The 3I stories have an element of mystery and investigation and the titles are rather interesting.  The Mystery of the Fiery Eye or the Shrinking House or Headless Horse or Flaming Footprints – these are just some of their very interesting titles.  And not to forget the very interesting cover designs too.

 

--> I started reading 'Buried Fire' on the way to Dubai. I did some Airport reading and a little bit of flight reading before I got distracted by the Angelina Jolie's Hollywood flick 'Salt' playing on the in-flight entertainment system. Could not read much but just got started.

 

Continued reading in Dubai but the reading was rather slow since the initial days were busy and travel time was short & busy. Hence I was only able to read about 50 pages of the book in November and it overflowed into December.

 

There was very little reading that happened after travelling to Dubai, since I was busy with project activities. Hope December is better ...