Books and Movies - September 2006

Have not watched too may movies ..spend most of the time watching TV I guess. However, the past couple of weeks, I have gotten back into the habit of reading some books. So here goes my thoughts on the ones I read.

Books

Angels and demons by Dan Brown

This is more of a mystery/thriller book than Da Vinci code but unlike da vinci code, angels and demons doesn't have all the interesting symbology/puzzles It is like any other mystery novel..ofcourse one of those where you do not want to put the book down. I personally preferred the Da Vinci code

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

This is the story of a girl in Chile who comes to San Francisco during the gold rush in search of her love. The story of the main character is very interesting but what is much more captivating is all the thing happening during that time period in Chile, china and in the bay area. I really liked the book.

A traveller's history of England by Christopher Daniell

Very concise way to understand the history of england. Has all the details one would like to know without discussing it for pages and pages. Another good thing was though this is a book with just facts, it still did not feel like a history lesson...probaby there was something in the way it was written or just that the story of the royality was so spicy :). Thinking of getting the one on France and reading it.

Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

Did not read the book but listened to the audio book. It was good, esp the examples he uses to illustrate a point. So I have gotten myself his other book Blink to listen to now.

I am getting hooked onto these audio books lately. Something useful to listen to/from work instead of switching channels to catch some music instead of ads. Even if I retain 10% of what I listen, it still is worth it :)

Movies

Wedding crashers

Awesome movie. Just absolutely hilarious all the way till the end. Vince Vaughn is amazing. A must see movie

Merchant of Venice

This was the one with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. Amazing movie. Really well done. And shakespeare ofcourse rocks :)

Fun with dick and jane

I wouldn't recommend watching it unless it is being shown on TV and there is nothing extremely interesting to watch. There are few funny moments like when they escape from mexico and the first robbery but overall it is pretty dull movie.

Omkara

Another shakespeare saga. This is an adaptation of Othello. This was a very good movie. The acting and the sets was fantastic and that is what makes it worthwhile to watch the movie. It is ofcourse not a fast paced movie. One recommendation would be to watch it at home with subtitles on and ofcourse having the ability to rewind. The language is impossible to understand otherwise. Also a lot of foul language.

Golmaal

This is the new one with Ajay Devgan and Arshad warsi. It is pretty fun and light movie. Worth watching. Tushar kapoor as the mute guy is too funny.

Chup chup ke

The first half before the interval is berable to some degree. But after that they just repeat the same kind of stuff and ofcourse it just gets unbearably melodramatic with kareena kapoor praying to god with the diya in her hand and all...ahh..just too painful. Do not know why even in this day they need to do such bizarre stuff.