With Alif The Unseen- A Book Review

Alif the Unseen was published in 2012 by G. Willow Wilson. Maria Suggested this book for me, check out her awesome blog here!  It tells the story of an Arab-Indian Hacker in an unnamed Arab country (geographically around Iran, but reads like an oil-rich GCC country) as he finds himself in trouble with his totalitarian government. So he flees to the most unlikely ally, the Jinn.

Reviewing this book is difficult; while reading it, I loved it. I couldn't put it down. But afterwards, thinking back, I am able to punch holes in the whole thing. While reading I considered giving it 5 stars. Now, I'm not so sure.

There's no denying that this book is beautifully written; with mesmerizing imagery that got me completely engrossed in their world and invested in every character. The plot is fast paced and kept me hooked throughout the book.

However, the first half  blatantly adopts plot points from George Orwell's 1984 though I guess that's acceptable since there's only so much you can do with a rebellion-against-a-totalitarian-government story.

The mixture of  folklore, religion, science and politics seems like an interesting combination, and potentially could be; except that Wilson over-simplified each aspect so that it became a non-cohesive cocktail. It's true that she seems to know about Islam, but missed out on the point that magic is an abomination of Islam. Arab politics is only portrayed in black and white, good and evil, while politics in general is usually several shades of grey.  And as to the greatest miss-step of all, she butchered the science aspect completely. It is obvious from the begging that the narrator knows nothing about computers or technology. It is just a truck load of "technobable" with random techy words thrown in, like linux, C++, RAM.  

Perhaps all these downfalls are because of the sheer number of plot points. Maybe if the plot had been cut down a bit, there would be more realistic plot progression and character development.

Yet on the other hand, these things didn't bother me while I was reading. I was so absorbed into their world that I didn't see any fault in it; except for the fact that the plot seemed to drag on a bit longer than it should.

So maybe I'm just too fussy, read the book and see for yourself, maybe even share your opinion with me.

With The Marlowe Papers- A Book Review

The Marlowe Papers, published by Ros Barber as part of her PhD is a collection of poems written in blank verse depicting the story of Christopher Marlowe.

Christopher Marlowe, is a *real* English author, poet, and translator from the 16th century. It is said that Marlowe was a great inspiration to Shakespeare. The premise of this book, however, is that William Shakespeare is Marlowe's pen-name, as Marlowe was a spy, wanted for treason, so he fled, faked his death and changed his name.

To start off I was excited, a novel in verse, I thought, a nice long poem. Except I soon realized that the Iambic Pentameter is not the most pleasant of meters. And that keeping the verse sometimes meant losing meaning and depth. While reading, my instinct was to read to the beat of the meter. But that meant that normal punctuation went out the window. Sentences broke in wrong places and merged, just to keep the meter up.  On the other hand, when I upheld the rules of English punctuation I found traces of systematic rhythm that I couldn't ignore. Perhaps I am not sophisticated, or smart enough for this style, but I found myself at loss as to how to read, that I found it hard to comprehend what I'm reading. However there are a few poems where punctuation and meter were in sync and I could truly appreciate the beauty of the verse.

The plot, like most Elizabethan novels, features themes of identity of betrayal that seem, to a modern me, incredibly vulgar. Kit Marlowe was a victim of his own beliefs, or lack thereof. As a renown atheist, he was persecuted for treason so he changed his name and started writing under a pen name, William Shakespeare. However, Marlowe didn't like this brand new life, and longed for his former life and friends. The whole book is a collection of letters, addressed to (from what I understood) the love of his life.

It is worth mentioning that while reading this book my thoughts were all in the Iambic Pentameter-which I despise. So I felt I was going to go crazy if I don't cleanse my thoughts.

The plot is nice, but I'm not sure the whole verse thing was the best of ideas. In general the book is okay. The idea is exciting but perhaps not the most interesting.

With a Book Blogger Hop

Although this is a relatively new blog, I feel like I should be more involved in book-blogger-activities, and get immersed in the community. After doing so, I ran into Ramblings of  a Coffee Addicted Writer, a pretty neat book blog. They hold this Book Blogger Hop where book bloggers answer a certain question, and post a link to their answer on their blog. This way, book bloggers get to find new blogs around the internets. If this tickles your fancy at all, head over to their blog and get to know them.

The question of the week is:

Were you a born bookworm or somebody got you into the habit of reading? 

I guess the question here is basically whether reading is an intrinsic habit of mine, or whether it was instilled in me by someone else. And I have to say, I'm not exactly sure. I was definitely encouraged to read a lot as a child; my family bought me books that gradually grew larger and heavier, and many of my teachers gave me extra books out of the curriculum. This isn't to say that everyone supported my reading. I remember this one teacher gave us a book that we were meant to read throughout the entire semester-I believe it was an abridged version of Around The World In 80 Days. Anyways, I read it in one night, and came to her the next day asking her for a new one. She wasn't thrilled. My parents also instilled a book ban for a couple months because my reading had interfered with my studies and social life. So I was encouraged and discouraged to read growing up. 

At the same time, I remember getting excited whenever I enter a library as a child. How Chip, Biff and Kipper were never enough for me. It was a raw, innate need to dive into the world of books.

So who's to say I wouldn't have become a bookworm without support despite my natural tendencies  And who's to say that my tendency to read wasn't planted in me by someone else. In the end I'm extremely grateful for every factor that went into how I am today.

With Solar – A Book Review

Solar by Ian McEwan isn't the most remarkable book. It follows the life of the fictional Nobel-prize-winning physicist Michael Beard from the end of his fifth marriage, to the beginning of his sixth and seventh. Yes... Sixth and seventh simultaneously.  

It is apparent from the beginning that Beard isn't the most balanced of people. Even though he came up with the Beard-Einstein-Convergence he is a slave to his cravings, a compulsive eater and a pathological womanizer.

Despite the overwhelming amount of research that went into this book, Ian failed to convince me that the protagonist is all that smart. The manner in which the book passes over the research and effort required to come up with a theory in physics as if it is a peripheral, secondary part of Beard's life, and the way the author just throws random "big important scientific words" into the text put me off. However the story did make some really interesting arguments about global warming and gender inequality that I couldn't help but make notes about.

The book is also unnecessarily long. There are parts where the plot just stops progressing. So at times it was painful to read. I don't think I will be reading it again. 

The ending is also pretty lacking, as we don't get the catharsis we expect. 

With Ubuntu Edge

This isn't my usual post, but it's something I feel strongly about, and would like to support. Ubuntu is the most popular, open source operating system in the world, and is frankly, the best one I have used. (If only Adobe would offer their products for Ubuntu, I would abandon this hunk-a-junk called Windows.)

The fact that the OS is open source, means that you have the liberty to develop, optimize and experiment with it as you please. along with the simple user interface is one of Ubuntu's greatest attributes, the OS is so light you can instal it in less than 20 minutes, and have your device dual-boot between your OS's as you please. In general, its a pretty neat company, with a great policy.

And in keeping with their usual quality, they are developing a phone. I could never do this device justice, so I'll let their own promotional video speak for them.

Can we just take a moment to admire the beauty of the phone?

All I want to do is raise awareness of this project, and help support Ubuntu. They have an Indigogo page where they plan to crowd-source the funds to make this phone. If you are interested click here. And if you do decide to support them, besides the knowledge that you helped the next generation of technology, you get an awesome phone. So if you can, spread the word on this device, and help them out.

Also, if you would like to try Ubuntu OS out for yourself, you can get the file here, and this will help you out with the steps.

With Emma Approved

The creators of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Welcome to Sanditon have just announced the name of their next major adaptation: Emma Approved. An adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel, Emma by Jane Austen. They haven't said much about it, other than that it will be a vlog-like web series, expected some time this Fall, with all the elements of transmedia that we have grown to love: website, twitter, instagram, facebook, tumblr, youtube.

There is no doubt in my mind that it will be a well thought of engaging series, after all, this is Hank Green and Bernie Su we are talking about. And the LBD fan base, known as The Seahorses, seems to be ecstatic. However, I was hoping they would veer out of their comfort zone and go for a different type of novel. After an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice AND Sanditon by Jane Austen, I was expecting a slightly different genre. As great as Jane Austen is, I feel like they should move on to more substantial novels.

However, I understand that given the familiarity of the story and the constraints of public domain novels that are relatable to the 21st century, Emma is a pretty safe choice.

I'm excited to hear more about this series and to see what they will do with it.

Till then, check out these fan-made LBD-style modern adaptations of Emma: here and here

With Politics and Culture

           A while ago my sisters and I were having a political discussion (or the semblance of a political discussion a few teenagers can muster) and the conversation lead to me mentioning the Taliban, upon which the conversation came to a halt. Because, to my surprise, my sisters didn't know what the Taliban was. We proceeded on a tangent of me explaining the history of Afghanistan and the Taliban, but the conversation never quite left my mind. Not because of the depressing state of the region, but because I  knew who the Taliban are. I  knew, and my sisters didn’t. I didn't understand how it could be so. My sisters and I are subjected to the same culture. How is it that I am more politically aware than they are?

      I retraced my thought process and tried to remember where I had first heard about the Taliban. Turns out I had only heard about them in passing before the summer of 2009; the summer I read A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. After reading them, I was so intrigued by the politics of Afghanistan that I took to Google. And surely enough, a few wiki pages later and I had learned all about the region, from the fall of the Soviet Union, to the US ambush.

            That might seem like a trivial meaningless ramble by a teenager who reads way too much into things. But that isn't entirely true. There are two things that could be taken from this anecdote of sheltered teens: One is that books are useful. Yeah, yeah, we know. But the point is, books are more useful than they seem. Not only do they allow you to read up on things you find interesting, but they introduce you to things that might interest you. Take as an example the aforementioned books. I had originally felt guilty for reading them because they are melodramatic pieces of fiction more akin to an Indian movie than to educational texts. Yet they educated me on politics better than any news agency ever had. They allowed me to realize that I want to learn about the world around me.

            Second of all: I still remember! 4 years later, I still remember what I had read on the Taliban. And given my memory that is nothing short of a miracle. Except it isn’t. This is the amazing thing about education and the human brain in general; if you want to learn something you will remember it forever. If you make the effort, on your own accord, to learn something, you will rarely ever forget it.*

             So to sum things up: Read all the things to learn all the things.

*Birthdays and names are not subject to this rule.