Books for 2013

Neuromancer by William Gibson: Matrix, cyberspace ... common words right? Well this is the book which is credited for first using/ inventing these terms way back in the 80s. Neuromancer was a path breaking work and it kind of invented the cyber punk genre. So when you see the film Matrix you know who was the guy who thought it all first! The book is the story of Case, a 'cyber jockey' who must infiltrate the Cyber Matrix (read the book to know more!!) to carry out a heist. Set in a dystopic future and full of wildly imaginative scenarios the book is a must read for anyone slightly interested in science fiction and technology. The book is an experience by itself and a perfect start for the New Year.

Dongri to Dubai by S Husain Zaidi: This book is about the growth of Mumbai mafia and Dawood Ibrahim. It contains fascinating accounts of gang formation, mafia operations and the clashes between the gangs. An easy and fascinating read, this is a story about a world not at all known.

The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh: From Amazon.com: "From Victorian lndia to near-future New York, The Calcutta Chromosome takes readers on a wondrous journey through time as a computer programmer trapped in a mind-numbing job hits upon a curious item that will forever change his life. When Antar discovers the battered I.D. card of a long-lost acquaintance, he is suddenly drawn into a spellbinding adventure across centuries and around the globe, into the strange life of L. Murugan, a man obsessed with the medical history of malaria, and into a magnificently complex world where conspiracy hangs in the air like mosquitoes on a summer night."

Talkative Man by RK Narayan: Bookrack is fortunate to possess a near complete Malgudi collection. Exuding Indianess in every page, these magical books transport the readers to a quaint Indian town and their storylines are something any Indian would really appreciate. Take for example the book The Talkative Man. The Talkative Man is a journalist in Malgudi who likes spreading gossip around the town. Then a foreigner arrives, stays in the house of Talkative Man and the idyll of the town is disturbed...

Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth: ODESSA may or may not have been a real organisation whose purpose was to establish and facilitate secret escape routes after WW 2 to allow SS members avoid capture and prosecution for war crimes. Forsyth in his typically brilliant way melds fact with fiction and weaves a gripping yet disturbing saga about a reporter attempting to discover the location of a former SS concentration camp commander. Widely considered to be a modern classic the book keeps your attention till the end and is a must read for any book buff.

Theme Quiz 5/5 - The Final One

As always the top 5 get 12, 8, 6, 4 and 2 points. This is the last quiz so make it count! Fill in your answers at:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHRsbFpoVHduME5LOHUzOTNCRzk5cWc6MQ#gid=0

Identify the novel from its first line:

1. "It was a dark and stormy night"

2. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

3. "Who is John Galt? "

4. "The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there.""

5. "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow."

Bookathon Theme 4/5 - Crossword

Today we have for you a Crossword .. Not only does the fastest finisher get a special prize but the points on offer are 20, 16 and 12 (for the top 3 finishers). Hope you have fun doing this! Fill in your answers at:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEk3RzFhVW1XcjAtMW5mZDdGSUZ4U3c6MQ#gid=0

Theme Quiz 3/5

We are back after a gap of 3 days. Today we bring to you plot lines. All you need to do is guess the book we are they referring to! Fill in your responses:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFpQZEdkMXdrbFdPQmU5ZTBYOGJwdmc6MQ#gid=0

1. This classic traces the life story of a poor orphan boy who gets a sudden windfall of fortune and goes off to the big city only to find later that all his hopes were misplaced. The book is famous for its unique characters ranging from an eccentric old lady and an escaped convict to a heartless young girl and a lovable brother-in-law.

2. A young Indian boy whose father owns a zoo, survives the sinking of a ship and is trapped on a lifeboat with a tiger, and from before and while on the lifeboat, explores issues of spirituality.

3. A doctor turns scientist after losing his wife to a rare form of cancer. His life falls apart when he discovers that the same form of non hereditary cancer affects his daughter as well. The scientist has to fight against many other people along with cancer to save his dear daughter’s life.

4. This could be a tweet from a character of this book: Found this awesome girl but it all ended in Room 101 :(

5. This could be a tweet from a character of this book: The world outside our village is quite pretty, if only this damned ring wasn't around my neck ...

Fun Facts on Authors

Charles Dickens :
His most famous story, A Christmas Carol, became more popular than his other classics, such as Oliver Twist, though it received less attention from literary critics than some of the other Dickens’s novels. Dickens, at age 31, wrote the short novel in 6 weeks and rushed it to be published before Christmas. The book was out December 19, 1843—the same year that the first Christmas card on record was sent. A Christmas Carol was Dickens’s first unserialized work. Most of the characters were based on people he knew personally, including Ebenezer Scrooge—based on Ebenezer Scroggie, a counselor at Edinburgh. Within its first year of publication, A Christmas Carol sold 15,000 copies and inspired the production of about 10 stage dramas.

Jane Austen:
July 1814, when Sir Walter Scott’s first novel Waverly was published, Jane Austen was a bit jealous. She wrote the following in a letter to her niece.
“Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones.—It is not fair.—He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people’s mouths.—I do not like him, and do not mean to like Waverly if I can help it—but fear I must.”
Ironically, today Jane Austen is a much more popular author than her contemporary Sir Walter Scott.

John Keats:
John Keats was only about 5 feet tall—nevertheless, by the time he died at age 24, he was a literary giant, surpassing any other 24-year old English writer. We can only wonder if Keats were to live to be an old man if his popularity today would exceed that of Shakespeare.

John Milton:
John Milton composed the greatest epic in the English language Paradise Lost after he was blind (between 1658 and 1664). He claimed that he received nightly divine inspiration, and during the day he composed his epic. Paradise Lost is packed with biblical and mythological allusions—attesting to Milton’s vast knowledge and incredible memory.

J.K.Rowling:
Harry Potter sold about 400 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 65 languages.
Though before the book's popularity, Joanne Rowling had some difficulty finding a publisher that believed her book could amount to anything. Finally Bloomsburry Press agreed to publish the first edition of Harry Potter, but only printed 500 copies for the first edition for fear of them not selling. Also the publisher requested that the author would not use her first name (Joanne) but rather her initials to make it less obvious that the author is a woman assuming that the book's main audience young boys would not want to read a wizard book written by a woman. Since Joanne Rowling did not have a middle name, she chose K for Kathleen.

Leo Tolstoy:

  "Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly"
· Tolstoy was very sceptical about his writing jobs, including "War and Peace". In 1871 he sent a letter to a friend: "I am so happy.. that I won't right trifles like "War and Peace" any more!
· He always wore a miniature portrait of JJ Rousseau instead of a cross on his neck
· Leo Tolstoy's wife had to copy out War and Peace seven times by hand because typewriters and printers didn't exist yet

Bookathon 2012 - Theme Quiz 2/5

Post your answers here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDlxUjRidzNRbi1KRlJBbjM3WHRBYlE6MQ#gid=0

We will publish the leaderboard after this quiz. The Bookathon takes a break for 3 days now. Questions on Theme 3 will be put up on Tuesday (21st August).

1. Connect:

 2. This irritating cartoon strip (well that is in our opinion!) was a part of one of the more innovative promotional campaigns in India. Appearing prominently in a newspaper much before the release of the movie, it generally featured 2 unnamed protagonists discussing inane things with one of the 2 being the butt of the joke in each strip. Name this strip.

3. Connect:

4. This comic’s title (as well as the name of the main character) is derived from the nickname given to the author by his sons. The comic is set in an unnamed coastal village in Norway and takes place in the middle ages. The main character regularly raids England and sometimes France. One continuing gag involves his extremely poor personal hygiene; for example, his annual bath is a time of national merriment and celebrations. For a brief time, the strip even had its own brand of sponsored soda. It is generally recalled as one of the funniest flops of the marketing industry. Name the comic.

5. Who is the uncle of the kids shown below:

Asterix - 9 Quick Facts

1. Asterix the Gaul was called Asterix by his creator Albert Uderzo so he would appear at the start of an encyclopaedia of comics. Some 325 million copies of the 33 Asterix comic albums have been sold worldwide, with translations into languages as diverse as Urdu, Arabic and even Latin.

2. The first Asterix adventure, Asterix the Gaul, appeared in a magazine called Pilote and from then on, 32 other official Asterix comics have been published. Rene Goscinny wrote the books while Albert Uderzo illustrated them until the death of Goscinny aged 51. Uderzo then carried on the series. As well as the comic books, there have been many spin-offs including movie books, game books, Dogmatix books etc. Asterix is so popular, he even has his own theme park and movies.

3. Albert Uderzo is colour blind. He gets professionals to colour his drawings which is why some character's hair keeps changing etc. His eye has since improved and he has coloured some of the later books covers. He was born with two extra fingers which were surgically removed when he was still very young.

4. The first French satellite which was launched in 1965 was named Asterix-1 in honour of Asterix.

5. During the campaign for Paris to host the 1992 Summer Olympics Asterix appeared in many posters over the Eiffel Tower.

6. Asterix and Obelix appeared on the cover of Time Magazine for a special edition on France.

7. The animated series Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears also concerns an oppressed group in possession of a magic potion capable of conferring superhuman strength and agility.

8. The 2006 FIFA World Cup final between France and Italy was depicted as a fight between Roman legions and Gaul villagers in newspapers.

9. Humour in Asterix is typically French, often centering on puns, caricatures, and tongue-in-cheek stereotypes of contemporary European nations and French regions. Much of the humour in the initial Asterix books was French-specific, which delayed the translation of the book into other languages due to the risk of losing the native essence of the story.

Source: http://www.oxfordbookstore.com/dotcom/oxford/archives/in_our_good_books/asterix_fun_facts.htm