Chiller!

I should have written this post long ago. If we are talking about fiction, this is by far the best thriller I have ever read. Its not just the penmanship of Daphne Du Maurier, its the plot of Rebecca which is awesome.

I can rave and rave more about this book. It was made into a movie by one of the great directors of all time, Alfred Hitchcock. And the movie is just icing off the storyline.

Rebecca is a about a ghost, a ghost which lives through the memories of everyone she knew as a living person. The narration is all in first person, which makes it wonderful setting for the story. A lonely young women, marries a very silent and mysterious Maxim de Winter, in hope of a better life. The young bride is confronted by his past, his dead wife Rebecca. No matter how hard she tries, it seems difficult to outshine the beautiful and smart Rebbeca.

How she confronts the ghost of Rebecca and stumbles upon a sinster secret is for you to find out yourself. The climax is written very well and you will not stop reading once you get halfway through the book.

This is by far the best one Daphne Du Maurier has written. Several other authors have tried to immitate the storyline I believe. There is also a hindi movie based on the book Kohra starring Biswajeet. Anyway, enjoy the chilling tale.. !

Real scare!!

In 1984, I had been in primary school for a year now. World was at the very least amazing :) 20 years later I read George Orwell's book 1984 and my world spuns around. Of course the book is in anticipation of 1984 ( result of cold war). What scares me most about this book is that its not so impossible to come true.

It all started with my friend sending me ebook versions of George Orwell's books. First was Animal Farm. The second was 1984 and the third I forget. Now my friend is reading this then I should tell him, that it was slightly disappointing for a birthday present :) Reading books online is not fun at all. So I took a print out of Animal farm which was the shortest one. Read it on my flight to India. It made a good read. I vaguely remember it as being disillusioning.
It turned out that this book 1984 turned up at my aunt's place (who lives very close to our place) right then. Just for fun I have to tell you that books keep disappearing and reappearing at my and my aunt's place periodically. This is what ensues when you have several relatives and no on eot keep track of the books being borrowed :)
Anyway, before I go on I have to thank my friend for making me aware of George Orwell. THe name being familiar I took the book home (thus becoming a part of the relatives who borrow books without letting anyone know :) ).

The book itself is everything disturbing. I fail to remember if the ending was positive or not. But the thought that the government can control my thoughts is scary. Somehow I think they already manage to swing the majority thought process one way or the other. And do have a great influence on the public opinion. But to think that someone could monitor exactly what I am writing and thinking is worse than a horror movie.

I imagine supposed great men/women mislead by the belief that their opinions are sacred and the only way to control the bad in the world is by uniform rule. By making sure that nobody can think bad thoughts. Of course the word bad by itself can stand for different things.

So if you want a real life horror, go ahead read this book. I am not much of a brave soul. I refuse to watch scary movies, complaint of nightmares. George Orwell puts it down subtly. It takes a while for the reality of the book to sink in. You will have to read it to believe it!

Diary??

I wasn't planning to write a post based on these books. I didn't think I could sell Bridget Jones Diary and sequel Edge of Reason to anyone.

First of all, my apologies to anyone who has seen the movie and have been put off by the dumb show. For what it is worth I liked the movie because of Mark Darcy (alias Colin Firth). But if I think about it seriously, the movie is exactly what would happen if somebody read your diary and took pieces out of it and displayed it to the whole world. The heroine comes out looking extremely stupid and silly, and very lucky indeed that this good guy is in love with her!

True, when I read the first book, my opinion of who Bridget Jones stands for didn't improve by too much. Shes extremely silly and self centered in a way. You don't get into the grove till you get to the sequel, partly cause it takes that long for the characters to take shape. BJD and EOR are the story of single people, who have spent best of their lives analysing and over analyising their relationships to the point of no return. They have scrutinised, qualified and stamped every possible reaction as being of a certain type!

Mark Darcy, a newly widowed man falling in love with Bridget Jones is something which happens only in novels. Bridget Jones inspite of deficiencies is a true friend, loyal and helpful. And amazingly has a very childish way of looking at the world inspite of the self-help books. BJ claims that self-help books are a religon. Perhaps they are, I have never read any. But its interesting as MD analyses her, completely surrounded with her single friends who demand attention, and dissecting all her relationships leaving him no space.

I recommend it solely to get a taste of a singleton's life, exaggerated perhaps, but still a witty look. Who knows what lessons of life maybe in store for you :)