Backseat Driver

Posted by sek8 at July 11th, 2006

I am often asked what I’m reading. The following is my answer in the form of an online book journal.

• Current:
• Pending:
  • Silence
    Author: Shusaku Endo
    

  • The Conservative Mind
    Author: Russell Kirk
    

• Finished:
  • The Abolition of Man
    Author: C.S. Lewis
    

    Final Say: An interesting treatise against moral relativism, this book is a quick read and is quite good. Not for everyone, draws from philosophy, theology and both western and eastern tradition.

  • The Plague
    Author: Albert Camus
    
    Final Say: A very good, heart-wrentching account of Man versus Nature, fate and disease. Definitely worth reading, especially if you are into existentialism.

  • Kite Runner
    Author: Khaled Hosseini
    
    Final Say: Awesome. A timeless tale of healing and redemption.

  • A Thousand Splendid Suns
    Author: Khaled Hosseini
    
    Final Say: OK, not nearly as good as Kite Runner. Relates the story of two women living in Afghanistan during the second half of the 20th Century. Depressing but honest, it is a tribute to the human capacity to go on even in the most soul-deadening circumstances.

  • The Devil Wears Prada
    Author: Lauren Weisberger
    
    Final Say: Smarter than the average chick-lit book, deeper too. A fun beach read.

  • Brideshead Revisited
    Author: Evelyn Waugh
    
    Final Say: Great book.
  • Lolita
    Author: Nabokov
    
    Final Say: Amazing, disturbing, musical. One of the best books I have ever read. The story is not for anyone but the language is intoxicating, I would recommend it for any mature audience.
  • The End of the Affair
    Author: Graham Green
    
    Final Say: Very good.
  • The God of Small Things
    Author: Arundi Roy
    
    Final Say: Beautiful and heartwrenching. Roy explores the systematic destruction wrought by the caste system in India.