Best. Book. Ever?

No maybe not. I recently read 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', supposedly one of the best books of Agatha Christie. 

Christie's books have always helped me passed time. I have neither read it with the intensity of reading an 'Archer', nor with the disinterest of an 'Adiga'(Sincerest apologies. He just doesn't excite me.). The 'Queen', she may be of mystery and detection, but my interest in her has been only superficial.

(Oh, hey, I haven't read the 'Miss Marple' ones yet.)

Of course, the start left me no clues of it being her best. It was as slow and well-planned as her brainchild - Poirot. Now, about the man himself. Reading about him leaves one thinking about how the queer Belgian(Spoiler?) ever became a detective. His demeanour is not one of the range of Dick Tracy, James Bond,.. You get the idea. Not a professional. But leave him to his craft and he dispels the image of Closeau, "comme ça". This is Hercule Poirot in general.

I can hear you, I'm coming to the part about the book NOW! 

Why this book? Why am I reviewing this one specifically? Unique? Yes. But why? One has to first associate a 'touch of class' with Christie's pen. She's not just an ordinary author. Add to it, a note of suspense throughout, a narrator(It helps. Really, it does!), and a twist along the levels of 'Fight Club'. There you go! You now have got a book on your 'To-Do List'.

While I found 'The Murder on the Orient Express', a masterpiece, I find this one edges it. This one is not just a 'whodunit'. I assure you this is THE 'whodunit'. 

EDIT : Add 'Fight Club' to your watchlists, if you haven't watched it.

The Fault in our Stars

So, this has a been a long time coming. I've not exactly been busy. Or maybe, I have. Sorry to have kept you nonexistent readers waiting.

Throughout the past year, I was kind of riled by all those newbie movie-watchers, making waves on my Facebook wall, having seemingly watched 'The Fault in Our Stars', with a score of weeping emoticons(duh!). I remembered seeing this image. I mentally told these people to muck off, and (as anyone reading this blog would do), got my hands on the book the movie was adapted from by a certain John Green(Yes! Such a guy does exist!). Aaaaaannnnnnd, I read it.

The book revolves around a couple of Cancer survivors(Or are they?), a book, and Life, the Universe and Everything(No, not 42.). Yeah, I did become kind of teary-eyed. But, hey, I get teary-eyed every SINGLE time I hear this song. I ain't no scale for 'teary-eye'ness measurement.

Bottomline : No, this won't make you look at the World through different eyes.(For that, you have to lay thine eyes upon these. Don't fret! Review on the way.). But, heck! Go read it. If not for anything, the "quirky"*, "sarcasm-laden"** lead-character point-of-view. If you haven't watched the movie(or film, if you prefer that), all the better.

Until next time!

* : As found on book-cover
** : Refer '*'.

The Last Olympian

The war has finally begun. Kronos' army are at the gates of Olympus. Camp Half-Blood is busy planning.

Meanwhile, Percy has become the 'Knight in Shining Armor' of more than just one girl.

Percy is finally puled away to destroy the Princess Andromeda by Charles Beckendorf. While trying to destroy it and hinder Kronos' progress, B gets killed. Percy returns to camp, carrying the news, and gets 'wonderful' reception. Finally the Great Prophecy is revealed to him. He finally understands his role in bringing about Kronos' downfall(or does he?).

Can P restore order in America? Will his soul get 'reaped' by Kronos? Will he get to choose between his girls? The book is the supreme source of knowledge once again.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy returns to camp again, this time after escaping from a pair of 'cute girls'. Now, preparations for the war are in full swing. The quartet of Annabeth, Percy, Tyson and Grover learn of a new entrance into the camp, which is actually the Labyrinth built by Daedalus in Crete(the story of Theseus). They decide to destroy the 'inbuilt navigation system'(Ariadne's String) of the Labyrinth, thereby preventing anyone from entering the camp.

Do they succeed in their aim? Will certain "reconciliations' occur? Read the book to find out.     

The Titan's curse

              After his little misadventure  with....um...uh.. in the  Sea Of Monsters, after which Thalia(daughter of Zeus) came back to life, Percy is once again called for to escort two new demigods. Thalia, P & Annabeth go to a certain military school. There they encounter Grover who tells them that the reason he wasn't able to contact them earlier was because of the vice-principal, Dr.Thorn(a Manticore).

             But today, there was a ball going on. They somehow got in and managed to locate the two of 'em. Now the trouble started. Dr. Thorn took them away and somehow got P too. But T, A and G saved them. But when this was going on, the Hunters of Artemis got  into the act. The Manticore escaped taking Annabeth hostage.

             Now Artemis asked Bianca(the elder sibling among the 2 demigods), to join them. She said that B would become immortal to start with. However if she died in war, she would be gone forever. Along with this she had to submit to a condition that she would never be attracted by Men. B accepted.

            After this Artemis asked her brother Apollo to drop them (T, P, Nico-younger sibling and the Hunters) at Camp Half-Blood as she felt that the Bane of Olympus(a creature) was coming back to life. After they got back, P got dreams of A being tortured. He somehow wanted to get her back.

Will he do it? Can he do it?

Once again 'Only the Book will tell'.

            


   

The Sea Of Monsters

    OK. Next comes 'The Sea of Monsters'. In this book Percy undertakes the 'Odyssey'(The voyages of Odysseus). 

    

    Percy comes to camp with his 'large' friend - Tyson. He discovers something about him(T) that makes him feel horrified. His shock is increased when Chiron is dismissed and somebody else is put in his place. Suddenly, adding to his misery, Grover goes missing. And the tree which protects the camp is discovered to be poisoned and monsters start pouring in like water during a flood. To stop it, the Golden Fleece of Jason is required. Clarisse is sent on the quest to find it.

    Nothing is going well for Percy at camp when one night, he meets Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. Hermes gives him a few goodies and encourages him to go on the quest without the permission of the authorities at the camp.

    Will Perce succeed in his mission? Can the camp be saved? Read the book to find out.

Let's see about the Percy Jackson series.

Series title: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Author's name: Rick Riordan

Okay. This series is totally about Greek Myths. So before you start reading it, just brush up on 'em. There are five books in the series. They are:

• The Lightning Thief
• The Sea Of Monsters
• The Titan's Curse
• The Battle of the Labyrinth
• The Last Olympian

THE LIGHTNING THIEF:

The series revolves around a boy known as Percy Jackson. He suffers from ADHD(Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), Dyslexia and many other Attention Disorders. He suffers a lot in school. Except for Grover Underwood, he is friendless. His mom Sally Jackson has married a man named Gabe Ugliano, who is a nasty old drunk, for Percy's sake. He doesn't know who his dad is. Whenever he brings up the topic with his mother, she consoles him saying,"All will be known one day."

All this changes one day. Perce overhears Mr. Brunner(who is handicapped by the way), his latin techer, and Grover having a conversation about him. He hears some thing about 'Kindly Ones'. The next day, they go to a museum. There he has a fight with one of the class bullies and pushes her into the water fountain. Their substitute Maths teacher takes Percy away to be punished. When they are alone, she tells him to give it to her. He doesn't understand what she's talking about. Suddenly, she turns into a winged monster. Mr. Brunner suddenly comes in with his wheelchair and throws him a pen. But it turns into a sword and Percy kills her. 

Later on, nobody has any memory of that teacher. This doesn't include Grover and Percy. Grover doesn't meet P's eyes whenever they are talking about it. After the children return home after Term Break, Sally and Grover take Percy to a camp. On the way, Sally tries to explain to him who his father really is. But he doesn't understand. When they try to enter the camp'a arch, a Greek creature(the Minotaur), comes and attacks them. It kills his mother and then tries to kill him. But he somehow finishes it off and passes out. 

After he wakes up, he learns that he is a Demigod(child of a Greek God and a Human) and he is a camp for Demigods-Camp Half Blood. He also comes to know that Grover is a Satyr. Mr. Brunner is actually the legendary Centaur-Chiron. Chiron tells him that Zeus' Lightning Bolt has been stolen by somebody and that is the thing the monster had demanded from him. He wants to find out who has stolen it.

Does he find out who is father is? Does he figure out who has stolen the Bolt? Read the book to find out.