Book Reviews : Fiction

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- Philip Kerr

Actually, this was the first novel I read, way back in 1998. Till date, it remains one of my top-favourites.

This is a terrific novel. It is based on a supercomputer by name Abraham which controls a hi-tech building. A virus makes Abraham think that it is playing a game with the inmates of the building and the aim is to kill all the opponents. A team of 8 people is trapped inside the building , and one by one the supercomputer begins to kill them.

Have you read "2001: A Space Odyssey " by Arthur C Clarke? It deals with a similar scenario: a powerful supercomputer HAL 9000 trying to terminate the lives of astronauts in the spaceship Discovery. In fact there is a triology… “2001 : A Space Odyssey,” “ The Second Odyssey” and “3000 : The Final Odyssey”.

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Songs of Distant Earth

-- Arthur C Clarke

Del-Rey/Random Books

This is a science-fiction novel, one of the best I have read so far. It envisages a scenario in which our sun goes supernova explosion and mankind is forced to flee the solar system and inhabitate distant planets.The book encompasses huge scales of both space & time. it also covers a numbersubjects, ranging from astrophysics, exobiology, philosophy, and sociology.

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Golden Ball & Other Stories

- Agatha Christie

Well, this lady is known as the Queen of Mystery, and rightly so!! But she has also written splendidly in other genres as well.
This book is a collection of a number of such stories, 15 in number and all short ones. They range from bizarre, to funny, to romantic, to humorous... and a couple are outright horrifying!
Each story is captivating till the end...still, as my peronal favourite, I would choose “Magnolia Blossom". Ah! Here is a story which I have really appreciated for its wonderful portrayal of how differently a woman and a man think. If you do not have time to read the entire book, read at least this one story... and let me know how you felt.

Yours,

Gautam.