Neha's Notebook

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis The debut novel of Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim, is a satirical campus novel that illustrates the everyday life of England during the 1950s. In 1955, the book won the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. The chucklesome book portrays the life of a man named Jim Dixon. Dixon is the bespectacled protagonist depicted in the role of a medieval history professor. Considered foolish and dumb by everyone around him, Jim is rambunctious in his own unique way. Since he is on his probation period in a local university, he is unsure whether he’ll be able to continue with the job or not. And so, in his attempt to secure a permanent position in the university, he strives to maintain a good relationship with his senior nudnik professor Welch. In addition, he is required to submit a scholarly article for a magazine. But later in the story, he comes to know that the person he submitted his article to, had published it on his own name. Dixon reacts to the rea...

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie As the detective Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express to go on a holiday, the train seems unusually full of passengers at this time of the year. Nevertheless, he gets a compartment with the help of his director friend Bouc. The train travels through its usual route, but halts to a stop as a snowdrift comes in its way. The dining-car that evening reveals passengers from different countries, cultures and classes. The diversity of its passengers includes an English lady, a Swedish lady, an elderly American woman, an American business tycoon with his secretary and valet, an Italian, an Indian Colonel, an English man, a Hungarian couple, a princess and her maid, among others. The following morning, a search reveals that the American tycoon named Ratchett is dead in his compartment. What surprises the doctor the most is the way the man was murdered. The man’s body possessed not one, not two but nearly twelve stabs, whi...

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie A creepy island. A spooky mansion. Ten strangers. A psychopath. A nursery rhyme. And then there were none… This, I think, perfectly describes the story of one of the best-selling novels by Agatha Christie.   According to the plot of the book, once there was an island named the ‘Indian Island’, located off the coast of Devon, England. The island was rumoured to be owned by an American millionaire named Mr. Owen. No one had really seen what went or happened on the island, but it was generally reported to be an isolated locale. On one early autumn, unexpected invitations reach ten strangers in ten different locations; all are invited as weekend guests on the island. Stifled by their respective mortal coils, they accept the invitations and head towards the island. In an eerie sea-facing mansion where they were invited, the ten characters meet - a judge with an obsession with justice, a schoolmistress, a soldier, a doctor...

Deception Point by Dan Brown Presidential elections were on the cards. There was a tension between the current US President and his opposition party candidate Senator Sexton. The main qualm between the two parties was regarding the space organization NASA. According to Senator Sexton, NASA was wasting billions of dollars of budget on space missions that were resulting in zero zippo zilch that is, in nothing at all. On the flip side, according to the current President Herney, the abolishment or privatization of NASA would result in powerful space secrets and talent going into the hands of private organizations who were driven by advertising. Senator Sexton brainwashed the public saying that the billions of dollars spent on NASA’s fruitless missions could be utilized on students’ education, corporations and jobs. Whereas, President Herney had no evidence to support his argument. It was evident that Senator Sexton would experience the win in the upcoming election and...

Origin  by  Dan Brown Humans. What is the origin of human beings? Where do we come from? Where are we going? Did humans create God from the kaleidoscope of their imagination, or is there actually a God who is behind the origination of human beings, someone who consciously created humans? And if there is one, then, can this God, can this great intelligence survive the technology that human beings are progressing towards, as rapidly as the speed of light? A technology, which seems to have a penultimate power over a human’s life, and perhaps even over their death too… Through this novel, Mr. Brown, here drives a wedge between the ideas of creationism [or creation science], and spontaneous evolution that can be clearly explained using the concepts of science and technology. Did an entity create this universe, as suggested by all religions, or did the universe spontaneously created itself, triggered by one scientific process after the other? Do humans require to see somethin...

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is one of those books that one may read over and over again, and never get bored. It clangs and jingles with the outpourings of sentiments, sentiments which erupt from the pellmell of the juvenile years in the life of a boy named Holden Caufield. Written in a 1st person narrative, the book gushes with the tohubohu of his adolescence and boyhood. Irked by who he calls as “phonies”, aka his fellow schoolmates, Holden decides to leave his school Pencey Prep. Stepping into the rubbly arena of the outer world, Holden seems to feel alienated, disoriented and miffy at its absurdity. The text that follows in the book elaborates upon these emotions in a tangle of brilliantly-crafted interior monologue that turns out to be utterly savoury to the reading sense. The book features an epistolary format, which means that it is written in the form of letters addressed to the reader and divided into chapters....

The Mystery of the Ivory Charm by Carolyn Keene Who could ever wonder that a tiny, cream-colored ivory elephant charm holds the power of life and death for humans? A charm of such a kind marks this novel of Nancy Drew-Carolyn Keene mystery series too...yes, read on. One of the most intriguing stories of the series, this storyscape features an ancient Indian charm designed like a white elephant and sculpted in ivory material. This one-of-a-kind charm belongs to the time of the great ‘White Elephant Cult’ of India. The charm belongs to an Indian boy named Rishi, who works in a wild animal circus show, the trainer of which is his father, a cruel man named Rai. Apart from being the animal trainer and circus master, Rai is depicted to be a man of ruthless personality. As Nancy comes face to face with this man, she spots this prettily-set ivory charm, designed brilliantly like a tiny elephant pendant, swinging from the black corded chain worn into Rai’s neck. The ...

Chocolates.   Taste buds seem to swoon with delight the moment one mentions the topic of “chocolates”. So, when Mr. Willy Wonka, the greatest chocolate manufacturer decided to reopen his chocolate factory, the children worldwide splashed into pools of excitement. And so did their parents, their grandparents. Confectionary stores worldwide were stocked and restocked, and re-re-stocked, with gigantic heaps of Willy Wonka Chocolate Bars. On the flip side, the toothpaste factories let go of their workers because, apparently, the market demand of toothpaste escalated in direct proportion to the sale of Willy Wonka Chocolates. The job demanded a skill too mechanical and too much to be worked out by the mere labour of human employees. One of these toothpaste factory workers turned out to be Mr. Bucket, the father of a charming boy Charlie Bucket. Though poverty-struck, the Buckets family depict family warmth, yet, floats like a snowflake of wintry gloom. Their fortune, however...