sidharthvardhan

[sidharthvardhan]

How do I read more books?

How do I read more books?

(First written as an answer to a question on quera a while ago. Reproduced here since a lot of people keep asking me this question) I have 1800 read books on goodreads and that is only a fraction of what I have actually read. So I get asked this a lot. Some of what I am going to say might seem contrary to what you hope to accomplish but please read my answer through. Here are some tips: 1. Read…

[sidharthvardhan]

Book of laughter and forgetting - review

Book of laughter and forgetting – review

My views “…because love is continual interrogation. I don’t know of a better definition of love.” Milan Kundera This won’t be the Kundera book I would recommend to a reader new to him. Not that it is bad – it still has all the interesting psychology (he dislikes the word), philosophy (he dislikes that too) and sex (… Well, he is a man.); the trouble with this book is it is too much into…

[sidharthvardhan]

[sidharthvardhan]

The Song of Birds

The Song of Birds

(A Short story by Sidharth Vardhan first written on November 12, 2020)

1.

Tejasvi madam has not aged much in the fifteen years I have known her. For someone her age – nearly seventy (she has been retired for five-six years now), she is still very active and that is how she manages to live alone. 

She has become one of my most regular clients over the past three years ever since I decided…

[sidharthvardhan]

The Blind Assassin - review

The Blind Assassin – review

spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.

Laura’s character was what put life into this book for most part before the big twist in the end blurred it a great deal. Except for that, there were lots of themes – the old feminist theme of bored, depressed wife, the war, the novel within novel, the novel within novel within novel, ee tee cee, ee tee cee. They all were just okay themes with not much…

[sidharthvardhan]

Dreams and Mirrors

Part 1 1.

Some histories are in order, so I will begin by saying that the titular mirror was the most ordinary kind of mirror you can imagine. You could easily find similar mirrors anywhere or, at least anywhere in India. It wasn’t one of those fancy gothic things that had an ancient story about a colonial house in which a princess that loved it had been killed in front of it. I…

[sidharthvardhan]

The Mermaid and the Old Man

The Mermaid and the Old Man

1.

He was an old man in his seventies or maybe eighties. His health was on decline but he still walked without any support, could talk clearly and seemed to have full hold of his sanity – something I must emphasize given the nature of our story. As for the rest, his once-probably-impressive height had been eaten away as his backbone was no longer able to hold him straight. He was accompanied…

[sidharthvardhan]

Kindly keep attachments. They are all yours anyway.

Please read this through. It is just one email after such a long silence. You were closest thing to my heart once, a family – do this much for me. And this time it has something for you.  Those files. At least keep the files you sent me. You may regret not reading it but who knows? If you can’t read, at least send me a okay – it will give me…

[sidharthvardhan]

Paper boats

(A song by Sidharth Vardhan first published on August 13, 2020)

The sugary treats The summer rains And the paper boats Thats what I remember Of the day things turned sour.

Floating togather While waving away And toward each other were our paper boats That’s what I remember Of the day things turned sour.

Your laughter Magical and sweet Joy joyistly joy And the two little paper boats That’s what I…

[sidharthvardhan]

You. You were the only person or one of two that I chose to be my family. You-and-me may have been nothing but an illusion for you but was it too difficult for you to realise it was something beautiful to me? Did I not tell you that, repeatedly? Didn’t I broke it myself to save you the trouble or from feeling trapped? I was even willing to leave you alone knowing it would hurt me. And I even…

[sidharthvardhan]

Pervy Little Eyes - a review of Samanta Schweblin

Pervy Little Eyes – a review of Samanta Schweblin

(A review by Sidharth Vardhan of Little Eyes / Kentukis (2018) by Samanta Schweblin. Review first published on July 22, 2020)

Synopsis

Kentukis are toys – toys that look like animal toys except with a camera fitted in them. This camera automatically connects to a random person from elsewhere in the world who has brought a ‘connection’. No one knows who they will connect to, or where that…

[sidharthvardhan]

Dreams and Perversions

(A review of ‘The Interpretation Of Dreams’ (1899) by Sigmund Freud, First written on July 16, 2020)

Synopsis

A detailed investigation of dreams in which Freud discovered a way of exploring the unconscious, recognized that dreams, like neurotic symptoms, are products of a conflict and compromise between conscious and unconscious impulses and was able to classify the differences between the…

[sidharthvardhan]

A Tale of Two Cities - Review

A Tale of Two Cities – Review

(A review by Sidharth Vardhan of ‘A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens First written on September 9, 2015)

Synopsis

After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a…

[sidharthvardhan]

A pale view of hills - a review of Ishiguru's book

A pale view of hills – a review of Ishiguru’s book

(Sidharth Vardhan’s review of ‘A pale view of hills’ a novel by 2017 Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguru (1954-) The novel first published in 1982 Review first written on March 26, 2018 [usr 4])

Synopsis

In his highly acclaimed debut, A Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter.…

[sidharthvardhan]

Wild Things and Breakfast at Tiffany's

Wild Things and Breakfast at Tiffany’s

(A review of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ (1958) by Truman Capote (1924-1984) First written on )

Synopsis

In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Truman Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape. Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany’s; her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.

My…

[sidharthvardhan]

'Never let me go' - a review of Ishiguru

‘Never let me go’ – a review of Ishiguru

(Sidharth Vardhan’s review of ‘Never let me go’ a novel by 2017 Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguru (1954-) The novel first published in 2005 Review first written on  April 18, 2017 [usr 5])

Synopsis

Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of…