Classics Challenge 2009

Trsih from Trish's Reading Nook is hosting the Classics Challenge for 2009. I so cant resist this! The classics I got from Barnes and Noble at a bargain price have been collecting dust in my bookshelf. Thanks Dar for pointing me to this challenge!

The challenge has got 3 flavors -
**Choose Your Level
1. Classics Snack - Read FOUR classics
2. Classics Entree - Read FIVE classics
3. Classics Feast - Read SIX classics

For more info and rules and guidelines you can go here. The challenge runs between April 1 - October 31, 2009. The books must be completed after April 1st to qualify.

My list for the challenge is
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
3. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4. The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings - J R Tolkein

Review: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

This is a book that should be picked up to purely appreciate narration. The way Rushdie has strung the words together to what wikipedia defines as magical realism is fascinating. I'd rate the book 5 starts just for the language and narration. I enjoyed the surreal narration thoroughly. Even when some of it went way over my head (have to admit!) The imagination of the author is fantastic!

This book is an autobiography of Saleem Sinai who by being born at the stroke of midnight of Aug 15 1947 when India gained independence, has a tie with all the children who were born within seconds of midnight. The story begins with his grandfather's journey from Kashmir, his fascinating story of falling in love with a woman who he has seen only in parts only to realize it is not the same when put together as a package! The characterization of every single person in the book is very unique. The grandmother becomes Reverend Mother who rules her house with a iron fist and expands just as his grandfather shrinks, his aunt Alia who remains a spinster because the man who courted her marries her sister and later weaves all her bitterness into the clothes she makes for her sister's kids etc..

The book is divided into one, two and three. one and two are the sections of Saleem Sinai's childhood and his ties with bombay. Book three is where I got a little lost with his journey into the Pakistani army, loses memory and becomes a Bhudda? Throughout the book there are plenty of references to political events - Rushdie has definitely done his homework before even picking up his pen - woven through the story line. Any event in Saleem's life is underlined with a political event. The later stages of the book targets Mrs Indira Ghandi - the Widow. Although Rushdie does not paint her in a very flattering way, I fail to see what the controversy is all about. It definitely does not warrant a request from the ex-prime minister to retract the lines written.

I am glad I picked up this book finally, and even though it took me a really long time to finish, I plan to pick up more of Rushdie's work in future.