Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

A relationship diver kinda book. felt draggin sometimes, but stopped reading then. Picked it up again, and felt awashed with the energy involved in describing the actions and characters and what they are feeling throughout, for a timeline thats quite small for a novel of this kind.

A good read, a wee-bit depressing, and a worthy story.

Thanks to my friends - Sowmithra, Malvika, Ananth for picking this book for my birthday.

To feel alive

An evolving and ever-modifiable list I decided to put together before I say "Sayonara world!".

1. Skydiving

2. Watch a Broadway musical

3. Drive across America

4. Drive across India

5. Charge up in a heavy metal rock concert (preferably Metallica, Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath)

6. Run a world-renowned marathon

7. Climb one of the top peaks of the world (gotta decide which one)

8. Go whitewater rafting (gotta learn swimming first, but that's not worthy of a bucket list)

9. Learn French, Spanish, Arabic (no, Hindi is not part of the list)

10.

More to come...

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Another book which was taken for the purpose of killing time, yet resulted in a refreshing analysis of how people are shaped, rather how the destiny of people are shaped.
So much for "You make your destiny", though he doesnt rubbish that totally. Instead he develops a theory that is interesting, yet failed to get me hooked completely.
His story telling mode really pulls you into the book, and the different situations are linked together and edited well.
A thorough read for anyone interested in knowing more about people and how success was shaped in their lives.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis

Brilliant written book on the subprime crisis which hit the US economy and brought it to its knees. But instead of writing about the crisis, he has focussed on the few sideliners that knew about it before and bet against it, and won big time.
Written it in a way which would make any Hollywood scriptwriter proud.
But since its a complex subject on the stock market et al, normal readers might find it difficult to grasp the intensity & enormity of the situations being described in the book.