6. Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

Culture Series is a Science Fiction series written by Iain M. Banks, famed author of The Wasp Factory, which he wrote under the name Iain Banks (less the initial of his middle name "M", which he adopts only while writing Science Fiction). Consider Phlebas, the first book of the Culture Series, however became my unlikely first encounter with Banks, now that I am reading it for the year long Culture read on LibraryThing. Among other things peculiar about this book, to which I shall return shortly, I would never have guessed, even after reading the book, the significance of the seeming random title of the book, until I actually googled for it!

In a typical first book of a 10 book series, one would expect a lot of world building, introduction to few of the key characters, and a few skirmishes. Not so in Consider Phlebas. This one is being like thrown into the deep end of a pool to figure out All of the Above, while gasping for breath. There is a protagonist, Horza, a changer, a humanoid species, about which not much is known, other than bits and pieces here and there over the course of the book. Then there are the two warring factions about whose idealogical differences we are equally clueless about, other than some vague philosophising by the protagonist when he tries to explain why he chose one side over the other. I, for one, randomly chose the side of the protagonist for most part of the book and kind of switched sides near the end. It is only while reading the epilogue that things become somewhat more clear. 

Surprisingly, for a book concerned with a super-war between two super-species, we meet not more than 3 characters each from each of those two factions, the rest of the cast being or should have been miscellaneous characters. Then there is a whole lot of action, not all pleasant, not all palatable. There are also passages where the book becomes an absolute drag, readers would be able to identify "the eaters" being one such passage. Also, there is a whole lot of idiocy and stupidity among characters, (mostly on "the planet") which can sometimes be very grating on the nerves.

For all that (and not all the characteristics in the above paragraphs are negatives, they are mostly peculiar), the book is very fast paced, reads like a standalone book, and I am not sure if this book will have any connection to the rest of the series, time will tell. I will continue with the series.

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5. Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik

Mahabharata is an epic, the longest one in the world. It forms the most important part of Indian mythology and is a cornerstone of Hindu religion. Many of its sub-sects, like the Ramayana (an abbreviated version) and Bhagwada Gita, are quite famous in their own right.

Jaya is an ambitious effort by the author in illustrating and interpreting many of the events of Mahabharata, in which he traces the ancestry and origins of the Kauravas and Pandavas, relating stories about their ancestors, illustrating how every event is the result of Karma, even if it is not immediately apparent, and that such Karma is not necessarily restricted to that birth and could be carried forward from a previous birth, or inherited (for better or worse, generally worse) from an ancestor. Funny story about Karma, not all apparent good deeds carried out with the best of intentions are necessarily good and not all apparent bad deeds carried out with the worst of intentions are necessarily bad.

While I was generally aware of many of the main stories of Mahabharata, and some side stories, a lot many more were new to me, neither had I always thought about the interpretation of those stories in such terms. I was pleasantly surprised with the illustrations and interpretations, in which the author doesn't try to moralise or create interpretations to be different or for the shock value.

Among other things, the book lists down the names of all the 100 Kauravas, the origin of patriarchy in India, the breaking of rules in the battle of Kurukshetra (Pandavas, are surprisingly the culprit of most of such breaks in Rules of War; the justification being that Kauravas, in the events leading to the war have followed Matsya Nyaya (equivalent to Law of the Jungle) and hence can no longer deserve a fair battle) and the eight ways in which a man and woman can come together. I have noted for my personal reference all the above and some more of such very interesting tit-bits, which makes this book quite a pleasure to read.
I don't know if and when will I ever be able to read the complete Mahabharata, for now, I can only hope.

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