Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen

I took a lot of time to read this. Blame it on my hectic life or the old style of English. But I thought it was total worth of my time.

In short, this is the story of five sisters, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia Bennet. The narrartive is from Elizabeth's view point. Mrs. Bennet, the girl's mother, is on the lookout for rich husbands for her daughters and the girls are looking for love. So much interest has been generated in the Bennet household when a rich young gentleman, Mr Bingley comes to stay in the neighborhood. And with him, there is his friend, Mr. Darcy. Shortly, a guest arrives at Bennet house; cousin Collins, who is also looking for a wife. There is the military regimen also, which has charming officers like Mr. Wickham. So are the Bennet girls going to find love? Can Jane win Bingley's heart in spite of her inferior connections ? Is Lizzy going to find her man even if her pride is hurt by a certain Mr. Darcy ?

I found out from wiki that Jane Austen titled the novel as "First Impressions" initially, which was rather apt considering the characters of the main protagonists, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. The characterization done is very much robust. All the characters, let it be the annoying Mrs Bennet, or the arrogant Lady de Borough or the silly and selfish Lydia, all the characters stick to the identity given to them. The novel also has a tint of humour almost throughout the storyline.

A must read for sure, 4.25 out of 5.

Deception Point by Dan Brown

Now I have read all the published work of Dan Brown. And he did not disappoint me in this also.

The story revolves around literally in "high places", starting from White House then moving to NASA space station in Artic and finally coming back to white house. Intelligence agent Rachel Sexton, also the daughter of Presidential candidate who is expected to throw the present president out of the white house, is suddenly summoned by the President of United States himself. Within a short time she finds herself in the NASA space station. Her mission? To verify and endorse the latest NASA finding! And this might mean a lot to NASA, The President and many others. All is going well until suddenly Rachel senses something wrong. She and others start digging for the truth and it is not so long before they see danger. Their lives are in danger! Now it is time to struggle for their lives as well as for the truth....

I have been a fan of Dan Brown and his writing skills and this book convinced me into continuing to be so. Dan Brown always manage to reveal the unlikeliest person to be the real villain, but in this one I managed to guess him long before the revealation. May be I read so much by him! But still I remain loyal to him.

A true mystery thriller. 4 out of 5.

2009 : A retrospection

No of books read : 17 (not bad! but can't I do better?)

Non fiction : 1 (Oops!!)

Author I read most : Agatha Christie(That was expected)

Biggest Letdowns:

Biggest Surprises:

 

Favourite of 2009:

Wish list for 2010: 

Shantaram

The man who knew infinity.

Secrets and Lies.

Alchemist.

.........and many more.