Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner & Quincy Troupe

After having seen the movie, I was keen on reading the novel. As it turned out, the novel is very different compared to the movie. The movie could be just 30% of the novel. The story of what Chris Gardner’s mother has gone through is mind-blowing. The story of his life alone is stunning. Sometimes it seems he screwed up big time and hence he struggled so much to get to where he is. Other times, it seems like this is more of a pursuit of money and wealth, starting from the very first scene in which he wants the Ferrari badly. Either way, it is a riveting biography. A very good read.

The Prince and Betty by P G Wodehouse

A very different Wodehouse novel. It seemed more like a Hardy Boys book since there were many scenes of adventure and literal street fighting and gun-wielding gangs. And then there were typical Wodehousian romance scenes and wonderful English speaking characters. And the story is long and winding and complicated – across Europe and US. Just goes to show how skilled Wodehouse was – he could write any action story, any sports story (there are scenes of boxing rounds intricately explained), any romance story and any comic story. Worth a read, for the sake of uniqueness in Wodehouse spectrum.