The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz

An unbelievable story of men who escaped Communist Russian prison camp in SIberia and walked over 4000 miles across the Gobi desert and Himalayas to reach British India. Circa 1939-1942, the story itself has enough power and drive to keep it moving without any literary assistance needed as such, and yet it is a very clean and easy narrative. These are the kind of stories that I used to read as Alistair MacLean's fictional novels - and here I am reading equally nail-biting true-stories! 

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Circa 1841. A grim and poignant narrative of the author on how he got kidnapped, suffered as a slave for 12 years, faced all the inhumanities as a slave and thankfully escaped the clutches of fiefdom. It is heartening to read about all the whip-lashes, the hard-labor and other sad things that black folks had to undergo at that time of the century.

The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson

Got this novel by chance when office was being relocated from one location to other. And it turned out to be a good book which created a story out of history. Circa 1890s when Chicago hosted The World's Fair. What went behind the scenes is excellently researched and put forth by the author in the most professional way possible, and added the story of psychopathic Mr Holmes' deeds as well. Its a fascinating read, especially to know how the Fair changed America and even the world, in a way, considering how Ferris Wheel got its birth in the Fair and that a Disney worked in the Fair, thus giving way to Mr Walt Disney opening up Disney amusement parks across the world. Also liked what Holmes had to say about his ability which went something on the lines of "I cannot stop myself from killing people just as how a poet cannot control himself from writing poems." And, this narrative starts from the moment of Titanic sinking. So, for me who had just completed A Night to Remember, this seemed a logical continuation!

Philomena by Martin Sixsmith

A beautiful book, written in pure and simple English language. Although named after the mother who lost her child, this book is all about the child. It covers pretty much his entire life from birth to death. It is unbelievable investigative work done by Martin and beautifully brought into life in the 400 odd pages as a page-turning novel, full with conversations, confessions and tragedy. Such a sad state of affairs. One wonders how folks who were supposedly so close to God themselves became villains and performed acts so inhuman and ungodly back in those days. 

A Night To Remember by Walter Lord

A very short 170-odd page non-fiction true-story novel about the sinking of RMS Titanic. It starts right when the ship hits the ice-berg and takes the reader through the next 10 harrowing hours that follow. At the end, it gives more facts about the ship in it's entirety and the many 'If-only...'s that could have saved the 1500+ lives. A very, simple write-up yet very thorough in it's research and observations. 

Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally

As mentioned in The Pianist, the facts depicted in the novel itself is as powerful as it can get and the literature need not be really looked into. However, the book could have been written much more fluidly. At times, it gets hard to read through quickly. But, for the author's sake, one cannot imagine how else it can be written when so many folks' tales need to be intertwined at the same point in time. Excellently crafted, putting all true events together. Maybe it is the facts itself are so hard to digest that it makes reading difficult - with so many strange sounding cities, places, names, etc. Definitely, worth a read.

Catching the Wolf of Wall Street

Not as good as the prequel but has as many good stories and written just as well as it's sibling. This novel though quite fills in all the gaps of the first one (like how was Stratton Oakmont started, how Jordan got into Wall Street, etc.). The movie has taken inputs from both of these books to fully depict the story of Jordan. Still, a page-turner no doubt!

The Wolf of Wall Street

Wow! What a book! Unbelievable true stories of Jordan Belfort. I remember reading so many novels in a James Bond style which made sense in just as a fictitious manner but never in true-life style and yet, Jordan lived that life style. His humorous wit, and the way he explains everything with a beautiful narration makes the book a compulsive page-turner. Absolutely loved it! I am now reading the sequel Catching the Wolf of Wall Street without a day's gap! This reminded me of how I saw the movies The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy (which I saw one after the other immediately).

No Easy Day

An autobiography by a SEAL. But more than that, this book gives first-hand account of Operation Neptune Spear which killed Osama Bin Laden. Most of the book gives details on the author's journey on SEAL (and related) deployments. How training occurs, how adventurous deployments are, how lucky and unlucky folks some folks are during deployments, how much gear they carry, etc. The write-up is not all that great but the story itself is catchy. However, it gets gripping when the tale of the Operation Neptune Spear starts. Complete with 3D pics and minute by minute account of what each team did on that night in Abbottabad, the book culminates with exactly what it started off with: the essence and necessity of training and experience of all the combat assaults. It is a great service to the public that one of the team members in the Operation decided to write this story (however difficult it might have been to keep it as secretive as possible) otherwise the details would never have been known.

The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman

Another holocaust novel. Well, the events logged itself is as powerful as any story can be. So, one need not bother about how the story is written as long as the bare facts are represented. It is a pure miracle how the author has depicted how he survived the debacle of an entire city (Warsaw) within 5 years. He seemed to have escaped death in every way possible. At times, it goes to such an extent that the read becomes monotonous - the very fact of a person escaping death! However, the movie seemed better.

Rain by Somerset Maugham

A collection of short stories. True to Somerset's style, each story is a great write-up and builds up lot of steam, but in each instance the ending kind of fizzes out. Nevertheless, very entertaining.

Bringing Down The House

Had seen the movie 21 long time ago. But got this idea that the book might give more understanding on how to beat Blackjack. It certainly did. But it also showed the ugly side of Vegas. The book in fact showed more of Vegas than about Blackjack, but then that is what the guys from MIT experienced which was what depicted in the book. All in all, a fantastic thriller and much more fascinating because it all really happened!!

The Motorcycle Diaries

A memoir by Ernesto Guevara about his motorcycle ride across Latin America with his friend. Did not really like this novel due to many reasons. Although it is a true story, it was difficult to comprehend there were so many helping hands allowing them to freely stay over for the night, give them food, even money. Secondly, the writing didn't seem very catchy either. There was this one line where he mentions 'I miss Alberto Granado' but there is no mention of what really happened to Alberto. Till the previous para, Alberto was right there! Also, they travel so many cities, and without a proper map in the book, it is difficult to imagine where in Latin America they really were....

Night by Elie Wiesel

Well, The Holocaust itself is a very powerful theme. So any writing on this theme is touching. Elie gives a personal account of the disaster that he endured at Nazi concentration camps, along with his father. There is not much to be said about the writing style or the narration of the book. But the story has enough wheels to keep it constantly moving and making the readers want more.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

A biography on Chris McCandless. A very poignant and moving story of a young man who lived the 'free' life to the fullest for two years, experienced and enjoyed ultimate freedom until the freedom itself trapped him to his own unfortunate demise. 

A lot of people were 'for' Chris and a lot were 'against' after the story got published, but it is hard - after knowing so much about this boy - to be 'against'. Chris clearly had the earmarks of becoming a great man in his lifetime in whatever he chose to do, even if he had lived for decades. Instead his 'natural' life just spanned for 2 decades and even with such short span of time, he touched so many lives - those whom he met during his hiking and those who just read about him like me.

The novel itself I felt could have been written in a better sequence. Jon has a unique style of writing which I am not very fond of - although I must admit that it is a style of its own. Since his profession is one that of a reporter, he tends to write about the last scene first and then veers the story to how it all unfolded - much like many of the articles that we see in newspapers. I saw the similar style even in Into Thin Air. I would have rather preferred if the novel had started where the story started and ended where the story ended. But the story itself has so much depth in it, that it is a definite must-read in whatever style it is written.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

A chilling recollection of Mt Everest expedition that went horribly wrong in May 1996. Explicitly detailed, honestly poignant and almost makes every reader, even the non-climbers, as if they are climbing the Everest. A definite must-read.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

A very poignant novel about a student and a professor, and an unofficial last thesis about Life. A very simple, nice and short read, filled with many aphorisms. A true story of 14 Tuesdays in 1995.

The Small Bachelor by P G Wodehouse

A corker of a novel. Apparently a novel that even the author is fond of too, mainly because of the way he finished most of the novel in one sitting. Wodehouse has it all in this intricate plot - a necklace, a thief, a cop, a commanding man, a few petites, a commanding woman and the works. It is as good as it ever gets in any good Wodehouse novel. At times, the plot gets so thick that it is difficult to follow what is happening at a given point of time, especially due to so many characters being at so many different places. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Head of Kay's by P G Wodehouse

This novel seems to have been written by Wodehouse very early in his author-hood. There is hardly any humor and in some remote places, there is forced humor which does not give any laughter. It is just a collection of events that occur in the school house. It is more like a diary from a student in one of the British schools. Can easily be avoided.

Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado

When I was searching for true stories, I came across the novel 'Alive' which informed about a flight crash in Andes mountains and how some of them survived the rough ordeal. However this book was not available in the library and instead I found this book 'Miracle in the Andes' written by a survivor Nando Parrado himself. This added more emotion to the novel, coming directly from the "horse's mouth", so to speak. The last time I had read about a plane crash in an extremely cold environment was in Alistair MacLean's Night Without End - about 2 decades ago. But unlike the novel, this was real stuff and it was extremely mind-chilling. Nando's narration is superb and fluid. He easily explains the pre, during and post tales of the crash. His explanation of the cold and the vertical climb of the snow-covered wall-like mountain with bare hands and no protection is awe-inspiring. One wonders 'Is it even possible?' His narration of how close he was to death and how forcefully the huge void of the slope behind him beckoned him to nothingness is beautifully detailed. One can fathom Nando's character just by reading this novel. He has also written pages and pages about each character in the flight. I am surprised how unaware I was of this incident. Apparently this was a sensational news in 1972 when the survivors of the crash were rescued. A definite must-read. However I am not sure now if I have to read Alive now or not, which is apparently more detailed.