Galahad's Blandings

Finally, a Blandings castle novel which I loved just as much as my favorite Jeeves and Wooster novel. Till I read Galahad at Blandings, I had thought of Blandings as Wodehouse's secondary creation - quality comedy lacking the genius of usual Jeeves novels. But Galahad changed all that - Lord Emsworth is as absent minded and pig-minded as usual, Lady Hermione as bossy as other wodehouse aunts, but Galahad exceeds all expectations.

Galahad at Blandings has a very subtle rigor to it - a literary rigor which keeps the plot tightly in line, making none of the twists and turns distracting. The positive character of Galahad gives an extra pace to the novel - something that was missing in Blandings minus Galahad, like Leave it to Psmith. If you read between the lines, you will notice a subtle balance of characters - Wodehouse plots the story in a way where no character is used too much. Well, packed with the usual supply of lovers, tangles, pigs, menaces and of course, lots of love, this ranks right at the top of Wodehouse novels.

Overlook Press page for the book
Amazon Link

India After Gandhi

Well, Ramachandra Guha's India After Gandhi is not a literary masterpiece - nor does it talk about our culture. So what is a work on political history doing in this blog? To point out exactly that - lack of focus on things other than turmoils in post-independent India. The book discusses the struggles of India at great lengths, but does not seem to be interested in its triumphs just as much. Also, the book does not provide even a cursory look at the cultural changes in modern India.

The book is very readable, and does not get boring even for such a huge work - it is nearly 1000 pages long.