Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus #1)

Author – Ian Rankin
Genre – Detective, Crime, Scotland
Source - Kindle
Rating - 3
Read - January 2016

I call myself a regular reader of detective fiction. It's what I read most often. Somehow though, I hadn't yet read Ian Rankin, who is one of the most well-known detective writers of the day and age. 

So yesterday, I was laid low by a bug - and since I had a couple of books of Rankin with me, I finished this, his first with the famous Inspector Rebus.

Great writing. Flawed, doomed characters - the chief protagonist, DS John Rebus, is a bloody brilliant creation. Great scenes. Pretty close to perfect as a starter to a series. 

However, as a detective mystery, standalone, this isn't exactly top-notch. 

Test 1: The mystery could not have been solved by anyone apart from Rebus. 

Test 2: Are there many things that the reader didn't know that were revealed to him/her late in the novel? Yes. 

Test 3: Was it (either) too easy (or) too vague? Yes. The latter. 

But here's the point. This wasn't a successful novel. It wasn't meant to be. It was the first novel in a series, and any reader who reads this book will be intrigued enough to read DS Rebus #2. This is the novel which builds up the character and the setting. 

And that's job well done. 

The Railway Children

Author - E Nesbit

Genre - Children, Classic, Adventure

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 3

Read - May 2015

Definitely good, but suffers from heightened expectations. As a children's classic, the expectation was of being overwhelmed, and I was not.

Y2K (othoba) Sex Krome Aasitechhe

Y2K, অথবা, সেক্স ক্রমে আসিতেছে

Author: Chandril Bhattacharyya
Genre: Drama, Movie Script, Humour, Adult Comedy
Source: eBook
Rating: 3

More iconoclastic than funny, but funny enough. Not quite as funny as Chandril Bhattacharyya (who I sincerely believe is a true Bengali intellectual, and one of the funniest, most creative, most inventive people of modern Bengal) can be.

Death By Meeting

Author - Patrick Lencioni

Genre - Business

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 3 (High-3)

August 2014

Good. Not as good as the previous 'Five Dysfunctions...', and a little tedious at times - but the lessons are accurate and helpful. Was required to write a summary of this for office - am printing it below:

Observations:

1. Some meetings are bad. Why?
a. Some meetings are bad because they lack proper context. They become a mélange of varying types of discussions with a wide-range of importance to the organization (with most being not-very-much).

2. Conflicts are a good thing.
a. This is true for every intelligent, intellectual pursuit. The only way that improvements can be brought about are by challenging the norm, challenging the status quo. Meetings, as in Yip, were bad because executives in the organization, while well-meaning, refused to indulge in healthy debate; thus what suffered was shared perspective, and thereby growth.
b. What to debate about? What should be the topics of conflict? This is probably an issue that the book did not tackle head-first. In my opinion, and I have seen it happen, it is possible for a state of debate-for-debate’s-sake to emerge, which leadership should be wary of. Conflict is welcome, it is GREAT, but is it the right conflict? Is the conflict well-meaning / purposeful? I have once been part of an organization which actively promoted debate (i.e. senior management favoured / promoted people who were seen as the alternative / contrarian voices), but knowing that debate is encouraged but not wanting to go the debate = conflict route, this led to heavy debate about less-important issues, and lip-service debates about the more important issues. A state of hyperactive inertia is still a state of inertia. Probably something that the book could have dealt a little more in depth about.

3. Grab the attention. Early.
a. This, I think, is a great lesson. It is ideal to bring the most important items to the table well and early. That is when the participants are eager, and creative. Also, I think an underlying point Lencioni wanted to make is that there is enough time to retrieve a situation, if the context is set early.

4. There is no one-size-fit-all meeting – and all different type of meetings have their purpose

a. Lencioni suggested the following:

• Daily Check-In: Share daily schedules and activities - don't sit down, keep it administrative, don't cancel even when some can't attend
• Weekly Tactical: Review weekly activities & metrics & resolve tactical obstacles & issues - don't set agenda until after initial reporting, postpone (park) strategic discussions.
•  Monthly Strategic (or Ad Hoc as required): Discuss, analyze, brainstorm, & decide on critical issues affecting LT success - limit to 1-2 topics, prepare & do research ahead of time, engage in constructive conflict.
• Quarterly Off-site Review: Review strategy, industry trends, competitive landscape, key personnel, team development - away from office, focus on work & limit social activities, don't over-plan or overburden the schedule.

b. I do believe there could be more / less as the company requires. There is no one-size fit-all company either. But the point is very well taken. Not all conflicts is the same. Not all requirement is the same. Not all meetings are the same.
c. Some similarities with Scrum methodology of software development could be noticed – however, I am not an expert in Scrum (far from it: I attended a 2-hour introduction to scrum, a couple of years ago). But some ideas are similar, for example- Daily checkpoint; extensive conversation (and conflict, not spelled out in detail) etc.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Author - Neil Gaiman

Genre - Fantasy, Coming-of-age

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 3 (specifically, a weak 3)

May 2014

Hmm, not satisfactory enough. You expect the sun and the moon from Neil Gaiman... I do. I'm a fan. And he does not quite deliver here. 

Philosophy and imagery and lovely passages and Facebook quotes are all well and good, but there just isn't enough meat in the story here. This is one Gaiman book that I will suggest for a non-fan to give a pass. And other fans like me will read it anyway -- so how did you like it?

Inferno

Author : Dan Brown

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Robert Langdon

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 3

March 14

Not bad. Not great. As we call it in India, 'good time-pass'. It was ever such with Dan Brown.

The Monkey's Raincoat

Author - Robert Crais
Genre - Fiction, Thriller,
Source - Audiobook
Rating - 3 (3.5 if possible. Closer to 3 than 4 though)
Jan 2013

Solid Pageturner. The standard hardboiled American Detective Fiction. Hasn't aged well.

The No Asshole Rule

Author - Robert I Sutton PhD
Genre - Business, Strategy

Source - Audiobook
Rating - 4

June 2012

The Drunkard's Walk

Author - Leonard Mlodinow
Genre - Society; Science; Strategy

Source - Audiobook
Rating - 3

Feb 2012