Mundane Musings

We are well into 2019 I know, but if I gave this post a miss, I wouldn't feel like 2018 was dusted and left behind. I have been distinctly absent from writing about books in this blog. The absence is not because of not reading books, but happily because of the opposite. I have been reading voraciously the past year. So much so that I was forced to change my Goodreads Book Challenge number from 24 to 27 books. I have been reading so much that I want to slow down and re-read some books. In the heady rush to complete the book in hand and start on the second one, my habit of re-reading favourites is slowly fading. But some of the books that I have listed here have been relished and read with great fervor. This year I laid my hands on an eclectic variety of books. Some of the stand outs have been written under the following headings: Unique and Memorable A Musicophile's Delight Heartwarming Comics Unique and Memorable Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders  -  Thi...

R. D. Burman: The Man, The Music by Anirudha Bhattacharjee My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is almost a labour of love on the evergreen musician R D Burman. This is a music lover's must-have, a R D Burman fan's must-possess, a Hindi movie buff's must-read book. Though it has a lack luster title for a book about a man whose music has been relevant till date, it makes up for it in the well-written and researched content. The book is divided into 3 parts and it charts his musical journey from when he assisted his father (the great S D Burman) to his meteoric rise in the late 70s and then his subsequent fall in the late 80s and early 90s. I love reading books about our Bollywood actors and musicians from early days as there is so little known about the times they lived in and the magic they created. This book shares so many of those trivia and tidbits through interviews with people who worked with RD and whom he came in contact with while composing music. I especially love...