The Third Twin

The Third Twin - Ken Follett

    This was the first Ken Follet book I read. Until I read this one, I hadn’t given much thought to Ken Follett ‘cos I wasn’t much into espionage thrillers, the kind I’ve heard this guy usually writes. The reason I picked up this book was

1. It’s a bio-tech thriller - I’ve always fancied books of this genre (since when, I don’t remember!)

2. The story’s lead role is named Steve - I’ve always had a liking for this name and I seem to fall in love with every book/movie character having this name. Before you start wondering, no, I don’t know any real person named Steve personally :)

    Anyways, getting back on subject, before starting to read, I wasn’t expecting much from the book, considering it was from an author about whom not many people talked about. Neither was the storyline anything too different from the Robin Cook books I’ve read. But as I read on, I realized there was something captivating about Ken Follett’s writing. I was hooked on to the book right from page one till the very last.

    The book is based on ‘cloning’, the popular subject for fiction these days. The story actually revolves around the female character, Jeannie, but for obvious reasons I’ll concentrate on Steve here ;) Steve comes to know that he has an identical twin, who is a murderer. He later figures out that both of them are not really biological twins but clones (I wonder how I would feel if someone told me I was a clone…hmm). Steve is disturbed about the fact that he has genes identical to that of a murderer and starts to wonder if that makes him a murderer too, by instinct. The story concludes with the implication that it is not our genes that determine what we are but our actions, upbringing and environment. Though it has a philosophical touch to it, the book is pure fiction and an absolute thriller.

    No matter what sort of books you read, if you have a thing for suspense, you got to read this book. The Third Twin and Whiteout are the only two Ken Follett books that do not fall in the espionage category.

    I heard ‘The Third Twin’ and a few other Ken Follett books have been made into movies. If that’s true, someone please be generous and get me the CDs/DVDs of those (I promise I’ll remember to say thanks!)

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Chicken Soup for the Soul

    If someone asks me what’s the best gift I’ve ever received, I’d probably say it’s the book “Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul”, which my friend gave me during college. When I got the book, I literally groaned inside ‘cos I’m normally averse to non-fiction of any kind. Little had I realised then, what difference this book was going to make in my life, in terms of giving me hope and a better perspective on the world as a whole. Ok, may be, am exaggerating a bit here but trust me, it’s a damn good book!

    When u look at it, the book is just a bunch of simple (really simple) stories written by people stumbling through life’s ups and downs, just like you and me. No thrillers, no enthralling plots, no fascinating romances…just little snippets of people’s lives that I could relate a lot to my own. Some of those stories made me smile, some moved me to tears, while some made me realise am not alone in this strange world; all put together, the book was one heck of an inspiration to me!

    When you’re feeling really down, wouldn’t it make you feel better to just know that someone, somewhere has been through the the same kind of pain you’re going through…and survived it?

    The book is full of lessons and many of those lessons, I’m glad I got to learn from someone else’s experience before life could teach me the same in the hard way.

    The Chicken Soup series comes in different flavours targeted at different groups of people, e.g., Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, Chicken Soup for Pet Lover’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Lazy Soul (is there one? I hope so!). If you haven’t had someone gift you atleast one of these books, I suggest you buy your own copy and start reading. You’ll certainly be doing yourself a big favor.

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Most Boring Book

    And the award for the most boring book goes to…

    Well, there are quite a few books I can nominate here but “Sons of Fortune” by Jeffery Archer wins the award hands down. Before you Archer fans start protesting, let me remind you, it’s my opinion and this is my space!

    If you are the kind of person who can sit through a plot that unravels real real slow, I bet you’d be a fan of Jeffery Archer. I do like a few books of his, ‘The False Impression’, ‘The Eleventh Commandment’ (No, I did NOT like ‘Not a Penny More Not a Penny Less’ for some strange reason). However, I prefer fast moving books and hence this guy has never made it to my list of favorite authors.

    Coming to “Sons of Fortune”, duped by the story outline, I picked the book up from a lending library. Determined to make the best of the book (I paid for it, after all), I sat down to read it, only to realise with just a few pages, that this was going to be the typical be-patient one. I had to drag myself from my bed to a chair to keep myself from falling asleep. I managed to read some 200 pages, hoping anytime there would be a twist that would make me sit up straight. There was none whatsoever!

    The storyline goes like this: two brothers, separated at birth, grow up not knowing each other and living entirely different lives (tamil movie buffs, getting a sense of déjà vu here?). One becomes a war hero and the other, an ambitious politician (a hero in his own way). Their paths do cross at times and each time they meet, I sit up straight hoping things will start getting interesting. But no, nothing happens. Their lives go on smoothly and then, their lives still go on smoothly and it goes on and on smoothly…trust me, until the point I gave up on the book, their lives were going on smoothly. If you ask me what happened to the story after that, I don’t know…I never got to finish the book! Come on, there has to be something in the book to keep me going right? apart from lives going on smoothly?

    If there’s anyone out there who’s read the book, managed to finish it and survived it, please come on stage to hand over the award to Jeffery Archer. You deserve it for your patience!

    There’s one thing I’ve realized now, never to trust those story outlines at the back-cover of books. They could disappoint you big time!

    P.S This is my first post to this section and I’ve already started off on a negative note…well, that’s me! :)

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My World of Books

Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.

~Groucho Marx

    Ok, that was on a lighter note but seriously, I love reading. Isn’t it true that books are the only pass-time that you don’t need to depend on anything or anyone else for? Whoever said ‘a book is man’s best friend’ definitely wasn’t kidding.

    As much as I enjoy reading, I don’t read every book or magazine I set my eyes on. I’m very author specific and very book-type specific, meaning, I read only fiction and avoid non-fiction at all costs. I generally like thrillers, esp medical thrillers (yes, robin cook is my favorite author) though I don’t mind any novel as long as it has an interesting storyline and an easy to follow writing style. Oh yeah, I stay clear of self help books! The only self help book that I ever bought was “The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking” that still adorns my bookshelf, untouched. By the way, if you’ve got a nice romantic novel to share, please keep it with yourself…I don’t read that kind either! ditto for science fiction!

    The ‘Books’ catagory would probably be the only one that might get updated in this blog cos that was what I created the blog for. Here you’ll find my thoughts about the books I’ve read recently, the books I’ve read ages back, the books that have touched me (not many have, in the sentimental way), the books I like, the books I regret having spent money on…anything about books, for that matter.

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