a blog about a lot of things

The Remains of the Day is the third novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and was a winner of the Man Booker Prize. It was the first of Ishiguro’s novels that has no relation to Japan. It is set entirely in England and told from a first person perspective, the narrator being an English butler named Stevens. The book takes us into post-war England where Stevens finds himself in a world that does not seem to need him. The days of large house parties are gone and with it the household full of servants. Even his old employer, Lord Darlington, has died and Stevens now works for an American, who seems to have a completely different idea of the expected decorum of servants. Stevens recounts anecdotes of past times during a trip to see Miss Kenton, a former employee at Darlington hall. These reminisces portray Stevens as cold and single-minded but he sees this lack of emotions as professionalism and correct behavior. The extent to which Stevens takes his obsession with duty...

It doesn't take too much to find contentment. Usually food works. And I have favorites for all the things I like, as does everyone. So, here's a list of everything that's the best (to me) that you can get in a store/restaurant. Coffee: Blue Mountain Coffee Choclate : Belgian, specifically Leonidas or Valrhona Crackers: Carr's Table wafer's Cheese: very variable, but probably fresh Gouda Ice Cream: Gelato from Ciao Cafe, Tobago Pizza: mushrooms and onions, Half&half cafe, Prague

I've had a conversation recently that went something along these lines. It was equally hilarious and annoying. Person: "Where are you from?" Me: "Toronto" Person: "You don't look Canadian. Say 'about'. " (Pronounced as "aboot") Me: "About" Person: "You don't sound Canadian either." Me: "Yeah, well, it isn't always like you see on TV. Plus I grew up in the Caribbean." Person: " Oh, you don't look Caribbean either." Me: "No one looks Caribbean. Mixed up place, the West Indies." Person; " I guess you could be Brazilian. That's close to Caribbean, right?" Me: " Kinda? Not really. I'm of Indian descent." Person: "So why are you in the Caribbean?" Me: " Colonialism. Everyone's everywhere." Person: "You've reached England from the colonies." Me:" I guess that could said."

Book title: The Stranger Book Author: Albert Camus Publication Date:  1942 ISBN: 9782070360024 The term ‘modern classic’ is used far too frequently but The Stranger is a novel for which such a description holds true. It is a major book of twentieth century philosophy and encompasses several schools of thought, most prominently absurdism and existentialism. The book is about a man called Meursault who lives a bland daily existence and seems bored with everything in life. His daily routine is thrown out of order when he commits a senseless murder of an Arab on a beach in Algiers.  The story is told in first person from Meursault’s point of view, with part one leading up to the murder and part two dealing with the aftermath and trial. The book is written in a very distinctive style. One that is not French at all but ironically, for one of the most popular French books of the last century, an American style. Camus writes in the way Hemingway would write....

Book title: The White Tiger Book Author: Aravind Adiga Publication Date: April 22, 2008 ISBN: 1-416-56259-1 The White Tiger is the debut novel of Indian writer Aravind Adiga. It won him the Man Booker prize in 2008. The novel is written as a series of letters to the Chinese premier from the main character of the story, Balram Halwai. Balram’s story is set in modern India, amid the backdrop of globalization, and tells of his climb out of poverty to become a successful entrepreneur. The contrast between the new India, a global economic power, and the life of rural poverty which is reality for the majority of Indians, is a major theme in this book. The book successfully portrays the India of reality and as such encompasses such themes as religious tension, familial loyalty and the difficult of returning to India after living abroad. The story is of a climb out of poverty but it is no conventional rags-to-riches story. This is not the success story for which Ba...

Youth is a short novel, less than 200 pages. Yet the ability to convey in a few sentences what would take other writers paragraphs continues to be evident in J.M. Coetzee’s writing. Youth tells a familiar story for people who live in the Commonwealth and what was even more widespread during the 1950’s and 1960’s when the story is set. It deals with migration and immigration. The narrator dreams of going to London to get away from his home country; when he gets there he will be able to live fully and truly be an artist. The opening portion of the book is set in the University of Cape Town. The Sharpeville massacre, civil unrest and the possibility of a military draft finally give the narrator enough excuses to leave for London. Just like the immigrant tales we are accustomed to, the gap between real London and fantasy London was too large to be bridged. The narrator takes a job as a computer programmer, which is monotonous but still he knows that must strive to...

White teeth White Teeth is a novel that, like London (the city it describes), has very many different aspects and stories to it which make up the whole. The book tells the story of multiple generations of two families, the families of Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and Englishman Archie Jones who met as soldiers during the Second World War. There is more to White Teeth than just a story of family though. It addresses racial issues such as the relevance of race and the idea of identity and being English. The book also touches on the topics of religious fundamentalism and scientific progress; dealing with the eventual clash between them. Immigrant life in London is a familiar topic detailed in such diverse books as Brick Lane by Monica Ali, The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi and Youth by J.M. Coetzee. The general trend in these books has all been their serious portrayal. Smith gives us a humorous take on immigrant life which is a fresh perspective. The first family who fo...

Michael Chabon somehow manages to write a novel which both science fiction and a hardboiled detective story, set in an alternative universe. If that  wasn't  complex enough and a seemingly sure recipe for disaster, somehow it actually turns out to be a good book. The alternative world shows that Sitka, Alaska was created as a refugee haven for the Jews fleeing the Holocaust. It has become a Jewish metropolis populated by the European Jews who were being persecuted in the 1940’s. The story takes place sixty years after the initial land grant, when America is due to reclaim Sitka so, leaving the two million people who inhabit it with an uncertain fate. The rest of the alternative world is not described in detail but a major point is that the state of Israel does not exist, having been destroyed in the Arab-Israeli war. Never for a moment do you question the creation of this world as anything but real, which is a testament to Chabon’s creative and descriptive powers. ...

I had been intending to visit Suriname for several years before I finally managed to go there, ostensibly for my cousin’s wedding, but really I was more excited about finally going to a place I’d been hearing about all of my life from my family. Almost every Trinidadian I know that visited the country has said it reminds them of how Trinidad used to be. I was curious to find out if my impression of the place would be the same. Despite having been hearing about Suriname sporadically for much of my life, only when I was actually on the flight did I realize how little I knew about the place. I knew that Suriname is the smallest country on the South American continent and the only independent Dutch speaking nation in the Western Hemisphere.  With a population of only 600,000; more Surinamese live outside the country than in it. These facts led me to believe that the country would have more of a smaller, even island-like, culture. They are, after all, part of Caricom. My assum...

I like World Cup, quite a lot, and think it's the best of all the tournaments that exist in football and very possibly in all of sport (at least for any tournament focused on one sport since the Olympics is amazing because of the variety). So I'll be trying to figure out how likely each team is to get out of the group stages and how far they'll probably go if they do. All the odds are from  www.bet365.com  which is the site I use most for trend spotting in sport (it's like my sport-Bloomberg). Group E Switzerland - The fact that Fifa rankings have somehow allowed Switzerland to be a seeded team and really that in itself should say how much the Fifa rankings formula needs to be adjusted, though the Elo system is also far from flawless. The Swiss are a team no one would mind facing at all and though strong do not have the intimidation factor of other top (and not top) ranked teams.  They did finish strongly in their group and qualified automatica...

I like World Cup, quite a lot, and think it's the best of all the tournaments that exist in football and very possibly in all of sport (at least for any tournament focused on one sport since the Olympics is amazing because of the variety). So I'll be trying to figure out how likely each team is to get out of the group stages and how far they'll probably go if they do. All the odds are from  www.bet365.com  which is the site I use most for trend spotting in sport (it's like my sport-Bloomberg). Group C Colombia - The injury of Falcao has reduced Colombia from being able to potentially match any team in the world (by outscoring them while conceding a lot of goals probably. The defence isn't the best) to being another team teams would rather avoid but no longer fear. Even though he's expected to go to the World Cup, he's not fully fit and well short of any match experience. Many of Colombia's players are playing in Europe and should have exp...