Sheldon, Sidney. The other side of me, Warner Books, New York, 2005. Hardcover, pages 363.

Rating: 9/10 

Sometimes, from a distance, we know a person well for many years. We get an opportunity to get closer, learn more and are stunned to know how much we didn’t know about him. The memoir by Sidney Sheldon with an apt name reveals to the readers his incredible life and superhuman achievements. I want you to read this book so much that you should stop at this point and not read anything further in this review. (Warning: spoilers). 

This is a life story that even Sheldon could not have conceived in fiction. The book begins with a 17-year old Sidney attempting suicide. What Sheldon calls an elevator of his life begins its journey. In the beginning few years, it’s mostly down, with Sheldon attempting telemarketing, running a hotel switchboard, checking coats, fabricating car gears, ushering and during the war times flying planes in the army air corps. As we learn later, the ushering job is a godsend, as Sheldon is destined in later years to mix with the stars he watched on the screen in the dark. He first tries to be a songwriter. The Hollywood studio doors are closed for the likes of him. He finally manages to open a door by doing an impossible job of reading a novel of 400 pages and creating a 30 page typed synopsis of it, all within six hours. This episode shows the ambition, intelligence and resourcefulness of this young man. 

What follows is a fairytale, culminating in Sheldon getting an Oscar for the best original screenplay. He is established in Hollywood, directs Cary Grant, dines with Marilyn Monroe, befriends Groucho Marx, marries the lovely Jorja Curtright, a stage and film actress. The escalator is briefly on top before a flop “Dream Wife” makes him unemployed. At one point things become so bad, his maid lends him money. 

When he realizes Hollywood doesn’t want him, he turns over to TV, and his happy days begin once again. He creates The Patty Duke show and I dream of Jeannie, two top American TV shows, and writes a record number of episodes consecutively only because “he didn’t know that it couldn’t be done.”

Sheldon has passed fifty, achieved several prizes in film and TV industry, has an idea for a novel but drops it because he knew he is incapable of writing a novel! What can be more ironic? The book is full of drama and irony. As a young boy, the doorkeeper of the Columbia studios drives him off, not allowing him to meet anyone. Less than twenty years later, Sheldon is asked to head the Columbia Studios. 

As if being at the top of three careers was not enough for a single human life, Sheldon suffers from bipolar disorder, not widely known in his time, which causes depression when he learns about getting an Oscar and elation when he loses his job. He also has an unpredictable herniated disc. Despite, this 88-year old man sits down to write his memoir to tell us his fascinating life story.  

The memoir ends before he has written a single novel. Sheldon mentions his novels (which sold 300 million copies, he is seventh in the history in the list headed by William Shakespeare) in the afterward. Before reading this book, I knew him only as a novelist, and a young one at that. (He wrote the other side of midnight at 56, hence the confusion about his age).  

The book is full of lovely anecdotes and quotes. A review is not a place to note them all, but I will mention a few anyway.

(1)   Universal studio was noted for its thriftiness. They surprised everyone by hiring one ‘1000 dollars a day’ star for a movie about a masked bandit. The first day, the director shot endless close-ups of the star in various locations, and at the end of the day, they told him he was finished. Then they substituted a minor cheap actor who wore a mask throughout the film. (Page 88)  

(2)  Johnny Carson, on The Tonight Show started making fun of the South American accent of Fernando Lamas, a talented actor. Fernando stopped him. “When someone has an accent, “he informed Carson, “It means he knows one more language than you do.” The studio audience applauded. (pg216)

(3)  Elvis Presley was on drugs, and ruined his voice, and grew fat and unattractive. When he died, a cynic said: ‘good career move.” (pg 238)

(4)  Groucho Marx, close friend of Sheldon went to the doctor.  A beautiful young nurse came up to him and said, “The doctor will see you now. Walk this way.” Groucho looked at her swaying hips and said, “If I could walk that way, I wouldn’t have to see a doctor.”  

(5)  Sammy Cahn, a famous lyricist, was once asked, “Which comes first, the music or the lyrics?” His response was,” Neither. First comes the telephone call.” (pg 312)

Verdict: One of the must-read books. Utterly inspiring, a page turner, a life story of a superman in his own words.

Fowler, Karen Joy. The Jane Austen book club, G.P.Putnam’s sons (Penguin), New York, 2004. Hardcover, 288 pages  

Rating: 7/10 

Karen Joy Fowler’s new book We are all completely beside ourselves is shortlisted for the Booker prize this month. (American authors were eligible for the first time this year). Before buying that book, I decided to test the author by reading one of her previous books my library could lend.

The first eighty pages of the book are an absolute delight to read. The quality then slumps a little, before picking up at the end again.

Three elements pertaining to the book are visible on the book cover itself. (a) Jane Austen (b) Book club and (c) a novel. Let me discuss them one after another.

My expertise of Jane Austen is limited to Pride and Prejudice and Emma which I read in my college days-about thirty years ago. I am not competent to comment on the Austen references or the parallels between this book and Austen’s books.

The book club description and atmosphere is very authentic. I am part of a book club for more than ten years, which makes me competent to review this aspect of the book.

“Besides, men don’t do book clubs,” Bernadette said. “They see reading as a solitary pleasure. When they read at all.” (Page 3)

Very true. The gender ratio in our book club is excessively skewed as well. Before discussing the book we usually discuss everything on earth, we gossip about absent members. We dine together post-discussion. Before the meeting we don’t want to prematurely discuss our views with another member. All this is captured well.

Karen Jay Fowler has some great lines, can’t resist quoting her. The beauty or wit of some of these quotes may be realized only in the flow of reading. 

Bryan went to college and worked summers as a lifeguard at the pool. He looked the way a lifeguard looks. (Page 17)

She had taken yoga for years and could put her feet into some astonishing places. (33)

Sexuality is rarely as simple as it is natural. (52)

If only she would stop speaking French. Or go to France where it would be less noticeable. (58)

Allegra (daughter) gave Sylvia (mother) the look Sylvia had been getting ever since Allegra turned ten. (162)

She hadn’t even tried to pretend this; it pretended itself. (170)

And she was not, had never been, the sort of stupid woman who suddenly liked a man simply because she didn’t like him. (174)

She’d been contemplating a birding expedition to Costa Rica. Pricey, but not if you calculated it bird by bird. (234) 

Other than the clever language, the first eighty pages stunned me by the width and depth of the author’s imagination. Almost every paragraph has new images, new feelings, new emotions, little stories. Those pages cover a wide range of subjects and smoothly and rapidly flow from one subject (or object) to another – an exercise in aesthetics for the writer and the reader.

As to whether this book can be called a novel, I would like to give the author the benefit of the doubt. The book is constructed with precise geometry. Six characters, six meeting, six Jane Austen books. Prima facie, there is no plot or a story with a beginning, middle and end. Flashbacks are common. A confusing omniscient narrator who calls herself “we” keeps appearing intermittently. There is a lengthy readers’ guide at the end of the book with description of each of Austen’s books, opinions on those books by Austen’s relatives and friends, even textbook-fashioned questions for discussion. No doubt the book is postmodern, and not a novel in the classical sense.

The clever language and an extraordinary display of imagination (first eighty pages) compensate for that shortcoming.

Verdict: Definitely a good read for those readers who can enjoy language aesthetics and for those who are part of book clubs. If short of time, read the first half and ignore the rest.

Owen Mark (with Maurer Kevin). No easy day, Dutton (Penguin), New York, 2012. Hardcover, 316 pages

Rating: 4.5/10

Anything connected to 9/11 or the killing of Osama Bin Laden is, in principle, sellable. And here you have one of the only twenty four men privileged to witness Osama’s execution offer a firsthand account of the mission. That alone is the high point of the book, the fact that the author saw Osama die, fired a few shots into Osama’s chest, cleaned his face, shared a flight with Osama’s body from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, this particular episode doesn’t have the wordcount to make it a 300 page book. The author, a former Navy Seal, decided to pad it up and make it into an autobiography. The first half of the book offers Mark Owen’s background. As a child, he wanted to be a Navy Seal, and his focus and determination were rewarded by his becoming part of the famous mission. Mark Owen has changed all names, and omitted many details he considers secret. That makes the first half of the book bland. There is not much there that is not known or can’t be imagined. The book takes a grip once the reader travels with the author to the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It’s possible to relive those forty minutes in which Osama, his son, and three others were killed in a daring operation.

If I were to choose only one book on the subject, I would recommend Mark Bowden’s The Finish: Killing of Osama Bin Laden published in the same year (2012). As a matter of record, Matt Bissonnette, the real name of the Seal, on learning that Mark Bowden was going to publish his book, took a similar sounding pseudonym and managed to push his release earlier than The Finish. This somewhat unethical behavior can be condoned only because the author is an American hero.

Verdict: Read the second half of the book to relive the mission. To get an all-round view, though, read Mark Bowden’s The Finish.

Sharma, Ruchir. Breakout nations – in pursuit of the Next Economic Miracle, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2012. Hardcover, 292 pages

Rating:  8.5/10

It’s a rather curious coincidence I should read in the same week two books published by W.W. Norton & Co., both written by authors with a surname ‘Sharma’. The comparison stops there, Breakout nations by Ruchir Sharma is a wonderful book, well written, giving an overview of the emerging world.

Ruchir Sharma is head of Emerging Market equities and Global Macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. In that capacity, he has travelled a week every month over the past fifteen years to different emerging markets – sometimes shaking hands with Vladimir Putin, sometimes flying in helicopters in Brazil. He travels extensively by road, an essential condition to understand a country better. He has been a writer for as long as he has been an investor – contributing to Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal and the Economic Times. This is an enviable resume, and Ruchir Sharma makes full use of his life in sharing with the readers his understanding and insights of the places he visits.

I began the book by reading chapters on Russia (In Russia, there’s room only at the top), Eastern Europe (The sweet spot of Europe) and India (the great Indian hope trick), having lived in that geography myself. Those chapters convinced me that the author understands those countries well (and by extrapolation understands the other emerging countries as well). The book covers China, Turkey, South Korea, the fourth world (frontier markets) among others.

Though it may sound like compilation of country surveys, the book is an interesting read. Ruchir Sharma offers rules such as: Rulers who have outlived their usefulness (such as Putin) are dangerous since they are looking less to prove themselves and more to protect their position. (Mexico) If a country generates disproportionate number of billionaires then something is wrong. (Russia) Population of second city must be at least one third of the first city; otherwise it indicates an unbalanced economic growth. (Indonesia). Data is presented often, but it flows with the text without obstructing.

The book makes one understand the process of global investing, and how a small shareholder investing in a mutual fund may contribute to the process of international monetary flows. Ruchir Sharma’s country-by-country study which presumably is the basis of his company’s investment decisions, made me feel more optimistic about stock markets working as a tool for global development.

Verdict: An essential book to improve understanding of the emerging and frontier nations.

Sharma, Akhil. Family life, W.W.Norton & Co.New York,2014. Hardcover, 224 pages 

Rating:  -2/10

If I were to prepare a list of my “bottom ten books ever” this book will figure in it. It’s the first book in this column of reviews with a negative rating. I could have been charitable and given it a zero, but the last sentence of the book took it into the negative zone. It showed that the author is confused, doesn’t know how to finish the book, or worse- like certain ultra-abstract painters- is out to fool those who praise whatever they don’t understand. Certainly, there is an element of dishonesty right at the start. The blurb mentions Indian emergency, a historic period of two years for any Indian born before the sixties. However, the book contains nothing connected to emergency. Reminded me of Netherland by Joseph O’Neill that begins with a murder. But till the end of the novel, the murder is neither explained nor resolved. For such dishonesty, writers should be taken to criminal courts, or if that’s not possible ostracized by the readers.

Family life is one long depressing story with the author talking about his brother meeting with an accident in a swimming pool, entering a permanent coma, and the life of his family as a result of that tragedy. Any good story or a novel, like stock markets, should have ups and downs – conflicts, resolution of conflicts, new conflicts. This book is absolutely flat – down, down, down. The language is pedestrian. Setting is essentially the USA, but we hardly feel we are in that country. The book could have been written by someone who has never been to the USA. Apparently, the book is autobiographical. If true, it would have been better as an autobiography or a memoir, showing more passion and sincerity. Reportedly, the author took 13 years to write this book. It’s an incredible feat to spend thirteen years to write such trash.

There are books that are well written, and books that are well marketed. This book belongs to the second category. The cover is well designed. Font and spacing will allow forty-year olds to run through the book without reading glasses. The reviews in the British and American newspapers would make you think this is a modern classic. The author or the publisher or both have managed to post innumerable readers’ reviews with high ratings on Amazon. (The reviews are better written than the book itself).

Some paintings in the world are sold for millions. Nobody except the buyers or reviewers understands why. More than the book itself, it is depressing that a book like family life gets published, receives rave reviews, and was recommended for my book club.

Verdict: Don’t.  

A Short History of Financial Euphoria by John Kenneth Galbraith

Galbraith, John. A short history of financial euphoria, Whittle books (Viking), Viking Penguin, New York, 1993. Hardcover, 113 pages.

Rating: 7/10

Following a series of extraordinarily bad fiction books, it was a delight to turn to Galbraith, whom I had not read since my college days. A short history of financial euphoria can be read in two hours, it offers amusement as well as utility.

All of us regularly come across people who believe in earning 20-100% on stock markets, who genuinely believe the markets can go up for ever, glued to the business TV channels they are convinced of their financial wizardry, they have discovered singular mechanisms to outwit the market and make money. Galbraith in one sentence describes those people: “Financial genius is before the fall.”

This book presents, in a story form, the “bubble” episodes of the past three hundred years, starting with Tulipomania, an irrational craze in Western Europe to invest in Tulip bulbs. This is followed by Britain’s South Sea bubble, and the 18^th century obsession with joint stock companies (which continues till today). The meaning of leverage can be truly understood on reading this book.

Financial memory is short and doesn’t last for more than twenty years. Greed is an overpowering emotion as compared to caution. Galbraith’s book warns us with historical evidence that the bubbles, the pyramid schemes and the scheming crooks on one hand and the gullible financial wizards have existed for more than three centuries. Euphoria is inevitably followed by bust, disgrace, even exile or suicide.

Verdict: If you believe you can make huge money in markets, you must read this book to temper your optimism.