SPECTACULAR BOOKS

Mr. Jose Manimala,
PALA, INDIA. July 1, 2006

1.Strangers – Dean Koonts: When I was immersed in Strangers on Nov.6 & 7, 1990, it gave me surround feeling. That is, the events of novel seemed to happening around me in the real time. 2.California Gold – John Jakes (Once, a young boy asked me “why don’t you read 25-page books to try world record; 27,500 books?” Though 1508-page Texas-James Michener & 1370-page Noble House-James Clavell are splendid, this 910-page Jewel has the edge.): Poor Mack Chance, 15, won big in California. His face-off with corrupt officials and landowners. Library; poor man’s university. 3. Heaven-VC Andrews: Elder daughter’s futile attempt to regain her siblings. Extreme hardships and poverty in America. So beautiful and touching. 4. Journeyer- Gary Jennings: Hind, Cathay, Persia, Arabia. Young Marko Polo see danger in beauty. Maiden, Sun Clock, marvels. 5.Oru Deshathinte Katha- S.K. Pottekadu: Colourful, vital saga cover entire spectrum of British Raj, Golden Ilanjippoyil, Arabia, Malaya. Nostalgic tinge enliven us Ganapathi Iyer, Madhavan, class toughs, Usthadh Vasu, Sreedharan’s mentor and nightmare. 6. Alessandro-Vincent Filippazzo- Vibrant, bravo tragically fizzle out in brutal Saudi coast. Italian boy made big it in America.7. The Inscrutable Americans-Anuragh Mathur: American college. Just landed conservative, rural Hindu boy, Gopal, stun campus Casanova Randy on Linda Lovelace.
FANTASTIC WORKS éééé
1.Sundarikale Vida þ Though this is far better than Khushwant Singh’s The Company of Women poor Kasimadom Unny never get deserved acclaim. 2. Total Control –David Baldcci: FBI agent and a young widow fight omnipotent villains. Stupendous technological feats, terrifying stakes. 3. Crusades (NF)-Harold Lamb. 4. Honey In the horn-Harold L Davis: Colorful love story won Pulitzer. Wonderful narration 5. The Magic of Believing (NF)-Claude M Bristol: All-time classic. Mind over matter. 6. The Second Sex (NF)- Simone de Beauvoir: Women’s plight. So cruel, it will haunt even the most powerful brains. 7. Dark Rivers of the Heart-Dean Koontz; Big Brother takes care of you. A couple fights back. 8. Kolymsky Heights-Lionel Davidson: American agent in ultra-secret Russian research station. 9.Death Current- Jacy Jr.: Malayali challenge to western thrillers. 10. Mortal Fear-Greg IIIes: Evil medical genius and his Indian wife, Kali, knock off women from an Internet sex site. Two computer wizards, FBI and police hunt them. Killers still come. 11. Executive Action-Richard Doyle: US President must oust a crazy impostor from White House and regain his wife. 12. Solstice- David Hewson: CIA hunt doomsday computer cult through artificial weather phenomena. 13. Storming Intrepid-Payne Harrison: KGB hijack US space shuttle. Space plane, spies, ironical end. 14. At All Costs-John Gilstrap: Framed up couple and son flee unstoppable bad guys. Fortunately, powerful uncle intervenes. 15. Bantam’s Soviet Union 1991 (NF): Vast wonderland’s natural, cultural, intellectual richness. Witty, inspiring. 16. Fourth
Procedure-Stanely Pottinger: Pro-Choice feminists’ bizarre revenge on males. Science runs amok. 17. 2010: Odyssey Two-Arthur C Clarke:Mystery beyond wildest dreams. 18. The Vulture Fund-Stephen Frey: Vice President fight corrupt CIA Director. Billion-dollar war. 19. Footfall-Niven & Pournell: America and Russia fight superior aliens. 20. The Avatar-Poul Anderson: Quest for Masters of Universe. 21.Rathnamala - Malayalam translation of wonderful Soviet fairy tales. Printed in Moscow! 22. Firestarter-Stephen King: 8-years old girl fight sinister agency. (When I narrated this story, my two young cousins laughed their heads off!)
23. Zero Coupon-Paul Erdman: Financial wizard outwits government. 24. Ignition-Anderson & Beason: Sophisticated thieves capture US space center. Disabled Commander must beat them. 25. Complete Guide to Video (NF)-Martin Clifford. 26. Computers Today (NF) –Donald Sanders. 27. The Proteus Vector-Michael Clark: Terrible biological revenge. 28. May Day-Demille & Block: Taut aerospace thriller. Cover-up, lies, bravery. 29. Mount Dragon-Lincoln Preston: Young researcher and girl friend unveils sinister bio-lab. 30. Tin Tin: Destination Moon. 31. The Fourteenth Summer-Gary Paulsen: Teenage adventure. Sheep, bear & wolves. 32. The Amphibious Man-Alexander Belyaev Live underwater! 33. Enemies-Richard Harris: Covert Soviet invasion of America. A surprise gift! 34.Nilavilurayunna Chorathullikal - Ramachandran: Kerala’s answer to Dracula. 35. Third Wave (NF)-Alvin Toffler. 36. Deep Time (NF)-David Darling. 37. Hot Zone (NF)-Richard Prestin: Watch Out, African virus in America. 38. The Hawkeland Cache-Eugene FitzMaurice: Jesuits, Americans, Chinese and the British outwit each other world power. 39. By Stealth-Colin Forbes: Invisible Chinese invasion of the West. 40. Devil’s Alternative – Frederick Forsyth: Global showdown. Anyway, people will die. 41. The want Makers (NF)-Eric Clark: Advertising world. 42. Ablaze (NF) –Piers Paul Read: Chernobyl tragedy. Heroism. 43. Freedom At Midnight (NF)-Lappier & Collins: India, you are free. 44. The Fifth Horseman-Do: Good by, New York. Nuclear black mail. 45. Oregon Trail (NF)-Francis Parkmen: Wonderful travelog. 46. Angels (NF)-Billy Graham. 47. The Omen-David Seltzer: Child devil. 48. English Episode-Charles Paulson: Priests, laborers, revolt. Beautiful. 49. Thousand Nights and One Night: Arabian dreamlands. 50. Sahara (After Marathon reading, my friend finished it by five morning!)-Clive Cussler: Two daredevil pals save the world. 51. Prizes (My young cousin Deepa, praised it.)-Erich Segal: Geniuses race to Nobel Prize. Father adores brilliant daughter and rejects ordinary son. Ironical twist. 52. 1984-George Orwell: Most quoted book after Bible? 53. Labyrinth – John Land: An amateur, CIA and the KGB fight an enemy 1000 times powerful. Plots, counter plots.
SPELLBINDERS
1. The Day Before Midnight-Stephen Hunter: Disgruntled general and his commandos capture American missile base. Unless an odd group have their way, world is only hours away from blowing up. Pendulum swings both ways. Last page sentence, regular guys, brought the fifth star. 2. Jeremiah-Michael Smith: He liberates America from Mammon & crime by murder! 3. Takeover-Forrest Evers: Caution, greedy US CEOs! Ends in greatest irony! 4. Try This One For Size-James Hadely Chase: Twists, double cross. (In 1989, Chase taught me English!) 5. Women On Top (NF)-Nancy Friday: Female sexual Contd..
fantasies. Critical facts and insights. 6. Watchers-Dean Koontz: Experiments escape from defense lab for inevitable showdown. 7. Memories of Another day-Harold Robbins: Classic by any standard. (Unavailability of Harold Robbins translation and his fame among Malayali colleges sent me to English. Later, I realize, he is only the first stop.) 8. BloodLine-Sidney Sheldon: Troubled inheritance. Who’s the killer? 9. Hollywood Wives-Jackie Collins: Deadly female trap! 10. Prime Time-Joan Collins: Glamour, money, sex. 11.30 Seconds-Sam & Bettina Giancana: Compare to CIA, Mafia is choirboys! 12. Shadows-John Saul: Child prodigies, beware of special schools. 13. Catacombs-John Farris: Superpower duel in Africa for ancient secret. 14. The Red Fox-Anthony Hyde: Search in US, Canada and USSR. 15. Dubai-Robin Moore: Harsh Dubai of yore. Hero loses everything except his honor. (From childhood, my late grandfather Joseph Manimala encouraged my pursuits.)
16. Genesis-WA Harbinson: Unstoppable plan to subvert humanity. 17. The Second Lady-Irving Wallace: Soviet sex against US President! 18. Submarine U-137-Edward Topol: Siniater Soviet weapon. Funny, disturbing. 19. Siberian Light-Robin White: Russian Mayor must save his teenage daughter from her American mentors. 20. Veritas-William Lashner: A poor lawyer’s chase for high money. A cursed family, a cult, Mafia and evil genius. 21. The Enemy-Desmond Bagley: Early computer thriller. 22. The Nude Wore Black-Ted Mark: Funniest sex thriller. 23. Powerplay-Penny Jordan: Rape Victim strikes back. 24. Whisper in His Ear (NF)-Liane Gardner: How-to-exploit-men-guide for women! 25. The Power-James Mills: Two Soviet women equal 5 billion people? 26. The Nun Runners (NF)-Sonia Dougal: Pala, my city appears. Holy thieves! 27. The Sisters-Robert Littell: Complex KGB, CIA collusion. 28. Lust Market (NF)-Harold Cross: Global sex industry. 29. The Steal (NF): Brian Freemantle: Piracy, deadly effective weapon. 30. The Truth Machine-James L halperin: A vision of future to AD 2050.