The Broker- John Grisham

Joel Beckman, a powerful financial broker jailed for six years who tried to sell a secret surveillance system to Pentagon, gets a sudden pardon unexpectedly. A top plan of CIA, the parting president, Morgan withdraws all charges against Beckman and hides the news from media. Half doubtfully and half cheerfully, Beckman received the offer and agreed to take the chance of freedom. Shipped to Italy, Beckman was forced to live in a fake identity and fake name as Marco. Meanwhile CIA makes plans to unveil the identity of Beckman to China, Saudi and Israel who are in a run after the surveillance system.

Primarily, the secret surveillance system was spotted by 3 young Karachi based Pakistan IT Professionals, after their initial wonder, they developed a software called JAM, to control the system, and they tried to sell JAM to Joel Beckman. Realizing the potential of the stuff, Beckman tried to sell the system to Pentagon and the effort was hijacked by CIA and Beckman was caught with the red hand and they put him in jail.

Living in an Italian town in a fake identity as Marco, Beckman was forced to learn the Italian Language as per the plan of CIA, while learning the language Beckman developed relationship with his female tutor and she helped to flee Beckman with the aid of her husband’s passport.

Reaching back Washington, with the help of his female tutor and son, Neal, Joel Beckman reestablish his firm with his intellectual moves…

The Broker ( 2005) is my first John Grisham novel.

The Music Room- Namita Devidayal

The Vodafone Crossword Popular Book Award-2007 winner Namita Devidayal’s The Music Room is an interesting novel. Written in an intimate tone and mood, the novel tries to portray the relationship of Guru and Shishya in its traditional Indian way.

By her mother’s interest Namita, a ten year old girl went to learn classic musical from Dhondutai, a respected singing teacher from Jaipur Gharana. As the only remaining student of the Alladiya Khan, the founder of the Jaipur Gharana, Dhondutai pass on her great gift to Namita and eventually little Namita turns to be a matured singer and she unearth the treasures of Indian Music with the help of Dhondutai. Travelling through the life of great musicians and their style, Namita understands the greatness Dhondutai, and the sublime spirit of music. More than a novel, The Music Room is an autobiographical account of the author itself.

Death in Holy Orders- P D James

Death in Holy Orders is a masterly exploration which distinguishes P.D. James as a novelist: the sensitive evocation of place, a complex and credible mystery, respect for forensic detail, and the tension of a plot that never flags. The story is set in an Anglican theological college on a desolate stretch of the East Anglian coast. When the body of one of the students is found on the shore, his wealthy father demands that Scotland Yard re-examine the verdict of accidental death. Dalgliesh has visited St Anselm's in his boyhood and, as he is due for a holiday, agrees to pay a visit .As the weekend brings another murder, Dalgliesh soon finds himself embroiled in one of the most horrific and puzzling cases of his career.

P D James is the author of 16 novels. Before her retirement in 1979, she served in the forensics and criminal justice departments of Great Britain’s Home Office, and she has been a magistrate and a governor of the BBC. The recipient of many prizes and honors, she was created Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991. In 2000 she celebrated her eighteenth birthday and published her autobiography, Time to be in Earnest.

Short Cuts- Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver (1938-1988) is one of the most significant voices in Short Story in 20^th century. He is also a poet. Short Cuts contain nine stories and one poem. Drifting between the jobs as hospital porter, a textbook editor, a dictionary sales man, a petrol station attendant and a delivery man, Raymond Carver took writing as a career for living. These vast experiences contributed a lot to his stories.

Short Cuts include some of Carver’s best and most “Carveresque stories.” “Neighbors” describes the kinky behavior of a couple supposedly taking care of an apartment while friends are away. In “So Much Water So Close to Home,” four men discover a murdered woman’s nude body in the river but do not report it until they have finished their three-day fishing trip. “A Small, Good Thing” concerns a boy fatally injured by a hit-and-run driver on the morning of his birthday.

“Lemonade” is a fairly typical Carver poem without rhyme, meter, or poetic rhetoric. It describes a father’s grief over the death of his son and is written in the author’s characteristic low-key, conversational manner, helplessly commiserating while conspicuously shunning the kinds of speculations and epiphanies contained in such elegies as John Milton’s “Lycidas” (1637), Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Adonais” (1821), and Alfred Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” (1850).

Based on this collection Robert Altman has made a beautiful film named as Short Cuts, which acquired a cult status

The Godfather- Mario Puzo

A source book of Italian Mafia and its ruthless family owned illegal businesses; The Godfather traces the family history of Don Corleone, the Godfather and his heirs to the throne. Settled in the conflicting period of 40s and 50s, novel begins with the wedding of Connie Corloene, much pampered daughter of the Don, the wedding turns to be a mega event with the presence of Italian Mafia families, who operates in Newyork. Apart from the olive oil business, Don Corleone runs the Gambling business in Newyork. Enjoying a reputation of the most powerful mafia don of the city, Don Corleone achieved this position with the help of his strong henchmen Clemenza and Tisso and the help of powerful bribed politicians in the city.

With the entrance of Sollozzo to seek Don’s help in narcotic business, gradually the quiet scenes of the underworld life changes into a bloody battle between the five families in the city. Sollozzo shoots Don, and thus begins a mob violence in the circle. Sonny, the first son of the Don, took charge of the office and his unreasonable acts of attacks spread the unrest into the entire mafia system. Mickele the second son of the Don kills his father's enemies, Sollozzo and captain and he flees to Italy. Meanwhile Sonny gets killed and Don Corelone returns to his apartment after a long period of stay in the hospital.

After Sonny's death the Corelone family loses t its powers and the other families captures the power of Corelons. Mickele returns from Italy and restore the powers of Corelones and he becomes terrific after the death of Don, Corelone, the Godfather.

Mario Puzo is an Italian-American Author.This book was adapted into a cinema by Francis Ford Coppola and it won many Oscars and is a nominal film in the history.