Recently read books

Recently finished reading:

1. False Impression - Jeffrey Archer's new novel did not impress me. It can easily be classified as the worst JA I have ever read. JA should write as JA does. Trying to copy Dan Brown's story does not work. JA neither remains JA nor becomes DB. And therein lies the rub - he is the latest Trishanku on the block!
2. The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri's second novel is impressive. Strong insights into human psychology make her simple narrative captivating. The struggle of Gogol to come to terms with his strange name, his lineage as an ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) and the ways these two dilemmas are essentially the same are well-written and well-woven. A must read!
3. Artemis Fowl - A simple fiction for young adults, it was impressive for its ability to vividly describe the imaginary world of fairies (a misnomer for magical people) and how their problems are the same as ours!
4. The Talkative Man - Had missed reading this simple novella by RK Narayan and made up for it recently. Very simple, in his characteristic narrative style. Interesting for its plot of a philanderer on the prowl in small-town India. Very small novel (as the author himself confesses; "Only 116 pages") and left me with a sense of having eaten an incomplete meal!
5. Nirmala - Premchand's saga of a young-girl-marries-much-older-man never fails to move me, inspite of repeat readings! Wow!
6. Currently reading Freakonomics for the second time, and trying to read up Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (Unabridged). The first is easy enough and the second is difficult enough to consider abandoing!