A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

The first time I saw this book was in 2013 or 14 at Barnes and Noble in Chicago. What attracted me to it was its cover page. I found it very artistic and thought this gotta be a comic book. But somehow I moved on and didn't get to this book, albeit audio version from a local library until now. Set in New Orleans this fictional work by John Toole is a perfect work that won Pulitzer price and rightly so. The protagonist Ignatius J. Reilly a strange character with a very narrow and well-defined but grandly flawed world view struggles to make sense of this world and its workings by pure analysis and writing and often imposing his will on the people he meets all while deftly justifying his doings. In short, he is a lazy bum who just doesn't want to work and lives in his fantasy world. Amazing book that won his author a posthumously Pulitzer prize. 

The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Doubleday Publishing for offering me this book at no cost for my unbiased opinion and review. 

This is a story, a biography of one of the iconic buildings in Hollywood, Chateau Marmont. Conceived in 1920-30s by a visionary Fred Horowitz as an apartment complex that morphed into a hotel for  under auspices of it's early owners and eventually a status symbol among celebrities from various fields of arts, movies, musicians, singers, etc. Known for it's strict code for secrecy and turning a blind eye about the behavior and "naughtiness" of celebrities, the Chateau was seen as a rite of passage for anyone making it into Hollywood. Big wigs and who's who of Hollywood have at one time or another lived at Chateau either while filming their movie, producing their movie, while carrying on an affair with someone and lastly but not least while going through divorce, etc. Ever associated with Sunset Stripe but physically located slightly away, hidden from the main strip it attracted many visitors who were looking for time away form media, papparazzi to carry on their shenanigans. 

The book is a wonderful read and offers glimpse the lives of some of it's celebrated residents be it John Belushi (who died at the hotel) to Lindsay Lohan who racked up a huge bill and was ultimately kicked out. 

Overall, a good book by Shawn Levy, easy read, interesting and well written.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

After hitting slump with non-fictional book I decided to check this book out and I was not disappointed at all. As the book's titles says it is about a story of the protagonist whose adventure starts when he decided to run away from his nursing home and embarks on a long journey during which he meets interesting people and friends all while accruing accomplices to join his heist. As it turns out Mr. Karlsson the main character has lead a very interesting life meeting big named under strange circumstances. All in all this is a light and comic read and is sure to make you laugh and sometimes ponder.