Stewie! Male, 29, Single. Mumbai, India

Well it was yet another Landmark Sale and trust me the sale was not half as good as the Strand Sale. There I had to say it and now I feel a lot better. So P and I decided to meet there at 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday, ruining our sleep over a crappy sale and thinking that it would be fantastic! Naivety still runs deep somewhere. However, somewhere while browsing through the silly old sale books and then moving my focus to the Literary Fiction Section, P happened to enlighten me about this particular book titled, "Waiter Rant". "Hey Vic", she said, "Have you read this one called Waiter Rant?" and I go all sheepish and say, "No!" I mean when someone asks me about a book, I need to know it. Period. Thats my rule. No slack cut to me. And then I picked up this marvellous piece of work. I started reading it the same day and finished it today - i.e. the 8th of September 2008 and I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am that the book had to end. Thank god his blog is still up and running! Oh yes it is one of those blogs-that-caught-the-attention and now-it-is-a-book deal and now-it-is-a-book that you are reading.

The Waiter is just that - a waiter. He is anonymous and he is going to take you for a helluva ride. So you better buckle up! Kitchen Confidential was mean and rude food guide, Waiter's Rant is about waiting on tables. Serving customers. Rules about tipping. The simple joys of life one gets to see at a restaurant. The disappointment in knowing that may be you will only wait on tables forever while life passes you by. My favourite chapters in the book were, "The Box of Chocolate Saints", "Heaven and Hell" and "If it can go wrong, it will". The beauty lies in the simplicity of the writing and the fact that it is real. I am not a fan of non-ficiton. I find it boring. I loved Waiter's Rant. I wish I could go to New York someday and enter a cafe where the waiter works. I need to speak with him. To know the person.

This is a brilliant piece of work. A must-read!!

It had been a while since I read a nice Poirot. So when 1st came along, I knew that I had to go to the nearest book store and pick one up. And i could not get my hands off it. Ms Christie wrote with a penchant - a penchant for crime. One can almost smell the blood on the carpet in a country house in England while reading any of her works. My most favourite Agatha Christie has to be, "Ten Little Niggers" (Later changed to "And Then There Were None" for obvious reasons). Well back to "Mrs McGinty's Dead". This one's premise is simple: A Murder. The usual suspect. A judgement and enters the Belgian Detective who sees the finer details. Who knows that something is not what it appears to be. And he will save the one who is accused.

Poirot by far has been my most cherished detective. I don't know why but I cannot stand Mrs Marple or the insipid couple - Tommy and Tuppence. Poirot is Poirot.

Mrs McGinty's Dead is just another mystery novel and we all tend to think that we would guess the murderer and yet the end takes us by surprise. The only time I have ruined a mystery for myself has been while reading "The Phantom of the Opera" and for friends who have ruined the ending for me sure have gotten more than pepper in their drinks.

Read this one for sure. For the pace. For the sheer writing of Agatha. Read it for the little belgian man called Poirot.