The Lincoln Lawyer …

Hello.

Most of you may have already read some of Michael Connelly's work, he is quite famous. But I have to admit that, even though I have heard about him before, I have never read any of his books previously. Not one.

The Lincoln Lawyer is a legal action thriller. The story's protagonist is Michael "Mickey" Haller, a Los Angeles Defense Attorney who works out of the back seat of a Lincoln car. He is quite well known in his circle, mostly because of his list of unusual clients, ranging from motorcycle gangs to drug addicts. It is implied that he will defend anyone if he gets paid right. Most of his clients claim they're not guilty, but Haller is never sure he has ever seen a client who is truly innocent.

While working on a few other cases, Haller gets called on by a rich real estate family to defend Louis Ross Roulet, who has been arrested for badly beating up a girl he met in a bar. Haller gladly takes the big-money case, knowing fully well that a rich client can be a difficult client. To make it worse, Roulet's mother and her lawyer keeps a close eye on Haller.

Haller soon realizes that Roulet's case is not only risky but dangerous as well, and Haller soon finds himself in a deadly game that he doesn not want to play.

The story is gripping, fast and well paced. Also, you learn a bit about the law and a lot about how prosecutors and defense attorneys work the law. It is almost educational.

If you like Grisham's work, you will love Michael Connelly, and this is supposed to be one of his best books. I used to be fan on Grisham, that is before I got tired of style and stories. Connelly offers a refreshing change.

When I started the listening to the audiobook of The Lincoln Lawyer, I did not know that this was the first of a series. Caught a lucky break there. Now, I can continue with the other books in the series easily. I have grown to like Haller as a character I can relate to.

This book proved so good, that they are making a movie based on the book. You can see the movie trailer here on youtube.

Soon, I'll find the time and listen to the rest of Haller series.

Laterx.

Keerithi Rasoolaage Siyarath ...

Hello.

Here, I present the recitation of written work "Keerithi Rasoolaage Siyarath" for download in mp3 format. The 29 audio tracks represent the complete work, read by Late Mr. Mohamed Thaufeeg of H. Haajaraage.

You can download the 29 tracks separately on MediaFire for free, it does not require an account.  I have also made it available on Google Drive  (Zip file, 895MB) for easy download.

The source files I got were 1.65GB and in 128kbps mp3 format. I re-encoded the files to 64kbps mp3s using iTunes. In my opinion 64kbps is decent enough for spoken-words and I managed to bring down the filesize to almost half. Few suggested that I use a more efficient codec for spoken words, like AAC, but I finally decided to use mp3, for it is the most ubiquitous audio format around. I did not want to letdown those with finicky portable players.

This is by no means a clean or professional recording. There are some hisses and blips interspersed among the tracks. Passable for works decades old.

I grew up listening to this every year in the month of Ramadan. I remember when we were young, neighborhood kids would meet up after noon prayer, decide on who's place to go to listen to Siyarath. We would fight for the best seats in the living room and few would end up on the linoleum floor near the TV rack. The huge Hi-Fi system (with too many lights, switches and knobs) would be available to us for the hour. I still remember the peeling "PMPO 4500" sticker on those huge double-deck cassette players. Fond memories they are.

Have a good listen. May be you can bookmark this page for Ramadan next year.

Laterx.

Update: 14/09/2011
I have also made the Zip File available on Minus for people who may like to download the Zipped Archive, but don't have a HotFile account. Hope this will make it easier for you. Enjoy!

The world according to Clarkson ...

Hello.

The World According to Clarkson is a collection of articles written by Jeremy Clarkson for the Sunday Times, spanning 2001 to 2003.

I just finished listening to the AudioBook. I liked most of his aggressively opinionated but erudite observations. He comes out as seasoned traveler, and discusses topics ranging from restaurant food, environmental protection, urban development, the European Union, and political diplomacy among other everyday topics.

It is about the life in the 21st century. Clarkson certainly does not take himself too seriously and his writing is fairly light. He takes a cynical approach and often goes off on a tangent with an entertaining style. I could personally relate to most of the topics he covered. It was hilarious.

I especially like when he points out the pompous, the ridiculous, the absurd and the downright idiotic ideas of Governments and Unions. Occasionally, he does talk about eccentric, the clever and the sheer brilliance of institutions. You will laugh.

Clarkson does not hide the fact he is not too keen about Mr. Tony Blair or his policies and keeps referring to him as His Tony-ness. Weird.

The book is read by Jeremy Clarkson himself and his accent was a bit too British for my liking. I have nothing against Britons, but I got the feeling that it takes a bit more effort to talk with a British accent. They talk slow. Maybe I felt that way because Hollywood and American TV has made American accent a bit more universal.

Anyway, it was a good listen.

Laterx.