Indian Readers discussion
READING PROGRESS 2016
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dely's books in 2016
Mod
Syl. A.k.a Topo di biblioteca wrote: "Oh. Havent read much Russian other than a couple of Tolstys."It's a pity. You should try something one day.
Mod
Brothers Karamazov
- in my list. Perhaps this year itself.
Syl. A.k.a Topo di biblioteca wrote: "Crime and Punishment Brothers Karamazov
- in my list. Perhaps this year itself."
I hope you will like them.
22)
La bellezza delle cose fragili 3/5English edition: Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
The English title is misleading, it isn't a story about the exodus of Ghanaians from Nigeria. It's the story of a Ghanaian family (two parents and four children) living in the States and the story is told through the memories of the characters.
My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Syl. A.k.a Topo di biblioteca wrote: "Never ever read a book on Ghana"This isn't about Ghana seen that the family lives in the States. There are perhaps only one or two hints to Nigerian and Ghanaian history or culture.
Mod
dely, your son is reaching tomorrow, no? safe journey to him :)
Syl. A.k.a Topo di biblioteca wrote: "oh.. kay.dely, your son is reaching tomorrow, no? safe journey to him :)"
Yes! I'm so anxious. His amma has sent me a lot of photos from the airport. I was so moved seeing him hugging his amma and his brothers. Then amma and I chatted a bit on whatsapp. It won't be easy for my son, he will miss a lot his family.
23)
Metà di un sole giallo 4,5/5English edition: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A really good and enthralling book about the civil war in Nigeria, from 1967 to 1970, when the new state of Biafra was born but didn't last long.
We read about it through the eyes of the main characters: Odenigbo and his fiancé Olanna, her twin sister Kainene and her fiancé Richard, but also Ugwu, the 13 years old servant of Odenigbo.
It was a moving story, I could feel with the characters and there isn't only the story about the war and how it started and ended, but also friendship, life in that time and place, the relationship problems...there's a lot.
Mod
Metà di un sole giallo 4,5/5English edition: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A really..."
Great. May be one book that we both end up loving. :D
Syl. A.k.a Topo di biblioteca wrote: "Great. May be one book that we both end up loving. :D"Yes, I was thinking the same! It's because of this I recommended it to you.
24)
Città aperta 4/5English edition: Open City by Teju Cole
Really liked it!
My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Syl. A.k.a Topo di biblioteca wrote: "Seems interesting. I added it."I don't know if you will like it :D
I think this is one of those books that I like and you don't like.
25)
Vicino al cuore selvaggio 1/5English edition: Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
Stream of consciousness is not for me.
My very short review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
26)
Tornare a casa 2/5There isn't an English edition, but it's a collection of six short non-fictional stories by Javier Cercas, a Spanish writer.
The various topics could be interesting (going back to his native town in Spain, the border between Messico and the US, his opinions about being an emerging writer, etc) but the stories were too short to envolve the reader.
27)
Il conte di Montecristo 3/5English edition: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Smitha wrote: "I read this as a child (perhaps 11 or 12). It was an unabridged Malayalam translation, and I was mesmerized. Recently tried to revisit Monte Cristo via English, but I wasn't that enthralled. Didn;t..."You are right, better not spoil a good reading experience with a reread.
28)
L'animale d'allevamento by Kenzaburō Ōe 3/5No English edition.
It's an interesting short story.
My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
29)
Garibaldi fu ferito - E noi? by Paolo Nori 1/5No English edition.
For me it was a useless short book with an unbearable writing style. It has two speeches by the author: one about the Italian unification, above all about Ciro Menotti: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciro_Me...
and the other speech talks about Tolstoj, Dostoyevsky, ridiculousness and goodness.
I also didn't like how he dealt with these two topics. The author wanted to be funny, but he got only on my nerves.
30)
La saga di Gösta Berling 2/5English edition: Gösta Berling's Saga by Selma Lagerlöf
Didn't like it very much. It was disjointed, it wasn't a flowing story but every chapter could be a short story. Also the characters were not believable, they weren't well depicted and also their behavior was not believable.
My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
31)
I primi sette anni e altri racconti by Bernard Malamud 4/5There isn't an English edition but my edition had the following short stories:
The First Seven Years
The Girl of my Dreams
Angel Levine
The Magic Barrel
I really liked the writing style of this author. It's the first time I read something by him but I will surely read more because he isn't only able to write, but the four stories dealt with interesting topics, above all loneliness of people.
Mod
Em wrote: "I had only vaguely heard his name. The stories seem interesting."I had never heard about him and I found this short book (less than 100 pages) as a second hand book. I will surely read more by him, surely a longer fiction. His writing style and the language he uses are wonderful. The stories are a bit sad as if there is no way out, but they aren't too depressing.
32)
Morte al Chiabrera by Fiorenza Giorgi 2/5There isn't an English translation but the title would be "Death at the Chiabrera" (it's the name of a theater in the city where I live).
It was an ok read for me. I don't like a lot thrillers and this one had also a slow pace. It wasn't a typical thrilling thriller where the reader wants to find out the murder. It was pretty slow and there were also descriptions of the city or of events that were not necessary to the plot. I bought it only because I found it at a charity stand and because it's set in the city where I live; also the author is from here.
I wrote only an Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
33)
Lettera al padre 4,5/5English edition: Letter to His Father by Franz Kafka
It was wonderful! Finally I also could understand better his novels. I think this is one of those authors about which we have to know his life in order to understand or appreciate more his books.
It's a letter he wrote to his father but he never gave him this letter, it also was never published while he was alive. It talks about their relationship and about how Kafka lived submitted to his father. I really could feel with Kafka and for him. I fully understood how he had to feel. Living a whole life full of guilt, though he wasn't guilty of anything, must have been very difficult. Despite everything he exculpated his father surely because he felt guilty also for considering his father the ruin of his life. Kafka was so able to look into himself and to psychoanalyse himself. I wanted to rate it with 5* but at the end I decided to give it 4* because I wanted more; I would have liked if he had written more about his relationship with his father.
Mod
I feel the thriller is to my liking, and I may have not liked Kafka's letters much .. as I run shy of relationship books.
Em wrote: "Nice reviews.I feel the thriller is to my liking, and I may have not liked Kafka's letters much .. as I run shy of relationship books."
I think you are used to better thrillers, this was pretty boring.
34)
Mi innamoravo di tutto: Storia di un dissidente by Stefano Zorba 3,5/5There is no English edition. The title could be "I felt in love with everything: Story of a dissident".
It's not easy to talk about this book if we don't know what's going on or what happened in Italy in these last years. Also the title of the book, is the title of a music album of a very famous Italian singer; also the nickname of the main character is the name of a song of the same singer-songwriter.
So, a very short synopsis: a dissident is caught by intelligence agents and while he is tortured, he thinks about his life: why he started to fight against injustices, his ideals till the day he is caught. It's not a spy thriller, but the book talks that in front of injustices we can't hide and do as if nothing happened; that it's important to know how things really are, to don't trust news because they tell us only what they want.
It's a book by an emerging writer that gave me a free copy for an honest review. It was good and I liked it.
My (only) Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
35)
Lo straniero 3/5English edition The Stranger by Albert Camus
The plot is easy: Meursault seems a normal and common person except that he doesn't care about anything. His mother dies: it doesn't matter; he kills a man because it's too hot and he's tired but it doesn't matter; he is sentenced to death, it doesn't matter, everyone dies sooner or later.
I liked it though I can't enter in the main character's head. I understood his musings about life, but I don't agree with him, I can't believe that there could be a person like him that doesn't care about anything. I also think that sometimes Camus was too cryptic or too fast to explain his points of view about life and death.
36)
Friars and Filipinos: An Abridged Translation of Dr. Jose Rizal's Tagalog Novel, Noli Me Tangere 2/5The book talks about the colonization of the Philippines by the Spaniards and how life was in those centuries. Above all it talks about how everything was under the control and rule of Catholic religious orders. The original work is perhaps the most important book for the Philippines, but sadly I downloaded an abridged edition. Meh.
My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Lo straniero 3/5English edition The Stranger by Albert Camus
The plot is easy: Meursault seems a normal and com..."
Didn't like it. I think I have given it 2 stars.
Em wrote: "Didn't like it. I think I have given it 2 stars."For my tastes it was too short. You know I like to read such books, so I wanted more depth and insight.
37)
Non hai mai capito niente by Marco Freccero 3,5/5No English edition.
This is a collection of short stories by an emerging Italian author that has sent me a free copy for an honest review.
The stories deal with problems like losing a job, family problems, loneliness... The stories feel real and the characters seem very common people that we could meet during everyday life.
It was good, I liked these stories though they don't have a real end and usually this is something I can't stand. Though the stories deal with sad situations, at the end of it I wasn't sad or upset; on the contrary, I felt calm and relaxed. Maybe because there is a positive feeling, that we shall never stop dreaming and that if there is a problem, we have to face it instead of despairing.
My only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
38)
Pelle di leopardo by Tiziano Terzani 3/5There isn't an English edition because this Italian edition has two books. One is Giai Phong! The Fall And Liberation Of Saigon and the other is a diary that the author held while he was in Vietnam from 1972-1973.
In this book he makes a very detailed analysis of the weeks/months before the liberation of Vietnam, and then he talks about what happened in three months after the fall of Saigon. It's very interesting but I rated it with 3 stars because I had several problems to remember all the Vietnamese names, not only of the people, but also of the towns and street names. As said, it's a very detailed book! As always with the books by Terzani, there are of course also his thoughts and his interesting and thought provoking opinions.
39)
L'arte di collezionare mosche 4/5English edition: The Fly Trap by Fredrik Sjöberg
This book doesn't talk only about flies and how to catch them (and also the parts that talk about flies are easy to understand also for readers who aren't entomologists).
The author talks about his life and his passion for hoverflies, but these topics are only to start talking about Swedish entomologists, scientists, but also authors and explorers. These people aren't famous, at least outside Sweden or for people who aren't into entomology, so I was even more glad to read about them. He talks above all about his idol, the entomologist René Malaise and his trips to Kamchatka and Burma. But he gives also hints to August Strindberg or Ester Blenda Nordström. Sjöberg talks also about art and literature. Of course all the hints to it are related to hoverflies or entomologists.
The book is very flowing, funny and the author uses a lot of irony. I've learned a lot about hoverflies and also about Swedish scientists, and the book is also full of interesting reflections about life, human beings and their limits, the importance of slowness, and much more.
I really recommend it!
Here my (only) Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Em wrote: "dely, seems.my kind of book. Am adding it to my TBR, in the hopes that some day I. will read it. :)"It will get lost in your to-read pile :D
Yes, I think you may like it.
Mod
My pile is only 1800 strong. ^.^
40)
Cardiologia by Marco Freccero 4/5Sorry, no English edition.
A few days ago I've read the first book (Non hai mai capito niente) of this trilogy by the same author. I received also this one, the second book, for free in exchange of an honest review.
I liked also these stories and they deal again with common people who have to deal with problems like losing their job or having a child with health issues. Like in the first book of the trilogy, these people don't give up, they fight and try to go on as good as they can. The difference with the first book is that in these stories these people are bound by love, a strong and unselfish love; love for a husband or wife, for their children or parents, but also for colleagues or siblings. Sadly there isn't an English edition.
My only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've talked through messages with the author and he doesn't live far away from here (to tell the truth he lives in the town next to mine, then minutes with the car!) so we decided to meet in a couple of weeks to chat about books, reading and writing.
Mod
Em wrote: "Great thing , dely. Do let us know how the meeting went. :)"Will do!
41)
La danza di Śiva 3/5English edition: The Dance of Siva: Essays on Indian Art and Culture by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
All in all it is an interesting book but I already knew many things because I've read about them in other books and also in a more flowing and easier language. The author also uses a too difficult language. It was really a hard read. The essays are short and full of informations so I had the impression that there was too much in a few pages, and not explained in a deep way. By sure, if someone doesn't already know Hindu mythology or terminology, he/she could have some problems to fully understand. There are chapters about Indian art: dance, theater, music, paintings, sculptures. But there are also chapters about the economical progress of India; a comparison between Western and Indian women; about varna dharma; a chapter where the author compares Nietzsche's Übermensch with a jivanmukta, etc. All the essays have been written by the author during the first years of the 20th century so they are also pretty "old" and I know that the condition of women changed both in the West and in the East. Of course there are interesting informations, but I had really a hard time reading this book.
42)
La sposa bambina 2/5English edition: The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan
Didn't like it though the topic could have been interesting (three generations of a Brahmanic family and their customs and traditions). It was so boring, I wasn't involved with the story and I couldn't feel for any of the characters.
My only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
43)
San Michele Arcangelo. Patrono della Chiesa universale by Marcello StanzioneThere isn't an English edition of this book, but it's a book that talks about the Archangel Saint Michael. I didn't rate it because it wasn't what I was looking for.
My only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
44)
Winston, un gatto in missione segreta by Frauke Scheunemann 3/5There isn't an English edition of this book. I've read it for my cat challenge knowing that it's more a story for children, but I however enjoyed it.
It talks about the friendship between a girl and a cat. Because of an "accident" (a lightning) the girl's souls enters the cat's body and viceversa. They understand each other so they can communicate. Seen that the girl's mother was in troubles, they decide to become secret agents to help her.
The main topics of this book are friendship, but also honesty, prejudices and about how to take challenges. It's a lovely story for children also because it can teach them right values.
My only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
45)
La follia del mondo by Marco Freccero 4,5/5There isn't an English edition of this book. It's a collection of short stories and the third book of a trilogy. I received also this one for free in exchange of an honest review. I have to say that I like the short stories by this author. He isn't only able to write, he is also able to look into people.
I've written only an Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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English edition: The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov
I rated it so low because it was too confusing and to really appreciate this book, it should be read in the original language. Also, the reader should know pretty well Ucrainian history and historical characters of the time the story was set (from December 1918 to February 1919). My edition hadn't a helpful introduction and I had to look a lot of times on the internet for informations. This and also too many notes interrupted always my reading. Perhaps I have chosen a not very good translation. Surely Bulgakov wanted to put the reader in the same confused mood of the people of those months and in this he surely suceeds because it is really very confusing. It's difficult to understand or follow what is happening but this because it was chaotic also for the people in that time.
For now I have written only a review in Italian: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...