Booker Hit List - Girish and Vimal (feat Syl and Srividya) Showing 651-700 of 1,017

[Girish, The Good cop]

Lol Em :D if ever there was a PJ! :P
Good to know writing is simple. I need a good transition book to get out of the streak of easy reads.

[Srividya]

Em wrote: "sip it carefully. May burn your tongue....

ROFLOL...advance laughter in a separate no one else considers it funny :P"

Lol!! I don't like hot milk so sipping is only going to be done slowly! :P

[Srividya]

Vimal wrote: "Had a peek at Hot milk.. Prose seems sooper-simple, which suits my reading mood at the moment. Will start on Wed/Thursday."

Sounds like a good balance to the other books that I am reading at present! :)

[Ahtims]

So we are officially starting with Hot Milk
The Blurb is very interesting.. seems my type of book


I have been sleuthing my mother's symptoms for as long as I can remember. If I see myself as an unwilling detective with a desire for justice, is her illness an unsolved crime? If so, who is the villain and who is the victim?

Sofia, a young anthropologist, has spent much of her life trying to solve the mystery of her mother's unexplainable illness. She is frustrated with Rose and her constant complaints, but utterly relieved to be called to abandon her own disappointing fledgling adult life. She and her mother travel to the searing, arid coast of southern Spain to see a famous consultant—their very last chance—in the hope that he might cure her unpredictable limb paralysis.

But Dr. Gomez has strange methods that seem to have little to do with physical medicine, and as the treatment progresses, Sofia's mother's illness becomes increasingly baffling. Sofia's role as detective—tracking her mother's symptoms in an attempt to find the secret motivation for her pain—deepens as she discovers her own desires in this transient desert community.

[Girish, The Good cop]

starterd reading. 10% and liking what I am reading.

[Vimal]

At 10% too.. A silly twist aside, liking it.. When the B ones r easy to read, I'd hardly complain :)

[Srividya]

Will start it tonight if I can get away from Hugo's rich prose! :P

[Girish, The Good cop]

Around 60%. The book has this dreamy surreal feeling which gets weirder. The prose is too deceptively simple but packs quite a punch. Curious how it ends!

[Ahtims]

Am yet to progress beyond line 1. :/

[Ahtims]

At 13% finding it eccentric, nevertheless interesting.
Why do I meet eccentric people only in books?
Am now in the clinic along with Dr. Gomez and Rose.

[Ahtims]

Finished Hot Milk. Was quite.weird , almost amounting to the absurd. But enjoyed reading it. A psychiatrist may be able.to make more out of this complex.story.

[Vimal]

Wow, that's good to know. It started as quite a simple one but seems it gets complex. I'm still at 10%. Had got coiled up in a supernatural thriller by Sujatha. Will resume this today.

[Ahtims]

Sure :)

[Girish, The Good cop]

completed it today. felt like I was reading a narrative of dreams. not sure of if I loved it

[Girish, The Good cop]

I saw Sri too had rated the book all too silently. Vimal - made progress on this one? (weird as it maybe)

[Girish, The Good cop]

Have set aside this book - Harvest by Jim Crace that has super reviews and borders on thriller. Booker nominee too. Anybody in?

[Srividya]

Girish wrote: "I saw Sri too had rated the book all too silently. Vimal - made progress on this one? (weird as it maybe)"

Am still writing my review for it! :P

[Ahtims]

let me check out Harvest.

[Vimal]

Girish wrote: "I saw Sri too had rated the book all too silently. Vimal - made progress on this one? (weird as it maybe)"

Not getting a grip on this yet Girish, it keeps slipping away like a dewy cricket ball. At 30 %. Hoping I'll complete it sometime next week

[Vimal]

Girish wrote: "Have set aside this book - Harvest by Jim Crace that has super reviews and borders on thriller. Booker nominee too. Anybody in?"

Just checked the book size and the first 2 lines of blurb. I'm in.. Probably from Dec 15.

[Ahtims]

Willing to read provided I catch hold of the book.

[Girish, The Good cop]

Dec 15 it is then :)
@vimal : Hot Milk like the name suggests can't be consumed if gone cold :D It's too weird to be a thinking book.
@em: Hardcopy this time round. Hope you get your hands on it
@sri: write off review. 4 stars must mean something :)

[Ahtims]

Got my grabby hands on it.. :P

[Girish, The Good cop]

people.. planning to start Harvest today.. one last Booker to end a good year :)

[Vimal]

Great.. I'm still queued up on checking out Harvest from my library, will start once I have it. Doing the slow grind with hot milk, still at 60%..

[Ahtims]

Where are we discussing The Believers?
At 25%, liking it better than Notes on a Scandal. And Zoe is teaching me many new words... hope my treacherous memory will retain at least a couple!

[Ahtims]

Harvest - yet to read. I will consider it after Believers and Ordinary Grace, which I am BRing with Manju and Aparna.

[Ahtims]

At Part 2 of Believers.. I am totally into it. The characters are more lifelike, though very eccentric, than those of Notes on a scandal.
And good observations -
This one cracks me up -
'In the great Icelandic saga of marriage, minor spousal failings were nothing. Footnotes at most. Married life was like good health: there was no bloody point to it if you could not occasionally abuse it, or take it for granted'

[Girish, The Good cop]

Oh Wow! I think am pausing Harvest to take up Believers.

[Ahtims]

The prologue is a bit boring. But Chapter 1 onward, I was hooked.

[Vimal]

OMG Syl, now I think I should've alerted you about Believers when I'd reached 80% or so in order for me to keep up with you :D

Just into Part 2. Much much more engaging than Notes on a scandal, which in itself was bloody brilliant

[Vimal]

Em wrote: "The prologue is a bit boring. But Chapter 1 onward, I was hooked."

I found the prologue stylish too. Been bookmarking sentences and ideas every other page since page 1 :D

[Vimal]

Girish wrote: "Oh Wow! I think am pausing Harvest to take up Believers."

Yayy!

[Ahtims]

Vimal wrote: "OMG Syl, now I think I should've alerted you about Believers when I'd reached 80% or so in order for me to keep up with you :D

Just into Part 2. Much much more engaging than Notes on a scandal, wh..."

Dont worry. :P
Am a relatively slow reader.. and I am totally engaged with work this weekend, even on Sunday :/

[Ahtims]

Reached the beginning of chapter 7.
The orthodox Judaism portrayed in chapter 6 worried me. The ways orthodox practice of a religion can inconvenience people!

[Girish, The Good cop]

Done 5 chapters. I don't know if one book is enough to identify a style but this book so far seals Zoe's style.

The last time I read a Jewish story written by a Heller it was 5 stars (Good as Gold by Joseph Heller)

[Girish, The Good cop]

@Em Loved the quote more in the context. and I too loved the prologue
@vimal good decision. could be a Kollywood script! :P

[Ahtims]

He he..
Part 3 now. Things getting more Kollywoodish. Nevertheless, enjoying it.

[Vimal]

Haha, true that.. In Chapter 7, and its definitely getting Kollywoodish though that provoked nothing but a minor sigh. I really hope the book doesn't go downhill after such a fabulous start.

[Ahtims]

The beginning was indeed fabulous...but at 60%, I feel it is not keeping up to the initial standards, though still.a much readable tale.

[Ahtims]

At 80% - loving it for the brutal, naked portrayal of slightly eccentric, gray characters .
I like my characters this way - with flaws, ambiguities, eccentricities and improbable lives.
May end up rating it 5, and definitely finding it more interesting than Notes.on a scandal.
Heller is a dauntless woman, adept at describing the not so niceties of biological functions with panache.

[Ahtims]

Finished.. thoroughly loved it
Favorite person - Audrey...
Second favorite - Karla
Liked all.. though least liked would be Joel's young lawyer trainee.. (? David) and perhaps, Mike (Karla's husband) too..

I was immersed in the scathing wit, and the gruesome descriptions.
Heller writes without reins...

And was a surprise to know that orthodox Judaism was this tough to practice!

[Girish, The Good cop]

'writes without reins' - Perfect description!

Still around 48%. Audrey show so far. None of the other characters made much of an impact with me.

[Vimal]

'writes without reins' sums it up pretty well..

At about 60 % and yes - Favorite person - Audrey, Second favorite - Karla. That description of her first lunch on the lawn with the Arab guy was an absolute ripper!

[Ahtims]

Yes, but didnt like the Arab guy much. Perhaps I have prejudices which I am unaware of. :/

[Girish, The Good cop]

Full 5 stars! So much so that when I got back to Harvest, it seemed like 'meh.. move on will you?'. You guys still joining for Harvest right?

Btw I actually thought the title 'Believers' had a lot more depth and was a clever way of capturing the various themes. Each of the family members believed or were trying to believe in something. Am i reading too much into it?

[Ahtims]

Yes... I too ruminated upon the word play in choosing the title....lots.of facts, rather than one are embedded in that simple, one word title.

[Ahtims]

Regarding.Harvest.....haven't started yet...but shall start after a couple of days or so.

[Girish, The Good cop]

2016 was fantastic on this thread with 10 Booker winners and nominees. (if you raised your eyebrows by quarter of an inch - fantastic by my own low scale ok?)

2017 we plan to better that! (See what I did there? power of low expectations :p)

Starting with Disgrace (the book by Coetzee) by the end of this week. Vimal, Em, Indrani and me as of now. Anyone free to join in :)

[Ahtims]

Not raising brows. ..10 IS good.
And yes...waiting to be Disgraced. ..
(though the phrase sounds a bit yucky).