Indian Readers discussion
READING PROGRESS 2017
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Em reads, records and reminisces...
Manju wrote: "Em wrote: "JANUARY LOGTotal no. of books read - 13
Moloka'i
Disgrace
Payment in blood
Hobbit
Good Children
Rear Window
Cut like Wound
The private life of Mrs. Sharma
The woman in cabin 10
Adultho..."
wow... that's quite a lot ma' am !!
Mod
Em wrote: "Carol wrote: "Jayanth wrote: "What you say about India and Pakistan reminds me of my own thoughts a few years ago when I was a madly raging, angry patriot. I'd written a poem and if you do not mind..."I agree, but I think that democracy is very useful in containing human excesses. The problem arises when the governing body (whether one person, or several) of a country, sanctions state terror and evil, such as in Nazi Germany.
Em wrote: "JANUARY LOGTotal no. of books read - 13
Moloka'i
Disgrace
Payment in blood
Hobbit
Good Children
Rear Window
Cut like Wound
The private life of Mrs. Sharma
The woman in cabin 10
Adulthood is a myt..."
Did you like The Woman in Cabin 10? I really enjoyed it. Couldn't put it down. My only gripe was that, as so often, in thrillers, the person always goes alone somewhere in order to then be attacked. The victim always goes alone into the forest where the mad axeman/monster is waiting! Or in this case, she was wandering round a boat.
Mod
And I thought it was stupid of her to get lured by the woman she'd seen (towards the end of the book)
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All the best to more fun on your way \m/
Lovely reading log as usual Syl! :)We, you and I, always make promises not to buy more books and end up buying. I think our resolution should be to buy more and who knows, we might just limit ourselves! ;)
Am glad you liked Molok'ai, as we agree in that. I loved it too! One of those rare books! :P
Am going the same way as you with regard to reading what pleases me. Will be lurking to see if you push yourself beyond psycho thrillers without outside influence! :P
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thanks :)
Am already reading things other than psychothriller. ..
short stories by Thakazhi (Eng translation ) and Half of a yellow sun. I confess that these are not as enticing as perps and murderers, but these do take me off to unknown lands and times.
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I cant say that I enjoyed this book. I started with trepidations, and was sure at 20% that I wont like it much, but somehow I persisted and got dragged into the story.
Never had heart about Biafra, the country conceived out of strife between Muslim Hausas and Christian Igbos living in the north and south of Nigeria, respectively, which led a short life of 3 years, and which died before I was born.
The latter half of the book jolted me. The war, the starvation, the ravages.. everything was portrayed in an unemotional non-involved sort of voice, but still it tugged at my sub conscience.
For past 3 days I am dreaming of dark jungles full of fleeing dark people, me a part of them.. and soldiers with crude guns, sound and smell of explosions, dead bodies,
and I am sure I get palpitations in my sleep, because I have this increased heartrate, and a dry mouth when I wake up. I have this urge to eat sparingly, and never ever waste food... and count my blessings every day in every way.
RIP, Biafra..
Yes, Biafra is remembered for the starving children. It was a heart-rending tragedy at the time.
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Nowadays I am getting vivid book dreams wherein I am in the thick of a scene from a particular book or am a fictional character. Enjoying these immensely as it makes me feel that I am reading even while asleep.
I try to recollect these fleeting images, but alas!, my brain has forgotten within a day or two. I remember vaguely the jungle scenes from the Nigerian civil war of Half of a Yellow sun, the volcanically erupting and unstable futuristic scifi world of the fifth season, wherein I am a young girl surrounded by her bibliophilic friends attending some university in a stretch of land in the wilderness. I met my 3 biblio friends (whom I haven’t met in real life), though we were all juveniles aged some 14-16 years in the dream, and we witnessed, earthquakes and volcanoes in the seaside view from the windows of the huge hall of the university, and soldiers bombing the ground from the opposite windows facing jungles as well as deserts. Big debris was hitting the glass walls of the building, but till I woke up, we were thankfully safe there.
Hoping for more dreams…. And more reliving.
And here I continue to read and reminisce.
Current book –
Mandra – lots of amoral characters, and if I dream about it …. I just want decent ones about music and dance
Every Dead Thing – gruesome subject. Again, I don’t mind being the chief detective in my dream… but never the victim.
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Thanks to S L Bhyrappa and his ಮಂದ್ರ Mandra .
I have a bad history with classical music. My parents and grandparents wanted me to be a good singer.... not at all in the level of Mohanlal or Madhumita (ref. Mandra), but a reasonably good one that wont drive humans and animals away by her braying.
I have a good singing voice, but unfortunately no sense of tune or the urge to learn or practice for long.
Despite me not showing much interest, my mother persisted, and I was trained as a Carnatic singer for two years.
Those sessions were a torture because I would never practice, I didnot heed to my teachers pleas not to eat/drink cold food, and to do gargling and 'sadhana/sadhaka' , I was more of an adventurous sort than a docile music lover.
I guess my teachers too found it a torture to teach me.
The harmonium that my dad bought for me will see light of the day only when the music teacher came, and would be promptly kept back in its box and pushed to the deepest corner underneath the cot, as soon as she/he left. (my first music teacher was a lady, who had an untimely death while crossing the railways, and my second was a gent, who again expired due to pneumonia - and my brother callously remarked that 'better not find another music teacher, and lead them to untimely deaths')
After a stint with Carnatic music for 2 years, and after the demise of my second teacher too, my music lessons stopped abruptly.
Harmonium is still there...now pushed onto the topmost shelves of the attic. My father still harbors the hope that my young niece aged 4 will take up an interest in music.... so far, she resembles her aunt in that, when she was taken to a music class, she started crying when teacher sang sa...re...ga....ma... saying 'that is wrong... sa for sunflower, ra for rose...." is the correct song.
The teacher told her mother that she is too young to learn, and better not attempt teaching her music for another couple of years.
I reminisced about all these facts while reading the book, which I enjoyed immensely. And I balk at my stupidity. I haven't even learnt a decimal of the knowledge shared by the book.
I didn't even know which raga was being taught... I didn;t know about mandra or swara or shabda.......
And I am astounded at the dedications shown by the students.
One thing I escaped is the licentiousness and loose morals of the art industry (just by taking the facts presented in this book as gospel truths)... and happy that I am an ordinary person leading an ordinary life, rather than a well known musician or dancer embroiled in all the hot off the screen actions.
I have also learnt dance in my childhood.... which I will reminisce about, if I get to read a book with a dancer as the main character.
But for now, no regrets...
Me and my books will do.
Mod
None other than my FAVORITE....
❣◕ ‿ ◕❣ DAME AGATHA ▔\▁〷●‿●〷▁/▔
ℰ⋆‿⋆ℰ
I have read Agatha Christie's autobiography atleast 4 times, and I know almost everything she's told about herself.
But I always was intrigued by her lost 12 days when she disappeared from the face of the earth after a tiff with her first husband, Archie, and even Arthur Conan Doyle set out in search of her.
So, in Orient Express, I want to corner Agatha and find out what happened to her, and why she ran away from life... those 2 weeks.
Agatha has boarded the express on her way to Baghdad as she is escaping the sordid second marriage of her recently divorced husband.
There are a couple of other interesting characters too...
and now that I have finished my musical journey,
I have boarded the Orient Express.
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Thanks to S L Bhyrappa and his ಮಂದ್ರ Mandra .
I have a bad history with classical m..."
Hmmm thanks for sharing the detailed info on your musical journey. Thinking whether the cases presented in Mandra were extremely passionate ones or in general musical students are that hard working, dedicated and disciplined?
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I like Christie's memoirs and autobiography better than her fiction. :)
IncRead wrote: "For the past few days, I was voraciously savoring the world of classical music.Thanks to S L Bhyrappa and his ಮಂದ್ರ Mandra .
I have a bad history with classical m..."
What is Carnatic music? You are lucky to have a singing voice. I haven't one at all, although I love music and used to play the piano.
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Carnatic music is the south Indian classical music .it is different from Hindustani classical of North India.
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Neither a foodie, nor a cook....
But I love collecting recipe books
collecting recipes from magazines and sticking them on to old diaries was my childhood hobby. And occasionally I used to pester mother into preparing exotic recipes.
Later on this habit petered off, but will occasionally crop up in the form of surfing cookery websites.
When I chanced upon Pedant in the kitchen, I relived all my culinary experiences. And Julian Barnes' writing was so encouraging and humorous that it has kindled in my a small fire to cook and eat/feed.
So in the coming days, I will be scouring out recipes and trying to prepare those..
In a pedantic fashion, though I was never one, at least with respect to cooking. My working principle is .... throw in to the pan whatever is handy, with frequent tasting, especially if the food is good.
A foodie and a cook and believer of the golden words "Neither feminism nor sexism is going to help you when you are alone and hungry ":P
And http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/
is my favorite for my experiments in the Kitchen :) The author Dassana amit is a genius . feed backs ranging from good to excellent when ever I have followed her instructions :) and the beautiful pictures she has provided for every step of cooking a dish are so beautiful and inspiring and gives such a happy feeling :)
To see people eating happily and being complimented on your cooking ability ..great feeling. Have always enjoyed and envied Anatole when ever I read Jeeves :)
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But I love collecting recipe books"
Tell us.... will there be any kind of books you won't love collecting :P
So in the coming days, I will be scouring out recipes and trying to prepare those..
In a pedantic fashion, though I was never one, at least with respect to cooking. My working principle is .... throw in to the pan whatever is handy, with frequent tasting, especially if the food is good.
Ditto same to same feelings!
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And glad that fellow non pedants abound. :)
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I used to be a great admirer of childrens fiction. I had many childhood favorites in the form of Amar Chitra Kathas heavily based on mythology and patriotism, Enid Blyton adventure and mystery series, Nancy Drew and Hardy boys, Archie and Jughead, Betty and Veronica, MAD comics, Anne of Avonlea series, William series by Richmal Crompton and many standalones including notables like Jess and the River kids, Daddy Long Legs, Barbie and the wonderful landand many more. I also relished childrens magazines like Poombatta, Balarama, Champak, Tinkle.
When I grew up into my teens and early twenties, I never gave upon my childhood books. These were comfort reads for me.
But recently I find less empathy towards these books, especially when my son, practically an old soul in a young body rejected Enid Blytons in early childhood, started with Harry Potter at 8, Percy Jackson at 9, Hunger games series at 11 and now has almost given up the habit of constant reading. He is now more into movies, and that too the gorier the better.
As I am a parent who doesnt believe in censoring reading and watching material, I let him be, though I worry when he watched Exorcist at the age of 11, and the Ring, Shining, Conjuring etc at 12 or so.
Why have childrens books lost their magic, at least to the children I know of? Is it because of the fast paced technologically advanced world that doesnt let them dream on , curbs their imagination by showing readymade pictures, and the myriad of violent video games which they consider almost lifelike?
Moreover why have I stopped in believing in them?
Recently I read Alice in Wonderland.... it was sort of a mechanical read, then I read Hobbit - which was not that good, though the audio was excellent. Past two days I have read Coraline - a good read, but somehow I was more enamored of the hidden meanings than the dark horror, and now I am reading A monster calls - which again doesn;t involve me in it. I feel a sense of detachment nowadays, whereas earlier I used to go into the book and be the character.
I so mourn my lost affinity towards everything magical and otherworldly. I want to live in books. I want to be the characters I read.
I hope I regain all that I have lost... some day..... one day.
I think I have never been able to enjoy children books or fantasy and magic but of course it depends on the book. Now I want to read The Neverending Story and I really don't know how I will react at my age! I remember as a child going to the library with my sister (that is 4 years older than me) that she chose always the comics Asterix and Obelix or Agatha Christie's books, and I was always looking for different books that could give me something.I also don't want to be the character. A book has to give me answers or confirmations, or it has to teach me something new. I also don't like that much books that are only entertaining and without some depth though sometimes I read them to relax.
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Even in childhood you were a serious reader!
IncRead wrote: "dely, yet to read the Never ending story. So I don't know whether it is your type or not.Even in childhood you were a serious reader!"
I want to read it because I liked the movie as a child and because I want to try something different. I always read serious and tough books.
Haha :D Also as a child I was looking for answers, I was curious.
@IncRead :now that's a beautiful piece of writing ..I additionally miss reading story books hidden inside text books .. use to do that even during graduation lectures ...I tried to reread one famous five book(kirin island something(?)) couple of months ago ... the magic was not there ... reading was more of a mechanical kind .nostalgic but not enchanting ... I still miss those involved reading of treasure island , vanity fair ,two city even Robinson Crusoe :( me too hoping for that someday ..one day :)
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But I empathise with your feel about kid's book and was having very very similar feelings while reading Coraline. (And Hobbit in recent past!)
And I'm still hopeful that in a couple of years I'll start reading yet again... as a kid this time :)
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And reading along with kids is an experience in itself. one sees things through their eyes.
Very interesting take reading list. Waiting for your new picks :)
Interesting note Incy. I do agree to a certain level that childhood favourites have lost their appeal to us and more so to kids who are children. As far as kids go, I think it is because they are enamoured a lot by gadgets and the speed with which things are available to them. It wasn't so in our case. We didn't buy things as much as we borrowed them from libraries or friends and read them. Moreover, our buys were restricted to when we went on train journeys and the thrill of buying a book at the station and reading it while traveling to your destination is something that kids these days don't know or understand. We are to blame to a great level because life has become so competitive and so hectic that we don't take those long leaves that we had. Both parents work today and hence it is not feasible today as it was in our case. To assuage our guilt for not giving that, we try and please them in ways that are more immediate in nature, which has kind of extended itself to making them feel that more immediate the pleasure gained, the better it is. I am not talking about you or me in particular but parents in general, of which we are also a part.
Watching a movie vis a vis reading a book is a classic case of immediate pleasure versus savoured one. One can debate that watching a movie takes 2 hours but visual aids work better with kids today. Just take studies, these days we have apps and other things that are based on interactive learning, which actually help children learn better.
Another factor is children these days, given their exposure, are more attuned to things happening around them and hence require adult material or material that can challenge them rather than those that simply cater to idle pleasure.
It is just that... a change in times. But has the love for reading gone completely? No, I don't think so. It just needs time that we need to give them and they need for understanding the beauty that lies in books.
And with respect to children's books, I still love them. I read a Famous Five, a Secret Seven and two Nancy Drews last year and while they seemed lame, I still enjoyed reading them and wanted to eat their food! Call me a child, if you will! :P
And I just realised that I wrote something (probably all nonsense) which is as long as your original post. Never intended to do that! :P
Mod
And what you say is really pertinent.
I still remember the thrill of buying from Higgin Bothams at the local railway station... (and have continued this tradition with my son, whenever we manage to go by train)
We had much more free time as children, and more time to read and daydream.
And not a single gadget to distract ..........
I do love my Enid Blytons even now.
But newly read childrens books fail to enthrall me.
I'll buy Fantastic Beasts The Original Screenplay from Daryaganj Sunday book market at half your half the price. I'll also wait for better versions of the movie on Torrent because watching it thrice in the theaters was not enough. Meanwhile, I'll read the ebook of the book that I downloaded off the internet.Look at all the illegal stuff I'm doing!
Mod
FROM MUDDLEHEAD's SHELF
First one chosen was Muddlehead - my first friend in GR. THis was at random, as his name showed first when I clicked my friend list.
I chose It Rained All Night , and till 40% I was wondering why he gave it 5 stars as I was finding it a bit sleazy, but then I slowly got into the minds of the husband and wife and was astonished at the varied layers of human thought and compensatory mechanisms of the brain.
I am still reeling at the after effect.
I am voyeuristic when it comes to reading about couple in a marriage, just to see what makes them tick, as I always have been astonished at this institute where 2 strangers/almost strangers till a short time ago are made to live together and have close physical relations... and how people deal with it.
Not all are compatible. ( and absolutely not going by my marriage, which is quite a happy one, TOUCH WOOD and thank God.) :P
Mod
A gem of a book. A definite 5 starrer, unless the last 30% irrevocably deteriorates.
It has rekindled my interest in Dracula and all thinks Draculaic.
I am morbidly attracted to the concept of blood sucking eternality, which has a peculiar grisly charm of its own.
I loved traveling through Romania, Transylvannia and Turkey. I loved interacting with the people.
I had a brief sojourn with West Bengal and its infidelity since yesterday evening.
But tonight I am back to Bulgaria with brave Dracula hunters.
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O_O
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And IncRead, you continue stealing books and I'll continue stealing ideas from you ;)
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Niceeee chori.;) good luck.
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Indian Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
Best-Loved Indian Stories of the Century, Vol. 1 (other topics)Into the Water (other topics)
Into the Water (other topics)
Catch-22 (other topics)
Eileen (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Hans Christian Andersen (other topics)Franz Kafka (other topics)
S.L. Bhyrappa (other topics)
Total no. of books read - 13
Moloka'i
Disgrace
Payment in blood
Hobbit
Good Children
Rear Window
Cut like Wound
The private life of Mrs. Sharma
The woman in cabin 10
Adulthood is a myt..."
Bow down to the queen :)