Indian Readers discussion
READING PROGRESS 2017
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Em reads, records and reminisces...
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(am not counting Historian)"
same question.;) Also mera number kab aayega?:P
IncRead wrote: "will.see...J. I never pick in advance. I do just before reading... this raises the anticipated pleasure. >. <":D i'l wait
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I don't have any but am amazed now that you consider me a patient one.;)
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All the best :)
Didn't want to jinx it... but can't hep it :P
Think Goutham will love this more than you.
arey you can pick M's first... ;P(attempts at delaying being virtually killed by Syl)
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And from the dark lands of Eastern Europe to a small beachside holiday town in contemporary England minutely observing the people around. This is quite relaxing and I have gotten into the slow paced rhythm of the book.
MY first book by Stanley Middleton.
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Was a satisfactory read.
Apt title.. and I loved the book, especially the cover pic which embodies the title.
This was a second hand paperback I bought from a local fair which was selling books by the Kg... the price was a bit sharp at 200 per kg, as later I came to understand that other metros sell at 100 per kg. I bought 6 books for approximately 600...
All the books were quite well preserved, looked like new copies which had been in storage for some time.
And I am in a reminiscent mood now.. thinking about misdeeds, atonement, and whether atonement can help those against whom a particular crime is perpetrated.
Guess atonement helps the one who is atoning the most.... not his/her victims.
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Atoning one's sin is too much of a self indulgence I think
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Now back.to my usual reads.
Started Book 1 of A Dance with Dragons, a much awaited serial buddy read with Manju.
Also reading Snow country by a Japanese authoe- a much acclaimed book, but too slow and non descriptive.
Also reading more than half a dozen books...which are all proceeding at different paces.
So my reading life is rich, though I would love getting more time to read.
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"though I would love getting more time to read."
Who wouldn't? :D
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:/
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I love Japan and its lit.
And I was so looking forward to reading this one, as I am partial to anything that does with snow ( as I live in a hot, humid, tropical climate) and I came to know this was the best work of a Nobel laureate.
But somehow, I didnt get into the book, though the second half was much interesting than the first... and the beautiful descriptions made up for the lacklustre story.
After finishing the book, I went on to read a few reviews which were pouring accolades . ,,,, and am a bit baffled.
Why am I unable to find beauty and poetry, while everybody else found it in this book?
Will I ever be able to appreciate the finer points of literature?
But I will persevere, keep a cool head, and read only those books that interest me, one way or the other.
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Good to see your honest review not adding to those appreciating finer points :)
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would really love.to believe so ;-)
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Came to know of this author only while reading A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, another unexpected book - not the kind which I usually choose.
I was pleased with the book, loved to know of Irish politics and a little bit about their culture, and would definitely have had a crush on Fergus if I were in my teens.
Have reviewed it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And this read makes me think of jotting down the circumstances that made me read a book, for future references.
And nowadays I am in the habit of perusing Book lists at random, and I am astonished at the sheer volume of books, as yet unknown to me, and knowing that I will not be able to read all that I want to, in this short life term makes me a tad morose, but I soon comfort myself saying that I am much better than lakhs of people who dont read.. to whom the world of books are lost forever, despite being only a handlength away, and relatively cheap to access.
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My first book by him, if I remember correct.
From my childhood I have grown up with Russian books. In those days, India used to get a lot of aid from Russia, including their books for throwaway prices. There was a communist store that sold predominantly Russian books in the city where I lived and my parents used to buy quite a lot of books.
I have read Russian magazines like Sputnik and innumerable Russian children's books, whose names I have forgotten by now. One day I will do an online search and add those to my book lists.
But somehow I havent read many adult Russian books. I have copies of War and Peace and Anna Karenina bought in my teenage, but though I finally managed Anna Karenina last year, War and peace has evaded me.
Tried The Idiot by Dostoyevsky, but again, couldnt sustain my interest.
Hence when this book was suggested as a weekend read by Kru, one of my GR friends, I jumped in at the chance and voted for it, despite it being a play.
(Plays are second from bottom in my list, second only to poems... or now I should say, poems fare better than plays)
Started with introduction and first act. Was baffled. But the fact that it is a short book persuaded me to continue.
I persevered, but am not much interested.
Here are my thoughts on this book:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nothing much happened. And I couldnt see the undercurrents in the conversations.
Afterwards we had a discussion session, and friends, one of them much younger than me had a better concept of the play and what it represented. Discussion enriched my experience of this play.
Still, I am very bad at eking out hidden meanings. In books, as well as in real life. To me a yea is a yea, and a nay is a nay. And an invite for a cup of coffee is just an invite, and nothing else.
I guess that's why I prefer authors who write in simple understandable terms...
and on this note I am much relishing As Sweet as Honey by Indira Ganesan. My first book by her, and the book keeps up to its title.
But my thoughts on this one have to be jotted down another day.
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As sweet as honey has been on my radar for long, with other titles of this author. Will be looking out for your thoughts on that.
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As sweet as honey is very interesting at 55%. If this pace continues it will be a 5 starrer.
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Yes, it was a five starrer. To be honest, something like 4.5 stars. But it is quite eccentric, mind you.
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Just now I completed the audio of Norse Mythology, narrated by the author himself, and am sort of in that trance state between completion of one book, and having to recollect my senses before proceeding on to another.
So I decided to use this space as a sounding board and a venting board to get back to normal.
I loved Hindu mythology as a child, perhaps because this is the only treasure trove available for parents and grandparents alike to tell tales from, when pesky little never-satisfied-with-only-a-few-measly-tales sort of youngsters trouble them incessantly for more.
I started reading on my own at 4 or 5, though only books with large pictures and one or two sentences in larger fonts. But it would come as a relief to my harried parents and grandmother.
Even when I started reading, I wanted to be told tales. And mostly it was my paternal grandma, and my mother, who fulfilled this desire. (Father influenced me later in life, when I became an independant reader, by introducing me to great authors like PG Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, D H Lawrence, R K Narayan, just to name a few. )
My mother was a great story teller. She used to make on the spot stories which would sustain my adventure sense, and my yearning for the strange and macabre. And she had the same ruse that Scheherzade employed towards the Sultan, i.e., by stopping at an interesting juncture and letting me into the next half only if I were a (relatively) good child in the meanwhile.
My grandmother took her tales from her vast storehouse of mythology, along with her childhood days and the tales of the games she played with her siblings and cousins, who lived together as a huge extended family.
I used to read aloud to my son till he was 7 or 8. He too had learnt to read on his own at an early age, but had a penchant of being told tales to, especially at bedtime. Thus I introduced him to Amar chitra katha and Harry Potter.
Now I continue the tradition with my niece, who is the most voracious listener of all... even if I finish a dozen books a day she is not satisfied.
Recently she visited me for a couple of days. I counted the books I told tales from, to more than 60.
Coming back to mythology,
I am now keen to explore other mythology, including offshoots to Hindu mythology. I have read quite a few books from Hindu mythology, but we have such a vast collection that even if I devout my full reading time to it, I dont think I will ever be able to finish it.
Still, better have more books than I can read, as compared to lesser books than I can finish.
EXACTLY WHAT I LOVE READING IN THREADS :) GOOD ONE :)
"Shalini" from which book ?
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GOOD ONE :)
"Shalini" from which book ?"
Thank you :)
For once, it is my original name. :D
Shalini wrote: "My grandmother took her tales from her vast storehouse of mythology, along with her childhood days and the tales of the games she played with her siblings and cousins, who lived together as a huge extended family."What a treasure! I like those stories but sadly my grandparents never told them also because I saw them only once a year. My parents sometimes told me about their childhood and I like it still now and get angry with my son if he doesn't listen to them.
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Regarding Gaiman - Could Norse Mythology be enjoyed with zero knowledge of Greek mythology?
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The past week was full of good, but dismal reads though. All books somehow dealt with gender inequality in varying tones and hues, and I was almost depressed
Heartburn- of course the angst was coated with humor, but it did nothing to decrease the despair and bitterness
Hangwoman-one of the bleakest regional language books I ever read.. still reading it, as I cant stomach large quantities at one go.
Can't seem to remember the others, but at one point I was reading 3 books with depressive themes.
Now moved on to Thirteen Hours, a rollercoaster thriller that I am immensely enjoying.
After that continuum of A Dance with Dragons.
Nothing else actively planned for the coming week.
But am sure that I will find one book or the other, or rather, the book will find me.
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The Last Child - A missing child thriller. Delivered what it promised to. There was some lack of finesse, hence minus a star.
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When I was a child, I had to read and reread books as I used to polish off books at a much greater speed, and as the library was not that accessible from home, and I needed an adult to take me there, I had to wait for ages. (read as 7 to 10 days) for new books. Hence I will read the current loot atleast a couple of times or more. And the books I own were all dog eared by frequent reading.
I am very happy that now I have an ocean of books to swim through, but perversely, I miss those days of less...
there was a joy in acquiring a new book, when books didnot come that easy.
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The joy of acquiring is immense when the books are not so easy to get. While Amazon delivers a million smiles in small book packets, it deprives us of that joy for precisely the same reason.
Re-reads? Can't imagine doing re-reads of more than 5%. In fact, can't imagine reading them all in the first place! Ah such luxury, ah such inadequacy!
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The joy of acquiring is immense when the books are not so easy to get. While Amazon delivers a million ..."
Surfing in bookshop has its own charm... I feel much more satisfied than opening the cardboard box of Amazon. The major advantage to me is checking the readability of fonts.
But the easy availability and price margin of Amazon makes it a much feasible option these days.
nowadays, I too cant imagine re reads.. though I have already lined up a couple of repeat reads, masked as buddy reads
Cold Mountain
Boy's Life
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Just that it is one of my usual gang mates
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Am reading about half a dozen books in parallel, and the figures can be as low as 3 or as high as 18 (at one time)
I came across the term book Polygamist, which looked as if coined just to describe me.
Why am I a book polygamist?
Is it because I have a shortish attention span, and get easily distracted? Or because I love to read books according to my mood? Or I get easily swayed to sample the books my friends are devouring? Or that I can never resist a buddy read?
There are many reasons, the chief one being that I am afraid that I will be unable to read all the books that i ever want to read in this life time.
I also like experimenting with genres and different authors.
Sometimes I choose book by a roulette or using random number sequence... like I will read book no. 47 in my TBR... or I will read the first unread book that comes across in GR screen....or I try to fit in books to my various challenges..
And sometimes the book chooses me.. somehow it opens in my Kindle screen, or I come across a good deal in one of the online or real bookshops and can't resist, and when I bring the book home, again it sort of beckons me........
But whatever way I choose my books, I am so glad that I have the choice. I am comfortably off......... I can read away all time and still will be unable to finish all the books I own.
So perhaps I am residing in a book heaven, a heaven which was unapproachable to me in my childhood filled with limited sources of books.
Interesting, as usual!Shalini wrote: "There are many reasons, the chief one being that I am afraid that I will be unable to read all the books that i ever want to read in this life time."
Me too, but I read one book after the other! Well, not always. Now, for example, I'm reading between a book and the other some tales of Hans Christian Andersen to take a break from non-fiction or tough books. And seen that beach-season started, I'm reading at home a non-fiction and on the beach a collection with all the stories by Franz Kafka.
So perhaps I am residing in a book heaven, a heaven which was unapproachable to me in my childhood filled with limited sources of books. Don't know why but I miss those days of limited sources . Asking a friend repeatedly if he has finished "treasure Island " ? So that he could lend it to you next ?
In "My Best friend" essay ,writing the name of the boy who has a large collection of Raj comics and also that new book in the 'Super commando Dhruv' series and Planing an excuse for your real best friend who will cycle back home with you after the school is over .I miss those guilt .I miss those lust for books .
That sheer joy of discovering that the new boy in your school has complete collection of famous five series .that sense of urgency to have him as your friend .
Those days of running like the one possessed , in the 800 m event , because some how you have got the information that the champion is to get a complete collection of 'Fakir mohan senapati galpa samgraha' .Now you can't lose the race .
I miss those days when plans ware hatched, pacts were made in blood not to rat out each other , while stealing the 'Chamber of secret 'from a friend's sister who is very possessive about her books .
My book heaven is lost somewhere in this time of plenty and a few clicks on Amazon :(
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But both worlds - that of plenty, as well as that of poverty and conservation - have charms of their world, and I feel fortunate enough to have experienced both :D :P
I eagerly read through your above words, and I can empathize with all the sentiments -
I have indulged in subterfuge, fist fight, outright thievery and even flattery to lay my hands upon unaccessible books, and the joy of possessing a book after such a big strife is unparallel.
The joy of getting a book at a click is nothing compared to the above, though I would not ever part with that joy too.....
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)
(am not counting Historian)