Indian Readers discussion
READING PROGRESS 2018
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Jayanth's obsession with books continues - 2018
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Manju wrote: "nope, it is not dark for you.;)yet to read read Livship. hopefully, i will read it this year.:):)"
Good to hear, I'll try The First Law for sure.
And I'll be excited when you pick up Liveship. Don't let the disappointments from Farseer trilogy stop you from reading this please 😁😁
Mod
@Jayanth and H2..my shelves are very messy and books are stacked in many places. Not at all keen to show off..
😝😜
Mod
i have been assured numerous times that Liveship is way better than Farseer, so I will be reading those tomes ever after the way Fitz disappointed me.;)
Mod
@Jayanth and H2..my shelves are very messy and books are stacked in many places. Not at all keen to show off..
😝😜"
Yes, ma'am. :D
@Syl I want to see them anyway :D There's no way a bookshelf is messy, no matter how randomly and disorderly they are kept ;)
@Manju, SylI would love to join in with you guys for Liveship traders re-read. But I want to reread Farseer books before that. So do you have a plan in mind? I'd read up the Fitz books accordingly.
Mod
Mod
half my books are in my parents place. But I have picture of.rhose shelves too 😎
Mod
@Manju, Syl Great! :) I'd reread Farseer books my then.
@Syl
Can't wait to see 'em :) :D 3 books deep? 500 books? You must build yourself a library? or a wall of books. That's one of my dreams for the future :D Either a room that I can call my library. Or a wall of book, from the ceiling to the floor :D
Mod
Mod
Started collecting books from the age of 8 years ..and have never looked back. Around 1000 odd books at parents place.. and now around 1500 odd books at my place. I buy nearly 60 to 100 books a year. In the year 2007 I hit jackpot buying around 300 books for 10 to 20 rupees each at a local second hand store.
Will share pics soon.
Syl wrote: "@Jayanth... not boasting ( or perhaps.. I am boasting.. but I can't help it)Started collecting books from the age of 8 years ..and have never looked back. Around 1000 odd books at parents place.. ..."
I imagine your wedding (well, let's do if it was with a priest) where the priest asks your husband: Do you want to marry Smitha with all ther books?
:D
Mod
I kept A suitable Boy in a cloth bag next to me in the mantap ... 😁
@Syl This is the only kinda bragging that's good 😁😁 I can't even fathom. 2500+ books????!!!!! That's effing awesome!😍😍
I've started hoarding books since 2 years ago and it's been going great... I'm buying used books too and it's such a pleasure and rewarding experience when you find gems and rare books in the used book lots. 😁
@Syl That's absolutely bonkers, hahahaha. What did your husband say? Is he into books too? 😮😮
Mod
sorry for taking over your thread for my bragging 🙊
@Syl That's very kind of him. 😁I don't mind you taking over this thread one bit ☺️
Current read, beautiful cover:
Hey Jayanth! Your lists sound fabulous. Am excited about a few of your planned reads, especially Guns of Navarone, The Owl Killers, The Picture of Dorian Gray, as they are my absolute favourites. Some of the others are on my planned list as well, so looking forward to seeing your reviews on all of them.Am glad that you enjoyed Candide. I found it a fabulous read myself and kept nodding while I was reading your review. It is indeed a brilliant book and quite cheeky given that it was written way back then.
Too bad that Fahrenheit didn't strike a chord with you as much as you would have loved it to. I quite enjoyed the book but then I guess I was in a mood for something like that at that time and enjoyed the writing as well or rather i wouldn't have really mused much upon it. I went into it as I would go into a dystopian rather than any mystery and that served the purpose well when compared to the other really bad dystopians I was reading at that time. lol
And last but not the least, your dog is a sweetheart!!!
Here's wishing you a wonderful 2018.
Srividya wrote: "Hey Jayanth! Your lists sound fabulous. Am excited about a few of your planned reads, especially Guns of Navarone, The Owl Killers, The Picture of Dorian Gray, as they are my absolute favourites. S..."Hi Sri Vidya! :) Thanks for the wishes. I hope you have a great year ahead too.
You've read The Owl Killers??! That's great, I didn't know anyone who has read it, this makes me excited for the book :) I've been putting off The Picture of Dorian Gray since more than a year because I found two other existential classics in Frankenstein and Metamorphosis to keep me ruminating about stuff. But I'll pick Dorian Gray sooner rather than later now.
What bad dysptopia were you reading then :P Hahaha! I probably would have loved Fahrenheit 451 if I was in a different mood or state of being. This brings up a very troublesome thought that always bothers me while reviewing or reading reviews. How much of what is currently going on in our lives, the level of happiness and calm and our emotions that hang over our minds affect the way we experience a book? People who rate 2 stars and write scathing things about one book later rate 5 stars to a similar book containing similar imperfect things. We enjoy certain songs only when we have the mood for it. I think it is likewise for books and that is unfortunately so bad for the authors I think, because the reviews aren't at all solely about the quality of the book or the criticisms of technicalities. F451 made me think of this again, because I usually like that sort of prose that's used in that book. :D Sorry, I go off on topics midway like that :D
Thanks a lot, Tommy wags it tail in delight at your words ;)
Oh really? Well, it is definitely a book I loved, especially after my previous experience with the author being a disaster in Company of Liars. This one was different from the start and it didn't disappoint me. Waiting to see how you feel about it! :)Ah take your time with Dorian, he isn't going anywhere! And i loved the other two as well. Metamorphosis kept me ruminating a lot as well.
Re. the dystopians, you really don't want to know. lol!
I totally agree with what you said about readers and their moods playing an important role on whether they like a book or not. I have always maintained that line of argument. It is definitely not favourable for the author but one cannot help that. Reading to me is personal and an experience that is for me alone, even when you are reading in a group. Not the act but the way the story unfolds itself. If you look at it that way, it is obvious that your personal issues, positive and negative, will affect the way in which you look at the book and review it.
And no, it isn't off topic when it is about books or reading! :D
Srividya wrote: "Oh really? Well, it is definitely a book I loved, especially after my previous experience with the author being a disaster in Company of Liars. This one was different from the start ..."I bought The Own Killers because of the cover. And Karen Maitland's books have some Kickass covers! Hopefully I'll like it :)
Hyderabad Book Fair 2018 was mainly for Indian publishers and regional languages, there were almost 350 stalls. There are some pretty good deals on English books and I found a few used books that I've been waiting to read.I was shocked to find a Guy Gavriel Kay book, I actually made a little fist bump in the air when I saw it among a score of uninteresting books!
Jayanth wrote: "Hyderabad Book Fair 2018 was mainly for Indian publishers and regional languages, there were almost 350 stalls. There are some pretty good deals on English books and I found a few used books that I..."Nice! I have never been to a book fair. Usually they are far away from where I live and I also know that it's full of people and I don't like a lot to move in crowds.
Is Guy Gavriel Kay that good? I had never heard about him.
dely wrote: "Jayanth wrote: "Hyderabad Book Fair 2018 was mainly for Indian publishers and regional languages, there were almost 350 stalls. There are some pretty good deals on English books and I found a few u..."I have not read his works yet but he is praised for his historical fantasy books. I read that he picks certain tims period of our history, a place in the world and build a fantasy story by using the cultural and historical setting of that time.
And many of his books are standalone, a hard thing to find these days, every fantasy novel is part of a huge series or something now a days :D
#9. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K Le Guin OMG, the depth of the story changed from serene serendipity to terrible reality real quick and the contrast will hit you in the face, holy fuck!
What beautiful writing! Exactly the sort I'd like.
The author starts off by describing a town called Omelas. The narrative is structured like how a writer brainstorms world building, but it gets deeper than that halfway through.
Her fantastical description of the surroundings of Omelas, the town itself and the people of it on the eve of the festival of summer is wanderlust inducing. The town and its people are happy, they have no problems, they have no guilt, they are joyous all the time. It's almost an utopia, the town the author describes. Then she drops these lines:
Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No? Then let me describe one more thing.
In a basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, or perhaps in the cellar of one of its spacious private homes, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window.
And when I read that, I knew she was going to break loose something terrific. And she did. How insensitive should a person be towards the rest of the world and the suffering in it, for them to be content and happy with their own life, their own well endowed fortunes? What cost does the society pay to lead the lives that we do, and who bears that cost truly? I'm not able to word these feelings properly, but the author's story is a allegory and sort of a satire, I think, on human condition, our lives and its baggage for being part a society. There is deep, philosophical commentary between the lines of this short story.
Their tears at the bitter injustice dry when they begin to perceive the terrible justice of reality, and to accept it. Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness.
Human condition, the state of the world and its people is such a paradox. People are in terrible poverty in many places of the world. As people who have the means, we have not done enough for them. Or we can blame this and that, God and history for letting this happen, letting people suffer so much.
But on the other hand, this terrible suffering of people inspires greatness, kindness, art and whatnot in people who might have not otherwise risen or grown to become the good and world-improving people that they have become. Now this is a paradox. And there is a sense of hollowness and conceit and darkness underlying in the lives of those who are well off but do no more than say they acknowledge the suffering of the less fortune and that they wish it was otherwise. They cannot be faulted for this. But it is just a such a sorry state of the world. And what, people thank God for the world and his blessing? It's a joke.
The author masterfully weaves the narration and tells about people who walk away from Omelas, after discovering the cost of the perpetual happiness experienced by the people of the town. They have found a reason to have guilt, in a city that was designed to have no guilt.
They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
Indian Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (other topics)The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (other topics)
Company of Liars (other topics)
Company of Liars (other topics)
Charmed Life (other topics)
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yet to read read Livship. hopefully, i will read it this year.:):)