Gorab's 2024 Gluttony

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Its always fun to plan ahead for the upcoming year Reads.
Looking back at previous years, its even more fun to see the deviations!!

This thread is an anchor of what I want to read at the moment. Most probably the ship will sail randomly, if at all it sails!

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Tackle at least one of these tomes:
The Luminaries
The Hindus by Wendy Doniger
The Company Quartet: The Anarchy, White Mughals, Return of a King and The Last Mughal
1Q84
* Wild card entry (most probable!)

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Read more on Science:
Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe
Dinosaur in a Haystack
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacher

[Gorab, TheGunman]

I pledge to always have one Hindi book in parallel in the current reads.
Manto Stories
Acharya Chatursen ji
Katha Ek Prantar Ki
Meri Tibbat Yatra
Saket

[Gorab, TheGunman]

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[Gorab, TheGunman]

I intend to spend more reading time, and not get too much swayed by number of books, or too many experiments. Need an improved ratio of some good enjoyable meaningful literature.

Having said that, I have always believed it futile to have force yourself to read anything. Let it come organically and joyfully. Let the book call you [you just need to keep your ears open ;)]

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Needless to say, I have hoarded a few in 2023, and have no intent of going down on it.... without any guilt, unashamed!
Will buy as much as the space in the house allows :)

[Sapna]

Your home sounds like a bookworm's heaven.
Do you get visitors friends/family coming and borrowing books like in a library? :-p

[Gorab, TheGunman]

On the contrary i do visit friends having books ;)

[Richard]

Sapna wrote: "Your home sounds like a bookworm's heaven.
Do you get visitors friends/family coming and borrowing books like in a library? :-p"

I am happy to let friends borrow books but I sometimes hesitate because some people neglect to return them. The longer they delay, the more awkward it becomes to drop gentle (or not so gentle) hints--especially if your religion stipulates that you should not be too attached to material possessions.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Like a wise man says:
"You are a fool if you lend your books. A bigger fool if you return it back!!"

Jokes apart, I do share books with friends. And keep borrowing as well. In spite of having many at home, somehow i tend to read personally shared books via recommendations more.

Have had couple of incidents where the book wasn't returned. Friends "unfriended"!!

But that hasn't stopped from continuing this. As i see the positives are way more if done with a little caution.

[Sapna]

Love the optimistic outlook guys :-)

[ARPIT]

Gorab wrote: "Tackle at least one of these tomes:
The Luminaries
The Hindus by Wendy Doniger
[book:The Company Quartet: The Anarchy, White Mughals, Return of a King and The Last ..."

I would be VERY interested in BRing The Hindus….if we can make it somehow : P

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Sure. Let me know when you pick it.

[Naveen]

why the secret santa post deleted?

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Naveen wrote: "why the secret santa post deleted?"

Not sure what you are referring to. Please check again.

[Shuva]

Gorab wrote: "Tackle at least one of these tomes:
The Luminaries
The Hindus by Wendy Doniger
[book:The Company Quartet: The Anarchy, White Mughals, Return of a King and The Last ..."

The Luminaries is on my TBR too, so if you feel up to a BR let me know when you start? :-)

[Nathan]

All the best!

[Girish, The Good cop]

Great to see a buzzing well planned thread already updated! All the best for a fantastic reading year.

PS: The Luminaries is also on my list since it crosses many Ts.

[Rags]

All the best Gorab . Hope you have a fantastic year ahead !

[Updesh]

I am also planning to read Doniger's book

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Shuva wrote: "Gorab wrote: "Tackle at least one of these tomes:
The Luminaries
The Hindus by Wendy Doniger
[book:The Company Quartet: The Anarchy, White Mughals, Return of a King..."

Sure, I'd love to join you for that. I was targeting around April. But experience tells me it's not going to happen when you plan for a read after 30-45 days. So I'll try to squeeze in before that, or drop out.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Thanks Nathan, Rags and Girish.

@Updesh - That's the tome I'll begin with this year. Will form a BR thread to see if anyone else is interested. BRs are enlightening... more so for non fiction.

[~~Poulomi Sylphrena Tonk$~~]

Casually dropping here to pick up some good recommendations for the coming year. :)
Have a great reading year ahead!

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Thanks and same to you Polo!

[Gorab, TheGunman]

So far I have wrapped up a couple of books carrying forward from last year.
Most prominent :
1. Cutting for Stone - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2. Einstein's Dreams - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Have picked up the firsts of this year:

Graphic Novel :
The Best We Could Do - At 130 pages. Harrowing experience. Grim setting. A good memoir. Unique graphical art represented by sketches and using only shades of Orange throughout.

Next will be Watership Down in this category.

Hindi: Sim Sim (Secret Santa gift) - lovely nostalgic 90s beginning.

Tome: Wendy Donigner's Hindus

I still need to finish the last 100 pages of last year's tome - Funeral Nights.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

3. Cutting for Stone - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It was also a carry forward from last year

[Gorab, TheGunman]

4. Your time to thrive - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Didn't work as expected.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

This was the time when i was jumping with joy with all the Secret Santa books. Started reading from that, and stole a couple from what others received as their Santa gifts.

5. Sim Sim by Geet Chaturvedi - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The first Hindi book of the year. Hopefully i'll be able to continue reading Hindi.

6. The Best We Could Do - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Graphic novel + secret santa gift of a friend + reading buddies = fun ride. A nice memoir!

7. Fire Bird by Perumal Murugan - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Being a fan of Murugan's writing, loved this one as well. My favorite read by this author still stays "Seasons of the Palm"

[Gorab, TheGunman]

On tackling the tomes:

Currently Reading:
Funeral Nights (carry over from last year)
The Hindus by Wendy Doniger (5 chapters down)

Upcoming:
Luminaries

[Gorab, TheGunman]

I'm habitual to visiting physical bookstores - to steal that 30 mins to a couple of hours on a weekday when I can wrap office on time. Thanks to Bengaluru Metro for providing a reliable and predictable time to and fro from office to book stores.

8. On Beauty by Umberto Eco - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This was a book purchased for a friend. It was heavy, beautiful, and expensive. Couldn't resist tasting a bit before sending it off. It was a perfect primer to understand paintings and art in general.

Its a series - looking out for the other books which we are unable to find so far.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

9. आधी औरत आधा ख़्बाब - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I haven't been reading any Hindi book with my current mix for quite some time now. Time to choose another Hindi book.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

10 Fortunately, the Milk by Gaiman - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Picked for the beautiful illustrations. Maybe my daughter can relate more to it. Failed to enjoy it.

11. Funeral Nights - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finally!! This tome from last year was captured in 10 months. Though it got a bit tedious after 70%. I'm glad to have pursued. This is one of a kind which I liked much but would hesitate to recommend.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

While sending out the group activities notification in February, came across a Feb quote which was shared from Norwegian Wood. That clicked somewhere in the subconscious, followed by the book being picked by Ambily and Siddharth in PIFM challenge.

12. Norwegian Wood - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This is now my favorite Murakami read till date!! Loved it. Its been a couple of weeks and a few books after finishing it - but excerpts from it keep appearing in my head out of nowhere. Too good!

[Gorab, TheGunman]

I got so obsessed by Norwegain Wood, that I tried finding matching postcards to the book. For any edition. Found one subtle reference and am in the process of procuring that postcard set.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

13. Tales from the Tail End: My Cancer Diary - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

14. Inquilab Zindabad: A Graphic Biography of Bhagat Singh - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Gorab, TheGunman]

15. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library

Being a part of an offline bookclub which meets once every month, I was guilty of not reading any of the BOTMs picked by the group so far.

This is my first with that group. Discussions to follow in next meet up. In general I'm not a regular with BOTMs. Hopefully I'll be inspired to pick something outside of my zone more often.

Review here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Tackling Tomes:
Was reading two of them - The Hindus and The Lumiaries.

Lumiaries is going to be a DNF at 150 pages. Its overwhelming. Needs laser sharp focus which I can't afford at the moment. Feels bad at times to abandon a buddy read, but logically it makes sense to pursue what your heart wants.

The Hindus - still at Chapter 5 after a month. Was on the back burner for some time - again due to low interest. Lets see how it fares in the second innings.