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Suchitra's wanderings into the book forest!
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Rags
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Jun 05, 2012 08:16AM
so cool you have finished reading so many books. but can you please give a brief review for all the books rated above?
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i usually do write a brief review. if u click on the link, it should show up!not many books! if u notice i include books i read again and my kids' geronimo stilton books too!!
Suchitra, try this book Asura- Tale of The Vanquished. It is RAVANA's Ramayana with a twist with a common ASURA citizen thrown in
Double Talk4/5
after my disappointment with ravinder singh, this restores faith in indian writing or drawing rather!
Suchitra wrote: "Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition1/5"
I have read to avoid Chetan's books on this site, is it really that bad?
Shriya wrote: "Suchitra wrote: "Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition1/5"
I have read to avoid Chetan's books on this site, is it really that bad?"
no no! it is a very very light read. i enjoyed 2 states. 5 point someone is also ok. readable.
the prose is very simple.
but the rest......not worth wasting time on!...
but i would suggest that u read those 2 books that i have mentioned.....just to get an idea of why he is so popular....
he is popular because his books are easy to read for a novice reader and his marketing strategy of making it real cheap helped!
he writes about a world that many indians seem to know about......
it is just that for someone who has read many books, his books lack depth and a lot more!!
Suchitra wrote: "Shriya wrote: "Suchitra wrote: "Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition1/5"
I have read to avoid Chetan's books on this site, is it really that bad?"
no no! it is a very very light read. i en..."
Thank you very much for the advice, I have recently started to read more books, so therefore pondered about him. Appreciate it. However which book should I start with first?
2 states! the one i liked the best.if u get 5 point someone....first...u can start that too....
they deal with different things.....
A Fly on the Ceiling5/5
i bought this book for my nephew during a landmark sale. I am so impressed that I will try to find the rest of the series.
I learnt about Rene and the Cartesian system of coordinates that we use to this day. It is an interesting story, written well, aimed at kids.
Mod
1/5"
why only 1/5 :)
Mod
Suchitra wrote: "Mansfield Park1/5"
Same question. Why 1/5?
this was my review for mansfield park.oh jane austen! what a disappointing book. oh well......all writers have their good and bad moments i guess! i skipped loads and loads. a few pages were interesting here and there.
to explain more, u two seem surprised pari and smitha! this was a book that i forced myself to finish. it was interesting to read ....here and there.......but i found the heroine too weak and unlike other jane austen novels, i was not even interested in her fate! i was not drawn into the novel like her other novels where you were there and understood the emotions of the characters. i skipped so many pages ..
the only character i found interesting was henry crawford, the villain of the piece. i have read again and again pride and prejudice.....which is an extraordinary book.....
sense and sensibility ....even if sort of similar in some aspects to pride and prejudice could still stand on its own too.......the movie with emma thompson was good......
emma......i cannot remember much now......but remember it being a good read a
i was disappointed and hence 1/5 i guess!
Mod
The Brothers Karamazov5/5
my first dostoyevsky!
the style is different.
in the first few pages i read,so much info was crammed into a few pages.
the whole life of one son dealt with in a few pages
but it was interesting.
then the pace changed...
i was bored with the discussions with the elder regarding church and state, although i found one discussion interesting.
but am impressed by one line told by the elder to the "buffon"........do not lie......above all .....do not lie to yourself......
reminded me of a person i know,who seems to be doing just that!
every chapter is crammed with info and emotion.
i sort of need to take a break after every chapter!
and i hardly skip pages!
men, women are all so tempermental and the writing is so different.
the translation must be a good one since i could clearly see how different this book was.
the only grudge i have so far is that it is so mentally exhausting that i cannot seem to read more than 2 chapters at a time.
i have to stop and come up to breathe!! so it is taking a really long time.
the other thing is the academic discussions all of which i do not follow.i liked some of them though.
the main grudge i have against this book is that i have not been able to read anything else and it takes too long.
the story about the woman and the onion is good.
the meeting between grushenka and alyosha was so intense and moving.
if a translation is this good, how would the original be.
i wonder if someone with faith in christianity would understand this book more because i could not follow some arguments quite a few times.
I have read about what Mitya does after Grigory falls.
it is described so well.
i can almost feel the visceral pleasure of Mitya and sympathise with him for the agony he undergoes.
Grushenka........how alive is this woman!
how beautifully the fact is told, the fact that when u imagine u are in love with for five years and it was a mirage only...
and the truth is different and u have to confront ur mirage to know the truth!!
oh dostoyevsky, u observed human nature so well indeed!
Alyosha, what a beautiful soul!
Ivan, so different from his brothers , yet the same too!
Katya, again a woman so different from Grushenka, yet equally powerful.
even Lisa and her mother are such memorable characters.
I cannot understand how he could make me actually think of all those characters as people instead of just names......
Ilyushka, his dad, Perkhotin, Rakitin, the elder Zosima, Smerdyakov, Kolya...
i cannot believe that this author is so talented that i remember so many characters and each person is so distinct.
Kolya....that teenager and what he said......was so sweet and true and this is exactly how a teen would think......
Ilyushka.....what a boy!...
i have finished the book. loved it. an extraordinary book. I feel like I have read about a hundred books!
now i know how well a writer can write.
i took so long to read this book since i could not skip. ok, i did skip a few pages here and there but only a few compared to how big this book is!
quotes
gentlemen, is it really such an astonishing thing in our time to encounter a man who is willing to show remorse for his stupidity and to publicly apologize for that of which he is guilty?
Work untiringly. If u remember in the night as u retire to sleep"I have not done what was incumbent upon me", then rise at once and do it.
As he developed this new idea Mitya passed into ecstasy, but this was invariably the case with all his undertakings, all his sudden decisions. Every time he had a new idea, he abandoned himself to it with passion.
Besides, nowadays practically all men of ability are horribly scared of being ridiculous, and are so much the more miserable because of it.
:DYou will find such characters in every book by Dostoyesky; also the insight of the different personalities is always very detailed. They all are alive in a certain way, they are so "human" that we can understand them very well. And all his books are full of wonderful quotes!
And you are not the only one who must take a break after every chapter; in every chapter there is so much!
Seen that you liked it now you can "go back"* with Demons or The Idiot.
* Seen that you started with Dostoyevsky's magnu opus now you must do the path backwards! :D
i am mentally exhausted that i am ready only for light reading for a while i think!
Girl Friday3/5
a light read. jane green has written better books though! an engaging book which u will keep u interested upto the end!
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle3/5
i liked the way the story began. interesting. capturing my attention.
initially, it was quite the mystery with no idea of what really is involved. everything seemed disconnected and weird.
but it is a bit depressing and too surreal for me to relate to. and too sexual unnecessarily.
some parts were had detailed descriptions of violence.
so many untied loose ends even at the end of the book.
it made me read up to the last page. the pace was good. that's about it. and it is written well.
but i did not like the book on the whole.
quotes
something trivial got me started, just as most important things in the world have small beginnings.
is it possible,in the final analysis, for one human being to achieve perfect understanding of another? i started thinking seriously about such things a week after i left my job at the law firm. never until then- never in the whole course of my life-had i grappled with questions like this. and why not? perhaps because my hands had been full just living. i had simply been too busy to think about myself.
Anne of Green Gables4/5
a lovely book. it makes u feel warm and fuzzy. it makes u smile. it makes u think. it makes u love that little Anne(do not forget the e!), it makes u glad that u got to read this book. it makes u want to read it again. and i am sure i will some day. probably many times.
quotes
"Do you know," said Anne confidently, "I've made up my mind to enjoy this drive. It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind that you will. Of course, you must make it up firmly. I am not going to think about going back to the asylum while we're having our drive. I'm just going to think about the drive.
"That's the worst of growing up, and I'm begining to realize it. The things you wanted so much when you were a child don't seem half so wonderful to you when you get them."
“There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting.”
3/5fast pace. good writing. not excellent. but good.
good story line. a light read. enjoyable.
maybe having seen the movie before reading this book lessened the thrill quite a bit for me!
The Lightning Thief
The Zoya Factor3/5
i did like some parts of this book. some lines that made me laugh. and the idea was a good one too. written quite well. but i did not like the fact that the book was too long for the story. about 200 pages seemed unnecessary! dragging the story along. and i think i do not like portrayal of zoya as a girl who swoons seeing the skipper. i prefer the women in books to be strong characters who do swoon at times but that is not the only thing they do!
Patchwork Marriage2/5
written fairly well but not great. too much drama and tension. was waiting for it all to end soon. ok read. not one to lift ur mood up though.
The Sea of Monsters3/5
well written. sustained my interest until the end. will enjoy reading more in this series.
Tea for two and a piece of cake2/5
the writing is good. not very good. the storyline was again similar. good but not great. it was an ok read on the whole. some parts of the book were good.
Four Blind Mice2/5
not really my cup of tea. i do not like even this level of violence in my books. was written fairly well. and made me read up to the end. but i did not enjoy reading this book.
Catching Fire3/5
the best part about the book is the strong female protagonist. i am glad that this one became a hit, especially since twilight sets such a bad example for young women.
written well. good pace. interesting enough to make me stay up and finish it. but i do not think this book will stand the test of time.
The Help4/5
a very well written book. the characters are distinct. the plot keeps u reading upto the last page wondering how this is going to end. it has everything -style, suspense, emotions and above all, the author is a good storyteller who has found a great story to tell. wonderful.
Mistress: A Novel2/5
i had read this book a while ago. the writing is good. makes u read on. but i did not like the attitude of the characters who were artistic treating those who did not have artistic tastes as inferior people. maybe since i fall in the latter category!!
Mod
oops! sorry Smitha!. i saw ur review and remembered that i had read this book some time ago and added it to my list. i do remember i found information about kathakali very interesting, about how the disciples are trained etc.
Mod
Left from Dhakeshwari3/5
Not easy to write a review about a book when the author is someone you know.(even though only through a few conversations on goodreads!).
You wonder whether you should be totally honest or not.
I have decided to go with being honest as it helps the author and anyway, it is just my opinion.
It is an excellent book. Very well written. The writing style is lyrical. The characters come alive with his words. As you read, you become emotionally involved and you start hating that man K, you wonder what sort of a man S really is, you partly understand the anguish of F realising that you can never fully understand it,you sigh with R at the state of the marriage and how it has changed. Kunal lets you get into the head of all of his characters.
Now, for what i did not like about the book-the chart at the beginning of the book was blurred-was it deliberate? when i tried to decipher it at the end, it gave away a couple of twists in some stories. It may have been a good idea to include it at the end of the book rather than the beginning or if the plan was for it to be at the beginning, a clearer image would have been better. Although maybe it was just my copy of the book that had this blurred print?
I would have preferred the name of the short story I was reading to be at the top of the page so that I did not have to flip back a few pages to see what the title was while reading it- it was the title of the book in all the pages and the author's name.
Some short stories were too ambiguous. Too much left to the reader to surmise, especially the first few. I preferred the latter part of the book.
I hated reading one story. I think it is the concept of that short story that repelled me not the writing.
I think the author's next attempt should be a novel which I feel would suit his style more, with most loose ends tied up!!
I did enjoy reading this book. Just not all the short stories. But then, this is what I end up saying for nearly all short story collections!
Finally, I would definitely read all the books this author will publish in the future! Good luck Kunal!
Indian Readers
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