[Casey]

I just purchased Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa. The movie Earth was based on this. Anyone read it?

[WonderWomanUSA]

I am currently reading Vikram Chandra's RED EARTH AND POURING RAIN; it's got a lot of details, but is quite well put together. Has anyone else here read it?

[sonomama]

I read LOVE AND LONGING IN Bombay, a collection of short stories, by this writer a few years back, and I liked his subtle way (he has a very good eye for subtle nuances of emotion and other details) to describe human characters. I haven't read RED EARTH... yet. Is it a novel?

OK, it's a novel (I've checked it on Amazon). Looks like it has an interesting sturcture, going back and forth in time and space. I'll try and check its content on Amazon. Thank you wwusa!

Sonomama

[YETI]

Anyone here read 'Maximum City'? I keep reading very favorable things about it.

Some of my favourite books:

1984 - George Orwell
Money - Martin Amis
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory / Complicity. Both deeply sick and twisted. I worry about how much I like these books, I really do.

About India:

City Of Djinns / The Age Of Kali - William Dalrymple
Karma Cola / Snakes And Ladders - Gita Mehta (my favourite Indian writer - she's even more cynical than me!)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie. The only book of his that I've ever liked. It's a kid's story - that probably speaks volumes about me, doesn't it?
Train To Pakistan - Khushwant Singh
Are You Experienced? - William Sutcliffe. Makes me cry laughing every time I read it.

[Judi]

'Maximum City' is brilliant!

I found it hard going on occasions, I must confess, but riveting most of the time. Knowing your taste in literature ( ) I think you will love it.

btw, don't buy it in hardback - it's a killer on the wrists.

[YETI]

Cheers, Judi. I'll give it a go, then.

You're not going to leave a glowing review of 'The God Of Small Things', then?

[robinsparrow]

Guess my favorites are defintely

1. Shantaram about the Australian prisoner in Bombay....though towards the end of this 900+pages I found it was getting a bit slow.

2. The Legacy and sequel The Talisman or maybe its reverse....anyway they are about gypsies...author is Lynda LaPlante........really good.



robinsparrow

[dzibead]

Dr Funkenstein, on Jul 21 2006, 02:19 AM, said:

Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory / Complicity. Both deeply sick and twisted. I worry about how much I like these books, I really do.

The Crow Road, one of Iain Banks' more "normal" books is one of my fave's ... and BBC Scotland did an excellent four-hour dramatization of it!

Dr Funkenstein, on Jul 21 2006, 02:19 AM, said:

About India:

City Of Djinns / The Age Of Kali - William Dalrymple [YES!]
Karma Cola / Snakes And Ladders - Gita Mehta (my favourite Indian writer - she's even more cynical than me!)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie. The only book of his that I've ever liked. It's a kid's story - that probably speaks volumes about me, doesn't it?
Train To Pakistan - Khushwant Singh
Are You Experienced? - William Sutcliffe. Makes me cry laughing every time I read it.

These posts make me realize how far behind I am in my "Indian reading"

[Bijapuri]

best book I read in 2005 was Shalimar the Clown. Not another bad-0acid book of Rushdie's earlier stuff. I also read Hungry Tide, Maximum City and Shantaram last year, and IMHO it beat them all, fine tomes that they are.

Most FUN book was the desi cult instant classic "One night at the Call Centre" Hilarious

[dzibead]

Bijapuri, on Jul 23 2006, 12:10 AM, said:

Most FUN book was the desi cult instant classic "One night at the Call Centre" Hilarious

This one is on my list, along with a bunch of Byomkesh Bakshi mysteries. What can I say, I'm a lightweight.

[YETI]

Quote

The Crow Road, one of Iain Banks' more "normal" books is one of my fave's ... and BBC Scotland did an excellent four-hour dramatization of it!

Yep, The Crow Road's a cracker. I missed the TV programme of it, sadly - a lot of people have recommended it to me since.

[dzibead]

Dr Funkenstein, on Jul 23 2006, 12:45 PM, said:

Yep, The Crow Road's a cracker. I missed the TV programme of it, sadly - a lot of people have recommended it to me since.

I got it on video. Must be available on DVD now, too. Well worth searching out. I love that part of Scotland anyway, so it was doubly fun to watch!

[Casey]

Quote

You're not going to leave a glowing review of 'The God Of Small Things', then?

I think Shantaram is my God of Small Things.

[Yashodhara]

Amitav Ghosh - The Circle Of Reason

[YETI]

Casey, on Jul 24 2006, 04:29 AM, said:

I think Shantaram is my God of Small Things.

Yeah, I'm with you on that, too.

A pretty good story but interspersed with some of the worst pseudo-intellectual claptrap I've ever read. See also The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. So bad I had to read it right to the end to see if it could get any worse.

Incredibly, it did.

[WonderWomanUSA]

robinsparrow, on Jul 22 2006, 09:59 AM, said:

The Legacy and sequel The Talisman or maybe its reverse....anyway they are about gypsies...author is Lynda LaPlante........really good.
robinsparrow

Lynda LaPlante used to write for some American TV crime show; she's a very good writer. I haven't read the ones you mentioned, but have read several of her police novels and they were excellent.

[iwanttogoback]

'the alchemy of desire' by tarun j tejpal. i'm about half way through and loving it. when i'm finished i'll post a proper review, but just for now wanted to say how good it is and to recommend it.

[Judi]

I have just finished reading (or re-reading in some cases) the following books by M M Kaye:

The Sun in the Morning
Golden Afternoon
Enchanted Evening

They are the autobiography of Molly Kaye, who was born in India in 1909 and lived there (almost exclusively) until the end of the British Raj. Unpopulist and 'politically incorrect' as the subject is seen to be these days, these books give a fascinating account of the 'other India' i.e. the one inhabited by Anglo-Indians (in its' original sense), and of Molly's life there. She and her family clearly love India deeply, but this is a very much 'warts and all' account of those who loved and served this magnificent country, and of those who merely took what they could get.

Not what most people on here would read, I guess, but I wouldn't have missed these books for anything!

[cyberhippie]

Goodness The Crow Road was set in my back yard!! I enjoyed it too. He went to the same school as me (Ian Banks) nowhere near where the book is centered!

[dzibead]

cyberhippie, on Feb 5 2007, 12:00 PM, said:

Goodness The Crow Road was set in my back yard!! I enjoyed it too. He went to the same school as me (Ian Banks) nowhere near where the book is centered!

Did you see the BBC Scotland production? It was really well done. I LOVE that part of Scotland ... well, I like all of Scotland, actually ... ancestral homeland and all that ... but the West is particularly appealing to me.

I've been reading "Begums, Thugs and White Mughals," a collection of excerpts from the journals of Fanny Parkes edited by William Dalrymple. Fascinating! She lived in India for about 25 years in the first half of the 19th century and was anything but the stereotypical memsahib!