243 replies to this topic

[fromusawithluv]

Tell us what you have read, reading, planning to read and whether you would recommend them.

IM has some GREAT great archived posts, so I consider this thread as a continuation.

Just finished reading:

Meditation: The First and Last Freedom (A Practical Guide to Meditation) – OSHO. This book has many different methods of meditating. You can randomly open the book to any one according to what appeals to you.

Nature Cure for Common Diseases - Vithaldas Modi - a reference for practicing naturapathy. I believe Mahatma Gandhi was heavily involved with naturapathy with his own experiences and experiments.

Currently reading:

May You be the Mother of a Hundred Sons – Elisabeth Bumiller – just started it…it’s about a journalist traveling in India, writing about women in India. a travelogue! So far, so good! still reading it...

Hindi For Non-Hindi Speaking People – Kavita Kumar – VERY GOOD BOOK! This book is easy to follow. Highly recommend it anyone interested in learning the language, as it teaches grammar, vocabulary, and has different types of literature in the back to practice reading (e.g. recipes to letters)


Will read:

The Zahir – Paul Coehlo (loved The Alchemist!!)

Kalki series – Ponniyin Selvan – translated by C.V. Karthik Narayanan

The Red Carpet - Lavanya Sankaran

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything – Steven D. Levitt

Women Who Run with the Wolves - Clarissa Pinkola Phd Estes

will have to check out your recommendations too! I love this forum!!

Past Reads that I would recommend:

Lord of the Rings – Tolkien – Beautiful! Even more beautiful, as I was listening to the movie soundtrack while reading!

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini – Very emotional, touching, funny, devastating, and realistic. Highly recommend it!

The Princess – Jean Sasson – I found this book in the feminist section at the Landmark. There are reasons why it was probably in that section justifiably. This book is the first of (3) in the series about the life (behind the curtains so to speak) of Saudi Arabian women – specially of the Royal Family. Although, it’s a fiction, the facts pertain to real events. There is even a time line in the appendix detailing the history of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It even accounts the relationship between O.B. laden and the royal family. Very chilling to still think about it. Highly recommend this book too! I have yet to read the 2nd and 3rd book: Daughters of Arabia and Desert Royal, respectively.

Iyer Weddings -P.K. Ravindranath - Gorgeous illustrations of a typical Iyer wedding from beginning to end. It goes into depth why certain rituals are still practiced, what the meanings are of each of them. Lovely!

Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger – Classic!!

King of Torts, A Time to Kill - John Grisham: Both good reads! A Time to Kill..literally took a time to kill! That book was a bit boring right after the beginning with emphasis in a lot of details..I wanted to read a “fast” read when I first got it… Then it got really good in the middle and end! Still haven’t seen the movie!

All of the Alex Cross series of James Patterson (well, except I haven’t read his newest one just out) – his books are fast reads and thrillers!

Memoirs of a Geisha –Arthur Golden- LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT!! I read it several years ago, and I wouldn’t mind reading it over again. Highly recommend it! I think the movie just came out.

The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri – Very good read!

Fasting, Feasting – Anita Desai – Great Read! Almost makes you want to shake one of the characters to do something to change her destined life!!

You Can Heal Your Life – Louise L. Hay – A great self-help book! A reference to take with you on your travels!
_________________
Om Shanti

[Yashodhara]

1) My alltime favorite: Salman Rushdie's MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN
2) Always intelligent and very funny: T.C. Boyle's DROP CITY
3) Passionate storytelling: John Irving's A SON OF THE CIRCUS

[retiredchutney]

reading three simultaneously ~


Open Secrets - India's Intelligence Unveiled By Maloy Krishna Dhar

Rude Food - Collected Food Writings of Vir Sanghvi

Awaken Bharata - A Call for India's Rebirth By David Frawley (Vamdeva Shastry)


just finished

A Carnatic Summer - Lives of Twenty Great Exponents By V Sriram

good book with interesting tidbits about musicians in the carnatic music genre


next in line!

Eminent Historians - Their Line, Their Fraud By Arun Shourie

Indian Muslims: Where have they gone wrong By Rafiq Zakaria

[Vibhu Jindal]

Hei GC
how r u
good to see you here too
I want able to read ur last 2 messages as the site closed down before I could read them
ru in Mumbai ..........r u coming to IM/CS meet on 6th may

[WonderWomanUSA]

Vikram Seth never fails to entertain me. His newest book, TWO LIVES, is a double biography of the uncle and auntie with whom he spent holidays while in school in England. I was hoping this would be another book about India, but in fact, it's about World War II and not at all fiction. A very interesting and powerful book!

Another new-ish book I liked was THE HUNGRY TIDE by Amitav Ghosh. It takes place in the Sundarbans and is so well written...

[iwanttogoback]

wwusa - I read both of those recently and found them both wonderful. thoroughly recommended.

[Leet Devil]

A few of my favorite books

1) Wheel of time Series by Robert Jordan

2) Malazan Book of the Fallen Series by Steven Erikson

3) Song of Ice and Fire Series by G R R Martin

4) Riftwar Saga by Raymond E Feist

5) Icewind Dale Trilogy by R A Salvatore

6) Shannara Series by Terry Brooks


Currently Reading
The Shadow Matrix ( Darkover Series ) by Marion Zimmer Bradley

[Judi]

WonderWomanUSA, on May 5 2006, 04:48 AM, said:

Vikram Seth never fails to entertain me. His newest book, TWO LIVES, is a double biography of the uncle and auntie with whom he spent holidays while in school in England. I was hoping this would be another book about India, but in fact, it's about World War II and not at all fiction. A very interesting and powerful book!

Another new-ish book I liked was THE HUNGRY TIDE by Amitav Ghosh. It takes place in the Sundarbans and is so well written...

I bought THE HUNGRY TIDE at the airport before flying out to India last December. We were staying in Kolkata and the, a couple of days after my finishing the book, we took the train down to Canning and hired a boatman to take us out on the river for a couple of hours. It completely blew me away - both the book and the trip. Poor Mr Judi wondered why I was so quiet on the boat trip ....... little did he know I was re-living complete scenes from The Hungry Tide in my thoughts!

[Casey]

The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh is so well researched and written that it is worth the time it takes to get into it. It started off slow and just reeled me in, like a good book should!

Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh is a well written mystery (sort of) and a conspiricy lovers dream.

Number 9 Dream, Cloud Atlas, Ghostwritten all by David Mitchell, although not for those who like a straightforward narrative. I loved them all.

[Judi]

WonderWomanUSA, on May 5 2006, 04:48 AM, said:

Vikram Seth never fails to entertain me. His newest book, TWO LIVES, is a double biography of the uncle and auntie with whom he spent holidays while in school in England. I was hoping this would be another book about India, but in fact, it's about World War II and not at all fiction. A very interesting and powerful book!

Another new-ish book I liked was THE HUNGRY TIDE by Amitav Ghosh. It takes place in the Sundarbans and is so well written...

I bought THE HUNGRY TIDE at the airport before flying out to India last December. We were staying in Kolkata and the, a couple of days after my finishing the book, we took the train down to Canning and hired a boatman to take us out on the river for a couple of hours. It completely blew me away - both the book and the trip. Poor Mr Judi wondered why I was so quiet on the boat trip ....... little did he know I was re-living complete scenes from The Hungry Tide in my thoughts!

[Casey]

I also bought the Hungry Tide in Calcutta but I brought it home to Canada to read. I just finished and loved The Glass Palace so I am waiting to read a Hungry Tide because I don't want to read all his books at once but I know it will be great.

[Serena]

Just finished "Mistress" by Anita Nair , enchanting story of a Khatakali dancer, his nephew, her husband and the "other".
"Shantaram": don't need explanation (really love it , more the first part of the book).

Next will be "The hero's walk" by A.Rau Badami. I will report you soon...

[WonderWomanUSA]

Judi, on May 5 2006, 03:15 AM, said:

I bought THE HUNGRY TIDE at the airport before flying out to India last December.

Ghosh's books are great for travelling; I bought THE GLASS PALACE at the Amsterdam train station, some years ago, to read on a plane!

[jyotirmoy]

Judi, on May 5 2006, 10:17 AM, said:

I bought THE HUNGRY TIDE at the airport before flying out to India last December. We were staying in Kolkata and the, a couple of days after my finishing the book, we took the train down to Canning and hired a boatman to take us out on the river for a couple of hours. It completely blew me away - both the book and the trip. Poor Mr Judi wondered why I was so quiet on the boat trip ....... little did he know I was re-living complete scenes from The Hungry Tide in my thoughts!

Yes the Hungry tide is a great read. Have you read The Shadow Lines? You will find the Kolkata I write about there... those days & those times.... & ofcourse those people....

[wanderingkat]

MUST READS:

The Diceman - Luke Rhinehart
The Magus - John Fowles

FAVES:

The Red Tent - Anita Diamant [one for the girls: the story of the women in [biblical] Jacob's family]

L'Amande - Nedjma [A Muslim woman's sexual awakening in 60's Morocco]

A Fez of the Heart: Travels around Turkey in search of a Hat - Jeremy Seal [History of Modern Turkey, based around the story of the Fez and it's banning in 1925]

Indian FAVES:

Ascetic of Desire - Sudhir Kakar [fictional account of the life of Vatsyayana, author of the Kama Sutra. Fictional because nobody knows exactly when/how he lived, but I'd like to think it's historically well-researched and accurate]

City of Djinns - William Dalrymple [think we've all read it, but for anyone who hasn't - a must before visiting Delhi]

Karma Cola - Gita Mehta [recommended by Dr Funk. A great look into the spiritual casualties of India, and a good read for first-timers to India who are going for spiritual reasons: would give them insight into "the other side of the story" before attempting to find enlightenment]

[Casey]

One of the biggest regret I have is that I didn't listen to my instinct and pick up a whole bunch of books and have them sent back home. The bookstore in Darjeerling had quite a colloction of books at amazing prices. I was planning on doing this and then I got sick and never made it back there. Perhaps someone could help me, there was a non-fiction book on child sexual abuse/incest that was written by a woman. If I saw the title, I would know it. I really wanted to pick this one up (as well as about 100 others) and now I am unable to remember the title. It was a recent publication. Avid readers, do not make the same mistake I did. If you read a lot, and have overwhelming problems returning books to the library, send some home.

[jyotirmoy]

Never lend the books you love.... & likewise never return the books you loved...

Have any one of you read Three men in a boat by Jerome K Jerome? One of the most hillarious one I have ever read & to think of that he wrote only two novels both are classical stuff. Dont read them in public places tho !!!!

[wanderingkat]

Casey, on May 7 2006, 06:26 PM, said:

Perhaps someone could help me, there was a non-fiction book on child sexual abuse/incest that was written by a woman. If I saw the title, I would know it. I really wanted to pick this one up (as well as about 100 others) and now I am unable to remember the title. It was a recent publication.

Casey, it couldn't be One Child by Torey Hayden, could it? I know that's not actually a recent publication, but it has been re-released recently......

[BlueRose]

The poetry of Gary Snyder who is a zen buddhist, one of the "beat" poets and active environmentalists. He also recieved the pulitzer for "Turtle Island". I love his collection "Mountains and Rivers without end...

"Winter Dance" by Gary Paulsen, It is about the iditorod...

The poetry of Mary Oliver, (ok that is what being an English lit student did for me` I love poetry)

books by Wallace Stegnar like "Crossing to Safety" or Angle of Repose" authors like Steinbeck, T. Morisson, and another fave.. The House made of Dawn" by N. Scott Momaday. They are all American contemporary and or American classics.


These are just a few I am thinking of. Does anyone know about a book by an author named Lacksman Gakywad?? I hope I wrote it down right. I was told about a book he wrote and have wanted to get it since.

[WonderWomanUSA]

>>I love his collection "Mountains and Rivers without end... <<

And I love "Cold Mountain" -- though I can't stand to listen to Snyder read his own stuff. He gets that sing-song voice and it drives me nutz!