243 replies to this topic

[kullukid]

WonderWomanUSA, on Sep 21 2008, 04:26 PM, said:

I am enjoying ALL THE FISHES COME HOME TO ROOST by Rachel Manija Brown; an account of her growing up years at Meher Baba's ashram. I was always fascinated by Baba, whose motto was "Don't worry - Be happy!" but I never went looking for him.

Sounds interesting, i'll have to find a copy.
He was a dead ringer for Frank Zappa & they even had the same philosophy......."Don't worry - Be happy!" KK

[vijayakumar]

yeh your content is so much I can't read it now.but I like tree.


-------------
vijai

sreevysh

[iwanttogoback]

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Finished Rohinton Mistry's Such A Long Journey...was not greatly impressed. His A Fine Balance was far better.

i much preferred 'such a long journey', i felt it had a sense of gentleness and perhaps even love that 'a fine balance' was missing. i'm not sure enjoy is how i would describe 'a fine balance', but i am glad i read it. i found it quite confronting, but it also helped me understand a period of india's history a little better. and he does write so very well.

[Shilpaks]

read unaccoustmed earth and sea of poppies in the time i havent logged into the tree...
rite now wanted a no brainer so reading absolute power by david baldacci (quite a page turner i must say) and bridget jones (2nd book- had seen the movie, havent read the book)...next on the list is one of the booker shortlists - the white tiger

[KABAARY]

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kabaary have u already read "family matters"??

I was gratified to be able to answer her promptly and I did. I said "No".

[priya]

Just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I couldn't put down. Khaled Hosseini writes beautifully and manages to draw you right into situations, however unpleasant. Written by a male from a female perspective, has endeared me even more to this author, with his sensitivity to the difficulties faced by women/girls in Afghanistan.

I do hope I can get hold of Kite Runner.

I'm about to start Two Lives by Vikram Seth - Any thoughts on this memoir?

A book of a totally different genre was The Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay, written in true Australian lingo gripping in its own way as you become familiar with each member of this family through good times and bad.

An extract from the book.......

here.

[iwanttogoback]

yes, i've read it, and, yes, it's excellent.

i've recently finished amitav ghosh's 'sea of poppies' - it's got to be one of the best books i've read for quite a while. a great story wonderfully told, and his characters speak the most wonderful language, especially the british in india who have the most marvellous pidgin. i'm so glad it's the first of a trilogy, but a little disappointed that i'll have to wait a year or two for the next one.

currently reading 'brick lane' - so far, so good.

[priya]

I thoroughly enjoyed Brick Lane. I know Judi didn't, but wwusa did. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I hope you enjoy it as much as I.

[jyotirmoy]

Finished reading The sea of Poppies, started Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

[priya]

I finished reading Shantaram last weekend, and although there've been mixed reviews for this book, I really found it an exciting read and didn't want it to finish.

I've just started Not Without My Sister - the true story of three girls born into The Children of God cult. Has anyone else read this book?

[iwanttogoback]

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Finished reading The sea of Poppies

i loved that, and am looking forward to the next two. what did you think?

priya, i'm afraid that i never finished 'brick lane', it just wasn't doing it for me.

[Shilpaks]

jyotida wat did u think of half of a yellow sun...same author's purple hibiscus is supposed to be better.

currently reading tha man from pakistan - true story of the world's most dangerous nuclear smuggler- very interesting read and scary at the same time to read how easily countries get nuclear technology and components in the international black market

[jyoti]

iwanttogoback, on Jan 30 2009, 06:19 AM, said:

...i'm so glad it's the first of a trilogy, but a little disappointed that i'll have to wait a year or two for the next one.

I didn't know that!! I really enjoyed reading it, but was so sad with the ending as it wasn't really resolved. I figured it was another Kiran Desai end-at-a-weird-place-and-let-the-reader-figure-it-out! I'm so excited to hear there's more!

I'm almost embarrassed to admit I just read the first three of the "Twilight" series. There are some points where it's fairly juvenile and it's clear the target audience is high schoolers. But I have enjoyed them so far as some light reading.

I'm enjoying being back home with all my old books, and browsing through my Dickinson again. Now to decide which 40 pounds of books gets to go with me this time.

Edited by jyoti, 02 April 2009 - 10:53 PM.

[jyotirmoy]

Dear Shilpa,
I am enjoying yellow sun, haven't read purple hibiscus yet.

[priya]

Amitav Ghosh Website for those interested. Pretty impressive.

[cyberhippie]

I recently read A Fine Balance, yeah I know years behind the times as usual but what a beautifully written book.
A great story with believable characters, though ending was a bit strange and needed a little thinking about.

It's now my fav book from India, knocking my long time favourite Third Class Ticket off the number one spot.

Priya after the success of Slumdog Millionaire there's a good chance they'll go ahead and actually shoot the movie version of Shantaram.
Personally I loved the book, like I used to love Wilbur Smith as a kid.

[cyberhippie]

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currently reading tha man from pakistan - true story of the world's most dangerous nuclear smuggler- very interesting read and scary at the same time to read how easily countries get nuclear technology and components in the international black market

Shilpaks, this was in part the fault of the CIA, The Dutch secret service had him in their sights and were on the point of arresting him, they were told not to by the CIA, they wanted to see who he was dealing with. He went back to Pakistan shortly aftwerwards and the rest is history.

Nothing malevolent from the CIA but a big blunder indeed.

Is this covered in the book at all????

[WonderWomanUSA]

iwanttogoback, on Jan 30 2009, 04:19 AM, said:

i've recently finished amitav ghosh's 'sea of poppies' - it's got to be one of the best books i've read for quite a while. a great story wonderfully told, and his characters speak the most wonderful language, especially the british in india who have the most marvellous pidgin. i'm so glad it's the first of a trilogy, but a little disappointed that i'll have to wait a year or two for the next one.

.

If you liked the language in SEA OF POPPIES, see if you can find a copy of John Barth's THE SOTWEED FACTOR, which is often very funny -- a novel about tobacco growers in the then-colony of Virginia.

[iwanttogoback]

thanks for the tip wwusa.

[Shilpaks]

cyberhippie, on Apr 4 2009, 06:13 PM, said:

Shilpaks, this was in part the fault of the CIA, The Dutch secret service had him in their sights and were on the point of arresting him, they were told not to by the CIA, they wanted to see who he was dealing with. He went back to Pakistan shortly aftwerwards and the rest is history.

Nothing malevolent from the CIA but a big blunder indeed.

Is this covered in the book at all????

yes CH this book covers all that and much more...it seems like a well researched book. and especially relevant right now considering the korea launch et all.