I just purchased Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa. The movie Earth was based on this. Anyone read it?
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Book Recommendations!
Started by fromusawithluv, May 04 2006 09:52 AM
243 replies to this topic
#42
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Posted 21 July 2006 - 10:10 AM
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?
"Strange travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God." -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
#43
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Posted 21 July 2006 - 12:12 PM
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
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
#44
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Posted 21 July 2006 - 02:49 PM
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.
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.
#45
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Posted 21 July 2006 - 02:53 PM
'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.
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.
It's better to light a candle than complain about the darkness
#46
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Posted 21 July 2006 - 02:59 PM
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?
You're not going to leave a glowing review of 'The God Of Small Things', then?
#47
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Posted 22 July 2006 - 10:29 PM
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
#48
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Posted 23 July 2006 - 11:20 AM
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.
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.
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"
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
#49
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Posted 23 July 2006 - 12:40 PM
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
Most FUN book was the desi cult instant classic "One night at the Call Centre" Hilarious
#50
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Posted 23 July 2006 - 12:48 PM
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
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
#51
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Posted 24 July 2006 - 01:15 AM
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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.
#52
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Posted 24 July 2006 - 02:46 AM
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!
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
#53
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Posted 24 July 2006 - 04:29 AM
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You're not going to leave a glowing review of 'The God Of Small Things', then?
#54
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Posted 24 July 2006 - 01:42 PM
Amitav Ghosh - The Circle Of Reason
A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return.
(S. R.)
(S. R.)
#55
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Posted 26 July 2006 - 06:56 PM
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.
#56
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Posted 27 July 2006 - 10:54 AM
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
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.
"Strange travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God." -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
#57
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Posted 05 February 2007 - 05:29 PM
'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.
just is.
#58
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Posted 05 February 2007 - 07:48 PM
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!
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!
It's better to light a candle than complain about the darkness
#59
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Posted 06 February 2007 - 01:30 AM
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!
#60
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Posted 06 February 2007 - 02:28 AM
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!
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
