I might try it again then BM. I love the title and I want to read it but the mind is weak at the moment...

Intell, I was hooked by Atonement - and I'd not read McEwan before. Saturday is actually sitting upstairs so I may begin that at the weekend. However, I did intend to read 'The people's book of love' by James Meek. And then 'Birds without wings' by Louis Deberniere (recommended by a friend's boyf who has equally boring geopolitical/fiction interests as me - I'm kind of obsessed with Turkey at the moment).

I loved Maps for Lost Lovers. It's quite a layered book with poetry, intrigue and also an honest look at islamic fundamentalism and immigrant society's double standards. A really mature book that I wanted to keep on reading.

Shazia, I've heard so much about Ian McEwan. Looks like I might have to read Atonement for myself. So I suppose you havent got round to reading 'Saturday' yet but that it will prob be on your reading list too!

(BTW if you're still about it's LOGG tonight - check into Ladies Only village for details). I'm off now.

I haven't even read 'Maps for Lost Lovers' though I did attempt to. Was a bit difficult to get into so I left it for another time.

I read Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake' and that was very good indeed. I really enjoyed it and didn't want it to finish. Also, I am probably the last person in the world to have read it but I finished 'Atonement' by Ian McEwan - brilliant!

Shazia, I havent read Londonstani... I havent even read Maps for Lost Lovers yet... another one in my pile of books to read... But next I'm going to read 'Fear and Trembling' by Amelie Nothomb which I picked up. I quite like books that illustrate subtle and not so subtle culture clashes and cultural idiosyncrisies, this one is about a western girl who goes to work in Japan.

Banglamom! I need to pick that book up again...I think what i find so unappealing about it is that I really don't like this geeky character Arjun! I dont much like the other characters either... though I do feel sorry for this chap... is his name 'Guy'? who is on the brink of losing everything including his girlfriend...

I've very nearly finished 'The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind Reading Monster and his Wonderful Love and Terrible Hatred'. Girls you should read this book, it brings up all kinds of stuff like corruption in the church, the degradation of society, social intolerances, psychological nuances etc etc

I'm reading Transmission right now - have to say, he's a fantastic writer and it's quite a good book. Mean to finish it soon and write a review. Which writer are you talking about Shazia04 - no idea out here in the boonies. :)

it was very odd and surreal but nevertheless, a v good book. i haven't read his latest.

have you read 'Londonstani' or the other Brit-Asian one by that guy who is Liz Jones' husband (horribly sexist vile man)?

Goodness me, you know i quite forgot about the expedition! I think i'd like to read it again now...

dreamtime in australia - when the expedition was stuck...

Hmmm... I'll have to revisit it to see what was weird about it... I can't remember if there was anything that struck me at the time... Shazia, tell me what you thought was odd about it, maybe it'll rejog my memory! I remember the beginning being strange, it was written in a kind of melodramatic/poetic way which was different to the rest of the book... Infact, when I read it, I could almost hear a drum being struck for dramatic effect in the recesses of my consciousness.. Maybe then ending went back into that tempo, I cant remember... hmmmm

I didn't mean that end Intelligence, my fault, I should have been more specific. I meant the very end, when he is in Australia - that gets more than weird. And while I see where it is going and why, it's very odd

Salaams Shazia, I disagree. The end when he is at college in England (wasnt it Oxbridge?) was one of the best parts of the book. By this time he has completely dispelled his Indian roots. He's reinvented himself and fits in with his peers (all white) perfectly. He meets a beautiful girl and is the interest of her affection for a while. He has everything he wants and then that awful twist of fate kicks him in the liver again... where his beautiful girlfriend demonstrates her wild side by daring to go out with someone who is black, by telling him that she is bored with this superficial life that she and her friends live, by stating to him that there is a 'whole other world out there' (the world he well knows and has tried to leave behind). He wants to tell her all about his past, he wants to tell her about his roots, about how wrong she is about him and about how right he is for her because of the fact that he is not like the others..l. and yet, if he does tell her, it compromises everything, he will have lived a lie and she would have felt betrayed by it, perhaps. It's so very, very sad. Pitiful infact that he has found a woman who would actually dare to take him for who he is (a half-breed indian) and yet he does not want to rake up that past of his because it would destroy everything he has. So he is destined to live a life as an 'impressionist', giving the impression he is something that he knows deep down he is not... how painful to have to keep up an act all the time, even if it has become second nature and to feel that no-one would accept you for what you truly are. It was a bit of a tragedy really...

I still love this book!

I will read Sophie's World at some point :)

I really enjoyed this but it really lost the plot at the end. It just went into stratospheric weird - anyone agree?

Sophie's World is fantastic, absolutely brilliant. The beginning was a little slow but it raced along after that. There's an excellent book called "Theo's Odyssey" (Catherine Clement) which is the religion-version of Sophie's World - again, very good.

I've started to read "Snow" by Pamuk but then put it down again and now I can't muster up the will to pick it up again...

thanks y'all. check out the new JE I'll be writing in the next few minutes.

BM: sophie's world

Intelligence - I've been hearing that about the God of Small things recently...and I can't say I agree completely. What did occur for me with the language being so poetic is it just drew me in, and she was so inventive with the games the twins played - she really did capture that very well. Some of the nostalgic elements hit home for me as well. I guess one has to get off on the language because the story sort of reveals its turning points and surprises almost too quietly. They implode for me each time I read it. I like that subtlety that she uses. Then again, I tend to look at stories from the point of view of effect - and I feel the story has a devastating effect overall.

It is incenstuous between the twins at the end - sadly so.
but then again it is about loss of chldhood innocence and all that.

I confess - it is my favorite book. :) And it always good to hear another person's opinion - the next time I browse it, I'll keep it in mind.

Have you read the Accidental by Ali Smith? I heard mixed reviews. It's another one I've got waiting.

I'm reading about Arjun again - Kunzru is funny in a very understated way - still at the beginning. Trying to see what the hoo-haa is about. Will keep you posted.

Have too much to read!! My name is Red looked awesome when I flipped through it - can't wait, esp since its meant to be a comment on current political issues.

Smilla is definitely a great read - up there in my top 5, I'd have to say. Take care.

Banglamom, oh gosh, 'God of Small Things' was really quite disappointing I must confess. I had such high hopes for that book. AR seemed to get lost in a kind of poetic language at points where it told us less of the story and just fulfilled her interest in language. I felt like the style just kept shifting and I couldnt define a clear voice in her writing. There was something incestuous about the brother/sister relationship that developed and I felt that was so unneccesary and there was no point to it at all. I dont know what she was trying to say really...

How funny, we've got a few of the same books on our shelves! I've got 'My Name is Red' to read too. I've only flicked through it but I love the way the book's been split up into those little chapters, each person or something telling a different part of the tale. It looks very clever. I dont know why I havent read it yet... 'Smilla's sense of (for?) snow' is another one that I'm sure I have somewhere! Well after the review that you just gave, I should dig that one out and have a read :)

I think the book title you were looking for is 'Sophie's World'... I've come across this so many times and there is something that really puts me off it, probably just the bookcover lol

Oh and very well put, I think that's definately one of the things about Transmission where the story seems stunted so often and it seems like nothing much is happening or if it is, we seem to be uninvolved or uninterested in it. I found that to be true with the first chapter of The Impressionist but then the narritive gets so interesting that it is hard to predict what will happen next and that's what gets you involved really. I think it helps that we had some feeling for the protagonist in The Impressionist, felt a bit sorry for him... Whereas I dont have such feelings for Arjun at all!

BTW I picked up Transmission last night - it's the language that's so distracting for me - he's got an unusual style that almost keeps the action from moving forward. I find myself re-reading sentences to enjoy them and totally forgetting where I am in the story.

I had the same problem with God of Small Things when I first read it - but her style just meant that I read it twice - once for the story and then a second time just for the language.