topic change - current reading lists

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topic change - current reading lists

Okay so i think we need a change in topic, so I thought I'd pose a question that's routinely asked of the members of this village every now and again:

What's on your current reading list?

Right now it's Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Rushdie (a friend recommended it to me after reading something I was working on), Justine: Book I of the Alexandria Quartet, by Laurence Durrell, The Corrections, by Franzen, a Model World and Other Stories, by Michael Chabon, and other collections of short stories. I'm enjoying Chabon's collection most right now. Anyone who knows something about south asian politics and the conflict in Kashmir will enjoy Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

I'm expecting a delivery today from amazon.com. Some interesting titles:

The Ruling Caste, Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj, by David Gilmour, a new nonfiction on the imperial days of India

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami

The Siege of Krishnapur, an classic I'm told by J.G. Farrell

and,

Two Mules for Sister Sara, a DVD of a Clint Eastwood western with Shirley McClaine...hubba hubba...Clint's so dreamy...

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yeah it was an autobiography sort of..growin up during china's cultural revolution..the 'ideals' of communism etc, demonstrating human frailty and strength back to back in my opinion. It's gd to know someone else has read it...hehe

hey azalea, insightful reading list. I think wild swans was biography/autobio....no? either way it was an eyeopener.

izmael, I still haven't gotten a chance to read the article you linked. but you're right, I probably would approve!

has anyone read family matters by rohinton mistry? I just finished it and would love to hear others' thoughts.

ok
seriously?heh i m into fiction..otherwise biographies...but has digressed to relationship books
so in no particular order

1) clockwork orange Anthony Burgess(for the interweaving of superb subculture language)
2) 1984 George Orwell
3) A brave new world Aldous Huxley
4) The Alchemist PAulo Coelho
5) Wild Swans Jung Chang
6) The Curse of the Single's Table Suzanne Schlosberg (for a touch of humour)
7) Theo's Odyssey Catherine Clement

k...that's what i thought, sipa...

I read about 50 pages of 'Among the believers' some years ago and gave up. He seemed to go out of his way to find the most negative of Muslims and then uses what they say to generalize all Muslim actions. It wasn't even done in an intelligent way so I gave up.

azalea: what would be your top recommendation then?

sipa: i'll check that out. i was at the bookstore and came across "Among the Believers," by naipaul. he created his own travelogue through the islamic world in what seemed to be a negative view. ever hear of it? i've never been a fan of naipaul - tried reading one of his books years ago, couldn't get through it.

I'm reading Bound for Canaan. It's a history of the Underground Railroad.

Ibn Batutah is always quoted in loads of history text about Southeast Asia to give support for certain hypothesis...even though he traveled beyond that...but his account was so important to piece certain missing links...definitely a gd recommendation.

Current Read now :
The Number Devil : A Mathematical Adventure
by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Halfway through...so far so gd although not tops in my recommendation list. It's just fascinating to realise how we've complicated matters when things cld be so simple...n lol yeah how we breath maths everyday of our lives and takin it for granted...all this thru a child's dreams...using chewing gums etc as examples.

a mix of fact and fiction

There is a book called 'Travels with a Tangerine' by Tim Mackinstosh-Smith in which a journalist retraces the footsteps on Ibn Battutah through all the countries that he travelled and contrasts the ancient Islamic world with the new. Fascinating read

cosmi: this is a challenging, good read: www.newyorker.com

i'm sure rahat would agree...

rahat: i meant 'the elephant vanishes'...i think the elephant on the cover is white, and so i always think it's called 'the white elephant vanishes'...which would be a cooler title.

rahat: the white elephant vanishes and all of his new yorker publications, and kafka on the shore...that's off the top of my head...oh, except the most recent new yorker (feb 13th issue). i didn't read his piece in that. the new yorker messed up my subscription and i missed it! those bastards.

the wind up bird chronicle was goood. have you read his others?

especially when the world is conjured by historians of today ;)

wow! that's pretty amazing. i'm always interested in texts that give you an ethnographic glimpse into other worlds...

yes he was. he travelled rougly the same time as marco polo. Whos journals i thought were very interesting only because he was so european his sights and thoughts were intreesting. But i wasnt very impressed.

Now Ibn batutah, his anecdotes and experinces are very very detailed. As a muslim explorer you truly feel the way islamic world was back then. We hear about late night gatherings around the prophets grave, of QU'ran recitals and of Goodwill around the entire empire that only makes you wish you lived in 1000ad in jerusalem or baghdad.

Ibn Batutah died the same year Christopher columbus was financed to go find the new world.

afaq: how is 'the travels of ib battutah'? he was the east's marco polo, no?

kapa: i'll have to check it out.

im reading,

the travels of iba battutah,
ghazali : the rememberence of death and after life
count of monte cristo

Village Journals Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.

topic change - current reading lists

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Village Journals

Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.