[subraiyr]

Too much work in the last few months and not enough time to read. I stumbled on a couple of authors - Vince Flynn & Brad Thor and maybe I should have just jerked the noose around my neck harder. Also managed to get my hands on the last of the Covert One series - it was so shockingly obnoxious that I even forgot the name of the book. Does it happen to ya'll ?
As of now, I tripped back to "The Algrebraist" by Ian M Banks and "Code of Woosters" and I think I have come back to land of sanity. I also read a couple of strange ones - Private India (Paterson & Ashwini) - sounded like a B grade hindi movie and Murder in Mumbai by K.D.Calamur which sounded much better.

[SyncNest]

Just finished reading couple of Paul Austers. Thing is, I read Auster a long time ago. His New York Trilogy made me cringe in self examination;it was an intriguing contraption of three tales snaking in and out of each other.

Recently, with the lack of any good novels in 2015, I caught myself raking through the old ones and I stumbled upon his 'Book of Illusions,' 'Moon Palace'

The prose runs like fluid issued out of a perfect regulator, just enough to wet your perspective, calm your nerves, and never goes overboard, never too profuse, never too obtuse. It is like cold ice cream, melting ever so slowly, circling your tongue with sensations that leave you puzzled.

I loved both the tales. He has a clever way of intercepting with first person narrative just when you are thinking 'how is this subplot relevant?'

In both the novels, I noticed the sub plots outgrow the original. Both of them have curious protagonists who find their paths crossed with some very interesting people.

I cant believe my luck. It is a good thing this year has been a dry one for novels so far, otherwise I would have never rifled through the old lot

[virgopal]

Halt Station India - The Dramatic Tale of the Nation's First Rail Lines
By Rajendra Aklekar.Available on Amazon.in

[Eddy]

Currently reading The Cuckoo's Calling. Extremely disappointing. It's a common plot, slow & hardly a thriller. Unless of course, it picks up steam and surprises me but that is unlikely to happen.

Did this book actually get critical acclaim ? Is her second book in the series "Silkworm" any better ?

[Samurai]

There is an upcoming book...

Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart Into a Visionary Leader

Somehow I don't think this one will be a balanced book. I first read about Steve Jobs in the 1991, via John Scully's Pepsi to Apple which was written in 1987. This was way before Steve Jobs became the darling of the masses, not influenced by his later mega success. And in 1999 came the movie "Pirates of the Silicon Valley". Both the book and the movie portray Steve Jobs as the egomaniac genius, and nobody disagreed then. But in the years that followed, Steve Jobs re-invented Apple and rest is history. Having heard about Steve Jobs since 1991, I felt Walter Isaacson gave a very balanced view, it didn't contradict things I heard about him in the 90s. But I also heard that Jobs fans were very unhappy. This new book appears to be their version.

Anyway, I will read it before I pass my full judgment. It better not be a whitewash of his life in the 80s-90s.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Did this book actually get critical acclaim ? Is her second book in the series "Silkworm" any better ?

Pretty much the same. But I have them on audio book from audible. For the road; to beat the traffic pain, such things are OK (Esp when you dont want heavy duty stuff. But surely I dont want to spend time reading it! Would spend that time reading something else)

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Did this book actually get critical acclaim ? Is her second book in the series "Silkworm" any better ?

The book was trashed (there's word that a couple of publishing houses even turned it down as 'routine' when the author's real identity wasn't known) until the author's identity was conveniently 'leaked' after sales tanked, then it suddenly became a bestseller. Talk about judging a book by (the name on) its cover, post facto.


Back on topic, finally finished the last installment of Ken Follett's Century Trilogy: 'Edge of Eternity'. This one's different given it covers a much longer time span (begins in the late 50s-early 60s and ends in 2008), and inevitably skips some important world events, focusing mainly on the cold war and German bifurcation/re-unification. Some of the period jumps span years and give the book a slightly disjointed feel. Worth a read though.

[iambasilmathew]

Originally Posted by Piyadassi

In most of the classics it takes me 50-100 pages for the book to become unputdownable. In War and Peace it was close to 250 pages--more than 100 major characters and over 600 minor ones (got the figure for Internet), characters being called by 3-4 different names in different pages, add to it the difficulty of recalling Russian names, alien context... etc.

But once past those trying pages the scale of the book, the sheer number of events, characters - one wishes to go on and on. I had read on the net that the description of 1812 war with Napolean, which is almost halfway through, is its highlight and definitely it is something unmatched.

Hello Dear BHPians,

I joined Team-BHP very recently. I am so very happy to have stumbled on to this thread that I think is quite wonderful. I am some one who was into reading quite regularly from the school days till the birth of my son. Now-a-days, I don't read that much, but I plan to start again once the family routines settles down. I would like to share with you guys the list of books that I absolutely love

Mill On the Floss by George Eliot
War and Peace
Anna Karenina
Lord of the Rings
Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives

I would like to make a special mention about War and Peace, till date, this is the best book that I have read. The feeling that I had after I finished reading the book(I cannot quite describe it), remained for so long. After reading this, I have vowed that I will never touch the Chetan Bhagat style kind of books(Personal opinion: no personal dislike for Chetan Bhagat, dislike only towards books that are of similar style to his). War and Peace has had a profound influence on me.

I completely agree with Piyadassi over here regarding the art of reading books that are more than 500 pages long.

I am thankful to every one for sharing their favourite books. Please let me know if there are other books under the "classic" genre that you would recommend.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by iambasilmathew

I am thankful to every one for sharing their favourite books. Please let me know if there are other books under the "classic" genre that you would recommend.

- From a language point of view: Nothing like Thomas Hardy and Maugham. Try all the books. Fantastic language. I have never seen anything like that till date (Esp Hardy)
- From the Russian side the best in literature/dramatics is Dostoevsky. He is one of the most thought provoking
- Victor Hugo. Hunch Back of Notre Dame. Thats another classic.

Apart from them: Gorky's 9 Volumes are also good (Of course Dry)

If you are interested in poetry, the classic ones are really a cut above. (My favourite being Blake).

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by ownerofazkaban

Currently reading...
1. ...
2. ...
3. ...
4. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig-- never manage to complete it no matter how many times I start.

That is my favorite book. First 80 or so pages seems to be torturous but then I could not wait to finish the rest of it. Another masterpiece for me if the Fountainhead.

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Currently reading The Cuckoo's Calling. Extremely disappointing. It's a common plot, slow & hardly a thriller. Unless of course, it picks up steam and surprises me but that is unlikely to happen.

Did this book actually get critical acclaim ? Is her second book in the series "Silkworm" any better ?

I too felt exactly the same about the first book. Very slow and did not feel like a thriller at all. But still risked getting the Silkworm after reading the reviews. It is a sea of change when you compare it to the first one. It is pretty fast paced and has a few surprising twists too. You will enjoy Silkworm better than The Cuckoo's Calling.

[Piyadassi]

Originally Posted by iambasilmathew

I would like to make a special mention about War and Peace, till date, this is the best book that I have read. The feeling that I had after I finished reading the book(I cannot quite describe it), remained for so long. After reading this, I have vowed that I will never touch the Chetan Bhagat style kind of books(Personal opinion: no personal dislike for Chetan Bhagat, dislike only towards books that are of similar style to his). War and Peace has had a profound influence on me.

I am thankful to every one for sharing their favourite books. Please let me know if there are other books under the "classic" genre that you would recommend.

It's an amazing book. Though my speed is excruciatingly slow but I wonder why I had missed it in my prime when I had so much of time.

I haven't read many classics, being more of a non-fiction person, I cannot stop myself from making certain recommendations.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
1984 - George Orwell
Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
Tess of D'urberville - Thomas Hardy
Resurrection - Leo Tolstoy

[iambasilmathew]

Originally Posted by Piyadassi

It's an amazing book. Though my speed is excruciatingly slow but I wonder why I had missed it in my prime when I had so much of time.

I haven't read many classics, being more of a non-fiction person, I cannot stop myself from making certain recommendations.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
1984 - George Orwell
Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
Tess of D'urberville - Thomas Hardy
Resurrection - Leo Tolstoy

Originally Posted by ampere

- From a language point of view: Nothing like Thomas Hardy and Maugham. Try all the books. Fantastic language. I have never seen anything like that till date (Esp Hardy)
- From the Russian side the best in literature/dramatics is Dostoevsky. He is one of the most thought provoking
- Victor Hugo. Hunch Back of Notre Dame. Thats another classic.

Apart from them: Gorky's 9 Volumes are also good (Of course Dry)

If you are interested in poetry, the classic ones are really a cut above. (My favourite being Blake).

Dear both,

Thank you for the update;

I have read "Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell"; I liked the first more than the second.

I also have read "The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky"; I must admit, I did not really understand what the author was trying to convey.

I have always wondered "how does some one enjoy poetry?" I have Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali with me that is my first try on poetry.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by iambasilmathew

I also have read "The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky"; I must admit, I did not really understand what the author was trying to convey.

Try Crime and Punishment & Inuslted and Humiliated.

As regards to Hardy, the pleasure is always on the language and the subtlety of the expression. Same with Maugham. For me its always been Hardy. Have all of them with me.

Resurrection is an epic to read. From a expression of power yes. But since we only get to read the translated version, we may be devoid of the expression of the native language.

I have always wondered "how does some one enjoy poetry?" I have Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali with me that is my first try on poetry.

To me its purely the expression of the language. Thats the only reason I enjoy poetry. Many for example adore modern poetry. To me poetry is all about a fusion of rhythm, language and meaning. All in equal proportions. I think the classic poets did that superbly.

[rajivr1612]

Anybody interested in absolute time-pass stuff, read Scandal Point by Fahad Samar. It's about Bollywood, media and high society. Fully enjoyed and finished it in one go. Read on Google Playbook.