I’ve not had a very good run with fiction of late. I can’t read the really junky books anymore. Once in a while, I may pick up a Harold Robbins or something, just for a change — but I prefer slightly (but not too) highbrow fiction. It’s almost always fiction. I am not much of a non-fiction guy. And this is the zone I find it’s toughest to find books I like. I think the last such novel that kept me hooked was Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things. I gave Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch the good old college try, and I loved the first 100-odd pages, but the rest I found very boring. As for male authors, I loved Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom and plunged into his next book (Purity) with great expectations, but it left me cold.
All of this, naturally, makes me ask things like: Has my mind been warped by today’s technology? Am I now more of a “viewer” than a “reader”? Have I stopped being able to read the “new”, and should I therefore keep re-reading the Marquez-es and so forth? Or should I be happy reading long-ish articles on the web? I mean, I still read religiously every day, and most books I pick have a certain amount of professionalism that keeps me chugging through them — but it’s more like “I need to get my quota of reading done today” than “I can’t wait to find out what happens next”.
And then I started on Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life. The book has assured me that I am still a reader, that I can still spend an hour just turning pages and not look at the phone. It’s a sad story, and I guess that’s part of the appeal — I have always been drawn to people with sad lives. (Happy people are very uninteresting on the page.) The writing is exquisite, and I think some of it may have seeped (unconsciously) into some recent reviews like the one for The Sky is Pink, which is always one thing I hope for when I read. I have about 150 pages left and I am dreading the book coming to an end. So intensely has this world enveloped me.
I don’t believe in recommendations, and you — regular reader — must know this by now. I only say what I liked or disliked about a film, and do not expect anyone else to share this opinion. But with books, I wish there was someone who could steer me towards things I’d like. Find me such a person, no?
Baradwaj Rangan 
G Waugh
November 17, 2019
Hi Rangan,
If you want to read non-fiction, Open Veins of Latin America might be a great start. Try Eric Hobsbawm’s Age of Extremes, both are political. But the best thing about the books is that there is a high literary quality in the way the sentences are composed.
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Wherefrom? Whereto? (@thirunat66)
November 17, 2019
Paul Kalanithi’s ‘From Breath to Air’ was, IMO, a stellar example. Non-fiction, medical ethics, the last words of a dying man, high literary quality. A recent high water mark for me.
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Kay
November 17, 2019
Based on the summary I found in Goodreads this books seems similar to ‘The Class’ by Erich Segal. Currently I’m reading Cities and Canopies which is a pretty interesting read, but totally not what you are looking for. I would also recommend Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is a happy sad epistolary novel.
P.S. Isn’t it Bitty Ruminations #90?
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Pankaj Sachdeva
November 17, 2019
The Goldfinch was boring to me as well. Sad lives bring out emotions beautifully in writing and I am drawn to it as well. Maybe try The Last Song of Dusk by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi if you have not. The book is often pilloried but the writing is beautiful.
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tonks
November 17, 2019
I prefer slightly (but not too) highbrow fiction. It’s almost always fiction. I am not much of a non-fiction guy. And this is the zone I find it’s toughest to find books I like
This so exactly describes my taste, too.
I’ll be happy to share books I’ve liked. Here are a few to begin with :
1) Since you mention you like sadness in books you should try Kazuo Ishiguro’s The remains of the day, Never let me go, and The buried giant (the last book reminded me a little of One hundred years of solitude because of a common theme of memory loss and a little bit of magical realism, but the first two books are my best loved by this author)
2) Murakami’s Norwegian wood. He is always a pleasure to read and unlike the above, most of his other books have magical realism.
3) Curtis Sittenfeld : I love her writing. Prep, American wife, and a collection of short stories called You think it, I’ll say it. I loved Eligible too, but then it’s a modern, faithful retelling of Pride and prejudice.
4) I love the writing (all short stories) of Alice Munro. She is very, very good. Do try her.
5) Please do read Ian McEwan’s Atonement. I know you would have seen the movie, but the book is an incredible read.
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tonks
November 17, 2019
Ive read Hanya Yanagihara’s The people in the trees, which was well written, and disturbing but not a story that resonated with me.
I plan to try out both Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things and Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life.
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Madan
November 17, 2019
I haven’t read NEW fiction that I found riveting in a while either. I mean, I recently read The Reluctant Fundamentalist but that doesn’t count, it was published in 2007. For non fiction in a storytelling format, either the Hussain Zaidi books on Mumbai underworld or Maximum City, assuming you haven’t read either. For American non fiction, Hillbilly Elegy.
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rahultyagi
November 17, 2019
Allow me to enter myself as a candidate in this find-brangan’s-gentle-literary-steerer event. Recent books (i.e. the ones I read recently) that I liked which probably belong to the genre you are looking for.. “Exit West”, “Dear Life”… Maybe “Less”, which isn’t really sad, and in fact is occasionally very funny, but has a certain grace about it. Speaking of grace, I have always found Jhumpa Lahiri’s stories very “graceful”. I don’t even know why I think of them that way. But they leave me filled with a gentle inner glow….
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Sutheesh Kumar
November 17, 2019
Same here, subscribing to a broadband connection sounded the death knell for reading books and was substituted by reading online(your site for instance). I don’t miss it really, some of the books i invested time on turned out to be damp squibs more often than not.
The HD revolution turned me from a reading and visualising guy to a visual medium guy.
Off late, after my subscription to Hotstar, Netflix and Prime Video, I’m really hooked to the quality content available on these streaming platforms.
Works out economical than buying books and movie tickets.
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Eswar
November 17, 2019
Hi BR.
I haven’t read ‘A Little Life’. So this list could be way off from what you are expecting. Have you read any of these?
⁃ Cobalt Blue – Sachin Kundalkar – Translated by Jerry Pinto
⁃ Em and the Big Hoom – Jerry Pinto
⁃ A Book of Light: When a loved one has a different mind – Edited by Jerry Pinto
⁃ The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
⁃ Gachar Gochar – Vivek Shanbhag – Translated by Srinath Perur
⁃ Aram by Jeyamohan
⁃ Broken Ties – Rabindranath Tagore
⁃ The Bachelor of Arts – R.K.Narayan
⁃ Chemmeen – Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai – Translated by – Sundara Ramasamy
⁃ Unaccustomed Earth – Jhumpa Lahiri
⁃ In Other Rooms, Other Wonders – Daniyal Mueenuddin
⁃ Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Katherine Boo
⁃ A Free Man – Aman Sethi
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Krishnan Viswanathan (@matungawalla)
November 18, 2019
If you are looking for deeply researched binge worthy read about the drug wars and its impact on Mexico, the US, and Latin America, I would heartily recommend the “The Power of the Dog” trilogy by Don Winslow. The three novels weave together the history and politics of the drug wars and is fantastic. The books include – “The Power of the Dog”, The Cartel, and The Border.
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Vishakha Kulkarni
November 18, 2019
I need such a person too.. not just for recommendations, but also just to be able to read reviews and read discussions about them like on this blog 🙂 The one blog I like about books is that of Jabberwock.
I do find that goodreads throws up some good recommendations now and then.
Recently read Milkman by Anna burns and loved it. Highly recommended.
@Tonks, your first two recommendations are great. I love all those books too!
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venkat1926
November 18, 2019
I am super senior citizen. in my young days I read lot of fiction by Somerset Maugham , Aldous Huxley etc . but when I grow old I started reading cozy detective novels. (like Agatha Christie). Recently I started reading cerebral science fiction novels (including AI). for example I recently liked a film called EX MACHINA. That type of AI novels I like. I use Kindle because I can increase the font.
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Rathi
November 18, 2019
I read “A Little Life” about 3 or 4 years ago. The book stayed with me for a long long time. This is one of those books that are truly sad without being manipulative/ melodramatic.
Another book I highly recommend to my friends is ‘A Constellation of Vital Phenomena’ by Anthony Marra. It made me laugh, made me teary-eyed. The writing is so exquisite, that I didn’t want the book to end at all (much like I felt while reading ‘A Little Life’).
If you have not watched the film, “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell is very good. I was amazed at how an author could write in 6 completely different styles, within the same book.
“Shadow of the wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón blew me away. So much beauty in the writing. It read almost like poetry!
“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” (and it’s sequel by Rachel Joyce) – A lovely lovely book about people rediscovering themselves and others, about the triumph of the human spirit (although it sounds clichéd), about faith, acceptance, different types of love, forgiveness and many more things!
“Night Film” by Marissa Pessl – This is one of those rare books that kept me guessing throughout and was completely unputdownable. The premise is full of intrigue, has great characters and is excellently written too.
“Magpie Murders” and “The Word is Murder” – by Anthony Horowitz. He is better known for his books for Young Adults and as the writer of British series – Foyle’s war. But I loved his books for adults. He writes amazingly well.
“Beartown” by Fredrik Backman – A heart-wrenching book which is very different from other books by the same author (which I loved too). A town held together by their almost fanatic love for hockey is shaken by a horrific incident. There is scope for much melodrama but Backman underplays it most of the time and yet manages to create empathy in the minds of the readers.
I can go on for a few more pages but will stop here. Last sentence – I promise – If you like (or think you will) historical mysteries – Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, Matthew Shardlake series by C.J.Sansom and Mistress of Death series by Ariana Franklin are all very good.
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Rahini David
November 18, 2019
I have come to terms to not being not much of a reader anymore.
The most painful feeling is when some writer is trying to build a suspense, feeling certain that they are going to pull the rug from under the hapless reader and I feel, “tut tut tut”
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Madan
November 18, 2019
Not a lot of Kindle fans here? I have started reading a lot again after I started using Kindle. Seriously, if we can watch movies or series on mobile, what’s wrong with Kindle? And that way I can pick up wonderful titles that aren’t available in India in paperback. Like a book written by Andy Cohen, Jeff Buckley’s manager. I had earlier asked my aunt to get Gary Lucas’ book about Buckley when she was coming over. But I have realised that with Kindle, that’s all unnecessary.
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Eswar
November 18, 2019
As a sign of randomness, just saw someone reading A Little Life on my way to work 😀.
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tonks
November 18, 2019
I am a huge fan of Kindle, and it’s my preferred way of reading for the past few years. Hundreds of books at your disposal inside this tiny device in a your handbag, and very gentle on your eyes. What’s not to like.
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Eswar
November 18, 2019
I have started using Kindle selectively for:
– the books that I don’t mind not holding/hoarding a physical copy
– the books that are available only in kindle currently
I don’t mind kindle that much. It has great advantages. But because I like having physical books at home and also like reading with physical books, physical format is my first choice. If the difference in prices are not that huge, I usually go for hardbacks.
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e221
November 18, 2019
@Madan..I would prefer to say e-book reader rather than kindle. Kindle absolutely dominates this market. but the problem is it locks the user in its own ecosystem. Ideally, once an e-book is bought its absolutely ours no matter what the ecosystem is. The problem with the kindle is if you don’t have a kindle or kindle app, you cannot read that book anywhere else. That’s a problem many don’t realize and are ready to sacrifice it for the sake of convenience just like they sacrificed their privacy for the sake of convenience and price. But to your point, yes, I absolutely love e-books but again if I absolutely love a book, I would rather buy a physical book and add to the personal library so it remains forever and for all other purposes, an e-reader is a fantastic option. But again e-books are supposed to be cheaper as they are cheaper to produce when compared to books. But then again both of them are the same price which means more money to the publishers..:)
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Sutheesh Kumar
November 18, 2019
BR, you must to be commended for this.
Look at your readership here in this thread, you attract a wide range of readers not even interested in Cinema but just for the quality of your writing.
You are simply a magician with words. Period.
I might have given up on books but not your blogs.
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bart
November 19, 2019
Amongst the books I’ve read in the recent past, the books that fall to some extent in the similar category as “The signature of all things”, which I admit that I’ve not read but went through the summary in goodreads, are:
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (its a trilogy in which all are good but the first stands out)
The underground railroad by Colson Whitehead
The sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Amongst the sad but enjoyable reads, as pointed earlier above, “Norwegian Wood” by Murakami and “The unbearable lightness of being” by Milan Kundera come to my mind. “Us” by David Nicholls was also an enjoyable, wittily narrated sad story that stays with you for a while.
Have to read the ones you’ve put up sometime..
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brangan
November 19, 2019
Manu Joseph on reading 😀
As always, behind the (perhaps deliberately) combative posture, he makes you think.
And yes, a GOOD book is VERY hard to come by.
https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/are-the-intellectual-benefits-of-reading-overrated/amp-11573999938240.html
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Rahini David
November 19, 2019
I agree with each and every point mentioned in that Manu Joseph article. Not to mention that there are those who would never read a book but read newspapers so diligently who know so much about the world around them and those who read only the trashiest of romance who, well, who have not exactly spent their time…well.
But it still sounds so combative that I desperately want to poke a few holes here and there in that article. Reading is expected to make you knowledgeable, not intelligent. Kind of like thirst and hunger. Fluids can satiate hunger for awhile, but dry food can’t quench thirst. So find out whether you are hungry for a book. If you are actually thirsty for intelligence, then download a brain training app or something.
There is a library at my office and some people go there to read the newspapers and a few others for the magazines like Outlook, Reader’s Digest etc. But most people who are there are there because they don’t have a workstation assigned yet as they are very new or in-between projects. But never have I been able to use the sentence “Ok, so now I am going to the library” without making people feel mildly guilty that they don’t even know where the office library is. That library is not a treasure trove of wisdom, knowledge, intelligence and every thing in between. It can be if you bring in your own book and start reading there regularly. But as it is, it is a quiet place filled with books and magazines and plenty of empty chairs.
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Rahini David
November 19, 2019
The huge difference I see reading vs watching a video of the same topic is that it requires your brain to put in a certain amount of work. Reading is not just as intuitive as watching and so you get into a contract of sort for a certain time. For an article in a popular magazine it may be 5 to 10 mins. But for a book it maybe a contract for a week or 2 or 3. I certainly want it to work every bit of the way. It is like letting someone talk to you and keep nodding. If you are not feeling that nod and feel like wincing or looking away or something then that book isn’t for you.
That is the great thing about kindle. It lets you sample 5% or so of the book. You know whether to buy or not. My Kindle is very new. Just got one 3 months back. I have not used it to full potential as I had to finish a few books I had already bought. But I have sampled a great many books that I was curious about. You know how you have heard so much about a new and upcoming writer and want to know their style but you don’t want to drop a 500 or 600 merely to find out? The Kindle is helping a lot in that area.
But then again it is becoming that we just have too much cheap entertainment. We have ALL the music and movies and books than we will ever need which is why we do these ‘just sampling’ consumption. That is how I often end up sampling Amazon Prime movies too. None ever seems to be worth 3 whole hours of my time.
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tonks
November 19, 2019
Books might be over-venerated, but is it the same as saying that reading is overrated? Is reading a “good” book superior to watching a good film or a good documentary?
I only read that piece just now. Though I too agree with most of the points he makes, for me, I like that I can get into people’s (character’s) thoughts while reading. That doesn’t quite happen in a visual medium. So a well written book almost always wins (for me). That said, with live streaming, it has become more and more difficult to find time for reading. What with work and family, there are only so many leisure hours in a day, and there are so many easy portals of distraction and entertainment.
Another point with which I slightly disagree is that it seems to me that most good writers are also readers. This is probably because reading helps you articulate yourself better. Someone said that reading is like breathing in, and writing is like breathing out. But then again, all readers may not become good writers, because for being a good writer one needs not just vocabulary or good language skills but also ideas, creativity and content that one feels passionate enough to write about.
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Madan
November 19, 2019
“The huge difference I see reading vs watching a video of the same topic is that it requires your brain to put in a certain amount of work. Reading is not just as intuitive as watching and so you get into a contract of sort for a certain time” – Agreed. So I would say Manu Joseph kind of has a point and kind of doesn’t. Because there is a certain dimension of intelligence that reading tap much more than listening to audio or watching visuals – that of reflection. You HAVE to slow down and consider what you’re reading. It’s possible to speed read in fiction, especially if it is light, but with non fiction, you will have to stop once in a while and read the sentence(s) again to check if you’ve understood. That is, audios and visuals directly give you all the input while books force you to think. Doesn’t mean every bookworm is a thinker but they are at least putting themselves in a better position to tap whatever potential they have to do so. So, in that sense, neither books nor the reading habit are over-venerated. And let’s refer back to the label I used: bookworm. Yeah, so that’s the other side of it. If people who don’t read much supposedly feel embarrassed about it – when does that happen, by the way, never seen it – people who read a lot are also mocked as bookish. Whether one wishes to read or not is an individual choice and should not have to become a socio-political debate.
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Eswar
November 20, 2019
Manu Joseph’s article reminded me of an answer I wrote in Quora, few years back. The question was:
How do I learn to love reading?
With minor edits, here is the answer in its entirety.
Before trying to answer ‘How’ you should try to find the answer for ‘Why’ i.e ‘why do you want to love reading?’
Once you figured out why do you want to love reading, then the ‘How to’ part will be vivid.
The best person to answer the ‘Why’ question would be you.
People read for various reasons. Most reasons would fit into one of the below categories:
Some read out of necessity
• Some read for entertainment or to keep them occupied
• Some people read to expand their knowledge, gain perspectives and know about things that they cannot actually experience themselves
• For some, reading is a cool thing — a thing to show off, a status in front of their peers and society
• And some people read just for the pleasure they get out of reading. People who love reading are likely to fall into this category.
Your answer to ‘Why’ would probably fall into one of these categories except for the first and last one.
If your answer is of the last category, then you wouldn’t have had this question in the first place. If it is the first one, then it really doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. I suppose you just have to do it. And eventually you may end up loving or hating it.
For anything in between, reading is only a means, i.e. you can experience each one of them through other ways like travel, meeting people etc. So you don’t necessarily have to love to read. You can just read when it matters and attain a similar pleasure one gets from reading through other activities.
If it is the idea of ‘loving reading’ that you like and that is what you want to experience, then you should approach it like the way you would do when you fall in love. We usually don’t ask “How do I make myself fall in love?” Falling in love with someone, for most people, is spontaneous and seamless. You fall in love either at first sight or gradually by getting to know the person. I would think it is the same for loving other things including reading. If you aren’t already in love with it, then you could only try if you would gradually fall for it. Like the way you would get to know the person, get to know about reading. Explore different genres — try novels, short stories, graphic novels, plays, epistolary novels, fictional diaries, autobiographies, biographies etc. Try them in different mediums — eBooks, physical books, pdfs, online- forums and see which one suits you. To start with, pick up a genre that you are familiar, comfortable and interested — even for the most unexpected topic, someone would have written something about it. Always carry a book with you in some form. Try reading it when you are alone, waiting for some one, commuting or standing in a queue. Don’t just stop at reading, contemplate on what you have read and observe its influence on your thoughts and actions. Finally, when you do all these, see if you are enjoying it. That is the most important aspect. When you have started enjoying reading then you are more likely to fall in love with it.
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-learn-to-love-reading/answer/Eswarprasath-Jayaraman
Reading it again today, my views about reading hasn’t changed much.
Reading has at least two aspects. First there is the process i.e reading itself. The experience from performing a certain act. The experience of someone holding your hand gently and taking places one never have imagined. To Places one never would want to go. Reading may not necessarily be the best experience out there. Nevertheless, it’s unique like many other experiences. People who appreciate and enjoy this experience will just find ways and reasons to read.
The second aspect of it is the knowledge or the information one gets out of the process. When the goal is just to absorb knowledge or learn a new thing. Then reading relegates to a medium rather than an experience. When it’s no more an experience, the wisest thing to do is to choose a medium that works well for one.
Historically this dichotomy in reading i.e experience vs knowledge gathering is unlikely to have exist. Manuscript and other forms of written artefacts would have been the only source of knowledge, apart from hearing directly from the teachers and elders. So it’s not surprising that reading is correlated with intelligence.
Now that we have many ways to obtain the same information, has reading become less important? From a mere obtaining knowledge point of view, the answer is likely yes. However, I believe, there is more to reading. Reading, to me, is like a meditation. Focussing one’s mind on a particular task and slowly working it out. Like saying a Mantra. Counting the beads. Or like what the Buddhist monks do; recreating a very large image piece by piece, layer by layer, with every minute detail, mentally. As Rahini pointed out, reading requires more effort. It requires commitment. When this effort and commitment gets rewarded, there is bliss.
If there is one thing that I would like to do more than reading, it is travel. Travel to not tick boxes. But to exhilarate. To open one’s mind and scratch the surface of the deep seated consciousnesses. To show oneself who they are.
Even then, I would still want to read. Read, to understand and assimilate the experiences of these journeys.
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Rahul
November 20, 2019
I have yet to come across a bibliophile who has a transactional relationship with books – as in- reads them for some kind of benefit. So I am not quite getting the premise of the article by MJ. Also what was the point of mentioning that some people find it hard to focus on some books? It seems quite banal, no? Its like saying foodies may find hard to eat some kind of cuisine\dishes?
I cant imagine to run out of books to read. I do a lot of reading in Hindi , my mother tongue. I have experienced that I have more patience to trudge through the dull parts of a book (if I can sense the overall experience to be interesting ) if it is in Hindi.
And then there are those genre books. There is an endless supply of detective\mystery\horror etc. which I access frequently.
But i will be the last person to preach to someone about benefits of reading. Pleasure, maybe. IF someone finds it boring, watch a movie, fly a kite, whatever.
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Madan
November 20, 2019
Rahul : In general, no, bibliophiles don’t read with a specific what’s in it for me in mind. But if we’re being honest, when it comes to specific, venerated authors, there can be pressure to read them (like, you have really not read XYZ). I too picked up Of Mice and Men mostly because Steinbeck is a celebrated author and not because anything about the book suggested to me that I would find it interesting. I did not, lesson learned. But this does happen more often with books. In music, classical has been accused of not catering to the masses for long enough that people can declare their indifference to it without guilt. Cinema has been a more democratic or shall we say plebeian medium from the get go. But if you say you are a book lover and haven’t read Shakespeare, you will get weird looks. This is where what Manu Joseph says about this notion of hierarchy of ability based on how much you read comes in. I am not saying all book lovers do this and I certainly don’t but the tendency is there. It isn’t even entirely a bad thing. I am glad this kind of competitive appreciation still survives to some extent in fiction because it’s dead in music and movies.
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Kay
November 20, 2019
“Also what was the point of mentioning that some people find it hard to focus on some books? It seems quite banal, no? Its like saying foodies may find hard to eat some kind of cuisine\dishes?”
Haven’t you picked up a popular book or something that was strongly recommended but later realised that you couldn’t get past a few pages? 1984 is one such book for me.
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Rahul
November 20, 2019
Madan, I have a few friends with whom I exchange notes and I cant imagine anyone shaming me for not reading Shakespeare 🙂 . I think book readers may put this pressure on themselves.I was lucky to have a house full of books when I was growing up , and even my parents never pointed me towards any book.
I do read some so called highbrow literary stuff as well – mostly Latin American writers in translation – like Bolano ,Cortazar etc but only because I like them. I think literature is all about literary tradition. I will also make the distinction of literary tradition with genre. Once you sink your teeth into a particular literary tradition, you will enjoy most if not all books from a particular canon. Of course it does not mean that every literary tradition is for everyone. This seems to be like stating the obvious.
@Kay, of course, but I was wondering what was the point he was making (or trying to make) by stating that. I found that article very confused to be honest.
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Bore Adikuthu
November 21, 2019
Try The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Nighttime by Mark Haddon.
Though this book may be for a younger audience, “Me, Earl & The Dying Girl” (Jesse Andrews) has the most creative writing I’ve seen in a recent novel. You could use it to teach a class on experimental writing.
“The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton is an obvious one, but do check it out if you haven’t yet.
Non-fiction is bullshit. You can learn more about the real world on Google. Fiction is what literature was made for.
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Prashant
November 21, 2019
I read A Little Life last year after buying it for a dollar at a book sale – a very satisfying find for the penny pincher in me. It was easily my favorite of the books I read last year, it stayed in my mind for a long time after I finished it.
If you’ve liked A Little Life, I think you might like Elena Ferrante’s Napolitan Novels as well. I also enjoyed reading An American Marriage by Tayari Jones and Milk Teeth by Amrita Mahale recently.
Other than usual suspects like Guardian, NYT, etc., I look at Twitter and https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com to find new books to read.
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tonks
November 24, 2019
Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Only 5% into the book but as far as I’ve read, it’s well written and moving, and a little sad. Unlike A little life however it seems to be one woman’s story. I learnt of it from the movie, and Reese Witherspoon’s speech. I have not seen the movie yet.
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Isai
November 26, 2019
I just read the memoir of Netflix’s co-founder Marc Randolph (That will never work) and found it quite gripping. I mostly read fiction. But, this was equally interesting. It may not have exquisite writing. But if you are interested in the origin story of a startup or in the evolution of movie home-viewing business, I would definitely recommend it.
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brangan
April 23, 2020
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brangan
April 23, 2020
People, what are you reading now?
I am juggling between (re-reading) LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA and THE PRINCE OF TIDES, by Pat Conroy. Very pleasurable.
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krishikari
April 23, 2020
I’m reading Goat Thief by Perumal Murugan and Jasmine Days by Benyamin both translated. I also just finished Uprooted by Naomi Novik. It was borrowed from my daughter’s bookshelf and about witches and wizards, completely unputdownable!
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Kay
April 23, 2020
My favourite topic. 😀 I’m reading Becoming by Michelle Obama (lumbering through it, because I’m not very familiar with American politics and also getting tired of the Barack-is-so-perfect narrative), re-reading Harry Potter for the bazillionth time (now in HP4) and The Last of the Mohicans (just started and too early to form an opinion).
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Ramit
April 23, 2020
Find Me, next part of Call Me By Your Name.
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krishikari
April 23, 2020
@rathi If you have not watched the film, “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell is very good. I was amazed at how an author could write in 6 completely different styles, within the same book.
Loved this book so much. The film was garbage, I don know how they could get a book so wrong.
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abishekspeare
April 23, 2020
I’m digging into the archives of baradwajrangan.wordpress.com
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Anu Warrier
April 23, 2020
Tawaifnama by Saba Dewan. A fascinating look into the tawaaif culture as well as a peek into the history of those times. Just finished re-reading Love in the time of Cholera and have Yasir Abbasi’s Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota, one Georgette Heyer, one Agatha Christie and a couple of Lloyd Alexanders by my bedside to dip into when the serious reading gets, well, too serious. 🙂
@krishikari – if you enjoyed Uprooted, have you read Tamora Pierce? And Patricia Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles? Wrede is supremely humorous, and her heroine is spunky and all-round fabulous.
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Thupparivaalan
April 23, 2020
Somehow, I’ve grown completely averse to fiction these days. I’m alternating between Saving Capitalism from Capitalists by Raghuram Rajan, and 1971 by Srinath Raghavan.
The former is a sincere plea on saving free markets from cronyism, and latter a dispassionate account of the events leading up to the 1971 war against East Pakistan army in Bangladesh. One should definitely read about Nixon and Kissinger’s myopic vision and delusions of a grand real-politik, and realize how fickle men can be even at the highest offices. In a passage taken straight from archives, they refer to Indira as ‘The Bitch’, and realize how they’ve been played by her. It also made me realize how complex a person Indira was. Not quite the power hungry gangster she later become, she displays terrific tact and wit in dealing with the pressures of the being the Indian Prime Minister in those times. A true Jekyll and Hyde.
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Eswar
April 23, 2020
👋
I am reading Paul Kalanithi’s ‘When Breath Becomes Air’. I am half way through the book. I find it profound and moving so far. On the side I am also reading a letter a day, from Maria Papova’s ‘A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader’.
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nikkie1602
April 24, 2020
Re-read Haruki Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore” and have now started with Perumal Murugan’s “Poonachi: Or the Story of a Black Goat”
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rsylviana
April 24, 2020
@Thupparivaalan – Re. 1971 by Srinath Raghavan, is there an online version available for this book ? Apart from the one in Kindle ?You make the book sound oh-so-interesting.
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krishikari
April 24, 2020
@anu thanks for the recommendations. I did not have you pegged as a fantasy fiction reader 🙂
I’m now getting into afro-futurist writers too and really enjoyed the Binti trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor but my favourite sci-fi writers are Octavia Butler and Ursula K. leGuin. I read a lot, always find time for it at the end of the day.
Even non-fiction, I read Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman, the guy who stood up and told some billionaires to just shut up and pay their taxes.
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Anu Warrier
April 24, 2020
@krishikari – LOL. May I ask why? 🙂
I got into fantasy fiction because of my older boy who was recommended Brian Jacques’ ‘Redwall’ series (if you haven’t read those, check them out – just read them after you eat, because otherwise you will be very, very hungry) by our town librarian.
Liked the Tamora Pierce books because of how she uses ordinary trades like weaving, gardening, blacksmithing and weather forecasting as ‘magic’ in her ‘Circle of Magic’ books. Her Lioness quartet, Wild Magic quarter andt the Protector of the Small quartet are all fascinating books featuring very interesting heroines. These last three series are set in a fictional kingdom of Tortall, and are in chronological order.
Sci-fi has been the only ‘genre’ that I haven’t really been able to read much of, though I must confess to liking Ursula leGuin quite a bit.
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rahultyagi
April 27, 2020
I have recently discovered Alice Munroe’s short stories. Currently reading (actually listening) “Too Much Happiness”. juggling that with reading every single scientific publication out there about SARS-Cov2, of course 😦
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Thupparivaalan
April 27, 2020
rsylviana: Not that I know of! I’m afraid I’ve made it sound a bit too interesting. If you’re interested in geopolitics of that time it will be a pleasurable read. Most of it is filled with diplomatic exchanges in that time about the issue and how each country reacted to it.
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AdhithyaKR
May 22, 2020
@BR, how do you find and select the books you read? For example, “A Little Life” or “The Prince of Tides”. These aren’t books that I usually find on the Amazon lists or on the front shelves of bookstores.
I was also curious about how Vetrimaaran sir and Mysskin sir pick their books. Books like “The Great Soul of Siberia” and “Wolf Totem” are books that I’ve heard of only in their interviews and I’m always puzzled how they find such obscure books that sound so profound. Since I don’t have a direct line to them, would be grateful if you could tell me something about that. 🙂
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tonks
May 22, 2020
I am re-reading Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. It’s remarkable how effective simple unassuming prose can be. And how erotic bits of it are. And how westernised Japanese are : how knowledgeable about Western pop songs.
Last week I read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King, where an eleven year old girl gets lost in a forest. He writes such believable prose that it had me convinced that it must be based on some true incident. I googled to learn that it is not.
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KayKay
May 23, 2020
Was reading The Fifth Gospel, a thriller set inside the Vatican by Ian Caldwell who’s kind a like a more erudite Dan Brown, but have set it aside for our Book Club Selection this month which is Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw, whom I’m spurred to read out of a sense of loyalty since he’s a fellow Malaysian. Lives intersecting and colliding in Shanghai. So far, so good.
Love love love book! I’m a word junkie, and they’re my fix. I have to log some page-time everyday even if it’s for 10 mins, and I mean actual books, not site-surfing the Net, or looking at the latest Covid 19 Conspiracy Theory in a Whatsapp Group chat that’s been forwarded a gazillion times.
I owe my prodigious imagination, flair for the dramatic, dollops of snark and smattering of wit to them.
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tonks
May 23, 2020
While movies/ TV shows/even music are my good time friends, I find that when I’m really, genuinely upset, and need a distraction, the only entertainment option I have that comes to my rescue are books. Most recently, Covid 19 anxiety for a few weeks made me unable to concentrate on streaming platforms, and all I was doing was consuming more scary stories on WhatsApp, but I found that books were able to distract me out of it.
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