Reading list
Here is a list of books i’m currently reading, have already read or plan to read. I try and read a mix of classics, potboilers, historical novels, etc. Book suggestions/comments are welcome.
Currently reading
- Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
- The 3 mistakes of my life by Chetan Bhagat
So far in 2009:
Fiction:
- The tailor’s daughter by Ben Antao
- The Plot by Irving Wallace
- Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe
- Congo by Michael Crichton
- The Rainmaker by John Grisham
- The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
- The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
- Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
Non-fiction:
- Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Graphical novels:
- Blankets by Craig Thompson
- The Joker by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo
- Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland
2008:
Best book: Family matters by Rohinton Mistry
Worst book: Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The entire list for 2008 can be found here.
2007:
Best book: A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry
Worst book: False impression by Jeffrey Archer
The entire list for 2007 can be found here.
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Great going! You read a lot! Came across your blog while doing a search for Ben Antao’s book…
Thanks Frederick.
Frederick brought this blog to my attention. You certainly are a voracious reader [that's an ability I have sadly lost in my old age] Also you picked up some great books to read . However I do not agree with some of your opinions Why are you so scared of Marquez for instance.
How did you come across Ben Antao’s The Tailor’s Daughter? Unlike most of the books this one is not likely to be found in mainstream bookshops. About it you write
“I found The tailor’s daughter remarkable not for its descriptions of casteism in India (which was poorly done) but rather for its vivid descriptions of intimate scenes, something that is rare in Goan books.”
Actually from the standpoint of a Goan, I think The Tailor’s daughter is interesting because it vividly describes the mores of a specific group of Goan Catholics – the low and high caste Africanders, and upper caste Goans at a specific time in Goan history. For intimate scenes, I would suggest Fanny Hill or Madame Bovary .;-)
Hello Augusto,
How nice to have Goan visitors! Both your names sound vaguely familiar.
> However I do not agree with some of your opinions Why are you so scared of Marquez for instance.
Have you read Autumn of the Patriarch? It is an extremely obfuscated and inaccessible work.
I’m not scared of Marquez. I just disliked one of his books, I read “A thousand years of solitude” and enjoyed it enormously.
> How did you come across Ben Antao’s The Tailor’s Daughter?
One of my relatives got it from her office library.
> interesting because it vividly describes the mores of a specific group of Goan Catholics
As I pointed out in my review the caste system was not described very well. I did not feel any anger at the bias the low-caste characters experienced.
However, when I read the scenes describing caste injustice in “A fine balance” by Rohinton Mistry I was literally shaking with anger!
> For intimate scenes, I would suggest Fanny Hill or Madame Bovary .;-)
.
Ha ha. Let me clarify, I did not read the book for the intimate scenes. I simply found its vivid intimate scenes unusual for a Goan book.
I’ll keep those suggestions in mind though,