Rishikesh’s Comments (group member since Feb 19, 2015)

Rishikesh’s comments from the Books: Bookworm's Adda group.

Greetings!

Since many of our members have various likes and dislikes. We generally nominate a few books, conduct a poll, and select a Group Read. Even though we have a Group Read, I think it's safe to have a buddy-up read thread.

Buddy-Up Read:

You can put up names of books you wish to read along with group members or as Group Read here. Those who wish to read the particular books, may join in. There's a possibility that if a particular book from this thread to be selected as nomination, and perhaps as Group Read too.

Best of luck!

Happy reading!

~RP

Greetings!

Let's introduce ourselves in this thread. It'll be very helpful in getting comfortable with each other.

My introduction:

Rishikesh Pande is a graduate of Computer Science and Engineering. He is very simple, down to earth guy who loves to listen and observe. He loves writing short stories, poetries and articles. He has won a national level essay competition conducted by BizResearch Labs and has also published an article in YouthKiAwaaz. He recently published his short story in ‘The Notebook of Romance: an anthology’ by Gargi Publishers. He has also published a Poem in eFiction India Magazine. He loves spending time in reading books, poetries, essays and articles. His favorite authors include: George Orwell, Franz Kafka, and Albert Camus. He is currently preparing for government and banking exams.

Chapter 6: Shadow

Quote:

"Your problem is that your shadow is a bit- how should I put it? Faint. I thought this the fist time I laid eyes on you, that the shadow you cast on the ground is only half as dark as that of ordinary people."

" I ran across another person like that once."
Mouth slightly ajar, Nakata stared at Otsuka .
"You mean you saw some-body like Nakata?"
"Yes, I did. That's why I wasn't so surprised that you could talk to cats."
"When was that?"
"A long time ago, when I was still a youngster. But I can't remember the details - the person 's face or name or where and when we met. As I said before, cats don't have that sort of memory."
"I see."
"That person's shadow, too, looked like half of it had gotten separated from him . It was as faint as yours."
"I see."
"What I think is this: You should give up looking for lost cats and start searching for the other half of your shadow."

Nakata tugged a few times at the bill of his hat in his hands. "To tel l the truth , Nakata's had that feeling before. That my shadow is weak. Other people might not notice, but I do."


The Question:

What do you guys make of this shadow? Please discuss.

Reading update #1

I'm 30% (on chapter 15) inside the book and so far I'm enjoying the book.

The language of the book is quite simple and modern. The characters and their introduction is superbly done by Murakami. This is why perhaps I feel a lot closer to both leading characters and can understand them well.

There are two different stories, running simultaneously and it'll be very interesting to see how both stories are connected, if at all they are.

Happy reading!

~RP

Goodreads:

In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. This magnificent novel juxtaposes geographically distant places, brilliant and playful reflections, and a variety of styles to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world’s truly great writers.

Happy reading!

~RP

Goodreads:

Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle - yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.


Happy reading!

~RP

Blurb on Goodreads:

One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement of a Nobel Prize winning career.

The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.

Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel Garcia Marquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master.

Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race.


Happy Reading!

~RP

Blurb on Goodreads:

One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement of a Nobel Prize winning career.

The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.

Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel Garcia Marquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master.

Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race.



Happy Reading!

~RP