Indian Readers discussion

Here I am.

Will do a separate discussion only for my challenges.

Hola, dely.

Eager to see which your kickoff book will be.

Syl ʃʃ^.^ʃʃ wrote: "Hola, dely.

Eager to see which your kickoff book will be."

Les Misérables! I don't think I will finish it till the end of the year.

Okay :-)

I will be eagerly following this thread Dely! Have an excellent 2016

Thanks Girish!

Happy New Year, dely :)

Hey Dely, I am also planning to start the year with Les Misérables and I think I will also take the major part of the year to finish it. :)

Hi 5! :D

Have a great 2016! :)

Srividya wrote: "Hey Dely, I am also planning to start the year with Les Misérables and I think I will also take the major part of the year to finish it. :)

Hi 5! :D

Have a great 2016! :)"

I hope you will enjoy it! Good reading year also to you :D

1) I miserabili 5/5

English edition: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

I couldn't have started the year with a better book. It is a must read, absolutely. I would like to start the book again, it was so good and I'm already missing all the characters.

My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

2) Lo specchio by Antonella Sacco 4/5

No English edition.

It's a collection of short stories that deal with loneliness, suicide, finished loved stories. Nearly all the stories are sad, depressing and gloomy. But there are also surreal and poetic stories. I liked them all. They were also very well written and the reader was able to feel the emotions by the various characters.

Good to know that you liked it, dely. :)

Syl ʃʃ^.^ʃʃ wrote: "Good to know that you liked it, dely. :)"

Yes, usually I'm scared when new authors want me to read their books because most of them can't write or don't write interesting things. This time it was a good one, fiuuuu!

3) L'ingenuo 3,5/5

English edition: L'Ingenu: Or, the Sincere Huron. a True History. by Voltaire

After Les Misérables I need to read only short stories. So today I picked up this one that is since a long time in my to-read list.
It was a witty and satirical story about a too sincere person and what he has to endure when he falls in love and decides to live "as it's due" by society in order to stay with his beloved. Despite the shortness, Voltaire expresses his philosophical thoughts, above all his anticlericalism.

4) Zeus e altre semplici storie 1/5

English edition: Simple Stories by Ingo Schulze

A very short book with 5 or 6 short stories. They weren't interesting, they were too minimalist, there wasn't that much: no characterization of the characters, no plot, no real beginning....the reader was put inside a story as if he had know the background. They should be interlinked because we find the same characters in a few stories, but in different points of their lives and this, without an explanation, is even more weird. Didn't like it and was bored to death.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I saw your review and rating :)

Dely - I am finally starting to concentrate on Les Miserables now. I had started it long back but kept it on the slow burner but now am trying to read it on priority! Can't wait to experience it! :D

Srividya wrote: "Dely - I am finally starting to concentrate on Les Miserables now. I had started it long back but kept it on the slow burner but now am trying to read it on priority! Can't wait to experience it! :D"

It has to be read slowly. It's full of wonderful sentences. Will you start it again?

Syl ʃʃ^.^ʃʃ wrote: "I saw your review and rating :)"

I know, I know :P

dely wrote: "Srividya wrote: "Dely - I am finally starting to concentrate on Les Miserables now. I had started it long back but kept it on the slow burner but now am trying to read it on priority! Can't wait to..."

Yes, in fact, I started it again today and am enjoying it slowly! :D

Srividya wrote: "Yes, in fact, I started it again today and am enjoying it slowly! :D "

I'm curious to hear your opinions about it.

5) Nove vite 4,5

English edition: Nine Lives by William Dalrymple

It was a very interesting and fascinating read. I didn't know if giving it 4 or 5 stars so I decided for 4,5 because it's more 5 than 4.

My English/Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Its forever been in my TBR. I read your review . Sounds good.

Syl ʃʃ^.^ʃʃ wrote: "Its forever been in my TBR. I read your review . Sounds good."

I really liked it but perhaps an Indian living in India doesn't find it as interesting as I did (though I've seen many 4 and 5 stars ratings also from Indians).

I have heard that he's a good writer. A writer can change any drab story to an interesting one. So essentially to me, its the writer that matters.

Syl ʃʃ^.^ʃʃ wrote: "I have heard that he's a good writer. A writer can change any drab story to an interesting one. So essentially to me, its the writer that matters."

The book is non-fiction. So, yes, there are nine stories but they are not fictional.

6) La Cavigliera d'Oro 2/5

English edition: Shilappadikaram by Ilango Adigal

I liked the story and the historical part but I also had a hard time reading it.

My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

7) Saggezza senza tempo dall'antica India. Insegnamenti dal Vedanta e dalla Bhagavad Gita 3/5

English edition: Timeless wisdom from ancient India by Basant K. Gupta

It's a good introduction to Veda, Vedanta and Bhagavad Gita.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

dely, ashamed to say that I havent read Bhagavadgita yet. Am too scared of philosophy and religion.

Syl ʃʃ^.^ʃʃ wrote: "dely, ashamed to say that I havent read Bhagavadgita yet. Am too scared of philosophy and religion."

The secret is finding an edition with a good comment. Without a comment I don't know how much the reader can understand. Don't be scared of philosophy or religion in it. Sri Krishna gives Arjuna a lot of good advices that can help also common life of common people like us. I feel relieved every time I read something about it. I will never become a samnyāsa or a rishi or reach moksha, but I however like to read it, it's uplifting.

Thanks, shall do so someday.:-)

8) Prima neve sul Fuji 2/5

English edition: First Snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata

Didn't like this that much. Before starting it I didn't know it was a collection of short stories. I usually like short stories, but I wasn't in the right mood. I really needed a good fiction into lose myself.
Most part of the stories deal with marital infidelity and I liked how the author was able to look into female psychology. I think he did a good job. But most of the time the stories were boring, or perhaps too slow for my tastes, or I have read it in the wrong moment.

My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

9) Le sei reincarnazioni di Ximen Nao 4/5

English edition: Life and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan


It was so good! I gave it only 4 stars because one part was a bit dragging, but otherwise it is a "whole book". It means there is everything: historical background (China from 1950 to 2000) a family saga, wonderful prose, good description of characters and their emotions and feelings, it was also funny and I liked the idea of the reincarnations. The story is told by the reincarnations of a landowner who had been killed by communists and by another family member (I don't want to add too much spoilers). The funny thing is that his reincarnations were animals but he never lost his memories of his previous lives.
It's not easy to talk about the plot, it's a book that has to be read.

10) Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz 4/5

Really liked this book, about an Egyptian family living in Cairo from early 1900 till the revolution of 1919.

My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I would like to read this one.

Ahtims wrote: "I would like to read this one."

I think you would like it.

11) Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz 3/5

I liked it less compared to the first book of the trilogy.

My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Am yet to read this series.

12) Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz 4,5/5

This was again good, like the first one, and I was so enthralled that I read it very fast!

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Good :)

13) Sozaboy by Ken Saro-Wiwa 4/5

I was really curious to read this book after have seen Black Gold. The movie doesn't talk about Ken Saro-Wiwa, but it deals with one of the most tragic problems of Nigeria: multinational oil companies that exploited the land without worrying about the inhabitants' health or the environement. Ken Saro-Wiwa has been killed in 1995 for his pacific fight against these oil corporations and because of the corruption of his government. At the presentation of Black Gold they talked a lot about Saro-Wiwa and other intellecutals that have been killed without a trial. Sozaboy doesn't deal with the oil corporations, but about the Nigerian civil war. I was however curious to read something by this author and about Nigeria.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

14) Yoshe Kalb by Israel J. Singer 3/5

It isn't easy to review this book without adding spoilers. The story is set in the early 1900 and talks about the Orthodox Hasidic Jews of Galicia. The young main character, Nahum, struggles between his faith and an impossible love.
I liked a lot the descriptions of the people, their lives and habits and about religion. It was interesting to see this young man struggling between his feelings and the orthodox and harsh religious doctrine. It's an interesting book.

15) The Brothers Ashkenazi by Israel J. Singer 5/5

It was such a good and fulfilling read. There were never moments of boredom and despite the 600 pages it was very flowing.

It talks about two brothers, the Ashkenazi, who were very different: the "older" (they are twins) is very intelligent, he works hard to obtain what he wants, he is very harsh, clever and egocentric; the "younger" is brilliant, liked by everyone and obtains however richness thanks to his luck and liking.
They live in Lodz, Poland, and the story starts from the end of the 19th century till the end of WWI.
The story of the two brothers helps only to outline the historical time: when the first Germans started to arrive in Poland bringing work, the huge Jewish community that was at first very orthodox but slowly started to change while changing the period. So, from one side we have the orthodox Jews, bound to customs and tradition, and the younger Jews that started to be more openminded.
But there are also the first Communist movements, the fight of the proletariat, the Russian revolution and then the division between Bolsheviks and the other socialist parties, Poland's desire for independce, the hate for Jews that slowly starts, the pogroms, how Jews start to go away from Poland. I also liked that the author, though he himself is a Jew, was impartial with his coreligionists and more than once he criticizes them.

It was really a wonderful book that I would suggest to everyone!

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

16) 10 giorni che fecero tremare il mondo

English edition: Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed

I don't rate it because I didn't finish it. I gave up after 100 pages. I wasn't engaged and it wasn't interesting.

My very short review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It is frustrating if we invest time in book, and are forced to leave it midway through. Happens a lot with me because I am impatient by nature.

Syl. A.k.a Topo di biblioteca wrote: "It is frustrating if we invest time in book, and are forced to leave it midway through. Happens a lot with me because I am impatient by nature."

I know, it's because of this I gave up after 100 pages: I have wasted only one day and forcing myself to finish it I would have wasted much more time.
I really wanted to like this book :-(

17) I quaranta giorni del Mussa Dagh 3,5

English edition: The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel

I would have given it also 4 stars but it was too long and wordy. The author could have said the same things with 200 pages less. It's a good and interesting story about the Armenian genocide, but some parts were slow because of the wordiness.

18) Quando tutto sarà finito 3/5

English edition: The Undertaking by Audrey Magee

It shows, in my opinion, that in a war there are never winners or losers, all are only human beings that try to survive and that their lives change forever, they themselves change. It has nothing outstanding though it is a different book about WWII, it's a different way to talk about it.

19) Un eroe dei nostri tempi 2/5

English edition: A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

My English review where I explain why I didn't like it that much: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

20) La posizione della missionaria: Teoria e pratica di madre Teresa 2,5/5

English edition: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens

It was an interesting book, above all the depositions of volunteers that have worked in Mother Teresa's hospital. The rest of the book is interesting too and the author shows how Mother Teresa didn't really worry about the poor and the sick, but wanted only to instill them her religious believes and, above all, the endurance of suffering in order to be nearer to Jesus. No one knows how much money she had, but she never used it for the poor, these had to continue to suffer and to live in poverty. Hers weren't real hospitals because there weren't doctors or professional staff; it was only a place where people could die even if in a real hospital they could have been saved or at least suffer less before dying. It's not very Christian this behaviour. She also accepted money from dictators or swindlers and never said a bad word about them and about what they were doing.
It's not only an attack on Mother Teresa, but to Catholicism, clergy and Vatican City. All in all, Mother Teresa followed the precepts of her religion.

I rated it so low only because it was too short and the best part were the depositions of the volunteers. The rest is interesting too but I had the impression the book had no "order", there wasn't a real logic to follow from the start to the end. At the end of the book some things were repeated and about others there was only a hint. I would have liked if the author would have deepened many things and I wanted more real depositions.

I think that Catholics shouldn't read this book, they would never believe it and I don't think that it would open their eyes.