Indian Readers discussion

This year I won't do difficult challenges. I want to take it easy.

By sure I will continue reading books set in India and I hope to read at least 5 books, hopefully set in states I haven't been yet through books, but it is getting difficult.

I hope to start again my "Novel Cure Challenge" that has been in standby in 2017.

I won't do the cat challenge but this doesn't mean I won't read books with cats if I'll find some good books.

And, above all, I think 2018 will be the year dedicated to religious books. Though my advanced age, I still feel I'm in my Brahmacharya stage!

Far and wide through India

previous year: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...


visited 17 states (48.5%)
Create your own visited map of India or Amsterdam travel guide for Android


States:
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar: India: A Wounded Civilization
Chhattisgarh
Delhi:
The Wildings
Delhi
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Goa: Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
Gujarat:
The Algebra Of Infinite Justice
Il libro di Krishna
Haryana: Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata
Himachal Pradesh: Nine Lives
The Dalai Lama's Cat
Jammu e Kashmir: Kashmir Saivism - The Central Philosophy of Tantrism
Jharkhand
Karnataka:
India. Cinque racconti, sei reportage, tre fumetti
Waiting for the Mahatma by R.K. Narayan
Kerala: Idris : Keeper of the Light
Madhya Pradesh:
Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster
Un'isola di mistero : seguito delle avventure di viaggio di Dalle caverne e dalle giungle dell'Indostan
Maharashtra:
Sacred Games
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Saturday Date
The Moor's Last Sigh
ŚRĪ JÑĀNEŚVARA : Lo yogin cantore della libertà
Family Matters
Sri Sai Satcharitra: The Wonderful Life and Teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Orissa: eFiction India Vol. 1 Issue 07
Punjab: Train to Pakistan
Rajasthan: India Was One
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu:
Shilappadikaram
The Toss of a Lemon
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh:
Sea of Poppies
Krsna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead: v. 1
Uttarakhand
West Bengal:
Freedom at Midnight
The City of Joy
The Sleeping Dictionary
Sister of My Heart
The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice
The Lives of Others

India without a real setting:
Kamasutra
71 Golden Tales of Panchatantra
A Fine Balance
L'Induismo
Timeless wisdom from ancient India
The Dance of Siva: Essays on Indian Art and Culture
The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma
Animal's People

Novel Cure Challenge

previous year: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Review that needs to be updated every time I read a new book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

1) Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands should help to cheer you up: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

2) Like Water for Chocolate should help for people who aren't able to express their feelings: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

3) Zorba the Greek should help for nervous breackdowns (I don't have it but decided to read it nevertheless because it's a classic I still had to read: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

4) The Comforters should help for people who think they are crazy (I don't think this about me, but seen that Muriel Spark is a beloved author by many GR friends, I decided to read it): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

5) The Golden Ass should help people who are too confident in themselves. As usual, I'm not but I liked the plot of the book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

6) Family Matters should help for who has old parents, to treat them well because we will be old too. Well, I won't abandon my parents and fingers crossed that my son won't abandon me: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Wishlist

This won't be a real challenge, but I want to keep track of my wishlist to see how many books I will manage to read this year.

I started the year with: 560 books

- Pane e bugie
- Più forti dell'odio
- Solo l'amore crea: Le opere di misericordia spirituale
- The Kingdom of God Is Within You
- Zorba the Greek
- Interpreter of Maladies
- Oceano
- Flight Without End
- War's Unwomanly Face
- The Dalai Lama's Cat
- Il prete giusto
- Chiamami sottovoce
- L'arte di ricominciare

I ended the year with 632 books.

Good luck, dely.
I too am taking it easy this year... though no religious books for me.
I feel I am in my teens 😝😎

Syl wrote: "Good luck, dely.
I too am taking it easy this year... though no religious books for me.
I feel I am in my teens 😝😎"

I thought you were next to your Sannyasa stage :P :P

Not for centuries 😜

All the very best dely.. Will try to pick up a few books from your Far and wide challenge :)

Girish wrote: "All the very best dely.. Will try to pick up a few books from your Far and wide challenge :)"

Thank you!

Good luck for 2018. Happy reading! :)

Thanks Jayanth!

1) Pane e bugie by Dario Bressanini 4*

No English edition. The title is "Bread and Lies". The author is a chemist and scientist and in this book he talks about all the lies around food.

Is it true that organic food is healthier or more safe? No, it isn't and he explains why. Everything he writes about is based on serious scientific researches (there are always notes so that the reader can go and read the researches on interent). Is it true that GM food is dangerous? No one knows till now, so we can't say if it is dangerous or not.

This book is very interesting and written in an easy way so that also people who aren't into chemistry or science are able to understand it. The author talks about the most common lies: brown sugar is healthier respect to white sugar, Monosodium glutamate leads to cancer, organic food is healthier, farm-to-table products are better for the environment because there is less pollution, etc.

He also explains why these lies are so fast to be believed by people and how it's difficult to let them understand that these are only lies. The author isn't against organic food or pro GM food; he is objective and explains everything very well so that the reader can be more watchful when buying food.

I would recommend it to everyone obsessed with organic food or to those, like me, that thought that farm-to-table products pollute less, that brown sugar is better for our health, that there aren't pesticides in organic food, and GM food is the Evil.

- Wishlist

2) Più forti dell'odio by Christian de Chergé 5*

No English translation. It is a collection of homilies, letters, testimonies, lectures to understand the life of the seven trappist monks that have been kidnapped and killed by Islamists in 1996 in Algeria. For who doesn't know the story, here the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_...
Simply wonderful and not only for believers.
I finished it yesterday and loved it that much that I started rereading it again today.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

- wishlist
- religion

Both books sound good. Especially the Algerian Monks! Too bad there is no English translation..

Girish wrote: "Both books sound good. Especially the Algerian Monks! Too bad there is no English translation.."

Maybe some English author wrote about it, but I don't know it. *

There's also a movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhQzn...

I watched it, but it's not the same as the book. In the movie we see how much they love Algeria and the people, how they lived there peacefully together, and how they are torn between staying and leaving, but reading their words is totally different. It is a deeper experience to get to know these monks.

*I was able to find three books in English! :D

The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria
The Last Monk of Tibhirine: A True Story of Martyrdom, Faith, and Survival
Christian de Cherge: A Theology of Hope

oh wow! I had added to my checklist to google books based on this incident.. and presto!
Thanks. let me check the availability

Girish wrote: "oh wow! I had added to my checklist to google books based on this incident.. and presto!
Thanks. let me check the availability"

I don't know if the content is the same as mine, seen that my edition has a collection of sermons, conferences, etc. Most likely it's the publisher who decides which parts adding in a book. But I see that also the English editions have high ratings here on GR.

good luck Dely... religious sounds difficult to me :P

Gorab wrote: "good luck Dely... religious sounds difficult to me :P"

Thanks!
Let's say the books will be more spiritual rather then theological.

My all time favourite thread in IR!! And dely, you never fail to amaze me with your reading and books. Absolutely stunning books and goals.

Last year, I wasn't really that active so couldn't really keep an eye on your thread but this year I am definitely coming here regularly. Religion is something that I also plan to read a little this year. Not as much as you are planning but am definitely testing waters and dipping my feet in it, so to speak.

Both the books sound awesome and I am adding the others you mentioned to my TBR.

I know you will have a great reading year and I am definitely going to be stouter in the TBR front because of that! Wonderful 2018 to you dely! :D

Srividya wrote: "My all time favourite thread in IR!! And dely, you never fail to amaze me with your reading and books. Absolutely stunning books and goals.

Last year, I wasn't really that active so couldn't real..."

Thank you so much!
I hope to read some books also about Hinduism and not only Catholicism. Yep, I think these will be the only two religions I will read about, but who knows!

You never know with religion actually. Am hoping to be as diverse as I can... let's see...

3) My third book was a re-read of the second book of this year: Più forti dell'odio.


4) Solo l'amore crea: Le opere di misericordia spirituale by Fabio Rosini 2,5

No English edition. The book has been written by a priest and talks about what mercy, love and forgiveness really mean.
It was somehow interesting, but it is really badly written so I struggled to follow the author's musings.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

- religion
- wishlist

5) Il regno di Dio è in voi 5*

English edition: The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Tolstoy

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Seen that the review is pretty long and I needed the whole morning to write it, I don't think I will manage to rewrite it also in English.

Here the most important points of the book about which I talk also in my review:
1) it isn't, as we could think from the title, only a religious book, and Tolstoj does not a religious sermon. It is above all about politics, humankind, about how people live, about the army. Many of the things he says, though the book has been written at the end of the 19th century, are still present.
2) whatever government we have, there will always be oppressed, poor, exploited people. Different oppressors, but oppression, injustices and poverty are still there.
3) the only solution to make a real change in this, is that everyone should follow the words spoken by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, above all that one that says to love also our enemies. Only loving each other as brothers, evilness, poverty, injustices, will disappear. (It's the same as Gandhi's non-violence)
4) Tolstoj talks also a lot about the army and the compulsory military service
5) he talks about the bigotry of the Church and that of several Christians
6) he says that people are always waiting for a change, but a real change will only happen when a person decides to follow the words of Jesus, and therefore be an example for the others.
7) there are three "levels" for society: the "natural" one, whithout a social order, the "social" one, where we have laws in order to live in a more peaceful and safe society from which we need to free ourselves in orders to reach the third level that is "divine". Only when we will reach this level, there will be peace on earth.

There is really a lot in this book and it is very interesting. Not easy and not flowing, but very very interesting.

religion
wishlist

January
In the first month of the year, I have read 4 religious books that were also in my wishlist. One of those I have read twice in the same month, so I can say I have read 5 books :D

In my wishlist there are now 565 books, so 5 more books respect to the 560 books with which I started the year :/ But, well, I'm on GR also to find books I could like.

Best book read this month: Più forti dell'odio

For February, I think I will go on with my Novel-Cure-Challenge so again some fiction, yay! But a friend of mine already gave me a book about chakras so I will read this too, and I wanted to find a good edition of the Sermon on the Mount.

he he.. dely. May your wishlist grow. :P

Five books in Jan is good going considering that you get little time to read. Hope february too will prove a good reading month for you.

Syl wrote: "he he.. dely. May your wishlist grow. :P"

Someday I should do some cleaning also there :D

Fingers crossed that I will have also a good February!

6) I sintomi parlano: Comprendere il messaggio della malattia e servirsene per guarire by Rossella Panigatti no rating

No English edition.

I haven't read the whole book but only the introduction where the author explains chakras and how her way of healing from various diseases works. I gave also a look to the "energetic reading" of some illnesses. The book is a long list of diseases and why they are caused, from a scientific point of view but above all from an energetic point of view. In the author's opinion every disease is caused because of a block of energy in one of our chakras. Every part of the body is linked to a chakra and with the syntoms of a disease we can see which chakra is involved. Seen that every chakra is linked to different emotions, we find out what the "emotional" cause of the disease is. Following the author, doing a meditation on the blocked chakra helps to unblock the emotions, the energy and to heal.

This isn't a book I would usually read because when I'm ill I go to a doctor. But a friend of mine lent it to me so I've read it only out of curiosity.
The main problem is that the author says that every kind of disease can be healed, from cancer to cough, only from an energetic point of view. Well, I think that such kind of things are also dangerous if there are people who stop going to a doctor and start doing only meditation to heal.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

7) Dona Flor e i suoi due mariti 2*

English edition: Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado

Not for me. It should be a funny read, full of humor, but reading about people who follow only their sexual instincts, above all married people, really without values, is not funny. Maybe I'm a bigot and close-minded person, but I don't like to read about such things. It is not funny, it is sad if a person, above all a married person, is not able to be loyal.
The author wanted to show how much society is hypocrite: from the outside people want to be seen perfect and loyal, but then inside they are consumed by passion and sexual lust and would go with everyone to satisfy their passion.

I have read this book because of my Novel-Cure-Challenge. It should cheer you up. It didn't cheer me up, on the contrary, it left me with a feeling of annoyance.

- Novel Cure Challenge

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

8) Le beatitudini. La felicità realizzata by Angelo Comastri 3*

No English edition. It is a very short book (60 pages) and I thought it talked about the Beatitudes, the sermon that Jesus had on the mount. It was only about one of those, but it was however interesting.

Religion

9) Dolce come il cioccolato 3*

English edition: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

This too was for my Novel-Cure-Challenge. It should help people who aren't able to express and live their feelings. This happens also to Tita, the main character of the book. Seen that because of a despotic mother she isn't free to love the man she likes, and seen that she also wasn't allowed to be angry or to cry, all of Tita's feelings flow in the food she prepares.
It is magical realism so weird and funny things happen when people eat her dishes.
It's a short, flowing, easy and pleasant read. Nothing special, but it cheered me up.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Novel Cure Challenge

dely wrote: "6) [book:I sintomi parlano: Comprendere il messaggio della malattia e servirsene per guarire..."

I totally agree but unfortunately there are a lot of people who believe in chakra healing, pranik healing and other techniques that involve meditation and no medication. Preachers of this kind are definitely very dangerous but gullible people fall prey to it. While these techniques can definitely and do at times resolve small issues like headaches and ailments caused due to tension, to say they can cure cancer is taking it too far. Wish people would put it forth in a more realistic manner.

What is the Novel Cure Challenge, dely?

I agree with you about meditation. I did some in these past years and now it's 14 years I do yoga twice a week and it really helps a lot. I haven't anymore backache, I sleep much better, my mind is quiter, etc. So it is helpful, but I don't think we can heal everything only doing that.

Srividya wrote: "What is the Novel Cure Challenge, dely?"

Let's say it's a "game" more than a challenge. I started in 2014 The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You and I decided to read some books that are recommended in this book for my diseases. It's more a game because I'm adding books in this challenge for diseases I don't have, but because the plot seems interesting. I did it because it's a way to read books out of my comfort zone and to find authors or books I wouldn't otherwise read.

You are foraying into a different world altogether with your books :) I must lay my hands on one of them, if I do chance upon an English translation.

Parikhit wrote: "You are foraying into a different world altogether with your books :) I must lay my hands on one of them, if I do chance upon an English translation."

They are an addiction. After January with religious books, I thought to relax a little bit with some fiction, but I'm already missing to read about religion. I have the feeling to waste my time with books that don't enrich me. Or maybe I was only unlucky with the fictions I picked up. It's going a little bit better with the book I'm reading now, Zorba the Greek. Not mindblowing, but it's good.

10) Zorba il greco 3*

English edition: Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

Following The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You this book should help for nervous breackdowns. I don't have it but decided to read this book nevertheless because it's a classic I hadn't read yet.
The book talks about the friendship between two completely different men: a narrator without name and Zorba. The first one is an intellectual, always looking for Buddha and wants to lead a spiritual life. Zorba, instead, lives his life to its fullest. He seems an ignorant and simple person, but thanks to his liveliness, he will be helpful to his intellectual friend. The narrator finds out thanks to Zorba's simple wisdom that to be really free, a man needs to go over deities, ideologies and intellectualisms.

It is an interesting book with good quotes, but at the end I had the feeling that the author wanted to persuade the reader that Zorba's way of living is the right one. I think instead that there isn't a right or wrong way, and that everyone has to find his way of living.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

-Novel-Cure-Challenge
-Wishlist

Good review, dely. I was gifted this book, started it, but abandoned due to really tiny fonts.

Syl wrote: "Good review, dely. I was gifted this book, started it, but abandoned due to really tiny fonts."

I had answered your question under my update, but I don't know if you have seen my reply. If you have the chance, read it, though I don't know if you will like it. The philosophical musings aren't too difficult but I don't know if you will like them.
The tiny font is terrible. It happens sometimes when I take books at the library or when I order books online :/

11) Le parole della spiritualità. Per un lessico della vita interiore 4*

English edition: Words of Spirituality: Exploring the Inner Life by Enzo Bianchi

Another book about religion (Catholicism) where the author talks in short chapters about many topics like patience, meditation, listening, asceticism, silence, poverty, forgiveness, love of the enemy, death and faith, old age, etc.
Every chapter is dedicated to one topic and though they are very short, they have a deep meaning and the author is able to explain deep and complex topics like these in an approachable way.

Only short Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Religion

12) I consolatori 1*

English edition: The Comforters by Muriel Spark

Also this book read for my Novel-Cure-Challenge. It should help people who think they are crazy. I don't think to be crazy but decided to read it because many GR friends like this author.
Several weird things happen but the reader doesn't know how these events and people are linked. I don't have a lot of patience with such "mysteries" so after 100 pages or so I was annoyed by it. It also hasn't a real plot and the characters are all crazy. I don't know what the author wanted to tell the reader. For me it has no sense at all, and it was a real disappointment.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Novel Cure Challenge

May be the very reason a lot of readers like these books are the fact that they are open to interpretations. :D

Parikhit wrote: "May be the very reason a lot of readers like these books are the fact that they are open to interpretations. :D"

Yes, surely. I often feel bad when I see that others understand and enjoy a book. Whatever the author wanted to say, I didn't enjoy the way she did it. There just are books that don't fit us.

dely wrote: "Parikhit wrote: "May be the very reason a lot of readers like these books are the fact that they are open to interpretations. :D"

Yes, surely. I often feel bad when I see that others understand an..."

I have the same feeling with modern art. All it looks like to me is colours splashed all over a canvas :D

dely wrote: "Parikhit wrote: "May be the very reason a lot of readers like these books are the fact that they are open to interpretations. :D"

Yes, surely. I often feel bad when I see that others understand an..."

Also I remember reading the book Terra Amata by the Nobel prize winning author. I had to struggle hard to understand what was it all about!

Parikhit wrote: "Also I remember reading the book Terra Amata by the Nobel prize winning author. I had to struggle hard to understand what was it all about! "

Lol, then I have to stay away from this book. Why aren't some authors able to write in an easy and flowing way? What's wrong with it? Simplicity doesn't mean no depth or nothing important to say. On the contrary, I find simplicity powerful.

Absolutely I have to agree with you there.

Some authors make everything so vague and we helplessly try hard to decipher the meaning behind their description and writing. And there are some who write simple but its transcends everything. For instance Naguib Mahfouz. His writing is so simple but there is an elegance to it. (I am reading one of his books, oh how much I love his writing)

Parikhit wrote: "Absolutely I have to agree with you there.

Some authors make everything so vague and we helplessly try hard to decipher the meaning behind their description and writing. And there are some who wr..."

I have read the Cairo Trilogy and liked it. Which book are you reading?

dely wrote: "Parikhit wrote: "Absolutely I have to agree with you there.

Some authors make everything so vague and we helplessly try hard to decipher the meaning behind their description and writing. And ther..."

I am reading The Harafish now. The Cairo Trilogy was amazing. I just wish I could learn more about what happens next.

Parikhit wrote: "dely wrote: "Parikhit wrote: "Absolutely I have to agree with you there.

Some authors make everything so vague and we helplessly try hard to decipher the meaning behind their description and writ..."

I like family sagas!