I must have read at least 40 new novels in the past 2 months. But the ones that were memorable, I can count on my fingers. Wanna take a peek?
1.The Cleft - Doris Lessing.
(An apparently simple story about a primitive tribe made up of women only and their evolution into a bisexual society from a mono sexual one. Man vs woman, what do they contribute to a community or to each others lives from each others perspectives? This book is much deeper than it looks and I often find myself still musing over some idea from it's pages and matching it to real life, though it's weeks since I read it)
2.Veronica Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho.
(Veronica simply gets bored with living and decides it's time to stop. She botches her suicide attempt and winds up in a mental hospital- and discovers, when she regains consciousness, that she has only days left to live anyway. Veronica doesn't want to wait out those few days more, especially in a mental hospital! But the hospital has a psychiatrist with some very interesting ideas and some very interesting patients as well. What happens to Veronica? You really should read this book and find out. Personally, I read it at exactly the right time and the right place!)
3.The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger.
(This is an astonishing first book! A novel idea of a man with a genetic disease that makes him, of all things, time travel! One minute he's here... The next, he's in some strange place and time, in the past. A really beautiful love story. I laughed, I cried and I still ache when I recall it. It's been made into a movie too, and I believe its good as well. I read her next book too: "Her Fearful Symmetry". Interesting, but not compelling like her first, I'd say)
4. The Inheritance Of Loss - Kiran Desai.
(Such a beautifully written book. You have to marvel at how far Indian writers have come. Her writing is rich and detailed, I thought so even when I read "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard" some 12 years back, when she was not so well known. But for some reason, though I really enjoyed reading both books, they lost me towards the end and I wound up with a strangely incomplete feeling... Well, maybe that IS what loss is all about :P)
5. The World According to Garp - John Irving.
( Now reading. So I can only tell you, I am glad I waited to read this one. I have a tendency to ration books I feel will be exceptional, to myself. This one will be worth the
weeks of self denial, I think!)
6.Happy Home for Broken Hearts - Rowan Coleman.
(This one is memorable for all the wrong reasons! It's the worst book I have ever read. Seriously, a 12 year old can do better job at turning out a less soppy, less predictable and more exciting read. It's supposed to be a love story... I was so hypnotized by it's terribleness, I actually wound up reading a few lines once every 10 pages or so, till I got to the end. If you see it, burn it!)
This list is not in any particular order of liking... If you have any comments, feedback, recommendations, well scrap me!
1.The Cleft - Doris Lessing.
(An apparently simple story about a primitive tribe made up of women only and their evolution into a bisexual society from a mono sexual one. Man vs woman, what do they contribute to a community or to each others lives from each others perspectives? This book is much deeper than it looks and I often find myself still musing over some idea from it's pages and matching it to real life, though it's weeks since I read it)
2.Veronica Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho.
(Veronica simply gets bored with living and decides it's time to stop. She botches her suicide attempt and winds up in a mental hospital- and discovers, when she regains consciousness, that she has only days left to live anyway. Veronica doesn't want to wait out those few days more, especially in a mental hospital! But the hospital has a psychiatrist with some very interesting ideas and some very interesting patients as well. What happens to Veronica? You really should read this book and find out. Personally, I read it at exactly the right time and the right place!)
3.The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger.
(This is an astonishing first book! A novel idea of a man with a genetic disease that makes him, of all things, time travel! One minute he's here... The next, he's in some strange place and time, in the past. A really beautiful love story. I laughed, I cried and I still ache when I recall it. It's been made into a movie too, and I believe its good as well. I read her next book too: "Her Fearful Symmetry". Interesting, but not compelling like her first, I'd say)
4. The Inheritance Of Loss - Kiran Desai.
(Such a beautifully written book. You have to marvel at how far Indian writers have come. Her writing is rich and detailed, I thought so even when I read "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard" some 12 years back, when she was not so well known. But for some reason, though I really enjoyed reading both books, they lost me towards the end and I wound up with a strangely incomplete feeling... Well, maybe that IS what loss is all about :P)
5. The World According to Garp - John Irving.
( Now reading. So I can only tell you, I am glad I waited to read this one. I have a tendency to ration books I feel will be exceptional, to myself. This one will be worth the
weeks of self denial, I think!)
6.Happy Home for Broken Hearts - Rowan Coleman.
(This one is memorable for all the wrong reasons! It's the worst book I have ever read. Seriously, a 12 year old can do better job at turning out a less soppy, less predictable and more exciting read. It's supposed to be a love story... I was so hypnotized by it's terribleness, I actually wound up reading a few lines once every 10 pages or so, till I got to the end. If you see it, burn it!)
This list is not in any particular order of liking... If you have any comments, feedback, recommendations, well scrap me!
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