Oh how rude of me. Here I am telling you about all my favourite reads and I haven't asked you all for the longest time: what are you reading? any good?I remember a fairy story about a magical cooking pot. You could lift the lid and smell what delicious things are cooking in all the kitchens of the world. I feel like that every time you answer this question because you make me so hungry ...
The Spiderwick Chronicles, so I know what's different about the movie that I can bitch about. :-)
ReplyDeleteWas in the middle of John Sutherland's "How to read a novel: A User's Guide" but my brain is tuning out "serious" reads at the moment.
atonement
ReplyDeleteJust finished Tuesdays with Morrie on the train from London to York. A beautiful book and I remember this line from the book "Death ends a life, not a relationship." when I learnt about the death of my dear friend Datin Peggy Taylor in South Africa, yesterday. She was 83 and she too had taught me a lot.
ReplyDeleteAm struggling with Gifted.
Three Cups Of Tea - Greg Mortensen
ReplyDeleteMortensen gets lost while climbing K2, stumbles into a tiny village in the wildest parts of Pakistan and is nurtured back to health there. He promises to return and build one school as a token of gratitude. To this date, he has built fifty-one, and during the Taliban's reign too.
House Of Meetings - Martin Amis
Some say he dilutes the horror of Stalin's camp in his love triangle story, but I like his writing style.
Written On The Skin - Liz Porter
Case Studies of forensic science.
The one book that I wish I didn't read yet so I could discover its magic all over again is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Magnificent doesn't even begin to describe it. Was reading the last chapter with the same dread and ecstacy as a soon-to-be-former-smoker drags on his last cigarette.
Paulo Coelho's The Witch Of Portobello.
ReplyDeleteI find it very insightful and soul searching. About a girl name Athena who is looking to fill up the blank spaces in her life.
Read? In the middle of all this excitement?
ReplyDeleteOracle Night, Paul Auster. Yet to finish chapter 1 for the past week, because of all the excitement.
Just finished Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears. Kinda scary as the terrorism events described in the novel is rather real and might happen.
ReplyDeleteBut the action picked up too slowly, so it might bore most readers. Plus, it's as thick Harry Potter no. 6.
If you want to read, proceed with patience!
The File on H, Ismail Kadare
ReplyDeleteHeat Bill Buford
The Horrific Sufferings of the mind Reading etc etc, Carl Johan Vallgren
In Persuasion Nation, George Saunders
Serenade, James M Cain.
Kitab Omong Kosong, Seno Gumira Adjidarma
All very good.
I like that ~ the cooking pot :o)
ReplyDeleteWell..here are my 'ingredients' ;o)
It's not how good you are, but how good you want to be
&
Whatever you think, think the opposite ~ both by Paul Arden ~ i'm energized!
Teach with your strength by Liesveld, Miller & Robison ~ still reading. an eye opener for me.
Where Rainbows End - Cecelia Ahern
~ finished reading it. what's interesting about this book is the storyline that is presented through notes, emails, letters, online chats, text messeges cards etc. so refreshing!
How to read a book by Adler & Van Doren
:o)
U2 At the End of The World - Bill Flanagan
ReplyDeleteWords That Work - Frank Luntz
wiht so many others in the queue...
I started this month with Dancing Girls and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood. It's one of her earlier books, published 1977. Despite it being a collection of short stories, I found them difficult, rather morbid and dated, too.
ReplyDeleteI then took out Peter Carey's Theft to read. Despite the many pages, it's a more enjoyable read than Atwood's. I especially love All Those Capitalised Words and Phrases in the middle of Sentences.
Slow Bones rocks!
1. The English Patient (so that I can vote wisely for the Best of the Booker, though I'm not sure how many more I can complete by May).
ReplyDelete2. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
The Life and Times of Michael K by JM Coetzee
ReplyDeleteJust finished History of Love by Nicole Krauss, about an old man counting down his last days in an apartment 'full of shit', and a girl who's trying to find a cure for her mother's loneliness.
ReplyDeleteIt's the kind of book you regret ever finishing; you just want to start all over again. It's beautiful.
What's next? I should be picking up Malaysian Journey by Rehman Rashid. A timely read for this exciting post-election climate, maybe?
All the names - Jose Saramago, Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov....actually haven't been reading much....sob sob sob
ReplyDeletei have a whole pile of books to read but can't decide which one first...
ReplyDeleteAll the Names by Jose Saramago and
ReplyDeleteJack Maggs by Peter Carey
Thanks to Raman, I've recently discovered Saramago (just finished Blindness) and he's currently my new favourite author!
what to eat - marion nestle
ReplyDeleteamerican gods - neil gaiman
i'd like to produce a list of obscure books and thereby display some accumulation of cultural or literary capital during the past few months. unfortunately, i have not had time to read any novels or narrative literature ;(
ReplyDeletebut i do read stuff for my work, and i did buy the new hitomi kanehara novel (forgot its name) which i plan to look at sometime in the near future :)
Mired in Marquez Magic: Love In the Time Of Cholera.
ReplyDeleteOur Book club read for this coming Tue. What else?
wow this is a fantastic response! thanks all so much
ReplyDeletegette - just read about "the spiderwick chronicles" in the star today - nice piece by michael cheang
enar - great! you got a copy! how are you finding it?
kak teh - why the struggle with "gifted"? not enjoying, or too painful?
starlight - the forensic book sounds interesting and i'd like to read the amis. "a fine balance" is one of my favourite books too ...
verghilya - everyone loves coelho so much ... maybe i should give him another chance
animah - yes, i've been reading more online and more news than usual trying to make sense of it all
firdaus - thanks. not really a thriller fan but we have lots of tom clancy on the shelves as husband used to love his stuff
sufian - impressive list. do you manage to read all those simultaneously? you make me feel guilty at how slowly i read
anon - those sound inspiring. hadn't heard of paul arden but will check him out ...
bookseller - my queue is out the door!
chet - i bought that atwood but haven't even opened it yet. "theft " gave me such pleasure
mel - wow, it's brave of you to take on that booker challenge. must think about finishing that list too. (fat chance!)
flyingegg - i enjoyed that - a pretty remarkable book esp. as race or skin colour is never mentioned.
bk - intend to read "history of love" which is on my shelves
sham - me guilty conscience too
ms d - the one which shouts loudest
june - yes, raman always promotes saramago. i bought several from him but have yet to open them ...
marion nestle's book looks interesting, grouch ...
burhan - never mind, after the bloody thesis, hey?
this coming tuesday??? no way kay kay. i'm 10 pages in. like it so far but not a book i want to rush. anyway i'm hosting so you guys can talk and i will serve the coffee.
I started Suskind's Perfume a few weeks back. Slow going, because of time. Also still unfinished is Marisha Pessl's Special Topics of Calamity Physics, partially because of (Chet!) All Those Capitalised Words in the middle of sentences that drive me batty.
ReplyDeleteFaber & Faber published a collection of Billy Corgan's poetry: Blinking With Fists. I know some people are wary of rock stars who peddle poetry, but it's Faber & Faber... if it means anything. Very stream-of-consciousness-ish stuff, the kind you mutter under your breath to the rhythm of a car alarm--if you like that kind of thing.
Roberto Casati's The Shadow Club, a primer on the study of shadows and its historical significance to science, is a minor gem. I wouldn't say that shadows were "the greatest mystery in the universe", as the sub on the cover says, but they are certainly fascinating.Good reading for anyone.
Kasut Biru Rubina by Sufian Abas is a fulsome snack while on the move and earns a place in my glove compartment, being a bedfellow to my scrabble set. I foresee translations and reprints in years to come.
Not that I have time to read them but are objects MM's biblio-infatuations are Duncan Baird Publishers' deluxe illustrated editions of Machiavelli's The Prince, Sun Tzu's Art of War and Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet(upcoming). Hardcover, satin, gold foil, watermarks, gorgeous art. Porn. They look snazzy on my shelf.
Sham & June: If you like All The Names you might want to keep with more existential burblings in The Double. It's got a great ending I promise you.
it was the last copy at the borders pavillion.bought it on the day parliament dissolved.only managed to start reading it in the middle of these exciting times..anad also just bought this book and cant seem to put it down-a golden age;tahmima anam
ReplyDeletebk - Rehman Rashid's Malaysian Journey is one of my favourite books (not just in the M'sian category!) because it is impassioned, fiery, poignant, hilarious and so generous.
ReplyDeleteBesides being an easy narrative about post-Merdeka Malaysian politics, it is set against Rehman's own personal story. It's as much a tribute to his family as a love letter to his country.
I just found it so comforting and heartening to read.
To answer Sharon's question... I am currently reading Mefisto and it's my first John Banville book.
Currently reading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own in its entirety. Finally. I've only read bits & extracts before. And it's not very long, but this last week has been exhausting, so it's like 2 pages every night before I'm face down on the bed, mouth open and drooling.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it *has* been tiring keeping up with reading the news; there's just so much information coming at you at any one time. It's amazing I got any work done at all.
Oh yeah, I didn't.
Subashini
Enar Arshad - You must mean Times Bookstore @ Pavilion, not Borders. But it's an easy mistake since the store front tables look very much the same isn't it? ;-)
ReplyDeleteGnute - I've just started reading A Malaysian Journey and I'm quite in love with it. You don't often get this sort of honest, true-to-life, descriptions of this country and its people. Everything is written so eloquently. And you're right, it's hilarious too.
Sharon - If you're to give Coelho another chance, try Eleven Minutes. At least even if you still dislike his writing, there's all that sex! :D
yup...you are correct.they both look similiar.
ReplyDeleteI've finished Theft. I was so into it that the ending surprised me. I mean, I turned the page, expecting more, and realised that was the last page I'd just read. I wanted it to go on, but it was over. I supposed it could go on (in my head). But where it ended, it was fitting.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm eyeing Tash Aw's book, even tho it's not officially on my TBR list.
Here's my little pip of garlic for your stone soup, Bib:
ReplyDelete'Clown Girl' by Monica Drake, who is a contemporary of Chuck Palahniuk. A funny and revealing story (I've reviewed it on my blog). Coulrophilia, anyone? ;-)
Hawthorne Books produces very pretty largish paperbacks with fold-in covers that double as bookmarks - ingenious!
thanks, argus lou. hadn't heard of monica drake so am grateful for the heads up.
ReplyDeletei love paperbacks with fold in covers. there are some special edition penguins like that and i like them even better than hardbacks