Shanmugam's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 03 Mar 2025 14:36:54 -0800 60 Shanmugam's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Vaadivaasal: Arena 19884400 நாவல� என்பதை மிகஉறுதியா� சொல்லமுடியும�.]]> 184 C.S. Chellappa 0198096291 Shanmugam 4 4.00 1959 Vaadivaasal: Arena
author: C.S. Chellappa
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2014/01/24
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> லாக்கப� 28691229 144 மு. சந்திரகுமார் 9384301426 Shanmugam 4 4.00 லாக்கப்
author: மு. சந்திரகுமார்
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2016/02/25
date added: 2024/09/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[குள்ளச� சித்தன� சரித்திரம் [Kulla Chithan Charithiram]]]> 16106715
குள்ளச்சித்தன் என்ற� பெயருடைய ஒர� சித்தபுருஷரை வெவ்வேறு மனிதர்கள� வெவ்வேறு காலகட்டங்களில் தங்கள் வாழ்க்கையில் சந்திக்கிறார்கள். சிலருக்க� அவர் வாழ்க்கையின் பிரச்சினைகளை தீர்த்து வைக்கிறார். சிலருக்க� அவர் மெய்ஞானம� அளிக்கிறார�. அவர் ஒர� சமயம� பல இடங்களிலும� காட்சியளிக்கிறார�.

ரா� கண்ணப்பன�, சிவப்ப� என்ற செட்டியார் ஜாதி தம்பதிகளின� பிள்ளையில்லாக்குறையை சித்தர� தீர்க்கிறார். ஹாலாஸ்யம� என்பவருக்க� மெய்ஞானம� அளிக்கிறர். இவ்வாற� பல்வேற� சாதி, இடம் சார்ந்� கதைகளைச் சொல்லும் போது அவற்றுக்கா� வட்டாரவழக்குகள� அனைத்தையும� யுவன� சந்திரசேகர� சிறப்பாக பயன்படுத்துகிறார�. யுவன� சந்திரசேகர� மாற்றுமெய்மை என்பதில் நம்பிக்க� கொண்டவர் மாற்றுமெய்மை என்பது இந்த உலகில் நம� புலன்களால் அறியப்படும� மெய்மைக்கு அடியில� இருக்கும� அறியமுடியா� இன்னொர� மெய்மையாகும். இந்நாவலும் மாற்றுமெய்மையை பேசுவத�.]]> 292 Yuvan Chandrasekar Shanmugam 5 4.08 2002 குள்ளச் சித்தன் சரித்திரம் [Kulla Chithan Charithiram]
author: Yuvan Chandrasekar
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Ghachar Ghochar 30267604
Elegantly written and punctuated by moments of unexpected warmth and humor, Ghachar Ghochar is a quietly enthralling, deeply unsettling novel about the shifting meanings—and consequences—of financial gain in contemporary India.]]> 118 Vivek Shanbhag 014311168X Shanmugam 4 3.88 2013 Ghachar Ghochar
author: Vivek Shanbhag
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves:
review:
The very definition of Novella!
]]> Serotonin 42594530
In SEROTONIN rechnet die Hauptfigur ab: mit der modernen Gesellschaft, der Wirtschaft, der Politik � und mit sich selbst.

»Der umwerfendste Schriftsteller unserer Gegenwart«
Julia Encke, F.A.S]]> 337 Michel Houellebecq 3832184422 Shanmugam 3 3.61 2019 Serotonin
author: Michel Houellebecq
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves:
review:
God is a mediocre scriptwriter; A bleak outlook, not an irrefutable one either.
]]> The Call of Cthulhu 15730101 The Call of Cthulhu is a harrowing tale of the weakness of the human mind when confronted by powers and intelligences from beyond our world.]]> 43 H.P. Lovecraft Shanmugam 5 3.97 1928 The Call of Cthulhu
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1928
rating: 5
read at: 2015/12/29
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:
Horror! Horror! Cosmic Horror!
]]> <![CDATA[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]> 18905695 The only English translation authorized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury

This unexpurgated 1991 translation by H. T. Willetts is the only authorized edition available and fully captures the power and beauty of the original Russian.]]> 209 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Shanmugam 5
Over here, one often hears a slight variation of this as a metaphoric statement, which never reaches the depth it is intended for. Maybe because it has become a cliche due to overuse, or maybe because of the innate human nature where you don’t lose hope till the end, you just hold on to it as long as it takes. However, when Shukhov uses it in literal sense, it hits you like a hammer, you know there is no escaping from the cold for him.

There is this theory that as much as a novel focuses on intrinsic and sensory details, it needs to rise above to the whole, to offer a glimpse of the universal picture. “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich� was not just the one day of Ivan Denisovich and his twenty other workmates of his Gang 104, out of his 3653 days of hard labour prison term. Through that one day reading journey of 208 pages, one could understand a certain picture of the whole Stalinist era.

Voice of an illiterate, smart peasant is brilliantly reproduced in H.T.Willetts� translation. A recommended read!
]]> 4.24 1962 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/07
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves:
review:
“Can a man who’s warm understand one who’s freezing?�

Over here, one often hears a slight variation of this as a metaphoric statement, which never reaches the depth it is intended for. Maybe because it has become a cliche due to overuse, or maybe because of the innate human nature where you don’t lose hope till the end, you just hold on to it as long as it takes. However, when Shukhov uses it in literal sense, it hits you like a hammer, you know there is no escaping from the cold for him.

There is this theory that as much as a novel focuses on intrinsic and sensory details, it needs to rise above to the whole, to offer a glimpse of the universal picture. “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich� was not just the one day of Ivan Denisovich and his twenty other workmates of his Gang 104, out of his 3653 days of hard labour prison term. Through that one day reading journey of 208 pages, one could understand a certain picture of the whole Stalinist era.

Voice of an illiterate, smart peasant is brilliantly reproduced in H.T.Willetts� translation. A recommended read!

]]> The Duel and Other Stories 18897120 188 Anton Chekhov Shanmugam 5
Halfway into the book, I thought I would point out a few stories which are much reads. I ended up liking almost all the stories :) I haven't read enough short stories or enough Chekhov to share my thoughts on the name 'Master of Short Stories'. The thing I liked most about this collection was, all the characters are relatable. Their thoughts, confused ideas, dreams, sorrows, everything! Can't wait to start the next collection.]]> 4.26 1891 The Duel and Other Stories
author: Anton Chekhov
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1891
rating: 5
read at: 2015/09/16
date added: 2024/04/03
shelves:
review:
I had always wanted to read Chekhov. However, I hate to admit that if not for the tag 'Contemporary Anton Chekhov' on Alice Munro, I wouldn't have started this book yet. All of a sudden, I wanted to read a Munro, then the meticulous me ended up landing here.

Halfway into the book, I thought I would point out a few stories which are much reads. I ended up liking almost all the stories :) I haven't read enough short stories or enough Chekhov to share my thoughts on the name 'Master of Short Stories'. The thing I liked most about this collection was, all the characters are relatable. Their thoughts, confused ideas, dreams, sorrows, everything! Can't wait to start the next collection.
]]> Don Quixote 3836
With its experimental form and literary playfulness, Don Quixote has been generally recognized as the first modern novel. The book has been enormously influential on a host of writers, from Fielding and Sterne to Flaubert, Dickens, Melville, and Faulkner, who reread it once a year, "just as some people read the Bible."]]> 1023 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Shanmugam 5
For obvious reasons, a sequel in any art form is a tough nut to crack. Cervantes excelled at it with aplomb; in fact, the second part, written ten years later, read better than the first. Cervantes masterfully moved from the physical slapstick in the first part into psychological cruelty in the second part. The novel was full of quirk moments; the quirkiest in the narrative structure came towards the end, wherein the Knight and Squire encountered Don Alvaro, the character from the unauthorized sequel, which not only forced the pair to change the course of their adventure but also Cervantes to write the sequel in the first place. The boundary between fiction, fictional reality, reality, and whatever else was mired.

Since I am done with the first reading, I am tempted to reread a different translation. I am also tempted to open the book randomly to chance upon one of the many delightful discourses between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.]]> 3.86 1615 Don Quixote
author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1615
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves:
review:
Had Cervantes stuck with the misadventures of The Kight of Rueful Countenance, it would have turned out into a fine comical novel dishing out chivalry romance. The first few pages into the novel, I couldn't help remembering Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Cervantes was too gifted to do just that; he went on adding layers and layers over it to make a perfect novel. First, well-developed ancillary characters and their adventures in frame narratives set the historical and social context of 16th and early 17th century Span. Critique the cultural aspects of the said period with at least three elaborate conversations, then the brilliant discourses throughout the novel (my favorite among them is the Knight's advice to the future 'governor'), and the famed metafiction to top it up.

For obvious reasons, a sequel in any art form is a tough nut to crack. Cervantes excelled at it with aplomb; in fact, the second part, written ten years later, read better than the first. Cervantes masterfully moved from the physical slapstick in the first part into psychological cruelty in the second part. The novel was full of quirk moments; the quirkiest in the narrative structure came towards the end, wherein the Knight and Squire encountered Don Alvaro, the character from the unauthorized sequel, which not only forced the pair to change the course of their adventure but also Cervantes to write the sequel in the first place. The boundary between fiction, fictional reality, reality, and whatever else was mired.

Since I am done with the first reading, I am tempted to reread a different translation. I am also tempted to open the book randomly to chance upon one of the many delightful discourses between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
]]> Trust 58210933 An unparalleled novel about money, power, intimacy, and perception

Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly boundless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.

Hernan Diaz's TRUST elegantly puts these competing narratives into conversation with one another—and in tension with the perspective of one woman bent on disentangling fact from fiction. The result is a novel that spans over a century and becomes more exhilarating with each new revelation.

At once an immersive story and a brilliant literary puzzle, TRUST engages the reader in a quest for the truth while confronting the deceptions that often live at the heart of personal relationships, the reality-warping force of capital, and the ease with which power can manipulate facts.]]> 402 Hernan Diaz 0593420314 Shanmugam 5 3.77 2022 Trust
author: Hernan Diaz
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/18
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves:
review:
I don't know whether this can be called a postmodernist novel; it is too serious for the genre. However, it uses its techniques generously. Among many other things, I loved the metafictional aspects. It is a self-contained novel with keys for all the puzzles within. Sometimes, it is too eager to remind you not to miss the tricks, but I guess it is ok. It is the kind of novel that will open up more and be even more enjoyable during the second read.
]]> Prathaba Mudaliyar Sarithiram 8610058 151 Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai Shanmugam 3 4.12 1879 Prathaba Mudaliyar Sarithiram
author: Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1879
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Desert 12267021 é - prix Renaudot en 1980 - Le Clézio, écrivain discret, presque secret, accède à une reconnaissance enthousiaste du public. Depuis, sa notoriété ne s'est pas démentie au fil d'une production pourtant singulière, tant par la forme qui rompt avec le formalisme du roman que par les thèmes toujours en marge d'un monde qui avance irrémédiablement. Nourris au sein de la nature vierge, de la mer ou des déserts, les personnages de Le Clézio, abreuvés de légendes intimes ou porteurs de l'histoire des peuples, errent inlassablement sur les chemins du retour. La certitude de l'appartenance, le souvenir des paysages perdus, constituent les forces vitales que ne peuvent ébranler la vulgarité des hommes ou l'emprise de la ville. Telle Lalla, arrivée dans les quartiers sordides de Marseille comme un navire échoué, mais avec la lumière du désert dans les yeux et le sang des guerriers du Rio de Oro dans les veines. Alors, si la force de l'identité rend tout exil cruel, elle tient aussi lieu d'espoir. --Lenaïc Gravis et Jocelyn Blériot ]]> 352 J.M.G. Le Clézio 1848873816 Shanmugam 5
Having grown up in a moderate tropical wet land and immigrated to a moderate filth of metro, I have felt the warm sand and soil, flints of hot stones reflecting light on bare feet, brazier kind of setup in winters, torrential downpours, dust storm of red soil. Once my father got caught in middle of a hailstorm, after our bullocks cart got mangled in the winds. He walked down the last mile to home in the relentless storm. He was never the same in winters after that incident. We have had unpleasant moments and memories, but they were never to the extreme of unbearable. And of course, I never have to dwell in metro's filth everyday as a higher middle-class person. J M G Le Clezio's Desert present those extremes to me.

Desert has two loosely coupled plots of untamed spirits of the descendants of a desert tribe, interwoven till the end. One part of the story follows a caravan of nomadic Berber tribes traveling northwards across the Sahara desert, led by the Tuareg, "Men in blue", the last freemen fleeing from the Soldiers of Christians. It is a fictionalized version of Ma el Ainine's 1909 - 1910 insurgency against French colony, narrated/observed through the eyes of Nour, a coming-of-age boy.

Major part of novel is the story of Lalla, an orphan girl growing in 'the Project', across the river from an unnamed Moroccan town. And, her short stint in modern Marseille. Time of the story is not mentioned, could be guessed as 1970s. Waves of dunes, rugged hills, blazing sun, white light, high plateaus and intimate mythical connectedness of an individual's soul to the land are elaborated in this part. This part contains some beautifully crafted passages I have never read before, such as the wandering of Lella on an unchartered high plateau - on the night the wind of ill fortune flows on the Project, her wanderings in the filth and coastal parts of Marseille etc., Sure, Lella's rags to riches progress in Marseille is unrealistic, guess it gives a kind of depth to the character.

The prose is poetical, descriptions are beautiful. The English translation is flawless, from a reader's perspective for whom English is only a second language. Worthy read!
]]> 3.71 1980 Desert
author: J.M.G. Le Clézio
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1980
rating: 5
read at: 2013/12/30
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:
Desert nomads' struggle for survival and postcolonial astonishing homecoming, in beautiful prose!

Having grown up in a moderate tropical wet land and immigrated to a moderate filth of metro, I have felt the warm sand and soil, flints of hot stones reflecting light on bare feet, brazier kind of setup in winters, torrential downpours, dust storm of red soil. Once my father got caught in middle of a hailstorm, after our bullocks cart got mangled in the winds. He walked down the last mile to home in the relentless storm. He was never the same in winters after that incident. We have had unpleasant moments and memories, but they were never to the extreme of unbearable. And of course, I never have to dwell in metro's filth everyday as a higher middle-class person. J M G Le Clezio's Desert present those extremes to me.

Desert has two loosely coupled plots of untamed spirits of the descendants of a desert tribe, interwoven till the end. One part of the story follows a caravan of nomadic Berber tribes traveling northwards across the Sahara desert, led by the Tuareg, "Men in blue", the last freemen fleeing from the Soldiers of Christians. It is a fictionalized version of Ma el Ainine's 1909 - 1910 insurgency against French colony, narrated/observed through the eyes of Nour, a coming-of-age boy.

Major part of novel is the story of Lalla, an orphan girl growing in 'the Project', across the river from an unnamed Moroccan town. And, her short stint in modern Marseille. Time of the story is not mentioned, could be guessed as 1970s. Waves of dunes, rugged hills, blazing sun, white light, high plateaus and intimate mythical connectedness of an individual's soul to the land are elaborated in this part. This part contains some beautifully crafted passages I have never read before, such as the wandering of Lella on an unchartered high plateau - on the night the wind of ill fortune flows on the Project, her wanderings in the filth and coastal parts of Marseille etc., Sure, Lella's rags to riches progress in Marseille is unrealistic, guess it gives a kind of depth to the character.

The prose is poetical, descriptions are beautiful. The English translation is flawless, from a reader's perspective for whom English is only a second language. Worthy read!

]]> <![CDATA[The Color of Freedom: Overcoming Colonialism and Multinationals in India]]> 1129175 300 Laura Coppo 1567512771 Shanmugam 4 4.25 2004 The Color of Freedom: Overcoming Colonialism and Multinationals in India
author: Laura Coppo
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/07/06
shelves:
review:

]]> நினைவோடை �. நா. சுப்ரமணியம� 56580245 112 Sundara Ramaswamy 9390224268 Shanmugam 5 4.75 நினைவோடை க. நா. சுப்ரமணியம்
author: Sundara Ramaswamy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/15
date added: 2022/06/15
shelves:
review:

]]> The Possibility of an Island 263985
Surprisingly poignant, philosophically compelling, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, The Possibility of an Island is at once an indictment, an elegy, and a celebration of everything we have and are at risk of losing. It is a masterpiece from one of the world's most innovative writers.]]> 352 Michel Houellebecq 0307275213 Shanmugam 4 3.84 2005 The Possibility of an Island
author: Michel Houellebecq
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> A Confederacy of Dunces 310612
His mother thinks he needs to go to work. He does, in a succession of jobs. Each job rapidly escalates into a lunatic adventure, a full-blown disaster; yet each has, like Don Quixote's, its own eerie logic.

His girlfriend, Myrna Minkoff of the Bronx, thinks he needs sex.

Ignatius is an intellectual, ideologue, deadbeat, goof-off, glutton, who should repel the reader with his gargantuan bloats, his thunderous contempt, and one-man war against everybody: Freud, homosexuals, heterosexuals, Protestants, and the assorted excesses of modern times.

A tragicomedy, set in New Orleans.]]> 394 John Kennedy Toole 0802130208 Shanmugam 4 3.89 1980 A Confederacy of Dunces
author: John Kennedy Toole
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/06/04
shelves:
review:

]]> He, My Beloved CJ 39356279
Rosy Thomas, well-known Malayalam writer and translator, married Malayalam playwright and literary critic C.J. Thomas in 1951....

G. Arunima teaches at the Centre for Women's Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi....]]> 178 Rosy Thomas Shanmugam 4
While reading this book, I was often drawn to the life and personality of Pudumaipithan. Both of them were landmarks in their respective language, had big dreams, were failures in a materialistic sense, and were short-lived. And, both of them lost whatever money they had in an attempt to produce movies. Probably they thought that they would be free of all economic burdens after a movie and could focus solely on literary endeavors.

I wish G.Arunima had spent a few pages on giving a detailed account about CJ. There wouldn't have been any need for it in the original, since CJ was a well-known figure in Malayalam literary circle. It can't be said the same about the rest of the world.]]> 3.86 2018 He, My Beloved CJ
author: Rosy Thomas
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/01
date added: 2021/07/31
shelves:
review:
I had been curious about C.J.Thomas, ever since I came to know that Joseph James in Sundara Ramaswamy's eponymous novel JJ: Sila Kurippugal was modeled after CJ. I couldn't find anything by or about CJ in a language accessible to me until I landed on this memoir recently. JJ was an archetype modernist with no compromises, however, CJ was grounded in certain aspects, and had weaknesses like any other human being. That's what makes him more interesting. He was superstitious, conservative about women going to work or being part of public life, and converted to Catholicism to marry Rosy. These would have been unimaginable in JJ's world.

While reading this book, I was often drawn to the life and personality of Pudumaipithan. Both of them were landmarks in their respective language, had big dreams, were failures in a materialistic sense, and were short-lived. And, both of them lost whatever money they had in an attempt to produce movies. Probably they thought that they would be free of all economic burdens after a movie and could focus solely on literary endeavors.

I wish G.Arunima had spent a few pages on giving a detailed account about CJ. There wouldn't have been any need for it in the original, since CJ was a well-known figure in Malayalam literary circle. It can't be said the same about the rest of the world.
]]> The Great Indian Novel 30843 423 Shashi Tharoor 1559701943 Shanmugam 2
And that civilization had produced a great many things, a couple of Epics not the least. Mahabharata is the largest epic in the world, another record here. Over the period, many writers experimented with it in the current context with various segments (Karna, Draupadi, Amba, Yayati, and Arjuna becoming eternal favorite characters) not the whole thing as far as I know. Shashi Tharoor had gotten into an ambitious project of overlaying these two huge canvases, retelling Mahabharata in the context of almost the whole 20th century India. It was a commendable effort.

The beauty of the Novel form is, it gets into details as much as it covers the vast. While Shashi Tharoor’s novel has an oceanic breadth, the depth is of a chlorinated kids pool in an apartment complex. Sure, you can’t guess it from outside, however, it is apparent the moment you step in. I couldn’t get seriously into any of the characters, I was just indifferent. The only thing which kept me going was the curiosity about which epic character was going to turn into the next historical figure in the well-known history.

Trust me, my ‘suspension of disbelief' is not even ‘willing�, I could trust anything. When they put their minds into it, even two-year-olds can dupe me. I am of the kind who misses every obvious clue in a mystery movie. Even I couldn’t stand the repetitive symbolism in this novel. I recognized that the bastard child was a representation of democratic India the first time it came in Italian font. Yeah, it was a clever thing: calling Indian Democracy a suffering bastard child, it was cute. It was beaten to death in every chapter though. Another irk was Shashi Tharoor's incessant political commentary throughout the novel.

Calling this a satirical novel is a satire on the word satire. Yeah, it had witty lines here and there, it had a comical approach to names, and it was subversive at places. They weren’t enough to justify the categorization. And, they couldn’t keep me engaged either, it was like decent seasonings on a stale pizza.
]]> 3.89 1989 The Great Indian Novel
author: Shashi Tharoor
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1989
rating: 2
read at: 2021/06/08
date added: 2021/06/08
shelves:
review:
Twentieth-century was pretty eventful for India, it is interesting for us to mull over, not just because it is the most recent one. It jumped into democracy and industrialization right out of the feudal system, as the world’s largest Lord had finally left the country in 1947; A bloodbath of partition; Toyed with leftist thoughts in the name of Nehruvian socialism; Busted hardcore communistic Naxals; A brief authoritarian system in the 70s; finally a capitalistic system while retaining the title, world’s largest democratic country. Quite a canvas for one of the longest surviving civilizations.

And that civilization had produced a great many things, a couple of Epics not the least. Mahabharata is the largest epic in the world, another record here. Over the period, many writers experimented with it in the current context with various segments (Karna, Draupadi, Amba, Yayati, and Arjuna becoming eternal favorite characters) not the whole thing as far as I know. Shashi Tharoor had gotten into an ambitious project of overlaying these two huge canvases, retelling Mahabharata in the context of almost the whole 20th century India. It was a commendable effort.

The beauty of the Novel form is, it gets into details as much as it covers the vast. While Shashi Tharoor’s novel has an oceanic breadth, the depth is of a chlorinated kids pool in an apartment complex. Sure, you can’t guess it from outside, however, it is apparent the moment you step in. I couldn’t get seriously into any of the characters, I was just indifferent. The only thing which kept me going was the curiosity about which epic character was going to turn into the next historical figure in the well-known history.

Trust me, my ‘suspension of disbelief' is not even ‘willing�, I could trust anything. When they put their minds into it, even two-year-olds can dupe me. I am of the kind who misses every obvious clue in a mystery movie. Even I couldn’t stand the repetitive symbolism in this novel. I recognized that the bastard child was a representation of democratic India the first time it came in Italian font. Yeah, it was a clever thing: calling Indian Democracy a suffering bastard child, it was cute. It was beaten to death in every chapter though. Another irk was Shashi Tharoor's incessant political commentary throughout the novel.

Calling this a satirical novel is a satire on the word satire. Yeah, it had witty lines here and there, it had a comical approach to names, and it was subversive at places. They weren’t enough to justify the categorization. And, they couldn’t keep me engaged either, it was like decent seasonings on a stale pizza.

]]> How to Read and Why 20943 Shedding all polemic, Bloom addresses the solitary reader, who, he urges, should read for the purest of all reasons: to discover and augment the self. His ultimate faith in the restorative power of literature resonates on every page of this infinitely rewarding and important book.]]> 288 Harold Bloom 0684859076 Shanmugam 4
At my first reading, I could surmise two aspects. Certain themes in the works being discussed like the nostalgic landscape in Turgenev’s, fraternity in Cervantes, sexual jealousy in Proust, jazz structure in Ellison’s and etc., These are one kind of openings, not necessarily the only way to approach these texts. Second, every writer is an extension or answer to one’s predecessors, even if that writer denies it. Bloom’s love for Shakespeare is evident in not just innumerable references, his longest essay of 18 pages is about Hamlet. Bloom divides all the fictional characters into either Shakespearean or Cervantesean. It is embarrassing to realize that I haven’t read either of them. Once I am done with them, it will be exciting to see how these two western heavyweights stand against Veda Vyasa.

I am slightly puzzled by the fact that the second part of novels section is only about American Novelists, whom Bloom calls the school of Melville. I don’t know whether it is because the focus is only on American readers or something to do with the apocalyptic nature of the subjects.

Overall it is a good read to spot great works and possible ways to approach them.]]> 3.63 2000 How to Read and Why
author: Harold Bloom
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/30
date added: 2021/05/30
shelves:
review:
Harold Bloom, an eminent literary critic and a professor, who had fought his whole career against academics� ideology focused critical studies, had written this book at the turn of the millennium to help new age readers with how to read and why. Harold Bloom is of the strongest opinion that reading is for self, not for any societal upliftment. I totally subscribe to that idea. This book is a relatively light read on a sample of works, divided into short stories, poems, novels, and plays.

At my first reading, I could surmise two aspects. Certain themes in the works being discussed like the nostalgic landscape in Turgenev’s, fraternity in Cervantes, sexual jealousy in Proust, jazz structure in Ellison’s and etc., These are one kind of openings, not necessarily the only way to approach these texts. Second, every writer is an extension or answer to one’s predecessors, even if that writer denies it. Bloom’s love for Shakespeare is evident in not just innumerable references, his longest essay of 18 pages is about Hamlet. Bloom divides all the fictional characters into either Shakespearean or Cervantesean. It is embarrassing to realize that I haven’t read either of them. Once I am done with them, it will be exciting to see how these two western heavyweights stand against Veda Vyasa.

I am slightly puzzled by the fact that the second part of novels section is only about American Novelists, whom Bloom calls the school of Melville. I don’t know whether it is because the focus is only on American readers or something to do with the apocalyptic nature of the subjects.

Overall it is a good read to spot great works and possible ways to approach them.
]]> <![CDATA[Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin]]> 49105572 The all-in-one, comprehensive resource for the millions of people with diabetes who use insulin, revised and updatedFew diabetes books focus specifically on the day-to-day issues facing people who use insulin. Diabetes educator Gary Scheiner provides the tools to "think like a pancreas" -- to successfully master the art and science of matching insulin to the body's ever-changing needs. Comprehensive, free of medical jargon, and packed with useful information not readily available elsewhere, such day-to-day blood glucose control and monitoring designing an insulin program to best match your lifestyleup-to date medication and technologynew insulin formulations and combinationsand moreWith detailed information on new medications and technologies -- both apps and devices -- surrounding insulin, as well as new injection devices, and dietary recommendations, Think Like a Pancreas is the insulin users go-to guide.]]> 368 Gary Scheiner 0738246697 Shanmugam 5
I had read the second edition of this book in 2015, I felt then that I had been spending 13 years in the dark. Now reading this latest edition in 2021, I still feel that I haven’t been up to date. There were certain situations I thought to be unsolvable like post-meal meteoric spike and an alarming fall two or three hours later. Gary Scheiner has a solution for everything. He is like a coach, guiding you with his arm around your shoulder to face whatever the challenge awaits. More than once he states that having diabetes shouldn’t limit your life in any way, I strongly agree with that. Yes, I loved those Billy Joel references as well.

Extensive but not exhaustive. It has pointers for all the aspects, like different types of diabetes, complications, various treatments for each of them, factors affecting blood sugar level, things that make insulin react in different ways. Every day diabetes management is not an easy task. However, with a book like this, you are going to that war with arms and armor. It is a great start for anyone serious about managing ‘that� chronic disease well.]]> 4.86 2004 Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin
author: Gary Scheiner
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.86
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:
Even better than the previous edition.

I had read the second edition of this book in 2015, I felt then that I had been spending 13 years in the dark. Now reading this latest edition in 2021, I still feel that I haven’t been up to date. There were certain situations I thought to be unsolvable like post-meal meteoric spike and an alarming fall two or three hours later. Gary Scheiner has a solution for everything. He is like a coach, guiding you with his arm around your shoulder to face whatever the challenge awaits. More than once he states that having diabetes shouldn’t limit your life in any way, I strongly agree with that. Yes, I loved those Billy Joel references as well.

Extensive but not exhaustive. It has pointers for all the aspects, like different types of diabetes, complications, various treatments for each of them, factors affecting blood sugar level, things that make insulin react in different ways. Every day diabetes management is not an easy task. However, with a book like this, you are going to that war with arms and armor. It is a great start for anyone serious about managing ‘that� chronic disease well.
]]> <![CDATA[Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin]]> 11550678 Few diabetes books focus specifically on the day-to-day issues facing people who use insulin. In this fully updated and revised edition, diabetes educator Gary Scheiner provides the tools to “think like a pancreas”—to successfully master the art and science of matching insulin to the body’s ever-changing needs. Comprehensive, free of medical jargon, and packed with useful information not readily available elsewhere, this new edition covers the many strides taken in diabetes education and management since the first edition seven years ago.

Think Like a Pancreas includes critical information, such as day-to-day blood glucose control and monitoring, designing an insulin program to best match your lifestyle, up-to date medication and technology, and new insulin formulations and combinations.

]]> 320 Gary Scheiner 0738215147 Shanmugam 5
How I wish someone shown me a book like this fifteen years ago, how I wish one of my endocrinologists shared this much knowledge with me, how I wish my dietician did something better than recommending just fenugreek seeds water, how I wish someone forced me to continue reading this book when I started six months ago, fuck, how I wish I never had to worry about my blood sugar oscillations. Well, none of these happened, no point in brooding over a dozen wishes. What you got is what you are left with :)

This book is simply one of the best instruction materials I have ever come across. It has answers to all the questions you might have with handling IDDM. Engaging read as well.]]> 4.49 2004 Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin
author: Gary Scheiner
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/27
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:
A Good One to Carry Around if You are an IDDM or One of Your Loved Ones is.

How I wish someone shown me a book like this fifteen years ago, how I wish one of my endocrinologists shared this much knowledge with me, how I wish my dietician did something better than recommending just fenugreek seeds water, how I wish someone forced me to continue reading this book when I started six months ago, fuck, how I wish I never had to worry about my blood sugar oscillations. Well, none of these happened, no point in brooding over a dozen wishes. What you got is what you are left with :)

This book is simply one of the best instruction materials I have ever come across. It has answers to all the questions you might have with handling IDDM. Engaging read as well.
]]> <![CDATA[Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up]]> 30244505 173 Rana Ayyub Shanmugam 2
Why is that a bad thing for a book? Sensational news is momentary and short-lived. Viewers will have enough context. However, a book is part of history. It will be kept on reading for years to come. And, reading is solitary. All the eventual readers might not have the historical, political, and organizational context about the material being reported. For an outsider, it is really difficult to grasp.

Another problem I had with this book is the lack of clarity on the time frame. Riots happened in 2002, extrajudicial killings/fake encounters happened in 2004/05, Rana Ayyub did her sting operation in 2010, she also did a few investigative reporting before that, and a lot of things had happened between the sting operation and the eventual book launch in 2016. This book is a hotchpotch of all those things, sometimes I was at a loss with what and when.]]> 3.80 2016 Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up
author: Rana Ayyub
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2021/05/25
date added: 2021/05/25
shelves:
review:
Throughout the reading, I got a feeling that I was watching a breakout of sensational news on one of those 24 hours news channels. Footage from a sting camera, where unsuspecting bureaucrats telling things in a nonchalant manner; Officials who had a fallout with the government rueing over the horrible incidents, conspiracies, and telling how they stood against power; Officials in the fold of the ruling power defending whatever happened; A character in the newsroom, with formal attire, of course, talking to an excited news anchor placed somewhere else; Flashcards; Screaming headlines.

Why is that a bad thing for a book? Sensational news is momentary and short-lived. Viewers will have enough context. However, a book is part of history. It will be kept on reading for years to come. And, reading is solitary. All the eventual readers might not have the historical, political, and organizational context about the material being reported. For an outsider, it is really difficult to grasp.

Another problem I had with this book is the lack of clarity on the time frame. Riots happened in 2002, extrajudicial killings/fake encounters happened in 2004/05, Rana Ayyub did her sting operation in 2010, she also did a few investigative reporting before that, and a lot of things had happened between the sting operation and the eventual book launch in 2016. This book is a hotchpotch of all those things, sometimes I was at a loss with what and when.
]]> The Making of Donald Trump 30724304 THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER that first revealed the Russia connection

The culmination of nearly 30 years of reporting on Donald Trump, this in-depth report by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston takes a revealingly close look at the mogul's rise to prominence --- and, now, ultimate power

Covering the long arc of Trump's career, Johnston tells the full story of how a boy from a quiet section of Queens, NY would become an entirely new, and complex, breed of public figure. Trump is a man of great media savvy, entrepreneurial spirit, and political clout. Yet his career has been plagued by legal troubles and mounting controversy.

From the origins of his family's fortune, to his own too-big-to-fail business empire; from his education and early career, to his whirlwind and ultimately successful presidential bid, The Making of Donald Trump provides the fullest picture yet of Trump's extraordinary ascendency. Love him or hate him, Trump's massive influence is undeniable, and figures as diverse as Woody Guthrie (who wrote a scathing song about Trump's father) and Red Scare prosecutor Roy Cohn, mob bosses and high rollers, as well as the average American voter, have all been pulled into his orbit.

Drawing on decades of interviews, financial records, court documents, and public statements, David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump longer and more closely than any other journalist working today, gives us the most in-depth look yet at the man who has shocked the world.

"Provides useful, vigorously reported overviews of Mr. Trump's life and career ... Mr. Johnston, who has followed the real estate impresario for nearly three decades, offers a searing indictment of his business practices and creative accounting."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"David Cay Johnston has given us this year's must-read Trump book."--Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC's The Last Word

"Johnston devastatingly covers ground he broke open as a reporter on the Trump beat in Philadelphia and at The New York Times...The best of investigative reporting is brought to bear on a man who could potentially lead the free world."--USA Today

"Carefully fleshes out the details of Trump's known biography...with solid documentation."--Tampa Bay Times]]> 263 David Cay Johnston 1612196322 Shanmugam 4
In my first reading, I could notice three layers in the order of decreasing density; The material D C Johnston accumulated during his investigations on gambling industry corruption, Johnston's coverage of Trump’s subsequent business dealings till his announcement for presidential candidacy, and Trump’s political career then onwards. This is a concise work with enough supporting citations.

One could feel that this book is rushed to publication. The last two chapters, covering the high rollers Akio Kashiwagi and Bob Libutti, appear out of place, even though the piece about Kashiwagi is a great one on its own. Couldn’t help wondering whether these were fillers to bring the book to a decent size in an attempt to publish before the 2016 election? Another niggle I had with this book is, the amount of self-proclamation in a work actually criticizing another person’s world-class narcissism.

I want to close this with Johnston’s shocking premonition in 2017 becoming true.

“Or a deadly virus hopscotching around the world on jetliners, creating the kind of pandemic that killed Donald Trump’s grandfather a century ago. Whatever big crisis comes, the one thing we know is that Donald Trump lacks the deep knowledge, critical thinking skills, emotional maturity, and ability to separate sound advice from nonsense that are needed in crisis�
]]> 3.77 2016 The Making of Donald Trump
author: David Cay Johnston
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2021/02/01
date added: 2021/02/16
shelves:
review:
I don’t know how to categorize a book like this, it is so anti-Trump that it could have been alternatively titled “Donald Trump: The Fraudster.� As a highly evolved species, human beings operate in the realm of greyness. It is a general consensus that Donald Trump is more closer to the dark gradient, you don’t get involved in 4000 litigations just like that. However, why so much abject criticism, nitpicking, and berated outlook? Perhaps activists and journalists of this kind are much needed forces to create a certain balance in an otherwise highly skewed power-hungry capitalistic society.

In my first reading, I could notice three layers in the order of decreasing density; The material D C Johnston accumulated during his investigations on gambling industry corruption, Johnston's coverage of Trump’s subsequent business dealings till his announcement for presidential candidacy, and Trump’s political career then onwards. This is a concise work with enough supporting citations.

One could feel that this book is rushed to publication. The last two chapters, covering the high rollers Akio Kashiwagi and Bob Libutti, appear out of place, even though the piece about Kashiwagi is a great one on its own. Couldn’t help wondering whether these were fillers to bring the book to a decent size in an attempt to publish before the 2016 election? Another niggle I had with this book is, the amount of self-proclamation in a work actually criticizing another person’s world-class narcissism.

I want to close this with Johnston’s shocking premonition in 2017 becoming true.

“Or a deadly virus hopscotching around the world on jetliners, creating the kind of pandemic that killed Donald Trump’s grandfather a century ago. Whatever big crisis comes, the one thing we know is that Donald Trump lacks the deep knowledge, critical thinking skills, emotional maturity, and ability to separate sound advice from nonsense that are needed in crisis�

]]> <![CDATA[Trump This!: The Life and Times of Donald Trump, An Unauthorized Biography]]> 29352555
Bringing insight into the psychology and motivation of Donald Trump was the equivalent of solving a mystery. What guides Trump to the decisions he makes? Is his personality real or just a caricature driven smokescreen? Is he the living embodiment of a brand or does a heart and soul lurk beneath his flamboyant and often-bullying exterior? In answering those questions many heretofore unknown facts came to life.

Trump’s grandfather ran brothels during The Gold Rush years.

His father allegedly ran with The Ku Klux Klan.

Trump punched out a teacher in the second grade.

Trump lived a wild, sexually charged life at Studio 54.

The true story of how Trump avoided the draft.

The affair that wrecked his first marriage.

Why Trump sued a man because he had the same last name.

His biggest business successes and failures.

If you only discovered Donald Trump with the television show The Apprentice or with his recent entry into the Republican race for President of the United States, the chances are you think you know quite a bit about Donald Trump. But the reality is that, like all larger than life personalities, Trump has cultivated his public image well. He’s been selective in what he’s let out and, when pressed, he’s been quick to deny. Trump This! The Life And Times of Donald Trump: An Unauthorized Biography has dug deep into the truth that is Donald Trump.

And this is what we’ve found.
]]> 236 Marc Shapiro 1626012644 Shanmugam 2
The part which covers Trump’s life till his announcement for Presidential candidacy is mostly a collection of quotes and excerpts from, printed media and interviews on TV and radio. The second half races like a political potboiler. I feel this book was rushed to publication, it is of pedestrian style and shabby proofreading.]]> 3.79 Trump This!: The Life and Times of Donald Trump, An Unauthorized Biography
author: Marc Shapiro
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2021/02/10
date added: 2021/02/10
shelves:
review:
I was not looking for a high brow literature material when I started reading this book, less when I went ahead with the first among the search results turned up, even lesser when I searched for “Unauthorised biography of Donald Trump� (Damned my imagination or the lack of it!). I was looking for a relatively unbiased look at Trump, not a sarcastic take on him and definitely not the books about Trump written by Trump (or his ghostwriters.) This book served the purpose, albeit with a certain cost.

The part which covers Trump’s life till his announcement for Presidential candidacy is mostly a collection of quotes and excerpts from, printed media and interviews on TV and radio. The second half races like a political potboiler. I feel this book was rushed to publication, it is of pedestrian style and shabby proofreading.
]]> Hero: A fable 627586 248 Irwin Allan Sealy 0670834858 Shanmugam 2
I. Allan Sealy’s Hero is a novel of post-modernistic take on Bollywood and the Indian political system. It is the rags to riches story of a movie star, of an unnamed southern origin, making it to the ultimate in Indian governance. His nativity is left ambiguous, but it is not exactly indiscernible. Coconut oil, finger bananas, green fields, and in the proximity of Kanyakumari, that star is from Kerala of course. The first part of the novel chronicles the progress of this miraculous kid to stardom, him eventually getting shot by another actor, and becoming a politician with dark glasses. We can see a parallel to the life of MGR here. The good souled protagonist envisions karmascope, an idea of reaching out to millions of people at the same time and offering inner peace to everyone. It happens eventually in a funny way, however, dark reality and his paranoia lead the country to an Orwellian state. I feel a part of this work is an homage to George Orwell, with references like DiDi/Big Sister and Ministry of Truth.

Mainstream Indian cinema (Bollywood) is in the genre of magic realism, where supernatural and bizarre things happen in an otherwise linear realistic format. This book is described as a fable, adapts the Bollywood formula, and is metafictional. So, I can understand stock characters, bizarre events, and unrealistic coincidences. It is part of the formula, no qualms with that. Bollywood masala works only when the viewer is not annoyed and gets carried away. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in this novel. The first half is too familiar and romanticized. Then the omniscient first-person narrative, however, the narrator is a person in shadows, not the protagonist. Half the time he is an omnipotent sleuth. I feel this had sort of forced the author to piece together episodes in a certain way. Postmodernist work is supposed to be a comic play on existing genres. Once you take out earlier metafictional elements and ensuing screenwriter notes, the tone is too serious and the experience is too tedious.]]> 2.20 1990 Hero: A fable
author: Irwin Allan Sealy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 2.20
book published: 1990
rating: 2
read at: 2021/01/08
date added: 2021/01/16
shelves:
review:
Yatha praja tatha raja 

I. Allan Sealy’s Hero is a novel of post-modernistic take on Bollywood and the Indian political system. It is the rags to riches story of a movie star, of an unnamed southern origin, making it to the ultimate in Indian governance. His nativity is left ambiguous, but it is not exactly indiscernible. Coconut oil, finger bananas, green fields, and in the proximity of Kanyakumari, that star is from Kerala of course. The first part of the novel chronicles the progress of this miraculous kid to stardom, him eventually getting shot by another actor, and becoming a politician with dark glasses. We can see a parallel to the life of MGR here. The good souled protagonist envisions karmascope, an idea of reaching out to millions of people at the same time and offering inner peace to everyone. It happens eventually in a funny way, however, dark reality and his paranoia lead the country to an Orwellian state. I feel a part of this work is an homage to George Orwell, with references like DiDi/Big Sister and Ministry of Truth.

Mainstream Indian cinema (Bollywood) is in the genre of magic realism, where supernatural and bizarre things happen in an otherwise linear realistic format. This book is described as a fable, adapts the Bollywood formula, and is metafictional. So, I can understand stock characters, bizarre events, and unrealistic coincidences. It is part of the formula, no qualms with that. Bollywood masala works only when the viewer is not annoyed and gets carried away. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in this novel. The first half is too familiar and romanticized. Then the omniscient first-person narrative, however, the narrator is a person in shadows, not the protagonist. Half the time he is an omnipotent sleuth. I feel this had sort of forced the author to piece together episodes in a certain way. Postmodernist work is supposed to be a comic play on existing genres. Once you take out earlier metafictional elements and ensuing screenwriter notes, the tone is too serious and the experience is too tedious.
]]> புலிநகக் கொன்றை 17303393 336 P.A. Krishnan Shanmugam 3 4.22 1998 புலிநகக் கொன்றை
author: P.A. Krishnan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/12/16
shelves:
review:

]]> பள்ளிகொண்டபுரம� 22930482
மலையாள நாவலாசிரியர்களில� சிறந்த சிலர� தங்களத� பிரபலமான இலக்கியப� படைப்புகளில் திருவனந்தபுரம் எனும� நகரை விளக்கமாய் வர்ணித்துள்ளார்கள். ஆனால�, அவர்களுள� ஒருவராலும் ஸி.வி. இராமன் பிள்ளையாலோ, தகழி சிவசங்கரப் பிள்ளையாலோகூ� இந்த நகரின் ஆத்மாவைச� சிக்கெனப� பிடிக்� இயலவில்ல� ஆனால� திரு. நீ�. பத்மநாபன� எனும� ஒர� தமிழ� நாவலாசிரியருக்குத்தான் கேரளத்துத் தலைநகரின� ஆத்மாவின� ஒர� பரிபூரணத� தரிசனத்தைப� பெ� முடிந்திருக்கிறது� என்ற� மலையாள விமர்சகர� என�.வி. கிருஷ்ணவாரியரால் பாராட்டப்பட்� நாவல� ‘பள்ளிகொண்டபுரம்.’]]> 296 Neela Padmanabhan Shanmugam 4 4.21 1970 பள்ளிகொண்டபுரம்
author: Neela Padmanabhan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2014/08/21
date added: 2020/01/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men]]> 34663059
Hell’s Princess is a riveting account of one of the most sensational killing sprees in the annals of American crime: the shocking series of murders committed by the woman who came to be known as Lady Bluebeard. The only definitive book on this notorious case and the first to reveal previously unknown information about its subject, Harold Schechter’s gripping, suspenseful narrative has all the elements of a classic mystery—and all the gruesome twists of a nightmare.]]> 333 Harold Schechter 1477808949 Shanmugam 3 3.37 2018 Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men
author: Harold Schechter
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2019/08/04
date added: 2019/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> மோ� முள் 18218215
இந்த நாவல� பற்ற� இலக்கியத தரம் அறிந்தவர்கள் பெருமைப்படலாம். மனிதனின் பலத்தையும் பலஹீனத்தையும� துருவி ஆராய்ந்த� எழுதப்பட்டுள்ள மோகமுள�, தமிழில� நல்லதோர் சாதன� - பெரியதோர� சாதன�.]]> 663 Thi. Janakiraman 9381969361 Shanmugam 4 4.34 1964 மோக முள்
author: Thi. Janakiraman
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1964
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/03/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Dear Life 13530981
Alice Munro's peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in often brief but always spacious and timeless stories is once again everywhere apparent in this brilliant new collection. In story after story, she illumines the moment a life is forever altered by a chance encounter or an action not taken, or by a simple twist of fate that turns a person out of his or her accustomed path and into a new way of being or thinking. A poet, finding herself in alien territory at her first literary party, is rescued by a seasoned newspaper columnist, and is soon hurtling across the continent, young child in tow, toward a hoped-for but completely unplanned meeting. A young soldier, returning to his fiancée from the Second World War, steps off the train before his stop and onto the farm of another woman, beginning a life on the move. A wealthy young woman having an affair with the married lawyer hired by her father to handle his estate comes up with a surprising way to deal with the blackmailer who finds them out.

While most of these stories take place in Munro's home territory - the small Canadian towns around Lake Huron - the characters sometimes venture to the cities, and the book ends with four pieces set in the area where she grew up, and in the time of her own childhood: stories "autobiographical in feeling, though not, sometimes, entirely so in fact." A girl who can't sleep imagines night after wakeful night that she kills her beloved younger sister. A mother snatches up her child and runs for dear life when a crazy woman comes into her yard.]]> 336 Alice Munro 0771064861 Shanmugam 4 3.74 2011 Dear Life
author: Alice Munro
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2015/04/15
date added: 2017/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo & Rose]]> 320767 **Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature**

Born into the back streets of a small Canadian town, Rose battled incessantly with her practical and shrewd stepmother, Flo, who cowed her with tales of her own past and warnings of the dangerous world outside. But Rose was ambitious - she won a scholarship and left for Toronto where she married Patrick. She was his Beggar Maid, 'meek and voluptuous, with her shy white feet', and he was her knight, content to sit and adore her.

Alice Munro's wonderful collection of stories reads like a novel following Rose's life as she moves away from her impoverished roots and forges her own path in the world.]]> 210 Alice Munro 0099458357 Shanmugam 4 3.85 1978 The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo & Rose
author: Alice Munro
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at: 2017/04/14
date added: 2017/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Women 38500 291 Charles Bukowski 0061177598 Shanmugam 4 3.85 1978 Women
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at: 2017/06/06
date added: 2017/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Factotum 497199
Charles Bukowski's posthumous legend continues to grow. Factotum is a masterfully vivid evocation of slow-paced, low-life urbanity and alcoholism, and an excellent introduction to the fictional world of Charles Bukowski.]]> 205 Charles Bukowski 0876852630 Shanmugam 3 3.95 1975 Factotum
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1975
rating: 3
read at: 2017/05/21
date added: 2017/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Post Office 51504 208 Charles Bukowski 0876850867 Shanmugam 3 4.01 1971 Post Office
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1971
rating: 3
read at: 2017/05/11
date added: 2017/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Scent of a Woman 11694424
The inspiration for two acclaimed films, Scent of a Woman is a lyrical exploration of regret, defiance, and what it really means to see]]> 183 Giovanni Arpino 0141193182 Shanmugam 3 3.11 1969 Scent of a Woman
author: Giovanni Arpino
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.11
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 2017/05/11
date added: 2017/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[மறிய� தாமுவுக்கு எழுதிய கடிதம் (Mariya Thamuvukku Ezhuthiya Kaditham)]]> 17466697 176 Sundara Ramaswamy 8189359045 Shanmugam 3 3.92 2004 மறியா தாமுவுக்கு எழுதிய கடிதம் (Mariya Thamuvukku Ezhuthiya Kaditham)
author: Sundara Ramaswamy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2017/05/11
date added: 2017/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Goat Days 15849749
Goat Days was published to acclaim in Malayalam and became a bestseller. One of the brilliant new talents of Malayalam literature, Benyamin’s wry and tender telling transforms this strange and bitter comedy of Najeeb’s life in the desert into a universal tale of loneliness and alienation.]]> 255 Benyamin 0143416332 Shanmugam 3 A novel like this, one which deals with challenging work environments for migrant workers, has only a thin path to tread on, a path bordered by an overdose of emotions and insensitive verbosity. For the most part, well into two thirds, Benyamin has maintained the flow brilliantly. Sadly, towards the end, it sort of gets cinematic. The narrator gradually stops being a smart semi-literate struggling with language barriers and starts philosophising with a Somalian, and at this point I could no longer distinguish him from the author.

I remember reading in a Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky introduction that, every writer has a certain rhythm in their text, and a translator’s job is to carry forward that rhythm when a book is reproduced in another language. I haven’t read ‘Goat Days� in Malayalam, I haven’t read other Benyamin works either, so it is quite possible that my take on this translation is shortsighted. The voice, voice of the narrator, a marginally literate migrator, sounds like a college student writing about his recent visit to a farm.

There was this particular section, where Najeeb goes through carnal desires in a trance and wakes up inside a ‘masara� the next morning, was mildly disappointing because it could have been slightly ethereal. Also, it is my humble opinion that a novel, as a medium, has moved quite far from being simple first person monologues. Najeeb goes through a lot, agreed. But what would the Arbabs, Contractors, Hakim have to say, if they have anything to say at all?

Not a regular sob story, a sob one nevertheless.]]> 4.22 2008 Goat Days
author: Benyamin
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2017/01/11
date added: 2017/01/18
shelves:
review:

A novel like this, one which deals with challenging work environments for migrant workers, has only a thin path to tread on, a path bordered by an overdose of emotions and insensitive verbosity. For the most part, well into two thirds, Benyamin has maintained the flow brilliantly. Sadly, towards the end, it sort of gets cinematic. The narrator gradually stops being a smart semi-literate struggling with language barriers and starts philosophising with a Somalian, and at this point I could no longer distinguish him from the author.

I remember reading in a Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky introduction that, every writer has a certain rhythm in their text, and a translator’s job is to carry forward that rhythm when a book is reproduced in another language. I haven’t read ‘Goat Days� in Malayalam, I haven’t read other Benyamin works either, so it is quite possible that my take on this translation is shortsighted. The voice, voice of the narrator, a marginally literate migrator, sounds like a college student writing about his recent visit to a farm.

There was this particular section, where Najeeb goes through carnal desires in a trance and wakes up inside a ‘masara� the next morning, was mildly disappointing because it could have been slightly ethereal. Also, it is my humble opinion that a novel, as a medium, has moved quite far from being simple first person monologues. Najeeb goes through a lot, agreed. But what would the Arbabs, Contractors, Hakim have to say, if they have anything to say at all?

Not a regular sob story, a sob one nevertheless.
]]> Conversation in the Cathedral 822508 601 Mario Vargas Llosa 0571168825 Shanmugam 5 4.13 1969 Conversation in the Cathedral
author: Mario Vargas Llosa
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2016/10/13
date added: 2016/10/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[ஜே.ஜே: சி� குறிப்புகள� [J.J: Sila Kurippugal]]]> 16040051 224 Sundara Ramaswamy Shanmugam 5 4.21 1981 ஜே.ஜே: சில குறிப்புகள் [J.J: Sila Kurippugal]
author: Sundara Ramaswamy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1981
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/07/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Water (Asian Writers Series) 206812 96 Ashokamitthiran 0435950851 Shanmugam 4 3.72 1973 Water (Asian Writers Series)
author: Ashokamitthiran
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1973
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2016/07/04
shelves:
review:

]]> Manasarovar 14803138 184 Ashokamitthiran 014306746X Shanmugam 4 3.60 2006 Manasarovar
author: Ashokamitthiran
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/19
date added: 2016/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Omon Ra 98956 Omon Ra has been widely praised for its poetry and its wickedness, a novel in line with the great works of Gogol and Bulgakov. Omon is chosen to be trained in the Soviet space program the fulfillment of his lifelong dream. However, he enrolls only to encounter the terrifying absurdity of Soviet protocol and its backward technology: a bicycle-powered moonwalker; the outrageous Colonel Urgachin; and a one-way assignment to the moon.]]> 154 Victor Pelevin 0811213641 Shanmugam 4 3.92 1992 Omon Ra
author: Victor Pelevin
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/21
date added: 2016/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]> வாழ்� சந்தேகங்கள� 29913936 95 Sundara Ramaswamy Shanmugam 5 4.50 வாழ்க சந்தேகங்கள்
author: Sundara Ramaswamy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2016/04/14
date added: 2016/04/14
shelves:
review:

]]> ஜி. நாகராஜன் - நினைவோடை 23009774 Sundara Ramaswamy Shanmugam 4 4.11 ஜி. நாகராஜன் - நினைவோடை
author: Sundara Ramaswamy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2015/11/27
date added: 2016/04/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Red River, Blue Hills 27863329 Varun Mehta, whose family owns the hotel, finds himself unwittingly pulled towards the crime, and the enigmatic woman who perpetrated it. Opposing the advice of the police and his brother, and struggling with his own demons and insecurities, Varun’s search for answers leads him to realize that what appears to be a straightforward case is anything but. His attempt to uncover the truth takes him from the frenetic pace of India’s capital to the remote frontiers of the nation’s north-eastern region bordering Myanmar � the land of the red river and blue hills.
Will he finally find what he is looking for? And will the journey allow him to come to terms with his own complicated past in the region? "Red River, Blue Hills" is a gripping thriller that also looks at changing lives and changing times in one of the most diverse countries on the planet.]]> 336 Ankush Saikia 9385152947 Shanmugam 0 to-read 3.86 Red River, Blue Hills
author: Ankush Saikia
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.86
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/04/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[நான்காவத� கொலை [Naalaavadhu Kolai]]]> 16082006 Jeyamohan Shanmugam 4 3.93 2002 நான்காவது கொலை [Naalaavadhu Kolai]
author: Jeyamohan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/08
date added: 2016/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> இன்ற� [In̲r̲u] 6292979 88 Ashokamitthiran 8183681204 Shanmugam 4 3.84 1984 இன்று [In̲r̲u]
author: Ashokamitthiran
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/07
date added: 2016/04/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Story of O 6478714 201 Pauline Réage Shanmugam 2 3.17 1954 Story of O
author: Pauline Réage
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.17
book published: 1954
rating: 2
read at: 2016/03/28
date added: 2016/03/27
shelves:
review:
Seldom my social conscience is stirred up. Considering the sexual deprivation, domestic abuse and gender inequality prevailing in this part of the world, I wish not many read this book over here. Strictly for matured and intellectually curious!
]]> Turing's Delirium 503346 304 Edmundo Paz Soldán 0618872590 Shanmugam 3 3.25 2004 Turing's Delirium
author: Edmundo Paz Soldán
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2016/03/24
date added: 2016/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Miguel Street 10155277 192 V.S. Naipaul 0330523007 Shanmugam 4 3.92 1959 Miguel Street
author: V.S. Naipaul
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2016/03/14
date added: 2016/03/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The Gypsy Goddess 20432382 283 Meena Kandasamy 9351160270 Shanmugam 1 3.82 2014 The Gypsy Goddess
author: Meena Kandasamy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2014
rating: 1
read at: 2016/03/12
date added: 2016/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> அறம் [Aram] 17793442 ஜெயமோகனின் இக்கதைகள� அவரத� இணையதளத்தில் தொடர்ச்சியாக வெளிவந்தவை. பல்லாயிரம் வாசகர்கள� அவ� ஒன்றரை மாதம� ஒர� உன்ன� மனநிலையில் நிறுத்தியிருந்தன. இக்கதைகளின� பிரசுரம் அவர்கள� வாழ்க்கையின் ஒளிமிக்க பக்கங்கள� நோக்கித் திருப்பியத�. தமிழிலக்கியத்தில� சமீபத்தில� நிகழ்ந்த முக்கியமான நிகழ்வ� என இக்கதைகளின� தொடர� பிரசுரத்தை சொல்லலாம்]]> 400 Jeyamohan Shanmugam 4 4.41 2011 அறம் [Aram]
author: Jeyamohan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2016/03/07
date added: 2016/03/07
shelves:
review:

]]> আরোগ্য নিকেতন 16129772
But it is not just a clash of values that the novel is concerned with. On a deeper level the theme is man's confrontation with death and his attempt to come to grips with it. The author looks at the human weakness with tenderness and sympathy. Also, there is an effort to overcome the fear of death, and all this makes this novel a great work of art. In a novelist of the range and depth of Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay, the local gradually merges into the universal. What stands out is the essential human experience which moves the reader anywhere.]]> 304 Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay 8126012552 Shanmugam 5
Supposedly one of the greatest Indian novel is worth the tag. Ayurvedic might have gone out of fashion, a novel like this will live longer, much longer. Such a shame that while bengalis were creating and celebrating such masterpieces, over here we were fantasising with romanticized historical fictions in magazine serials.

Wish these great novels reach wider audience. ]]> 4.55 1953 আরোগ্য নিকেতন
author: Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.55
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at: 2016/03/06
date added: 2016/03/05
shelves:
review:
Death - What is death?

Supposedly one of the greatest Indian novel is worth the tag. Ayurvedic might have gone out of fashion, a novel like this will live longer, much longer. Such a shame that while bengalis were creating and celebrating such masterpieces, over here we were fantasising with romanticized historical fictions in magazine serials.

Wish these great novels reach wider audience.
]]> <![CDATA[Boris Godunov (Russian Edition)]]> 20775674 90 Alexander Pushkin 178435029X Shanmugam 5 3.75 1831 Boris Godunov (Russian Edition)
author: Alexander Pushkin
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1831
rating: 5
read at: 2016/03/03
date added: 2016/03/03
shelves:
review:
A good old Shakespearean play, where life is only black and white, no intermittent shades whatsoever, good people are too good, bad people are too bad and bad women are evil!
]]> The Brothers Karamazov 11057575 752 Fyodor Dostoyevsky Shanmugam 5 4.38 1880 The Brothers Karamazov
author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1880
rating: 5
read at: 2016/03/01
date added: 2016/03/01
shelves:
review:
Undoubtedly one of the best I have ever read!
]]> <![CDATA[Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War]]> 798665 Zinky Boys journalist Svetlana Alexievich gives voice to the tragic history of the Afghanistan War. What emerges is a story that is shocking in its brutality and revelatory in its similarities to the American experience in Vietnam - a resemblance that Larry Heinemann describes movingly in his introduction to the book, providing American readers with an often uncomfortably intimate connection to a war that may have seemed very remote to us. The Soviet dead were shipped back in sealed zinc coffins (hence the term "Zinky Boys"), while the state denied the very existence of the conflict; even today the radically altered Soviet society continues to reject the memory of the "Soviet Vietnam."

Creating controversy and outrage when it was first published in the USSR—it was called by reviewers there a "slanderous piece of fantasy" and part of a "hysterical chorus of malign attacks"�Zinky Boys presents the candid and affecting testimony of the officers and grunts, nurses and prostitutes, mothers, sons, and daughters who describe the war and its lasting effects. Svetlana Alexievich has snatched from the memory hole the truth of the Afghanistan War: the beauty of the country and the savage Army bullying, the killing and the mutilation, the profusion of Western goods, the shame and shattered lives of returned veterans. Zinky Boys offers a unique, harrowing, and unforgettably powerful insight into the realities of war and the turbulence of contemporary Soviet life.]]> 197 Svetlana Alexievich 0393034151 Shanmugam 5 4.42 1989 Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War
author: Svetlana Alexievich
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2016/03/01
date added: 2016/02/29
shelves:
review:
I am not gonna write a lameass review about this documentary, horror of reality numbs me!
]]> Seeing 533312 307 José Saramago 0099483629 Shanmugam 5
Only the best storyteller who is assured of his craftsmanship, could write such a laid back political satire. Most of you would have or would eventually read his ‘Blindness� before encountering this sequel. In case, you are one of those who have been put off by the scatological elements of first one, yes, I know such a person, I will still advise you to read this book. Such an irony that reality is the other way around, I mean ‘blindness� eventually follows ‘seeing� ;)
]]> 3.78 2004 Seeing
author: José Saramago
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/21
date added: 2016/02/21
shelves:
review:
While I was reading ‘Blindness� or ’The War of the End of the World�, or may be both the times, I told myself that the hundred years old theory that ‘novel� as a form was going to die, was such a fallacy. Not sure whether any other form of art could reproduce the grandiose of these books, like novel does. I had the same thought running in my mind again, such a great book ‘Seeing� is.

Only the best storyteller who is assured of his craftsmanship, could write such a laid back political satire. Most of you would have or would eventually read his ‘Blindness� before encountering this sequel. In case, you are one of those who have been put off by the scatological elements of first one, yes, I know such a person, I will still advise you to read this book. Such an irony that reality is the other way around, I mean ‘blindness� eventually follows ‘seeing� ;)

]]> <![CDATA[Silauvaiyin Peyaraal: Kiruththavam Kurithu]]> 23601994
எந்த மதமும் அமைப்பாக� அரசியலாக� அந்த முதல� கண்ணீர்த்துளியில் இருந்த� வெகுவா� விலகிவிடுகிறது. அவ்விலகல� மீதா� என� கண்டனத்தைப� பதிவுசெய்வதுகூ� கிறிஸ்துவை மேலும் நெருங்கும் முயற்சிய� என உணர்கிறேன். இந்நூலில� இவ்விர� இயக்கங்களும் ஒர� சமயம� நிகழ்ந்துள்ள�.
என� கிறிஸ்துவை சொற்கள� மூலம� மேலும் அறியும� முயற்ச�. அவரை மறைக்கும� விஷயங்கள� சொற்கள� மூலம� கிழித்தகற்றும் முயற்சியும� கூ�.]]> 207 Jeyamohan 9380072325 Shanmugam 2
Rather, what do we have here is a hurried collection of his articles and a half a dozen responses he got from varied readers.]]> 3.78 Silauvaiyin Peyaraal: Kiruththavam Kurithu
author: Jeyamohan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2016/02/19
date added: 2016/02/19
shelves:
review:
I have nothing against publishing a collage of blog posts into a book. But, you gotta be upfront about it, so that as a reader I make an informed choice on whether to buy and read it or not. I am not saying that blog posts are inferior to printed materials in anyway, they have their own structure, agenda and everything, more like a discussion initiator. From the description of the book, I got the impression that it was going to be a concise intro on spiritual and philosophic Jesuit thoughts, in the same way Jeyamohan had done it with 'Hindu Gnana Marabugal' book.

Rather, what do we have here is a hurried collection of his articles and a half a dozen responses he got from varied readers.
]]> The Dead 23289 100 James Joyce Shanmugam 5 4.03 1914 The Dead
author: James Joyce
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1914
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/16
date added: 2016/02/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Death in Venice 53061
Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustav von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.
In the decaying city, besieged by an unnamed epidemic, he becomes obsessed with an exquisite Polish boy, Tadzio. "It is a story of the voluptuousness of doom," Mann wrote. "But the problem I had especially in mind was that of the artist's dignity."]]> 142 Thomas Mann 0060576170 Shanmugam 5
After reading the introduction, I was under the assumption that ‘Death In Venice� was all about an old man, the one last laugh he wanted to have, ended up becoming a laughingstock. This novel was not just that, in fact far from being that one. Halfway, I started noticing parallels with Humbert Humbert. Agreed, Humbert was fortunate enough to have attained what he was after. In grand scale, attaining ‘that� is just delaying the inevitable. Somehow this book feels more accomplished than Nabokov’s. It has been ages since I read that one though.

I really had to put some effort to get through the complex prose created by Thomas Mann and Michael Henry Heim, it is up there with Joseph Conrad’s.]]> 3.77 1911 Death in Venice
author: Thomas Mann
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1911
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/14
date added: 2016/02/14
shelves:
review:
What does one do, when encountered with perfect beauty in human form? Infatuated, exhilarated, dissipated or one foolishly creates a repugnant feeling towards it. Whatever it is, there is no escape from some sort of madness for the majority. That’s for ordinary human beings. A mad artist ends up creating an art, which contemplates between reasoning and submission.

After reading the introduction, I was under the assumption that ‘Death In Venice� was all about an old man, the one last laugh he wanted to have, ended up becoming a laughingstock. This novel was not just that, in fact far from being that one. Halfway, I started noticing parallels with Humbert Humbert. Agreed, Humbert was fortunate enough to have attained what he was after. In grand scale, attaining ‘that� is just delaying the inevitable. Somehow this book feels more accomplished than Nabokov’s. It has been ages since I read that one though.

I really had to put some effort to get through the complex prose created by Thomas Mann and Michael Henry Heim, it is up there with Joseph Conrad’s.
]]> வெள்ள໾யான໾ 19060177
இந்நாவல் ஒருவகையில் அனைவரையும் அந்தக் கூண்டில் நிறுத்துகிறத�. எங்க� நம� நீதியுணர்ச்சிய� நாம் இழந்தோம் என இன்றாவது மறுபரிசீலன� செய்துகொள்� வேண்டும். வரலாற்றில் அணையாத� கிடக்கும� அந்த அனல்மீது நம� சமாளிப்புகளையும் வெட்டித்தர்க்கங்களையும� அள்ளிப� போட்டு மூடிவிடக்கூடாத�.

அதற்கு அப்பால� இத� முதல� உரிமைக்குரலின், ஒடுக்கும� வரலாற்றுக்கு எதிராக எழுந்த அடிமையின� முதல� முஷ்டியின் கதையும� கூ�.

-- ஜெயமோகன்]]> 408 Jeyamohan Shanmugam 3 4.41 2013 வெள்ள໾யான໾
author: Jeyamohan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2016/02/10
date added: 2016/02/09
shelves:
review:
Good read, could have been better.
]]> தென் இந்திய வரலாறு (1) 28783074 176 டாக்டர� கே.கே.பிள்ளை Shanmugam 4
This book is a little gem of a read as he prescribed. A concise South Indian history, that’s what it is. You know, like these little books of chapter notes, you attempt to memorise just a day or two before your examinations. That’s how concise it is. This volume covers South Indian history just before Vijaya Nagar empire. For every major period, which spans a few centuries, it is organised in such a way that one gets a high level understanding about how the government worked, social structure, literature and other fine arts. As an added bonus, maps also provided for each period.

I had such a pleasure reading this non taxing history book :)
]]> 3.25 1958 தென் இந்திய வரலாறு (1)
author: டாக்டர� கே.கே.பிள்ளை
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.25
book published: 1958
rating: 4
read at: 2016/01/27
date added: 2016/01/27
shelves:
review:
Jeyamohan is always spot-on, when it comes to recommendations, provided you are open to discount his certain statements on the back covers of his own books. After all, how many are not fond of their own children, notwithstanding slight imperfections here and there.

This book is a little gem of a read as he prescribed. A concise South Indian history, that’s what it is. You know, like these little books of chapter notes, you attempt to memorise just a day or two before your examinations. That’s how concise it is. This volume covers South Indian history just before Vijaya Nagar empire. For every major period, which spans a few centuries, it is organised in such a way that one gets a high level understanding about how the government worked, social structure, literature and other fine arts. As an added bonus, maps also provided for each period.

I had such a pleasure reading this non taxing history book :)

]]> Greed 9962716
A thriller set amid the mountains and small towns of southern Austria, Greed is Elfriede Jelinek's most accessible novel since The Piano Teacher . But as always Jelinek gives the reader a lot more to think the ecological costs of affluence, the inescapable burden and inadequacy of our everyday words, the exploitative nature of relations between men and women, the impossibility of life without relationships. A meditative reflection on ageing, Greed is another chapter in Jelinek?s chronicling of her love/hate relationship with Austria.]]> 354 Elfriede Jelinek 1846686660 Shanmugam 5
I had a hard time getting through this book, had to take a break every six or seven pages, many times I had to go back reading previous two lines for every single line. Sometime a block of prose, a paragraph, went on for pages. I counted one going on for thirteen pages. To put things into perspective, ’The Brothers Karamazov� I had been reading in parallel looked like a child’s play with its theological mutations and everything, so does Virginia Woolf’s stream of consciousness. This freaking thing has brought back my reading OCD to the surface again, now I have to find a way to deal with that shit.

Instead of finding faults at inadequate translation, one needs to appreciate the hard work done by Martin Chalmers in translating such an intense, poetical prose. Definitely it wouldn’t have been an easy job, like those Japanese trucks made during WWII, by reverse-engineering a Bantam Jeep. Those Japs did a good job and kept on improvising it, rest of the world started buying those 4x4s a lot as well. Elfriede Jelinek is such a market dud in English speaking countries, even a Nobel win didn’t help much. No, I am not talking about those hundred thousand copies of already translated works. ‘The Children of the Dead�, her supposedly magnum opus, doesn’t have an English version yet.

Bottomline. Definitely not an accessible Jelinek, strictly for her fans only!
]]> 3.50 2000 Greed
author: Elfriede Jelinek
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2016/01/22
date added: 2016/01/25
shelves:
review:
I guess the question one needs to ask is not, why Elfriede Jelinek doesn’t handle subjects other than emotional exploitation, male sexual violation and middle age loneliness, rather it should be how many writers are capable of handling these things like she does. A man made useless lake, the lake is cold, no aquatic animals live there, nothing grows apart from weeds, it gets a ripple sometimes like the times when a dead body is thrown, it can’t hold that for long either, it returns that body to its surface after a few days as a riddle to be solved. Now, this lake could be symbolic and represent women beyond certain age. Her feminism is so base and pessimistic, Ms. Jelinek would have been irrevocably labeled as misogynist if she were a man.

I had a hard time getting through this book, had to take a break every six or seven pages, many times I had to go back reading previous two lines for every single line. Sometime a block of prose, a paragraph, went on for pages. I counted one going on for thirteen pages. To put things into perspective, ’The Brothers Karamazov� I had been reading in parallel looked like a child’s play with its theological mutations and everything, so does Virginia Woolf’s stream of consciousness. This freaking thing has brought back my reading OCD to the surface again, now I have to find a way to deal with that shit.

Instead of finding faults at inadequate translation, one needs to appreciate the hard work done by Martin Chalmers in translating such an intense, poetical prose. Definitely it wouldn’t have been an easy job, like those Japanese trucks made during WWII, by reverse-engineering a Bantam Jeep. Those Japs did a good job and kept on improvising it, rest of the world started buying those 4x4s a lot as well. Elfriede Jelinek is such a market dud in English speaking countries, even a Nobel win didn’t help much. No, I am not talking about those hundred thousand copies of already translated works. ‘The Children of the Dead�, her supposedly magnum opus, doesn’t have an English version yet.

Bottomline. Definitely not an accessible Jelinek, strictly for her fans only!

]]> நாவல� 25888291 கத�, சிறுகத�, நெடுங்கத�, நாவல� - இவற்றுக்கு இடைய� என்ன வித்தியாசம�?
தமிழில� எழுதப்பட்ட ‘நாவல்கள்� என்ற� சொல்லப்படுபவ� உண்மையிலேய� நாவல்கள்தானா?
இதுபோன்ற கேள்விகள� எழுப்பும� ஜெயமோகன் அந்தக் கேள்விகளுக்க�, தெளிவா�, தருக்கபூர்வமான பதில்களை நிறுவுகிறார்.இந்நூல� ஜெயமோகன் எழுதிய முதல� திறனாய்வ� நூல். வெளியா� காலத்தில� பல சர்ச்சைகளையும் விவாதங்களையும் உருவாக்கினாலும�, சரியாகப் புரிந்து கொள்ளப்படா� ஒர� நூலாகவ� இருந்துள்ளது.ஒர� தேர்ந்� வாசகனத� ரசனையை மேம்படுத்துவதில் இந்த நூல் வெற்றி அடைகிறது என்ற� சொல்� வேண்டும்.]]> 128 Jeyamohan Shanmugam 2 3.48 1992 நாவல்
author: Jeyamohan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.48
book published: 1992
rating: 2
read at: 2015/12/31
date added: 2015/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen]]> 228244 180 Tadeusz Borowski 0140186247 Shanmugam 4 4.17 1946 This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
author: Tadeusz Borowski
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1946
rating: 4
read at: 2015/12/30
date added: 2015/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Body Artist 11577246
‘A novel that is both slight and profound, a distilled meditation on perception and loss, and a poised, individual ghost story for the twenty-first century� Observer

The Body Artist begins with normality: breakfast between a married couple, Lauren and Rey, in their ramshackle rented house on the New England coast. Recording their delicate, intimate, half-complete thoughts and words, DeLillo proves himself a stunningly unsentimental observer of our idiosyncratic relationships. But after breakfast, Rey makes a decision that leaves Lauren utterly alone, or seems to.

As Lauren, the body artist of the title, becomes strangely detached from herself and the temporal world, the novel becomes an exploration of a highly abnormal grieving process; a fascinating exposé of ‘who we are when we are not rehearsing who we are�; and a rarefied study of trauma and creativity, absence and presence, isolation and communion.

‘A masterly portrait of the impact of death on those who live� Evening Standard]]> 132 Don DeLillo 033052495X Shanmugam 4 3.31 2001 The Body Artist
author: Don DeLillo
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2015/12/30
date added: 2015/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Atomised 58371
Atomised tells the stories of the two brothers, but the real subject of the novel is the dismantling of contemporary society and its assumptions, its political incorrectness, and its caustic and penetrating asides on everything from anthropology to the problem pages of girls' magazines.]]> 379 Michel Houellebecq Shanmugam 2
Take a forty something, middle class, single, creepy man lamenting about moral decay, end of western civilisation (mostly christianity) or lack of faith in anything. Probably divorced. Either sexually obsessed or declining sexual interests. In the case of former, he keeps on masturbating after numerous unsuccessful attempts at picking up younger women. In the latter case, he goes with the ‘motion� mechanically. If I am his copy editor, I would be paranoid about touching his manuscripts, who knows how much sticky substance is there in-between (Ah, please don’t say that no one uses paper these days, it is metaphorical after all). Celebrate prostitution nevertheless, as much as you talk about erectile disfunction. More often than not, let this nihilist protagonist find true love, don’t forget to throw a tragic end eventually.

Now fillers part. Choose the profession wisely, unique one for every book. Travel Industry, Computer Programming, Molecular Biology, Teaching and Arts in general. Fill the books with a sort of pamphlets about corresponding industry. Also, make sure at least one of the characters is of intellectual type, so that he can take up metaphysical mutations to death. It will be a decent academical interest to go through all his writings from the start and conjure up an opinion on where he stands now with respect to metaphysics and how he has arrived to that point. After all, he is no ordinary person.

His writing is nowhere as intense as someone like Elfriede Jelinek’s. However, to give him due credits, he writes in such a way that they are genuine page turners. Am still contemplating between three and two stars for this particular book.]]> 3.67 1998 Atomised
author: Michel Houellebecq
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1998
rating: 2
read at: 2015/12/28
date added: 2015/12/28
shelves:
review:
After reading four of his books, I can positively say that I have decoded the template of Michel Houellebecq fiction writing. Or, this is what I could ever make out from his books.

Take a forty something, middle class, single, creepy man lamenting about moral decay, end of western civilisation (mostly christianity) or lack of faith in anything. Probably divorced. Either sexually obsessed or declining sexual interests. In the case of former, he keeps on masturbating after numerous unsuccessful attempts at picking up younger women. In the latter case, he goes with the ‘motion� mechanically. If I am his copy editor, I would be paranoid about touching his manuscripts, who knows how much sticky substance is there in-between (Ah, please don’t say that no one uses paper these days, it is metaphorical after all). Celebrate prostitution nevertheless, as much as you talk about erectile disfunction. More often than not, let this nihilist protagonist find true love, don’t forget to throw a tragic end eventually.

Now fillers part. Choose the profession wisely, unique one for every book. Travel Industry, Computer Programming, Molecular Biology, Teaching and Arts in general. Fill the books with a sort of pamphlets about corresponding industry. Also, make sure at least one of the characters is of intellectual type, so that he can take up metaphysical mutations to death. It will be a decent academical interest to go through all his writings from the start and conjure up an opinion on where he stands now with respect to metaphysics and how he has arrived to that point. After all, he is no ordinary person.

His writing is nowhere as intense as someone like Elfriede Jelinek’s. However, to give him due credits, he writes in such a way that they are genuine page turners. Am still contemplating between three and two stars for this particular book.
]]> <![CDATA[A History of British India: To the Overthrow of the English in the Spice Archipelago [1623]]> 26664133 494 William Wilson Hunter 1297673395 Shanmugam 4
Sir William Wilson Hunter had written this volume solely from the view of European settlers. Their struggles, rivalry among other European countries. Diplomatic struggles. Papal BULL. Voyages in the name of Christianity against Islam. New found free act of warring between Catholic and Protestants. And, then trade rivalry between two dominant Protestant countries.

As with any historical works, there might be a better and more concise version. I stumbled on this book, learned many things and liked it a lot. Too early to say anything comparatively.
]]> 4.33 A History of British India: To the Overthrow of the English in the Spice Archipelago [1623
author: William Wilson Hunter
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2015/12/26
date added: 2015/12/26
shelves:
review:
A brilliant recollection of Europe's attempt to reach Eastern world through marine ways.

Sir William Wilson Hunter had written this volume solely from the view of European settlers. Their struggles, rivalry among other European countries. Diplomatic struggles. Papal BULL. Voyages in the name of Christianity against Islam. New found free act of warring between Catholic and Protestants. And, then trade rivalry between two dominant Protestant countries.

As with any historical works, there might be a better and more concise version. I stumbled on this book, learned many things and liked it a lot. Too early to say anything comparatively.

]]> நாளை மற்றுமொர� நாளே... 16085007
-ஆற்றூர� ரவ� வர்ம�

--------

இத� ஒர� மனிதன் ஒர� நாளை� வாழ்க்கை. நீங்கள� துணிந்திருந்தால் செய்திருக்கக்கூடிய சின்னத்தனங்கள், நிர்பந்திக்கப்பட்டிருந்தால� காட்டியிருக்கக்கூடிய துணிச்சல�, விரும்பியிருந்தால் பெற்றிருக்கக்கூடிய நோய்கள�, பட்டுக்கொண்டிருந்தால� அடைந்திருக்கக்கூடி� அவமானம�, இவைய� அவன் வாழ்க்கை. அவனத� அடுத்த நாளைப்பற்ற� நாம் தெறிந்துகொள்� வேண்டாம்; ஏனெனில� அவனுக்கும்- நம்மில� பலருக்குப் போலவ� - நாளை மற்றுமொர� நாளே!]]> 143 ஜி. நாகராஜன் 8187477202 Shanmugam 3 3.85 1974 நாளை மற்றுமொரு நாளே...
author: ஜி. நாகராஜன்
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1974
rating: 3
read at: 2015/11/23
date added: 2015/12/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Submission (William Heinemann)]]> 24493751
And he is not alone. As the 2022 Presidential election approaches, two candidates emerge as favourites: Marine Le Pen of the Front National, and Muhammed Ben Abbes of the nascent Muslim Fraternity. Forming a controversial alliance with the mainstream parties, Ben Abbes sweeps to power, and overnight the country is transformed. Islamic law comes into force: women are veiled, polygamy is encouraged and, for François, life is set on a new course.

Submission is both a devastating satire and a profound meditation on isolation, faith and love. It is a startling new work by one of the most provocative and prescient novelists of today.]]> 256 Michel Houellebecq 1785150251 Shanmugam 2
Ok, my thoughts on this book. Michel Houellebecq hasn't done a George Orwell when it comes to dystopia, nor he has done a Elfriede Jelinek while attempting to portray modern decay. Yes, he scratched surfaces, that's all. One trouble I have with these pretentious first person narrations is, how to draw the line between the author and the protoganist. Let's not even talk about his intellectual musings on Huysmans. I really wanted Huysmans to be a fictional character, it would have given a nice artistic touch to this book. Nope, not at all.

An average affair of facts and fictions mix!]]> 3.72 2015 Submission (William Heinemann)
author: Michel Houellebecq
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2015/12/19
date added: 2015/12/19
shelves:
review:
I am going to remember this book for years to come, not because it is a bad book, not because it is a good book, only for the fact that this one was my first preorder. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the reading experience of his two earlier works. Still, the combination of his nihilism and supposed Islamic take over of France was too tempting to ignore.

Ok, my thoughts on this book. Michel Houellebecq hasn't done a George Orwell when it comes to dystopia, nor he has done a Elfriede Jelinek while attempting to portray modern decay. Yes, he scratched surfaces, that's all. One trouble I have with these pretentious first person narrations is, how to draw the line between the author and the protoganist. Let's not even talk about his intellectual musings on Huysmans. I really wanted Huysmans to be a fictional character, it would have given a nice artistic touch to this book. Nope, not at all.

An average affair of facts and fictions mix!
]]> <![CDATA[A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India]]> 16151384 325 Robert Sewell 8184682905 Shanmugam 5
Is it really possible to write an unbiassed history? Considering the situations Robert Sewell got into. Medieval South Indian period; Tradition of romanticised oral history; Complete ruins left by Islamic invaders as was the norm during that time; And forgotten written records.

Robert Sewell had written this in late nineteenth century. I am sure that quite a few inscriptions must have been unearthed and decrypted since then, and at least a hundred books might have been written on this subject as well. I am not qualified to judge this book for accuracy or whatsoever. However, could’t help appreciating the meticulous effort being put into bringing back the legacy.

In the first part, he had written an approximate factual history of rise and fall of the kingdom, by assimilating facts from a couple of Portuguese chronicles, travelogue of an Italian, writings of a Mogul’s courtesan and of course numerous inscriptions from South India. (Muslims massacred Hindus, Hindus massacred Muslims and Portuguese massacred both and enforced Inquisition; And, juxtapose that killing order a bit more). Then comes his English translation of Domingos Paes� chronicle of Krishna Deva Rhai’s time of grandiose festival and feast. After that, Fernao Nuniz’s chronicles of whole Vijaya Nagar empire traditional history gathered first hand. As a complete package, all of them had arranged themselves into an amazing read.

Sure, you can’t go back to that period, but it makes you go visit those ruins!
]]> 4.50 A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India
author: Robert Sewell
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2015/12/07
date added: 2015/12/10
shelves:
review:
Two Hundred and Thirty Years of Bloodshed.

Is it really possible to write an unbiassed history? Considering the situations Robert Sewell got into. Medieval South Indian period; Tradition of romanticised oral history; Complete ruins left by Islamic invaders as was the norm during that time; And forgotten written records.

Robert Sewell had written this in late nineteenth century. I am sure that quite a few inscriptions must have been unearthed and decrypted since then, and at least a hundred books might have been written on this subject as well. I am not qualified to judge this book for accuracy or whatsoever. However, could’t help appreciating the meticulous effort being put into bringing back the legacy.

In the first part, he had written an approximate factual history of rise and fall of the kingdom, by assimilating facts from a couple of Portuguese chronicles, travelogue of an Italian, writings of a Mogul’s courtesan and of course numerous inscriptions from South India. (Muslims massacred Hindus, Hindus massacred Muslims and Portuguese massacred both and enforced Inquisition; And, juxtapose that killing order a bit more). Then comes his English translation of Domingos Paes� chronicle of Krishna Deva Rhai’s time of grandiose festival and feast. After that, Fernao Nuniz’s chronicles of whole Vijaya Nagar empire traditional history gathered first hand. As a complete package, all of them had arranged themselves into an amazing read.

Sure, you can’t go back to that period, but it makes you go visit those ruins!

]]> The Death of Artemio Cruz 6202828 307 Carlos Fuentes 0374531803 Shanmugam 5
This novel opened with, seventy one years old Artemio Cruz on his deathbed, peeing on a metal container without realising it. The whole novel read like a biography.

It was like a scratch paper, the kind which reveals its picture once it is sketched/scratched off by a pencil completely. Just imagine that, it is randomly scratched off by a four year old. That's how the plot was unveiled. I don't think it was a mere stream of consciousness, as many people make it out. It was more like, random fragments of Artemio Cruz's life told in third person, intervened by first person narration of his bitching and pain on his last day, and his attempt to mock his life in second person. It went on the same cycle for 307 pages, without any page breaks. Finally we come to know about the opportunistic, manipulative and corrupt life of a person, in the background of 1910 Mexican Revolution and Mexico's reformation years post that. Artemio Cruz was not a model human being, why do we care about such a person then? It is only for kids, human life is just black and white. In reality, every blackness has white within and every whiteness has black within. The extreme you go, the more concentrated enclosed opposite is.
]]> 3.65 1962 The Death of Artemio Cruz
author: Carlos Fuentes
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2015/09/20
date added: 2015/09/21
shelves:
review:
A laborious, but a brilliant read!

This novel opened with, seventy one years old Artemio Cruz on his deathbed, peeing on a metal container without realising it. The whole novel read like a biography.

It was like a scratch paper, the kind which reveals its picture once it is sketched/scratched off by a pencil completely. Just imagine that, it is randomly scratched off by a four year old. That's how the plot was unveiled. I don't think it was a mere stream of consciousness, as many people make it out. It was more like, random fragments of Artemio Cruz's life told in third person, intervened by first person narration of his bitching and pain on his last day, and his attempt to mock his life in second person. It went on the same cycle for 307 pages, without any page breaks. Finally we come to know about the opportunistic, manipulative and corrupt life of a person, in the background of 1910 Mexican Revolution and Mexico's reformation years post that. Artemio Cruz was not a model human being, why do we care about such a person then? It is only for kids, human life is just black and white. In reality, every blackness has white within and every whiteness has black within. The extreme you go, the more concentrated enclosed opposite is.

]]> The Butcher and Other Erotica 457209 192 Alina Reyes 0802134505 Shanmugam 4
Why four stars if I hated that story that much? Fortunately titular story occupies one third of the book only, rest of the book is of the accompanying novella 'Lucie's Long Voyage.' It is allegorical, mystic, prose is poetic, protagonist is a bit of nihilist, whatever lacking in the former is amassed here, with zero percent porn treatment. While thinking about the theme, it brought back the story of Shantanu & Ganga in Mahabharata to my mind.

Wish the first story were as good as the second one.]]> 3.41 1988 The Butcher and Other Erotica
author: Alina Reyes
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.41
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2015/08/29
date added: 2015/08/30
shelves:
review:
It is my firm conviction that what separates an erotic literature from cheap porn, is the fact that it doesn't focus too much on satiating one's need to dwell on some fantasy. It is supposed to treat lust as another need and a human being's experience to a world of joy, dismay, anguish, salvation, cruelty and perverse to unearth the hidden thing which is being submerged in the name of taboo. 'The Butcher' is far from it, most of the titular story reads like a fetish porn. Alina Reyes goes to abstract things now and then, such as comparing a butchered animal's flesh with human soul et al. Somehow all her literary intentions stay disjointed. It may look good in original French, otherwise it wouldn't have received the acclaim it did.

Why four stars if I hated that story that much? Fortunately titular story occupies one third of the book only, rest of the book is of the accompanying novella 'Lucie's Long Voyage.' It is allegorical, mystic, prose is poetic, protagonist is a bit of nihilist, whatever lacking in the former is amassed here, with zero percent porn treatment. While thinking about the theme, it brought back the story of Shantanu & Ganga in Mahabharata to my mind.

Wish the first story were as good as the second one.
]]> புனலும� மணலும் 20320739
A novel based on sand mining of rivers. Ecological consciousness pervades this work written much before the term became fashionable.]]> 167 A. Madhavan Shanmugam 3 3.87 1974 புனலும் மணலும்
author: A. Madhavan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1974
rating: 3
read at: 2015/08/30
date added: 2015/08/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World]]> 17181673 Alternate cover edition here.

A narrative particle accelerator that zooms between Wild Turkey Whiskey and Bob Dylan, unicorn skulls and voracious librarians, John Coltrane and Lord Jim.

Science fiction, detective story and post-modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is the tour de force that expanded Haruki Murakami's international following. Tracking one man's descent into the Kafkaesque underworld of contemporary Tokyo, Murakami unites East and West, tragedy and farce, compassion and detachment, slang and philosophy.]]> 400 Haruki Murakami 0099448785 Shanmugam 4
Apart from this caveat, it is a great cyberpunk, sci-fi novel. By far, the best Murakami I have read.]]> 4.04 1985 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2015/07/31
date added: 2015/08/26
shelves:
review:
I am not a big fan of seeing too much pop culture in fictions, I treat such devise as a writer's attempt at covering up a certain lack of depth in character development. To put things into perspective, If this novel were a movie, producers would have made more money from endorsements than box office. It is OK for a pulp fiction writer, but not for someone who has been being hailed by his fanboys as next Nobel laureate, for the past ten years or so.

Apart from this caveat, it is a great cyberpunk, sci-fi novel. By far, the best Murakami I have read.
]]> War and Peace 8131057 Russia. Balls and soirées, the burning of Moscow, the intrigues of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles, the quiet moments of everyday life--all in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. The Maudes' translation of Tolstoy's epic masterpiece has long been
considered the best English version, and now for the first time it has been revised to bring it fully into line with modern approaches to the text. French passages are restored, Anglicization of Russian names removed, and outmoded expressions updated. A new introduction by Amy Mandelker considers
the novel's literary and historical context, the nature of the work, and Tolstoy's artistic and philosophical aims. New, expanded notes provide historical background and identifications, as well as insight into Russian life and society.]]> 1440 Leo Tolstoy Shanmugam 5
I can't wait to read this novel again, may be in a few months, or maybe in a few years. Probably Pevear & Volokhonsky's contemporary translation in place of Ann Dunnigan's one.

]]> 3.80 1869 War and Peace
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1869
rating: 5
read at: 2015/08/25
date added: 2015/08/26
shelves:
review:
People who know things better than me, people who could analyse things better than me, people who have read more than me, people who have seen this life more than me, people smarter than me, people who have been less exploited than me, people who have been more exploited than me, historians, writers, philosophers and scientists, all of them almost make you to believe that this is the best novel ever written. They say this is the perfect novel, they hail this one as epic novel. Am I really gonna say anything different from what have been written already?

I can't wait to read this novel again, may be in a few months, or maybe in a few years. Probably Pevear & Volokhonsky's contemporary translation in place of Ann Dunnigan's one.


]]> Stoner 8551582
John Williams’s luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.
--nyrb.com]]> 305 John Williams 1590173937 Shanmugam 0 to-read 4.38 1965 Stoner
author: John Williams
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1965
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/07/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Village in the Jungle 21144800 207 Leonard Woolf 1780600186 Shanmugam 0 to-read 4.20 1913 The Village in the Jungle
author: Leonard Woolf
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1913
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/07/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]]> 7588 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a novel of sexual awakening, religious rebellion and the essential search for voice and meaning that every nascent artist must face in order to blossom fully into themselves.]]> 329 James Joyce 0142437344 Shanmugam 3 3.64 1916 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
author: James Joyce
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1916
rating: 3
read at: 2015/07/19
date added: 2015/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Whatever 10401601 Booklist

"This boy needs serious therapy. He may be beyond help."�The Washington Post

Just thirty, with a well-paid job, depression and no love life, the narrator and anti-hero par excellence of this grim, funny, and clever novel smokes four packs of cigarettes a day and writes weird animal stories in his spare time.

A painfully realistic portrayal of the vanishing freedom of a world governed by science and by the empty rituals of daily life.

Michel Houellebecq is a multi-award-winning French author. He currently lives in Spain.]]> 156 Michel Houellebecq 1846687845 Shanmugam 4 3.41 1994 Whatever
author: Michel Houellebecq
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.41
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2015/07/17
date added: 2015/07/16
shelves:
review:
The Catcher In The Rye, grows up to be a Computer Programmer, mayhem or madness ensues.
]]> Platform 354422
Back in Paris, they plunge into an affair that strays into S&M, public sex, and partner swapping, even as they devise a scheme to save Valérie's ailing travel company by capitalizing on the only trade Michel has seen flourish in the Third World. Before long, he quits his job, and their business model for 'sex tourism' is gradually implemented. But when they return to Thailand, where Michel's philosophy will be put into practice, he discovers that sex is neither the most consuming nor dangerous of passions . . .

From a suburbanized West crippled by hate crime to an East subsumed by materialism, Michel Houellebecq explores, with characteristic provocativeness, but also with surprising tenderness, the emotions that seem most resilient to any influence: love and hate. Platform is, as Anita Brookner has written, "a brilliant novel, casting a prescient eye on the abuses and inequalities that lead to wider trouble."]]> 362 Michel Houellebecq 0099437880 Shanmugam 4
When you start with an unknown author, sometimes it is really hard to differentiate that author’s thoughts from his characters� thoughts. It gets even more complicated, when it is a first person narration and the protagonist is a forty years something and his first name is Michel, so is the author’s.

After reading his Paris Review interview, and browsing a couple of message boards, I was having a perception that Michel Houellebecq was France’s answer to Elfriede Jelinek. He wasn’t one in this book, probably he would never get there. However, Mr.Houellebecq has his own voice, a filthy, cynical representation of a decoying human minds of this period.

Portraying an epic hero or a byronic hero is relatively easy, compared to bringing an average middle aged joe to life. Many people had done that already, famously Charles Bukowski. Somehow none of the transgressive fictions I have read so far, never touched me like this one. When you are in your teen years or early twenties, pretty much any idealistic character could strike the right chord with you, those were your formation years, leftist days. Once you come out of it, to have your own cynical views on the world, seldom you come across a fiction which resonates with you.

It is ironical that a cynical, passive guy ends up with his ideal soul mate, when the whole western society is in dire state as per his intellectual reasonings. Maybe it is possible that only a guy like him could exhilarate/appreciate the selfless love or whatever.

Am impressive work, if you could overlook those explicit sexual descriptions.

P.S:- Don’t judge this book by its cover.]]> 3.58 2001 Platform
author: Michel Houellebecq
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2015/07/13
date added: 2015/07/13
shelves:
review:
“I will be forgotten, I will be forgotten quite soon.�

When you start with an unknown author, sometimes it is really hard to differentiate that author’s thoughts from his characters� thoughts. It gets even more complicated, when it is a first person narration and the protagonist is a forty years something and his first name is Michel, so is the author’s.

After reading his Paris Review interview, and browsing a couple of message boards, I was having a perception that Michel Houellebecq was France’s answer to Elfriede Jelinek. He wasn’t one in this book, probably he would never get there. However, Mr.Houellebecq has his own voice, a filthy, cynical representation of a decoying human minds of this period.

Portraying an epic hero or a byronic hero is relatively easy, compared to bringing an average middle aged joe to life. Many people had done that already, famously Charles Bukowski. Somehow none of the transgressive fictions I have read so far, never touched me like this one. When you are in your teen years or early twenties, pretty much any idealistic character could strike the right chord with you, those were your formation years, leftist days. Once you come out of it, to have your own cynical views on the world, seldom you come across a fiction which resonates with you.

It is ironical that a cynical, passive guy ends up with his ideal soul mate, when the whole western society is in dire state as per his intellectual reasonings. Maybe it is possible that only a guy like him could exhilarate/appreciate the selfless love or whatever.

Am impressive work, if you could overlook those explicit sexual descriptions.

P.S:- Don’t judge this book by its cover.
]]> <![CDATA[The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God and Other Stories]]> 836957
Brief, intense, painfully funny, and shockingly honest, Keret's stories are snapshots that illuminate with intelligence and wit the hidden truths of life. As with the best comic authors, hilarity and anguish are the twin pillars of his work. Keret covers a remarkable emotional and narrative terrain-from a father's first lesson to his boy to a standoff between soldiers caught in the Middle East conflict to a slice of life where nothing much happens.

Bus Driver includes stories from Keret's bestselling collections in Israel, Pipelines and Missing Kissinger, as well as Keret's major new novella, "Kneller's Happy Campers," a bitingly satirical yet wistful road trip set in the afterlife for suicides.]]> 130 Etgar Keret 1592641059 Shanmugam 5 4.07 2001 The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God and Other Stories
author: Etgar Keret
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/07
date added: 2015/07/07
shelves:
review:
Brilliant short stories from Israel. Surreal & dark humour. Contemporary naiveness against pretty much everything.
]]> Dead Souls 28381 Dead Souls, Russia's first major novel, is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy.

In his introduction to this new translation, Robert A. Maguire discusses Gogol's life and literary career, his depiction of Russian society, and the language and narrative techniques employed in Dead Souls. This edition also includes a chronology, further reading, appendices, a glossary, map and notes.]]> 464 Nikolai Gogol 0140448071 Shanmugam 5 4.00 1842 Dead Souls
author: Nikolai Gogol
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1842
rating: 5
read at: 2015/06/29
date added: 2015/06/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Postmodernism for Beginners 154505 ]]> 163 James N. Powell Shanmugam 5 3.72 2007 Postmodernism for Beginners
author: James N. Powell
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2015/05/31
date added: 2015/06/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Great Hedge of India: The Search for the Living Barrier that Divided a People]]> 146077 256 Roy Moxham 0786709766 Shanmugam 5
Roy Moxham unearths a reminder of an ugly episode from British Empire of Bengal Presidency during the 19th century. Mr. Moxham found a small reference in a book published 100 years ago. A phenomenon which was never recorded by historians of either British or India. So, he went on to spend years on scrounging through administrative records, old maps and a month long trip for three consecutive years to India.

An amazing travelogue is interspersed with historical and scientific facts. A fast moving read of never thought about information!

And, it is a shame that there are no Indian reprints available, had to order an US print in amazon.in and wait for a month.]]> 3.91 2001 The Great Hedge of India: The Search for the Living Barrier that Divided a People
author: Roy Moxham
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2015/04/16
date added: 2015/04/18
shelves:
review:
Untiring Effort of an Adventurous Human Spirit

Roy Moxham unearths a reminder of an ugly episode from British Empire of Bengal Presidency during the 19th century. Mr. Moxham found a small reference in a book published 100 years ago. A phenomenon which was never recorded by historians of either British or India. So, he went on to spend years on scrounging through administrative records, old maps and a month long trip for three consecutive years to India.

An amazing travelogue is interspersed with historical and scientific facts. A fast moving read of never thought about information!

And, it is a shame that there are no Indian reprints available, had to order an US print in amazon.in and wait for a month.
]]> Deathly Sweet 11081474 52 Katherine Marple 1450518354 Shanmugam 2
There are a few beautiful verses you could relate to. "Got her dress, the white gloves with the red tips; blood drips from her fingertips". But, that doesn't entail you to release a book, penning down your whining as poems.

Yes, we have to pass our everyday activity with a certain nagging worry lurking behind us always. Too many finger pricks, too much bruises with insulin shots and hallucination during hypoglycemias. You gotta handle it, you gotta handle it.

Don't be dramatic, honey! The other day I was telling one of my mates, "One certainty with death is no uncertainty after that blah.." Should I go write a book with that nonsense?]]> 3.00 2011 Deathly Sweet
author: Katherine Marple
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2015/04/11
date added: 2015/04/12
shelves:
review:
I want to know, I fucking want to know how a rubbish like this gets published and being sold. Ok, you got a chronic disease, without a fault of yours. And, you suffer, you mother suffers, you father suffers and everyone else around you is on constant worry. So fucking what? Yes, my mother keeps on worrying, so do my folks. Every human being has its own imperfection, just like us T1Ds.

There are a few beautiful verses you could relate to. "Got her dress, the white gloves with the red tips; blood drips from her fingertips". But, that doesn't entail you to release a book, penning down your whining as poems.

Yes, we have to pass our everyday activity with a certain nagging worry lurking behind us always. Too many finger pricks, too much bruises with insulin shots and hallucination during hypoglycemias. You gotta handle it, you gotta handle it.

Don't be dramatic, honey! The other day I was telling one of my mates, "One certainty with death is no uncertainty after that blah.." Should I go write a book with that nonsense?
]]> <![CDATA[Sports Play (Oberon Modern Plays)]]> 15957395 The first English translation of Ein Sportstück, commissioned by the Austrian Cultural Forum, London for the English-language premiere to coincide with the London 2012 Olympics.

With translation assistance and a foreword by Karen Juers-Munby

First produced in 1998 at the famous Vienna Burgtheater, the remarkable and provocative Sports Play by Austrian playwright Elfriede Jelinek is a postdramatic theatrical exploration of the making, marketing and sale of the human body and of emotions in sport. It explores contemporary society’s obsession with fitness and body culture bringing into sharp focus our need to belong to a group, a team or a nation. Sport is seen as a form of war in peacetime.]]> 160 Elfriede Jelinek 1849434026 Shanmugam 4 3.37 1998 Sports Play (Oberon Modern Plays)
author: Elfriede Jelinek
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.37
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2015/04/06
date added: 2015/04/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Glengarry Glen Ross 251446
2 interior sets

This scalding comedy took Broadway and London by storm and won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize. Here is Mamet at his very best, writing about small-time, cutthroat real estate salesmen trying to grind out a living by pushing plots of land on reluctant buyers in a never-ending scramble for their share of the American dream. Revived on Broadway in 2006 this masterpiece of American drama became a celebrated film which starred Al Pacino, Jac]]> 112 David Mamet Shanmugam 5 3.88 1983 Glengarry Glen Ross
author: David Mamet
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at: 2015/04/06
date added: 2015/04/06
shelves:
review:

]]> தலைமுறைகள் 25216383
“தலைமுறைகள்� ஒர� குடும்பத்தின� கத� மட்டுமல்�, ஒர� சமுகத்தின் கதையும� கூ�. நாவல� விரி� விரி� உண்ணாமலை ஆச்ச�, கூனாங்காணிப் பிள்ளை பாட்டா, நாகருபிள்ள�, திரவ�, சாலம�, நாகம்மக்கா, சிவனந்தபெருமாள�, குற்றாலம� என்ற கதாபாத்திரங்களும� விரிகின்றன. யுகயகாந்திரமாகக் காப்பற்றப்பட்டுவரும் சடங்கு, சம்பிரதாயங்களைக் காப்பாற்� முடியாமல�, அவற்றின் செலவுகளுக்கு ஈட� கொடுக்� முடியாமல� திணறும� நாகருபிள்ளையும� அவரத� குடும்பமும� நாவல� முழுவதும� வியாபித்து நிற்கின்றனர்.

-வண்ணநிலவன்ձ> 374 Neela Padmanabhan Shanmugam 5
This novel follows a standard template, wherein the story spans three generations. An ordinary guy trying to make sense and make a life out of testing conditions, rituals, social taboos et al. The forced ending is not to my taste, last 15 pages seem rushed towards that. However, it doesn't undermine the fact that it is a great novel.

I begin to get fascinated with Kalachuvadu classics series, these guys unearth and publish some real gems. I have a feeling that I am gonna bust my wallet at their stall during next book fair :) A special mention to Jeyamohan's blog for bringing these almost forgotten names to this generation. Bravo!



]]> 4.35 1968 தலைமுறைகள்
author: Neela Padmanabhan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1968
rating: 5
read at: 2015/03/23
date added: 2015/03/25
shelves:
review:
Yet another masterpiece from the 'naturalism' era of Tamizh literature.

This novel follows a standard template, wherein the story spans three generations. An ordinary guy trying to make sense and make a life out of testing conditions, rituals, social taboos et al. The forced ending is not to my taste, last 15 pages seem rushed towards that. However, it doesn't undermine the fact that it is a great novel.

I begin to get fascinated with Kalachuvadu classics series, these guys unearth and publish some real gems. I have a feeling that I am gonna bust my wallet at their stall during next book fair :) A special mention to Jeyamohan's blog for bringing these almost forgotten names to this generation. Bravo!




]]> The Alchemy of Desire 6650752 Librarian's Note: Alternate-cover edition for ISBN 0330435558 / 9780330435550

Set against the brilliantly drawn backdrop of India at the turn of the millennium, The Alchemy of Desire tells the story of a young couple, penniless but gloriously in love. Obsessed with each other, they move from a small town to the big city, where the man, who dreams of being a writer, works feverishly on a novel, stopping only to feed his ceaseless desire for his beautiful wife.

A chance occurrence allows the lovers to abandon the city for a mist-shrouded spur of the lower Himalayas and move into a sprawling old house, which they hope will embody their love. At first they pursue their deep physical need with a reckless intensity. But during renovations of the house, a set of diaries written by the original inhabitant—a glamorous American adventuress—is unearthed, and the narrator finds himself irresistibly drawn away from his wife and thrust into another world and time, into the hole of history. As his life and love fall apart, he slowly begins to uncover the dark secrets at the heart of her story, until the shocking truth is laid bare and all certainties are overturned.

Inventive, playful, heartbreaking, brimming with ideas and memorable characters, The Alchemy of Desire celebrates the chaotic spirit of a country during a time of great change. It also offers, in searing, lucid prose, a deeply sensual and moving meditation on the nature of desire, history, truth, and art. This is a major novel by one of the most significant new voices of his generation.]]> 520 Tarun J. Tejpal Shanmugam 1
Sexual extravagance can be employed as a shocking factor, especially in transgressive fictions, case in point Charles Bukowski. Just a shocking phenomenon, you can’t expect to glue your readers only with that. There is so much wetness. You might skid on it and damage your cerebellum even before crossing 50 pages, if you are not very careful. If you don’t get what that wetness is, you aren’t perverse enough. At the 100th page, you can’t wait to get through the motion (pun intended).

After about 120 pages, a back story starts in 1980s. Tarun J Tejpal must have thought, “It is not a soft porn, this should represent whole India, North India at the least. Let me throw in Punjab insurgency!� So, we get bloods, guts and all gory things. Of course, more wetness! To Mr. Tejpal, chimneys resemble phallus, rhino horn resembles phallus and anything which stands up resembles only one thing. Seriously?! D:<

Another backstory. So this time ’Partition of India� it is! Not much chance for wetness with characters involved. So what do we get from this bold writer. A hindu woman crosses border with her money stuffed inside vagina.

Yet another backstory. More back stories for characters in that back story. After 350 pages, the book actually picks up pace and reads like a decent fiction. Not just mere wetness, you get flooded at this point. Onanism, Sodomism, Mughal Harem, Botanical Tour and Birdwatch thrown in between. What do we get then. Sushi with a gulp of Sake. Yes, Mr.Holmes uncovers a mystery in 'Rashomon' style.

Without a doubt, it is a daring, bold, beautiful, intense, sensual and hard hitting fiction. Where is the catch then. Everything is a little bit too much and you end up with a verbal diarrhea.
]]> 3.59 2005 The Alchemy of Desire
author: Tarun J. Tejpal
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2005
rating: 1
read at: 2015/03/16
date added: 2015/03/17
shelves:
review:
Garbage of Higher Order!

Sexual extravagance can be employed as a shocking factor, especially in transgressive fictions, case in point Charles Bukowski. Just a shocking phenomenon, you can’t expect to glue your readers only with that. There is so much wetness. You might skid on it and damage your cerebellum even before crossing 50 pages, if you are not very careful. If you don’t get what that wetness is, you aren’t perverse enough. At the 100th page, you can’t wait to get through the motion (pun intended).

After about 120 pages, a back story starts in 1980s. Tarun J Tejpal must have thought, “It is not a soft porn, this should represent whole India, North India at the least. Let me throw in Punjab insurgency!� So, we get bloods, guts and all gory things. Of course, more wetness! To Mr. Tejpal, chimneys resemble phallus, rhino horn resembles phallus and anything which stands up resembles only one thing. Seriously?! D:<

Another backstory. So this time ’Partition of India� it is! Not much chance for wetness with characters involved. So what do we get from this bold writer. A hindu woman crosses border with her money stuffed inside vagina.

Yet another backstory. More back stories for characters in that back story. After 350 pages, the book actually picks up pace and reads like a decent fiction. Not just mere wetness, you get flooded at this point. Onanism, Sodomism, Mughal Harem, Botanical Tour and Birdwatch thrown in between. What do we get then. Sushi with a gulp of Sake. Yes, Mr.Holmes uncovers a mystery in 'Rashomon' style.

Without a doubt, it is a daring, bold, beautiful, intense, sensual and hard hitting fiction. Where is the catch then. Everything is a little bit too much and you end up with a verbal diarrhea.

]]> <![CDATA[The Old Man Who Read Love Stories]]> 762211 144 Luis Sepúlveda 0156002728 Shanmugam 4 4.03 1988 The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
author: Luis Sepúlveda
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2015/03/11
date added: 2015/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rod of the Wicked (Church Boyz #1)]]> 13599266
Then imagine being mentored by one of the most revered men, Abraham Winder, whose stance on accountability and sexual purity is taught rigorously within the Mount Moriah mentoring program, only to discover your mentor is not what you expect. This is the reality for Dominic Housten, one of Abraham’s closest and trusted protégés, who accidentally stumbles upon a scene that left him frozen in disbelief. As Dominic struggles with betrayal, he confides in the pastor’s daughter � the only woman he’d secretly loved for years. The only problem with that is the pastor’s daughter is married to Phillip Benjamin, a deacon of the church and an extremely jealous man, who suspects Dominic’s intention runs deeper than just a casual friendship.

The intertwined lives of these four men show that the righteous are not perfect, and at times, are tempted to forsake the ways of God. As each of these men battle to regain their focus, they will come to realize that the consequences of their sins are far greater than they’d anticipated � just one stupid mistake could produce a lifetime of hell!]]> 222 H.H. Fowler Shanmugam 3 4.11 2012 Rod of the Wicked (Church Boyz #1)
author: H.H. Fowler
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2015/03/08
date added: 2015/03/08
shelves:
review:
Not a bad choice, not a bad choice at all, when you desperately want to kill your time on some light read; a decent thriller, family drama with loads of righteous shit thrown in.
]]> Beloved 457944 Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison's "Beloved" is a spellbinding and dazzlingly innovative portrait of a woman haunted by the past.
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is still held captive by memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Meanwhile Sethe's house has long been troubled by the angry, destructive ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single "Beloved."
Sethe works at beating back the past, but it makes itself heard and felt incessantly in her memory and in the lives of those around her. When a mysterious teenage girl arrives, calling herself Beloved, Sethe's terrible secret explodes into the present.
Combining the visionary power of legend with the unassailable truth of history, Morrison's unforgettable novel is one of the great and enduring works of American literature.]]> 324 Toni Morrison 0099273934 Shanmugam 5 3.80 1987 Beloved
author: Toni Morrison
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 2015/03/07
date added: 2015/03/07
shelves:
review:

]]> சுமைதாங்கி [Sumaithaangi] 25060172 Jayakanthan Shanmugam 2 4.05 சுமைதாங்கி [Sumaithaangi]
author: Jayakanthan
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2015/03/03
date added: 2015/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Roadside Picnic 331256
First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years.]]> 145 Arkady Strugatsky 0575070536 Shanmugam 4 4.16 1972 Roadside Picnic
author: Arkady Strugatsky
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1972
rating: 4
read at: 2015/02/27
date added: 2015/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> The Death of Ivan Ilyich 160374 The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his dying so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise he is brought face-to-face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?

This short novel was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction. A thoroughly absorbing and at times terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.]]> 113 Leo Tolstoy 0553210351 Shanmugam 4 4.08 1886 The Death of Ivan Ilyich
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1886
rating: 4
read at: 2015/02/23
date added: 2015/02/23
shelves:
review:
Tolstoy's cold and dismal look at the absurdity of bourgeoisie life is so vivid that, you could totally relate a contemporary corporate careerist to this novel's protagonist. Terrific read about 'meaning of life' and dead in chill, plain lines!
]]> The Complete Persepolis 991197
Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming—both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom�Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.]]> 341 Marjane Satrapi 0375714839 Shanmugam 4 4.38 2007 The Complete Persepolis
author: Marjane Satrapi
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2015/02/22
date added: 2015/02/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man]]> 13687774 143 U.R. Ananthamurthy 0198077149 Shanmugam 2
Instead of bringing forth a missed out experience, this dry, textbook translation only glares with a lose of eloquence and subtlety, which the modernist U.R. Ananthamurthy might have crafted in the original version. Read out this sample, “…appearing suddenly like a bear let loose in the middle of a service for Shiva.� I believe every South Indian language has a catchy phrase for this metaphor, in just a couple of words. Whatever the chuckle and style you feel in the original language is irrevocably lost in this literal dry translation.

�;plump fleshy thighs, buttocks, breasts.�
Seriously? Even those cheap pocket size crime novels have better sensual descriptions. The only good part about this book is, it is just 143 pages cover to cover. Sums up the experience!
]]> 3.81 1965 Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man
author: U.R. Ananthamurthy
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1965
rating: 2
read at: 2015/02/19
date added: 2015/02/19
shelves:
review:
Problem is not with the book, translator is not entirely at fault here either, it is just that I am not part of the targeted audience. I might not know the Kannada language, but I am not an alien to the setting - where this story takes place. The place is only a few hundred miles away. We, South Indians, share same customs, caste intricacies, religion and beliefs to a greater extent.

Instead of bringing forth a missed out experience, this dry, textbook translation only glares with a lose of eloquence and subtlety, which the modernist U.R. Ananthamurthy might have crafted in the original version. Read out this sample, “…appearing suddenly like a bear let loose in the middle of a service for Shiva.� I believe every South Indian language has a catchy phrase for this metaphor, in just a couple of words. Whatever the chuckle and style you feel in the original language is irrevocably lost in this literal dry translation.

�;plump fleshy thighs, buttocks, breasts.�
Seriously? Even those cheap pocket size crime novels have better sensual descriptions. The only good part about this book is, it is just 143 pages cover to cover. Sums up the experience!

]]> Crime and Punishment 7144 671 Fyodor Dostoevsky Shanmugam 5
A few years ago, attempted his magnum opus, doorstopper of a book, ‘The Brothers Karamazov�. Maybe it was that bad reading phase I was going through, I stopped after 1/4th of the book. So, I was a bit apprehensive to start ‘Crime and Punishment�. Enough of a backstory I guess.

I am not capable of saying anything new about this masterpiece. Of course, it is a masterpiece. Effect of ‘Confused Ideology�, it hits you like a heavy blow. 150 years. Russia has come through a revolution, biggest historical change of recent centuries, the world has seen off a couple of world wars. The tortured soul, the one Dostoyevsky portrays, is still relevant. Don’t mislead by the notion of certain people that Doestoyevsky’s characters are one dimensional, they are far from being one, this novel has a multitude of characters which go to the path of salvation in different ways. If you are not moved with later part of the book, it might only mean that you are more cynical than me :) You coast along the pages like as if you were in a roller coaster dream.

This novel is not without its shortfalls either. You could smell the plot 20 pages ahead, no we are not Fyodor Dostoyevsky, it is just that we have seen similar things umpteen times. Let us not even talk about the-hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, who does Mary Magdalene here. But, we don’t read classics, especially a Dostoyevsky, just for the plot, do we?
]]> 4.26 1866 Crime and Punishment
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1866
rating: 5
read at: 2015/02/17
date added: 2015/02/18
shelves:
review:
Whether you like it or not, Rodion Romanovich’s soul in turmoil is shoved through your throat now and then, that is if you experiment with a bit of books and movies. So, it is inevitable that you want to face the real Rodion yourself. I took my own time though. Dostoyevsky works have been a mixed bag to me. ‘Poor People� was a revelation, I was smitten by the style of that book for at least 10 years. Then, read ’The Gambler� from Project Gutenberg, liked it till what I read. And, naturally became a self proclaimed advocate for Dostoyevsky in my circle.

A few years ago, attempted his magnum opus, doorstopper of a book, ‘The Brothers Karamazov�. Maybe it was that bad reading phase I was going through, I stopped after 1/4th of the book. So, I was a bit apprehensive to start ‘Crime and Punishment�. Enough of a backstory I guess.

I am not capable of saying anything new about this masterpiece. Of course, it is a masterpiece. Effect of ‘Confused Ideology�, it hits you like a heavy blow. 150 years. Russia has come through a revolution, biggest historical change of recent centuries, the world has seen off a couple of world wars. The tortured soul, the one Dostoyevsky portrays, is still relevant. Don’t mislead by the notion of certain people that Doestoyevsky’s characters are one dimensional, they are far from being one, this novel has a multitude of characters which go to the path of salvation in different ways. If you are not moved with later part of the book, it might only mean that you are more cynical than me :) You coast along the pages like as if you were in a roller coaster dream.

This novel is not without its shortfalls either. You could smell the plot 20 pages ahead, no we are not Fyodor Dostoyevsky, it is just that we have seen similar things umpteen times. Let us not even talk about the-hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, who does Mary Magdalene here. But, we don’t read classics, especially a Dostoyevsky, just for the plot, do we?

]]> <![CDATA[18வத� அட்சக்கோடு [18vadhu atchakodu]]]> 18081016 தனிமனிதனில� இருந்த� தேசம� நோக்கிப் பார்க்கும் ஒர� படைப்பாளியின� பார்வையில் பதிவ� செய்யப்பட்� ‘மைக்ரோ� வரலாறு. இதில� தன� மனிதர்களின� அரசியல� கோட்பாடுகள� பதிவ� செய்யப்படுகின்றன. அவர்களின� பொருளாதா� நிலை பேசப்படுகிறத�. தனிமனிதப� பார்வையில் நிஜாமினுடை� காரியதரிசிகளின� செயல்பாடுகள் அலசப்படுகின்றன. ‘மைக்ரோ� வரலாறுகள� காலத்தின� ஓட்டத்தில் மறுவாசிப்புகளிலும் மறுஆய்வுகளிலும� மாற்றம்பெறுவதில்லை. அவ� தனிமனிதனின� பார்வையில் இருந்த� எழுதப்படும� எளிய சாட்சிகளாக படிமங்களாகின்ற�.

1940களின� நிகழ்வுகள் 1970களில� நாவலாகப் பதிவ� செய்யப்பட்டு 2010களில� வாசிக்கும் இன்றைய தலைமுற� வாசகனையும் தன்னோட� சேர்த்துக்கொண்டு இந்நாவல் பயணப்படுகிறத�.]]> 224 Ashokamitthiran Shanmugam 4 4.18 1977 18வது அட்சக்கோடு [18vadhu atchakodu]
author: Ashokamitthiran
name: Shanmugam
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1977
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]>