Arun's bookshelf: fiction en-US Mon, 03 Mar 2025 05:01:43 -0800 60 Arun's bookshelf: fiction 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Solaris 35407773 “A fantastic book.� —Steven Soderbergh

When psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds himself confronting a painful memory embodied in the physical likeness of a past lover. Kelvin learns that he is not alone in this and that other crews examining the planet are plagued with their own repressed and newly real memories. Could it be, as Solaris scientists speculate, that the ocean may be a massive neural center creating these memories, for a reason no one can identify?

Long considered a classic, Solaris asks the question: Can we understand the universe around us without first understanding what lies within?

“A novel that makes you reevaluate the nature of intelligence itself.� —Anne McCaffrey]]> 224 Stanisław Lem Arun 4 3.87 1961 Solaris
author: Stanisław Lem
name: Arun
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1961
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: fiction, mind-and-matter, sci-fi, science
review:

]]> The God of Small Things 9777
Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, they fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family—their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin, Sophie Mol, and her mother, Margaret Kochamma, arrive on a Christmas visit, Esthappen and Rahel learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever, beside their river "graygreen." With fish in it. With the sky and trees in it. And at night, the broken yellow moon in it.

The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

The God of Small Things takes on the Big Themes—Love. Madness. Hope. Infinite Joy. Here is a writer who dares to break the rules. To dislocate received rhythms and create the language she requires, a language that is at once classical and unprecedented. Arundhati Roy has given us a book that is anchored to anguish, but fueled by wit and magic.]]> 321 Arundhati Roy 0679457313 Arun 3 fiction, india 3.97 1997 The God of Small Things
author: Arundhati Roy
name: Arun
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/17
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: fiction, india
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]> 18490513
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is an undisputed classic of contemporary literature. First published (in censored form) in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, it is the story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov as he struggles to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. On every page of this graphic depiction of Ivan Denisovich's struggles, the pain of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's own decade-long experience in the gulag is apparent—which makes its ultimate tribute to one man's will to triumph over relentless dehumanization all the more moving.

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 works to have emerged from the Soviet Union. The first of Solzhenitsyn's novels to be published, it forced both the Soviet Union and the West to confront the Soviet's human rights record, and the novel was specifically mentioned in the presentation speech when Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. Above all, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich establishes Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy" (Harrison Salisbury, The New York Times).

This unexpurgated, widely acclaimed translation by H. T. Willetts is the only translation authorized by Solzhenitsyn himself.]]> 208 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 0374534683 Arun 4 fiction, russian-lit 4.05 1962 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
name: Arun
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/11
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves: fiction, russian-lit
review:

]]> A Swim in a Pond in the Rain 58643095
In his introduction, Saunders writes, “We're going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn't fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art-namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?� He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.]]> 408 George Saunders 1526624249 Arun 4
Highly recommended for anyone interested in Russian literature (and in the question - what makes Russian literature endure).]]> 4.52 2021 A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
author: George Saunders
name: Arun
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves: chekhov, fiction, gogol, russian-lit, short-stories, tolstoy
review:
The stories in this collection are exceptional. Even though I have read multiple works of Tolstoy and Chekhov (fewer of Turgenev and Gogol), their stories compiled in this book felt as fresh and timeless as all classic works of Russian literature that provoke sensations of experiencing deep truths about the human experience. I also enjoyed, for the most part, Saunders's commentary on the stories, particularly his manner of peeling layers off of the stories in trying to understand what, really, were the storytellers trying to communicate. There is also plenty of good advice for aspiring short story writers and one can imagine Saunders's being an insightful instructor of creative writing. Understandably, there are also aspects of Saunders's essays that exhibit his American lens of reading these stories. E.g., in his essay on "The Cart", he writes the following about an uninspired school teacher from 19th century Russia - "...what kind of Russia is this that compels a person to work a job to which she has no calling, and be so reduced by it." Clearly there are billions of people in the world today, including millions in America, who work jobs to which they have no calling because they need to provide for themselves and their families. Nevertheless, such aspects are rare, and for the most part Saunders beautifully distils the humane essence of the stories and has a surgical precision to describe elements of the stories that help them retain their timelessness.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in Russian literature (and in the question - what makes Russian literature endure).
]]> The Remains of the Day 274186 here.

The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving “a great gentleman.� But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington’s “greatness� and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served.]]> 245 Kazuo Ishiguro 0679731725 Arun 5 fiction, favorites 4.17 1989 The Remains of the Day
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Arun
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2017/09/03
date added: 2023/05/16
shelves: fiction, favorites
review:
What a poignant book! Ishiguro writes with such tightness that the reader only gets to know as much as they should to crave for more, but are left entirely at the mercy of the narrator. The narration of Mr. Stevens is precise to the extent that one may be forgiven to think of him as a person who existed in flesh and blood, and who went at great lengths to not betray his emotions by writing in an extremely formal English, but nevertheless gave away just the tiniest bits and pieces to make the reader empathize with him at a deep level. This is storytelling at its best.
]]> When We Were Orphans 136763
Born in early-twentieth-century Shanghai, Banks was orphaned at the age of nine after the separate disappearances of his parents. Now, more than twenty years later, he is a celebrated figure in London society; yet the investigative expertise that has garnered him fame has done little to illuminate the circumstances of his parents' alleged kidnappings. Banks travels to the seething, labyrinthine city of his memory in hopes of solving the mystery of his own, painful past, only to find that war is ravaging Shanghai beyond recognition-and that his own recollections are proving as difficult to trust as the people around him.

Masterful, suspenseful and psychologically acute, When We Were Orphans offers a profound meditation on the shifting quality of memory, and the possibility of avenging one’s past.]]> 336 Kazuo Ishiguro 0375724400 Arun 4 china, fiction 3.50 2000 When We Were Orphans
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Arun
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/16
date added: 2023/01/16
shelves: china, fiction
review:

]]> The Little Prince 157993
Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince, presented here in a stunning new translation with carefully restored artwork. The definitive edition of a worldwide classic, it will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.]]> 96 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 0152023984 Arun 5 classics, fiction 4.32 1943 The Little Prince
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Arun
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/10
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves: classics, fiction
review:

]]> The Master and Margarita 25716554
Nothing in the whole of literature compares with The Master and Margarita. One spring afternoon, the Devil, trailing fire and chaos in his wake, weaves himself out of the shadows and into Moscow. Mikhail Bulgakov’s fantastical, funny, and devastating satire of Soviet life combines two distinct yet interwoven parts, one set in contemporary Moscow, the other in ancient Jerusalem, each brimming with historical, imaginary, frightful, and wonderful characters. Written during the darkest days of Stalin’s reign, and finally published in 1966 and 1967, The Master and Margarita became a literary phenomenon, signaling artistic and spiritual freedom for Russians everywhere.]]> 412 Mikhail Bulgakov 0143108271 Arun 4 fiction, russian-lit 4.17 1967 The Master and Margarita
author: Mikhail Bulgakov
name: Arun
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1967
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/08
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves: fiction, russian-lit
review:

]]> रा� दरबारी 42430943
फिरभी रा� दरबारी व्यंग्�-कथ� नही� है� इसका समबन्ध एक एड़े नग� से कु� दू� बे� हु� गांव की ज़िन्दगन� वर्ष� की प्रगति और विका� के नारो� के बावजूद निहि� स्वार्थो और अनेक अवांक्षनी� तत्वों के सामन� ज़िन्दगी के दस्तावेज� हैं।

१९६८ मे� रा� दरबारीप्रकाश� एक महत्वपूर्ण साहित्यि� घटना थी� १९७० मे� इस� साहित्� अकादमी पुरस्कृत किया गय� और १९८६ मे� एक दूरदर्शन-धारावाहि� के रू� मे� इस� लाखो दर्शको की सराहना प्राप्� हुई।]]> 335 श्रीला� शुक्� Arun 3 fiction, hindi, india
- अच्छी लेखनी का एक सिद्धांत है "शो, डोंट टे�", अर्थात आपको जो कहना है वो आप पात्रो� और कथ� के विका� के माध्यम से कहें, ना की खु� ही उसको विस्ता� से बताएं। शुक्� जी कु� पात्रो� के माध्यम से अपनी लेखनी आग� बढ़ाते है�, पर अक्स� वे खु� ही विस्ता� से दे�, गाँव, शह�, सरका�, भ्रष्टाचार, शिक्षा इत्याद� पर लम्ब� लम्ब� व्यंग्� लिखत� हैं। जैसे उपन्या� आग� बढ़त� है, इस तर� के व्यंग्� काफी दुहराए हु� लगते है� और उपन्या� मे� रूचि कम करते हैं।
- इस उपन्या� मे� महिल� किरदार या तो है� ही नही� या फि� वे बस हाशिये पर एक सेक्� ऑब्जेक्ट की तर� मौजू� हैं। उपन्या� मे� एक भी केंद्री� महिल� किरदार नही� है� बेला का ज़िक्र उपन्या� मे� अक्स� आत� है पर हमेश� दूसर� मर्दों के परिप्रेक्ष्य में। और किसी भी महिल� का कहानी मे� को� रो� नही� है� कहानी के इर्द गिर्� कु� महिलाओ� और लड़कियों का ज़िक्र होता है, पर वे हमेश� या तो खु� वासन� उकसाती हु� (जैसे शह� की "अंग्रेजी बोलन� वाली" लड़कियां) या फि� मर्दों की कल्पना मे� वासन� की कमी पूरी करती मिलती हैं। यह सोचक� अचम्भा होता है की गाँव की इस कथ� मे� एक भी महिल� केंद्र मे� नही� है�
- उपन्या� का व्यंग्� कई जगहो� पर ऐस� लिखा है की सम� नही� आत� लेखक विदे� के प्रत� खु� ही� भावन� से ग्रसित है�, या फि� दे� की ही� भावन� दर्श� रह� हैं। अक्स� विदेशी अभिनेत्रियों का ज़िक्र आत� है जिनक�, फि� से, केवल सेक्� ऑब्जेक्ट्स के रू� मे� बताय� जाता है� अक्स� विदेशी शिक्षा, दर्श�, इत्याद� का भी ज़िक्र आत� है, जिसक� प्रत� भी एक ही� भावन� रहती है� क्या वास्तव मे� दे� मे� इस तर� की ही� भावन� है या फि� शुक्� जी के मन मे� ऐसी भावन� थी, यह कहना मुश्कि� हो जाता है�

इन खामियो� के चलते मेरी नज़र मे� यह उपन्या� कालजयी नही� बन पाता� मैंन� कम ही हिंदी/उर्द� लेखकों को पढ़ा है, पर उनमे� मुंशी प्रेमचंद, मंटो, धर्मवी� भर्ती जी की रचनाएँ रा� दरबारी की तुलन� मे� ज्यादा कालजयी मालू� होती हैं।]]> 4.50 1968 राग दरबारी
author: श्रीला� शुक्�
name: Arun
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1968
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/27
date added: 2022/08/29
shelves: fiction, hindi, india
review:
इस उपन्या� की इतनी तारी� सुनक� मुझे लग� था शायद मै� भी इसको इतना ही पसंद करूँगा जितन� ज्यादातर पाठकों ने किया है� निश्चय ही इस उपन्या� की भाषा, अव� के जीवन का वर्ण�, और शुक्� जी का व्यंग्� काबिले तारी� है� जैसा की अन्य पाठकों ने कह� है, यह उपन्या� कई मामलों मे� सम� पर खर� भी उतरा है� पर मुझे रा� दरबारी मे� कु� खामिया� नज़र आयी� जिनकी वज� से इसको पढ़न� उतना आनंदमय नही� रह� जितनी मेरी उम्मी� थी� कु� उदाहरण निम्� है�:

- अच्छी लेखनी का एक सिद्धांत है "शो, डोंट टे�", अर्थात आपको जो कहना है वो आप पात्रो� और कथ� के विका� के माध्यम से कहें, ना की खु� ही उसको विस्ता� से बताएं। शुक्� जी कु� पात्रो� के माध्यम से अपनी लेखनी आग� बढ़ाते है�, पर अक्स� वे खु� ही विस्ता� से दे�, गाँव, शह�, सरका�, भ्रष्टाचार, शिक्षा इत्याद� पर लम्ब� लम्ब� व्यंग्� लिखत� हैं। जैसे उपन्या� आग� बढ़त� है, इस तर� के व्यंग्� काफी दुहराए हु� लगते है� और उपन्या� मे� रूचि कम करते हैं।
- इस उपन्या� मे� महिल� किरदार या तो है� ही नही� या फि� वे बस हाशिये पर एक सेक्� ऑब्जेक्ट की तर� मौजू� हैं। उपन्या� मे� एक भी केंद्री� महिल� किरदार नही� है� बेला का ज़िक्र उपन्या� मे� अक्स� आत� है पर हमेश� दूसर� मर्दों के परिप्रेक्ष्य में। और किसी भी महिल� का कहानी मे� को� रो� नही� है� कहानी के इर्द गिर्� कु� महिलाओ� और लड़कियों का ज़िक्र होता है, पर वे हमेश� या तो खु� वासन� उकसाती हु� (जैसे शह� की "अंग्रेजी बोलन� वाली" लड़कियां) या फि� मर्दों की कल्पना मे� वासन� की कमी पूरी करती मिलती हैं। यह सोचक� अचम्भा होता है की गाँव की इस कथ� मे� एक भी महिल� केंद्र मे� नही� है�
- उपन्या� का व्यंग्� कई जगहो� पर ऐस� लिखा है की सम� नही� आत� लेखक विदे� के प्रत� खु� ही� भावन� से ग्रसित है�, या फि� दे� की ही� भावन� दर्श� रह� हैं। अक्स� विदेशी अभिनेत्रियों का ज़िक्र आत� है जिनक�, फि� से, केवल सेक्� ऑब्जेक्ट्स के रू� मे� बताय� जाता है� अक्स� विदेशी शिक्षा, दर्श�, इत्याद� का भी ज़िक्र आत� है, जिसक� प्रत� भी एक ही� भावन� रहती है� क्या वास्तव मे� दे� मे� इस तर� की ही� भावन� है या फि� शुक्� जी के मन मे� ऐसी भावन� थी, यह कहना मुश्कि� हो जाता है�

इन खामियो� के चलते मेरी नज़र मे� यह उपन्या� कालजयी नही� बन पाता� मैंन� कम ही हिंदी/उर्द� लेखकों को पढ़ा है, पर उनमे� मुंशी प्रेमचंद, मंटो, धर्मवी� भर्ती जी की रचनाएँ रा� दरबारी की तुलन� मे� ज्यादा कालजयी मालू� होती हैं।
]]> Personal Anthology 526929 210 Jorge Luis Borges 0394172701 Arun 5 literally everything while others are reminded of a long lost, often painful memory, due to a new chance occurrence. The theology and mysticism of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, all find a reverent and curios reader, and a diligent writer, in Borges. Time, reality, and space take highly imaginative twists in his crime dramas.

While he was renowned for prose, it is said that he was personally more interested in poetry. This collection comprises some of his most beautiful poems - Limits, The Other Tiger, The Moon, and The Art of Poetry. The first four lines of The Art of Poetry have enchanted me ever since I first read them on a print-out pasted in the lab-office of dear friend, chemical engineer, and poet.

To gaze at a river made of time and water
and remember Time is another river.
To know we stray like a river
and our faces vanish like water.

I first read Borges about seven years ago, and have kept returning to his works, rereading some of the stories and poems several times. I have always felt a dizziness as his world of fluid time, dreams, labyrinths, and obscure books and prophecies has encircled me. Every time I have gone back to reading Borges, I have felt afraid that perhaps the magic will disappear. Not yet!]]> 4.29 1961 Personal Anthology
author: Jorge Luis Borges
name: Arun
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1961
rating: 5
read at: 2022/05/13
date added: 2022/05/13
shelves: favorites, fiction, latin-american, poetry, mind-and-matter, short-stories
review:
With a vast erudition and a complex mind, Borges had an uncanny ability to construct fantastic worlds in his stories, essays, and poetry. His obsession with time, memories, books, theology, obscure mythologies, dreams, labyrinths and crime ooze out of the works selected in this anthology. In one essay he offers a "refutation of time", and in a subsequent story he mocks a fictional writer for offering a refutation of time. His characters are cursed by memories - some can remember literally everything while others are reminded of a long lost, often painful memory, due to a new chance occurrence. The theology and mysticism of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, all find a reverent and curios reader, and a diligent writer, in Borges. Time, reality, and space take highly imaginative twists in his crime dramas.

While he was renowned for prose, it is said that he was personally more interested in poetry. This collection comprises some of his most beautiful poems - Limits, The Other Tiger, The Moon, and The Art of Poetry. The first four lines of The Art of Poetry have enchanted me ever since I first read them on a print-out pasted in the lab-office of dear friend, chemical engineer, and poet.

To gaze at a river made of time and water
and remember Time is another river.
To know we stray like a river
and our faces vanish like water.

I first read Borges about seven years ago, and have kept returning to his works, rereading some of the stories and poems several times. I have always felt a dizziness as his world of fluid time, dreams, labyrinths, and obscure books and prophecies has encircled me. Every time I have gone back to reading Borges, I have felt afraid that perhaps the magic will disappear. Not yet!
]]> The Far Field 40642323 The Far Field follows a complicated flaneuse across the Indian subcontinent as she reckons with her past, her desires, and the tumultuous present.

In the wake of her mother's death, Shalini, a privileged and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote Himalayan village in the troubled northern region of Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to confront him. But upon her arrival, Shalini is brought face to face with Kashmir's politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. And when life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could hold dangerous repercussions for the very people she has come to love.

With rare acumen and evocative prose, in The Far Field Madhuri Vijay masterfully examines Indian politics, class prejudice, and sexuality through the lens of an outsider, offering a profound meditation on grief, guilt, and the limits of compassion.]]> 432 Madhuri Vijay 0802128408 Arun 3 fiction, india
I also found it off-putting that all of the military characters in the book are largely unidimensional - unempathetic soldiers with a disdain for the Kashmiris. Vijay exhibits a lot of sensitivity in exploring how the lives of the locals got enmeshed in the conflict, often almost advocating that some locals had no other choice but to support international militants in Kashmir at the peak of the insurgency. None of that sensitivity is lent to the military men, thousands of whom have also lost their multidimensional lives only for serving orders of a state trying to tackle an intractable, messy, bloody conflict. Of course a writer has the artistic freedom to take sides in a political situation, yet in good writing, this bias should ideally not reflect in how characters belonging to different sides of such a conflict are developed.]]> 3.85 2019 The Far Field
author: Madhuri Vijay
name: Arun
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/20
date added: 2022/01/21
shelves: fiction, india
review:
This book has a fresh voice, for the most part. Vijay's writing is commendable in creating several multidimensional characters and illustrating their conflicts and moral dilemmas. Through the narrator, Shalini, one gets to know and understand several of the characters and empathize with them - in particular, Shalini's mother and father and the people she meets in Kashmir. At times, however, the writing loses track in favor of mild sensationalism and the actions of the characters appear forced in the narrative.

I also found it off-putting that all of the military characters in the book are largely unidimensional - unempathetic soldiers with a disdain for the Kashmiris. Vijay exhibits a lot of sensitivity in exploring how the lives of the locals got enmeshed in the conflict, often almost advocating that some locals had no other choice but to support international militants in Kashmir at the peak of the insurgency. None of that sensitivity is lent to the military men, thousands of whom have also lost their multidimensional lives only for serving orders of a state trying to tackle an intractable, messy, bloody conflict. Of course a writer has the artistic freedom to take sides in a political situation, yet in good writing, this bias should ideally not reflect in how characters belonging to different sides of such a conflict are developed.
]]> Eugene Onegin 27822 Eugene Onegin is the master work of the poet whom Russians regard as the fountainhead of their literature. Set in 1820s Russia, Pushkin's verse novel follows the fates of three men and three women. Engaging, full of suspense, and varied in tone, it also portrays a large cast of other
characters and offers the reader many literary, philosophical, and autobiographical digressions, often in a highly satirical vein. Eugene Onegin was Pushkin's own favourite work, and this new translation conveys the literal sense and the poetic music of the original.]]> 240 Alexander Pushkin Arun 5 4.11 1833 Eugene Onegin
author: Alexander Pushkin
name: Arun
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1833
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/31
date added: 2022/01/07
shelves: classics, fiction, russian-lit, poetry
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stories of Your Life and Others]]> 18626849 Stories of Your Life and Others delivers dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar, often presenting characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—with some sense of normalcy.

With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty, but also by beauty and wonder. An award-winning collection from one of today's most lauded writers, Stories of Your Life and Others is a contemporary classic.

Contents:
Tower of Babylon --
Understand --
Division by Zero --
Story of Your Life --
Seventy-Two Letters --
The Evolution of Human Science --
Hell is the Absence of God --
Liking What You See: A Documentary --
Story Notes.]]> 285 Ted Chiang Arun 4 fiction, sci-fi 4.30 2002 Stories of Your Life and Others
author: Ted Chiang
name: Arun
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/21
date added: 2021/12/21
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> The Idiot 107844 The Idiot is an immaculate portrait of innocence tainted by the brutal reality of human greed. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Russian by David McDuff, with an introduction by William Mills Todd III.

Returning to St Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, the gentle and naïve epileptic Prince Myshkin—the titular 'idiot'—pays a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin and proceeds to charm the General, his wife, and his three daughters. But his life is thrown into turmoil when he chances on a photograph of the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna. Utterly infatuated with her, he soon finds himself caught up in a love triangle and drawn into a web of blackmail, betrayal, and finally, murder.]]> 732 Fyodor Dostoevsky 014044792X Arun 5
Dostoyevsky can't be praised enough for his impeccable understanding of human nature, his extraordinary ability to create singular characters with their peculiar nature and his wonderful art of story building that intricately weaves his philosophy with the lives of these characters. The sheer range of characters and the depth and width given to them is monumental.

The novel is essentially about Prince Myshkin - "a truly beautiful soul" - and his getting involved in the muck of the artful society. Here, I disagree with the part of the description of the book given above which reads - "colliding with the brutal society ". Considering the well developed characters across the novel - the heroines Nastasya and Aglaya, the drunk Lebedev, the consumptive Ippolit, the hot headed yet strong willed Lizaveta Prokofyevna and the muddled up General Ivolgin - to name a few, one doesn't come across any brutality of the society. These are all characters who may not always be honest, who may conjure lies, who may have their own plans, but to call it 'brutality of the society' would be extreme. And that's why I use the term artful as not everything that is artful is brutal.

Like other works of Dostoyevsky, some of the best parts of The Idiot are the monologues. It also has one of my most favorite lines of any book - "Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them."

Perhaps one of the reasons behind why I loved this book could be because I knew what to expect from it and was keenly looking forward to it. Needless to say, it surpassed my expectations.

This may not be the most wonderful story ever written, perhaps not even close; this may not even be one of the most beautifully written works of literature; but then these are not the features of the works of Dostoyevsky anyway. What's special about this book is it adds one more dimension to Dostoyevsky's attempt at unravelling the "mystery" that is man. And in the process of reading it, perhaps I inched towards being a better man. ]]> 4.06 1869 The Idiot
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Arun
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1869
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/12
date added: 2021/06/06
shelves: classics, dostoevsky, favorites, fiction, russian-lit
review:
Let me state in the beginning that this is not a typical review but a non-structured mix of thoughts.

Dostoyevsky can't be praised enough for his impeccable understanding of human nature, his extraordinary ability to create singular characters with their peculiar nature and his wonderful art of story building that intricately weaves his philosophy with the lives of these characters. The sheer range of characters and the depth and width given to them is monumental.

The novel is essentially about Prince Myshkin - "a truly beautiful soul" - and his getting involved in the muck of the artful society. Here, I disagree with the part of the description of the book given above which reads - "colliding with the brutal society ". Considering the well developed characters across the novel - the heroines Nastasya and Aglaya, the drunk Lebedev, the consumptive Ippolit, the hot headed yet strong willed Lizaveta Prokofyevna and the muddled up General Ivolgin - to name a few, one doesn't come across any brutality of the society. These are all characters who may not always be honest, who may conjure lies, who may have their own plans, but to call it 'brutality of the society' would be extreme. And that's why I use the term artful as not everything that is artful is brutal.

Like other works of Dostoyevsky, some of the best parts of The Idiot are the monologues. It also has one of my most favorite lines of any book - "Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them."

Perhaps one of the reasons behind why I loved this book could be because I knew what to expect from it and was keenly looking forward to it. Needless to say, it surpassed my expectations.

This may not be the most wonderful story ever written, perhaps not even close; this may not even be one of the most beautifully written works of literature; but then these are not the features of the works of Dostoyevsky anyway. What's special about this book is it adds one more dimension to Dostoyevsky's attempt at unravelling the "mystery" that is man. And in the process of reading it, perhaps I inched towards being a better man.
]]> The Course of Love 27789646
We all know the headiness and excitement of the early days of love. But what comes after? In Edinburgh, a couple, Rabih and Kirsten, fall in love. They get married, they have children—but no long-term relationship is as simple as “happily ever after.� The Course of Love explores what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain, and what happens to our original ideals under the pressures of an average existence. We see, along with Rabih and Kirsten, the first flush of infatuation, the effortlessness of falling into romantic love, and the course of life thereafter. Interwoven with their story and its challenges is an overlay of philosophy—an annotation and a guide to what we are reading. As The New York Times says, � The Course of Love is a return to the form that made Mr. de Botton’s name in the mid-1990s�.love is the subject best suited to his obsessive aphorizing, and in this novel he again shows off his ability to pin our hopes, methods, and insecurities to the page.�

This is a Romantic novel in the true sense, one interested in exploring how love can survive and thrive in the long term. The result is a sensory experience—fictional, philosophical, psychological—that urges us to identify deeply with these characters and to reflect on his and her own experiences in love. Fresh, visceral, and utterly compelling, The Course of Love is a provocative and life-affirming novel for everyone who believes in love. “There’s no writer alive like de Botton, and his latest ambitious undertaking is as enlightening and humanizing as his previous works� ( Chicago Tribune ).]]> 222 Alain de Botton 1501134515 Arun 4 fiction, non-fiction, love 3.95 2016 The Course of Love
author: Alain de Botton
name: Arun
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2021/04/26
date added: 2021/04/26
shelves: fiction, non-fiction, love
review:

]]> War and Peace 34757441
In this definitive and highly acclaimed Maude translation, Tolstoy's genius and the power of his prose are made newly available to the contemporary reader. In addition this edition includes a new introduction by Amy Mandelker, revised and expanded notes, lists of fictional and historical characters, a chronology of historical events, five maps, and Tolstoy's essay 'Some Words about War and Peace'.
]]> 1390 Leo Tolstoy 0198800541 Arun 5 4.50 1869 War and Peace
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Arun
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1869
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/31
date added: 2020/12/31
shelves: classics, favorites, fiction, history, russian-lit, tolstoy, spiritual
review:

]]> The Plague 15708
The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame and revenge, and a few, like the unheroic hero Dr Rieux, join forces to resist the terror. In part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, The Plague is a compelling depiction of bravery and determination pitted against the precariousness of human existence.]]> 255 Albert Camus Arun 5
The writings of Camus are brimmed with a unique empathy that tries to reconcile human efforts towards a meaningful existence in a meaningless world. Although the narrator of The Plague states in the beginning that he will try to be as objective as possible, the elaborate accounts of the lives of the people of Oran when faced with plague turn out to be effusively humane.

So while at one point Camus speaks through the narrator, saying - "This was certainty: everyday work. The rest hang by threads and imperceptible movements; one could not dwell on it. The main thing was to do one's job well.", eventually he also gives his voice to another character, Tarrou, saying - "After all, it's silly to live only in the plague. Of course a man should fight for the victims. But if he ceases to love anything else, then what is the point in fighting?"

The essence of The Plague, that I understood, is that in this absurd life, one should not cease loving, one should not be entirely hopeless when faced with insurmountable and rather meaningless odds, one should not be forgetful and one need not give up on religion in a moment of great despair; one should rather do his work with decency while trying his best to avoid falling towards the side of pestilence (which, in the book, is also a metaphor for killing of a human, for whatever reason). This essence effuses out of the poignancy with which Camus writes about collective and individual behaviours in the face of uncertain death. For me, the one paragraph that shows the contrast in this behaviour most strongly is towards the end of the novel, when the townsfolk are celebrating the end of the plague. It goes like this:

"Pressed one against the other they all returned home, blind to the rest of the world, apparently triumphing over the plague, forgetful of the misery and of those who had also arrived by the same train but had found no one and were preparing in their homes to have confirmation of fears already born in their hearts of a long silence... ...For such people, mothers, husbands, wives and lovers, who had lost all happiness with the being who was buried in some anonymous pit or had dissolved in the pile of ashes, the plague was still there." ]]> 3.93 1947 The Plague
author: Albert Camus
name: Arun
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1947
rating: 5
read at: 2013/10/23
date added: 2020/09/17
shelves: camus, favorites, fiction, french-lit
review:
One thing that makes reading different works of an author a pleasure is the repetition of their inherent beliefs in the themes of their works. This was my second reading of Camus after The Stranger. Although The Stranger has an inherent tone of human indifference in the face of absurdity, The Plague is more concerned with how different people react to life's absurdity (portrayed in this case by a plague arising out of nowhere in a town and killing people ruthlessly) and what could possibly be the best way to react.

The writings of Camus are brimmed with a unique empathy that tries to reconcile human efforts towards a meaningful existence in a meaningless world. Although the narrator of The Plague states in the beginning that he will try to be as objective as possible, the elaborate accounts of the lives of the people of Oran when faced with plague turn out to be effusively humane.

So while at one point Camus speaks through the narrator, saying - "This was certainty: everyday work. The rest hang by threads and imperceptible movements; one could not dwell on it. The main thing was to do one's job well.", eventually he also gives his voice to another character, Tarrou, saying - "After all, it's silly to live only in the plague. Of course a man should fight for the victims. But if he ceases to love anything else, then what is the point in fighting?"

The essence of The Plague, that I understood, is that in this absurd life, one should not cease loving, one should not be entirely hopeless when faced with insurmountable and rather meaningless odds, one should not be forgetful and one need not give up on religion in a moment of great despair; one should rather do his work with decency while trying his best to avoid falling towards the side of pestilence (which, in the book, is also a metaphor for killing of a human, for whatever reason). This essence effuses out of the poignancy with which Camus writes about collective and individual behaviours in the face of uncertain death. For me, the one paragraph that shows the contrast in this behaviour most strongly is towards the end of the novel, when the townsfolk are celebrating the end of the plague. It goes like this:

"Pressed one against the other they all returned home, blind to the rest of the world, apparently triumphing over the plague, forgetful of the misery and of those who had also arrived by the same train but had found no one and were preparing in their homes to have confirmation of fears already born in their hearts of a long silence... ...For such people, mothers, husbands, wives and lovers, who had lost all happiness with the being who was buried in some anonymous pit or had dissolved in the pile of ashes, the plague was still there."
]]> American Gods 30165203
Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...]]> 635 Neil Gaiman Arun 3 america, fiction, mythology 4.11 2001 American Gods
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Arun
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2019/09/24
date added: 2019/09/24
shelves: america, fiction, mythology
review:

]]> The Forty Rules of Love 6642715 Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi's story mir­rors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.

In this lyrical, exuberant follow-up to her 2007 novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives—one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz—that together incarnate the poet's timeless message of love.]]> 354 Elif Shafak Arun 4 fiction 4.16 2009 The Forty Rules of Love
author: Elif Shafak
name: Arun
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/22
date added: 2019/04/22
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> Homo Faber 574850 219 Max Frisch 0141188669 Arun 4 fiction 3.71 1957 Homo Faber
author: Max Frisch
name: Arun
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1957
rating: 4
read at: 2018/10/04
date added: 2018/10/06
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade]]> 618291 Don't let ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional or simple novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, & almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, & so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..."
Slaughterhouse-Five, named from the building where the POWs were held, isn't only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it's as important as any written since '45. Like Catch-22, it fashions the author's WWII experiences into an eloquent plea against butchery in authority's service. It boasts the same imaginative humanity & gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in his other works, but the book's basis in fact gives it a uniquely poignant humor.]]> 205 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385312083 Arun 5 3.95 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Arun
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2017/11/28
date added: 2017/11/28
shelves: america, classics, fiction, history
review:

]]> The Noise of Time 27071491
In 1936, Shostakovich, just thirty, fears for his livelihood and his life. Stalin, hitherto a distant figure, has taken a sudden interest in his work and denounced his latest opera. Now, certain he will be exiled to Siberia (or, more likely, executed on the spot), Shostakovich reflects on his predicament, his personal history, his parents, various women and wives, his children—and all who are still alive themselves hang in the balance of his fate. And though a stroke of luck prevents him from becoming yet another casualty of the Great Terror, for decades to come he will be held fast under the thumb of made to represent Soviet values at a cultural conference in New York City, forced into joining the Party and compelled, constantly, to weigh appeasing those in power against the integrity of his music. Barnes elegantly guides us through the trajectory of Shostakovich’s career, at the same time illuminating the tumultuous evolution of the Soviet Union. The result is both a stunning portrait of a relentlessly fascinating man and a brilliant exploration of the meaning of art and its place in society.]]> 201 Julian Barnes 1101947241 Arun 5 3.75 2016 The Noise of Time
author: Julian Barnes
name: Arun
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2017/11/14
date added: 2017/11/16
shelves: fiction, favorites, history, meaning-of-art
review:

]]> Foreigner 998218 192 Arun Joshi 8122201466 Arun 4
Mersault is confident of his indifference, he doesn't quiver about the outcomes of his detachment, and in the true spirit of Camus, he confronts the meaninglessness of life head on, without being doubtful of his thoughts and actions. In that respect, Sindi is an early stage of Mersault. Sindi appears to believe in the meaninglessness of life, but is unable to detach himself from the meaning and outcomes of his actions.

This inherent contradiction between his beliefs and actions permeate throughout the novel and lead to the catastrophes that he considers himself responsible for. The contradictions are most apparent in his reflections about love. When Marie asks Mersault for marriage, he agrees, while saying that it doesn't matter either way. When June asks Sindi for marriage, he denies and goes on to explain why he doesn't believe in the institution of marriage. I use this example (which may seem like a spoiler, but is not, given the natural expectations from these characters) to illustrate the essence of why the foreignness and indifference of Sindi is incomplete, and that the novel is an exploration of his journey from a misplaced belief of being indifferent to truly being indifferent. While reading the novel, I initially thought that Joshi's narration falters in places because of these contradictions in the character of Sindi. But things fall in place eventually when one perceives that Sindi is an evolving character.

Joshi's writing is sharp as ever. His keen observation of the hypocrisy of the Indian urban elite (in this case the business elite) is characteristically clear and revealing. His continued themes of the absurdity of life and the search for an appropriate way to live find a different outlet in this novel, and it is here that I felt a bit disappointed. I think Joshi restricted himself in the exploration of what "foreignness" truly means. He shied away from exploring the myriad ways in which foreignness reveals itself, in how "at any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face." I do not intend to over-compare Joshi with Camus, but even if I hadn't read Camus, I think I would have found Foreigner lacking in developing the full meaning of what it means to feel like a foreigner.]]> 3.95 1968 Foreigner
author: Arun Joshi
name: Arun
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1968
rating: 4
read at: 2017/10/20
date added: 2017/10/23
shelves: existential, fiction, india, mind-and-matter
review:
The parallels between Joshi's Foreigner and Camus's The Outsider are certainly well placed, however, Sindi (the narrator here) and Mersault differ in one important way: their acceptance of indifference.

Mersault is confident of his indifference, he doesn't quiver about the outcomes of his detachment, and in the true spirit of Camus, he confronts the meaninglessness of life head on, without being doubtful of his thoughts and actions. In that respect, Sindi is an early stage of Mersault. Sindi appears to believe in the meaninglessness of life, but is unable to detach himself from the meaning and outcomes of his actions.

This inherent contradiction between his beliefs and actions permeate throughout the novel and lead to the catastrophes that he considers himself responsible for. The contradictions are most apparent in his reflections about love. When Marie asks Mersault for marriage, he agrees, while saying that it doesn't matter either way. When June asks Sindi for marriage, he denies and goes on to explain why he doesn't believe in the institution of marriage. I use this example (which may seem like a spoiler, but is not, given the natural expectations from these characters) to illustrate the essence of why the foreignness and indifference of Sindi is incomplete, and that the novel is an exploration of his journey from a misplaced belief of being indifferent to truly being indifferent. While reading the novel, I initially thought that Joshi's narration falters in places because of these contradictions in the character of Sindi. But things fall in place eventually when one perceives that Sindi is an evolving character.

Joshi's writing is sharp as ever. His keen observation of the hypocrisy of the Indian urban elite (in this case the business elite) is characteristically clear and revealing. His continued themes of the absurdity of life and the search for an appropriate way to live find a different outlet in this novel, and it is here that I felt a bit disappointed. I think Joshi restricted himself in the exploration of what "foreignness" truly means. He shied away from exploring the myriad ways in which foreignness reveals itself, in how "at any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face." I do not intend to over-compare Joshi with Camus, but even if I hadn't read Camus, I think I would have found Foreigner lacking in developing the full meaning of what it means to feel like a foreigner.
]]> Steppenwolf 69811 259 Hermann Hesse Arun 5 4.05 1927 Steppenwolf
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Arun
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1927
rating: 5
read at: 2017/08/06
date added: 2017/08/06
shelves: autobiographical, classics, favorites, fiction, mind-and-matter, philosophy
review:

]]> Typhoon 28591155
The crew aboard a ramshackle steamer faces a treacherous storm in this gripping tale, inspired by Conrad's own time at sea.

One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.]]> 116 Joseph Conrad 0241251524 Arun 4 fiction 3.49 1902 Typhoon
author: Joseph Conrad
name: Arun
average rating: 3.49
book published: 1902
rating: 4
read at: 2017/07/02
date added: 2017/07/02
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> Invisible Cities 236219 150 Italo Calvino Arun 5 fiction 3.98 1972 Invisible Cities
author: Italo Calvino
name: Arun
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1972
rating: 5
read at: 2017/05/15
date added: 2017/05/15
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> The Magic Mountain 536910 737 Thomas Mann 0394704975 Arun 5 4.04 1924 The Magic Mountain
author: Thomas Mann
name: Arun
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1924
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/26
date added: 2016/12/25
shelves: classics, favorites, fiction, history, philosophy
review:

]]> White Nights 1772910 82 Fyodor Dostoevsky Arun 5
While it would be an injustice to the brilliance of this story to quote one particular sentence, must say that this one struck a deep chord: "As it is, every one seems harsher than he really is, as though all were afraid of doing injustice to their feelings, by being too quick to express them." ]]> 4.16 1848 White Nights
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Arun
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1848
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/21
date added: 2016/12/22
shelves: dostoevsky, favorites, fiction, russian-lit
review:
Dostoyevsky is, unsurprisingly, as clear and penetrating in his short fiction as in his more famous longer works. His usual alienated, troubled, and introspective characters come alive, not at all restricted by the length of the work, and express with utmost simplicity and clarity, thoughts that we bury deep within us. In a few pages, he manages to condense an immense complexity of emotions surrounding unrequited love.

While it would be an injustice to the brilliance of this story to quote one particular sentence, must say that this one struck a deep chord: "As it is, every one seems harsher than he really is, as though all were afraid of doing injustice to their feelings, by being too quick to express them."
]]> Seize the Day 52782 114 Saul Bellow 0142437611 Arun 4 fiction 3.56 1957 Seize the Day
author: Saul Bellow
name: Arun
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1957
rating: 4
read at: 2016/12/19
date added: 2016/12/19
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> Labyrinths 22432627
Jorge Luis Borges was a literary spellbinder whose gripping tales of magic, mystery and murder are shot through with deep philosophical paradoxes. This collection brings together many of his story, including the celebrated "The Library of Babel," "The Garden of Forking Paths," "Funes of the Memorious" and "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote".

~penguin.co.uk]]> 288 Jorge Luis Borges Arun 5 4.19 1962 Labyrinths
author: Jorge Luis Borges
name: Arun
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2015/01/12
date added: 2016/12/06
shelves: favorites, fiction, short-stories, latin-american
review:
I think my literary evolution is not yet appropriate enough to write a worthy review of this book. I'd still venture to say that this magically beautiful work challenged my deeply held perceptions about time, space, dreams, memories, life, death and theology, among other things, to such an extent that I had to keep the book down at times and reject my strong convictions to be able to understand the depth of what Borges had to say. The mathematical precision and well-calculated economy of the language takes you to a world with no superfluous thoughts, no possibility of contradicting the extended realities, and no escape from the discomforting tension. If there was a workout regime for the brain, reading Borges would invariably be a part of it.
]]> The Death of King Tsongor 1352881
Bursting with color and raw emotion, and embracing grand themes of loyalty, family, honor, and war, The Death of an Ancient King reads like the lost fragment of a Greek tragedy.]]> 130 Laurent Gaudé 1592640303 Arun 4 fiction, french-lit 3.56 2002 The Death of King Tsongor
author: Laurent Gaudé
name: Arun
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2016/03/04
date added: 2016/03/04
shelves: fiction, french-lit
review:

]]> मृत्युंज� / Mrityunjaya 15837840 मृत्युंज� मे� पौराणि� कथ्य और सनात� सांस्कृतिक चेतन� के अन्त� सम्बन्धो� को पूरी गरिम� के सा� उजाग� किया गय� है� उपन्या� को महाकाव्य का धरात� देकर चरित्र की इतनी सूक्ष्� पकड़, शैली का इतना सुन्दर निखा� और भावनाओ� की अभिव्यक्ति मे� इतना मार्मि� रसोद्रेक - सब कु� इस उपन्या� मे� अनूठ� है।]]> 700 Shivaji Sawant Arun 5 4.42 1967 मृत्युंजय / Mrityunjaya
author: Shivaji Sawant
name: Arun
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1967
rating: 5
read at: 2006/01/01
date added: 2016/02/12
shelves: favorites, hindi, india, fiction, mythology
review:

]]> Amerika 22911 Amerika tells the story of the young immigrant Karl Rossmann who, after an embarrassing sexual misadventure, finds himself "packed off to America" by his parents. Expected to redeem himself in this magical land of opportunity, young Karl is swept up instead in a whirlwind of dizzying reversals, strange escapades, and picaresque adventures.

Although Kafka never visited America, images of its vast landscape, dangers, and opportunities inspired this saga of the "golden land." Here is a startlingly modern, fantastic and visionary tale of America "as a place no one has yet seen, in a historical period that can't be identified," writes E. L. Doctorow in his new foreword. "Kafka made his novel from his own mind's mythic elements," Doctorow explains, "and the research data that caught his eye were bent like rays in a field of gravity."]]> 336 Franz Kafka 0805210644 Arun 3 fiction, kafka 3.77 1927 Amerika
author: Franz Kafka
name: Arun
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1927
rating: 3
read at: 2016/01/04
date added: 2016/01/04
shelves: fiction, kafka
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory]]> 146422
'One of the most remarkable artists of our age' - Mario Vargas Llosa. The Book of Sand was the last of Borges' major collections to be published. The stories are, in his words, 'variations on favourite themes...combining a plain and at times almost colloquial style with a fantastic plot'. It includes such marvellous tales as "The Congress", "Undr" and "The Mirror and the Mask". Also included are the handful of stories written right at the end of Borges' life - "August 25, 1983", "Blue Tigers", "The Rose of Paracelsus" and "Shakespeare's Memory".]]> 159 Jorge Luis Borges Arun 4 fiction 4.30 1975 The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory
author: Jorge Luis Borges
name: Arun
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2015/09/04
date added: 2015/09/04
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> Heart of Darkness 4900
A reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted, Heart of Darkness is considered one of the most influential works ever written.]]> 188 Joseph Conrad 1892295490 Arun 4 classics, fiction 3.43 1899 Heart of Darkness
author: Joseph Conrad
name: Arun
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1899
rating: 4
read at: 2015/08/02
date added: 2015/08/02
shelves: classics, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The strange case of Billy Biswas]]> 372747 The protagonist, Billy Biswas, is a man of extraordinary passions. He has everything going for him - education, wealth, status, travel and a loving wife. Yet his inner world is rocked by a groundswell of discontent. He is consumed by a restlessness which grows steadily...
Characterised by great elan and sophistication, the narrative unfolds in quick succession, and would be hard to believe were it not related in such a matter of fact, down to earth manner]]> 242 Arun Joshi 0210223855 Arun 4 existential, fiction, india 4.10 1971 The strange case of Billy Biswas
author: Arun Joshi
name: Arun
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2015/06/25
date added: 2015/06/27
shelves: existential, fiction, india
review:

]]> Life of Pi 477725
The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary works of fiction in recent years.]]> 319 Yann Martel 184195392X Arun 5 favorites, fiction 3.91 2001 Life of Pi
author: Yann Martel
name: Arun
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2012/11/02
date added: 2015/06/06
shelves: favorites, fiction
review:
An amazing tale that is witty as well as gloomy, full of beauty as well as gore and wades through extremes of desperation as well as hope. Especially appreciable is the non-anthropomorphic description of animal behaviour. Martel has weaved a beautiful story around the immense power of human will, the essence of religion, the real animal behaviour, the predominance of nature and most importantly the extent (or limitation) of our faith.
]]> The Brothers Karamazov 4934
This award-winning translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky remains true to the verbal inventiveness of Dostoevsky’s prose, preserving the multiple voices, the humor, and the surprising modernity of the original. It is an achievement worthy of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel.]]> 796 Fyodor Dostoevsky 0374528373 Arun 5 4.36 1880 The Brothers Karamazov
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Arun
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1880
rating: 5
read at: 2015/06/01
date added: 2015/06/01
shelves: classics, dostoevsky, favorites, fiction, philosophy, religion, russian-lit
review:

]]> The Grand Inquisitor 18823 32 Fyodor Dostoevsky 1599869535 Arun 5 4.38 1879 The Grand Inquisitor
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Arun
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1879
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/05/18
shelves: dostoevsky, classics, favorites, fiction, religion, russian-lit
review:

]]> गुनाहो� का देवत� 3282557 257 Dharamvir Bharati 8126317779 Arun 5
गुनाहो� का देवत� का चंदर भी ऐस� ही इंसा� तो है, जिसक� जीवन मे� एक सा� के अन्द� ही इतने बदला� आत� है� कि वह सम� नही� पाता वह कौ� है, क्यू� है, किसक� लि� है? अर्थशास्त्� मे� इलाहबा� यूनिवर्सिटी से डॉक्टरेट कर रह� चंदर यूनिवर्सिटी के प्रोफेसर डॉ. शुक्ला और उनकी बेटी सुधा के परिवार जैसा है. अपनी मा� को खो चुकी सुधा चंदर के असी� स्ने� की छाँह तल� बड़ी हु� और चंदर का एकाकी जीवन भी सुधा के बचपन� भर� प्रे� से सिंचित रह�. उनके बी� का अपार परन्तु निश्छल स्ने� जहाँ एक तर� उन दोनो� के चरित्रों को अव्यवहारिक रू� से पवित्र बनात� रह� वही� दूसरी और यह अव्यवहारिकता उन्हें कमजो� भी करती गयी. उन्होंने इस बा� का विचा� ही � कर� की वे पूरा जीवन इस स्ने� के सहार� नही� बिता सकते. अव्यवहारिकता और अत्यधि� पवित्रता अंतत� भीतर की कमजोरी बनी और सुधा की किसी और से शादी की बा� शुरू होते ही एक सुलग रह� ज्वालामुखि की भांत� फू� पड़ी, और ऐस� फूटी की अपने सा� कई प्राणियो� का सु� चै� बह� ले गयी.

सुधा की सहेली गेसू ने उस� कह� था की हम किसी के प्या� पर कि� कद� निर्भर हो गए है� ये हमें “त� मालू� होता है जब जिसक� कदमो� पर हमने सर रख� है, वह झटके से अपने कद� घसी� ले�. सुधा की कैला� से शादी करवाने मे� चंदर ने ही � चाहत� हु� अपने कद� घसी� लि� थे. इस झटके से सुधा तो कभी � उबार पायी, क्यूंक� चंदर को देवत� मानन� वाली सुधा मे� उबरन� की चा� ही � थी. और चंदर ने जो कद� घसीटे तो फि� इसी उहापोह मे� रह� की उन्हें वापस कहाँ रख� की उस� सुकू� मिले. इस खो� की नदी मे� डू� रह� चंदर को जब वासन� के घा� की पनाह मिली तो उस� यह झूठा यकी� हु� की इस जमी� का सहार� उसके सा� जीवन भर रहेग�. पर उस� क्या पत� था की वासन� के घा� पर को� लम्ब� प्रवास तभी कर सकता है जब वो अपनी सु� बु� को आग लग� दे. चंदर ने अपनी सु� बु� को आग लगान� शुरू किया तो वह आग काबू मे� � रहकर उस� पूरी तर� निगलने को लालायि� हो उठी. ऐस� मे� सुधा की यादो� के बादलों ने ही चंदर पर पानी बरसाकर उसको बचाय�. पर सुधा, जो � केवल इस जन्म बल्क� आन� वाले सभी जन्मों मे� अपनी आत्म� को चंदर के हवाल� कर चुकी थी, उस� कौ� बचात�? आत्म� चंदर के पा� पर शरी� कैला� के सा� वैवाहि� जिम्मेदारियो� का निर्वह� करता हु�, यह कहाँ लम्ब� सम� तक संभव था? और यू� ही ति� ति� कर सुधा का शरी� रिसत� गय�.

यह उपन्या� मुख्यत� सुधा और चंदर के जीवन के इर्द गिर्� ही घूमत� है, और ज्यादातर चंदर के नज़रि� से आग� बढ़ता है, पर इसके अन्य किरदार � सुधा की सर� पर परिपक्� बुएरी बह� बिनती, आकर्षक � वासन� मे� यकी� रखने वाली पम्मी डिक्रु�, प्या� मे� धोखा खाकर विछिप्� हो गय� पम्मी का भा� बर्टी, � एक तर� असहा� पर अपनी जिम्मेदारियो� का निर्वह� करने वाले डा. शुक्ला � सब कहानी को विवि� आयाम देते है�. यह सभी पात्� अपने अल� अल� नज़रियो�, चरित्रों, और तजुर्बों के आधार पर प्रे� और जीवन के उलझे हु� धागो� को सुलझान� का प्रयास करते रहते है� पर वास्तविक जीवन की ही तर� अक्स� सफ� नही� हो पाते. इनकी कहानियाँ � उन कहानियों के चलते इनके विचारो� मे� परिवर्तन पाठकों को अपने से ही लगेंगे. निर्दयता से ही सही पर हर इंसा� का भरोस� कभी तो जीवन की निश्छलता से उठता ही है और वास्तविकता के राक्षसी चेहर� से उसका सामन� होता है! हममे� से कई ऐस� मे� चंदर की तर� अपनी जमी� खो बैठत� है� और अस्थायी समाधानों मे� जीवन के मायन� ढूंढते है�. जरूरी ये है की हम अस्थायी और स्थायी समाधानों की पहचा� कर सकें और जीवन को वापस सही दिशा दे�.

ये धर्मवी� भारती की उच्च श्रेणी की लेखनी � जीवन की उनकी अपार सम� का ही अस� है की गुनाहो� का देवत� पढ़ते हु� पाठक ये इंतज़ार करता रहता है की कब इन पात्रो� का पवित्रता और देवत्व का बाँध टूटेगा…क� चंदर या सुधा का पत� होगा और वे आम इंसानो� की तर� अपनी प्राथमिक इच्छाओ� के सामन� आत्म-समर्पण कर देंगे…क� इनका अटूट चरित्र धराशायी होगा…क� हमार� पुण्यो� का देवत� गुनाहो� के देवत� मे� तब्दी� होगा! ये इंतज़ार क्या दिखाता है? की हम जो जीवन की कठोर सच्चाइयो� से सामन� कर रह� है�, उन्हें यकी� है की दुनिया मे� चंदर � सुधा जैसे स्वच्छ चित्� प्राणियो� के लि� स्था� नही� है? या फि� चंदर � सुधा के विना� मे� हम अपने विना� का प्रतिबिम्ब देखत� है�? यही धर्मवी� भारती के उपन्या� की खासियत है. वे दोनो� पक्षों की तरफदारी करते है�, हालाँक� शारीरि� प्रे� की आवश्यकता की तुलन� मे� वे भावात्मक प्रे� की पवित्रता के प्रत� अपना झुका� स्पष्ट प्रक� करते है�. और यह झुका� मानवीयत� के लि� जरूरी भी है वरना दुनिया अवश्� ही इंसा�-रुपी पिशाचो� का घर बन जा�!]]> 4.33 1949 गुनाहों का देवता
author: Dharamvir Bharati
name: Arun
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at: 2015/05/08
date added: 2015/05/09
shelves: favorites, hindi, india, fiction
review:
“मेर� लि� इस उपन्या� का लिखन� वैसे ही है जैसा पीड़ा के क्षणों मे� पूरी आस्थ� से प्रार्थन� करना..� � धर्मवी� भारती ने ‘गुनाहों का देवता� के बारे मे� ऐस� लिखा था. मै� समझत� हू� की इस उपन्या� के पाठक भी यह कहते होंग� की उनके लि� इस उपन्या� को पढना भी ठी� वैसा ही है. इस मायन� मे� मेरे एक मित्� की कही बा� की लेखक और पाठक भिन्� नही� बल्क� एक ही होते है�, सत्य ही जा� पड़ती है. और इस विचा� को आग� बढात� हु� यह भी कह� जा सक� है की चूंक� लेखक और पाठक एक होते है�, जि� पात्रो� के माध्यम से लेखक और पाठक के बी� संवा� हो रह� है, वे भी एक ही होते है�. आखिर पात्रो� का जीवन लेखक के अपने जीवन के तजुर्बों से निकलकर आत� है और पात्रो� के अस्तित्व से पाठक अपने जीवन का अर्थ समझन� का प्रयास करता है. यहाँ टॉलस्टॉय की कही एक बा� भी या� आती है की इंसा� के अन्द� हर प्रकार की प्रवृत्तियां होती है� और वह अपने जीवन मे� अल� अल� प्रवृत्तियों को प्रक� करता रहता है, जिसक� चलते वह अक्स� एक ही इंसा� होने के बावजूद अनेक रूपो� मे� नज� आत� है.

गुनाहो� का देवत� का चंदर भी ऐस� ही इंसा� तो है, जिसक� जीवन मे� एक सा� के अन्द� ही इतने बदला� आत� है� कि वह सम� नही� पाता वह कौ� है, क्यू� है, किसक� लि� है? अर्थशास्त्� मे� इलाहबा� यूनिवर्सिटी से डॉक्टरेट कर रह� चंदर यूनिवर्सिटी के प्रोफेसर डॉ. शुक्ला और उनकी बेटी सुधा के परिवार जैसा है. अपनी मा� को खो चुकी सुधा चंदर के असी� स्ने� की छाँह तल� बड़ी हु� और चंदर का एकाकी जीवन भी सुधा के बचपन� भर� प्रे� से सिंचित रह�. उनके बी� का अपार परन्तु निश्छल स्ने� जहाँ एक तर� उन दोनो� के चरित्रों को अव्यवहारिक रू� से पवित्र बनात� रह� वही� दूसरी और यह अव्यवहारिकता उन्हें कमजो� भी करती गयी. उन्होंने इस बा� का विचा� ही � कर� की वे पूरा जीवन इस स्ने� के सहार� नही� बिता सकते. अव्यवहारिकता और अत्यधि� पवित्रता अंतत� भीतर की कमजोरी बनी और सुधा की किसी और से शादी की बा� शुरू होते ही एक सुलग रह� ज्वालामुखि की भांत� फू� पड़ी, और ऐस� फूटी की अपने सा� कई प्राणियो� का सु� चै� बह� ले गयी.

सुधा की सहेली गेसू ने उस� कह� था की हम किसी के प्या� पर कि� कद� निर्भर हो गए है� ये हमें “त� मालू� होता है जब जिसक� कदमो� पर हमने सर रख� है, वह झटके से अपने कद� घसी� ले�. सुधा की कैला� से शादी करवाने मे� चंदर ने ही � चाहत� हु� अपने कद� घसी� लि� थे. इस झटके से सुधा तो कभी � उबार पायी, क्यूंक� चंदर को देवत� मानन� वाली सुधा मे� उबरन� की चा� ही � थी. और चंदर ने जो कद� घसीटे तो फि� इसी उहापोह मे� रह� की उन्हें वापस कहाँ रख� की उस� सुकू� मिले. इस खो� की नदी मे� डू� रह� चंदर को जब वासन� के घा� की पनाह मिली तो उस� यह झूठा यकी� हु� की इस जमी� का सहार� उसके सा� जीवन भर रहेग�. पर उस� क्या पत� था की वासन� के घा� पर को� लम्ब� प्रवास तभी कर सकता है जब वो अपनी सु� बु� को आग लग� दे. चंदर ने अपनी सु� बु� को आग लगान� शुरू किया तो वह आग काबू मे� � रहकर उस� पूरी तर� निगलने को लालायि� हो उठी. ऐस� मे� सुधा की यादो� के बादलों ने ही चंदर पर पानी बरसाकर उसको बचाय�. पर सुधा, जो � केवल इस जन्म बल्क� आन� वाले सभी जन्मों मे� अपनी आत्म� को चंदर के हवाल� कर चुकी थी, उस� कौ� बचात�? आत्म� चंदर के पा� पर शरी� कैला� के सा� वैवाहि� जिम्मेदारियो� का निर्वह� करता हु�, यह कहाँ लम्ब� सम� तक संभव था? और यू� ही ति� ति� कर सुधा का शरी� रिसत� गय�.

यह उपन्या� मुख्यत� सुधा और चंदर के जीवन के इर्द गिर्� ही घूमत� है, और ज्यादातर चंदर के नज़रि� से आग� बढ़ता है, पर इसके अन्य किरदार � सुधा की सर� पर परिपक्� बुएरी बह� बिनती, आकर्षक � वासन� मे� यकी� रखने वाली पम्मी डिक्रु�, प्या� मे� धोखा खाकर विछिप्� हो गय� पम्मी का भा� बर्टी, � एक तर� असहा� पर अपनी जिम्मेदारियो� का निर्वह� करने वाले डा. शुक्ला � सब कहानी को विवि� आयाम देते है�. यह सभी पात्� अपने अल� अल� नज़रियो�, चरित्रों, और तजुर्बों के आधार पर प्रे� और जीवन के उलझे हु� धागो� को सुलझान� का प्रयास करते रहते है� पर वास्तविक जीवन की ही तर� अक्स� सफ� नही� हो पाते. इनकी कहानियाँ � उन कहानियों के चलते इनके विचारो� मे� परिवर्तन पाठकों को अपने से ही लगेंगे. निर्दयता से ही सही पर हर इंसा� का भरोस� कभी तो जीवन की निश्छलता से उठता ही है और वास्तविकता के राक्षसी चेहर� से उसका सामन� होता है! हममे� से कई ऐस� मे� चंदर की तर� अपनी जमी� खो बैठत� है� और अस्थायी समाधानों मे� जीवन के मायन� ढूंढते है�. जरूरी ये है की हम अस्थायी और स्थायी समाधानों की पहचा� कर सकें और जीवन को वापस सही दिशा दे�.

ये धर्मवी� भारती की उच्च श्रेणी की लेखनी � जीवन की उनकी अपार सम� का ही अस� है की गुनाहो� का देवत� पढ़ते हु� पाठक ये इंतज़ार करता रहता है की कब इन पात्रो� का पवित्रता और देवत्व का बाँध टूटेगा…क� चंदर या सुधा का पत� होगा और वे आम इंसानो� की तर� अपनी प्राथमिक इच्छाओ� के सामन� आत्म-समर्पण कर देंगे…क� इनका अटूट चरित्र धराशायी होगा…क� हमार� पुण्यो� का देवत� गुनाहो� के देवत� मे� तब्दी� होगा! ये इंतज़ार क्या दिखाता है? की हम जो जीवन की कठोर सच्चाइयो� से सामन� कर रह� है�, उन्हें यकी� है की दुनिया मे� चंदर � सुधा जैसे स्वच्छ चित्� प्राणियो� के लि� स्था� नही� है? या फि� चंदर � सुधा के विना� मे� हम अपने विना� का प्रतिबिम्ब देखत� है�? यही धर्मवी� भारती के उपन्या� की खासियत है. वे दोनो� पक्षों की तरफदारी करते है�, हालाँक� शारीरि� प्रे� की आवश्यकता की तुलन� मे� वे भावात्मक प्रे� की पवित्रता के प्रत� अपना झुका� स्पष्ट प्रक� करते है�. और यह झुका� मानवीयत� के लि� जरूरी भी है वरना दुनिया अवश्� ही इंसा�-रुपी पिशाचो� का घर बन जा�!
]]> गायब होता दे� 22907693
इस हत्य� के पीछे उस शह� का इतिहास छिपा है, जहां नोटो� से भरी थैलियो� और ताकत के बल पर आदिवासी टोले गायब होते रहे। उनकी जमी� छीनी जाती रही, उनके गांव उजाड़े जाते रहे। इस शह� के इतिहास जितन� ही पुराना है आदिवासी जमी� की लू� का इतिहास� इसका विरो� करने वाले परमेश्वर पाहन जैसे लो� अपनी जिंदगी की कीमत चुकाते रह� और लू� के दम पर फैलत� रियल एस्टेट का साम्राज्� एक सम्मानित धंधा बन गय�. जितनी उसकी लालच बढ़ती गई उतनी ही उसकी ताकत, उसका पाखं�, उसकी नृशंसत� और निर्ममता. लेकि� नीरज पाहन, सोनमनी बोदर�, अनुज� पाहन, रम� पोद्दा� जैसे लोगो� की जि� है कि वे अमानवीयत� के इस साम्राज्� से लड़ेंग�. वे किशन विद्रोही उर्फ के.के. झा नही� है� जो टू� जाएं, बद� जाएं, समझौते कर ले�. शह� पहले एक राज्� मे� तब्दी� होता है और राज्� दे� मे� और दे� पूरी दुनिया मे�. लेकि� इसी बी� अपनी जमीनो� से उजाड� दि� गए लो� पाते है� कि उनका दे� गायब होता जा रह� है और वे एक ऐसी जमी� के निवासी है�, जो दुनिया मे� कही� नही� है. मिथकी� लेमुरिया द्वीपो� की तर�. वे फि� से कब हासि� करेंगे, अपने गायब होते दे� को?]]> 328 Ranendra 0143420690 Arun 4 fiction, hindi, india 4.00 2014 गायब होता देश
author: Ranendra
name: Arun
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2015/04/07
date added: 2015/04/07
shelves: fiction, hindi, india
review:

]]> Nausea 22624
Nausea is both the story of the troubled life of an introspective historian, Antoine Roquentin, and an exposition of one of the most influential and significant philosophical attitudes of modern times - existentialism. The book chronicles his struggle with the realisation that he is an entirely free agent in a world devoid of meaning; a world in which he must find his own purpose and then take total responsibility for his choices. A seminal work of contemporary literary philosophy, Nausea evokes and examines the dizzying angst that can come from simply trying to live.]]> 253 Jean-Paul Sartre Arun 4 3.83 1938 Nausea
author: Jean-Paul Sartre
name: Arun
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1938
rating: 4
read at: 2015/03/16
date added: 2015/03/16
shelves: existential, fiction, french-lit, philosophy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]> 678974
Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.]]> 314 Milan Kundera 0571200834 Arun 4 fiction 4.02 1984 The Unbearable Lightness of Being
author: Milan Kundera
name: Arun
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2015/01/18
date added: 2015/01/18
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> Polikuchka 3741125 O nome de Iasnaia-Poliana ficou indissoluvelmente ligado ao de Tolstoi e ainda hoje lá encontramos, ao visitar a sua casa-museu, comovedoras recordações da sua vida torturadamente insatisfeita. Aí escreveu o autor de 'Ana Karenina' as suas maiores obras-primas e aí realizou também interessantes experiências sociais e pedagógicas que envolviam os camponeses e os filhos destes. Um dos mais altos romancistas de sempre, a par to seu - tão diferente... - compatriota Dostoievski, Tolstoi legou-nos, porventura, com 'Guerra e Paz', a mais autêntica epopeia narrativa da literatura moderna.
Escrita entre 1865 e 1869, curioso é notar que foi imediatamente precedida de 'Polikuchka', que escreveu em 1860 e publicou três anos depois. trata-se de uma novela de fundo popular em que toda a sua humanidade vem à superfície, levando-nos a viver as desventuras do pobre Polikuchka como se nossas fossem. É que, em Tolstoi - para empregarmos a expressão de Adolfo Casais Monteiro no sugestivo título de um dos estudos que lhe dedicou -, tudo se passa como se a própria vida falasse.

Alguns exemplares desta edição da Europa-América incluem também, sem identificação do autor, os contos 'O Malaio', 'O Homem dos Olhos Brancos', e 'O Assassinato do Pichel que entorna', originalmente publicados no livro 'Cauchemars', de 1892, do autor francês Jean Richetin.]]> 156 Leo Tolstoy Arun 2 fiction, russian-lit, tolstoy 3.43 1862 Polikuchka
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Arun
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1862
rating: 2
read at: 2014/11/20
date added: 2014/12/07
shelves: fiction, russian-lit, tolstoy
review:
One of the weakest and least interesting Tolstoy stories that I have read. Even though the story appears realistic, the characters are mostly caricatural and the discussions uninteresting and contrived. Perhaps this is not surprising as Polikuchka was among Tolstoy's initial works on peasants.
]]> Of Mice and Men 170455 This is an alternate cover edition for isbn10: 0141185104; possibly also for isbn10: 0140177396

The compelling story of two outsiders striving to find their place in an unforgiving world.

Drifters in search of work, George and his simple minded friend Lennie have nothing in the world except each other and a dream--a dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley, but their hopes are doomed as Lennie, struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and feelings of jealousy becomes a victim of his own strength.

Tackling universal themes and giving a voice to America's lonely and dispossessed, Of Mice and Men has proved to be one of Steinbeck's most popular works, achieving success as a novel, a Broadway play and three acclaimed films.]]> 106 John Steinbeck Arun 4 classics, fiction 3.87 1937 Of Mice and Men
author: John Steinbeck
name: Arun
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 2014/12/07
date added: 2014/12/07
shelves: classics, fiction
review:

]]> Life and Times of Michael K 1089838 Life and Times of Michael K goes to the centre of human experience -- the need for an interior, spiritual life, for some connections to the world in which we live, and for purity of vision.]]> 184 J.M. Coetzee 0099268345 Arun 3 fiction, existential 3.82 1983 Life and Times of Michael K
author: J.M. Coetzee
name: Arun
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/22
date added: 2014/06/22
shelves: fiction, existential
review:

]]> The Complete Maus 15195
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust� (The New York Times).

Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century’s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us.]]> 296 Art Spiegelman 0141014083 Arun 4 4.57 1980 The Complete Maus
author: Art Spiegelman
name: Arun
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2014/05/27
date added: 2014/05/27
shelves: fiction, history, graphic-novel
review:

]]> The Apprentice 21895446 144 Arun Joshi 8122201970 Arun 5 favorites, fiction, india
The book is a confession of Ratan Rathore - a man born in pre-independence India, who witnessed the freedom movement and the hopes attached with it, who had strong memories of his father getting killed in the revolution, who ventured to the capital of India in his youth trying to make a 'career', who rejoiced with the country when it became independent, who subsequently witnessed the fall of the nation and the degradation of the high values that had lead to its independence, who got along with the flow of the nation to sustain the growth of his 'career', who got muddled in the muddled moralities of a falling society, who took a bribe to clear an arms consignment for the Ind-China war, and who eventually had the realization of the grave impact of his losing the moral ground. This realization shattered this middle-aged man, and as it usually happens, made him reflect on his whole life.

This reflection is narrated to a young man, to us, to the new generation, to each new generation, with the thought that it will learn from the mistakes of the previous generation and realize the potential of youth to do better. He says - "There is hope as long as there are young men willing to learn from the follies of their elders." But do we really learn?

The book has many repeated themes. And with what beauty has Arun Joshi written about the themes!

Memory
"It is our humiliations, my friend, and not the conquests that dominate our memories."

"Some facts of life, like drowned sailors, surface only with time. And as one grows older, these forgotten bits are clearer than what happened last year, or last week, or this morning."

Youth
"There were other things that we did, things that young men do, things without meaning, except the meaning they acquire when youth is spent."

"Not much remains in a nation whose youth has lost its soul."

"The light eyes seemed shallow and deep by turn and they reminded me...of all the lost youth of the world, including mine."

"...because youth, my friend, is of no avail against the treacheries of older men. ...youth can conquer all but not the mischief of older men."

The above lines, spread out sequentially in the book, themselves describe the sequence of events and the rotting of the character of the narrator as he ages.

The relentlessness of nights

"Apart from all these, there are nights of humiliation, nights when you are ashamed of something, ashamed of yourself, when the darkness is full of insults, pointing fingers and mocking laughter."

"And night has a way of disarming you. The sun takes away something with it: your capacity to fool yourself, to lie and conceal."

"But the night, my friend, has a way of putting you in your place. It has no use for pompous prattle."

With equal brilliance, Joshi has explored other themes as well.

It is not a surprise that this book kept reminding me of The Fall by Camus -- other readers have noted the same elsewhere on the internet. Both are confessions by middle-aged men reflecting on their life and its gradual degradation. Both are top notch literary masterpieces. However, I would go on to say that The Apprentice is more realistic than The Fall, perhaps also because I can relate to its Indian-ness.

The book, although written in 1975, is still extremely relevant, and will continue to do so. There is no reason, then, that it should not be considered an Indian classic.

I wish more and more people read this book and appreciate the hidden gem of an author that Arun Joshi was.

Eagerly awaiting to lay my hands on "The Strange Case of Billy Biswas", lying on my bookshelf. :)


]]> 4.71 1974 The Apprentice
author: Arun Joshi
name: Arun
average rating: 4.71
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at: 2014/04/17
date added: 2014/04/16
shelves: favorites, fiction, india
review:
The Apprentice is an important book. It is also clearly one of the best (and least known) books by an Indian author. Written in 1975, its themes still clearly echo the contemporary situation of the Indian state. Besides, the ideas and themes in the book that are independent of the plot, are those that the well-known authors of the world have written about, time and again. And Arun Joshi has written with an authority that makes this book a great read for someone interested in exploring these themes -- the themes of memory, youth, hope, humiliation, war, morality (or the lack of it), vanity, war, relations, friendships, and indifference of the privileged, to name a few.

The book is a confession of Ratan Rathore - a man born in pre-independence India, who witnessed the freedom movement and the hopes attached with it, who had strong memories of his father getting killed in the revolution, who ventured to the capital of India in his youth trying to make a 'career', who rejoiced with the country when it became independent, who subsequently witnessed the fall of the nation and the degradation of the high values that had lead to its independence, who got along with the flow of the nation to sustain the growth of his 'career', who got muddled in the muddled moralities of a falling society, who took a bribe to clear an arms consignment for the Ind-China war, and who eventually had the realization of the grave impact of his losing the moral ground. This realization shattered this middle-aged man, and as it usually happens, made him reflect on his whole life.

This reflection is narrated to a young man, to us, to the new generation, to each new generation, with the thought that it will learn from the mistakes of the previous generation and realize the potential of youth to do better. He says - "There is hope as long as there are young men willing to learn from the follies of their elders." But do we really learn?

The book has many repeated themes. And with what beauty has Arun Joshi written about the themes!

Memory
"It is our humiliations, my friend, and not the conquests that dominate our memories."

"Some facts of life, like drowned sailors, surface only with time. And as one grows older, these forgotten bits are clearer than what happened last year, or last week, or this morning."

Youth
"There were other things that we did, things that young men do, things without meaning, except the meaning they acquire when youth is spent."

"Not much remains in a nation whose youth has lost its soul."

"The light eyes seemed shallow and deep by turn and they reminded me...of all the lost youth of the world, including mine."

"...because youth, my friend, is of no avail against the treacheries of older men. ...youth can conquer all but not the mischief of older men."

The above lines, spread out sequentially in the book, themselves describe the sequence of events and the rotting of the character of the narrator as he ages.

The relentlessness of nights

"Apart from all these, there are nights of humiliation, nights when you are ashamed of something, ashamed of yourself, when the darkness is full of insults, pointing fingers and mocking laughter."

"And night has a way of disarming you. The sun takes away something with it: your capacity to fool yourself, to lie and conceal."

"But the night, my friend, has a way of putting you in your place. It has no use for pompous prattle."

With equal brilliance, Joshi has explored other themes as well.

It is not a surprise that this book kept reminding me of The Fall by Camus -- other readers have noted the same elsewhere on the internet. Both are confessions by middle-aged men reflecting on their life and its gradual degradation. Both are top notch literary masterpieces. However, I would go on to say that The Apprentice is more realistic than The Fall, perhaps also because I can relate to its Indian-ness.

The book, although written in 1975, is still extremely relevant, and will continue to do so. There is no reason, then, that it should not be considered an Indian classic.

I wish more and more people read this book and appreciate the hidden gem of an author that Arun Joshi was.

Eagerly awaiting to lay my hands on "The Strange Case of Billy Biswas", lying on my bookshelf. :)



]]> Fathers and Sons 6094772 Fathers and Sons explores the ageless conflict between generations through a period in Russian history when a new generation of revolutionary intellectuals threatened the state. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Russian by Peter Carson, with an introduction by Rosamund Bartlett and an afterword by Tatyana Tolstaya.

Returning home after years away at university, Arkady is proud to introduce his clever friend Bazarov to his father and uncle. But their guest soon stirs up unrest on the quiet country estate - his outspoken nihilist views and his scathing criticisms of the older men expose the growing distance between Arkady and his father. And when Bazarov visits his own doting but old-fashioned parents, his disdainful rejection of traditional Russian life causes even further distress. In Fathers and Sons, Turgeneve created a beautifully-drawn and highly influential portrayal of the clash between generations, at a time just before the end of serfdom, when the refined yet vanishing landowning class was being overturned by a brash new breed that strove to change the world.

Peter Carson's elegant, naturalistic new translation brings Turgenev's masterpiece to life for a new generation of readers. In her introduction, Rosamund Bartlett discusses the novel's subtle characterisation and the immense social changes that took place in the 1850s Russia of Fathers and Sons. This edition also includes a chronology, suggested further reading and notes.

If you enjoyed Fathers and Sons, you might like Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories, also available in Penguin Classics.

'One of the first Russian novels to be translated for a wider European audience. It is a difficult art: in this superb new version, Peter Carson has succeeded splendidly' Michael Binyon, The Times

'If you want to get as close as an English reader can to enjoying Turgenev, Carson is probably the best'
Donald Rayfield, The Times Literary Supplement]]> 200 Ivan Turgenev 014144133X Arun 4 3.98 1862 Fathers and Sons
author: Ivan Turgenev
name: Arun
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1862
rating: 4
read at: 2014/04/07
date added: 2014/04/07
shelves: classics, fiction, russian-lit
review:

]]> The Fall 219972 Run Time = 3 hours and 5 minutes

Written by a Nobel laureate and performed by an AudioFile Golden Voice:
Set over a couple of drunken nights in Amsterdam, this philosophical novel recounts Parisian lawyer Jean-Baptiste Clamence’s descent into amorality. “An utterly fascinating book� (Kirkus Reviews) with over 36,000 five-star ratings on ŷ!

Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a successful Parisian barrister, has come to recognize the deep-seated hypocrisy of his existence. His epigrammatic and, above all, discomforting monologue gradually saps, then undermines, the reader's own complacency.]]> 92 Albert Camus Arun 3 3.90 1956 The Fall
author: Albert Camus
name: Arun
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1956
rating: 3
read at: 2013/11/23
date added: 2013/11/23
shelves: camus, fiction, french-lit, existential
review:

]]> The Dream of a Ridiculous Man 329866 32 Fyodor Dostoevsky 1419160222 Arun 4 4.15 1877 The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Arun
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1877
rating: 4
read at: 2013/11/13
date added: 2013/11/12
shelves: dostoevsky, fiction, re-read, russian-lit, short-stories
review:
It is stories like this that give us hope! A quintessential Dostoyevskian work.
]]> <![CDATA[The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (#9)]]> 196635 256 Arthur Conan Doyle 1905432585 Arun 3 4.10 1927 The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (#9)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Arun
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1927
rating: 3
read at: 2013/06/30
date added: 2013/10/26
shelves: fiction, holmes, short-stories
review:

]]> Jonathan Livingston Seagull 71728
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is no ordinary bird. He believes it is every gull's right to fly, to reach the ultimate freedom of challenge and discovery, finding his greatest reward in teaching younger gulls the joy of flight and the power of dreams. The special 20th anniversary release of this spiritual classic!]]> 112 Richard Bach 0743278909 Arun 2 fiction 3.87 1970 Jonathan Livingston Seagull
author: Richard Bach
name: Arun
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1970
rating: 2
read at: 2013/01/24
date added: 2013/10/24
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> The Stranger 49552 The Stranger has long been considered a classic of twentieth-century literature. Le Monde ranks it as number one on its "100 Books of the Century" list. Through this story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on a sundrenched Algerian beach, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."]]> 123 Albert Camus Arun 4 fiction, french-lit, camus 4.04 1942 The Stranger
author: Albert Camus
name: Arun
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1942
rating: 4
read at: 2013/07/28
date added: 2013/07/28
shelves: fiction, french-lit, camus
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #6)]]> 194366 455 Arthur Conan Doyle 0192123173 Arun 3 4.29 1905 The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #6)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Arun
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1905
rating: 3
read at: 2012/09/03
date added: 2013/06/30
shelves: holmes, fiction, short-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #4)]]> 194373 Silver Blaze
The Cardboard Box
The Yellow Face
The Stockbroker's Clerk
The 'Gloria Scott'
The Musgrave Ritual
The Reigate Squire
The Crooked Man
The Resident Patient
The Greek Interpreter
The Naval Treaty
The Final Problem]]> 378 Arthur Conan Doyle 0192123092 Arun 4 4.31 1893 The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #4)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Arun
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1893
rating: 4
read at: 2012/05/13
date added: 2013/06/30
shelves: fiction, holmes, short-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #3)]]> 3590 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. The detective is at the height of his powers and the volume is full of famous cases, including 'The Red-Headed League', 'The Blue Carbuncle', and 'The Speckled Band'.
The editor of this volume, Richard Lancelyn Green is editor of The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. With John Michael Gibson, he compiled the Soho Series Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle.
1. A Scandal In Bohemia
2. The Red-Headed League
3. A Case Of Identity
4. The Boscombe Valley Mystery
5. The Five Orange Pips
6. The Man With The Twisted Lip
7. The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle
8. The Adventure Of The Speckled Band
9. The Adventure Of The Engineer's Thumb
10. The Adventure Of The Noble Bachelor
11. The Adventure Of The Beryl Coronet
12. The Adventure Of The Copper Beaches]]> 389 Arthur Conan Doyle Arun 5 4.32 1892 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #3)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Arun
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1892
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2013/06/30
shelves: fiction, holmes, favorites, short-stories
review:

]]> Pride and Prejudice 1885 Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]> 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Arun 3 classics, fiction 4.28 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Arun
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 3
read at: 2013/06/04
date added: 2013/06/04
shelves: classics, fiction
review:

]]> The Mistress of Spices 94669
Now immortal, and living in the gnarled and arthritic body of an old woman, Tilo has set up shop in Oakland, California, where she administers curatives to her customers. But when she's surprised by an unexpected romance with a handsome stranger, she must choose between everlasting life and the vicissitudes of modern society. Spellbinding and hypnotizing, The Mistress of Spices is a tale of joy, sorrow, and one special woman's magical powers.]]> 338 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni 0385482388 Arun 1 fiction, india 3.51 1997 The Mistress of Spices
author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
name: Arun
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1997
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2013/05/15
shelves: fiction, india
review:

]]> Hadji Murád 135060 100 Leo Tolstoy 1602060134 Arun 4 fiction, russian-lit, tolstoy 3.90 1912 Hadji Murád
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Arun
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1912
rating: 4
read at: 2013/05/14
date added: 2013/05/14
shelves: fiction, russian-lit, tolstoy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[विषण� परभाकर की यादगार� कहानियाँ]]> 17882670
इस संकल� की सबसे बड़ी विशेषत� यह है की ये सभी कहानियां अपने मू� प्रामाणि� पा� के सा� है�, इसलि� ये पाठकों के सा� सा� शोधार्थियो� के लि� भी महत्त्वपूर्ण बन पड़ी है�.]]> 208 विष्णु प्रभाक� Arun 5
यह संग्रह अवश्� ही पठनी� है और इतने वर्षों बा� भी समाज और इंसा� को आइना दिखाता है. ]]> 4.20 2010 विषणु परभाकर की यादगारि कहानियाँ
author: विष्णु प्रभाक�
name: Arun
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2013/05/10
date added: 2013/05/10
shelves: hindi, short-stories, fiction, india
review:
इत्तेफाक से यह किता� हा� लगी और विष्णु प्रभाक� जी की लेखनी और कहानियाँ ऐसी की दि� को झकझो� उठी�. हर कहानी एक अल� ही दुनिया मे� ले जाती - को� बद्रीना� की पहाड़ियों के बी� तो को� स्वतंत्रता के सम� मच� दंगो� मे� गि� रही लाशो� के बी�. कभी आप बंगा� के अकाल मे� मर रह� अपने बच्च� को सीने से चिपटाए शह� की और भागी जा रही मा� को देखक� सिहर उठते तो कभी उस मा� को देखत� जो अपने बेटे की तबिय� ही � ठी� होने देती क्यूंक� ठी� होने पर वह दू� चल� जाता और अपनी मा� का बेटा � होकर के दे� का बेटा बन जाता. रिश्तो� की उलझनें भी खू� परेशान करती जब एक प्रौ� अध्याप� एक विधव� को स्ने� से विवा� का प्रस्ताव देता है जबकि वो उसमे� अपने पिता को देखती है; या फि� जब एक गांधीवादी समाजसेवी जिसन� ब्रह्मचर्य का प्रण लिया हो, अपने विश्वा� को डगमगात� देखत� है; या फि� एक हंसमुख और उन्मुक्त विवाहिता उसके प्या� मे� उलझे लेखक को पत्र लिखती है की 'मुक्� व्यवहा� वासन� के कारण नही�, वासन� के अभाव के कारण हो पाता है.'

यह संग्रह अवश्� ही पठनी� है और इतने वर्षों बा� भी समाज और इंसा� को आइना दिखाता है.
]]> <![CDATA[Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)]]> 37781 Things Fall Apart is written with remarkable economy and subtle irony. Uniquely and richly African, at the same time it reveals Achebe's keen awareness of the human qualities common to men of all times and places.]]> 215 Chinua Achebe Arun 5 fiction, history, religion 3.73 1958 Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)
author: Chinua Achebe
name: Arun
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1958
rating: 5
read at: 2013/04/20
date added: 2013/04/20
shelves: fiction, history, religion
review:

]]> The Catcher in the Rye 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919�2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Arun 5
More than everything else, what kills me about The Catcher in the Rye is old Phoebe! I totally wish to be there every single time Holden says "I wish you could see old Phoebe", i'm not kidding! Imagining her dragging the big suitcase and asking Holden to take her with him almost made me cry, it really did. I mean there are all those phony novels and movies in which siblings talk to each other in sentences that I swear no real brother or sister would ever use. And then there are Holden and Phoebe.

Wish I could write more but it won't really matter, you know. You have to read the book to understand why it won't matter. But then maybe you won't understand! One can never be sure about these kind of things. One can never be sure about anything at all.
]]> 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Arun
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 5
read at: 2013/04/16
date added: 2013/04/17
shelves: favorites, fiction, classics, re-read
review:
It was terrific to read this book again after around 4 years and all. To tell you the truth, it killed me this time as well, even after all those crazy years, which is funny in a way.

More than everything else, what kills me about The Catcher in the Rye is old Phoebe! I totally wish to be there every single time Holden says "I wish you could see old Phoebe", i'm not kidding! Imagining her dragging the big suitcase and asking Holden to take her with him almost made me cry, it really did. I mean there are all those phony novels and movies in which siblings talk to each other in sentences that I swear no real brother or sister would ever use. And then there are Holden and Phoebe.

Wish I could write more but it won't really matter, you know. You have to read the book to understand why it won't matter. But then maybe you won't understand! One can never be sure about these kind of things. One can never be sure about anything at all.

]]> The Japanese Wife 2862903 202 Kunal Basu 8172237332 Arun 2 fiction 3.24 2008 The Japanese Wife
author: Kunal Basu
name: Arun
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2013/04/04
date added: 2013/04/04
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Valley of Fear (Sherlock Holmes, #7)]]> 736131 Duration: 6 hr., 25 min.]]> 7 Arthur Conan Doyle 9626344245 Arun 4 holmes, fiction 4.00 1914 The Valley of Fear (Sherlock Holmes, #7)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Arun
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1914
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/03/22
shelves: holmes, fiction
review:

]]> Midnight’s Children 14836 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magnified in events that sway the course of national affairs; his health and well-being are inextricably bound to those of his nation; his life is inseparable, at times indistinguishable, from the history of his country. Perhaps most remarkable are the telepathic powers linking him with India’s 1,000 other “midnight’s children,� all born in that initial hour and endowed with magical gifts.

This novel is at once a fascinating family saga and an astonishing evocation of a vast land and its people–a brilliant incarnation of the universal human comedy. Twenty-five years after its publication, Midnight� s Children stands apart as both an epochal work of fiction and a brilliant performance by one of the great literary voices of our time.]]> 647 Salman Rushdie 0099578514 Arun 3 india, fiction, history
While I found the novel to be amazingly beautiful and captivating in the way Rushdie describes everything (I almost lived the surrealistic Sunderbans), it wasn't thought provoking at all. Perhaps I had misplaced expectations from the novel? Also, many of the events, characters, locations, and relation between them didn't appear to develop spontaneously but as if they were deliberately implanted there.

I would have gone with 2 stars but like I already mentioned twice, I liked Midnight's Children for it's exquisite language. ]]> 3.98 1981 Midnight’s Children
author: Salman Rushdie
name: Arun
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1981
rating: 3
read at: 2013/03/18
date added: 2013/03/19
shelves: india, fiction, history
review:
Pick up important historical and political events from the 20th century India (and Pakistan and Bangladesh), combine them with the famous exotic and destitute elements of the subcontinent (pickles, witchcraft, snake charmers, soothsayers, sadhus, religious gurus, slums - to name a few) and use a beautiful language (loved the language, for sure!) to describe the complicated inter-connected story - BANG! You have a Booker! And oh, guess what, even the Booker of Bookers!

While I found the novel to be amazingly beautiful and captivating in the way Rushdie describes everything (I almost lived the surrealistic Sunderbans), it wasn't thought provoking at all. Perhaps I had misplaced expectations from the novel? Also, many of the events, characters, locations, and relation between them didn't appear to develop spontaneously but as if they were deliberately implanted there.

I would have gone with 2 stars but like I already mentioned twice, I liked Midnight's Children for it's exquisite language.
]]> <![CDATA[Five Point Someone: What Not to Do at IIT]]> 105576
The book starts with a disclaimer, “This is not a book to teach you how to get into IIT or even how to live in college. In fact, it describes how screwed up things can get if you don’t think straight.�

Three hostelmates � Alok, Hari and Ryan get off to a bad start in IIT � they screw up the first class quiz. And while they try to make amends, things only get worse. It takes them a while to realize: If you try and screw with the IIT system, it comes back to double screw you. Before they know it, they are at the lowest echelons of IIT society. They have a five-point-something GPA out of ten, ranking near the end of their class. This GPA is a tattoo that will remain with them, and come in the way of anything else that matters � their friendship, their future, their love life. While the world expects IITians to conquer the world, these guys are struggling to survive.

Will they make it? Do under performers have a right to live? Can they show that they are not just a five-point-somebody but a five-point-someone?]]> 267 Chetan Bhagat 8129104598 Arun 3 fiction, india 3.41 2004 Five Point Someone: What Not to Do at IIT
author: Chetan Bhagat
name: Arun
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/03/18
shelves: fiction, india
review:

]]> The 3 Mistakes of My Life 3320520 258 Chetan Bhagat 8129113724 Arun 1 fiction, india 3.04 2008 The 3 Mistakes of My Life
author: Chetan Bhagat
name: Arun
average rating: 3.04
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at: 2009/03/01
date added: 2013/03/18
shelves: fiction, india
review:

]]> The Picture of Dorian Gray 5297
In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.]]> 272 Oscar Wilde Arun 4 classics, fiction 4.13 1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Arun
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1890
rating: 4
read at: 2013/02/12
date added: 2013/02/12
shelves: classics, fiction
review:

]]> The Old Man and the Sea 2165 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

This short novel, already a modern classic, is the superbly told, tragic story of a Cuban fisherman in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he kills and loses—specifically referred to in the citation accompanying the author's Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.]]> 96 Ernest Hemingway 0684830493 Arun 4 classics, fiction 3.81 1952 The Old Man and the Sea
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Arun
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2013/02/09
date added: 2013/02/10
shelves: classics, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead]]> 17876 Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead (150th Anniversary Edition)

The compelling works presented in this volume were written at distinct periods in Dostoyevsky's life, at decisive moments in his groping for a political philosophy and a religious answer. From the primitive peasant who kills without understanding that he is destroying life to the anxious antihero of Notes from Underground—who both craves and despises affection—the writer's often-tormented characters showcase his evolving outlook on our fate.

Thomas Mann described Dostoyevsky as "an author whose Christian sympathy is ordinarily devoted to human misery, sin, vice, the depths of lust and crime, rather than to nobility of body and soul" and Notes from Underground as "an awe- and terror- inspiring example of this sympathy."]]> 233 Fyodor Dostoevsky 0451529553 Arun 5
I found the thoughts put forth by the 'Underground Man' in the first part of the novel so compelling and in fact so close to my heartfelt belief in the predominance of human caprice that I read it 3 to 4 times before moving on to the second part. The second part is all the more stimulating where we find our hero going through all sorts of tribulations and self invented desperate situations, trying to establish his superiority and dominance over others and in the process eventually plunging headlong in deeper muck every single time. With each passing incident, you feel sorry and at the same time utterly angry with the hero. While on one hand you keep thinking why would someone do what our hero is doing, you nevertheless keep positioning yourself in his situation and take a different stand, although with a little touch of guilt. With his statement - "I have only in my life carried to an extreme what you have not dared to carry halfway, and what's more, you have taken your cowardice for good sense, and have found comfort in deceiving yourselves", he not only at once justifies all that he has done but makes our hidden thoughts - shrouded under hypocrisy, shame, social pressure and 'real life' - creep out of us. That's the power of Dostoevsky's writing!

A word of advice - even though it's a small book in terms of number of pages, don't make it a fast read. Give it time, let the sentences sink in, let the Underground Man talk to you, listen to him with patience. You'll find that behind his overly cynic ramblings and intentional misadventures, there is nothing but your own unconscious talking back to you. ]]> 4.19 1864 Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Arun
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1864
rating: 5
read at: 2013/02/01
date added: 2013/02/01
shelves: classics, dostoevsky, favorites, fiction, philosophy, russian-lit
review:
Considered to be the first existential novel, Notes from Underground is factually the narration of a Russian civil servant, alienated from society and the so called 'real life', one who abhors all that is 'sublime and beautiful' and one who intentionally gets himself in 'awkward' situations while being completely aware of the outcome of such situations. Philosophically, it is a piece of text that unpleasantly stimulates the reader through its mockery of forced reason, exaltation of inaction of intelligent men and expounding of pleasure in (un)intentional suffering, at the very least.

I found the thoughts put forth by the 'Underground Man' in the first part of the novel so compelling and in fact so close to my heartfelt belief in the predominance of human caprice that I read it 3 to 4 times before moving on to the second part. The second part is all the more stimulating where we find our hero going through all sorts of tribulations and self invented desperate situations, trying to establish his superiority and dominance over others and in the process eventually plunging headlong in deeper muck every single time. With each passing incident, you feel sorry and at the same time utterly angry with the hero. While on one hand you keep thinking why would someone do what our hero is doing, you nevertheless keep positioning yourself in his situation and take a different stand, although with a little touch of guilt. With his statement - "I have only in my life carried to an extreme what you have not dared to carry halfway, and what's more, you have taken your cowardice for good sense, and have found comfort in deceiving yourselves", he not only at once justifies all that he has done but makes our hidden thoughts - shrouded under hypocrisy, shame, social pressure and 'real life' - creep out of us. That's the power of Dostoevsky's writing!

A word of advice - even though it's a small book in terms of number of pages, don't make it a fast read. Give it time, let the sentences sink in, let the Underground Man talk to you, listen to him with patience. You'll find that behind his overly cynic ramblings and intentional misadventures, there is nothing but your own unconscious talking back to you.
]]> The Double 210190 Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Idiot, Dostoyevsky also wrote much superb short fiction. The Double is one of the finest of his shorter works. It appeared in 1846 (his second published work) and is by far the most significant of his early stories, not least for its successful, straight-faced treatment of a hallucinatory theme.
In The Double, the protagonist, Golyadkin senior, is persecuted by his double, Golyadkin junior, who resembles him closely in almost every detail. The latter abuses the former with mounting scorn and brutality as the tale proceeds toward its frightening denouement. Characteristic Dostoyevskyan themes of helplessness, victimization, and scandal are beautifully handled here with an artistry that qualifies the story as a small masterpiece.
Students of literature, admirers of Dostoyevsky, and general readers will all be delighted to have this classic work available in this inexpensive but high-quality edition.
]]> 144 Fyodor Dostoevsky 0486295729 Arun 3 3.70 1846 The Double
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Arun
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1846
rating: 3
read at: 2013/01/06
date added: 2013/01/06
shelves: russian-lit, fiction, dostoevsky
review:

]]> Crime and Punishment 111287 Crime And Punishment takes the reader on a journey into the darkest recesses of the criminal and depraved mind, and exposes the soul of a man possessed by both good and evil ... a man who cannot escape his own conscience.]]> 542 Fyodor Dostoevsky 0553211757 Arun 5 4.07 1866 Crime and Punishment
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Arun
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1866
rating: 5
read at: 2011/12/01
date added: 2013/01/05
shelves: fiction, philosophy, russian-lit, dostoevsky, favorites, classics
review:

]]> One Hundred Years of Solitude 7599 One Hundred Years of Solitude is a dazzling and original achievement by the masterful Gabriel García Márquez, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race.... Mr. Garcí­a Márquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life."�New York Times Book Review

"More lucidity, wit, wisdom, and poetry than is expected from one hundred years of novelists, let alone one man."�Washington Post Book World]]> 417 Gabriel García Márquez 006112009X Arun 5 4.09 1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Arun
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1967
rating: 5
read at: 2012/12/26
date added: 2012/12/26
shelves: favorites, fiction, history, marquez
review:

]]> The Namesake 821872
'When her grandmother learned of Ashima's pregnancy, she was particularly thrilled at the prospect of naming the family's first sahib. And so Ashima and Ashoke have agreed to put off the decision of what to name the baby until a letter comes�'

For now, the label on his hospital cot reads simply BABY BOY GANGULI. But as time passes and still no letter arrives from India, American bureaucracy takes over and demands that 'baby boy Ganguli' be given a name. In a panic, his father decides to nickname him 'Gogol' � after his favourite writer.

Brought up as an Indian in suburban America, Gogol Ganguli soon finds himself itching to cast off his awkward name, just as he longs to leave behind the inherited values of his Bengali parents. And so he sets off on his own path through life, a path strewn with conflicting loyalties, love and loss�

Spanning three decades and crossing continents, Jhumpa Lahiri's much-anticipated first novel is a triumph of humane story-telling. Elegant, subtle and moving, ‘The Namesake� is for everyone who loved the clarity, sympathy and grace of Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut story collection, ‘Interpreter of Maladies�.]]> 291 Jhumpa Lahiri 0007258917 Arun 2 india, fiction 3.95 2003 The Namesake
author: Jhumpa Lahiri
name: Arun
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2003
rating: 2
read at: 2010/04/01
date added: 2012/12/16
shelves: india, fiction
review:

]]> Shantaram 816552
So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate lovefor India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.]]> 933 Gregory David Roberts 0349117543 Arun 5 favorites, fiction, india 4.16 2003 Shantaram
author: Gregory David Roberts
name: Arun
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2010/06/01
date added: 2012/12/16
shelves: favorites, fiction, india
review:

]]> <![CDATA[To Kill a Mockingbird (To Kill a Mockingbird, #1)]]> 8045416 This (the 50th Anniversary Edition) is an alternative cover edition for ISBN 9780099549482

'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.]]> 309 Harper Lee Arun 5 favorites, classics, fiction 4.33 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird (To Kill a Mockingbird, #1)
author: Harper Lee
name: Arun
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1960
rating: 5
read at: 2011/04/01
date added: 2012/12/16
shelves: favorites, classics, fiction
review:

]]> Frankenstein 18490 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780141439471

'Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart ...'

Obsessed with creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, which he shocks into life with electricity. But his botched creature, rejected by Frankenstein and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy his maker and all that he holds dear. Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley near Byron's villa on Lake Geneva. It would become the world's most famous work of horror fiction, and remains a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity.

Based on the third edition of 1831, this volume contains all the revisions Mary Shelley made to her story, as well as her 1831 introduction and Percy Bysshe Shelley's preface to the first edition. This revised edition includes as appendices a select collation of the texts of 1818 and 1831 together with 'A Fragment' by Lord Byron and Dr John Polidori's 'The Vampyre: A Tale'.]]> 288 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Arun 4 classics, fiction, sci-fi 3.77 1818 Frankenstein
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: Arun
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1818
rating: 4
read at: 2012/03/29
date added: 2012/12/16
shelves: classics, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> Brave New World 3180338 Alternate cover edition of ISBN-13: 9780099518471, ISBN-10/ASIN: 0099518473

Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine� (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New Worldd likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.]]> 229 Aldous Huxley Arun 4 classics, dystopian, fiction 3.83 1932 Brave New World
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Arun
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1932
rating: 4
read at: 2012/04/19
date added: 2012/12/16
shelves: classics, dystopian, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts]]> 841628 Charting the whole of Arthur Dent's odyssey through space are:

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY.
One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very very very large and startling place.

THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE.
When all questions of space, time, matter and the nature of being have been resolved, only one question remains --- "Where shall we have dinner?" The Restaurant at the End of the Universe provides the ultimate gastronomic experience, and for once there is no morning after to worry about.

LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING.
In consequence of a number of stunning catastrophes, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a hideously miserable cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot possibly get any worse, they suddenly do. He discovers that the Galaxy is not only mind-boggling big and bewildering but also that most of the things that happen in it are staggeringly unfair.

SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH.
Just as Arthur Dent's sense of reality is in its dickiest state he suddenly finds the girl of his dreams. He finds her in the last place in the Universe in which he would expect to find anything at all, but which 3,976,000 people will find oddly familiar. They go in search of God's Final Message to His Creation and, in a dramatic break with tradition, actually find it.]]> 590 Douglas Adams 0330316117 Arun 4 4.51 1986 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts
author: Douglas Adams
name: Arun
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2012/11/30
date added: 2012/11/30
shelves: fiction, sci-fi, favorites, humour
review:

]]> Love Story (Love Story, #1) 73968
Opposites in nearly every way, Oliver and Jenny are kindred spirits from vastly different worlds. Falling deeply and powerfully, their attraction to one another defies everything they have ever believed—as they share a passion far greater than anything they dreamed possible . . . and explore the wonder of a love that must end too soon.

One of the most adored novels of our time, this is the book that defined a generation—a story of uncompromising devotion, of life as it really is . . . and love that changes everything.]]> 224 Erich Segal 0380017601 Arun 3 fiction 3.64 1969 Love Story (Love Story, #1)
author: Erich Segal
name: Arun
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 2010/10/01
date added: 2012/10/12
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> Siddhartha 52036 152 Hermann Hesse Arun 4 4.07 1922 Siddhartha
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Arun
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1922
rating: 4
read at: 2012/10/11
date added: 2012/10/11
shelves: philosophy, classics, fiction, india
review:

]]> The Metamorphosis 485894 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 0553213695 / 9780553213690

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."

With it's startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man."]]> 201 Franz Kafka 0553213695 Arun 5 fiction, kafka, favorites 3.90 1915 The Metamorphosis
author: Franz Kafka
name: Arun
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1915
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2012/10/01
shelves: fiction, kafka, favorites
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes, #2)]]> 608474
For Mary Marston has received several large pearls - one a year for the last six years - and now a mystery letter telling her she is a wronged woman. If she would seek justice she is to meet her unknown benefactor, bringing with her two companions.

But unbeknownst to them all, others stalk London's fog-enshrouded streets: a one-legged ruffian with revenge on his mind - and his companion, who places no value on human life...]]> 129 Arthur Conan Doyle Arun 4 holmes, fiction 3.91 1890 The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes, #2)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Arun
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1890
rating: 4
read at: 2012/04/30
date added: 2012/08/09
shelves: holmes, fiction
review:

]]> Animal Farm 7613
The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon.

One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones' Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. Old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals � inspired by his philosophy of Animalism � plot a rebellion against Jones.

Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall...]]> 129 George Orwell Arun 4 3.90 1945 Animal Farm
author: George Orwell
name: Arun
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1945
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/27
date added: 2012/06/27
shelves: classics, fiction, favorites, dystopian, history, political
review:

]]> The Sense of an Ending 10746542 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

By an acclaimed writer at the height of his powers, The Sense of an Ending extends a streak of extraordinary books that began with the best-selling Arthur & George and continued with Nothing to Be Frightened Of and, most recently, Pulse.

This intense novel follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he has never much thought about - until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance, one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony Webster thought he'd left all this behind as he built a life for himself, and by now his marriage and family and career have fallen into an amicable divorce and retirement. But he is then presented with a mysterious legacy that obliges him to reconsider a variety of things he thought he'd understood all along, and to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single sitting, with stunning psychological and emotional depth and sophistication, The Sense of an Ending is a brilliant new chapter in Julian Barnes's oeuvre.]]> 150 Julian Barnes 0224094157 Arun 5 favorites, fiction 3.73 2011 The Sense of an Ending
author: Julian Barnes
name: Arun
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2012/06/16
date added: 2012/06/16
shelves: favorites, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes, #5)]]> 8921 256 Arthur Conan Doyle Arun 4 holmes, fiction 4.15 1901 The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes, #5)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Arun
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1901
rating: 4
read at: 2012/05/25
date added: 2012/05/25
shelves: holmes, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)]]> 102868
But it's not long before Sherlock Holmes, with Watson in tow, is working with Scotland Yard investigating the murder of two Americans whose deaths have some mysterious connection to sinister groups gathering power in both Britain and America.

Here's where it all began. 'A Study in Scarlet.' Meet Sherlock Holmes, one of the world's leading consulting detectives - fictional of course!]]> 123 Arthur Conan Doyle 1420925539 Arun 5 holmes, favorites, fiction 4.16 1887 A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Arun
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1887
rating: 5
read at: 2012/04/26
date added: 2012/04/26
shelves: holmes, favorites, fiction
review:

]]> Father Sergius 1264155
For some weeks Father Sergius had been living with one persistent thought: whether he was right in accepting the position in which he had not so much placed himself as been placed by the Archimandrite and the Abbot. That position had begun after the recovery of the fourteen-year-old boy. From that time, with each month, week, and day that passed, Sergius felt his own inner life wasting away and being replaced by external life.]]> 58 Leo Tolstoy 1406952907 Arun 4 fiction, russian-lit, tolstoy 3.94 1911 Father Sergius
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Arun
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1911
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2012/03/31
shelves: fiction, russian-lit, tolstoy
review:

]]> Johnny Gone Down 8240188 324 Karan Bajaj 8172237863 Arun 2 india, fiction 3.48 2010 Johnny Gone Down
author: Karan Bajaj
name: Arun
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2012/03/31
shelves: india, fiction
review:

]]> 1984 5470 328 George Orwell Arun 5 4.15 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Arun
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at: 2010/10/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: dystopian, favorites, fiction, classics
review:

]]> Anna Karenina 152
«Nos capítulos iniciais de Anna Karénina, somos conduzidos, uma e outra vez, a um sentido de analogia musical. Há efeitos de contraponto e harmonia no desenvolvimento das principais tramas do “prelúdio Oblonski� (o acidente na estação ferroviária, a zombadora discussão sobre o divórcio entre Vronski e a baronesa Chilton, o deslumbramento do fogo vermelho diante dos olhos de Anna). O método de Tolstoi é polifónico; mas as harmonias principais desen- volvem-se com uma tremenda força e amplitude. As técnicas musicais e linguísticas não podem comparar-se de um modo exato. Mas como poderíamos elucidar de outro modo o sentimento de que as novelas de Tolstoi surgem de um princípio interior de ordem e vitalidade, enquanto as dos escritores menos importantes parecem alinhavadas?»

«Anna Karénina morre no mundo do romance; mas cada vez que lemos o livro ela ressuscita, e mesmo depois de o termos acabado adquire outra vida na nossa recordação. Em cada personagem literária existe algo da Fénix imortal. Através das vidas perduráveis das suas personagens, a própria existência de Tolstoi teve a sua eternidade.» [George Steiner, Tolstoi ou Dostoievski]]]> 960 Leo Tolstoy Arun 5 3.96 1878 Anna Karenina
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Arun
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1878
rating: 5
read at: 2012/02/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: classics, favorites, fiction, russian-lit, tolstoy
review:

]]> Resurrection 42641 562 Leo Tolstoy 0735102864 Arun 4 4.15 1899 Resurrection
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Arun
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1899
rating: 4
read at: 2009/12/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: favorites, russian-lit, tolstoy, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Godfather (The Godfather, #1)]]> 22034
Almost fifty years ago, a classic was born. A searing portrayal of the Mafia underworld, The Godfather introduced readers to the first family of American crime fiction, the Corleones, and their powerful legacy of tradition, blood, and honor. The seduction of power, the pitfalls of greed, and the allegiance to family—these are the themes that have resonated with millions of readers around the world and made The Godfather the definitive novel of the violent subculture that, steeped in intrigue and controversy, remains indelibly etched in our collective consciousness.]]> 448 Mario Puzo Arun 5 favorites, fiction 4.39 1969 The Godfather (The Godfather, #1)
author: Mario Puzo
name: Arun
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2010/07/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: favorites, fiction
review:

]]> A Tale of Two Cities 1953 A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’s great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero as believably flawed as any in modern fiction. Though the least typical of the author’s novels, A Tale of Two Cities still underscores many of his enduring themes—imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal.]]> 489 Charles Dickens 0141439602 Arun 5 3.86 1859 A Tale of Two Cities
author: Charles Dickens
name: Arun
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1859
rating: 5
read at: 2009/10/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: classics, favorites, fiction, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy, #1)]]> 7913305 The only hope for the Suryavanshis is an ancient legend: When evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears that your enemies have triumphed, a hero will emerge.

Is the rough-hewn Tibetan immigrant Shiva, really that hero? And does he want to be that hero at all? Drawn suddenly to his destiny, by duty as well as by love, will Shiva lead the Suryavanshi vengeance and destroy evil?

]]> 436 Amish Tripathi Arun 3 india, fiction 4.11 2010 The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy, #1)
author: Amish Tripathi
name: Arun
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/10/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: india, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Secret of the Nagas (Shiva Trilogy #2)]]> 11827808
4000 years ago, He was just a man.

The hunt is on. The sinister Naga warrior has killed his friend Brahaspati and now stalks his wife Sati. Shiva, the Tibetan immigrant who is the prophesied destroyer of evil, will not rest till he finds his demonic adversary. His vengeance and the path to evil will lead him to the door of the Nagas, the serpent people. Of that he is certain.

The evidence of the malevolent rise of evil is everywhere. A kingdom is dying as it is held to ransom for a miracle drug. A crown prince is murdered. The Vasudevs Shivas philosopher guides betray his unquestioning faith as they take the aid of the dark side. Even the perfect empire, Meluha is riddled with a terrible secret in Maika, the city of births. Unknown to Shiva, a master puppeteer is playing a grand game.

In a journey that will take him across the length and breadth of ancient India, Shiva searches for the truth in a land of deadly mysteries only to find that nothing is what it seems.

Fierce battles will be fought. Surprising alliances will be forged. Unbelievable secrets will be revealed in this second book of the Shiva Trilogy, the sequel to the #1 national bestseller, The Immortals of Meluha.]]> 371 Amish Tripathi Arun 3 india, fiction 3.98 2011 The Secret of the Nagas (Shiva Trilogy #2)
author: Amish Tripathi
name: Arun
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2011/10/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: india, fiction
review:

]]> The Kite Runner 77203 371 Khaled Hosseini 159463193X Arun 5 fiction, favorites 4.34 2003 The Kite Runner
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Arun
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2007/12/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: fiction, favorites
review:

]]> The Overcoat 537094 57 Nikolai Gogol 1419176528 Arun 4 russian-lit, gogol, fiction 4.17 1842 The Overcoat
author: Nikolai Gogol
name: Arun
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1842
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: russian-lit, gogol, fiction
review:

]]> The Alchemist 865 197 Paulo Coelho 0061122416 Arun 3 fiction 3.85 1988 The Alchemist
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Arun
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at: 2007/10/01
date added: 2012/03/30
shelves: fiction
review:

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