Reading the Chunksters discussion

From wiki: Sea of Poppies (2008) is a novel by Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008. It is the first volume of the Ibis trilogy. The second volume is River of Smoke and the third book is Flood of Fire.

The main characters include Deeti, an ordinary village woman, an "octoroon" American sailor named Zachary Reid, an Indian rajah / zamindar called Neel Rattan Halder, and Benjamin Burnham, an evangelist opium trader.

The story is set prior to the First Opium War, on the banks of the holy river Ganges and in Calcutta. The author compares the Ganges to the Nile, the lifeline of the Egyptian civilization, attributing the provenance and growth of these civilizations to these selfless, ever-flowing bodies. He portrays the characters as poppy seeds emanating in large numbers from the field to form a sea, where every single seed is uncertain about its future.



Who will be joining us?We will start Nov. 1.

Has anyone read anything by Ghosh? Is anyone who is planning to read sea of poppies thinking about reading the whole trilogy?

Oh my gosh!!! This book won? I'm so shamefully weak when it comes to beautiful covers. And it touches on the Opium trade in China so it's interesting in my books!!!

Whoever designs this author's covers is a genius!! If book one is interesting, I'll sure read the rest of the series.

I'm here for the art, but I'll stay for the story ^.^

Dianne wrote: "Has anyone read anything by Ghosh? Is anyone who is planning to read sea of poppies thinking about reading the whole trilogy?"

I probably will read the entire trilogy unless I really hate SoP. I'm kind of obsessive that way.

I don't have my copy of the book yet but Ami kindly suggested some options for our reading schedule. (Thank you, Ami!) I'm leaning toward breaking the book into three parts with 14 days to read each part like so:

November 1-14...Initial Thoughts and Part I (165p)
November 15-29...Part II (157p)
November 30-December 14...Part III & Final Thoughts (143p)

Would this work? This is still tentative and can be adjusted as necessary. It doesn't take the Thanksgiving holiday into consideration but we would be done before Christmas.

Biblio wrote: "Oh my gosh!!! This book won? I'm so shamefully weak when it comes to beautiful covers. And it touches on the Opium trade in China so it's interesting in my books!!!

Whoever designs this author's c..."

I'm a sucker for a beautiful book cover!

Drew wrote: "Dianne wrote: "Has anyone read anything by Ghosh? Is anyone who is planning to read sea of poppies thinking about reading the whole trilogy?"

I probably will read the entire trilogy unless I reall..."

I'm with him.

Drew wrote: "I don't have my copy of the book yet but Ami kindly suggested some options for our reading schedule. (Thank you, Ami!) I'm leaning toward breaking the book into three parts with 14 days to read eac..."

Hey! You're most welcome :)

It's two weeks per part, so it allows for off time and reading during the Thanksgiving Holiday...Killing two birds with one stone.

Biblio wrote: "Oh my gosh!!! This book won? I'm so shamefully weak when it comes to beautiful covers. And it touches on the Opium trade in China so it's interesting in my books!!!

Whoever designs this author's c..."

Biblio, you better be here for the story! I don't care if you talk about the cover for 6-weeks. HA! It's been too long, and oh, Happy belated Thanksgiving to you!

I'm in for this one as well, may fall behind schedule a bit as I'm helping with the Fingersmith thread, but have wanted to read this for ages.

I read this one when it came it in paperback - I remember being quite impressed, but not enough that I want to read it again now...

Thanks Ami! It's been a coon's age! It'll be great to read together again.

It's super funny, but I almost took this out of the library before it was in the polls just 'cause I wanted to read it ^.^

Aren't they just beautiful? I wonder who designed the cover art?

They're gorgeous. My cover is this one

Drew wrote: "I don't have my copy of the book yet but Ami kindly suggested some options for our reading schedule. (Thank you, Ami!) I'm leaning toward breaking the book into three parts with 14 days to read eac..."

This looks great! I"ll post it in a separate thread. Thanks Drew! and Ami!

Pamela wrote: "They're gorgeous. My cover is this one "


Oh, Pamela... Your cover is so dreamy, very "Far Pavilions-ish."

I have the one shown in Biblio's post.

Biblio wrote: "Thanks Ami! It's been a coon's age! It'll be great to read together again.

It's super funny, but I almost took this out of the library before it was in the polls just 'cause I wanted to read it ^.^"

Sometimes it's just literary kismet. I'll see you in the threads!

Dianne wrote: "Has anyone read anything by Ghosh? Is anyone who is planning to read sea of poppies thinking about reading the whole trilogy?"

Tempting, very tempting.......

A wonderful review in The Guardian *spoilers*: https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

The more, the merrier!!

I'm curious about the Opium trade back then. Maybe this book will introduce us to the history of it. Surely, there's some great historical books or documentaries to get us warmed up?

I browsed some of Ghosh's other works:

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh,
Such a relevant and critical contemporary topic. Ghosh seems to have written all kinds of interesting things during his career.

Check out the dimensions of this book (the third part of Ghosh's trilogy).
(from Amazon.com)
A pretty hefty book! ; -)


Series: The Ibis Trilogy (Book 3)
Hardcover: 624 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (August 4, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374174245
ISBN-13: 978-0374174248
Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 36.4 x 237 inches

Haaze wrote: "Check out the dimensions of this book (the third part of Ghosh's trilogy).."

Wouldn't fit on my bookshelf anyway :)

Perhaps under the bed?

I'll visit the library for my November round up ^.^ Always exciting to bring in a fresh pile of books. So I'll start this one tomorrow.

Gosh... when I said I'd bring home a pile of new books, I meant from a list, not freshly recommended ones!! Focus, I've just got to focus!!

Biblio wrote: "Gosh... when I said I'd bring home a pile of new books, I meant from a list, not freshly recommended ones!! Focus, I've just got to focus!!"

Well....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTx9d...

Haaze wrote: "I browsed some of Ghosh's other works:

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh,
Such a relevant and critical contemporary topic. Gho..."

this is fascinating, what a dramatic change from sea of poppies!

I'm going to be starting this one soon and I'm wondering if anyone has decided to move on with the sequels? I have my fingers crossed that this one is as lovely as it sounds, and as lovely as the cover!

It’s very good, but not amazing in my view Sarah Anne. I don’t have it high on my list for the trilogy at this point though.