Indian Readers discussion

Reading progress went pretty futile in 2020.
Thinking that acquisition updates would be more prompt than reading ones this year too :)

Don't gain weight (◠‿・)—☆

Interesting thread! Will keep a watch & possibly plan on stealing Indian Lit from your shelves :D
Good luck with your 2021 reading journey

Nice name for the thread :)

Wishing you lots of Great Reads in 2021

Waiting for your updates! Don't be too lazy!

ha ha ha! i hope i will be more active than 2020.

good luck. :)

thanks all :)

All the best, Gorab!

Thanks Kavitha!

Abstract focus points for 2021:
1. Read more physical books.
2. Indian lit covering different states. Keep exploring random stuff in this category.
3. Equal mix of fiction and non-fic.

Finished first book fo the year.

1. Utopia Avenue - 5 stars!
In Oct2020, I read my first DM - Cloud Atlas. That was such a rewarding book for me that I was (am!) drawn towards more such unique works. Utopia Avenue wasn't as much fun as Cloud Atlas, but is has surely lured me to stay invested with DM.
Will read Ghostwritten as next DM book.... starting 1st week of Feb.

Just realised from message 11 - that the first book completed (and other currently reading - Greenlights) do not fall into any of those 3 focus categories!!!!

Cheers to planning and focus!!!

congratulations on the first 5 star of the year .

On the acquisition front, here's a bunch of experimental second hand books. In line with exploring more of Indian authors.

Em*bedded-in-books* wrote: "congratulations on the first 5 star of the year ."

thank you. glad the year started with a 5 :)

2. Greenlights - 4 stars.
Review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Was a fun BR with Manu. Picked this as comfort read for SnakesNLadders prompt.

Started If on a Winter's Night a Traveler just because Rebecca mentioned reading this. Figured reading any of Girish's favorite books would be pretty tough :P so a BR might come handy to conquer some of them.

Also started Sakura Days (first book from pic in message 15) - non fiction - memoirs focused on Japan's ethics and culture - from an Indians point of view.

3. Sakura Days - 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

4. MAUN MUSKAAN KI MAAR - 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

good going . I am interested in the Shashi Deshpande novel. Hers are usually simple , family oriented tales , which read very quickly .

Em*bedded-in-books* wrote: "good going . I am interested in the Shashi Deshpande novel. Hers are usually simple , family oriented tales , which read very quickly ."

Namita Gokhle and Shashi D are authors i wanted to read more after Jaipur journals and SD autobio.

5. Buddha, Vol. 5: Deer Park - 3.5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I went and read your review of Vol. 1, good one :) How instructive and informative is this series in terms of getting to know about Buddha and Buddhism, or even the general story of Siddhartha?

Obviously, we can't get spiritual instruction or educative information from fictional manga (or can we?), but I personally would feel uninterested in a Buddha manga if it only glances on the actual religion and the central personality :D

in my perception, stay away from this book if you want to learn about Buddhism :)
These are like ancient folk tales with some magical realism thrown in... arch enemies, ancient kings and kingdoms, some magical powers.
If you liked Amar Chitra Katha books, you can give it a try - that's the closest i can think of.

However, as a whole, I am not finding the whole series worth recommending!

Gorab wrote: "in my perception, stay away from this book if you want to learn about Buddhism :)
These are like ancient folk tales with some magical realism thrown in... arch enemies, ancient kings and kingdoms, ..."

:D Aah, okayy.. Thanks explaining :)

my pleasure :)

6. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler - 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sense of achievemnt kicking in after reading this :) :) :)

7. Code Name God : The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science - 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

#Indian #PhysicalShelf - this is the 3rd book read from the pic in message 15 :)

8. The Narayanpur Incident - 3.5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

#Indian #PhysicalShelf - 1st book completed from pic in msg#20.

Currently reading:
Gilead - 30% - progressing slow as I'm not reading much from Kindle these days. Very impressive writing. The whole book so far is a single person narration - a deceased father (pastor) speaking to his son via old written long letters! Loving it so far.

Naraz - 70% - Call it Urdu poetry, or ghazals, or shayaris... (I don't know the difference between these) some of them are deep and thought provoking, while most are passable. Fast and okayish read.

Overall very happy and satisfied with the reading progress of January :)

Next target is Ghostwritten by David Mitchell.

forgot one more currently reading:
All my Sons by Arthur Miller - a short play published in 1947.

I tend to avoid classics. Picked this for a prompt in snakes and ladders. Going good so far.

9. All My Sons - 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Gorab wrote: "6. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler - 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sense of achievemnt kicking in after reading this :) :) :)"

I am way too much excited to read this!!
Will pick after Ghostwritten - Another book i am looking forward to!

9 books in Jan alone with 3 more days left!
Good start Gorab!

I think you'll love Calvino! Looking forward to dive into Mtichell's crazy world!
Thx. Have made up my mind to buy only when I read a considerable chunk from the bought books. The quench to buy more is kicking in in terms of more reading ;)
P.S.: "considerable" is not concretely defined to give leeway to twisting this rule :P

Gorab wrote: "I think you'll love Calvino! Looking forward to dive into Mtichell's crazy world!
Thx. Have made up my mind to buy only when I read a considerable chunk from the bought books. The quench to buy mor..."

Hahaha, so convenient :P
I hope you finish reading most of what you bought last year, which I am aware is a huge pile of books, so good luck finishing that :P

well, at my hometown, I had 0 books to start with... all that you see on this thread are the acquisitions of hometown. With no idea whether or not I will be able to ship them back to Bangalore.

What I bought last year might serve only as decorative furniture! At least in near future.

Furniture? You mean A Throne of Unread Books ?

:( unfortunately yeah.... sort of.

10. नाराज़ - 3.5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Having read Dushyant Kumar, Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, wanted to explore some contemporary Urdu shayaris. Rahat Indori ji appeared on an episode of Kapil Sharma show, and since then I wanted to read one of his collections. And then this came up as a suggestion from KU :)

11. Pashmina - 2 stars

Came up as a weekend read suggestion. The thing which I liked most about this book was its cover. Did not like the overall plot and execution. There were a few beautiful colorful frames. Was happy to see another debut on graphic novels by Indian artist :)
Would have been happier if it was done better,

Active reading:
1. Ghostwritten - started yesterday. Needs undivided attention which I was unable to give so far. Will catch up on it by finding dedicated uninterrupted reading time. A BR with Mak and Manu.

2. Gilead - 30%. Losing interest in this one. The epistolary narration were heart touching in the beginning. Now it is feeling kinda repetitive with not much plot developments. Though I enjoy books without focus on plots, this one is slowly losing my attention. esp now that Ghostwritten will share the Kindle time.

3. We Are All Made of Glue - 50% in. light time pass. Picked this because of its weird title, the same reason for impulsively getting this paperback from a used books seller.

12. We Are All Made Of Glue - 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Amidts a slow reading week, managed to wrap this one up. Not very impressed. 2nd book finished from the lot in message 20

The recent weeks have been slow on the reading front, no slowness nevertheless on the acquistion front :D

Top 3 from Jananpith. They are translations of different regional works in Hindi. Bottom 3 from 2nd hand sale.

Also got this box from half price books.

Currently reading:

Gilead - at 30%. No progress in last week.

Ghostwritten - at 30%. Would have been a DNF if not for David Mitchell. A collection of 9 stories, the 3rd story had me frustrated!

Will pick up one more based on Snakes and Ladders prompt.

Gorab wrote: "Also got this box from half price books.
"
I am having a vicarious thrill looking at the books. It has been nearly an year since I have been to the second hand books market :(

which market do you visit Selva?
All my recent book purchases are from online vendors\whatsapp groups etc.

a few random pop classics.