660 books
—
566 voters
to-read
(295)
currently-reading (9)
read (222)
dnf (28)
owned (0)
favorites (56)
fiction (32)
fantasy (21)
reddit-one-book (20)
2021 (18)
bucket-list (13)
manga (12)
currently-reading (9)
read (222)
dnf (28)
owned (0)
favorites (56)
fiction (32)
fantasy (21)
reddit-one-book (20)
2021 (18)
bucket-list (13)
manga (12)
better-than-expected
(10)
non-fiction (10)
2024-tbr (9)
classics (8)
indian-regions (8)
assam (7)
beautiful-writing (7)
helps-you-grow (7)
psychological (7)
2024 (6)
political (6)
science-fiction (6)
non-fiction (10)
2024-tbr (9)
classics (8)
indian-regions (8)
assam (7)
beautiful-writing (7)
helps-you-grow (7)
psychological (7)
2024 (6)
political (6)
science-fiction (6)
Sudeshna Bora
is currently reading
progress:
(page 3 of 395)
"I am curious if he would continue using communism throughout or it was just a very ill placed beginning of the book.
If former, I wonder what the narrative he wants to set.
He did use simple clear words for RSS whereas shrouded Communism in fractions, abstract words etc." — Nov 07, 2025 03:35AM
"I am curious if he would continue using communism throughout or it was just a very ill placed beginning of the book.
If former, I wonder what the narrative he wants to set.
He did use simple clear words for RSS whereas shrouded Communism in fractions, abstract words etc." — Nov 07, 2025 03:35AM
Sudeshna Bora
is currently reading
progress:
(page 47 of 274)
"The second part ties this chapter with the first one. What surprised me is how different the personality of Petrina and Irimias were in the outside world compared to the office. Here, they are prone to anger, prone to violent threats. Also, finally these people are the people who the villagers were talking about. I also was surprised the disdain they felt towards the villagers." — Oct 28, 2025 12:26PM
"The second part ties this chapter with the first one. What surprised me is how different the personality of Petrina and Irimias were in the outside world compared to the office. Here, they are prone to anger, prone to violent threats. Also, finally these people are the people who the villagers were talking about. I also was surprised the disdain they felt towards the villagers." — Oct 28, 2025 12:26PM
There was one little child, probably three years old, just big enough to walk through the sand. The Indians had gone ahead, and this little child was behind following after them. The little fellow was perfectly naked, travelling on the
...more
A holocaust we have all failed. I completely agree to the writer's point of view that sometimes, the magnitude of the massacre is so great that we lose the human touch and only think of it in terms of numbers. How that very thought robs the tragedy of its justice.
“every situation, knowledge was better than ignorance. However agonizing, it was necessary to confront the facts. Only through knowing could a person become strong.”
― Men Without Women
― Men Without Women
“Body and soul, it taught, were one and jointly responsible for sin, therefore jointly punishable. This became an important distinction between Christianity and Judaism. The Christian idea that, by weakening the body through mortification and fasting, you strengthened the soul, was anathema to Jews. They had ascetic sects as late as the first century AD, but once rabbinical Judaism established its dominance, the Jews turned their backs forever on monasticism, hermitry and asceticism. Public fasts might be commanded as symbols of public atonement, but private fasts were sinful and forbidden. Abstaining from wine, as the Nazarites did, was sinful, for it was rejecting the gifts God has provided for man’s necessities. Vegetarianism was rarely encouraged.”
― History of the Jews
― History of the Jews
“was dismissing the Torah as irrelevant and insisting that, for the approaching Last Judgment, what was needed for salvation was not obedience to the Law but faith. If Jesus had stuck to the provinces no harm would have come to him. By arriving at Jerusalem with a following, and teaching openly, he invited arrest and trial, particularly in view of his attitude to the Temple – and it was on this that his enemies concentrated.90 False teachers were normally banished to a remote district. But Jesus, by his behaviour at his trial, made himself liable to far more serious punishment. Chapter 17 of Deuteronomy, especially verses 8 to 12, appears to state that, in matters of legal and religious controversy, a full inquiry should be conducted and a majority verdict reached, and if any of those involved refuses to accept the decision, he shall be put to death. In a people as argumentative and strong-minded as the Jews, living under the rule of law, this provision, known as the offence of the ‘rebellious elder’, was considered essential to hold society together. Jesus was a learned man; that was why Judas, just before his arrest, called him ‘rabbi’. Hence, when brought before the Sanhedrin – or whatever court it was – he appeared as a rebellious elder; and by refusing to plead, he put himself in contempt of court and so convicted himself of the crime by his silence. No doubt it was the Temple priests and the Shammaite Pharisees, as well as the Sadducees, who felt most menaced by Jesus’ doctrine and wanted him put to death in accordance with scripture. But Jesus could not have been guilty of the crime, at any rate as it was later defined by Maimonides in his Judaic code. In any case it was not clear that the Jews had the right to carry out the death sentence. To dispose of these doubts, Jesus was sent to the Roman procurator Pilate as a state criminal. There was no evidence against him at all on this charge, other than the supposition that men claiming to be the Messiah sooner or later rose in rebellion – Messiah-claimants were usually packed off to the Roman authorities if they became troublesome enough. So Pilate was reluctant to convict but did so for political reasons. Hence Jesus was not stoned to death under Jewish law, but crucified by Rome.91 The circumstances attending Jesus’ trial or trials appear to be irregular, as described in the New Testament gospels.92 But then we possess little information about other trials at this time, and all seem irregular.”
― History of the Jews
― History of the Jews
“The process, which occurs again and again in Jewish history, can be seen in two ways: as the pearl of purified Judaism emerging from the rotten oyster of the world and worldliness; or as the extremists imposing exclusivity and fanaticism on the rest.”
― History of the Jews
― History of the Jews
“83 Egyptian fear of Israelite numbers was the principal motive for their oppression, which was specifically designed to reduce their ranks. Pharaonic slavery was, in a sinister way, a distant adumbration of Hitler’s slave-labour programme and even of his Holocaust: there are disturbing parallels.”
― History of the Jews
― History of the Jews
Around the World in 80 Books
— 30931 members
— last activity Jan 29, 2026 01:17PM
Reading takes you places. Where in the world will your next book take you? If you love world literature, translated works, travel writing, or explorin ...more
A Song of Ice & Fire Fans
— 5656 members
— last activity Jun 30, 2023 06:43AM
For fan discussion of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire series. Occasionally referred to by the first book of the series, A Game of Thrones. ...more
Bangalore bookworms and bibliophiles (BBB)
— 2861 members
— last activity Dec 26, 2025 08:23AM
A place for book lovers of Bangalore to meet, connect and have conversations (online and real life!) Just discussion about books! By book lovers! No ...more
Sudeshna’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Sudeshna’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Classics, Crime, Ebooks, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical fiction, History, Horror, Manga, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Suspense, Spirituality, and Thriller
Polls voted on by Sudeshna
Lists liked by Sudeshna




































