Damn Right!
Guess what? Yesterday I spent the whole day reading Amitav Ghosh's Calcutta Chromosome. Yes, Even at work (during break times ofcourse!) and then I ran back home as soon as could to finish it. I EVEN (and this makes me sad retrospectively) told the loved one "sorry baby, I'm reading a book, can I call you..er..tomorrow?". It was about 3 AM when I came to the last page and found that this book has the LAMEST, most Fuck-All ending of all times.
I HATE it when a book makes me feel stupid, more so when its absolutely absorbing in every page except the last. It literally made me go HUH? or rather a humongous HUH???
And the worse part is that I like Amitav Ghosh's previous works - Glass Palace, Hungry Tide, In Antique Lands etc. I can't understand why this one turned this way and I've spent the last two hours deciphering the ending on the net, but nobody seems to have a clue. What's even more frustrating is the glowing reviews. Like all of them literary types have understood exactly what the book was all about.
I did like the book tho but the ending just didn't make sense and I felt like calling the author up and asking for an explanation and ofcourse for my money to be returned. If anybody has read this book and more importantly has understood the ending. CALL MEEE
Lately, I've reading a lot of books with Fuck-All endings and its like, I've hit a lean patch equivalent of the literary world. There was Candace Bushnell's 4 blondes before this and that too had a lame ending. But the silver lining in all this is that I am Reading. That I am reading atleast one book a month like I resolved to. I'm glad I can still stay till 4 am reading books when I have work the next day when I know I'll all be bleary eyed, just like it used to be in college. Nothing makes me more happier than curling up with a good book and losing all track of time and space.
Inspite of my whinging today there have been loads of good books that I have read.
*Drumroll please, for the lady recommends.........*
1. Reluctant Fundamentalist - By Mohsin Hamid: sweet, short good read
2. Boys From Brazil - By Ira Levine: Gripping thriller, OMG ending. Loved It
3. Atonement - By Ewan McEvan: Well Written, absorbing. Felt good after reading it
4. Pundits From Pakistan - By Rahul Bhattacharya: My favourite read of the year. I'm not a sports fan but this guy made cricket absorbing for me. Wonderfully constructed sentences on cricket and life in Pakistan. I can't recommend it enough
5. The In-between world of Vikram Lall - By M G Vassanji: Another well written book on the life of 3 asian kids in post colonial Kenya. I'm a sucker for stories with strong political bacdrops so much so that more than a backdrop, it ends up being a strong character in the book.
I have 3 more books on the cards that come highly recommended - Manil Suri's Life of Shiva, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy (OMG...Yeah I know...I've still not read it.. so shoot me ok?) and Orhan Pamuk's Snow. I hope I'll be able to finish these by the year.
What have you guys been reading? Any recommendations?
6 comments:
Hey, interesting list! Have heard of the first four, not read any of them though I did gift my dad a copy of 'Pundits...' once.
Will definitely look out for the Vassanji book, because I'm a sucker for anything Africa-related.
Lately, I've been recommended two books which you might be interested in checking out:
1. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. At the moment only a hardback version is available here and it costs a whopping 25 dollars. Waiting for someone to bring it over from India.
2. Total Constant Order by Crissa Jean Chappell. Looking at the blurbs, this seems to be a sort of teen version of 'Curious incident of the dog in the night time'. A neighbour in my old apartment told me about the book and said he really liked it.
I liked Atonement, because its so British. But what about that chapter on that headache???
Anyway, I love Graham Greene and I am reading and going to end up reading all of his works. I also like Scott Fitzgerald and Toni Morrisson.
Among chiclits, I like the classics, like The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I began writing one of my own but abandoned it somehwre along the line.
I dont really like contemporary Indian writing, I find them political, manipulative and pretentious. But I do like to read indigenous writers like Triveni, Girish Karnad and Kamala Markandeya in Kannada. My authored this book called Disorderly Women, I havent read it but if you do let me know what you thought about it. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2008.
My aunt authored the book.
He he he he . Love the title :-D
currently reading 'eating india' by chitrita banerji...it's a book on indian food and i absolutely loved it..its more informative than entertaining but what the hell! it is about food after all!
also read rave reviews about 'case of exploding mangoes' both in mint and jabberwock..it's by a pakistani and it does sound like quite a good book
santosh gowda
Ashanka, can I blogroll you? :)
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