Who's reading what,when & the experience

jivan

I loved "Into Thin Air", I just finished reading "The Starfish & the Spider" an inspiring collection of anecdotes/analogies weaven to give a message across.

Aishah

Casey - Iloved A House for Mr Biswas - thought it very fine writing. You've reminded me of a title Inheritance of Loss) in my cupboard, must get onto reading it after my 'Mills and Boon-ish' detective novel by MM Kaye - all elements there of M & B - feisty heroine, has 'nasty' altercations at first with man who is to become her love interest, catty women, much descriptions of clothes etc!!

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iwanttogoback

i have mixed feelings about 'inheritance of loss'. i enjoyed it and thought it well written, but ultimately somewhat lacking in substance. however, i would recommend it as a good read.

'mr biswas' sat on my bed side table for months,when i finally started it i wished i had read it earlier. funny, sad, beautifully written, and about a way of life i had not read anything before.

Casey

I didn't think The Inheritance of Loss was really worth all the fuss. While parts of it was well written, I found the spare style of storytelling did not work well.

I am enjoying Mr. Biswas and find it to be funny and sad at the same time. I have just finished reading some Coetzee and find the two to have some similarities, particularly Gorillas (Naipaul) and Disgrace (Coetzee).

Aishah

From your comments, Casey and iwanttogoback, looks like the Desai might be a 'skip through kind of book'... Nearly finished my Kaye one so starting Inheritance.. tomorrow I hope.

iwanttogoback

aishah, it's very easy to skip through. well written and entertaining, but not a lot of substance. i hope you enjoy it.

indah

I've just finished reading 'Holy Cow' by Sarah MacDonald.
Pretty good. About an Australian lady trying to find herself in India.

And I must have read the lonely planet and rough guide to India twenty times.

I'm just gobling up anything on India at the moment in anticipation!

the opoponax

Hm, I dunno. I liked "Inheritance of Loss" quite a bit. Really as more of a fun read than anything serious, though, I'll admit. I have no problem keeping it real and admitting that sometimes I just like to read books that tell a good story, draw me in, and get me invested in the characters. Which I thought "Inheritance" succeeded with. It's rare lately that I read a novel and wonder what's going to happen next. Seems, really, that not much happens at all in most contemporary literary fiction.

That said, I've met Desai a few times -- she's a friend of a friend, and in fact I attended one of the early readings. So I might just be biased.

--

I'll also add that I read Holy Cow a few years ago and hated it. I mainly felt like, "OK, who cares, you came to India to live with your boyfriend and hated it and had no respect for anything you experienced there. So you felt the need to write a book WHY, exactly?" Some parts were funny, I guess, but I just didn't see the point.

Nick-H

...never read Holy Cow, but I think your negative reaction has been shared by many, from memories of previous postings here.

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vinayverma

Just finished reading "From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet" by Vikram seth more known for his book "suitable boy'.

It was interesting to read and I felt like traveling with him at the same time wish I can do a travel like this on my own sometime in future.
More about this on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Lake-Travels-Through-Sinkiang/dp/039475218X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid =1195021092&sr=1-5

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Aishah

The Opoponax -I'll keep an open mind when I start 'Inheritance' - btw I felt much the same as you re Holy Cow, some was funny, some was "so what?" I think more a publicity and moneymaking exercise for the writer.

ColinT

Holy Cow - didn't take to it either. Very well promoted book and because of that it probably sold well. Agree with opoponax to some extent. Also, too much culture-shock stuff in it which I felt has been done to death in a lot of literature.

lucyl

I loved Holy cow, I really envied her. What i wouldnt give to live in India for a while. I've just finished Mistress by Anita Nair which I loved, very tropical and lovely, especially if you're going to Kerala. I've got 3 more weeks before I go and also gobbling up everything I can find.
I think I know the lonely planet India guide off by heart now, Ive read it all including all the places I have no intention of going. God i love that book. Must be one of my all time favourites.I plan what I'm going to eat, where. Where I would stay if I had loads of money, where I would realistically stay.....

Darmabum

good call . . . I recommend it highly. Written in the mid-80's, just before my trip through China in '85. Though I never got to Heaven Lake I did head in that direction; good to have Seth along with me.

He also released a book of poems from that same trip/time. It's called "The Humble Administrators Garden." Also worth finding.

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amyl

Such a short report but was simply amazed to read it. Was just surfing for something else when I got this.

I had never thought about how guys must be making maps and tracing the route of the rivers. How blissfully difficult it must be in the 19th century when you have to measure the distance by counting beads and steps! Or throw logs in the west of a river and arrange ppl in the far faaaaaaaar east to see if they receive the logs. This to confirm that the river in the west is the same as the one east. Phew! Google Earth, here I come!

Excerpts:




Truly intriguing it must be to read about such Pundits! Kinthup's life must have been a dramatic one!



EDIT: Might be interesting to grab one of these. Taken from the references in the above link.

* Ian Cameron: To the Farthest Ends of the Earth. The History of the Royal Geographical Society 1830-1980. London: Macdonald (1980).
* Nathale Ettinger: The Heartland of Asia. London: Aldus Books (1971).
* Eric Newby: The Rand Mc.Nally World Atlas of Exploration. New York et al.: Rand Mc.Nally & Co. (1975).
* Rebecca Stefoff: Accidental Explorers. Surprises and Side Trips in the History of Discovery. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press (1992).

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