r/Indianbooks

Only a few videos but that made think..

New to this sub. Since I've seen everyone post photos of their collection, i would like to add mine. I've read atleast 40% of these and i love most of them. Would love to talk about books, specially greek mythology (rick riordan) or classics (haven't read that many).

Feel free to reach out. Would love to have reading buddies.

Also have a bookstagram

https://www.instagram.com/\_bluehour\_\_

The Guest by Nikki Smith

The resort of their dreams.

A destination to die for...

WELCOME TO PARADISE!

Enjoying a holiday at the luxurious Asana Fushi Resort sounds like a great idea! But for the Hamilton family, this dream holiday soon turns into the trip from hell.

The story begins with the Hamilton family arriving at the Asana Fushi Resort in the Maldives to enjoy their holiday. As the story progresses, you’ll see how secrets can destroy lives and how lies can create even more discomfort in relationships.

Initially, you might feel that the story is a little slow, but gradually, it picks up the pace and becomes more interesting.

I liked the fact that the chapters are short, which makes the book easy to read. You get a taste of romance, deception, betrayal, and suspense throughout the story.

Amazing storyline!

However, I didn’t really like the ending. I feel it could have been much more suspenseful and thrilling. The book also felt a little lengthy at times. If it had wrapped up a little earlier, the ending might have had a stronger impact.

My Rating: 6.5/10

I have read 80% of the book and I think that people have really hyped it up. It is a decent book. 4/10

PS : Opinions are subjective. Don't hate me.

I read the Iliad in Fagles’ translation last year and am thinking of reading Lattimore this time. Has anyone read both? Is Lattimore worth reading after Fagles?

Excited to start The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas and The Golden Notebook

Lucky to have found Baudelaire’s Complete Poems

Is The Golden Notebook the best place to start with Lessing?

Finally finished these six books and now I’m at that dangerous stage where I want to order a completely new stack before I even decide what to read next 😭I have been getting more serious about reading especially books related to cinema filmmaking storytelling psychology and understanding how artists think and work I’m trying to build a proper personal library rather than just randomly buying books that look interesting

But I don’t just want cinema or filmmaking books I want books that genuinely help me understand the things a filmmaker needs beyond technical knowledge which is human nature, psychology, emotions, relationships, conflict, morality, philosophy, culture, society, human behavior, and the way people see and experience the world I feel like filmmaking books can teach you a lot about the technical side of filmmaking but you also need to understand people and life if you want to create meaningful characters and stories

I’m also very interested in fiction because I feel like reading stories from different perspectives can teach you things about character human behavior emotions and storytelling that a purely technical filmmaking book cannot so I’m looking for your opinions and recommendations for my next stash if you had to pick a batch of around 5 to 10 books for me to order next what would you recommend?

They don’t all have to be about filmmaking either I’m open to fiction, philosophy, psychology, cinema, biographies, criticism, and many more genre basically anything you think is genuinely worth reading

What should I order next?👀📚

Giving away this book for free. New condition. Just highlights are there on some lines in initial few pages. Shipping is on you Edit : guys its closed. Until next time 👋

What a phenomenal read and gripping prose.

Hey everyone!

I want to buy this book , looking on Amazon but there is huge difference in price one as seen In given pic. If i choose lowest price one does it make worth for short term (1-2 months) ?

>Premise:

This is a short novel written in the form of 17 letters between a child and his mother. Set in 2011, Vinod is struggling to build a life for himself doing odd jobs, while trying to reconnect with his mother in Naala Sopara, Maharashtra.

🔞Some themes are definitely 18+.

>What I loved:

• One of the most brilliant stories I've read. Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time... I'm not easily moved by emotional stories, but damn... I'm still quite shaken by this one.
• To give you a glimpse of the heartbreaking stuff - There's an orphan who looks into the mirror to see his parents - who he has no knowledge of. In his own reflection he names his parents... his white complexion and beauty must come from his mom he thinks, he consoles himself - "of course I know my parents! I see them everyday in the mirror!".
• The transgender community's lifestyle and perceptions: Struggles of the transgender community are depicted, their alienation, abuse and inhuman treatment. Bimli doesn't like to be grouped with the Kinnar life- Work is Worship for him. He refuses to walk,talk and dress according to society's (and his kinnar group's internalized) prejudices. He questions their defeatist attitude, and seeks some radical reforms (politically and socially).
• The relationship of the letter writer (Vinod) with his mother - extremely heartwarming. The longing to meet her again comes off so beautifully.
• Education, Employment, Empowerment: Or as Dr. Ambedkar said, Educate, Agitate, Organize. Powerfully depicted here too.
• I feel this novel is in itself a letter to the LGBT+ community of India, and whole Indian society as well. A message, a hope, to treat all with Dignity (connects well with FRATERNITY in our Preamble, as explored in TMK's We the People of India. It's been 10 years since the novel was published, and while there's been significant progress on that front, we as a society still have a long ways to go...
• Poonam Joshi 🙌 what a character.
• Arnica 30, Sintex water tank, Egyptian Pyramids...common motifs in Chitra ji's novels? 😆 Idk why, but they were mentioned in Giligadu as well. Might be her cherished memories... IYKYK
• Epilogue: what a brilliant and creative way to end the story! I've seen it used before, but this was equally effective. Excellent stuff.
• Ending: >!Are we to assume that Vinod reached home, received the sad news, and killed himself, or that he was killed by his brothers? Or the underworld as the article suggests? All endings are tragic,!< yet all are possible. Really well done. Which would you prefer?
• Title: I found this great interview of the author on YT, explaining the origin of the title and inspiration behind the story. I'd recommend you to watch it after reading the novel :) "Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do"~ Voltaire's quote haunts me daily. Now this novel will too, as it does the author.

>A Point I'm a bit unsure of:

• >!While Bimli's political attitude towards transgender is understandable, I'm not sure if the discussion is limited to transgenders only now - Gender's a spectrum, so Bimli's call for "being considered an equal male/female and no 'Others' category" is what I'm unsure about. On the one hand, we can say it's only Bimli's perspective, and he got its dissent within the story itself, while on the other hand it could be construed as Chitra ji's opinions on the matter. I may be too naive to think it's a pro-LGBT novel, as the times have definitely changed since the novel came out, so any suggestions or critiques are welcome 🙏 To my mind, Bimli's ideas don't diminish the rightful longing of a transgender in India to be treated with dignity, and to express themselves as they wish to. !< It's a tough issue of course, I'm not qualified to talk about it, but I recognize the need for it to be discussed seriously. Perhaps in some other review I'll try to explore the issue in detail.

>Conclusion:

I give 3 chances to any author whose work I'm approaching for the 1st time - if none of the 3 impress me, I devote my time to other authors. Just my handy rule to navigate the plethora of literature. {Stephen King has failed my test sadly}.

This is Chitra ji's 2nd novel I've read now, and it's even more of a masterpiece than the previous one. I'm truly amazed by the depth of emotions she's able to put to paper, along with subtly discussing contemporary issues of the society, and still be able to make a thrilling story utilizing unusual structures! Giligadu had 13 days POV of an old man, with shaky memory; this one has 17 letters over 6 months tell a tale of mother-child reunion. Chitra ji truly is, a modern writer. Definitely deserving of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2018🙌

>If possible, I'd recommend every Hindi speaker to listen to the audiobook, by Shaily Mudgal: you'll thank me for the eargasm. For my fellow English readers, there's an English translation by Madhu Shrivastav.

>Rating: 17/17. {Each letter being better than the previous one...till the last one}

Probably my favourite novel of the year so far.

P.S.: I've obviously played with the identities and genders of the characters in this review to avoid spoilers. >!I know Binni=Vinod=Bimli!<

One of the best books I have read this year.

Roadside Picnic raises the question of how humanity will react when encountered by something vastly beyond its ability to understand. What happens when aliens arrive on earth spend some time in the Zone they inhabit and leave? Without bothering to interact with earth's most intelligent creatures? The analogy is that the alien stopped at earth much like we do at a roadside picnic. Much like humans leave behind our belongings and leftovers to the marvel of the ants.

Although the questions raised by the book seem grand in nature, what I really loved about the book is how grounded the story is. What happens when humanity is encountered by something vastly beyond its ability to understand? The scientists try to understand it, the government tries to control it, the business try to profit out of it and the ordinary people try to survive it. The protagonist, Red Schuhart, is a small-town stalker (a person that sneaks into the Zone to smuggle out alien artefacts to sell) who is trying to provide for his wife and his mutant daughter, and trying to avoid getting caught by cops and other institutes. The entire vibe of the book feels like a Neo Noir movie.

I feel that this is the kind of story I was hoping to read when I has picked up William Gibson's Sprawl series and ended being disappointed by it. Funnily enough this book was a recommendation by the owner of the local bookstore where I buy books from. And, I loved it!

I’d walked past The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at Crossword so many times that the title was basically rent-free in my head. I finally bought a copy(cuz why not). I got home and was barely two pages in before I was completely hooked.

It’s easily one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

There are so many absurd moments and bits that genuinely cracked me up, like the intergalactic soul-crushing bureaucracy, like Marvin, the depressed robot, or the fact that hyper-intelligent mice were >!actually running Earth as a massive experiment!<. Then you have the number 42 >!being the answer but no one knew what the question was!<, the immortal alien traveling the universe to insult everyone in alphabetical order, Ford Prefect trying to pay an alien bar bill with an American Express card, the person/alien/beast who keeps getting killed in every rebirth by >!Dent!<, and SO much more Also, krikkit.

In true Adam's fashion the trilogy has five books loll.

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

3. Life, the Universe and Everything

4. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

5. Mostly Harmless is such a wild journey. .

I will say, the third book felt pretty different tonally. It wasn’t as funny and felt a lot more plot-heavy, but it still fits into the bigger picture.

And as funny as the whole series is, the actual ending in Mostly Harmless is shockingly bleak, like VERY dark compared to how silly it starts out.

If you’ve been eyeing it for a while, just read it. It's a very simple read.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

How do I fckin explain this?

I started reading this book in my university classes - whenever it seemed boring. Well, it's boring most of the time, so I read it during and inbetween classes and during the break time. Afterwards, I didn't have much time with gym and studies, along with fatigue.

I finished it in 2-3 days.

So, coming back to it, the book is a solid 20/10. A lot of people say that "nothing happened" in this book. A lot of things happened, actually. You just gotta perceive it that way. We saw a boy grow from his small farm village with his parents, to a man who became a professor in English literature.

>!If there's any character I hated, it has to be Edith. I lowkey believe, she's a bipolar and had some loose screws in her head. The hypersexuality, mood swings and her repeated cruelty on Stoner, when he started staying home, her histerical sessions - and she even took away Grace from Stoner and destroyed her life with drinks, pregnancy and what not; totally stripping her off of her innocence. She couldn't bear Grace studying with Stoner in his study, her whims of buying a house, I felt hell bad when Stoner looked at Grace's empty desk in his study. She even took Stoner away from his study, which he built with so much care and attentiveness. If there's any instance, any situation where I'm gonna support extramarital affairs, it's this one. I, so badly, wanted Stoner to end up with Katherine Driscoll. Poor guy felt that love from her which he deserved. But, Lomax, that SOB (the book calls him that, xD), made them end their beautiful love story, just because he carried that grudge from Walker incident. Everyone knew that Walker was in the wrong. I believe that the feud between Lomax and Stoner started ever since the former opened up to the latter after being drunk at that party. And Lomax and Walker's shared sorrow of disability probably made Lomax even more vulnerable when Stoner failed walker (Note- this is entirely my account, the book didn't explain why Walker and Lomax were close to the extent of Lomax defending him whenever he could). !<

>!And I loved it, that in the second or third last chapter, he finally got to hold her book which was dedicated to W.S, i.e. William Stoner.!<

>!I admire Gordom Finch and William Stoner's friendship a lot. Dave Masters- we didn't get much of him but I deeply regretted his loss. He wanted to visit France but he ended up getting killed there. I feel most bad for Grace. Her life got destroyed thanks to her mother but I really wish, she had a good life apart from her alcoholic habits. !<

>!The speech that Stoner gave on his last day, his cancer, the way he embraced his death, the brief encounter with Lomax and the end where he and Edith forgave each other. Stoner, thinking of his first meeting with Edith, him reminding Grace of her days studying with him in his study. Man, so heart- wrenching. Very few books have made me cry and I was trying to control my tears in class.!<

This book is a solid read. In some parts, it might feel boring (as per me), but well it's worth it. The entire account of a life, forty years of his career in the university, to his death. I love this book. 20/10 recommend