I know I've already asked for this via Facebook, but we have more space here and not everyone is on FB. Respond in a post rather than in a comment on my piece. Mine are: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail—Cheryl Strayed; Snake Ropes—ess Richards; Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier; The Imperfectionists—Tom Rachman; …
Author: suroor alikhan
I have always been an avid reader. I read across genres and try and find books by writers from countries around the world. One of the things I love is talking to fellow readers about books!
Life after Life: Kate Atkinson
Published by Bond Street Books / Penguin, 2013, 624 pages. This book seems to have made it to pretty much every list of the best books of 2013. The premise is interesting: if you could live your life over and over again until you got it right, would you actually get it right? The main …
The New York Times Sunday Book Review’s Notable Books of 2013
Thought I'd share the NYT's list of notable books of 2013. I've just read one: Kate Atkinson's Life after Life. But have a few of these on my list. Thanks, Kris and Joannah, for sharing this. Image: John Kelly
Wild—From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail: Cheryl Strayed
Published by Thorndike Press / Penguin Random House, 2012, 315 pages. This is an amazing book about a woman’s journey to heal herself. Cheryl Strayed’s world collapses when she loses her beloved mother to cancer. Her marriage to a man she loves breaks up. And without her mother to hold them together, her family drifts …
Continue reading Wild—From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail: Cheryl Strayed
The Casual Vacancy: J.K. Rowlings
Published by Little, Brown, 2012, 512 pages. This is about as far as you can get from the magical world of Harry Potter. There are no Dumbledores or Hagrids here, much less any wizardry. The book takes you to a small unmagical town (Pagford), with small self-absorbed people who lack empathy or wisdom. Depite this, …
The Black Sheep: Honoré de Balzac
Review by Kamakshi Balasubramanian Translated from the French by Donald AdamsonPublished by Penguin, this edition published in 1976, 202 pages. Original version published in 1842. More than forty-five years have passed between my first acquaintance with Balzac and this renewal. Of that first work I read (Pere Goriot) I carry a strong impression, mainly of the …
Reading challenge!
My dear reading compatriots: I would like to propose something of a challenge. While I don't know the range of linguistic abilities among us, having never met the majority of you, I wonder if it would be possible for us as a group to undertake the same sort of challenge as BBC's Ann Morgan. Would …
Nickle and Dimed—Undercover in Low-Wage USA: Barbara Ehrenreich
Published by Metropolitan Books, 2001, 224 pages. The America of mimimum wage workers is not one that gets a lot of attention in the media. To quote Polly Toynbee’s introduction to this book, it is “a secret continent”. “The barely reported truth about the American dream is that it exists in a country of widespread, …
Continue reading Nickle and Dimed—Undercover in Low-Wage USA: Barbara Ehrenreich
Snake Ropes: Jess Richards
Published by Sceptre, 2012 This is a strange and beautifully written tale told by two young women, Mary and Morgan. Mary lives in a community on an island where the islanders trade with the “tall men” who come from the mainland. Boys on the island start to disappear, and Mary suspects the tall men. One …
Ultimatum: Matthew Glass
Published by Atlantic Books, 2009, 448 pages. This is in response to Lulu’s review of The Twelfth Imam, which she said was her first political thriller and seems to have been quite disappointing. Try this one. The book is set in the near future. Because global warming has made sea levels rise, several countries are …
Talking About Books 