What book are you reading?

[Marlow]

I finally finished The Elephant Chaser's Daughter by Shilpa Raj and recommend it if you like memoirs (hint hint, Dawn), or are interested in India, or education, or ways to address poverty. As I've said before, it was written by a graduate of the Shanti Bhavan boarding school in Bangalore, India, which accepts students from the poorest of the poor and lowest castes in India. The school is featured in a multi-part documentary called Daughters of Destiny on Netflix and I can pretty much promise you'll find it interesting.

The book sounds like a young 20-something wrote it, but Raj is insightful and a more-than-decent writer. I rarely buy a new book or pay full price for one but I'm glad I did in this case.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by Marlow

I finally finished The Elephant Chaser's Daughter by Shilpa Raj and recommend it if you like memoirs (hint hint, Dawn), or are interested in India, or education, or ways to address poverty. As I've said before, it was written by a graduate of the Shanti Bhavan boarding school in Bangalore, India, which accepts students from the poorest of the poor and lowest castes in India. The school is featured in a multi-part documentary called Daughters of Destiny on Netflix and I can pretty much promise you'll find it interesting.

The book sounds like a young 20-something wrote it, but Raj is insightful and a more-than-decent writer. I rarely buy a new book or pay full price for one but I'm glad I did in this case.

Haha! YAY!!! It sounds great (I read the synopsis on Amazon too) and it's been added to my "to read" list. Thank you!

[greatblueheron]

Glad I read this book but true, protagonist's life was very difficult...


QUOTE=southwest88;49351266]Snow flower and the secret fan : a novel / Lisa See, c2005, Random.

Subjects
Reminiscing in old age -- Fiction.
Female friendship -- Fiction.
Women -- China -- Fiction.
Married women -- Fiction.
Older women -- Fiction.
Footbinding -- Fiction.
Childbirth -- Fiction.
Secrecy -- Fiction.
China -- Fiction.

Length
258 pages ;

A novelization of 2 girls brought together & matched - in rural China in the 1840s, in footbinding, as they prepare for marriage. Very hierarchical lives, bound in tradition. It's a very hard life, & not for squeamish readers. The author's notes are helpful, on writing the book, researching, visiting the area, on the women's language. A worthwhile read, but difficult for the protagonists.[/quote]

[Ketabcha]

I'm reading "The Snowman" by Jo Nesbo. It's the first book I have read by this author and is a serial killer v master detective story. Jo is a he. I jumped right in to the middle of his series of books starring Norwegian detective Harry Hole. Interesting name.


This author is such a clever fellow and so is Harry Hole. The killings are brutal but that is the name of the game. However, various characters will say asides right out of the blue that make me laugh out loud throughout the book. I think the story needs that to allow some tension to escape from the reader.


From time to time over the years someone will ask me why I enjoy reading so much and I have a list of reasons. One of them is that I learn new things in books. The first thing I learned in this book is what a "quisling" is. Of course I have come across the word before but never bothered to search out what it means. I just drifted along thinking it meant something akin to "toady." I learned what it is just yesterday because the author explained it to me.


A fellow named Quisling was the de facto leader of Norway when the Nazis invaded. He was basically a fascist to begin with and worked well to rape and rob Norway during WWII. He was finally executed by the Norway military. So, a quisling is a traitor and/or a collaborator.


I doubt anyone will ever ask me what a quisling is but if they do I can tell them. Unless of course, I cannot remember.


Oh, I am enjoying this book very much. I plan to start with book 1 of the series after I finish this one.

[greatblueheron]

I ordered Yoshiwara book on Geishas from Amazon and was surprised to see it was being sent from Japan...






[/b]

Originally Posted by kevxu

It's been awhile (I think) since I mentioned what I was reading. I have finished the first two:

1. Yoshiwara:Geishas, Courtesans and the Pleasure Quarters of Old Tokyo by Stephen and Ethel Longstreet. A leisurely and sometimes staid description of Tokyo's once-famous walled off pleasure quarter and it's complex social and entertainment mores and occupations.

2. The Floating World of Japanese Fiction by Howard Hibbett. 18th and 19th century city dwellers, i.e. shopkeepers, housewives, etc. used to be avid consumers of collections of short stories and what we would call novellas about people who decided not to lived by the traditional Confucian and Buddhist mores and (usually but not always) brought themselves to ruin as a result. There were several authors who wrote especially good collections, and these were avidly imitated by writers of lesser talent. The hook in many of the stories written by the more talented writers was that they slid in lots of sly humor and double entendre references that poked fun at the very moralities the violation of which they were supposedly tsk-tsking about. Both the story topics and the sn iggering were anathema to the government censors of the day, which made the stories and novellas all the more the rage, of course.

3. The Hungry Grass by Richard Power. It is the story of an Irish parish priest Fr. Tom Conroy in the Sixties. It is not a soppy elegy to the clergy, but rather the story of a rather bristly, difficult man with sometimes a bit too much of the "common touch" for a priest of that era. While it is a very witty and funny book, it is also stinging in some of the casual lashing out Fr. Conroy aims at his fellow priests or frustrating family members or blunders when he intends well. It is a moving book about a man who knows his life has not been a success, lived in a society where hints of major changes pop up frequently and are ignored or disbelieved.

4. The Scent of Time by Byung-chul Han. A non-fiction book. An interesting, but dense discussion of the hyper-activity of contemporary life which robs human beings of the capacity to experience the passing of time as fulfilling. A suitable gift for an arrogant college student or recent graduate who annoys the hell out of you.

[a l'ouest]

Originally Posted by Ketabcha

Oh, I am enjoying this book very much. I plan to start with book 1 of the series after I finish this one.

Is the first one "The Bat" ..? I read it awhile ago and wasn't all that impressed.




Currently reading "The Clockwork Dynasty" .. I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.

[Enduringwone]

Originally Posted by ylisa7

I usually need one redeeming character to enjoy a book. But I can work with interesting if I need to




I picked up The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel at the campground library. It is an interesting book about a man who just doesn't want to be around people. At age 20 he left his car on a road in Maine and starting hiking through the woods. After a few months he finds a spot that is well hidden and settles in for 27 years without ever seeing people, well except for one time when he said "hello" to a hiker.



In reading this I learned of hikikomori which are about a million Japanese young adults who have shut themselves off from the world and live in their rooms. Some have been there for 10 years and their parents just leave for them. It boggles my mind that so many younger people there have done that. I added Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation by Michael Zielenziger to my list.



On a side note we took off yesterday and Mike found me in the rv park library with books everywhere. I am slowly alphabetizing them

I have been contemplating swapping for Stranger in the Woods. I am receiving Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Pachinko by Min Jin Li in swaps.

I completed reading The Court of Wing and Ruin in two days and that was about a 700 page book! I plan on reading The Last Namsara next by Kristen Ciccarelli.

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by greatblueheron

Stranger in the Woods....saved
Has to be fascinating...

[/b]

It was an interesting look at someone who just can't handle society with all of it's people and loud noise.

Originally Posted by Marlow

I finally finished The Elephant Chaser's Daughter by Shilpa Raj and recommend it if you like memoirs (hint hint, Dawn), or are interested in India, or education, or ways to address poverty. As I've said before, it was written by a graduate of the Shanti Bhavan boarding school in Bangalore, India, which accepts students from the poorest of the poor and lowest castes in India. The school is featured in a multi-part documentary called Daughters of Destiny on Netflix and I can pretty much promise you'll find it interesting.

The book sounds like a young 20-something wrote it, but Raj is insightful and a more-than-decent writer. I rarely buy a new book or pay full price for one but I'm glad I did in this case.

Thank you. It sounds very good and has been added

Originally Posted by greatblueheron

Glad I read this book but true, protagonist's life was very difficult...


QUOTE=southwest88;49351266]Snow flower and the secret fan : a novel / Lisa See, c2005, Random.

Subjects
Reminiscing in old age -- Fiction.
Female friendship -- Fiction.
Women -- China -- Fiction.
Married women -- Fiction.
Older women -- Fiction.
Footbinding -- Fiction.
Childbirth -- Fiction.
Secrecy -- Fiction.
China -- Fiction.

Length
258 pages ;

A novelization of 2 girls brought together & matched - in rural China in the 1840s, in footbinding, as they prepare for marriage. Very hierarchical lives, bound in tradition. It's a very hard life, & not for squeamish readers. The author's notes are helpful, on writing the book, researching, visiting the area, on the women's language. A worthwhile read, but difficult for the protagonists.

[/quote]

I liked that book.The footbinding was an awful practice and made women practically useless...well except for ornamentation Trends during history are fascinating.

Originally Posted by Enduringwone

I have been contemplating swapping for Stranger in the Woods. I am receiving Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Pachinko by Min Jin Li in swaps.

I completed reading The Court of Wing and Ruin in two days and that was about a 700 page book! I plan on reading The Last Namsara next by Kristen Ciccarelli.

I have Pachinko on my list. Interested to hear what you have to say when you read it. What is a swap and how does your work?





OK...off to work. I will scan my kindle and see what I can start tonight. Oh and I saw a few good ones on kindle specials. Enjoy your day.

[LookinForMayberry]

Back at you, our queen.


I'm less than 10% into "The Fireman" and I LOVE it. Hill sweeps the reader into the story like a bear hug from a grizzley, and his characters throb with life. His plot unfolds with the delicious anticipation you wish you felt when matched with an insensitive lover.

But don't take my work for it, sample for yourself.

[LookinForMayberry]

Originally Posted by tigerlily

... Simultaneously reading The Golden House by Salman Rushdie.
...

I cannot do shorts, but the Rushdie title is now on my list.

Originally Posted by Ketabcha

I'm reading "The Snowman" by Jo Nesbo. ...
Oh, I am enjoying this book very much. I plan to start with book 1 of the series after I finish this one.

I've read the entire Harry Hole series, mostly because I was fascinated by his character and the relationships with others. Unapologetic competence attracts me.