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vinay87

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Posts posted by vinay87

    Vodkafan's 2012 Reading List and Genre Challenge

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Nice list so far! I've always wanted to read and watch Coraline, since Gaiman is a real genius when it comes to his story and style. I even loved American Gods and Anansi Boys and his short stories are fantastic.

    I'm glad you're branching out with your reading, although I can't say I'd try the same! Mills & boon?! I'd shudder lol

    Also nice bookshelf! Have fun filling it :) that's one of my favourite activities. My bookshelf is bending from the weight of my books :D

    Vinay's Book Log for 2012

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    This sounds rather fascinating, might have to add to it to the wishlist, so thanks Vinay. :smile2:

    Indeed! I mean I didn't know until reading it that Rome had been auctioned off after the Caesar's own Praetorian guards killed him. And the post Christ story of Christianity is really illuminating too. One line of Gibbon's is something I'll never forget. "Jews were a nation but Christians were a sect." That is how he explains Christianity's oppression while Jews enjoyed a form of freedom in Roman times.

    Vinay's Book Log for 2012

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Vinay

    Loved The Count of Monte Cristo .Hope you enjoy it as well . Also I haven't read Zorro, but have read House of the Spirits by Allende. It was VERY good .

    Thanks Julie! I'm familiar with the story of the Count of Monte Cristo, and I've even read a part of it several times before, but I've never had the chance to finish it. I have a decent 3 hour commute to work every day now so I am putting that to good use. I haven't been too curious about Allende's work but I picked up Zorro since I'm a fan of the TV show of the 90s and the movies. Allende's writing leaves a lot to be desired, and honestly it's like she doesn't feel the same awe when she writes about Zorro as everyone who grew up reading the comics or watching the TV shows would have. I doubt she had any interest in the character until the people who own the rights came to her asking her to write the book. It's sad since there's so much potential there.

     

    Namaste Vinay Happy New Year mate. You have a lot of both English and Indian classics on your TBR pile. Today I found a version of the Ramayana , it is a modernised shortened version by NK Naryan. Is it worth reading?

    Hello James and a very happy new year to you too!

    I'm guessing you mean RK Narayan's book. If so, then I'm not familiar with it. I think it's a very short version of it but sure, do go ahead since you always gain more while reading a larger version next if the story piques your interest. I know the story, but there's so much there that's obscured by the religious outlook people have maintained about it. Ashok Banker's version is supposedly very true to the original mythology and it does not contain any religious bias about it. In my opinion, the story is too overshadowed by the Mahabharatha and that should not be the case since it carries its own when read with a non-religious view of things. The story is one of my favourite, and I'm not too religious even though I'm a Hindu.

     

    I'm currently reading Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and it is a fascinating book. I was skeptical about the subject at first: why would anyone want to write about just the fall of the empire when they could have written about the rise? Now I see I'm wrong. The story of the Roman Empire is the story of its fall. Every emperor after the first Caesars was taking it towards it, in his own way. The Modern Library Classics version is apparently the only one that contains an abridged version of each and every chapter of the original text. There are no annotations and honestly, none are required for Gibbon's own narrative reads like a story of its own. I'm a quarter of the way through the 1000+ page book and it is amazing. I'm going to buy the Wordsworth edition too since it apparently contains the full text of the first few chapters. I recommend it to anyone who loves history or even a good story.

    First read of 2012?

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted

    My first book was The Death and Life of Superman by Roger Stern, it's a novelization of the Death of Superman and Return of Superman comic series which ran in the early nineties. Amazing book and it should be the definitive Superman novel.

     

    I read it in about a day :) even bought it unexpectedly at a bookstore (it's pretty rare here).

    Vinay's Book Log for 2012

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted · Edited by vinay87

    Main Post. This lists the books I've read or am planning to definitely read/buy+read ASAP.

    TBR Pile

     

    Completed :

     

    1. Roger Stern - The Life and Death of Superman

    2. The Epic of Gilgamesh (Retelling by N K Sandars; Penguin Classics version with an introduction)

    3. Edward Gibbon - The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (Abridged; The Modern Library edition)

    4. The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin)

    5. Terry Pratchett - Mort

    6. Conn Iggulden - Genghis : Birth of an Empire / Conqueror : Wolf of the Plains

    7. Ramachandra Guha - India After Gandhi

    8.

     

    Reading :

    1. Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana

    2. Carl Sagan - Cosmos

     

    Queued Reads :

    1. Neil Gaiman - Coraline

    2. Conn Iggulden - Genghis : Lords of the Bow

    3. J. R. R. Tolkien - The Children of Hurin

    4. Brandon Sanderson - The Way of Kings

    5. H. P. Lovecraft - 67 Tales of Horror

     

     

    Dropped/Postponed :

    1. Isabel Allende - Zorro (Reason : Allende can't write. At least her translators can't. She ruined a good chance for a magnificent story. I'm never buying another of her books again.)

    David Eddings & Raymond Feist

    in Horror / Fantasy / SF

    Posted

    I also loved Faerie Tale by Raymond E Fiest. My first taste though was Talon of the Silver Hawk because a friend recommended it to me, I loved it and read the others in the series. I felt though he lost his way during it, and I just found it lacked something. I loved the Magician series and Prince of the Blood. As for Eddings, I have only read The Redemption of Althalus again, I loved this book and have been meaning to read more of his work.

     

    You must read Eddings's Belgariad, then! The series is endearing, just as the characters themselves are. They are some of the most memorable characters in fiction that I have come across, people I can never forget. It must have been one of the earliest fantasy books I read after discovering Tolkien. He doesn't seem to copy Tolkien much, thankfully. He's fresh and I hear his wife helped him write a lot of the books, so that's a nice thing to know as well.

     

    I enjoyed The Prince of the Blood and Talon of the Silver Hawk too. I'm currently reading The King's Buccaneer and will visit The Conclave of Shadows once more later. (Alternating between trilogies is exciting!)

    Jean Auel - Earth's Children

    in Historical Fiction

    Posted

    So has anyone finished the series? I took a peek at the Amazon reviews and was appalled by all the negative reviews for the book. I bought the first five of the books now (there was a sale so sue me :D) and I am hoping there is some decent ending to the story instead of a rushed one. (12 years between books?! Really? Wow.)

    David Eddings & Raymond Feist

    in Horror / Fantasy / SF

    Posted

    I just started reading Raymond E. Feist! I didn't like his Magician novel, I'd read it several years ago but a sale prompted me to buy almost every book he has written in one shot. I've read Prince of the Blood (First book of the Krondor's Sons series) and loved it. I'm currently reading Talon of the Silver Hawk which seems to be pretty nice as well. I think I just needed to grow up a little to see how fresh his prose is. It's easy to dive into a book without knowing the thousand years' worth of backstory.

     

    I find that in common with Eddings and Feist. Even David Eddings didn't take too long to let his characters become memorable. I guess that's a writerly gift all of us have to aspire to achieve.

    Your favourite narrator

    in Audiobooks & eBooks

    Posted

    I love listening to Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, they work together on the Wheel of Time audio books and once I'm published, I'm begging them to read my books!

     

    I also love Stephen King's narration. He has an amazing narrative voice. who better to read an awesome book other than the writer himself?

    American or English Authors

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted · Edited by vinay87

    I've never really bothered where the writer came from. One of my favourite writers is Burmese by birth (H H Munro "Saki") and one I recently discovered was Sri Lankan by his own choice (Arthur C. Clarke). I think it doesn't matter to most people.

     

     

    Though if I had to choose, I'd choose the English for their spelling. Or anyone who uses English spelling. I prefer "ise" to "ize". But that's not the point now is it?

    Random Literary confession from my childhood

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted · Edited by vinay87

    Hmm... I never picked up a novel until I was 10 years old. Until then I stubbornly refused to read books without pictures in them. I learnt English from DC comics. :D

     

     

    Also, on the matter of pronunciation, I never try sounding things out. Like "accio" for example. Until the Goblet of Fire movie, I had never tried to pronounce it. I knew the word, like all the other words, but I had never bothered to say it out loud. Quirk with me, I guess. I haven't outgrown it. Heck, when people ask me how to pronounce names from my book I just stare at them and then realise that people need these things.

    Vinay's Book Battle (2011)

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Read a few books since my last review:

     

     

    1. Neil Gaiman — American Gods

     

    I took a long time to read this book, mostly because of my work-related troubles and other personal problems. I love Neil Gaiman's writing style and I'm sad that I took so long to discover such a brilliant writer. His words are not only amazing, they are inspiring.

    That being said, American Gods is his own way of discovering America. Apparently, he wanted to learn as much of its culture as he could, he began to realise that the "American Dream" of immigrants coming over to the New World to live, could be applied not only to the people who come there on a barge, but also to the gods that are very existent, in their heads.

    I didn't understand a lot of this book, another reason why is because I didn't know the myths regarding Anansi.

    The central premise of this book is that a man named Shadow is released early from prison and finds out his wife is dead. On the plane back home, a man called Wednesday asks him to be his bodyguard. It is slowly obvious that Wednesday is a God. So are his comrades, more or less dying Gods. Well, these Gods aren't immortal. They can and will be harmed. It is the fact that people no longer believe in them that taunts them. The story revolves around Shadow, his own questions regarding his life and why Mr. Wednesday finds him of interest. It also introduces several divine beings from all over the world.

    A rather brilliant piece of work that redefines the fantasy fiction genre. I kid you not when I say this is something to marvel at, especially when fantasy fiction means elves, wizards and dark lords.

    Easily one of the best books I've ever read. Advice though: do some background reading after you read the book to realize who the names refer to.

    8/10

     

    2. Neil Gaiman — Anansi Boys

    This was a faster read than AG. Mostly because Gaiman evolved as a storyteller here.

    The book covers the story of Fat Charlie, one of the two sons of the god Anansi. When Fat Charlie decides to call his dad to his wedding, he learns that his dad has died. In a rather hilarious fashion. He also learns, to his dismay, that his dad's a God. And that he has a brother named Spider. He learns that he can contact his brother by asking a spider for him and he foolishly does. And when Spider enters his life, all hell breaks loose.

    This is a far greater achievement that AG, in my opinion. It is hilarious, and I have to admit, Anansi is the most brilliantly mischievous character I've ever come across. And in pure Gaiman fashion, you have several short stories added into the story, to let you know more about Anansi. That, I think, is the reason why I enjoyed it more. I learnt more about him, even though I had no prior knowledge, except a little from AG.

    10/10 and this is definitely on a re-read list along with AG.

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