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November 13
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Nathan
gave
 
to:
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (Paperback)
by Suketu Mehta
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan said:
"Generally learned quite a bit from it -- though Mehta has a penchant for hitting the reader over the head with supposedly gaspworthy, headscratcher contradictions in Indian society (paraphrasing, 'Here was a ruthless gangster lavishing love on a pupp...more
Generally learned quite a bit from it -- though Mehta has a penchant for hitting the reader over the head with supposedly gaspworthy, headscratcher contradictions in Indian society (paraphrasing, 'Here was a ruthless gangster lavishing love on a puppy, while, outside, wild dogs devoured his children...' and such). Interspersed among the journalistic turns are a few more introspective ruminations on his own life, and how it fits into the two great cities of Bombay and New York; I found these the most rewarding reading in the book.
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June 08, 2007
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Nathan
gave
to:
Tales from Ovid (Paperback)
by Ted Hughes
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan said:
"Forget any thoughts of stale ghost stories. Ovid's rendering of these Mediterranean myths moves with a delicious narrative rhythm, and steeps even the most well trod allegory in deep human pathos. Hughes' nervy translation lets the reader (or liste...more
Forget any thoughts of stale ghost stories. Ovid's rendering of these Mediterranean myths moves with a delicious narrative rhythm, and steeps even the most well trod allegory in deep human pathos. Hughes' nervy translation lets the reader (or listener) inhabit Ovid's characters thoroughly, so that their magical world becomes as natural as ours. In school, Greek myths could ring flat to me -- like chants recorded in mono. Read them anew here, as real songs, in stereo....less
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June 07, 2007
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Nathan
gave
to:
Galapagos (Paperback)
by Kurt Vonnegut
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan said:
"What more can be said about Vonnegut's singular vision? Who else can at once be so withering and so tender? 'Galapagos' is far from his most incendiary (so to speak) work, but a few days spent in the company of such a mind -- quirky and humane, war...more
What more can be said about Vonnegut's singular vision? Who else can at once be so withering and so tender? 'Galapagos' is far from his most incendiary (so to speak) work, but a few days spent in the company of such a mind -- quirky and humane, warped yet clear-sighted -- makes for a good time....less
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Nathan
gave
to:
Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Hardcover)
by Salman Rushdie
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan said:
"Delight. Gone is the elliptical bombast that can drown out the playfulness in much of Rushdie's writing; what remains is a classic bedtime pageturner for anyone.
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Nathan
gave
to:
High Fidelity (Paperback)
by Nick Hornby
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan said:
"Hornby gets it. It being, in this case, what goes on in the head of a thirtyish middle-class bachelor, well intentioned but self-involved, lapsed from hipsterhood, and wrestling with responsibility, emotional openness, and the alchemy of dragging on...more
Hornby gets it. It being, in this case, what goes on in the head of a thirtyish middle-class bachelor, well intentioned but self-involved, lapsed from hipsterhood, and wrestling with responsibility, emotional openness, and the alchemy of dragging one's dreams into the waking world of being a grown-up. Using a commitment-phobic male narrative voice is a staid choice, but the book's issues center on that classic freudian dyad -- love and work -- and this bottom line makes Hornby's wry insights widely accessible. If the protagonist's own world included such a well tuned book, he'd likely hand out copies to women in a gesture of stunted, but nonetheless enlightening, personal communication....less
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May 30, 2007
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Nathan
gave
to:
In Cold Blood (Paperback)
by Truman Capote
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan said:
"Haven't seen either of the recent films detailing Capote's life around the time he researched 'In Cold Blood', but the reportage prose style of the end product set a brilliant and lasting standard. The sentences somehow remind me of Ethiopian food (...more
Haven't seen either of the recent films detailing Capote's life around the time he researched 'In Cold Blood', but the reportage prose style of the end product set a brilliant and lasting standard. The sentences somehow remind me of Ethiopian food (bear with me on this), in that they're eminently, effortlessly 'edible', and utterly satisfying. Told so clearly, the story itself harrows right to the bone. ...less
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May 28, 2007
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Nathan
gave
to:
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Paperback)
by Anne Fadiman
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan said:
"Fadiman unflinchingly dissects a tragic clash of healing approaches within the charged microcosm of one family and its surrounding community. Carefully unfolding this pathos-steeped cautionary tale, she challenges the reader to recognize the inevita...more
Fadiman unflinchingly dissects a tragic clash of healing approaches within the charged microcosm of one family and its surrounding community. Carefully unfolding this pathos-steeped cautionary tale, she challenges the reader to recognize the inevitable difficulty and dire importance of cross-cultural communication, and to find ways to do it better....less
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New comment on Nathan's review of
The Story of Layla & Majnun
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Nathan
marked as to-read:
The Story of Layla & Majnun (Paperback)
by Ganjavi Nizami, نظامی گنجوی
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan
gave
to:
Interpreter of Maladies (Paperback)
by Jhumpa Lahiri
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Nathan said:
"An astutely assembled family album of human relationships, filled with decisive moments for naturally fleshed out characters. Together, the stories trace facets of modern life for migrants, their descendants, and others close to them. But in their ...more
An astutely assembled family album of human relationships, filled with decisive moments for naturally fleshed out characters. Together, the stories trace facets of modern life for migrants, their descendants, and others close to them. But in their personal scaling and nuanced detail, the tales defy any attempt to lump them under such a blandly monolithic heading as 'the immigrant experience.' Tellingly, some of the indelible moments Lahiri conjures up come to feel like one's own memories. Heap my praise on the pile....less
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