Duke's book club

[General Duke]

This is the Duke’s thread with regards to the latest books the General is reading. Kindly stick to topics regarding these books or any others you suggest or are reading. No room for gossip mongering on this thread. Thanks

 

I have three titles that I will read one after the other.

 

 

1. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

[-Lily-]

Are you going to eleborate on that? What is it about?

[BORN_BRANIAC]

here are some of the books i read and suggest ppl to read.

 

A Thousand Splendid Suns ( Khalid Hussieni)

 

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( Gabriel Marquez)

 

The Kite Runner ( Khalid Hussieni)

 

The House of the Spirits (Isabel Allende)

 

 

All These books are Fiction

[General Duke]

Lily the book is fiction set in Mumbai India in the middle of the 70s..I will give a summary when I complete it, I have yet to begin reading it.

 

A Fine Balance

is the third book by

Rohinton Mistry.

Set in Mumbai, India between 1975 and 1977 during the turmoil of The Emergency, a period of expanded government power and crackdowns on civil liberties, this book is about four characters from varied backgrounds—Dina Dalal, Ishvar Darji, his nephew Omprakash and the young lad Maneck—who come together and develop a bond.

 

First published by McClelland and Stewart in 1995, it won the Giller Prize. In 2001 it was selected for Oprah's Book Club. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1996. It was one of the selected books in the 2002 edition of Canada Reads, championed by actor Megan Follows.

 

 

[General Duke]

Born Braniac: Give me a background on Khalid Hussain I ahve yet to read any of his works. Gabo is one of my favourite authors yet i have not read the Chronical of a death foretold.

[BORN_BRANIAC]

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and History at a large high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States. In September of 1980, Hosseini's family moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California-San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a Medical Degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Hosseini was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.

 

Hosseini's memories of peaceful pre-Soviet era Afghanistan, "I have very fond memories of my childhood in Afghanistan"[6] as well as his personal experiences with Afghanistan's Hazara people, led to the writing of his first novel, The Kite Runner. One Hazara man, named Hossein Khan, worked for the Hosseinis when they were living in Iran. When Khaled Hosseini was in third grade, he taught Khan to read and write. Although his relationship with Hossein Khan was brief and rather formal, Hosseini's fond memories of this relationship served as an inspiration for the relationship between Hassan and Amir in The Kite Runner.

 

 

I loved his two book and i really recomened them... also i cant forget the one and only Gabriel García Márquez, and that book is EXCELLENT

[General Duke]

One Hundred Years of Solitude;One of the all time great stories, highly recomended

[General Duke]

Born-Braniac - I will keep that author in mind, when I complete reading my latest books.

[Paragon]

 

I Am That is Nisargadatta Maharaj's most well known book and perhaps the best selling Advaita (nonduality) book in the West. Now recognised as one of the greatest sages of India, Maharaj's sole concern was with human suffering and the ending of suffering. It was his mission to guide the individual to an understanding of his true nature and the timelessness of being. He taught that mind must recognize and penetrate its own state of being, "Not being this or that, here or there, then or now, but just timeless being."

 

About the Author: Nisargadatta Maharaj was a highly respected sage who lived the modest life of a Bombay shopkeeper and family man. Because of the depth of his spiritual realization, people from all over the world visited Maharaj to benefit from his wisdom and guidance. His teachings, known for their exceptional clarity and universal appeal, communicate the essence of advaita, or nonduality. Set against a background of rare and remarkable photographs, these previously unpublished teachings (recorded between 1977 and 1979) represent the heart of Maharaj's message, which is becoming far better known now than when he conveyed it at his humble residence in a noisy, commercial area of Bombay. The Wisdom-Teachings of Nisargadatta Maharaj helps us realize the peace and freedom of our true nature. By understanding the false concepts by which we define ourselves, we can awaken from them and live in our true Self.

 

Just went through the above book. A random and most enlightening book. Perhaps a bit heavy on those non-familiar with works of this nature.

[General Duke]

No Country for Old Men by Cormac MacCarthy This is my second new book.I loved the Cohen brothers Oscar winning movie, but I was told the book is even better.

 

No Country for Old Men is a 2005 novel by American author Cormac McCarthy

. Set along the United States–Mexico border in 1980, the story concerns an illicit drug deal gone wrong in a remote desert location. The title comes from the poem "Sailing to Byzantium" by William Butler Yeats.[1] In 2007 a critically acclaimed film adaptation was released, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

 

[Che -Guevara]

Originally posted by General Duke:

One Hundred Years of Solitude;One of the all time great stories, highly recomended

I have read this one-the only book I ever finished within week that could remember anyway. I'm now little ticked and bit uncool since it's recommended by Oprah

[BORN_BRANIAC]

^^^ I have started that book but neva got a chance to finsish it....

[-Lily-]

I finsihed reading Mary of Magdala, a fictional account of the early life of Mary and some of the other disciples of Jesus, I read all 875 pages in a week and thought it was a very good book. Didn't like the beginning when she is possesed by demons who encourage her to committ suicide though, I found that part quiet chilling.

 

I'll have to check the book for the correct spelling of the author's name, will be back with that.

[Miriam1]

Sadly I have been reading only frilly novels lately...like "Me and Mr Darcy" - proper rubbish but very cute.

 

I read most of the books above. Was exteremly disappointed with the ending of "A Fine Balance" but you might see it differently Duke. Let me know.

 

Last serious book I read was a "A House for Mr. Biswas" Vikram Seth.

 

Will start to read serious fictional novels again - starting off with "A Time Travellers Wife"

[Chocolate and Honey]

The DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS AND DEMONS by Don Brown, very interesting, Very entertaining. I couldnt put them down. I'm a book collector. I have read tons. I will post a list of Awosome books later.