Books Perused - 2010

1. A Chime of Windbells - A Year of Japanese Haiku in English Verse ~ Harold Stewart

Books Read - 2010

Books Read - 2009

1. Poems Written in Early Youth ~ T S Eliot 
2. My Friend Sancho - Amit Varma
3.  Murder is Easy - Agatha Christie
4. A Human Eye - Adrienne Rich
5. Maigret and the Flemish Shop ~ Georges Simenon
   
6. Writers at Work: Seventh Series (Paris Review Interviews)
7. Their Ancient Glittering Eyes: Remembering Poets and More Poets. ~ Donald Hall
8. Kaspar Hauser - graphic novel by Diane Obomsawin 
9. Writers at Work: The " Paris Review " Interviews: 4th Series  ~ ed. by George Plimpton
   

Books Perused - 2009

Perused = read 25-75%. > 75% read are in the Books Read list.

1. Critics on Yeats by Raymond Cowell
2. A History of American Poetry 1900-1940 by Horace Gregory
3. Revolution and Convention in Modern Poetry: Studies in Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Yvor Winters  ~ Donald E. Stanford
4. Wallace Stevens: An Approach to His Poetry and Thought  ~ Robert Pack 
5. Wallace Stevens: A world of transforming shapes  ~ Alan Perlis
   
6. The Achievement of T.s. Eliot an Essay on the Nature of Poetry  ~ F.O. Matthiessen
7. Art of T. S. Eliot  ~ Helen Gardner
8. T.S.Eliot: A Collection of Critical Essays  ~ Hugh Kenner (and only very briefly perused Words Alone: The Poet T.S. Eliot  ~ Denis Donoghue and )
9. 
   

Movies seen

Like the Books I have read post, I figure I should keep a list of movies I see too. I see some pretty obscure foreign movies from time to time but find I do not remember the names after some months or years. So, here is a list, beginning in January 2006. 


2006:

1. Bride and Prejudice
2. The Quiet American
3. Chutney Popcorn
4. Mostly Martha (German)
5. The Lovers on the Bridge (French)
6. Nowhere in Africa (German)
7. A World Apart
8. Along came Polly
9. The Eel (Japanese)
10. Mrs. Henderson Presents
11. Weatherman
12. Walk the Line
13. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
14. Downfall
15. Ray
16. House of Flying Daggers (Seen in August 2004. Loved it. Watched again)
17. Being Julia
18. Monsieur Ibrahim
19. Silent Waters - An excellent movie directed by Sabiha Sumar, who is a Pakistani filmmaker. The movie was featured in the Kara Film Festival and has won various awards including the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival. Also read more about the movie and the director at the following related links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
20. The Bourne Identity - had seen The Bourne Supremacy a couple years back but had missed this one - so have ended up seeing the two movies out of sequence. May have to see Supremacy again soon for it to make some coherent whole in my brain.
21. Unforgiven
22. Into Thin Air: Death on Everest
23. Mansfield Park - April 2006
24. Maalamaal Weekly (Hindi) - Hilarious adaptation of the equally good English movie, Waking Ned Divine. - June 18, 2006 (Chicago)
25. Parineeta (Hindi) - watched it twice this year - so far! Great songs. Love the movie - except the terribly directed poor pathetic ending! - June 18, 2006 (Chicago)
26. Fanaa (Hindi) - June 2006
27. Crash - Aug 2006
28. Omkara - Hindi adaptation of Othello, directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, director of Maqbool , which was based on Macbeth. Bharadwaj moved from making music to making movies after being inspired after seeing Krysztof Kieslowski films. (The movie has gotten quite a few good reviews from bloggers (ofcourse exceptions abound!), and even one case in MSM where it blew (the reviewer's) mind - Aug 26, 2006
29. U Turn -Aug 30, 2006 (Watched on IFC)
30. You Can Count on Me -Sep, 2006
31. Just Like Heaven - Sep, 2006
32. Nine Lives -Sep, 2006
33. Tristan and Isolde -Sep, 2006
34. Ghare Baire (Bengali movie by Satyajit Ray) - Sep, 2006
35. Money Talks - Sep, 2006
36. Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud - Oct, 2006
37. A neat coincidence happened in this regard. I heard the Miles Davis solo (Generique), on Mel Hill's great jazz show on BBC Radio a couple weeks ago and had noted in passing (after a google-search trying to find the piece) that it was from the soundtrack of a movie by the famous French director Louis Malle - translated in English as Elevator to the Gallows or Lift to the Scaffold. What a surprise coincidence then to see this movie on TV (on IFC) last week - I heard the unique trumpet playing and instantly recognized it as being THE movie. I watched and enjoyed the movie and not just for its music. I have been meaning to see a bunch of 1950s and 1960s French movies from the New Wave (to which Louis Malle, apprently didn't belong) and after. Also read - Louis Malle talk about the movie (pdf). He is also well known for the six-hour, seven-part 1968 documentary series Phantom India
38. Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (saw 70% of the movie on TV. Have seen it before) - Oct 6, 2006
39. Dangerous Minds - Oct 13, 2006
40. OldBoy (Korean) - Oct 14, 2006
41. A Bout de Souffle or Breathless (French) - Hopefully, what is considered by many to be the first movie in the French New Wave, is also my first of many New wave movies. Next on the agenda ought to be a movie by François Truffaut, maybe The 400 Blows. Alain Resnais's Hiroshima, Mon Amour has also been on my to-see list for a while now. Incidentally, Trauffaut co-wrote Breathless with Jean Luc Godard. - Oct 15, 2006
42. Capote - Oct 20, 2006
43. Cocktail - Nov, 2006
44. The Departed - Nov, 2006
45. Garden State
46. Coach Carter - Nov, 2006
47. Zameen (Hindi) - Nov/Dec, 2006
48. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Dec, 2006
49. Don (Hindi, new) - Dec, 2006
50. Dor (Hindi) - Dec 2006

2007:

1. Mission Impossible III - Jan 2007
2. Little Miss Sunshine - Jan 2007
3. Ek Din Achanak (Hindi) - Jan 2007
4. Black Dahlia (confusing to start with but had great promise and so I persisted with it and it did get better but it is nothing to rave about and definitely does not belong to the same class as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, another movie of a similar genre (first half of 20th century period piece, murder mystery, etc. Liked Hillary Swank's different new look but her character was not developed much and her talent felt wasted. Scarlett Johannson looks stunning as usual but once again, her role was frittered away in the 2nd half. Watched on flight to BOM - Jan 2007)
5. The Last Kiss (The way to make a cute touching movie - watched and enjoyed a lot on flight to BOM - Jan 2007)
6. Love Actually (Despite a large cast, this was turning out to be a very enjoyable good movie with several parallel storylines being developed at the same time but unfortunately I missed what I assume must be the last 25% or so of the movie as the flight to BOM ended... - Jan 2007)
7. Guru (Watched this much raved about Mani Ratnam movie, based loosely on Dhirubhai Ambani's life, in a Mumbai theater - Jan 2007. Update: Watched it again on DVD with SO in July 2007)
8. Humko Tumse Pyar Hai (watched in video-bus, traveling Bombay to Pune! Missed first 25% of movie. Boring predictable fare - Feb 2007)
9. Lage Raho Munna Bhai (watched in video-bus, traveling Bombay to Pune - Feb 2007)
10. Mistress of Spices & Krissh (Watched on flight back from BOM - switching back and forth between two very mediocre at best and mostly crappy movies. Do not believe much effort was put into making a good movie in the former case and I cannot believe people were raving about special effects in Krissh! - Feb 2007)
11. Babel (Watched on flight back from BOM - slept off for 15-30 minutes in between - Feb 2007)
12. Ab Tak Chhappan (Hindi) - have seen before but watched again on TV - Feb 2007
13. The Da Vinci Code - Feb 2007
14. The Dancer Upstairs - Feb 2007
15. The Illusionist - May 2007
16. Rebecca - Feb 2007
17. Casino Royale - March 2007
18. The Good Thief - April 2007
19. This Film Is Not Yet Rated - April 2007
20. Gosford Park - April 2007 -- in some ways, I feel like the Oscars. Neglecting an amazing director like Robert Altman for all this time, I finally see a movie directed by him! Sumptious!!
21. Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (hindi) - April 2007
22. Kill Bill Volume 1 - April 2007
23. Buena Vista Social Club - April 2007
24. In the Mood for Love - April 2007
25. History of the World Part I - April 2007
26. Ta ra rum pum (hindi) - April 2007
27. After the Fox - April 2007
28. Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - May 2007
29. Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (hindi) - May 2007 - This has to be the least time between seeing the same movie twice (less than a month!) This time, I saw it with my wife since she had not seen it the first time around in April.
30. Frida - May 2007 - Seen it some years back but was coming on IFC and saw it again. As enjoyable the 2nd time around... and not just because it featured the delectable Salma Hayek. "...they thought I was surrealist, but I was not. I never painted my dreams, I only painted my own reality."
31. Eklavya (hindi) - May 2007
32. Kill Bill Vol 2 - May 2007
33. Oceans 13 - June 9, 2007
34. -- Got to have seen some movie in 8 weeks - cannot remember which ones as I forgot to update this page ---
35. Brokeback Mountain - August 8, 2007
36. Water - August 11, 2007
37. Cooler - August 19, 2007
38. Lucia, Lucia - August 20, 2007
39. The Lives of Others (German) - August 25, 2007
40. Paheli (hindi) - Sep 16, 2007
41. Sweet Land - Sep 21, 2007
42. Closer - Sep 22, 2007 (As we were seeing this, we ealized we had seen this before but didn't remember much and so saw it again)
43. State and Main - Sep 23, 2007
44. Chak De India (Hindi) - Sep 21, 2007
45. The Contract - Sep 29, 2007
46. Reservoir Dogs - Oct 2, 2007
47. Batman Begins - Oct 6, 2007
48. Chungking Express (Chinese) - Oct 7, 2007
49. Alfie (*ing Jude Law - not the old one *ing Michael Caine) - Oct 9, 2007
50. Bourne Ultimatum - October 27, 2007
51. Traffic - October 28, 2007
52. Bourne Identity - Oct 30, 2007 --- had seen the first two Bourne movies before I started maintaining this list but decided to see them again after seeing the 3rd of the series last weekend.
53. Judas Kiss - Nov 5, 2007
54. Sex, Lies, & Videotape - Nov, 2007
55. The Good German - Nov, 2007
56. .. saw at least 2, if not 3, movies on TV (HBO) during vacation.. cannot remember the names!
57. Laga Chunari mein daag (Hindi) - December 2007
58. Om Shanti Om (Hindi) - December 2007
59. Kabul Express (Hindi) - December 2007
60. Shall We Dance - December 2007
61. Family Man - December 2007
62. Bhool Bhulaiya (Hindi) - saw bits and pieces (some good bits, mostly bad) - December 2007.
63. Nehle pe dehla (Hindi) - saw bits and pieces (Couldn't last through this!) - December 2007
64. Jab We Met (Hindi) - December 2007

2008:

1. Princess Bride - January 2008
2. White (Polish) - January 2008
3. The Darjeeling Limited - January 2008, on flight to India
4. The Last King of Scotland - January 2008, on flight to India
5. Great Gambler (Hindi, 1979) - Feb 2008 ... on TV in India
6. Things we lost in the fire - Feb 2008 ... on flight back from India
7. Mr & Mrs Smith - Feb 2008 .. on flight back from India.
8. Sleuth - Feb 2007 .. on flight back from India. (Also saw bits and pieces of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Nanny Diaries, 3:10 to Yuma and 15-20 minutes of Jane Austen Book Club
9. Trishul (Hindi) - Feb 2008
10. Chupke Chupke ( Hindi, 1975) - Feb 2008
11. The Namesake - March 2008
12. Lust, Caution (Chinese) - March 2008
13. Karz (Hindi, 1980) - March 2008
14. Khatta Meetha (Hindi, 1978) - March 2008 (can be seen in its entirety on Google Video!)
15. All about my mother (Spanish) - March 2008
16. Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (Hindi) - March 2008
17. Buddha of Suburbia - March 2008 (Only saw 2/4 episodes)
18. Prime - March 2008
19. American Gangster - March 2008
20. Mississippi Masala - April 2008
21. Atonement - April 2008
22. There will be blood - April 2008
23. The hours - April 2008
24. Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya - April 2008
25. Das Kahaniyan (Hindi) - April 2008
26. Dream for an insomniac - April 2008
27. Ek khiladi ek haseena (Hindi) - April 2008
28. My name is Justine (Polish) - May 2008
29. Dan in real life - May 2008
30. National Treasure: Book of secrets - May 2008
31. Juno - May 2008
32. U, me, aur hum - May 2008
33. All the pretty horses - May 2008
34. Salaam Namaste - June 2008
35. Crash - June 2008 (seen it before)
36. L'Auberge espagnole (French) - June 2008
37. Rush Hour - June 2008 (seen it before)
38. Wimbledon - June 2008
39. Hideous Kinky - June 2008
40. Picture Perfect - June 2008
41. Stranger than fiction - June 2008
42. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot - June 2008
43. French Twist (French) - July 2008
44. Curse of the golden flower (Chinese) - July 2008 ... another great Chinese movie with "lavish sets, massive ceremonial displays, and perversely fascinating battle scenes". The lavish sets were still a joy to behold but I tired off the battle scenes. Nothing is going to match the joy of watching Hero and House of Flying Daggers; especially since I had not seen anything like it before I saw those two movies. By the way, do not even compare Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Hero and HFD
45. The Night Listener - July 2008
46. Nim's Island - July 2008
47. Race (hindi) - July 2008
48. Jaane tu ya jaane na (hindi) - August 2008
49. Nine Months - August 2008
50. Notting Hill - August 2008
51. Born into Brothels - August 2008
52. In the Valley of Elah - September 2008
53. My House in Umbria - September 2008
54. Blue Umbrella (hindi, 2007) - September 2008
55. Deewar (hindi, 1975) - September 2008
56. The Contender - September 2008
57. A Wednesday (hindi, 2008) - September 2008
58. Dark Knight - October 2008
59. The Sting - October 2008
60. Kati Patang (hindi, 1970) - October 2008
61. A Streetcar named Desire - October 2008
62. Cool Hand Luke - October 2008
63. Waqt (hindi, 1965) - November 2008
64. Italian Job (seen before) - November 2008
65. Mission Impossible II (seen before) - November 2008
66. Quantum of Solace - November 2008
67. In Good Company - November 2008
68. The Rainmaker - November 2008
69. Oceans Twelve (seen before) - November 2008
70. Nurse Betty (seen before) - November 2008
71. To have and have not - November 2008
72. Devdas (hindi, 2008) - November 2008
73. Dostana (hindi, 2008) - November 2008
74. Fashion (hindi, 2008) - November 2008
75. Himalaya (documentary; Michael Palin) - December 2008 .... AWESOME!
76. Geldof in Africa (documentary) - December 2008 ... HORRIBLE! Watched just 1/2 DVDs.
77. Finding Neverland- December 2008
78. Welcome to Sajjanpur (hindi, 2008) - December 2008
79. The Crime of Padre Amaro (Spanish) - December 2008
80. My First Mister - December 2008
81. 50 First Dates - December 2008
82. Sorry, Bhai (hindi, 2008) - December 2008
83. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - December 2008 (on plane to India)
84. Iron Man - December 2008 (on plane to India)
85. Ghost Town - December 2008 (on plane to India)
86. Kuch Kuch Hota hai (hindi, seen before) - December 2008 (on tv)
87. Namastey London (hindi) - December 2008 (on tv)
88. Welcome (hindi) - December 2008 (on tv)
89. Amar Prem (hindi) - December 2008 (on tv)... movie on Google-video here.
90. Swindled (spanish)- December 2008 (on tv)

1. 2009:
2. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - January 2009 (on plane back to US)
3. Goodfellas - January 2009 (Missed last 10% or so of the movie as plane landed!)
4. Nights in Rodanthe -  January 2009 (suffered through first 40% or so on the plane!)
5. Baabul (hindi) - February 2009
6. Mr and Mrs Iyer (english/hindi) - February 2009
7. The President is Coming (Hindi) - February 2009
8. Luck By Chance (Hindi) - February 2009
9. Slumdog Millionaire - February 2009
10. Kal Ho Na Ho (Hindi) - February 2009 (repeat viewing after many years!)
11. Delhi 6 (Hindi) - February 2009
12. Someone like you - February 2009
13. Passion of mind - February 2009
14. City Lights (Charlie Chaplin) - February 2009
15. God grew tird of us - March 2009
16. 2046 - March 2009
17. Kolya - March 2009 (I think this is my first ever Czech movie)
18. 12 Angry Men - March 2009 (Also seen before many years back)
19. The Motorcycle Diaries (Spanish) - April 2009
20. Un Homme Et Une Femme (A Man and a Woman; French) - April 2009
21. Match Point - April 2009
22. Dil Se (hindi) - April 2009
23. Shaurya (hindi) - April 2009
24. Na Tum Jaano Na Hum (Hindi) - April 2009
25. Talking Picture (Portuguese) - May 2009 ...saw only first half.
26. My Blueberry Nights - May 2009
27. New York Stories (saw part 1 (Scorcese directed) and part 3 (Woody Allen directed). Skipped part 2 (Copolla directed) - May 2009
28. Paris, Je T'Aime (Paris, I Love You) (French/English) - May 2009
29. Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown) (Spanish) - May 2009
30. I Have Found It (Kandukondain Kandukondain) (Tamil) - May 2009
31. Paying Guest (hindi) - May 2009
32. Intimate Strangers (french) - May 2009
33. The Young Victoria - May 2009
34. Gran Tarino - May 2009
35. Jerichow (German) - May 2009
36. Beauty Shop - May 2009
37. Strangers on a Train - May 2009
38. Escape to Alcatraz - May 2009
39. Singh is Kinng (Hindi) - July 2009
40. Breaking News (Mandarin) - July 2009
41. Sex and Lucia (Spanish) - July 2009 (half-way through I realized I'd seen this before - in August 2005) 
42. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints - July 2009
43. Sarkar (hindi) - July 2009 
44. Khosla Ka Ghosla (hindi) - July 2009
45. Leela (hindi) - Aug 2009
46. Crimson Gold (Farsi) - Aug  2009
47. Pestonjee (hindi) - Aug  2009
48. Dosar (Bengali) - Aug 2009
49. Being Cyrus (hindi) - Aug  2009
50. Offside (Farsi) - Aug  2009
51. Chokher Bali (Bengali) - Aug 2009
52. Golmaal Returns (hindi) - Aug 2009
53. Ten (Farsi) - Aug 2009
54. A World Without Thieves (Chinese) - Aug 2009
55. Burn After Reading - Aug 2009
56. The Perfect Crime (Spanish) - Aug 2009
57. Johnny Gaddar (Hindi) - Aug 2009
58. Je chanterai pour toi (I'll sing for you: Documentary about musician Boubacar Traoré and other great Malian musicians) - Aug 2009
59. Notorious (1946) - Aug 2009  
60. Bheja Fry (hindi) - Sep 2009
61. Whale Rider - Sep 2009
62. Naked in New York - Sep 2009
63. Intacto (Spanish) - Oct 2009 ... review
64. La fille coupée en deux (A Girl Cut in Two - French) - Oct 2009 ... review
65. Drama/Mex (Spanish, from Mexico) - Nov 2009 
66. Bob le Flambeur (French) - Nov 2009 
67. Dasvidaniya (Hindi) - Nov 2009
68. What Have I Done to Deserve This? (Spanish; dir: Pedro Almodóvar, 1984) - Nov 2009
69. Contract (Hindi) - Nov 2009 (HORRIBLE! What a waste of time!)
70. Madame Sata (Portuguese) - Nov 2009
71. Rumba (French) - Dec 2009  
72. Amu (Hindi/English) - Dec 2009 
73. Strangers (Hindi) - Dec 2009
74. The Man Who Copied (Portuguese (from Brazil)) - Dec 2009
75. Mad Detective (Chinese) - Dec 2009  

2010: (Will start giving ratings on a scale of 1-5; more realistically 2-5 because I won’t see a movie that is a 1; if it is that bad, it’s probably being turned off in first 10 minutes and not listed here.)

1. Wristcutters - A Love Story ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 3/5
2. Wah-Wah  ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 3/5
3. Sweetie ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 2.5/5
4. Eros ~ Jan 2010 (Ebert Review: Three short films about "Eros" by Wong Kar-Wai, Steven Soderbergh,and Michelangelo Antonioni. Big fan of Won Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love (Reviews: 1, 2). He does not disappoint here either! Did not see the Soderbergh one and good thing I skipped the Antonioni film as it has bad reviews across the board!)
5. The Opposite of Sex ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 2.5/5
6. The Pool (Hindi) ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 4/5
7. Now, Voyager (*ing Bette Davi) ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 4/5 
8. Solo Con Tu Pareja (Spanish - by early film by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón_ ~ Jan 2010. Rating 3.5/5
9. Zus and Zo ~ (Dutch) - Jan 2010. Rating: 3/5
10. The Art of the Short Film: "Mt. Head" directed by Koji Yamamura. "Das rad" directed by Chris Stenner & Heidi Wittlinger. "Inja" directed by Steven Pasvolsky & Joe Weatherstone. "Sangam" directed by Prashant Bhargava. "The first three lives of Stuart Hornsley" directed by Leigh Dana Jackson. "Deathdealer: a documentary" directed by Andy Watts.
11. Man on Wire ~ Jan 2010 Rating: 4/5
12. Sophie's Choice ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 4/5
13. Jazz on a Summer's Day (documentary from Newport Jazz Festival, 1958) ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 4.5/5 (only because I do not want to give any movie a 5; just in case I see something that gives me even more joy!)
14. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring  (Korean) ~ Jan 2010. Rating: 3.5/5 
15. Khakee (Hindi) ~ Feb 2010. Rating: 3/5. 
16. Avatar  ~  Feb 2010. Rating: 4.5/5
17. Sirf (Hindi) ~  Feb 2010. Rating: 2.5/5
18. 
    

Movies to see

Taegugki, a Korean epic about two brothers who find themselves on the opposite sides in the Korean war (and on the opposite ends of the moral scale). Battle scenes are supposedly intense and make the effects in Saving Private Ryan look rather mundane!

2046 - The Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's new film and the long-anticipated follow-up to his 2000 art-house favorite, "In the Mood for Love" (which had recieved widespread an unqualified triumph," writes Manohla Dargis. In the movie, "a story of longing and loss, the passage of time is marked not by the hands of a clock, but by the women who pass through one man's life." To further quote Dargis' review, Wong "is less interested in love than in its wreckage, in the sighs, tears and agonies that sometimes follow in love's wake. One of the first images in "2046" is of the epigram "all memories are traces of tears," a bit of throw-pillow sentimentalism that might sound ominously maudlin if the tears in Mr. Wong's films didn't corrode like acid." The movie raked in 30 million Yuan, or US$3.6 million, over its first ten days at the Chinese box office and is in limited release in Manhattan and Los Angeles today- August 5, 2005

Paradise Now, directed by Hany Abu-Assad and Golden Globe winner & nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign language film and in 2005 (Read reviews; See Trailer)

"Paradise Now" follows the last few days of two suicide bombers. Dutch-based Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad has designed the story so that a number of different viewpoints on this tragic Middle Eastern form of terrorism get aired. While nothing truly new or shocking emerges, the film does bring clarity and compassion to its depiction of an act that baffles, angers and sickens people the world over.

Lila Says [French/Arabic with English Subtitles] by Ziad Doueiri , which made its US premier at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Yes..Yes.. Yes.. rave reviews for YES, the story of a passionate love affair between an American woman (Joan Allen) and a Middle-Eastern man (Simon Abkarian) in which they confront some of the greatest conflicts of our generation - religious, political and sexual. Hear from the director, Sally Porter on the making of "Yes" after 9/11

Rituparno Ghosh's latest, Dosar, - a very engrossing film about a young housewife Kaberi (played by Konkana Sen Sharma, who gets better with each performance) who simultaneously finds out that her husband has been in a near-fatal car accident and that he was having an affair with a married colleague. - Read the entire post by Jabberwock @ his blogpost

Beyond the Sea
Movie about "Mack the Knife" singer Bobby Darin (Kevin Spacey) and his relationship with his wife, Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth).

Killing Words

Robert Altman's Short Cuts (Ebert review)
Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (Ebert review)

Movies

'Movies can give us almost anything; almost everything.' - Pauline Kael

Nostalghia.com is meant as a tribute to Andrei Tarkovsky, arguably one of the most significant filmmakers of the 20th century

Big Fun in the Big Town German-produced documentary on hip hop and NY street culture from 1986
IFilm is a good site for viewing short films. Clipland's Short Film Database archives information about short films. The Australian Film Commission and the UK Film Center have good databases of short films. Not to forget AtomFilms; BMW Films; Minute Movies; indiefilmpage.com - Short Films; and Moving Image Archive - A collection of hundreds of short films. Open Directory Archive has a number of links to short films and movie-making in general.

Interesting article on Zhang Yimou, director of the critically acclaimed House of Flying Daggers and the box-office hit Hero

BBC slideshow of 2004's memorable films.

And considering lots of historical movies & biopics these days (Alexander, Gladiator, Aviator, Ray ...), here is an interesting site for fans of historical films--epics, period pieces, or biopics.

---

Oscar Nominations are in.. no real surprises - pretty much follows the Golden Globe nominations. I have got to try to see THE SEA INSIDE (winner of 2005 Best Foreign Film).

Speaking of Oscars, interesting rags-to-riches story (literally!) of Salim, a ragpicker's son from the slums of Delhi, who has played the protagonist in Little Terrorist, a film nominated for the Oscars in the best short film category this year. The 15-minute short film is written, directed, edited and produced by Ashvin Kumar, England-based son of fashion designer Ritu Kumar and is based on a true story from 2003 when "a 10 year old Pakistani boy mistakenly crosses the border between India and Pakistan, finding an unusual ally in a Hindu Brahmin, Bhola. Indian soldiers descended on Bhola's village searching for the 'terrorist' who crossed over. His neice Rani, insists they can't let a Muslim into their Hindu home. With Bhola and Rani grappling with the consequences of harboring a Pakistani and their deep-set prejudice against Muslims, Jamal's only hope is the humanity shared by a people separated by artificial boundaries a long time ago." Like with Salaam Bombay (nominated for best foreign film in 1988), where the actors were picked by Mira Nair from the slums of Bombay and enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame in the 90s, Salim probably will not become an actor of great repute in the years to come.. but this media attention will hopefully open some doors and stand him in good stead in atleast moving on from rag-picking to something better in life..

Ryan, the Best Animated Short for the 2005 Academy Awards, is fully viewable in 3 different video formats through the National Film Board of Canada (along with a preview of the Best Documentary (Short Subject) of Hardwood). The 14 minute piece tackles the life of NFB animator Ryan Larkin, who himself was an Oscar nominee back in the 1960s for the classic Walking until eventually becoming a panhandler. Director Chris Landreth also participated with an interview with Ryan Larkin for another NFB feature, Alter Egos, which showed their career constrasts. Ryan was a protegé to Norman Maclaren and produced many other shorts including the whimsical Street Musique before his cocaine addiction, leading to his current life begging for money in Montréal. - (a Mefi Link)

With an Oscar winning documentary, Born into Brothels, under her belt, Zana Briski's spinoff project, Kids with Cameras, teaches children growing up in difficult circumstances the art and skills of photography to empower them to appreciate the beauty and dignity of their own expression. With projects in Calcutta, Haiti, Jerusalem and Cairo, they send great photographers to lead workshops, the children are given inexpensive 35mm cameras to capture whatever they choose and then the children's pictures are shown (and sold) around the world through exhibits, books and film. - (Mefi link). Also read about the dispute about this film.. Another interesting similar movie lending children a voice is "A Misguided Life", made by Plan India, a Delhi-based NGO, which through its project "Children Have Something to Say", (funded by Plan, Netherlands), has given children an opportunity to deliberate on various issues including education, dowry, female foeticide, traditional practices, substance abuse, trafficking, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence and sexual exploitation.

Both Ebert and Ropert thought this film should have won the award for Best Foreign Movie at the Oscars this year - Downfall or Der Untergang, a German movie directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, is supposed to be one of the most realistic portrayals of Hitler (played very adeptly by Bruno Ganz) and his paranoia and absolute crazyness in his last few years. (Note: Details of Hilter's last days in the bunker revealed by Erna Flegel, Hitler's nurse.)

Incidentally, the Best Foreign film Oscar went to The Sea Inside, a movie based on the true story of Ramon Sampedro who was paralyzed following a diving accident and fought a legal battle for the right to enlist others to help him end his life. The film, directed by Alejandro Amenabar, has recieved rave reviews and won the Golden Globe and also National Board of Review accolades for best foreign language movie. Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who plays Sampedro, has also received wide acclaim for his performance during which he is largely confined to his bed, including a best actor award at the Venice Film Festival last year.

Another interesting nomination this year was Yesterday, a film in Zulu which is written and directed by Darrell Roodt, and is South Africa's first nominee in the category. It is also the first major movie in Zulu. The film has been used to help educate some South African rural communities about AIDS and has helped generate debate in a country where it is often considered a taboo subject.

Catalina Moreno has received critical acclaim for her starring role in her film debut, Maria Full Of Grace, a movie about drug mules in Colombia (director Joshua Marston went to Colombia looking for actors), although the response to the movie itself has been mixed.

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Cinema Therapy : "I recently discovered that there is actually a field of study for something that I have long felt existed - a way to access blocked emotions and memories simply through movies. More info: Books, Newsletters, and an Index of films recommended by issues. If movies can indeed "change the way we think and feel" for good, does this not lend credence to those who claim that movies contribute to negative behaviors ("inciting violence", "contaminating society's values") and even crimes? Or does the recognition of the good that films can do actually assist in the battle against those who blame films for negative influences? After all, "Courts do not award extra dollars to entertainers for the unforeseen positive byproducts of their work. Why penalize them for the less fortunate consequences of what they do?" Have you ever felt a theraputic effect from seeing a film?" - (via Mefi)

100 short films, 100 overwhelming stories - the new Yad Vashem Museum presents documentaries from the point of view of the Jewish eyewitnesses.

Delivery a short film by Till Nowak, is a dystopian, Escheresque daydream, digitally animated. - (via Mefi)

Balance, an Academy Award winning short film from 1989 by the twin brothers Wolfgang and Christophe Lauenstein is now available in Flash format.. - is this how the rat-race ends? Game theory has a name for this situation - Zero-sum - a situation in which a participant's gain (or loss) is exactly balanced by the losses (or gains) of the other participant(s). It is so named because when you add up the total gains of the participants and subtract the total losses then they will sum to zero. "Desire" would have been an equally compelling title for this movie.

A Troubled Teenager Finds Reason for Hope in this "modest neo-realist film from Kazhakstan. Both tough and tender, the movie illuminates the lives of its characters with bracing clarity and understated empathy"

Film Festivals - London Film Festival; Cannes; Sundance Online Film Festival; Slamdance

Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman, Ousmane Sembene, and Mike Leigh are among the directors of 25 feature films showcased at this year's New York Film Festival

Every other year, Ouagadougou (I loved to say that word in a funny way..endless vowels.. as a kid! ;)), capital of one of the world's poorest countries, Burkina Faso, becomes the centre of African films as it hosts the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco). Twenty feature-length films from across the continent competed for top honors at this year's week-long festival. This year''s top prize went to the movie, Drum, directed by South African director Zola Maseko. Set in Johannesburg's Sophiatown district amid the jazz clubs and bars of 1950s., the movie is centered on Henry Nxumalo, an anti-apartheid campaigning journalist, played by American actor Taye Diggs. The Etalon d'Argent de Yennenga, or second prize, went to "La Chambre Noire" ("The Black Room") by Moroccan director Hassan Benjelloun. The film tells of torture and imprisonment in 1970s Morocco. The third prize in the feature film category was awarded to "Tasuma, le Feu", a tale of an elderly Burkinabe soldier who fought for France and is still waiting for his pension, by director Daniel Kollo Sanou of Burkina Faso.

Wow..this is certainly what one expects at an Arab film festival! Sahlab seems to be an interesting Lebanese director!

A 13 movie retrospective of Amitabh Bachchan films...and then...IN PERSON...Big B on Fri April 15, 2005 at 7:30pm at the Alice Tully Hall. [Amitabh Bachchan will appear in person to talk about his career; clips from a few of his best-loved performances will be included. Special ticket price: $60. Tckets for this evening only must be purchased at Alice Tully Hall Box Office: 212-875-5050 or can be purchased online through Lincoln Center.

"Whose children are these?" provides a glimpse into the post 9/11 world of three Muslim youth, an honors student who's father was put into a detention center, a popular high school athlete who confronts pending deportation, and a youngster who finds a new life's calling to combat bias crimes in New York City as a youth activist.

Another interesting movie from Korea after A Tale of Two Sisters - Oldboy (Quicktime Trailer) - though Oldboy is supposed to be intense, graphic, and not for the faint of heart!

Some really good movies from China/Hongkong have being released in the US recently...including Hero and House of Flying Daggers, and now a movie from 2002, Infernal Affairs (Quicktime Trailer) starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (Hero, In the Mood for Love) as a gangster and Andy Lau as the cop.

Grave of the Fireflies - "this animated Japanese classic tells the story of a pair of orphans following the firebombing of Kobe at the end of World War II. It is also a wonderful demonstration of the potential of anime-a serious art form that is at least as versatile as live action, and equally capable of telling true, touching human stories."

'Atmajaa' (Born from the Soul), a half-an-hour movie whose success led to the development of a widely acclaimed soap opera will be shown at a NY Film Festival. The movie was produced by an NGO in collaboration with the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and deals with the issue of girl child discrimination leading to pre-birth elimination of females - a social disgrace along with dowry deaths in India...

58th Cannes Film Festival (11-22 May, 2005) opens.. Members of the jury of the 58th Cannes Film Festival include French director Agnes Varda, the president of the jury Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica, Mexican actress Salma Hayek, Spanish actor Javier Bardem, Indian actress Nandita Das and French director Benoit Jacquot. The festival opens with "Lemming" by French director Dominik Moll on Wednesday, May 11 and will . Also read
A.O. Scott's Cannes Journal (from NYTimes.com).

The quirky short films of Mitchell Rose

Channel 4's 100 Greatest War Films as voted for by their (generally more clued-up than average) viewership has plenty for you to disagree with, but much to recommend. Filmsite.org has a history of war films (as does Berkeley) for the completists among you. There are more war films from and about Vietnam and Indochina than you can shake a bayonet at (see also the 1999 NYT article, Apocalypse Then: Vietnam Marketing War Films to learn a little about the Vietnamese government's 1960s and 70s archive of war film). The [British] national archives have archived film from pre-WWI to the Cold War.- (via Mefi) Related: IMDBs top 250 war movies, sorted by user ratings

Sini, a 27-year-old Telugu tele-serial actress has created quite a buzz with her directorial debut, a short film 24 times 7, which got rave reviews at 'Short Cuts', an event where four short films and documentaries were screened under the theme, 'Women in Cinema'. Her film deals with child abuse where a parent or sibling is the abuser. Read more - via

Rediscovering fiction through films

Genre transformed - Penguins help lead way in documentaries' surge.

An unlikely film, Into Great Silence, has been filling cinemas in Germany in recent weeks: a three-hour documentary with hardly a single spoken word, set in a monastery.

Theatre History is the Theatre Museum of London's vast online collection of ephemera, containing more than 1500 objects that record the history of the performing arts in Britain since the 1600s. There's lots of goodies, but don't miss the goldmine of fabulous photos, posters, and prints. - via Mefi

Pocket movies take France by storm

Film fans in the UK will soon be able to legally download blockbuster movies for the first time, according to film studio Universal.

Letter From Paris: City of Lights, Camera, Action by Elaine Sciolino (NY Times)
"Paris au Cinéma," a celebration of the city's 100-year love affair with the movies, takes the visitor through the history of films shot in and about Paris

France's successful and popular director, Luc Besson, is retiring from film-making. (Read an essay on Characters and Themes in his movies, Subway, The Big Blue, Nikita (La Femme Nikita in the US), and Leon. Also read this In-depth interview with him.

Bollywood is having to take a backseat as the hitherto little-known regional Bhojpuri film industry steals the show in India. Wow..who would have thunk!

Books read: 2008

Books read (> 75% read)

1. Faust in Copenhagen  - Gino Segre
2. Yellow Medicine - Anthony Neil Smith
3. Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief - Stephen Alter
4. Shenzhen - Guy Delisle
5. The Girl on the Fridge - Etgar Keret
6. I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere - Anna Gavalda
7. The Nimrod Flipout - Etgar Keret
8. Poetry and poets, essays - Amy Lowell
   
9. Douglass and Lincoln - Paul Kendrick, Stephen Kendrick 
   
10.  In Her Absence - Antonio Munoz
11. The Best American Short Stories 2005 - ed: Michael Chabon
12. Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed - Liz Prince
13. The Intellectual Devotional - David S. Kidder and  Noah D. Oppenheim 
14. Conjugal Love - Alberto Moravia  
15. The Plot - Will Eisner
16. Blue Pills - Frederik Peeters
17. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
18. Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl
19. The Poet's Guide to Life - Rainer Maria Rilke
20. Collected Prose - Paul Auster
21. The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster
22. The Braindead Megaphone - George Saunders
23. Truth, Love and a Little Malice - Khushwant Singh  
24. Chicken with Plums - Marjane Satrapi  
25. At Large and At Small - Anne Fadiman
    

Perused through / Partly read (25-75% read; do not keep tab of books that I mildly peruse and read < 25%)

1. My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead - Ed: Jeffrey Eugenides
3. Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
4. Einstein's Cosmos - Michio Kaku
5. Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar - Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein
7. Palestine - Joe Sacco
8. Power to the People - Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran
9. Cool It - Bjorn Lomborg
10. The Hot Topic - Gabrielle Walker
11. The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches - Jeff Yeager
    
12. Reading Like a Writer - Francine Prose
13. The Wisdom of Donkeys - Andy Merrifield
14. The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Jazz - Loren Schoenberg
15. The Haiku Anthology - Ed: Cor Van Den Heuvel
16. Strange Pilgrims - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 
    
17. Samedi the Deafness - Jesse Ball
18. Slowness - Milan Kundera
19. Travels with Herodotus - Ryszard Kapuscinski
20. Saturday - Ian McEwan
21. Pedro Paramo - Juan Rulfo
23. The Best American Poetry 2006 - Ed: Billy Collins
24. The Complete Stories - Franz Kafka
26. The Very Telling - Sarah Johnson
27. Are You Somebody? - Nuala O'Faolain
28. The World's Best Memoir Writing - Eve Claxton
29. Inner Workings - J. M. Coetzee
30. A Blue Tale and Other Stories - Marguerite Yourcenar
31. Marriage - Anne Taylor Fleming
32. Echoes  - Robert Creeley 
    
33. Zoland Poetry - Ed: Roland Pease
34. The Art of Hunger - Paul Auster
35. Letters to a Young Novelist - Mario Vargas Llosa
36. On Writing - Eudora Welty
    
37. On Teaching and Writing Fiction - Wallace Stegner
38. How to Write - Richard Rhodes
39. After the Quake - Haruki Murakami
40. The Best American Essays 2007 - Ed: Robert Atwan (actually, this one I may have read just 2-3 essays, which would make it < 25%)
    
41. The Best American Poetry 2007 - Ed: Heather McHugh

Books read: June 2005 to December 2007

I read a lot. Not quite what some authors, writers, and journalists probably read but in addition to a couple hundred books I own, I almost always have anywhere from 3-10 books at any given time that I have checked out from the public library (my main source for books - what a great facility almost every single town/city in the US enjoys!), of which I read 1-2 in its entirety, peruse through a few, a few I try but somehow lack the time or the inclination and mood at that time to go beyond a few pages, and some I might just return without reading any more than the bookflap!

Anyways, yesterday, I picked up The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby (whose other famous books like High Fidelity , About a Boy , and the recent How to Be Good.) I have heard of Hornby and the cult-like following his books like High Fidelity have..but never read any of his books - although coincidentally, I read an interview with him just yesterday in Terry Gross's fascinating book, All I Did Was Ask, a collection of interview's from her program, Fresh Air, which airs on NPR everyday). Anyways, The Polysyllabic Spree is a true account of the books bought and read by Nick from September 2003 to November 2004. And though I have thought of keeping a log of the books I read for a while now, I woke up thinking today is the day to start. This is the kind of thing which would be nice to start as a new year resolution on the first of a year but, like Nick's book aptly points out..dates are just a reference point in this long struggle and love-affair with books and reading.

So, without trying to remember all the books I read earlier this year, I decided to start with most recent from the past month. Over the years, I have read 100s of books and do not even remember some that I read and enjoyed - though some liie Midnight Children, read in 1989-90, stand out because of the delightful joy they provided during the reading. In my other thread on Literature & Books, I have a haphazard smogarsboard of good books I hear about but this thread will be something more personal than a random list of links to books and reviews of the same. For the most part, I will not attempt reviews and personal comments about the books I read though a couple sentences here and there might be forthcoming, time and inclination permitting. - July 10, 2005

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2005

June 2005

1. Quantum by Jim Al-Khalili. Comment: Read only 20% or so of the book but only because the mood for reading more about quantum physics (a fascinating field for me along with the other monumental 20th century advance in physics - relativity theory, despite my limited understanding of both fields..more about it elsewhere) waned. The author captures the essence and mysteries of the quantum world very well - taking even a non-physicist like me through a fascinating journey right from the Plank-Heisenberg-Bohr days (which I have read a lot about) to the more recent advances and theories since the 1960s like quantum electrodynamics, sub-atomic particles, string theory, etc. (which I have not read about much and did not read much of yet again - someday, I will have to return to this book.)
2. A Sense of the Mysterious by Alan Lightman. Comment: A collection of essays on various topics - some autobiographical, some dealing with the interesting contrast and similarity of his careers in science and writing, some biographical expositions into the pscyhe of famous scientists like Einstein, Edward Teller, Richard Feynman, and Vera Rubin) and others just exploring not science itself but the 'human dimension' of science, if you will, as an enterprise. I read it completely.. not as interesting as his book Einstein's Dreams, which I read in the late 90s.
3. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From The Beaten Track - Richard Feynman Letters

July 2005

1. All I Did Was Ask - Terry Gross. Comment: A collection of her interviews on Fresh Air over the years with artists, musicians, authors, and film-industry experts (actors, directors, story-writers, etc.). Makes for a fascinating read - despite the obvious disadvantages of trying to read what was, in its making, meant to be heard on radio.
2. The Polysyllabic Spree - Nick Hornby Comment: Its like reading an encylopedia.. a brief intro to various books (some known, many obscure) that Nick read every month...interesting in pieces.. dry and boring at times.. but hey..this is what gave me inspiration to this blog entry..so I say it was worth reading.. read maybe 30-40% of it before I returned it to the library. Too many books to read...too little time!
3. The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952 Comment: Loved it so much - should try to read The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954, The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956, The Complete Peanuts 1957-1958, The Complete Peanuts 1959-1960 and The Complete Peanuts 1961-1962, The Complete Peanuts 1963-1964 and The Complete Peanuts 1965-1966

August 2005

1. Winning - Jack Welch with Suzy Welch

November 2005

1. Black Holes, Wormholes & Time Machines by Jim Al-Khalili
2. Whoosh by Tom McGehee

December 2005

This is the month to catch up on some authors I have heard about and been meaning to catch up on but never got around to it.

1. Black Dogs by Ian McEwan Comment: Having heard so much of McEwan (along with Kazuo Ishiguro, he has to be one of the most Booker-nominated authors in recent times!), I went looking for his books at the public library and found most of them checked out! This one was available and I started on it. I found it a difficult book to read and that I had to concentrate a lot to follow.. (or maybe it was just that I have not read good literature in a while and make the cardinal mistake of trying to attempt a read when I was distracted and did not give it the attention it deserved). Either way, I could not commit the time this book required and havefailed to read beyond the first 20-30 pages, despite the fact that I enjoyed it despite the struggle. I need to get back to this one and give it the good reading it deserves.
2. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan Comment: A masterpiece! I started with Black Dogs early in the month but on a subsequent visit to the library found this book and since it was a Booker winner, I picked it up and started on this.. Now I know why he got a Booker for this book and also why he has been nominated for a Booker multiple times! Nothing short of a full-blown review would do this book justice but I do not have the time for it now... except to say that the story itself can keep a reader engaged but in this book, it is the language, though difficult and needing my undivided attention, that kept me hooked and addicted and wanting more... I'll transcribe here one beautiful sentence from the book, although there are many other real long beautiful sentences and endearing gems in the book

"The ancient stone steps had been climbed, the wisps of sound had melted away like mist, his new melody, darkly scored in its first lonely manifestation for a muted trombone, had gathered around itself rich orchestral textures of sinuous harmony, then dissonance and whirling variations that spun away into space, never to reappear, and had now drawn itself up in a process of consolidation, like an explosion seen in reverse, funneling inward to a geometrical point of stillness; then the muted trombone again, and then, with a hushed crescendo, like a giant drawing breath, the final and colossal restatement of the melody (with one intriguing and as yet unsolved difference), which gathered pace and erupted into a wave, a rcing tsunami of sound reaching an impossible velocity, then rearing up, higher , and when it seemed beyond human capability, higher yet, and at last toppling, breaking and crashing vertiginously down to shatter on the hard safe ground of the home key of C minor. What remained were the pedal notes promising resolution and peace in infinite space. Then a diminuendo spanning forty-five seconds, dissolving into four bars of scored silence. The end."

Phew... Fantastico...what a ride! Who knew reading could take a reader through such a ride and leave him/her breathless like this.... only a true artist could write like this!!!

3. Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami Comment: While other books of Murakami have been lauded much more, I found this one and so decided to start here.. and was gripped for the first 120 pages! While not quite in the same category as McEwan, (maybe the beauty of the language is lost in translation), the story was gripping enough to make me finish this in 2-3 sittings. Even with the translation, the rumination in the last few pages was exquisite in putting into words the feelings of pain, longing, and 'disconnectedness', if you will, that comes from losing love, especially unrequited love.
4. All for Love by Ved Mehta Comment: I wanted to read The Red Letters but it was checked out and so ended up bringing this book instead. While I am amazed at the clarity with which Ved Mehta, blind since age 4, records his life, I am getting a bit bored after the first 3 chapters, which outline his relationships with 3 different women in the 1960s. A fourth girlfriend and lots more introspection and psychoanalysis is to follow..but I get the feeling - why should I care? So far, the details of his surroundings are often captured well - especially given the author's condition; but like he writes in the preface, blindness has afforded him a certain keen-ness lets him experience his surroundings with vivid detail. There is a sense of narcissism in writing an autobiography sometimes or maybe a sense of catharsis and self-probing, in this case. The author is very objective in analyzing his past failures, needs, and such psychoanalysis perhaps served him well but from the reader's standpoint, other than the mild sense of voyeurism in reading about another's life (like gossip!), there has to be something special to grip the reader's attention. However, while a reader may be impressed by how the author has triumped over life in ways many of us will not and in some instances may empathize with his sense of insecurity in dealing with women and loneliness (symptomatically linked to his blindness, in the author's case, as he writes in the preface), there was not much to keep me engaged- especially when there are other excellent novels (#1 and #2 above) that are being read in parallel. Althought it should be said that the sense of voyeurism in reading the details of another's life is something I usually do not feel when reading autobiographies but it was probably a result of the author's disengaging honesty in writing about his inadequacies and insecurities. For this disengaging honesty and associated charm, I'll give the book a second chance in January and get beyond the third chapter.

2006

January 2006:

0. Finished Amsterdam

1. Rapture by Susan Minot - Comment: Quickly read through this.... Unique aspect to the story telling & narration (leave you to read more detailed reviews at amazon.com & other sites) and not quite chic-lit - actually, nicely written in parts - but given that I was finishing up Amsterdam as I started this, this one didn't engage me enough. I never really cared much for books that ruminate about dating and analyze relationships - pulling apart the threads that make up a relationship (though, its funny that the other book I have been partly reading during this period (Tete-a-Tete, see below) could be said to be doing just that!)
2. Tete-a-Tete: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre by Hazel Rowley. Comment: Read first 200 pages and last 50-odd pages of the book. There was a brief period of time in the late 90s when I read (or tried to read) various existentialist writers and even bought Sartre's Being & Nothingness...and so I knew that Sartre and Beauvoir were 'lovers'.. but reading through this book I learnt a lot more of their relationship.. through the passionate beginning in Paris to the last days when a blind and decrepit Sartre died.
   
   Additional comment on the much-written about Sartre-Beauvoir relationship - The kind of lifestyle and relationship is certainly not for everyone but it makes me wonder sometimes if philosophers, writers, artists live such bohemian lifestyles these days too or did that end with the 'revolutions' of the 60s and 70s. Maybe Woodstock (summer of 1969) was the last stop of such publicly exhibitionistic hedonistic activities in the modern era? But at the same time maybe there are still some individuals that live such apparently 'free' but innately pretentious lifestyles? (I am excluding here the lifestyles of serial-daters or even swingers... people sleep around, people cheat... but consensual non-stop affairs like this being sustained through a lifetime is probably unique!! I lost track of who and when and where and the tangled webs their lives wove early on through the book!! For a short update of their liason also read this article by Louis Menand - The strange liaison of Sartre and Beauvoir
   
   Reading Book #1, I thought of reading about their story from the 'horse's mouth', sotospeak... but did not really find the time to read this one - Letters to Sartre by Simone de Beauvoir, translated and edited by Quintin Hoare.

February 2006:

1. Borges and the Eternal Orangutans by Luis Fernando Verissimo, translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa Comment: A short delightful read! Very interesting narration, imaginative story-telling and replete with various literary references - this was a short and delightful read! The book is a celebration of the writing legacy of Edgar Allan Poe & Borges in a sense and although at its core, the story is a whodunit, it goes beyond the scope of a typical murder mystery with its various (often obscure to me!) literary and philosophical ruminations. Its short enough to complete in 1 sitting though I probably ruined it by reading it over 4-5 sittings!

In Jan/Feb, I also read half-way or perused through the following books.

1. Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Comment: Definitely more accessible than some of his earlier works but given other readings, I decided to not ruin it and stopped reading this after the first 20 pages - hoping to return to it some day when I can concentrate only on this book. I have always wanted to read Marquez but although, a long time ago I read a significant part of Of Love and Other Demons, attempts to read his masterpieces, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera have been in vain!
2. The Romantics : A Novel by Pankaj Mishra Comment: Still reading - about 100 pages into it. Interesting part for me so far are the descriptions of Benaras.. making me realize that small-town India is more foreign to me than small-town USA!
3. The Best American Science Writing 2005 Editor: Alan Lightman Comment: Interesting essays. Read about 40% of the essays. The really interesting ones were about biology/genetics/evolution. Hope to re-issue this book and take more notes next time about the essays I liked.
4. The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry edited by Arnold Rampersad Comment: Really did not read much of this but need to re-issue and read when in the mood for poetry!
5. SPARK - be more innovative through co-creation by John Winsor Comment: Good book.. Read the first few chapters and took some notes but need to complete reading this. What I liked about this is that it is a series of essays by different people and so brings in varied experiences and backgrounds rather than the opinions and one-sided views of a single author.
6. The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley Comment: Good book.. Read through most of it but need to re-read with greater attention to detail and some note-taking!
7. MarketBusters: 40 Strategic Moves That Drive Exceptional Business Growth by Rita Gunther McGrath Comment: Same as #9.

March 2006:

1. A House on the Edge of Tears by Venus Khoury-Ghata, Translated from the French by Marilyn Hacker: Comment: See my review here.
2. A House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez Comment: Read only first 30%. To complete soon!
3. Snap, Crackle, or Stop by Barbara Quinn
4. Winning Habits by Dick Lyles
5. Winning Ways by Dick Lyles

April/May 2006:

1. The Trouble with Poetry (Poems) by Billy Collins
2. Koula by Menis Koumandareas
3. Imagining Numbers by Barry Mazur Comment: Great book. Review later...
4. The Joy of Pi by David Blatner
5. Blink - The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell Comment: Good read.. Will reviewthe book some other time but for now read some follow-up thoughts at my blogpost on the 'Gladwell effect')
6. The Red Letters - Ved Mehta Comment: Ok read..will review later.
7. The 360 Degree Leader by John C. Maxwell Comment: Have read the first 80 pages as part of a 3-member team group-read at work. First book-club type reading of a book for me. Will blog about the experience and the book when I finish the book over the next couple months.
8. Fish! Sticks: A Remarkable Way to Adapt to Changing Times and Keep Your Work Fresh by Stephen Lundlin
9. The Circle of Innovation by Tom Peters. Comment: Read first 1/3rd of the book as part of preparing for something at work. Also, got his book, The Pursuit of Wow! to read (had perused through most of it in 2004-05) but did not get the time to re-read it. These two books and Tom Kelley's The Art of Innovation, read early this year, are all 3 good books on innovation - which I should probably own. That said, Tom Peter's style takes some getting used to and I was initially put off by it - though he does say all the right things!

June 2006:

1. The Complete Henry Bech by John Updike (20 stories..read 10 of them. As always..Updike is a delectable delight! Have read a lot of his short stories and am a big fan of his. Expectedly, enjoyed Bech too! Next on my list - Rabbit Angstrom : The Four Novels)
2. Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz by Edward Burger & Michael Starbird. Comment: See my review here.
3. Sky Burial by Xinran
4. Throwing the Elephant by Stanley Bing

July/August 2006:

1. A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe by Fernando Pessoa Comment: Read only the long introduction about the unique and strange life of Pessoa, and read a few poems.
2. Modern South Asian Literature in English by Paul Brians Comment: Will reivew elsewhere later..
3. Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel Author: Scott Adams Comment: Only skipped through first half of the book. Good but not too funny!)
4. Modern South Asian Literature in English by Paul Brians, part of the Series Literature as Windows to World Cultures (Brians is a Professor of English at Washington State University, Pullman. He maintains a webpage on Common English errors, has a page on Resources for study of World Civilizations, and The Chernobyl Poems of Lyubov Sirota
5. My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes: Uncensored Iranian Voices by Lila Azam Zanganeh Comment: read a little bit about the book at my blogpost here...though I wish I had the time to elaborate more as I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
6. Creators by Paul M. Johnson Comment: Read my comment here
7. Also read about 20% of the following two books but having read many good book on physics and scientists, I was not impressed by the first one and hated the second one!
   Black Bodies and Quantum Cats by Jennifer Ouellette
   The Discoveries by Alan Lightman, whose Einstein's Dreams I had thorougly enjoyed reading almost a decade back!
8. Collected Poems by Jane Kenyon (perused through this)

September/October/November 2006:

1. Daughter of the Ganges by Asha Miro
2. Dreams of Dreams and the Last Three Days of Fernando Pessoa by Antonio Tabucchi (Comment: The Dreams were boring..read and enjoyed 'The last three days', since it was only a few months ago that I had read about Pessoa's alter-egos with great intrigue while perusing a book of his poems. See July-Aug 2006 above.)
3. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 ed. Dave Eggers
4. Break, Blow, Burn by Camille Paglia (Perused through this.. maybe read 25% of it)
5. Migration - New & Collected Poems by W.S. Merwin (perused through this)
6. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Comment: Loved it and made me want to read more about Iranian history, which I did (see # 8). Also this and #7 provided me with an introduction to the graphic novel though they are more of the memoir genre and lack the imagination and art of the more famous graphic novels.
7. Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi Comment: Not as enjoyable for me as the first one but still a good read.
8. The Iranians by Sandra Mackey Comment: see my post reL #6, #7, and #8 here.
9. 19 Varieties of Gazelle poems by Naomi Shihab Nye Comment: Sometimes simplistic, often brutal and gut-wrenching...an interesting inside-and-yet-outsider's view of the upheavels in the Middle East. A good read overall.
10. The Gecko's Foot by Peter Forbes Comment: Read 4 out of the 10+ chapters. Fascinating stuff... also need to read Biomimicry by Janine Benyus
11. Happiness by Matthieu Ricard Comment: Read the first 1/3rd of the book... a must-read for anyone (all of us?) who struggles with managing life to be happy!
12. The Man Who Knew Too Much: : Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer by David Leavitt Comment: Read the first 1/3rd of the book. What a fascinating life - need to get back to this book sometime but for this month, Iranian history has taken up all my free time!)

December 2006

1. Thinking for a Change by John C. Maxwell
2. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., 4th edition - 1999
3. Writing Down The Bones: Freeing The Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg Comment: Good book.. quickly perused through it but need to get it again, if I ever get around to writing!)
4. Dear Ghosts, poems by Tess Gallagher Comment: One of my favorite poets, I had devoured her book, Amplitude - New & Selected Poems, more than a decade ago (Fall 1996) and had fallen in love with her poetry. So, I got this book with great anticipation and though disappointment is too strong a word, I did not feel the same magical connection. Her poetry packs an amazing force, nontheless.
5. The haiku anthology - haiku and senryu in English (ed. Cor van den Heuvel). Comment: What a delightful collection of some of the world's best haiku. A must-have book for haiku enthusiasts.

January 2007

1. The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan Comment: Has to be one of the most disturbing ends of any book I have read... as always, McEwan is a difficult but very satisfying read.
2. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff--and it's all small stuff by Richard Carlson
3. Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi
4. The other 90% : how to unlock your vast untapped potential for leadership and life by Robert K. Cooper

February/March 2007

1. Paris Review Interviews - I Read about 6 of the 16 interviews. You can read all Paris Review Interviews in this delectable online archive
2. A man without a country by Kurt Vonnegut Comment: As always, his sardonic wit makes for great reading.
3. The Meaning Of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist by Richard Feynman Comment: Transcriptions of 3 lectures Feynman gave in New Zealand in 1963. I read the first lecture where he very lucidly talks about how science works. The second lecture deals with the controversial topic about science vs. faith/religion conflict and is a bit difficult to read; though hearing it would have been a very different experience. Feynman is always a pleasure to read though...
4. Einstein's Heroes: Imagining the World through the Language of Mathematics by Robyn Arianrhod... Read the first 30-odd pages but need to get back to this. Started this but then got fascinated by Faraday and decided to read #4 and #5 below before getting back to Maxwell. Also plan to read other books on Maxwell - 1, 2.
5. The Electric Life of Michael Faraday by Alan Hirshfeld
6. Entertainment for Angels: : Electricity in the Enlightenment by Patricia Fara
7. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

April 2007:

1. Ordinary Victories (Le combat ordinaire) by Manu Larcenet - Comment: My first graphic novel - it won the grand prize at the Angouleme (the 'Cannes of the graphic novel world', someone called it) some years back. This book has parts 1 and 2 of the series and a third part was released last year and a fourth book is planned.
2. Devadutta of 3rd volume of Osamu Tezuka's 8-volume graphic novel series, Buddha - Comment: Read only first half of the book. Read reviews here and here.
3. The Best American Essays 2006 - ed. Lauren Slater - Read # essays
4. Metamorphosis by Kafka & Peter Kuper (graphic novel) Comment: Read only first 1/3 of the book. This is a new genre for me and this book was not an easy one to read. Maybe I should re-read Metamorphosis by Kafka in its original text format again and then come back to this book. Also kinda perused through two other graphic novels this month - both award-winning ones by masters of the art - Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons and Good-bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson - but somehow I did not take to either of these books and could not . did not really read much of either.
5. QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard Feynman Comment: See my blogpost here.
6. Everything Else In the World: Poems by Stephen Dunn Comment: Great poems. A post about one of the poems from the book is here. Also kinda perused through Collected poems by Lynda Hull and Man and camel : poems by Mark Strand this month but did not really justice to either books to say I read the books. Reading the introduction to the former, I was struck by Lynda Hull's amazing but short life and did read some of her gritty poems but was completely thrown off by Mark Strand's poems... eluded me thoroughly!

May 2007:

1. Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis by Dan Rockmore Comment: After struggling through 75-odd pages of this book, I staged a walk-out. Life is too short to spend on books that are poorly written!
2. Selected Poems by James Fenton Comment: If this is poetry, I am a genius poet! Enuf said - What a frustrating waste of time reading his poems were! I think many 14 year olds write like he does... I cannot believe he is such an accomplished poet.
3. The Discovery of Subatomic Particles by Steven Weinberg Comment: I have so far read only the parts leading up to the experimental discovery of the electron by J. J. Thomson around the turn of the 20th century but it is great to (re)-learn the basics of electrical and magnetic fields from a guru of physics.
4. The Illustrated A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking Comment: My father had bought this book in late 80s/early 90s and I remember reading a significant portion of this now classic book then. However, I do not remember the details and re-reading this edition, an illustrated edition with great pictorials to go with the chapters, is great! Although I have read many (at least 12-20) books on cosmology and the universe in the last 15 years, I still find things I do not know or do understand or that my little brain has not retained from a previous reading of the same concepts in another book!
5. Nonconformity by Nelson Algren Comment: Great essays... a couple of them are sheer genius and chockful of quotable quotes. I'll blog about this book once I finish it and link to the post here.
6. The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets - Interviews with poets by Bill Moyers Comment: A great book - will have to buy it some day! Have read only 3-4 of the interviews so far but loved every single page of it. I think I appreciate and love interviews with poets even more than reading poetry itself. Poets are such wizards with words!
7. Alexis de Tocqueville by Joseph Epstein Comment: Read the first half of the book. A bit dry and perhaps I would be better served to read Tocqueville's original classic essays on democracy than reading his biography - although it did provide some interesting insights into the man's early years and background.

Except for the first, second, and last book in the list above, I am still currently reading the others and hope to finish them in June/July.

June 2007:

1. New Sudden Fiction ed: Robert Shapard & James Thomas. Comment: I am usually suspicious of very short pieces, as the authors try to do too much but this collection turned out to be pretty good. It is a collection of short pieces (4-7 pages long, at most) and the instant gratification provided by most of the short pieces was good for someone like me who seems to suffer from a shorter and shorter attention span as I grow older, blaming it on a lack of time to read for hours but more likely it is the indiscipline of not having enough patience. Oh woe!
2. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders Comment: Brilliant. See my post about the book and the author.
3. Paper Kisses by Reinhard Kaiser (translated from the Germany by Anthea Bell) Comment: The premise of a old fashioned love story in a different world than today is always interesting but I found this book too simplisticly written (a case of lost in translation?) and boring for me to keep me going beyond the first 30-40 pages.
4. Writing Magic by Gail Carson-Levine Comment: A book for young adults, it still is a good start for someone like me trying to motivate himself to get into a habit of writing. That said, I read only half of the book and gave up as I was not really following any of the exercises the book recommended to start developing the habit.
5. Nothing But You - Short stories from New Yorker Magazine, ed. by Roger Angell Comment: Some of the best short stories I have read recently. A great collection ...well worth buying! I read only about a dozen of the 25+ stories but enjoyed almost every one of them. Next on the to-read list: Victorian Love Stories: An Oxford Anthology edited by Kate Flint

July/August 2007:

1. In The Gloaming - Stories by Alice Elliott Dark (Comment: Couple of the stories in this collection are really haunting and stay with the reader for a long time after reading them. In addition to the famed title story, which was included in The Best American Short Stories of the Century and Nothing But You, a collection of short stories from New Yorker Magazine, it was also made into a very moving movie, directed by Christopher Reeve, other stories that I found gripping include...
2. Aya by Marguerite Abouet, Clement Oubrerie Comment: Graphic novel - Simple but humorously story about teenage girls growing up in Ivory Coast of the 1970s. It certainly was a different world back then compared to the civil war ravaged times today.
3. City of Glass by Paul Auster, Paul Karasik, D. Mazzucchelli Comment: see my post here.
4. Kate Chopin Portraits - compiled & introduction by Helen Taylor. Comment: Great shorts - I blogged about a short excerpt but this deserves a separate blog post by itself, which I will try to write some day soon.
5. About Alice by Calvin Trillin Comment: A nice memoir and tribute to his wife. Like he wrote in one of his recent books - "I wrote this for Alice. Actually, I wrote everything for Alice". That's a tribute, if there ever was one. A short rumination about a love story of a lifetime, without being overly sappy or sentimental, as it very well could have been. Like her life, the book came to an end too soon. The last few pages were really poignant and well-written, but after recovering from this, I was left with the desire to read more of Calvin's books (Alice, Let's Eat, Travels with Alice etc.) in which he writes more about the good times he had shared with Alice.

6. The Secrets of Happiness by Richard Schoch Comment: I read the Introduction and the chapters on Hinduism and Buddhism. Identified a little bit with what was written in the latter chapter, the previous one, ironically, being too philosophical and abstract for me. Like Richard writes, one has to be open to various religions to learn what they have to say about happiness and improve our lives... and I gave it a good attempt and even, sadly, marked up the book (with penicil) for all the quotes I thought I would write down somewhere... but no... no matter how many such self-help kind of books one reads, our personality is what it is and what we do with our lives - our expectations and our decisions - is not changed or even influenced much by most of these books. I read them, often I concur with what they say, but to adapt these ideas and implement them is where the crux lies and there I fail.

7. The Secrets of Happiness by Richard Schoch Comment: I read the Introduction and the chapters on Hinduism and Buddhism. Identified a little bit with what was written in the latter chapter, the previous one, ironically, being too philosophical and abstract for me. Like Richard writes, one has to be open to various religions to learn what they have to say about happiness and improve our lives... and I gave it a good attempt and even, sadly, marked up the book (with penicil) for all the quotes I thought I would write down somewhere... but no... no matter how many such self-help kind of books one reads, our personality is what it is and what we do with our lives - our expectations and our decisions - is not changed or even influenced much by most of these books. I read them, often I concur with what they say, but to adapt these ideas and implement them is where the crux lies and there I fail.

8. The Happiness of this World - Poems & Prose by Karl Kirchwey Comment: I was very moved by the prose memoir, A Yatra for Yama - especially the first few sections that dealt with the author's uncle (who died in his early 20s in WWII), his father, and his grandmother. Amazing how a family's history lives with and continues to shape and affect one's personal life and outlook. In the latter sections, the journey ('yatra') made by the author to see his brother, who lives in a monastry in Northern India was no doubt a very personal one although it was difficult for me to feel the connection at times... but I loved the way it ended. We all have to define our individual spaces and destinies for ourselves. Did not get around to reading or enjoying the poems.

September 2007:

1. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra Comment: Tried to finish this 900-page much looked forward to book of the year... but failed. The story, despite its cat-and-mouse game and attempted thriller is just simply too long to sustain interest. It could have been a good 400 page book (I got to 550 pages almost, skipping a total of about 50-70 pages along the way) but seems like the author just did not edit anything at all. So, while it is good in parts, it is definitely not good literature and even failed due to its verbosity as a pulp fiction thriller. The same old gaalis got old after a while and I started wondering if life was long enough to waste on this book - just to say I completed a 900 page book. Like I wrote elsewhere, the mind craved for some good writing talent after a while, work got busy, and the book could not be renewed again at the library and so I decided to pull the plug and save myself from the misery. The novel was rich with some interesting characters but after a while you start wondering what the point is. Enough said.
2. Numbers in the DarkAnd Other Stories by Italo Calvino (translated by Tim Park) Comment: This book was everything that Sacred Games was not. Short, crisp short vignettes in some cases but that stayed with you for long after you were done reading it and almost demanded a re-read in some times just to enjoy the writing. Even in translation, the writing was so beautiful. A true piece of art - left me wanting to read more of Calvino, who I have only heard of for the first time when I picked up this book.

October 2007:

1. The Counterlife by Phillip Roth
2. Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
3. The Professor's Daughter (graphic novel) by Joann Sfar & Emmanuel Guibert
4. Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster

November 2007:

1. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca Comment: Interesting book, maybe just because its by Iacocca. Will blog about it elsewhere later.
2. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 Comment: Read> 60-65% of the book..just did not get the time to read all the essays. Some of the essays were real good. The first 20-30 pages tried something new but in my opinion the experiment failed. The book could have done without those arbitrary of 'ten best headlines of the year' kinda lists.
3. The Scientist as Rebel by Freeman Dyson (Comment: Have posted a few blog posts - 1, 2, 3 - about this fascinating book based on essays written by Dyson over the years, many for the New York Review of Books.)
4. The Pushcart Prize XXXI ed: Bill Henderson (only partly read...)
5. 100 Ways To Motivate Yourself by Steve Chandler

December 2007...and reading a few of these into January 2008.

1. The Push Man and Other Stories (graphic novel) by Yoshihiro Tatsumi Comment: Great short pieces, though they all were a somewhat depressing look at life)
2. Darwin's Origin of Species by Janet Browne Comment: Great bio of Darwin and a good introduction to many of the other scientists (or naturalists) who were thinking about these (r)evolutionary ideas in the 19th century. That said, I need to read some other book to get a more thorough and scientific understanding of Darwin's theories and modifications to the same made since then by Mayr, Dawkins, and others.
3. Making Love by Jean-Philippe Toussaint, translated by Linda Coverdale Comment: Great novel. Thoroughly enjoyable though I have not taken the time to excerpt much from the novel as it cannot be enjoyed and appreciated thus. Like a good French movie, this book has to be experience in its entirety to thoroughly enjoy the whole feel and ambiance, if you will, of the book. Toussaint is a great find for me and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
4. Television by Jean-Philippe Toussaint, translated by Jordan Strump Comment: See my posts with some excerpts from the book - 1, 2, 3.
5. Mogador by Alberto Ruy-Sanchez, translated by Mark Schafer.
6. The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann Comment: See my post about this
7. The Real Meaning of Life by David Seaman
8. On Truth by Harry G. Frankfurt
9. On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt
10. The Man of Feeling by Javier Marias Comment: Dense intense writing. Read only first 20 or so pages. Need to read this when I have more time and concentrating on just 1-2 books at any given time! 

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Note: Short Stories Collections: I used to list them separately initially but have realized my folly and include them in the above list these days.

The short story is exquisitely difficult.'- VS Pritchett

1. World Famous Love Acts by Brian Leung -- read 3-4 stories, 1H 2005
2. God Lives in St. Petersburg by Tom Bissel -- read ~ half the stories, 1H 2005
3. Natasha by David Bezmozgis -- read all stories, 1H 2005
4. Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx - read 2 stories, July 2005
5. Runaway by Alice Munro - read 3-4 stories, August 2005  
6. Manhattan Monologues - Louis Auchincloss .. December 2005 Comment: Auchincloss continues in traditional vein with his tales of upheavals and social interaction between the rich and the very rich socialites of New York. I had read a few stories of his (can't remember which book - he is a prolific writer!) some time back and it is amazing that despite having the same background or milieu of characters, his writing is not repetitive nor stale.
7. Mona and Other Tales - Reinaldo Arenas .. November-December 2005   Comment: Arenas is a dissident Cuban writer (1943-90), made famous in North America with his Before Night Falls, a memoir in which Arenas recounts his journey from a poverty-stricken childhood in rural Cuba to his death in New York four decades later. I have not read much of Marquez or other lauded experts of the 'magical realism' genre but some of the stories in this collection like 'The Glass Tower' and the title story took me on a bizarre strange fantasy and surreal ride. I certainly did not see where the story was taking me..especially the title story. However, Arenas indulges in the kind of magic realism that readers have come to expect of Latin American writers but simmering beneath this rhapsody is the strong feeling of disassociation in exile, political activism, and satirical rage. Also, I particularly liked 'End of the Story', the last story in the book and so I'll expostulate a little bit more about it. Per the Library Journal Review at amazon.com, he writes a 'moving and yet spirited elegy to a love lost to suicide and a country lost to politics. This story is set on Key West and in Arenas's own imaginary island of Manhattan-cum-Havana and is filled with Whitmanian longing, caustic wit, and articulate rage.'
   However, in my opinion, this was a story about himself.. the 'lover' the story's narrator loses to suicide and sets free after his death by scattering his ashes in the Sargasso sea between Key West and Cuba, is a part of Arenas himself, making his way back home to Cuba.. despite all earlier remonstrations against ever going back home. So, my interpretation was that the entire story was a talk between Arenas and his conflicted inner soul.
   It is interesting to note that the story was written in 1982 and I am not sure if he was already afflicted with AIDS then (probably not)..but Arenas, afflicted with AIDS, himself committed suicide in 1990.
   Here is a great quote from this story.

'Homesickness can also be a kind of consolation, a sweet suffering, a way of looking at things, and even of enjoying them. We can only triumph by resisting. Our only revenge is surviving..'

This quote about summarizes Reinaldo's struggles to make peace with being away from his beloved homeland Cuba, which he hated for what it had become. After one of the greatest descriptions (two pages of craziness) of New York city, a city he has made his home, he asks,.....

(Note: May 2006 - Problems on Blogger and my review got truncated. GRRR!!! I do not have a copy of what I had written here!)

8. Ten Women Who Shook the World by Sylvia Brownrigg Comment: Just read 1-2 stories. Did not grip me and never returned to it amidst everything else I was reading at the time. (March 2006)
9. Curled in the Bed of Love (Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction) by Catherine Brady - Comment: Just read 1 story - very good. Have to return to it some day... (March 2006)
10. The Best American Short Stories 2005 ed. Michael Chabon Comment: Read two stories so far... Rishi Reddi's 'Justice Shiva Murthy' and Joyce Carol Oates' 'Cousins'. (April 2006)
11. Talking to the Enemy by Avner Mandelman Comment: Read 3-4 stories. Blaaah! (April 2006)
12. The Trouble With You Is by Susan Jackson Rodgers Comment: Read 3-4 stories. Good! (April 2006) 
13. People I Wanted to Be by Gina Ochsner Comment: Think I read 1 story...never returned to it amidst everything else I was reading at the time. (March/April 2006) 
14. A short journey by car by Liam Durcan Comment: Read a couple stories - need to go back and read a more - May 2006  
15. The Prophet of Zongo Street by Mohammed Naseehu Ali Comment: Read a couple stories - need to go back and read a few more! - June 2006  
16. Love in an Expanding Universe by Ronald J. Rindo Comment: Some very good stories - loved the book. (June 2006)  
17. Close Range - Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx, including the very popular Brokeback Mountain. Comment: Hope to review later some day. (July 2006) 
18. 2006 O'Henry Award - Short Stories Comment: I read only a few stories. Need to re-issue and read again some other day. 
19. Love and Longing in Bombay by Vikram Chandra 
20. Calamity and Other Stories by Daphne Kalotay Comment: Some really good stories ... loved what I read, which was 3-4 stories    
21. Severance by Robert Olen Butler Comment: A very interesting writing experiment - 62 entries, each in the voice of a beheaded historical, mythical, animal or modern figure, make up the collection. Each is exactly 240 words, Butler's estimate of the number of words that could be spoken by a decapitated head before oxygen runs out -- this book shouldn't even be on this list considering I did not read more than a dozen or so of this rather morbid book. 

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Last and final update: December 20, 2007. I will start a new thread for 2008 onwards elsewhere.

Books to read - FICTION & POETRY

This thread is by no means an exhaustive list of books that I hope to read some day. It is merely a place where, on occasion, I add names of books I run into and think might be interesting to read some day.

FICTION
The Adventures of Amir Hamza - Ghalib Lakhnavi



Love Begins in Winter - Short stories by Simon Van Booy

Tranquility - Attila Bartis

Eros - Helmut Krausse

The Palestinian Lover - Selim Nassib

Prisoner of Love - Jean Genet

Death with Interruptions - Jose Saramago
 

Man in the Dark - Paul Auster

A Case of Exploding Mangoes - Mohammed Hanif

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders - Daniyal Mueenuddin

Kafka's curse by Achmat Dangor 

Funny in Farsi - Firoozeh Dumas

At the Wall of the Almighty - Farnoosh Moshiri

Little Casino - Gilbert Sorrentino

Short Stories:

• The Art of the Short Story - Dana Gioia
• Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather - Gao Xingjian (short stories)
• The Collected Stories of Richard Yates - Richard Yates
• Brain Work - Michael Guista (short stories)
• Rear View  - Peter Duval (short stories)
• One More Year - Sana Krasikov (short stories)
• The Three Button Trick and Other Stories - Nicola Barker (short stories)
• Some Fun - Antonya Nelson (short stories)
• One Thousand and One-Second Stories - Inagaki Taruho
• A Whistler in the Nightworld (Short Fiction from the Latin Americas) - Ed: Thomas Colchie
• Short Stories by Latin American Women - Ed: Celia Correas Zapata 
• The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction - Ed: Denys Johnson-Davies
• Words Without Borders - Ed: Alane Salierno Mason
• The Pushcart Book of Short Stories - Ed: Bill Henderson (The Best Stories from a Quarter-Century of the Pushcart Prize)

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Swann's Way - Marcel Proust (Transl: Lydia Davis)

Pleasures and Days - Marcel Proust

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is the winner of the The First Annual TMN Tournament of Books. (I tried to start reading this book but gave up - thrown off by the very difficult to read  style the book starts in.)

Saturday by Ian McEwan, author of Booker Prize winning Amsterdam (1998) and the much-acclaimed Atonement

The History of Love: A Novel -- by Nicole Krauss

Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Maps For Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam

Snow by Orhan Pamuk

Novels by Haruki Murakami:  The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle /  Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World /  A Wild Sheep Chase / Norwegian Wood /  South of the Border, West of the Sun.

In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

Our Kind - A Novel in Stories by Kate Walbert

Moscow 2042 by Vladimir Voinovich (Richard Lourie - Translator)

Memories of My Melancholy Whores - A new novel by García Márquez. (Review by Updike in the New Yorker & NYT Review)

The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth (Excellent opening line.."Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear." Read the NY Times review)

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Youth by J. M. Coetzee

Doctor Brodie's report by Borges (translated by Norman Giovanni, in collaboration with the author)

A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xialon

Falling Man - Don DeLillo

Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson

Anxious Pleasures, a novel after Kafka by Lance Olsen.

Nietzsche's Kisses by Larry Olsen

Dear Mr. Kawabata by Rashid Al Daif

Ruins - Achy Obejas

Curry: a tale of cooks and conquerers by Lizzie Collingham

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oë

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro, of course is the author of the much acclaimed The Remains of the Day (Winner of the Booker Prize, 1989), An Artist of the Floating World (Shortlisted for Booker Prize, 1986. Winner of 1986 Whitbread Book of the Year, which took "an authentic look at postwar Japan, "a floating world" of changing cultural behaviors, shifting societal patterns and troubling questions."), A Pale View of Hills (in which he narrates "the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. In a story where past and present confuse, she relives scenes of Japan's devastation in the wake of World War II."), The Unconsoled, and the Booker nominated When We Were Orphans.  Have not read ANY of them; though i have seen the movie based on the book - The Remains of the Day.

Novels by Naguib Mahfouz:

Sugar Street / Palace of Desire / Palace Walk /  The Wedding Song

The only Naguib Mahfouz book I have read is the languidly moving Adrift on the Nile, which I quite enjoyed although I could not quite associate with the effects of hemp gurgling in through the water-pipe of a hookah. :) The spiritual emptiness and hypnotic trance were conveyed very well and ever since I put that very short book I have wanted to go back and read some of his more famous books like the Cairo trilogy, as well as many other less well-known novels. 

Enemies, A Love Story by Isaac Singer 

Started this in August 2007 but did not have time to really get beyond the first few pages as I (unfortunately) put all my reading time into Vikram Chandra's magnum opus, Sacred Games! Need to get back to this sooner rather than later....though I really need to stop confusing myself between Singer & Below!

For a Night of Love by Emile Zola  

Also started in August 2007 & need to get back to this too soon. Is a really short novel and Emile Zola is not known as an amazing writer for nothing!

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Poetry

• The Figured Wheel - Robert Pinsky
• Breaking the Alabaster Jar - Li-Young Lee (Interviews)
• Haiku - Richard Wright (Read the Foreword; got to go back to the haiku some day)
• Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems  - Mark Doty
• Americana: and Other Poems - John Updike 
• The Shadow of Sirius - W.S. Merwin 
  
• The Old Life - Donald Hall   
• Songs from a Bamboo Village - Sanford Goldstein

 

Poetry Criticism and Analysis

 

A Reader's Guide to T.S. Eliot George Williamson  

Poetry Anthologies

An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems: From the Eleventh through the Twentieth Centuries by Huynh Sanh Thong

Ca Dao Vietnam : Vietnamese Folk Poety by John Balaban

 

Poetry Handbooks

In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable... by Steve Kowit

Rules for the Dance : A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse by Mary Oliver

A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

The Practice of Poetry : Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach by Robin Behn

The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry by Kim Addonizio

The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice For Beginning Poets by Ted Kooser

 

Poetry Books

Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey
Captivity by Laurie Sheck

Spring Essence Poems by Ho Xuan Huong (translated by John Balaban)

Locusts at the Edge of Summer : New and Selected Poems by John Balaban

What Is This Thing Called Love by Kim Addonizio

New and Selected Poems : Volume One by Mary Oliver

New and Selected Poems : Volume Two by Mary Oliver
The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch by Kenneth Koch
Anna Akhmatova

The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova by Anna Akhmatova

Poetry and more from the famous Soviet poetess, Anna Akhmatova

The Word That Causes Death's Defeat: Akhmatova's Poems of Memory by Nancy K. Anderson (Review)

Moscow Memoirs: Memories of Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam, And literary Russia under Stalin by Emma Gerstein

Anna of All the Russias : A Life of Anna Akhmatova by Elaine Feinstein