Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars ‘Those who love from a distance are not seduced by lust.’ Thus crooned a honeyed, longing voice I happened to hear two days back. Perhaps the essence was expressed before; in manifold arrangement of words, in wavy placement of multiple strings. But sometimes, something … More Book Review: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (1956)
Blindness by José Saramago My Rating: 5 of 5 stars Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. What an irony that a book which holds, loss, filth, loot, stomp, cruelty, disorientation, putrefaction, injustice, helplessness, murder, rape, misery, nakedness, abandonment, death and unimaginable suffering in its bosom, left me with a climactic emotion of … More Book Review: Blindness by José Saramago (1995)
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway My Rating: 4 of 5 stars “He was full of resolution but he had little hope.” And often, like a seductive oasis, this little hope beguiles the heart to endure battles of gargantuan magnitude, letting seep every second the realization of the effort turning as much … More Book Review: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952)
We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves by Karen Jay Fowler My Rating: 4 of 5 stars In everyone’s life, there are people who stay and people who go and people who are taken against their will. Who do you remember the most? I asked myself. Those who make part of my primary circle of existence … More Book Review: We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves by Karen Jay Fowler (2014)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck My Rating: 4 of 5 stars It takes courage to stand up and speak. It also takes courage to sit down and listen. These are the words on one of my most favorite posters. What always keeps me hooked to these lines is the validity of the trait, … More Book Review: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes My Rating: 5 of 5 stars I was sitting on the lower berth; ambivalent yet observant. The view from my window seat was appealing. On the parallel track, a train had just pulled on. The neighboring compartment was a dynamic collage of people, suitcases, trolleys, food and … More Book Review: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (2011)
Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag My Rating: 5 of 5 stars At my touch, the striking cover of this book leapt up and stood suspended at my eye-level. As if to escape this loggerhead-state, I bored through its skin amid a question – what does this image wish to convey? Unity? Mess? Greed? Asymmetry? Power? … More Book Review: Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag (2015)
Stoner by John Williams My Rating: 5 of 5 stars As a child, I had a thing for inanimate things. A sling, a pond, a pebble, a mica chip; they would catch my attention and hold it hostage. I would play for hours together with these silent, placid beings, drawing great solace from their harmless, … More Book Review: Stoner by John Williams (1965)
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann My Rating: 5 of 5 stars As long as we breathe, we live. We do not possess the power to embrace death at will. So, we live. And for living, we cling to a purpose. The purpose may be clear or clouded, animate or inanimate, expressed or hidden, stable … More Book Review: Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (1912)
Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli My Rating: 3 of 5 stars Like Valeria, I stare at the faces in the crowd; the crowd of short paragraphs hurrying across the surface of this book, intermingling with the innate desire to escape the mound without any considerable collision. Like each paragraph, I anoint a … More Book Review: Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli (2011)
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