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. | Timestamp | book title | author | why they recommend | who recommends | |
. | | Animal's People | Indra Sinha | Set in the fictional city of Khaufpur—home to a catastrophic gas explosion caused by an unnamed Kampani (if you're thinking Union Carbide and Bhopal already, you're not alone)—Animal's People is the first-person account of Animal, a 19 year old, who walks on all fours, his back twisted by a disaster he is barely old enough to remember. Through Animal - a terribly human and honest character—Sinha weaves a narrative that juxtaposes devastation and darkness with humor and hope,and which speaks for the thousands of disenfranchised individuals whose lives have been thrown upside down by similar catastrophes. [my full review here] | Sandhya Nankani, Literary Safari | |
. | | Conscience of a Liberal | Paul Krugman | Because it offers a helpful corrective to the neoliberal ideology of the past 20 years. | Kerim Friedman | |
. | | Dreams from My Father | Barack Obama | I recommend this book not only because it is the story of President-Elect Obama's life in his own words, but also because it gave me a deeper understanding of the issue of race in the United States. It is well-written, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. | Rabbi Ruth Adar | |
. | | Go Kiss the World | Subroto Bagchi | Gives an amazing insight into behind the scenes of quitting a high profile job at a major IT company(Wipro) and having the vision and foresight to jump into a startup (MindTree) | Kiruba Shankar, Kiruba.com | |
. | | Gomorra | Roberto Saviano | my book of choice is an italian one, but you are lucky because they made a movie out of it and the movie will be released in the US next month, if anyone is interested
The book is a journey through Italian Camorra, which is a criminal organization just like Mafia, except Camorra is in the city of Naples and its surroundings (whereas Mafia is in Sicily). The book talks about the economics and politics of Camorra, how it survives and grows by controlling traffic of drugs like cocaine first, and then ricycles the money in other activities, how camorra is so much part of the culture and society, so that almost every young kid there looks up at the bosses and their lifestyle (the godfathers so to speak) like model to imitate and goals to achive. Very sad, almost leaves no hope. Saviano, the author, who makes clear names and reports in great details Camorra's illegal activities and economic traffics, has been forced to move out of Naples because they might kill him. He lives now with bodyguards and says he might have to leave Italy.
That's it for my recommendation, I can't wait to see the movie, it's gotten great reviews. | Sara Ghedina | |
. | | How Starbucks Saved My Life (english title) Starbucks und Ich (deutscher titel) | Michael Gates Gill | Sara G liked it, gave it to me, i got deutsch for Anna. She liked it. Our lives are caffeinated. | segen und anna | |
. | | In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto | Michael Pollan | This book changed how I think of food and agriculture and encouraged me to take many new adventures in 2008 -- getting to know some of the people who grow my food on a first-name basis, growing some of my own food, subscribing to a CSA, and trying several | Joy Weese Moll | |
. | | Sweetness in the Belly | Camilla Gibb | It was very sad, but I liked it because it described a way of life in Ethiopia that I didn't really know anything about, and it provided a very interesting female perspective on Muslim culture in Africa. | Anon | |
. | | Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln | Doris Kearns Goodwin | Riveting account of the inner workings of the Lincoln administration during a time of national upheaval that seems to become more relevant with each passing day. | Claudia Perry | |
. | | The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | Because it's an actual "storytelling" and there are too few of those being published today. | Kiran | |
. | | The Brief And Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao | Junot Diaz | Because of all the cool stuff he does with voice and intertextuality. Because of how well he captures New Jersey. Because of that last scene, yes, if you read you know, as beautiful as Maria Callas singing O Mio Babbino Caro. Because life short and should not be wasted reading something crappy. | Nina Sharma | |
. | | same as above | same as above | Great story and stories and great character development. Junot Diaz created really rich characters whom I could visualize. I was waiting to find out what happened next. I loved the structure of the book and the different layers he created by telling the story through different characters' perspectives. The images and the story really stuck with me. | | |
. | | The curious incident of the dog in the night-time | Mark Haddon | I liked the book because I could peep in the mind of an autistic person and understand how they think and the way they behave. | Anon | |
. | | The Darkened Temple | Mari L'Esperance | because: We don't read enough poetry. Beautiful poems of connection, mourning, presence from a HAPA woman. | Minal Hajratwala (www.minalhajratwala.com) | |
. | | The Farsala Trilogy (Fall of a Kingdom, Rise of Hero, Forging the Sword) | Hilari Bell | I mention this book partly because I figure it'll be different from the sort of thing most other people will recommend. It's technically a "YA" book, ie "young adult." Also it's a fantasy novel trilogy. This, I figure, is not the sort of thing your readers would typically reach for. I don't read much of this stuff myself, but this one I read on the recommendation of the local librarian.
In the same way that Tolkein's books are based on a Northern European mythos, the Farsala Trilogy is (very) loosely based on the story of the Ancient Roman conquest and invasion of the Persian Kingdoms. (Or at least that's what I could piece together. I'm sure your readers will have a more learned understanding of the sources of the books.) But this description may give a misleading picture of the flavor of the books. For one thing there is very little magic in the book, and there are no dragons or mythical beasts. The book does mix borrowed words, like "djinn," with it's share of funny made-up words — the invading army is known as the "Hrum" — but on the whole the fantasy aspects of the book are not particularly esoteric. The author's use of fantasy lends itself to explorations of a caste system, of side-by-side religions, of mythology, and of notions of race, all subjects that keep the book grounded without becoming polemical. And remarkably it is precisely these "political" subjects that keep the story rolling. Mostly the books are about notions of history and of politics, of disenfranchisement and subversion. What struck me is that in a sense one theme of the trilogy is, loosely speaking, colonialism, and in this set of books one person's "terrorism" is another person's freedom fighting.
And what's even more interesting is that neither the colonizers nor the colonized are seen as wholly good or wholly bad. There are honorable and dishonorable characters on both sides of the conflict, and there are laudable things about the society of the colonized people as well as of the colonizers. This sort of complexity extends to the level of the main characters, which is where the book most interested me. There are three main characters, none of whom is strictly always heroic, but each of whom has to face notions of loyalty and betrayal, politics and inner heroism. One of these characters is a strong female, which I mention because I must also add that there is none of the sickly sweet romance you might expect from the genre.
The trilogy is certainly not Samuel Beckett or G V Desani, but, for those of us who truly love books and love reading sometimes just for the fun of the story, not every book needs to be. If nothing else, I recommend the Farsala Trilogy to people who enjoy fantasy novels and to youngish readers. Or maybe, better yet, the book might be more fun for those of us who do not read a lot from the sci-fi/fantasy and/or "YA" genres but who do like a little of the good stuff sprinkled in every now and then. | Rajeev Alexander | |
. | | The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World | Lewis Hyde | Really illuminates the difference between Art and commodities. | Nina Paley, http://blog.ninapaley.com/ | |
. | | The God of Small Things | Arundhati Roy | One of the most beautiful and brilliant books I've ever read. | Lana | |
. | | The History of Love | Nicole Krauss | Funniest, saddest, quirkiest, most engaging book I've read in a long time. | Bryn Thorsson | |
. | | The Innocent Man | John Grisham | Well-written, and you see how things can be so corrupt. | Anon | |