Indian Readers discussion

my preference
ebook - while travelling, if physical book is massive with tiny fonts
physical book - moderately thick, if more pics are there, in the comfort of my home.

I love looking at books, flipping through pages, frequently going back and forth, smelling and stroking (embossed titles), which I can't do with kindle

Done with part 4, the ghastly ordeal of Timothy Cavendish.THE funniest part of the book so far.The events in this part have increased this book's fascination two-fold.

Girish wrote: "Finished part 3 and I must say I am hooked. Caught pages in tea breaks and between work. I found the third piece much more easier on the prose and l loved the way tension is built with the pages. I..."

Truly, I'm gradually becoming less oriented towards the connection, the stories in themselves seem to be top-notch.

Srividya wrote: "Oh and guys, wait before you start the next book as I am going pretty slow with this one. Am reading 3 books together, so it is quite difficult to finish this one quickly. Also, the writing is pret..."

With Olympic sprinters like yourself and Syl, a BR can be a BR only if you give guys like us the cushion of a head-start :P

Slowed down considerably in Story 5, since its taking place in a futuristic world which has a new world-order called 'Corpocracy'(a world ruled by brands and advertisements :P). I'm about halfway through it and as Srividya said, the initial concentration is very demanding with this one. And I guess story 6 might be the toughest one since I got curious and scanned the initial verbiage of story 6, and found that its written in a kind of futuristic slang :) I'm getting distracted into parallel reads.

Girish wrote: "Is it just me or I find better connection with the characters/plot if I am reading a physical book than on kindle? "

In my case, it all comes down to what mood I'm in while reading. If I'm in the right mood I savor physical books, ebooks and audiobooks equally. If I'm not in the mood, I just pause it and read a different genre until I get back to that frame of mind when I'm ready to resume the paused one. Sometimes this even takes months. That's one reason I have 2-times more paused books than completed ones in any given year.

I finished story 5 and it is one of the best ones so far! I liked it better than Timothy Cavendish one and the relevant thing I don't like dystopia. The story took some time getting used to, but this one - once you got the setting was so absorbing!

Vimal: Finish this part. Part 6 we will conquer together. (Just flipped a few pages ahead and found the stories come a full circle!)

True that. Once in, story 5 was fantastic and deep. Reminded me of Ayn Rand's Anthem. Got a feel for Zachery's slang in story 6 now. Promises to be another good one.

Yes, the cyclic structure is making me real curious. So the real ending of the story will come in story 6 and another ending should come with story 1 :)

@Srividya, which part are you in now?

Done traversing half the circle. Story 6 was yet another beauty, despite some gruesomeness towards the end.Zachary's unique voice keeps reverberating in my head. Will be resuming the book on Sunday due to a packed Friday and Saturday.

I am now back to joining Timothy Cavendish in his ghastly ordeals. One of the horror weeks at work last week and still managed to witness the gore with Somni after listening to Zachery's gruesome tale.

My observation: I now see the genius of the book. It's like a whole 3D globe type jigsaw puzzle! Each story has a depth which is epic worthy and a underlying philosophy of power (?) in some form.

Any idea what the title (cloud Atlas) is about?

Hey guys, am sorry to be lagging behind! Am still in the first story but hope to make some progress from tomorrow. :(

Have been involved in some major but well needed house cleaning and also preparing for my husband's trip for work. He will leave late tonight and will be back after 6 weeks..so I will have more time to read from tomorrow! :)

Have a clue about what (Cloud Atlas) is. But not explained so far.

And remembering Robert Frost's 'Spring Cleaning' with both of you involved in such massive projects :D from the sound of it sounds like a major distraction from books!

If only you knew Girish! I have been too tired to read more than a few pages. :(

And my house cleaning is like Hanuman's tail, never ending but always increasing! :P However, thankfully after yesterday's work, it has come down to a manageable level, which should take not more than a few more hours of work! Hence the optimistic informing of starting serious reading of the book from tomorrow! ;)

Girish, it was a co-incidence. Both of us cleaning at the same time. Mine is erratic - still many things to be done, and whatever I have cleaned is magically reverting back to chaos. :-(

Syl ʃʃ^.^ʃʃ wrote: "Girish, it was a co-incidence. Both of us cleaning at the same time. Mine is erratic - still many things to be done, and whatever I have cleaned is magically reverting back to chaos. :-("

Same here, which is why I said that it is like Hanuman's tail! :(

My room/study was the first to be cleaned and somehow it still looks horrible because when I started cleaning the other rooms, stuff to be sorted was put in the study! :(

Only good thing is that the loft is sorted out, which is high and I can't reach.. Now papers to be sorted out, I have some 13 years of papers stored carefully, which I need to sort out individually and throw away what's not needed! Sheesh!!

Lol, you two! Once you read Cloud Atlas, you will start noticing coincidences and start wondering if they are connected. As the movie tagline went "Everything is connected" apparently.

finished the ordeal of Timothy Cavendish and it was one enjoyable read!

I see you folk reading all sort of enlightening books and am feeling so ashamed of my sloth. I am in a rut where I am reading only books that require miniscule attention and rumination. Today just read and slept with zero productivity, and now am feeling immense guilt. :-( :-(

That was just pseudo-intellectual babble Col. And here I am envying you for your ability to consume books like water! :P

Don't you fret, Syl! Am always with you! Am so tired these days that I can't even read light books. I must have started about 10 books and am yet to finish one of them! :(

I see that I am featuring in your thread name, now I feel doubly guilty for not reading this book till now - So Syl, am always with you!

high five, Sri. Now we have permission to divert this thread to our ruminations and woes :-P

ROFL! High five indeed! :P

Completed the Luisa Rey Mystery. Slightly surreal but a taut thriller.

@Vimal: How are you progressing?

Gloomy weekend, my mind refused to co-operate. Done with Sonmi's orison, the ending parts of which were so nauseatingly well-written that it kind of added to my mind's gloom and I had to take a day's break from reading. Looking for a fresh start with the ghastly ordeals of Tim Cavendish today.

Done with Tim's ghastly ordeals, and again it was a fresh comic narration. Stepping into the Luisa Rey mystery.

yayy, I'm done! A very satisfactory read - not just the stories, but to soak into the philosophy and reflect on the dialogues - the entire package!

Reminded me so much of one of the lessons we had in class IX English book (CBSE) called a dialogue on civilization.

Sri and Smitha - you guys should read this one!

Wow! That's great!

I started this one again last night and am almost done with the first story. Should be able to finish a few more today but will get to it after I finish The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which I am almost done with.

Oh boy, this is simply great! AM in the third story now and I have to say that I loved how each story differs in its narration style and how each story is linked with the one following it in a manner that is both sly and yet beautiful!

(view spoiler)[The first story was horrifying and pretty raw and kind of brutal. There's something mysterious about both Adam Ewing and Dr. Henry, though I can't fathom what!

The second one was such a con! I loved RF even when I wanted to kick him for being such a jerk. Superior characterisation.

Just started the third and it is quite a mystery as to how it will go forward (hide spoiler)]

Regarding the third story, I am loving how all the connections or rather some of them are coming together to give it a more intriguing feel, making you want to read more and not put down the book at all! It is an edge of your seat kind of part, this third story. And the narration is so different from the first two and it is keeping form with the title for this part!

I am quite enjoying how the author has labelled his parts so carefully and with such wit that you are intrigued from the word go! :D

@Girish, awesome! I had a horrible workweek, so still crawling in the Frobisher story. Will be done today hopefully.

Srividya wrote: "Regarding the third story, I am loving how all the connections or rather some of them are coming together to give it a more intriguing feel, making you want to read more and not put down the book a..."

The third story is the only one among the 6 that is conducive to fast reading. But when you return to it in the second half, it veers into the surreal and becomes a total surprise package :)

Srividya wrote: "Oh boy, this is simply great! AM in the third story now and I have to say that I loved how each story differs in its narration style and how each story is linked with the one following it in a mann..."

Great that you are liking it so far. The good news is things get better :)

If you notice my currently reading, I never take more than one book for active reading (max 2). This book made me multitask with 6 books of different genres!

Vimal wrote: "@Girish, awesome! I had a horrible workweek, so still crawling in the Frobisher story. Will be done today hopefully."

+1 on the horrible workweek. My reading on the current book has come to a standstill

I agree Vimal, it did read really fast.

Finished the fourth story and I have to say that it was really intriguing again. Funny in parts, poignant in parts, the story really brings to mind how old people are often treated in life. I am now doubly intrigued as to how all this is going to tie up together! :D

Girish, same here. This week has been dismal with regards to reading.

Girish - I quite like the sound of 'it gets better' because for me already it is awesome! Can't wait to start the second half!

Just finishing Story 5 and can I just say that this is the BEST dystopian I have ever read in my life! It is perfect and makes me believe that there are authors who can handle dystopian genre beautifully and not make a hash of it!

Story 5 is my favourite till now and I thought the previous two were great...so this is like totally awesome, both in its writing style or execution as well as in its language, which is totally poetic and makes you feel for the character. Brilliant characterisation as well, which is something that your usual dystopian usually lacks!

Girish wrote: "Vimal wrote: "@Girish, awesome! I had a horrible workweek, so still crawling in the Frobisher story. Will be done today hopefully."

+1 on the horrible workweek. My reading on the current book has ..."

No work during week and yet my reading has slowed down considerably! However, I did spend a lot of time homeschooling my kid, so it is okay I guess! :P

Oh and one more thing, doesn't the dystopian have a slight communist touch to it? At least to me it feels like communism and it smacks of Korea, not the north but the south in terms of development but north in terms of communism...not sure if I am just getting a whiff of it because it seems like Korea or did the author really want to use communism as the ideal world?

And Papa Song reminds me of KFC! :P

Finished the 5th story and what an ending or rather cliffhanger!! Can't wait to see what happens next. This is truly a wonderful book. I am so glad that I decided to read it, all thanks to you two! :D

Is it silly to say that I am falling in love with Zachary and his unique way of speech? It's just too adorable and the story is moving so beautifully that I can't help but want it to never end! :D

Somebody is emotionally entangled in their book :-P

haha.. Sri, you really are enjoying the book! :D I don't like dystopian, but this one was hard hitting. And yes had a lot of shades of Ayn Randish Anthem (I'm told)

Communism.. hmm.. partly yes. When you do the full round reading, let me know what you think. And yes it is Korea!

Disclaimer - Set a slightly low expectation on endings.

Hahahaha Syl! Yes I am. It is impossible not to get involved in this book! :)

Ah there is a twist in the tale, eh Girish? I am now doubly excited!

Aww don't tell me that the end ruins everything...Okay I will set my expectations low, although it will be difficult.

@Sri, My goodness, you've read 5 stories in a day! How do you do that. The reading was quite heavy, and though I'm a frequent parallel reader juggling 3-4 books at a time, with this book I found the going quite tough inspite of enjoying every page. And good to see you are enjoying it :)

And I'm with Girish on the disclaimer. The ending doesn't ruin anything, but carrying any expectations about a strong connection might ruin the experience. The author surely doesn't intend to give a strong or directly tangible connection.

I'm done. Phew...

@Girish, Quite a start on the bookers this year! What's the next one? I think I'll have to read something light for the next 2 weeks to steady myself before picking up anything even remotely related to the bookers :P

@Syl, somebody has decided to pick this one up next week :D

Ahhhh Zachary's story was just amazing! And what a connection to the title and this story! Simply beautiful!

Vimal - Reading 5 stories in a day is because I am reading it real slow. :P

This time round, I am not rushing through a book as I do but am slowly savouring every word. It's just too beautiful a book to be rushed! :D

*Feels all the more giddy seeing comment #99. As if David Mitchell isn't enough to make one giddy*

Srividya wrote: "And Papa Song reminds me of KFC! :P..."

There were several points in this story that made me wonder if am already living in Neo so copros :D