Review A Book

[Pensive]

I read My Feudal Lord by Tehmina Durani yesterday. It was an autobiography based on the life of Tehmina Durrani, the wife of Mustafa Khar. Mustafa Khar was a very important and famous politician of that time, who called himself very "liberal" but what he did were rapes and gave important places in government to his side-kicks.

In the book, Tehmina depics the bad behavious of Mustafa Khar with women -
how he had eight wives, and how much he tortured them, both physically and mentally.

The book was good, but the thing which really annoyed me was Tehmina Durrani trying to pose that she was the most innocent and badly-treated woman. She ignored her mistakes, after all Mustafa Khar had not forced her to marry him. She left her husband who loved her and married Mustafa for the sake of his good fortune/wealth. She also had affairs, if not as much as Mustafa but there were. And she had tried to portray that she was the best Muslim woman ever. What a hypocricy!

I will put the book at 5/10.

[bazarov]

Patrick Sueskind-Parfem; very interesting, not too long, about a serial killer in 18th century but killings are somekind of irelevant. They made a movie with Dustin Hoffman, but I've heard it's bad.

[Xander]

So, the last book I've read was Eraldo Baldini's Like a Wolf (not sure for english translation). The book is mysterious, with nice descriptions, and thrilling all the time.
There is a valley hidden among high peeks of italian mountains and there is a village with odd people who don't seem to like strangers and they are well known for the wine they make. It is strange that they have such good grapes and wine in such a place and ground, etc. But there is a legend, they believe in it for three hundred years and it has helped them so far...
Nasario escaped from the city where his wife had died and his daughter had started getting more and more often epileptic fits with some kind of visions before each of them....
and wolves. they are not so essential in the book as i thought they would be, but it's nice, they help Nasario decide whether to go after his desires or his professional ethic....

actually, I like more unrealistic books, but anyways, a good one.

[shortysweetp]

ok so i just finished the Jean Auel Earth's Children series (well there is one more coming out) and i really liked it. There were times when the repetiveness (?not sure of spelling) got to be too much and at times she got way too descriptive. i would rate them as a series a 7.

I also just read all of the Candace Bushnell books well sex in the city, 4 blondes, trading up and lipstick jungle. I would have to say that this will be my guilty pleasures for the year (ok probably not I do like to read easy books once in awhile). rating of 6

[Pensive]

The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time

I just completed it a few minutes ago. What can I say! It was an awsome epistolary novel. At first Christopher's behaviour made me really sad...and the whole plot about how his mother left him. But the end made me feel good. I will give it 9.5/10. It would have been a 10/10, if there wouldn't have been so much Maths in it.

[fiqrhi]

hai everyone

[Pensive]

The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Another epistolary novel which I liked a lot. In the very start of the novel, I was getting really annoyed by Charlie's long sentences, but very soon, Charlie over-came his silly habit on the advice of his teacher, Bill, which made the book easier for me to read.

Most of his thoughts really resembled that of mine, or we can say any teenager, this aspect gave Charlie's character a "real feeling."

So, what's the point of using words nobody else knows or can say comfortably? I just don't understand that!

By real feeling, I mean that his character was not like that of the boy in The Curious Incident of Dog in Mid-night. That character, unlike that of Charlie, looked like a robot sometimes.

Anyway, it was a good read but one thing really confused me. That thing was the person to whom he was writing his letter....I think I will never be able to figure out that why he wanted to write that person the letter......to cry his heart out....or whatever it was...but I don't think so that there was a need for it anymore as things had gotten fine. I hope one day I will be able to solve this puzzle.

9.5/10 is my rating for this a very, very good novel.

[Hippolite]

I recently reread Milan Kundera’s "Life is Elsewhere". I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time (I'm quite a Kundera fan) but this time decided that Kundera was perhaps unfairly gloomy. By this I mean the novel is more than merely a story of how a narcissistic and insecure young man (with a little of his mother’s complicity) becomes a monster. He ties the story’s framework into the whole literary tradition of the lyrical poet with flashbacks to the lives and ideas of these lyrical poets themselves. Since these very artists, Shelly, Rimbaud, Pushkin and the like, have created some of the most beautiful lines in literature Kundera seems to be implying that there is a dark underside to the urge towards transcendent beauty. I came away from the novel not unconvinced that this might be the case but still not convinced that it’s fair to ascribe the same horrific psychological tendencies of the young Jaromil to these other, I think rather wonderful, artists.

Still, the novel provides much food for thought and perhaps some first person insight into the collaborations between the post-war intellectuals and the totalitarian communist states. I get the sense that there are some autobiographical elements to the novel and that it may be partly a confession of sorts. I’m always fascinated by the process by which humans become monsters, and the germs of monstrosity that may be latent in all of us and may become expressed even in our more noble pursuits of beauty, perfection, truth and the Absolute.

[EAP]

Pensive,

The protagonist in The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-time suffered from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism. Mark Haddon was lauded for his realistic depiction of an autistic child in the novel. If you are interested in reading other novels with austistic characters, check out Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark.


The letters were like a personal diary to Charlie.

[Pensive]

Pensive,

The protagonist in The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-time suffered from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism. Mark Haddon was lauded for his realistic depiction of an autistic child in the novel. If you are interested in reading other novels with austistic characters, check out Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark.

Yes, I know what he suffered from. All that talk about special school, and the way his teacher taught him. But it was really sad, the way sometimes his mother would treat him when he was little.

The letters were like a personal diary to Charlie.

Okay, seems like it.

[Schokokeks]

I recently completed Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach.
Being a fan of utopian and dystopian literature and having read the like by Plato, Aristophanes, Thomas More, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jonathan Swift, George Orwell, Ernst Bloch and Aldous Huxley, I wanted to have a look at a more modern idea of an ideal state. I found Ecotopia on sale in a bookshop, read the back cover text and decided to give it a go.
The story is about an American reporter called Willy Westron who is sent on a coverage to the country of Ecotopia, which consists of the largest part of California and has recently separated itself from the rest of the United States. The book was published in 1975, the fictional separation of Ecotopia took place 19 years earlier.
The narration in the novel changes between the official, factual reports on Ecotopian politics, life style and people that the first person narrator Willy wires to his newspaper office in Washington, and his personal diary entries summarising events that happened to him during his stay in Ecotopia.
The main point of Ecotopian policy is, as the name suggests, the absolute respect for nature, animals and fellow humans. Since its foundation (that was forced by threatening Washington with weapons of mass destruction!), Ecotopian politicians have established a sophisticated system of recycling all waste produced. Air pollution has been reduced to zero by the abolition of cars and planes, the former were replaced by a subway system covering the whole country area. To increase the inhabitants' quality of life, the 20-hour working week was introduced, cities were rearranged providing more living space in the centres, and marihuana, of course , was legalised.
Considering the publishing date of the book, issues like the Vietnam War, make-love-not-war paroles and, finally, a society respecting nature and the environment by eco-friendly behaviour are very prominent. After all, I think the book was worth reading for the new ideas on how a society should look like that are presented. From the literary point of view, however, I would not consider Ecotopia a must read. Neither the style nor any other narrative feature was very remarkable to me, and the story's conclusion (Willy decides to stay in Ecotopia for life, converted from a full-blood American to a full-blood Ecotopian) is not convincing to me.
I'd rate this book 7/10 and would recommend it to readers interested in the history of ideas and Utopia who don't mind a rather poor literary quality .

[Nightwalk]

Hello fiqhri, welcome to the forums.

[subterranean]

The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time

I just completed it a few minutes ago. What can I say! It was an awsome epistolary novel. At first Christopher's behaviour made me really sad...and the whole plot about how his mother left him. But the end made me feel good. I will give it 9.5/10. It would have been a 10/10, if there wouldn't have been so much Maths in it.

I'm currently reading this book. I'm enjoying the book so far, yet I'd have to disagree with you on the Math parts. I'm very slow in Math and those parts of the book are the most fascinating ones for me .

[subterranean]

The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time

I just completed it a few minutes ago. What can I say! It was an awsome epistolary novel. At first Christopher's behaviour made me really sad...and the whole plot about how his mother left him. But the end made me feel good. I will give it 9.5/10. It would have been a 10/10, if there wouldn't have been so much Maths in it.

I've finished it last night (thanks to the amnesia ). Contrary to Pensy's, I don't feel sad with Christopher's condition. He's smart, very determined, and in a way, he is independent (even though he’s very dependent on logic and Math). Cheers for the parents as well. It is easy to blame the mother or father for what they have done, but when I try to put my self in their shoes, the thought of labeling them as less bad parents gone instantly. I like the way Haddon described Chris' thoughts and personality, very concise. Make me feel like I know Chris very well.
I'll give it 8.5 points.

[Pensive]

I've finished it last night (thanks to the amnesia ). Contrary to Pensy's, I don't feel sad with Christopher's condition. He's smart, very determined, and in a way, he is independent (even though he’s very dependent on logic and Math). Cheers for the parents as well. It is easy to blame the mother or father for what they have done, but when I try to put my self in their shoes, the thought of labeling them as less bad parents gone instantly. I like the way Haddon described Chris' thoughts and personality, very concise. Make me feel like I know Chris very well.
I'll give it 8.5 points.

Well, As I said in my previous post that in the start his mother's behavior, when I did not know what was the actual matter, made me really angry at her, but later after reading her letters, I actually felt pity for the poor woman. But on the other hand when everything was revealed, I felt better. And as for Christopher's character, I totally agree that it is very precise and concise. I am glad you too liked the book! (Nice new avatar man!)

The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time
I just completed it a few minutes ago. What can I say! It was an awsome epistolary novel. At first Christopher's behaviour made me really sad...and the whole plot about how his mother left him. But the end made me feel good. I will give it 9.5/10. It would have been a 10/10, if there wouldn't have been so much Maths in it.