Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Wish Lists

The year 2009 is drawing to a close. It is time to draw up lists. Here is my wish list for English books I would love to read in 2010.

1. Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer. I have read so many reviews praising this book that I am itching to get my hands on it.

2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This first book in his Millenium trilogy has been lavished encomiums and I hope I would get to read this Swedish crime thriller.

3. In other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin. Review in New York Times: "Reading Daniyal Mueenuddin’s mesmerizing first collection, “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders,” is like watching a game of blackjack, the shrewd players calculating their way beyond their dealt cards in an attempt to beat the dealer. Some bust, others surrender. But in Mueenuddin’s world, no one wins." Hoping to savor this book.

4. Jejuri by Arun Kolatkar.
Pankaj Mishra : "Arun Kolatkar was the greatest Indian poet of his generation, and Jejuri, with its linguistic inventiveness and intellectual daring, was his masterwork." Need I say more ?

5. Collapse by Jared Diamond. I am fascinated by Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel and The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal.

5 comments:

Gopinath Mavinkurve said...

Wishing you and your family a Very Happy New Year 2010! May all your wishes come true. Gopinath

Krishnan said...

Thanks a lot Gopi.

Anonymous said...

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo "

It's a fascinating read. Available at Landmark. The second part of the trilogy is also available there

Krishnan said...

Thanks Anonymous, will grab it as soon as possible.

Tinkoo said...

Several stories of Daniyal Mueenuddin are online at The New Yorker website - try searching the site. I'm not sure if any of them are in this collection, though.

From what little I've read of him - assuming I'm remembering the author right - his stories tend to be about the lifestyle of the rich in late Raj days in what is now Pakistan.