Summer Reading

Here's my summer reading list. Reviews will follow later.

June 20, 2009

1. The Kite Runner (Novel) - Khaled Hosseini (2003) - Hosseini's first novel. Made into a movie (2007).
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns (Novel) - Khaled Hosseini (2007) - Hosseini's second novel. Made into a movie (2008).
3. An Atlas of Impossible Longing (Novel) Anuradha Roy (2009) - Roy's first novel. A good writer.
4. The Namesake (Novel) - Jhumpa Lahiri (2003). Made into a movie (2006).
5. Unaccustomed Earth (Collection of short stories) - Jhumpa Lahiri (2008).
6. Interpreter of Maladies (Collection of short stories)- Jhumpa Lahiri (2000) - Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories. Lahiri's first book.
7. The Storyteller's Daughter (Memoir) - Saira Shah (2003).
8. Norwegian Wood (Novel) - Haruki Murakami (1987; English translation).
9. Kafka on the Shore (Novel) - Haruki Murakami (2005; English translation).
10. Avenger (Novel) - Frederick Forsyth (2004).
11. The Afghan (Novel) - Frederick Forsyth (2006)
12. The Phantom of Manhattan (Novel) - Frederick Forsyth (1999). A decidedly significant departure into love and romance from Forsyth's usual international thriller genre.
13. Double Cross (Novel) - James Patterson (2007). The Alex Cross series.
14. The Brethren (Novel) - John Grisham (2000). An unveiled reference to the conservatives' fear-mongering about national security as the basis, logic and argument for increased military spending.
15. Blindness (Novel) - Jose Saramago (1997; English trnslation). A difficult book to read, by the Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning author. He writes without punctuation. His paragraphs are easily half-a-page to a page long. I actually found one paragraph that was four-page long. He writes dialogues as narratives without the use of "quotation marks," making it hard to know who's saying what. His characters have no name. He refers to them as the doctor or the girl with dark glasses, etc. Have only read half the book so far, but will surely finish it (I think).
16. Banquo's Ghosts (Novel) - Rich Lowry and Keith Korman (2008). Full of conservative sniping inserted into the text that is supposed to be a thriller, but not badly written.
17. The Last Dickens (Novel) - Matthew Pearl (2009)
18. Dante's Numbers (Novel) - David Hewson (2008)
19. By the Light of the Moon (Novel) - Dean Koontz (2002). Read first six chapters. Too cryptic and eccentric for my taste. Abandoned it. Will need coaxing to read Koontz again.
20. Guru of Love (Novel) - Samrat Upadhyay (2003). Have read initial chapters. On hold.
21. Arresting God in Kathmandu (Collection of short stories) - Samrat Upadhyay (2001). Have read some stories; on hold.
22. The Scream - Rohinton Mistry (2008). A very short, illustrated story.
23. When My Name Was Keoko (Novel) - Linda Sue Park (2002). This is a young adult (which I no longer am) book. I've only read the first few chapters and it seems like a nice story of a Korean family when Korea was under occupation of Japan from 1910 to 1945 and every Korean was expected, actually required, to abandon his or her Korean name for a Japanese one. I found this book in my neighbor's paper recycling bin, in an immaculate condition, last week. I found some nice music notations, too, in that bin. Now don't go about thinking that I snoop around people's recycling bins; the book was there and the environmentalist in me found it irresistible. Why send a book to the recycler when somebody can enjoy reading it?
24. An Equal Music (Novel) - Vikram Seth (1999).
25. Maile Dekheko Nepal (Nepali translation of Vignettes of Nepal, a travelogue) - Harka Gurung (2007).
26. Love (Novel) - Toni Morrison (2003). Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner.

Any recommendation?