Have added the Murderbot series to my list. It's honestly been ages since someone has recommended a Sci-Fi series to me, takes me back to my teenage years! In that spirit, here are some books to add to those by Thaths, Dave, Ingrid, Christopher, Ameya, and Vinayak.
1. *Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never See by Christopher McDougal. * Made me want to run! Made me suspicious of Nike! But I'm also aware it is a book that is a few years old. *2. The Future in the Past: Essays and Recollections by Romila Thapar* One of the most maligned historians, Thapar is a very credible voice and this collection serves as a great introduction to history. Some academic history books I'm reading: Time's Monster by Priya Satia (makes the case that the British essentially justified their empire through history-writing, mostly through good intentions; Violent Fraternity by Shruti Kapila (discusses the history of ideas of our founding fathers, including Savarkar); The Loss of Hindustan by Manan Ahmed Asif (questions the erasure of Muslim history in the subcontinent) *3. Bryant & May mystery series.* Two old men, either in their 70s or 80s, investigate a series of crimes as part of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. For lovers of London and city lore. Though don't look for credible plotting. Instead, look for: humour and old men breaking every stereotype of the old, even the stereotype of the old young person, and of course London mysteries, dead people and happy outcomes. This year, I read two of the series -- Bryant & May Off The Rails and 77 Clocks *4. Dashakumaracharita, or What Ten Young Men Did by Dandin,* translated from Sanskrit by Isabelle Onians. This coming of age 'novel' comes in a great edition <https://claysanskritlibrary.org/volumes/what-ten-young-men-did/>, from the Clay Sanskrit Library. Have started reading this, and in fact, have been reading this for some years, but now I am getting somewhere. Amitav Ghosh's Smoke and Ashes was also a great read, but since it was in many lists, I didn't add it. Also began reading Stephen King seriously. Till about 40 I had a horror of horror fiction, but since I've (finally) kicked away my fear of ghosts, I am settling down to King's fantastic backlist. Venkatesh On Mon, Dec 11, 2023 at 6:54 AM Vinayak Hegde via Silklist < [email protected]> wrote: > A little late to this thread > > Books that I read in 2023 but not necessarily published this year or > the last couple of years > 1. What can a body do - Sara Hendren - A book on design and the human > body. It talks about how the human body navigates the built world and > the surrounding history, science and deisgn considerations around it. > It is also a book about disability. It is one of those books that > makes you see things hidden in plain sight. > > 2. Abroad in Japan - A hilarious memoir and a travelogue by Chris > Broad - a youtuber who runs Abroad in Japan (pardon the pun). A unique > insight into Japan - quicky, fascinating and with nice self > deprecating British humour. > > 3. Hidden Kingdoms by Nirupa Roy - A beautifully illustrated botanical > art book with plants from the Western Ghats. Somewhat hard to find. > Nirupa Roy also did the beautiful artwork for the Bangalore Literature > Fest this year. Art from this book is also mace into a film called > Spirit of the Forest. > > 4. Genius makers by Cade Metz - A book looking at the people who > brought deep learning (and generative AI) into focus in the past > decades. This one is non-technical and focusses more on the human > stories and the interactions that typically are not seen / heard. A > well written narrative that offers a peak behind the curtain of people > building this tech. > > 5. Avarice by Sumit Bardhan - A steampunk sci-fi story originally > written in Bengali translated into English. Quite enjoyed the > narrative and the plot. > > 6. 2 books - The Arrival / The Creature - Both by Shaun Tan. Shaun Tan > is an Australian artist who writes / draws graphic novels - The first > one a allegorial wordless novel on the immigrant experience and the > second one is a recent one on the thoughts and stories on some of his > famous illustrations / paintings and the stories behind them. > > 7. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams - The book is > a good exposition into sleep - one of the body's deep mysteries. The > book goes into detail about the different forms of sleep, how they are > connected to memory and well-being. The second half of the book goes > into different physiological functions of sleep and how it ties into > some of our bodily functions > > Also another resounding vote +100 to the Murderbot series. Looking > forward to the latest in that series. Quite enjoyable. > > --Vinayak > > On Sun, Nov 19, 2023 at 10:45 PM Thaths via Silklist > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Hoi! > > > > It is that time of the year to revive the almost-annual Silklist > tradition of sharing our book recommendations. I would love to hear your > recommendations. > > > > The books I loved reading in 2023 are: > > > > 1. Mofussil Junction by Ian Jack; What a delight to read. Jack paints > the sights, sounds and smells of India with prose. I especially enjoyed his > pieces (paeans?) on the Indian Railways, particularly the rapidly > disappearing (as he was writing these pieces) steam locomotive stock. > > > > 2. Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey through Opium's Hidden Histories > by Amithav Ghosh: Colonization and Capitalism told through Papaver > somniferum. The beginning chapters are excellent. The last chapters become > a little repetitive. > > > > 3. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: A fantasy novel about > the devil and his henchmen visiting Moscow during the Stalinist years. > > > > 4. Hit Parade of Tears by Izumi Suzuki: Great second wave Japanese > sci-fi. I'm so glad I got to read this. > > > > 5. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler: Scarily prescient book > written in the early 90's and set in the mid-2020s. I cannot believe how > much Butler got right about today. > > > > 6. The Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre By Tim > Hannigan: Hannigan originally wanted to write travel books like the ones he > grew up reading since he was a teenager, but the gradual erosion of the > genre, and the critical questions being asked about the veracity of famous > travel writers meant that Hannigan had to re-do his plans. He ended up > writing this book - a travel book exploring not so much a region or a > country, but the whole field of travel writing and the critical discipline > of travel writing studies. If, like me, your bookshelf is filled with > travel books, you would love this book. Every year I read a book or two > which I love so much that I would even consider buying a few copies to give > to friends. This is one of those. > > > > 7. Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History By Lea Ypi: An > excellent book that manages to balance criticism of totalitarian communism > of Hodja against the painful fictions of neoliberalism. The painful > transition that Albanians experienced was only theoretical to me before. > Now it is embedded in my mind through the lives of this Ypi family. > > > > 8. The Trees By Percival Everett: Blaxploitation set in Trumpian times. > > > > 9. Victory City By Salman Rushdie: A return to old form for Rushdie. > Unlike some of his work of more recent vintage, this one was an easy (and > very entertaining) read. It is no Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses, > but it is on-par with Shame and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The book is > purported academic tract about a newly discovered work of a South Indian > woman (Pampa Kampana) who lived for 250 years during, and whose life was > inextricably intertwined with that of, the Vijaynagar (literally, Victory > City) empire. > > > > 10. Ōoku: The Inner Chambers By Fumi Yoshinaga: An interesting manga > series. Imagines a Tokugawa-era Japan where two thirds of men are dead from > a mysterious illness and gender roles are flipped. The Shogunate passes > down through Women and Men are kept as objects of desire and value. > > > > Thaths > > -- > > Homer: Hey, what does this job pay? > > Carl: Nuthin'. > > Homer: D'oh! > > Carl: Unless you're crooked. > > Homer: Woo-hoo! > > -- > > Silklist mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist > -- > Silklist mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist > -- H R Venkatesh Director, Training and Research, BOOM <https://www.boomlive.in/> mediabuddhi.substack.com Twitter: @hrvenkatesh
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