Reading List « Bazm-e-Tasavurat

Reading List

I have always been an avid reader, often reading two or three books at a time, yet I realized when I did this I couldn’t recall the finer details of these very much appreciated books, whom, cliché as it may seem, have been my dear friends for a long time. I couldn’t recall the great words (perhaps because there’s just been too many) that made me smirk, tear up, and laugh aloud - the words that made me live with them as they drifted from one sentence into another, the words I would have liked to hold on to, refer back to. Thus, I’ve decided to savor each book that I read. Mark down passages. Think. Contemplate on them. Taste them and ponder at their flavor for a while.

Having said so, the following is a list, which is not in any particular order, of what I’ve read recently, what I’d like to read, what I should read (don’t know what that means), what I’d like to reread, and what I may or may not read. The list may actually grow longer rather than shorter, as I seem to discover a new book each day but that cannot be helped, as I am a very greedy reader.

So, without further ranting here is…

The Reading List:

(oh, and suggestions are welcome!)

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The Woman in White (Penguin Classics) by Wilkie Collins
Silk by Alessandro Baricco (Related Posts: Between Here & The Horizon and Nothing More)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R. A. Dick
Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen
Persuasion (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Brontë
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Washington Square (Signet Classics) by Henry James
Katherine by Anya Seton
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
Anna Karenina (Penguin Classics) by Leo Tolstoy
Love Story by Erich Segal
Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt
Through a Glass Darkly: A Novel by Karleen Koen
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation by Paulo Coelho
The Crucible (Penguin Classics) by Arthur Miller
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
Madame Bovary (Oxford World’s Classics) by Gustave Flaubert
Devil on Horseback by Victoria Holt
Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates
Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer
Far from the Madding Crowd (Modern Library Classics) by Thomas Hardy
Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton
Les Misérables (Signet Classics) by Victor Hugo
A Room with a View (Bantam Classics) by E.M. Forster
Villette (Modern Library Classics) by Charlotte Bronte
The Black Tulip (Oxford World’s Classics) by Alexandre Dumas père
La Dame aux Camelias (Oxford World’s Classics) by Alexandre Dumas
Manon Lescaut (Oxford World’s Classics) by Abbe Prevost
Les Liaisons dangereuses (Oxford World’s Classics) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
Sylvia’s Lovers (Penguin Classics) by Elizabeth Gaskell
Victoria (Penguin Classics) by Knut Hamsun
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
India Song by Marguerite Duras
Hiroshima Mon Amour by M. Duras
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Related Posts: Passages and Ebb and Flow)
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Of Human Bondage (Signet Classics) by W. Somerset Maugham
The American (Signet Classics) by Henry James
Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage International) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath
The Lady’s Not For Burning. by Christopher Fry
Dracula (Enriched Classics Series) by Bram Stoker
Felix Holt, the Radical (Oxford World’s Classics) by George Eliot
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics) by Oscar Wilde
White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India by William Dalrymple
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks
Human Traces: A Novel by Sebastian Faulks
Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War by Sebastian Faulks
The Girl at the Lion d’Or by Sebastian Faulks
Of Love and Other Demons (Vintage International) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Corelli’s Mandolin: A Novel by Louis De Bernieres
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Lolita (Everyman’s Library Classics) by Vladimir Nabokov
On Chesil Beach by Ian Mcewan
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Broadview Edition) by Robert Louis Stevenson
She by H. Rider Haggard
The Forsyte Saga (Wordsworth Classics) (Wordsworth Classics) by John Galsworthy
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
The Bell Jar: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Sylvia Plath
The Mysteries of Udolpho (Penguin Classics) by Ann Radcliffe
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Quiet American (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Graham Greene
First Love (Penguin Great Loves) by Ivan Turgenev
Love (Penguin Classics) by Stendhal
The Seducer’s Diary by Sören Kierkegaard
Artemisia: A Novel by Alexandra Lapierre
Lorna Doone (Penguin Classics) by R. D. Blackmore
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (Related Posts: Unhappy Happiness)
The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Towards Understanding Islam (Wamy Studies on Islam) by Syed Abul Ala Maudoodi
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
Lost Paradise: A Novel by Cees Nooteboom (Related Posts: Angel of History)
Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
Light Years by James Salter
Selected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes (Related Posts: Gypsy Melodies)
A Year with Rumi: Daily Readings by Coleman Barks *Currently Reading*

16 Responses to “Reading List”

on May 24, 2008 at 8:51 pm1 Pari Jan

You must read The Thirteenth Tale - brilliant and somehow reminds me a bit of Rebecca!
on May 25, 2008 at 9:18 pm2 Raatkiranii (K.F.S)

Pari Jan - Thank you for the suggestion, I’ll be sure to check it out. I absolutely loved reading Rebecca.
on May 31, 2008 at 11:14 pm3 seekingnoor

Let me know how you like it! So many books, so little time
on June 1, 2008 at 1:18 pm4 Raatkiranii (K.F.S)

Seekingnoor -I will, and indeed time is of the essence!
on June 1, 2008 at 7:16 pm5 Rafael

As salam ‘aleykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

I don’t see any Hesse on your list! Buy Siddhartha!
http://www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Hermann-Hesse/dp/0553208845
on June 2, 2008 at 11:45 am6 Raatkiranii (K.F.S)

Rafael - Wa Salaam.

I looked up your suggestion - Thank you, it looks like something i should enjoy and benefit from. This is way input and suggestions from all different sources and people is so important. Thank you again!
on June 2, 2008 at 11:07 pm7 Rafael

And you *better* like it because it’s my favourite novel. You have been warned.
on June 3, 2008 at 12:49 pm8 Raatkiranii (K.F.S)

Rafael - Ahh…i see, so i’ve been warned, have I? It must be some novel to come with such a recommendation.

I can’t say i’ll get to it right away, but Insha Allah i will get to it.
on June 5, 2008 at 8:31 pm9 Zios

Very nice collection of titles :-)….and very nice blog.

I like your ID too…takes me back to the childhood when evenings were full of ‘raat ki rani ‘ and ‘ mutti ki khusboo’
on June 5, 2008 at 9:01 pm10 Raatkiranii (K.F.S)

Zios - Thank you, and yes those languid childhood evenings are most definitely represented in those words, as is the sweetness of our land.
on June 6, 2008 at 3:18 am11 Aadil

A very impressive list! I’d love to read even half of it!
Your blogs impressive too!
on June 6, 2008 at 9:33 pm12 Raatkiranii (K.F.S)

Aadil - I too would love to read even half of it!

Thank you for your kind comments.
on August 15, 2008 at 5:17 pm13 J Alan

Impressive list indeed….
You might want to try One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

One of my favorites……the resiliance and power of man to survive and find comfort in small things…you might like it.

Hope all is well with you and yours…

Alan
on August 15, 2008 at 7:25 pm14 Kaosar (Raatkiranii)

Alan! How are you? Yes, I’m fine, thank you and doing well. How have you been?

And you’re right, i just might enjoy One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, actually i was looking at the book a few days ago I’ll be sure to put up on my list and get to it eventually (god willing).
on August 15, 2008 at 8:27 pm15 J Alan

It’s good to hear from you…..
I missed your words of wisdom.
Havn’t had much internet access!

I’m doing well… been doing a lot traveling of late, very satisfying but tiring as well. (actually love almost every minute of it!)

Take care …..and may God keep you in his sights.

Alan
on August 16, 2008 at 6:39 pm16 Kaosar (Raatkiranii)

Alan, yes, it’s been a while, but I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself

Traveling! i wish i had a bit more time for that. All in good time I’m sure.

Do keep on having all that fun, but keep in touch! You miss my words and i your great photographs!

Jazakallah (God do you good), and take care.