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damyantig

damyantig

Joined September 2017

Books keep me alive. damyantiwrites.com
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Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan
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The Maid's Room by Fiona Mitchell
review
damyantig
Celestial Bodies | Jokha Alharthi
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Pickpick

I had a hard time keeping all the timelines and characters straight and after a while, simply gave up in order to enjoy the vignettes on their own. The language is gorgeous and flavored with Arabic and atmospheric enough that it kept my interest.

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damyantig
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Such a slippery little book. I dip into it time and again, having never read it from cover to cover.

Ironic that I read this passage on the train, a list of errands in hand, wanting to ‘accomplish‘ most of it today.

Holding a book in my hands and going off to sleep on a park bench, those are the kind of days I live for. No one has held a gun to my head: all my errands are non-urgent and can be done tomorrow.
Almost makes me want to return home.

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damyantig
Night | Elie Wiesel
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This is such a difficult read. The language is easy to understand, the voice flows. But the sheer horrors we humans are capable of? Not so much.

I can only read a few pages at a time, in daylight.

This is the sort of book we all should read, though. ALL of us. Especially, now, when hatred of the other is a rising tide the world over.

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damyantig
The Boy in the Earth | Fuminori Nakamura
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Okay, so not the best book to read when you‘re down with flu, hacking away with cough and trying to feel cheerful, but I had this book with me, and started on it, without wanting to.
And now I can‘t stop, even though I know it isn‘t helping me. Someone stop me before I finish this book.

damyantig I finished it. It was a depressing book to start off with but ended on a conveniently positive note. The author writes well, but I‘m not keen on more of his stuff. 5y
7 likes1 stack add1 comment
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damyantig
Apple Tree Yard: A Novel | Louise Doughty
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An afternoon of truffle fries, wine, and carrot-orange-ginger juice to finish Louise Doughty‘s Apple Tree Yard.

Gripping, suspenseful and so very well written. This is one classy literary thriller.

Cinfhen Nice review 6y
damyantig Haha it is hardly a review, but thanks. Literary thrillers work for me, I guess. 6y
12 likes2 comments
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damyantig
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This book has me by the throat: it isn‘t a genre book, it‘s a strange sort of Bildungsroman literary novel combined with the story of an obsessive friendship.

It was a rage when it first appeared a few years ago, and I get why. Haven‘t been this seduced by a book for a long long time. I‘m pretty sure I‘ll buy the other two in the series as soon as I finish this one.

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damyantig
Manhattan Beach: A Novel | Jennifer Egan
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Reading Manhattan Beach is like watching a virtuoso at the piano, or looking up at aerial acrobatics at cirque du soleil.

All pages are strewn with pearly descriptions—this is one beach I want to visit, again and again.

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damyantig
Life with an Idiot | Viktor V. Erofeev
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The stories are staggeringly well-written, and explore a gamut of human emotions—the title story, Life with an Idiot, is an orgy of violence and disgust, but also profoundly human, and vulnerable. It will stay with me a long time. Pick this one up when you can handle a dark, real-yet-surreal read.

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damyantig
Pool in the Desert | Sara Jeanette Duncan
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Ok, so I‘m reading this book I found at a garage sale some time back, by a Canadian author writing on Colonial India based on her own experiences.

Since it was originally published in 1903, the English is of its time, but the stories are wonderful: sharply observed, and a brilliant depiction of that time and place from a bright, cynical woman‘s mind.

I‘m going to hunt for her biography now.

3 likes1 stack add
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damyantig
The Distant Lover | Christoph Hein
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A strange little book with an unsympathetic protagonist (and first person narrator) who grew on me.

Most of the chapters read like diary entries, and despite the detached, and often-laconic style, the overall effect is fierce, often vulnerable, and ultimately, quite sympathetic.

Insightful and poignant commentary on relationships, on existential loneliness, and the way we each try and live out our lives.

8 likes1 stack add
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damyantig
The Children Act | Ian McEwan
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“Blind luck, to arrive in the world with your properly formed parts in the right place, to be born to parents who were loving, not cruel, or to escape, by geographical or social accident, war or poverty. And therefore to find it so much easier to be virtuous.”

Reading this #novella by McEwan—this quote sums up my thoughts on life, and on virtue. So much easier to be virtuous and brave when neither is challenged in any way.

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damyantig
The Maid's Room | Fiona Mitchell
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Fiona Mitchell's debut novel just hit bookstores. #TheMaidsRoom explores the lives of over-worked, underpaid Filipina maids who decide to fight back and change their lives: the sort of book I've wanted to read for a while, based on what I've seen and heard in Singapore.

She's giving away a signed copy of her book to one of the readers of my blog who comment on her post.

I‘ve begun reading it, and love it so far!

13 likes3 stack adds
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damyantig
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A completely different, unfamiliar world, the border between #Russia and #China in the 1970s, is brought alive in Ha Jin's ocean of words.

So much simplicity, humor, poignant emotion in these #shortstories: men in harrowing yet hilarious circumstances interact on the pages, and make for an absorbing read.

Glad I stumbled upon this in the local library.

9 likes1 stack add
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damyantig
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Love the straightforward no-nonsense voice in Diana Athill's memoir. Old age isn't written about all the much, so it is fascinating to read this account. Though I picked this up for research, I continue to find #insights on #life that keep me #reading.

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damyantig
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"Some were more actors than puppeteers, but others handled their marottes and tickle puppets and Bunraku puppets with an ease and affection that didn't exist between my glove puppet and me. I think the soul must be heavy and smooth, Myrna: I deduce this from the buoyant, jerky movements of puppets, which lack souls."

Beautiful #writing and beautiful #stories. Love this collection!

review
damyantig
Exquisite Captive | Heather Demetrios
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Mehso-so

Was unwell, so spent the day in bed with this book. It is well-written, and I like Nalia, the protagonist, and Raif, her love interest.

Too much backstory in places made me skim, and Malek didn't sound like a convincing character. The chapters where Haran went on his binges became predictable and repetitive after a while.

Moving on to the next in the series, but might just bail from that one.

Good for light reading, I guess.

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damyantig
Sights Unseen: A Novel | Kaye Gibbons
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I've been reading this novel, structured like a memoir, from a daughter about herself and her mother.

Funny at times and frankly depressing at others, it began as research for my novel, but I find I like it for itself now. The characters are real, and I'm caught up in the story.

This is my first novel-as-memoir, and it is fascinating.

What are you reading this week?

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damyantig
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I've been #reading #poetry first thing in the morning for a long time now, and like one of those fragrance diffusers, this practice perfumes my days.

There might be deadlines, dental appointments, news of deaths and devastation, but this practice keeps a calm center to each day, and guides me back home within myself, when I go to bed.

Do you read or write #poetry ?
What place does it hold in your life?

mcipher I miss poetry! I do try to read one some days, but I used to read tons, and I also wrote it for years. Then I had my son and stopped - and 15 years later I haven't started up again! Your practice sounds like a lovely daily meditation. 😊 7y
damyantig I have poetry books lying around the house. I just pick one at random and read as I drink a glass of warm water first thing in the morning. I also get poems sent to my email, so I always have one on easy access 😊 7y
17 likes2 comments
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damyantig
In the Wild Wood | Frances Gapper
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Snacking on this book from @culturedllama by Frances Gapper, who is a whimsical, subtle writer, as you can see from the excerpts. But what I like about her stories is that they can be gossamer-bright and fragile, but often carry a steely strength.

RaimeyGallant Woohoo! Everyone please follow and welcome my author friend Damyanti. I promise she'll follow back (or I'll kick her butt;) #LitsyWelcomeWagon 7y
Cinfhen Hi friend of @RaimeyGallant welcome to Litsy 💗#LitsyWelcomeWagon 7y
damyantig Hahahaha @RaimeyGallant no butt-kicking required. I always follow back all non-spam accounts 😊 7y
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damyantig @Cinfhen Thankyou! I shall try and figure out #LitsyWelcomeWagon now 😊 7y
MrBook Welcome to Litsy 😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!!! You're gonna LOVE it here. 7y
damyantig @MrBook Thankyou! I already do 😊 7y
tpixie Welcome to Litsy!! 🎉💕📚🎈 7y
damyantig @tpixie I'm so grateful for the warm welcome! 7y
tpixie 🎉🎉🎉🎉 7y
TheRiehlDeal Welcome to Litsy! 🎈 🎉 📚 Like @MrBook said, you'll love it here. This is such a friendly community. 7y
20 likes2 stack adds13 comments