Reading in Reykjavík

Books mentioned in Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey. Non-fiction: The Books of Knowledge . (Encyclopedias) 'Short Account of the Life and Works of Jai Jeewan Lal Bahadur, Late Honorary Magistrate, Delhi,with Extracts from his Diary Relating to the Time of Mutiny, 1857' (family history, not clear whether it was printed or a private book) 1066 and All That (full title: 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates, by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman). 'The Biography of Emperor Akbar' by Abul Fazl (real book but I couldn't find the official title) Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management Our Viceregal Life in India by Lady Dufferin  Folk tales, fairy tales and religious texts: Bhagwat-Gita Grimm's Fairy Tales The Ramayana (the Tulsidas version, properly called the Ramcharitmanas ) Fiction: Godan by Munshi Premchand Pl...

Top ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish . Visit the hosting blog to read more lists. Today is freebie day , so you can never know what to expect until you click on a link to visit a particular blog. I am an indophile and will probably continue to visit India for the rest of my life. My only regret is that it would take several lifetimes to explore it as thoroughly as I would like. Naturally, I read a lot of books about India. These are some that I liked for one reason or another.  T en recommended books about India by outsiders : City of Djinns by William Dalrymple. The author traces the history of the city and tells the story of his own stay there. I didn’t explore the city much on my first visit to India, indeed I found it to be rather overwhelming, dirty, noisy and crowded, but after reading this I decided to give it a chance when I went there again, and have found it quite endearing ever since, albeit only in small doses. Holy ...

I have gotten a bit ahead of myself by posting some reading journal entries for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall before posting an introduction to my little Brontë project. For one reason or another, the Brontë sisters have been on my mind lately. First I got into an enjoyable discussion about Jane Eyre and then I had two occasions, within a short interval, to mention my horrid experience of reading Wuthering Heights . Then I reread Stella Gibbons' gem of a novel, Cold Comfort Farm , in which one of the characters, Mr. Mybug, is writing a life of Branwell Brontë, who he claims wrote all the novels attributed to his sisters. This naturally brought up the titles of some books by the Brontës, including Shirley and Villette, and it occurred to me that I really should read them. This led to a decision to read all of them, because Why Not? JE and WH may be the most popular of the sisters' oeuvre, but the others wouldn't be mentioned so frequently in other books and literary di...

Since I'm on my coffee break at work I decided it was a good time to write down more of the thoughts I am having about this book. I like the story so far. I am a little further on into Helen's narrative than I was last time, and things are progressing . Her narrative is diary entries, whereas Gilbert's opening narrative is letters to his brother-in-law, but this is no "dear diary" kind of thing. She is clearly writing for an audience (the reader), but since she of course doesn't know she is a character in a book one must assume the audience is, who? Herself? Or was Anne just being clumsy when she wrote it? The man who I assume will turn out to be the cause of all her troubles and the father of her son is the charming but obviously somewhat rakish (to the reader and certain of the characters, although not Helen, who seems to think he is just a lovable rascal) Mr. Huntingdon, which brings me to the names of the characters. Gilbert's surname is Markham...

Remember the scene where Gilbert tries to give Helen the book?  Love it. It's so lovely, with the lovesick swain trying to win his lady's favour with a gift, and his mortification when she insists on paying him for it. I think it may also be a pivot point, the place where she begins to regard him in the light of more than a friend, even though she acts as if friendship is the only way for them:      But, while I gazed, I thought upon the book, and wondered how it was to be presented.  My heart failed me; but I determined not to be such a fool as to come away without having made the attempt.  It was useless waiting for an opportunity, and useless trying to concoct a speech for the occasion.  The more plainly and naturally the thing was done, the better, I thought; so I just looked out of the window to screw up my courage, and then pulled out the book, turned round, and put it into her hand, with this short explanation:    ...

Here is a special one for the books-in-books registry: A book in which all the books and other published materials mentioned are imaginary, because the book itself takes place in an imaginary world. Poetry: Oi! To his Deaf Mistress, by Robert Scandal Publications: The Times (newspaper) Bu-Bubble (fashion magazine) Satblatt (dwarf newspaper) Bows & Ammo The Inquirer The Tanty Bugle Back Street Pins Stanley Howler's Stamp Monthly Giggles, Girls and Garters Golem Spotter Weekly Fretwork Today A couple of doubly imaginary ones , i.e. titles mentioned that may only exist in L-space as observed from the Discworld: Pride & Buns Great Spoons of the World Non-fiction and reference: Compendium of Odours by Brakefast (in 22 volumes) Trumpet of Equestrianism by Sprout The Speech of Trolls by Postalume Five Hours and Sixteen Minutes Among the Goblins of Far Uberwald by J.P. Bunderbell Discomforting Misusage by Birdcatcher Die Wesentlichen Ungewisseiten...

Today's question on Booking Through Thursday is about changing reading habits: Have your reading habits changed since you were a child? (I mean, I’m assuming you have less time to read now, but …) Did you devour and absorb books when you were 10 and only just lightly read them now? Did you re-read frequently as a child but now only read new books? How about types of books? Do you find yourself still attracted to the kinds of books you read when you were a kid? My reading habits haven't really changed that much, except I am possibly more choosy about the books I read, and I read more. As a kid, I would devour any and all books that came my way, regardless of the quality. Quantity was the main thing. These days I think more about what I am reading and not just any book will do, but since I also read faster, I go through more books. Back then, I would become so absolutely absorbed in what I was reading that I would forget about hunger, pain ...