Suvarna's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:59:50 -0700 60 Suvarna's bookshelf: all 144 41 https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Faust 406373 Faust reworks the late medieval myth of a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract with Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seeks to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last forever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephistopheles and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe’s great work, the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a rejuvenated life and winning the love of the beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire, and self-delusion, Faust heads inexorably toward an infernal destruction.]]> 503 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 0385031149 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.90 1808 Faust
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.90
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]]> Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Suvarna 0 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
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]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe]]> 9507278 Complete Works does not pretend to be final. It does claim to make Poe's work readily available in an attractive format, to have been carfully prepared, intelligently arranged and reasonably priced. In short, it proposes to put into the hands of the general public the entire range of work of one of the greatest of American writers in a most convenient and readable volume that will be at once popular and reliable.
--H.A.

Contents:
- Introduction by Hervey Allen
TALES
- The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall
- The Gold-Bug
- The Balloon-Hoax
- Von Kempelen and His Discovery
- Mesmeric Revelation
- The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
- The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
- MS. Found in a Bottle
- A Descent into the Maelström
- The Murders in the Rue Morgue
- The Mystery of Marie Roget
- The Purloined Letter
- The Black Cat
- The Fall of the House of Usher
- The Pit and the Pendulum
- The Premature Burial
- The Masque of the Red Death
- The Cask of Amontillado
- The Imp of the Perverse
- The Island of the Fay
- The Oval Portrait
- The Assignation
- The Tell-Tale Heart
- The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
- The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq.
- How to Write a Blackwood Article
- A Predicament
- Mystification
- X-ing a Paragrab
- Diddling
- The Angel of the Odd
- Mellonta Tauta
- Loss of Breath
- The Man that Was Used Up
- The Business Man
- Maelzel's Chess-Player
- The Power of Words
- The Colloquy of Monos and Una
- The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion
- Shadow — A Parable
- Silence — A Fable
- Philosophy of Furniture
- A Tale of Jerusalem
- The Sphinx
- The Man of the Crowd
- Never Bet the Devil Your Head
- “Thou Art the Man”
- Hop-Frog
- Four Beasts in One; The Homo-Camelopard
- Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling
- Bon-Bon
- Some Words with a Mummy
- Review of Stephens' “Arabia Petrzea”
- Magazine-Writing — Peter Snook
- The Quacks of Helicon — A Satire
- Astoria
- The Domain of Arnheim, or The Landscape Garden
- Landor's Cottage
- William Wilson
- Berenice
- Eleonora
- Ligeia
- Morella
- Metzengerstein
- A Tale of the Ragged Mountains
- The Spectacles
- The Duc De L'Omelette
- The Oblong Box
- King Pest
- Three Sundays in a Week
- The Devil in the Belfry
- Lionizing
- Narrative of A. Gordon Pym
────────────
- Preface to the Poems
- The Poetic Principle
- The Rationale of Verse
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS
- The Raven
- Lenore
- Hymn
- A Valentine
- The Coliseum
- To Helen
- To — —
- Ulalume
- The Bells
- An Enigma
- Annabel Lee
- To My Mother
- The Haunted Palace
- The Conqueror Worm
- To F—S S. O—D
- To One in Paradise
- The Valley of Unrest
- The City in the Sea
- The Sleeper
- Silence
- A Dream Within a Dream
- Dream-Land
- To Zante
- Eulalie
- Eldorado
- Israfel
- For Annie
- To —
- Bridal Ballad
- To F—
- Scenes from “Politian”
POEMS WRITTEN IN YOUTH
- Sonnet — To Science
- Al Aaraaf
- To the River —
- Tamerlane
- To —
- A Dream
- Romance
- Fairy-Land
- The Lake — To —
- Song
- To M. L. S—
- Spirits of the Dead
- To Helen
- Evening Star
- “The Happiest Day”
- Imitation
- Hymn to Aristogeiton and Harmodius. Translation from the Greek
- Dreams
- “In Youth I Have Known One”
- A Paean
- To Isadore
- Alone]]> 236 Edgar Allan Poe 1453744517 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.54 1849 The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.54
book published: 1849
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]]> The Bell Jar 6514 294 Sylvia Plath Suvarna 5 4.05 1963 The Bell Jar
author: Sylvia Plath
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1963
rating: 5
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]]> To the Lighthouse 59716
As time winds its way through their lives, the Ramsays face, alone and simultaneously, the greatest of human challenges and its greatest triumph—the human capacity for change.]]> 209 Virginia Woolf Suvarna 0 3.81 1927 To the Lighthouse
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1927
rating: 0
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]]> A Room of One’s Own 18521 A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on the 24th of October, 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay in fact employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled Women and Fiction, and hence the essay, are considered nonfiction. The essay is seen as a feminist text, and is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.]]> 112 Virginia Woolf Suvarna 0 4.22 1929 A Room of One’s Own
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1929
rating: 0
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]]> The Great Gatsby 4671 here, here and here.

The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 Suvarna 0 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 0
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]]> Waiting for Godot 17716 109 Samuel Beckett Suvarna 0 3.85 1952 Waiting for Godot
author: Samuel Beckett
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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]]> The Stranger 49552 The Stranger has long been considered a classic of twentieth-century literature. Le Monde ranks it as number one on its "100 Books of the Century" list. Through this story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on a sundrenched Algerian beach, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."]]> 123 Albert Camus Suvarna 0 4.04 1942 The Stranger
author: Albert Camus
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1942
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]]> <![CDATA[The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)]]> 61215384
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

The Dark Lord has risen, and as he unleashes hordes of Orcs to conquer all Middle-earth, Frodo and Sam struggle deep into his realm in Mordor.

To defeat Sauron, the One Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. But the way is impossibly hard, and Frodo is weakening. The Ring corrupts all who bear it and Frodo’s time is running out.

Will Sam and Frodo succeed, or will the Dark Lord rule Middle-earth once more?]]> 432 J.R.R. Tolkien Suvarna 0 to-read 4.69 1955 The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.69
book published: 1955
rating: 0
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]]> The Sun Also Rises 3876 The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta) is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.]]> 189 Ernest Hemingway Suvarna 0 to-read 3.80 1926 The Sun Also Rises
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1926
rating: 0
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]]> A Clockwork Orange 41817486 A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom. This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, and Burgess’s introduction, “A Clockwork Orange Resucked.”]]> 240 Anthony Burgess 0393341763 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.04 1962 A Clockwork Orange
author: Anthony Burgess
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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]]> Mrs. Dalloway 14942 194 Virginia Woolf 0151009988 Suvarna 0 3.79 1925 Mrs. Dalloway
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1925
rating: 0
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]]> Oliver Twist 18254
The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath - shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble, Oliver finds himself lured into a den of thieves peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the Artful Dodger, vicious burglar Bill Sikes, his dog Bull's Eye, and prostitute Nancy, all watched over by cunning master-thief Fagin. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

This Penguin Classics edition of Oliver Twist is the first critical edition to faithfully reproduce the text as its earliest readers would have encountered it from its serialisation in Bentley's Miscellany, and includes an introduction by Philip Horne, a glossary of Victorian thieves' slang, a chronology of Dickens's life, a map of contemporary London and all of George Cruikshank's original illustrations.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 608 Charles Dickens Suvarna 0 3.88 1838 Oliver Twist
author: Charles Dickens
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1838
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]]> The Grapes of Wrath 18114322
First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.]]> 536 John Steinbeck 067001690X Suvarna 0 to-read 4.08 1939 The Grapes of Wrath
author: John Steinbeck
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1939
rating: 0
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]]> Les Misérables 24280 1488 Victor Hugo 0451525264 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.19 1862 Les Misérables
author: Victor Hugo
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1862
rating: 0
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]]> Of Mice and Men 890 “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.]]> 107 John Steinbeck 0142000671 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.89 1937 Of Mice and Men
author: John Steinbeck
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1937
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Everlasting Things]]> 63361631
Lush, sensuous, and deeply romantic, The Book of Everlasting Things is the story of two lovers and two nations, split apart by forces beyond their control, yet bound by love and memory. Filled with exquisite descriptions of perfume and calligraphy, spanning continents and generations, Aanchal Malhotra’s debut novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.]]> 482 Aanchal Malhotra 9356294011 Suvarna 0 currently-reading 4.45 2022 The Book of Everlasting Things
author: Aanchal Malhotra
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/03
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]]> Crime and Punishment 7144 671 Fyodor Dostoevsky Suvarna 0 4.27 1866 Crime and Punishment
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1866
rating: 0
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]]> 1984 40961427
Living under constant state surveillance via ubiquitous telescreens, Winston covertly rebels against the ruling Party through private journal writing and an illicit relationship with a coworker, Julia. The novel examines the mechanics of political authoritarianism, the manipulation of language and history, and the tension between individual consciousness and state power.]]> 298 George Orwell Suvarna 0 4.24 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1949
rating: 0
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]]> Othello 12996 319 William Shakespeare Suvarna 0 3.89 1603 Othello
author: William Shakespeare
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1603
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]]> The Metamorphosis 485894 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 0553213695 / 9780553213690

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."

With it's startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man."]]> 201 Franz Kafka 0553213695 Suvarna 0 3.92 1915 The Metamorphosis
author: Franz Kafka
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1915
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]]> Heart of Darkness 4900 Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, was originally a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899. It is a story within a story, following a character named Charlie Marlow, who recounts his adventure to a group of men onboard an anchored ship. The story told is of his early life as a ferry boat captain. Although his job was to transport ivory downriver, Charlie develops an interest in investing an ivory procurement agent, Kurtz, who is employed by the government. Preceded by his reputation as a brilliant emissary of progress, Kurtz has now established himself as a god among the natives in “one of the darkest places on earth.” Marlow suspects something else of Kurtz: he has gone mad.

A reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted, Heart of Darkness is often considered one of the most influential works ever written.]]> 188 Joseph Conrad 1892295490 Suvarna 0 3.44 1899 Heart of Darkness
author: Joseph Conrad
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.44
book published: 1899
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]]> War and Peace 656
War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men.

As Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature.


Tolstoy gave his personal approval to this translation, published here in a new single volume edition, which includes an introduction by Henry Gifford, and Tolstoy's important essay `Some Words about War and Peace'.]]> 1392 Leo Tolstoy 0192833987 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.14 1868 War and Peace
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1868
rating: 0
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]]> Life of Pi 4214 460 Yann Martel 0770430074 Suvarna 4 3.94 2001 Life of Pi
author: Yann Martel
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water]]> 59808037
Structurally inventive and emotionally kaleidoscopic, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is Angie Cruz’s most ambitious and moving novel yet, and Cara is a heroine for the ages.]]> 191 Angie Cruz 1250208459 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.84 2022 How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
author: Angie Cruz
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
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]]> Cleopatra and Frankenstein 57693262 For readers of Modern Lovers and Conversations with Friends, an addictive, humorous, and poignant debut novel about the shock waves caused by one couple's impulsive marriage.

Twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank's life is full of all the excesses Cleo's lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a Green Card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could've predicted.

Each compulsively readable chapter explores the lives of Cleo, Frank, and an unforgettable cast of their closest friends and family as they grow up and grow older. Whether it's Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender queerness in the wake of Cleo's marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates to support herself after being cut off, or Cleo and Frank themselves as they discover the trials of marriage and mental illness, each character is as absorbing, and painfully relatable, as the last.

As hilarious as it is heartbreaking, entertaining as it is deeply moving, Cleopatra and Frankenstein marks the entry of a brilliant and bold new talent.]]> 368 Coco Mellors 1635576814 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.66 2022 Cleopatra and Frankenstein
author: Coco Mellors
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2022
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]]> Land of Milk and Honey 101673225 The award-winning author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold returns with a rapturous and revelatory novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world

A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles.

There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch, and her own body.

In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef’s boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.

Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in language as alluring as it is original, Land of Milk and Honey lays provocatively bare the ethics of seeking pleasure in a dying world. It is a daringly imaginative exploration of desire and deception, privilege and faith, and the roles we play to survive. Most of all, it is a love letter to food, to wild delight, and to the transformative power of a woman embracing her own appetite.]]> 240 C Pam Zhang 0593538242 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.47 2023 Land of Milk and Honey
author: C Pam Zhang
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2023
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]]> Evil Eye 59381516
After Yara responds to a colleague’s racist provocation, she is put on probation at work and must attend mandatory counselling. Her mother blames a family curse for Yara’s troubles, and while Yara doesn’t believe in superstitions, she still finds herself growing increasingly uneasy about falling victim to the same mistakes as her mother.

Yara’s carefully constructed world begins to implode and suddenly she must face up to the difficulties of her childhood, not fully realising how that will impact not just her own future, but that of her daughters too.]]> 352 Etaf Rum 0062987909 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.92 2023 Evil Eye
author: Etaf Rum
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Macbeth 8852
This shocking tragedy - a violent caution to those seeking power for its own sake - is, to this day, one of Shakespeare’s most popular and influential masterpieces.]]> 249 William Shakespeare 0743477103 Suvarna 0 3.90 1623 Macbeth
author: William Shakespeare
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1623
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]]> Hamlet 1420 289 William Shakespeare 0521618746 Suvarna 0 4.02 1601 Hamlet
author: William Shakespeare
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1601
rating: 0
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]]> Brave New World 5129 Brave New World is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English author Aldous Huxley. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist.]]> 288 Aldous Huxley 0060929871 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.99 1932 Brave New World
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1932
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]]> Anna Karenina 15823480 Anna Karenina provides a vast panorama of contemporary life in Russia and of humanity in general. In it Tolstoy uses his intense imaginative insight to create some of the most memorable characters in all of literature. Anna is a sophisticated woman who abandons her empty existence as the wife of Karenin and turns to Count Vronsky to fulfil her passionate nature - with tragic consequences. Levin is a reflection of Tolstoy himself, often expressing the author's own views and convictions.

Throughout, Tolstoy points no moral, merely inviting us not to judge but to watch. As Rosemary Edmonds comments, 'He leaves the shifting patterns of the kaleidoscope to bring home the meaning of the brooding words following the title, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.]]> 964 Leo Tolstoy 0345803922 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.12 1878 Anna Karenina
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1878
rating: 0
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]]> Fahrenheit 451 13079982
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.]]> 249 Ray Bradbury Suvarna 0 to-read 3.97 1963 Fahrenheit 451
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/03
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]]> A Head Full of Ghosts 23019294
To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie's descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts' plight. With John, Marjorie's father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.

Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface--and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.]]> 287 Paul Tremblay 0062363239 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.77 2015 A Head Full of Ghosts
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/03
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]]> Love & Misadventure 18003300
Beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully conceived, Love and Misadventure will take you on a roller-coaster ride through an ill-fated love affair—from the initial butterflies to the soaring heights—through to the devastating plunge. Lang Leav has an unnerving ability to see inside the hearts and minds of her readers. Her talent for translating complex emotions with astonishing simplicity has won her a cult following of devoted fans from all over the world.]]> 176 Lang Leav 0473235501 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.93 2013 Love & Misadventure
author: Lang Leav
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/03
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review:

]]> Club Chernobyl 2242775 80 Dianne Warren 1550500791 Suvarna 0 1.50 1995 Club Chernobyl
author: Dianne Warren
name: Suvarna
average rating: 1.50
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/11
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review:

]]> Kafka on the Shore 4929 Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.

Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky.

There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle - yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.]]> 467 Haruki Murakami Suvarna 0 to-read 4.13 2002 Kafka on the Shore
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/06/06
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review:

]]> Leaves of Grass 27494 624 Walt Whitman Suvarna 0 to-read 4.12 1855 Leaves of Grass
author: Walt Whitman
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1855
rating: 0
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]]> Norwegian Wood 11297
A magnificent blending of the music, the mood, and the ethos that was the sixties with the story of one college student's romantic coming of age, Norwegian Wood brilliantly recaptures a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.]]> 296 Haruki Murakami Suvarna 0 to-read 3.99 1987 Norwegian Wood
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/06/06
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review:

]]> King Lear 12938
The play tells us about families struggling between greed and cruelty, on the one hand, and support and consolation, on the other. Emotions are extreme, magnified to gigantic proportions. We also see old age portrayed in all its vulnerability, pride, and, perhaps, wisdom—one reason this most devastating of Shakespeare’s tragedies is also perhaps his most moving.

The authoritative edition of King Lear from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:

-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play

-Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

-Scene-by-scene plot summaries

-A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases

-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language

-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books

-An annotated guide to further reading

Essay by Susan Snyder

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.]]> 339 William Shakespeare Suvarna 0 to-read 3.91 1605 King Lear
author: William Shakespeare
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1605
rating: 0
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]]> The God of Small Things 9777
Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, they fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family—their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin, Sophie Mol, and her mother, Margaret Kochamma, arrive on a Christmas visit, Esthappen and Rahel learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever, beside their river "graygreen." With fish in it. With the sky and trees in it. And at night, the broken yellow moon in it.

The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

The God of Small Things takes on the Big Themes—Love. Madness. Hope. Infinite Joy. Here is a writer who dares to break the rules. To dislocate received rhythms and create the language she requires, a language that is at once classical and unprecedented. Arundhati Roy has given us a book that is anchored to anguish, but fueled by wit and magic.]]> 321 Arundhati Roy 0679457313 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.97 1997 The God of Small Things
author: Arundhati Roy
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> The Silmarillion 7332 386 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618391118 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.01 1977 The Silmarillion
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/06/06
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review:

]]> Beloved 6149 Previous cover edition of ISBN 9781400033416

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby.

Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.]]> 325 Toni Morrison Suvarna 4 3.99 1987 Beloved
author: Toni Morrison
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at:
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]]> David Copperfield 58696 882 Charles Dickens Suvarna 0 4.03 1850 David Copperfield
author: Charles Dickens
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1850
rating: 0
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]]> A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1622
Also in the woods, the king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy; Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, whose head is temporarily transformed into that of a donkey by a hobgoblin or “puck,” Robin Goodfellow. Finally, Bottom and his companions ineptly stage the tragedy of “Pyramus and Thisbe.”

This edition includes:
Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
Scene-by-scene plot summaries
A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases
An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language
An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books
An annotated guide to further reading]]> 298 William Shakespeare 0743477545 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.95 1595 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
author: William Shakespeare
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1595
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time]]> 1618 226 Mark Haddon 1400032717 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.89 2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
author: Mark Haddon
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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]]> Don Quixote 3836
With its experimental form and literary playfulness, Don Quixote has been generally recognized as the first modern novel. The book has been enormously influential on a host of writers, from Fielding and Sterne to Flaubert, Dickens, Melville, and Faulkner, who reread it once a year, "just as some people read the Bible."]]> 1023 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Suvarna 0 to-read 3.87 1605 Don Quixote
author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1605
rating: 0
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]]> Charlotte’s Web 24178 Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." This high-quality paperback features vibrant illustrations colorized by Rosemary Wells!

Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.

E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. This edition contains newly color illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books.]]> 184 E.B. White 0064410935 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.21 1952 Charlotte’s Web
author: E.B. White
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 "Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'."

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!]]> 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/06/06
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]]> The Old Man and the Sea 2165 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

The last novel Ernest Hemingway saw published, The Old Man and the Sea has proved itself to be one of the most enduring works of American fiction. It is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal: a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream.

Using the simple, powerful language of a fable, Hemingway takes the timeless themes of courage in the face of defeat and personal triumph won from loss and transforms them into a magnificent twentieth-century classic. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novel confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.]]> 96 Ernest Hemingway 0684830493 Suvarna 4 3.82 1952 The Old Man and the Sea
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2021/06/06
date added: 2021/06/06
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]]> The Way of the World 191275 124 William Congreve 1406946303 Suvarna 3 3.35 1700 The Way of the World
author: William Congreve
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.35
book published: 1700
rating: 3
read at: 2021/03/14
date added: 2021/03/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life]]> 33357041 ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy)—the happiness of always being busy—as revealed by the daily habits of the world’s longest-living people.

What’s your ikigai?

“Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.” —Japanese proverb

According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—the place where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy.

In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day?]]> 208 Héctor García 0143130722 Suvarna 3 3.70 2016 Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
author: Héctor García
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2021/03/14
date added: 2021/03/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Rape of the Lock (Wildside Classic)]]> 2262521 54 Alexander Pope 1557429162 Suvarna 4 3.54 1717 The Rape of the Lock (Wildside Classic)
author: Alexander Pope
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1717
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/28
date added: 2021/01/28
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The rape of the Lock is one of the most famous English language examples of the mock epic. The poem is humourous indictment of the vanities and idleness of the 18th century high society. It is must read for all the literature lovers out there. <3
]]> The Loom of Time 28479704 343 Kālidāsa 0143100408 Suvarna 4 3.88 1991 The Loom of Time
author: Kālidāsa
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/26
date added: 2021/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Silence! The Court is in Session]]> 8854313 86 Vijay Tendulkar 0195603133 Suvarna 3 3.91 1968 Silence! The Court is in Session
author: Vijay Tendulkar
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1968
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/23
date added: 2021/01/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Unaccustomed Earth 85301
In the stunning title story, Ruma, a young mother in a new city, is visited by her father, who carefully tends the earth of her garden, where he and his grandson form a special bond. But he’s harboring a secret from his daughter, a love affair he’s keeping all to himself. In “A Choice of Accommodations,” a husband’s attempt to turn an old friend’s wedding into a romantic getaway weekend with his wife takes a dark, revealing turn as the party lasts deep into the night. In “Only Goodness,” a sister eager to give her younger brother the perfect childhood she never had is overwhelmed by guilt, anguish, and anger when his alcoholism threatens her family. And in “Hema and Kaushik,” a trio of linked stories—a luminous, intensely compelling elegy of life, death, love, and fate—we follow the lives of a girl and boy who, one winter, share a house in Massachusetts. They travel from innocence to experience on separate, sometimes painful paths, until destiny brings them together again years later in Rome.

Unaccustomed Earth is rich with Jhumpa Lahiri’s signature gifts: exquisite prose, emotional wisdom, and subtle renderings of the most intricate workings of the heart and mind. It is a masterful, dazzling work of a writer at the peak of her powers.]]> 352 Jhumpa Lahiri 0676979343 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.14 2008 Unaccustomed Earth
author: Jhumpa Lahiri
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/01/22
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]]> The White Tiger 1768603
Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life—having nothing but his own wits to help him along.

Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village's wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians (Puddles and Cuddles), and the rich man's (very unlucky) son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram's new world is a revelation. While his peers flip through the pages of Murder Weekly ("Love -- Rape -- Revenge!"), barter for girls, drink liquor (Thunderbolt), and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Indian society, Balram watches his employers bribe foreign ministers for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor (single-malt whiskey), and play their own role in the Rooster Coop. Balram learns how to siphon gas, deal with corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles (all but one). He also finds a way out of the Coop that no one else inside it can perceive.

Balram's eyes penetrate India as few outsiders can: the cockroaches and the call centers; the prostitutes and the worshippers; the ancient and Internet cultures; the water buffalo and, trapped in so many kinds of cages that escape is (almost) impossible, the white tiger. And with a charisma as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn't create virtue, and money doesn't solve every problem -- but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations.

The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international publishing sensation —and a startling, provocative debut.]]> 288 Aravind Adiga 1416562591 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.76 2008 The White Tiger
author: Aravind Adiga
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/01/22
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review:

]]> The Namesake 33917 Interpreter of Maladies established this young writer as one the most brilliant of her generation. Her stories are one of the very few debut works -- and only a handful of collections -- to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Among the many other awards and honors it received were the New Yorker Debut of the Year award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the highest critical praise for its grace, acuity, and compassion in detailing lives transported from India to America.

In The Namesake, Lahiri enriches the themes that made her collection an international bestseller: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, and, most poignantly, the tangled ties between generations. Here again Lahiri displays her deft touch for the perfect detail — the fleeting moment, the turn of phrase — that opens whole worlds of emotion.

The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name.

Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents, but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves.]]> 304 Jhumpa Lahiri 0618485228 Suvarna 4 4.02 2003 The Namesake
author: Jhumpa Lahiri
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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date added: 2021/01/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)]]> 968 This is an alternate cover for 9780307277671. Others can be found:
here, here, here, here, and here


While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

The Da Vinci Code heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.]]> 489 Dan Brown Suvarna 0 to-read 3.92 2003 The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
author: Dan Brown
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/01/22
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]]> The Book Thief 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]> 592 Markus Zusak Suvarna 0 to-read 4.38 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tess of the d Urbervilles 48614269
Young Tess Durbeyfield attempts to restore her family's fortunes by claiming their connection with the aristocratic d'Urbervilles. But Alec d'Urberville is a rich wastrel who seduces her and makes her life miserable. When Tess meets Angel Clare, she is offered true love and happiness, but her past catches up with her and she faces an agonizing moral choice.

Hardy's indictment of society's double standards, and his depiction of Tess as "a pure woman," caused controversy in his day and has held the imagination of readers ever since. Hardy thought it his finest novel, and Tess the most deeply felt character he ever created.]]> 444 Thomas Hardy Suvarna 4 3.89 1891 Tess of the d Urbervilles
author: Thomas Hardy
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1891
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/01/21
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]]> Robinson Crusoe 48650854 272 Daniel Defoe 1853260452 Suvarna 3 3.05 1719 Robinson Crusoe
author: Daniel Defoe
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.05
book published: 1719
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/01/21
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]]> Kanthapura 23007868 288 Raja Rao 0195602544 Suvarna 3 3.56 1938 Kanthapura
author: Raja Rao
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1938
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/01/21
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review:

]]> In Custody 17660939
In this sensitive portrayal of human nature, Anita Desai, one of India?s foremost writers, paints an intimate portrait of lives impacted by the quest for identity and purpose.

Deven, a Hindi lecturer in small-town Mirpore, lives a humdrum existence. A chance to interview Nur?India?s greatest living Urdu poet?offers him an escape from his dreary life. But the Nur he meets is an enfeebled man, surrounded by clashing wives and preying sycophants. Deven?s decision to be the custodian of Nur?s verse gives birth to an unusual alliance between the two.

Stimulating and thought provoking, In Custody is a brilliant parable lamenting the gradual corrosion of culture and tradition in the face of modernity, and a dazzling study of the complexity of human relationships.

About the Author
Anita Desai is one of India?s foremost writers. She has written numerous works of fiction, including Clear Light of Day (1980), In Custody (1984), and Fasting, Feasting (1999)?all shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize?as well as Baumgartner?s Bombay (1988) and The Zigzag Way (2004). In Custody was made into a film by Merchant-Ivory productions, starring Shashi Kapoor and Om Puri. Her most recent work is The Artist of Disappearance (2011).

A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London, the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York, Girton College and Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge, and most recently Sahitya Akademi in India, Anita Desai has also been a Professor of Writing at MIT and has frequently been honoured with awards, among them the Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature and the Padma Shri.

Born in Mussoorie to a German mother and a Bengali father, she was educated in Delhi, and currently divides her time between USA and Mexico.]]> 248 Anita Desai 8184000138 Suvarna 4 3.36 1984 In Custody
author: Anita Desai
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.36
book published: 1984
rating: 4
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]]> Shakespeare Wisdom and Wit 13762518 Quotation book 60 C. Merton Babcock Suvarna 3 3.42 1967 Shakespeare Wisdom and Wit
author: C. Merton Babcock
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.42
book published: 1967
rating: 3
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]]> Tolkien On Fairy-stories 1362112 On Fairy-stories is his most-studied and most-quoted essay, an exemplary personal statement of his own views on the role of imagination in literature, and an intellectual tour de force vital for understanding Tolkien's achievement in writing The Lord of the Rings .

Contained within is an introduction to Tolkien's original 1939 lecture and the history of the writing of On Fairy-stories, with previously unseen material. Here, at last, Flieger and Anderson reveal the extraordinary genesis of this seminal work and discuss how the conclusions that Tolkien reached during the composition of the essay would shape his writing for the rest of his life.]]> 320 J.R.R. Tolkien 0007244665 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.32 2008 Tolkien On Fairy-stories
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Little Women (Little Women, #1)]]> 1934 Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.

It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with "woman’s work,” including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the "girl’s book” her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.

Note: This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780451529305.

]]> 449 Louisa May Alcott Suvarna 0 to-read 4.17 1868 Little Women (Little Women, #1)
author: Louisa May Alcott
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1868
rating: 0
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]]> The Giving Tree 370493
So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.

Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk...and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave.

This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return.]]> 64 Shel Silverstein 0060256656 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.38 1964 The Giving Tree
author: Shel Silverstein
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1964
rating: 0
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]]> Lord of the Flies 7624 182 William Golding 0140283331 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.71 1954 Lord of the Flies
author: William Golding
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1954
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3)]]> 33
In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as the Ring is entrusted to his care. He must leave his home and make a perilous journey across the realms of Middle-earth to the Crack of Doom, deep inside the territories of the Dark Lord. There he must destroy the Ring forever and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.]]> 1216 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618640150 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.53 1955 The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.53
book published: 1955
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Godfather (The Godfather, #1)]]> 22034
Almost fifty years ago, a classic was born. A searing portrayal of the Mafia underworld, The Godfather introduced readers to the first family of American crime fiction, the Corleones, and their powerful legacy of tradition, blood, and honor. The seduction of power, the pitfalls of greed, and the allegiance to family—these are the themes that have resonated with millions of readers around the world and made The Godfather the definitive novel of the violent subculture that, steeped in intrigue and controversy, remains indelibly etched in our collective consciousness.]]> 428 Mario Puzo Suvarna 0 to-read 4.39 1969 The Godfather (The Godfather, #1)
author: Mario Puzo
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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]]> Great Expectations 2623
Pip must discover his true self, and his own set of values and priorities. Whether such values allow one to prosper in the complex world of early Victorian England is the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dickens's most fascinating, and disturbing, novels.

This edition includes the original, discarded ending, Dickens's brief working notes, and the serial instalments and chapter divisions in different editions. It also uses the definitive Clarendon text.]]> 544 Charles Dickens 0192833596 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.79 1861 Great Expectations
author: Charles Dickens
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1861
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #3)]]> 3590 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. The detective is at the height of his powers and the volume is full of famous cases, including 'The Red-Headed League', 'The Blue Carbuncle', and 'The Speckled Band'.
The editor of this volume, Richard Lancelyn Green is editor of The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. With John Michael Gibson, he compiled the Soho Series Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle.
1. A Scandal In Bohemia
2. The Red-Headed League
3. A Case Of Identity
4. The Boscombe Valley Mystery
5. The Five Orange Pips
6. The Man With The Twisted Lip
7. The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle
8. The Adventure Of The Speckled Band
9. The Adventure Of The Engineer's Thumb
10. The Adventure Of The Noble Bachelor
11. The Adventure Of The Beryl Coronet
12. The Adventure Of The Copper Beaches]]> 389 Arthur Conan Doyle Suvarna 0 to-read 4.32 1892 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #3)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1892
rating: 0
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]]> A Tale of Two Cities 1953 A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’s great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero as believably flawed as any in modern fiction. Though the least typical of the author’s novels, A Tale of Two Cities still underscores many of his enduring themes—imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal.]]> 489 Charles Dickens 0141439602 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.87 1859 A Tale of Two Cities
author: Charles Dickens
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1859
rating: 0
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]]> The Catcher in the Rye 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919–2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass]]> 24213
When Alice sees a white rabbit take a watch out of its waistcoat pocket she decides to follow it, and a sequence of most unusual events is set in motion. This mini book contains the entire topsy-turvy stories of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, accompanied by practical notes and Martina Pelouso's memorable full-colour illustrations.]]> 239 Lewis Carroll Suvarna 3 4.07 1871 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass
author: Lewis Carroll
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1871
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Songs of Innocence and of Experience]]> 171547 Songs of Innocence and of Experience is an collection of poems by William Blake.

Note: For a complete Table of Contents of the included poems, see the 'Questions' section below.

This book appeared in two phases. A few first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; five years later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.

The work compiles two contrasting but directly related books of poetry by William Blake. Songs of Innocence honors and praises the natural world, the natural innocence of children and their close relationship to God. Songs of Experience contains much darker, disillusioned poems, which deal with serious, often political themes. It is believed that the disastrous end to the French Revolution produced this disillusionment in Blake. He does, however, maintain that true innocence is achieved only through experience.]]> 56 William Blake 1420925806 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.10 1794 Songs of Innocence and of Experience
author: William Blake
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1794
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]]> The Picture of Dorian Gray 5297
In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.]]> 272 Oscar Wilde Suvarna 5 4.13 1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1890
rating: 5
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]]> The Canterbury Tales 2696 504 Geoffrey Chaucer 0140424385 Suvarna 4 3.52 1400 The Canterbury Tales
author: Geoffrey Chaucer
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1400
rating: 4
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]]> Jane Eyre 10210 Alternate editions can be found here and here.

A gothic masterpiece of tempestuous passions and dark secrets, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is edited with an introduction and notes by Stevie Davis in Penguin Classics.

Charlotte Brontë tells the story of orphaned Jane Eyre, who grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, enduring loneliness and cruelty. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds employment as a governess to the young ward of Byronic, brooding Mr Rochester. As her feelings for Rochester develop, Jane gradually uncovers Thornfield Hall's terrible secret, forcing her to make a choice. Should she stay with Rochester and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions - even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzled readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.]]> 532 Charlotte Brontë 0142437204 Suvarna 4 4.15 1847 Jane Eyre
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1847
rating: 4
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]]> The Lady of Shalott 724371 She knows not what the curse may be...

'The Lady of Shalott' is a lyrical ballad by the 19th-century English poet Alfred Tennyson. Inspired by the short prose text 'La Damigella di Scalot' from the 13th-century, it tells the tragic story of Elaine of Astolat, a young noblewoman stranded in a tower up the river from Camelot. It is one of Tennyson's most famous and memorable works, with its lucid medieval romanticism, as well as enigmatic symbolism.

Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892), invariably known as Alfred Lord Tennyson, was born in Somersby, UK. At the age of 18, he published his first book, 'Poems by Two Brothers' with his brother, later followed by 'Poems Chiefly Lyrical' (1830). In 1850, Tennyson was appointed Poet Laureate and married his childhood friend, Emily Sellwood. In 1884, as a great favorite of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, he was given the title of Baron Tennyson of Aldworth, the first Englishman to be granted such a high rank solely for his literary faculty. Tennyson continued to write poetry throughout his life. He died in 1892 at the age of 83, to be then buried in Westminster Abbey.]]> 40 Alfred Tennyson 0192723715 Suvarna 4 4.18 1833 The Lady of Shalott
author: Alfred Tennyson
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1833
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Stories and Poems]]> 23919 Complete Works does not pretend to be final. It does claim to make Poe's work readily available in an attractive format, to have been carfully prepared, intelligently arranged and reasonably priced. In short, it proposes to put into the hands of the general public the entire range of work of one of the greatest of American writers in a most convenient and readable volume that will be at once popular and reliable.
--H.A.

Contents:
- Introduction by Hervey Allen
TALES
- The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall
- The Gold-Bug
- The Balloon-Hoax
- Von Kempelen and His Discovery
- Mesmeric Revelation
- The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
- The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
- MS. Found in a Bottle
- A Descent into the Maelström
- The Murders in the Rue Morgue
- The Mystery of Marie Roget
- The Purloined Letter
- The Black Cat
- The Fall of the House of Usher
- The Pit and the Pendulum
- The Premature Burial
- The Masque of the Red Death
- The Cask of Amontillado
- The Imp of the Perverse
- The Island of the Fay
- The Oval Portrait
- The Assignation
- The Tell-Tale Heart
- The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
- The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq.
- How to Write a Blackwood Article
- A Predicament
- Mystification
- X-ing a Paragrab
- Diddling
- The Angel of the Odd
- Mellonta Tauta
- Loss of Breath
- The Man that Was Used Up
- The Business Man
- Maelzel's Chess-Player
- The Power of Words
- The Colloquy of Monos and Una
- The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion
- Shadow — A Parable
- Silence — A Fable
- Philosophy of Furniture
- A Tale of Jerusalem
- The Sphinx
- The Man of the Crowd
- Never Bet the Devil Your Head
- “Thou Art the Man”
- Hop-Frog
- Four Beasts in One; The Homo-Camelopard
- Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling
- Bon-Bon
- Some Words with a Mummy
- Review of Stephens' “Arabia Petrzea”
- Magazine-Writing — Peter Snook
- The Quacks of Helicon — A Satire
- Astoria
- The Domain of Arnheim, or The Landscape Garden
- Landor's Cottage
- William Wilson
- Berenice
- Eleonora
- Ligeia
- Morella
- Metzengerstein
- A Tale of the Ragged Mountains
- The Spectacles
- The Duc De L'Omelette
- The Oblong Box
- King Pest
- Three Sundays in a Week
- The Devil in the Belfry
- Lionizing
- Narrative of A. Gordon Pym
────────────
- Preface to the Poems
- The Poetic Principle
- The Rationale of Verse
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS
- The Raven
- Lenore
- Hymn
- A Valentine
- The Coliseum
- To Helen
- To — —
- Ulalume
- The Bells
- An Enigma
- Annabel Lee
- To My Mother
- The Haunted Palace
- The Conqueror Worm
- To F—S S. O—D
- To One in Paradise
- The Valley of Unrest
- The City in the Sea
- The Sleeper
- Silence
- A Dream Within a Dream
- Dream-Land
- To Zante
- Eulalie
- Eldorado
- Israfel
- For Annie
- To —
- Bridal Ballad
- To F—
- Scenes from “Politian”
POEMS WRITTEN IN YOUTH
- Sonnet — To Science
- Al Aaraaf
- To the River —
- Tamerlane
- To —
- A Dream
- Romance
- Fairy-Land
- The Lake — To —
- Song
- To M. L. S—
- Spirits of the Dead
- To Helen
- Evening Star
- “The Happiest Day”
- Imitation
- Hymn to Aristogeiton and Harmodius. Translation from the Greek
- Dreams
- “In Youth I Have Known One”
- A Paean
- To Isadore
- Alone]]> 821 Edgar Allan Poe 0385074077 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.39 1849 The Complete Stories and Poems
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1849
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Visual Companion]]> 14833682
Join the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the wizard and the Company of Dwarves on their Quest to recover treasure stolen by the Dragon, Smaug the Magnificent. Leaving the comfort of Bilbo’s home they must face many perils before they can claim their long-lost gold -- Trolls, Elves, Goblins, Wargs, and worse…

Richly illustrated with more than 100 color photos from the film, and featuring a brand new fold-out map charting the journey from Bag End to Wilderland, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Visual Companion begins the Quest for the Lonely Mountain in spectacular style.]]> 75 Jane Johnson 0547898568 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.63 2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Visual Companion
author: Jane Johnson
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare]]> 36 Lavishly illustrated with 1,000 photos, paintings, maps, sculptures and sketches, most appearing here for the first time, Weapons and Warfare is an indispensable chronicle of The Lord of the Rings' many creatures, warriors, armies and battlegrounds. From the graceful and proficient Elves to the horrendous war machines of the Dark Lord, each culture's approach to warfare is explained - how they fought, why they were fighting, what armor they wore and what weapons they used against their enemies. Now you can get as close to a marauding Orc as you could ever wish, without suffering the consequences!

Treating the filmmakers' notes, designs and props as a true archive, Weapons and Warfare describes in detail every major conflict depicted in the film trilogy - from The Last Alliance of Elves and Men to the climactic Battle of the Pelennor Fields - each accompanied by a battle diagram from the films' chief designers.

Armed with a wealth of fascinating facts and unique imagery, and with an exclusive foreword by Christopher Lee and an introduction by the Academy Award winner Richard Taylor, Weapons and Warfare promises to be the most striking companion to The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy published to date.

]]> 218 Chris Smith 0618391002 Suvarna 5 4.58 2003 The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare
author: Chris Smith
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2003
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy]]> 7351
The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy is a lavishly illustrated, behind-the-scenes, definitive account of the creation of an epic film experience.

Hailed by critics worldwide, part one of the movie trilogy was a box-office smash, one of the most successful films of the decade. Peter Jackson's "fierce, imaginative movie takes high-flying risks and inspires with its power and scale," wrote Newsweek. "In every way this is moviemaking on a grand scale," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle, while Time proclaimed the "grandeur, moral heft and emotional depth" of the film, which received thirteen Academy Award(R) nominations. Including more than 300 photographs from all three films, most unique to this book, and exclusive interviews with all the cast and crew, Brian Sibley's fascinating book takes every fan inside the process of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork for the screen. For the first time in history, three major movies were made at the same time, a triumphant and monumental undertaking that took the world by storm. Here can be found details about the hundreds of dedicated artists, craftspeople and cast and crew members who labored for years -- adding authenticity at every stage -- to bring one of the greatest stories ever told to an eager film audience. Sibley takes us inside the process of filmmaking to show us how the magic is made -- from the director, writers and actors to wardrobe, makeup, miniatures, music and digital special effects, it's all here.

"It was tiring, physically and mentally, but never dull. Three movies, one big story, and so much variety: one day shooting scenes of intimate heart-wrenching drama, the next, vast battle scenes involving hundreds of extras. Every day brought an opportunity to create something new on this enormous canvas that is The Lord of the Rings." -- Peter Jackson]]> 192 Brian Sibley 0618260226 Suvarna 5 4.61 2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy
author: Brian Sibley
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2002
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)]]> 13496
Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; a child is lost in the twilight between life and death; and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.]]> 835 George R.R. Martin Suvarna 0 to-read 4.45 1996 A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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]]> The Color Purple 52892857 Read the original inspiration for the new, boldly reimagined film from producers Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, starring Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Fantasia Barrino.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award

A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.

“Reading The Color Purple was the first time I had seen Southern, Black women’s literature as world literature. In writing us into the world—bravely, unapologetically, and honestly—Alice Walker has given us a gift we will never be able to repay.” —Tayari Jones

“The Color Purple was what church should have been, what honest familial reckoning could have been, and it is still the only art object in the world by which all three generations of Black artists in my family judge American art.” —Kiese Laymon]]> 287 Alice Walker 0143135694 Suvarna 4 4.40 1982 The Color Purple
author: Alice Walker
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1982
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest]]> 332613 9780451163967

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy – the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.]]> 325 Ken Kesey Suvarna 0 to-read 4.20 1962 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
author: Ken Kesey
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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]]> Lolita 7604 Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141182537.

Humbert Humbert - scholar, aesthete and romantic - has fallen completely and utterly in love with Dolores Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.]]> 368 Vladimir Nabokov Suvarna 0 to-read 3.87 1955 Lolita
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1955
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings)]]> 119 The Fellowship of the Ring. This official publication contains 500 exclusive images, from the earliest pencil sketches and conceptual drawings to magnificent full-color paintings that shaped the look of the film. All the principal locations, costumes, armor and creatures are covered in stunning detail, including concepts, storyboards and images that did not make it into the final film.


As well as a wealth of sketches, paintings and digital images, The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring contains photographs showing how the creative process was realized and a number of stills from the film. Contributors include Alan Lee and John Howe, the two artists who inspired Peter Jackson's vision of Middle-earth and who worked with him to bring his trilogy to the big screen. They and a dozen other designers who created all of these diverse elements explain how they contributed to the development of the film, giving a fascinating insight into how Middle-earth was brought to life.


With text compiled from exclusive interviews with director Peter Jackson, special effects supervisor Richard Taylor, designers Grant Major, Ngila Dickson, Paul Lasaine and others, this unique book celebrates the pivotal contribution made by a handful of people which help turn the first Lord of the Rings movie into an award-winning global success.]]> 192 Gary Russell 0618212906 Suvarna 5 4.61 2002 The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings)
author: Gary Russell
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2002
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)]]> 102868
But it's not long before Sherlock Holmes, with Watson in tow, is working with Scotland Yard investigating the murder of two Americans whose deaths have some mysterious connection to sinister groups gathering power in both Britain and America.

Here's where it all began - 'A Study in Scarlet.' Meet Sherlock Holmes, one of the world's leading consulting detectives - fictional of course!]]> 123 Arthur Conan Doyle 1420925539 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.16 1887 A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1887
rating: 0
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]]> The Hobbit, Part One 17157681
Whisked from his comfortable hobbit-hole by Gandalf the wizard and a band of dwarves, Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon.]]> 230 J.R.R. Tolkien 0007926669 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.32 1937 The Hobbit, Part One
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1937
rating: 0
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]]> The Scarlet Letter 12296
Set in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, Hawthorne’s masterwork was originally subtitled “a romance,” though its themes include the limits of law, the power of religion, and the nature of sin. Equal parts tragic love story and social commentary, The Scarlet Letter brings to life the undying human need to keep secrets.]]> 279 Nathaniel Hawthorne 0142437263 Suvarna 0 to-read 3.44 1850 The Scarlet Letter
author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
name: Suvarna
average rating: 3.44
book published: 1850
rating: 0
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]]> Frankenstein 35031085
This edition is the original 1818 text, which preserves the hard-hitting and politically charged aspects of Shelley's original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by author and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.]]> 260 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 0143131842 Suvarna 4 4.05 1818 Frankenstein
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1818
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perks of Being a Wallflower]]> 22628 offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see
what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being A WALLFLOWER

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that the perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

(back cover)]]> 240 Stephen Chbosky Suvarna 5 4.25 1999 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1999
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)]]> 3263607 THE LORD OF THE RINGS
 
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

--back cover]]> 527 J.R.R. Tolkien Suvarna 5 4.51 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1954
rating: 5
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]]> Pride and Prejudice 1885 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Suvarna 4 4.28 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 4
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]]> V for Vendetta 5805 "Remember, remember the fifth of November..."

A frightening and powerful tale of the loss of freedom and identity in a chillingly believable totalitarian world, V for Vendetta stands as one of the highest achievements of the comics medium and a defining work for creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V for Vendetta brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance.]]> 296 Alan Moore 1401207928 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.26 1990 V for Vendetta
author: Alan Moore
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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]]> A Thousand Splendid Suns 128029
“Just as good, if not better, than Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling first book, The Kite Runner.”—Newsweek

New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.]]> 372 Khaled Hosseini 1594489505 Suvarna 0 to-read 4.45 2007 A Thousand Splendid Suns
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Suvarna
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]>