ma numesc rosu (my name is red) – orhan pamuk. remind me not to read pamuk again! he is gripping (every once in a while) but not always. he may be funny. his writing has strength. but no beauty. i thought it was the language. i read ‘snow’ in english. i read ‘my name is read’ in romanian. no difference (inasmuch as the beauty is concerned).  

i keep reading from stoichita - goya: the last carnival (in romanian). there’s lots of stuff in there! i knew some of goya’s engravings. but never knew how much they cary with them, how much there is behind them! thank you, g! 

the white tigeraravind adiga. a nice story. at the beginning i thought the story took place in the 50’s. as i read a bit more, i thought it sounds more familiar… perhaps the 70’s? well, this is a story about today’s india. the india of outsourcing. the india of microsoft and google, of toyotas and cell phones and macbooks. an india of cast separation. of the incredibly poor and the corrupt rich. nicely written. (apparently simple) but striking and intriguing. try feeling like balram! try putting yourself in his shoes (if he’d have any)! 

survivorchuck palahniuk. a crazy book, that is! a carousel ride of the most incredible things. dark and unsettling. to a certain extent, i like the style. but only to a certain extent! sometimes it gets too much. and i tend to go on reading with the speed of a plane over the australian outback at its terminal velocity.