524 replies to this topic

[ya rahman]

Just want people's reccomendations for any good books they have read/are reading. Islamic and/or non Islamic.

Also I have a couple of books I want to read and I wanna know if anyone's read them?

They're Brick Lane by Monica Ali, and A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. I heard they're supposed to be good, anyone know? Before i waste both time and money< which are both in short supply

wasalam

[faithmuslima]

Salam Alaykum.

Here are some Bro Syedmed recommended, supposedly great books, try them:

The seven daughters of eve
5 people I met in heaven
Sons of fortune
American brat
The God of small things
The seven daughters of eve
The da vinci code
The life of pi

Edited by faithmuslima, 06 May 2004 - 05:47 AM.

[roya]

depends on what you're intersted in. post colonial fiction? bestsellers?

Cities of Salt, Munif*
White Teeth, Smith
Upside Down, Galeano
The Glass Palace, Ghosh
War: Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, Hedges
Reservation Blues, Alexie
Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies (Ian Buruma, Avishai Margalit)*
Orientalism, Said
Mantle of the Prophet, Mottahadeh
Quran and Woman, Wadud
The Failure of Political Islam, Roy
Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World, Ahmed*

        
* Haven't read yet but sounds fascinating

[Ayat. Khameini (HA)]

I am reading Kitab Al Irshad for a second time. Good book. Also the Messege by Ayatollah Subhani.

[Syedmed]

Yeah, all were nice reads, do check them out sis exexex.  If you want an Islamic book, or books on religion, I suggest the following:

1)  A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Karen Armstrong

2)  The Succession to Muhammad by Wilfred Madelung

3)  Rambunctious Laughter; passages from the Mathnavi of Rumi

4)  Approaching the Quran by Michael Sells

[ya rahman]

Sons of fortune: Jeffey Archer right? I've read one of his....a bit too trashy.

da vinvi code sounds quite good, but don't know if it's my thing. I'm not gonna buy it tho. I'm very picky when it comes to spending money on books.

Life of Pi: I read, one of the weirdest books ever. What did you think about the way Islam was portrayed in it?

Roya:
White teeth: um I really don't know what I thought of this. I was half angry/but half thought she was a really good author. What did you think of the way Islam was portrayed? Don't know that I was happy with that, but I found it so funny how militant that rude boy ladies man became at the end.

The glass palace: I have that, but I only read half of it, and I've never gotten round to finishing it. It was annoying me 2 much for some reason.

Roya, post-colonialist is what you like? Then you should read 'a suitable boy' vikram seth and also 'brick lane' monica ali. Both prizewinning novels, but haven't gotten round to reading either.

[Bollywood_Hero]

Quote

They're Brick Lane by Monica Ali, and... I heard they're supposed to be good, anyone know? Before i waste both time and money< which are both in short supply

Brick lane is okay. She does seem to be jumping on the asian bandwagon a bit but not really worth buying. Just borrow it.

Quote

White teeth: um I really don't know what I thought of this. I was half angry/but half thought she was a really good author. What did you think of the way Islam was portrayed? Don't know that I was happy with that, but I found it so funny how militant that rude boy ladies man became at the end.

Yeah it was very strange. I tjought it was overated though.

Quote

Life of Pi: I read, one of the weirdest books ever. What did you think about the way Islam was portrayed in it?

I thought excellent book

Some of the best books i have read fairly recently read are:

"My Name is Red" - Orman Parhuk

Brilliant book, very different to pretty much any other book

[B]+ "Suitable Boy" - Vikram Seth[B]

A must read especially if u r indian

[B]+ "Catch 22" - Heller[B]

This book will make u piss urself laughing

Anybody else got any good recomendations.....I am always on the look out

[Spriglief]

If you are into Science Fiction try "Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin".  This book explores what happens when to much power is placed in one persons hands and what happens when men are forced to act as God.  

Sample: "No," she said, "you replicate life there, but you don’t create it.  It has to have existed already, somewhere in time and space, and you have to have a cell sample, a fossil record-- something--or you helpless.  Puling hell, yes! Oh, you have the power of creation all right.  The same XXXX power that I have, and that every man and woman down in the under city has.  Procreation, Tuf.  There's your awesome power, there's the only miracle there is -- the one thing humans have that makes us like gods, and the very thing you propose to take away from nicety-nine-point-nine percent of the people on S'uthlam.  The hell! You’re no creator, your no god."

Edited by Spriglief, 30 April 2004 - 06:55 AM.

[soul sista]

Quote

Brick lane is okay. She does seem to be jumping on the asian bandwagon a bit but not really worth buying. Just borrow it.

Just finishing Brick Lane...hmm it's not all that or anyhting...i don't like the way she always portrays Islam- and what about karim eh? How did it skip from sewing to that?! I thought she dreamt it first because it was just a small passage and then it was happneing all the time?!!!
sis don't bother buying it cos you can have my copy!

Definately read a suitbale boy - i have that as well if you would like it! Definately worth a read! I couldn't put it down!

Life of Pi is the next on my list...

[roya]

exexex, on Apr 29 2004, 10:33 AM, said:

Roya:
White teeth: um I really don't know what I thought of this. I was half angry/but half thought she was a really good author. What did you think of the way Islam was portrayed? Don't know that I was happy with that, but I found it so funny how militant that rude boy ladies man became at the end.

The glass palace: I have that, but I only read half of it, and I've never gotten round to finishing it. It was annoying me 2 much for some reason.

Roya, post-colonialist is what you like? Then you should read 'a suitable boy' vikram seth and also 'brick lane' monica ali. Both prizewinning novels, but haven't gotten round to reading either.

She's an amazing writer and the novel was so funny. I think Islam was portrayed in the way most people experience it: culturally. So, yes I disagreed with many things but it was just a reflection of societies - I don't think she was trying to put down Islam.

Glass Palace was rather tedious. It was worth it for its analysis of colonialism, though.

I'll check out the other recommendations inshallah. We've got all summer!

ws

[mitlonious]

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

[Abdulhujjah]

Islamic book : HE, HIS MESSENGER AND HIS MESSAGE Sayed Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr qas.

Non Islamic Book, Fiction : The Genesis Code John case (It will be a movie one day belie dat)


Wassalaam

[roya]

I just put that book in my cart at Amazon (Army of Roses). I recently finished Shoot the Women First - an earlier work that has too much feminist analysis but is amazing for the voices of women fighters from ETA to the Irish Republican Army and the women of the West Bank. The author profiles people like Leila Khaled. I think it's out of print, or just difficult to get ahold of.

I've been meaning to read something by Mahfouz. The trilogy sounds twenty times better than Ahdaf Soueif's book on the same theme.

[roya]

that's the advantage of being a graduate student. you can keep uni books for months, not just weeks, and you don't have to pay (aside from tuition).

your library must be bad - the first thing they always seem to cut funding for in this country. *s*

[Aal-e-Imran]

A Tale Of Two Cities

by Charles Dickens...

its really good book, but i dnt wanan talk abt it..(haunts me from grade 10 english class...da demon teacher   )

[ya rahman]

Quote

I'll check out the other recommendations inshallah. We've got all summer!

I wish but my summer doesn't start for 2 months, and I'm supposed to be revising for exams   I had very little time to study for an exam I had today, but over the past week I had enough time to read a quarter of a suitbale boy (which is 1300pg's long!)

Quote

I am also finishing up "The Cairo Trilogy" by Naguib Mahfouz. He is often called the father of the arab novel. It is a wonderful story that covers three generations of a Cairo family during the struggle for liberation from British colonial occupation. Its really nice to read a book (actually its three books in one) about a Muslim family, written by a Muslim. It is an unflinching look at the lives of real Muslims and their struggles with faith w/o MWU style grotesquery. There are a lot of important themes too.

That triology depressed me so much. I could not believe the way he portrayed Muslims as adulterous promiscious drinkers/gamblers/aetheists etc. Maybe thats how things were in egypt, but I couldn't stand the hypocrisy of it all.

Contemporary fiction is too depressing. Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre is what it's all about.

[NormaL_UseR]

Hmmmm...

my favourite books:-
fiction:-
'Twilight in Delhi' Ahmed Ali
'Foundation Series' Asimov
'The Fall of the Towers' 'The Towers of Toron' 'City of a Thousand Suns' - Samuel R Delaney
'The Mote in God's Eye' Pournelle and Niven
'Rendevous with Rama' Arthur C Clarke
'Dune Series' - Frank Herbert

Yeah I am a science fiction freak Ok I admit it jee

Non-fiction Books:-

'al-Mizan' Allamah Tabatabai
'Our Philosophy' Muhammad Baqr Sadr
'The Message' Jaffer Sobhani
'The Brother of the Prohet Imam Ali (as)' Hamid Algar

reading at the moment

'Commentary on Theistic Arguments' by Jawad Hayder Amuli

Looking for a good book on logic ''ilm mantiq' if anyone can recommend one in English

wsalams

Edited by NormaL_UseR, 11 May 2004 - 12:32 PM.

[Aal-e-Imran]

uff! i hate harry potter.....


Read A Tale Of Two Cities

or Great Expectations

[Hur]

I’m reading The Political Animal by Jeremy Paxman at the moment. It really does give an insight into political life of the UK MP’s. Jeremy Paxman doesn’t seem to have a high regard for them. For those who don’t know he is one of the leading political journalists (in the UK and is one of the hosts of Newsnight which is (for me) the premier news analysis programme) who always gives MP’s a grilling. He is abrasive but that’s what’s so good about him.

Before The Political Animal I read They F*** You Up by Oliver James. Oliver James is a clinical psychologist and the book is about parents raising their children. He adds to the nature/nurture debate and is firmly in the nurture camp. I was interested in this as I have a toddler and a baby and I have always been interested in child psychology since my time in Uni. He also categorises people’s personalities and I found it insightful to my own character.

Hur

[Bollywood_Hero]

Quote

QUOTE 
I am also finishing up "The Cairo Trilogy" by Naguib Mahfouz. He is often called the father of the arab novel. It is a wonderful story that covers three generations of a Cairo family during the struggle for liberation from British colonial occupation. Its really nice to read a book (actually its three books in one) about a Muslim family, written by a Muslim. It is an unflinching look at the lives of real Muslims and their struggles with faith w/o MWU style grotesquery. There are a lot of important themes too.

I only made it through two of them. The first one was very good but the second startted well they just bottomed. Will get round to reading the third one inshallah.

Anybody read 100 years of solitude. I am jsut over half way through it but on the verge of giving up. The author seems intent on calling all his charchters the same thing.

Does anybody know any decent pakistani/indian authors apart from vikram seth/rohinton mishtry?

[Syedmed]

Bapsi Sidhwa, Arundhati Roy, Mohsin Hamid, Jhumpa Lahiri are all good South Asian authors

[kadhim]

1.Dubliners, Ulysses - James Joyce
2.1984 - George Orwell
3.Siddhartha -Herman Hesse
4.MacBeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello, Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare
5.The Trial-Franz Kafka
6.Thus Spake Zarathustra, Untimely Meditations-Friedrich Nietzsche
7.Being and Time-Martin Heidegger
7.Brave New World-Aldous Huxley
8.Slaughterhouse Five-Kurt Vonnegut

See ya in a year  

[Syedmed]

2 more fiction books i just finished and were half decent are:

Mango Season by Amulya Malladi
Kartography by Kamila Shamsie

[Serenity`]

Salaams,

A series of non-Islamic books that I would recommend are, a 'Child called it' (Part 1), 'The Lost Boy' (Part 2) and 'A Man Named Dave' (Part 3).

The books are based on a true story, about a young boys struggle to survive against his abusive mum who constantly puts him down and treats him differently to his other brothers. Every part, as the titles indicate, tells the story of a different time in his life - child, teenager and adult. It tells us about his struggles as a child and what he had to endure to get to where he is today. I absolutely loved these books (recommended by my sister), and although a large chunk of Dave's story is rather disheatening, he does give everybody hope for a brighter tomorrow.