Tagore was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was Bengali, with roots in what are now #India and #Bangladesh. Gitanjali is a collection of spiritual poems written in Bengali, and translated by the author himself into a style of English that takes some getting used to, but it is worth it.
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pick“Astha was brought up properly, as befits a woman, with large supplements of fear. One slip might find her alone, vulnerable and unprotected. The infinite ways in which she could be harmed were not specified, but Astha absorbed them through her skin, and ever after was drawn to the safe and secure.”This excellent opening paragraph just gets more excellent.Can't recommend enough.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7083955636
I‘ve really fallen behind in logging my reads - again! Enjoyed this window into a place, time, situation.. I really hope their journey to the big city worked out, but I suspect it won‘t be all fame and money. Val was so frustrating!
pickA long look at the mixture of cultural elements in lawyer‘s family in some unspecified village outside Dehli. And then a depressing parallel in Massachusetts. The 1st hundred pages are vibrant and dynamic and I truly loved reading them. The fun fades and purpose is curious. But I enjoyed the book overall.
pickWhen Bimila is encouraged by her husband Nikhil to exercise more freedom than is usual for a woman of her status in Bengal in the first decade of the 20th century, she comes under the influence of Nikhil's friend Sandip, a charismatic radical nationalist.
Although I found it a bit heavy-going at times, especially in the more rhetorical passages, I kept reading, fascinated to see how events would play out.
pickI finished this delightful book this morning. It's a beautifully written, funny tale of Sampath, who decides to escape his life by living in a tree. He is soon befriended by a mischievous band of monkeys. Hilarity ensues. Desai deftly weaves a story about absurdity, spirituality, and cultural expectations.
This was my June #doublespin pick from my list of #essentialwomenwriters.
Also tagging @TheBookHippie, just in case. (edited) 6d