Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
4,141	85	553	(4.42)	195

next
Topics		messages	Last message
50 Book Challenge : Louanne's 50 Books in 2010		21	bonniebooks, Today 6:53pm
What Are You Reading Now? : Your BEST BOOKS of 2009		142	ejj1955, Today 1:58pm
50 Book Challenge : HeathMochaFrost's reading for 2009		100	bonniebooks, Today 1:34pm
50 Book Challenge : kambrogi in 2009		207	wrmjr66, Today 9:59am
75 Books Challenge for 2010 : dihiba (Diana) 2010 Book List		22	dihiba, Yesterday 5:19pm
50 Book Challenge : On the way to 50		284	heidimorden, Yesterday 9:35am
1001 Books to read before you die : Favourite Book from the 1001 List that You Read in 2009		26	Medellia, Monday 5:54pm
1001 Books to read before you die : A very early New Year's resolution thread: which 1,001 novels are you determined to master in 2010?		29	bookishbunny, Monday 8:12am
50 Book Challenge : bonniebook's Best of Your Best, 2009		364	alphaorder, Monday 7:48am
What Are You Reading Now? : BBC Meme: How Many of These 100 Books Have YOU Read?		239	flac, Sunday 8:23am
Ten-times-ten Books Challenge for 2009 : Judylou's 100 books in 2009		324	bonniebooks, Sunday 12:50am
50 Book Challenge : Bookbugg's 2009 Challenge		33	spacepotatoes, Saturday 10:07pm
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Sanddancer's 2009 Reading		225	alcottacre, Saturday 8:32am
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : deebee's 2009 reads		309	suslyn, Saturday 7:32am
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : jbeast 75 book challenge		338	jbeast, Saturday 5:15am
Ten-times-ten Books Challenge for 2009 : Lene's reading list for '09		23	lenereadsnok, Friday 1:21pm
1001 Books to read before you die : Paruline's attempt		41	Tammiejx, Friday 1:04pm
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Loosha's List		287	alcottacre, Friday 2:38am
Geeks who love the Classics : Which contemporary books will/should become classics?		35	KatherineAdelaide, Thursday 7:58pm
50 Book Challenge : christiguc's 2009 reading catalog		269	juliette07, Thursday 6:06pm
50 Book Challenge : SusanJ's 50 book challenge for 2009		109	susanj67, Thursday 2:46pm
1010 Category Challenge : Snash's 1010 challenge		13	clfisha, December 2009
250 book challenge : Bucketyell's 250-book challenge		20	bucketyell, December 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : Nickelini's 1001 List		15	Nickelini, December 2009
999 Challenge : judylou's 999 challenge		120	RidgewayGirl, December 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : Uplifting books		38	hdcclassic, December 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : Arubabookwoman's 1001 Quest-1-36		16	arubabookwoman, December 2009
999 Challenge : Moneybeets'		98	moneybeets, December 2009
Reading Globally : November: INDIA! Discussion Thread!		56	wandering_star, December 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : Your BEST BOOKS of 2008		175	newlifecoming, December 2009
50 Book Challenge : ariebonn's challenge for 2009		49	ariebonn, December 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Dihiba's 2009 Books		234	dihiba, December 2009
The Green Dragon : What's your favourite book so far this year?		109	Kaywinnit, December 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : Judylou's 1001		41	judylou, December 2009
999 Challenge : avatiakh's 999 challenge		148	SqueakyChu, December 2009
Literary Snobs : What are you reading NOW November 09?		176	iansales, December 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : Soffitta1's 1001 Books- Lifetime of Reading		20	soffitta1, December 2009
Reading Globally : November: INDIA!		91	depressaholic, December 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : What Are You Reading the Week of November 7, 2009?		200	Mr.Durick, November 2009
I'll Read Yours if You'll Read Mine : CharlesBoyd looking for a new challenge.		23	CharlesBoyd, November 2009
Awful Lit. : Jump ship or go down with it?		93	lbradf, November 2009
999 Challenge : Bucketyell's Part III		68	bucketyell, November 2009
Readers Against Struggling Through Books We Hate : How often?		31	TheoClarke, November 2009
Literary Snobs : What are you reading NOW? October, 2009		139	kswolff, October 2009
List Five Books Parlour Game : One Thing Leads to Another, Part II		257	janoorani24, October 2009
Reading Globally : Nickelini's Read Around the World Challenge		30	A_musing, October 2009
Club Read 2009 : TomcatMurr's Funky Summer		130	tomcatMurr, September 2009
Book talk : Ok, this is a good one. What is the most disturbing book you have read?		389	Phlox72, September 2009
50 Book Challenge : bonniebook's 50 book challenge in 2009, chapter 2		265	nannybebette, September 2009
Canadian Literature : Greatest Canadian Novel		31	Iudita, August 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : What are you reading the week of August 15, 2009?		286	FicusFan, August 2009
Reading Globally : Recommendations for India		22	monarchi, August 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : "Jodi Picoult is a mean person." Discuss.		28	love2rdinNH, August 2009
Club Read 2009 : Joycepa's 2009 reading, Part 3		322	Joycepa, August 2009
Book talk : Life of Pi and other similar books		14	omaca, August 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : lindsacl's (Laura's) challenge - part 2		210	lindsacl, August 2009
Book talk : Your opinion on Indian Authors and their books?		19	nzurisana, July 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Laura's Books for 2009		73	lbucci3, July 2009
Ten-times-ten Books Challenge for 2009 : citizenkelly's aide memoir		154	edwinbcn, July 2009
Book talk : HELP ME FIND A THESIS TEXT		21	lunasilentio, July 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : avatiakh reads some books in 2009		235	avatiakh, July 2009
Book talk : Another Silly Game Part 22		407	moibibliomaniac, July 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Terri's 75 Challenge for 2009		221	alcottacre, July 2009
Literary Snobs : June 2009 reading		155	holcombjmarie, July 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : Books Brought Home- June 2009		331	mckait, July 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : judylou is still reading in 2009		265	judylou, June 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Cariola's 2009 Challenge		260	Cariola, June 2009
Books that made me think : A book that changed you		30	corneggs, June 2009
Literary Snobs : That 10%		81	benjclark, June 2009
Ten-times-ten Books Challenge for 2009 : Dihiba's 100 in 2009		123	dihiba, June 2009
The Green Dragon : Watched any good movies lately?		514	FicusFan, June 2009
Book talk : A Silly Book Game - Part 7		326	SqueakyChu, June 2009
Ten-times-ten Books Challenge for 2009 : avatiakh aims for 100+ in 2009		61	avatiakh, June 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : What You Are Reading the Week of 6-12 June 2009		228	bookymouse, June 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : What Are You Reading From the 1001 List, May 2009		97	PaperbackPirate, June 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : First Line Game Chapter 9		354	thorold, May 2009
The Prizes : Commonwealth Writers Prize		42	socialpages, May 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Arubabookwoman's 75		207	arubabookwoman, May 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : KIWIDOC TAKE 2 - reading 2009		304	kiwidoc, May 2009
Asian Fiction & Non-Fiction : White Tiger, etc.		12	GeoffWyss, May 2009
Reading Globally : My reading around the world challenge		21	ceinwenn, May 2009
Book talk : Stupid game to play		437	careyi, May 2009
50 Book Challenge : If you could force everyone...to read one book...?		29	billiejean, April 2009
999 Challenge : If you could force everyone...to read one book...?		5	bonniebooks, April 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : 2009 Your Best Five Reads of Quarter 1 (January - March)		117	narcissus_in_theory, April 2009
Book Nudgers : christiguc requesting her first 2009 nudge please		13	dylanwolf, April 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Tiffin's 75 for 2009		230	tiffin, April 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : 2009 Your Best Reads of Quarter 1 (January - March) from The List		20	ktleyed, April 2009
999 Challenge : jbeast 2009 1999		25	jbeast, April 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : 1001 List: What Book are You Reading MARCH '09		145	klobrien2, April 2009
What Are You Reading Now? : Books that came home with you in March 2009		414	richardderus, April 2009
999 Challenge : March 2009: What are you reading?		126	CarlosMcRey, March 2009
Club Read 2009 : Joycepa's 2009 reading		306	sgtbigg, March 2009
Club Read 2009 : lindsacl (Laura's) 2009 Reading		64	tututhefirst, March 2009
888 Challenge : An A_Musing Effort		26	A_musing, March 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : Favourite 1001 Book of 2008		37	elephantango, March 2009
1001 Books to read before you die : What Book From the 1001 List are You Reading: February 2009		137	joeinma, March 2009
75 Books Challenge for 2009 : lindsacl's (Laura's) challenge		227	lindsacl, March 2009
999 Challenge : February 2009--what are you reading?		122	cmbohn, February 2009
next

Interesting list of bests, dihiba. I must read The Book of Negroes and A Fine Balance. Canada does a very good job of producing great writers! Got you starred.

... Mary Lawson The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (U.S. title: Someone knows my name) The Birth House by Ami McKay A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry Random Passage by Bernice Morgan Lives of the Saints trilogy by Nino Ricci The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje Everything by ...

Yeah! A Fine Balance is a serious book, so you have to think about when you want to read it. I've got to get some Billy Collins! Which do you think is his best collection?

I tseems that I read 22 in 2009. I'm happy with that and hope to read as many or more this year. My favourites were: A Fine Balance The Stone Diaries Beloved How the Dead Live Half of a Yellow Sun But most of the 22 had something special about them.

... and am pretty stingy with my 4's (remember, I am a high school teacher - it better be pretty darn good). Fiction: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (best of fiction) The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (this has a different title in US, which slips my feeble brain) King So ...

... powerful Pulitzer-Prize-winning Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey. Excellent, excellent volume. >92 Bonnie - I bought A Fine Balance today! There was a sale on used books, so it was a couple bucks off. Who knows when I'll read it... but at least it's here now for whenever the spirit ...

... ty 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Candidates Beloved, O' Pioneers, Cold Comfort Farm, A Suitable Boy, The Lovely Bones, A Fine Balance

I read 22 this year and there were a few gems amongst them . . A Fine Balance Sputnik Sweetheart The Stone Diaries Beloved How the Dead Live Brideshead Revisited Half of a Yellow Sun In the Forest It was a good readig year for me to wookie!

... the Fury, William Faulkner* The Black Death Transformed, Samuel K. Cohn The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry All She Was Worth, Miyuki Miyabe All but one of my picks were read within the first half of the year... that's kind of depressing :(

I actually *did* go looking for A Fine Balance yesterday, and I'm pretty sure it's the book I remembered. It's a used trade paperback, $8.00, but it looked a bit worn and had someone's phone number written inside --- and I guess I just wasn't feeling it with that price and condition, and on that ...

Or sooner! :-) A Fine Balance is in my "Top 100" books, so I highly recommend it, but , oh my, how some people have to live. One can understand why they believe in reincarnation. Maybe you and I can trade books. I'll read The Woman in White if/when you read A Fine Balance?

Hi Bonnie, thanks for your note! I haven't read A Fine Balance -- if I recall correctly, I saw it in the bookstore and was tempted to buy it, but isn't it one of those doorstop-size books? If so, that's probably what stopped me, having so many books to read already that I couldn't bring myself ...

I really liked White Tiger. It was one of my first books read this year. People keep trying to compare it to A Fine Balance, but I don't think that's fair.

... Golden Notebook Frankenstein The Count of Monte Cristo The Adventures of Augie March Crime and Punishment A Fine Balance Faces in the Water Cloud Atlas The Go Between Crash Kafka on the Shore I will be taking a few away on my two week summer holiday, so I ...

... I really want to read are: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez Small Island by Andrea Levy A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Secret History by Donna Tartt Middlemarch George Eliot Kristin Lavransdatter And on my Christmas/New Year holiday I am ...

115 Fine Balance was extremely well written. He put you right there. Sadly "right there" was not a comfortable place to be. I did enjoy it despite the all the sadness and nothing going right. Unfortunately that was and is life for the Untouchables in India.

Hi Bonnie: I realized yesterday that I finished A Fine Balance a week or more ago, but never posted final thoughts about it on this thread. I wrote a LT review, posted it and here it is as well for you to read and make any comments you might care to make. A FINE BALANCE by Rohinton Mistry ...

Just finished A Fine Balance , and True Compass Just started My Mortal Enemy only a novella, will finish it tonight. Starting Silas Marner tomorrow. 100, The Book Thief 106 is right. It is very good.

... - this book took me totally by surprise. It is now ranked as my second best read of the year (fiction) behind A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I read Vanderhaeghe's The Englishman's Boy in 07 and thought the writing was excellent, but underwhelmed with the story itself. Th ...

I so agree with you about A Fine Balance; it has remained in my Top 25 favorite books for all the reasons you stated. I would have found it difficult to describe this book so succinctly. I hope your review convinces lots of LT-ers to read it!

Fellowship of the Ring and A Fine Balance still - LOVING Fine Balance, though I know it's going to end very badly. Going to start Fires on the Plain soon, my friend gives it the highest recommendation.

... style. I have already read her The Enchanted April and must say that I was indeed enchanted. Then too, I have Kim and A Fine Balance set aside for the India theme month. So I think I am pretty well set for November. Happy reading one and all. belva

22. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry I think this has skipped to the top of my favourites list for the year so please anyone who has an interest in Indian culture give this a go! However, it is one of the bleakest books I have read in a long time so prepare to be depressed. Set against the ...

... and PBS'ed it away quick as a wink. Did not even get into it. Don't know why. Just didn't like it. I am going to give A Fine Balance a try and see if I do any better with that one. Also waiting in the wings, I have Kim and A Passage to India, so I should be able to find something I ...

I haven't started yet, but I'm hoping to get to at least one of: A Fine Balance, Q and A (filmed as Slumdog Millionaire), or Shantaram. So many fine books, so little time!

... 'forgettable' kind of book if you know what I mean. Certainly it's not really in the same league as The White Tiger or A Fine Balance. But I'd still recommend it as a good story!

... who played for 22 days after 22 people were bombed. Could be a little maudlin but the girlfriend insists I read it. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - excellent so far, if one hell of a bummer. Guess what? Being poor in India sucks.

... White Tiger, I thought it was a good book...although not really sure it deserved the Man Booker Prize. I will check out A Fine Balance too, thanks for the suggestion! I also want to read Q and A by Vikas Swarup (the book that Slumdog Millionaire is based on) one day.

... I didn't think it merited the Booker Prize.... If you enjoyed the Indian theme, I am currently reading a book called A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry which delves a lot deeper into the Indian culture. I'm only half way through but its definitely one of the better books I've read this ...

Trying to decide between Mistry's A Fine Balance and Wolfe's Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test.

I'm about 90 pages into A Fine Balance. It is more compelling than I expected. I don't have to push myself to read it like I did A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul. Years ago I read Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya, a tale of life in an Indian villiage (India Indian, not Amer ...

... were very sentimental, it was enjoyable to be back in the 1920's with him. Thanks for the challenge. Hope you enjoy A Fine Balance.

... Oops! My son is coming home this weekend, come to think of it, so may not start it until late Sunday. Have you started A Fine Balance? Am I supposed to be reading it again with you? Jeesh! I had to come back to fix a sentence--kept leaving out words. If I have any more mistakes, don't ...

Funny thing. I got an e-mail from the library saying that A Fine Balance is ready for me to pick up. Then, the next day my wife and I were at Bookman's (used books, cd's, videos, etc.) and on a display table A Fine Balance was waiting for me at a good price. Guess it's kismet! Have you ...

I was just kidding about you reading 2 books by Bradbury. I put A Fine Balance on hold at the library and should have it in a couple of days. So I'm game too. If you have "ten books in front of me that I really want to read," then I'm fine with maybe doing a challenge after the first of the ...

Oops! I somehow missed your first sentence that you would read A Fine Balance. I'm game if you are--just not willing to read 2 books by Bradbury, sorry.

... read a book by Naipaul, but can't think of what the title was. Hmmm. I could go look for another book that's shorter than A Fine Balance. On the other hand, I have about ten books in front of me that I really want to read, so maybe I'll take you up on a challenge in 2010 as a New Year's Resolu ...

Charles, have you read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry? It's a book that I'm proud to proffer!

>118: How about A Fine Balance? Have you read it?

... TBR - shouldn't be long before I read it. 10 Moby Dick - nah, never gonna happen. 11 Ulysses - ditto 12 A Fine Balance - right at the top of Mount TBR but other books keep getting in the way. It'll definitely be read soonish. 13 Swallows and Amazons - another one I ...

Hello Jintster - thanks for visiting ;-) I have recommended A Fine Balance to one of my friends who went straight on to amazon and ordered it, so I must tell some more people! 58. Freakonomics. This was a quick read and it was interesting, but not really my thing. I have a couple of ...

Some nice book choices and reviews. I'm with you all the way on A Fine Balance, one of the few books that has made me cry. It's Mistry's best in my view but his others are very good too. Looking forward to reading your review of Wolf Hall. I've just put in my annual order for the Booker ...

57. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. What a beautifully-written book, and such a heartbreaking story. I loved every word, and was sorry to finish it. It's another one of those "I can't believe I've never read it" books. Now I want to read all of his others. I'm about half-way through F ...

... Alias Grace 110 The Unconsoled 111 Morvern Callar 115 The Rings of Saturn on Mount TBR 116 The Reader 117 A Fine Balance on Mount TBR 125 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 126 Pereira Declares: A Testimony 129 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin 133 The Shipping News 134 Trainsp ...

... by Brichoux 160. Saint of Lost Things by Castellani 161. Bell Jar by Plath 162. Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle 163. A Fine Balance by Mistry 164. Pillars of the Earth by Follett 165. Scarecrow by Connelly 166. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Bradley 167. Best Friends ...

Already some good ideas! I also enjoyed A Fine Balance, and it's one of those books that really gives you a sense of the place and its recent history. Probably my strongest personal recommendation is a classic: The Recognition of Sakuntala by Kalidasa. Kalidasa is to Sanskrit Theatr ...

... of India had a huge impact on India; you'll find it's horrors reflected in many books set in contemporary India (e.g., A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry makes many references to it); the heroic struggle for Independence is probably the best known aspect of India's history in the West

For me the quintessential Indian novel is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, although it was extremely disturbing. I'm not so great with disturbing, especially when it is done in such a realistic way, so I prefer the same author's Family Matters. It's only depressing, but that's Mistry's style ( ...

I just finished #201 for this year and it was an awesome, awesome read. I have been meaning to read A Fine Balance by Mistry but the length was a little off-putting. I wanted to find a free weekend so I could give it a good go and not have to stop and start. So, I began yesterday and literally ...

Fiction: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry Non fiction: Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer It would be hard to beat these two for the year. If you like American colonial history or British cultural influence, Fischer's book is fascinating.

... . in no particular order . . . A Complicated Kindness, The Stone Diaries, The Good Mayor, Alias Grace, Maus, A Fine Balance, The Earth Hums in B Flat, De Niro's Game, Mister Pip, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, and because I can't stick to limits - no 11 is Half of a Yel ...

... met him once and he gave me a free book so it's the least I can do--what can I say? I can be bought with free books!). A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - I just finished and I am now really regretting that I put off reading this book for so long. It was great. He is a gifted author. ...

... best in the trilogy IMO. I'm now reading A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul and very much enjoying it. All you A Fine Balance and A Suitable Boy lovers (and other such Indian family sagas) should put this oldie but goodie on their lists.

... me. God of Small Things is a gorgeous, one of a kind book that's worth reading anyway, as are many of the others worthy A Fine Balance is astounding. But I don't see them as related to Pi. A new book that's generating tons of discussion as to "which story would you choose to believe" and ...

... for the books I've picked up from you. BTW, this is a long way back, but I agree wholeheartedly with your opinion of A Fine Balance. I found it to be one of the most powerful books I'd ever read. And I also want to add my recommendation for Sue Grafton's alphabet series. I ...

I learned so much about India from reading A Fine Balance, which is fabulously written, but devastating. Midnight's Children was also fabulously educational and entertaining, but more difficult to follow.

And of course, don't forget A Fine Balance Midnight's Children Shame A Passage to India The God of Small Things The Seige of Krishnapur The Painter of Signs Urania, which version of the Mahabarata do you recommend

... Earth. I loved The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh. I enjoyed both The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, but like #15, SugarCreekRanch, found both to be devastatingly depressing. I loved The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie. I ...

>15 You know, when I finished A Fine Balance, I was heartened by the courage and fineness of the human spirit. de gustibus... and all that. I've been a bit put off by White Tiger, but I expect to get to it when it's less expensive. I also have Sacred Games on Mt. Bookpile. I ...

Several years ago, I read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It was a wonderfully written novel, but so heavy and depressing. It unfortunately made me adverse to trying other Indian novels -- but I'm sure I'm missing out on some great stuff. Here's your chance to set me back on the right ...

That was a great review Joyce! I also thought A Fine Balance was quite good.

Excellent review, Joyce. A Fine Balance has been widely recommended, and I own a copy, yet somehow this is the first review of it I've read. I am eager to read it now. Thanks.

A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry When I first started this book, I thought it was going to another one of those multi-generational epics set in a particular time period, which seems to be a popular them among current Indian writers of every generation. Instead, what I found and was totally ...

I think A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry fits many of your specifications.

... learned.' So true. I have vivid memories of Kenya (The Camel Bookmobile), and Chile (Daughter of Fortune), and India (A Fine Balance), and even Japan, (Memoirs of a Geisha)...all places I've seen through wonderful books!

... a writer a "mean person"? I've read a number of books that have enraged me because bad things happen to good people. (A Fine Balance, I'm looking at you.) But isn't that kind of the point? To evoke a reaction in the reader, to change our perceptions, to show us that in fact life doesn't ...

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

11. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Excellent, wonderful, awe-inspiring, heart warming and heart breaking. Am sure this will be in my top 5 for 2009. Four lives in India intertwined - love, hope, death, despair, tragedy. Highly recommended to all. The book has a LOT of detail and a lot ...

I would add A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. (Again, cheating by a handful of years.) The book is good on its own merits, but having been labeled 'India's Dickens' will keep Mistry in the spotlight. Another thought: short story collections are getting short shrift in this thread, and for a ...

... are now 40% off.... One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

... - Bill Bryson 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 80 Possession - AS Byatt. 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

Way back in #62, the poster mentioned starting Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance ... I just finished that a week or two ago and recommend it highly ... it's a very powerful book about living in India during the 1970s political unrest ... the focus is on characters pretty far down on the ...

"Of course. It's my duty." A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry "Are you sure sixty will be enough?"

"It's all right, don't worry, I am the nightwatchman and...." A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry "What's this about ration cards?"

"Crooks, all of them." A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry "How will he work if you break his bones?"

"It's only rats. Please don't worry." A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry "Are you ever nervous about cycling in this traffic?"

"Fine. As I said, I am a reasonable person." A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry "Are the strings really made of cat intestines?"

"I can always go to the Towers of Silence and let the vultures eat me up, if that will make you happy." A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry "Will you find wives for them also, when they are old enough?"

I just finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett and it was excellent. I started A Fine Balance this morning and can tell already it is going to be great.

... Peace and Infinite Jest in one summer weren't enough... I guess I'll have to take my Indian lit half that size, with A Fine Balance sitting unread on my bookshelf for a little longer...

I am reading A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and loving it...wonderful prose and compelling characters.

... much of this stuff was happening in the world during my lifetime, and I don't even know anything about it! Some examples: A Fine Balance and conditions in India; The Book Thief--who ever mentions the ordinary Germans during WWII? An Ordinary Man and Left to Tell about Rwanda. This is ...

Whew! I've just read through your 181 messages and have starred your thread. We love many of the same books: Birdsong, A Fine Balance, Night, etc. I also found Middlemarch challenging but very worthwhile. Btw, your comment on the "What Are You Reading Now?" about my current book, A Ha ...

... to label it as truly "bad". It definitely didn't deserve the Booker though. And my thoughts also went instantly to A Fine Balance (in fact I've literally just recommended that book to lbucci3, who's also just finished White Tiger!).

... it was interesting, I also thought there were other books on the Booker shortlist that were much stronger. Have you read A Fine Balance? I don't think you could describe it as "enjoyable" but it is a powerful portrait of India struggling with its relationship with the West, and the fallout ...

... Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

... fact and fiction intertwine and like the editor, the reader has no idea what is true, and who the 'poet' really is. 65) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry From my Good Intentions category, I've had this on my tbr pile for a long time. I had read a spoiler a couple of years ago and wanted ...

... width="140" height="219" alt="a fine balance" /> 65) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry From my Good Intentions category, I've had this on my tbr pile for a long time. I had read a spoiler a couple of years ago and wanted ...

... given up on a few Peter Carey's, but enjoyed Oscar and Lucinda and Illywhacker. Felt much as you did about A Fine Balance.

... wealth amid overwhelming poverty in India, there are other novels of the same theme which do a much better job than this. A Fine Balance (which was shortlisted but never won the Booker) is one example.

... igeon 59- Like water for chocolate 60- Remains of the day * 61- The english patient 62- The secret history 63- A fine balance 64- Alias Grace * 65- The hours * 66- The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay * 67- Life of Pi 68- The corrections * 69- The sea * 70- ...

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry From my Good Intentions category, I've had this on my tbr pile for a long time. I had read a spoiler a couple of years ago and wanted some distance from that. I''m glad I've read it finally, it is full of unredeeming despair - the poverty and powerlessness of ...

... Patricia Grace - an excellent New Zealand novel 64) My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey - smart but not my cup of tea 65) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - full of despair and life without hope. 66) The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt - Roman werewolf fantasy

... Patricia Grace - an excellent New Zealand novel 64) My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey - smart but not my cup of tea 65) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - full of despair and life without hope. 66) The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt - Roman werewolf fantasy

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome Potiki by Patricia Grace My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt I'll add some comments later.

... town who all find relief confiding their dreams and frustrations to the local deafmute. I much prefered this to Mistry's A Fine Balance. The Secret History by Donna Tartt This felt familiar when I started reading it, so maybe i read it when it first came out. Like Engleby and The Tale ...

... by Acquisition and slipped far down the pile. Sounds like a serious error. Hey, and it's Orange too. Everyone Must Read A Fine Balance. It's in The Rules.

I just loved A Fine Balance!

I bought A Fine Balance on last week's secondhand bookshop trip!

OK - that does it!! A Fine Balance is my next read after I finish the two I am reading.

Family Matters is a very good book, but A Fine Balance is miles above it.

>168 Funny, I've also had A Fine Balance on my shelf since it came out in paperback but haven't gotten around to it yet, despite raves from people I trust. I've even read Mistry's next book (can't recall the title, but it's the one about the elderly professor; something with "Family" in the ...

... hundreds of really good Canadian (and NZ) authors that I have not read either. Perhaps the most glaring omission for me is A Fine Balance, which I have had for years and not yet read. Stasia and Linda - if I promise to read dreck, will you keep coming back?

... g. Anyway, I think the point is to see which book people would recommend above all others. I'm now very keen to read both A Fine Balance and Franny and Zooey because of the passion with which bonniebooks and girlunderglass put their case. I don't feel compelled in any way ...

... in your answers to #9: If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be? My choice would be A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry because there are so many issues within one book that I want people to think about: poverty, class systems, racism/prejudice, gender ...

... in your answers to #9: If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be? My choice would be A Fine Balance because there are so many issues within one book that I want people to think about: poverty, class systems, racism/prejudice, gender inequality, how ...

... India by Bapsi Sidhwa (Partition) Other books about India I liked, some of which deal with aftermath of colonialism: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy English August by Upanmanyu Chatterjee Staying On by Paul Scott Rumer Goden wrote ...

30. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry Wow. Very tough read, emotionally. Well done, Mr. Mistry. 4/5 stars

#50. That's the problem sometimes with being a long-time reader, isn't it? Somebody who hasn't read A Fine Balance can read White Tiger and appreciate it for what it is. But anybody who has read both can't help but compare. I've had that problem several times since joining LT. Some ...

... book (not criticizing, just deciding whether to get it or not). Here are some of my favorite Bombay books: Mistry's A Fine Balance, Ardashir Vakil's Beach Boy, and Shashi Tharoor's Show Business.

It's on my list, but I haven't got to it yet. I really enjoyed A Fine Balance when I read it a few years ago. I believe it's set mostly in Mumbai/Bombay, though I don't think the city is named in the book.

I'd also nudge A Fine Balance but be prepared to have your heart mangled as Rohinton Mistry makes you fall in love with his characters then assigns them the most dreadful depridations. The Street of Crocodiles is my second nudge - strange, atmospheric and full of stonking descriptions of the ...

... really good reading year in the other three quarters :) All She Was Worth, Miyuki Miyabe The Likeness, Tana French A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry The King's Trial, David Jordan (a surprise pick! This one was an assignment) The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner (this one was ...

... it frequently. There has to be something to make it satisfying, I guess -- language, fascinating tale, uplifting ending. A Fine Balance is the classic in that regard --- sooo depressing and sooo good. I am reading Madame Bovary now, a reread, and it is too depressing for me at the moment. ...

I definitely agree with you about the merits of The White Tiger vis a vis A Fine Balance. Even Mistry's later books are not better than A Fine Balance.

... to work as a driver for the son of the village's wealthiest man. ... The White Tiger explores many of the same themes as A Fine Balance, but I found the latter better-written and far more moving. This was an OK read, but disappointing compared to other Booker Prize winners. (3 / 5 stars)

My favourites would have to be A Fine Balance followed very closely by The Stone Diaries.

Top 5 books for 1Q09: The Remains of the Day A Mercy A Fine Balance The Road Home A Room of One's Own And a few stats about my first quarter reading: - 19 books - 5,738 pages - 14 written by women - 8 from the "1001 Books you Must Read Before you Die" list - 3 Booker ...

Top 5 books for 1Q09: The Remains of the Day A Mercy A Fine Balance The Road Home A Room of One's Own I've also decided to track my reading on just one thread. Please visit my 75 Book Challenge Thread !!

Thanks for the advice--will add John Adams. A Suitable Boy was absolutely terrific. I have on tap A Fine Balance and The God of Small Things. Seems to me that there's another book set in India lurking in my recent past, but can't remember which one. I've just started Sacred Games-- ...

A Fine Balance is the only one I've read, and I'd definitely nudge that one, although not if you need the sort of read that doesn't engage all your emotions... A tentative nudge for Boy A too, but only 'cos it's on my own TBR and I'm keen to hear what you might think of it.

I too will nudge A Fine Balance, only because it is the only one I've read, and because it is indeed well done. I have a caveat though--it is possibly the most depressing book I've ever read. It's an excellent book that I hated. If John Gardner of The Wreckage of Agathon is the same ...

I will also nudge A Fine Balance. I just read it this year and thought it was amazing. That said, I have not read any of the others on your list ... but you will not be disappointined in A Fine Balance.

I haven't read any of these but both A Fine Balance and The Street of Crocodiles are on my list of books to read this year.

I'll nudge A Fine Balance. It's the only one I've read of the list. But I also liked the book quite a bit.

... will be finished with them relatively soon. And I don't know where to look to next. Here are the ones I'm considering: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry Egalia's Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg The Street of Crocodiles ...

It's great to hear that A Fine Balance is worthwhile! I've been eyeballing it on my shelf for awhile now... I think it's next on my TBR list! Thanks!

I liked Family Matters but not nearly as much as A Fine Balance. It would be very hard to match A Fine Balance in my view.

>67: "It's an excellent book that I hated" - going to have to steal this phrase in future... I finished A Fine Balance feeling that I had been sat on very heavily for several days. Incredible book, but oh my. Don't turn to it for life-affirming and uplifting messages.

A Fine Balance is one of my most memorable reads too (I like books about India too--also a fan of A Suitable Boy). Great review, and I'm so glad you liked it.

I too recently read A Fine Balance and loved it. I saw Slumdog last weekend. I think both of these works should serve to teach those of us the privelged western world that a lot of the stuff we worry about, and aspire to, is just crap.

Judy-great review on A Fine Balance. I never know how to rate that book--five stars because it's so well done, or one star because it's so disturbing. It's an excellent book that I hated. I see you're planning to read Family Matters. I preferred that one--same great writing, but not quite as ...

... its size has been daunting to me. Have you seen the film, Slumdog Millionaire? A completely different premise from A Fine Balance but I saw parallels in its portrayl of the slums.

Thanks for the excellent review of A Fine Balance. I like your very true statement "we are able to see how at each level, there is persecution from above and restrictions in possibilities."

No 15 finally finished. A Fine Balance took a long time to read, but geez, it was worth it! I have Family Matters in the Booker category too, so after a bit of a break, I'll be getting stuck into that one as well!

25. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry This is one of those books that I will remember always. I am a fan of the big Indian family stories (think A Suitable Boy - one of my all-time favourites) and this one will also go into my top 10 I think. The characters are all balanced on the edge. T ...

25. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry This is one of those books that I will remember always. I am a fan of the big Indian family stories (think A Suitable Boy - one of my all-time favourites) ...

124. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry A wonderful, wonderful book. Just perfect.

Finished and loved A Fine Balance. What a book! Now reading a non 1001, Everything I Knew and some Edgar Allan Poe for the Monthly Author Group - they are on the 1001 list!

... - I thought Heart Shaped Box was a real return to old fashioned horror. I really enjoyed it. And I am still reading A Fine Balance. If I can tear myself away from LT, I might even finish it :o)

I'm still reading A Fine Balance. I am really liking it so far.

... Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominque Bauby Light Years by James Salter Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese A Fine Balance and Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin It's been a good ...

Started A Fine Balance this afternoon.

I have finally picked up A Fine Balance. So many people here on LT have encouraged me to read it. I am looking forward to finding out why!

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

... the third one. I'm like that with series; hence, VERY selective about which ones I commit myself to. ~I couldn't get into A Fine Balance when my book group was reading it. May try it again sometime. I also enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind and am rather sad that I passed my copy along through ...

... read anything else by Kate Atkinson but intend to in the future. My first by Janice Galloway as well. After reading A Fine Balance I just had to read another Rohinton Mistry and Family Matters was on the 1001 list.

9. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry (category 8) **** What can I say about this book, other than "it was excellent"? Both the story and the way in which it's told are difficult to explain. Essentially, it's about four people from different walks of life living together in an unnamed Indian city ...

It's A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

From AMQS- A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I've heard high praise for this one!

msf, I loved A Fine Balance and hope that you do too!

> From Bookmooch: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. This was strongly recommended to me quite some time ago, hopefully I'll get to it this year!

dihiba - A Fine Balance is one of the books I really really want to read ASAP. I have never heard anything bad about it.

11. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry Excellent, wonderful, awe-inspiring, heart warming and heart breaking. Am sure this will be in my top 5 for 2009. Four lives in India intertwined - love, hope, death, despair, tragedy. Highly recommended to all.

... get a more sweeping view of the context which is, even if it refers to another phase in India's history, somehow missing in A Fine Balance which focused on individual lives.

... of ambivalent about magical realism. I guess for somewhere like India I prefer realism (you can't get much more real than A Fine Balance), though I do enjoy Murakami which seems to work in a Japanese setting. Do you think Midnight's Children is for me?

14 A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Just finished this. Was like a saga, and you couldn't help getting attached to the characters. The settings seemed real, like you as the reader were suffering the pain and difficulties of 70s India (and earlier). Not an easy read but well worth it. Recommend ...

P.S.--I'm glad you enjoyed A Fine Balance. If you're interested in reading more Mistry, I would recommend Such a Long Journey.

... by The Book Thief. Or am I? I agree it's easy reading and enjoyable, but I wasn't really touched. I'm reading A Fine Balance and really enjoying it, though I agree with others in that it's far from light reading.

kiwi, I think you'd really enjoy A Fine Balance! (mum's the word on Taylor ...)

... it's not light reading. So think I will go for that. And I'm fascinated by and would love to go to India. So looks like A Fine Balance will be brought down from the shelf later. A group read of Anna Karenina? Excellent. Am tentatively hoping to have finished W&P before then, so that ...

Though I haven't read it, I second Rachael's vote for A Fine Balance. Rohinton Mistry's writing is fabulous!

+1 vote for A Fine Balance! Although it's not exactly a light read, to be honest. Brilliant book though. There are vague plans for a group read of Anna Karenina around Easter too.

... I would recommend it, and for me produced some LOL moments. Don't have a clue what to read next. Some options are: - A Fine Balance - Crime and Punishment - The Stand (though I want to save this for a possible group read in April) - Anna Karenina (too heavy alongside W&P?) - Civ ...

Great thread with such an interesting discussion - I still have not read A Fine Balance which is shocking considering that he is Canadian. Must do it. Also motivated to read Property now - thanks for the inspiration. Elizabeth Taylor is not so appealing to me, although don't tell.

... it has some dark humour as well. I haven't read Q and A but a lot of the movie brought back memories of reading A Fine Balance.

... the weirdest thing! When I read your post just now I remembered that I had a dream last night that I accidentally threw A Fine Balance in the bin!!!

81. Like Water for Chocolate, 2004 82. The English Patient, 2006 83. Indigo: Mapping the Waters, 2008 84. A Fine Balance, 2003 85. The Reader, 2007 86. Alias Grace, 2008 87. Fugitive Pieces, 2008 88. Silk, 2008 89. Enduring Love, 2007 90. The Hours, 2004

You have good taste in books, Laura. A Fine Balance is one of my all-time favorite books. Plus, I have just started Property, and it has grabbed me from Page One.

... target="_blank"> A Fine Balance - review From my review: I loved the structure of this novel. It begins ...

... target="_blank"> A Fine Balance - review From my review: I loved the structure of this novel. It begins ...

Pummzie - I shall add A Fine Balance to my ever-growing list of books to seek out and read. I may also attempt something by Rushdie at some point - perhaps something shorter though.

I have started A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and so far am enjoying it a lot. Will be very busy this week with end of semester, but hope to read at least a few pages each night!

... the tension and intensity, I was completely won over by it. Rohinton Mistry is a fantastic writer - you should give A Fine Balance a go. Rushdie, on the other hand, is something of an acquired taste...

... Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres, 1997 280. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, 2006 281. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, 1996 282. *The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rusdie, 1996 283. The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro, 1996 284. Alias Grace by Ma ...

... Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres, 1997 280. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, 2006 281. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, 1996 282. *The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rusdie, 1996 283. The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro, 1996 284. Alias Grace by Ma ...

That's A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It's really good, too....

... so I was expecting to read a few pages and toss it in the charity bin. But it grabbed me right away. Hope you enjoy A Fine Balance if you pick that one. It's really amazing, but extremely depressing.

... of the 22 I have tagged both TBR and 1001 in my library. There are at least 4 that I really want to read soon, including A Fine Balance and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

... I recently heard that the author of Q&A lives in ... South Africa! As to stories of poverty in India, I agree that A Fine Balance is one of the best things out there (if you want your heart broken completely). I also learned a lot from City of Joy, although it leaves a lot to be ...

... prefer to read it before going to see the film (although there are those who do it the other way round...) ETA: BUT A FINE BALANCE IS BETTER!!! Hehe

... judylou! I just came by to say that I agree with your views on Rape: A Love Story. And you really should get around to A Fine Balance soon - it may be relentlessly depressing, but it's very, very good! Really! I have A Complicated Kindness on my shelves somewhere...

... Lauren Liebenberg. Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). 3.5* 7 8 9 Probable reads: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Nigeria. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. India. Burmese Days by George Orwell. Burma. First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung. Cambodia (probably my favourite country - ...

... find this funny and sarcastic series a good read. Gap Creek was powerful reading, even a second time around. As was A Fine Balance, which was hard to read, but also very thought-provoking. I also enjoyed The Friday Night Knitting Club which got me thinking about relationships and risk- ...

I plan to read A Fine Balance too - I think it would be interesting if a number of us are reading it at the same time. It'll be the next book I start, but probably not for a few days.

I've been reading your comments on A Fine Balance with interest. I'll be starting that book today! It's been on my tbr for some time and I've heard so many good things about it.

... Even more so in the reading of Rape: A Love Story though! Life of Pi is one of my all time favourites! And I have A Fine Balance on the tower. I am determined to read it this year.

... Kindness says it isn't her first novel also, and I am intrigued as to what came before. Definitely prioritise A Fine Balance over Life of Pi, IMHO - the former is much the better book. I keep meaning to come back to Life of Pi after reading The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym ...

... given my middle-aged brain, I can't remember the name. On my list of Canadian reads this year is The Life of Pi and A Fine Balance - and some more Alice Munro and Carol Shields. I might even try a little Atwood.

... those. I stopped reading her work for a while after Accordian Crimes. It is excellent, but next to Rohintan Mistry's A Fine Balance, that may have been the most depressing book I ever read! Interesting interview, but probably best to skip if you haven't already read the story: Donna828 in 75 Books Challenge for 2009 : Cariola's 2009 Challenge (Jan 5, 2009, 10:12am)

>15 I heartily concur about both "Slumdog Millionaire" and A Fine Balance which I "discovered" before Oprah. :-) The White Tiger is #5 on my TBR list for 2009. I am limiting myself to adding one book per day to this list.

>17: Cariola, read it read it read it NOW (A Fine Balance, I mean). Harrowing but incredible.

>15 I have had A Fine Balance in my TBR stacks for what seems like forever. I decided to pass on Sacred Games because I'm not a big fan of thrillers/mysteries/detective stories. I'll definitely see Slum Dog Millionaire, but, since I llive in the boondocks, probably not until it comes out ...

I loved The White Tiger. Have you read A Fine Balance? It's outstanding, and is a book that will stay with me forever. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra, is an all-encompassing saga of life in present day Mumbai. It's a thriller in which the fate of the world depends on a lowly policeman, ...

... by Alexander Solzhenitsyn A Separate Development by Christopher Hope The Time of Light by Gunnar Kopperud A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Shadow of the Sun: My African Life by Richard Kapuscinski most interesting novella and short story collection: Agamemnon's Daug ...

... - I haven't read this in years, but I remember being very impressed Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery Can I count A Fine Balance? I pick Random Passage as the best Canadian novel.

>27: BriJac, I'll be joining you with A Fine Balance, but later this month (just picked up a couple of library books I need to read first).

... outbreak of WWI with Solzhenitsyn's August 1914, although I just went to the bookstore and bought a ticket to India with A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

Congrats! 160 is a fantastic number. #159 turned out to be my favourite of the year. I have A Fine Balance on my InfinityPile - I read Such a Long Journey by Mistry a few months ago - it made my top 5 list.

... of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce – 364p. Tedious, but there is a lot to think about in this book. 157. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry – 603p. An amazing story. 158. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison – 581p. The writing was good but I thought the story could ...

... Booker Prize (winners and shortlisters), Nat'l Book Award, Orange Prize, and anything else I may care to add. 1. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry (Booker shortlist 1996) (completed 1/25/09) **** 2. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner (Nobel laureate 1949) (completed 3/09/09) *** ...

... Woman, by Sybil Aleramo I'd like to read one of these in January. I'll also be reading A Fine Balance, a Virago Modern Classic (In a Summer Season), & three Orange Prize Winners including The Road Home. So I'd like this book to "fit" in the mix somehow -- ...

... Meets Boy Weight Binu and the Great Wall of China The Myth of Samson Dream Angus The Helmet of Horror A Fine Balance Do Polar Bears Get Lonely? Victorian Sensation The Solitary Summer Family Matters The Mighty Book of Boosh ETA the one I'm reading right ...

#22- I haven't read Mistry's A Fine Balance, but his Family Matters was a profoundly moving book for me. I was so happy to be introduced to his writing.

I would have to say my favorite in 2008 was Lolita and I have read 42 this year. I am now reading A Fine Balance and it just might beat out Lolita.

#5 Loosha, I am reading A Fine Balance now, have gotten about 350 pages into it and can already tell it is going to stay with me also, I feel so lucky to live where I do. Some people have so much to endure. I should check out The White Tiger and Holy Cow. Thanks for the recommendation.

... I liked the flippant voice, the vibrant characters, the pace, the humour. I enjoy learning about a country through books. A Fine Balance will stay with me forever. Holy Cow shows another face of India.

Recommendations from LTers 1. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry March 2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman March 3. The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys May 4. Nocturnes by Kazuo ...

... 6.html">review 3. When I Lived in Modern Times - review 4. A Fine Balance - review 5. In a Summer Season - review ...

... Saramago Agamemnon's Daughter by Ismail Kadare (a novella and stories) Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić Night by Elie Wiesel One Day in the Life ...

... Tale by Art Spiegelman or Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi Haiti: Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat India: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry or God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Ireland: 44 Dublin Made Me by Peter Sheridan or Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt Nigeria: ...

... working my way through people's postings. I added Family Matters to my Wish List based on your comment about both it and A Fine Balance, one of my Top 100.

... Children tells the story of a nation, and does not focus much on a single city. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry The Moor's Last Sigh by Sa ...

... Matters in particular, are often set in Mumbai/Bombay. Unfortunately I have not yet read any of his books, but I have A Fine Balance in my library, so perhaps it is something to be amended. John Irving's A Son of the Circus is also set here, against the backdrop of Bollywood (whcih ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

... every horor India can dish out over a few decades after partition to a few frail urban comrades in Mistry Rohinton's A Fine Balance (this one via audiobook), and also in ancient India with the Pandavas in the first volume of the Mahabharata. Finally, it looks like my son and I will ...

A Fine Balance - brace yourself, that's a ride!

... Grenville finished 10Nov 3. The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst finished 7Sep 4. A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry finished 15Apr 5. Behind the scenes at the museum by Kate Atkinson finished 20Jun 6. The Book of Los ...

... Rohninton Mistry's Family Matters is excellent. A bit depressing though, although not nearly as depressing as his earlier A Fine Balance (also on the 1001 list). That book sent me into therapy. My fav F book is still The French Lieutenant's Woman (comments with my original posting near ...

I'm glad you enjoyed A Fine Balance, deebee - I was really struck by it when I read it a couple of years ago, on a recommendation from a friend, and I think it's one of the best books I've ever read.

79. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - a moving portrayal of the lives of four people who were caught up in the brutal, sweeping policies of 1970s India during the State of Emergency rule of Indira Gandhi. Dina, a 40-ish widow, is determined to be an independent woman in a society where ...

... by Noah Gordon (720 pages) 2-Sacajawea by Anna Waldo (1424 pages) 3-Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye (960 pages) 4-A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (624 pages) 5-The Source by James Michener (928 pages) 6-First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough (931 pages) 7-Cane River by Lalit ...

... but I now realise I didn't say anything about the style. The White Tiger is not a lyrical sort of read; I remember A Fine Balance as being one of those books that just sweeps you along with the prose even as you can't quite come to terms with what's happening to the characters. Adiga' ...

Flossie, just wanted to thank you for a post you made somewhere responding to my question about a comparison between A Fine Balance and The White Tiger. i agree one needs surplus positivity to read this.

dihiba, save A Fine Balance for when you have some surplus positivity - very sad things happen. A very powerful book.

... it was great. I read his short story collection Tales from Firohsza Baag last year. I will definitely be reading A Fine Balance and Family Matters.

79. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry 80. Unique Item by Milorad Pavić 81. The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev 82. Granta 48 Africa

#57: deebee, I've also read A Fine Balance and have made exactly that comparison on the Booker thread on LT. It examines similar issues, but Mistry's novel is more about the rural side of things, and also, being set earlier in time, is less concerned with the explosion of capitalism (shopping, ...

A Fine Balance was excellent. I would also recommend a short novel Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya. This was from my son's HS reading list and I got to it last year. A friend was bored, but I found it fascinating.

deebee, No, I haven't read A Fine Balance, although I've heard it's excellent. Tom2000, do you have something specific to say about the specific books in this thread?

hi rebecca and flossie (thanks for sharing that article), was just wondering if either of you has read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. i'm halfway through it now, and think it's written wonderfully, perhaps the best of all i've read so far of narratives about India (class relationships ...

So FlossieT, are you saying that The White Tiger is really depressing? I read A Fine Balance about four years ago and I still haven't recovered. I don't think I can stand being scarred like that again.

I thought it was very clever but so desolate. Compare it with, for example, Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance: another book that looks at the issues to do with the gulf between rich and poor, what life is really like for the poor of India, what the development of a "capitalist" economy is ...

76- A Fine Balance was one of the epic reads of my lifetime. It's disturbing at times yet always keeps you reading. One of the rare books that made me cry. I told myself I'd hold off from book buying altogether this month. Not happening! Just bought (albeit deeply discounted) a collection ...

Recent additions: The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox The Professor of Desire by Philip Roth A Fine Balance by Ronhinton Mistry The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje

Recent additions: The Professor of Desire by Philip Roth The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje

In the last week or so, I've gotten: From BookMooch: Oranges are Not the Only Fruit Honey, Baby, Sweetheart A Fine Balance The Human Stain From LTER: Any Given Doomsday Plenty to read, that's for sure.

... was bleak after 50 pages, I didn't know how lucky I was.... very, very dark. This has similarities with Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, but is much more desolate; Mistry's book is tragic but its central characters retain some personal dignity even through the disasters that befall them. This ...

... read so far: #1 Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders ~ William R. Drennan #2 A Fine Balance ~ Rohinton Mistry #3 The Third Angel ~ Alice Hoffman #4 The Year of Magical Thinking ~ Joan Didion

I am going to start Family Matters today. I loved A Fine Balance and I hope that this is just as good. A Fine Balance is the only novel that I can recall reading where the ending tore me up so much I almost had a physical reaction (throwing the novel across the streetcar). :)

... Morvern Callar The Information The Moor’s Last Sigh Sabbath’s Theater The Rings of Saturn The Reader A Fine Balance Love’s Work The End of the Story Mr. Vertigo The Folding Star Whatever Land The Master of Petersburg The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Pe ...

Also thought of a few more: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Soong Dynasty by Sterling Seagrave You didn't say what part of Asia, does that matter?

I just started Family Matters, I loved A Fine Balance so I have very high hopes. Omg bnbooklady, your pictures made me smile. My wedding is next years, so Mr. 0bazooka0 and I are hurrying along with the plans.

... I believe). The bonus is that is an absolutely fabulous novel. Also, one of the best novels I have ever read, A Fine Balance, recounts the life of at least one character (maybe more) from childhood and has a broad spectrum of characters. Also by a post-colonial writer. Action ...

... Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Then I went to a second-hand store and picked up Steinbeck's East Of Eden, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, and Evening by Susan Minot. I also received my first ER book, Sweetsmoke, by David Fuller. And I'm excited about all of them!

... Standing in the Rainbow----just a nice feel good type of story. 0bazooka0 let me know how Family Matters is--I have A Fine Balance which I hear is wonderful. Haven't read either one.

... character, Gustad, is one of the most memorable and interesting I have encountered in years. I will definitely be reading A Fine Balance and Family Matters soon.

... Love Under the Net The Postman Always Rings Twice The Crying of Lot 49 The Virgin Suicides Wild Swans A Fine Balance These are all on the 1001 list too if you also read off of that list (I do! I'm a list addict!).

dihiba, I hope at least one character in Such a Long Journey succeeds in the end. A Fine Balance was so depressing! I'm reading The World's Shortest Stories, edited by Steve Moss. Each story is 55 words long.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

... in Bombay. Does not sound like a book I would like to read, and I still haven't recovered from reading the same author's A Fine Balance in 2003. But this book was taking up too much space on my bookshelf, so I told it that it had better perform, or it was outa here. Well, I must say it ...

I've read and loved A Fine Balance, how about The Shipping News?

... restart this game, I have an image of throwing a tennis ball in the air to start a volley. This time that ball is . . . A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry. Anyone?

... liked both of those books about India, but Rushdie's work (Midnight's Children) seemed cool and distant and Mistry's Fine Balance (admittedly somewhat less complex) was full of heart. I actually wanted to compare Possession (a very complex book with heart) to something comparable that ...

... your comments. I am now wondering which of those two did connect with you - having read neither of them I am guessing A Fine Balance?

... I love clever and complex, but the great writer is one who can also humanize. I am thinking of Midnight's Children vs A Fine Balance. Both brilliant, but only one made me cry.

I haven't read A Fine Balance nor Family Matters but I recently finished reading The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai for a Book Club and I found that book depressing. Now I'm curious to know how Desari's book compares with Rohinton Mistry's books. On the surface anyway they seem to ...

No problem. Yes, A Fine Balance definitely is depressing. Probably the most depressing book I've ever read.

Nickelini, I goofed....it was A Fine Balance that was so depressing. Sorry!

... a very good writer, and I think he is particularly gifted at creating characters, but I don't like his stories. I *hated* A Fine Balance--well written, interesting--but way too disturbing. I had heard that Family Matters wasn't as disturbing . . . but I don't like depressing either. I'll ...

... the discarded book carts. Came home with:Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth Christopher Lloyd, the Adventurous GardenerA Fine Balance Reading in the Dark Waking SamuelBrideshead Revisiteda 1944 editionJohn Irving's memoir The imaginary GirlfriendAllen Lacy The Gardener's eyeGreen ...

... Suskind The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs Blindness by Jose Saramago A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb 1984 by George Orwell and more than a few runners-up. Author Winners of the Most Disturbing Book ...

#130 I'll bite I have only read A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry but I fell in love with this book and with the characters and by the story. And oh, how I could have killed the one female character in this story (I forget her name). I didn't like the story that much in terms of how the ...

... Matters by Rohinton Mistry. I let this one sit on the shelf for a bit, because I was afraid it would be as emotional as A Fine Balance was. But I'm loving it. I'll even put it out there: I think Rohinton Mistry is one of the finest living writers today. (discuss!)

A Fine Balance would be hard to digest a second time.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry had a huge impact on the way I view life. Mistry's characters come to life in all of their glory, anguish and deprivation, but, most uncommonly, by their joyfulness found in the midst of suffering. The author teaches us how to find that fine balance between ...

... : Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre The god of small things by Arundhati Roy Amsterdam by Ian McEwan A fine balance : a novel by Rohinton Mistry The sea by John Banville I don't now if these books are enough like Pi to be useful -- I think this might be some ...

I guess it's all perspective . . . I can't imagine a grimmer book than A Fine Balance. It was without a doubt the most disturbing, depressing book I've ever read. When I'm asked to rate it, I never know whether to give it 5 stars because it's so well done, or 1 star because I hated it. This ...

I'd like to suggest A fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry as fitting into both the depressing and uplifting categories. How those two poor untouchables kept going despite what miseries life threw at them is beyond me. Didn't feel like I could complain about my own life after reading this book.

... Mr. Mistry has an incredible way with truth and realism in people and location. It was a painfully beautiful story. I loved A Fine Balance when I read it many years ago and reading this made me realize I have missed out in not picking up the other things that have been published by R. Mistry ...

... also: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/browse?type=lcsubc&key=Social%20classes%20--%20Fiction Also: A Fine Balance The Observations Mansfield Park

... Joanne Harris Original Bliss by A.L. Kennedy That Lady by Kate O'Brien (a Virago Modern Classic!) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon Women of the Silk by Gail T ...

lady gata already mentioned one of mine: I know this Much is True by Wally Lamb, and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I find deliberate mutilation unacceptably unsettling. Sophie's Choice. Children.Death.No. The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond Of Matches by Gaetan Soucy Ch ...

... by Kalidasa (7.5) 5. In Light of India by Octavio Paz 6. The Book of the Beginning of the Mahabharata 7. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry 8. VIII. Epics 1. Beowulf (OVERLAP #8) 2. Southey's Chronicle of the Cid (OVERLAP #9) 3. The Tain (OVERLAP #10) 4. ...

... copies of books I want to keep (most of my books are given away or are on my Mooch list) - for example I picked up A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry yesterday. Always hoping to read more CanLit too. I have about 5 books on the go right now, so nothing to post to my 2008 list yet! ...

... Secret River, by Kate Grenville 15. China: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie 16. India: A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry 17. Sri Lanka: Mosquito, by Roma Tearne 18. Pakistan: Meatless Days, by Sara Suleri 19. Afghanistan: The Kite Runner, ...

Last night I had several dreams about a book I saw at Value Village but didn't buy - A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. So I went there this morning and bought it (and it's a hardcover with dustjacket - yeah!). I also picked up: Prime Suspect #3 by Lynda La Plante The Lost Daughte ...

... Out of Africa fit in? Isak Dinesen was definitely Danish, but her book says almost nothing about Danish culture. I used A Fine Balance for India, but Rohinton Mistry is now Canadian. I checked off Brazil because I read Coelho's The Alchemist, but I don't feel like that book enriched my ...

... you. As you age, you have less time to waste with bad books. One book, though, that I just couldn't get through, is A Fine Balance. 624 pages is just too much time to spend with starving, desperate people, who, no matter what you do, you can't help them.

I agree with A Fine Balance. My girlfriend loved it but I gave up half-way through because of the unrelenting squalor. I like squalor, but there's too much of a good thing...

Fine - Samuel Shem, M.D.

... it? Or is there some kind of pretentious snobbery thing going on? I liked Jean Rhys because she made me think, I liked A Fine Balance because the characters were so well drawn and there were a few fine moments of humor and hope. I also like a few of the other ones included in this list but ...

Just finished A Fine Balance and I have to say it was one of the best written but saddest books I have ever read.

Recently bought:- Mister B Gone by Clive Barker 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch Steve & Me by Terri Irwin Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry is probably the most depressing book I've ever read. It's extremely well written though, and deserves to be on the list. Two different people told me it was "the best book they'd ever read," so I was quite excited to read it. Evidently my idea of a best ...

... and in books, I find realism much scarier than any science fiction or horror could ever be. That's why my vote goes to A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry. Holocaust stories will give me nightmares too.

Either She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, or A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Both were well written, but left me feeling really unsettled.

... to knockover a few of my TBRs this week, i.e. Bleak House, Mister Pip and The Sea. Still to be tackled are: A Fine Balance Little Women The Unconsoled Arthur and George The God of Small Things Memoirs of a Geisha Alice's Adventures in Wonderland The Way We Live ...

... to hold back the tears as I was in a public place. By the last line, it was quite a struggle. I cried in the beginning of A Fine Balance, as I have a brother-in-law named Rustom and at the time he and my sister were nearing their 3rd anniversary.

... my birthday and can't wait to get at it. I've been scanning the index for names of people I know! But, I have to read A Fine Balance for one book club and I'm only on page 205 of 803. Also have to read Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson (231 pages) and The Last Mughal (468 pages) for 2 ...

oh, A Fine Balance. Good luck with that! Two people who I respect greatly said that it was their favourite book of all time. So I had high expectations. Unfortunately, it horrified me. I found it very disturbing. I never know how to rate it . . . one star because I hated it, or 5 stars because it ...

"Oh yes." A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

I'm about to tackle the 803 pages of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry for my book club.

I agree about A Fine Balance I loved it and cried and cried and so it was miserable. The Human Stain by Philip Roth. The book frustrated me, but I don't know why. I loved it, I was engaged in it and I found it interesting, but I was irritated by it too.

I can't decide whether to rate A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry a 5 or a 1. While it is very well written and interesting, it is also both depressing and disturbing. The time I spent reading it was extremely unpleasant. But it has something to say, and deserves to be read by a wide ...

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry made me cry and cry. I think it was because I was living abroad in a developing country and the reality of it was too much.

... The Princess Bride hands down. I was stunned by The Kite Runner recently. Best book I have ever read though might be A Fine Balance, which was on the Oprah Book Club (but try not to hold that against it).

... Gault by William Trevor Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Atonement by Ian McEwan Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

... Tunnel, Hurrah! Ruled Britannia How Few Remain King of the Wood by John Maddox Roberts Days of Infamy In the Balance and series The Rivers of War Fox on the Rhine (liked the second one even more Fox at the Front, which doesn't happen that often) The Seventh Son by O ...

#$ > jhowell, I am sure you will love it! I agree with your choices too, btw. The only one I have not read is A fine balance, which is also a dear friend of mine's (and LTthinger) favourite book.

#3 -- ooh. I just started it so good to hear it's someones favorite. Mine: One Hundred Years of Solitude; A Fine Balance; Gone with the Wind; and my new instant favorite -- Middlemarch

... Not sure if that makes sense. If I was to say right now it would probably be Les Miserables, The Prodigal Summer and A Fine Balance.

... It is wonderful, but there is so much to the story that sometimes I felt exhausted just from reading it! I also recommend A Fine Balance if you haven't read that one.

... eBooks web site. My recent reads include Look Homeward, Angel (trade paperback) by Thomas Wolfe. Wonderful. And A Fine Balance (paperback) by Rohinton Mistry. This one I could have left unread, I'm afraid.

... in prison in Buenos Aires with Kiss of the Spider Woman. Now in an unnamed city by the sea with Rohinton Mistry's A fine balance which is shaping up well so far.

... once and bought every book she recommended. SOme were good, some not so good. The good ones have included East of Eden, A Fine Balance and Anna Karenina. As far as my own snobbery goes, I would say that Jonathan Franzen should take a metaphorical look in his own backyard. To me, The ...

These are my all time favs: Baltazar and Blimunda by Saramago The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith by Carey A Fine Balance by Minstry Cloud Atlas by Mitchell Wicked by Maguire The Idiot by Dostoevsky Years of Rice and Salt by Robinson (there are more too, but these are the ...

I keep meaning to read A Fine Balance, so you've nudged me further towards it now. Thanks!

... born and bred - often their books reflect on the culture and harsh climate of the country. A few books to try: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Book of Secrets by M.G. Vassanji The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe The Stone Diaries by ...

I am reading Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry right now. It is definately not as good as A Fine Balance which I loved. Not even sure its 1001 worthy. Still have ~ 1/3 to go. Interestingly, based on some not so subtle comments in this book, I don't think there is any love lost between Mistry ...

I just started Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry. A Fine Balance was pretty much my favorite book last year, so time for something else from Mistry.

I would vote for Atonement by Ian McEwan, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, and I would definately second the vote for Disgrace.

This is a very difficult question -- toss-up between Gone with the Wind and One hundred Years of Solitude; A Fine Balance is another contender, but I read it recently and I have to see whether it stands the test of time.

... Seth, A Suitable Boy 1995 - Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin 1996 - Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance 1997 - Earl Lovelace, Salt 1998 - Peter Carey, Jack Maggs 1999 - Murray Bail, Eucalyptus 2000 - John Maxwell Coetzee, Disgrace 20 ...

Okay guys, I've read Invisible Lives - a light, fluffy read with an unusual moral for Indian Fiction - and A Fine Balance. OMIGOD! A Fine Balance was so freakin' depressing that at one point, I dreaded going back into their world. I had to finish it, though. After that, terrified to pick ...

Definitely A Fine Balance. I struggled getting into it for the first 100 pages or so, but once I got the rhythm of the narrators tone, I really enjoyed it. Absolutely one of my all time favorite books. In fact, I'm planning to re-read it as soon as I finish all my first time reads that I have ...

jhowell: I loved A Fine Balance as well. Currently reading Gossamer by Lois Lowry

Hi jhowell, and no, I've never read A Fine Balance, but I did read Midnight's Children some years ago and liked it quite a bit, good luck with it too.

LouisBranning -- I have been thinking about reading Sacred Games only because I loved,loved A Fine Balance and am really liking Midnight's Children. Did you read either of those? Did you like them?

... Kostova 2) Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke 3) Clementine Churchill by Mary Soames 4) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry 5) Babel Tower by A.S. Byatt Who knows if I'll get around to these ones....but I'd like to :)

I'll second the nomination of A Fine Balance for nexts. The Cormac McCarthy books should prove very interesting, if you haven't read his work before. Definitely NOT the upbeat, cheery reads that would best follow A Fine Balance, though.

Go for aA fine balance - but only if you are already feeling strong, upbeat and have something cheerful to read afterwards. It's absorbing and moving. Anything Rohinton Mistry writes makes for en excellent read.

... Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy 5. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy 6. Invisible Lives, by Anjali Banerjee 7. A Fine Balance, by Robin Mistry I just finished Joyce Carol Oates's Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang. I enjoyed it, was engaged, though I found the author's ...

My top five this year: 1. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry -- This may be one of my favorite books ever! What wonderful characters and devastating story. Definately takes you to another place and time. 2. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory -- This may be just ...

... are simple and plot offered nothing captivating. Maybe I'm far too picky... ? Life of Pi, Angela's Ashes, A Fine Balance are next, and now a quick jog through a delightful little The Perks of Being A Wallflower...

... fiction, giving liscense for incongruences. That's why it's a novel and not a textbook, I guess one can say. I like A Fine Balance a lot--FyreFly98, I'd have to say that I've learned the most about modern Indian history and culture through authors like Mistry, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala ...