The Doctor Reads

Physician – Reader – Reviewer

Menu Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Interviews
  • Book Reviews
    • Fiction
    • Non Fiction
  • Film Reviews
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Tag: bibliophile

March 7, 2018March 7, 2018thedoctorreads

Home & Other Debris by Orooj e Zafar

October 7, 2017October 7, 2017thedoctorreads

The Surgeon by Salman Waqar

August 23, 2017August 23, 2017thedoctorreads

The Light Blue Jumper by Sidra F. Sheikh

July 27, 2017July 27, 2017thedoctorreads

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

July 20, 2017July 20, 2017thedoctorreads

The Melancholy Streets of Ismail’s City – An Interview with Zohaib Kazi

July 19, 2017July 19, 2017thedoctorreads

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

July 19, 2017July 19, 2017thedoctorreads

Reading with Rehmat Ajmall

Posts navigation

1 2 3 →

Search

Advertisements

@TheDoctorReads

3. As a reader, my favourite aspect of the book is how Orooj's exploration of identity takes place as a conversation about the meaning and history of her name(s), Orooj-e-Zafar. The pinnacle of success. A name that sits awkwardly on the shoulders of a child, chains a burgeoning phoenix to earth and yet is the pen-ultimate fulfilment of a promised child in the eyes of her mother and her father. It is a journey that culminates in one of my favourite poems in the book, 'New Names for Brown Baby Girls'. By the end of the book, all I wanted to do was thank Orooj-e-Zafar-- for the authenticity of her experiences, for the power of her words. Mostly, I wanted to thank her for writing a book that represents what it means to be a Pakistani child, growing up in a country that is both home and hell. The contradictions encapsulated in 'Home & Other Debris' are not easy to accept, let alone live through. But the book ends on a promise and like a phoenix resplendent in ashes, it is a hopeful promise, indeed. #bookworm #bookblog #bookstagrampak #bibliophile #amreading #booklover #currentlyreading #bookstagrampakistan #bookaddict #booklove #bookinsta #bookhaul #bookobsessed #bookphotography #bookeading #booktube #epicreads #igreads #khibookswap #kbsbookreview #vsco #vsco_pakistan #flatlay #pakistan #mybookishculture #oroojezafar #homeandotherdebris
2. No Rupi Kaur-esque ease-of-accessibility here. No gimmicks. No single word lines haltingly pretending to be stanzas. This is true poetry, images and passages dance confidently across the page, painting fireworks of deep nostalgia and remembrance in your mind. Where one poem ends, another seamlessly picks up the narrative and races forward, deeper into what it means to be a child and how your past doesn't necessarily have to hold you hostage. Is the incisive nature of Orooj-e-Zafar's poetry a testament to her years as a student of medicine? Assuredly. But her words are fuelled by something ephemerally more. I loved how the book is divided in sections of 'Home' and 'Debris', they reflect the shifting nature of the lens of our memory as we age and as our rage deepens, making our inner eye all too aware of some aspects of our past even as it blinds us to others. Orooj's poem's capture that self-awareness, particularly in her poems in 'Debris', which makes them all the more powerful when contrasted with the misty haziness of the binary happy-sad poems in 'Home'. #bookworm #bookblog #bookstagrampak #bibliophile #amreading #booklover #currentlyreading #bookstagrampakistan #bookaddict #booklove #bookinsta #bookhaul #bookobsessed #bookphotography #bookeading #booktube #epicreads #igreads #khibookswap #kbsbookreview #vsco #vsco_pakistan #flatlay #pakistan #mybookishculture #oroojezafar #homeandotherdebris
1. I've often wondered if there was a word in any language of the world that described this emotion of finishing a book, feeling as though the author held your hand and walked a long, difficult path with you; as though you were less a reader and more a participant in the events unfolding on the pages before you. Some word-- German, probably. I've rarely experienced this while reading fiction or non-fiction. I certainly didn't expect to feel this way as I read the last page of Orooj-e-Zafar's stellar collection of poems, 'Home & Other Debris'. The poems in the book are everything you expect from good Pakistani writings-- perceptive, empathic and wholly true to its own self. It's hard to fathom that a writer so young can capture so much pain within the delicate framework of her words. And her words, simply put, are remarkable. #bookworm #bookblog #bookstagrampak #bibliophile #amreading #booklover #currentlyreading #bookstagrampakistan #bookaddict #booklove #bookinsta #bookhaul #bookobsessed #bookphotography #bookeading #booktube #epicreads #igreads #khibookswap #kbsbookreview #vsco #vsco_pakistan #flatlay #pakistan #mybookishculture #oroojezafar #homeandotheedebris #bookriot
If you're between books and are looking for a quick getaway, I highly recommend you invest an afternoon in this one. #bookworm #bookblog #bookstagrampak #bibliophile #amreading #booklover #currentlyreading #bookstagrampakistan #bookaddict #booklove #bookinsta #bookhaul #bookobsessed #bookphotography #bookeading #booktube #epicreads #igreads #khibookswap #kbsbookreview #vsco #vsco_pakistan #flatlay #pakistan #mybookishculture #bookriot #thedoctorreads #leotolstoy #howmuchlanddoesamanneed #penguinlittleblackclassics
The second story 'What Men Live By' is a far more optimistic story. While it's hopeful tone and its almost fairy tale ending, it takes away some of the far more visceral horror of the preceding story. Of course, with an angel involved there is an element of unavoidable kitsch but its... palatable. Morality is the central theme of both these stories so a little cheese is hard to dodge. Does Tolstoy's own financial privilege make these stories a little preachy and hard to digest? Well, yes. Does that mean the stories have aged horribly? Emphatically, no. There is no denying the bite in his plot and characters, no getting away from the fact that these are still the products of a master at work. #bookworm #bookblog #bookstagrampak #bibliophile #amreading #booklover #currentlyreading #bookstagrampakistan #bookaddict #booklove #bookinsta #bookhaul #bookobsessed #bookphotography #bookeading #booktube #epicreads #igreads #khibookswap #kbsbookreview #vsco #vsco_pakistan #flatlay #pakistan #mybookishculture #bookriot #thedoctorreads #leotolstoy #howmuchlanddoesamanneed #penguinlittleblackclassics
Writing a review for any of the books in the Little Black Penguin series always feels a bit intimidating-- you run the risk of writing a review that is longer than the tiny book itself. These slim volumes are the perfect antidote to a reading slump or simply a little vacation for your brain, as you are rapidly whisked away to an era before multi-volume series for young adults became go-to buzzwords for publishers. The lessons here are timeless-- a far cry from the current state of books aimed at young audiences. Here, we are transported without any preamble to distant Russia, her bleak landscape serving as an apt setting for an equally bleak story called 'How Much Land Does A Man Need?' It is a question that doesn't necessarily apply to land, or to men, for that matter. After all, how many books does a girl REALLY need? The story is eerily apt in today's mad rush of consumerism and 'fast' everything-- fashion, food, you name it. But as the end of the story suggests, the quantity of what you have ceases to matter when YOU no longer matter-- as convincing an argument in favour of minimalism as any. If you're between books and are looking for a quick getaway, I highly recommend you invest an afternoon in this one. #bookworm #bookblog #bookstagrampak #bibliophile #amreading #booklover #currentlyreading #bookstagrampakistan #bookaddict #booklove #bookinsta #bookhaul #bookobsessed #bookphotography #bookeading #booktube #epicreads #igreads #khibookswap #kbsbookreview #vsco #vsco_pakistan #flatlay #pakistan #mybookishculture #bookriot #thedoctorreads #leotolstoy #howmuchlanddoesamanneed #penguinlittleblackclassics

Goodreads

@theDrReads

@theDrReads

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
The Doctor Reads
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
Cancel