Book menu for The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
ISBN of edition I read: 0618485228
We read this for my book group. I had looked forward to it since the movie adaptation looked good. I was disappointed with the writing: much of the story is written in the passive voice. I am not sure this novel works in the present tense. It had potential and I was interested in the connection to Russian authors. I happened to be reading Anna Karenina while trudging through The Namesake. I was all too glad to finish the chore of Lahiri's novel and devote myself entirely to Tolstoy!
Food mentioned in The Namesake
Lamb curry, 10, 72
Dal, 10, 39, 72, 162, 180, 276
Pistachio ice cream, 10
Broccoli quiche, 33
Samosas, 35, 50, 147-149
Goat and potato stew, 37
Halwa, 38
Biryani, 39, 164
Chicken curry and rice, 54
Tandoori, 64, 229
Sandeshes, 72
Bouillabaise, 137, 198
Osso buco, 137
Pink lassi, 147
Aloo dum, 155
Paella with clams and mussels, 156
Sancerre (wine), 198
Porcini ravioli, 203
Coq au vin, 209
Mishti, 216
Aloo gobi, 223
Pakoras, 229
Spaghetti allo vongole, 241
Falafel sandwich, 271
Blood oranges, 272
Mincemeat croquettes, 274
Lamb korma, 277
Sweet yogurt and pantuas, 277
Books/Authors mentioned in The Namesake
Nikolai Gogol, 13, 17, 21, 28-9, 56, 66, 77, 88
"The Overcoat
The Stories of Nikolai Gogol, 74, 288
"The Nose" (short story), 89
The Government Inspector
Dead Souls
Alfred Tennyson
William Wordsworth
"The Daffodils" (poem), 9
Aristotle, 7
William Shakespeare
Timon of Athens, 110
Charles Dickens, 12
Graham Greene, 12
The Comedians
Somerset Maugham, 12
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 78
The Brothers Karamazov
Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina, 13
War and Peace, 13
Ivan Turgenev, 91
Fathers and Sons
The Cat in the Hat / Dr. Seuss, 50
The Hardy Boys / Franklin W. Dixon, 78
Pride and Prejudice / Jane Austen, 73
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams, 75
The Hobbit (Movie Tie-In)
Laura Ingalls Wilder, 83
The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald, 88
The Good Earth (Oprah's Book Club)
The Red Badge of Courage
Ethan Frome
William Faulkner, 89
Ernest Hemingway, 89
"The Necklace and Other Tales (Modern Library Classics)
Alexandr Pushkin, 90
Divided Soul:The Life of Gogol / Henri Troyat, 92
Nietzche, 93
Moliere, 99
Oscar Wilde, 114
Virginia Woolf, 114
Journey to the East
Ben Johnson (poet), 121
Gustave Flaubert, 255
The Man without Qualities / Robert Musil, 259
The Red and the Black
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 267
Marcel Proust, 267
The Swiss Family Robinson
On the Road
The Communist Manifesto
Magazines mentioned in The Namesake:
Desh, 16, 44
Time
National Geographic
Reader's Digest
The New Yorker
Food & Wine
Movies mentioned in The Namesake:
Gone with the Wind
The Seven Year Itch
Ritwik Ghatek, 38
Satyajit Ray, 38
The Big Chill
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
I, Claudius, 135
Alphaville, 259
Music mentioned in The Namesake:
Nazrul, 38
Tagore, 78
The Beatles, 116
The White Album
Abbey Road
Bob Dylan, 93, 99
Eric Clapton, 93
The Clash
London Calling
Talking Heads, 77, 102
Brian Eno
Elvis Costello, 105
Charlie Parker
Simon and Garfunkel, 117
Neil Young
Cat Stevens, 117
Abba
Bossa Nova, 228
Crosby, Stills & Nash, 257
Bartok
Television programs mentioned in The Namesake:
The Price is Right, 54
Guiding Light, 54
$10,000 Pyramid, 54
Sesame Street, 54
Electric Company, 54
The Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Libraries mentioned in The Namesake:
pages 48-50, 56, 66, 71, 104, 107, 114, 120, 149, 160, 162-3, 168, 238, 257, 279