What I’m Reading : Episode 56, April 2024

I can’t believe that I last published a “What I’m Reading” post six months ago. I already knew I’d got out of the habit of doing one of these updates but hadn’t realised I’d let it slip that far. I’m going to make a conscious effort now to get back into some kind of routine.

In the meantime, here’s my April update

What I just finished reading

The African Child by Camara Laye is a memoir of Laye’s childhood youth in the village of Koroussa in what was then French Guinea (it’s now the independent state of Guinea). Laye wrote the book in 1954 while studying in Paris and his memoir has a clear tone of nostalgia for his simple life in a village where his father was the goldsmith. There’s a tension towards the end between his desire to further his studies (which will take him overseas) and his desire to remain with the people he loves most — his family and his community.

What I’m reading now

I have two novels on the go at the moment.

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson plunges readers into the hedonistic world of Soho nightclubs in 1926. Reigning supreme in this world is Nellie Coker, a self-made business woman whose clubs cater for all tastes, and not all of them legal. I’m about a quarter of the way into the book and so far there are multiple plot strands in play — missing girls, bodies washed up in the Thames, a new detective in charge at Bow Street police who is determined to root out corrupt officers. Somehow it’s all going to come together, just now I’m enjoying the atmosphere.

Atmosphere is very much in evident too in How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang. It’s set in the dying days of the American Gold Rush and features a family of Chinese origin who have travelled from one site to another in search of the elusive nuggets. When the book opens, the two newly orphaned children set out with a horse to find a burial place for their father. They roam the wilderness, trying to find the exact right spot — meanwhile bits of their father’s body rot and drop off — and learning truths about each other and their family’s past.

What I’ll read next

Usually my answer to this question is that I don’t know. I seldom make firm plans for what I’ll read next unless it’s a book club choice or a library book that is due for return soon.

But this time around, I know what I’ll be opening next. It’s a novello called Trust by the Italian author Domenico Starnone, And the reason I’m making it my next read is that it was the book chosen as a result of my TBR Book Jar lucky dip in February. According to my self-imposed “rules” I have two months in which to read the selected book or it leaves the house. I won’t manage to finish the book by end of this month but as long as I make a start on it within April, I feel I’m keeping to the spirit, if not the letter, of the rules.

I’m looking forward to this one having enjoyed another of his novellas — Trick — a few years ago. Trust is about a tempestuous relationship between a couple who keep breaking up and then re-uniting. One day they tell each other a secret they have always been ashamed to share. It’s a decision that will have consequences further down the line.

What I’m Reading is in support of WWW Wednesday  hosted by Sam at Taking On a World of Words. WWW Wednesday is actually a weekly meme but I choose to do it just once a month.

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