What I’m Reading : Episode 48, September 2022
What I just finished reading
I’ve just finished Midnight at Malabar House, the first in a crime fiction series by Vaseem Khan set in 1950s India. I heard Khan speak at a Crime Cymru event earlier this year where he explained how he wanted to locate his series in a nation struggling to find its way after independence, the assassination of Gandi and the violence after partition. His main character, Inspector Persis Wadia, India’s first female police detective, is a force to be reckoned with.
What I’m reading now
I’m part way through a book I meant to read during the summer but never got around to it so I added it to my Autumn reading list: The Vanishing Sky by L Annette Binder. Set during the final years of World War 2, this is an unusual book in that it looks at the war through the lens of an ordinary German family. So much fiction that deals with the war is written from the perspective of the victors which makes the focus here very refreshing.
What I’ll read next
Until this morning, I thought my next book would be from the Autumn reading list I created a few weeks ago. Possibly The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai or No Name by Wilkie Collins. But I’ve looked high and low for my copy of the Collins. So frustrating because last time I saw it, it was next to Armadale which I can still see on the shelf.
So I popped into the library this morning in the hope they might have a copy and got distracted by their display of books on an autumnal theme. Which is how I came to walk out minus the Collins (now on order) but with Ali Smith’s Autumn tucked under my arm. The cover artwork on this book is wonderful — it reminds me of David Hockney paintings of East Yorshire — and keeps catching my eye. I’m now sorely tempted to read Smith while waiting for the Collins to turn up.
My only other “plan” is to read The Lifted Veil by George Eliot which is my Classic Club spin. Based on comments from other bloggers who’ve read this novella, it’s clearly a “Marmite” text.
Now tell me, What are your reading plans . I’d love to know what you’re reading this week or plan on reading soon
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.
What’s a marmite text?? As I’m supposed to read this book as well, I’m intrigued – and worried!
My October titles will be posted this Sunday morning
I should have written Marmite not marmite because it is the name of a product – an yeast extract in a spreadable form. Australians have a similar product called Vegemite. Anyway it has a strong, salty taste that people either love or hate – so marmite book is one that creates strong reactions either positive or negative
I loved Smith’s Autumn so much! I might reread it soon.
Oh that good?? I so rarely get to re-read anything now – always seems to be another new to me book clamouring for my attention
Apart from focusing on 1929, my reading plans are fairly loose – which is just the way I like them!!
whatever plans I make are subject to change – they change almost as soon as I’ve thought of them
Sorry–forgot to say I really liked the Ardent Swarm. I read/reviewed it a few months ago.
I read the first few pages last night. Intriguing!
Oh, these all sound good. I read Autumn by Ali Smith–it was good, but its one of those books I’m still thinking about. I’ll be anxious to hear your thoughts on it.
I’m reading the new Orhan Pamuk, Nights of Plague – via NetGalley, and also Non Combatants and Others by Rose Macaulay. I’ve just finished re-reading Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers.
I tried reading Snow by Pamuk some years ago but couldn’t get into it. I do have a copy of My Name is Red which I think is his most noted work? It looks very long and daunting!
I’ve just today finished Malabar House. Was it you that put me onto this series? I rather think so. Thanks – I’ve enjoyed the two I’ve now read.
I have the second book in the series already but heaven knows when I will get to read it
They’re a quick and easy read though, aren’t they? I have now read 1 & 3, but not 2!