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.