In my new circumstances in India I have considerably more time for reading than before, and I should probably have got together a proper reading list to help fill the gaping gaps in my literary education. As with many other things the book selection has been more organic and dynamic. I am not sure what my book selection says about me but here are my Hemmingwayesque reviews of my recent reading:
Keep off the Grass (Karan Bajaj) – Entertaining but disturbing
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (Umberto Eco) – A bit up itself
The Full Cupboard of Life (Alexander McCall Smith) – Reliably comforting
The Comfort of Saturdays (Alexander McCall Smith) – Ditto
East of the Sun (Julia Grigson) – Chewy Raj potbolier
The Red Carpet – Bangalore Stories (Lavanya Sankaran) – Full of East meets West tension
The Gravediggers Daughter (Joyce Carol Oates) – Evocative but too long
Being Indian (Pakan K Varma) – Just depressing
Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts) – A ripping 1980s yarn
The Lives of Christopher Chant (Diana Wynne Jones) – Eat your hat Rowling JK
Games Indians Play (V Raghunathan) – Frighteningly accurate
Fooled by Randomness (Naseem Nicholas Taleb) – Intermittently insightful
Culture Shock India – Patronising and dated
Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders (Giles Brandreth) – Literary Horlicks
Half a Life (V S Naipaul) – Half too many!
I was prompted to think that perhaps I should turn my attention to a medium which is more visual and suited to my shorter attention span such as TV cartoons for serious study. This train of thought chugged out of the station of possibility fuelled by the glowing sight of returning home yesterday to find Mrs Reiver distinctly Smurf like with blue hands after a less than effective attempt to clean up after some furniture redecoration. I never really got the Smurfs but this childhood throwback reminds me of my current reading – ‘Paddington Here and Now’ just like marmalade sandwiches real class never goes out of fashion.
Oh and I forgot ‘Eats Shoots and Leaves’ (Lynne Truss) – but no-one would ever believe that I had read it!
3 comments:
Seems like I haver similar gaps in my literary education, and unlikely to address this too!!! If you take the pile of books away that looks like a nice view from what I suspect is the oft-mentioned veranda (?) Peter
I'm strictly non-fiction. Just got a book about Kitchener in Khartoum in the 1890s. Brilliant. Borrowed from Woking library - the only chav-free part of this benighted town.
Just moved on to Capital German Ships of WW2. Is there no end to the pleasure of reading?
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