Last I updated, my planned reads were The Favored Daughter by Fawzia Koofi, Brick Lane by Monica Ali, and The Son by Philipp Meyer.... so here's an update on where have I landed?
The Favored Daughter was the October book club read, I wrote a book review
here.
I'm about half way through on this one. Brick Lane is a book I chose for our upcoming London trip. While I'm not at all sure what makes this a good choice (provided on many online book lists) for a pre-read for a London trip, it's an interesting read, albeit slow. There are lengthy portions that written in sub-par English from the perspective of the main character's sister who remains in Bangladesh (the main character is in London). I don't understand why the author chose to use broken English for the sister, but not for the main character who has not managed to learn English despite living in London. Maybe she did it to create a sense of the distance between them and provide a feeling of separation that can be difficult to achieve in writing. Regardless, it makes it really difficult to get through these portions of the novel, and hence I find this a slow read. To my surprise however, the novel has a lot of newer entertainment references that I was not expecting to find, I had the impression that this novel took place in the 1980's or so, but in fact it's more like the early 2000's. The verdict is out as to whether or not I'll be recommending this one, I feel like I'm still waiting for something to happen... regardless, I intend to finish this novel and report on my thoughts.
The Son has taken a back seat (something always does with my planned reading!). Instead The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson has been brought forward which was the chosen November read for book club. I'm almost 20% of the way through, and really struggling to get into it. This novel won a Pulitzer prize and I first heard about it from a book review on NPR so I thought it was would be interesting and intriguing, but instead I'm finding it a bit dull and difficult to get into. It will be interesting to see what my fellow book club members think, look for a review in the near future on this book too!
What's next? Probably The Son will creep it's way back onto my list, but I'm also pretty sure my b-day will be bringing new books my way, can't wait to see which ones are coming my way! We'll also be choosing books for the next two months at the November book club meeting, so I'm looking forward to see what's next on our plate!
What interesting books are you reading? Drop me a line and let me know what's new on your shelf.
Happy Reading!
