12) Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, by Vincent Lam, 337 pages, Anchor Canada, 2005
WHY I PICKED IT: Susan Ghavam recommended it.
ELAPSED TIME: 2 days
RATING: Good
As a book of short stories, it's not on par with Adichie or Lahiri... But it was entertaining and well written. To take different characters through their lives, transcendentally connected, yet separate stories in their own right, ... well, it was a good effort. Don't know if I'd go so far as to recommend it to anybody, unless they truly love short stories as a genre.
13) The Associate, by John Grisham, 434 pages, Dell - Random House, 2009
WHY I PICKED IT: Stuck at an airport with very few choices.
ELAPSED TIME: 1 day
RATING: Meh
Typical Grisham... an engaging tale, but won't be mistaken for literature. Felt good to churn through something though.
14) The Boy Next Door, by Irene Sabatini, 403 pages, Little, Brown and Company, 2009
WHY I PICKED IT: An African author I hadn't heard of, thought I'd give it a try
ELAPSED TIME: 10 days
RATING: Good
This was a really difficult story to get in to... I found it easy to read when I had it in my hands, but didn't remember to want to read it when it wasn't. And it was probably a bit too long a novel. That all being said, it touched on many hard topics, from abortion to inter-racial couples, to teenage pregnancy, and ultimately about figuring out how to cross the divide and make it all work. I really want to visit Zimbabwe, see the people, and smell the streets.
15) Honeymoon in Purdah, by Alison Wearing, 319 pages, Vintage Books - Random House, 2000
WHY I PICKED IT: It was the second recommendation of great travel adventure by Emily.
ELAPSED TIME: 4 days
RATING: REQUIRED READING
This book rocked. From the first page to the last, I loved this book. Alison's experiences in Iran are genuinely heart warming. She finds the humanity in people she doesn't understand, and does so with ease. A traveler like I aspire to be: friendly, patient, sensitive to those around her... she seeks people rather than things to see, and relishes the experience.
16) One World: A Global Anthology of Short Stories, by Various Authors, 191 pages, New Internationalist, 2009
WHY I PICKED IT: It includes stories by Adichie and by Lahiri.
ELAPSED TIME: 3 days
RATING: Good
21 Short Stories, written by authors from around the world... I really enjoyed most of the stories and felt united in a humanity that transcends culture and place. I would have liked to see a bit more variety in the "globalness" of the project - there were 6 Nigerian authors out of 21 stories, and also struggled with the length because you barely engage with the voice of the author and the character before the story is done; a different experience than reading a book of short stories by one author, to be sure. Overall, I'd recommend it only to people that love short stories.
17) The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, 276 pages, Simon and Schuster: Free Press, 2008
WHY I PICKED IT: Book club
ELAPSED TIME: 1 day
RATING: Very Good
This book is a worthy winner of the Booker. A great story that was written extremely well... But literature that doesn't really involve sadness for the protagonist. Very few books of literature meet that criteria (Fraction of the Whole and the Three Musketeers are two others that come to mind). I haven't read much contemporary literature about India, and this provides insight into the mind of a servant (albeit one who is in the process of crossing the barrier from servant to master).
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