The Reading List #39

Where do you get your inspiration for which books to pick up next? I’m in need of new ideas!

Here's the latest round-up of things I've been reading:-


Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese


Twins Marion and Shiva are born in 1950s Ethiopia to an Indian nun and a British doctor, and grow up in a country on the brink of revolution. This is a family epic, set against an interesting, complex history. When their father is in surgery, there are some stunning descriptions of the physicality and mortality of the human body, and using the biology of the body as metaphors for life. You can feel Marion’s pain sharply throughout, and there were some heart-breaking moments. Worth a read.


Burial Rites, Hannah Kent


In Iceland, in 1829, a woman is condemned to death for murdering her husband. A family take the woman in, and a priest is tasked with absolving her. This was a good story, but I didn’t enjoy the tone and voice at all. I couldn’t connect to any of the central characters, either to like or dislike them, which meant I struggled to keep engaged. This book was hugely hyped when first released, but for me personally it was a bit of a let-down.


Les Miserables, Victor Hugo


I’ve wanted to read this ever since I fell in love with the musical, especially once I heard it was actually very different from the popular musical. Eponine, for example, does not exist in Hugo’s novel. It’s an incredibly detailed novel, at times maybe a little too much so – the bishop’s tale at the beginning takes up over 100 pages – but it was beautifully written. Marius’ character is much more developed in the novel when compared with the musical, and is a much more likable character, with a real backstory and reasons for his actions throughout. There are very long battle scenes from Waterloo onwards and it is a long, heavy read, but I’m very glad I’ve now read it.


12 Years a Slave, Solomon Northup


In 1841, Solomon, a violinist, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Taken from a family in New York to the cotton plantations of the Deep South, he spends 12 years in captivity, and tells the story of living under his various masters. This is a personal tale which also gives an overview of the period and condition of slaves. He can view some of the wider issues, and see some of his masters as men he respects. He maintains the constant conviction he can be free once again. This was a fantastic read, and a real insight into slave narratives like many I studied at university.



Any ideas on what I should pick up next?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Writing fiction as a way to move forwards.

Image
Last week I shared a bit about the writing course that led to me writing my short story, Aftershock. Today I thought I'd share a bit about what it was about, and the process of writing it. I had planned to write it slowly, leaving myself lots of editing time and really making use of the month or so we were given. In fact, I wrote most of it in one sitting, on a single afternoon when I most definitely should have been doing other things. The words just kept coming and I didn't want to cut them off. I based my story on something that had actually happened to me, as one of the things recommended on the course was that it could be easier to get inside a character or situation if it was something you knew and understood. I share a lot on this blog and I'm incredibly open about my journey with anxiety and depression, but one of the big things I haven't spoken about was something that happened to me in October 2016, when I was living and working in London. It h...
Read more

The Reading List #7

Image
The weekend seemed to fly by and I didn’t get around to finishing my reading list post, so here it is now. I’m still going through my period of pulling lots of books off shelves that I haven’t read yet, so the wide mixture of books continues… The Sea, John Banville I read two Banville novels at university and was more than impressed, so was excited to find this gem on my parents’ bookshelf. In ‘The Sea’, art historian Max returns to a place he holidayed as a child, following a personal loss. The novels flits between two periods of his life - the then and the now - leading to themes of childhood discoveries, maturing, and loss. The time periods almost blend into one another, yet there is something distinctly separate about them too, so it is not confusing. It reads almost like poetry, and is utterly beautiful. Any literature fans, or fans of superb writing and narrative, need to give it a go. A Small Part of Me, Noelle Harrison Christina’s mother, Greta,...
Read more

The Reading List # 5

Image
Weekends are the perfect time to catch up on reading, so here’s the latest instalment of things I’ve been reading recently. Fatherland, Robert Harris It is 1964, and Hitler is nearing his 75 th birthday, having been victorious in the Second World War. Detective March finds a naked dead man in a lake, and this begins to unravel a huge conspiracy. The premise of this book was so interesting, and it certainly delivered. There is enough fact weaved in to make the events believable, and the atmosphere and architecture of this 1960s Germany is conjured up well. The book is realistic in that there is still plenty of discontent in the country, so it was a rounded picture, and then in amongst it all was a gripping detective story. This is well worth a try. Revenge Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger Ten years after The Devil Wears Prada ended, Andy is co-running her own successful wedding magazine. Her life has changed a lot, and is the usual rollercoaster of emotio...
Read more