Skip to main content

The Good, The Bleak & The Unread: What I read in April & What's on my List in May

I don't know about you, readers, but after an initial surge, I for one have found it pretty hard to concentrate on reading - or writing - lately. Other book-bloggers who have got through 12 books or more in a month - how?! I have however rounded up what I have managed to get through over the past few weeks and  what I'm looking forward to reading in May.

April Wrap-up:


Title: The Last Man 
Author: Mary Shelley
Lots of people have been talking about this recently. Set 60 years from now, this book follows one man's fortunes and friendships while mankind is in the process of being wiped out by a pandemic. The faint glimmer of hope Shelley eventually holds out doesn't stop this from being bleak, bleak, bleak. Give it a miss if you're feeling fragile.

Title: Hashim & Family
Author: Shahnaz Ahsan
A thoughtful look at migration, belonging and racism through the experiences of one family's experiences in Manchester and Bangladesh. This is John Murray's lead fiction debut for 2020.



Title: 'Exterminate All The Brutes'
Author: Sven Lindqvist
Every so often I take a break from fiction to stretch other parts of my brain. Lindqvist's unflinching examination of the ideological roots of European genocide gave me lots to think about and critique.




Title: The Ten Thousand Doors of January 
Author: Alix E. Harrow
Imaginative, adventurous, humorous, ironic. Just what I needed to get myself out of my reading funk. 

May To-Be-Read List: 

In May I'm trying to read more S. Asian writers, starting with the following:


Title: You Beneath Your Skin
Author: Damyanti Biswas
An atmospheric crime thriller that explores poverty, misogyny and political corruption in New Delhi. I'm partway through this right now and finding it gripping so far. All author proceeds from this book go to two New Delhi nonprofits that work for the empowerment of women and children, Stop Acid Attacks and ProjectWhy. Stay tuned for a review coming soon.


Title: To Lahore With Love
Author: Hina Belitz
A lot of my reading list lately has been quite dark and heavy, so I picked this because the cover looks optimistic and fun. Yes, I judged a book by its cover! It's a journey of discovery and identity through stories, food and faith for Irish-Pakistani Addy, which takes her - and the reader to Lahore, a city I'd love to visit.


Title: The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters
Author: Balli Kaur
I'm looking forward to some much-needed humour and warmth from this roadtrip across India with three sisters, as they attempt to carry out their late mother's final rites. From the author of Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows.

Thanks to Netgalley, John Murray Press, Mr B's Emporium, @damyantiwrites 💝


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Six Striking Titles For Mother's Day

The pandemic has meant lots of us have not been able to see or visit our own mothers for a whole year or more. There are many who are dealing with the pain of having lost their mothers during this time. For those of you who are yourselves mothers – whether you’re homeschooling, working from home or not for whatever reason, worrying about work, finances, the mess in your home, the amount of time the kids are spending staring at screens, or generally feeling like you’re doing a rubbish job – fear not, you are not alone. I have put together some of my recent reads about the joys and sorrows, fears and hopes of modern motherhood. They’re not all pandemic-specific, but a lot of them focus on the big eternal concerns as well as the minutiae of mothering. Sad or funny, long or short, thrilling or thoughtful – I hope there is something here to suit different tastes. And the best part is, you don’t have to be a parent to enjoy any of them! So take a look below, at my Six Striking Titles f

Chatting with Kate Morrison, Author: A Book of Secrets

Something special on the blog today, readers: I'm thrilled to be chatting to Kate Morrison, author of stunning debut A Book of Secrets, as part of its Random Things Tour. Join us as we talk about historical research, women's independence and racism in Elizabethan England. "A Book of Secrets is the story of a woman named Susan Charlewood living in Elizabethan England. Born in what is now Ghana, Susan is enslaved by the Portuguese but later rescued by British sailors, who bring her to England. Once in England, she is raised in an English Cathoic household. When Susan comes of age, the family marry her off to an older Catholic man, John Charlewood. Charlewood runs a printing press and uses it to supply the Papist nobility with illegal Catholic texts and foment rebellion amongst the Catholic underclass. When Charlewood, Susan takes over the business and uses her new position to find out more about her origins.  A look at racial relationships at the beginning of the eve of the

Sultana’s Dream: A Bengali Feminist Sci-Fi Utopia

Sultana’s Dream is a science fiction short story by the Bengali writer and activist Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain , which was first published in the Indian Ladies’ Magazine, Madras, in 1905.  It imagines the journey of a woman – Sultana - to a fantastical place called Ladyland, “free from sin and harm, where Virtue reigns supreme”. Here, the powers and spheres of men and women are reversed so that women are active in public life, and men are restricted to domestic duties.  The result is a utopia where there is no crime, violence or corruption. Their main diet is fruit; they use technology to carry out manual labour and grow crops, and flying cars to travel. Work is carried out more efficiently as women do not waste time smoking and talking, and they come up with innovative, non-violent ways of defending themselves against enemies. At a time when India was under British colonial rule and women’s emancipation had not yet become a reality even in Britain, Hossain satirised the patri