This month I have had TONNES of reading for Uni and so my reading-for-pleasure has been a bit more limited - I got through six books (hoping it will be seven by the time Sunday comes!).
This is a very varied bunch of novels - the Daniel Defoe trilogy was part of my Uni reading. It incorporates the famous tale of Robinson Crusoe but also the two sequels which are less well known. Admittedly I just skimmed through them but they were enjoyable.
Moses Migrating by Sam Selvon is also a book I have read for Uni essay preparation. It is the third in Selvon's 'Moses trilogy' - novels which focus on the experiences of West Indian immigrants in mid twentieth-century London. Selvon captures these experiences through comedy, his characterisations, and his narrative and I have found that each one of the books in the trilogy has opened my mind to how difficult and frustrating it is to be a marginalised person in society. These books really do make you a better human being!
The Complete Works by William Blake is yet more Uni reading - in particular this month I read 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'. Ok it took me a few read throughs to 'get' the poem, but it blew me away, parodying the whole concept of authority in religion. Really really good.
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie was a fascinating account of a young boy who is born on the stroke of midnight on the day India gains independence. As a result, he - and other children who were born within the first hour of this momentous day - are born with special powers. The novel is very well-written, you get to feel like you know the families involved in real-life, and, although maybe a bit long-winded especially towards the end, it is a book that is pretty hard to put down.
Moll Flanders was read for Uni, just to keep the Defoe theme going and to identify the links with Robinson Crusoe and J M Coetzee's Foe. Moll is your loveable villain who gains husband after husband whilst committing crimes she avoids being caught for......until one day she wanders into a house.....
On my Kindle, I read Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. It's a family drama following the Lee family, their hopes and aspirations, their loves and hates, the risks of 'pushy parenting', and the aftermath of a tragedy that concerns one of the family members. I gave it four stars on Goodreads.
I am three-quarters of the way through Kate Atkinson's Life After Life just now - am hoping to get it finished over the weekend. Loving it though, and will definitely be buying her new sequel.
