March was a bumper reading month - I finished the Andrey Kurzov Penguin novels - Penguin Lost was even better than Death & the Penguin - I thought it was a great story, wonderfully detached style - no back story about the narrator - just straight in. A sort of alienation which perhaps engages one's curiosity better?
Then I finally finished "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon - which was sensational. True there were moments when the language was so dense I found it hard to take it in. There were some excellent jokes, amazing characters, and after about 40 pages I began to get engaged - then it gathered pace and I got absorbed in it. One thing was a little annoying: sometimes there were lines that "strike you as particularly fine" but the editors had not taken Johnson's "Strike it out!" advice....some of the lines were just a little bit OTT... but overall, a thoroughly enviable book, and enjoyable.
Finally I read, at top speed, Rohinton Mistry's "A Question of Balance" - it's a book that flows, you are just carried along, interested in the characters, and saddened by the events. It seems very authentic, set during "the Emergency" and Mrs Ghandi's rule. It reminded me in some ways of "A Suitable Boy" - but without the happy ending - yet it was curious how it ended - a surprise a few pages before the end, then a strangely almost cheerful last scene of a "life goes on" type. I really enjoyed it.
I read more - but can't remember off the top of my head. Too much arguably, after which I now find it difficult to settle to another book - so I am reading bits of non-fiction.
Then I finally finished "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon - which was sensational. True there were moments when the language was so dense I found it hard to take it in. There were some excellent jokes, amazing characters, and after about 40 pages I began to get engaged - then it gathered pace and I got absorbed in it. One thing was a little annoying: sometimes there were lines that "strike you as particularly fine" but the editors had not taken Johnson's "Strike it out!" advice....some of the lines were just a little bit OTT... but overall, a thoroughly enviable book, and enjoyable.
Finally I read, at top speed, Rohinton Mistry's "A Question of Balance" - it's a book that flows, you are just carried along, interested in the characters, and saddened by the events. It seems very authentic, set during "the Emergency" and Mrs Ghandi's rule. It reminded me in some ways of "A Suitable Boy" - but without the happy ending - yet it was curious how it ended - a surprise a few pages before the end, then a strangely almost cheerful last scene of a "life goes on" type. I really enjoyed it.
I read more - but can't remember off the top of my head. Too much arguably, after which I now find it difficult to settle to another book - so I am reading bits of non-fiction.
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