Published : 2021 || Format : print || Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the...
We woke up this morning to no power. No idea what happened this time, but a lot of the neighboring buildings, if not all, had no power. No power in the US means nothing to do at home, except read. But since I like to start my day with a steaming cup of tea, for which I needed the range, for which I needed power, I went back to sleep. Even the dog went to sleep! A few hours later, power finally came, which is when I decided I could afford to wake up. So now, steaming cup on my desk, my day feels so much nicer already.
1. Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of the Stories
2. Walter Mosley's 47
3. Nalo Hopkinson's The Chaos
4. Rabih Alameddine's The Hakawati
Even after getting a list of books, it was tough trying to narrow down to one. So I figured I may start with the author that may be most challenging for me - Salman Rushdie. I must have been seriously wrong with my assumptions here, because Haroun and the Sea of Stories was extremely easy to read and was entertaining as well! I'm also going to try reading both the Mosley and the Alameddine books, if I get time.
Jill at Fizzy Thoughts and Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity have put up the new candidates for this year's Dueling Monsters. I wasn't going to join it (horror is a genre I best like to leave in the shelves) but it was hard. Both the books this time (American Psycho and Red Dragon) have been on my wishlist for a while. I'll be joining the Bateman camp, i.e. soon as I get my hands on American Psycho.
Banned Books Week is also coming up next week. Last two years, I read a variety of books during this event, and I may do the same this year as well. Except, I'm not sure of which book to read. I'm also considering honoring the event in a different way - by reading a book or author I've considered challenging for myself over the years, for any reason. Salman Rushdie's Midnight Children is the first book that comes to mind. Or I'll read a book that countries have banned because a sector of people didn't agree with the book's contents, such as Taslima Nasrin's Lajja (which I have a copy of, at home) or The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie, again!). I'm most eager to read Lajja, but I may get swayed by the choices I see in other blogs.
So now I'm off to relax and enjoy my lazy Sunday, rereading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!
Comments
But Haroun I've heard really great things about, in no small part because it's so much EASIER to get though. I look forward to picking it up.
How awkward when you don't have power! We have a gas stove so I can at least boil water for a cup of tea, but luckily, we have an outage only about once every 2 or 3 years.
Have a great week- hopefully with lots of good reading.