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 story of her family through the other protagonist, El
This is where I am going to ignore the fact that it's been a month since we got back from India. Because I am still working on my posts about that trip. You know how that goes when you don't have time to even get the camera out and gather the photos.
Other exciting finds
Have you read any of these titles? These books have been sitting by my shelves for the better part of a month and I have managed to not pick any to read until I got this post out and cataloged these titles on my spreadsheet.
Butttttt, I've been working on this post for a while, if not by actually writing it, then by composing it mentally. One of my plans for the trip even before leaving was to visit a certain bookstore when we were in the husband's town and grab books written by Indian authors. I had been to that store (DC books) four years ago and had a vague memory of seeing many shelves of such books. However, when we went this time, we didn't see as many books by Indian authors as I had imagined there would be. That was a bummer but we still got some good books there.
A week later, we were in Chennai when we decided to go to another bookstore (Starmark) at a mall. This wasn't in the plans so I am glad this happened because this is where I bought the bulk of my books. The book selection here was great even in the kids section - I just did not get as many kiddie Indian books as I wanted to. I think, truthfully, I didn't really have an idea about what I was looking for so that made the hunting much harder.
I counted 13 books in total, plus 6 picture books for the kid. Of these, 11 are books I bought and 2 (Aarushi and Best Indian Short Stories) are books gifted by a childhood friend of mine, who I was meeting after a decade (more about this in my next post about the trip).
Books I'm most excited about
Books I'm most excited about
- Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy: this one was in the news recently after being nominated for the Man Booker Prize. It was bumped up on my TBR when Dolce Bellezza reviewed it here.
- The Smoke is Rising by Mahesh Rao: Rao's One Point Two Billion is probably the more popular book right now (plus the cover of that book is one of the best ever!) but I liked the sound of this book more. Maybe I will find a way to get hold of One Point Two Billion some other day.
- Chemmeen by T. S. Pillai: Chemmeen is one of the most famous movies to come out of Kerala. I could never make myself watch the movie - growing up, I have seen too many people cry at the ending. I guess I am now old enough to acquaint myself with the story. No? Let me start with the book.
- Mrs. Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna: I had heard of Twinkle Khanna as an actress, not a writer. I don't think her acting career is going right now, if at all anywhere, but she does have several fans as a writer.
- Aarushi by Avirook Sen: This narrative about the true life murder of a teenage girl and her family's servant only recently came to my spotlight. I did watch the movie about the murders and although it looks like the murders are still mostly unresolved, I am looking forward to reading about it.
- Shikhandi by Devdutt Pattanaik: This book has been on my TBR for a long time, ever since it was released. It's also top of my list right now to read so hopefully, I will get to it sooner than later.
- Honour by Elif Shafak: This is the lone book in this list NOT by an Indian author. Shafak has long been an author I want to read so I'm excited about this one.
Other exciting finds
- The City of Devi by Manil Suri
- Yasmeen by Sophia Khan
- Racists by Kunal Basu
- Best Indian Short Stories by Khushwant Singh
- The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee
- Half of What I Say by Anil Menon
Have you read any of these titles? These books have been sitting by my shelves for the better part of a month and I have managed to not pick any to read until I got this post out and cataloged these titles on my spreadsheet.
Comments