Monday again already!
If you’d like to, please let me know what you’re reading in the comments and share a link to your book blog if you have one. It doesn’t have to be Monday! (If you can’t see where to comment, please try clicking/tapping on the title of this post to open it in full.)
Currently Reading
The Once and Future King by T. H. White
For the Massachusetts Center for the Book Reading Challenge, I read the first two in this quartet of novels that have been published together as one book under the title of the first one, The Once and Future King. The monthly challenge was to read a favorite book from childhood, I think.
This time, for the Big Book Challenge, I’m reading the second two books. I have it both on the iPad and a print book (both from the library) so I won’t have to worry about ebook expiration dates.
Recently Read
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
A taut, enthralling first novel about grief, sisterhood, and a young athlete’s struggle to transcend herself.
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo, a first novel (novella, really, at 150 pages), published in hardcover in 2023, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. It’s a wonderful short novel – novella, really – that crystallizes the coming of age experience of the youngest daughter in a family of three girls as they all, along with their grieving father, are finding their way after their mother’s untimely death. All the girls played squash, which was their father’s game, but Gopi is the one who is discovered to have the natural talent. The squash courts at Western Lane become the place where she can lose herself in the game.
As I mentioned last week, Western Lane was the first book in a 3-month gift subscription I received to Green Apple Books’ Apple-a-Month Club.
Recently Listened To
NPR Road Trips: Fairs and Festivals
This one-hour audiobook is a little dated, but still enjoyable. Part of a 4-CD collection, this one was recorded segments from NPR having to do with local fairs and festivals. Mostly in the Midwest, I think, in farm country.
Currently Listening To
A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris
This is a long one for Big Book Summer! I like David Sedaris’ humor and some of these diary entries make me laugh out loud. Others cross the line for me into taboo topics that should never be joked about.
Really, it’s just one topic — the death of a child. I understand gallows humor and the raunchy or “potty” humor, as he writes one reader complained about, I can also stomach, though they’re not my favorite, but there is that one thing that I don’t think anyone should ever make jokes about. And I’m not talking about saying without meaning it “I’m going to kill that kid,” or anything as innocuous as that.
Diaries are private thoughts, I know, but the author did make decisions on what to include in the published version, and what to leave out.
This post is linked up to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, hosted by Katherine of The Book Date. A place to meet up and share what you’ve been and are currently reading each week! Visit the link-up for more books to your groaning TBR pile.
Western Lane sounds sad but I’m happy it also sounds like you like it! 🙂
I ended up really enjoying Western Lane. I knew nothing about squash before reading it. There was a lot about the game and players, but all that history and detail fit into the story.
I’m glad it was a good one for you!