Reading...just not writing

From the date of my last post, it can be easily misconstrued that I haven't been reading much. On the contrary I have been quite busy reading away, just not the OBOC-type of books. What I haven't been doing is writing of any kind (and nope I don't consider writing bulleted executive readable powerpoints as writing). So i know this one is going to come out not to my satisfaction, still I can't keep postponing.

I've been getting my fix of crime writing. Jo Nesbo has become one of my most favorite crime writers and Harry Hole, the alcoholic, morbid, lone wolf my favorite detective of recent times. So, yes other than The Bat and The Police I am through with all the Harry Hole novels.

I am also juggling two non-fiction, Jared Diamond's latest on what we can learn from traditional societies and Barbara Tuchman's Distant Mirror (I started this as a prep for our whirlwind 7 country Europe tour and about half way through). Hopefully will finish those in a month.

In all this, I haven't abandoned OBOC. In fact finished 3 countries.

• Lithuania - "Between shades of grey" (not to be confused with the other shades the whole world seems to have read) by Ruta Sepetys. This is a young adult novel that describes the untold and even forgotten horrors inflicted on Lithuanians by Russians following the invasion of 1939. Lina the 16 year old heroine of the novel is plucked from her seemingly normal life and is sent on what seems to be a one way journey to Siberia. How she survives and lives to tell the story is the novel. It is a work of fiction but inspired by true events. Somehow despite the poignant theme and the heart wrenching scenes this one did not work for me. 
• Malawi - read a short story nominated for the caine prize called "Love on trial" by Stanley Kenani. I was slightly disappointed with this story as it wasted the premise by settling into known comfortable arguments and there was nothing uniquely African about it. Charles, a final year law student is caught engaging in a homosexual act. An outpouring of outrage, and the media circus that follows, leads him to a debate with a leading TV journalist. All the arguments are well known and predictable and seem to have been heard elsewhere. Maybe the subject is very new to Africa, still I expected a lot more local flavor. But I am happy for the nomination as it meant we get to read a young writer from Africa. I also read "The boy who harnessed the wind" by William Kamkwamba, but a lot has been said about that already.

• Mexico - I started off with Death of Artemio Cruz, but I have to concede I was not proceeding at a satisfactory pace and all I can say it was not entirely my fault. Carlos Fuentes is partly responsible.Instead I switched to "Like water for chocolate" by Laura Esquivel and now that was quite a fast read! She is not Isabel Allende, at least not yet, and her magical realism is a bit over the top, still I loved the concept for the book. Each chapter begins with a recipe and a number of themes like feminism, marrying for love, the Mexican revolution are all "baked" within.

I am now reading "Shadow of the wind" by the Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafron and loving it. It is gothic, and is book about books, and has some really spectacular writing. So as I said, I am completely captivated. Will write more when I am done.

That's a wrap!